Folding paper - so very festive: Christmas papercrafts

Origami is apparently the new craft trend. I first tried it when I was about eight, with an American book with a woman wearing a sombrero-type hat festooned with beautiful paper flowers. This taught me how to fold a waterlily, which I've never forgotten. It comes in very handy with napkins.

Given that Hobbycraft says sales of origami paper are up by 20% on 2015, I didn't expect to have to ask a sales assistant to find some paper for me! First on my (never-ending, ever-growing) list of things to make was this origami Santa.

And as you can see from the picture, running a fingernail along the folds you make, so that they're sharp, is very important. And as you can also see, I didn't do that, as I was making it on my knee while watching the video on my laptop.

I also wanted to make lots of paper stars, having seen them as a cut-out internally illuminated version in Sweden (in real life and on TV) in everyone's windows at Christmas. Here's the first attempt, made watching this video. This isn't origami because it uses scissors, but it's a lot simpler than the Santa! I'll be making more of these, sticking them together in pairs, and stringing them on garlands.

Making your own Christmas decorations with paper is appealing because it's cheap and easy to get hold of (plain white A4 can be spectacular), so it doesn't really matter if you go wrong. I wrote about Christmas papercrafts to make with kids for Saga: all the classics, including paper chains and snowflakes.

Make, do and send

It can be hard to find Christmas cards that you actually like, for a price you're prepared to pay - that is, if you send any at all.

I'm a fan; they jolly up the room and it's pleasant to receive evidence that someone's thinking of you, but I do wonder what the point is of sending a card if that's your only contact in the course of a year. Or several years...

But enough of the analysis; I've just made my first batch of cards, to hand out in person to quite a few of my extended family.

I went for a super-simple option: printed photos stuck on blank cards. 

To make your own, pull together appropriate images; mine included a snowcat, charity runners dressed as Santa, snowy scenes from Lapland (and the local park) and a Kellogg's cornflakes packet. You could also use family shots, or stage a seasonal tableau.

Use your computer's photo software to print a page full, sized appropriately, or insert into a Word doc or similar, then print out.

Trim around the edges with a craft knife or scalpel and a metal rule, leaving a white border for a retro look. Stick on to the blank card (mine are very similar to these from Hobbycraft) with glue stick, sticky dots or doubled-over sticky tape. Stamp or write a seasonal slogan, write your message, then post.

Last posting dates for Christmas

If you're sending any cards, handmade or not, you need these.
Tuesday December 20: second class, 55p
Wednesday December 21: first class, 64p
Find the full list of dates, including international and parcels, here
This year's Christmas stamps celebrate 50 years of their production by Royal Mail. They feature paper cut-outs by Helen Musselwhite.

Keep the beard beautiful

Until recently, my OH had a beard – and beautiful it was too. Then he decided that, for him, the beard trend had ceased and he's clean shaven again.

When he was bearded, he was browsing beard oil to buy, and I said: 'You don't need to buy it; I'll make you some...'

So I got out my essential oils, and we had a suggest and sniff session. He went for a mix of lemon and rosemary, with a drop of peppermint. Here's what we did (I've just written more on how to make your own beard oil, for Saga)...

Spoon a little coconut oil into a small pot. Melt the oil by putting the pot in a  bowl of hot water (or if it's a hot day, it may liquefy naturally). Add a couple of drops of your chosen essential oils, which have antibacterial properties (can be useful if the beard-spotter is a messy eater), and help to condition the hair. To apply, dip in a finger or two, and stroke thoughtfully over the beard.

After I made the first little pot, he took over the job and made his own, and we made and gave some more as presents.

Want to save money and make your own beauty products? How about making your own body scrub? That way, you know what's in it, and you don't have to read the label to make sure it's free of microbeads: tiny pieces of plastic that find their way into the oceans and harm wildlife.

How to make spiced gin

Gin is in – sales last year topped £1 bn for the first time. I love a G&T too (I like to make mine with Hendricks gin, Fever-Tree Naturally Light tonic, a few drops of lavender bitters and a slice of lime).

And around this time of year I usually hit the hedgerows for a spot of foraging and make sloe gin – here's how – which is a lovely winter warmer. I've also made cherry gin: recipe here.

But new to me is spiced gin. Back in July I went to Marks & Spencer's Christmas press show. Among all the delicious treats to sample (chilli chocolate tortilla chips and metallic macarons, mmm) was a make-your-own-spiced-gin stand. There was an expert on hand to advise on which of the array of botanicals (flavouring ingredients) would work well together.

Things got a bit messy, using the little spoons to shovel a few seeds of this and a blade of that into the narrow neck of the bottle And there were certainly spillages at the gin dispenser (not guilty). I went for juniper berries, cassia, coriander, lemon peel and cardamom. 'Try it in around three weeks,' said the gin expert. 'Ha-ha: fat chance,' I replied, thinking I'd be unable to resist a nip sooner than that. But then the bottle of gin got tucked away behind some other bottles, after a kitchen reshuffle...

