The First TV Celebrity Cook

They have just announced the death of Marguerite Patten, the great cook - at the ripe old age of 99. I have nothing but admiration for this gracious lady. I was privileged to meet her in 2005, when she gave a talk in London. They'd just re-opened the Churchill War Rooms and Liz and Steph cleverly managed to get tickets to the event.
The three of us went to hear her lecture, the room was small, so there were not many of us there. She was 89 - yet she stood for over an hour and gave the most fascinating talk, without notes, about her wartime experiences, and teaching the nation how to cook on the ration. She was the first person to demonstrate cookery on the BBC - but always called herself a Home Economist, and loathed the term Celebrity Chef! After her talk, she spent ages signing cookbooks and chatting to us. She knew all about Leicester, and said she had given a talk in the DeMontfort Hall during WW2 - she was genuinely pleased to hear that I still followed her advice [handed down by my Mum] of putting a grated carrot into the Christmas pudding, to increase sweetness and keep it moist.
Unlike some older celebrity cooks, who seem to resent the younger generation who follow them into the spotlight, MP was always generous to a fault. Jamie Oliver and others have spoken of the way she encouraged them and helped them. She was interviewed by Chris Evans - and it was riveting to listen to her. 
My Mum had her 1960's "Cookery In Colour" [I wish I knew where it had gone, and still look for a copy in CS sometimes!] and frequently gave a copy as a wedding present to young brides at church. 

Next Monday is World Meat Free Day. Perhaps I should dig out one of my Marguerite Patten meatless wartime recipes and cook something in honour of Hilda Elsie Marguerite Patten - OBE, CBE, and recipient of the 2007 Woman Of The Year Lifetime Achievement Award. More than that, she helped millions of women produce tasty and nourishing meals for their families from the most meagre of resources. 
Marguerite Patten, 1915 - 2015 RIP

Ten Days And Counting...

Because the wedding is there, and we are here, we have accumulated quite a lot of stuff in Dorset that needs to get to Kirby Muxloe for Saturday Week. As well as bunting and table favours and pompoms, there is all the booze [Steph's been saving her beer allowance from work] cakestands, coolboxes and Bob's sound system and stage lighting gear.

Two good friends in Leicester, Chris and Paul, have kindly agreed to let us keep things in their spare bedroom for a week or so. So Bob went up the M1 yesterday to deliver it all. The car was packed to the gunwales*. 

But at least I have some space in the dining room again - it's been out of action for days. 

*Aren't nautical words fascinating? Sailors seem to abbreviate everything and alter pronunciation. Gunwales rhymes with tunnels, boatswain rhymes with chosen, and rowlocks rhymes with...

Baltering - My Secret Pleasure !

Billy Connolly famously said “Never trust a man who, left alone in a room with a tea cosy …doesn’t try it on” This is not something I usually do. But I will ‘fess up to some other secret pleasures.
I am normally a fairly sociable woman – but at 7pm, I usually feel the need to excuse myself from the room and disappear to somewhere else with a radio, so I can catch up with life in Ambridge. Bob assures me these characters are all fictional – but I quite enjoy “the everyday story of country folk” – and it is the only soap where activities centre around the church as well as the pub, and where they can be truly up-to-the-minute with world events [in Ambridge church, they prayed for Princess Diana in the evening, when she had only died that morning. Beat that, Eastenders!]

And I have a strange fondness for programmes with presenters who are both extremely intelligent but also exceptionally tall. My favourites at the moment are the Essex boy, Richard Osman in Pointless, and Grease Junkie Edd China in Wheeler Dealers. Both of these are 6’7” tall [Xander Armstrong is over 6’, but shorter than my Bob, so doesn’t count!] I will happily watch Pointless or Wheeler Dealers and drink tea, when I ought to be doing more meaningful things. Like tidying the kitchen or preparing a meal.

But in the kitchen…If I find my big blue kitchen funnel in the wrong place [like last week when it returned from being used to pour rice into over 200 juggling bags] I will ‘play it’. I'll pick it up like a shofar and march up and down the hall playing a fanfare.
And if there is a good tune on Radio 2 [Chris Evans, Brian Matthew,] or Radio 4’s Sunday Worship I will not only sing along loudly, but also [if nobody else is around] I will dance. I would love to tap dance like Fred and Ginger. But my hopping about is far more random, far less stylish, and considerably less rhythmical than that remarkable duo.

