D185-9: Lemon Impatience

While that is an excellent name for a dessert, it's not what this one is called.

This Lemon Drizzle Cake comes from lemons: recipes and remedies ("text by Sara Burford" it says, which is apparently different to being the author). It's the sort of book you'd find at a $5 discount bookstore, and I think that's where I got it, years ago.

This was my first experience at making my own self-raising flour.  According to CTAW, you add 10g (1 tbsp) of baking powder to 300g (2 cups) of plain flour.  It seemed to work out fine - hurrah!

I was surprised at the ingredient measurements as the weights were all less than the amounts suggested.  For instance, it asked for "225g/1 cup of unsalted butter" but I've always counted a cup of butter as 250g.  All the gram measurements were similarly less than expected, and somewhat explained in the back with a conversion table that I'd call just plain wrong.

Density anyone? 225ml what?

Then, after I'd read "4 eggs" I was surprised to see this go into a loaf pan.  I even lined the square tin I've used for all the brownie recipes, which have comparable amounts of flour, butter and eggs, but decided to do as the recipe said as I've never made a syrupy cake before.

In hindsight, I wish I had used the 23cm square tin.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to evenly drizzle the syrup across the size of a square cake but the pastry brush did a very good job and I shouldn't have worried.  It would've also meant that the syrup would've soaked further into the cake, and hopefully the heat would've gotten through the thickness better than on this occasion. 

At 50mins, the cake was beginning to burn on the edge but, eventhough the skewer came out clean, it sunk considerably (more shallow than when it started!) once the syrup was on.  We also cut it while still warm coz Hub and I couldn't wait for supper and as, as he said, you couldn't break it any more!

Here is the recipe, with [my adjustments].

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Ingredients

• Zest of 1 lemon (finely grated)
• 230g / 2 cups self-raising flour [300g]
• 225g / 1 cup sugar [250g]
• 225g / 1 cup of unsalted butter (softened) [250g]
• 4 eggs 

• Topping: juice of 1¹/₂ lemons and 110g / ¹/₂ cup of caster sugar [125g]

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 4. Line a loaf tin with grease proof paper. 

Cake:

1. Place the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each new addition.
2. Add the lemon zest and sift in the flour. Mix together well.
3. Transfer the mixture into the loaf tin and level the top.  Place in the oven and bake for 45-50 mins. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool a little.

Topping:

1. Place the lemon juice and caster sugar in a bowl and mix together to make the topping. [Microwave for three 10sec bursts to help dissolve the sugar, but do not make it warm.]
2. Prick the still-warm cake with a fork and then [use a pastry brush to] drizzle the topping over the cake.  Leave in the loaf tin until completely cooled.
3. Once cooled, remove from the tin and serve.

Obviously, I haven't spent four days making a cake.  I've been chipping away at my secret gift too.

D133: Not quite...

With only the collar of this garment to go, here's what I had left after finishing all the other pieces...

The gauge for this garment is 24sts x 24rows over a 10cm wide/tall section "when slightly stretched".

My gauge is very different, with many more stitches fitting into the 10cm breadth, so a lot more yarn used over the distance.  It takes quite an 'assertive stretch', I suppose, to get the my stitches to match the gauge.  But I do have 25 rows in height, which is very close.  (I might look into the difference between row and stitch tension and how to influence that. Sigh.)  

I don't know why anyone would include stretching in establishing gauge.  What's 'slightly'?  A centimetre?  When it doesn't bounce back?  So you can see the hidden rib?  It seems like a terribly fuzzy thing to introduce into what's meant to be your guiding parameters.

I'll confess I didn't do a swatch, and it seems I could've done this garment in a 6.00mm or 5.5mm needle and benefited.  It's also why I went off to my oh-my-goodness-I'm-so-lucky-to-live-in-this-area local yarn store today: one more ball. (Brownie points to me for only buying what I needed.  Mind you, choosing yarn I want would require bringing a snack.)

Hello Forgetful Head

I just got back from visiting my friends and their gorgeous new little boy.  Their teeny weeny itty bitty human. I gave my friend the jar of little baby decoy cookies that are meant to keep the dad and kiddliwinks away from her lactation cookies.  I didn't intend for the baby ones to get so... well.. done but they're fun never the less.

My friend told me when her little boy was born that he was 3.2kg, only a little bigger than Bub's starting weight...  Where was my brain?! I know she started in 0000s and the thing I'm making IS HUUUUGE!  It will probably fit Bub better than him! I'm making the smallest size already...

Good news: I need a new woolly something for Bub and this will do nicely.  

'Bad' news: I need to choose and make something else for the new little guy.  Oh heavens, more choices, more knitting, whatever shall I do? Alas, alack, the hardships I face. 

