But is it good enough ...

In celebration of the return of Masterchef and under an injunction from the boyfriend to eat up the green beans in the fridge I made this salad for dinner tonight. I even improved it a bit with some prosciutto leftover from the weekend.



I am so excited about the return of Masterchef. I love the cookery but it's mainly the characters. Not only the amateur chefs and their insane food combinations but John and Greg too. I love how they have yelled conversations like they're talking from opposite sides of the room, rather than six inches apart and I'll be taking a drink whenever they come out with any of their catchphrases "I could eat three of those" (Greg), "Let's cook!" (John), and the perennial favourite "but is it good enough for the quarter-final of Masterchef?"

A flat failure

I don't know what happened because I'm usually pretty good at pancakes but last night's batch were more or less a disaster. This one was the only presentable one of the bunch and even it started to fall apart when I flipped it. I obviously should have followed Petit Filoux's example and had a run through at the weekend. It might have been that I combined my melted butter with the flour before mixing it into the batter (in an attempt to stop it solidifying as usually happens) or just that I'm out of practice as I usually make the equally delicious, but less technically demanding American style pancakes. I can't even have another try this evening as the boyfriend wouldn't approve - something about today being the first day of Lent and all.

More than football, more than anything else

I found a great card for the boyfriend in John Lewis.



And it's true! I even videoed the live cup game between Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham to watch "as live" later on so that we could go for a nice walk and cup of tea at Blenheim this afternoon instead. I'm so happy that the palace is open again after the winter break. I'm looking forward to many more cuppas on the Water Terrace as the weather gets warmer.

The boyfriend and I don't make a huge big deal of V day (at least we try not to get sucked into the rampant commercialism of it all) but we had a nice dinner from M&S and some lovely champagne which was a pressie from my parents and we're going to watch Cyrano de Bergerac later which is both extremely funny and heart-breakingly sad. Anyway, I have a few Valentines links for y'all.

I just this minute came across the Missed Connections blog via Cast-On (thank you Brenda). This is so sweet and beautifully drawn.

I have loved xkcd (even if I don't get all, ok any, of the maths jokes) since I first came across it on Language Log (thank you linguistics geeks) and especially these four* Valentine's cartoons.

Finally go to Fat Orange Cat Studio if you want to know what cats do for Valentine's day.

Happy Valentine's day to all of you!!

[ETA: btw this is post number 500! Thanks for reading, I've really enjoyed blogging to all of you.]

[Also ETA: I just found another link for you. Apparently the boyfriend was looking for ukelele songs (no, really).]

* originally this read "two" but then I kept finding more of them!

Now we are thirty - #2

I don't think anyone ever had such lovely crafty friends. Clockwise from the top left are:

500 cupcakes & muffins from Kathrin - I think she's just hoping that the boyfriend will start bringing the cupcakes that we can't eat into work!
Machine stitched owl from Ellen.
Handmade beaded fuschia earrings from Jenny.
Crocheted brooch on a handknit heart cushion from Mikal.
Pink glass dotty earrings from Helen.
Handmade cards drawn by Kathrin's girls - I feel they have a future in the quirky greetings card market.



After our lengthy conversations about packed lunches on the way back from Woolfest in the summer Felix decided that I needed the ultimate picnic bag. If you read Felix's blog you might have noticed that she tends to play down her sewing skills with typical modesty but this is a beautiful piece of work. The outer fabric is an Amy Butler fabric in a lovely fresh green and the lining is some leaf patterned oil cloth. I'm incredibly impressed with the neatness of the stitching as I've heard that oil cloth can be really tricky to sew. The bag has two handy pockets on the outside and was packed with handy picnic stuff including a one-person vacuum flask (which will be filled only with hot water), two mini tupperware containers, a napkin, a biscuit box, a heart-shaped cookie cutter, and a freezer pack in its own little bag. I was absolutely stunned when I opened this and saw all the lovely things that Felix had filled it with.

Thank you so much to all my lovely friends who celebrated my birthday with me on Monday!

Now we are thirty - #1

Guess who had a "round number" birthday last Monday! I'm going to do this a little bit in reverse as although I received some lovely gifts from my family the weekend before my birthday, and some fabulous pressies from my amazing crafty friends on my birthday I think that they should wait until I have some decent light for photography (although if you want a sneak peek check out the fabulous bag that Felix made for me here).

Instead I thought I'd share a present that I received yesterday from the boyfriend's lovely sister, Clare. Clare was very apologetic that she hadn't had time to wrap it but I have no problem whatsoever in receiving a gift wrapped in a John Lewis bag (so long as the contents actually come from that emporium of joy).



