Give Away Winner Announced

Online random Number Generator 'Random.org'

Number 14 was selected as the Winner.  Congratulations to 'BayouGramma'.  You will be having very warm feet soon!  The crochet sock book ' I Can't Believe I am Crocheting Socks' will be on it's way asap.
Thank you to everyone who left a comment and entered.

Jamming

Blackcurrant 'No Bits' Jam

I have been busy working my way through my list of recipes to make with Fresh Blackcurrants.

Five-recipes-to-make-with-fresh Blackcurrants

I made the Cheesecake.

Blackcurrant-Marbled-Cheesecake

Now I have made the 'No Bits Jam'.  Again I adapted the recipe.  I only used two ingredients.

Ingredients
Fresh Blackcurrants
Sugar

Method
I used the same amount of sugar to Blackcurrants.  I didn't add any water.  I simmered the blackcurrants and pressed them through a sieve.  Then I added the sugar and boiled until the jam reached the setting point.  This has made a firm set Jam.  It is important to my youngest son that his jam has 'no bits'!

Today I picked fruit in the garden again.  The sun was shining and almost ripening them faster than I could pick them!  This year there seems to be a bumper harvest.

and ................

I have already turned the Raspberries into five jars of Raspberry 'No Bits' Jam.  The Raspberries are ripening and want picking everyday.  I have a 'Creative Spinning Workshop' to go to tomorrow evening and again on Saturday, I am going to bake 'Raspberry Buns' and 'Blackcurrant Muffins' to help me keep my strength up!

My son had an English Literature Exam yesterday he had to write an Essay on 'Of Mice and Men'.  I had to do that when I was at school!   I can remember one quote from the whole book!  The character Lenny used to repeat to himself;
'Live of the fat of the land'.  It gave him hope and comfort to dream of a day when he could own his own land and become self sufficient!  I wonder if he liked jam and turnips?

What a lovely pair!

A lovely pair of turnips, the first two of the year!  Turnips are my accidental speciality.  With my abundance of Blackcurrants and this pair of beauties I am really 'living off the fat of the land'.

They were washed, peeled and chopped within minutes along with swede, carrots and onion.

It was all mixed thoroughly together with some minced steak and seasoned with lots of salt and black pepper.

Wrapped up in a circle of Shortcrust  Pastry and Baked until Golden Brown.

A Cornish Pasty to my mind has to contain a bit of turnip for it to be 'Proper' 

I have shown you 'Cornish Pasties with the recipe in this previous post' I just wanted to show off my turnips!  I am off to Google 'Vegetable shows', I think mine are winners!

Blog Interview - Karen Ratto Whooley Author of 'I cant believe I am Crocheting Socks' and Professional Crocheter

Karen Ratto Whooley Author of 'I can't Believe I am Crocheting Socks'

I thought it would be interesting to hear the perspective of a successful Business Woman, who has turned their craft into a career.  Karen is the Author of the book offered in my 'Give Away'.

She has successfully turned her crochet into a profession.  I am sure many of us wish our crafts could become our full time pursuits.  I 'e-mailed' Karen and she kindly agreed to answer the following questions for my first ever 'Blog Interview'.  I think you will agree Karen is quite an inspiration and it is all thanks to her 'Nonna' and that first plastic Crochet hook.  I wonder how many of us have a similar 'Nonna' matriarch to thank for our craft skills, who knows one day we may be lucky enough to become a 'Nonna' ourselves and hand this knowledge down.  

How long have you been crocheting and how did you learn?

I have been crocheting for 34 years.When I was just 7 years old, my Nonna (Italian for “Grandmother”) Thought I watched way too much television back in 1974! She gave me a plastic crochet hook and a ball of yarn and in 2 hours I had covered a crochet hook in crochet stitches! After that I was hooked!

You can see a picture of my Nonna AND the Covered Crochet Hook here:http://krwknitwear.com/about/dedication/

How has your latest ‘sock’ book been received, how many copies have you sold so far?

Since the book was released in February, it has been very well received. When I got my first royalty statement in April, it didn’t have a total number of copies, but the amount of my Royalty was staggering!

What future plans do you have in the pipeline?

