Clover Adjustable Tassel Maker

These fab little gadgets popped into the Hobbycraft store recently, so of course, I had to take one home to try it out.

It is a Clover Tassel maker.  Basically an adjustable frame that you change to suit what size tassel you wish to make by using the screws on the side.

Then you simply wrap your yarn, cotton, ribbon, thread - anything you want to use really, around the frame, tie it in the middle, cut and wrap the tassley head bit.

It really is that simple and quick!   The instructions are clear and show you exactly what to do, and the tassels are really good when finished.  You could use them to make curtain tie backs, keyrings, earrings, corners for cushions, anything really.

Sorry for the duff photo though!!

Now, do I need one of these for myself?  I think I might do actually.

"Driving Home For Christmas" event by Tebay Services

If you have ever driving right up North, up the M6, you will have passed Tebay Services.   Just before Shap if driving Northbound.

It's a really pretty place to stop, and most unlike any other service station that I have stopped at.  It has a great reputation for lovely products and fabulous food.  

What.... wait a minute?   Service station - fabulous food..... how does that work?  Well, it does, check out their Trip Advisor reviews more more details.


So, I was delighted to be invited to their "Driving Home For Christmas" event last week.  It's not too far from home for me, 40 or so miles, down the straight M6, but just in case there was 'tipple' on offer, I organised a driver  ;)  Good job too as it happens.

It is a very clean and inviting building,  and of course I need to mention the toilets, as surely this is the number one reason that most people stop off at Motorway Services?
Spotlessly clean, plenty of cubicles and a Dyson hand dryer  (I do love those things!!)   You can even have a shower if you need one.

When we got there we wandered into the event room, which overlooks the pond with lots of little ducks bobbing about.  Got offered a soft drink, or Prosecco - well, I had a driver so why not, thank you very much.

Tables were set all around with all the different suppliers that supply Tebay Services with the amazing goodies that you will find within the shop there.

Our first stop was the Christmas Pudding table, aka The Buxton Pudding Company.

The most amazing Christmas pudding I have ever tasted, bar my Mother's.  I never usually like a 'bought' pud, but this was very yummy, and best of all - vegetarian!   A lot of bought puds use beef suet, so it was lovely to find a veggie one.  Dom (the chap above) told us that the little Robins that feast on the leftover suet each year were not impressed at 'going veggie'.... the first year they didn't eat the veggie suet, the next they returned - so all is good there   :)


Next stop was all about pies. The Pie Mill is based in Threlkeld, right bang in the middle of the Lake District, and their pies are names after the fells in the area.
I didn't eat at this table as they were all meat based (apart from a delicious looking apple one, but I fear that was there for show and I didn't think I could eat it all in one go without anyone noticing   ;)

My guests tried the pies for me.  There was a turkey and chestnut with cranberry topping, and a beef with melted stilton topping.

It was hard to get a review out of them as they were so busy chewing and making very appreciative noises.  But I did get 'tender', 'beautiful', ' creamy', 'delicious'.  Work out what you will from that   :)


Onwards to the cheese table, aka, The Appleby Creamery.  I LOVE cheese, and there was plenty to sample on here.  From Smoked Brie (unusual, yet really good) to a hard, cheddar style, goats cheese called 'Hootenanny'.

This is Morris, and his name is not on the supplier information below as he has taken over the business.  He's the 'new guy'.

And vegetarians need not worry as veggie rennet is used throughout their whole range!  Fantastic.
(I had to buy some of this Brie as it was just so good!!)

The next stop was a relish and cracker offering.... but I got side-tracked by a lady waving Toffee Vodka samples at me, so will backtrack to that one later   :)

This is her, Judith, from Kin Vodka, the lady with the tray of naughtyness - good job I had a driver really as I delved in for a taste.  

Oh my goodness..... I could happily drink a bottle of this, without mixer!

After our neat sample, which we all agreed was yummy (except our driver of course) Judith went on to pop a plop or two in our half drunk Prosecco glasses to make a fun cocktail.  That was nice too.  Hic!

