Introducing Freetime Knits

There comes a time when a knitter has to say, okay, enough, my cupboards are overflowing with yarn and I just can't hoard any more. Well, not without hoiking up the floorboards and using the recess as additional storage-cum-home insulation. 

Despite an imminent home reorganisation as I prepare for a new career as a home-based writer and designer, I'm facing the prospect of confronting my yarn stash head on and asking it what we both expect to get from each other from this point on. 

Freetime Knits are those I'll be knitting on the sly
when I probably should be working

Are we getting anywhere and making sweet handicrafts together or do we need to take a long hard look at the amount of time we spend in each other's company and decide whether we aren't really wasting each other's time a little, however fun this dalliance may be? 

Fleetingly, the thought occurs to me that I may have given up my day job in order to indulge my knitting and other obsessions. Really, though, that's just the guilt that has been drummed into me. I'm looking back at nearly 20 years of education swiftly followed by almost as many chasing a career and the elusive prospect of being settled with a home of my own. It's taken this long to be sufficiently in my own place mentally and legally. Some 'me time' is due. 

With no 'natural' career break to have kids, travel the world, write that long-promised novel or return to study, a pause is in order. I may even soft-pedal a while if my conscience allows. (Mainly, I'll probably be blind-panicking about the lack of freelance work I've managed to attract.)

What I probably won't do is stop knitting. I'll just rethink what my knitting's for and marshall my multicoloured flock into some semblance of order once my home becomes an office. My downtime - those 'resting' pauses in which actors indulge and writers perhaps blog or tweet - may well be spent idling clicking needles together. I create because I can - and because I am. 

My knits won't be commercial (I'm neither skilled nor speedy enough) and I'll try not to pressure myself heaps about knitting up a storm in order to bestow the softest and sweetest of gifts on family and friends. But if in my freetime I build up a modest pile of neatly worked stocking stitch sweaters and toys that grew in my downtime hours and could potentially be sold for a song, well, that's just me, okay. Freetime Knits from a free-spirited, newly enervated me. 

About a bag

Mum finally has a handmade knit. The design is simple but striking, with ridges of knits and purls pulled across and tethered to create a smocked effect. Having discovered I just can't cope with lace patterns (at least not yet), smocking has been a very welcome discovery. 

The finished Daydreamer handbag
I made mum for Christmas

I used the Daydreamer pattern from Emma King's 25 More Bags To Knit and stuck fairly rigidly to its instructions. Rowan Big Wool is one of my favourite yarns, so this was no hardship. I did use slightly smaller needles than specified (12mm rather than 15mm), but both are listed on the yarn band as suitable. The yarn is a little greener than the blue-green I had in mind, but contrasts well with the pink DK I used for the smocking. 

Bag handles are few and far between, as I've found on previous occasions when looking for the ideal handle to complete a bag I've been making. I couldn't find a D-style handle I liked, so instead have U-shaped faux bamboo ones. 

Lining fabric is less of an issue, especially since a metre of a luxury fabric such as silk costs £10 but can be used for at least three projects. My sister in law recommends Indian sari shops for even better deals than my local fabric shop, Lewisham's Rolls and Rems. 

I used a layer of stuffing from an old pillow to make the wadding for this latest project. I'd originally hoped to keep costs down by using a vintage fabric in the form of an unwanted garment for the lining, but the silk added a luxurious touch to what was an otherwise fairly homespun design. 

I should have placed the handles a little more carefully and I think the bag is better for having been sewn up more than the original Emma King version at the top, but overall, I'm pleased with the results.

The Daydreamer bag from Emma King's 25 More Bags To Knit book

Coconut milk panna cotta

Panna cotta seems to be very fashionable at the moment and I'd like to be able to come up with a version that I can eat myself - meaning no gelatine - and a version that will appeal to the dairy-avoiding Hindi members of my family. 

i was pretty excited to find both variations online, but actual recipes rather than anecdotal reports of their success seemed elusive. The only thing to do was give them a try myself. 

Add report here

The other fun thing about panna cotta is it's the perfect foil for caramel. Watching the early rounds of Masterchef: The Professionals made me want to give sugar-only caramel making a go - and to try out the swirls and cages that can be created with just a pan of sugar as a starting point. 