Freshly bottled, all of those botanicals were floating on the surface. Opened this week, four months on, they've slumped to the bottom of the bottle, sozzled. The gin is a warm, amber colour and its scent is cinnamon-like (from the cassia, I think, as they're related). Its taste is warm and fragrant, with a dry base note that I like. And I'll definitely be making more, possibly for a few pressies...

Spiced gin recipe
Pour 500ml reasonable-quality gin into a clean bottle with a lid. I'll be adding five strips of lemon zest, half a teaspoon of coriander seed, and a quarter of a cinnamon stick to mine, but you can also use cloves, juniper berries (of course), cardamom...

Seal the bottle, label, and leave in a dark place for around four weeks - perfect timing for Christmas.

Poppy day: making and memories

It's almost November 11 and poppies are everywhere, tucked into buttonholes, on the front of cars, tied into trees and fixed on the front of cars.

Mark Remembrance Sunday with a knitted or crocheted poppy with this poppy pattern from Woman's Weekly, which also has instructions for making a wreath of them.

If you need a bit of help, watch this YouTube poppy-making video.












Sir Cliff Richard has been knitting poppies this week, being taught to knit by a fan – more on knitting celebrities here, and those who crochet here.

Earlier this year, at the Chelsea Flower Show, I was moved by the carpet of 300,000 crocheted poppies, called 5,000 Poppies. The project was started by Australians Lynn Berry and Margaret Knight, who initially set out to crochet 120 poppies to honour their fathers who both fought in World War II, and the Chelsea garden was created by Phillip Johnson.

More recently, driving towards Calais after a holiday, we passed Etaples military cemetery. We've seen quite a few, but the impact of all those uniform headstones (over 11,000 here) never diminishes. This cemetery was on the site of a hospital, so there are soldiers from many countries and both world wars buried there, as well as some of the nurses who cared for them.

My own great-grandfather's remains are in another cemetery in northern France, and one day I'll go and visit.

One of my favourite screensaver pix: a shot of poppies from my garden.

How to make kale crisps

Three years ago I tried ready-made kale crisps for the first time. I realised that they would be easy to make, so soon after that I made some. Ones you buy ready-made are often overloaded with flavouring, so thickly coated that it's hard to see the green leafy veg that lies within. They're no longer a super-trendy snack, but I still make them. I like them and it's a great way to use up the massive bags of kale that regularly come in my weekly veg box.

• bunch of kale
• oil to coat - either poured from a bottle or sprayed on
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• dried chilli flakes (optional)
• smoked paprika (optional)
• garlic powder (optional)  

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Wash the kale leaves and dry very well with kitchen paper, pressing into the crinkles. Cut or tear the kale leaves into pieces, drizzle or spray with a little oil and toss with your hands to coat all the pieces.

Spread on a baking tray so that the leaves aren’t touching. Bake for 10 mins and take a look. The edges of the leaves need to be brown and frizzled without being burnt. Exactly how long this takes depends on the moisture content of the kale, so keep checking, on what seems a ridiculously frequent basis. Some pieces will cook faster than others, all to do with their relative surface area according to how 'curly' your curly kale is. When the majority of the leaves are browned, take the tray out of the oven. Season and sprinkle with the flavouring of your choice (any or all of the above) and serve immediately.

More of my recipes
Super-speedy spinach and coconut soup
Make pickled beetroot

Halloween on a smaller scale

I like to mark the seasons. Since I was a child I've celebrated Halloween by making a pumpkin lantern. But that's it, I don't festoon the house with cobwebs, and spend hours crafting hardboiled eggs into eyeballs.

This year, I've written features on easy ideas for Halloween decorations and how to carve a Halloween pumpkin lantern (with alternatives that don't require the use of a sharp knife). Among the alternatives to pumpkins are turnips (traditional but hard work to cut), and tangerines (not hollowed out, just decorated).

Because I can be trusted with a sharp knife, I have a large and small pumpkin, which I'll be carving with faces in the usual way.

But this year I've got a new idea: the tiniest-ever Halloween lantern.

It's made from a physalis, or Cape gooseberry (beloved of so many Come Dine with Me contestants as a dessert decoration), decorated with a black felt-tip face.

It would be great for places where you can't leave a candle burning, like the office. You could also decorate several physalis on a stem to put it in a vase.

Behind the profile: how to make a ribbon and button brooch

Seven years ago, in October 2009, I joined Twitter. At the time I was working as deputy editor of Allaboutyou.com, in charge of the craft section, bringing hundreds of free knitting, sewing and crochet patterns and craft tutorials to our eager readers. My boss told me to get a Twitter account, and I thought it would be a useful way to connect with our craft fans, so I called it AAYCraftEditor.

