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Wolf Porridge

February 3, 2012 By 6 Comments

So I’m a good baker. I may not be the best baker, but I rarely have a cake that doesn’t rise. As a young girl I made a cake every Saturday before I went ice skating, usually chocolate, let’s be honest, and I’d have a massive slice of it when I got home, having first spent my 50p on a massive chip butty at the ice rink. Ah, the seventies – what a decade of fine childhood nutrition that was.

For Christmas I got the second best Christmas gift* ever – a raspberry red stand mixer. I finally went for the Kenwood Kmix, because a) British company and b) that Kitchenaid’s almost twice the price innit? Sheesh. Anyway, I’m sure they both make a fine cake, but I love my Kenwood, because it’s mine.

(Interestingly, before Christmas Mr J sent me a link to a different Kenwood, which had more attachments and more watts and stuff like that, thinking he ought to get that one, because technically it was better. It was only marginally more expensive than this one. But, as I said to him, this one is RED, a fact which is seemingly lost on him. Tsk.)

(*Best ever Christmas gift is still the kindle. I think it might only be toppled by a new and improved kindle.)

We’ve been baking a lot from Short and Sweet by Dan Lepard, which I love not only for its density and completeness, but also for the fact that it is the first cookbook I’ve felt compelled to scribble in, adding my own notes as I go along. I think perhaps it is something to do with the fact that, unlike a lot of modern recipe books, every recipe is not given a photograph or even a whole page to itself. There is more of a jumbled in feel to the collection. The paper is also very tactile, not shiny and smooth, and it takes pencil marks exceedingly well (I still can’t bear to make marginalia in anything but a pencil).

It was the turn of his cupcakes recipe today. Turning aside from my dear Nigella‘s tried and tested fairy cakes recipe made me nervous but kitchen gambles are never irreversible. Dan suggests throwing the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract into the bowl of your delicious mixer all at once and beating for 3 minutes. Now the recipe does say to make sure the butter is soft, which it was, but I have added a note to say ‘do not try on extremely cold winter days’, or you will end up looking at tiny shards of butter being flung around in an eggy sugary mixture with not a hope in hell of coming together into anything like cake mix.

We started again, beating the sugar and butter together in a more traditional way, and everything was fine. And the cakes are fairly delicious, though I imagine if their liberation from the oven had not been held up by the liberal sprinkling of wolf porridge (a mixture of red lentils and pearl barley) all over the kitchen floor, they might be even nicer.

Baking seems to have become a staple thing in the house again, which was happening even before the arrival of the red beast, and this week was the first week in four that I actually bought a loaf of bread, as the dough hook makes chucking a loaf together a work of moments. Also it’s expedient with an impatient two year old, who likes measuring, flinging ingredients about, and licking his hands, but not so much spending ten minutes watching mum knead dough.

Our hours in the kitchen today were borne of desperation and necessity – stuck in the house with both snuffly colds and the bitter cold outside – but they were some of my favourite hours of this whole week. Finishing off by letting the boy pour lentils all over the place while I washed up from our cake adventure was delightful for him and me, seeing his growing confidence in pouring with small cups and bigger jugs, and inventing wolf porridge along the way. After all, it all sweeps up doesn’t it? It’s only a little bit of mess.

Nice to be back by the way.

Filed Under: Baking, book review - 6 Comments

Mini Book Review: Sewing For Boys

September 18, 2011 By 6 Comments

I’ve had Sewing For Boys on pre-order since I first heard about it earlier in the year, and having tried a Figgy’s pattern in the meantime, my anticipation was set to High.

Then I started getting emails from Amazon, about the release date being moved back, and then back a bit more, and then back even further, and then forward a little bit, until finally I got a despatch email.

You’d think after all of that I’d have been chomping at the bit to get started, wouldn’t you? And I am, but in a low key sort of way that has absolutely nothing to do with the book.