Expect some caramel-inspired comedic disaster tales some day soon.  

The Great Christmas Knit begins

I hope to present Mum with an Emma King 

Daydreamer handbag this Christmas

It's no accident that knitting and craft magazines are currently being given prominence on the racks at newsagents and supermarkets up and down the land. We like nothing better than a homemade knit, homemade decorations (though that's rightly the domain of school craft lessons, in my opinion) and a bit of home comfort. 

I'm not immune, of course. No sooner had the latest issue of Let's Knit dropped through my door and I'd learned that its Let's Get Crafting-based sister title was touting eight whole balls of wool as an incentive gift on its front cover, than I was plotting my visit to the nearest large branch of WHSmith to bag myself a copy. 

Given my recent abortive attempts to create proper garments with too little yarn, eight balls sounded like a surefire winner. As it happens, I've resisted the urge to buy the magazine after all (it's a great deal, but a mix of colours wasn't quite what I was after)

Nonetheless, this weekend has very much been about planning out the knits for the coming weeks and working out who's getting what and what I can fit in to my post-work evening knitting schedule. 

First priority is a knit for mum. My big plans for a cardigan ended up being scrapped due to poor planning and I'm hugely conscious of . Having scoured my books and magazines, I've chosen an Emma King Daydreamer handbag I think she'll like. It's a Rowan Big Wool knit, so it will be speedy to make. Sticking with the recommended wool for this one and already have the necessary bamboo handles. Assuming my smocking skills and the yarn colour come up to scratch, Mum may finally get a Rosie handmade knit this Christmas. 

Naturally, I couldn't resist the lure of online yarn shopping even once I'd ordered some Big Wool, so a 'standby' order of reddish yarn with which to create the Peony bag from Let's Knit and some Sirdar Chunky to create a simple hat are also on their way. Time to invest in some more storage…

Potato and root vegetable gratin

The nights are drawing in and comfort food is just exactly what's called for. Gratin offers an indulgent and tasty supper that is very quick to prepare and can be adapted to include whatever alternatives you happen to have to hand. 

The recipe here is based on the Potato and Leek Gratin recipe on the BBC Good Food website, but without the ham and with carrot, extra garlic and rosemary rather than the bay leaf of the original. 

Sweet potato gratin also works well and adds a dash of colour to what could otherwise be a fairly bland (though very tasty) dish. To reduce the starch content, try substituting some of the marries pipers for parsnip or turnip. 

The gratin can be served with a green salad and tomatoes - amazingly, I'm still harvesting the occasional cherry tomato, even though it's November. On this occasion, we're having gratin and steamed broccoli as accompaniments to a slice of vegetable quiche for the vegetarian and veal for the carnivore. 

Ingredient list

800g maris piper or other large potatoes [larger ones are easier to peel]; peel and thinly slice

2 large leeks or combination of leeks, carrots and other root vegetables; slice thinly

100g cheddar or other grating cheese

300ml double cream

150ml milk

125ml vegetable stock

2 cloves garlic; thinly sliced or crushed

1 bay leaf or sprig of other pungent herb

butter to line baking dish

salt and pepper to season

Method

Combine milk, cream and made up vegetable stock in a pan and set to simmer. add garlic and herbs. 

Butter gratin dish and arrange vegetables evenly. Add seasoning and pour cream and stock mixture over the top. Sprinkle grated cheese on top, cover with aluminium foil and place in the middle of an oven preheated to 180 degree C. 

After half an hour, take out, remove foil and spoon some of the liquid over the top to keep things moist. Return to the oven and cook for a further 40 mins or until the potatoes are thoroughly soft and the top of the gratin nicely crispy. 

Warning: this dish retains its heat, so you should give it 10 minutes to cool down before serving, the wait also allows the ingredients to firm up and hold together. 

Think before engaging needles

A salutory tale of why you need to think before you knit

I love this cardigan in Brownwyn Lowenthal's Love To Knit

I've learned an awful lot over the three years I've been knitting. It's a good job mistakes are there to be learned from, as I've certainly made my fair share. Two projects in particular stick out like a matching pair of sore thumbs this year: the Bronwyn Lowenthal cap-sleeved cardigans I embarked on and which have both stalled to a halt. 