Squee!

This is such a cute book and it's not one that I would normally buy for myself (it's been some time since I bought a pattern book that didn't contain baby patterns to knit for my niece) so it's lovely to receive it as a gift.

Check out some of the crazy critters you can knit.



I love all the raccoon-fox guys and I know Felix has a soft spot for the Ginge Marmalade cat.

Marathon girl - Week #4

Day #6 (long run)

Either:

Distance: 13 miles
Time (total): 01:49:48 hours
Average time (per mile): 08:26 minutes

Or:

Distance: 13 miles
Time (total): 01:55:00 hours
Average time (per mile): 08:50 minutes

I'm not completely sure which of the above times is correct. Kate, who planned the route, thought that we'd reached 13 miles at the turning for Squitchey Lane but when I mapped it out later the route only went up to 12.5 miles at that point. The problem is that we took such a convoluted path around Oxford that I can't completely remember where we went! It's not a bad time either way and the second time certainly looks more plausible but I'd love the first one to be correct so I've emailed Kate for a clarification on the route. We'd have made an even better time I think on a flatter route (I can't believe she made me run up Headington hill twice) although I'm sure that the slower pace on the ups is at least partly balanced out by the assistance from gravity on the way back down again.

Citius, Altius, Fortius

I'm so excited that the Knitting Olympics are underway. I will be reknitting my brother's birthday sweater, an EZ seamless hybrid raglan, (which turned out just a leetle on the large size) as my challenge. The original sweater took three weeks to complete so reknitting it in two is a geniune challenge - at least I know it will be smaller, hey.

I have been training like the dickens. All those hours of knitting stockinette in the round mean that by now my magic loop technique is nearly flawless and I've knit 5 turned hems in the past month. The only thing that fazes me now is the thought of ripping back all this!



Maybe a job for during the football tomorrow.

Marathon girl - Week #3

Day #7 (long run)

Distance: 12 miles
Time (total): 01:47:36 hours
Average time (per mile): 08:57 minutes

You might be wondering what happened to week #2, well me too. On Tuesday I went running with one of the fast guys from the club. We ran around 5.8 miles in 45:19 minutes, I think that's the fastest I've run over any distance in my life. Wednesday the boyfriend and I went out for our anniversary dinner and had rather a lot to drink. I had a day off on Thursday (hangover + dentist) and then I went down with a cold which wiped out the rest of the week! Anyway I made up last week's missed 12 miler this weekend which puts me back on track. I had a great run - fantastic conditions, cool, damp, grey and still - and made a pretty good time. It would have been even better if I'd not had to run up a massive great hill, twice (there and back) - still there's really no way of running 12 miles in Bolton without going uphill! Best of all no morons in cars, just friendly cyclists and other runners.

A big thank you..

..to the tosser who yelled something at me from the passenger seat of the black Peugeot that passed me at 40mph or so during my run this morning. The resulting anger gave me a nice andrenalin boost up the rest of the hill and my imagined revenge fantasy, consisting of catching the car up at the lights, asking him to repeat what he said, and then pouring the contents of my feed bottle into his lap, kept me mentally occupied for the next half mile or so. Really, what kind of person sees a female runner up ahead and deliberately winds down their window just to hurl unintelligible remarks (I really didn't catch a word of what he said but it was no doubt offensive) at them? It's aggressive, bullying behaviour and I'm sick of it. If I want to go training in shorts or tights or a cropped vest I will. It's none of their business to comment on it (either verbally or by means of their car horn) and they'd better hope I never catch them at the lights.

Alternative uses for a swatch in the round - #1

Takeaway coffee cosy.



I have got to make a couple of these for real - though maybe in a colour that won't show spilled hot chocolate quite so much as this would!

btw this is a perfect way to block that swatch in the round too.

I can't wait for the Olympics

Literally can't wait. I had intended to use the Sublime Angora Merino which I scored at the yarn swap last Saturday to be my Knitting Olympics or Ravelympics, or whatever we're referring to them as, project. For those of you not familiar with the concept, during the winter Olympics (after all knitting really is a winter sport) knitters all over the globe will be casting on in their chosen event and trying to complete their projects before the closing ceremony in just over three week's time.

The trouble is, I'm missing my sweater. You'd think that after three weeks of stockinette in the round, knitting in every possible minute* in order to keep on schedule, not knitting on any other project, I'd be quite keen for a change, but no! Last night I cast on for the swatch in the round (pre-competition swatching is allowed, it's like training), washed it, dried it, did the maths, and cast-on. I just couldn't help it.



I'm now 8 rounds into the turned picot edging of the sweater and I'm really looking forward to my train journey later this afternoon - three and a half solid hours of stockinette in the round. Of course I will look like a walking fluff ball afterwards - even as you knit it the bunny fibre wafts off the yarn in little white puffs - I so should not have worn black jeans today!

* my dentist and I seriously discussed whether I could knit whilst he was replacing my filling. He seemed quite keen on the idea but I really didn't want him distracted during that job! I did, however, knit in the chair whilst the anaesthetic was taking effect.

Swapsies

Yesterday I went over to Ellen's place for the Oxford Bluestockings 4th great annual wool wind-off and yarn swap. It was lovely to see Lara who came over to Oxford from London, and also Katie and Clare who came over with their babies. I'm especially pleased that Katie came over as she brought an absolute pile of Sublime Angora Merino for the swap and I managed to score 8 balls in oatmeal - just enough (I hope) for a sweater for my Knitting Olympics project.



I'm weighing up a few different sweaters at the moment. I know from Felix's experience with this stuff whilst knitting the hourglass sweater that it pills like b*****y if you knit it at the suggested gauge so I want something that is knit on 3.5 or 3.75mm needles. I'm currently dithering between a Coraline and some sort of seamless lace sweater of my own design.

The second item picked up in the swap was nearly 100g of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4 ply in two shades of lilac and raspberry. I'm planning to knit a tam with these, probably to the same dimensions as the beet heid as that fits so perfectly.



Thirdly some Regia sock yarn in dark brown. I've got a little bit of lime green Regia left over from knitting Nancy Bush's birch socks so I think I could stripe it with that for some smallish socks.



And finally, a ball and a bit of Louisa Harding Kimono Angora in a green/yellow/orange colourway. Not really sure what I'll do with this, probably some fingerless mitts - either for work or for next year's present basket.



Really, the swapped yarn is a bonus. I had a lovely afternoon knitting with friends, eating cake and drinking tea, I got rid of some stash yarn which I had no idea what to do with, and got some lovely new yarn for which I mostly have definite plans.

Marathon girl - Week #1

Day #7 (long run)

Distance: 9 miles
Time (total): 01:15:14 hours
Average time (per mile): 08:22 minutes

One week gone, thirteen to go!

They're knitting in the wrong place!*

I perpetrated a massive knitting FAIL this evening. When I started the sleeve of my current sweater-in-progress on Monday morning I didn't have the right needle to work the turned hem at the cuff. No problem, I thought, I'll just start with a provisional cast on, knit the cuff later and then graft the two ends together. So this morning once the sleeve was the correct length I cast on the cuff and I was ready to start grafting in the pub this evening. I put both sets of live stitches on the needles, joined in a length of yarn and started grafting. Everything was looking great until I got about two thirds of the way round and realised that I had a lot of sleeve stitches left. Like 30 more than were remaining for the cuff.



&*#$@*! No idea how, but I grafted the cuff to the shoulder end of the sleeve. If it wasn't quite so funny I'd have wept. I left the mis-grafted cuff in place just long enough to share with you guys. It's still a workable plan, I just need to concentrate this time around.



* see Raiders of the Lost Ark

The big reveal

If the arrival of the snow was like magic then its departure is like magic too, albeit of a slower, more messy variety.



After three and a half near solid weeks of white it's pretty fabulous to see what's underneath again.



I just couldn't resist taking these snaps from the train as we rushed by fields saturated with, if not colour, at any rate hue. Well, at least those that weren't just plain saturated with water.



These guys have the only white stuff I'm interested in right now.

Knitcase

You'd better hurry if you want to enter Felix's Snowcase competition. The snow is vanishing fast!



I am wearing 8 Ravelled items to keep me warm in the chilly weather.

1. beet heid tam
2. skeget flip-top mittens
3. giant moss stitch scarf
4. sleeveless sweater
5. minimalist cardigan
6. Tapestry legwarmers
7. Grasmere walking socks
8. Pomatomus socks

I'm certainly warm - but do I have the WOOL FACTOR?

Winding up Christmas

I love slightly belated Christmas gifts, they're like a bonus. These, from Lara which I found in the post when I got back home after the holidays, and from Felix when we finally* managed to exchange gifts at Sticks'n'String on Tuesday, have an avian theme running through them.

Firstly from Lara I received these lovely little rubber stationery stamps (featuring an owl, a perching bird, and a squirrel) and two very cute badges (which I'm wearing today). My collection of knitting-related button badges just keeps on growing.



Then from Felix I received a whole goodie bag of pressies



Some lovely British fibre to be spun and knitted up into my British sheep breeds handspun blanket (started, but apparently not really blogged about, at Woolfest last summer).