I love the book already, you see. It has longevity, since the patterns can be made for boys up to about 7 or 8, depending on the size of your boy. The patterns are practical, and cool, but not twee. It has small projects (t-shirt refashioning, t-shirts, simple trousers) and larger ones (jackets, smart trousers). The patterns are printed on high quality thick paper, and are stored in a neat envelope inside the front cover. It’s also internally spiral bound, so it will store nicely and then lie flat on your worktable.

I’ve already picked out these treasure pocket pants as the first project I’ll make, since we’re coming home with my pockets laden with conkers and acorns and stones. And leaves. Except he doesn’t call them that – he runs up and thrusts a bronze leaf into my hand, saying excitedly “another fire!” And they do look like little fires.

Anyway if I’m so thrilled to finally have the book in my possession, why am I not sewing already?

Do I need to say more? This is where I sew. This is now officially known as the Room of Doom, and this is actually after an hour of tidying up. It was much worse. The downside of having a loft conversion is that everything that used to be stored elsewhere has been swept down through the house on an invisible tidal wave, and ended up swilling about in the little room at the back of the house.

I’m displaced. I wander around in the evenings saying “I’m sure I used to do things”, but not having quite enough oomph to sort it all out. This week I bought a shredder. If shredding is as much fun as I think it will be I can’t see much in this room surviving.

Anyway, all that aside, if you have boys to sew for, I think you should get the book. It’s exactly what you’re looking for, and I do know how long you’ve been looking. Come back sometime in January when I’ve managed to get near the sewing machine and I’ll tell you how I get on with those pants.

Filed Under: book review, Making for Mothers, Sewing Tagged With: , , - 6 Comments

300 – a Giveaway with 'Made at Home'

July 23, 2010 By 25 Comments
What was the first thing you made when you began your sewing adventures? For me it was a cushion cover. As simple as you like, two squares of fabric and a zip. I didn’t know enough to be scared of zips, and I thought silk was a lovely fabric to work with, and I didn’t know a thing about interfacing. It stood me in good stead for longer than you’d think, considering how slap dash it was.

Made At Home - patched cushion

I was reminded of that cushion cover when I first looked at Made At Home, which Quadrille kindly sent me to have a look at. The chances are you’ve picked up a cushion cover in a shop and swiftly put it down after looking at the price tag, yet still been consumed with the desire to strew your home with textiles that make you glad all over. Making a house into a home is one of the biggest motivations there is to learn to sew.

Made At Home - seat cushion

The book has great style: slightly retro and homely, but with a funky edge that leaves you in no danger of creating old-fashioned furnishings. Not a pelmet in sight, in other words. The mix of photography and child-like illustrations gives the book a light-hearted ‘give it a go’ feeling, which is a nice contrast to the ‘must do it this way or be shot’ tone of some sewing manuals (not that there isn’t a place for that too). It’s a book to encourage rather than frustrate, I think. Lawks I wish this kind of book had been around when I started sewing…

Made At Home - cute illustrations

I started the blog a little while after I started sewing ‘for proper’. This post is number 300. 300! Amazing. To mark the occasion I’ve decided to give away this copy of Made At Home to one lucky commenter, together with a metre of Heather Bailey’s Fresh Cut from my stash, so you can start sewing straight away.

A prize!

Just leave a comment below by midnight BST on the 28 July (you can say something nice if you like) and I’ll pick a winner next Thursday. Thanks for the last three years, internet, and here’s to the next three!
Filed Under: book review, Giveaway - 25 Comments

Book Review: Simple Knitting

June 9, 2010 By 5 Comments

Simple Knitting cover

The nice people at Quadrille recently sent me a copy of Erika Knight’s new book ‘Simple Knitting‘ to have a look at. I was so looking forward to this because I’m a huge fan of ‘Simple Crochet’, her crochet book for beginners (and yes, I’m still making the stripy throw). My first thought when this new book popped out of the envelope was ‘oh dear me it’s beautiful’. That was just the cover – the contents did nothing to dispel that first impression.

