Wine and wool

Would you look at that? It's Friday already and I haven't done any more posts since I last said I'd put up a couple this week. I suppose as long as I get this one and maybe another over the weekend, that'll still count as keeping my promise!

Well, this week I've been gradually working through the menu on the blackboard I posted on Tuesday. All was going well, but things may prove a little tricky in the next few days, as the beans I ordered from Hodmedod should've got here today, but didn't. Instead, what got here was a note from the couriers saying they'd called when I wasn't home, and rather than leaving the package in the shed or any other obvious place, the damn fools have taken it back with them and I have to wait until Monday before they'll try and deliver it again. Which means I'll have to do some improvising until they arrive.

The reason I wasn't home when the couriers arrived was because I was in Louth, having gone to a wee session on recording medieval graffiti (part of the Wolds Words festival). I said I'd be glad to help with the project, but they'll have to come and excavate my local church first, before I can look for graffiti in it (it fell down in the 1700s and is now just lumps in the ground that cattle mooch over!).

While I was up there though, I happened upon a leaflet from Somerby Vineyards and was instantly excited about the idea of being able to buy professionally brewed wine produced in Lincolnshire. I have done quite a bit of home brewing, but a) mostly beer and b) not from local produce. I do plan to get that going again, though it'll take time to find sources of all the ingredients and so on - meanwhile it's great to know I can still have wine without violating the strict "local only" rule I've placed myself under!

Not content to stop at Somerby's though, I've also discovered the Three Sisters Vineyard and I'm keeping an eye on the Abbey Vineyards group of English wine producers, which promises to have its produce for sale online soon. I'll have to get my hands on some of this stuff and let you know how it goes.

Meanwhile I've started turning some of that Risby Lincoln Longwool yarn that I got a couple of weeks ago into a scarf. Yes - a scarf.

I thought I should start off simply and work my way up, and/or contribute to the local economy by employing someone to knit more complex things for me!! Everyone asks me if it's itchy, but I can assure you it isn't - it's so lovely and soft and cosy, I have visions of half my wardrobe being made of the stuff, but we'll have to see how that goes. I need to talk to the people at Risby about getting different colours and so on, as they've only got the plain on the website.

Now, the windmill has bagsied me for the whole weekend, which means I'm going to have to pretty much devote all of next week to the research, reading and writing for this assignment. The course I keep referring to (in case you wondered) is the MSc Sustainable Rural Development at the University of the Highlands and Islands (online). It's my attempt to get myself more clued up on more detailed knowledge that I can, hopefully, use towards some great endeavour for the good of God's country, and all that.

Wish me luck!