Busy bees

A baby photo of me and my flatmate Kirsty. Yes, Kirsty who made the awesome Wonder Woman jumper that got Boing-ed. That Kirsty.

Our parents have known each other since they were teenagers, and I've known Kirsty since before I could speak. We've shared a flat together for six years now. We joke that when we do finally stop living together we'll never manage to disentangle our joint knitting needle collection. In truth, it'll be a lot more than just that.

She is a bit under a year older than me. Which means she's got to do most things first. She learnt to speak, learnt to walk and learnt to knit first. She went to university first, she left university first (something I'm still struggling to do). She was even Alice before me, as it's her middle name. And she turned 30 first too, yesterday to be precise. See her failing to blow out all the candles in one go.

On such a momentous occasion, I could bang on about what an amazing person Kirsty is, how much she has taught me, how much she means to me. But it's not really my style. Or hers. Or our relationship's. Or this blog's. Instead, I'll show you one of the birthday present I knitted for her and take some photos of her feet. 

Legwarmers, covered in bees. One hundred and eighty bees to be precise. Nine sets of bees, each containing ten bees.

They are based on Pinneguri's bumblebee socks, but legwarmer-ised (larger circumference, and no toe or heel). I also striped brown and yellow yarn, rather than use self-striping, and stuck to just the three colours. I think the amazing yellow yarn really makes them, it's Jitterbug in "Vincent's Apron".

The project is ravelled here which includes full details of yarn and needles and link to pattern.

It was part of a bee-themed collection of presents (largely inspired by the legwarmers, Kirsty has no special "thing" about bees, though obviously we all know bees are cool). This included sponsorship of a beehive, honey bath things, an actual pot of honey, and a bee-covered honey and chocolate cake.

Easter Nests

My cousin Iain tweeted that he'd made some "Easter nests" the other night. Cue: wave of nostalgia for childhood Easter holidays covered in chocolate. For some reason I always associate these little piles of chocolate-coated breakfast cereal decorated with Mini-Eggs with my Aunt Susie (Iain's mum) so I guess she always made them. Our families would often see each other at some point around the Spring holidays. I'm the one with the long hair trying to be a scary lion.

I'd planned to bake brownies for my mum and little brother instead of giving them a chocolate egg each but, after reading Iain's tweet, decided Easter Nests were in order. You should use mashed up Shredded Wheat for nests because it looks the most stick-like. Nestle products aren't allowed in our flat, so I ended up using Co-op Bran Flakes instead. Much more fiber, plus fortified with iron (people who like magnets: follow that link). I also used plain rather than milk chocolate, which I melted with some golden syrup to sweeten and give a slight chew to the texture. The result are rather grown up Easter Nests, best eaten slowly over a cup of tea. Flatmate-Kirsty had a glass of milk with hers. They are strong and earthy, but very good.

I made a round of brownies for mum and Jim too. He'd only complain otherwise (apparently baking brownies is what big sisters are for, even when you're both speedily approaching 30).

I used this awesome recipe. They are also exceedingly chocolaty and best eaten in small quantities with a cup of tea, especially as I decreased the sugar quantity slightly to bring out the chocolate. Still, I dare say Mum and Jim will get through them. Kirsty beat me with the whole Easter baking though, because she fought with some slightly old yeast to make annoyingly perfect hot cross buns (everything Kirsty makes is annoyingly perfect).

Normal knit blogging will resume in a week or so. I've got an arm and a half to do on my top-down Demi and only about another half ball more to knit of the leaves scarf, so I hope I'll have an FO to show. You can also find more work related blogging from me here (including piece about a 1958 Girls-own chemistry set which featured a pink microscope).

tidings of comfort and joy

I knitted a hat. It took less than a week. Which is handy because it snowed. Yes, in London. Before Christmas. It settled and everything (Don't believe Hollywood London: most years we have no snow at all).

It's supposed to be Selbu Modern, but because my normally abnormally-super-loose gauge gets abnormally-super-tight as soon as I do colourwork, it's more of a Selbu beanie. Which is at least useful for wearing under my bicycle helmet in the cold. It's also slightly square at the top, but that's due to rubbish blocking (might re-block on a balloon or something). Details of yarn, etc on ravelry project page.

