Share All The Things Friday #15
Sometimes I wonder if I should have started a food blog instead of a knitting blog. I spend an inordinate amount of time in the kitchen cooking and baking and I (mostly) love it - although I also love the odd night off to enjoy someone else's cooking for a change ...
I've always cooked from scratch because that's how I was brought up but this past couple of years have seen some fairly dramatic changes to my diet. In an attempt to get a handle on some health issues, I initially went gluten and dairy free and more recently completely grain-free. I try to see it as an adventure rather than a burden and since I don't tend to cook something unless I can eat it too, the whole Myrtle clan is enjoying mostly grain-free meals and snacks with me.
Anyhow, best I get on with the things to share this week ...
- While I make up a fair few concoctions myself, I am fairly obsessed with regularly trying new recipes. My pile of library books usually contains about as many cookbooks as knitting & crafty books and I've got a generous selection of delicious and beautiful recipe books on my shelves at home too. The most recent addition to my recipe book collection was given to me by my mum. Against All Grain was written by Danielle Walker who has a blog by the same name. So far, I'm loving it. It's beautifully presented and simple to follow. I've tried a couple of the recipes but these biscuits are getting the biggest thumbs up by my kids. They are a variation on the real - deal chocolate chocolate chip cookies from her book (and her blog) and they are fantastic! I've found it's tricky to make a decent fat biscuity biscuit without flour but these magically work. I made just a couple of changes; I used coconut oil instead of palm shortening, maple syrup instead of honey and a couple of tablespoons of cacao powder instead of chocolate chips - because I'd run out of honey and didn't have the other two in my cupboard. Fantastic. Quick, easy and only 10 minutes to cook. Yum.
- Bristol Ivy has been recording trends on the "what's hot now" page on Ravelry since February 2013. Every day at the same time she makes a note of what's on the front page according to garment type, fabric type, yarn type, colour and whether or not it's on a model (so far she hasn't been separating knitted and crocheted items but it sounds like she's going to start recording that too). Her big project has been dubbed "The Stockinette Market" and I've been dipping in and out of her thread on Ravelry since she started because it's been so interesting. This week she was interviewed on Knit FM by Hannah Fettig and I really enjoyed what she had to say about trends and what's she's noticed about knitters and fashion (I think it applies to on-line sewers too).
- Paula Henley is one of the designers featured in the December knit-a-long in the very popular and busy Budding Designers Downunder group on Ravelry. She designs under the name Koru Designs Aotearoa and has a very active Facebook page and Ravelry group. When I noticed that she published a fabulous new hat pattern this week called No. 8 Wire I thought that it would be perfect for Mr Myrtle. But, this isn't her only cool pattern. When I took a look at her catalogue on Ravelry I couldn't decide which was my favourite. Paula has a definite knack for great hats - especially unisex hats. Her Muriwai and Aspiring hats would suit anyone in the family and I'm rather fancying a Whiritoa for myself ... ;)
Have a happy weekend! X