I discovered the word for it this week - in my kitchen, I’m baltering 

Do you ever balter? If so, when and where?

God Made Summer! Enjoy x

I love the new poster outside church this week. What a great message. 
As you will see, the extension work is progressing well, and the roof is now tiled, it blends in well. Work is beginning on fixing cables [easier and neater if done before the plastering] The work is being done by a great team of both paid and volunteer professionals, assisted by volunteer labourers. 
The final picture in the quartet is another Dorset Button. One of our ladies was wearing this brooch on her jacket at the Morning Service, I just had to take a picture. How clever to use a little black bead to make a spider on his web! She said her daughter-in-law made this many years ago. I asked if I could photograph it and have a go myself. Not only did she say yes, but also said she had a good sock pattern using 4 dpns she'd let me have a go at. People are so kind! 
Over the weekend I had an email from someone asking about a favourite knitting pattern I had blogged about, which she had owned years ago, but lost. I was so pleased to be able to help out. Sometimes the internet is truly wonderful.

The Praying Hands

You may be familiar with this picture of "Study of the Hands of an Apostle"- a pen and ink drawing by the artist Albrecht Dürer drawn around 500 years ago. The popular legend is that the artist drew the hands of his brother, who sacrificed the dream of training as an artist, and went down the mines to earn the money to pay for Albrecht’s studies. Touching – but probably untrue! 

When I was in my teens, I’d often sit next to Mum in church and look down at her hands, clasped in prayer. She didn’t go in for manicures or nail varnish – her hands were wrinkled, working hands – their only adornments a simple wedding band, and the engagement ring with the tiny diamond, which Dad bought her when they were in their teens.
I’d compare her wrinkled skin with my own smooth pink hands, and wonder if I’d ever have a husband one day - plus the accompanying engagement and wedding rings. Since our burglary, I have been wearing her engagement ring, as my own was stolen.

Mum was an amazing lady, and even when her health problems made her less mobile, she still had a very active prayer life. I was thinking about her this week as I prepared my sermon on Exodus 20; 12 [Honour your mother and father]

As I was preparing, I was sitting praying – I opened my eyes and looked down…and saw that same engagement ring, but the wrinkled hands are mine now. 
May God give me the grace to honour her memory always – and to love, serve and pray as she did. 

Notion noun [plural noun: notions]

1.    A conception of or belief about something.

2.    an impulse or desire, especially one of a whimsical kind.

3.    Notions [plural]items used in sewing, such as buttons, pins,hooks.

 

I love sewing notions – and especially whimsical representations of them – like my ‘cotton reel’ which is Bob made as an occasional table, and my 'button' which is a necklace, [and my much loved, but sadly lost, 'zip-pull' ear-rings]

So I was really thrilled with a Christmas present from my cousin – ‘button drawing pins’ We were rather late exchanging gifts this year, which is why I have only just got them –but here they are up on the pinboard.

In case you are wondering, the pins are holding up the Periodic Table Of Sewing Elements – a fabulous chart which my friend Pat told me about [find it at the Scientific Seamstress here]

It is full of wonderful words from the sewing room – but when I looked at Ar, I wondered what armscye was. Another new word to learn – armscye means armhole – believed to be Scottish or Ulster dialect, from arm’s eye [Nana Go-go and Mags, do either of you know this term?]

Thanks for all the kind comments about my first Dorset buttons – I have to say they are a lot easier to make than I expected. The skill is clearly in creating the spokes evenly, and making the crossing place right in the centre. Practice, practice, practice!

Blame It On Bathsheba's Buttons!

