A Little Update

It was my sister's birthday a couple of weeks ago, so she came up to Edinburgh during the day so we could indulge and celebrate before heading south to our parents' home to a family party. We went to The Chocolate Tree in Bruntsfield. I'd passed it a few times as I walked through Morningside, through Bruntsfield and across The Meadows into town. It was totally amazing. The choice of cakes (all chocolate) was impressive, and they also had a cabinet of individual chocolates to buy, and bars of chocolate on the shelves. And, I was pleased to find, the coffee was pretty good too. I was sorry not to be able to sit inside as it is fairly small and all the tables were taken, as I wanted to photograph the cabinet discreetly. But also, I much prefer sitting inside cafes to sitting outside. My coffee stays warm for longer, and I just really like the cafe atmosphere and warmth. Jacqueline and I both had a chocolate tart with raspberries and cream.

Before Hagos went on tour we paid a visit to Edina Home Brew and bought a cider/wine making kit. We got the cider tub to begin with. It was good fun concocting it, but it hadn't stopped fermenting before Hagos went on tour, so I had to sit with the syphon tube and syphon it into the barrel once it was ready. I got a little bit drunk doing this. The cider will be ready when Hagos returns from tour in two weeks and five days' time (not that I'm counting). I tried some on Saturday morning and I thought it was grand!

The two men who ran the shop were right characters. Almost like a Two Ronnies sketch with their stories, ladders, and dishing out whiskey to all the customers.

On Saturday morning it was such glorious weather that I decided to take a drive south of Edinburgh and see what I could discover. I drove out to Peebles, and wasn't very impressed with that town, but on a different route out I rounded a corner and discovered the most breathtaking castle, Neidpath Castle. I didn't realise I had my camera in my bag or I would've taken a photo. I was so astonished I turned back on the road and returned to get a better look at it. Sadly, it isn't open to the general public, though my neighbour said he was taken there twice on tours when he was at school. They seem to hire it out for weddings and events, and it looks like they accept tours too. Maybe I should try to get a gang together and make enquiries.

The other place I discovered on the way home (after driving through amazing, rolling, sunny hills) was Whitmuir Farm, an organic farm with a cafe, a shop and a few walking routes. I'm sorry to say the cappuccino wasn't so great, but the ambience of the whole place was amazing. Maybe I'll try a different type of coffee next time I go. I bought a bag of organic plums and apples from there and yesterday I made an early batch of my famous Plum and Apple Jam. It tastes totally delicious.

And finally, I finished my bee jumper. I don't remember if I blogged about this project before. I unraveled my bolero, keeping the sleeves intact, bought some extra black wool and honey-coloured wool (both Rowan Pure Wool 4-ply) and knitted them all into the body of a TV jumper from Sarah Dallas's Vintage Knits. The bolero had come from that book too, but because the band was sewn on afterwards and not knitted on to the bolero, it never quite sat right. It was the first time I'd knitted a band separately and I think I made it too long, and so it didn't have the tautness once it was in place. I wore the bolero a few times, and loved the wool (the long ago discontinued Jaeger 4-ply, which I still yearn for) but the way it sat always bothered me. I absolutely love the finished result. It looks good on and is really snug.

That's all for now. I have other knitting projects that I'm making my way through with great success. When Hagos is on tour I knit in the evening while I watch an hour of telly. I'll photograph and update my next two jumpers soon! 

Edinburgh Book Festival

My tickets arrived today for the Edinburgh Book Festival. It's so lovely when something good arrives in the mail.

 I've bought for four events so far. And I'm tempted by two more - Kathleen Winter and Audrey Niffenegger. If they haven't sold out nearer the time and I'm feeling flush I'll buy tickets then.

I missed out on getting tickets for Alasdair Gray's Fleck, for which he's roped in many leading Scottish writers to perform: AL Kennedy, Ian Rankin, Will Self (not Scottish, I know, or maybe he claims to be, many people do), Janice Galloway and Louise Welsh. It's the event I most wanted to go to but it sold out on the first day.

But I'm very pleased with the tickets I do have. I saw Alasdair Gray at the Book Festival a few years ago, and he was very entertaining and erudite. 

