The Best Little Knitting Gift In London

I happened to be browsing around Ravelry when I came across a lady who looked quite interesting - Susan Crowe. I clicked on her blog link when BAM the most amazing picture popped up on the screen.

Susan had found the perfect knitting gift for the season from the lovely Sainsbury's. Of course I had to have one! I packed my mother up in to the car and took her to our local Savacentre. First stop was Marks & Spencer, where I accidentally ended up buying a dress, skirt, trousers and jacket all in the same style. A suit if you will. Woops.

Off we went into Sainsbury, did our shop then right at the end I suddenly remembered (distracted by clothes buying) the mug! I HAD to have the mug. I searched high and low until eventually I found a staff member to ask. I was dragged to the relevant aisle and there the mug winked at me from the shelf. Mum said "that looks nice" to which I replied "yeah and it's coming home with me! Those buggers at work won't be able to nick my mug anymore as there will be no doubt who owns this one!!!"

So here is the mug in question:




Isn't it just awesome!?!!

It keeps the drink nice and hot as it warms through and the ceramic manages to keep the heat in. Not only that, when you stir the hot drink in the mug it creates a strange looking swirl because the mug is a funny many sided shape. Feels strange drinking out of a 2x2 ribbed bit of the mug but its lovely. I am super happy I have one.

I missed out though - they apparently were on a 3 for 2 offer. I didn't notice that yesterday when I got it, so today I ahem well err I popped to the local Sainsbury near work and bought three more. One will be gifted, one kept because the buggers at work will probably break my one so I need a spare and the third? Welllllllll maybe I'll run some kind of a competition here some time next year when the season is over and the mugs are a rarity :)

This past weekend I've suffered a bit with stress related eczema on my hands. They have been rather sore. However I managed to join in with a Ravelry group for 10 mins a day. That is 10 mins a day spinning. I had some lovely alpaca tops from Forest Fibers which just span up like a dream. I spun two bobbins worth - then plied the yarn which has been soaked and whacked and is now drying.

Here are my spools before I plied them together:








This stuff is so soft. It is like fluffy little clouds cuddling up next to your skin. This home spun yarn is going to become Diane Mulhollands Amy from her Spin series. Can't wait for it to dry.

Spin, Cook, Knit, Rawr!

So I accidentally ordered, paid for and took delivery of a new spinning wheel. Oops! I had been to Diane Mulhollands Superspin class and it renewed my interest in wheel spinning. I had a go on the Joy wheel and it just felt awesome. Afterward my mother said to me "keep an eye out for a cheap one then" when I talked about the Joy. I said "I don't need one I have a wheel already" and her reply was "when have you ever made do with just one of anything?"

I thought "I'll show you - I don't need no stinkin Joy wheel!" then I just happened to search and came across Wingham Wool Works which upon enquiring had a double treadle version in stock. They had the bag in stock too. Somehow my debit card took a beating and two days later this arrived:




I love it to pieces and have already spun my first 100g of Corriedale. Pictures of that to follow - it isn't great but its Okay. It will be used to make a slubby beret by the gorgeous Ysolde :)

So getting right into the spirit of making things, I had been chatting to Natalie over at The Yarn Yard and discovered she had a recipe up for Oatmeal Biscuits. This recipe is the one I have been searching for! I had this recipe years ago but lost it - I've been searching for it ever since then I came across The Yarn Yard and the recipe! Oh my god it has been YEARS since I tasted these. Mum used to make them and they were just delicious - she would throw in some museli to make up the batch and it would just add that touch of yummy.

So I set out to make my first Oatmeal Bikkies in a long time. They were too chewy, I'd added too much Bicarbonate of Soda and I had not baked them long enough. They had an aftertaste which was the bicarb - still I said to mum "I'm going to make several test batches till I get this right, we'll eat them all - test batches and all" and she said "thats the best way to find the perfect combination" so the first batch were prepared:

Butter, Sugar, syrup melting in the pot Mmmm



The oats ready to go into the melted mixture and some Museli thrown in for added taste n texture:



Raw Biscuits on the baking sheet:



The end result, melted into eachother and ran all over the pan but boy even with the Bicarb aftertaste these were good. Comfort eating at its best!!!



So in keeping with that, mums friend Kathleen came around and showed me how to make Soda Bread! Yummy rich brown soda bread made in the Irish traditional way. I'll write up the recipe and post it here but for now, here are the pictures of the Soda bread in the making:

Adding buttermilk to the mix:




Preparing the tin for baking:




Putting the bread on the pan before scoring it and baking it:




And the finished, baked, hot yummy Soda Bread:





So we paid for Kathleens time with a barter system - two fresh organic corn cobs yum! :)





I needed another quick project to do - I finished the dream in color shrug and had yarn left over. So I tackled Calorimetry and was surprised to find this thing finished in just one evening. Needs a button adding but here it is - it reminds me of a big cheesy grin!:



After all the cooking, I took a little break and who did I spy in the garden stalking along? The lovely Miss Kitty! Rawr!:

Squeeeeeee Cuteness cuteness cuteness!

I should have posted this two weeks ago! I finally received my Karatstix in the post. Unfortunately I had to pay import duty of £13 before they would hand over my little parcel but I was so excited when I opened it up. I couldn't wait to get my hands on the lovely bamboo things, and here they are on my desk:





What is more, Karen threw in some extras! Check out the delicious stitch markers and knitting bag charm. Super cute!



In knitting news I've been working on the Dream In Color Shrug using Visual Purple colour. I have loved this pattern - just enough of a challenge to get me out of the "must do zombiefied easy knits because brain not functioning" mode. I've finished it but have yet to upload the finished pic to flickr. Here is it's progress. I love this yarn and the colour, I now want to make a sweater with it. I know that the dye lots are vastly different on every skein but I think that will make for an interesting look on a sweater. I have a pattern in mind too.




Next up I'm making another flower scarf. The last one will be given to my mother, this one will be for me and I have to make a third one for Mums friend Kathleen. Kathleen will be mentioned more in the next post once I upload the pics of what she helped me learn at the weekend!

Here is my flower scarf in progress. I'm using Evolution again but this time in Peacock. I love this yarn and I love the splashes of colour in the way this is dyed.




New laptop will arrive some time in November - sigh a long wait for it. In the mean time my friend Kev lent me a Sony Vaio to play with at home. This at least means I can play Warhammer Online with the rest of the guild! It is tons of fun too - I am quite surprised at how much I'm enjoying Player vs Player combat. Can't wait for the new laptop - it should make the screen freezes disappear :)

More soon once I upload more pics to Flickr - plenty of news to give :)