Once I’d seen Carey Mulligan as Bathsheba Everdene, in a dress fastened with Dorset buttons, I wanted to learn to make them! When we visited the Shaftesbury Museum, I looked at the display there, then I went onto Henry’s Buttons website. I bought 20 small brass rings for £1 in the sewing shop in Wimbledon [sadly closing down, after 69 years]when I was up in London for my WWDP committee. And then last weekend, I set about teaching myself to make them. There’s plenty of information online 

Here are my first attempts – the smaller ones I was pleased with – the larger ones I shall take to bits. [The white thread twisted and tangled too much, the brown metallic yarn did not give me the effect I wanted] The hanging threads are left on so you have something to use to attached the finish button to the garment. But in answer to my friend Pat’s question “What will you put in your Orla Keilly jar”"?” the answer is “Ongoing button crafts” – especially now I have two. Bob returned from London on Tuesday mighty with a yellow OK jar from Steph [thank you daughter!]

I did take them down to the Craft & Coffee Morning in the church hall on Monday [a monthly event run by my friend Ali] in the hopes that a local expert would come along and advise! One lady told me she was going to a talk on Dorset buttons, and another said she had a book at home – and both promised to come to the next one and tell me more. The buttons are on sale in the Wimborne Museum Shop – made into brooches with a pin on the back. A good gift idea. The other sort of Dorset button is the Singleton - named after the family who made them. [bottom left in the top picture] They too start on the foundation of a brass ring- but it is first covered with fabric and then embroidered and embellished. I shall master producing more evenly stitched cartwheel buttons before I move on to them, I think!

Thirty Seven Is A Good Number!

37 is a fascinating number- it is a prime, a centred hexagonal number, and has all sorts of other weird mathematical properties. 37ºC is normal body temperature.  Psalm 37  is a fantastic psalm, full of encouragements. And Thirty Seven is the great coffee shop just round the corner. 


I had set aside Wednesday morning to write a sermon, but the phone kept ringing and there were things constantly disturbing my thoughts. I was feeling a bit frustrated.

I had to walk to the letter box, so I just kept walking up to 37, and installed myself with a medium coffee [which I consider to be large] on the sofa, and sat with my Bible, a notebook and a pen, working away. I dealt with a couple of text messages, but generally worked undisturbed for ages. Bob joined me at lunchtime, and we chatted over a sandwich, checked diaries and discussed my sermon.

And I not only got loads of preparation done, but felt rested and refreshed. “And they have free WiFi” said Bob. As I do not possess a tablet or smartphone, this is of little use to me. But I can recommend their coffee [and sandwiches!] I do think their logo is clever, making the digits look like a steaming cuppa.

Here's a lovely verse from Psalm 37. No, that isn't my text for Sunday, I am preaching on  Exodus 20:12 , as we are working through the commandments and are at #5

From The Manse To The Priest’s House

Before Bob drove off to London yesterday to see Steph and Mark, he and I went over to Wimborne, for coffee and a wander round the town museum. Located just off the main square, right opposite the Minster, is the Priest’s House. The oldest parts of the grade II* listed building date to the 16th century; originally there would have been an open courtyard at the front, but it was enclosed about 200 years after the house was first built. Despite its name, and proximity to the church, there is no record of a priest living there, and the present name in fact appeared for the first time on an Ordnance Survey map only in 1889.

From the second half of the 19th century, the building was mainly an ironmonger’s shop, taken over by Tom Coles from his father in 1899. Tom was born in the house and, in 1907, so was his daughter, Hilda. Hers was a lively, intelligent personality, but she saw it as her duty to help her father in the business and to take over the running of it on his death in 1953. In 1960 Hilda took the decision to close the shop and, having inherited her father’s passionate interest in everything connected with the history of Wimborne, fulfilled her long-cherished wish to make the building into a town museum.

Part of the building had been let to the stationery business run by the Low family. When John Low closed the business in 1872, he gave the eccentric instruction that the shop was to be boarded up and remain untouched until his death.

When he died thirty years later, Tom Coles found and kept a range of items of Victorian stationery. Among them were more than 350 Valentines which now form one of the best collections in existence and are regarded as of national importance. The room that was the stationer’s shop forms one of the displays in the museum. Hilda died in 1967, but the Museum remains a vibrant legacy to her love of the town and its heritage.

When he died thirty years later, Tom Coles found and kept a range of items of Victorian stationery. Among them were more than 350 Valentines which now form one of the best collections in existence and are regarded as of national importance. The room that was the stationer’s shop forms one of the displays in the museum. Hilda died in 1967, but the Museum remains a vibrant legacy to her love of the town and its heritage. This guy in the parlour has some fantastic Dorset Buttons on his jacket!

