May I Present: Bluefaced Leicester

I wish you could touch this yarn. It is one of those skeins you want to bury your face in it ; ) It is a Bluefaced Leicester fibre that I have dyed and handspun into a fluffy singles yarn. It has a very long staple length so you can work with a low twist without worrying about it falling apart. It also has a bit of a sheen.

I have been looking for the perfect pattern for it. It has to be something close to my face. Today’s favourite is the Ruffled and Ruched Scarf by Pam Powers. What do you think?

If you would like to find out more about this wonderful fibre and where it comes from I recommend this article on the International Fleeces website.

Chocolate Cupcakes

One could say I don’t “get” cupcakes. It seems to me cupcakes are all about the looks. Do you really enjoy eating a mountain of artificially dyed, overly sweet icing on top of an insubstantial small and again too sweet cake? Before you call the cupcake police I have to say in my defense that probably my German upbringing is to blame for my attitude: I’d rather eat something that looks plain, but tastes great.

Then again cupcakes have their advantage. They are quick to make and a great treat for kids. You can even pop one in a small containers and take it to school. That is why I have not given up on them and am very pleased that I came up with a recipe that received everyone’s approval.

As a side note and since I am already so opinionated today I can just go ahead and tell you about my hunt for vanilla. I don’t care for vanilla essence. The alcohol flavour is just too strong and does not work well for many recipes. For years I have used Dr. Oetker vanilla sugar, but that is an artificial flavour, which I am trying to avoid as well. So now I have gone back to the old-fashioned way and added a sliced open vanilla bean to a jar of sugar. It has a wonderful vanilla flavour. I use it to the rate of 2 Tbsp of Vanilla sugar for every 1 tsp vanilla essence and reduce the amount of regular sugar accordingly.

Chocolate Cupcakes

( makes about 30)

3/4 cup butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 Tbsp instant coffee
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar ( minus 4 Tbsp if using vanilla sugar)
2 tsp vanilla ( or 4 Tbsp vanilla sugar)
1 cup chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350 F/ 180 C

Combine flour, coffee, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
Add butter and sugar to another bowl, beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time then vanilla.
Add flour mixture and milk until just combined then add the chocolate chips.
Spoon batter into cups.
Bake for 18 to 22 minutes.

Icing
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cups cocoa powder
2 – 3 Tbsp milk

Mix sugar and cocoa, add small amounts of milk. Stir until spreading consistency.

You can find this recipe as an easy to print pdf document here.

New Socks With New Yarn

These are the socks for my nephew which I have just finished and maybe they will get to Germany in time ( if I am very lucky). The yarn I have used for these is a new Superwash Merino and Nylon blend that I have purchased for my Etsy store. Usually wool-nylon blends are quite scratchy, but this yarn is nice. It is very smoothly spun and a bit thinner than the Louet Gems.

For the colour I asked my kids for inspiration and my son suggested green and blue. He showed me a blue cheese wrapper and a pear and said I should use these colours. I had to laugh when I was able to match them exactly.

The socks are knit with my standard pattern. I used the same tubular cast-on as for the Heart Socks. I knit an extra long leg, so that they can be worn well with rainboots. I hope my nephew is going to like them.

He will certainly be astonished about the way I have mailed them. In Canada shipping is quite reasonable and fast if your package is not higher than 2cm ( about 3/4 inch). To make sure the socks would stay flat and not slide around I stitched them onto a sheet of card stock. I think doll clothes are sometimes packaged like that.

I have several more ideas about handmade Christmas gifts, but I think I am almost out of time. Are you ready for Christmas?

Knitting With Love

I have recently finished these socks for my niece with my leftover Poprocks yarn. As something special I have added small hearts into the heel. The heels are knit with slipped stitches, but the hearts are knit with regular stockinette stitch, which makes them slightly raised. I think they are very cute.

I have also tried a new cast-on recommended in The Handknitter’s Handbook. You cast-on using the tubular cast-on and on the first row you knit and purl almost like you normally would, you just twist the purl stitches. I think it works well.

Here is the chart, if you want to add hearts to your heels:

And here you can find it in a pdf document for easy printing.

Happy Halloween with a Graveyard Cake!

Eating your own grave has to give you some supernatural powers, right?

The cake is basically this one ( just without the mint). I baked the cake on a sheet ( 12 minutes at 220 C/ 425 F), cut it in half, spread some jam onto the halfs and put the layers on top of each other. The cake is iced with chocolate whipped cream.

The gravestones are Zwieback dipped in white chocolate and the writing is done with dark chocolate. You might find Zwieback at a German deli.

Someone suggested making bones with white chocolate and having those stick out. Great idea!

Wishing you a very happy Halloween!