Mince pies! Made by Kirsty, not me. Though the flaky-lightness of the pastry is at least partly due to me. Tip from one of my students: use vodka instead of water in pastry. Works really well. The mince pies were for a small Christmas party we held this afternoon/evening. Both Lara and Felix had to cry off ill, but we still had a house full (including Emms) of merry-makers.

Above is a before shot, some chocolate fruit cake (from Feast. Sounds wrong, but really, really works) surrounded by a pile of pfeffernüsse (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipe), and lights draped over our staircase in the background. We also had gingerbread, dundee cake, goblets of mulled wine and about a trillion other things. Very full now. Signs of the remains are below. Season's Greetings to you all.

Summer

Without getting too bogged down in a stream of "bad blogger, look how long it has been since I posted", I've not really had much time for knitting, let alone knit-blogging the last few months. I was pretty ill for a couple of weeks (not H1N1 - I wasn't that ill, more incredibly wipe-you-out bad cold than actual flu). Also, it's been summer, so reasonably hot (at least at times, for old Blighty) and I've just not been feeling the desire to produce warm clothes. Plus, it's been the summer, so I've had loads of marking and research to catch up on. And, it's been the summer, so I've been enjoying the outdoors and cycling loads (still haven't mastered the art of knitting whilst cycling).

I'll start with a shot of an FO I finished a while back, but didn't get around to posting. Full details through ravelry. It's a second version of a top I made last summer. The first one was, I felt, a tad on the baggy side. This one, I fear, is a tiny bit small. It's nice enough though, and I do like how the cables pop.

Some things I've been up to whilst not knitting. Felix came round for afternoon tea. I cycled from Henry Tate's Grave to the Tate & Lyle factory via a pair of Tate Libraries and both London Tate Galleries. I read a lot of kids books about being green. Marcus and I had a long weekend in Amsterdam.

To finish, a shot of my new FO. I've been to a couple of conferences recently. For me, conferences equals knitting time (if only for the 6 hour train journey home) so I have actually got a reasonable amount done. It's a stripy top-down raglan, yellow and brown. So I can pretend to be a bee.

Jumpers. Snow & Pie.

Before we get onto the knitting, my contribution to London(ish) knit bloggers' delight in our recent snowfall. As well as the odd juxtaposition of British phonebox and New York Cab, I love the red and yellow shining in all that white light.

Unfortunately, getting me, daylight, snow and photographer all outside at the same time proved impossible, so these FO shots are quite thawed. Plus, it is still bleeding cold, so it was a matter of running round the corner to the park behind our house, taking photos, running in to de-frost and change jumper, then running back.

Firstly, O W L S. Even ignoring the wonder of the owls, this is a very well written yoke pattern - I may use it for a plain jumper. I loved the waist-shaping at the back, though if it does mean the unworn jumper looks a bit like it has a bustle (this might be because I gave it an extra inc and dec set to accommodate the smaller row gauge and my over-average height) The owls are fun and cute, but the button-eyes give a pretty detail and though I'm wearing jeans here, it looks smart paired with a plain black skirt, grey tights and boots.

I wasn't sure the owls would be dramatic enough in lighter yarn, but I like them now they are all done and have eyes. I was also worried I’d run out of yarn as the seller only had five left, so I decided to err on the side of a smaller size. The result is tight, but works - I’d much rather this way that too big. I needed have worried about the yarn: I've got a ball to spare (I got the yarn on sale - even with the buttons, a very cheap project). The other worry was that I didn't suit yoked sweaters, but I'm actually quite pleased with it. Despite all these concerns, I was completely convinced by the pattern. Not just for those of us who read The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark too much as a child, a properly lovely jumper. Full stats on ravelry.

I also finished a purple tweed jumper (ravelry page here). But it's really plain, so I'll finish with a shot of some hot cherry pie I made last night instead. Because that's what we need in this weather. Warm jumpers and hot puddings.

FO: October Baby Sweater

You'll have to excuse the lack of blogging. I do love our new house (the door to the roof terrace has a built in bottle opener, what's not to like?), but the whole moving palaver has certainly been a blow to knit-blogging.

The picture above is a recent FO I've dubbed the October Baby Sweater. Its based on Zimmermann's February Baby Sweater, but I cut out the lace, replaced it with stocking stitch and finished with a bit of autumnal leaf embroidery. The yarn is some tea-dyed bamboo/ wool and a bit of left-over brown 4ply. The leaves are placed to fall across the left side, and down that edge of the back. See also its ravelry page.

