With our 2022 season now over, it’s time to let the dust settle, baton down the hatchets and to take stock and reflect before planning the year ahead. We have had such fun at the various workshops this year, and met, and welcomed back, so many fine new friends but let’s face it, winter has its benefits too; for what good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness (John Steinbeck)

2. Pockets first began appearing on waistcoats and trousers about 500 years ago.

In Medieval times, both men and women wore bags that tied around their waists and were filled with whatever bits and bobs they needed. All were constructed very similarly and were generally worn under the woman’s petticoats, but over the rest of their skirt layers and accessible through small slits in the petticoats at the waist. In the late 1800s, when the Victorian era saw trends shift toward slim skirts and tiny waists, and the pockets became smaller and more ornate, used by women of all social backgrounds but still without great value. Today’s version is proudly visible and sports a shoulder strap - a useful and pretty accessory to any outfit.

If you want to try making one of these useful extra pockets for yourself (an easy project) you can download Karen Stevens’ pattern and instructions

3. Ning Li is the founder of the an entirely new skincare brand, Typology.

Bringing together a team of hygiene and skincare experts, she has had one mission in mind: to offer an alternative to complex and opaque products and focus on what defines a great skincare product: the quality of its ingredients. After three years of research and development, she has developed an approach aimed at eliminating the superfluous, favouring minimalist and natural formulations. She has also sought to simplify distribution, as much as possible, by adopting a 100% online model, without intermediaries, which allows Typology to offer affordable skincare without compromising their quality. The result is beautifully designed, pared down products that are easy to order online and arrive simply packaged within days.

4. What is the difference between a pâtisserie and a boulangerie?

For those of you visiting France for the first time, you may find the terminology difficult to navigate, so here is some help: A boulangerie is a bakery, and a pâtisserie is a pastry shop…. though most boulangeries and patisseries sell both various baked goods and desserts (pastries). Nevertheless, a reputable boulangerie will sell various basic pastries (though it’s worth noting that there are some high-end patisseries which only sell desserts). Still confused? Well, the law allows only licensed and well-trained pastry chefs to be employed as a maître pâtissier or master pastry chef. Whilst in order to be classed as a boulangerie, the bakery must bake bread on their premises, and their prime goods for sale must be various types of breads! All clear?

5. Which leads us naturally to our a favourite bread recipe!

“Banana Bread” first became a standard feature of American cookbooks with the popularisation of baking soda and baking powder in the 1930s. Replacing milk with buttermilk or yoghurt however lifts it to a whole new level and we recommend this tried and trusted recipe.

6. Cabling without a Cable Needle

Even for proficient knitters, this is one of those little tricks that makes a huge difference to how fast and efficiently you can knit, and the friendly and helpful yarn company Ysolda have provided easy-to-follow instructions. Once you get the hang of it, simple cables will barely interrupt your flow. Caveat: for cables that involve multiple crossings at once or large numbers of stitches you’ll probably still want the security of using a cable needle.

7. We think not…..

A recent statement from the CEO of Euro Exim Bank Ltd: Bicycles are the slow death of the planet. Cyclists are a disaster for the country's economy: they don't buy cars and they don't borrow money to buy them. They don't pay insurance policies. They don't buy fuel, they don't pay for the necessary maintenance and repair of the car. They don't pay for parking. They don't require multiple lane highways. They don't cause major accidents. They don't becme obese (healthy people are not necessary or useful to the economy). They don't buy medicine. They don't go to hospitals or doctors. They add nothing to the country's GDP. On the contrary, every new McDonald's store creates at least 30 jobs, as well as 10 cardiologists, 10 dentists, 10 dietary experts and nutritionists".

So choose carefully: a cyclist or a Mc Donald?

PS: Walking is even worse for the economy. Pedestrians don't even buy a bike.

8. As a teenager I spent most of my summers on the south coast of Devon. Sailing was the local obsession (though not mine I hasten to add) and the ubiquitous pair of Levis would invariably be topped with a well-worn, blue, cotton drill smock which was both 'sloppy' enough for the high seas and smart enough to hang out at the Yacht Club. I only recently learnt that the seriously great name for these smocks is “A Norfolk Slop”, and nowadays they are available in glorious primary colours at the Carrier Company. I definitely have my eye on a crimson version……..

9. It’s so exciting when you come across a photographer with a painterly sense of colour and composition. Romanian visual artist and freelance photographer, Felicia Simion, is a Photography and Video graduate who has also completed an MA degree in Ethnology, Cultural Anthropology and Folklore at the University of Bucharest. From an early age she was engaged with painting, music and writing and her photographs pursue a fine art approach between reality and fiction, easily floating from one side to another and exploring themes such as family, identity, and the dynamics of tradition. Currently based in Romania, we are looking at the possibility of her leading a photographic workshop for us next year. If you are interested, do please let us know.

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10. Dirge Without Music

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,—
They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

September Breeze