A Very Important Cake

The fruit had been soaking in brandy for over a week, the ingredients were all to hand, and after I got back from taekwon-do I had the whole afternoon without a pressing reason to leave the flat (apart from the sunshine, but hopefully that will still be there tomorrow). So it was time to start work on our wedding cake.

My friend Jackie gave me an awesome fruit cake recipe that she used for her own wedding, and I trialled it at Christmas. It was probably the best Christmas cake I’d ever tasted; dark, moist and richly fruity (and alcoholic).  So today it was time to make the real thing. Jackie lent me her cake tins, and I wrote up a spreadsheet in Excel to scale the recipe to the correct quantities for each tin.

Today I made the small and medium tiers – the large tier will require the entire oven to itself. I made up a huge batch of mixture (thank heavens for the large mixing bowl I inherited from Auntie Frida).

From top left, clockwise:

• Flour, ground almond, bicarb and spices
• Fruit (soaked in brandy for a week) in a little flour
• Eggs, treacle, zest and marmalade
• Butter and sugar

Assembly took some time as it involved folding in a spoonful of flour mixture, followed by some egg mixture, ad infinitum.

But eventually it was spooned out into the tins and smoothed down:

After this, the tins were wrapped in brown paper and placed very carefully in the oven for the whole afternoon. They’re still there, in fact, but they’re nearly done.

In other wedding-related crafting, I am now on the outer border of the Print O’ the Wave. I’ve done 11 repeats – one short edge and a corner. Ironically, despite putting in lifelines religiously, I haven’t needed to frog once (so far!), while Vivian (not wedding related) is totally kicking my ass at the moment. The yoke section of the pattern has no stitch counts at all, and I’ve already screwed up the decreases once and had to rip back (I foolishly didn’t put in a lifeline on the joining row, and couldn’t get one in straight, but as the yarn is aran and pure wool picking up the live stitches was quite easy). It’s further complicated by the fact that I’ve made sleeves 3 sizes bigger than the body, as they were too skinny for my arms.  Hoping someone on Ravelry will reply to my plea for help in the Vivian KAL!

Back to wedding crafting. I have knit 3 little roses out of the purple Fyberspates Scrumptious leftover from my Rose Red beret. I think if I’m going to make all the corsages and buttonholes out of the same yarn I’ll need a new skein – what hardship! Then I need some green yarn to make the leaves. And brooch pins. And a pretty bead to put in the middle of each rose.

I’m also in the process of taking photos for the invitations. We are hoping to get Moo postcards with a collage of meaningful photos on the front. The main one will be of the rings. To this end, I borrowed our friend Ben’s macro lens and spent some time playing around with it the other day.

All I can say is, macro photography is MAGIC. The letters on the engraving are only a few millimetres tall. And you can even see the weave in the pillowcase I used as a background! I’m going to have another photoshoot, hopefully tomorrow, and I plan to make a few changes:

• Use something smoother (paper?) as a background
• Stop it up a bit (or should that be down?) – the depth-of-field is a bit too small at F2.8
• Polish the rings! They look shiny and clean to the eye, but the macro lens reveals all my grubby fingerprints
• Wait for a time with more diffuse light so I don’t get reflections of the sunny window.

And now it’s less than 3 months to the date (woo!) I can get on with filling out the boring paperwork…

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Print O’ the Wave progress

This is a section of my current WIP, the Print O’ the Wave stole. I am really, really loving knitting this. The lace repeat is interesting, but not too complicated – every other row is purled, which gives a brief break from concentrating on the chart, and the lace pattern is logical and fairly easy to “read”, with the result that I’ve had to tink back a few times, but (so far!) I haven’t had to frog anything. I was tempted to remove the markers, as shoogling them around is a bit of a nuisance, but they’re handy to count from when I get confused. I’m sticking with my markers and lifelines just in case.

I’m now halfway through the central lace panel, so I guess I’m about 25% done altogether (as I’m not kidding myself about the border – it’ll take ages). I’m already catching myself eyeing up other lace patterns – Muir, of course (possibly in Kidsilk Haze), and Ishbel (the small scarf version, in some fancy silk-containing sock yarn).

Speaking of Ishbel, Whimsical Little Knits arrived and it is just so cute! I love the book plate on the front page (remember those? “This book belongs to:……….”). Ysolda has dated and signed it too, which is a nice touch (I’m also wondering where she got the little sticker with the sender’s address on it – could do with some of those for wedding invitations!). I initially thought I wouldn’t knit many patterns from it, but the more I look at it the more I’m tempted. Next time I’m in Edinburgh I’m definitely paying a visit to K1 for the yarn for the Hap Blanket, though.

Still, need to finish the Print O’ the Wave and Vivian first!

In other news, I have taken up Taekwon-do! This morning I was feeling all fired up after class and decided to go for the 4-mile run I skipped yesterday. And now my legs basically are on strike!

