Tea and Cakes

A while ago, I posted about liking coffee creme revels.

Following this Glenda very, very kindly sent me a Canadian classic: Coffee Crisp. 4, to be precise. (They were actually sent before christmas, but as they had a long way to travel they arrived afterwards, while I was in the UK, and then there was the weekend, so I couldn’t get to the post office to collect them etc etc.) Anyway, I’ve been remiss in my blogging.

Coffee Crisp then.

Although I’ve been to Canada a few times for various reasons (namely family holiday, rugby tour, summer working  and 3 day business trip), I hadn’t noticed Coffee Crisps before. It may be because the look is, well, classic? Vintage? It could be that I was distracted all the time by the novelty of Hersheys (disappointing), and some tasty peanut butter filled things (not Reeces) that were really addictive and I’m really glad I haven’t seen over here.

Anyway, Coffee Crisp. Old style packaging:

See what I mean? I have to say, I like it.

Now, my interior photo is a bit blurry. I apologise.

The Coffee Crisp is essentially coffee flavoured wafer wrapped in milk chocolate.

It shouldn’t be substantial, and I wasn’t sure if it would satisfy my cravings for sweet deliciousness.

However. I was very pleasantly surprised. It was delicious! Really really tasty. And filling! Light, but filling. Perfect with a cup of tea, and I’d imagine pretty damn good with a cup of coffee too. Similar to a KitKat chunky, but not the same. Not as much thick chocolate, but sometimes that’s a good thing.

I still have two left, but if you’re hoping for me to be offering them as some sort of prize you can stop that thought right there. These are all mine and nobody else is getting their hands on them. I’m almost reluctant to eat them because then they’ll be gone.

Thanks so much Glenda!

It’s been a while since there was any actual knitting content on the blog. There has been knitting, but sadly none today.

Today was the day that I caught up with some finishing. I have a small collection of projects that are waiting for their future owners to be born, and most of these projects needed/need finishing. Little things – ends sewn in, seams done, fastenings attached and washing. I’m quite happy churning out the knitting, not so good at the finishing.

So, today I got to grips with it a bit.

Taking a tip from Glenda (who incidentally sent me a lovely treat a few weeks back that will soon be blogged), I’m not going to post all the project details up – you can find them on my Ravelry projects page if you’re a knitter. If you’re not a knitter, you’re probably not interested in the needle size and fibre content.

Finished, I present:

Ruffle Rib Baby Socks

Bluebell Baby Hat

Lilac Baby Hat

Almost finished:

Lilac Baby Kimono – needs i-cord ties and blocking

February Baby Sweater – needs buttons and blocking

Baby Surprise Jacket – needs buttons and blocking.

I finished knitting the baby surprise jacket on 25th August ’08. It’s taken me exactly 6 months to sit down and sew in all the ends and seam it up. Ah well.

Still to finish:

Teal Baby Kimono – the knitting’s actually all done on this now, but I can’t face any more seaming today.

All in all a productive day, but one I would have preferred to spend working on Girasole.

It’s coming along nicely, but not as quickly as it should be. An hour or so working on it today would have been lovely.

Victoria Sponge and a cappucino in The Cake Cafe.
I’ve just spent a lovely afternoon with Diane, knitting and chatting and eating cake. Can’t beat it. The Cake Cafe is a really lovely venue. It’s quite small but there’s a lovely outside courtyard and they operate a waiting list for the inside tables, which is a very fair and sensible way of doing things.
My cake was pretty good. Tasty, but nothing to write home about, which was a shame, as the cafe supplies cakes to where my knitting group meets, and I know they’re first class usually.
Anyway. A nice venue, great company, and tasty treats: a lovely way to while away a few hours on a bright winters day.

—- ?Sent using a Sony Ericsson mobile phone

One of my wonderful presents for giftmas this year was Essential Dykes to Watch Out for by Alison Bechdel, author of the excellent Fun Home, a graphic-novel format autobiography.

The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For (DTWOF from now on) is a collection of short comic strips featuring a bunch of people living their lives, and often worrying about them.

I’m a fan of comics that show ordinary people. Of course, there’s really no such thing as ordinary, and I enjoy being welcomed into a different reality than my own. I guess that links in with the people-watching side of my personality, except this way I can do it from the comfort of my new reclining armchair with a blanket and a cup of tea. Handy when you have the flu.