The summery yellow version I was making for myself got pushed to one side when I found the complexities of the lace upper parts too advanced for my still fairly basic knitting skills. This isn't a real disaster as I really like the pattern and the way the pattern is taking shape, so I'll pick it up again when I'm feeling a bit more confident. I already have a better idea of how lace knitting works than I did when I started the cardigan, so this one's merely on hold. 

The second top is an entirely different matter. It's a classic case of having grand plans and rushing into them. The yarn I bought is rather too textured, but the colours are ever so pretty and my Mum will love whatever I end up making for her with it. Unfortunately, she won't be getting the cute cover-up cardigan I'd intended. 

I bought the Auracania yarn in a sale and wasn't careful enough about checking how much I'd need. Add the fact that I was using a one-size pattern that would be rather snug on my mum, so I was knitting on slightly larger needles, and it's probably no surprise to find myself two thirds of the way through knitting the cardigan's back with only one and a half skeins left. 

I may 'upcycle' this into a cute bag

One more skein would probably have been enough to complete the project, but a thorough scout online revealed I'd lost the opportunity to do so - it's just not onsale anywhere, even through eBay or overseas. There's nothing to be done but to lick my wounds and accept that I can't take this knit any further. My saving grace may be to turn the existing work into a small bag and salvage something from the work I've put in so far - upcycling by necessity, if you will. 

Banana and Kiwi Cake

This recipe is adapted from one in the Australian Women's Weekly book of baking. I had a glut of kiwi fruits - I'd picked up for a bagful for £1 from the lovely Sunday market near London Fields. 

The original recipe called for passion fruit, but these are a lot less easy to come by in London unless you're really on a mission. 

Here's the basic recipe with amendments noted: 

125g softened butter

165g soft brown sugar

2 eggs

225g self-raising flour [I used plain flour with 3 teaspoons raising agent]

1 teaspoon mixed spice [my version omitted this]

3 small ripe bananas

210g soured cream

60ml semi-skimmed milk

Passion-fruit icing

240g icing sugar

1 teaspoon soft butter

2 tablespoons of passionfruit pulp [pulp of 2.5 large kiwis used instead]

Butter and sugar beaten together. Add eggs one at a time and stir in. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients, followed by the sour cream and milk, then the banana. 

Once everything is combined evenly, transfer the cake mix to a lined 15x25cm loaf tin and cook at 180 degrees C. Cook for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn out on to a cooling rack. 

Make the icing by combining icing sugar and butter - very messy. Mix in the passion fruit or kiwi pulp. Using a flat knife, spread the icing over the top of the cooled cake. 

Brighton knit report

We decided on Brighton for our wedding anniversary. Brighton turned out to have more than its expected share of knittiness. 


I had read in Let'sKnit magazine a couple of issues ago that Cocoon Knits from Hove were running a fundraising campaign involving yarn-bombing a double decker bus. It was to be driven along Brighton and Hove seafront the afternoon of the 20th August. I wasn't sure we'd get to see it, but we lucked out on our drive back from Hove.


Next day, on our way to The Lanes, we chanced upon the Martlett's Hospice shop - the hospice is the charity in aid of which the bus had been 'yarned'. 


Naturally, on spying a small wool selection in the corner, I could resist doing my bit for charity. The fact the yarn's bright pink didn't hurt. 


Further into town we spied a yarn-bombed lamppost and, most importantly, chose our lunch venue based on its knitted Brighton Pavilion display and knitted seagull mobiles. Sold! 


Better yet, afternoon tea was served in teapots clad in the best tea cosies ever! 

Bike hike

Well, the plan to get some exercise is going ok so far. The garden has been giving me plenty of excuse what with all the hedges and weeds to be sorted. Lopping down a few more boughs this weekend was less hardcore than the previous few weeks, but zapped me out even so.

The goats at Surrey Quays Farm are numerous and very friendly

Sunday was glorious, so after an hour or two knitting socks and tending to thirsty veg, I was pleased Mark says yes to a cycle ride. We headed towards the river using even more cycleways than I knew existed and made our way along the Thames towards Tower Bridge. A stop-off at the excellent Surrey Quays Farm for tea and communing with the animals kept us going.