Its for my lovely friend Nadiya, who along with her also-lovely husband Ian recently reproduced an equally lovely baby, little Jaan. Last week I packaged it up with two Baby Surprise Jackets and a batch of diabetic lactose-free brownies. Recipe follows, its easily adaptable for those who know no fear when it comes to the sugar and cow juice (though hard to vegan-ise, you need the eggs). After many years of searching, its my favourite brownie recipe.

• 250g good quality dark chocolate.
• 200g dairy-free margarine. Or, for dairy-freaks, 250g of butter.
• 100g cocoa.
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder.
• 200g perfect sweet. Or similar sugar substitute, or 250-300g fine sugar.
• 40g plain flour. Use whatever type of flour works for your diet, though my personal preference is fine white cake flour.
• Five eggs. Or four large ones.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Melt chocolate and fat. Slowly. While that's cooling, mix the dry ingredients together. Beat the eggs into the choc/fat mix. Make a well in the dry ingredients and slowly pour in the wet. You can also add nuts or fruit at this point - a chopped up Mars Bar is ace if you don't mind the sugar. Mix to a thick paste and pour into a brownie tray (or rather splat it rather than pour, the stuff is thick, a spatula is useful). Bake for about 20-25 mins. Its should still be quite squishy in the middle. Leave to cool and cook a bit further while it does so. They are gorgeous while still warm with yoghurt or ice cream, but they actually improve with age, so worth making a large batch and letting them last a day or two.

I'm currently in Leeds, giving a couple of seminars in their philosophy department. I might have an hour or so free tomorrow afternoon, depending on trains - anything I should catch? Next week, I'm off to Dublin for a few days (very excited, never been to Ireland) - again, any recommends?

domestic saturday

As a balance to the last two messy tuesdays posts, here is one based on a day of domesticity. Though I dare say you can spot some mess at the back of a few of the shots. The day started with a shower, a bit of a tidy of the kitchen and a check of jobs.ac.uk, followed by a lengthy deconstruction of pantomime cross-dressing over brunch at a local cafe with Marcus. He pottered off to the football, and I picked up some groceries on the way home. I only went in for bread flour, but there was a special offer on frozen raspberries.


So now we have 9 jars of jam. I do like raspberry jam. While doing the washing up, I found an Agatha Christie on the BBC7 iplayer. I not only know whodunit, but could virtually recite the script verbatim, but Miss Marple is one of my favourite guilty pleasures. This one even starts with a knitting; a dropped stitch and skein of blue wool to be exact. So, during the rest of the radio play there was a bit of knitting from me. Socks, using 'magic-magic loop' of two-on-one-needle, I'm making the pattern up as I go.


Then some baking. Kirsty and I, in a moment of whimsy earlier in the week resolved to make a cake in celebration of the return of Dr Who, challenging ourselves to include ingredients starting with the letters d, r, w, h and o. So, a carrot cake with dates, raisins, wholemeal flour, honey and the juice of an orange. We baked it in a loaf tin and covered it in blue icing, full results here. We made up a couple of mini-muffins with the leftover mix, TARDIS door-knobs?


After that little excursion into geekery (unusual for either of us), we completed the day in relative elegance with some pre-dinner cocktails. Because one should always keep a bottle of cava and some cassies on hand. Take that Nigella.

Tomorrow, I work. Marking exams.

really quite touched

Yesterday, I commented on posts by both Ashley and Stacey noting how funny it is you can trace mini-vogues for patterns through ravelry 'friends activity' pages. That evening, I was rather taken aback to be confronted with this, my headless torso repeated over the browser window:

Brompton's queue is at 66 last time I checked, and one person's cast on already. How did that happen? I had no idea I had that kind of blog traffic. Sometimes I think the online knitting community is largley about imaginary knitting (fantasy knitting, like fantasy football...?), and I suspect ravelry's queuing feature encouredges that. All that said, thanks. Really, I mean that. For the ravelry comments, ravelry faves (got to love those hearts scattered over your profile), blog comments, links, emails... I'm actually very, very touched. Plus this sort of thing always brings lurkers out; I've discovered a load of new knitters. I'm going to look into putting up the pattern in ravlery as a download pdf, but that'll take time I don't have right now. I will look into it though.