There are ten galleries to explore, a walled garden and a tearoom [the tearoom sadly was closed when we visited, and heavy rain kept us out of the garden – but next time…]It is really worth a visit [or two – a day pass is £3, a year’s pass only £5.50] We enjoyed the Georgian Parlour, the Victorian kitchen and schoolroom, displays of East Dorset Industry, and lots more besides.

The Museum is well set up for children/ school parties, and has good information panels, artefacts in glass cases at and things which can be touched, space for visitors to add comments and reminiscences…

But I must be getting old - not only were there things on display that I have and use- there were toys similar to the ones my children played with. I suppose thirty years ago counts as history now...

A Useful Pot

It was a warm day, and he had a long way to go. He hadn't gone more than half-way when a sort of funny feeling began to creep all over him. It began at the tip of his nose and trickled all through him and out at the soles of his feet. It was just as if somebody inside him were saying, "Now then, Pooh, time for a little something."
"Dear, dear," said Pooh, "I didn't know it was as late as that." So he sat down and took the top off his jar of honey. "Lucky I brought this with me," he thought. "Many a bear going out on a warm day like this would never have thought of bringing a little something with him." And he began to eat.
"Now let me see," he thought! as he took his last lick of the inside of the jar, "Where was I going? Ah, yes, Eeyore." He got up slowly. And then, suddenly, he remembered. He had eaten Eeyore's birthday present! "Bother!" said Pooh. "What shall I do? I must give him something." For a little while he couldn't think of anything. Then he thought: "Well, it's a very nice pot, even if there's no honey in it, and if I washed it clean, and got somebody to write 'A Happy Birthday' on it, Eeyore could keep things in it, which might be Useful." 

I love the story of Eeyore's birthday present.

Two weeks ago at church, I'd been chatting with a friend about the Douwe Egberts Coffee Jars, with the Orla Keilly design. "The thing is," I said "I love OK's art, but neither of us drinks instant coffee - I cannot justify buying a jar when I don't want the contents!"
This week she surprised me with ...an empty jar [in the orange colour which was the one I liked best!] and an extra little gift 'to buy the coffee you really like' How thoughtful is that?

She said her husband was concerned that she bought the coffee in the supermarket 'for Angela' and then emptied the jar when she got home - but she explained we are coffee snob and it was the right thing to do!
Marie Kondo says "the true purpose of a present is to be received" - and once you have said 'thank you', and felt the joy of receiving it then you can do what you like with it...don't feel guilty for throwing it away. Well this is one gift received with great joy, which I will use and treasure. Surely the true purpose of a gift is to be given,  a sign of friendship, love, whatever.

I had another lovely gift on Saturday - the WWDP ladies in Albania had a workshop recently, and sent me a handmade lace bookmark for my Bible.  One of the least religious countries in the world, it takes courage to be a Christian there. I have lots of bookmarks already - so sorry MK, I am keeping this one, as a reminder to pray for my sisters in Albania.
Another purpose of a gift - to remind me to be thankful

KonMari Contrary

OK, I did try – I reserved Marie Kondo’s bestseller “The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying” from the Dorset libraries. I was 16^th in the queue – and by the time it arrived for me in the Ferndown branch, I had rather lost enthusiasm. I freely acknowledge for many people that this book has been a revelation – but it doesn’t work for me at all. The writing style irritated me- but perhaps that may be bad translation from the Japanese.

