Rowing Rats Association
Pontifical of Guillaume Durand, Avignon, before 1390.Paris, Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, ms. 143, fol. 77v
Chasing a balloon!
Surely the sort of adventure on which the Clangers might have gone.
Spring has sprung! Just when I thought they must be dead, the violas on the balcony have leapt back into life.
(Source: flickr.com)
Gansey progress: 3-and-a-bit inches for the gussets and now I’ve split for the front and back.
Participating in ‘Participatory Knitting’
My work that was exhibited as part of Conduit, an exhibition in the Link Gallery at Manchester School of Art 18th-22nd Feb.
How fun! Will now be hoping every museum or gallery I go to has something similar.
I’ve found the East Anglian Film Archive and to my delight it has films that have some shots of knitters. This is called ‘That Little Fishing Village’ and was made in 1957. Set in Great Yarmouth the sequence is taken from is about 8:15 seconds into the film. It shows ‘fisher girls’ knitting by the sea front, posing and showing up for by walking and knitting at the same time. What strikes me about the footage is the movement of the metallic knitting needles. It’s rythmic, almost musical, as if they were conducting their creations into existence.
Finally started the patterning—and the gussets—on the gansey! I’ve knit 3 inches of ribbing and 9.5 inches of stocking stitch, and introduced the patterning with 4 rows of garter stitch.
The pattern doesn’t look like much as yet, but I’ve only done 4 rows. It’s pretty straightforward: 5 panels front and back, alternating between moss stitch and chevrons, and divided by groups of two 2x2 cables.
Mincemeat slices
Half a jar of mincemeat left over from Christmas? Here’s an easy way to use it up.
Ingredients
- 4oz butter or marg
- 4oz white sugar
- 1 egg
- dessert spoon of plain yoghurt
- 6oz self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- some mincemeat
Method
Grease and line two loaf tins, or two foil trays you have left over from ready meals, or one 8- or 9-inch square tin. Put oven on at 180C (160C fan, gas mark 6-ish).
Gently melt the butter in a largeish saucepan on the hob or in a heatproof bowl in the microwave.
Let the butter cool a little bit then stir in sugar, egg, yoghurt, flour and baking powder. Mix well until smooth.
Spread roughly 2/3 dough in bottom of the tin(s) (i.e. 1/3 in each tin if using two tins). Cover with mincemeat. It’s worth taking the time to get the mincemeat even across the dough.
Put remaining dough on top. It’ll probably not cover all the mincemeat and that’s fine - just dot it over the surface so there’s an even spread.
Bake for 30mins or so. If the top gets brown before the whole is cooked (test with a skewer) then turn over down 20 degrees and keep cooking for another 5-10 minutes.
Best served warm (reheats nicely in the microwave, but beware superheated mincemeat filling!)
