Cosy Knitted Jumper

This cuddly jumper is proving to be quite a challenge. It's not the neatest looking thing in the world, but I'm more pleased that I've got the pattern right! Had to restart it once...and re-do numerous rows. My ability to watch tv and not lose count is getting better however. 

This is the back so far, and despite a slightly wobbly bottom line it's not looking too bad. It is getting heavy though! I can't wait to get it finished and cuddle up in it, I think I'll definitely stay warm through winter with this on. 

Orange Choc Chip & Cinnamon Cookies

For such a tasty cookie, this recipe is dead simple. The most difficult part was probably chopping the chocolate into small pieces! I know, I probably need sharper knives.


Ingredients:

• 100g (4 oz)    margarine
• 75g (3 oz)       golden caster sugar
• 175g (6 oz)     self raising flour
• 100g (4 oz)    chocolate orange chips
• 2 tbsp              ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp              milk

This recipe makes around 16 - 18, depending on your cookie sizes. 

1. Heat oven to 180°C, 350°F, gas mark 4. Grease two baking trays.
2. Chop the chocolate orange into small pieces.
3. Beat the margarine until soft, add the sugar and cream together until light and fluffy.
4. Stir in the flour, chocolate chips, cinnamon and milk and mix well.
5. Place spoonfuls of the mixture onto the baking trays. Flatten them a bit if you want a more normal shaped cookie, and bake for 8-10 mins. When done remove from the tray immediately and place on a wire rack to cool.

And then enjoy!

Sainsbury's are selling Chocolate Orange's for £1 at the mo so nab them if you can. I used less than half of the orange too with these cookies, you don't need too many chips. If you can find orange chocolate chips then even better!

Knitted Shrug - In Progress

A while ago I posted here about a new knitting project I had started. It was a small shrug, perfect for those English summer evenings. Despite the fact that we are now working our way out of summer, I am still working on it, perhaps it'll be ready for next year! I thought I would post a halfway update photo, as I still haven't gone through those lovely Cornish photos yet...

As you can see, it's taking a while to get through! I've done one sleeve and a bit of the back so far. Despite a few dodgy bits it's looking ok, I'll have to wait and see if it's wearable when finished. 

I've got my eye on a gorgeous jumper I want to make next, I bought some needles off Amazon and can't wait for them to arrive so I can get started. I always feel guilty about not supporting my local shops when buying from Amazon, there's a lovely knitting shop just down the road called Sharp Works. Whilst I am a poor graduate with no job however, the local shops will just have to wait. 

So next knitting post hopefully there will be photos of a finished shrug or the beginnings of a jumper!

Schools Out, Back to Knitting

Knitting had to take a bit of a back bench toward the end of uni, there wasn't much time for sleep let alone a relaxing evening with needles and yarn. Now however I am a graduate with all the time in the world to knit - still working on the job hunt. 

My new found freedom was a bit disconcerting, I had no idea what my next project should be. Most knits are associated with warmth and winter, and whilst we are hoping in vain for an English summer, woolly gloves are not top on my list. I decided the next challenge should be something a bit bigger, everything else I've done have been small accessories, and I finally settled on a shrug design that I liked. 

This is how far I am at the moment, I have a feeling this is going to take a while. 

I can also now show you something I finished a while ago but couldn't post about, a small bag I knitted to hold my Mum's birthday present. I forgot to take a decent photo of it looking lovely and present-like with a ribbon, so you'll have to make do with my rubbish "I've finished and it doesn't look half bad" iPhone photo.

Best Sandwich Filling

A new week, a new loaf of freshly baked bread. There is a wonderful texture on the sides that I love, it looks and smells just as good as it tastes. 

This loaf was out of the oven just in time for lunch! I used one of the tastiest fillings for a nice Sunday treat, a version of coleslaw from Innocent's cook book 'Hungry?'. It's a brilliant book, I would definitely recommend it for the recipes and the design. 

I don't really stick to the recipe completely, it depends what I have in the fridge and it's more fun to make it up as you go along! While it may look a bit of a mess, the taste more than makes up for it. All you need to do is grate a small carrot and half an apple (I found peeling slices off the apple is easier) and grate in some cheese. Then add some lemon juice, pepper and mayo of your choice - I love garlic mayo. Mix it up and plonk on some bread, done!

Perfect for a sunny day.

Brownies

A girl's got to have something wickedly sweet to keep her going, these brownies are just the thing. 

