Sausage Love

It was well over a year ago now that myself and Karen attended a sausage making course. We had high hopes of being able to make our own sausages...not for profit but for fun. However our talent at procrastination got the better of us and despite having all the equipment we never got around to it.............until now!!!!!

We decided that Saturday was as good a day as any, got a hold of the meat, dug up the mincer/stuffer and got stuck in. It was a steep learning curve just to work out the best way to mince the meat and after that, looking at the 21 pounds of mince that we had yet to transform into sausages, I'll admit, we experienced a few doubts about getting it done.

Still we rolled up our sleaves and got to stuffing. The first lot of sausages were slow going however it was very exciting to see them forming up into recognisable shapes. We seemed to be doing it right.

Of course the jokes and comments from bystanders were colourful to say the least. It's a very visual and hands on process with the manual mincer/stuffer.

And in the end we got them all done and twisted in to sausage looking shapes. Below you can see them drying out.
We made plain pork, pork and leek and lamb and mint. We completely covered the place in sausage meat and exhausted ourselves in the process but we were rather proud of our efforts in the end and it was one of the most fun days I've had in ages. Really satisfying and I'll definitely be doing it again.
Look just like the real ones huh!
They are the best sausages I've ever tasted!!!

Happy St Patricks Day!

Sadly the great day falls on a week day this year and so aside from a wee dram of Baileys later tonight I shan't be celebrating the holiday in normal style. This is very much the theme of things at the moment. Although we now have most of the packing done and dusted there remains the annoying things. Stuff too big for boxes or strange shapes. Stuff that needs to be taken apart and boxed up, paper work that needs to be sorted through and all that stuff you don't realise you need on a day to day basis but it turns out you can live without it.

So....annoyingly the packing remains unfinished and I've spent yet another day moving boxes up and down the stairs! Remind me to never buy a house with stairs.

Two things are bright and shiny despite the packing cloud that we live under.

One is that we managed to re-do the conservatory floor over the weekend. It's a bit of a surprise for the MIL who is currently in London. We ripped up the horridly stained carpet and spent Sunday laying down on of those 'fake' wooden floors. It looks great!! So so good. I'll have to get some photos of the finished product....at the moment we only have before shots.

The other fun and shiny thing I have been doing is bead classes. Matt's cousin opened a bead shop in Eastbourne about a year ago with a friend of hers. It's fantastic by the way and although they are not yet online they have a great range if your out that way. Below are some slightly arty shots of what I've been doing. I'll aim for some better photos later in the week.
This is a free floating necklace with three strands. The pearl like beads are actually a soft pink colour....not gold.

This is worked mostly with seed beads and has loops spiralling around a central rope. Unfortunately it's not very clear however it's quite hard to get silver seed beads to look good on film. I will try again soon.

ho hum

I was a bit quiet last week wasn't I. It wasn't on purpose exactly. Time is slipping by very fast at the moment and I'm up to my ears (and over....I'm not that tall) in boxes and packing materials. It's amazing how much stuff you collect over 6 years and it all has to be sorted and either thrown out or boxed up. It's also amazing how much dust is involved.....I must have sneezed about elevently million times yesterday!

I should have it pretty much done by the end of this week but it's meant stealing time from other activities like blogging and knitting etc.

I have managed to squeeze in a tiny project that I found as a kit in a pound store. (If you'll excuse the slightly blurry photo)
It's a teddy bear!!! It doesn't look like much right now but after I've sewn it up and stuffed it I'm hoping that the cuteness might take hold. I don't know if you can see but they are actually joined. They are knitted all in one piece and remind me so much of those paper cut out people...where you fold the paper and then cut out the person so it unfolds into a whole series of people. I always cut in the wrong place and would end up with loads of individuals. I did toy with the idea of continuing knitting but decided that would be silly.....for now!

Juniper

Well this has been finished for a couple of weeks now but I've been unable to get enough light near a mirror for decent photos. These two are the best I can come up with for now.
Overall I'm happy with it and I love the pattern. So quick and easy to knit up. However next time round (or if I can be bothered to undo everything this time round) I'll be changing a few things.
Firstly I'll be making the sleeves longer by at least an extra 1". Although I did a larger size to make it a baggy jumper it's turned out quite small. Probably my gauge was out.
Also as you can see the bottom is a rolled edge which I hate. I knew I would hate it and should have changed it when I started but then I can be stupid sometimes. Next time it will definitely be a ribbed edge.
Other than that I love it and it's so warm and soft and comfy.

Pattern: Sirdar Juniper V Neck Sweater 8969 (no ribbon detail on mine)
Yarn: Sirdar Juniper 514 Ginger

Happy UK Mothers Day

Yesterday was the day that the UK celebrates Mothers Day. So Happy Mothers Day all you UK mums!!

This morning was like this. Blue sky and sunshine. It's raining now though. I think that Spring is here, but to be sure I will gather proof this week and report back on Friday with my findings.
I love bumblebees. They are so furry you just want to touch them. I don't of course as that would be asking for trouble. However I do take photos!! If you click on the picture it should make it bigger and then you will be able to see the hairs! So fuzzy.
No bees were hurt during the making of this post.