No soggy bottoms here

As usual I have been pretty much glued to The Great British Bake Off again this year, and Mr Man has watched it as well.  After a busy few weeks I had zero energy on Sunday so instead of me making lunch and attempting a pumpkin pie Mr Man stepped up to the plate and cooked up a storm in the kitchen.  It was his first attempt at pastry and it was nicer than mine, and no soggy bottom in sight.

I'd never had pumpkin pie before so don't know whether it tastes authentic or anything but it was strangely nice with a drizzle of cream.

After the pumpkin pie we had a bit of apple bobbing which both children loved, although I'm not sure catching apples by biting the stalk is really allowed!!

One down, one to go

Look at this yarn!!  It is the loveliest softest hand dyed merino ever.  I bought it just under 3 years ago when Miss E was born to knit her a pair of longies.  Needless to say it never made it onto my needles then due to the demands of a newborn.  Over the weekend I was contacted by a talented crafty lady to knit her little man a pair of legwarmers and after a rummage in my stash I re-found my skeins of this lovely yarn.  It is hand dyed by another lovely crafty lady, Jenny Cook, who lives a few miles away from my Mum and Dad.  Anyway, I spent a restful morning yesterday on the sofa watching An Ideal Husband with Miss E (she loved it, think it was the dresses!!) and managed to get a good start on the first one.  I finished it off this morning so am now casting on leg number two!

Baby its cold outside!!

Today is the first "proper" cold day here.  I hung the washing out and my fingers were almost numb by the time I had finished.  We had a trip out this morning (which I will talk more about another day when I have more voice and less headache!) so it was hats, gloves and neckwarmers all round then off to the supermarket to get Mr T some snowboots as he gets cold toes in shoes in the winter, even with his Nanny's hand knitted woolie socks.

Here is my latest creation, perfect for the cold weather, a chunky cable knit neckwarmer/cowl.  It was hard to persuade Miss E that it wasn't actually fro her after I had bribed her to model it for me.  It is knitted in lovely soft wool mix yarn and feels like candyfloss.

I have a lovely bluey green now to knit up another and maybe I will get some more of that pink and make Miss E one for Christmas!

Internet Problems

For the last three and a bit weeks we have been without internet and phone connection, hopefully it'll be fixed on Thursday.  I have been able to pop on occasionally thanks to my lovely neighbours sharing their wifi but that is why I have been a bit quiet.  Here are a few pics of the knitting I have managed to get on with though with less time to Facebook/pinterest/Ravelry etc!

Carrot soup

The kids favourite soup is this one from a very old and tatty Cranks book.

As you can see it has been very well used, especially the soup section as its a sure fire way to get my two to eat lots of veg.  Their favourite at the moment is Carrot Pottage, I reckon I could make it every day and it would still be gobbled up by both of them.

Mr T loved carrot soup so much when he was a toddler my mum bought him this lovely book.

It is a simple story about rabbit planting and growing his carrots and waiting patiently until they are ready to make carrot soup.  Its nice and short (so great for bedtime stories on tired evenings!) and I love the illustrations.

Another earflap hat

With our dodgy internet getting online is proving quite a tricky procedure but has given me more knitting time!  Here is my new off-the-needles hat

The pattern is an adaption of this hat knitted up in King Cole Twist Aran.  I followed the 6-9 months instructions but did the body a little longer and a larger garter stitch rim.  I have put it for sale as unisex although it does have some cerise pink in it, the colours are really autumnal!

When your fridge gives you wrinkly lemons..

make lemon cakes!!!!!

Here is our family recipe, kindly given to my Mum by a lady who lives in her village.

Lemon Loaf Cake  Makes 2 large loaves

10oz sr flour
8oz soft butter
8oz sugar
4 eggs
2 tablespoons lemon curd

Preheat oven to 160 degrees (about 2.5 Gas)

Mix all ingredients with electric mixer

Put into 2 large loaf tins (greased and lined or whatever you need to do for your tins)

Cook for about an hour until done, my oven is slow so it may be done quicker in yours

Make topping by putting juice and rind from one lemon and some sugar into a bowl and microwave to warm and melt sugar (or do it in a pan, anything to melt the sugar)

When cakes are done leave in the tins and prick the tops then pour the drizzle over.  Leave to cool as long as you can/want in the tin to allow the topping to soak in

I usually leave one for immediate eating and the other I put in the freezer!

I didn't manage to take a photo straight away and this was all that was left when I finally got round to it!

Papercraft Cats and Cities

Both littlies still snotty so I decided some indoor crafts were in order.  After a bit of online searching I found this amazing blog Made By Joel.  Miss E wanted to make the Dressy Cats and Mr T the Paper City.  The whole website is amazing and really useful if you have children as there are loads of things to print out and make to keep people busy on rainy days.

Here are the littlies at work, and play...

A Foxy Giveaway!!

This talented lady is offering a giveaway.  She makes amazing animal brooches out of felt, I especially love the owls of course ;)

http://urbanowlsshop.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/giveaway-time.html

Here is her owl brooch featured in this owly treasury!  Check out her giveaway for a cute little fox, and if you fancy an owl of your own her shop is here Urban Owls.

Felt Owl Brooch in Brow... UrbanOwls $8.50	Altered Eco Journal wit... Spellbinderie $19.99	Childrens white birch t... couturedecals $129.00	Mini Flask Keychain Bra... CosmicFirefly $35.00
Hoot the Owl, soft scul... PawprintsbyKri... $27.00	Brown Owl Decor Light S... ModernSwitch $6.00	Brown Owl blank square ... WillyWalnut $4.00	Dictionary Print - Pret... PagesOfAges $7.00
Brown Owl Potholders. ... hooknsaw $18.00	Tile Coasters - Whimsic... paizleypolkado... $18.00	Brown Owl Onesie eed953 $18.00	Brown Owl/Copper Glass ... FoxLilyBoutiqu... $12.00
Mini Ceramic Dish with ... zinniadesignst... $8.00	Owl earrings - Brown ow... Bijunea $9.90	Little Brown Owl bead -... TreeWingsStudi... $8.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Red and White

Dare I mention the C word?!  How many days are there to go?  We have Miss E's birthday to think about first but I am beginning to try and think of some present ideas.  I am also trying to think of a few festive knits and have bought some red and white yarn.  I am wondering about a stripey hat or mittens, or mittens in a single colour with crochet applique sewn on.  Or maybe even striped baby legwarmers?!  In the meantime here is a collection of candy cane inspired Christmas goodies, can you tell how much I love red and white together!!

Christmas cards, Set of... MeeMeeMeeCreat... $3.50	Felt Reindeer, Wool Toy... GardenBirdie $25.00	Red Gingham Christmas D... DandyLane $10.00	Decorative Christmas Pi... TheFeminineTou... $28.00
Hand-knitted Red White ... Legyviel $42.50	Christmas Fabric Pocket... KaelaMills $4.50	Christmas Ponytail hold... Rotifera $5.00	Christmas Stocking with... inkmeup $5.00
CANDY CANE - Shea Butte... InseineCreatio... $5.00	Red white striped stock... Lepun $16.00	Red and White Striped C... HandmadebyKATu... $4.50	Red and White Polka Dot... handworkstudio $125.00
Christmas Tree Decorati... TataniaRosa $9.00	Christmas Red and White... OneElf $20.00	Christmas Set Egg Cup B... Magicpots $70.00	Elf gnome hat, candy ca... missbelluk $19.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house