I feel a bit bad for this project. I didn’t really want to knit it, but wanted a knitting project to take with me on a long bus trip. I didn’t really like how the crepe construction of the yarn looked in garter stitch. But now it’s done, I’m pretty happy with it.

I’ve had a red garter stitch scarf on my mind for a while, and although I cannot seem to photograph red well to properly show it off, I thought it was the perfect red.

Vital Stats:
Vanilla Scarf
around about 3/4 of a ball of Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8 ply, cherry
5.00mm circulars
Start: August 2008
Finish: August 2008

I like to call it a vanilla scarf, because garter stitch is quite plain, like vanilla, but it doesn’t stop it from looking nice. I’m still not 100 percent on using crepe for garter stitch, but I love the colour so much that I can look past that little annoyance.

It was quite exciting to discover that I can now start taking photos after work, because it’s becoming a lot lighter now that Winter’s on the way out. Usually I take all my photos on the weekend, but these photos were taken after work a couple of days ago. Granted, I was still in my work clothes, but I’m putting that down to the excitement of it being light outside at 5pm, rather than laziness.

There’s been a few things I’ve been wanting to blog about, but my blog got chewed up and spat out by my (now ex) hosting company. It seems a little out of date now, but I think I’ll still write about it anyway.

A couple of weekends ago, I was finally well enough to cook something else from the Women’s Weekly recipe cards. I opted for something a little different this time, apple gingerbread. The best way to describe it is a layer of stewed apples with a gingery cakey layer on top. On a slight tangent, I’ve noticed that the 70s (about when the recipe cards were printed) were very good to coconut and ginger, as a lot of the recipes contain at least one of those ingredients. Tis lucky I like both of them!

Getting back to the recipe at hand, besides nearly forgetting the brown sugar for the cake layer which no matter how hard I try, cannot really be blamed on the recipe, it was really easy. The hardest thing was peeling and chopping the apples, but if you were feeling really slack, you could use tinned apples.

It flew off the pie dish so quickly! I made it in the morning, and it was well gone by the evening, just between the two of us. We are piggies indeed. Next time, I think I might try stewing the apples with a cinnamon stick, to give the apple layer a bit more flavour.

Salina has been a work in progress for quite some time, a year in fact. It was a project that I didn’t much confidence in from the get go, starting with worrying about the orange slubs in the yarn, and ending with the seaming job. Nevertheless, Salina is finished.

Salina
around about 5.5-6 balls of Grignasco Tango, green
3.25 and 3.5 mm straights
Start: August 2007
Finish: August 2008

There’s really only one problem with it… it’s too big! The body fits ok, and is passable as a sloppy jumper, but the sleeves are just too big at the top. The sleeves look a little loose on the model, but not enough to fit a whole ‘nother arm in there. I’m not too disappointed though, I can see enough good in it to reknit it in a smaller size in the future.

The big lesson for today: don’t take so dang long to finish a jumper!

This is actually from last weekend, but unfortunately life got in the way.

When I was in primary school, we used to be sent home with catalogues of lollies, as a way of doing fundraising for our little school. It may just be residual childhood excitement, but I remember it being so much better than the current form of chocolate fundraising. Anyway, one type of lolly we used to get was coconut roughs. They were in the shape of a barrel, and as we all know, things taste better when they’re an unconventional shape. I was quite excited when I saw the recipe card for them, because I’d completely forgotten about coconut roughs until that point.

I don’t have a barrel chocolate mould, so I knew the taste would suffer somewhat, but I forged ahead with it nonetheless. They were extraordinarily easy to make, as it was a case of melting chocolate and copha together, then mixing the rest of the ingredients in. The results of forming the mounds were a bit mixed, however.

The early batches were good, forming little mounds like the one on the left. As the mixture started to set, they didn’t look so good. I don’t want to have to say mouse poo, but I can’t think of any other way to describe the results on the right.

Next time – there will be one, because they were so easy and delish – I’ll probably use a bit more chocolate, so they form a bit of a base for the coconut rough. I might even try to find a barrel chocolate mould, to make it taste better.

No recipe card challenge this weekend though, as I spent the weekend in Sydney, and I’ve come down with a nasty cold – two issues not conducive to cooking at home.

I really don’t have much to say about Liesl, except that I’m delighted with her, and a little disappointed it’s too cold to wear her out at the moment.

Vital stats:

Liesl
around about 6.5 balls of Alps Merino Washable, 482 (brown)
7mm 100cm circular Addis.
Start: June 2008
Finish: July 2008

I liked that the pattern has scope for modifications based on how long you wanted the sleeves and body, and how high you wanted the neck. I really enjoyed being able to choose my own adventure.

An added bonus was the fact that I only had to buy the pattern, and the thread to sew the button on. Not exactly sure why I bought this yarn originally, I suspect it was an episode of dilated pupil ‘I must have this yarn because it’s so cheap’ that I seem to suffer from every now and again. It had been marinating in my stash for around 2 years, I had no idea what I was going to use it for.

