Puzzle

I've very little to show for the last wee while... except for this 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle I finished (took an entire week). This was one of my 101 things to do.

It`s not like I haven`t been doing anything else, just nothing worth nattering about...

I cleaned and organised the basement - all my plant pots are in nice, neat little rows...

and I`ve been knitting plenty lately, but I`m afraid I can`t show you any of it - shhh...it`s for Christmas...

I`ve even got a few `finds`I could show you, but I`m not going to do that either - found a fab old wicker picnic basket (perfect for summer), and an absolute peach of a lamp (ideal for the new landing)...they both just need...well...a touch of work...which I`ve added to the already lengthy `to-do`list. I`m considering doing a before and after shoot, but I`m not sharing until I have the after shots.



What I do have for you, are two videos from Nick Cave. He`s been playing a fair bit on my IPod of late, and his gloomy, doomy attitude is suiting me just dandy.

If you have sharp eyes you`ll see Jarvis Cocker shimmy his way through a few frames on the first clip.

Trinket

I finished Trinket the other day. It's glorious.

Worked in Elann Silken Kydd in the Pewter colourway, the yarn is luscious - and far more affordable than Rowan's equivalent, Kid Silk Haze.

I will, however, admit that Rowan's colours are, for the most part, much nicer.

The body of this scarf is knit on the bias with stripes of ruching.

Did you know that "ruche" is from the Old French word "rusche", meaning beehive? Neither did I, I just looked it up now...betcha didn't know this could be educational!...I've also learned how to use the "italics" feature on blogger - I'm really on fire today.



Each edge has two deep ruffles with a beaded cast-off. The pattern called for size 8/0 beads, but instead I've used silver-lined crystal beads in a size 6/0 (that's one size larger), giving the edges significant weight.

Glorious!

In my last post I added an ad for natural gas from Belgium, and my brother wanted to know if I trolled YouTube looking for clips with knitting. The answer is no, not at all, although when I find one I'm always keen to share. Last post I thought it would be funny to have a cheesy ad at the end to go along with my "sales pitch" for the Bog Boots. I couldn't find anything I liked by searching "cheesy ad", so I googled "award winning ads 2009" and the gas ad was the first one I found - and, Wow! That one was a keeper!

And today?

Well, I went looking through YouTube using the word "glorious", but didn't find anything that appealed.

However, some how I did come across the following, which more than makes up for any lack of cheesiness in the last clip.

Gritty, Icy, Soggy, Icky

Ah, Springtime in Winnipeg!

It's that time of year again when the temperature warms and the snows begin to melt...and the city turns into one giant mud puddle. It's Winnipeg's least appealing time.

However, I've got a :::Friday Find::: that makes it just a wee bit more bearable.



Called Bog Boots, these are the best, and even better than being the best, you can buy them locally at Lee Valley. They may not be cheap, but they're well worth it - I wear mine not only in the garden, but also for walking the dog. They have excellent traction on the ice, when they get caked in mud you can just hose them down and as they're made from neoprene they're completely waterproof. I've had mine for a few years and, though they're too warm to wear in the middle of summer, they're ideal for spring and fall.

I realise this is sounding a bit like a sales pitch (honest, they haven't paid me) and seeing as I haven't shown you any knitting for a wee while, here's a little something to tide you over (I'll be showing you what's on the needles in a day or two).

"Wool" by a natural gas provider in Belgium:

Very Gingerly Now

hello...(sshhh, quietly)...

these are the ginger cookies I gave you the recipe for, last post...

computer seems to be working better now...installed a new printer today, and it's not upset with me yet...I fear we may need a new router too...

I'm hoping this machine doesn't turn on me again...just...musn't..breathe too deeply..

Friday So Soon?

Honestly, I truly believe every Friday afternoon that I'll post two or three times the following week, but it's just not happening...

...next week, promise.

This week has been one of those times where one feels as though they are madly working, but yet accomplishing nothing. I suspect it's because I really, really messed up the computer - who knew how much my life revolved around this thing?

If you'll recall from the last few posts, I've been working on making my own knitting pattern to publish here on my blog, and while I've finished the knitting of the prototype, I haven't actually written it into a document. Ooo ... I had such great plans, remember, I was going to think of a title (easy to do), learn how to add photos to a word document (probably straightforward), and write it up in a swish font?

Yes, it's that last one that was the harbinger of evil.

Who knew that looking through those "free fonts" sites would land our poor computer with a virus? Clearly, not I.

I mean, don't other people do this? No?

To make it all the more humiliating, Nigel sought advice from the tech department at work, but they're not buying the font story (as in, nobody's so stupid as to visit those sites) and the word out is that Nigel was up to something sleazy and/or deviant (not likely!). Hopefully, the computer will be right as rain soon enough.

So, this week I'm writing from the Macbook. which means no photos and no links to YouTube (I don't know how to do that on the Mac).

But don't despair!

I've got something sort of like a Friday Find for you - a recipe!

These are wee Ian's favourite cookie, and the recipe comes from a cookbook my Mum has had since the early days of married life (that's going back about 50 years - oh dear, in fact, it's more than 50 years).

Ginger Sparklers

3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar - I always use Demerrara Brown Sugar, it has more molasses
1/4 cup molasses - I always use fancy molasses
1 large egg
2 cups flour - I always use unbleached white
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
white sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cream together butter, brown sugar, molasses and egg until light and fluffy. Measure flour, soda, salt and spices into a bowl and whisk together gently to blend. Stir into creamed mixture until blended and shape into balls (about 1 1/4 inch in diameter). Roll in sugar and place 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool slightly, remove from pans and cool on wire racks. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.

They are crackly on the outside and soft and spicy inside - divine!