Traditional Fare - something to do while its raining!

Today, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to make a traditional dish - so please pay attention.

Ingredients you will need:  3lb self-raising flour; 1 1/2 cups (use a small mug) brown sugar; 1 1/2 cups currants; pinch of salt; 3 tablespoons margarine; 1 1/2 tablespoons black treacle; 2 teaspoonsful ground cinammon; 1 teaspoonful bicarbonate of soda; 2 eggs (free range) beaten; milk to mix. 

A square cloth of a firm weave - I use a pillow case that was originally unbleached cotton (gosh, remember those?) opened out flat; a bit of string to tie it up; a large stock pot of boiling water and three hours spare....

Here are the ingredients before we start.  Put everything into a large bowl (or very clean plastic bucket) and rub in the margarine.  Add milk to make a stiff dough - you know you've got it right when it alll sticks together - but beware of overdoing the milk, it should stick to itself, not to you! 

If it looks like the picture above then you've got it about right.

Take your cloth and put it into a bowl.  Cover with boiling water from the electric kettle and then wring it out - be very careful because after all, the water is boiling and scalds are not part of the recipe.

Lay the wet hot cloth out flat and put a handful of flour on it.  Smooth it out and then put the mixture onto the cloth.  Make sure the flour covers the mixture.

Gather the cloth up firmly around the mixture and tie very tightly with a piece of cord.  This is very important since you don't want water swilling in and out of the cloth whilst its cooking.

Lower it carefully into the pot of boiling water and simmer for three hours - turning it over half way through.

Don't forget to open the window while its cooking unless you want to take the wallpaper off the walls!

After three hours, carefully remove it from the water - again taking full cognizance of the fact that it will be very, very, very hot.  Remove the cloth and place it on a plate.  Allow to cool.

Slice and eat - on its own, with butter or jam, or fried with bacon.  If you don't like the rind then give it to the dog.

This dish is known as a Duff, a Dumpling or a Pudding depending on where you are.  It's very filling and lasts for some days before it goes dry. 

This recipe is by courtesy of Mrs Ferguson and I am sharing it with the world as its definitely too good to keep private.

Enjoy!!!!

Tomorrow I'm off to Grimsay on Uist for the Michaelmas Open Day event on Saturday.  I shall be taking my camera so hope to have some photos for a future post.

Lots of things to tell you....

Loads has been happening since my last blog.  We had big problems with our dial-up internet access in the house which meant I only had the broadband in the shed and since the shed has been packed out almost every day during opening hours, there just hasn't been the opportunity to update the blog.  However, now we have a dongle for mobile broadband (which isn't actually broadband since we don't get broadband mobile here, instead it works at the same speed as dial-up!), so we are communicado again from the house.  It does get very complicated living here sometimes....

Daisys lamb is growing up fast - here he is enjoying a bottle.  Sadly this morning we lost the first lamb we hand-reared, from Braxy.  It was such a cold night with gale force wind, low temperatures and driving rain that I guess it was inevitable that at least one lamb wouldn't make it.

On a more cheerful note - Harris Dog who emigrated to the US has been travelling again.  Here he is at Damariscotta Lake in Maine enjoying the company of another new friend - Marley the Corgi.  We look forward to getting further updates on his adventures from Sandy.

Lots of really interesting folks in the shed over the past couple of weeks - Lorna the corset maker from Edinburgh took some of my white herringbone linen which she said would look fabby and has promised to send me a photo when complete, which I will post on the blog.

Carin from Australia who is heavily into tweeds and tailoring visited for the second time bringing examples of her designs.  Carin has a company called "Taigh an Truish" which, translated from Gaelic means "House of Trousers".  Apparently there was a time in history when the Gaels were prohibited from wearing tartan, kilts etc but they ignored the rule when they were at home.  If they travelled away, they would leave their highland dress at "Taigh an Truish" and change into lowland dress.  Then on the way back they would change again!  Carin is hoping to move to Harris in the future and continue her business from the heart of the tweedlands.  We wish her all the best and look forward to welcoming her.

