What I did during the holidays.

For me, these holidays have been nothing short of perfect. I've stayed home most of the time, watching telly, knitting and cooking. The weather has been lovely, not too cold, not too wet, just right for knitting actually. I have been out for a movie and coffee with the Lovely Susi, and yes she loved her cardi.  But really, that's about it. Its been great! So, this is what I've been up to:

The Little Boyfriend's mitts:

These were a very quick knit. They were done in a weekend, and are now keeping his hands warm in Hamilton. The pattern is Camilla by Spillyjane. I was turned on to Spillyjane's beautiful colourwork by the Yarn Harlot and I have remained in awe of the woman's work. I love the delicacy of her designs, they are right up my alley. When I get back into knitting socks, this is where I'll be going for patterns.

The yarn I used was Shepherd Baby Wool Merino 4ply in black, light blue and pale green. I thought it looked boyish, but smart and Callum agreed.

Samuel Crowe:

Samuel is a surprise gift for Beka, my almost daughter-in-law. He has taken just about two weeks to complete, and my hands are killing me with RSI due to the tight gauge he is worked in, but I think he is totally worth it. Of course, now Hamish wants one (along with a Cthulu, but that's another story.) If he's lucky he might get it for Christmas.

This pattern is available in Knitted Pirates, Princesses, Witches, Wizards and Fairies by Annette Hefford. This is a lovely book of soft toys. The patterns are not easy, but if you just follow the instructions, and don't second guess the author, everything turns out perfectly. I am really happy with Samuel and it will be a wrench to give him away.

Classic Shirt:

I've been working on this garment for a while now. I have to admit, I wasn't enjoying knitting it. Last night I decided to change from using Addi Turbo needles to bamboo ones and I am liking it a whole lot more. I think that the yarn was just too slippy for the Addis. Hopefully it will go a lot quicker now.

The garment is from Mother-Daughter Knits by Sally Melville and Caddy Melville Ledbetter. (Ravelry link here.) Its designed along the lines of a business shirt and is knitted in fine yarn at a relatively large gauge to give the appropriate drape and lightness. I'm using Filatura di Crossa Baby Kid Extra, which is a mohair yarn with a nylon binder thread. It is dandelion-clock-soft and so fine, I am loving the yarn beyond reason. Lynnette ordered the yarn in for me, as she doesn't carry it, I love that she can do this!

Actually the Classic Shirt is not far off finished, so its time to find another project and I think I'm going to go with the Greenfield Cardigan from New England Knits. I like a lot about this cardi, not the least of which is that is is designed in garter stitch, which I love! It's knitted in Double Knit so I think I'll try the new yarn we got in at the shop by Shepherd in either Zest or Forest. I really like the Blood colourway, but with the leaf detail, I think a plant-ish colourway is better.

I've been cooking too, as you would expect. We haven't really tried any new recipes over the past week or two. I'm kind of consolidating what I've learnt and so I've been practicing. But next week it's all on, with a number of newbies to try, I can't wait. I do have a couple of things to show you though. First up is my lasagne. I don't have a recipe for this as I do it by feel. Its not particularly flash, but it is yummy, gooey and filling, so its great for a family.

Ingredients
mince
bottle of pasta sauce
milk (a couple of cups, I think)
english mustard powder (I use Colmans)
a pinch of nutmeg
cornflour (about a heaped tablespoon mixed to a slurry with milk)
cheese (about a grater-full, I suppose a cup or two)
lasagne sheets (the instant ones)

Brown the mince, pour over a jar of pasta sauce and leave to simmer covered until everything else is done.
Bring the milk to the boil, with a pinch of nutmeg. Mix the cornflour and mustard to a slurry with milk, mix into the boiling milk and stir until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in most of the cheese.
Pour a half cup of water into the bottom of a lasagne dish and lay in some lasagne sheets to cover the bottom. Layer a third of the mince, cover with more lasagne sheets. Layer a third of the the cheese sauce. You can add spinach and/or mushrooms here, we like both. Cover with lasagne sheets. Continue in this way, finishing with a layer of cheese sauce, cover this top layer with the rest of the grated cheese.
Bake for about 45 minutes, until the top is golden and bubbly, at 175 degrees.