And AL Kennedy, well, I'd like to have her career.

I loved Rebecca Hunt's book Mr Chartwell, about the personification of depression, though her 'black dog' came across as so sweet and charming that if he was my black dog I'd rather want to keep him hanging around. I wondered if Rebecca Hunt has had any personal experience of depression, or knows anyone who has suffered from it, as (as much as I loved the book) I didn't think it depicted depression accurately at all. I wonder if I'll have the bravery to form that into a polite question to ask her at the reading?

And Maggie O'Farrell is someone else whose career I'm interested in. She seems to manage that great feat of being well-regarded by her peers and critics, and having popular sales.

Best Wishes,

Paula

x x x

A Woman's Prerogative

Well maybe I was a bit hasty. Maybe.

All I know is that I had a great desire to slash and burn when I left Norfolk. 

And the move was huge.

But anyway, we're settling into the new house/new city/new country. 

Yesterday I took a walk to aquaint myself with Edinburgh. I parked outside my friends' house in Morningside (my great homing-instinct intact as ever) and walked down Morningside, through Bruntsfield, then turned at the Meadows and walked across. I had no idea where this path would take me, but it was a sunny day and I felt like walking.

For a while I've wanted to make a trip into town to visit the Central Library, find a yarn shop, and go to The Elephant House, and strangely once I'd walked through the Meadows I bumped into all three.

(My laptop has been attacked by a virus and Hagos is on tour so I've been unable to upload my own photos. The pictures below are from the internet/the relative websites as I'm currently using our office computer.)   

The Central Library. I was disappointed by it. I expected it to be bigger/laid out better and I was hoping it would have an area to work at, like the desks at Swiss Cottage Library in London, where I really loved to work. Maybe I haven't realised its full potential yet and of course I will give it another go.

K1 Yarns. A beautiful, beautiful, beautiful wool shop with lots of gorgeous and lots of Scottish wool. I particularly loved the alpaca wool for £5 a 50g ball. I'll definitely be back in there. And I think I touched every ball of wool they had on sale.

And The Elephant House. I haven't been in, and it may very well have good coffee and a good atmosphere, but I was very put off by the largely-writ claim on the window of it being "The birthplace of Harry Potter". From interviews I've seen and heard with JK Rowling, she began writing the book in London, I think she then took it to Portugal with her while she lived there, then brought it back to Edinburgh. So, it's a bit of an exageration.

I have still to find a good cafe/writing place because I too like to write and I like good coffee. I've tried a few cafes but so far none has provided that winning combination of great coffee, personal space and time, and interesting clientele that I like. I miss Expresso's in Norwich very much for that. It was located beside the art college and I always felt as though time stood still when I was in there and I could THINK and be inspired and be creative.

But there are many cafes in Edinburgh and a few I have my eye on to try. One promising cafe called The Chocolate Tree, and one called Konditorei (spelling may be off there).

Until next time :)  

Goodbye

Well, I've decided to stop blogging to Knitorama. It feels like it belongs in a past part of my life. I'm heartily grateful to Chrissy for encouraging me to continue (loved your comment, especially as when I checked your blog you haven't updated since December last year :) ).

I am sure I'll start another blog. Slightly different, more focused, probably even more honest, or transparent. Anyone who wants to read it can email me and I'll send you the link once it's up and running.

Otherwise, ciao. Thanks for reading. I wish you a good life. x x x 

To Blog, or Not To Blog? That is the question.

So, I had pretty much decided to stop this blog. I have just moved country (above, packing up the old house in Norfolk) and it seemed like a natural place to make big changes. This blog is rambling and unfocused and sometimes even pointless. And maybe that's okay, but moving country has been a big ambition of ours for years. And along with achieving that, I also want to be more focused, less rambling, and to have a point!

This is the end of the pack. The end of a very long few days. I've already sent a very heartfelt thank you to our two friends, Janie and Ba, who pretty much turned up, moved in, and took over the move. They know how we feel, and we would never have achieved what we achieved in those four days without them.

