The Knitting Knitter

Yesterday I subscribed to Ysoldas newsletter, and today she have a “I´m turning 25, 25% discount sale” on some of here patterns, and yes, I bought a few.  Some of them, like Elijah and Rose Red, I have wanted to make for a long time, and now I can make them whenever I want .  And let´s not forget this one (Matilda Jane):

Ysolda has so many great patterns, and I just cant wait until September(I think it was) when she releases here 3rd book.

Today is the first day in my last week of school. I am looking forward to not have my curriculum books laughing at me, from their place in the bookshelf, because they know I would never be able to read them all in time. So every time a pick up a fictional book, I can hear my curriculum shouting at me: why do you read that one, when you know it would be much wiser to read one of us?. I nod in agreement, and dive back in to my fictional book (at this point: “Divine Comedies” by Tom Holt”), while I try to ignore the guilt. But in five days this will all be over, and once again I can read what I want, when I want.  A privilege I haven’t had for five years now.

This week I went to Amsterdam with my boyfriend and his family. I have never been there before, and totally fell in love with the city. Despite the fact that all the garbage men was on strike, and the streets was flooded with garbage. We lived at a cute little hotel, with small rooms and narrow stairs. My sister in law expected to see a ghost or two, but I guess they where to shy to reveal them self to us. The hotel is located right by one of the canals, and one of the rooms had a view of it. From the balcony you could see the small boats tied to the edge, in addition to the big canal bouts packed with tourist that occasionally floated by.

We did a lot of shopping. Especially shoes was much cheaper then at home. But we also went to the Gogh museum. Though I am not a huge fan, it was fun to have been there and to have seen more than the just a few his most famous pictures.

On our last day (we only stayed for 3 days) we did some shopping, and ended up at a flower marked. There was flowers, roots and seeds every where. I am really glad we got to see it. We don´t have anything like this at home. And the prices, seemed to us, insanely low. It is a pity I could not take home some gorgeous flower. But there is some rules, I believe, concerning bringing dirt across borders.

An other thing I wish I could have brought with me was one of those wonderful bikes of theirs. There was bikes and people on bikes everywhere. It was just like in Denmark, only more. It seems so wonderful being able to use your bicycle wherever you want to go, since their land is so flat. Here in Norway you have to be in really good shape to do that. And unlike Holland, we don´t have roads arranged to support that kind of activity.

I hope i get to go back to Amsterdam some day (when the garbage men are all working…), because I would very much like to see more of this amazing city.

During the Easter holiday, I decided to bake a cake for my sister. She and a friend have made a deal not to eat sugar for 6 week. This made my mother was a bit concerned about what to put in here Easter egg (and to make things even worse, my sister don´t eat nuts). So when I went to my parents house, I brought a cake, made entirely without sugar.

It was fun with a little culinary challenge, and also I had an opportunity to make my own applesauce, witch I have wanted to try for some time. And as I am sure many people already know: it was surprisingly quick and easy.

Anyway, the cake turned out well, and was surprisingly scrumptious

Here is the recipe I used:

CAKE:
1/4 cup canola oil
2/3 cup agave nectar
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 3/4 cups applesauce
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla

FROSTING:
1 cup unsweetened baking chocolate, grated
1/2 cup grapeseed oil (or canola oil)
2 T agave nectar
1 T vanilla extract
pinch sea salt

Directions:

CAKE:
Mix oil and sugar well, add applesauce and mix in the dry ingredients. Beat until smooth. Pour in an oiled and floured 9″ x l3″ pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or into an oiled loaf pan and bake for 45 – 50 minutes until done.

FROSTING:
In a small saucepan over very low heat, melt chocolate and grapeseed oil. Stir in agave, vanilla and salt. Place frosting in freezer for 15 minutes to chill and thicken. Remove from freezer and whip frosting with a hand blender until it is thick and fluffy. Frost over cake!

To make sure the cake was completely free of sugar, I made my own applesauce. I also made a few alterations, but the original recipe can be found here.

Finally, after years and years of knitting, I finally understand the importance of an gauge swatch. Of course I am aware of the fact that every knitting book I have ever read mentions again and again the importance of gauge. But obviously I never listened, and had to make the experience for my self to see how essential it is. I have always been quite impulsive when I start a knitting project, and have never made a proper gauge swatch in my life, because I resent the idea of having to wait for it to be knit, washed and dried. When I find something I want to knit, I go through my stash to see  if I have some yarn I can use, find my needles, and then I cast on. And this goes no matter what the project is. Scarf, mittens, sweater or hat, it makes no difference.

The revelation came I started the Romantic bell-sleeve cardi by Stefanie Japel, and it turned out way to big. I was really looking forward to wearing that jacket, so the disappointment was big. I knew I had to rip it, but the question was: to I cast on this sweater again, or to I find something else? I decided to find something else. For some time now, I have been planning to make Snow White by Ysolda Teague, and was ready to cast on straight away. But my good friend tekopp persuaded me to make a propper gauge swatch. And when it was done, I realized the gauge was all wrong. So, finally I see what the gauge is all about. So, insted of having to rip another sweater, I made a little swatch and cast on Sunshine by Amanda Wynkoop.