For my profile pic, I chose the ribbon and button brooch I'd designed, made and written about a couple of months earlier, because it was the first craft feature I wrote on Allaboutyou.com's craft channel.

Seven years on, I've just changed my Twitter username, because Allaboutyou.com no longer exists, and I no longer tweet only about craft.

So I thought it was time I blogged on the brooch that's still my profile pic.

I made it while I was fiddling around with my sewing box and haberdashery supplies, and the two-tone wired ribbon (which I'd previously used to make bag handles, by stitching it on top of the originals) and the buttons just came together in my hand, and I admired how they complemented each other.

How to make a ribbon and button brooch
(as originally published on Allaboutyou.com)

You will need
● length of wired ribbon, measuring around 15cm
● two buttons, one large, one small
● brooch pin
● scrap of felt or other non-fraying fabric
Time taken: around 20 minutes

How to make
Pull the wire out of one side of the ribbon. Now hold one end of the wire on the other side and ease the fabric of the ribbon along it so that it bunches up. Continue until you can bend the ribbon round to make a circle. The hole in the middle should be slightly smaller than your biggest button.
Sew the edges of the ribbon together to form a circle. Cut the felt to a circle slightly smaller than your bigger button. Stitch the felt to the ribbon to cover the hole.
Sew on the bigger button in the centre of the brooch. Sew the smaller button on top. Now sew the brooch pin to the back. (You can use a safety pin if you want; no one's going to see it!)
You could make two overlapping ribbon circles to give a fuller effect.

How about?
Make a felt anemone brooch

Autumn leaves: what I rustled up

This week I've been writing about seasonal crafts, like how to carve a Halloween pumpkin lantern, and some other decorating options kids can do without using knives. I was also writing about craft ideas for autumn leaves for kids.

I love celebrating the changing of the seasons like this, being aware of and admiring what's around you (sycamore 'propellers', beech nuts, chestnuts – horse and human, leaves), and it makes great stuff to mess about with and make something from.

In the past I've made an autumn leaf wreath from the maple leaves from my own garden but this year they all got frazzled because I was away on holiday for the two hottest weeks of the year, so no autumn show!

This morning we went for a walk, and the leaves are just beginning to change colour. Having been looking at gorgeous images of leaves to go with my kids' activity ideas, I was inspired to make something with them myself. So I brought back sprigs of oak leaves, just turning golden with still-green veining, yellow beech leaves, and reddish-purple leaves from a tree I can't identify. (If anyone knows what they're from, please leave a comment!)

I made a very rough-and-ready leaf wreath, essentially just a couple of twined stems pulled from my neighbour's wall (thanks, Fergus) twisted into a circle, with leaves tucked in. It looks messy, but I like its naturalistic form. (And if I wanted, I could make something symmetrical and more polished.)

At the very least, it brightens up a bare patch of fence.

And brightening up a length of bare wall are these leaves-on-a-line. To make them, thread a needle with the desired length of thread, and tie the other end of the thread around a tiny twig, to weigh down your lines. Pass the needle through the leaf, near the top, alongside the spine, and back through the other side. This stops it sliding to the bottom. Stitch on more leaves until your thread is full.

How you hold them in place spends on their location. Mine are weighted down with a pebble from a high windowsill, but you could tie a hanging loop on the end of the tree to suspend from a nail, or tie the thread end around, for example, the bottom of a hanging basket. These lines of leaves twirl mesmerisingly in the breeze, and although they may only last a couple of days, they only take a couple of minutes to make.

How to knit a triangle (that's a neckerchief, or a Hilda-Ogden-homage headscarf)

As a knitter, I'm a bit crap. I like instant gratification and get confused following complicated patterns. (Having said that, I haven't yet followed one that's that complicated.) It's safe to say, I like to keep it simple when it comes to knitting.

So I'm happy to report that I have new creative inspiration for a manageable project for me. It came via the That's Not My Age blog, where Alyson posted on a knitted neckerchief range by knitwear designer Jo Gordon. She's a Scottish designer who produces gorgeous machine-knitted items – including her neckerchief/headscarf.

It's gorgeous and as I looked at it, I thought: 'what a brilliant shape, and a new headgear idea...and a simple shape...a simple shape that I could knit...a simple triangle to wear around the neck or on my head.'

So, five minutes later, I've cast on. Fuchsia-pink fine angora yarn from my stash, so it's label-less, and 7.5mm needles. A quick online check reveals how to knit a triangle from the wide end: cast on stitches to reach your desired width (I wrapped my tape measure around my head and pretended to tie it in front: 70cm - I have a big head). Then k1, k2 tog at each end of every row, to decrease the piece to a triangle shape.

