I have a few pretty big adventures planned for the next few months and the first of them is coming up fast. In a couple of weeks I’m going to Oslo with my little (actually much bigger than me 17 year old) brother. So far all we’ve really planned out is that we’re going to camp here and I know there are some museums I want to visit. We’ll be there for 10 days, plenty of time to explore, so if you’ve ever been to Oslo, or you’re local I’d love your recommendations for the things we shouldn’t miss out on. Of course I’d love your crafty, yarny recommendations but since I don’t think my brother will be so into those I’d love ideas we can both enjoy even more. I fell in love with some photos of rail way journeys in Norway too today, so now I’m musing on taking a train somewhere else for a few days in the middle of our trip. Although I’m not totally sure whether we’ll do that or decide that Oslo is enough let me know if you have any suggestions for other places we should visit that aren’t too far from Oslo (spectacular scenery on the way a must!)

I’m very excited about this holiday and I know that your ideas will both build the excitement over the next couple of weeks and make it much better when we’re there.

Thank you x

I took these a couple of days ago, on a little walk up Arthur’s Seat the giant mammoth that dominates the Edinburgh skyline and provides a little countryside in the centre of the city.

Back soon with more words, hopefully without another week long break.

I’m at work right now, which is fun since I work here, but I can’t wait to get home tonight so I can unpin this.

This most definitely was not one of those magical projects where everything falls perfectly into place, but I think that the problems made it better in the end. I started off wanting to use a fairly simple traditional stitch for the edging, but it didn’t look as good as I’d envisioned and eventuallly I gave up on that idea and started more or less from scratch. Initially I dubbed this the ‘cherry shawl’ simply becuase it was the name of the colourway but it seems to have grown into the name fully with a cherry patterned border. The yarn is Old Maiden Aunt *Cashmere Silk 2 ply, which I scored because it was a slightly flawed skein with a couple of  knots. It’s a beautiful yarn and if this skein didn’t make it I’m pretty impressed with her quality control. There are buckets of it in different colours sitting a few feet away from me right now, but I’m trying to exercise some self control. I’ve got another red lacy project to finish first.

* I can’t see the cherry on her site, but we have it in stock in K1 - I know because I can see it right now!

Much as I liked the way the edging on the cherry shawl was turning out I couldn’t knit fast enough to make this much yarn last for another 6 rows. Humph. It’s ripped back and on the needles again - I think I’m happy with it and definitely in love with the idea of blocking.

And goodbye red Gretel. I’m rather sad to set this off on its long journey, I love it so, but you’ll see it again in a little while somewhere rather exciting.

Much to my surprise, since I hate the actual number, 22 has turned out to be a rather wonderful year full of successes and adventures. You’ve had an awful lot to do with that wonderfulness so thank you! I like the number 23 a lot better, so I’m hoping that means it will be even better than 22.

I spent my third birthday like this -

and my thirteenth throwing a tantrum about how I didn’t want my presents and I didn’t want my birthday because I most definitely never wanted to grow up. Changed my mind pretty quickly about those presents and I’m starting to think this growing up thing isn’t so bad after all. Let’s hope this 3 is a little more like the 1st than the 2nd though

p.s. I hate that I had to do this, but clearly my brain’s on holiday. The Liesl sleeve directions that I remember thinking out so carefully got a little lost between the first version I knit (which had the sleeves) and the final pattern. I’ve sent out an update that will arrange the stitch pattern for the sleeve so it lines up perfectly with the body and that has a note on fitting the yoke. Let me know if you haven’t received the update. In happier Liesl news - have you seen that there are already a few finished ones on Ravelry, that makes me so happy!

I was working on one of the multiple versions of Liesl while I was staying with Amy in Toronto and she talked me into giving her a (somewhat confusing) draft of the pattern. We bought yarn together that evening at the charming Purple Purl, Amy got the Araucania Nature Cotton that I used for the red version in a fantastically bright blue. Why of why didn’t we take a picture of us both knitting the same thing? Sigh. We’ll just need to be in the same place at the same time again so we can take one of us both wearing them. My only condition for giving her such a sneaky early version of the pattern was that she provided me with photos for the pattern.

So a couple of days ago I roped my other Toronto host and her new camera into taking some photos of Amy’s Liesl. I’ve added a couple of them to the pattern and if you’ve purchased it you should either have received the update via email or downloaded the updated version. If you haven’t got a copy of the pattern with pictures of Amy on it let me know because I corrected a typo that put the buttonholes on the wrong side and added some more info about buttonhole placement. Amy did buttonholes all the way down, because we weren’t sure what would be the most flattering and though she’s decided it looks best just buttoned at the top I like the way she spaced the buttons so they’re closer together at the top. That works really well with the way the lace grows from the top.

I’m thrilled to be able to include these pictures with the pattern, partly because they’re so great (thank you both!) but also because I feel bad that while I try to include lots of sizes in the patterns I usually make the sample to fit myself which means that you only get to see it in a smaller size. It can be really hard to visualise how something will look on a different size / body type so I think it’s really helpful to include pictures of samples that more accurately reflect the size range in the pattern. I’m thinking of ways to do more of this in future, so if you have any thoughts / feedback I’d love to hear it.

Oh and if you want some company while knitting Leisl, there’s a knitalong going on Ravelry.

It’s up :)

There seems to be even more red around my studio than usual these days.

I discovered the Smitten Kitchen blog fairly recently and although I haven’t yet had a chance to explore the archives I’ve been really enjoying her posts. Partly because everything just looks so delicious but mostly since it seems to spark ideas of things to do in my own kitchen.

This post on pizza making, particularly the link to making pizza under the grill (broiler) on a heated cast iron pan got me thinking about how I’ve never tried making real pizza, sorry mum but your wholesome style of pizza while delicious doesn’t count as ‘real pizza’, mostly because I knew the results would only be disappointing.

A few days after making these cupcakes , I still had the leftover lassi (for those that asked about this I hope the photo helps - it’s the salty kind) sitting in the fridge and since it smelt pretty tangy and was past the

‘consume within 2 days’ on the label I figured the best idea would be to bake something with it.

I’ve been making very simple naan style yoghurt flat breads pretty regularly for a while. They’re great to have in the freezer since you can defrost them almost instantly in the toaster. This seems to work with any unflavoured yoghurt and although I once started this from a recipe it’s not really something you need one for. To make the dough all you do is mix together some plain white flour, a couple of teaspoons of b. soda and enough yoghurt to make a dough and knead it for a few minutes until smooth and elastic.

Then you can roll it into flat breads, I make them small and round so they fit in the toaster and cook them under a hot grill.

They don’t take long to cook at all, so pay attention to them and turn them when just puffed up and golden. If you get distracted and check your email they burn.

This worked perfectly with the leftover lassi, but it was close to dinnertime and I was still thinking about smitten’s pizzas. Rolled and stretched some dough out into a bigger round and loading it with some toppings. The crust was wonderful, but the centre stayed a bit soggy and floppy.

Pizza + hot cast iron + hot grill sounded like a combination that should probably be tested out for the first time with someone else in the house. So a few days later Hannah came round for dinner and I roped her into helping maneuver everything. Luckily no-one ended up in a+e (er) with a crushed, burnt foot and the whole thing turned out to be pretty simple. The results were fantastic. The base was crunchy and nicely charred on the bottom and still soft and puffy inside. Our dinner conversation was rather hilarious because it consisted almost entirely of:

‘this is so good’

‘I can’t believe we made this’

‘it’s real pizza’

and repeat

The yoghurt based dough is pretty indistinguishable from a classic yeasted one and has some pretty major advantages (other than being a way to use up rather tangy yoghurt). Because there’s no waiting around for the dough to rise this takes less time to make from scratch than a traditional pizza. You could easily get home from work and have it on the table 20-30 minutes later. Then sometime in the next few days you can make it again (and again, I did get a little obsessed) even faster, because unlike a yeasted dough this keeps in the fridge for several days (mine was still perfectly good after 4 days). We spent Thursday afternoon taking the Leisl photos and I had to get home, eat, pick some stuff up and be back out at K1 for knit night before 6. Well we got back at 5.10 and managed to make and eat this and be out of the house by 5.30 That’s pretty fast food.

Now I’m thinking of trying to make ricotta ish cheese from goats milk, or sheeps would be good but where to buy the milk? Maybe the dairy that sells sheep and goats milk at the farmers market would sell some milk, hmm… Goats milk is at least available in the supermarkets. I made cheese once, when I was about ten. It was fun and a little magical, but very messy and being nagged to clean up after myself kind of put me off.

Right now though, something sweet. There’s apple and raspberry crumble that probably needs to come out of the oven.

Note: grill in the UK = broiler in the US and grill in the US = barbecue in the UK

Soon.

Soon.

I promise.

Plus my adventures in perfect pizza making.