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Cookies, Cloths and Crochet

I thoroughly enjoyed my little forray into baking last weekend so have decided to try and make it a semi-regular thing! I’d make it outright regular but damn, there’s a lot of sugar in this stuff huh?! Anyway I decided to go for chocolate chip cookies this weekend and I have to say, I was mighty impressed with the results!

Here is the recipe I used:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 large egg,beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5

Mix together all the ingredients except the flour and chocolate chips. Stir the flour in slowly, it will form a thick dough. Stir the chocolate chips in until they are evenly distributed through the dough. This might take a bit of doing, the dough will be really stiff!

Drop the dough onto a greased baking tray in little balls – mine were about the size of an egg. I dropped them about 2 inches apart and they expanded so much that they were just touching when they finished baking. If, like me, you are a novice baker, you might need to experiment a bit to see how much they grow. I was really surprised how much they did! Pop them in the oven for about 8-10 minutes, then wait until they cool and then use a fishslice/spatula to remove them from the tray.

And here they are! Not too crunchy, not too squishy – they came out perfectly, although the edge of the cookies that was all the way in the back got a little crispy. I think next time I’d use more chocolate chips though, the dough really spreads when it bakes and the ratio of chips to dough seems to look a lot more in dough form. I’m going round for dinner with some of my girlfriends tomorrow night and can’t wait to see the look on their face when I produce a box of homemade cookies! (They know me very well… cookies is the last thing they’ll expect. Bwaha!) How cute is this tin, by the way? I saw it in M&S the other day and had to buy it – although I’ll definitely be using it for cookies now that the crackers are finished!

cookies

I’ve also been busy with my peaches and creme – the need for more dishcloths has been outweighting the lure of the blanket this week. I know I could just buy some but when they knit up in an hour and look so pretty, and work so much better, I can’t resist just cracking on with them. So I’ve managed to get three cheery little wipes finished over the weekend and have started on the next one.

handknit dishcloths in peaches n creme

I also felt the need, now that I’ve got the basics of crochet sussed, to try following an actual pattern rather than a tutorial, and decided to have a go at a quick little project I wanted to make for my mum last christmas. I had no idea what I was doing and couldn’t even start it, so ended up knitting one for her. I’ve been holding a quiet grudge against this particular pattern ever since. I wasn’t going to let this little blighter that everyone was rating as “piece o’ cake” on Ravelry beat me! And I’m really pleased I decided to try it, here’s the result!

soapsack

I added a little scallopy edge around the top for prettys. I love the way it’s pooled – or “puddled” as mum calls it! These are definitely puddles. The back kind of mirrors the front colours, I think it’s really cool. I’ve popped in a bar of my favourite soap and now it hangs there in the shower, waiting for me cheerfully in the morning!

soapsack

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2009 08 18 Zyle Baking
Crochet
flowers
food
knitting Comments (5) Permalink

Cops and Cakes

We woke up bright and early on Sunday, in excited anticipation of the arrival of The New Oven. I was even more excited than I usually get about shiny new household appliances, because of the prospect of baking cupcakes! I’m not sure exactly what prompted the deep desire to bake, but I was really hyped up about it. So when there was a knock at the door at 10:00, I rushed down the stairs like a whirlwind and flung it open…. only to be met by two fully uniformed police officers! Whaaa!

It seems that in the wee small hours of Sunday morning, some chavvy little hooligans have gone up our street vandalizing every car they went past. I looked out onto the street and was met by Car Carnage – wing mirrors hanging off, obscenities keyed into the paintwork, smear marks where they have obviously tried to get in… luckily there were no smashed windows or worse. And very luckily for me, I had been unable to get a space on Friday night when I parked, so was at the very bottom of the street before they had really got going on their little smashing spree. The worst my little car suffered seems to be smear marks on the tops of the windows where they’ve tried to pry them down, scuffed plastic on the backs of the wing mirrors and what looks suspiciously like blood splattered up the nearside window. (I’ve actually managed to do worse this morning by reversing into a metal pole when I got to work… Luckily, depending on how you look at these things, the car was already scuffed on that bumper.)