Yesterday, once I'd finished Samuel, I needed a break from knitting, so I took some pain relief and did some baking. Now, I'm not really bad a baking, I really enjoy it, well I really enjoy eating it! Anyway, yesterday I made some of these:

These are Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and OMG they are gosh-darned delicious. I got the recipe here.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups sifted flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 bottle red food colouring (if you're worried about colourings, you can use beetroot juice)

1/2 cup softened butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla 

1 cup buttermilk (recipe here)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp white vinegar

Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Line cupcake tins.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. Mix food colouring and cocoa powder into a smooth paste, set aside.

Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and the cocoa paste. Scrape down the bowl as you go.

Add the dry ingredients alternatively with the buttermilk, ending with the dry ingredients. 

In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda, add to the battter and stir well to combine.

Fill cupcake tins until about 3/4 full.

Bake for about 20 minutes, test with a skewer, if it pulls out clean they are done, if not cook for longer.

Allow to cool completely on a rack before frosting with cream cheese frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting

100g butter

150g cream cheese

3 3/4 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla 

Beat butter until it is light and fluffy, add the cream cheese, beat again. Slowly add the icing sugar, continuing to beat. Beat in the vanilla and contine to beat until light in colour and fluffy.

First day of the holidays! I couldn't be more happy!

Its been a productive time here at Casa Helen. Lots of stuff has been knitted and plans have been made. I've also bought a shed-load of new books and magazines. You know what they say, "she who dies with the most yarn/fabric/books, wins!" Well I don't stash yarn or fabric, but if I'm competing in books, I am an Olympic Gold medalist!





As for the knitting, I've finished the Lovely Susi's cardi. It is just gorgeous. Soft, smooshy and orange! Even lying on the floor of the lounge it looks comfy, so I can't wait to see it on her! The yarn is Naturally Aran Tweed, which I bought from the Awesome Lynette. Look at how beautifully it shows the cable, even with the uneven texture of the tweedy yarn.







I even managed to get just the perfect buttons. They match beautifully and really finish the garment. It always amazes me, how the wrong buttons can really ruin a garment. I'm not usually very good at choosing buttons, but the Awesome Lynette is. She usually picks my buttons, but not this time. These were the first buttons I chose and and for the first time ever I got it right! Go me!

And of course, it gets the obligatory inspection by the resident Evil Genius. He approves, so there you go, Lovely Susi, you can have your cardi!










The Little Boyfriend's birthday is coming up in early August, and he loves me to knit for him, which is lovely since the daughter he belongs to does not! This year he is getting a hat, mitts and a jumper. The jumper is a wee way off, but the hat and mitts are almost done. The hat is a free pattern from Coco Knits. I chose her Simple Slouchy Hat, which does what it says on the can. So simple, so easy, so practical. I got it done in an evening! The yarn I chose was Shepherd Baby Wool Merino 4 ply in three colours, to get the gauge, and the effect I wanted, as well, I knew that the mittens would be in 4 ply, so it all worked out perfectly. It's a bit difficult to see, but I chose black, pale buttery green and a warm pale blue. The effect is gloriously tweedy and quite boy-ish.

For the mittens I used a Spillyjane pattern. I would have liked to do her bacon mittens, or perhaps the pints, especially since he is uni student, but I wasn't sure he'd understand the joke, or he'd think I was lame, which is probably closer to the mark. Instead I chose a tiled pattern which is knitting up so fast! As long as he doesn't find out the pattern has a girl's name, I should be ok! Anyway, I think they're knitting up quite manly.

I reckon I'll get these finished by bedtime tonight, which means it's time for new projects! And yup that means....here are the books!

So first up is Charmed Knits by Alison Hansel.  In it is the House School Jersey, which I will knit for the Little Boyfriend in Ravenclaw colours, because us Ravenclaws have to stick together!

For the Potter fan, this book is awesome! None of the patterns are exceptionally difficult, but most are imaginative and fun. I especially like Molly Weasley's cardigan with the fantastic sleeves, and of course Dobby socks. I'm seeing at least the socks in my very near future!