Along with other friends who helped: Pete who took a day out of his holiday in Derbyshire with his family to come over and help us pack in Norfolk; my sister and her husband who drove up from Dumfries after work to help us unpack at the new house; Kev who also helped us unpack at the new house after a long work day; and Tommy, the muscles of the operation, who took time out of his degree to help us unpack at the new house. We are very grateful to all those people.

This is a moving in present from our friend Rik: a delicous apple crumble.

And living in Scotland again means I get to see more of these two lovely people, Nate and JJ (hiding from our neighbour's dog, Vanwall. Vanwall had long since wandered off, never having been very interested in us in the first place, but they boys couldn't be persuaded to re-emerge from under the blanket).

And it makes celebrating family birthdays much easier too. It was Hagos's mother, Bette's, 80th birthday on Friday. His sister Jill came over from Australia with her friend Ann, and his brother Ewan and his wife Christine came up from Bath. It was great to see all the siblings together again, and I think Bette had a good birthday. 

So, I'll see how the blog goes. Friends tell me they like to read it. And perhaps I can feel better about it and be more focused about what I want it to be. 

Meringues and thoughts

I've been thinking lately of stopping this blog. Or maybe starting a new one. I don't know.

Anyway, in the meantime it was my turn at the Shake 'n' Bake today (about twelve colleagues we each take it in turn to bake on a Friday). I made the above meringues, an absolute favourite of mine; and I also made another newer favourite, Triple Chocolate Cookies. I didn't take any photos, but they were absolutely delicious. They have a chewy, fudgey, brownie-type quality to them.

And tonight: Meg and I are watching Star Trek Voyager in front of the fire, with a hot water bottle and blankets.

The Kitchen Table - a snapshot

I like taking still shots of the kitchen table from time to time, because they tell a very accurate story of what is going on in my life.

The hat box full of knitting: my almost finished red and purple loop jumper - I just have to sew it all together and weave in the hundreds of ends and after six years in the making it will actually be finished. I can hardly believe it. For about five minutes after I'd knitted the neckband yesterday I thought of writing a strongly-worded letter of complaint to the designer. The pattern structure and maths were perfect, but the repeating loop pattern was very badly explained. It took me knitting all of the back (to her exact instructions) to realise that if I did it on a circular needle (instead of two straight needles) with two balls of the red wool, and one ball of the purple wool on the go at any one time, I wouldn't have to keep cutting the wool and re-joining it (the repeating loop pattern is such that the next colour of wool you need to knit with is very often at the wrong end of the needles). Also in the box is green wool for a pair of socks, and upstairs on the bed (not strictly on the table but only because I took it to bed with me last night) I've started my bee jumper already.

Other stuff on the table: my hot water bottle, because I'm constantly cold in this house; herbal sleeping pills and ibuprofen because I have so much going on that I need these to knock me out at night and shut my brain up; flour on the scales ready to make bread rolls for lunch; Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, which I had to take out of the library yesterday because Hagos is in Hong Kong and he took our copy with him; daffodils to cheer up the kitchen and me; the Radio Times to plan my TV watching for the day (at a push I might watch Dancing on Ice while I'm having dinner, only because there's nothing else on I want to watch, unlike last time where BBC 2 dedicated the whole evening to World Book Night, which I lapped up); wine given to us by our friends for helping them to move; my breakfast bowl; and packing tape. I need a lot of packing tape at the moment.

We're currently packing up the house to move. It's a huge job. I've already gone through my book shelves and have a huge box full of books to somehow make disappear. We also went through our CD collection (hundreds) and have sold some to a company that takes CDs and binned all the rubbish and kept the ones we like.

Well, I think I might go back to bed while my bread is rising.

Purple and red loop jumper - it must be Easter!

I remember pulling this jumper out last Easter and being sure I would finish it, as there were only a few rows left to do.

And then I must've bought some new wool, for a new project, and back into the bag it went, not to be seen for another year.

But as I'm now at the cast off for the front, which is the final piece, I'm sure I will actually finish it this time. I have to knit it at the kitchen table, otherwise I get tangled in the three balls of wool.