For starters, MK’s method [called KonMari after her childhood nickname] is not so much about tidying as discarding. She suggests you eliminate anything from your home that does not bring you joy. You must actually put your hand on each thing [dress, book, ornament, whatever] and if you don’t feel the joy, then out it goes. No argument. “What about the cat litter tray?” said Liz – “I won’t be filled with joy if I put my hand in it, but it is essential in my flat!” MK says there must be genuine joy, not sentimental attachment to things from the past, you must live in the present. Bob says this is why I can’t do it. I pick up a book, and read the inscription in the front – and thank the Lord for the Girls’ Brigade Captain who gave it, and for all she taught me. I look at the little badge in my jewellery box, bearing the photo of a lad killed on his motorbike – and I remember to pray for his Mum back in Kirby Muxloe. My hot water bottle is in an old red cover, it was my Mum’s, and cuddling it reminds me of her. So many of my things carry memories – but happy ones, which inspire me to go on, to do more, to pray more, to love more…

MK won’t let you stockpile either, and cites people who store 20,000 cotton buds. “Only buy things as you need them” She’d be horrified at the idea of my Great Stash in the loft – which is constantly changing – fabric and yarn used up, and more mysteriously arrives as needed [like the widow’s oil in the OT] and my pantry, with bottled plums and jars of marmalade – prepared and stored in season. They all get used, or given away…eventually.  William Morris’ mantra about keeping only what you know to be useful or believe to be beautiful works better for me. And as for only having a minimal number of plates [you can always buy disposables if you have guests round, she says] I accept there are just 2 of us most of the time – but in the short time we have been here, we have hosted two events, one with 60+ guests, the other with 20+ [and we haven’t even got to the BBQ or Christmas season] To buy and discard would be both expensive and not eco-friendly. She also tells you to throw away almost all paper- including payslips – she’s obviously not a teacher in the UK, then. If I had not kept my payslips, I would have lost a significant amount of my pension

And as for ' don't keep spare bedlinen for visitors - just rent a set of sheets when you need them' What!??!! There really doesn’t seem to be that much about tidying, more about ways to organise and store. Keep everything that is alike in the same place. Must I go upstairs whenever I need scissors, or have all the radios in the bedroom? And her vague instruction about ‘all electrical things should be in a box together’- makes no sense at all [razor, food mixer, sewing machine…??]

Everything needs to be folded, a key Japanese principle [they invented origami] I fold teeshirts - but socks and tights? She says "Socks bust their chops for you, if you ball them up they don't get a chance to rest. The socks in your drawer are essentially on holiday"

Our socks are rolled tidily in the approved Van Der Zanden rectangles,  I haven't heard complaints. 

Her technique for hanging clothes is “Hang up anything that looks happier hung up, and arrange like with like, matching colours, working from left to right, with dark, heavy clothing on the left: Clothes, like people, can relax more freely when in the company of others who are very similar in type, and therefore organizing them by category helps them feel more comfortable and secure.”

And she allows a few books- but suggests they be kept on a shelf in a cupboard. But books do furnish a room! I cannot get on with her habit of anthropomorphism, thanking the kettle for boiling, and being grateful to my sewing machine. [MK claims such gratitude makes these items work harder to give you joy!]  I thank the LORD, often, for all His blessings- and I thank individuals too [I frequently tell Bob how grateful I am that he bought me my machine, or tell the girls how much joy the bicycle brings me] I make-do-and-mend, I recycle and re-use stuff, I save things, I redeem them, It might work in Japan, but sorry Ms Kondo, your scheme doesn’t work for me at all. I wait to see how long it is before her books start appearing in the CS.   Rant over!!

[PS apologies that blogposts are looking strange. Live Writer has stopped working properly]

A Positive Young Woman

Hayley Young is 28 years old - and pastor of Hayling Island Baptist Church. Recently she lost all her hair as a side effect of medication. People started asking what was wrong. She put her testimony on YouTube. May God bless her, and her ministry

Sock It To Me, Baby!

The humble sock - it features in so many of our phrases

• I'm 4'11½" in my socks
• the teacher told me to pull my socks up and finish my homework
• his singing was dreadful, and his sister said he should put a sock in it
• the academic girl was a real blue stocking
• these peppermints could blow your socks off!
• sock it to me, baby!

The Romans wore sock type foot-coverings, and up at Vindolanda, a fort on Hadrian's Wall, writings  were discovered about udonum, socks of woven woollen cloth.

The Latin word was soccus, the Anglo Saxons referred to brocs, and later, stoccs.

