Unpicking

Is'nt unpicking just the most dispiriting thing? Yesterday I finally got around to making my bustle skirt, but apparently I made it for someone who is a) much taller and b) much wider than me.
Sigh. Out comes the stitch ripper.

Took me ages to get that zip right, too. 

 This lack of ability does not fill me with confidence for my next project. The pattern assures me its for novices but it does look a bit scary to me, who has difficulty putting in a zip correctly. I'm sure all this would be easier if I had a sewing room....

On the upside, the rugby starts tonight and there will be beers and cheese straws to enjoy while we watch Wales thrash England.  Which they will, obviously. Hopefully.

Mmmmm, cheese straws

Oh, and I'm not Patience Kershaw. Always something to be thankful for. Great song, though.

Selfish Knitting and Hob Nobs

First off, apologies that there has not been much going on around here lately. My motivation seems to be lowering along with the temperature, as it gets colder and whiter outside (down to -41 this week) my only desire seems to be to retreat to bed with a good book and some Hob Nobs (see below). However, I have manged to pull myself upright and some knitting in front of the tele so all is not lost. And only 4 months to go til spring.

I like to knit. I like to give gifts. Ergo, the vast majority of my knitting is gifted. I think I can count on one hand the things I have made for myself. As as addendum to my Knitting Resolutions, I am only knitting things for myself for a while. Its so much less stressful - no deadlines, no pressure to make it perfect. Right now I am working on this slouchy beanie for which I am finally using up some stashed  Vanna's Choice. I've not got on well with this yarn in the past, its acrylic, scratchy and splitty. But weirdly it seems to be behaving itself this time around and trying into a really snug and cute hat. I hope.

I have also, rather fabulously, discovered how to make Hob Nobs! Yay! The recipe calls them Abbey Biscuits but I know, I know. They're Hob Nobs. Delicious, crunchy, oaty Hob Nobs.And with all the brown flour and oats they are practically a health food.

Hob Nobs (makes 24)

150g butter
150g light brown sugar
150g plain brown flour
1 tbs milk
1tsp bicarb
1 tsp golden syrup

1. Heat the oven to 150 Celsius / 300 Fahrenheit.
2. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy.
3. Add milk, soda and syrup.
4. Stir in the flour and oats and mix well.
5. Roll into small balls and space evenly on lightly greased baking sheets. Flatten slightly with a fork. 
6. Bake for 20 - 25 min until golden.
7. Cool on wire racks, and enjoy with a nice cup of tea and a sit down. Possibly while watching Marple. Fight feelings that you are in fact, 65 years old.

Today I Learnt:

• How to do a provisional cast-on. It took me about an hour, some tangled yarn and confusion with various guides but in the end Knitty came to my rescue and joy was unconfined.

Yay! See the way I basically cast-on to waste yarn? So clever.

•  How to make Kipferl. These are seriously good biscuits, I would say I was operating on a 'one for me, one for the oven' ration with the dough. I got the recipe from my W.I Book of Biscuits - a present from my sister years ago which I love. It is one of the great sadness's of my life (along with not being French and 2'' taller) that I will probably never get a chance to join the W.I to make Jam and sing Jerusalem.   

The recipe makes 48. There are now considerably less.

Vanilla Kipferl

 225g butter
225g plain flour
1 tsp vanilla essence
100g ground almonds
100g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
Sifted icing sugar for coating

Rub the butter into the flour and work in the remaining ingredients to make a stiff dough. Chill for 1 hour.
Heat the oven to 160 Celsius / 325 Fahrenheit.
Take walnut-sized pieces of dough and roll into small fat sausages, about 2cm wide and 6cm long. Form into crescent shapes.
Arrange on ungreased non-stick baking sheets and bake for 20 min until golden.
Leave to cool for 3 min and then dip in icing sugar. Cool completely on wire racks.
Apparently they taste even better after a couple of days, if there are any left by then.

It'll be Winter, then

Today outside looks like this:

Grey, icy and -12. Brrr.

What better day to stay inside in the warm with some brandy, cake and a darning needle?

Chaos Theory

So the very lovely fabric I ordered from Etsy arrived on Friday. Much excitement all around, in which mood I decided to get going on some Christmas gifts (details here). Shortly, my work table looked like this:

There has to be a better way...

To my shame the picture above illustrates my usual working environment, with all my notions and threads in a zip-lock bag and fabric over chairs, etc. At least there is tea, I'm not a savage.
After more tea and some Ginger Nuts my brain started working again and I realised the solution to my problem was staring me in the face (or, more accurately, languishing on a shelf in the basement).

The Ginger Nut: No 6 in my Biscuit Top Ten, above the Custard Cream but below Digestives

Ta Da! I give you, My Work Box!

That's proper Irish mud on there, you know (and yes, I have scrubbed it)

I bought this little work box for 5 euro seven years ago in Lidl, when I was working as an archaeologist in Ireland. It's spent many long, cold, windy and wet hours on various hillsides waiting for something exciting to happen, getting filled with random bits of string, rusty nails and pens jammed with mud.
I like to think I am giving it the cushy retirement it deserves.

Happy to serve once more, alongside my rather natty sewing machine cover.

Mmmm, Christmas Cake

It's that time of year again, the air is cold and smells of bonfires so it must be time to make the Christmas Cake. I'm very British and my Christmas is mainly to do with dried fruit and brandy, both of which my Canuck husband dislikes intensely. Despite this every year I make my cake and I am the only one to eat it, which means half of it goes into the freezer and I'm still eating it at Easter, running out just in time to make the Simnel Cake (more dried fruit, no brandy but  - quel horreur - marzipan).
The cake is supposed to take two days to make - but as I am pushed for time this week I am going to cut corners and only soak the fruit in brandy for 8 hours instead of twelve, hopefully get it all in the oven this evening and cooked by bedtime (it takes 4 hours in the oven!). This is a post which will run and run as the cake gets wrapped up and put away for at least a month, getting  a regular brandy feed once a week (lucky cake).

Sultana's, raisins, glace cherries, mixed peel and brandy....mmmmm

Stashbusters!

Welcome to my new blog! The other day I realised not a day goes by without me making something, be it bread, a cake or knitted scarf.  I figured a record of all this frenetic creativity would be nice. So here it is.
As Christmas is coming up, and as once again we have very little spare cash I'm doing a Handmade Holiday. I'm also trying to use up as much of my stash material, so am looking for knitting patterns by yarn rather than by desire. One day I will be able to buy yarn again....

Yesterday I finished and posted my sister's birthday present, a lovely soft cowl, using this pattern from New York Miniknit and a skein of Patons Decor I've had for ages. The Ithacowl is such a great pattern, once you get going its very TV-watching friendly, and the result has lots of drape even with a thicker yarn like this one. The Sister is lucky I didn't just keep it for myself...

Ithacowl!

I woke late this morning but extremely motivated, and decided to get on with my mother-in-law's festive gift. She is doing an art degree right now and draws and draws and draws. So this is what I came up with:


 

A pencil roll! I followed this great tutorial and I'm pretty happy with the result.  I'm especially pleased with this as I used an old dress shirt of The Husband's as the lining, and cut up an old flannel sheet as the interfacing.  The outer fabric is Tweet Tweet by Keiki for Moda which I originally bought to make cushion covers, realised it wasn't quite right and promptly hid in the stash box.

Before Christmas I will fill the roll with nice pencils and cover a hardback sketchbook with the Moda fabric.

And finally, I made some bread....mmm, bread.