And then I plan to start on this. It will be a black long-sleeved TV jumper with some honey-bee thick stripes. I got the idea from a Next jumper my work colleague wore recently. I liked it so much I decided to unpick my black bolero, which I have never felt comfortable in due to the band edging: the bolero never sat properly. So I'm unpicking the body of the bolero and will use the sleeves as they are, as they are the exact same pattern for the TV jumper, and I will knit a new body. I'm planning to buy two new balls of Rowan Pure Wool black 4-ply to go with the honey-coloured wool above.

It's such a fail-safe pattern (Sarah Dallas's Vintage Knits) and easy to knit, and I love the result.

An unremarkable jumper?

Well, I haven't posted for ages. I've been working full time since November, and at first I took to it with relish, got into it, enjoyed it; but for the last three weeks I've just felt so exhausted. My job is very intense, lots to keep an eye on, no balls can be dropped, absolute deadlines on everything!

And now, I have two and a half weeks off, except for next Friday, and I already feel odd! Getting up on a Saturday morning, knowing I only have two days off before heading back into the fray on Monday is different to getting up on a Saturday morning, after working intensely for four months, and having two and a half weeks stretch out in front of me. It's almost like being back to my old touring days.

Anyway, back to the point. I finished my black double knit Rowan Cashsoft jumper. And, it's the most unimpressed I've ever been with something I've knitted. I'm not sure if it's because of the colour (I don't like knitting black, but I like wearing it and think it suits my colouring and hair), or because the sleeves skim my wrists and I prefer them to be longer (they don't look short, just my preference), or because the neckband took about four attempts to get it to where it is now and I'm still not sure it's right (but no bloody way am I unpicking it again to re-do it), or that from the second I started knitting it the wool attracted every cat hair and piece of fluff as if it were a magnet! 

I haven't worn it out yet so maybe I'll get to like it then. I felt better about it once I'd pressed the neck band. And it is lovely and soft. Hmm. I was hoping to have a new template jumper that I just knit over and over again in different colours, like my TV jumper, but now I'm not sure.

Today we're going to Giraffe in Norwich for breakfast, then we come home, potter about, light the fire, then watch a DVD in the evening, and then later we watch my favourite thing on TV just now, the Danish crime programme The Killing. 

And it's Hagos's birthday on Monday so I will have to make him his favourite Bishop's Cake, and another friend's birthday just after that and I'm planning to make something to send to her too, and my dad's birthday tomorrow.

My head is so busy. I will update more on all that soon.

But for now it's Saturday!  

A new jumper

I got this book a few years ago and have been meaning to knit something from it ever since. I got some black DK Rowan Cashsoft in a John Lewis sale last year and decided to knit the cover jumper (shown in Kidsilk Haze).

However, when I came to cast off for the sleeve and neck (on the front) it soon became apparent that the pattern didn't add up! I sat down with a pen and piece of paper twice to try to make sense of it, and failed. So I decided to knit the back first, which did make sense, and hope that that would throw light on the front cast off. And it did. But I did have to re-calculate the whole cast off for the neck. The numbers were significantly out!    

So I now have the front and the back, and being DK it didn't take that long to knit up. Two weeks of TV watching (and bus riding). I'm hoping the sleeves will take another two weeks and I'll have a new jumper by the third week of January.

We had a lovely Christmas day and Boxing day. It was great to just eat, drink and watch TV and not try to achieve anything. Hagos's mother was supposed to spend it with us, but she got a third of the way on the train only to be told the connecting train was delayed by five hours, so she made the decision to turn back rather than continue, which was the sensible decision but we were all disappointed she couldn't make it.

Here's hoping 2011 will be a prosperous year!

December

So, I haven't been on here for a while. I set myself the task of doing an advent photo every day on Facebook (up until 24th Dec) so that took over. Plus, I've been working full time for the last month or so, and haven't had much time for crafty stuff. I've pretty much been working, bathing, sitting in front of the coal fire, and watching TV!

