Night time drink

If like me you like to have a hot milky drink in the evening then you may like my bedtime drink. It is apparently a version of a chai latte but I started to make it as an alternate to cocoa (minus the tea) without realising. Once I discovered recipes for chai latte’s I tried adding some tea to my recipe and haven’t looked back. I use soy milk (alpro soy light) but any milk of your choice should work fine, it is also worth mentioning that I use a pretty large mug (larger than normal mug) so you may need to adjust accordingly. (I will try to remember to measure capacity of my mug tomorrow).

Ingredients

1 teaspoon loose tea
1/2 heaped teaspoon cinnamon
2 cloves
1 cardamom pod
1 teaspoon sweetner

Place a mug full of milk into a saucepan.
Add dried ingredients
Heat, stirring or whisking occasionally
Strain into manual milk frother, froth, pour into mug and sprinkle with either cinnamon, nutmeg or choc.

Can easily be drunk without frothing or can be frothed in any other manner.

In other news, I have cast on a sweater with my handspun (I have already completed the first sleeve) and love the rustic look of the knitted fabric. To mask any inconsistencies between skeins I am alternating every other row.

I am still having pain issues with my hip but have to sit and wait for my appointment for the hospital. I’m not confident of being seen this side of Xmas, which is going to make a miserable Xmas. 😦

One Row Handspun Scarf

My creation, originally uploaded by lyndsey-jane.

Pattern: One Row Handspun Scarf by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Handspun from Crown Mountain Farms superwash merino in Stand by Me. 2ply fingering weight, used approximately 100g from 200g bump.
Mods: Pattern is written for aran/worsted weight yarn, so I used 3.25mm needles instead of 5mm written, I also increased the number of stitches but can’t remember by how many off hand. I kind of played it by ear as I knew i had plenty of yarn to play with.

I love this scarf, it turned exactly as I wanted. I had bought a new autumn jacket and didn’t have a scarf that would look right with it. I wanted something simple and practical that I could wear on a day to day basis. The scarf is soft, smooshy and warm but not bulky. I have already cast on some mittens in with the leftover yarn, in fact I have finished one and am 1/3rd through the second.

photos were taken…

but the new USB cable I purchased doesn’t seem to like my mac or vice versa as when I plugged it in up came an error message about USB drawing too much power – will try it in Karl’s PC tomorrow.

I was planning on showing off a new FO – One Row Handspun Scarf in my handspun from Crown Mountain Farms (Stand By Me) and a new wip – podster gloves cast on this evening in the remaining yarn. Oh well, just hope they will be worth the wait.

I finished listening to Death of a Gossip by M.C. Beaton last night and can say that I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. It is a lot shorter than most of the audiobooks I buy, but still an good cosy mystery and I can definitely see me buying more in the series. Tonight I will start listening to Cure of Souls by Phil Rickman, I have listened to the previous books in this series and love them. A great mix of old-fashioned murder mystery with new age/spiritual overtones. The only problem is that for some strange reason the next two books (numbers 6 & 7) aren’t available on audible but book 8 is, something that really confuses me. Why not have the entire series instead of random books from a series?
Hopefully I will bring photos tomorrow – fingers crossed!

Hip Hip….

Hooray?

well the hip part is right. I started feeling the niggling pain back in hip a couple of days ago and it has gradually got worse, so back to the GP I limped. I have been referred back to Addenbrookes Hospital, this time to the Orthopaedic team as after examination (and pain) my GP managed to make hip clunk, that’s right no ‘clicking’ joints for me but deep seated clunking ones. That said is is pretty certain it isn’t actually a problem with the bone(s) as my x-ray a few weeks ago was clear but more likely a soft tissue/cartilage problem. I was prescribed more painkillers (Co-Dydramol) and have to wait to hear from Addenbrookes. I’m glad that the issue is being investigated but in the mean time I am in pain and when not in pain (after taking pain meds) am either drowsy/dopey or asleep so still not able to sit at a desk an concentrate on my work. I have also got to delay my meeting at uni about my project as have to rest my hip for another 2-3 days, which means no walking to bus stop/around campus etc. The real bummer though is no spinning 😦 so I won’t be able to get my sweater yarn plied up for a while. This will however leave an opening for a new sweater project as I am so very close to finishing the Trellis & Lace pullover. I am undecided about what to cast-on but the options are:

Stranded/Colourwork

Kauni cardigan in Kauni EP
Little Birds by Ysolda in Drops Alpaca
Freya Sweater by Courtney Kelley in Drops Alpaca
Enid Cardigan in Drops Alpaca

Sweaters/Pullovers

Layered Skater’s Top by Veronik Avery in Rowan Cotton Glace
Owls by Kate Davies in Zitron Loft Classic (Burgundy)

Cardigans/Jackets

Nonpareil by Berroco in Rowanspun Aran (from frogged Wicked which is way to big now)
Miss BB by Chic Knits in Rowanspun Aran

Tomorrow I hope to frog the Wicked which is hugely to big now and soak/wash the skeins ready for swatching, and start swatching for he stuff I have the yarn and patterns for. I will probably decide to cast on for 2 projects – one mindless knitting (little or no cable/colourwork) and one with either cables or colourwork throughout.