I'm sure I'll wear my scarf around my neck tied at the back, but surely the headscarf is due for a revival, as an alternative to the ubiquitous beanie-with-big-pompom? How about in homage to Hilda Ogden? (I won't be sporting rollers with mine, though.)

Three days later, it's finished. As I predicted, I won't be wearing it headscarf style... Unless it's really cold...

Wool Week 2016: new yarn resolutions

I will learn (again) how to crochet. I went on a one-day course a few years ago, didn't practise enough and the knowledge unwound, like stitches from a hook. And I'm desperate to crochet granny squares!

I will make myself a knitting bag to store my supplies, whether it’s knitted, sewn – whatever.Work will start within the week on my OH's long, navy scarf.

I'll give finger-knitting another go. I tried it with this Craftsy finger-knitting tutorial, then went on holiday and kept fiddling away with my handmade T-shirt yarn, but couldn't remember how to cast off!

And talking of my handmade T-shirt yarn, I need to use it somehow.

There's a guerilla weaving idea I have for a dark corner down the road. It'll take (me) too long to knit something for the spot, but weaving some bright, maybe white, wool would look great, and make a point to the local council about streetlamp repair!

And until this afternoon, also on this list would have been finishing my dad’s cowl. He was convinced he’d lost the first one I knitted him, and was gutted, so I'd started a replacement, but he texted today – so happy – to say he’d found it.

Wool Week 2016: knitting for charity

These are the first two hats I ever knitted, and they're now on their way to an unknown recipient.
I made them for my OH and he was kind enough to wear them a couple of times (sizing is a bit of an issue!), but we're having a bit of a clear-out and I agreed – eventually – that he needn't hold on to them.
Obviously, I wanted them to go to a good home, and I knew just where that was, having had previous positive dealings: Knit for Peace UK.
This charity receives knitted items and distributes them to hospitals, refuges, drop-in centres, and to developing countries. They'll also take gifts of unwanted yarn and needles (great way of getting rid of an out-of-control yarn stash).
Knit for Peace also came up with the idea of the Good Gifts Catalogue, where you 'give a goat' (or seeds for crops, bikes for midwives and so on) as a present, and someone who needs it is the actual recipient of the gift.
If you want to knit for charity, there are free patterns available on the Knit for Peace website. At the moment, they're looking for knits for adults, like hats. I like the idea of my two helping to keep someone warm, wherever and whoever they may be.

Wool Week 2016: renewing the knitted graffiti

I've decided to do some form of 'wool work' – and blog about it – every day this week, for my own personal celebration of Wool Week.

Today I've updated the knitted graffiti on my local lamppost.
The previous pieces have been out there for over a year and it was impressive to see just how robustly they'd withstood the weather. Slight fading on the grey/blue big wool, crispiness on the red eyelash yarn, and a couple of leaves tucked in.
And on a more personal note, I've pinned down exactly what set of scarf my OH would like me to knit for him: about 6ft long, quite narrow, in garter-stitch welt, navy blue. I'll be casting on soon...

Before and after pix

As seen on screen: Yarn – the Movie review

Tonight, for one night only, Yarn – the Movie is being screened in cinemas nationwide.  Some showings, at Showcase cinemas,  are 'knit-alongs' which sounds like fun. I've just had my own private screening and to be honest, although the film really made me want to start knitting, and to create all kinds of projects out in the world, I'd have difficulty doing it in the dark, and I'd want to concentrate on watching the film.

Yarn – the Movie is an award-winning Icelandic documentary that also takes us to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Hawaii, Cuba, USA and Canada on a journey that explores the endless possibilities of yarn, with artists who work with yarn through knitting, crochet and other modes of creative expression.

It's cosy and comfortable on one level, covering how women pass on their skills to each other, wand how women all over the world are connected by them, and how yarn can be connected in oh so many beautiful, thought-provoking and meaningful forms.

The film features the work of Polish crochet artist Olek, known for camouflage-pattern crochet, Japanese artist Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam of Net Play Works who creates giant three-dimensional knitted, knotted playgrounds, Tilde Björfors, the founder of the contemporary Swedish circus company Cirkus Cikör and Tinna Þórudóttir Þorvaldar, yarn graffiti artist from Iceland. (Reykjavik was the first place I ever saw graffiti knitting – I wonder if it was by Tinna.)

Watch the Yarn – the Movie trailer and find your nearest screening. Obviously, this film deserves a wider audience; I hope to see it on TV soon.

Finding free knitting patterns

We all like something for nothing, and that includes craft necessities like knitting patterns. I've blogged on some of my favourite places to find free knitting patterns over on my work portfolio and I've just written a feature on free baby knitting patterns for Saga. I'm not one to go gooey over babies, puppies or kittens but even I have to admit that these ribbon-tie baby bootees designed by Susie Johns are so cute!