Tonight, I was determined to keep up the good intentions despite aching from too much charging over cobblestones on my bike. Amazingly, i managed to put in my dues on both the crosstrainer and the bike. Not quite as satisfying as last week's unexpected burst of energy and loss of 5kg, but a good start.

Fig leaf surprise

After much pruning and the tree not taking the slightest hint that its endless growth was unnecessary, I arranged to have our fig tree chopped down last winter. Holes were drilled into the stump and poison poured in. But sure as can be, a few months later it started sprouting up again.
My one regret about chopping it down the last time was that the leaves could have been put to good use, even though the fruits never fully ripened.
Before I attack it again, I'm going to harvest some of its leaves. 
Most fig leaf recipes involve steaming fish wrapped in the leaves. It's also possible to make a variation on stuffed vine leaves.
But the simplicity of this Fig Leaf Liqueur recipe caught my eye. Depending on the results, we could even be making a start on this year's homemade Christmas presents.

Lewisham People's Festival

Last Saturday was dry, mainly sunny and just the right temperature for getting out and about. It was ideal weather for the annual Lewisham People's Day - a free day-long festival with several performance stages for dance troupes, acoustic and amplified musicians and so on. There was a small funfair, plant, craft, cake and clothing stalls and lots and lots of worthy community organisations keen to pitch their stories to interested locals. 


I liked the fact that as well as outreach orgnisations there were education establishments highlighting the offerings for continuing and return to education. With all the recent talk of excluding people from education due to very high tuition fees, plus the fact that it can be hard to find out about opportunities that are available, it was great to see several such organisations represented. 


Another fun element was the presence of 'bobbies on the beat' in uniforms from Peel's day onwards. Vintage police cars were also on show and I was intrigued to come across references to a police vehicles museum that was formerly in Catford - from the photos displayed it looked very much as though they had been at the old Ladywell Police Station. I will look into this. 

My friend Julieta from Knitshop on Lee High Road was holding knitting sessions at The Big Top. Entertainment going on behind her there including a public singalong in the vein of Glee and demonstrations of swing dancing. Across the other side of Mountsfield Park was a dedicated dance stage where, inevitably, teenage girls performed the routine from Katy Perry's California Girls and more energetic groups performed acrobatic dances. 

There was a curious chidren's tent with decorations made from recycled plastic bottles - a great idea, though the sharp ends of the colourful plastic flowers worried me a bit. A crazy bikes arena saw a successive of people take a turn on a revolving, six-handed cycle that moved in mysterious ways, much like a pedal-powered ouija board. I used the Kodak Playsport camcorder I was reviewing to take a quick video of this in action. 


There's also a video of the final song played by indie band The Cleaners (myspace link). We didn't stay until the evening, when the star act was Neville from The Specials and Fun Boy Three.

Go knit girl gets active

Knitting is great for relaxing, destressing and generally feeling creative, but it's a pretty static activity. You get to exercise your mind as you figure out how to fix those extra stitches you accidentally created and whether the pattern you're sort of following could work in an oh-so-subtly different way (alright, if you go freestyle).
But I can't help but notice that the summer months are wiling away and while my projects are progressing, my waistline is hardly something I'd be proud to show off in my summer wardrobe.

Like many people, I have a gym membership. I used to make pretty good use of it and, even though the one time a personal trainer told me cross-training for an hour wasn't as impressive an indicator of fitness as I thought, I ratcheted up the resistance dial and ploughed on harder than ever.
Latterly, though, the gym equipment and I have become strangers. My workout motivation ebbed away long ago and I'd far sooner be knitting, gardening or doing any number of other things.
Since the gym's no longer where it's at, it's time to act. I'll be waving goodbye to what has become little more than an excuse not to find another activity instead. Forking out £50 a month as displacement won't shift the extra inches I've acquired.
Instead, it's time for more walking, cycling and perhaps even running. Scary, but free and far more effective and accommodating to my lifestyle whims.

