Archive for April, 2007
The pictures are loading at their regular speed now. That is great news! Thank you for your patience!
In other news: My husband took my into the city and had me pick out a Cruiser Bicycle for my birthday next month. It is so cool looking, I can’t believe it. It has a very wide leather saddle (with springs!) and a wicker basket in front. I’ll be riding to the Post Office in style!
On Sunday the Etsy guys tried to make some improvements to the site. Unfortunately something went wrong and now the pictures are loading very slowly. I hope, they fix it soon! If you would like to know more, then check out the etsy blog, where they keep us updated.
I offer now SuperSock yarn in my etsy store. At first glance it seems very similar to the Treadsoft yarn, because it has also a tight twist. It is with 480 yards per 4 oz a little bit thicker and when I washed it, it bloomed wonderfully. I think, it might be softer than the Treadsoft.
As of today I do not have any undyed Kona Fingering left. It seems, that Henry’s Attic is having a hard time, getting it restocked. I hope, I’ll get some soon and in the meantime I’ll stay busy with the SuperSock yarn.
Please contact me if you have any questions or comments. I also do custom orders!
I have a longtime loving relationship with my local library – wherever I live. It all started when I was in third grade and the library bus came by every other week. I was allowed to borrow 10 books max, which meant, that often after 10 days I had read them all.
I remember being shocked, when my teacher asked us to make a brief book report for every book that we had read. I told him, that that was just too much work and he answered me, I could pick the one I liked best. He was grinning from ear to ear. I think, it was a proud teacher moment for him.
When we moved to the US and later to Canada I marveled at the high standard, the huge selection that the libraries have, as well that there are so many of them. I have been going there with my children every week for many years and I still love it.
The library here has a great website, where you can pick books and place a hold on them. It is a lot of fun to find the latest knitting books and order them. One of these little treasures is Lucinda Guy’s And So To Bed…
First of all even if you did not want to knit any of the patterns, it is such a pleasure to look at. The knitted pieces are showcased surrounded by the cutest drawings. There is a hot water bottle with sleeping mice on it. There are knitted owls (with scarfs) on trees. There is a child hiding in a tent made of a knitted blanket. My favourite is a little doll with a clothes lines full of her knitted underwear.
The patterns seem to be well written, there are plenty of charts and diagrams. The designs are very creative, yet clean and with funny little details. For example there is a blanket featuring the “King of Snooze”. A simple face yet interesting, sometimes the king is awake, sometimes asleep. I also love the warm, muted colours.
My daughter has asked for the owl. That was quite a surprise. She is a huge fan of bunnies. We have already picked out the yarn and now I only need some time… Don’t we all?
I was asked to post the recipe for my cake. I will gladly do so. However it is a German recipe, which means you need a scale. If you do not have a scale, I can give you a few tips at the end of the recipe.
Bake a Sponge Cake (or Angel Food Cake) in a 12 inch spring-pan at 350 F for about 1 hour using the following ingredients:
- 7 eggs
- 5 Tbsp warm water
- 300g sugar
- 240g ground hazelnuts ( I prefer to roast them first. Make some more and set aside for decorating)
- 150g flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
Once the cake has cooled, wrap it up and put it in the freezer for at least 2 or 3 hours. Take it out and flip it over so that the bottom is on top. Do not wait until it has thawed, it is much easier to slice while it is frozen. If the cake has a dome shape on top, cut that part off before you flip it. You want it nice and flat. Slice it in half, so that you have 2 layers.
Make a butter-cream with these ingredients:
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 2 egg yolks
- 50g sugar
- 30g corn starch or vanilla custard powder
- 250g soft butter
- 100g powdered sugar
- 200g Nutella ( a chocolate hazelnut spread)
Beat the Nutella with the butter and the powdered sugar before adding the custard. It is very important that the custard and the butter have the same (room) temperature when you combine them. Frost the bottom layer with about 1/3 of the butter-cream. Set a small amount aside for piping on the cake later and use the rest to frost the entire cake. To smooth the butter-cream use a spatula dipped in hot water. Decorate the sides with the ground hazelnuts and pipe the rest of the butter-cream on top. Put the cake in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.
If you do not have a scale, then try to find a basic American recipe with about the same amount of eggs. Use the ingredients in that recipe except exchange about 2/3 of the flour with ground hazelnuts. Do the same with the butter-cream. Try to find a recipe that calls for about 1 and a 1/4 cup of butter. Then add about 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp Nutella. Enjoy!
Friends invited us to “Kaffeeklatsch” and dinner. I wanted to help and asked, if I could bring a cake. This is a Hazelnut Buttercream Cake, that I frosted this morning.
The dough is a similar to an Angel Food Cake with roasted ground Hazelnuts added. The buttercream frosting is made with chocolate custard and Nutella. We’ll cut the cake in about an hour. I can’t wait!
Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone!
P.s. “Kaffeeklatsch” is a German tradition, where you meet with friends on a Sunday afternoon, have coffee and cake and exchange the latest news…
So this is it. I have finally finished my daughter’s socks. It took me only one evening to finish them. She likes them a lot. Her favourite colour right now is blue.
I have noticed that many instructions for knitting the toe part is different from how I learned it. When I was pregnant for the first time, I decided to knit socks again. As I bought some yarn, I also got a little pattern booklet by Regia. In the front there are basic instructions (knitting from the cuff down) with good pictures and a table with the numbers of stitches etc for the different sizes. I have found that to be very useful. (I could only find a German link, sorry!)
The toe instructions are that in the beginning you decrease less and then gradually more, so that you get a gently slope. It basically tells you to:
- Decrease 4 sts in 1 round, knit 3 rounds even
- *Decrease 4 sts in 1 round, knit 2 rounds even* repeat twice
- *Decrease 4 sts in 1 round, knit 1 round even* repeat three times
- Decrease 4 sts in every round until there are 8 – 12 sts left
Today I have added a little show to my website. It is a slideshow of the yarns that I have dyed. It is quite nice to see them all together!
This is one of the eggs, that I felted last year with the kids. It is handfelted with soap and warm water. I did not have a felting needle then.
The base is a plastic Easter egg and I put some roving around it. It was quite difficult to get it nice and even, but putting it in a plastic bag normally used for sandwiches helped. When it was halfway felted, I wound the coloured yarn around it. It took much longer than I expected and if I had to do it again, I would try needle-felting.
The weather forecast is 22 degrees Celsius for tomorrow ( about 75 F), but this is what happened on Monday:
I hope, that this turn won’t make my Mache lettuce go to seeds before I have a chance to eat it. Sigh! ( I seem to sigh a lot these days. )
My MIL was so kind as to send me a Filati pattern book from Germany. The patterns are all very fitted and modern. There is a V-neck cardigan with 3/4 bell sleeves, that I really like. Maybe it is the colour: it is a heartwarming deep red.
I have noticed, that for the most part I knit sweaters in three colours for myself: blue, red and natural white. But maybe that has to do with the colours, that I can get at the store. Even though I will often find more colours I like, there is often something not right for me: the green is too bright, the pink too purple etc.
I went the other day to my LYS to get yarn for a vest for myself. I could have dyed something, but I would have had to order yarn extra for that and I was too impatient. I spent the longest time looking for just the right colour and ended up with red, yet again. At one point I eyed the natural wool considering dyeing, but I wanted to start that night.
I will show you, what I have been working on, when I have spent a bit more time on it. Right now, there is sadly not much to see….
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