One of the wonders of nature

Looking too good to eat, marvel at the swirling geometry of this Romanesco broccoli... fractals in food. According to Wikipedia: 'The head of Romanesco broccoli is a visually striking example of an approximate fractal in nature. The pattern is only an approximate fractal since the pattern eventually terminates when the feature size becomes sufficiently small. In computer graphics, its pattern has been modelled as a recursive helical arrangement of cones.' And the number of spirals is a Fibonacci number. You can read the definition of Fibonacci number here, but although I'm good at functional maths, I stopped at O level.

A wreath is not just for Christmas

Sadly, our trip to New England last month was slightly too early for the magnificent autumn colour show, but there were hints of what was to come... like this leaf I picked up by Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont (where the town was papered with posters advertising a wool show celebrating all aspects of the material).

After we came home autumn set in here, and on a walk with friends we all foraged for autumn leaves and berries, and I made a wreath for the door - much admired by the neighbours and the postwoman. As you can see I used berried ivy, old man's beard, hops and autumn leaves, plus some evergreen leaves from my garden. To make it, I used a woven twig wreath as a base, which normally hangs on the wall indoors, and wove in my greenery (and goldery and orangery). As there was no moisture-retaining material like Oasis the wreath didn't last long...

...but that didn't matter because a couple of weeks later the weather suddenly got cold overnight and the little maple tree spat all its leaves on to the ground at once. That vivid red is too good just to sweep up and throw in the compost heap, so I made another wreath, using the same twig wreath base. This one only lasted a couple of days, but it was worth it!

A baker's dozen of tomatoes

Sometimes I don't know why I bother growing tomatoes: here's the whole harvest from a patioful of plants. Pathetic, innit? Still, at least I don't have to deal with a glut! (I'm thinking cherries)

Set in stone: a tailor's measure

This is the 'Plaiden Ell' in Dornoch, in the Highlands of Scotland. As the plaque says, it's a tailor's measure 'for measuring cloth at the fairs and markets held on this site since medieval times'.

Purl and pedals

On a day trip to Whitstable, Kent (a place which has changed beyond recognition from the quiet seaside town I remember from childhood visits; now it's full of what I call knick-knackery shops, and loads of galleries and coffee shops). Sadly gone are the magnificent charity shops of my youth, where I got a Pucci-esque print sundress, and a silk dress patterned with watercolour-style blazing autumn leaves... But there's still lots to like, like these graffiti knit style bikes. So bright, so fun, so gorgeous. Am thinking about how to knit a little cover for mine...

Cherry ripe, cherry ripe...

Cherries are my favourite fruit, but you can have too much of a good thing. My mum rented me a cherry tree... yes, really. A farm in Sussex rents its cherry trees and you get to visit when they're in blossom, and then again when they're in fruit, and you pick all the cherries on your tree. And ours was a small tree, but we had three boxes of the size above... We ate cherry crumble and fresh cherries immediately; I made cherry gin (yum); gave away bagfuls to neighbours; took boxes to work, but they sere still piled up in the kitchen, attracting a light haze of fruit flies. There was nothing for it but to freeze them. I got cherry stoner's thumb pitting them. To freeze, place on a baking tray, not touching, and put in the freezer. Once frozen solid, move into freezer bags. Hard work, yes, but there are now bagfuls nestled in the freezer, which I look forward to enjoying in the winter as a little taste of summer. If you want to rent a cherry tree, here's the farm mine was on (£42.50 a season): www.rentacherrytree.co.uk.
Want to make cherry gin? 
Stone some cherries, squeeze into a clean bottle, add a few spoonfuls of sugar, top up with gin, screw on the top, shake the bottle until the sugar dissolves. Keep in a dark place and shake every few days. Start taking sneaky nips after a couple of weeks, but it gets better the longer you keep it, if you can...

Weaving as a workout

This is traditional weaving, Ecuadorean style. After each row (warp? weft? I can't remember) the weaver leans back to use their body weight to tighten the threads. Imagine the abs!
I bought a length of woven alpaca cloth to patch the back of my alpaca coat, which has worn through. The coat is very light and warm, but doesn't seem to be too hardwearing.