Small things

Today is Sunday, a kind of a catch up with things that were not done yesterday and relax ready for tomorrow (Monday) day. There is knitting, some big, some small, there is weaving - which is more exploratory than I expected so increasingly interesting, and baking. Baking because the school week brings a need for lunches and after school snacks and without baking the default becomes expensive, sugary, and fatty prepackaged things. I'm not saying baking isn't sugary or fatty - but that I get to control it somewhat. And there is a new toy - or should that be a newer toy?

Bears Gansey grows, I'm well into the underarm gusset. Once that is done I can split the front and backs from the underarm sections and work the upper sections flat. I ended up being boring and just working a tiny wee ladder of purl welts near the armsye on the front and back. I liked the look of the other patterns on my swatch but felt the difference in gauge between the plain knit and the mixed knit and purls would give me sizing problems. So like any experienced knitter I avoided the issue by just keeping it plain.

The other project on the needles is a puppet, an Estonian sheep puppet. The project for the the end of year with the Knitters Study Group (KSG) is a sheep. I decided to work mine is some of my precious Shetland 2 ply - the stuff is not common here, and I suspect if some one did import for sale it would be super expensive and in limited colors - so for years I've been saving mine for some special project. I saw that for this project one could spin yarn or use Shetland 2 ply and it seemed right that I commit to using some somewhere and why not a sheep ? I cast on a braided edge in class but frogged that latter to work a more consistent braided edge. I have no idea what I will do with a sheep puppet - but I am happy to have the chance to knit one,

And weaving, I've started a new warp, this one is cottolin from DEA yarns. The cottolin is not as consistent as the Swedish cottolin I've bought from other places but it is cheaper, significantly cheaper. It is slubby - which I've come to realize can cause problems with the warp - when weaving. Slubs mean the weft might bounce back and the warp can rub in the reed - but the price is right for practice and learning. I want to weave tea- towels. Or dish cloths, or what ever they are called. Here I know them as tea towels, the rectangular things one uses to dry washed dishes. What I didn't know was what sett I should use, there are recommendations online, many recommendations. even patterns to weave but I didn't understand why the instructions were to do this or that. Christine - my weaving teacher - suggested I weave a sampler, an inch of warp with one sett, the next inch in the same sett but with the yarn doubled then repeat for each of the four colours. So that is what I have done - and Monday last I began weaving the waffle weave. One of my unanswered question was how much would my fabric pull up when off then loom and washed - and this lets me find out. The bonus of waffle weave is it is a standard threading -so I can also weave a plain weave and a sort of twill. So far it's just plain and waffle I have tried. My sampler is just over a meter long, which gives me play space.

Baking, these are butterscotch biscuits, comprising, butter, brown sugar, vanilla, flour and baking powder. I am always surprised that such basic ingredients results in such a tasty outcome, this week I made a single batch -which all going well will last till Wednesday. That is if I say 'don't be greedy', 'only two or three per day tops', 'leave some for the others', and my all, time favorite mother phrase "you can't have any unless there is at least once piece of fruit in your lunch box". Which I have had to amend to include instructions that the fruit must be eaten before new biscuits can be taken, I suspect that some fruit was almost along for the ride rather than intended to be consumed.

Bear is easier, he likes fruit cake and any kind of sweet loaf. So for him I made this, a boiled fruit loaf. I choose the Radio New Zealand version, here, Which is light on egs (only one), heavy on fruit (500g or a pound) and needs no special baking equipment save a pot and two loaf tins. It's not my favorite - which means I won't eat much of it, if any. But bear loves it - it might be a generational thing - fruit cake seems an older persons thing - the Cubs won't even try it. Because the fruit is simmered in a syrup of water, sugar, butter and spice the crust ends up with a almost French loaf crunch. And I think because of that the cake is moist and the fruit doesn't settle on the lower layer of the loaf,

And the new old toy? I finally upgraded my iPad 2 to an iPad Air 2, littlest cub scored the cast off iPad2 and she is in heaven with her new toy. I dithered for ages between choosing an iPad or Mac book air, especially as I wanted the 128 gig cellular iPad which came in at the same price as a Mac book air. Elder cub is horrified that I am a want a Mac, telling me that I'm paying for style (yes) and other things are better value for money (maybe but I'm not sure as other things have hidden costs like time and stress), and that he wouldn't be seen dead with one (fine by me). The Mac book air is a little larger, and a little heavier than the iPad, but not much. Wanna know what finally pushed me to stay with the iPad ? Even though the Mac book has a key board and a larger screen? Knit companion, a knitting app that I use for all my projects. I couldn't imagine using this application on a device other than the iPad, having a laptop with a keyboard and screen in front of me balanced near me and my knitting seemed wrong. Then iPad is more like a sheet of paper or a magazine, just one surface, smallish and flat. Everything else was seemingly equal but the knitting functions turned my choice. I could have kept my old iPad and bought a Mac book air - but my old iPad was slowing down and not handling software updates well. Little cub is so happy it is an improvement over her iPod touch that she isn't bothered by it being slow. It's not as slow as her previous device she told me. With the iPad a single touch wakes it up and I don't have to engage a touch pad or menus to navigate around a knitting pattern, I just touch the screen to zoom and move, I'm thinking of adding a keyboard, for blogging and emailing and such, maybe even for meeting ps and taking notes, i had one for my old iPad but never really used it so gave it to older cub who never uses it either, It was brown and black plastic - and seemed out of kilter visually and materially with the iPad. In contrast I've fallen for this by Zagg. I've not seen one in person and the one that fits the iPad air 2 isn't even on the market yet but it seems like it will make an iPad a mock Mac book air when I want a real keyboard. And it looks like it belongs to the iPad, like it was made for it not just made to fit it. The reviewers of the Zagg keyboard that fits other iPads generally love it. Know what else do I love about the new iPad - it weights next to nothing compared to the old iPad 2- so my handbag is so much lighter. And it's thin - a little over 6mm! All this came as a surpsie to me as I tend not to follow or lust after the latest of anything (except fiber and sock yarn clubs) so only do my research when I am about to buy.

Anyway - off to stir dinner, check the oven, and settle in with the Gansey knitting, my goal tonight is to finish that gusset and decide what to do about a shoulder strap, as far as size and decoration.

Na Stella.

 

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