I believe the reason why it has taken me so long the understand the importance of the gauge swatch, lies in the fact that I until now mostly have been knitting small projects. It is not that essential to make a swatch when you are knitting  mittens, socks or an afghan. But now I have learned (the hard way) how important it is when you are making something that you want to fit your unique body. Hopefully my Sunshine sweater will turn out great, and inspire me to continue knitting sweaters and jackets.

I just had to share this cute little video

Last week I went to Edinburgh with my mother and my two sisters. It was my mothers birthday present to herself…. and of course we did not mind going. I have been to Edinburgh once before, so I was sort of the guide, who knew where the nice shoe store is located (this was very important to my sisters). We came on Sunday, and stayed to Thursday. When we arrived at the hotel my mother had one request, that was very important to her. She wanted to drink some tea, the way the British do it. So we went to the hotel lounge,  ate sandwiches and cakes, and drank some tea.

The next day we started by visiting the Edinburgh Castle. Even though I have been to this fair city before, I had not visited the castle. Therefor this was a nice experience to all four of us. We had decided to go shopping the rest of the day, but first we drank some coffee and cakes at Starbucks.

Shopping means clothes and shoes, but also yarn! I got some yarn at K1 yarns. It is always fun buying local yarn, and discover labels you have never seen before. I bought K1 yarns Scappa , Fiberspats sock yarn, and also Almerino by Rooster yarn. (sorry no pictures of the yarn)

On the second day of our stay, we took the train to St. Andrews (where I hereby wane live when I grow up). There we visited some friends, did some more shopping, and vent down by the ocean to see  the ruins of an old cathedral.

Wednesday was my mothers birthday, so in the evening we went out to eat at an vegetarian restaurant called David Bann.   Neither my sister nor my mom are vegetarian, so I think it was very nice of them to agree to eat there. The food was amazing, and in my opinion it is something satisfying by knowing you have just had a vegan meal at a gourmet restaurant. That was a first for me.

My choclatesufflé dessert:

The last day we went to the Botanical Garden. I guess it is lovely there in the spring and summer, but we enjoyed our journey in to  winter wonderland/Narnia.

By the Chinese garden we encountered this “little” bird (a stork):

After the Botanical Garden, I got go shopping in an yarn shop I had newer been to before, and bought a bag full of yarn. Ah… what a wonderful trip this was

This year I bought the Gil Elvgren “Pin-ups” calendar, and I just have to say that I love it. It is a little big, A5 format, but in return you get a beautiful painted pin-up for every week. I am fascinated of how they can look so cute and innocent, yet sexy at the same time.

Seeing pictures of pin-ups, is to me a refreshing change from all the pictures of skinny models we see on commercials and posters everywhere. The pin-ups are also slim, but they got curves and a hourglass shaped bodies. They actually look like they eat something once in a while. They differ from today´s models because they looks like real women, not skeletons. But, of course, the only reason models today look like they do, is because the fashion industry is run by gay men. The pin-ups clearly state that curvy women are beautiful and sexy.  I have to admit that this calende have made me look at my body from a new perspective. And how many people can say that about their calender?

One of my current wip´s is the space invader- marius sweater. At first I wanted to make it for myself, but quickly changed my mind, and decided to give it to my boyfriend for his 25th birthday. I´m a bit behind schedule, since he turned 25 more than 2 weeks ago… I wanted to make this sweater for more than a year before I finally bought the yarn for it. But one thing is certain: Never again! The pattern is not an easy one, far from it. I know that this i partly my fault, because I have never made a Marius- sweater before (witch you really should have before starting this project).  The biggest problem I have encountered so far, is that the pattern don´t say anything about how to make the collar and neck. If you have done this before, then I guess it is no problem, but the pattern does not give a single clue to how it is done. To solve this I had to find a traditional Marius-pattern.. Even though I have used some time looking at peoples blogs and ravelry project, I still have not found anyone that have made this pattern, without some amount of modifications. Mostly, it seems, people borrows the space invaders pattern, and places it on a regular Marius-sweater. Clever people.

I feel a little guilty for not having written anything for ages. But now it´s a new year, I have no exams to worry about, or Christmas present to finish. December was a rather intense month, but with lots of good things happening. Just two days before we went to my parents, where we celebrated Christmas, I received some yarn I had ordered from Blue moon fiber. It was absolutely gorgeous.

I have already started a project whit the green skein, making cookie a´s Bex .

Christmas was really nice this year. One of the things I love the most about Christmas and especially Christmas day, is that then I don´t have to keep secrets for every one I know any longer. Every family member got a homemade present (knitted of course ). I was especially exited, and a bit nervous, about the mittens I designed and knit for my dad. But he loved them, and was moved by the fact that I have based them on one of his paintings.

Christmas dinner is been a problem the last few years since I stopped eating meat, but this year we made seitan. I had found a recipe for a Crocpot Gluten Roast. It got a little burned, but it still tasted very nice once we cut of the burned parts. We decided that we will make the roast next year to. It´s nice to make something special for Christmas, something that takes some effort and time. Something you only make once a year .

29th of December I went shopping for a camera, and ended up with a Pentax K-x. It is not a very expensive camera, but it fulfills all my camera related needs, even some additional ones I did not know I had before I bought the camera. I have had some time to play with my new gadget, and here is some pictures I took of my two cats: