When You Just Want to Buy Some Buttons…

you may see several  pretty fabrics. Suddenly you remember* that there is a big empty space on your dining room table and you have to make a table runner for it.

This was so much fun to make! The front (including the border) is a panel and I quilted around the squares to make it look more like a pieced quilt. For the back they had several fabric options, but I chose the striped fabric from the border,  because – as you know – I love stripes. To give the table runner a little loft and make it  heavier I used white flannel as batting, which worked really well.  For the binding I applied this speedy method.

All in all it was very quick: I bought and washed the fabric one day and finished the quilt the following evening.

*I don’t want to mention names here, but somebody ruined the other table runner, by blowing out the candles so forcefully that red candle wax splattered all over it and it was not me! ( But I did drop the coffee mug.)

Let’s Postpone it!

I have decided to celebrate Christmas in January and it seems I am not alone.That is why I can sit back totally relaxed and knit a sock just for myself.
The yarn is my own hand dyed in Salsa and the pattern is the Lacy Ribs Socks ( Ravelry Link) from Socks From the Toe Up. It is fun to knit, but I can’t tell you how many times I forgot a yarn-over at the end of the lace pattern.

So who am I kidding? I am so behind with my Christmas stuff that I am close to panic. I better get back to work! I hope you are doing better than me.

But it does feel good to take a break once in a while and knit a bit. Just don’t tell anyone who is expecting a gift from me this year. OK?

Please Have Some!

I made 2 of these last night and there is something about Irish Soda Bread I find quite irresistible. It is quick and easy to make and tastes heavenly with a bit of butter and jam.

Ingredients for 2 small loaves:

3 1/4 cup flour

2 cups ground oat flakes

1 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 cups and 4 Tbsp buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 475F. Use a baking stone if you have one and add a roasting pan to the bottom of the oven to make some steam later.

Ground the oat flakes in a blender until you have a mixture of oat flour and oat flakes. It takes just a few seconds. Blend all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and add the buttermilk. Stir until the dough comes together. Divide the dough into two, shape them into a ball, flatten them and push a dough scraper or a knife 2/3 down into the dough to shape a cross.

Bring a cup of water to boil. Slide the 2 loaves onto the hot baking stone using some semolina or cornmeal to prevent it from sticking. ( I prefer semolina because it does not add a different flavour.) Pour the boiling water into the pan on the bottom of your oven and shut the oven door quickly.

Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 450F and bake for another 15 minutes.

The Tradition of Celebrating Advent

In Germany it is custom to celebrate Advent, which starts four Sundays before Christmas. This year the first of Advent was last Sunday. On the Sundays of Advent you have a special Kaffeklatsch with a wreath and, most important, Christmas cookies. The wreath has four candles and on every Sunday of Advent you light one more candle. Traditionally the Christmas Tree is set up very close to Christmas Eve and taken down after January 6th, which is the day of the Three Magi.

Many German women are very proud of their cookies. I remember every year there would be a fierce competition between my mother, her sisters and my Grandma who could bake the most different kinds of cookies.  Often a family has its own favourites and “secret” recipes.

I am very lucky that most of my recipes come from my husband’s Grandma who was born in 1908 and a chef in Vienna, Austria. Who knows how old some of these recipes might be?

My new favourite this year is a coffee cookie. My Grandma used to make them when I was a kid, but I never got her recipe. I managed to find one in a magazine and with the help of Starbucks instant coffee they turned out really well.

You need:

100g butter

100g sugar, a dash of salt

1/2 tsp Dr. Oetker Vanilla Sugar or 1/4 tsp Vanilla

2 pck or 1 Tbsp Starbuck’s Instant Coffee ( Italian Roast)

1 Tbsp Cocoa powder

1 Egg

75g ground semi-sweet chocolate

50g ground almonds

150g flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Beat butter and sugar, add vanilla, salt, coffee, cocoa powder and egg. Mix until well incorporated. In a different bowl mix flour, chocolate, almonds and baking powder. Add these to the butter mix. Let the dough rest in the fridge for about 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350F/ 180C

Shape the dough into small balls or use a small (2 tsp) ice-cream scoop and drop onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes. Let cool.

Decorate with melted chocolate and top with a whole almond, coffee bean or a coffee-flavoured chocolate bean.

What Happened to Miss Molly?

Miss Molly had a dolly who was sick, sick, sick.
So she called for the doctor to come quick, quick, quick.
The doctor came with his bag and his hat,
And he knocked on the door with a rat-a-tat-tat.

He looked at the dolly and he shook his head.
And he said, “Miss Molly, put her straight to bed.”
He wrote on the paper for a pill, pill, pill.
“I’ll be back in the morning with the bill, bill, bill.”

Well, in the last weeks this Miss Molly had all her children sick at home ( one of them twice) and now she herself needed to go to the Doctor. As some of you might know I have Asthma and if I get a simple cold it acts up and does not want to leave.

Anyway, if you want to make me feel better (hehe) you can sign up for my newsletter by sending me an e-mail to sunnyside(dot)ellen(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Or on Ravelry you could link your yarn to my new shop page and make it look prettier. Instructions how to do this are here.

Thanks a bunch!

How I Made Bleeding Vampire Cupcakes

I found the idea here and used this recipe for the Vanilla Cupcakes. ( Note to self: Next time fill the baking cups only halfway.) The blood on the inside and top was Raspberry Jelly mixed with Raspberry Syrup to make it more liquid. I used this recipe for the icing.

I made them for a Halloween party my kids were invited to where they were supposed to bring a treat. I was a bit disappointed when they came back with half of the cupcakes leftover, but then I realized I should have made a mini version. A kid standing in front of a table filled with sweats  usually wants to try as many different things as he or she can. A large cupcake was probably too much to take on. Well, we live and learn ( and enjoyed the leftovers.)

Happy Halloween!

The Ups and Downs of Life

I have had a lot of fun lately working on new projects and playing with my spinning wheel. Unfortunately within a span of 2 weeks my three kids have been sick and I have been so exhausted that I have managed just what had to be done. Well, it is over now and I am trying to get back.

With the leftover yarn from my striped sweater I made a hat for my niece. I used this stitch pattern, but I knit the hat top down and switched randomly between the lighter and darker yarn. I knit it on 4mm needles to make the stitches denser. I hope she likes it!

Then I dyed a merino/silk top and spun it into a 2-ply aran weight yarn. It amazes me how much the yarn puffs up after it is plyed and washed. It looked much thinner on the bobbin. The reason for this of course is, that the yarn on the bobbin is under tension. Also I find it difficult to know how much fiber to pull out to make the yarn the thickness I want it to be.

To help me figure this out I have started a spinning journal where I keep samples of my handspun yarn and write down how I made it. Also I think it would help if I compare my singles to commercial yarn so I can see the difference in thickness.  The other surprise is that while I spin the yarn I think it is fairly even and in the end it isn’t. I feel like an adventurer exploring a new country and have a lot of fun doing so. I was very proud when I managed to ply my new yarn evenly and it came out balanced!

I hope you enjoy whatever you are doing!

Too Much of a Good Thing?

In recent years we have turned our front yard into a mini orchard. There are 6 small apple trees and one sour cherry tree. We have Spartans and another kind whose name I don’t know. This year we had an amazingly large harvest. At first we picked the Spartans and were astonished how flawless the apples were. Then we picked the other kind and found out that the local wildlife prefers the bright red apples by far. I ended up with a large basket of apples that needed to be worked with right away and 4 and a half crates of apples which can be stored a while.

After surveying the bounty I bought an apple peel-core-slice thingy and I am glad I did, because it is very fast and turns the apples into pretty spirals.

So far I have made

• 5 batches of apple sauce
• 4 different kind of apple cakes and pies
• 2 kinds of apple strudel
• 3 batches of candy apples
• caramel apples (new recipe!)
• apple jelly
• apple crisp
• apple pancakes
• baked bagels with apples and cheese
• apples with Dulce de Leche

and I have given apples away to friends. There are still four crates full of apples left!

Also, now that it is October it means the quinces are ripe…

Multidirectional

When I still had only my borrowed spinning wheel I spun 4 oz of superwash Merino Top into a thick and thin singles yarn. ( What else can a beginner spin?) I did well on the twist especially after reading this article about twist angles. In the meantime I might have learned how to avoid spinning the thin, thin parts ( if you don’t want them that is).

Apparently when I spin yarn I have to knit it up immediately, so I was looking for a project and found this scarf pattern on Ravelry. ( Instructions can be found here)

I partnered my handspun with undyed Riverstone yarn from Louet and after all the knitting was done I added little triangles in crochet as a border*.

It took about 100g ( 3 1/2 oz) each of the two yarns. I knit it on 4.5mm needles and the scarf is 5 1/2 inches ( 14cm) wide and just under 2 yards (1,75m) long.

It was a fun knit, the scarf looks pretty and my daughter wants it – a successful project.

*I made it up, it was something like this: (chain 3, turn, single crochet 1 into the chain and single crochet 1 into the scarf, turn, slip stitch one into the chain and 1 into the scarf) repeat

I Love Stripes

When I was looking for something to knit on our vacation I found a picture of a cheerfully striped sleeveless sweater on Ravelry. I thought it was the perfect vacation project: an easy knit and colourful.

The yarn I chose was Louet Gems worsted weight and I dyed it as a transitional yarn in two giant skeins: one in dark colours and one in light colours. I decided the stripes two rows wide and alternate between the dark and the light yarn. To ensure a good fit I decided to make my own pattern. For that I went to my dress form and took measurements on it, starting from the length of the sweater to where the waist would be, the armholes and neck opening. I wanted a somewhat loose fit and added 2 inches of ease.

When I had knitted about 8 inches I tried the sweater on and it was much too wide. I had knitted it exactly to my measurements, but the fabric stretched so much, that it became too large. So I started over with zero ease.

The hem is knit in garter stitch. The collar is 9 inches long and knit in stockinette, because I like how it drapes. To tidy up the armholes I crocheted one row single crochet and added a second row in slip-stitch to mimic a knitted stitch.

I like my new sweater a lot. It fits exactly the way I wanted it to and adds some colour to my wardrobe. It took 460g ( just over 1 pound)/ 800 yards of yarn and I knit it on 4.5mm needles.