Let’s Talk Tea

 

Hello,

Welocme to my very first blog posting on Country Cottage Crochet.  I live in a country cottage in Oxfordshire and lots of crochet goes on here along with many other things. I hope to share all of them as time goes on.  But, as the blog post title says, ‘Let’s talk Tea’   Last week I went to the new shopping centre that has opened in the centre of Oxford. There to my delight was a T2tea shop. I was in heaven before I even entered. How can there be so many wonderful teas in one place. The choice was endless. It was tea heaven for sure. I love tea leaves better than anything. There is nothing better than sniffing the aroma of tea leaves and as soon as I sniffed the leaves of ‘White Rose’ tea I was hooked. Divine is the only word. I could have sniffed it forever. The lovely man in the shop offered to brew some so I could taste it. Oh, that was it. I was at the till with my box of ‘White Rose’ before you could say ‘Tea up’ If that wasn’t enough I then spotted their beautiful teaware. Well, seriously, how could I resist. So, the tea of the day today is ‘White Rose’ It’s not cheap, I warn you. It was around £12 for a box but you do get a fair amount for that and I think it’s worth every penny. I usually buy my tea online so this shop was a wonderful discovery. I love loose tea. I have teabags too but the best cup of tea is made with loose tea, I think.

My lovely new tea cup.

You can never have too many tea cups can you?

Visiting the shops reminded me just how near Christmas is and I’ve still got lots of thing I want to make as presents. It’s the first Christmas I have been confident enough to make things for other people. I started to learn crochet last December. I needed something calming. My stress levels were far too high. My blood pressure was up and I needed something to focus my attention on other than work. Andrew, my husband went away on a course in London and I bough myself a hook and some yarn and followed some crochet tutorials. Bella Coco and Jayda in Stiches were my favourites to go to. I’ve linked them so you can check them out too. Although if you’re into crochet I am sure you know who they are. I also follow some fab crochet and knitting podcasts and you should be able to find them under blogs I like. I’ll be talking about a different one each time I post.

I thought I’d start by sharing my works in progress, of which there are many.

My favourite project at the moment is the doily I have been working on for

mother-in-law.

It’s the first time I have crocheted with Cotton and I enjoyed it so much. It was so relaxing once I got the hang of the repeat. I have now made two and am thrilled with them. I hope she will be too. There’s still some weaving in to be done. But I’m pleased with them. I used a pattern in Emma Lamb’s book ‘Crochet Home’ It has some gorgeous patterns. I don’t have the yarn band to tell you what the yarn was. I don’t know where it has gone. This is the story of my life.

The second Christmas project I am working on is an Oxford United football blanket for my grandson. The colours are navy and yellow and I must admit working on the navy in the evenings is difficult. But it’s fun.They’re basic patterns I realise and I’m so admiring of people like Rosina of Zeens and Roger podcast who produce some marvellous things. I’m desperate to crochet a shawl. I’ve had a go at some basic shawl patterns. But more on shawl patterns in another post. Let’s talk blankets. I love granny squares but I’d love to crochet rows and make a blanket that way but I always find my blanket, after a time, curls in. Can anyone tell me why this this is and what I need to do to stop it happening? I’d love to try again.

Oxford United Blanket

This most exciting thing that has happened on my crochet journey was Festiwool. A yarn festival held in Hichin, Hertfordshire. It was fabuous and I bought some lovely  yarn there. I’m dead excited to use it but nervous at the same time. I want to make something special with it and have my eye on several shawls but the question is am I brave and experienced enought to give them a go?

I’d love to hear about your crochet journey. I’m looking forward to making some new crochet friends and knitting, of course. Some weeks I’ll also feature some knitting I’m doing. Until next time. Lots of love.

Lynda xx