The sites I've included in the Saga feature cover knitting designers, knitting shops and yarn manufacturers. They all offer more free patterns than I could include. Here's the list:

Erika Knight

Debbie Bliss

LoveKnitting.com

Let's Knit magazine

KnitRowan.com

McAree Brothers

and a couple of extras:

Hobbycraft

WoolandtheGang.com

Laughing Hens

One of my other favourite sources is the local library. I love it for the extended choice. You can take the books out on loan – books you'd never consider buying (who has an unlimited budget?), browse at your leisure, take a photo of the patterns you want, or scan the page, then return the book – all for free. Even the fastest knitter – who certainly isn't me – would struggle to knit the pattern before the end of the loan period! 

How to make pickled beetroot

Beetroot keeps turning up in my weekly organic veg box. Recently I've been spiralising it, and serving it with candied walnuts, goat's cheese and a dash of balsamic vinegar, which is a great mix of texture, taste and colour.

But this week I wanted to do something different. Cleaning out the fridge, I came across an ancient jar of home-pickled home-grown beetroot, well past its eat-by date. So I thought I'd make some more.

And it's so easy. I used BBC Good Food's recipe. This calls for wrapping each beetroot in foil and baking it, then unwrapping and peeling. And this calls for pink fingers, as you can see (right).

Next you make the pickling juice (below left) by simmering spices in vinegar. Once the beetroot are cold, slice or cut them into chunks, put into a sterilised jar, pour over the vinegar, add some sea salt and screw on the lid (below right). Ready in two weeks!

Knitting hits our screens

Given the number of crafters out there, you might expect to see craft portrayed in films a little more often. But it proves elusive... there was Kate Winslet in The Dressmaker last year (who learnt to sew for the role), back in 1995 Winona Ryder sat and stitched in How to Make an American Quilt. The film of the enjoyable book, The Friday Night Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs, has been 'in production' for about a decade.

But now there are two new knitting viewing experiences to enjoy!

On small screens now, via Netflix, as part of the Slow TV movement, are National Knitting Evening and National Knitting Night. Both are Norwegian, and feature different knitters, tutorials and world record attempts.

And on the big screen, from September 23 in Shetland, nationwide from October 9, is Yarn – the Movie. It's an award-winning Icelandic documentary that also takes us to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Hawaii, Cuba, USA and Canada on a journey that explores the endless possibilities of yarn, with artists who work with yarn through knitting, crochet and other modes of creative expression.

I'm a big fan of Iceland – I've been three times – and it was the first place I ever saw graffiti knitting.

Watch the Yarn – the Movie trailer and find your nearest screening.

Read up on Kate Winslet – and more famous crafters
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Changing colour: customising clothes

Dyeing brings a new look, and new life, to clothes. I loved the shape of the linen top in the middle – A-line, three-pleat neckline, patch pockets – but I loathed the colour. Pale pink is possibly my least favourite colour.

Having bought my Dylon Machine Dye
in Jeans Blue and read the super-easy instructions, I realised there was enough dye to do 500g of fabric.

So to make up the weight I picked the linen jumper on the left, a paler pink, but really insipid, like a bra that's been washed a few too many times. And on the right, a long-sleeved mauve T-shirt.

Dyeing with machine dye couldn't be easier. You just tip the contents of the pouch into the drum, add the clothes, wash at 40°, remove clothes and do a wash with the machine empty.

Points to watch
• Check the fabric. Natural fabrics, eg linen and cotton, take dye well. Synthetics don't. Be aware that stitching may be nylon, hence the contrast stitching on my newly blue T-shirt.
• Check the colour. Pale shades will dye deeper, but not the other way round.
• Don't spill the dye! It's very easy to accidentally sprinkle a little of the powder as you're putting it in the washing machine.
• You need to dry the newly dyed clothes away from the sun.

Read more on Dylon's machine dyes

Licking and sticking

Stamps are little scraps of social history, and they're miniature works of art, too. I recently visited Stanley Gibbons HQ in the Strand, ahead of Stampex, the annual stamp-collecting show, in its 60th year.
I used to collect stamps as a child, and this event was a real memory-jogger, surfacing recollections of stamp hinges, and soaking squares of envelope in little bowls of water to get the stamps off.
On display was the original artwork for some Royal Mail stamps including the butterflies collection from 2013.

But stamps aren't just for sticking on letters or collecting in albums. Suzanne, of Art Stamped, is a craft artist who creates contemporary artworks using postage stamps. She was on hand to help me create a card design with stamps. She'd brought along a selection of stamps, themed by colours and subjects, such as hearts and animals. And she'll be showing a jungle-themed piece at Stampex.

With an anniversary coming up, I went for a green colour theme with the occasional love stamp. Suzanne took a shot of me as I planned and pondered my design.

