Vodka Lemonade

I promised you some photos of my finished sweater and here they are. In the ThreeBagsFull group on Ravelry, we held a KAL to knit one of BabyCocktail's sweaters. I had heard of Thea before, but hadn't really taken much notice of her designs up 'til the start of the KAL. Just take a look at all the designs I had to pick from here! I finally settled on Vodka Lemonade, a top down cardigan (no seaming, yay!!) and three quarter length sleeves. The yarn I used was from Sincere Sheep, a mix of Polwarth and silk and it was a real treat to knit with. I ended up making the body longer than the pattern stated, but kept the sleeves shorter. I can see me wearing it a lot. I love the little lacy details on the fronts and back, and the seed stitch collar and edging.

 

 

 



 

We have just started another Sweater KAL in the group, this time knitting a sweater in time for Rhinebeck. The sweater has to be cast on some time after May 1st and finished by October 13th. There are some great prizes too! There is even a team event, where current members of the group pair up with new members (joining on or after May 1st) and if each knits a sweater and posts a photo in the finished thread, they could win a prize. There are no restrictions on designers this time, you can knit anything you like! So does anyone fancy joining me and making a team for the ThreeBagsFull Rhinebeck Sweater KAL? Read all about it here and then get in touch with me, either by leaving me a message on my blog or pm'ing me on Ravelry. I am hoping to knit more than one sweater, so in theory, I could make up more than one team!! Think big is my motto! If you are up to the challenge of knitting a sweater between now and October, then I'd love to hear from you! xxx

 

PS I will be back tomorrow to announce the winner of my tape measure cosy giveaway!

Make your own flatbreads!

I thought I'd share with you a very easy and delicious recipe for making your own flatbreads. All you need is a small pot of natural yoghurt and some self raising flour. You need equal quantities of flour and yoghurt, so check the weight of yoghurt on the pot. Ours was 150g, so we mixed that with 150g of self raising flour in a bowl. Knead on a floured surface until smooth - it took about 5 minutes - and then roll into 4 roughly equal balls.



Use a rolling pin to flatten and then cook on a griddle until nicely browned, turning over half way through. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn. They do puff up a little bit while they are cooking, so don't worry if yours do that, they're not about to explode!! We are lucky because our cooker has a griddle plate, but you could use a griddle pan or a heavy based frying pan to cook yours. They took about 4 minutes each side on a hot griddle.

 

 

And voila!! A quick and extremely yummy lunch, ready in a matter of minutes! We enjoyed ours with some salad, cold salami and cheese. Be careful when you split them open as a puff of steam might well come out! Next time, we're going to try using wholemeal self raising flour to see how they taste. Might add some ground black pepper too. No need to buy pitta breads any more!! Do let me know if you try them out! xxx

 

 

And finally - a finished sweater!!

Well, finished but still blocking actually! It's amazing what some monogamous knitting can do, isn't it?! I started the Vodka Lemonade sweater by Baby Cocktails for a KAL in the ThreeBagsFull group on Ravelry exactly three weeks ago and cast off this morning! Who knew it was possible to knit a sweater in such a short time? Not me, that's for sure!! I used some DK Polwarth and silk yarn from Sincere Sheep and it was really gorgeous to knit, as soft as butter. It definitely helped that the sweater was knit all in one piece, top down, so there was no seaming to do! I will let you have a sneak preview now, and hopefully there will be some modelled photos next week.

 

 

For my portable project while I was in Germany, I worked on a pair of plain vanilla socks using a Regia Kaffe Fassett yarn. I do love these self striping yarns, it's motivating to see the stripes develop, and very easy to 'just knit a couple more rounds' to see what colour's coming next!!

 

 

The garden is bursting with new life at the moment, I think that Spring is my favourite season. I never thought I would be the kind of person to get excited about spotting a new flower about to open, but clearly I was wrong!! Almost on a daily basis, something new pops up in the garden and it just delights me! You can see just how much the garden has changed over the past month or so in this set of pictures.

 

 

The first one was taken on March 16th and the last one was taken this morning. The tree is really lovely and a favourite place of Miss Flo. I think she would like Mr JK to fix a little platform up there for her to survey her world from! This was her this evening! (Sorry about the grainy picture, but I was a little way off!)