Everyone has their own brownie recipe. These are only the second batch I've ever made, but they taste pretty damn good. I'm looking forward to experimenting to get the kind of result I want - I remember the ones in school were almost like a biscuit!

This recipe is from 'She's Leaving Home' by Monica Trápaga
(I reduced the ingredients down slightly because I didn't want to use 6 eggs!)

Ingredients:
230g butter
90g unsweetened cocoa
4 eggs
450g caster sugar
160g plain flour, sifted
2 tsp vanilla extract
icing sugar for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a 20 cm x 30 cm baking tray with greaseproof paper (v. important, unless you want to leave half your brownie on the tray!).

2. Melt the butter with the cocoa over a low heat, mixing with a wooden spoon until smooth, then remove from the heat and set aside.

3. Beat the eggs well, then add the sugar and beat a little more. Add the sifted flour and vanilla to the egg mixture and combine until smooth. Fold in the melted butter and cocoa. Pour mixture into the lined baking tray and cook for a bout 35 minutes, or until just springy to the touch. 

4. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 20 minutes in the tray before dusting with icing sugar and cutting into squares. Turn out once cooled completely.

Enjoy!

Socks & Bags

A while ago in this post I showed a bag I had started to hold my knitting in. It has taken me forever just to finish the knitting part, I still need to add some fabric to add shape to the bag and add a bit of height to it. Not being as keen on sewing as I am on knitting, that has been put to the side for a bit! I will get it done soon though, it's looking a bit sad and floppy at the moment. 

For my next project I really wanted to try a pair of socks, and luckily I found a fairly easy pattern to follow that didn't involve circular needles. I think I've already messed the heel up, there might be a few holes too! Oh well, we'll see if it actually looks like a sock when it's finished. 

Bread

You may or may not have seen Paul Hollywood's latest contribution to baking on tv, it's called Bread. I've only seen a couple of episodes, but I never realised someone could get so excited about it! He does have some pretty interesting looking recipes though.

Anyway, I thought I'd have a go and turned this:

Into this:

And it smells divine.

Easter

I don't have the time at the moment, but here are some great quick Easter knits to make just in time for the long weekend. The patterns are all free, so get knitting! Maybe I'll get time next year.

Janine Holmes' Little Chirpy Chick

Mariù AlpiKnit's Easter Egg Surprise

Ellie Skene's Dalek Egg Cosy

Angie Cruise's Easter Peep's

Cookies

I may not be an excellent baker, but it is so easy to make something that tastes good, whether or not that's what it's supposed to taste like, I think everyone should give it a go. It is a very useful skill to have. For instance, last night I fancied some biscuits. I had chocolate to nibble on, plenty of fruit and other snacking amenities close by. As always however, what I wanted was not in my immediate grasp. A quick perusal of my Nan's trusty Be-Ro cook book revealed choc-chip cookies to be within my ingredients list. Except for the syrup ... that ran out on pancake day. Oh and of course that vital ingredient margarine (normal Flora light spreadable will do right? Don't gasp in horror too much Mum, it turned out fine). 

Another bonus, I would hopefully have crunchy tasty goodness in roughly 20 minutes. About the same time it would take to decide to go to the shop, brace myself for the wintry conditions by wrapping up in 6 layers, actually get to the shop and back, and decision time in said shop over which biscuits to buy. Baking is clearly the better option.

Eight Weeks

Eight weeks. That's how long we have until portfolio hand in. Our tutors informed us of this today as well as other scary facts all pertaining to the end of our student days at Kingston. That's really not very long, especially considering how long my to-do list is! Better get cracking then.

First though, cakes! These are for the bake sale at uni tomorrow, all money goes to our degree show at the end of the year. I started off by drawing rabbit shapes in melted chocolate to decorate them, going for an Easter theme. Unfortunately my cake decorating skills are somewhat lacking, they looked more like deranged horror film rabbit's rather than happy Easter rabbit's, and with my limited supply of chocolate it wasn't looking good. I saved the rest from becoming discount cakes by going for a more basic two tone pattern. I'll try not to eat them all before the sale...

Showtime

Today I took a day off (so I'm going to have to work extra hard tomorrow) to go to The Spring Knitting and Stitching Show in London. I had a bit of a faff getting there as I forgot to make lunch, lost my ticket and then missed my stop...a proper facepalm of a morning. However, on the upside I had to take a bus through central London which I love, there's always something to see and I miss being amongst it all - though I'm not that far away in Kingston!

