The One About Marmalade, Gilmore Girls and Knitting.....

My postings are a little erratic. A little like my life at the moment but who wants to hear about that??!! I must do something about all of these issues.
In the meantime, my Boss thought that it would be a good idea for me to enter the World Marmalade Championships again this year, on account that I had some degree of success last time ....

.... so armed with a ton of Seville Oranges....

...a very sharp knife and lots of jam sugar, I set to the task with great gusto, chopping and weighing and boiling (well, as much as I could possibly muster for the beginning of January!)....

.....but this time, instead of just submitting one jar, I thought I would push the envelope a bit and enter for 3 categories altogether. So, first category was just ordinary Seville Orange Marmalade which is relatively easy to achieve, then next I chose the 'Merry Marmalade' category and what could provide a good deal of merriment but a dash or two of Grand Marnier (well at 40% proof, it's bound to)...

 then for the third category, I chose 'Marmalade with a Twist' whereupon I had a lightbulb moment and decided to invent Chocolate Marmalade but when I Googled the subject, I discovered that Hotel Chocolat makes it also - they must have heard about my invention - but that didn't put me off so I made my own version, boiling up a pan of marmalade as normal then grating some fabulous dark, organic chocolate with a hint of orange into it on the rolling boil and waited until it tasted divine, which I did and it does. So there we have it, all three jars parcelled up....

 and off to a very posh gaff indeed....

to await the discerning judges' approval (though with the awards gathering pace each year and now with thousands of people entering worldwide, I'm not confident of winning anything but the entry money £10 per jar, is going to very good causes nationwide so it's worth it in the end)....
                                                                   xoxoxoxoxoxo

In other news, I joined my first MKAL (Mystery Knit-along, for the uninitiated, which means knitting to a pattern which is provided in weekly or monthly increments so you don't know how it will look until you've finished!) which is Ambah O'Brien's 'Hale-Bopp' pattern and you should check out some of the other projects, they're stunningly gorgeous. I'm using some lovely Alpaca yarn which was gifted to me at Christmas time by my nearly-niece in New Zealand and I've teamed it with some Rowan Cashsoft DK in a Pretty Pink and some Bergeres de France in Charcoal Grey. These choices are all from my stash but some ladies have really spent large amounts of money on their yarn. One day I might be able to do that. I'm happy with my choices for now and I'm learning a few new knitting techniques, e.g. Turkish Cast On, Slip Stitch, etc. I better not give too much away. It's supposed to be a mystery after all!

 ....em, in case you're wondering, I don't own a wool winder, so have to resort to the old 'wind-your-yarn-around-the-nearest-bamboo-footstool' method. It works for me anyway!

and the best bit is, you can binge-watch on your favourite-of-the-moment Netflix programme

I'm living my life vicariously in Stars Hollow, after all who wouldn't like a little Luke Danes in their lives?? All those in favour, say 'Aye'!!

 And in other news, I had another birthday but let's just leave it at that, for now!

                                                                            xoxoxoxo
That's it for now, Gentle People, thanks for getting this far down the page. Be back soon, hopefully.
                                                                               xoxoxo