Cold front hits Portugal

Well we've had a cold front arrive here in Portugal. This means that the temperature has dropped at least 10°C because we suddenly feel the cold. It's about 13°-18°C during the day, and actually that's quite nice especially if the sun is shining, but we've also got this wind that's blowing and it won't let up. I don't actually think it's too bad, except for at the office. We don't have and air conditioning system or heating system, as the other company who was in our building before us ripped it all out and took it with them, and we've not had anything installed because we're still waiting on a quote. But after this week, I think that we'll definitely be putting a rush on ordering some sort of airco or heating system, becuase if it gets much colder outside, we'll be absolutely freezing inside. That was the weather update. I've been finishing off several of the Christmas presents I'm making and I've got three complete and the fourth one is also almost complete. When I say complete I mean that the stitching is done, I'll still have to finish them by framing or making them into the items I envisioned. But seeing as they are Christmas presents for people who visit this site, I can't show any progress, I'll have to show the finished pieces after everyone has received them. I decided to take a little time out on Sunday from cross stitching and so I knitted the first block of the wolhemel KAL and it turned out quite nicely, it was actually quite simple. Don't know when I'll get a chance to get to the next block, probably only after Christmas.

Autumn is arriving in Portugal

Looks like Autumn is finally arriving here in Portugal. The weather is gradually getting colder, although it's still around the 20°C mark during the day, I definitely notice it's chillier in the mornings, but the sun is still shining and I'm still walking around in my summer clothing. Can't show any photos at the moment, because I'm working on my secret projects, but after doing some cleaning this weekend I'm going to pick up Gabi (the sweater I'm knitting) again and try finish it off, so maybe I'll have something to show next week. Following several blogs, I've noticed quite a lot of people talking about these blocks for a Knit-A-Long (KAL)that they're doing, so I decided to check out www.wolhemel.nl for myself to see what it's all about and ended up joining their yahoo group so that I too can start on the blocks. I have yet to start this KAL, but I've already bought the wool from my local shop in downtown Porto, now all I have to do is find the time to start it. The blocks to date seem simple enough, although the 2nd one uses cables, which I've never knit, but I'm definitely going to give it a try. As for my secret projects, I've got one finished just needs framing. Number 2 is almost finished and then it also needs framing. After this I've got at least another 2 secret projects to make before starting on all the small Christmas presents, but I think that those will be done quickly and maybe just two evenings of work for each. This weekend I'm going to tackle another part of the house. I'd say I'm about 1/3 of the way through sorting through everything and putting it all in place. My mum will be helping out one of these days, that way she can also take all the stuff that belongs to her with her. I've been storing things at my place until my parents' place was finished, and now that it is, I can finally hand it all back to them, which of course clears space for my stuff. Have a nice rest of the week, I know I will.

Chestnuts gallore

After spending some time this weekend "harvesting" some chestnuts at the farm, my parents' neighbour came by yesterday with some of her "harvest". You see she lives alone and her kids and grandkids don't come round that often, so she regularly gifts my mum with goodies from her garden. I guess she managed to pick a lot more chestnuts than we did, and so she dropped a bagload by for my parents.

My mum kindly gave me a smaller bag to enjoy as well. Can't wait to get home to put several in the microwave to have as a treat after dinner. There are a lot of different ways to prepare the chestnut, but the quickie way is to just pop them in the microwave on a small paper towel for about 30-60 seconds. You don't want them to explode though, so take a knife and cut from the center to one of the edges, this way the air can get in beneath the skin and an exploding chestnut can be avoided. Be carefull when you take them out of the microwave, they are extremely hot, but you must somehow find the courage to peel them. I know I will be enjoying several this evening.

bye for now.

Harvesting

This weekend I spent some time down at my parent's farm and we all went to do some "harvesting". Starting with picking all the grapes we could get at. You see the farm is slightly overgrown because no one has been taking care of it for the last 60 odd years, so the grapevines have pretty much grown into the trees, so all the good grapes are at the very top, but we couldn't reach them. We managed to get about 4kg or so of small sweet red grapes.

The other thing we "harvested" this past weekend was chestnuts. The trees are full of them, but not too many were on the floor yet. You see, chestnuts are only ripe once the prickly casing has fallen out of the tree. At the moment they're still very green, so there weren't too many on the floor surrounding the trees. The ones we did manage to find were really small, but really tasty, I just couldn't resist trying them out.

I figure in about another 2-3 weeks, there will be plenty of chestnuts ready to "harvest".

As for my hobbies, I did get quite a bit done on this secret project, actually I figure I'm about 2/3 of the way through. Another week and I should be finished, and then I'll have another 2 secret projects to make before I can start showing stuff again.

Nature's Home Afghan

So here is finally a picture of the Nature's Home Afghan that I completed last year. It's a bit wrinkled, but that's because it's been laying on my spare bed with a whole lot of other stuff on top of it, I've now moved it to a better place and will be going out to buying some material to put on the back and complete it as a throw for my couch or bed or wherever.

Stitching the time away

I'm working on a new cross stitch project, but it's a surprise for someone, so I can't show my progress on the blog, because obviously that would ruin the surprise.

I can however show you the project I just finished. It's Tow Mater from the Disney's Cars movie. In this picture I haven't completed all the backstitching yet. Haven't taken a recent photo, but when I finally decided what I'm going to do with it and complete it, I'll take another photo.