 

 

Actually, while Flo was gallivanting,  Mr JK and I were enjoying afternoon tea in the garden. It's something we have taken to doing since we moved house last year. We both have tea sets inherited from our parents. Mr JK's is a Royal Albert Country Roses and mine is Royal Doulton Greenbrier. It was actually one of my parents' wedding presents but I never recall seeing it used once! It was kept safely in a cupboard. We decided that they were too nice not to use, so every Sunday, we have proper afternoon tea with cake!! Today we ate Dutch raisin buns bought in Delft last Monday and some German poppy seed cake that I baked over the Easter holidays. Mmmmmmm!

 

 

This afternoon we went over to East Ruston Old Vicarage again. It's been about a month since our last visit, so we were keen to see how the garden had changed. It was looking just beautiful, so many new things since we were there. I took loads of photos, so if you are interested, pop over to my Flickr page. Here's a little taster for you........

 

 

I am super-excited because I have signed up for a yarn club and I just have to tell you about it!! I have been in Anne Hanson's clubs since the very first Fall in Full Colour club way back in 2011. I have been pattern only for all but one, but decided to splurge out for Anne's latest club, PURPLE PASSION!! Purple is my absolute favourite colour, and the thought of not being a part of an exclusive knitspot club was just too much!! As I am a member of BareNakedKnitspot, I have already been able to sign up, but general sign ups open on May 1st. Take a look here if you are interested. I know it's going to be a lot of fun! To celebrate this new club, I went around our garden earlier this morning, taking photos of some of the purple flowers in bloom. Just perfect!

 

 

Before I go, I must just share this photo of Flo, snapped when she was sitting on the bench in the garden. She loves being outside, especially if she has our company too! See you next week, it's a long weekend for May Day! Yay!! xxx

 

 PS Don't forget that you only have until April 30th to enter my tape measure cosy giveaway!

 

Easter in Germany

We had a fabulous time in Germany. Andrea and Wolfgang are just the most perfect hosts, and our days were spent chatting, visiting neighbouring towns and villages, walking, making music, playing board games, eating cake and just relaxing. I was really sad to say goodbye to them yesterday morning and hope that we will see them again sometime this year. Here's a snapshot of our trip.

 

Many Germans decorate the trees in their gardens with eggs and this was the sight that greeted us on our arrival. So pretty!

 

 

We tried to walk each day to counteract the 'cake' effect! There is a beautiful walk through the countryside right on the doorstep. It starts off passing through an apple orchard, and then across fields of oilseed rape.

 

 

We visited two local towns  - firstly Schotten. I love how the centre of the market square is decorated for Easter.

 

The second town we visited was Laubach. The castle there had the most incredible wisteria that I have ever seen growing on it! Simply stunning!

 

We went to a local Osterfeuer (Easter Fire) and ate delicious German sausages (bratwurst.) Mmmm!

 

 

 

The Easter bunny visited on Easter Sunday............

 

 

......and there were beautifully decorated hardboiled eggs for breakfast too!

We walked off Easter lunch in the local park. There seem to be so many green spaces in Germany, it's lovely.

 

 

 

 

We ate rainbow cake and lemonade cake!! (Not your typical German cakes, it has to be said!!)

 

 

We broke our journey home in Delft, and spent a couple of hours wandering around the canals. It's a really lovely place, a bit like a mini Amsterdam.

 

 

This little lot were busy in the window of the local yarn shop! Aren't they fun?!

This chap was keeping a beady eye on goings on too!

There is obviously a strong knitting contingent in Delft, judging by this yarn bombing!!

I did manage to get some knitting done, but I will save that for another time! Be back soon! xxx

Germany ahoy!!

 

 

 

We are off to Germany for the Easter weekend to stay with our friends Andrea and Wolfgang. We are taking the night ferry across to the Netherlands and will hopefully be at our destination, near Frankfurt, in time for lunch tomorrow! I have plenty of knitting packed for our autobahn travels and shall report back on my progress on my return to Blighty! Have a good Easter, hope the Easter bunny pays you a visit! xxx