Springtime

It has been just gorgeous here today - blue skies, sunshine and warm too!! It felt like a summer's day and Mr JK and I enjoyed a cuppa out on the garden bench, accompanied by Flo of course! She just loves being outside when we are there and chatters away non stop!! It would be wonderful to think that winter is behind us now and that we can look forward to some warmer and drier days. It has been good to see it getting lighter in the mornings too - I no longer need to take a torch with me for our morning walks. As we walk, we are entertained by a beautiful dawn chorus. It really is perfect!

 

I have done a fair bit of knitting this week and finished a cowl, but it is still drying. It's knit with some handspun worsted weight merino yarn and is simply taking aaaaaaaaaaaages to dry! So I hope to be able to show you how this cowl came about next weekend with a 'ta dah!' post. I have also been working on another cowl (I know, you're wondering just how many cowls a kitten can need! The answer - by the way - is a lot! haha) Here's a sneak preview with my assistant making sure everything is just fine!

 

 

Here's how the garden is looking - I reckon it's more than one month ahead of last year!

I do hope that the sun has been shining in your little corner of the world this weekend. Now please excuse me while I go and eat a homemade blueberry streusel muffin and drink a mug of tea! xxx

 

 

Made to Measure

I have become just a teensy bit addicted to a little bit of hooky business over the past few weeks! It all started when I received a gorgeous little crocheted tape measure from my friend Marianne.

 

 

I found the pattern doing a little detective work on Marianne's project page (just call me Miss Marple!) and set about making one for another Ravelry friend, Katharine. I am not a great crocheter, knitting is my first love and if I'm honest, I found the pattern a little confusing in places. Still, I managed to fudge it and turned out a cute measure of my own. Katharine was delighted when I gave it to her in January.

 

I managed to find some more retractable tape measures at my local yarn store, and since then, there's been no stopping me! I've adapted the pattern to make it simpler (for me!) without the flower. I quite like the streamlined appearance.

 

Nancy was first on the gift list, and I made hers in an oddment of grey yarn with a flash of hot pink to bring it to life. She was thrilled with it!

 

 

Next was a birthday gift for Anne, knit using some of her own yarn. I used buttons to fashion a Knitspot olive on the top!

 

 

Last week I made two more - one for Bobbie (who likes blue) and one for Kim (who is the queen of all things purple!)

 

 

I can see me making loads more of these as little extra gifts for swaps and presents. They are pretty quick to make. I easily made one during the course of a day over half term, picking it up at various points.They hardly use any yarn and it's fun to customise them for individuals. So go on, why don't you make one too?!

 

Before I go, I must just let you know who won the Snowdrops giveaway from last week. The random number selector picked Barbara. Well done Barb! I'll get in touch with you about gifting you the pattern! xxx

Springtime Snowdrops Giveaway!

 

Mr JK and I went out and about yesterday, making the most of the glorious weather. It was so good to see blue skies and sunshine after what has felt like weeks of drabness. We started off visiting the village of Walsingham, famous as a centre of pilgrimage. The grounds of Walsingham Abbey are home to the ruins of a medieval priory, and at this time of year, the 18 acres of woodland are carpeted with snowdrops. Simply stunning. I will let the photos speak for themselves!

 

 

 

 

Seeing these beautiful, delicate little flowers started me thinking how perfect it would be as a motif for a knitted scarf or shawl. So I asked my 'go to' knitting designer Anne Hanson over at Knitspot if she had a pattern. Of course she did!! A beautiful scarf and cowl pattern, Miss Doolittle,  which features the snowdrop lace pattern. I should have known because I have in fact knit this pattern! There's even a mitts pattern to co-ordinate. Here's my version, knit in a rather spring-like yarn.

 

 

To celebrate coming of spring, I am offering one lucky person the chance to win a copy of the Miss Doolittle pattern. It is perfect to keep your neck cosy on chilly spring mornings! To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is leave a comment telling me what your favourite thing about spring is, and make sure that you are a follower of my blog. I'll leave the giveaway open until March 1st, the first day of spring! Thanks for taking part and good luck! xxx

Spinning and more bread!