Here are some of the images from my month:

Hagos's mum was supposed to come to us for Christmas. She made it as far as Carlisle on the train (from Kilmarnock) and had to turn back due to a 5-hour delay! She was due to arrive in Norwich at six o'clock, so five hours extra (and who knows how many more would have been added along the way) meant she wouldn't have got here until 11pm at the earliest. That's a long time for an elderly lady (or anyone) to be hanging around cold train stations. We were all disappointed, and on Christmas Eve and the first couple of hours of Christmas Day Hagos and I didn't really know what to do with ourselves as we'd been expecting company. Anyway, after we'd opened our presents, Hagos had a bath, I poured myself a glass of port and started baking a banana, walnut and chocolate cake for Christmas dessert (Bette was bringing the Christmas pudding and brandy butter!) and the rest of the day went very smoothly and pleasantly. Giving in to doing nothing when we're so used to always doing something, was very welcome indeed! 

I've started a new DK jumper so will upload photos soon. x x x

Long-sleeved TV jumper!

This jumper has been hanging around for too long waiting for me to sew it together. I hate sewing jumpers together, and it was delayed further because when I sewed the first sleeve in place I noticed this: 

The stripes didn't line up! They do on my three short-sleeved versions, because that's how Sarah Dallas, the designer, designed it. (The pattern is from Vintage Knits, by Sarah Dallas.) I hadn't taken this into account when adapting the pattern to make it a long-sleeved jumper.

Anyway, yesterday I finally decided there wasn't anything I could do about it and finished sewing the other sleeve in place, and then the sides together. I did wonder if I could/should unpick the sleeve and try to push and pull the stripes to line up, but I knew it wouldn't work.

So today I am wearing it for the first time, and I really, really love it. It's completely comfortable and warm and neat, and the stripes not lining up can't really be seen when my arms are by my sides, which is most of the time.

I definitely want to make another, but this time I would dispense with the stripes altogether. I know it adds interest when knitting and to look at but apart from working out how to line up the stripes it just adds unnecessarily to the cost (Kidsilk Haze is about £8 a ball now!). I really want a jumper in Rowan Cashsoft Redwood next.

Before I do that, however, I have the red and purple loop jumper to finish (still!), my second purple and green mitten (though I've decided that will be next year's winter accessories instead of this - I'll get another year out of my green and white mittens, scarf and hat), and my black double knit Cashsoft jumper.

I also bought two balls of the Rowan Cashsoft Redwood in a sale at John Lewis at the weekend, along with some new acid-green beads and want to knit another pair of beady bed socks.

I think I'll pencil in the Redwood long-sleeved TV jumper for next winter!

Beady Bed Socks - 3 lots

I finally decided the time has come to replace my old beady bed socks (last two pictures) with the new beady bed socks I recently knitted (above).

 The reason I didn't start wearing them as soon as I'd knitted them was because I wanted to knit another pair for my friend's birthday at the beginning of November but I wasn't sure if they would be ready on time and I thought I might have to give her my own instead!

Thankfully I have finished the first of her beady bed socks (the green with red beads). I think green is more her colour, and I absolutely love the yellow of mine.

I experimented with the pattern while knitting the green pair. I much prefer knitting socks in-the-round, and the Debbie Bliss pattern for the socks is knitted flat and then sewn together as a back seam. It pretty much works because of the rib at the heel and the sole - you can't see the sewing together there, just up the back above the ankle.

Knitting the pattern in-the-round was better I think. There isn't an obvious join. The only thing I wasn't so happy about was I had a couple of little ladders where the needles changed. It's only slight, and I did try to avoid the gapping. But the biggest benefit was not having to sew them together afterwards! I just had to sew together the heel and the toe. So, I think it was a success.

I really like this Rowan pure wool 4-ply. I love the feel of it. Very textured and old-fashioned, as I've said before.

 These are my old faithful bed socks. I've worn them constantly for about two years so it's no wonder the sole has worn in places.

The good thing is that when I pull them apart I will be able to save and re-use the beads in another pair of socks!

In other news - it's a funny old time for us at the moment. Lots of changes afoot :) and I feel a mixture of excitement and fear.

Mostly on my mind: how to make proper money.

Saturday

I decided I would clean the kitchen today, so I got up, had breakfast, and made myself a half-caf cappuccino with the percolator.