Next is Little Red in the City by Ysolda Teague. This is a delightful collection of pattens. I love Ysolda's quirky patterns, I've knit quite a few of them for myself and as gifts. This time, she has modelled her patterns not just on herself, but on a plus size model AND has made appropriate changes to her patterns for us larger girls (finally!) I reckon there are about 4 patterns in this book that I will eventually knit for myself, including the gorgeously red cape/cardi Melia.

The next one is Knitting Plus by Lisa Shroyer. This book is targetted at those of us who are not meanly built. Lisa writes simple, concise explanations of how her fitting system works, and follows that up with a collection of patterns that are flattering and fashion forward. There are a couple of garments I'll be doing from this book as well. Of course this means that I might have to give up sleeping, and I wish someone would come and take my credit card away!

So, what I'm actually starting on is in this book :

I know! So cute! I'm knitting a pirate for Beka the Gorgeous. Its a lovely book, ideal for fun gifts for kids of all ages. The fairies and princesses are beautifully dressed, the wizard is suitably beardy, AND they all have knickers! Its awesome! I got mine from the Awesome Lynette but she is waiting for more stock to come in, in the meantime if you want one fishpond has it.

So thats it for today, I'm off to enjoy doing nothing on a day that is beautifully sunny, if a little cold. Kia ora!

Wait 'til I tell you what happened!

So, it's been a while, and it may have seemed that I was one of those fly-by-night bloggers (not naming any names or anything...) But no, the reason behind the lack of posting is - I dropped my phone in the loo. I'll just sit over here and wait while you laugh....

So we dried the phone out in the hotwater cupboard in a jar of rice, and everything works except the usb slot and the earphone jack. The upshot of this is that it took me a week to realise that I could email myself the photos. Anyway, its off to Telecom tomorrow, yay for phone insurance!

Lets catch up on the knitting.

This is a finished Not Yellow Coat:

No, I agree, this is not the best photo in the world, but I am really happy with it, now I just wish it would get cold enough to wear it. It weighs a ton! It used 36 balls of Zara Plus, and it knitted up so quickly. I knitted it pretty much to pattern, except for I added 20 stitches to each front to get more wrap-age.
Here is the button I finally decided on:

It has a bone/stone look to it and it suits just great! I am so excited, I can't wait to wear it, even if it means walking around the section in the middle of the night!

Now that the Not Yellow Coat is finished I'm knitting The Lovely Susi her Sprout (Ravelry link here.) Its coming on so fast, I reckon it will be finished next weekend. She chose a lovely burnt orange Aran Tweed by Naturally. Its just a lovely cushy, squishy two ply felted yarn and I highly recommend it. It feels soft and luxurious and it has beautiful stitch definition. Here - see what I mean?

Gorgeous, no? Here it is again modeled by the local spokescat, Whiskers:

Well, that's the knitting caught up on, what have I been cooking? Well, mainly I've been cooking the same recipes again and again to get them better each time. But tonight I cooked something from the legendary Julia Child and it was delicious! I don't have a photo, because, well, its a stew and they all look the same if we're honest. But my goodness! The flavour!

Carbonnades a la Flamande (Link to Julie/Julia Project)
The measurements are in imperial, and I can't be arsed converting, sorry!:

3 lb chuck steak
2-3 tbl vege oil
1.5 lbs sliced onions
4 cloves smashed garlic
salt and pepper
0.5 pint beef stock
1 pint lager
1 tbl light brown sugar
bouquet garni containing parsley, thyme and bay
0.75 oz cornflour
2 tbl red wine vinegar

Heat oven to 175 degrees C
So, you slice the meat and fry it in the oil, just browning it, in small batches. Hold over.
Fry the onions for about 10 minutes in the remaining oil, adding more if needed. The onions should be soft and jammy. Take from heat stir in salt, pepper and garlic.
Layer onion, meat, onion again and meat again.
Pour over heated beef stock and lager. The meat should be just covered.
Bring to a simmer on the stove top, cover and place in oven for 2.5 hours.
The meat should be meltingly tender, and you should be able to cut it with a fork. Remove from oven. Pour off the gravy into a saucepan, bring to the boil and thicken with a cornflour slurry made with the vinegar. Pour over the meat.

I served it with mashed potatoes, but it would be awesome with buttered noodles too.