Friday 25 November 2011

Whoosh Another Week Has Flown



Busy, busy busy
I have been knitting/crocheting my fingers to the bone this week and so have little material for the blog.  I have started a shawl for Kat and Al’s expected baby.  327 stitches in a row……phew, even the cast on was time consuming.  But it is a pattern Kat has indicated she likes and I hope I do the picture in the pattern justice.  It is a fine line between churning out gifts the knitter likes themselves, and the recipient having the same taste.  I think we have come to a nice mutually acceptable pattern.

It comes as no surprise to most of us as it is an annual event, but Christmas is looming. I have hang ups about materialism attached to it and wont go into a diatribe about it.  But the gifts I give are often ones that I have spent time making.  At least the recipient then knows I think enough of them to be prepared to spend time making something unique for them.
So this week, I have made the scarf at the top of here  for my sister in law.  The scarf…..ok it is only a scarf, but it is totally unique in that I “designed” it.  I am not experienced in producing anything original being a strict follower of patterns, but had a go and made this and a shawl for my mother using the excellent shawl creator pdf I shared last week http://www.laylock.org/blog/2011/05/free-shawl-knitting-cheat-sheet/  
 This sheet enables one to create unique shawls by giving basic instructions to obtain the desired shape, and leaves the knitter to use own stitch patterns and colour scheme.
If anyone wants to know the basic pattern for the scarf let me know.

Went to Burton this morning to get yarn for another present, but in case the recipient reads this I am not saying any more!  But startitis has hit this crafter big time this week.

So for the remainder of this entry, 1) recipe, 2) podcast review, 3) a suggested site to visit.

1)   Standby Salad

Standyby?  Because it can be made now to eat later, because many of the ingredients will be “standing by ready to use” in the larder.   As always the ingredients are mainly suggestions, feel free to add or subtract ingredients according to what is to hand.  Except for the rice, but at a push you could substitute cous cous.  So mix up all the ingredients you choose in a bowl; as an example I used: 1 pkt microwave Basmati rice (long grain is fine), 4oz  cooked soya beans (frozen are easiest), 4 small tomatoes chopped, 5 spring onions chopped, 6 dates stoned and chopped, 1 large red pepper grilled and skin removed then chopped, 12 grapes halved, chunk of cucumber diced, handful of cashew nuts, handful mint leaves shredded. Chopped "Pepperoni slices".  I used vegan substitute.  Seasoning and dressing to taste, today I happened to use a balsamic vinegar dressing, but rosewater would do nicely to complement the dates. 
                 
2)   Podcast review
 http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/a-little-bit-of-history/id335192273 Dan Brown (NO! not THE Dan Brown!!) has done some interesting podcasts on events in local history, and they are pleasant to listen to.  Not recorded much lately, but as the content is history it is not important that they were recorded last year.   A taster of Dan can be seen on here http://sortofinteresting.com/?p=814
3)   Site to check out this week:
 someone sent me a recipe link once from this site, and I have been back on several occasions to have a browse around.  http://www.realfood4realpeople.com/  budget conscious, easy to search, good recipe resource.     

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