I have no knitting content, as it is still rainy and horrible and I have failed to take any decent photos. Plus I've been applying for jobs and writing papers instead of knitting this week. So I'll end this with a tip and a link.

Tip: Put potato water in your homemade bread. Even better, mash up a couple of potatoes and put that in your dough. It's amazing; the fluffiest center, with a lovely chewy-yet-crisp crust. The sort of bread that is made for strawberry jam. Freezes beautifully and the toast is divine. You might think I'm crazy, it's a Nigella tip I ignored for years as simply loopy, but it works wonders. If you have her domestic goddess book, its page 298 of the UK hardback (though don't use nearly as much salt as she says, in that respect she is loopy).

Link: Hadley Freeman on "Granny Chic". She complains that the recent vogue for an "eccentric trendiness" (cabled cardigans, tweed skirts and the like) isn't pretty and isn't fun. I disagree with her in terms of taste (it is very pretty, and oodles of fun), but otherwise I thought the article was spot-on. However, she's missing a trick in ignoring the number of blokes who have taken on the same aesthetic - have you seen the quantity of 1970s OU beards in your average urban bar these days? (or is that just a Hackney/ Dulwich thing?) I also suspect this aesthetic reaches to taste in food, drink and hobbies. I'd be interested to know what other knitters think about the article though. I suspect a fair few of us engage in a bit of granny-chic.

Personally, I appear to be wearing two types of tweed today, which I admit is excessive.

studies in pink and green

As I went through the photos I'd taken this weekend, a rhyme my mother used to say kept ringing in my ears: "pink and green should never be worn, except upon a fairy queen*". But I like pink and green together, probably because (like many others) I like to imagine I really am a fairy queen**.

First up is a classic in pink-green combinations: rhubarb. This is mixed with some pear to bulk out the fruit, sitting waiting for crumble topping.


We made it yesterday, as part of a feast for Saturday night knitting in front of the telly (and, oh my, how good was Dr Who?) but stuffed ourselves on homemade pizza, so left it for breakfast instead. Leftover crumble for breakfast always makes me think of a line in the Railway children - "apple pie for breakfast, we can't be poor" - and so feel very decedent.

But onto knitting. The current state of my stash (click on the photo for the flickr version with labels).



It does seem to be very green-orientated. I'm not sure how this has happened, but I must be on a bit of a green kick as I noticed a similar effect in my wardrobe. I think it's a sub-conscious attempt to counter-act the pink kick I was on previously. As evidence of said pink-kick, some roses, waiting to be sewn onto the front the panel of my current WIP:



The yarn tails are all kinky because it's recycled yarn and I was too lazy to wash it between knitting (it used to be this). And lastly, a study in pinks removed from away from any green and taken to extreme (i.e. red). Strawberry Jam! Made by my flatmate yesterday. Inspired by a Nigella Lawson recipe, she used balsamic vinegar. Very yummy.

* EDIT As Heather suggests, there is also "Blue and green should not be seen, except with something inbetween" and, thinking back, I think my mum's version was a mix (i.e. fairy queens only wear blue and green) - I remember a friend convincing me it was pink and green when we were at school. Mmmm, I guess it's the sort of thing everyone has their own varient of.
** Did anyone else have adult-sized dress-up wings when they were 18? Or was that just around the bubble-blowing punkish-goth crowds of the late 90s?

FO: small purse

While my big WIP projects are progressing pretty slowly, I squeezed this out.

It's a ball of 4ply tweed I got cheap because it was a funny dye-lot. I just knitted a st st tube, folded it for double thickness, kitchenered up the end and threw it in the washing machine. Once felted I sewed the zip and a few decorative buttons. Done. Perfect size for my pda and a few business cards. An evening's knitting, an evening's sewing.

It was my birthday yesterday, and my lovely BF made me a cake. A chocolate Guinness cake (recipe in Feast). As you can tell from how much was left by the time it was light enough to take a photo, it's good cake.

Hot Cross Chocs

These aren't bland sweeties, but the white crosses balance the delightfully dark, spicy balls underneath. Plus, unlike most truffles they don't contain cream so they're not too rich (and should last a bit longer - if you let them!).

Ingredients

• 200-250g ginger cake crumbs (I blitzed a Jamaica Ginger Cake in a food processor).
• 50-75g ground almonds.
  
• 50g crystallised ginger, finely chopped.
• A generous teaspoon of ground ginger, more if you really want a kick (you could add a pinch of pepper or tiny bit of chili for real heat).
  
• 200g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa).
• Small amount of marzipan thinned down with water to a pipe-able almond paste OR melted white chocolate OR other white frosting to make the crosses.
  

Mix the dry ingredients while you gently melt the chocolate.

Gradually mix the dry ingredients INTO the melted chocolate, to make a smooth and even, but dense paste.

Roll into balls and place in small cases. DO NOT leave them in the fridge before making them into balls (as you would with truffles - this recipe doesn't have the cream and butter).

Using your choice of icing, make crosses on the the tops, al la hot cross buns.


I made my own thin almond paste with left over ground almonds, a bit of water and a few drops of almond essence and piped them on with a sandwich bag - I'm sure a more experienced cake-icer armed with proper equipment could do a neater job!

Makes about 35-40.

Inspired by this recipe for xmas pudding truffles, though I think my spicy version would suit that season too. They went down really well today at family lunch, I may well make some more for Marcus' family next week.

I also managed a batch of real hot cross buns. I used Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall recipe from the Guardian, modifying his tutti-frutti for some tea-soaked raisins and substituting milk and butter for dairy-free options. A very yummy Easter all round.

slipped stitches

Again I'm prefacing with a prettier-than-my-FO non-knitting photo. This is the cake I baked for my flatmate's birthday yesterday. Based on this recipe, it took three bars of full-sized Green & Black's 70% chocolate and five eggs. The redcurrents were a last-minute thought, but they balance the richness beautifully. All very yum.

Back to the knitting - I have another sock FO.



Pattern: based on Crusoe but toe up with a dutch (square) heel (instructions for toe-up dutch heel found here).

I loved the stitch pattern, don't know what all this stuff about it lacking stretch is about (although this could be helped by the wonderful yarn, see below). Super-quick to knit with all those slipped stitches, and obviously it does what it is designed to do (i.e. show off variegated yarn).

I'd not tried a dutch heel before, toe-up or cuff-down so this was an experiment. I think it was a bit too square for me, and the heel is very wide. But I will reserve judgment till after I've warn them longer than just taking photos of my feet. The heel was lots of fun to knit, even more than short-rows (and I LOVE short rows). I might play around with variations on this to see if I can make a toe-up dutch heel I like better.

Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in "Northern Lights".

The colours are a bit dark to come out well on screen, but are lovely. Although I've no idea why they choose the name "Northern Lights" which I imagine as being much paler (I've never seen the northern lights so could well be talking poo). The bright neon pinks and greens with dark blues and purples made me think of 80s disco lights more than anything else. I didn't have any trouble with the dye coming off on my needles or hands, which I've heard from a few other Cherry Hill users.

Other than colours, I once read this yarn described (along with STR & Koigu) simply as "a very nice merino". I think that says it all. It is warm and soft and squishy, which matches the thickness of the stranded pattern well. These are going to be very cozy socks.

I'll finish with a close up of the cake. I'm off to eat some more of it.

here be pirates

I'm sworn to keep my latest project a secret, especially from the world of the knit-blog. So I'm photographing yesterday's baking instead (a cherry and Hoegaarden clafoutis). I found the recipe while surfing for variations on cherry pie the other day. It was pretty good, but I'd use less sugar next time. And maybe add a squeeze of lemon to sweeter cherries. But I tend to use less sugar, I like my sweets tart.

But I can still blog about other people's knitting. How cute is this felted kids pirate hat? This is quite an old pattern, but the wonderful blogger who designed it has just put up a pirate argyle chart.

I know many adults who'd love one of these. Including my little brother. He is so straight-laced the guy dropped out of a Music degree, cut his hair and got a job where he has to wear a suit. Very much the wrong way round. But behind the shirt and tie lies a sometimes surreal of humor and rather childish love of toys. Plus he was one of those kids who spent most of his early childhood in fancy dress. Lots of Pirates, Robin Hood, Peter Pan, Teenage Nutant Ninja Turtles, Knights of the Round Table, Spies... but mainly Superman. The child was convinced he could fly.

It's his 21st birthday in October. Maybe I could knit him a cape.