Sleeve Island

I had decided to finish up some wips this month and pulled out my alpaca trellis and vine pullover which was so close to being an FO, only needing it’s second sleeve. For the past few days I have been frantically knitting away without really paying any attention to the sleeve, only the pattern. Earlier tonight I compared the first finished sleeve with my now almost finished second sleeve to see when I needed to start the lace and cable cuff – ooops! The second sleeve was a good 2 inches longer than it’s finished mate and that is without the cuff. A quick glance at the pattern revealed my mistake, I had been decreasing every 16 rounds (as for smallest size) not every 8 as per the size I am knitting. A quick visit to the frog pond and I am now back on track and should still finish the sleeve by the beginning of next week.
Anyone who follows me on twitter will notice i posted about being stuck on sleeve island, I now know why it felt like the sleeve was taking forever..
In other news did anyone see Ali & Brian’s amazing Vienese waltz tonight. I will admit that it bought tears to my eyes it was so beautiful.
Better get back to this sleeve.

Mobile blogging

Decide to see how easy it would be to post from the wordpress app on my itouch. Typing is an acquired talent on the small keyboard but doable.
Karl survived the dentist today and they were really nice that I registered – I haven’t been to the dentist for over 10 years.
Looking forward to a day of spinning and knitting tomorrow and weather permitting photo shoots. Off to bed now to read some Flash Forward, very different to TV show but very good so far.

quick catch up

quick catch up, originally uploaded by lyndsey-jane.

I thought I’d do a quick catch up on whats been happening round here.
I’ve dug out my spindle and got some new fiber in. Can’t remember what the fiber on the spindle is except that I got it from esty and it’s BFL. The other fibers are Yarn Yard BFL in aurora, Spunky Eclectic Corriedale – Vacation to Canada (25g each of her Canadian colours) and Spunky Eclectic Wool Blend in Grand Opening.
The green yarn is also from Spunky Eclectic and is the Flying Cables kit in Sage.
The top is Green Gable in Cotton Fleece Robins Egg Blue, but is not quite finished as it is about 2″ too short so I have to rip back rib and knit some more.
Last two are pics of Karl and I and the Foo Fighters gig the other saturday.
I ordered Victorian Lace Today from amazon and what a book. It is amazing, so many beautiful patterns. I’m still deciding which one to cast on for Mums wedding but will let you know as soon as I do.
I’ve been busy plurking, come join, we have a real laugh over there.
I’ve been working mainly on RPM sock in some of my hand-dyed should have a finished sock soon, as well as the Summer Sampler Study – I’m almost caught up and really enjoying it.
Spring Things Shawl is blocking as I type and hopefully FO photos tomorrow.

FO Friday

FO Friday, originally uploaded by lyndsey-jane.

I may have been absent from blogging but not from knitting.
Two recent FO’s are:

Burning Rings of Fire socks (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Sock Hop in Pink Cadillac
Needles: Knitpicks Harmony DPNs (2.5mm)
Love this yarn and love this pattern.

Baby Surprise Jacket (Ravelry Link)
Yarn: Opal Rodeo Cotton
Needles: Knitpicks Harmony 3.25mm
Great quick knit, definetely planning more.
The only trouble with this is I am not sure it is neutral enough. It is for Karl’s niece or nephew (due sometime next month) but we are unsure whether this is suitable for boy. Would love to hear your opinions on whether you would dress a boy in these colours.

busy weekend

I’ve been really productive this weekend, and if I could find the camera cable I would be able to show you all. Whenever I need the cable for my Palm I can only find the camera cable and vice versa.

This weekend I have been such a domestic goddess. I managed to make my first skirt, it fits and I can’t wait to wear it tomorrow. I cast on the Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting, and have nearly completed the third block.

Then I cooked, a lovely quiche lorraine, pastry recipe from Nigella and filling from food bible – Leith’s. Once in the cooking mood I baked some brownies, from a recipe sent to me by Kat – OMG are they good!!!!!

My camera has photos of blanket, quiche, brownies and skirt and I will search properly for it tomorrow.

My order from Possets came this weekend and boy do they smell good – and a real bargain! I ordered 2 packs of 6 samples and they added an extra 4 free for me, all of which smell great too.

I just a great book – Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale, it was really good and I highly recommend it and I have just started The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld which I am really enjoying. I totally lost my reading mojo for a while (well, over a year so more then just a while) and am so glad to have it back. As long as I can remember I was reading, and averaged a book a fortnight from about the age of 13-14, so loosing the want to read was actually really hard for me. I found audiobooks and this helped, but listening to a book isn’t the same as reading it. I like to listen to books, as I can knit at the same time but nothing beats curling up in a chair/sitting in the sun and loosing yourself with a book. I did just this at uni on Thursday whilst waiting for Karl to finish work. I sat under the semi-shade of the tree canopy and finished Notes from an Exhibition. I haven’t sat and read a novel for more then 10mins in one go for ages and ages, but Thursday I sat for most of the afternoon.

Hope you all had a great weekend, I’m off my paint my nails to match my new skirt for uni tomorrow.

Swallowtail blocking

Swallowtail blocking, originally uploaded by lyndsey-jane.

I got around to blocking the Swallowtail Shawl tonight. I managed to get hold of some foam maps to use as blocking boards and boy! does it make life easier. I am really pleased with this shawl and can’t wait to wear it next week when Mum and I go to Dancing on Ice tour.