A fat quarter** of fabric with little cardinals*** printed on it, a felted pin cushion, and a very sweet little owl brooch. I think the pincushion looks either like a bird's egg or a shiny treasure that you'd find in a magpie's nest.

* earlier plans to exchange pressies having been scuppered by swine flu and snow.

** there's just something about the words "fat quarter" isn't there. It sounds like a lovely plump wodge of fabric just waiting to be made into something fabulous.

*** the boyfriend, being Catholic and not really into birding got quite the wrong mental image (mitres rather than birdies) when I described this fabric to him!

Responding to the Knit Signal

Just to say, if you've been shocked by the scenes from Haiti, want to help somehow, but aren't quite sure where best to donate to, then Stephanie Pearl McPhee (the Yarn Harlot) makes a pretty good case here for donating to Medecin Sans Frontieres. If you haven't already, please go and read her post.

A better class of snowman

Look, he has cherry tomatoes for eyes and the boyfriend is convinced that his buttons are made from jaffa cakes. We'll check in the morning if the birds haven't had them first*. We were convinced that the snow was on the way out and had been going about saying daft things like "Aslan is abroad" so we were rather surprised to wake up this morning to another couple of inches of snow, six lorries stuck on the hill out of town, and no buses. Still, there are bonuses to the extended cold snap like a surprise episode of Snow Watch in which the regular team discussed the effect that the snow is having on the wildlife and we got to see Simon King hop like a bunny. And there was a trailer for a new programme in March, Lambing Live, I'm very excited about the combination of Kate Humble and lots of sheep in the same show.

*ETA: Turns out they were Oreos!

Magical

I headed out into snowy Blenheim twice today, once for an early morning run (the cross-country spikes really come into their own on the compacted snow) and then this afternoon for a walk with the boyfriend. I hadn't thought that the later walk could match the early run in the quiet park, when I had just the pheasants, sheep, and a low-flying red kite for company, but it bettered it.

The frozen lake was just stunning close up with the ice a dozen different shades of glassy green.







Then, as if that wasn't enough a white shape ghosted out from amongst the trees on the far side of the lake and we had the treat of watching a barn own hunting in daylight (it was about 3pm) for at least 5 minutes. It flew back and forth across the lake and even landed a few metres ahead of us on the path at one point. I knew that my chances of getting a picture (white bird, white background) were slim but I just kept clicking the button and I managed to get lucky (even more lucky than just seeing it, I mean).



I can't tell you how privileged I feel to have had such a wonderful view of this beautiful bird.

Finally, we passed this snowy family on our way back home.



I think they're disappointed having read the sign (left) saying that the Palace and Courtyard aren't open to the public!

Loaf day

When it's a frozen wasteland outside you can't beat a bit of baking for creating a warm comforting fug in the kitchen. After we got back from our grocery expedition to town yesterday the boyfriend had his first go at making something from the Bread Machine Bible* that I bought him for Christmas.



Amazingly we had nearly all the ingredients to make golden gingerbread. We didn't have quite enough plain flour and not nearly enough soft light brown sugar but substituting self-raising and light demerara didn't seem to hurt it.



I mostly acted in an advisory capacity, lining the loaf tin and stopping him from putting the lid back on the golden syrup until I'd wiped the edge of the tin clean.



Since we were baking the loaf in the over rather than in the bread machine we had to be a bit creative with the time and temperature settings (especially as we were trying to start making dinner at the same time). We initially gave it 60 minutes at 120 degrees C (mimicking the bread machine settings) but quickly realised it needed another 10 minutes at 150 and then another 10 at 190 before it was done.



Despite this it turned out absolutely splendidly, a perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea.

* both bible and fancy LOAF tin were bought from Lakeland in Reading.

Cosy

Back in the autumn I knit this scarf out of the last remnants of 6 balls of Rowan Big Wool which I'd bought a few years ago to make a poncho (I know, I know). I thought that it would make a very nice Christmas present for someone but then completely forgot to take it up to Bolton with me. Still, their loss, my gain as I realised last night that I had the perfect accessory to muffle up against the big freeze.



Things I love about this scarf: it's extra wide so I can keep everything warm from my nose to my neck, it's very thick so even a single layer blocks out the icy air, and it has pockets great for keeping hands warm and for throwing amusing shapes.

Lethal

Not the conditions underfoot but the aerial threat posed by the foot long, dagger like icicles hanging from the eaves of our block of flats. I will not be hanging around on the way in or out of the building lest I be skewered from above.

