Lund Sweater Lust

A quick search on Ravelry shows that I am not the only one suffering from Lund Sweater Lust, I think anyone who is lucky enough to be watching The Killing will be experiencing  a strong urge for soft Nordic knits. For those who aren't watching, it's a great slow-burn and complex crime drama from Denmark which makes Wallander look like a sunny day at the beach. Yesterday I found myself saying 'I am so glad The Killing is going to last another six weeks' which just sounds wrong. The double bill on the BBC has become a weekly treat in our house, and  I am convinced the slightly creepy Vagn is the killer, but I have no idea what the politician has to do with anything. What is mainly getting in the way of  minor plot details for me is Sarah Lund's rather magnificent sweater:

When I should be concentrating on political deals, how the killer got the car keys, and exactly how dodgy the teacher is, I find myself drifting off into thoughts of yarn thickness, tension and  yokes. The sweater is available to buy from Gudrun & Gudrun, for an eye-watering CAD$376, so clearly the only way forward is to knit the thing. It doesn't look that tricky to do, I'm guessing a soft bulky yarn with  needles a size larger than recommended. I found this pattern by Drops which I think could be used as a base pattern, increasing the Nordic design repeat, excluding the dots and border and changing the neckline.

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.

Knitting Resolutions

 My knitting has reached a bit of an impasse. This has been a few reasons but mainly I have'nt seen anything I want to make lately and sewing is just so much more instant gratification...harder to do while watching TV, though. So, in addition to my sewing resolution, I think I need a few for my bamboo needles.

1. I will knit my ravelry queue, in order and with the right yarn
2. I will no longer subject myself to the frustration that is buying yarn at Michaels.
3. I will accept that to make truly nice garments I should probably spend more than $6 a skein.

 I made a good start with these over the weekend when I made my first purchase from Knit Picks to make the first item in my queue, the Carnaby Skirt. Living in The Frozen North as I do, skirts don't figure much in my wardrobe for 6 months of the year. But the reviews if this pattern all assure me that this skirt is toasty warm, especially when knit up with Wool of the Andes. Here's hoping.

The Carnaby Skirt (Photo by Knitty.com)

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.

Mainly Dogs

We rather lost our heads on Saturday and adopted a puppy from the local SPCA. She is a 9 month old black lab cross, although with what exactly is anyone's guess. She has been called Spotty - The Husband's idea. He thinks it's hilarious, as she is totally black.

Craft-wise, I have also stared this

which hopefully will end up like this, although this involves me mastering double-knitting, so nothing is certain.

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.