Finally, after spotting a trail of grey-haired ladies, I did make it to the show, and it was great!

There was just so much stuff, it was like an amazing treasure trove full of lots of bits and pieces for crafty types to get their hands into. One of the things that struck me was all the gorgeous fabrics and their colourful patterns tempting whoever walked past.

There was one particular fabric that of course caught my eye, unfortunately too expensive though!

There was more wool than you could possibly want, with some of the bargain stalls providing avalanches of wool and desperate grabs for the best choice. 

I loved all the original, quirky ideas the exhibitors were showing off, there are some very fun designs out there which were very inspiring.

That last photo was from a stall selling 'Extreme Knitting'. Now, I do love knitting, but I wouldn't exactly say there was an extreme aspect to it. These needles however, are HUGE, so I guess that could be called extreme.

I wish I could have bought so much from the show today, but I resisted! I just got this gorgeous fabric to finish the bag I'm knitting, some wool to attempt socks (next project) and some more basic needles. Overall, a fab day!

Baked

My first attempt at a Granny Loaf, I was feeling a bit peckish. Incredibly simple to make too, although I think I over cooked it slightly - I use an old recipe book and always forget to take into account fan oven cooking times! I also made some shortbread to sweeten the mouth, because home cooked always tastes better than bought. 

Knitting Continues

Last week I had just started on my latest knitted project, a cute phone cozy that incorporated a small cable in the pattern. This was only a small project, so didn't take me long to do and fits my phone a treat! I love the little french knot eyes that reveal the little owls in the pattern, although I think it took me all 8 goes to get it right...they're a bit difficult to see in the photo.

 After seeing my post last week, a friend of mine (Siân from The Art Student blog) decided to try it out too, adding a contrasting colour for the top. Doesn't it look great? 

And so, next project. My needles and wool are currently kept in the plastic Wilko's bag they were bought in, which sits on the floor next to my sofa. This simply wont do, and so I went on the hunt for a suitable pattern for a bag that would perform this job much better. It took me quite a while, I was surprised to find, to discover a pattern that not only was the right sort of size, but also with right kind of yarn and level of difficulty. I don't think I'll know if the one I've chosen will work until I've finished, but even so I like the pattern so I'm sure I would find some use for it! I'm at about half way through the first side at the moment, I think this is going to take me a while.

Adventures in Knitting

About a month ago I had a quite unexpected sudden urge to take up knitting. Not possibly the wisest choice, being in my third year of Graphic Design, and just about to start the busiest term so far. Nevertheless, as eager as I was, I made my first attempt...with chopsticks. And a stray piece of wool I found in the drawer.

Having proved to myself that I could do it I set out the next day to purchase a cheap pair of needles and whatever wool I could find, hopefully in a fairly nice colour. I didn't fancy waiting for an online order until I knew more about it, and besides, the vast array of wool available is quite intimidating. My first creation, I had decided, was to be this simple but rather lovely head wrap by Elisa McLaughlin. The slightly warmer weather was proving too much for my usual winter hat, but my ears still got cold without it and so this looked like a perfect solution. It really was the perfect beginner piece as it's a straight forward knit until it fits your head snugly, then just seam and cinch together to create the bow effect. And voila! My first finished knit, and it didn't look too bad either! Even better, it works a treat. My ears don't even feel the smallest shiver of wind. 

Right, I thought, I am clearly a natural at this, lets try something more difficult. How about cabling? Perfect! Lets try a difficult pattern where I have to figure out the abbreviations and remember what row and which stitch I'm on while also figuring out how to do an actual cable stitch. Hmm. Not quite as easy as I expected, but I was determined. I spent many a night counting stitches and undoing rows and trying to figure out what on earth went wrong. This time I was making a cereal bowl cosy (yes, my hands get cold holding my cereal bowl in the morning...) so with a lack of patterns for my particular need I used this one for a hat, shortening it a bit to fit the bowl. After a restart it went much more smoothly, and eventually I ended up with something that looked more or less like it should!

Now I am officially hooked on knitting, and started the next project last night. I am looking for patterns to practice my knitting skills, and found this this cute little phone cozy to try out. It looks fairly simple so should be finished soon! 

This may be an incredibly busy time for me, but I've found knitting to be relaxing (even when it goes wrong!), and a much needed break after a day in the studio. I don't think working constantly will be very good for my work, so hopefully these breaks will make me more productive!