 Then I went for a bike ride and did my shopping: books back to library, veg and fruit from the greengrocer's.

 Meg was relaxing in the front room.

 I got out my collection of jars and decided to make...

...Plum and Apple Jam!

This year I stoned the plums first, because trying to scoop them out of the pan while it was at a rolling boil was far too scalding and messy.

And this is what I ended up with: two jars for my friend's birthday (she really liked the jar I gave her last year), one little jar for me, and a big jar possibly to give away to someone else.

And this evening, some mitten-knitting and watching Strictly Come Dancing.

The kitchen cleaning might get done tomorrow.

Chocolate Pistachio Macaroons

My first attempt at macaroons didn't go so well. I think I folded all of the air out of the whisked egg white when I added the ground pistachios. So that, when I went to spoon the mixture onto the waiting baking trays, they glooped and merged into a big PUDDLE.

I tried whisking the whole mixture again to thicken it, but could tell it wasn't going to work.

So I had a BRAINWAVE to spoon it into little paper cups, to enable them to hold shape while baking.

IT WORKED!

I then made the chocolate ganache, and sandwiched the macaroons together with it.

They didn't look like the glossy photo in the baking book, but they tasted absolutely heavenly.

And everyone at work loved them.

As I had lost some of the mixture when I first tried to spoon it onto the baking sheets, I only got 12 macaroons. Luckily there were a few people off today so I didn't need that many, but nonetheless I felt I should bolster my offerings with something else. I didn't have the energy to begin baking anything else from scratch and remembered I had half a Bishop's Cake in the freezer. 

I defrosted that, cut it into 9 pieces, and we managed to have a merry little feast after all.

Knitting and Reading

So, I unravelled the dreadful orange and purple mittens, bought myself some Rowan pure wool 4-ply green wool, and started knitting these green and purple mittens instead! And I am so much happier with them. I know they're right.

I was interested to read Livvey's blog entry called The Brain Drain recently, because that is exactly what my head has been feeling like too. Except my headings are: Work; Housework; Hagos's Schedule; Accounts; Writing; Maintaining Weight; and a few other headings I don't quite want to reveal. But BUSY. And out of kilter time-wise. 

I'm sure at some point next year it will all fall into place in terms of priority but right now writing takes a back seat to pretty much everything else. And focusing enough to write is something I'm finding difficult at the moment. And peace of mind. 

I need a less busy brain.

But reading is something I'm doing a lot of, and really enjoying. I'm glad I have enough concentration for that.

At bedtime I'm reading The Emergence of Memory: Conversations with WG Sebald; and during the day I have just finished the Millennium trilogy, and will either begin Regeneration by Pat Barker; Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson; or Room by Emma Donoghue. I'm thinking probably Regeneration.    

Planning Ahead

My friend Janie told me about another friend inviting her to lunch recently and how this friend, Ginny, was such a great hostess and produced a lovely afternoon tea, with home made scones. I instantly rose to my own challenge (I have such a competitive streak!) to produce an even better afternoon tea when Janie comes to visit me on Tuesday. 

So now, as Tuesday draws nearer and suddenly my schedule is really busy, I'm having to decide what to actually make. I got the Covent Garden Soup Co recipe book out of the library on Saturday and settled on the above recipe.

I'm also planning to do home-made bread, and various other additions (tomatoes, homous and such). And for dessert I think I'll make Nigella's chocolate pistachio fudge. 

Our Shake 'n' Bake at work is still going really well. We're on our third round and I think there are about 12 of us doing it. I'm really pleased that everyone is so enthusiastic and I also love the range of things that people make. On Friday Gavin made strawberry pavlova; the week before Sheila made raspberry muffins and rhubarb and ginger tarts.

So, with that in mind, and having just drawn up a new rota, I got a few chocolate recipe books out of the library as well. And I think I've decided to make chocolate pistachio macaroons and chocolate and mint biscuits (above). I've never made macaroons, though I am a great meringue-maker, and I really like the idea of sandwiching the biscuits together with peppermint icing sugar and then dipping them in chocolate! My Shake 'n' Bake turn is in the first week of October. I'll let you know how I get on.