quelle erqsome...

i need help

I've given myself too many choices and I need help narrowing down to one: please help me decide! I want a new cardigan, but I can't decide which pattern to go for. I've trawled my magazines and Ravelry and Googled all over the place searching for ideas. Unfortunately I now have too many of them, but at last I've have a final five (in alphabetical order, all pics taken from original website or designer's Raverly page):

28thirty (Ravelry link)

Garter Yoke Cardigan (Ravlery link)

Gilet Asymetrique (Ravelry link)

Lace Panel Cardi (Ravelry link)

Shalom (Ravlery link)

The only trouble is I'm also rather keen on the Asymetrical Cardigan, the Chic Cables and Lace Cowl, Green Iisis, the Round the Corner Hoodie and the Wedgewood Blouse (all Rav links).

I've got some rather luscious Fyberspates BFL DK in a deep plum in reserve for this, but also Lovegarn in Iceland in smokey blue, depending on what pattern I go for. But which one should I go for?

lemon and maple syrup

It's Pancake Day! A day for rejoicing indeed, if not by eating pancakes, then by splurging a little at Two Guitars (I chose pancakes, but only because I'm skint).

 

This time I added about a half teaspoon of vanilla extract to the batter, which added a lovely roundness to the flavour of the pancakes themselves. I also initially made up the batter using only 1 1/2 cups of milk and then left it to sit for twenty minutes before adding the final 1/2 cup. This resulted in a much thicker batter, which I had to use the spatula to spread out in the pan. However, the pancakes were way easier to flip and were deliciously fluffy and surprisingly light.

simple pleasures

I'm currently watching the Red Carpet on Sky1, even though I should be fast asleep. It's really just because I want the cats to get some exercise before I go to bed and was so caught up with getting 'just one more repeat' done on this pair of socks Lou and I are designing that I didn't let them out again until half an hour ago. And they're so lazy when they do go out, it's hard to tell whether they actually get any exercise or whether they're just sitting at the window mewing to be let back in. You should see Yeti's belly! It's freaking huge. It's come on really suddenly, too. If I wasn't completely convinced by our vets ability, and Yeti's dislike of male cats, I'd be tempted to think she might just be with kitten.

I can't get my brain to stop whirring. Really, I should have known having coffee after dinner with one of Arianna's AMAZING vegan cinnamon rolls. Delicious, but what with the caffeine and the sugar buzz, I'm not sure I'll be able to fall asleep for hours. Well worth it, though. Definitely worth it. I got to hang out with Arianna at Socktopus this afternoon, which was awesome! I love food and Arianna is a fab one for talking about food in all its guises. There's something really rather satisfying about having an entire conversation revolve around excited exclamations of favourite desserts and the foodie blogs that have you running into the kitchen, gagging for a plate of chilli-chocolate linguine. Mmmm. I've decided that as and when Matthew and I have something to celebrate, Arianna is going to be my first port of call for delicious cakey nummies.

Speaking of (cooking at least), at some point I'm going to have to try out the for tortillas Homesick Texan's recipe. Yum! And I meant to post about these Shortbread Candy Hearts before Valentine's, but forgot. Which is a shame, because who wouldn't want to receive them from their loved one?

fidelity

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

This made me cry. I'm not a fan of the song, but I am passionate about the message. Marriage is about love and nothing else.

chocolate-covered cherry pudding cake

Possibly the best decision I've made all week. I followed Susan's recipe almost exactly, except for trebling the ingredients because I don't have large enough ramekins (I used a pie plate instead), and using a frozen Black Forest fruit mix (instead of solely frozen cherries) and a mixture of almond and vanilla extract (instead of rum). And I don't regret a single one.

The only possible caution I can add here, other than to beware of such intense cherry-chocolatey deliciousness that will have you weeping for joy, is this: follow the very last instruction to the letter. Do NOT succumb to the temptation to cut into it a second before the 15 minutes are up. It will be all the more chocgasmic for leaving it be.

spicy tomato and lentil soup

When it's dank and grey outside and the four layers of sweaters aren't enough to keep out the chill, my favourite way to warm up is soup. Making soup will have you in the kitchen for at least 20 minutes, surrounded by steaming vegetables and bubbling stock. This type of heat sinks into your pores and is marvellous to take the edge off. It comes second only to eating soup. Hot soup is a perfect second wave attack against the seeping cold, which clings to your organs and frosts over your bones.

This soup is smooth and soul-reviving and sure to warm up your day. The recipe is for about 3--4 servings, but it's pretty adaptable, depending on what you're after.

ingredients:

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 small red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 potato, chopped
1 tsp. crushed chillies
1 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
3/4 l. stock (I've used a combination of kidney bean water and bouillon)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1/2 c. red lentils
salt and pepper to taste
a few leaves of parsely to garnish

method:

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add the onions and garlic heat until soft. Add the potatoes and spices and cook for about 5 minutes. If you're using bouillon powder or a stock cube, add this with the potato and spices and stir it in until it's both evenly coated the vegetables and a bit dissolved.

Add your stock and bring to the boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes, until potatoes are properly soft. Stir in your tomatoes and half the lentils lentils. Return to the boil and the reduce again and allow to simmer for at least 15 minutes. Blitz through with a hand blender, or pass through a food processor. About 10--20 minutes before you want to eat, add the other half of the lentils and let simmer.

Serve, garnished with parsley, with hunks of fresh warmed bread.

chance to win sundara, kaalund, wollmeise, a schrodinger bag and more

Jacqueline from Serendipity has organised a huge giveaway as incentives to donate to the Victoria Red Cross Bushfire Appeal in Australia, including yarns from Sundara, The Knittery and Kaalund, a gorgeous bag from Schrodinger (one of my favourite ever Etsy sellers), patterns from the Family Trunk Project, as well as a heap of private donations that include Wollmeise, Kidsilk Haze, Artyarns, Blue Moon... the list goes on.