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Knitting update

I haven’t been posting much about my knitting but I have been plugging away on Vivian. Despite the visual complexity of the cables, once you get started they’re pretty easy. I had to cast on about four times because I kept getting the set-up row wrong, but once that was sorted I’ve had no problems. I’ve now finished the body as far as the armpits:

I had a bit more trouble with the sleeves. I knit about half of the first sleeve and then reluctantly decided that, even though I’d cast on for the size 36 sleeve to go with the 34 body, it was still way too tight and I’d never be able to roll it up. The seed stitch was stretched in an unattractive way due to the amount of negative ease. So I frogged it and spent Tuesday evening in the pub playing around with different numbers of stitches. I eventually cast on 42 stitches, as for the size 36 sleeve, but only decreased twice (instead of 4 times) on the cuff, thus adding 4 stitches and about an inch of extra ease to the rest of the sleeve. It’s still going to be very snug but I’m much happier with it.

I’m hoping to finish the first sleeve today, and then I may have a break from Vivian for a little while, because my friend S is having a baby in a couple of weeks so I’m planning to knit a Garter Yoke Baby Cardigan. She’d helpfully told me she’s having a boy, so I was prepared when I went to choose yarn at McAree’s yesterday. With the assistance of a very helpful shop assistant I came away with three balls of Patons Diploma Gold DK, which is a wool/acrylic/nylon blend that I’ve been wanting to try for a while. It’s affordable and washable, and has actual wool in it, so I was keen to give it a whirl.

Two balls of a beige colour and one of a slate blue, and the cutest little buttons imaginable! The photo has a bit of a blue cast so some of the colour is lost, but they go together very well. I’m planning on knitting most of the cardigan in the beige with a few blue stripes around the bottom, or maybe a blue trim of some sort.

I have a couple of other photos to blog but they’re not knitting-related so I’ll leave them for now. Time to go listen to the latest Cast On and try to finish that sleeve!

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Final mini-project finished!

I finished the third of my small projects – a hat for B and J’s baby:

It was made using leftover Knitpicks Swish DK from the Five Fruits baby sweater. I knew the baby was going to be a boy, and happily I had lots of blue and purple yarn left. You can’t see it very clearly in the photo, but the little knot at the top of the hat is the same shade of dark blue as the brim. I finished the hat yesterday evening, and within an hour had received a message that baby Daniel had arrived. Perfect timing! The pattern is the Rolled Brim Hat from the Yarn Corner.

So, the important thing is that now I’ve finished my three small projects (Manly Gloves Mark II, Snowboarding Hat and Baby Hat) I can now cast on for a new sweater! Which I did as soon as I’d sewed in the ends of the baby hat. It’s Baby Cables and Big Ones Too (Ravelry link). Inspired by Wazz, and the Sexy Knitters Club over on Ravelry, who are knitting this pattern as their current knit-along.

I’m knitting it in New Lanark DK in Limestone. It’s a very pale grey with darker variegations. I’ve only really swatched so far, but I’m already very excited about the colour and the way it’s going to knit up. It’s very difficult to photograph because getting the white balance right in a picture of grey yarn against a white background is tricky, but here’s an attempt:

I’m probably not going to be able to knit any of the sweater tonight, though, because our printer is dead and I don’t think I can read instructions and refer to 5 different cable charts at the same time while reading from my laptop screen. It’s only a temporary setback, though! The weather is decidedly chilly at the moment and I’m really looking forward to snuggling up in a pure wool sweater…

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A tantalising glimpse

The Tangled Yoke is nearly there – I have victory in my sights! Here’s the finished cable:

I’ve worked one buttonband, keeping the approximate ratio of 6 picked-up stitches per inch that’s used in the pattern (as my cardigan is several inches longer than the pattern specifies). The band has turned out too baggy, however. Casting off with a much smaller needle helped some, but I think I’m going to have to frog it and try again with fewer picked-up stitches. I’m still determined to wear it for work on Monday!

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The end is in sight…

I’ve spent the last couple of afternoons obsessively working on the Tangled Yoke cardigan (ravelled here). Many thanks to Moggle, who helped me to work out how to attach the sleeves. I approached the cable cautiously, with the use of many markers and in a quiet room, but now I’m only two rows from the end of the cable chart and I managed to happily cable my way through several episodes of Battlestar Galactica yesterday with only occasional, easily tink-able mistakes.

I’m so excited about the prospect of finishing this cardigan! I keep getting dressed in the morning and thinking, “My Tangled Yoke would go really well with this outfit!” If it fits me properly it’s going to get a lot of wear.

I’ve already got several projects lined up for when I finish this one, and I’ve borrowed a school sewing machine again so I should really have another go at my Clothkits skirt! Anyway, back to the Tangled Yoke!

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New Knitty!

I haven’t even made anything from the last one yet. Must…knit…faster.

Not as much in this one that grabbed me – I love the look of Camden but I’m not sure I’ll ever get round to making it. I am, however, utterly fascinated by Versatility. It’s so incredibly clever, and looks fantastic! I may very well make one eventually.

