UK Knit Camp

How cool is this? Not only is it six days in Stirling which is a lovely Scottish city it is five days of working with my knitting heroes and other wonderful knitters plus a final day of the best selection of knitting shopping ever!

I have bed and breakfast booked in University accommodation, workshops to be booked in January.

So far the British knitting events I have attended have been awesome. At theCoventry Ravelry day earlier this year I took a workshop with Jared Flood (aka Brooklyn Tweed), sat entranced listening to Meg Swansen and Debbie Bliss.

At the  I-Knit day in London last month not only did I hear her wonderful presentation about what inspires her but I did a workshop with Alice Starmore, ALICE STARMORE! She showed me how to hold the yarn for doing fairisle with a strand in each hand, and she passed around a WIP for us to examine. Separate post on this to come.

So expecting big things from Stirling in August.

WIP

Sorted the uploading of pictures (after a fashion) IE still closes itself now and then. Opened a Flickr account for Ravelry projects which makes it much much easier once the photos are uploaded.

Here is Granny Smith WIP - you can't see from the pic but I am using the new Knit Pro Spectre tips. The lightness of the needles plus the gossamer of the Kidsilk Haze makes it a slow but satisfying knit.

Not quite decided about the Spectres yet - its a bit disconcerting to see your stitches through the needle but the slight stickyness makes them perfect for this yarn.

Aunty Ps

Whilst contemplating the sorry state of the tomato plants in my garden last week it occurred to me, with tremendous delight, that I had the perfect tomatoes for green tomato chutney.

The basic recipe I use was passed to me from dear friend and is called Aunty Ps, after her husband's Aunty Pat who passed it to her . Its a very simple recipe - "2lbs of green tomatoes, 2lbs of apples, 2lbs of sugar, 2 pints of vinegar and pickling spices, boil until done".

What I do is chop the tomatoes and apples in the Magimix first because I don't like big lumps. This year I also chopped in half a courgette that had grown, unobserved, to marrow proportions hidden behind a big leaf. I make up my own pickling spices in a muslin square - peppercorns, cinnamon, juniper berries, coriander seeds, dried chillies.

This year I made two batches - one for Mum and Dad with only a little chilli and one for me with more spice and heat. Perfect with cheese and my homemade, wholemeal bread rolls.

(I will blog/rant about bread another time).

New Beginnngs

When I started this blog a year ago it was mostly out of curiosity - I have kept paper journals for years, mostly pages and pages of stream of consciousness outpourings, but could I also write in a way that would interest and entertain others?

Daughter C has recently started her first year at University so I have my evenings to myself so now is the perfect time to start.

So here it is, open to all. I can't post photos at the moment because something in my IE/Vista/Blogger settings is making IE crash when I browse for a pic, but I will sort it.

No promises, no aims, no objectives. Random jottings and musings and a lot of cooking and knitting.

Mummy's Guilty Secret

Fairtrade has always made sense to me, as has buying local and, where possible, organic. But in my house we always have something that is called 'Mummy's Guilty Secret'. No, not a secret stash of gin or chocolate - it is Granny Smith apples, the lovely green shiny ones that usually come with thousands and thousands of air miles. I buy them all year round with only the slightest pang of guilt (and then only in winter when they often come from Peru). I love them as they are but my favorite way of eating them is chopped into a salad, especially accompanied by homemade pizza and blue cheese dressing!

So it seemed synchronous recently when I was trawling through the cardigan patterns on Ravelry for a pretty cardigan for C to wear over a white and green floral cotton dress, to find Neoknits' Granny Smith Cardigan. Ebay yielded Rowan Kidsilk Haze in the Jelly colourway which was dispatched in superquick time for me to start it tonight.

Sock Hound

My four-footed nephew Bailey is a sock hound. Given the run of my house his main aim in life is to get into my bedroom and root around until he finds a sock. He then nonchalantly trots back with the sock in his mouth like butter wouldn't melt.

If you try to get the sock from him he bounds off, sock still in mouth, delighted that the trick has worked and you are chasing him. The only way to retrieve the sock is to wait until he drops it, usually a bit grubbier but not damaged.

The thing that amazes me, given the usual state of my bedroom and the many more noxious things he could pick up - why socks?

Gratine

Always on the lookout for things to cook during the week that are tasty, interesting, nourishing and will do for more than one meal - this week, inspired by the beautiful white curds of a cauliflower from Morrisons and a small butternut squash, 49p from Lidl, I made a gratine.

I steamed the vegetables for 5 minutes and put them in an oblong dish then I made a thick white sauce with butter, skimmed milk, mustard powder and a big grating of nutmeg (plus s & p), there was about 3/4 pint of sauce. This was poured on top of the veg and topped with wholemeal bread crumbs from the freezer (home made, a good use for left over bread) and a couple of handfuls of Davidstow cheddar.* In a gas mark 4 oven for 30 mins.

I ate it with an experimental nut roast made from a packet - Granose, 2 for £2 in Morrisons (the other is Felafel's). Very tasty and very satisfying and it tasted equally good the next day heated in the microwave.

Butternut squash is wonderful. I don't buy them often because my food miles scruples won't allow it - they are from a variety of countries, some half way round the world, but I always enjoy them when I do. Whilst I wait for their harvest to move closed to England (as it does this time of year) I need to experiment with English varieties to find an equivalent texture and taste. But having said that, even I will put aside my scruples when faced with a box each the size of a large grapefruit and 49p!

* Davidstow cheddar is my favorite supermarket cheese. Its a strong cheddar that does not bite back but has bags of flavour and a lovely chalky 'bite'.