Resolution

I decided (last night) that 2014 should be the year of the chocolate cake. I think one a month should be plenty:

Flourless chocolate brownies with hot chocolate sauce.

Bacon Brownies.

Honey Chocolate cake.

Tropical Chocolate cake.

Chocolate meringue truffle cake.

Girdlebuster pie.

Chocolate pudding.

Glitzy Chocolate pudding.

Chocolate Olive Oil cake.

Dark Chocolate mud cake.

Molten Chocolate Babycakes.

Christmas-Spiced chocolate cake.

Where the banjo gets more attention than the knittng

In 2011 I spent more time travelling than knitting.

In 2012 I spent more time playing the banjo than knitting. There were things knit. Lots of baby things. I even took pictures of most of it. But I spent way more time with the banjo.

In 2013, the only thing I have worked on so far is a crochet blanket. I looked around at all the yarn I am not knitting and felt a tiny bit like I should really ought to be doing something with it. And nothing uses up yarn like a nice bit of crochet. I would take a picture of it and show you, but the blog is full. Google won't let me put up new pictures. So imagine a lovely rug in Jo Sharp DK that I bought on sale about four years ago in lovely burgandy, purple, green and blue.

Christmas and icing

Christmas fruit mix for mum 2012:

250g sultanas
250g currants
150g dates - chopped
150g figs - chopped
1 stick of cinnamon
2 tsp cardamom
tsp allspice
tsp ground cloves
125ml brandy

World's most amazing icing ever for Jayne:

110g white chocolate
45g flour
250ml milk
-make a roux, whisk until very thick, beat until light
225g butter
1.5tsp vanilla
250g castor sugar
-cream, add the completely cooled roux, beat until amazing.

Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show. 2012.

I went up to Bendigo on an early(ish) train with a friend and her son. We cleaned up nicely. I left with a supported spindle (which, several attempts and youtube videos later, I still can't make work). A banksia tree drop spindle (beautiful, it would make a great Australian present for a non-Australian spinner). Both spindles were made by Ron West the wood turner/spinner from (SA, QLD? not sure). The tag says 'From the shop of Ron West. Phone (08) 8554 1882'. Does anyone have any web info for him? I can't find him.

I also bought two skeins of jitterbug from Sarah Durrant to make 'Bigger on the inside'  . A skein of blue bijou malabrigo to make Gretel. 


Also, I saw a woman wearing the cabled turban and I'd like to make it, but I fear it would make my head look even bigger than it is.

And there is 1.3 kg of Wendy Dennis fleece. It is a lovely pale marbled grey. I have to decide whether to wash it or just to spin it in the grease. It is beautiful. I like it a lot. I am keen to get my other fleece finished so that I can start on it.


















Some spindles I did not buy.

Woman's Weekly Knitted Cosy

I only got one side finished before Christmas, but I got the other side finished before the new year.






















It is enormously dense. It keeps the tea super warm.

Kochkor tea cosy

I made a tea cosy for a friend on the Silk Road trip. I was supposed to finish it and give it to him on the trip, but ran out of time. So here it is, finished today (unless I decide to put leaves on it, but it barely looks like the daffodil pattern so I wonder if there is any point).

 I started this birch in Kyrgyzstan, right after I finished the blue Lacey Baktus. But from there on there was a lot of desert and hot and prickly and I put it away and barely looked at it until we got to the relative cool of Turkey.

Here I took it balloon riding in Cappadocia.























 Here we are in the Aya Sofia in Istanbul.

 And outside the Blue Mosque.

I finished it on the train from Istanbul to Bucharest, which is a shame, because I wanted to give it to a friend on the trip.

Not to worry, I shall carry it around until I find it a home.

Lacy Baktus

It has been so hot that my knitting has slowed considerably. But I finished a lacy baktus and it is modelled here by its recipient. The order of photos is: 1. Looking at the baktus. 2. Demonstrating the manly way to wear the lacy baktus. 3 & 4. Demonstrating the 'high street' way of wearing it.

Traditional life in Kochkor in Kyrgyzstan.

We saw traditional felt making in Kyrgyzstan and I added it to the other blog.

Some crafty things in Kyrgyzstan

We went to the felt museum in Kochkor, Kyrgyzstan. These are some of the things I didn't buy. If they'd taken credit cards, I'd may have been seriously impulsive.

I am still mainly blogging over here, but I have another post of crafty stuff coming up.