Sunday 4 May 2008

Working on a Bank Holiday...

well, need to save my pennies... ;-)

Amongst sorting paperwork, talking to solicitors, filling in forms, working, washing the car, ironing and laundry, I've managed to achieve a bit this week. The Crazy Crochet Blanket, which was originally plotted to be a sort of coat, before I had an attack of common sense, has been finished off. It's not massive, but just right for sofa-snuggling. It got a road test in front of the snooker semi-final last night, when I'd turned the heating off. It got a bit chilly but I didn't want to move in case I missed something, so out came the blankie. There's a lot of wool in it, alongside all kinds of everything bits, so it's nice and toasty.



I've cast on for another blanket, this is also a stashbuster as I must try and reduce some of the random oddballs and orphans in the stash. I want to try and move more towards knitting garments, so I need the space for sweater quantities of yarn rather than leftovers and mystery-inherited-from-mum stuff. This one is on 7mm KnitPicks, with a 120cm cable, knitted in a 9-stitch basketweave of stocking stitch / reverse stocking stitch squares. It's going to take a while, but as I'm stranding 2-3 yarns at once it's getting through the stash quite nicely.



I finally cast on for lace - the Woodland Shawl. I'm using some vintage Falcon superwash DK, in a lovely deep bottle green. I'm hoping that as it's in a heavier weight than the original it will come out larger. It's a nice easy pattern, I only made one error so far! Mind you, I've only worked one pattern repeat so far as my brain hasn't been up to SKPs and YOs.

The new Interweave Knits arrived, and amazingly for a summer issue, there's loads I'd like to have a crack at! There's a lovely lace hoodie which I really really like, a nice tank in Summer Tweed (though I'd have to leave out the belly-enhancing mosaic stripe) and a rather funky mosaic v-neck tee which, if the colours were changed, would be very nice with jeans or a simple skirt. There's also a gorgeous lace sweater which I adore but it looks like a b1tch to knit. My Ravelry queue is getting out of hand...

Also, I cooked! Like, proper culinary stuff. Aduki Bean croquettes, from the Nourish Me blog. They are rather tasty, if very messy...there were sesame seeds EVERYWHERE by the time I'd done. Only snag was they took longer than planned, so by the time they were ready I'd sort-of gone past it a bit, but never mind, that's my fault, not the recipe's.




What totally makes this is the dipping sauce. It's amazing. Salty, sweet, complex and very more-ish. I was dunking bits of bread in it while I waited for the croquettes. I had to wing it a bit with the ingredients, ideally you'll need either a very well-stocked supermarket, or an oriental food shop. I have neither, so some improvisation was required, but I don't think it made much difference. I'd make the croquettes again, but only if I was feeling particularly culinary because of the time involved, but the sauce I'd make any day of the week. I'm thinking of marinading some chicken in it, maybe with honey added...nom nom

No comments: