kittycafe

Three New Things

Before Christmas I picked up this footstool frame at a thrift store. I love my old footstool but it seemed it was being borrowed by other people in the house on a regular basis and I thought another one might come in handy.

I guess before I go much further I have to acknowledge the sad tale of that big red ball of wool.

That was supposed to be my birthday sweater but just before Christmas Eve (my B-day) I realised it was not going to get finished in time and shortly after that, I realised the Top Down Percentage Method resulted in one amazon of a sweater not at all the percentage of me!  So I unravelled it.

 So the footstool. After I cut out the fabric for the stool I had enough left over to experiment with.

I was given an ereader for my birthday so I had to have a case for it, right?

I was looking at leather book-style cases online and decided to have a go at one.

I think part of the fun of making things is in the figuring out how to do it. From a photo and nothing more.

At least it is for me.

Then there was still some yardage left over, just enough for a simple tote bag. 

I may not be the best sewer(sewist?) in the world but I can figure most things out.

A friend is bringing me a bag of leather to play some more. It's really for doll house furniture (no sew just glue!) I only get my ailing sewing machine out occasionally. It has exhausting tension issues.

So back to the footstool; I got distracted :)

As you can see I also didn't have it in me right now to start the red sweater over again and so I started knitting something new.

That will be the fourth new thing, soon.

Er, relatively soon :)

 

Corner View : Black and White

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Morning tea. Robert frost poem on canvas. Neiman sweater.  

EAT letters in the kitchen. Outside is very black and white. the kitchen chalkboard (someone has requested bread!)

The newly refurbished miniature dollhouse chair. The dining table. Evening tea

Lots of black and white at my house.

 

To see more corner view's, visit here.

A year of making

I'm still in holiday mode here, meaning after new year's day I have some time off and can relax. It finally feels like a holiday.

I have been reading some year review's around the blogisphere and  I thought I'd look back at my own.

I can't really say it was a good one. This year has been full of ongoing challenges, much like the last and certainly hope this new year will be a little kinder.

But as usual in this space I focus on the making.

January and February found me in knitting mode, as is seasonal.

January brought a finished DROPS cardigan

and February a striped version of Jemima

March was about enjoying Mango Marmalade

April was about knitting socks x three


May brought dandelion wine making and rag rugs

June and July was all about soap making and strawberry black pepper jam

August I enjoyed the garden and what nature had to offer

and made walnut liqueur (which is still waiting in a dark cupboard)

September I sold soaps 

and met a blog friend, Lynne

and I made some calendula salve

October was all about birthday and the woods and finding

pink apples and old mirrors to play with

November was all about bread

and December was tarts and tunics and candles

I have more making planned, new projects and more of my favourites.

From January to December there was also you,

stopping in to say hello.

Thank you.

 

Corner View: Seasonal

For those who follow the blog, you'll notice my last post was titled Seasonal before I knew what this week's theme was. You can go there to have a look at some of what I've been up to. I may have mentioned I was busy but not crazy busy -well now I'm in the middle of the crazy.

 Because I work in a food shop making food for other people's holiday dinners, well, you can guesss this is the busiest of weeks for me. 

So I had to get most things done little by little in the preceding weeks , apparently today's theme, as well!

  So if I don't get back to this space this week, I wish all of you a very merry Christmas (or just a relaxing long weekend if you don't celebrate)  

I look forward to sharing more Corner Views and other blog goodness in the new year.

 

 

Seasonal

Just a few things keeping me busy (but not demented busy) this December:

Soy Candles

I have been keeping a few pottery cups I made this summer to fill these but never got around to it until now.

Ginger Syrup  

Very nice with sparkling water ( and last night I tried it in tea, lovely! strong!) and there is the added bonus of having ginger to candy after making the syrup. I think I may need to dip these in chocolate, too.

Christmas Soap is ready!

In the front is gingerbread-scented and in the back, chocolate mint layered with cocoa on top.

It's beginning to look a lot like...you know

Winter!

At least it did last week. We are getting rain this week (as I write), which should make for icy mornings. This heavy snow lasted almost a week on the trees, very unusual and very pretty so I was busy with my camera, too. 

Here is the walnut tree that gave me the makings for the liqueur (still in hiding)

 

Advent.

I made this candle holder a decade ago and it never made it to it's giftee. It remained in hiding until this year - I guess because I prefer chunky candles.

It is basically a ring-shaped water reservoir (so your flowers/greens stay fresh) with candle holders on top.

When I lived in the city, I would have went to the corner store and got a bag of fresh holly and maybe plundered the cedar hedge between myself and the neighbour's house to decorate this. Now though, I just walk the property and see what I can find.

Cookies.

These were for food baskets that are given out in town to families in need. Those who work at our little food shop always make the cookies.

How are you spending your December?

The Story of an Unplanned Apple Tart. SOLE Food, part 1

 

I am taking part in the Dark Days Challenge, documented at Not Dabbling in Normal, making meals following the SOLE criteria - Sustainable, Organic, Local and Ethical.

I had a meal planned but it just worked out that I made dessert first!

On my day off, I was driving down to my neighbour's , where I buy my eggs (and had a little chat with an older gent who had also stopped at the roadside cooler and we discussed how good theses eggs were) and a little ways down I noticed an apple tree, still full of late November apples on the side of the road.

I stopped to have a look. They looked pretty good,  so I picked some of these and went on to my next stop, which was a sheep farm to photograph, well, sheep of course, for the Wovember 100% wool contest. After scraping the mud from my boots before I got back in my car (will it ever stop raining?) I had a plan.

(insert random sheep photo for local colour)

It was only a short distance to Whole Circle Farm, where I purchased some  lard and a few other things.

I had the local honey and flour already at home.

And thus, the makings of an apple tart:

Apples - foraged.

Egg for pastry - my neighbour

Lard- Whole Circle farm

Flour  - Hockley Valley 

 Honey - Caledon Honey

And there it is, no recipe, just an intuitive process, just like the "shopping" for the ingredients.

Sooner or later...

we had to get some snow (which promptly melted)

and some freezing rain (at my favourite farm)

(then crazy warm again)

and sooner or later,

I would finish my summer knitting  ~I did say I would be busy~ in between the snow and freezing rain.

leisl by cocoknits

Photographing this was like taking pictures of your new black puppy - a black blob.

And it was November, dark and raining (or snowing).

Sooner or later I would give up trying to come up with a good photo. My teenage photographer was getting a little impatient standing out in the rain, hence the blurring ones in the bathroom...

and the equally crappy one with flash.

But I do love the tunic.

For something so simple, I had two false starts, one with size issues and the other, something I have never ever done before - I twisted my cast on row on a circular needle and didn't discover it until several rows in...  sooner or later it had to happen. For 30 years knitting it's a pretty good track record, though.

I used a cheaper substitute yarn than recommended, it was that or not knit at all (sacrifices due to being poverty stricken) but I do like the way it came out in the end and there should be no stretching-out problems.

And the saving grace is that it can be worn with a turtle neck, so I'm calling it a year round knit that I just may have started in summer, ahem.

I now have a more seasonably appropriate one halfway done.

Let's just pray for some light.

 

 

Corner View: Where has the time gone?

Corner View is a weekly appointment - each Wednesday - created by Jane, hosted by Francesca, where bloggers from all corners of the world share their view on a pre-arranged theme. 

This theme is all about photographic evidence

because how does this:

turn into this, in a heartbeat?

And how did these crazy kids:

 

end up with a 25th wedding anniversary last week?

Corner View: Home Sweet Home

Corner View is a weekly appointment - each Wednesday - created by Jane, hosted by Francesca,where bloggers from all corners of the world share their view on a pre-arranged theme. More Corner View at FuoriBorgo

 

That feeling when you are coming down the road and the familiar signs are there...That tree stump, that curve, that last stop sign...

 

The smoke is coming from the chimney, the cat is waiting in the drive,

the loved ones,  family and friends, inside.

 

Home sweet home.

In the Kitchen: Bread

It's bread season around here.

This is partly because it is soup season and the two naturally go together.

And also I went on the hunt for something different than my usual standby recipes.

I originally hoped to show Three breads but my first was was AN EPIC FAIL as my kids would say. The first true doorstop I have ever produced. I had high hopes invested in it as well as rather expensive organic flours. It was the all spelt recipe from Nourishing Traditions (which I still love anyway). I've made spelt breads before. I've made rye sourdough starters before. This starter was made using a different method and I'm always in for experimenting. (I still have some starter to try another bread) What can I say? The aroma while it was baking was fabulous. I only hope I didn't knock out a passing squirrel whilst lobbing it into the compost.

New bread number two is a whole wheat number that I tweaked to make a sweet breakfast loaf.

It is an all whole wheat bread with apple cider replacing the water. I decided to make it a full -on cinnamon raison loaf. I rolled it out, brushed on a little butter sprinkled a little brown sugar, a little more cinnamon and a handful of raisins and rolled it back up. Being whole wheat there is longish wait times between rises (which it does well - rises, I mean. I did the waiting. Well, the laundry, dinner prep etc....)

Also being whole wheat it is hearty - some may think a little heavy. I would not judge if you were going to replace some whole wheat with white flour.

The verdict? The sweetness from the apple cider was subtle. It was agreed I got a little carried away with the swirl and we would have just liked more raisins throughout.

I think this would be awesome with dried apples and walnuts.

Also, I wish we hadn't eaten the first loaf before photographing it. The swirl was better in that one!

 

Apple Cider Bread

This makes 2 loaves

1 Tbsps dry yeast

3 1/4 C warm apple cider (about 100'F)

7-9 c whole wheat flour

1 TBsp salt

1/4 C melted Butter

2 Tbsp Cinnamon

As many raisins or dried apples as you like.

Dissolve yeast in warm cider. Stir in 3-4 C flour to make thick batter, beat well with a wooden spoon.

Cover and let rise 1 hour. Stir in salt, butter and cinnamon.

Mix in more flour until dough comes away from the bowl. Add the dried fruit.

Knead until dough is smooth about 15 minutes. Use more flour as needed if dough becomes sticky. Cover and let rest 50 minutes. Punch down. Cover and rest another 40 minutes. Punch down.

Shape into two loaves and place in greased loaf pans. let rise for 20 minutes or until doubled.

Bake at 350"f for 40 minutes to an hour.

Loaf Number Three

I found this recipe and was intrigued enough by the method to try it. A little yeast, a little baking soda, a little beer and a long rest - perfection. I've made it twice so far. I don't drink beer and the recipe only takes a partial bottle so what's a girl to do? Make another loaf. This one is a no-brainer if you are new to making bread and it is an almost no-knead recipe. I wasn't going to advertise that fact right up front because I don't think no-knead breads are that great, generally. This one's a winner all round.

So how about you?

Do you have a favourite bread to share?