Barcelona blues

We’ve just returned from an early summer break. Having written a fair amount for the next issue of PC Advisor relating to mobile roaming costs, the practicalities of web access while abroad and the need to keep your precious gadgets safe from light-fingered strangers, I thought I was fairly well prepared for our holiday. 

Data roaming was duly deactivated, a neighbour drafted in to feed the cat and keep an eye on the garden, and a plethora of gadgets lined up next to the suitcase and abandoned at the last minute given the parsimonious luggage allowance of our low cost airline. 

Naturally, packing light still managed to catch us out: we had everything we needed for a comfortable five-night sojourn save the necessary UK-to-European adapter and the wherewithal to sort out our currency in advance – an expensive mistake given the harsh exchange rate against the Euro.

We decided to leave the laptops and iPad at home and take simply the bare technology essentials. This included admirable apps such as Word Lens on the iPhone – an instant menu translator that several times saved us ordering items we’d have found unpalatable. Advance warning that stuffed sweet peppers – a vegetarian tapas staple back in  Blighty – would come packed with cod made it instantly worth the cost of the £5.99 Spanish to English edition.

Smartphone versions of Lonely Planet guides saved us lugging about travel books, but the hardware itself came up short when it came to locating the recommended venues. Why the iPhone browser has no in-built cache I will never know. It’s not for lack of onboard memory. Having tracked down a half-remembered restaurant and logged its name and approximate location while in Wi-Fi range in our apartment, my planning went to pot when we came close to actually navigating there. Pressing ‘Back’ on a smartphone merely brings up a ‘no internet connection’ message. We’d racked up a £15 bill days earlier in similar circumstances and weren’t keen to be stung again. 

Luckily, our holiday friends had a cheap data package that meant we could get online and that saved the day.

Brockley Knits at Brockley Max

I've finally signed up to a Ravelry account, which means I can splurge details of my in-progress knitting frustrations on their forums rather than here. But in a bid to be more sociable with my new-found creativity, I'm making a concerted effort to 'reach out' to other knitters. My Facebook, Twitter and blogging will no doubt reflect this, whereas last year's blogging was more of a show and tell about my gardening endeavours. 

We're putting on a knitting event during this year's Brockley Max festival. On May 30th we'll be knitting and chatting at Mr Lawrence Wine Bar in Crofton Park from 7.30pm. 

Brockley Knits doesn't yet have an identity, so I've suggested we knit this fella as our mascot. You can see more of him at the Jellybums site.

Brockley Knits now has a Facebook page, and I'm hoping to get in touch with other local knitting groups so we can make a broader local event. 

Julia from Knitshop in Lee Green is probably our nearest local yarn shop, so I've asked her along, and I'm hoping the wonders of Twitter and Facebook will yield responses from the Fox & Firkin knitting group and their equivalent in Nunhead. 

Knitting's a lot of fun when shared with friends. Come along and see. 

Tesselating girl

It's amusing – or at least a time-wasting diversion – to mess around with search engines and see what comes up. Dave Gorman has based a substantial part of his career on just that. 

Starting points are simply that and can take you in all sorts of unexpected directions. You may lose an hour or three in the process, but there'not much harm in expanding your mind with some light Googling. Sometimes you'll learn quite a lot; other times, uncover unexpected links.

While proofreading some copy for work I came across the term tessellating. We use some interesting terms to describe different types of keyboard, and tessellating was a new one to me. I had a vague idea of its meaning, but wanted to verify it was the right word in the right context. Into Google it went.

Imagine my surprise when the top results (aside from a po-faced Wikipedia explanation) related to knitting. A tessellating fish pattern and lively forum discussion about it had pushed the phrase high up the Google results page.

Who am I to argue? Here’s the link: http://fiberphile.typepad.com/fiberphile/2006/01/a_little_bit_of.html – Expect to see a photo of a brightly coloured tessellating fish appear on my blog one day soon. 

Fashion illustration at the Design Museum

The Design Museum has a great exhibition on at the moment. In fact, it has two. I took our niece Izzie to see the fashion illustration exhibition on the first floor and managed to keep the husband entertained to boot as the upper floor has a product design of the year exhibition that had recently opened. 