I planned on dipping in and out of DTWOF, but instead I started reading and didn’t really do anything else until I’d finished, the cast of characters being such good company. I missed them when I finished, especially as the strip is on indefinite hiatus while Bechdel works on other projects.

Incidentally, DTWOF is the source of The Bechdel Test, (that The Gurrier blogged last year). If something (a film really, but I find it interesting to apply it to other mediums) fulfills the following criteria, is passes:
1. There are two women in it.
2. They talk to each other.
3. About something other than a man.

It’s depressing how few things pass.
(Original comic strip here)

There’s really nothing else that could be blogged today. It was a momentous occasion, and it’s still quite hard to believe that it’s actually happened.

Much has been written and is being written, by better writers than me, and those with more of a right to be talking about it. So, instead, I shall present a list of the highlights for me. Small details, of course eclipsed by the overall awesomeness of the whole situation. I mean, President Barack Hussein Obama.

So, the little things that I’ve liked so far:
* A shout out to the non-believers.
* An emphasis on hope over fear.
* Restoring science to its rightful place. About time.
* Malia filming the speech on her camera.
* Aretha’s bow.
* The crowds! So many people.
* The Obamas getting out and walking for some of the parade.
* Joe Biden being completely unable to stop smiling all day.
* Joe Biden (again I know, but he rocks) during the parade, slowing down to make eye contact and wave to a kid and then jogging to catch up.

Last, but most definitely not least:
* Waving GWB goodbye.

Congratulations America! I think it’s all going to be ok.

I’m taking a course at the moment that involves drawing. I love studying and learning, and the course is a change from the norm for me as it’s creative rather than academic. This is good, but it’s definitely putting me out of my comfort zone.

If I had any resolutions this year, and I’m not sure that I did have any concrete ones, more like vague aspirations, one would be to give myself the opportunity to explore my creativity more. I don’t think I’m a hugely creative person, compared to other people that I know, online and in real life, but I enjoy the process and find it very satisfying most of the time. There are lots of things that I want to do, but I struggle to actually sit down and do them.

So, I’ve been looking at little bit at the things that I do that stop me from spending time on creative pursuits, and trying to deal with them. I’m not claiming or promising to be successful in that, but I’m going to at least make an effort.

I’d stalled on my course. This was because I knew what was coming up.

Sketching, and shading and toning.

I know I’m no good at this. I never have been. I remember at school having to sketch and shade something for homework, and being so upset about it that in the end mum did it for me. I can see the picture in my head now, 17 years on, and feel the frustration I felt then.

Of course, I know that the only way to get better is to practice, and the main reason that I’m so bad is that I don’t practice. The main reason I don’t practice is that I’m so bad. See the problem?

Today’s challenge was to complete a 10 minute sketch of a still life arrangement, and then a 45 minute sketch of the same thing. I had promised myself that I would get this done by the end of the day, like it or not.

Then came the very sad news that Tony Hart has died. Tony Hart was the artist and presenter of Take Hart and Hartbeat, children’s tv shows that fed a generation’s creativity. I don’t know anyone who didn’t secretly desire their art to be featured on The Gallery. (I also don’t know anyone who sent anything in, so that desire was essentially futile.) Anyway, part of Tony’s genius was in making you feel like you could do what he was doing. He made art, and you could too. Clearly there was nothing to do today but suck it up and make me some art.

I can state, quite honestly, that even if The Gallery was still around today, there is absolutely no chance that “Teapot and Mug, by TeaandCakes, age 30″ would make it on.

I present the still life I was drawing:

My 10 minute sketch:

And finally, my 45 minute sketch:

It’s recognisable as what I was drawing, so that’s a plus point. In fact, that’s amazing. It’s not good though. I’m ok with that. There’s no reason why it should look like anything other than the work of a complete amateur. That’s what I am. And a big part of exploring my creativity is accepting that, and working on it.

I know I need to practice more. I’ll see how that goes though. I can’t say that I enjoyed today’s exercise all that much.

Last night, at the home of Teaandcakes (aka The Gin Lady) and The Gurrier.