So that was all a bit of a shock, I’m not used to dealing with police officers!! By this point I had completely forgotten about the impending oven delivery – so 5 minutes later when the door knocked again I was panicking that they had found some kind of damage on my car that I had missed when I checked it, but no! It was the lovely men from Currys with my shiny oven! And aaah, I love it! I’d love it even more if I’d been able to get an electric fan oven, but apparently they don’t make them small enough to fit in the weeny little space we have available. Never mind – it’s shiny and new and clean and I love it! And the ancient and rather dangerous looking maze of pipes behind the oven has been replaced with new ones, which is one less thing to worry about.

So, on to the baking! I have never baked cakes before without parental supervision. I have once baked scones, and whilst they were delicious on top, they were burnt on the bottom. With all that said, you would think that perhaps, following the recipe To The Letter would be a good idea. Well, I mentioned the other day that I planned to freestyle a little bit, but I bottled it in the end and decided to actually follow a recipe. The only problem was, I didn’t have any baking powder. But I figured what the hell, it’s self raising flour, it’ll probably be ok. Maybe put a little more in the cupcake cases to make up for it – how about 12 cases instead of the 18 suggested? That looks good! Ooh it’s all going to plan, all ready to rise and turn golden brown!

cake mix

cake mix

So I pop them in the oven…

Set the timer to 15 minutes…

Whip up some butter-icing to slap on the top…

Pop all the dirtys into the dishwasher…

Whiz around the surfaces with a wipe…

and before I know it, Beep Beep Beep Beep! They’re Ready!

cake fail

cake fail

Oh. Poo. It’s a good job I was on a sugar high from licking the bowls otherwise I may have had a nervous breakdown in the middle of the kitchen. Instead, I laughed and laughed and consoled myself with the fact that the sponge was at least light, fluffy, and delicious, and can be turned into a trifle.

Once I got over the trauma of such an epic fail, I decided I might as well give it another go, otherwise what the hell was I going to do with a pound of butter-icing?

So, here’s Take Two. 18 cases instead of 12. You’ll notice some are missing though – I forgot to take a picture before we started stuffing ourselves!

cakes

Terribly inelegant, as by the time I put the icing on I had had enough, but awfully good with a nice fresh cappucino.

Coffee and cake

Mmmm, got there in the end.

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2009 08 11 Zyle Baking
food Comments (4) Permalink

Parmigiana di Melanzane

I checked my facebook briefly on Sunday night, as you do, and saw that one of my Italian colleagues had spent the day busily preparing the most delicious sounding menu – including my absolute favourite dish – parmigiana di melanzane. Aubergine stacks in a rich tomato sauce, with mozarella between the layers and topped off with lashings of parmesan. Mmm, just reading about it made my mouth water! When we went to Rome in May, we were only there for 4 nights and I managed to eat this 3 times. It’s my idea of food heaven. In fact, if I had to pick one food to eat for the rest of my life, this would be it.

So I left a little comment under his saying that his menu sounded delicious, and that he was making my favourite dish of all time. Well I got to work this morning and he wheeled his swivelly chair over to my desk, to present me with my lunch! He’d made too much and brought me the leftovers. I was quite touched, and found it very hard to wait until lunch time!

And I have to say, it was the best version I’ve ever had – absolutely perfect. Happy happy!

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2009 08 10 Zyle food Comments (1) Permalink

123456789…

Ahhh, it’s the weekend and I’m already at home! I took a “Sun Hour” today – we get 5 days over the Summer where we can leave work an hour early, and they’re so precious. I’ve just popped out to water my flowers, unloaded the dishwasher and mopped the kitchen floor, and it’s only 5:05 – I’m usually still at work for another 25 minutes! Joy!

