Happy Halloween!

Amazing

A while ago I ordered a few skeins of silk yarn in lace weight. I was amazed when I finally got it. I have never seen anything like it.

It is a very strong 2ply, but at the same time extremely soft. It has a beautiful sheen to it and looks very luxurious.

I have dyed it in this lovely shade of silver and now it has the look of liquid metal. It will look amazing in any lace project especially if you add beads or sequins.

I have named it Quicksilver.

 

Halloween Sugar Cookies

My children were invited to a Halloween party yesterday, where they had to bring a treat to share. So I took out my favourite recipe for sugar cookies and my Spider-and-Web cookie cutters.

I have a weakness for cookie cutters. So when I saw these here a few years ago I could not resist.

This is the recipe:

1 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder 

1/4 tsp nutmeg

pinch salt

Take away about 1/4 of the dough and add 2 Tbsp of cocoa powder to that. Use this for the spiders.

 The dough needs to rest for at least 1 hour in the fridge before rolling it out. Bake at 350 F for about 11 minutes.

For the icing I used Icing Sugar mixed with a bit of milk until smooth and only slightly runny. To draw the spiderweb on the cookie I used a #2 tip.  

Look At These Marigold Socks!

Marigold SocksOriginally uploaded by Lamby Knits

Lamby Knits made these wonderful socks out of Sunnyside Ellen yarn in the colourway Blue Lagoon. It was actually her idea to dye the colourway striped and not variegated.

I love, how these socks turned out. Thank you so much for showing them to me and to allow me to blog about them. I believe the pattern is from here. It is very pretty!

Fair Isle Flower Sock

The Snowflake Sock pattern in the latest Interweave Knits inspired me to come up with my own version of a Fair Isle Sock. What you see here is actually version 4, I believe, because either the design did not work out or the sock did not fit me feet or both.

First I wanted to design something that resembled a rose, but it turned out as an undefinable blob. Then I had issues with the fit. Fair Isle knitting is not very stretchy, so denying the fact, that my ankles are more sturdy than graceful looking resulted in a sock that got stuck. Sigh!

But I must say, I like how it looks so far. I wanted something less geometrical and less structured than the snowflake pattern. The yarn I am using is my own Louet Gems. The white is straight off the cone and will bloom somewhat when washed. The other one is a transitional yarn and I am looking forward to the next colour coming up!

When I knit with two colours I usually carry one in each hand, but I found this too difficult ( and time consuming) with the DPNs. So I ordered this nifty little tool. At first I was a bit disappointed because it seemed quite flimsy. But I have to say, it works very well for me and the clasp closes tightly. It is also quite comfortable on my finger.

I have since learned that you can also wear a large ring on your finger and use that to keep the strands separated.

We have Quince Jelly

Success! I quartered the Quinces (and have the blister to prove it) and cooked them for about 45 minutes, until the pieces had fallen apart completely. I got 2 1/2 litres of juice and made Quince Jelly and a bottle of Quince Syrup. Hmmmm!

Pumpkin Hat – A Pattern of Sorts

I have been asked, how I made the Pumpkin Hats. I used a cotton acrylic blend (50/50) sport weight held double. For sizing I used a chart from here. I aimed for a 17 1/2 inches (44cm) head circumference. I cast on that many stitches accordingly minus 5 (about 1 inch worth) and knitted stockinette in the round until I had a nicely rolled brim.   Then I increased 5 stitches evenly  and ended up with a number of stitches dividable by 11. So I started a pattern of knit 10, purl 1 all around and knit until the hat was  about 5 1/2 inches (14cm) high.

I decreased by ssk (or skp) at the beginning of every segment between the purl stitches and k2tog at the end of every segment. I followed the decrease rounds by knitting 3 rows straight.

When every segment was only 3 stitches wide I changed to the green yarn and decreased every other round with k2tog until I had 4 or 5 stitches left. ( The first round is a *k2tog, k1* repeat, the following are k2tog only.)

I put these on one DPN and continued to knit these into an I-cord for about 1 inch (2.5 cm). I cut the yarn and threaded the tail through the 4 (or 5 )stitches, pulled them tight and I was done! (Well, except for weaving in the ends, of course.)

How I Learned English

Yesterday somebody complimented me on my English and asked me, when I learned to speak it. This reminded me of a funny story.

When I was a kid in Germany, English lessons usually started in Grade 5. I however had a special teacher when I was in Grade 2. My cousin, who is 4 years older than I am, used to come into my room, bearing a poster board and many papers. I had to get up, greet him in English and had to wait to be allowed to sit back down on my little chair. Then he started his lesson. He was very strict and formal and taught me different greetings and what time it was and things like that. 

It was a lot of fun for me. First of all I loved the attention he gave me and second of all, I felt that I had to work hard, but that I accomplished a lot. 

Some time later I spent a vacation with my aunt in Switzerland. She had lived there ever since she took a job as a nanny when she was a young woman. I used to visit her often. One evening we were invited to a party, where the centre of attention was an older lady from England. At one point we ended up all alone in a room: the English lady, her dog, my aunt and I.

Now, my aunt does not speak English and the lady did not speak German. I thought, it was a very awkward situation.  Plus, there was something I wanted to know. So I took all the courage I had, looked her firmly in the eyes, pointed at the dog and said:”What’s your name, dog?”

The Lady was clearly startled, but after a brief moment she gave me the answer. My aunt could not believe her ears. She beamed, she was so proud of me. And I felt a combination of pride and embarrassment, because while I could not figure out what it was, I knew I had not gotten it quite right.

Happy Thanksgiving!

First of all I have to tell you, that I found a baby for my extra pumpkin hat. The little fellow is 10 weeks old and looked very cute in it. This made his Mom very happy ( me too).

We are having our Turkey tomorrow and the dessert is baking in the oven as I type. This year we are having an apple pie and a quince apple pie.

I would say, that out of all my fruit trees and berry shrubs, the quinces were the only ones, that performed well this year. Which is quite ironic considering, that I never know quite what to do with them.

Anyway, when I found a recipe for a quince apple pie I decided to have a go at it. It is basically the same as regular apple pie, except that you cook the quinces ( in white wine and water) until they have about the same consistency as raw apples. ( I aimed and missed, mine turned completely mushy.) Well, it should still taste good I hope.

I have also tried to make quince jelly, but I never got enough juice out of them. I have read somewhere, that I have the wrong kind of quince for jelly, but I will try again this fall and cook them longer. 

There is one thing I have made with my quinces, that turned out rather well: quince sauce pie.  I made the quince sauce, just like you would make apple sauce. You can even add some apples.  For one pie filling I would guess, you need about 3 to 4 cups of sauce. Then add 2 to 3 Tbsp of sugar mixed with 1/4 cup of corn starch or 1 package of Dr. Oetker Vanilla Pudding. Pour it onto a pie crust, cover it with more pie dough and cook at 350F for about 1 hour.

Flowers In Winter

When I looked at the new Ikea catalogue I saw something, that I would like to have (no surprise there!). Well, the thing is, you cannot buy it at Ikea.

I found it in a photo of a hallway: a lovely green coat and a  flower scarf. The daisy like flowers are made in many colours and sewn together at the petals. It is difficult to see, but I think the flowers are knitted not crocheted.

The scarf is probably not very warm, but oh, I think I could face the dreariness of winter much better in a green coat with a flower scarf….. ( Can you tell, it is raining again?)

If you want to see, what I am talking about, here is the link: (Scroll down and then it is the 4th hallway picture)