I walk into the lounge and spot this picture on The Gurrier’s laptop waiting to be blogged:

“What the fuck is that?” I ask.

The Gurrier laughs. “It’s on our patio, you should know.”

It looks like frogspawn but that’s usually laid around water, we’re on the first floor and there aren’t any frogs around here. I know that frogspawn is out.

My brain goes straight for the next most rational possibility.

It’s a spider nest. Some new breed of spiders have started laying eggs in weird gloopy jelly and one day I’ll step outside and a swarm of spiders will be all over me.

That’s it.

I’m never going near the patio again. In fact, the curtains will remain shut.

“What is it?” I ask again.

The Gurrier laughs at me and tries to pull me towards the window. “Go outside and look.”

Look? Go outside? Nope. Absolutely no chance. I’ll pull open the curtains and they’ll have started hatching and be waiting for me, fangs dripping.

“What is it? Please just tell me.” I’m getting desperate now, almost begging.

The Gurrier can barely stand, he’s laughing so hard at me and my obvious terror at the gelatinous substance inhabiting one of our window boxes.

He explains what it is and I almost cry with relief.

“It’s not spider babies then?”

He doubles over with laughter again.

Sigh.

(Turns out I did know what it is. In an effort to deal with my plant killing abilities we got some water holding crystals to mix into the soil ages ago, and the box slipped at that point, so there are too many crystals there, and it rained heavily the other day.)

Wordle word cloud for Tea and Cakes.

I think I need to expand my vocabulary.

The beginnings of a shawl. After a few months of hats and gloves and small gift type items I’d forgotten how much I enjoy knitting lace. It’s very satisfying, and very relaxing.
I’ve mastered a circular cast on (I fudged the one on the Hemlock Ring blanket), although it was a battle with the crochet hook.
The pattern is excellent, really clear with nicely sized charts.
It’s hard to drag myself away to bed, but I must…

—- ?Sent using a Sony Ericsson mobile phone

It seems to be the trend at the moment to write reflective posts about the year just gone and the one just beginning, mixed in with pictures of completed knitted gifts on crafty blogs.

However, I’ve had the pox over the christmas, starting on christmas eve and beginning to lift now, the day before I go back to work, although with a final kick in the teeth of a migraine that drugs and lots of sleep in a dark room seem to have kicked into touch. Lots of kicking round here it would appear. Anyway, that’s all well and good, but it means that big thoughtful posts about my plans for the future are out of the window.

Suffice to say that christmas was lovely, both the time spent in Dublin with family, and then back in Sussex in England with family there – us from Ireland, others from Singapore and Finland (like Bobbi I’ll be learning Finnish months and days too in 2009), and from Manchester, which is a bit closer than Dublin but I think took longer in travel time. I’ve eaten lots of delicious food, and drunk, well, a lot of hot paracetamol based drinks mainly, I’ve sat by an open fire and knit and it’s been lovely. I also saw an albino deer in the woods, which was pretty cool.

So, the obligatory catch up of knitted items:
There weren’t many really…

Fingerless Mitts, using Artesano Hummingbird, a lovely soft alpaca, 3.5mm needles, and the Berry Hill Fingerless Mittens (Ravelry link)

Chunky cowl to match, using the rest of the Artesano Hummingbird Alpaca held double, 6.5mm needles, and the Quickie Cowl pattern.

I love these two, and I’ll definitely make both again.

Next, a heavily modified Better Bucket Hat (Ravelry link) from Manos del Uraguay 100% wool and 4.5 and 5mm needles. The modifications were necessary because I ran out of yarn on christmas eve when I was sick, and through no fault of the pattern. It was traumatic. I’m not quite ready to talk about it yet.

Alpaca hat. A simple beanie, loosly based on Turn a Square (Ravelry link) but using bigger yarn, needles and not consulting the pattern at all. 5mm needles, Artesano Aran, a lovely soft and warm yarn.
There are wristwarmers that match this, in the grey with dark brown stripes, but no photos at the moment. A matching scarf has been requested, and I think I can manage that.

Finally, a small cashmere cowl, which is soft and light for my mum. No pattern, 3.25mm needles.

So, there you go. I seem to have written a reflective post about my holiday and some of the knitting I’ve done. Ah well.