CRAZY RIGHT NOW

Things got a little crazy around here after being at a craft fair in Belfast and meeting the spinners from the Ulster Guild of Spinners Weavers & Dyers. I might be joining! I was able to buy some pre-dyed fleece (uncarded for £1 a bag-bargain!), and I got spinning. I am still trying to use up all of that blue candy floss stuff Anna and I dyed last year so I am mixing it with some other colours.

I had to take off the old brake band and replace it (I replaced it with some old acrylic wool until that stops working too... ) and I used some vegetable oil to lubricate the actual wheel as it was making bad noises. I think Harold misses his mate Hattie!

On another note, I also bought some pre- spun wool to add to my ever expanding collection (Even though I promised myself I wouldn't...). It is a lovely grey Sirdar Big Bamboo. Below is a swatch I knitted on size 12 needles which looks good enough to make into a jumper (a very cozy and nice jumper). I wanted a quick and cozy project I would actually finish so here it goes...

Over and out...

ON THE STIX

Its been a long cold winter... and I have got some knitting on the needles!
I am making a looped scarf out of the most beautiful, soft, palest of grey wool- Rowan Cocoon. I picked it up in a small shop in Cullybackey Northern Ireland along with some bamboo needles and got knitting.  I decided to do a simple seed stitch so that I could watch TV at the same time.  I have recently been more inspired by simple designs and natural colours. As well as this pale grey is my absolute favourite colour (but I am sure you know this Anna ;) ).
I have also been enjoying a series by Cuyana about the 'lean closet movement' and in this link they have talked about the properties of natural materials : http://www.cuyana.com/leancloset-series/Shopping.  Did you know wool is ridiculously flame resistant? (I found this out thanks to James Nesbitt in his New Zealand programme at Christmas).

Over and out!
Emma x

HARRIS TWEED PINCUSHION

A very quick pincushion project made from Harris Tweed which I carried round on the back of a bicycle for a few hundred miles!  Finally got around to making something with it.  This was a very simple project (only takes about 5minutes!).  

1. Gather fabric and cut to size you want plus 1cm larger for seams.

2. Turn opposite sides facing out

3. Sew down three sides

4. Turn inside out

5. Sew down the outside edge of the shorter side sewn on the inside

6. Stuff it!

7. Sew in last seam.

Emma x

STITCHING ITCH

Been doing a lot of sewing recently and decided my machine needed a little loving too.  So I had a go at very simple quilting (which is probably quite badly done as I guessed how to finish it!)  I used cotton on both sides, along with wadding in between.  I then sewing the wadding to the inside and then sewed the whole lot to the outside, and then I quilted them together.

 I finished off with some cream ribbon on the sides to secure it.

The only thing this is missing is a hole for the carry handle!
Im now itching to make a pincushion with these wee babies I got in the Isle of Harris when I was cycling in the Summer with my friend Chloe. Oh those were the good times!

Oh how I wish for warm weather, the great outdoors and battered mars bars!

Emma x

WINTER STITCHES AND A HAPPY BIRTHDAY

 
Recently I have been sewing a lot- I made this wee apron for Mum's birthday. It was a very simple pattern- copied from an old apron and sewed the hems.  The material is Irish linen which was purchased from a little shop called SNIP in Ballycastle, Northern Ireland. (Apologies for the grim screenshot!)

Happy Birthday Mum!

Emma (: 

NOELENE'S BIRTHDAY CAKE

Yesterday was my friend Noelene’s 50^th birthday party. She had a tea party and I was in charge of the birthday cake. I love baking but I’ve always struggled with presentation so I was looking for something that would look effective but be simple to do. I saw this cake and knew I wanted to try and do a similar icing.

The cake itself is also a mash up of recipes from Sweetapolita’s blog. I’ve used the chocolate cake recipe several times now and it’s one of my favourites because it has an almost brownie-ish texture and because I love telling people it has mayonnaise in it and watching them freak out. For the icing I decided to try her vanilla buttercream. It’s pretty much you’re average buttercream but with the addition of actual cream. It’s a great idea and it definitely makes for a smoother, less sickening icing (as well as a more calorific one!)

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate cake

255g unsalted butter, softened690g packed dark brown sugar

3tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs

330g all-purpose flour

135g cocoa powder

2tsp baking soda

1 ½tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp salt

540ml buttermilk

90ml mayonnaise

1.    Preheat oven to 180°c and butter tins and line with greaseproof paper. This recipe is for a large 4 layer cake. If you are like me and don’t have enough tins you will have to bake the cake in batches.

2.    With your whisk of choice beat the butter, brown sugar and vanilla until lighter in color and slightly increased in volume, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until each is fully incorporated.

3.    Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder and salt into a bowl.

4.    Alternate dry ingredients and buttermilk into creamed mixture, Mix until just incorporated, or finish by hand gently. Fold mayonnaise into batter with a whisk, until just blended.

5.     Divide the batter evenly into the tins. Bake for about 30 minutes. The cake is a bit gooey in nature so will stay feeling quite soft to the touch and less springy than a classic sponge cake. If a knife comes out clean, it’s done.

6.    Transfer to wire wrack and leave to cool.

(recipe adapted from Sweetapolita)

Vanilla Icing:

 227g unsalted butter, softened

750g icing sugar

125 ml double cream

3 tsps vanilla extract

1.    With an electric whisk, beat butter and icing sugar together on a low speed until fully combined.

2.    Add cream and vanilla and whisk until fluffy and smooth.

(recipe adapted from: Sweetapolita) 

Anna x

AUTUMN SOCKS

Firstly, apologies for leaving it so long to get round to posting. I promise to do another entry very soon about some of the natural dyeing fun that I got up to a while ago but for now let’s talk socks; specifically these Fair Isle babies that I finished over the summer for my mum’s birthday.

I adapted a pattern that I’d used for some socks that I had made for myself last year sometime. Luckily, mum and I share the same oversized feet (which means it’s all her fault that I struggle to buy shoes) so I didn’t have to worry about getting the length wrong and I could keep it a surprise. I made up the fair isle pattern as I went along, with inspiration from this book. I used Rowan’s Fine Tweed yarn. I completely love the colours, perfect for autumn.

Mum was very happy with them and didn’t seem to mind that they were about a month late!

Anna x