Pull your socks up

I've been keen to knit some knee-length socks for myself for some time now. I did knit a pair of stripy knee socks a few years back but I'm afraid they kept falling down on the job.

These should do a bit better. Funnily enough it's when socks are too tight, rather than the reverse, that they fall down so I've made sure I cast on enough stitches for a nice elastic fit around the top of the calf.

There's plenty of yardage in Megan's Wellington sock yarn (in fact it could be named for the fact that you could knit a pair of welly socks from one skein) and I'm reasonably confident of getting two socks out of my single skein in the Scarpantoni colourway. However, if I don't quite make it I've got the leftovers in the Stringybark colourway with which to knit contrast toes and cuffs.

Viewing the tapestries (reprise)

So what have I been knitting on this snow day? Legwarmers, that's what.



These tick several boxes - I'm knitting up stash yarn (in fact I'm knitting up Felix's stash yarn as she gave it to me!), I do need legwarmers, and I've got a little tired of having to reply to queries about whether I knit the sparkly silver lace legwarmers that I've been wearing to death recently with "no, they're from Accessorize, actually". These are knit from two contasting balls of Rowan Tapestry (see last December's post for my thoughts on this yarn). I'm very pleased with the appearance so far. There are one or two places where the stripes are rather indistinct but on the whole they look splendid and wonderfully cosy, not to mention being a very quick knit.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

The snow plough might have been along the main road this morning but there was still no bus into work. After a short foray to judge the practicality of attempting the 8 miles into Oxford on foot I decided that it would be much better to take a day's leave to enjoy the snow, the cricket, my knitting, and a little bit of the Lord of the Rings on DVD.

The boyfriend and I made our usual trek into the park to check out the snow.



There were lots of similarly snowbound locals attempting some rather incompetent sledging down the hill. It's not great snow for sledging too powdery) which stopped me from feeling too envious about my sledge-less state.



After walking round the park and picking up some bits and pieces for lunch we headed home to enjoy the snow from inside. I had a lovely afternoon knitting and listening to the cricket which watching the snow on the branches outside.

Hard frost

They're taking down the Christmas decorations at work. It's OK though because outside there's natural tinsel.



Every spider's web has been strung with spiky crystals and even the most mundane objects (top of a parking meter) have an icy crown.



I had another run this lunchtime where I wished I'd been able to take my camera along for your benefit. The frozen fields were the colour of sea glass and the river was a perfect blue mirror. At one point a swan flew low along it, its real and reflected wings together making a perfect O at the bottom of the wing beat. All the noises are clearer and sharper in the still air too, the quacking of ducks under the bridge sounds like the chattering of stones in a noisy beck.

Sprig driving gloves

I've been trying to start the year with a little preemptive destashing - I'm knitting up the leftover balls from the Sheep Yoke cardigan before I even get them home into the stash.

Sprig driving gloves





Yarn: British Breeds Yarns Blue Faced Leicester DK (just under 1 skein in Sage)
Needles: 3.25mm dpns

OK, they're not really gloves, not even really mitts - lets call them mittlets! But they are rather cute. For some reason I was getting a very vintage vibe from this shade of green - I kept seeing it against very red nails or lipstick. I think it's because Joan Allen has a headscarf in this colour in Pleasantville. Anyway I wanted something a little bit glam and the wrist strap and pearl button really do that for me. The design's not quite perfected but I'll put in some work on it when I get home and hopefully have something written up before too long.

Happy 2010

Happy New Year everyone - I hope it's fabulous for you all!

The New Year got off to a good start round here. I (fingers crossed) managed to book Felix and I into the classes we wanted to attend for Knit Camp 2010 yesterday evening - after a false start yesterday morning due to a confusion between a.m. and p.m. Still it's not like a wanted a lie-in after New Year's Eve! I even managed my first FO of 2010.

Glysse neckwarmer



[not really a great detailed picture of the item in question but it's a lovely shot of my new coat, and of the little birdy brooch which Kate sent me for Christmas!]



[that's more like it]

Yarn: British Breeds Yarns Bluefaced Leicester DK (just short of one skein in Lilac)
Needles: 3.75mm long circular needle (magic loop)
Gauge: 24 sts and 32 rows in pattern.

It's not really enough of a pattern to write up at the moment but I've got some idea for it and if it works out I'll write up a pattern then.

In the meantime I've been knitting a pair of rather sweet little driving mitts. These just need a little pearly button and a right hand friend to be done.



Can you tell I'm a little bit obsessed with this two stitch cable on stocking stitch pattern? I'm really keen on incorporating it into an adult sweater based on Cirrus.