Joining in with Yarn Along

Last time I posted here was way back at the end of the summer.  Since then the autumn has passed by in a sleepy haze: I've been busy working, then recovering from Shingles and then from a very painful wisdom tooth extraction.  At last I am starting to feel more like myself - enough to take up my knitting again, to recover my sewing machine from a friend who borrowed it several months ago, and to dust off my baking tins. 


Yesterday I cast on for a new knitting project: Fishtail Wrist Warmers, which I'm knitting in a 4ply Rowan yarn.  I may have stopped knitting over the last couple of months but I didn't stop reading.  The book that I am enjoying very much at the moment is "Crescent" by Diane Abu-Jabbar.   As the blurb on the cover says "romance, risk and recipes", what's not to like?

 

 

Other Yarn Along posts can be found here Yarn Along

Cakes and Knitting

I finally finished the Wendy Slip Over that I have been knitting for the Knit-A-Square charity.

 I don't know why it's taken me such a long time to complete this one - I  finished most of the knitting weeks ago but for some reason couldn't find the motivation to finish off the last few rows and sew it up.  Anyway, it's finally done and I've got away to a flying start on the next one, which I am knitting in moss stich as a change from stocking stitch.  At the start of the year I set the goal of knitting 15 items for charity during 2015.    I'm afraid I'm running a bit behind and will need to speed up a bit if I'm going to meet my goal.

I went traditional with my baking this week and made Queen cakes using a recipe from Great British Bakes by Mary-Anne Boermans.    

My mum and my grandma were both "cooks", my grandma as her job and my mum, like most 1960s housewives, cooking almost everything from scratch for her family.   To buy a cake, pie or pudding was unheard of, and from a very early age I used to sit on the table, alongside where my mum was working,  helping to weigh out ingredients, grease tins, count out cake cases,  and give the bowl a stir.  I'm sure the foundations of my mathematical skills were laid down in the kitchen.     I can clearly remember the first batch of cakes that I ever made on my own - Fairy cakes made from a recipe cut out of Women's Weekly magazine.  I couldn't wait for dad to get home from work to taste them. 

I still make Fairy cakes, each no more than a couple of bites,  perfect with an afternoon cuppa, and which I prefer to the oversized muffins and buttercream-piled cup cakes that have come  here from the USA.   And, if I do fancy a bit of buttercream, nothing beats an old-fashioned butterfly cake, especially with a small blob of homemade lemon or orange curd added before the wings are stuck back on.  Delicious.

A Week In View

Sunday was definitely one of those "In The Bleak Midwinter" days. There was a hard frost overnight and the earth was standing "hard as iron" with "water like a stone".  I saw this patch of daffodil shoots when I was out for my afternoon walk.  I'm sure there are many more cold(er) days to come before the spring arrives, but these are a sign that even in the depths of winter we are looking forward to a New Year and what is to come.

On the subject of the New Year, I have always been unsuccessful at keeping New Year resolutions, but one that I am going to try very hard to keep in 2015 is to do some knitting for charity. As part of the Ravelry 15 in 15 group that I've joined, I have pledged to knit 15 items for charity over the coming twelve months. Knit a Square is one of the charities that I am going to knit for this year.

The Yule edition of "Elk Lines" arrived this week. This is a story, written by Sylvia Victor Linsteadt, who also writes the blog  The Indigo Vat.     Elk Lines is sent one chapter at a time throughout the year. I am enjoying reading it very much: It is a mixture of magic realism and nature writing and I always look forward to receiving the next installment. There is a joy in the anticipation of having to wait for the next chapter to arrive and I get a thrill when the thick, decorated, envelope arrives in the post.

A Week In View - Christmas 2014

My Thanksgiving Cactus (Schlumbergia truncata) has not been well for sometime. I've had it for over 20 years and it has grown from a small cutting to a large plant that usually flowers profusely at the end of November. It was re-potted earlier this year and hasn't been happy since - this November there were very few flowers. Then, this week I discovered that the main stem has rotted through near the base, just above the level of the compost. I have taken some cuttings. I know it's not the right time of the year but it has always been such a beautiful, reliable plant and I don't want to lose it. I hope that with some tlc the cuttings will thrive and will be around for another twenty plus years.

These lovely homemade mince pies were a gift from two little girls that I sometimes help with their maths homework. It was such a lovely surprise when they gave them to me and they tasted as good as they look. I love mince pies; they are one of my favourite Christmas treats.

Christmas has been a quiet and peaceful time in this home, with lots of time for knitting and reading. I've started to knit a shawl in some purple chenille yarn that I bought from Texere. The colour is beautiful - rich and luxurious looking. Yesterday we had the first snow of the winter but cozying up on the sofa, with my knitting and  a glass of red wine, I was snug and contented.