I don’t have a great deal to chat about today, other than the rather interesting fact pointed out to us by Alibongo on the forum, that at 12:34 and 56 seconds, the time and date read 123456789 today! 12:34, 56 seconds, 7th August 2009. Quirky. I marked the occassion by sitting in the pub on my lunchbreak, knitting a dishcloth whilst waiting for my pepperoni pizza to arrive. In fact, I think that’s almost precisely the time I was mocked by the ever-so-witty barman for knitting.
“Knitting?!” he jeered. “Are you in, like, a circle?”
Well, yes, actually. Although it’s an online one… I was all ready to tell him all about the joys of handknit dishcloths, but he ran away again before I had the chance.

I’ve been back at work this week after my lovely little week off last week, and haven’t been getting up to much craft-wise, except a few rows of dishcloth here and there, and a few more Summer Garden Squares. It’s coming along, I decided to get rid of the weird-looking white and stick to the bold colours. Peter’s poor little Dutch Square is now being used as a coaster! Once I got rid of the white, I felt a bit more confident about joining as I go, but I need another row before I join the two strips i have at the moment, else some of the outside edge colours will be too close together. I like it random, but not too random!

Summer Garden Squares Blanket Progress

Mmmm, so colourful!

In other news, my new oven will be arriving on Sunday, hoorah! I’m going to mark the occassion by trying something I have done only a very few times before, and bake. Cupcakes! Fairycakes, to be precise. I’m very excited! I’ve got the ingredients all ready and it’s taking a lot of willpower not to give it a trial run in the broken oven, but I know it would just shut off mid-way through, and well and truly put me off baking forever. I promise I’ll show you the results, no matter how disasterous, and if it turns out well, I might even share the recipe. Oh yes, never one to do anything by halves, I’m not planning on actually following a recipe… adaptation is the way forward!

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2009 08 07 Zyle Crochet Comments (2) Permalink

Peaches and Creme

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve become rather addicted to knitted dishcloths. If you’d said this to me two years ago, I’d have looked at you as if your head had fallen off. Much the way most people look at me when I mention it, I suppose. But if you’ve ever used one, you understand! They’re so sturdy, and the texture is a fantastic scrubber without being abhrasive (depending on your pattern of course.) Today, after my first day back at work following a lovely week of lounging at home, the perfect surprise was waiting for me on my door mat. Ok, it wasn’t that big a surprise considering I just ordered it on Friday, but I’d temporarily forgotten about it, so it was technically a surprise!

Peaches & Creme!

4 balls of delicious Peaches & Creme!! It’s just the best cotton for dishcloths. Look at it, the colours are amaaaazing. I could just eat it up! So, now I have plenty of cloths to knit during my lunch-breaks. Double whammy! Lunchtime was becoming problematic – I can’t cope with just sitting chatting after finishing my sandwich any more, my hands need to be busy! I’ve become good enough at socks that I can try adventurous patterns, but not so good that I can hold a conversation whilst knitting them, and the blanket has way too much faffing with different colours to be considered a portable project, so I’m thoroughly delighted to have something to rattle on with mindlessly. Should keep me going for a few weeks!

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2009 08 03 Zyle knitting Comments (3) Permalink

I’m Hooked!

Yep, I’m “hooked” on this crochet malarkey, I tell you! Tee hee! I only had one lonely little 4mm hook, so had a root around on ebay for a reasonably priced set, and found these little treasures for the bargain price of £9 including shipping, wow! They’re just aluminium, nothing fancy, but the colours made me squee and they will definitely do me just fine until I feel the need to upgrade some of the sizes. I have a feeling the 2mm to 3.5mm may be a little bendy.

colourful crochet hooks

But how fun! I shall need a little pot or vase to display them in. And to go with my colourful hooks, I needed a colourful project! I have decided to brighten up my living room with a throw over the back of one of the sofas – the room is very monotone at the moment and definitely needs a few colourful splashes around it. So I’m going to make a granny square blanket based on Lucy at Attic24’s Summer Garden Granny Squares, they’re just so cheerful! I’ve had a practice on some of my stash acrylic and think I have the hang of it! Zara seems impressed with it anyway…

Zara with crochet practice

I’ve just popped in to Sheepish, my LYS, to purchase the yarn for this endeavour. I still had some vouchers left over from my birthday (how they survived since March, I have NO idea!) so splurged on 20 balls of King Cole Merino DK, and oh! It’s just so delicious!