The biggest question: do I pause this project to complete something for the new baby, or power on.  Option B I think, and it will give me more time to decide on what to make him.

Ed note: 

Actually, after measuring it against Bub, it will be a little snug for her yet she's  11mo and it's a 3-6m size.  If the Lil Guy grows as she has, it'll probably still fit him come the Autumn weather when he's 9-10mo and even in the the old cool snaps over summer.

It's meant for him so to him it shall go.  I might make the next size up for Bub later.

I should still make him something he can wear before Christmas though... Yeah. Prolly should.

D124: Tip of the day - Hang your ball low!

Does your ball hang low? Well, I should, in some way or another.

While working on this garment, knitting left-handed in the Continental style I usually use with circular needles, I had patches of loose stitches.  Sometimes, this was due to dropping the tension when doing purl stitches - I'm still developing my reliability with tension when switching between stitch styles.

However, during the arms holes and neck bands I realised how this was happening.  (I knit faster than I think, it would seem...)

Here's a picture of how the tension is meant to be held when knitting Continental:

The wrapping and hold or traditional Continental knitting

This yarn is lovely and smooth.  in these winter months my fingers are slimmer, cold and smooth and the yarn just slips through like ribbon. Here's how I held it for this project:

The way I wrapped and held my yarn for this project.

And here's how those loose patches turned up:

The ravelled loop already in my hand, and what the little blighter looks like when drawn out.

As the garment is turned the yarn becomes ravelled*, sometimes into it's twist and sometimes against.  Either way, a little loop sometimes evolves and travels towards the work as I knit.  Soon, it's inside my fingers and I haven't even noticed it's there until it's too late, slackening my work - even just one or two   stitches, and developing a loose bunch of stitches.

In my hurry with this project, I haven't taken the diligence to go back, unstitching suspect bunches and reknitting them with better tension.  I also let my work space be very crowded, with bags, needles and my book, because I was keeping it from little hands.  This meant the yarn got wrapped up in things sometimes - another tension trap!

The solution is to anchor the ball of yarn somehow, and some distance and gravity would suffice.  So whether it's next to your feet or in a container, hang your ball low so that the yarn doesn't loop on itself before it gets to the thing that should control the yarn: your tension hand!

*yup, I choose to use that word this way

D118: Intense knitting

A bit more done.  Hmmm... those stitches really are leaning to the right...

Another inch or so complete and a pattern has emerged...

There's a ridging in the stocking stitch.  Here's a horizontal shot that I think better reveals the tilt.

See what I mean?

I think my tension, combined with the way I pick up a stitch to knit Continental style, has helped twist the yarn in each stitch.  The right-hand needle enters the stitch at the base and as the needle slides up it pushes the wrap of the yarn upwards, unwrapping it a bit below the needle and tightening the wrap along the back of the loop and behind the left needle.  That's my theory anyway.  I haven't had this happen with my right-handed knitting style.  I think, in future projects, I'll change my yarn hold and hopefully that'll keep it from being pushed around so much.

I'm not sure I can do much about it other than easing the tension so that the entered stitch will slide around the new stitch more easily.  However, at 27sts per 10cm, it's only slightly tighter than what's prescribed by the pattern, so I'm reluctant to change that, especially this far in.  It may mean I have to go get another ball, but I could use the contrasting yarn to do the neck and arm holes... Whether I do that or not probably depends on the time of day I get to that stage: if it's after the shops close, ecru contrast it is!

Anyway, at this stage, I'm happy to let it be an aspect of an individual garment.  Worse things have happened, right?

D106,107&108: Shtuff

Little peek-a-boo thing

Soooo... Absenteeism is high recently.  Three weeks or so is a long time to be away.  I'd apologise profusely but suspect I haven't enough regular readers for that to be necessary.  Really, though, I should apologise to myself for not sticking to things better.  Sorry A, you deserve better. For shame! I hang my head as I type. (Thanks bad posture, knew you'd come in handy.)

Project parts

Equally unimpressive is what's been going on since my last post: not much.  I'm still chipping away at this project for Bub.  Soon enough the little parts will have to be brought together in the larger piece and hopefully that last large step will happen in one go.  

I baked another two-tone brownie yesterday which was really disappointing.  It needs foil over it after the first 20mins to stave off burning, but we didn't hear the timer go, and the whole thing ended up underdone and weird.  It was so tall when I did the skewer test too - now looks like a dam after a bushfire :( Not even a pic for that accident.

