Easter Holidays have been a bit of a washout - still the boys like sleeping in , playing in their pj's most of the day and being indoors. Just as well .
I've also been able to catch up in some reading , have just finished Marjory Fleming by Oriel Mallet , a lovely book from the people at Persephone .
Received the Persephone Biannually , a publication by Persephone Books with articles on their latest books for summer , the authors , a full listing of all their books and an update on their Events . It also has a short story by featured author Diane Athill, and a fabulous article by Maureen Lipman talking about her time playing the actress Joyce Grenfell on stage .
This lovely picture is on the front page - showing a lady knitting outside in the garden , shaded on her Swinging Seat .
Diane Athill , the featured author, came from a very upper class English background , her grandmothers house had 20 bedrooms and a thousand acres of land! This is a painting of Diane's mother before marriage and motherhood - can you see what she has on her lap ? Yes , even the upper classes (pre WW1 ) took up knitting socks !
Well , with the Rosewood stole finally finished , I am now doing some knitting that will be on display in my good friend Karens' shop . It is a Noro Silk Garden cardi and the pattern is Design 8 from the Jennie Watson Noro Flowers 2 Book - a lovely lacy effect on the front with a plain back and sleeves .
Here is the left front , I think this lace pattern is really effective with the Noro .
And here is the back - I just love the colours in this shade of Silk Garden number 304 .
Excuse the poor quality of the photo's , using my photobooth on the macbook as the camera is hiding again .
Will just finish with a quote from the Biannually by Maureen Lipman - "Joyce (Grenfell) once asked a room full of children what the word frugal meant . One little chap said ' to save' , and she ..... suggested the class might all write her little stories that contained the word frugal. The prize winning story went as follows; The princess was imprisoned in the tower and she shouted 'frugal me frugal me !'"
In a bit of a guddle just now . Had a new kitchen put in recently , which is wonderful . Then new flooring needed to be laid and now all that is left is for the tiling to be done .....
However , a new kitchen requires some new equipment too - like my new kenwood food processor , and some new crockery and ........ the money only goes so far , will need to take it slowly .
There is still knitting , sisters scarf is almost done , only a month late ! And there is some other knitting too coming up soon .
Back to the guddle .
as well as Pancake Tuesday!
For the last few months lots of busy knitters have been knitting squares and sending them into the Tramway in order to make a blanket of 100 million stitches to represent the 100 million women "missing" in the world .
Here is a link to the garterstitch100 group blog - there are some photo's , but they do not show the full extent of all the knitting and sewing done .
Glasgow Knit n Stitch group have greatly contributed to this event , knitting squares and sewing them up each week . Some of the ladies have made huge blankets out of the squares for display . Gloria took in her knitting machine and did a power of work too , teaching as well as knitting .
And in a couple of windy wee towns further down the Clyde , several other knitters made and sent in their contribution too !
A huge blanket was sewn together and is displayed in the foyer of the Tramway , and , starting today , there are 100 events happening to celebrate 100th International Womens' Day .
I had a lovely morning sitting with Laura and Vanessa from the Glasgows' Womens' Library (based at the Mitchell Library at Charing Cross) who had a wee table out with all their flyers , whilst I stitched some more squares along with Ella from the Knit n Stitch . There was some ladies doing henna painting , "threading" , and there was lots of music and dancing going on too . It was a real celebration and great fun .
And yet there is sadness , that in the world today there are 100 million women , missing , not there , gone .
There is still work to be done to make sure every women is wanted , valued, appreciated .
And we should remember to Thank those who do so much , who never look for recognition , who are sometimes taken for granted . True heroes.
You share a birthday with me , my sister and my friend (and her twin!) !!
I was three when I got a special Birthday gift - my sister . She has a special birthday , but I won't say as I'd give my own age away .
I was hoping to get this done for my sisters Birthday , however I still have a full skein to knit up , so it may be a wee while before she gets it - not too long though . The yarn is so soft and warm , I think I am slowing down subconsciously , it really is a dream to work with .
I have been very fortunate in receiving some lovely gifts - took pictures of a few of them .
This is a beautiful Lace book written by Margaret Stove , a lady from New Zealand , and has some fabulous designs in it . I hope to try some soon , starting with the scarves and working my way up to a larger shawl . Most of the designs are knitted in very fine laceweight and knitted on 2mm or smaller needles - yikes!
These gorgeous fingerless mitts knitted in Rowan felted tweed , were give to me by my fellow birthday celebrant! Such a beautiful shade , the yarn is just lovely .
I am going out with my sister and parents this evening to celebrate a bit more with a nice meal . The boys have been told they will dress up and behave like gentleman - we'll see!
My kids are so used to getting home-made tablet they assume everywhere else in the world gets it too . This lovely sugaroverdoseinasquare is a crunchy buttery creamy not quite toffee or fudge tasting delight . Willy Wonka never made it .
Everyone has there own recipe and method of making it , so I'll add mine to the pile
Warning - this is boiling sugar so take GREAT care ! Sugar burns are VERY NASTY !