I just released 4 new patterns in my Indie Crochet Line! (Actually one Knit Design and 3 Crochet) My first written article on Crochet Lace was published in Crochet Today! Magazine. (July/August 2011 issue) I will also be teaching at Both Knit and Crochet Shows (Minneapolis in July,Greensborough NC in September, as well as at the Crochet @ Cama Retreat in October I have several more things coming up the pike, Most of which I cannot discuss at this time as they are under contract. But keep an eye on my website http://krwknitwear.com/ or sign up for my newsletter to keep up with what is new!

How successful are your craft enterprises, is it your full time work?

I have been a Pattern Designer since 1998. And since then it has been my full time job! I started teaching classes Nationally in 2004, and have been teaching almost non-stop on the circuit since then! I am hoping to go international soon!

What has been your most rewarding craft achievement so far?

Honestly, I don’t think I could really name just one. I think my career has been a culmination of many achievements. All of which have been rewarding. What I can say though is that I have 2 teenagers. It really is a satisfied feeling when they tell their friends what I do for living and their friends say, “That is really cool!” When I learned to crochet, My Nonna was the only other crocheter I knew. Now I have friends world-wide!

What advice do you have for fellow crafters who would like to turn their craft into a business?

First, if you are a crocheter, get the book by Darla Sims, 
“Crocheting for Fun and Profit”. I swear that book is still my bible at times.

Don’t expect success overnight. Even in this age of the internet, it takes a lot of leg-work and marketing!

MARKET yourself as well as your work! Let everyone know who you are!! Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms are the way to go.

Become a member of an international trade organization. For Crocheters, it is the http://www.crochet.org/. Despite the title, it is an international organization. If you can join The National Needlework Association and The Craft and Hobby Association as well do that too!

Where do you see yourself in Five years time?

In five years? I hope to be still doing what I love and traveling around the globe sharing it! Be sure I will have more books and patterns out there!http://krwknitwear.com/about/dedication/

Thank you very much Karen for taking time out to answer these questions, you have provided some inspiration and 'food for thought'.  It was very interesting to read your responses and you have provided some very useful links.  I wish you luck in all of your future pursuits and I will certainly be following your work. 

'20 000 Page Views' A Thank You 'Give Away'

I made my mind up that 20 000 page views was going to be worthy of a celebratory Give-Away.  I can not believe I have had over 20 000 page views that seems an awful lot to me!  I would like to thank you,  'Blog readers' from all corners of the Globe.  78 countries to be precise.  It all blows my mind.  I think Blogs are a fantastic way of communicating with each other and I value and enjoy each one of your comments.  I have also made some great Blog Buddies who I love to visit in Cyberspace.  I have learned so much from other peoples blogs and they inspire me to experiment with new skills, crafts and ideas.  All this in just six months of blogging.  You are all Ace.  

The Give Away Prize is this nifty little book containing patterns for crochet socks.

(My Crochet Sock Blog post for anyone that may be interested.)
I loved making my socks but found a distinct shortage of crochet sock patterns.  I bought a copy of this book for myself, when I was looking through it I found myself thinking my Blog Buddies would like this book so I ordered another copy and hatched the give away plan.

If you can Picture yourself glowing with pride, wearing a Pair of hand crocheted socks, made by your own fair hand, then this is the 'Give Away' for you.  All you need to do is leave me a comment by the 17th June and I will pick a lucky winner at random.  I will announce the winner on the 18th of June.

Dyers Picnic - Birmingham and District Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers

What a fantastic day we were very busy and productive.   I had a lot of fun learning a great deal about dyeing and we had a delicious 'Picnic Lunch'.  Dyeing was great fun as a group, as we got to try out several types of dye and dyeing techniques comparing notes and results as we went along..  The member who hosted it did a brilliant job providing the venue (her back garden), setting up the marquee and the camp stoves, organising several dye baths and helping all of us.  The Marquee was perfect to gather under when the sun stop shining and we had a couple of showers of rain.

A 'Weld' Dye bath

We also had Dye baths of Forsythia and Copper, Logwood, Walnut, Onion skin, Madder, Indigo and cochineal.  Acid dyes were also available for people to experiment with.

Acid Dyeing in progress.

Some beautiful Norwegian Fleece Getting the Colourful Experiment treatment

The prettiest washing line for miles around

All of the above colours were produced with Natural Dyes apart from the 'Canary' yellow which is an acid dye.  They are all reasonably Colourfast Dyes.  I loved the pinks and purples.  My favourite is the purple produced by the Logwood.