Most of my other baking/cooking has been a few cakes, lactation cookies and good old baby foods, which rarely get more than two stars from our breastfed little Bub.  People ask if we're doing baby-led weaning, or whatever you like to call it.  We do both BLW and purées, and we can do purées better when she has something to feed herself at the same time.  We haven't found there's more or less food wasted in either because she'll happily refuse both.  Seriously, if you ever have a kid who'll refuse food, you'll realise it's all baby-led.  And we have no weaning going on either. 

We've done a bit of spring cleaning too (in autumn, such rebels), partly inspired by Bub's recent mobility.  I'm currently enhancing the 'change is as good as a holiday' feel around the house by enjoying new spaces and places for things.

Yesterday's bread.  Think the moisture at the
bottom is from using the hollow biscuit tray.

Another reason the blog has taken a backseat is due to a bit of work I've taken on.  (Just realised I can call myself a WAHM!)  I'm crunching the data of a school survey for the AP at my work.  It's about 20 classes of surveys so there's lots of data entry.  Nights in front of the telly have been occupied with that whenever I've had the wherewithal to do anything.  It may seem like I'm neglecting fun for work, but these little cognitive challenges are important for my wellbeing too.  I like figuring out formulas and graphs, albeit at an amateur level, and it provides variety in the challenges I work on these days.  And I get paid!

Apple and Cranberry Pie

Also, truth be told, my desire for crafting has had a bit of a slump.  No biggie.  Maybe I'm paralysed for choice, with ideas bottlenecked by tiredness.  (Recently added a fleecy romper to my wish list, emphasis on wish.)  But who knows!  It isn't a zero-sum thing, and it's not like it's going away, right?!  Ah the freedom having your own blog in which to shift the goal posts! ;D

So, I'm off to shower, and maybe afterwards I'll handwash that new fabric like I know I should, now that the sun's out! ;)  Happy Sunday folks!

D60: I made...

...an effort.

It's been really hot here for a few days and it's set to be hot till at least next Wednesday. Tonight we've had a bit of a cool break, but nothing to wash away the heat from the walls.

Bub doesn't sleep as well in these conditions.  So with activities, outings and short naps, I've not had hands or brain very spare today, especially since me and my cold slept badly in the heat too! Curses!

Not to sure about the dark character on the left...
that may be for the back.

Aaanyway, when the dark clouds mocked us this afternoon I decided we'd take another Save Our Sanity trip and off we went to a large complex where the car would be underground and the Spotlight fabric store upstairs.   I didn't even plan to buy anything!   Well, maybe a few fasteners for little bags.  It really was just an outing to visit some air-conditioning.

The good news is: I got the fasteners.

A complete impulse buy was this set of fat quarters.  I thought, people make simple quilts in a few days! I could do that!  But I won't.  Because I rarely keep any sewing project simple.   (Didn't even spare a thought for the poor UFO quilt that's neglected on the couch.)  That said, I hereby dedicate this stash to becoming a simple, quick and easy quilt as a project in self-control.

I bought 2m, just in case.

There. Fixed.

I also found this delightful floral fabric and it looked perfect for a romper for Bub.  The one we've got is perfect for this hot weather, better even than a little singlet as they can be quite warm.

Before I left, I considered my creative thing for the day could be drafting this little outfit from a vintage book preserved by my sister.

You rock, Enid Gilchrist.

It is close to what I want, but not actually what I want.  I'd only be doing it because I'm itching to have something like another romper for Bub. 

If years of watching my mum do random craft at CWA has thought me anything I should know better than to do another It's Like What I Want project.  The result is usually only almost satisfying and the item is duly ignored, buried away, ending up in the op shop bag after a time proportionate to the effort of production. 

Our cardinal rule of craft: Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.


No, instead I went online and bought these two little numbers.

Butterick Patterns B5625 & B3405, both bought on their website butterick.mccall.com

Much more appropriate.  Now all I have to do is eat my hat until they arrive. (Not my sun hat. Lord knows I'll need that for at least another God forsaken week.  It's autumn, after all.)

D54: Gift bag

I love giving things I've made.  I especially love it when I get it right in my idea of choice.  I'm very fortunate to have friends and family who show their gratitude proportionate to the effort of a project.  It's so rewarding that I'm sure I give these things for what I receive in return!

Yesterday, my mother-in-law (I shall call her Mil) visited and, as she's one of the sisters I'm planning the bags for, I asked what kind of bag and fabric she'd prefer.  (Luckily she'd already shown a liking for the fabrics I'd bought, not knowing their purpose.)  Unfortunately, or not, she opted for a version of the 1:3, not the wallet idea. After much mulling, I decided to keep it safe and do one the same width as mine.

So today I got the cutting and seams done, but with a hitch.