By Tudor times, people spoke of hose, chausses [French] Jersey Hose, and longpikes [these were stockings with soles attached] Shakespear refers to socks as buskins

Handknitting ones' socks was a popular craft throughout Europe - in Denmark they held bindestues [knitting bees] in Wales once Autumn arrived, that meant noswaith weu [knitting nights] The Lithuanians dyed their wool yellow with the amber resin, and the Norwegians made flammegarn - an amazing striped yarn, produced by tie dyeing hanks of wool. The women of Yorkshire wound the wool round a thropple - an amazing gadget produced from the dried windpipe of a goose, formed into a circle with pebbles inside. If they dropped it in the dim light, they could hear where the ball had rolled! 

Back to socks again - Latvians believed that if you wore your socks inside out at seed sowing time, it would confuse the Devil and result in good crops. Also, that if you got lost, and put your socks on inside out, you would be able to find your way home again!

I learned all this from Nancy Bushes amazing book about folk socks. It is full of great historical facts, information on techniques [heel and toe shaping etc] and 17 traditional patterns from Europe [and one Egyptian design]

I got this from the library but I am seriously considering investing in my own copy.

WHY did I get this book out? Blame Liz, the latest knitting enthusiast in the family. She gave me two balls of sock yarn at Easter - having purchased them herself, she decided she didn't want to use them after all. So I thought I should have a go.

But I confess that when it came to it, I chickened out rather. I do have some double pointed needles [inherited from my wonderful Mother in law] but in the end I went back to the twin needle sock pattern which I purchased from Web of Wool in Leamington Spa many, many years ago.

It is very quick, and the seam is up the inside of the foot and calf, so does not rub your soles. The toe is joined with Kitchener stitch.

The yarn came from Tiger, that chain of Danish homeware shops, and was relatively inexpensive. It will be interesting to see how well it washes and wears.

I think I should persevere with the 4-needle method though - this 15th Century painting from Germany clearly shows the child Jesus reading, while his mother labours away on her dpns, knitting 'in the round'. If the BVM can do it, then I ought to try harder at this craft.

Was Mary Poppins Nanny McPhee's Aunt?

At Christmas 1964, my Grandmother took me to the cinema to see Mary Poppins. I loved it! Julie Andrews singing, Dick Van Dyke’s crazy dancing [ignore his appalling accent] and the lovely views of London [we were living in cold County Durham then, which felt like the far north to me. I missed the Metropolis]I scoured the library for more P L Travers.

When I won my Sunday School Prizes that year, they came in the form of book tokens [My Dad had suggested that it was better to give children a choice, rather than foist unwanted books on them] I spent mine on Mary Poppins in the Park

There were 8 Poppins books – five written between 1934-52, one which came out just before the film, and 2 in the 1980s [I don’t think I read them] At the end of my book, it simply says “Chelsea, London, March 1952 G. I. E. D.” Dad explained that was Gloria in Excelsis Deo  - Glory to God in The Highest. Which seemed a little odd to me at the time.

Then Morgan, thoughtful as ever, read my post where I mentioned the new film and offered to lend me her DVD. We watched it over the Bank Holiday weekend. It was charming. It tells two stories – how Walt Disney promised his daughters he would make a film of their favourite book, and the difficulties he had persuading the author to let him – and alongside that, the story of P L Travers childhood, and her relationship with her father.The film was clever, witty, and happy – and alongside that, was thought-provoking and poignant. The Sherman brothers [played by  B J Novak and Jason Schwartzman] were utterly brilliant, as they sat at the piano and created the songs for the film [alarmingly, it appears that Bob and I seem to know all the words!] and Annie Rose Buckley plays a wonderful Ginty [Ginty was PL Travers childhood nickname – she was born Helen Lyndon Goff, and her parents were Travers and Margaret] But my favourite characters were Walt Disney himself and Pamela Travers. WD was Tom Hanks [is it me, or do other people think he is becoming the 21st century’s equivalent of James Stewart?] and PLT was Emma Thompson. That woman is so gifted!

 

But having enjoyed Morgan’s DVD, I took my 50 year-old Poppins down from the shelf to read it again. And i struck me that Nanny McPhee owes an awful lot to Ms Travers, and Miss Poppins. PLT would not let Walt make any more films, but some of the ideas in later MP books do seem to have crept into the Nanny McPhee stuff. These nannies only hang about whilst they are needed, and they fly off when the wind changes!