And here's the finished card: not too shabby considering I spent about five minutes on it...

How to make a flower crown

Strolling across the festival field, I noticed a couple of big daisies and loads of clover.

I'm not averse to a bit of festival chic but it's a bit chilly for short shorts and too dry for wellies, so a flower crown it is.

How to make your flower crown

Using the daisy chain principle works well with clover, although you need to press a bit harder with your thumbnail. 

Never made a daisy chain? Pick some, then press your thumbnail vertically through the stem about halfway along. Repeat with next daisy, and the one after that. Thread the stem of the last daisy through the stem of the first to make a circle. Put on head, or hang up until needed.

Sea loch and stone stack

Cycling past a beach on Loch Linnhe, I had to stop for a closer look at the striking stones on the beach. And once I stopped, I had to build a stone tower...

I love to do this on a beach. Here's some I built earlier: by a river near Machynlleth, 'stepping stones' in Dorset, and soon-to-be-demolished-by-the-tide near Chichester.

My choice from Chelsea

This year I wrote two image-led features on the Chelsea Flower Show within 24 hours of returning to my desk after press day (Monday, same as the royals, although the press are chucked out before the royal visit). Having got up before 6am for two days on the trot, I was tired. Hence the delay in this post – just a few of my favourite shots from the Chelsea Flower Show.
5,000 poppies

The Telegraph Garden, inspired by dinosaurs

Beautiful bronze irises, from the Vestra Wealth Mindful Living garden. Shades of bronze, orange and copper were everywhere at 2016's Chelsea.

Basil plants for free – in five minutes

I can't smell basil without being whisked back to the greengrocer's in Rome where I first encountered fresh basil. Sent out to shop for tomatoes for dinner by the friend-of-a-friend I was staying with, I asked the shopkeeper, who was on the phone, for pomodori, and he weighed them out. Then I asked for basilico, and he gestured for me to take a massive bunch. I offered my cash and he waved it away, as if to say: you can't have tomatoes without basil.

The dinner that our host made that night is something I still love – I ate it this week. It's a more substantial version of insalata tricolore, adding pasta to the mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and avocado. I also like to add olives, sundried tomatoes and toasted pine nuts.

I like to have a constant supply of basil but it's tricky to grow from seed, and if you buy packets of fresh basil it dries out and goes brown very quickly. I find the easiest way to have enough for your summer eating (homemade pesto! Mmm) is to buy a pot of growing basil from the supermarket. The pots are always full to bursting with little basil plants to ensure a large head of pickable leaves.

All you need to do is take the little plants out, and repot them in a bigger container where they'll continue to grow, and each one will become a bushy plant, with lots of delicious basil leaves. So you'll have enough basil to see you through the summer. And if you have plants left when autumn approaches, take the pot indoors.

Meet sewing's famous fans

See the celebrity stitchers...

Kate Winslet
The actor had a hands-on role with the props for The Dressmaker, the 2015 film about a seamstress who transforms people's lives in a small Australian town. 'I really had to learn to use that sewing machine,' she says. 'In fact, the one we used in the film was mine, the one that I had learnt on, and I took it over to Australia so that we could use it in the film,' she told the Sydney Morning Herald, adding: 'I've always wanted to be one of those mums that could knock up cute little curtains. Or make a sweet little pair of pants of some kind, and I can now.'

Judi Dench
Dame Judi is mad keen on needlework, and isn't averse to tackling hard-hitting designs. When she appeared in Amy's View by David Hare in 1997, she gave him a cushion embroidered with the words: 'F*ck 'em, f*ck 'em, f*ck 'em, f*ck 'em', a motto which referred to the theatre critics.

Kirstie Allsopp
The TV presenter loves to keep her hands busy and bewails the decline in craft skills: 'So many mums had sewing machines when I was growing up but as a nation we've lost the ability to mend and create things ourselves. Rediscovering sewing [for her TV programme Kirstie's Homemade Home] was like riding a bicycle.'

Eva Longoria
Bringing a note of glamour to being a domestic goddess, Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria reveals how she spends her time when she's not gracing the red carpet in Cannes:
'I'm a 1950s housewife. I love baking. I love sewing. Being home with Tony. My mother was like that. Always took care of her husband. I always admired and wanted to do that.'

Venus Williams
Sister Serena explains: 'When [Venus] was younger, she would make clothes for her dolls out of her old clothing. But now she has started to design outfits to show off her model-like figure.' And her on-court outfits have attracted criticism.
'I have a great imagination,' Venus added in the sisters' interview with Tennis Magazine, 'and I always like to do different things.'