Jean, Treasurer of the mid-Essex Spinners, Weavers and Dyers Guild, visited armed with two gorgeous grey Shetland fleeces which she swopped for two Hebridean ones.  Jean does a great deal of hand-spinning and also is a great fan of Natural Fibres Ltd in Launceston.  She took some photos and we had a great time chatting about spinning, weaving, fibres, etc etc, and the time went too quickly.  She is hoping that her guild will be able to arrange a crafting tour to the Hebrides which sounds like a great idea.

If you're a vegetarian, best skip over this paragraph...  At the beginning of the month we had a delivery from BruHighlanders - http://www.bruehighlanders.co.uk/ .  They stay at Brue in west Lewis (we got our dog Bramble from Brue and also collect Hebridean fleeces from a croft in the same area) and produce prime highland beef which is really spectacular.  We've already had a joint and some mince from the pack and it is delicious.  I would recommend them to anyone who is in the market for locally produced meat from , beautifully cared-for animals.  Don't know why it's taken us so long to decide to try local beef - we already produce our own lamb/mutton, eggs and chicken.  Together with potatoes from the croft and sitting in front of a peat fire, what more do we need for the perfect life?

Actually, I can answer that - my last Hebridean Harris Tweed was turned back by the stamper at the Harris Tweed Authority.  Haven't asked why yet, but imagine its either a "Friday-afternoon" tweed (ie really badly woven!) or I've got the weights all wrong.  Anyway, its good to know that the HTA are dancing on their toes and keeping up standards.  Interestingly, on the same day I got an order from our customers in London who sell to the entertainment industry for costumes etc. for linen cloth to go to New Zealand for use in the new production of "The Hobbit".  That news bucked us up no end as its been a while since Scalpay Linen was out in public - last outing I think was Glyndebourne a couple of years ago, though I think there was a little something in the TV version of "Merlin".

Here is the left hand side of our new Harris Tweed which is on the loom just now.  Had a really bad time with the accent threads which were just not right at all, so I swapped them for some of the space-dyed Harris wool which featured in an earlier blog and they fit in very well.  Have had some very encouraging compliments about the look of the tweed.  Seems to have the right number of shots per inch and nice straight edges so hope this one will go through the stamper ok.

The new training for weavers in Harris is due to start in January 2011.  We were down at the workshop in Harris where the double width looms are set up and the project seems to be progressing well.  The Hattersley weavers will get training on their own premises - as there is less work for the Hattersley looms from the mills the intention is that these weavers will be setting up their own small businesses around the looms, in much the same way as Scalpay Linen operates.  Adverts inviting applications will be appearing in the local press very soon.

Congratulations to intrepid climbers Emmett and Macleod

We spent the afternoon and early evening today riveted to the TV watching Tim Emmett and Dave Macleod tackle a new route up the overhanging 600 foot cliff of Sron Uladail in North Harris.  It was just amazing watching them and by the end I was completely exhausted!!  Congratulations to everyone involved in the event - and what a wonderful opportunity to showcase our magnificent scenery and heritage. 

OK, at last we are back to some creative stuff!  Today I was at Shawbost mill dropping off the Hebridean Harris Tweed and the last linen (purple, red and white) so I feel I've done something a bit useful after a period of being in the doldrums.

Last week I decided to dye the light colours of Harris wool I have in stock so my loom pixie hanked them all up for me and I spent a jolly, if sweaty, morning in the kitchen mising dyes, boiling pots and rinsing out hanks.  All my Australian landscape dyes are used up now - but what's the point of having them in a packet when they could be brightening up the world on a bit of yarn?

Here are a few of the hanks before I wound them onto cones on the Munty.  They are all crimped up because they're singles and not very stable.

Once onto the Munty cones they look quite different, and then, when put through the winder onto pirns ---

Well, they are really yummy.  The Harris Tweed I have in the loom looked wonderful on the warping mill, but was rather disappointing on the loom and I've been struggling to find a weft that will do it justice.  The accent threads I used were far too dark and heavy and made it all look very peculiar.  So I've whipped them out and replaced them with the space dyed yarn above.    Can't wait to start weaving to see what difference it makes to the end result!