Thank you Morgan for lending me the DVD, definitely a *****

Spit spot! Let’s go fly a kite, or feed the birds!

Roll Up! Roll Up!

I keep my knitting needles in this bag. It originally belonged to my mother-in-law, so it has lots of good memories. She taught me some useful tips. Liz has just become an enthusiastic knitter and asked for a ‘knitting needle roll’ for her birthday. So I made her one, to hold needles of all shapes and sizes. Here’s how

You need 5 pieces

A outer piece 45 x 65cm, B [contrast] lining 45 x 30cm, C pocket 45 x 25 cm, D tiny pocket 10 x 22cm and E piece of Aida or felt 7cm square

First, turn under 1cm on the short edges of A,C, and D. Press and stitch down [I used a pretty contrast stitch. Then fold piece D in half longways and sew across the other end. Turn right side out and press. This gives you the flap for the tiny pocket. Fold up the hemmed edge and sew side seams. Turn inside out to make pocket.Add a button on the flap and make a button loop. Zigzag the pocket in place onto the bottom of piece A. NOTE the top of the pocket should be towards the hemmed edge, 4cm in from side, 4cm down from hem.

Place the square of Aida in the centre at the bottom of piece A and zigzag in place. Pin piece C on top of B, 25cm from the top, with hemmed edge on the overlap.

Your two parts should look like the picture above. Now concentrate carefully! Turn over your pinned pieces B & C and pin them to the top of piece A [so right sides are together] There will be a piece of A showing at the bottom, with tiny pocket and Aida square. Seam round the three sides [left, top, right] of the B&C piece, clip corners, and turn to right side. Press [including pressing in seam allowance on the flap of A.

 

Now mark your channels – I used pins at top and pen on the inside of the flap – ten at 3cm wide, five at 2cm wide. Begin by stitching a guideline just above the top of the pocket.[below left]

Now you need to stitch the channels. Start at the top, stitch down to the mark, then turn and stitch back up over the line just stitched. Then stitch along your horizontal guideline, to the next mark. Go down & up again to the end.Now fold up your bottom flap to make the lower pocket. Zigzag down the sides to hold it in place. You are going to sew some channels on this pocket too – over the top of previous lines.

BUT you cannot sew along the top this time, or you will close of the other pockets. So this time sew your guideline close to the bottom edge.Using the first lot of channels as a guide, stitch a 3cm channel between the little pocket and the Aida, and six or seven 2cm channels on the right hand side. You will find that the stitching from the first lot of channels will give you a guide.

Take two 50cm lengths of tape or ribbon. Fold each in half, and stitch the centre of each on the outside of the roll at the edge of the two pockets.

Now load up with your stuff –

• regular needles go in the long pockets,
• circular needles in the large short pockets [left and centre]
• short needles, cable needles, dpns, scissors,stitch holders, crochet hook in the narrow short pockets
• row counter, tape measure etc in the tiny pocket
• pins and needles fix into the Aida[make sure they are vertical NOT horizontal, with points downwards]

Fold down the top flap, to stop needles slipping out in transit, roll up, tie up, and you are ready to go!

This was not an easy project. I had to keep stopping and checking things were the right way up, and that I was not stitching across channels by mistake. Many of the online tutorials only have one tie – but I found that two made the roll neater, and that long ties enabled me to double wrap before tying the bows, for extra security. I have to tell you that those are all my needles in the finished picture. I’m afraid that I removed most of them before posting the case off to Liz. She knows I have plenty of spares, and will always let her have a particular size if she needs them.

The pretty blue needlecord came from the Great Stash – back in 1988 when my parents had their Ruby Wedding Anniversary Celebration Party,  I got a large piece of this fabric for a song from the Laura Ashley Sale at the shop in Bromley, and made 3 matching pinafore dresses- for Liz, Steph, and myself. We must have looked like the Von Trapp Family [sorry, girls!] This is the remaining piece. It is good to be able to use it for another family project. Liz only started knitting again in January – in 5 months she has really progressed, joined Ravelry, and already produced lots of small bits and pieces for friends and family [baby stuff etc] Happy Knitting, Liz!