The Drawing Fashion exhibition pays homage to some of the incredible draughtsmanship clothes designers and their illustrators. From Dior and Chanel right through to Alexander McQueen and Viktor & Rolf, the exhibition encompasses nearly a century of fashion drawing. 


Many of the illustrations went on to tell fashion stories in Vogue - even to cover illustration status - while all brought an extra dimension to the fashion house concerned. The vintage magazines on show, complete with their original cover designs, were a treat in themselves. 


What amazed me was the diversity of the drawings. Some of the illustrators showcased in Drawing Fashion were able to turn their hands to several radically different styles. Pop Art might look simple, but illustrating such directional lines almost certainly wasn't. Yet the illustrator Antonio was able to flit from 1930s style graphics such as the image above, to Pop Art via the quite dandyish, Lautrec-like drawing of the illustration below. 

By its nature, Drawing Fashion was primarily a static image show, but the pictures were interspersed with videos showing illustrators at work. The 12 separate processes used in the production of one of the designs in which block printing and overlaid inks were involved was an apposite demonstration. 


Drawing Fashion is on at the Design Museum, Shad Thames on London's south bank until 6 March 2011. Entrance to the Design Museum covers both Drawing Fashion and the Brit Insurance Design of the Year exhibitions. 

Vintage or next year's remaindered stock?

Visited Anita's Vintage Fashion Fair in Portobello Road this weekend. Having a fashion fan niece to stay, plus the excuse of the start of London Fashion Week is great. Bought the cosiest of cashmere jumpers and managed to pass on to Izzie some of the dresses I have hoarded for the last couple if years and realistically can't fit in. I am very sad to see them go, but to a good home.

Greenwich Cafe Society

Greenwich is a changeable place. The markets have been pared back and are now more focused on food than simply gazing at and occasionally purchasing hand-crafted or salvaged items. The queue for the goat stew was longer than I've ever seen it. Mark almost abandoned the wait, but after the most gruelling marathon training session to date, he needed some proper refuelling. 

Goat stew, rice and bean cakes tempting visitors to Greenwich Market

As well as the well-known covered market, where food stalls occupy roughly a third, there are more cafes and cake shops than at any time I can remember (and I've been a fairly frequent visitor for 20 years). Some of extremely bijou with just a couple of tables of lucky people tucking in to their delicious looking cupcakes and fancies. My timing will be right one of these days...

Paul Rhodes Bakery near the Old Naval College does great looking breads and pastries but was also rather packe and there was no room at the upstairs cafe in Waterstones bookshop. Costa Coffee in Waterstones and Starbucks across the road from it are still exceptions here in Greenwich. Away from the Crescent Arcade identikit shops are more interesting takes on a well-earned coffee break. 

Mark has a well-earned cuppa at Biscuit after a big marathon-training session

Biscuit on Nelson Road (biscuit-biscuit.com) is one of the larger enterprises that has sprung up of late. Its large clear windows frame plenty of well-spaced tables and seating - along with a large wall of pots. Inside, it's a hive of industry. At first we thought we'd intruded on a pottery lesson. It is a coffee/cake shop but the food isn't the main attraction. 

Biscuit entreats its customers to be creative rather than relaxing and breathing in some restorative calories and caffeine. 

Choose a pot and give it a paint job

Blank white unfired pots can be bought at the counter. Choose from a zany cow, robot, horse rearing up or a cute animal if you prefer, or select a larger, more practical item such as a platter or jug. Prices range from £12 up to £24 depending on the size and complexity of the pottery you wish to customise. Bags of finished artworks that have been duly fired and dried cover an entire wall, ready for collection. Perhaps the one drawback to this intriguing enterprise is that you need to allow a week between painting and being able to take home your completed project - not ideal for the Greenwich day-tripper. 

As the assembled clientele and thoughtful inclusion of a baby changing room indicate, Biscuit doesn't try to be too arty. It;'s about getting stuck in and having a go, whatever your age. Paints are soluble and you can easily rinse off any designs you decide not to keep or unintentional personal adornment. Large signs encourage painters to layer up and increase the impact of your unique artwork. 

On this occasion, we didn't actually indulge in any pot decoration on this visit, but we noted details of the pot parties that can be held at Biscuit and will certainly return with young relatives and friends soon.