The button was from a jar of buttons I bought at a garage sale ages ago. I never noticed it before, it was only when I was going through my button collection to see it anything suited that it leapt out at me.

Liesl was my first experience with a top down jumper, and I think I’m hooked. Being able to try it on while you’re knitting is possibly the best thing ever.

I came across a box of Woman’s Weekly recipe cards while op shopping a couple of weeks ago. I bought it not so much for the savoury recipes – chicken in beer really isn’t my thing – but for the sweets. After going through the cards, and sorting them into recipes to try and recipes to leave be, I decided that I should attempt to try one recipe each weekend. First cab off the rank was peanut and ginger toffee.

Donna Hay food styling it ain’t, but it still looked tasty, and pretty simple. Here’s my attempt:

Donna Hay food styling it ain’t, but I don’t mind a bit. It’s delicious. The most difficult parts were chopping up the crystallised ginger, as it kept sticking to the knife and being a general nuisance, and getting the temperature right when making the toffee. Once those two things were sorted out, it was very easy.

Even though the crystallised ginger was the only source of ginger in the brittle, and was in little clumps everywhere, the flavour spread through the toffee very nicely. It was most definitely the highlight in a very very dark, dreary day.

I’m trying very hard to ration it out, as even though it’s so easy to make, I really have to push on and make something different this coming weekend. At least I know what I will be up to every weekend til 2012!

WIPs aren’t nearly as fun to photograph as FOs, but I’m finally starting to enjoy the process of finishing up this one.

I started Salina from Vintage Style about a year ago, and although I had finished knitting it ages ago, the seaming really tripped me up. The first time I set the sleeves in, it was in a haphazard ‘she’ll be right’ manner. She really wasn’t right, so the second time I was a lot more careful, pinning and basting the sleeves in before seaming. The results are a lot better using the latter method, I think.

The sides are now being seamed up, and although it seems to be taking forever (seaming in front of the computer probably isn’t really helping its progress), I am enjoying watching it finally come together.

Now as it’s nearly finished, my mind’s been turning to the next project that I’ll finish up. Although it makes progress seem really slow, I am determined to finish most, if not all, of my half finished projects this year. It does mean that I pretty much only knit on the bus to and from work, while finishing work happens at home, but it’s a nice to feel that projects are being seen through to completion, no matter how long it takes.

Even though minute by minute the days are getting longer, the winter doldrums have finally hit. It’s started to get properly cold now, the type of cold that gets into your bones.

It’s also the kind of weather that makes it hard to take photos outside. The sun is weak, and in the blink of an eye, it goes from decent light to pitch black.

I have been fairly productive on the knitting front though. The diagonal lace scarf is all finished up.

Vital stats:
Diagonal Lace Scarf
About 150g of Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic in 12 ply, Sunflower (not listed on their website – bought from their bargain room)
6mm 100cm circular Addis.
Start: June 2008
Finish: June 2008

This was a very very quick knit for my standards, pretty much all done on the bus. the pattern was modified slightly by casting on 19 instead of 24 stitches, for a slightly narrower scarf.

As soon as the scarf was pinned out blocking, I cast on another bus knit – Liesl by Ysolda.

I got a good start on it last weekend, while watching my dad race his car at a track not far from me, and am now past the armholes (despite what the photo indicates). I really can’t wait to finish this project – just so I can wear it!

Turns out that I had a darning needle big enough for the 12 ply I used to make this blanket all along, so now the blanket is officially finished. It’s nice to be able to use or take photos of it without worrying about the daggy ends hanging out.

Vital stats:

Hemlock Ring Blanket
(exactly) 2 skeins of 12 ply Rainbow Wools, New Red
7mm dpns and 100cm circular Addis.
Start: November 2007
Finish: June 2008

Given how quickly it knit up, it was a pretty satisfying knit. It was also my first Addis experience, and they were pretty impressive. Having said that, it is hard to compare to circulars used in the past, because I don’t usually have projects that have such a large gauge.

Now that it’s done and dusted, I’ve started on another project that’s been languishing in my knitting cupboard before the Hemlock Ring Blanket was even a twinkle in my eye. I’m really enjoying the process of finishing up things that have not only been taking up precious space in my knitting cupboard for some time now, but also niggling in the back of my mind.

This is my current bus knit – diagonal lace scarf from Midnight Purls. I’ve been waiting for just the right yellow yarn for this pattern and luckily it didn’t take long for me to find. A good yellow is pretty hard to find, its either too pale or has too much red in it for my tastes.

It’s only have a short commute to and from work, but there’s still enough time to get a couple of repeats done. If I was also knitting it at home, I think I would have torn through it by now, but I want to concentrate on getting through the pile of unfinished projects that aren’t conducive to public transport knitting. Although, I’m sure pinning out some knitting on the bus would be highly entertaining for the other commuters.