King Cole Merino DK

The carrier bag was see-through; you wouldn’t believe how many people knit!! I was stared at all the way through town, probably curiosity from most but there were definitely some jealous, swoony looks in there too! I had to nip into the doctors, and both receptionists AND the doctor I spoke to all knit! So I’ve taught the receptionists about a new LYS, and learnt of another myself, as well as swapping pattern ideas with the Doctor who enjoyed having a good squish of the merino! Lovely fun, I was just slightly irked that I only had a 4mm hook with me, as the gauge was a little too tight, I couldn’t see my stitches clearly at all – what a waste of 30 minutes waiting!! Never mind, once it got home I got stuck in.

first squares

I was going to join them as I go but I think I’d like to get a feeling for the colours first. See, I’m not too sure about the white… although Peter insisted on the “Dutch” square above – look – red white and blue with an orange centre!

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2009 08 02 Zyle Crochet Comments (2) Permalink

Summer Swap

We on the Phoenix Knitting Forums recently decided to do a summer themed swap! The rules were simple; make something summery based on the questionnaire answers given by your swappee, and add goodies to the parcel to make the total value of the parcel up to £10. What fun!! I do love swaps, this was only the second one I have done – the first being a little dishcloth swap which has got me well and truly hooked on peaches & creme dischloths – and it was great fun trying to come up with ideas. I eventually decided on a bag from knitty called Itsy Bitsy, a little Flourish bookmark made from left over merino sock yarn, some stitch markers that I made and a little box of choccies.  Itsy Bitsy is a great pattern, I learnt a few new techniques and stitches while making it, including crochet cast on which I had been meaning to learn for ages!

Summer Swap 1

And I received the most wonderful package from Clicky Needles, with a beautiful crocheted bag – I’m so impressed by how neat it is – a fab little notebook and pencil which is made from an actual stick, two baileys truffles and some pompom makers! (The cat was not included, Zara just likes poking her nose in when I’m trying to take photos!)

Summer Swap 2

While I’m posting swap pics, here’s the lovely package I received from Phantom Knitter for the dishcloth swap.

Dishcloth Swap 2

And the cloth I sent – I didn’t take a picture with the goodies unfortunately, but I sent a lovely soap from Lush and some white Thorntons choccies.

Dishcloth Swap 1

I do love swaps, I can’t wait for the next one!

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2009 08 01 Zyle knitting Comments (1) Permalink

Yard of Flowers

I am spending a lot of time in my study of late, and my desk is by the window which overlooks my little back yard. I am so sick and tired of looking down at a dingy, empty concrete floor, so decided to put my green fingered gloves on and have another go at the pots my mum donated to me last year. Peter actually laughed at me when I told him I was going to go to the garden centre. Mind you, based on the disasters that have befallen every single plant I have ever come into contact with in my entire life, I can’t say that I blame him for being skeptical. However, I am determined this time! Since we have been off work this week, I decided it was a good time to sort the place out. I spent last Saturday clearing out the rubbish and unblocking the nasty drain, and getting the place all tidy ready for some flowers. This morning was nice and sunny, so I toddled down to the local garden centre to buy these!

Fuschias…
Fuschias

Fuschias

a Dahlia…
Dahlia

Dahlia

Geraniums…
Geraniums

Geraniums

a Hydrangea…
Hydrangea

Hydrangea

and Leucanthemum (Broadway Lights)
Leucanthemum

Leucanthemum

I have planted them up, (except for two which I’ll need to buy bigger pots for) and my yard is blooming with colour! So now I can sit up here at my laptop, look down and have a huge smile put on my face. :) Now let’s see how long I can keep them alive for!