The recipe is as follows - 4.5oz or 125g of butter , 2lbs or 1kg of unrefined granulated sugar , 300ml of full fat milk , 200g or half a tin of condensed milk ( dulce du leche is also suitable ) , a little vanilla essence for flavouring .
You will need a big heavy-based pan , a wooden spoon , small bowl with a spoonful of water , and a big whisk or hand held electric one .
Melt butter in the pan over a medium heat then add sugar and milk , keep at this heat and keep stirring until the sugar has dissolved - a good 5-10 minutes .
Bring the mixture to the boil then let it simmer (not fiercely or it will go too hard) for 8 minutes . It should look like this image below . Keep stirring .
After 8 minutes add the condensed milk , then bring back to simmering point for another 8 minutes , stirring again . Before taking off the boil , drop a little of the mixture into the bowl with water - WAIT (this is boiling sugar!) then use a spoon to see if it rolls into a ball - its almost toffee like .
Take the pan off the heat , add a little essence then using the whisk (or hand held electric one) beat the living daylights out the mixture until it starts to crystalise a little. Note- this can take anything between 5 and 10 minutes .
Quickly pour the mixture to a buttered rectangular tin , taking care when spooning out the remains of the mixture . Use oven gloves for handling the tin as the heat transfers very quickly .
Before it cools , mark the mixture with a knife so it can be cut out easily when hardened.
Once hardened , break into pieces and store in a container . I recommend only having one or two pieces at a time , as there is a lotta sugar in this! Enjoy!
I am enjoying reading the Knitspot blog by Anne Hanson just now . Her posts are always full of beautiful photographs , lovely food , fabulous yarn and knitting and the wonderful places she travels too .
Like West Kilbride!
Recently she taught at a Knitting Retreat organised by Socktopus' Alice Yu , based in Cornwall , which was attended by our own Lilith of OMA . It looked wonderful , gorgeous views and some pretty knitted socks .
Afterwards Anne and Cookie A visited the lovely Ysolda in Edinburgh , then took a trip out to Liliths' studio in West Kilbride . They had lots of fun dyeing yarn too - the pictures of the trip are just great - have a look at the blog and enjoy too .
My own OMA yarn is being knitted up into the lovely Palisander pattern from Knitty - its coming on a treat , however , the RSI in my wrist, neck and shoulder has re-appeared and slowed things down a bit .
Here is the pattern ! This yarn is so gorgeous to work with , soft and tactile, I don't want to put it down when I start.
And here is the reverse side with its lovely cables , i love the effect , and also the fact that you cannot tell there are cables from the Right Side .
I hope to get a bit more done soon , once the pain from the RSI goes . Note to self ALWAYS use wooden needles , not metal.
While I have been resting (!) I have been catching up with a bit of spinning . I bought some lovely hand-dyed Mulberry Silk fibre and spun it up with some teal corriedale I had - I like the effect of plying them together .
I now have approx 200gms of chunky yarn , mmmm , what to do ?
Proud Mummy moment now - DS2 won his Pupil Trophy for a week , he got eleven stars and was top of the class (trust me , this is a BIG Deal!)
Three Cheers ! Hurray , Hurray , Hurray !!
Last year Lilith of Old Maiden Aunt Fame made a request for mini-socks to decorate the Old Maiden Aunt Studio . So I rummaged about and found some odds and ends and knitted a few wee socks . Here is a link to a picture on Ravelry
I probably posted this bad photo before , but here are mine close up .
As a Thank You , Lilith sent us a wee discount to use in her shop , and there were some yarns that were too good to pass up on !
What I love about Liliths yarns , apart from the soft luxurious feel , is the saturation of colour , it is very rich but not quite solid , and it has a beautiful sheen .
As usual I know some of these yarns will be knitted up as gifts (so many birthdays in February!) , but some will be kept for ME ME ME!I can't say which yarn and what gifts I'll be making but watch this space .
This is the Alpaca/Silk/Cashmere 4ply and is called "Last nights Red Dress" , from the "I made you this mixtape collection" . It is such a rich warm colour and so silky soft .
And I wish there had been more of the alpaca/silk dk in this shade, its called "Seen the Ocean" and reminds me of when I finally saw the Pacific Ocean from California . Sadly there was only one available when I ordered - don't you just want to dive in?
It makes up for the fact I was unable to take part in this years yarn club (boo Hoo) , however I will just need to save up for when the yarns become available after the club , the colours are looking fabulous !
Talking of fabulous , there is wonderful pattern in the new Knitty that features Liliths yarn , the alpaca/silk dk in colourway Midnight - and the picture of the knitted yarn appears in the header too! Its a gorgeous pattern and one that I would love to try soon . In fact there are quite a few Knitty patterns that have caught my eye , but that one is a favourite!
Thank You for all the kind comments on my Middlefield Sweater , I love it so much , in fact I am wearing it right now . It may need to be surgically removed soon ! Hehehe!