The bags aren't perfectly symmetrical once sewn up.  I've checked my lengths and widths and they're the right 1:3 ratio.  Folding the points in make the edges lining up exactly and if only folded they are symmetrical.  But the seam wraps the length a little to the side, I suppose because its the start of a wrapped tube and it leans one way.  I feel like I should be able to slide the folded corner down, shortening the seam and something will fix, but brain is no for puzzle thought moment uurrrrr....

See below, the seam points are opposite each other, but the edges have become unmatched by twice the seam allowance.

My perfectly symmetrical asymmetrical bag.

I could clip off those extra margins and make it symmetrical, but it's such a free form bag it doesn't really matter in the finished product.  Maybe if I were creating a pattern I would clip the margin, unpick it and mark the corner point / sewing line and see exactly where this seam lands along the rectangle.

However! That margin does matter for a lined-bag in that the lining needs to be folded using the different corners to the outer-bag.  Otherwise the margins don't match.
This is something I discovered after making both and then nesting them inside each other.   See how outer's extra portion is to the back but the lining's is in the front?  I'm hoping that folding the other set of corners will flip the lining around.  I'm not sure though - my brain isn't up to visualising that right now.

The inner and outer bags, with their extra length pushed to the front and back respectively.

So the lining is unpicked will be resewn tomorrow.  I will try, with the next bag, shifting the seam down so that the bag actually is symmetrical, as I tried to describe above.

If all is well, they'll be sewn together at the edges, turned out, decorative stitching done, handle tube made and points connected.  Yay for Saturdays!

When Dr Frankenstein knits...

Unfortunately, this mutated DNA doesn't result in anything interesting.
It's just wrong.

Day 32: oh dear

I broke my streak! Although I did some sewing on my DNA toy (suuuure, you say) I forgot to blog about it. I didn't even realise till this morning. In my defence, I'm tired enough to feel queasy, so I'm not chucking guilt into the mix! Bub had her vaccinations this morning so grizzles are up 50% and I hope the sleep matches it :)

Day 26: Can we fix it?!

No. No we can't.

I have a marvellous chocolate cake recipe. It's from the AWW Microwave Cookbook 2 (Pretty sure its the second one, since that's the feature on the back cover. I left this cook book at my mum's).
Microwave cake? you say. Can it be any good?

Lots of microwave cakes use oil, which carries a flavour I often don't like in cakes. But this melt-and-mix one is oil free. It's butter, sugar and water, done in the microwave for 4mins, then flour, cocoa and bicarb mixed in, with egg and vanilla last. Normally it would go into a ring-shaped cake pan for 8mins in the microwave and it's done! Pro: it's quick to make and soft and yummy. Con: the lack of crust - you just can't get that in a microwave. (Another downside is the lack of ring-shaped cake pans available for microwaves. Apparently no one makes microwave cakes anymore :| ) Anti-con: It's moist and stays moist for a long time.

Anyway, I've been working on this mix going into the oven. We've an old Fahrenheit oven that runs a bit hot (har har). In a 22cm round tin for 35mins at a little under 350F it's done well, even though the top has usually cracked.

Today I tried using a loaf tin and the baking shelf below the one usually used for cakes. I was all done at 40mins, no singeing in sight.

I also tried making it while Bub was awake, letting her potter away in the bouncer or Bumbo while I dashed about for half an hour.  I've been pretending that that’s working just fine, which it generally does even if I have to stop for a bit and have a chat or change over some toys. In the end, I put her down for a nap just before the buzzer went. Misleadingly smooth-going, that was.

I knew the loaf tin would work just fine (thanks teacake, theacake) but, even though I greased the pan with butter, I forgot to line the base.  Huh, how on earth did that happen? After I slid a knife around the sides it felt like it would turn out, but only 90% of it did.

Pro: good excuse to whip out a spoon and scoff some fresh cake

.

I thought: Can I fix this? Does it need fixing? Can I slice it in half horizontally, flip the bottom and sandwich it with a raspberry filling? Would it dry out too much?

And then saw how that wouldn't be happening...

Con: without the portion on the bottom-end, and being so fresh and soft, it broke under its own uneven weight, splitting like the Titanic (sort of).

Not to worry! Can I cut it into squares and make some little chocolate Lamingtons? Do I have time for that before Bub wakes?

It was now that I began to think of different names for this post. Ice the Site from Orbit, Lemonade-flavoured Chocolate Cake (coz I got 'lemons', yeah?), Creative with a capital C and Guess which half is yours, sweetheart?.

But I looked at the clock and imagined trying to get his done with Bub up and about and my approaching need for lunch... Nope.

Just ice the bastard and get the hell out of there.

P.S. I also learned that with glaze icing, dipping the spoon in hot water to smooth the rough patches doesn't work. It just makes it look like melted plastic.

Still yum.