Chris Martin
The Coldplay frontman has shared some of the band's secrets of looking good on stage - and team bonding.
'Making clothes together in our studio makes us feel complete. We probably sound like a group of grannies in a knitting circle but it's the truth and it gives us some control over our visual identity,' the Mirror quoted him as saying. And he and his bandmates are always on the lookout for a sewing opportunity while they're in hotels on tour: 'We see if they have a sewing kit in the amenities drawer in case we feel inspired,' he said.

Tilda Swinton
The quirkily stylish actress, who played the White Witch in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe has been seen in some striking outfits on the red carpet. She says she likes wearing handmade clothes 'because I really appreciate the work that goes into them'. As a teenager, Tilda experimented with designing her own clothes and when she unearthed across a dress she'd made back then, she ended up wearing it. 'I put it on for a bit of a laugh, but I ended up enjoying wearing it - though I didn't look in many mirrors. It was hand done, because I had never learned how to operate an electric sewing machine.'

Miranda Richardson
During breaks in shooting The Young Victoria Miranda Richardson discovered a great way to stay occupied. ‘There were long gaps between filming and I was bored. I spent my time cross stitching,' she told the Daily Mail. ‘But I made it fun by stitching naughty words into handkerchiefs.'

Tracey Emin
The artist revealed in The Lady that sewing gives her a sense of purpose, and confided that it takes her mind off masturbation. Well, it certainly keeps your hands busy...
'When I think about my work, and my sewing, and about my blankets, I know what I'm doing,' she says. 'I can cut out a sentence in felt in five minutes; it would take most people that amount of time just to cut out one letter.'

Lily Allen
Following the recent opening of her vintage clothes shop, Lucy in Disguise, in central London, it seems the singer has been inspired by her fabric-filled surroundings. While creating her new fashion label with her sister Sarah, she’s developing her sewing skills. ‘I'm embroidering,’ she told The Sun. ‘I'm actually in the process of making cushions'.

Meet knitting's famous fans

See which top celebrities can't stay away from the wool...

Scarlett Johansson
Holed up in her Tokyo hotel in Lost in Translation, Scarlett knitted a scarf as part of her role (later included as a pattern in the book Mother of Purl: Friends, Fun and Fabulous Designs at Hollywood's Knitting Circle by Edith Eig, £11.99), and is reputed to be a knitting fan off screen too. Scarlett may also have taught someone else...

Ryan Reynolds 
He used to be married to Scarlett Johansson, so she may have taught him the basics. If not, it certainly sounds like he's keen to learn. As he played comic-book character Deadpool in the X-Men movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he was asked what he would choose as his super-power in real life. He said: 'I would go with the much less violent approach - my super power would be something more like knitting, my mutant ability would have a calming effect.'
He added that it was 'a challenge' learning to handle knitting needles, sorry, swords, for the role.

Debra Messing
We can't always do what we like, but spare a thought for Debra Messing, of TV's Will & Grace, who loves to knit but unfortunately suffers from an allergy to... wool.
Knitting expert to the stars Edith Eig, who taught Messing to knit and helps her find non-wool yarn, says, 'She's allergic to anything that's wool. She can't even touch wool and if she wears it she breaks out in hives.' Edith also reveals that Debra's first knit was a blue sweater for her dog.

Tracey Ullman
Recently returned from the US, the comedian learnt to knit as a child, but didn't take it up as a hobby until she was filming in Baltimore, and a wool shop gave her the knitting bug.
'It was the window,' she says. 'It was like, edible - the colours and the textures of this wool - and it was bamboo baskets and needles and it was so different from when I was a child: all this awful acrylic post-war wool.'
After taking a refresher course in Baltimore Tracey was hooked, taking her craft to painful extremes. 'I knitted with some very tough wool,' she says. 'I was obsessed and I was making a bag and I couldn't stop. In the morning, I literally had blisters on my fingers.'
Undeterred, Tracey has since co-written a knitting book, Knit 2 Together with Los Angeles yarn-store owner Mel Clark.

Jimmy Hill
Former footballer and commentator Jimmy Hill knew his 'yarn forward' from his 'centre forward'. Back in 1996, he was at a longest knitted scarf fundraising event in aid of St Catherine's Hospice in East Sussex, when he was asked to pose as if knitting the scarf. He commented that he didn't feel a fraud with the needles as he did actually learn to knit as a boy. My sources don't reveal whether he ever knitted his own football scarf or hat...

Uma Thurman
Better known for wielding a sword in her Kill Bill role, Uma Thurman is nifty with the needles. She was spotted at an LA knitting supplies shop, having bought over 30 balls of wool (including cashmerino - mmm, soft!), plus some needles and a T-shirt featuring a woman knitting.

Sarah Jessica Parker
The actor likes to knit during a break in filming. And apparently, she's keen to share her skills. A source said: 'As soon as shooting stops, Sarah's back to her knitting. She's introduced lots of other people to it - everyone is hooked.' Sarah Jessica was taught to knit by her Sex and the City co-star Kristin Davis.