The book is divided into two parts: 60 pages of how to and reference, and then 80 pages of projects, ranked in order of difficulty, from basic dishcloth to lovely cardigan. Mr J pointed hopefully at the cardigan but I think he might have to wait a while.

Simple Knitting

Simple Knitting

Looking through the book I was struck by how japanese it is in its styling (Kyoko thought the same, so it must be true). These lovely photos of stitch examples are one of my favourite things about the whole book – they are both beautiful to look at and give a perfect visual example of various stitch patterns. Each one is accompanied by a little chart and how to create it, making a brilliant reference library.

Simple Knitting

I also love the pencil drawings in the how to section. Knitting is just that bit more complicated for a novice wool wrangler, but I think there’ll be no trouble with these. I do know how to knit after a fashion, but I’m not convinced by my method of casting on, and am not really sure what I’m doing when I cast off, so the step by steps should be very useful.

Simple Knitting

An explanation of tension swatches, with visual guide. A real ‘A-ha!’ moment for me.

Simple Knitting

Simple Knitting

A couple of likely beginner’s projects for me. Do excuse the cat muscling in on the pictures – he likes to be where the action is. I love the notebook as a gift idea for Christmas (I’m giving myself some time here), and I really like the masterclass box for this project, which explains how to adapt the pattern for different yarn weights. There are masterclass boxes attached to most of the projects, which give handy tips and hints on upping your skills – much better than overloading the beginner at the start.

I’d really recommend this if you cannot knit a stitch. As a fairly clueless knitter I’m finding this book a real joy and inspiration to flick through, and each time I do I get more excited about knitting something. Once I’ve finished crocheting that blanket of course… Thank you, Erika!

Simple Knitting (from Quadrille Craft, rrp £16.99)

Filed Under: book review - 5 Comments

Sew! Getting to the fun part faster…

December 3, 2009 By 5 Comments

It must be ten years ago that I decided I wanted a sewing machine for Christmas. It was at the time another one of my whims, though as it happened it was a whim that stuck, one that now requires dedicated cupboards and drawers, and one little room of our house. I imagine that this Christmas there’ll be a fair few sewing machines under the tree for some lucky people just starting their fabric journey, but once you’ve unwrapped a shiny new machine what do you do? You want to try it out of course, and so race through the house looking for scraps of fabric and old clothes to practice on- I speak from experience here, you understand.

cover

Alternatively you could also unwrap Cath Kidston’s Sew!, which your uber-savvy present giver will have also bought, and find you have your first project all cut out and ready for you, complete with buttons, so that you can have yourself a new shoulder bag in a few hours. (Though you might still want to practice on some old clothes first…Additional note to the sewing machine purchaser: get a spool or two of thread too or there’ll be frustrations on Christmas morning.)

bagpieces

I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this book, but when the nice people at Quadrille sent me a copy to look at I was very pleasantly surprised. As with lots of sewing books aimed at the beginner there are sections on necessary equipment and how to get on with a sewing machine…

equipment

…together with pages on essential techniques. There’s just enough information so that a beginner could feel stretched, and learn something useful, and not so much that you’d feel frustrated with terminology and wonder when you get to the fun part.

hems & edges

The projects themselves are ranked from one to three thimbles in difficulty, so it’s easy to pick one out to suit your level (or push yourself a little). As suits a new sewist starting out the projects are homewares and bags for the main part – they use relatively small amounts of fabric, & can be finished quickly so that you get to the warm glow of ‘I made it’ satisfaction sooner rather than later.

apron

Lots of ideas to keep you busy, and all of it in Cath’s unmistakable style. This would be a great gift if you do know someone who’ll be getting their first sewing machine at Christmas, not least for the ready to go project tucked into the cover, and if that someone is you then it’s well worth thinking about as your first sewing book. (There will be more, have no fear of that.)

One last thing – don’t forget to enter Lisa’s competition to win a lovely shiny new Janome sewing machine. I already own a super spanking Janome so I’m refraining from entering – it’s only fair :) . So go – take your extreme sewing pictures and put yourself in the running!

Filed Under: book review - 5 Comments