The Tangled Yoke is progressing – I’ve finished the ribbed part of one sleeve and stuck it on a magic loop, and just cast on for the second cuff while watching The West Wing (my currently DVD addiction). There is a small mistake on the first cuff and to me it looks obvious but I’m telling myself that’s simply because I know it’s there. I daren’t try to rip it back because I had no joy getting a lifeline through the garter rib evenly on the body, and I think I’ll lose the will to live if I have to frog any more. I’m sure nobody but me will notice anyway…

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Tangled Yoke progress

Finally, a WIP picture!

It’s a hard colour to photograph; it’s a cool, dusky brown with grey tones, flecked with cream, white and blue. The above picture probably makes it look a bit warmer than it actually is. While it is a dull colour, I love it because it will match everything.

I am having sizing issues, however. Gauge for the pattern is 24 stitches; I got 23.5 after washing on my swatch and now (most of the way through the body) I’m getting 22. So it’s an inch or so wider across the body than it’s supposed to be. I’m hoping it’ll shrink a bit when blocked (I didn’t write down my gauge before I washed the swatch – duh), but I’m not holding out too much hope. Still, the 34″ size would have been exactly my bust size, so a bit of positive ease shouldn’t be too much of a disaster. Have to wait and see.

I’m about to start the sleeves. I’m going to follow the example of Moggle and others on Ravelry and work the ribbing on 3mm needles. I’m also going to add about half an inch to the length of the ribbing before shaping, to accomodate my monkey arms (my row gauge is also loose, which will add a bit of length). I’m contemplating working the ribbed section of both sleeves, one at a time on DPNs, then finishing them off on a magic loop together (as I don’t have any 3.5mm DPNs, but I do have some 3mm Knitpicks Options with a ridiculously long cable).

I’m also contemplating winter accessories – I love my Gretel from last winter, but I would like a beret with a wee bit more slouch. I’ve noticed that Get Knitted have a sale on Noro Cash Iroha…hmm, temptation…

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Some photos, some WIPs and some jam

I’m back from a week away in England, visiting Hadrian’s Wall, the Yorkshire Dales and the Peak District. It was great and we did lots of walking (and came back with a bit of a tan). Click on the mosaic below to see all the pics from the week (plus a few you’ve already seen of the allotment!).

So what crafty endeavours have I been up to? Well, before we went away I managed to knit most of a baby sweater.

The pattern is Five Fruits, originally from Magknits, and the yarn is Knitpicks Swish DK. It’s the first top-down raglan I’ve knitted and I cannot stress how much I love the construction. No seaming! Bliss! I just need to knit and sew down the hem, do some sleeves, sew in the ends and find some buttons. It’s for J’s baby, Emily, and I’ll probably whip up a hat in the pink to go with it. There’s lots of each colour left, and I have several friends expecting babies soon so expect to see another stripy baby jumper here soon.

While I was away I wanted a bigger project to work on, so I cast on for Wicked in the Swish Superwash. I can’t believe how quickly it knitted up – I started it on Friday 18th, and I finished the body today and started the first sleeve. It fits perfectly (as long as it doesn’t change too much when I wash it – I washed my swatch and everything just to make sure) and, as it’s only my third sweater (the baby jumper doesn’t count) it’s been a valuable lesson in getting the fit right, measuring, and that oh-so-clever raglan construction (oh yes, and waist shaping). Here it is a couple of days ago:

Expect another post very soon with the finished object!

We came back from our holiday to find that the allotment had produced yet more strawberries, so today I made jam. The gooseberries from our garden were finally ripe, too, so we got about a kilo of those from the rather wild bush (getting thoroughly prickled in the process, mind you).

We ate some of them last night in a gooseberry and elderflower fool. Half are in the freezer and some went to make one precious jar of very delicious jam (tip: if you’re after preserving sugar, try Sainsburys, not Tesco).

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Thrift

After the shameless consumerism of my previous post I have a very exciting (and thrifty) new thing to show you all.

I mentioned to one of the Home Ec teachers at the school where I teach that I wanted to learn to sew. She suggested that I speak to the head of Home Ec, who offered to lend me one of the school sewing machines for the holidays. On Monday I popped into her room just to find out when would be convenient to sort it out with her, and she spent ages loading me up with various sewing equipment and showing me how to use the machine. I was very touched by the effort she went to, and grateful for the loan of so much stuff, which will mean I can buy my sewing equipment a bit at a time over the next couple of months or so.

So here it is!

It’s old, but very solid, and I’m looking forward to trying it out. The head of Home Ec even gave me some greaseproof paper so that I could trace the pattern from my Clothkits skirt and try it out on an old sheet before I cut into the decent fabric.

That will all have to wait, however, because I’m getting the train down to England tomorrow to spend a few days with my parents. I do have a couple of knitting projects that are coming with me, though – my blue laceweight, ready to cast on for Muir, and some of my new sock yarn, which I have already cast on for a pair of Not Cable Socks.

It’s funny; I had lots of sock patterns queued and favourited on Ravelry, but none of them really struck me as suitable for this yarn. I wanted something easy to offset the complexity of Muir, and with a pattern simple enough not to compete with the colours of the yarn.

I’m still dithering over my Grace shrug, too, but that’s probably a whole other post. Something to mull over while I’m down south.

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