Here's a cute photo I took of Baggy the duck in conference with Bramble - not sure what was being discussed but it ended with Baggy making a grab for Brambles' toes!

Anyone who is interested - and I know a lot of my visitors here are - might like to know that the Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers 2011 Summer School details is in the current edition of the Journal and also on their website - http://www.wsd.org.uk/.

There is a wide range of courses available for - particularly of interest to me is the "Colour in Tapestry" one which looks like it could be useful in giving me some basics of colour work as well as a chance to learn a type of weaving I've never tried before.

If you're not a member of a Guild or don't subscribe to the Journal, I would advise you to look into it without delay.  There is even an online guild for those of us living in out of the way places!

Scarves, Eggs, Shows and what I did on my way home from Stornoway last Wednesday.....

Another long gap between blogs I'm afraid.  Not sure why, but guess it's just the time of the year.  So much to do!  Here is our current project - making scarves.  Fringeing and finishing.  There will be a variety of different materials - Linsey Woolseys, linens and Harris Tweeds, so something for everyone.

We went through a spell when there were very few eggs in the nest boxes, then discovered that the hens had found themselves new places to lay.  Here is a very cosy spot we discovered in the byre, and who can blame the hen who thought that a nice sheepskin nest was her idea of heaven!

And talking of eggs - how's this for a whopper!  Weighing in at 113g - we haven't found which hen laid it, but guess that watery eyes and crossed legs might be clues.

On my way home from a trip to Stornoway on Wednesday, I got accidentally locked in the public toilet beside the Kinloch Historical Society premises near Balallan.  The handle came off the door and left me trapped inside.  I had to dial 999 to get released, so I'm taking this opportunity to thank the lads from the Stornoway Fire and Rescue Service for their speedy response to my plea for help.  In future I shall try to make sure and "go" before I leave home!

We didn't get to see the annual meteorite shower this year - unfortunately the weather has been too cloudy for that.

Last Friday was the North Harris Agricultural Show and it was a good day out.  Baggy the Aylesbury drake won a second prize, one of his mates won a first, and the cockerel who used to look like a starling won a second.  So all in all, a good result for the Croft 37 Poultry.  I spent the afternoon spinning Falkland wool on my Ashford Traveller wheel in the crafts tent, and it was a very relaxing enjoyable time chatting to passersby.  There's not a huge amount of spinning going on here these days, so its a real pleasure to devote some time to it.

Daisys lamb and the new tweed

It's a long time since I last added to my last blog - things have been very hectic with lots of visitors to the loomshed, weaving, warping and winding to do, lots of croft work, agricultural shows to attend and really rainy weather.

Here is an update on Daisys little lamb.  Her input into his upbringing continues to be minimal and he has now joined the lamb gang - the lamb on the right gives an idea of the difference in size between the lambs born at the right time, and Daisys lamb.  However, he's feeding from the bottle well and shows lots of interest in everything.

Here's my latest tweed - another Hebridean Harris Tweed ready to go to the mill when they open after the summer holidays.  With about 8 yards to go I finally cracked and put in a contrasting warp.

When it has been finished, I'll post a photo of it - quite an unusual colour combination but it seems that almost every colour goes well with the Hebridean brown.

It's the North Harris Agricultural Show at Willow Park Showground in Urgha on Friday, so the loomshed will be closed then.  We are busy polishing up the chickens and cockerels and hope that the weather is good enough to take a good selection with us.  Last year I seem to remember, the weather was so tragic that I only managed a couple of ducks - though they quite enjoyed it. 

Publication date for the new edition of Events Monthly - the free paper in Lewis and Harris is on Wednesday so if you are reading this locally, don't forget to grab a copy to see what's happening during the coming month.

Birth Announcement

To Daisy (formerly of Bunnavoneader)

The gift of a son

Safely delivered yesterday at around 6pm. 

Mother and son doing well despite the atrocious weather.