It's a great cause, and a terrible one too -- but in the last three days she's managed to prompt more than $5,000 in donations, which is amazing. If you can donate even a fiver, please do. As she notes, small donations add up to something huge.

interweave preview

I'm a bit late to the show on this one, but that's because I've been procrastinating offline lately instead of on-line (it's a start). Nonetheless, in a way it's no bad thing it's taken me a few days to get to the Interweave Spring 2009 preview because it's delightful! It was like opening a belated gift and that gift being so lovely that the delay just made it sweeter.

Though I shall reserve judgment until I see the patterns in person, I'm rather taken with the Bettie's Lace Stockings, the Soap Bubble Wrap (though I suspect it's the name more than anything else that's piquing my interest!), the Parker Cardigan and maybe the St John's Wort Cardigan (though I can't work out why, it's unflattering and boxy, yet there's just something about it). And then there are the ones I really like.

 

The Fountain Pen and the Sweet Lily shawls have visions of my mum and Matthew's dancing in my head -- I've been wanting to knit a shawl for Matthew's mum for ages, but felt I couldn't unless I did one for my own mother as well.  I had been toying with the idea of designing a shawl for them, but I don't think I'm quite there yet -- I couldn't bear it if I got to blocking and discovered I'd 'designed' a great cretinous mess! These solve that problem beautifully. Both are just lovely and I reckon they'd go down well with either.

Unusually for me, I'm also a bit topsy for the Net Duffel Bag -- look at it! The shape is fantastic and I love the design detail. I don't know how sturdy it would be -- I'm always a bit anxious about knitted straps for bags because I tend to walk around with half my personal library and then find myself at checkout attempting to stuff a week's worth of tinned baked beans on top just in case we need them. If I were to make this I would be very tempted to knit a much large base and longer straps out of a good woolly wool and do the rest in a superwash so the parts that need it could felt up a bit.

Two of the tops also made me a bit giddy and for each it's all in the details. The first is Millefiori Cardigan -- now, this is not usually my type of thing at all but I am so consumed by that button band that I think I really might have to make it. On the other hand, the button detail and smooth drape of the second, the Zickzack Tunic, are my thing entirely. I've got a bit of a yen for tunics all round, so yarn-hunting I will go.

ps, i love you -- a new lyos sock

 

Well, the snow is gone, but I've got socks! Lemon squeezy socks that nonetheless incorporate stranded knitting AND embellishments! 'PS, I Love You' is the second pattern Lou and I have done together and the sixth in the Loumms Year of Socks (either link will take you to the pattern itself should you fancy whipping up a Valentine's pair for your lover/enemy/self).

It's a bit of a pisstake of the film of the same name, which we both find hilariously awful. But these are largely conceptual: they're for all those time your partner makes you want to scream in frustration or hurl nasties during heated arguments. You never really mean all the horrid things that you want to say, but adding a post script to say 'I love you' can be just as difficult as holding back. Bring in these socks.

Outside of the basic pattern, we decided to do them differently to each other, because they're so very much based on customising a message to someone, so Lou's message ('I don't wanna lose you tonight', in homage to Jan Terri) is done using Wollmeise as her contrast to the Malabrigo and her embellishment is achieved in Duplicate Stitch. My message, in Malabrigo on Malabrigo, reads 'you are [my] poison' and did my embellishment in a more traditional Split Stitch:

left: me holding my heart of love; right: something deadly this way drips

I'm very fortunate in that Matthew has never ever been poisonous, but I'd be lying if I tried to claim he wasn't my poison!

snow!

It began snowing quite early, though just the odd flake or two. I was walking over to Louisa's and I remember wondering if this would be a big snowfall. Three dry flakes on Old Kent Road. Matthew sent me updates on the various shakings of snowflakes that disappeared throughout the day. By 4 in the afternoon, there was still nothing. Yet, by half past a small flurry began. I was back home by then and stood in the kitchen watching sceptically. A very small layer dusted over the garden. It wasn't much but it was sticking. Sort of.

 

I ignored it. There's no point getting your hopes up about these things. I did some editing instead, with the blind down. It was only when Matthew began making dinner that he yelped excitedly. 'Look out the window!' It had snowed! Realy snow! There was a good four inches on the ground and it was still snowing! Our beans and toast were getting cold, so we quickly tucked in and settled down to an episode of The Wire.

As the credits rolled, a gust of snowflakes whirling in the street light caught my eye. There was nothing else to do but grab our snowpants. Mum scoffed when I asked for them to be shipped over, but who's laughing now? I thought. Thank goodness for Goodwill.

I think the snow is what makes Canadians so friendly, it made our neighbours so in any case. People we've passed but never acknowledged grinned wryly as we passed them, off on our tramp about the streets of south-east London. Impromtu snowball fights broke out between strangers; a few streets over the occupants of three houses clubbed in to build a snowman. We passed a group of Nigerians squatting low in the street to have their picture taken, so as to get as much of the snow in the background as possible.

When we later fell into bed, we sat up for a while watching the snow swirling about the way you might watch flames licking a fireplace. I haven't slept so well in ages. The silencing effect snow has muted the outside world but for a few distant sirens. At half 5 my alarm began to shriek and I was actually awake with it. Outside it was still snowing. Now, three and a half hours later, the snow hasn't stopped. Small, compact, dry flakes are persisting.

 

I hope it lasts.