Vodka tested, we backtracked back to the relish table where we found The Hawkshead Relish Company, and seven pots of various relish, jams, butters to try.  

I tried every single one of them!  I really did.  My very favourite was the Damson & Port Jam... or was it the Rum Butter?,  I think I am still undecided.   But that jam would be amazing on a Brie baguette with Brie from the Appleby Creamery.

Following on to the next stand was a bit of a dangerous one for me as it was Stollen!  I totally love stollen, I try not to buy it too often as I just trough it until it is gone, but it would have been most rude not to try some of this lovely looking handmade one.

Great big slices.... which Patrick, from More Artisan Bakery, then spoiled by cutting in half, and I told him so too, so I got a full slice all to myself   :)
Heaven in a bread, that's all I am going to say about that!

I spent the rest of the evening trying to brush icing sugar off my top, it was in vain.  Hint: don't wear black when taste-testing Stollen.


Fellow Veggie people look away now as the next stop was A Taste Of The Lakes, who specialise in charcuterie.

Now this stuff must have been nice as I could barely drag my guests away as they tasted chicken, salmon and sausage.  "Beautiful" was the adjective most used whilst we stood at this stand, and I heard it a good few times.

Last, but not least, was The Eden Brewery stand - no samples at this one, but we did get one in a goody bag to take away with us.  Not yet tried it, I am waiting for the right moment.

I really do need to get a bottle of the beer called Antifreeze, it is such a brilliant name.  A few of their beers are inspired by the film Withnail & I and they have fab names too such as The Embalmer and HearHareBear.


Look at this - Kendal Mint Cake Liqueur!, sadly no taster available, but I really need to buy a bottle.  I bet it is just divine.

I will leave you with some final photos, just so you can see what a wonderful event you missed.  But I hope you will be inspired to visit Tebay Services next time you are passing.  I certainly will, in fact we have made it our mission to be our stop next time we are heading off somewhere.  We were planning to eat dinner there after the event, but we had all eaten too many samples to squeeze anything else in!

A final note, can I just thank Tebay Services, and namely Ellen, for inviting me to this exciting event.  I really enjoyed it and your hospitality was just wonderful.

Dave The Seagull - from Kerry Lord's new book

Meet Dave.....

I was sent Kerry Lord's new book "Edward's Menagerie Takes Flight" to review.

You may remember that I made a few animals last year from her original book "Edward's Menagerie", I made an Ardvark, a Koala, a Bunny and a Cat.

So when I got the email offering me a chance to review the book, of course I jumped at it.

I got a PDF copy which I opened on my iPad using iBooks.   In this book, same as the first, the patterns are laid out differently to other crochet books I have used.   You get the basic body patterns in the beginning of the book, making up instructions in the back of the book, and any adaptations on each single pattern as you work through the book.

This can be a little frustrating as you are constantly flicking back and forward to see which part to do next.  For example, you turn to the pattern you want to make and it says "work basic body pattern" - so off you go to the front and find the basic body pattern, to which the first instruction is "work 6DC into the foundation ring", so then you have to go to the back of the book to find out how to do the foundation ring.  Which is actually just DC2 then work 6 x DC into the 2nd CH.  It wouldn't be too much harder to just put this instruction on the basic pattern to save you flicking back and forth.

Colour changes are also mentioned on each pattern page, so you need to make note of these or you will forget to change as you work  :)

Obviously once you have made a few you remember the instructions, but in the interim it's just a little frustrating - ESPECIALLY when it is a PDF version.

That is my only grumble, other than that this book, as the first, is just gorgeous.  It's beautifully set out, easy enough to follow and is concise in the directions, even though they are scattered about all over the place.

I decided to make Dave, the Seagull.  Because where we park at work there is a seagull issue - mainly with the pooping on our cars and making an awful mess.