Kate Moss
Knitting has many benefits, but Kate Moss may have discovered a new one: partying substitute. The model/fashion designer, seen here sampling the softness of her scarf, was given a knitting set one  Christmas by ex-husband Jamie Hince, to wean her off her hedonistic tendencies. According to a source in the Daily Star: 'Kate is trying to keep her new obsession a secret as she thinks it's seriously uncool. She carries her needles and wool hidden away in a big black Chanel bag.

Catherine Zeta Jones - and Antonio Banderas 
Teaching someone else to knit is a great thing to do, and Catherine Zeta Jones was happy to pass on her skills during the filming of The Legend of Zorro. Catherine is a well-known devotee of knitting - it's on record that she knitted loads of ponchos and scarves as Christmas gifts a couple of years ago - and she taught her Zorro co-star Antonio Banderas, to help occupy himself while he recovered from an injury.

Julia Roberts
Life on a film set involves a lot of sitting around between shooting, and several actors have discovered that knitting is the perfect pick-up, put-down pastime. Julia Roberts certainly finds it's the case: 'It's just great to make things. To have a pile of yarn and make it into something.'
Rumoured to be starring in The Friday Night Knitting Club, she's sure to find knitting an aid to killing time between takes – and perhaps getting into character. The film is still in development, but you can read the novel it's based on.

Lily Allen
The singer declared her love for - among other things - knitting!
The singer-turned-fashion designer is taking some time out from enjoying marital bliss and saying goodbye to her wild party lifestyle by picking up the knitting needles. She said: ‘I'm being taught how to knit. I'm so not rock 'n' roll any more.’

Meet crochet's famous fans

Discover the big names who are hooked on crochet...

Aretha Franklin
'C-R-O-C-H-E-T, find out what it means to me...'
We have no idea whether the queen of soul plans to rework one of her greatest hits, but we can confirm that she likes to crochet. She has told a biographer: '‘I crochet. I’ve made a number of skirts, berets, various articles.’

Eva Longoria
Wearing her art, or perhaps craft, on her sleeve, Eva Longoria dons a little lacy number. She told AskMen how she likes to crochet while filming: 'When we do Desperate Housewives; you don’t have any time in your trailer and you’re just constantly going back and forth. We do 14 pages [of script] in a day. Then I would go to the movie, and it was like vacation. It was more like two pages a day. I'd watch movies in my trailer. I was crocheting.'

Bette Davis
For Bette Davis, art imitated life: she took her hobbies to work with her, knitting on camera in several films, frequently between takes, and crocheting some rather intricate lace throughout the 1940 film The Letter.

Jane Seymour
Actress Jane Seymour, best known for Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman is an all-round creative type and crochet fan, saying: 'I love to play with colour and texture. Ever since I can remember, I've been making my own clothes, embroidering, knitting and crocheting.'

Meryl Streep
Mamma mia! Another actress who likes to crochet between scenes. We know this because one of her co-stars on Silkwood talked about it in an interview. And who was that co-star?...

Cher
The co-star with whom Meryl Streep shared crocheting sessions on the set of Silkwood was none other than Cher, who said about working with Meryl: 'We’d knit, crochet, and joke about men.'

Balancing on the beach

We all have that basic urge to throw stones into the sea when we're at the beach, don't we? I do, too, and I also like to pile stones on top of each other, or next to each other, or balance stones on pieces of wood, or wood on wood...

Here's a stone circle I made while staying in a yurt near Machynlleth, and pebble feet plus a quartz line meandering across different stones. And more recently, here's a little tower I made last weekend on the beach in West Sussex. There are a couple of shingle spits projecting out into the sea and on this one the tide was coming in from both sides. I made a five-stone tower and retreated to the 'mainland' to watch it be washed away.

On the way back to the motorhome, I found a length of wave-washed wood lying on the shingle, so I scooped a hollow with my heel, stood it upright and heaped stones around it, then placed a lichen-covered stone and an oyster shell on top of it.

Welcome to my new (motor)home!

Not my permanent residence, but I've spent a fair bit of time in my new moho (short for motorhome) so far! And although the interior decor isn't as lairy as some I've seen, it could still do with some improvement. The easiest way to do this, I felt, was to make a version of the traditional 'home sweet home' cross-stitch sign.

So I created a pattern from an online cross-stitch pattern generator (see the printout below), the embroidery hoop came down off the wall, and off I went.

I did all of the green stitching in one session, for the two 'moho's and the two hearts, fuelled by beer in the pub the moho was parked outside for the night.


Then I chose the contrast colour for the word 'sweet' and the border: a lipstick-red.

The mistakes I made are visible in this pic - can you see them? Not that it bothers me: absolute perfection in anything handmade is rare!

All it needs now is a little frame and it can hang in the moho.