The pattern for this month's BareNakedKnitspot treat was released on Monday. As I am pattern only, I have decided to try and spin yarn for each project. The pattern is a hat, mitts and cowl set in a worsted weight yarn. The yarn is gorgeous, specially spun for Knitspot - a mix of merino and Romney, making a lovely bouncy yarn with plenty of loft for insulation. I would love to knit the cowl, which has a stunning cabled design, so I rummaged deep in the stash to find two braids of purple merino fibre.

 

 

I didn't waste any time and began spinning the same day. I made a conscious effort to try to spin thicker than usual, since my normal spinning tends to produce a fingering (ish) weight yarn once plied. I love the depth of colour in this fibre and it is really bouncy.

 

 

A little bit of spinning each day has seen me finish the first braid of fibre. I let it ply back on itself to get some idea of weight. It's definitely heavier than fingering, and will probably fluff up a bit after it's had a soak too.

 

 

As well as spending time spinning, I have also found time to do some more baking. This time, I made some cheesy garlic bread. It is delicious. You can find the recipe here. You mix up the ciabatta bread mix and roll it out into a rectangle.

Spread with garlic butter and cover with grated cheese. I used a mixture of mozzarella and mature Cheddar. Sprinkle on some dried oregano.

Roll it up into a long sausage shape and cut into slices. The recipe suggests cutting into 8, but these would be enormous. I managed to get 18 slices out of mine!

 

 

I arranged my slices on two baking trays making 'flower' shapes around a central slice. Dot over any leftover garlic butter.

Cover with clingfilm and leave somewhere warm. I put mine in the airing cupboard for an hour or so to rise. They should roughly double in size!

Bake for 25-30 minutes and breathe in that delicious garlicky bready aroma. Once cooked, leave to cool briefly on a wire rack before tearing apart and sharing!!

 

Can you imagine how big the pieces would be if you only made 8 of them?! We tear off portions, wrap them in foil and freeze them. Perfect for popping straight into the oven to eat with some soup or pasta. Mmmmmmmmm! Enjoy! xxx

 

Coffee, cream and ........ bread!

I have been resolutely sticking with my WIPs during the Ravellenics to try and reduce the number of projects I have on the go at any one time. Although it is nice to have some choice, I have found it gets rather overwhelming for me if I have too many things underway. So over the weekend, I worked on a little baby gift set that Mr JK asked me to knit for someone he knows through work. The baby is due at the beginning of March and as the parents -to-be don't know if it's a boy or a girl, I decided to use some coffee and cream coloured baby cashmerino from my stash to knit another Puerperium cardigan and matching hat. I found some wooden teddy bear buttons on a recent trip to John Lewis, and I think the whole ensemble is really cute!

 

 

 

No sooner had I laid the handknits out to take some photos, than dear Flo arrived on the scene to 'help'! She complained that it was rather small for a cat blankie, but told me she would do her best!!

 

 

Over the weekend we had a go at baking some 'no-knead' Artisan bread, after having read about it over on Lucy's blog at Attic24. All you do is bung all the ingredients into a bowl, mix them up, cover with clingfilm and leave somewhere warm for 12-20 hours. I put ours in the airing cupboard overnight.

 

 

About half an hour before you are ready to bake the bread, you need to shape it. It really is VERY STICKY indeed and you need a lot of flour to combat this! I eventually put the dough into a floured bowl and left it for 30 minutes while the oven heated up with a casserole dish inside.

 

 

Then you tip the dough into the hot casserole dish (I followed Lucy's tip of putting a strip of baking parchment in the base so that the loaf could be lifted out easily after baking), put the lid on and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake for a further 15 minutes to bake the crust a lovely golden colour. Remove and allow to cool for as long as you can resist that freshly baked bread teasing and tempting you. Then slice and butter liberally before enjoying. Mmmmmm! xxx