However, I have no issues with seagulls, I have issues with the humans that leave the mess that seagulls eat, therefore encouraging them to hang around populated areas before complaining about them - but that's another rant   :)

So, Dave it was - I added my own little addition of a seagull poop so I could photograph him on my colleagues car  (who doesn't share my respect and wants to shoot them all  ;) )

Dave will be donated to that colleague after he has been on a little road trip with me.  So look out for him in future blogs.

In the meantime, if you fancy Kerry's beautiful books for yourself, you can find the links below.

Edward's Menagerie.
Edward's Menagerie Takes Flight.

DMC Natura XL - a review

I was sent some DMC Natura XL yarn to play with.  Now I am not a stranger to this yarn, as I have used the DMC Natura before in crocheting.  But this XL one is super chunky and comes in a gorgeous range of colours, like it's thinner cousin.

It is just cotton, nothing mixed, nothing added, just 100& cotton.  Because of this there is very little stretch and the stitches are beautifully defined.

Like most cottons it does untwist a bit so some people can find them a bit 'splitty', I don't mind that, my Amour hooks seem to cope really well with splitty yarns so it is not a problem for me.  I wasn't overly keen on the bamboo hook that I received with the yarns, but I am a bit of a one-hook girl so try it for yourself and see.

The colours of the DMC Natura XL are amazing - right up my street, they just pop out with summery brightness, who couldn't be cheerful when faced with colours like these?

There was a little leaflet with a pattern in the package with the yarn so I thought I would make some bits off that, like these wristwarmers.

And some little hearts - although the given pattern didn't seem to work so well so I added a row and edited it slightly to suit.   

Of course I had to make a heart out of every colour, then make some again  :)   So I decided to add them to a simple crochet chain to make a pretty garland.

As I had quite a bit of yarn left I then went on to crochet into this hula-hoop to make a rather large wall hanging, you may remember this one from a previous post.  :)

...... and now I have a new pile of DMC Natura XL to make something quite exciting with.  Watch this space   :)

Vinoa Wine Tasting Subscription Service - review

I recently got this....  It is a Vinoa Wine Tasting Box.

It popped up on my Facebook news feed and I thought it sounded quite interesting, so off I popped to have a look.

I found a 'Welcome Box' where you just pay the postage at £2.99, so I went ahead and ordered one. 

You do have to sign up to have them delivered monthly, but you can cancel before the first month.

I was excited to find this neat little box pop through my letterbox.  With proper (tiny) glass bottles neatly packed inside.  And it does go through a regular letterbox, so no trailing down to the post depot to collect your parcel if you miss the post-person.

The bottles hold 50ml each - so the total volume is just under a large glass.  For £10.00  (the regular price) I did think it was expensive..... for a glass of wine...... which was why I was 'planning' to cancel it after the first box.

So, you get a little card where you place your 4 glasses.

And into each glass your little dribble of wine does go.

Then you log onto the Vinoa website and follow the interactive guide.

Now, a little tip.  BEFORE you open the bottles and pour it all out, make sure you are set up on the website and logged in.  It took me AGES to request a new password, sort it all out, set up a profile etc..  and all the time I could smell the wine, sitting there, waiting to be drank.

And we are ready to taste...  

The interactive guide takes you through some easy steps.  The first one it tells you what the wine should look like, colour, clarity etc...

Then you go on to smell.  You have to pick the icons on the screen that you think you can smell - such as tobacco, spices and fruits.   It will then tell you if you are right or wrong, and if you are wrong what the correct ones were.

Next is taste - no gulping it down on this bit.  The guide shows you how to test for tannins and how to pick up on the flavours.

At the end of each separate glass, it tells you how much the wine sells for (you can buy it from their website if you like it)  The are well priced, these particular ones from about £6.00 through to £21.00.  Of course, my favourite was the darkest, deepest, most expensive Red  ;)

Gulp!  Gone!

As I mentioned before, I was going to go and cancel this subscription once I had tried the first box, but I enjoyed the whole process so much that I didn't, I am going to stay with it as it was loads of fun learning about the tastes and the smells. I am going to treat it as educational   ;)  And those little glass bottles are so darn cute!

My next box is due very soon.  Can't wait  ;)