With A Little Help From Paul Simon

Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance
Everybody thinks it's true.

Camelspin From The Yarn Drawer and Banville From the Bookshelf

Pattern: Simple k1, *yo, k2tog (2nd row: knit)

Yarn: Camelspin by Handmaiden Fine Yarn

Color: Labrador?? Blackberry?  (the tag didn't include the name of the color)

Needles: 4 mm. circular

Louise, at LK Yarns in the Hydrostone Market, has a few of these scarves hanging in the shop. They are all done in simple patterns but the yarns are all luxurious, with lovely sheens, and more than a hint of decadence. This luscious Camelspin is 70% silk and 30% baby camel  -and before the protests begin, I am sure they didn't harm the baby camel when they harvested a few hairs here and there!

Reading: The Infinities by John Banville

You know you have a good book when you ration yourself to a chapter here and there for fear of finishing too soon!

Baby Buttons - With A Little Help From The Beatles

Baby you can drive my car

Yes I'm gonna be a star

Baby you can drive my car

And maybe I'll love you

Wrapping It Up For Ms. Payton

Spring, glorious spring is bursting out all over and babies are as well. Since January, we've had Ms. Savannah in Kansas City, Ms. Lilllian in Laval, Quebec and, now, Ms. Payton Elizabeth in North Carolina.

We couldn't resist this dear little old fashioned dress when we saw it yesterday. Ms. Payton's mother is a dear, old fashioned girl and I am sure she will like it.

From The Yarn Drawer

Pattern In Progress: Garter Yoke Cardi (math redone to accomodate fingering weight yarn)

The Yarn:

 Lucy Neatby's Celestial Merino in Aquarius  (yoke, sleeves and button bands)

 Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in  Natural  (body)

Recipient: A September Baby

When I went back to knitting after an absence of many decades, I was a like the proverbial kid in a candy store. There were so many new and wondeful fibers available and, with the Internet, so many sources of supplies, patterns, advice, and information. 

Having lost two sisters well before they should have been called upon to cross that silent sea, I've always been overly conscious of the fact that time is not an limitless resource, and I embraced my love of color and texture again with great enthusiasm. I plunged pell mell into the world of knitting with a desire to experience everything and make up for time lost. (From the size of most yarn stashes on Ravelry, I realize I am not alone in this approach to needlework!)  I bought  lovely yarn in beautiful colors but perhaps not always the best yarn for the projects I had in mind at the time or for the skill and knowledge level I possessed at that point.

So, three years later, that much older and wiser, I have declared 2010 the year of the yarn drawer! I am making a concerted effort to go back to those balls of colorful candy and find clever and imaginative ways to put them to good use.

My only major yarn purchase this year is going to be enough Jamieson's Shetland yarn to make an adult sweater. Most appropriate for a resident of New Scotland.

My Brother's Socks

These socks are for my brother, who is one of the youngest old men I have ever known. He is doing well, even driving a bit, but he has been feeling chilled since his surgery and I thought a pair of wool socks might help to make him feel more comfortable.

Pattern: Gentleman's Fancy Socks

Designer: Nancy Bush - Knitting Vintage Socks

Yarn: Opal Uni Solid

Color: 1263

Needles: 2.25 mm circulars

A More Successful Endeavor

Movita came over on Sunday for an Indian meal. We had Balti butter chicken, tarka dhal (a new recipe and the best ever!), naan bread - and a white cake with chocolate fudge frosting (definitely not in keeping with the flavors of the Indian subcontinent!). The white cake recipe (from Canadian Living magazine)  has been stowed away in my recipe binder since the early 1970's and probably not made since then!  Although the texture was light and feathery, I was just a tad disappointed in the flavor, which I thought was a bit wishy-washy. Movita suggested adding more vanilla and that might help. The frosting, however, was delicious and I have to get the link to that recipe from Movita, who located and read it out after searching the laptop on the kitchen counter as I assembled ingredients.

When Recipes Need Tweaking

I usually only bake if company is coming or Christmas is approaching. But the cold north wind howled all day, with constant gusts of 60-70 km rattling the windows, and the sky was a bone chilling grey. Turning the oven on and working with chocolate seemed like a warm and comforting way to combat Mother Nature. 

Despite many years of baking, I have rarely made chocolate cake from scratch. The danger of producing a dry one always seemed so high. A couple of weeks ago though, with Movita and Derek coming for supper, I managed to produce an absolutely awesome chocolate butter cake  from the joy of baking website. Buoyed by that successful endeavor, I browsed a variety of websites today for a chocolate cupcake recipe, eliminating a few that looked good because they called for Dutch cocoa, which I did not have in the house.

Now Julia Child said that a very large percentage of recipes (90%, I think!) were not well written and contained mistakes. That makes sense to me as baking is, after all, a combination of both art and science, so the writer has to possess calculating creativity. Despite measuring accurately today and following the recipe directions faithfully, the cupcakes turned out to be so overly light and airy that it was absolutely impossible to get them out of the tins intact. The tops separated from the bottoms and many of the bottoms came out in sections. Although they contained both cocoa and melted, unsweetened chocolate, they tasted like... well, a particularly vapid cake mix! I think the photo could be accurately labeled The Chocolate Cupcake Massacre.

Wrapping It Up For Ms. Lillian