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2009 07 31 Zyle flowers Comments (2) Permalink

I can crochet!

There has been a bit of a craze on the Phoenix Knitting Forum recently over the beautiful Attic24 Crochet Bag after Alibongo made one and showed it off to us – there have been quite a few more posted in the past few weeks! As the only thing I have crocheted in the past was a little flower to embellish a handbag (with a huge amount of help from my mum) I was a bit overwhelmed at the idea of tackling a whole bag, but everyone assured me that it was a good starter project, and so it was! Lucy’s instructions are so clear and easy to follow.

OK, it took a few attempts…

crochet attempt number one

crochet attempt number two

But I finally figured out that the problem was the way I was joining the yarn by chaining into the slip stitch instead of tying the yarn on to that stitch and starting the new colour one stitch further, so there was an extra increase in each round causing the weird ruffle and ugly join. Even though the instructions are extremely clear, and there’s even a photo showing exactly what to do. Hey ho! After frogging about 5 times, I finally had it sussed. This is the result! I still need to find some pretty buttons to sit in the middle of the flowers, but as I’ve been sick with Swine Flu for the last 10 days I’ve not had a chance to go and buy some. My mum, whilst on holiday, has been spending a lot of time in gorgeous sounding yarn and fabric shops! She has bought some lovely pink cotton to make a lining with, that’s the next challenge…

Finished (almost) crochet bag!

I used Patons Sorbet, except for the purple which is some leftover cascade 220, and a 4mm crochet hook. Thanks so much to Joannecliffe for sending me the leftover Sorbet from her baby blanket, and to mum for supplying enough dark green and orange to do a few more rounds! I’m so pleased with the result, it’s so wonderfully girly and summery! And it’s big. I mean, HUGE. I could fit my weeks shopping in there! I just love it. I think I’ll have to make a little sister version to use as an every day bag though. Better go buy more yarn…!

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2009 07 20 Zyle Crochet Comments (3) Permalink

Why we Stash

Non knitters often look at me like I’m whacko when I start discussing knitting. It’s usually right around the time I start describing The Stash. My own Stash – and it deserves enough respect to be made into a proper noun, I think – is, sadly, not yet the fearsome beast I wish it was. I have amassed a few skeins of lovely sock yarn, and the odd ball of this and that, and whilst it now fills a 4 drawer unit and two large ziplock bags, I’m sad to say it pales in comparison to many of the beautiful Stashes I’ve seen out there. I get very jealous and whistful flicking through Ravelry.

I find it difficult, bringing myself to take a skein from my stash and winding it into a ball. Particularly when it is a single skein of beautiful sock yarn. I know once it’s knitted, it’s going to turn into something even more wonderful, and the joy of it running through my fingers and enjoying it “become” will be better than the skein just sitting there looking at me. Once it’s finished I even get to wrap it all around myself (well, my feet!) and enjoy its squishy goodness, and even better, show it off to the rest of the world! But there’s just something about skeins, curled up, all pretty and tempting…

They’re so full of promise and anticipation, waiting to burst into something even more beautiful. I love to just sit smooshing a skein, taking in the colours and the textures, so full of promise. What could it become?! That’s one of the many things I love about knitting, as much as the therapeutic movements of the needles, and watching the stitches slowly work their way into fabric, I love the possibilities. The planning, plotting, scheming… I spend many an excitable hour poring over my stash and then poring over patterns trying to form the perfect marriage of yarn and pattern. Mind you, once it’s unskeined, it gives me a good excuse to go and buy more. If it’s on the needles it doesn’t count as Stash any more – never mind how much of the garment has actually been knitted!

I think the best thing about The Stash is though, you can plot and scheme about your next project whilst doing completely boring, non-knitting related tasks (like that housework thing people talk about. I never really understood the concept myself, but do try to participate in it, at least occasionally). Letting my mind wander back to The Stash always makes all the crap in life far easier to handle!

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2009 06 28 Zyle knitting Comments (0) Permalink