A Crochet Hat

 I finished the crochet hat this week, as I mentioned last week I am not very fast at this so it was just a case of doing a little each evening.  I didn't follow a pattern although I did see an image I liked and that has three coloured striped so that is what I aimed for.  It was also made up as a flat piece and then gather at the top so perhaps not how may of you would do it but like I mentioned I was just making it up as I went.  The colours look well together and they are just odd bits I had from a few years ago, my main hassle was making the pom pom!  Oh my I have not made a pom pom in so long and the way I remember it with two pieces of card did not come out right, then I tried it around my hand and that was big and messy so finally I settled on a fork as I saw this on you tube.  Now there was still unravelling when I came to tie it but I did get a shape that is not too bad.  I know you can get pom pom tools, are they any good? The thing is I don't feel I will be making enough to warrant a special tool, I have started another hat though as I found the process very relaxing.(Apart form the pom pom! ;)

I didn't plan on matching my hat today it just happened. 

It had a road test when we went for a walk yesterday and it did keep my head warm, so that is the main thing.  I am sure it could be neater but I have not had as much practise with this skill.

There was some more baking yesterday in the form of cake, I did say I wanted to try a new cake each week so we will see how  long it takes me to run out of reasonable bakes.  I say this because the ingredient lists for some cakes are ridiculous and would cost a fortune to make, I am also not a fan when they state about three different sugars in a recipe in large quantities.  Cake is a sweet treat yes but I don't like sickly sweet.

So the recipe I chose to try out this week was from one of my Aine Carlin books The New Vegan, now the cake is called gluten free Orange Polenta cake but that went out the window straight away as Asda did not have any polenta and an assistant saying they had never heard of it and don't have it but I have had it there from before! So they do have it just not that day, so the first substitute was coconut (Ok it is nothing like polenta but I thought I would try it anyway)  Then they had no agave so that was quickly changed to maple syrup.  On the whole my changes worked just fine and I still followed the recipe but I have to admit to halving the sugar, we are so used to less sugar now none of us would be able to  eat it with the stated amount in.  The cashew frosting worked out super too and I might add looks very pretty with the pistachios.  In all it feels like a very posh coffee shop cake that I would normally not be able to eat because they never have gf vegan and this one is so it is one of my prouder bakes.   As usual fading daylight in the photo's and lets face it I am never going to be a food photographer. 

Another job for the weekend was finishing up this bag, again this is continuing the folk art inspiration.  It is actually based on a doodle on my notepad from some art I saw on pinterest but with a few changes and bits left out.  Sewing everything down is the most time consuming bit.  I think these ones are a little bit quirky so I hope they appeal to someone, I certainly like quirky so lets pray that others feel the same or I will have one large handbag collection.

I hope you are all well and have a good week ahead, bye for now. 

January Dress

 I have made my first dress of the month for myself this time, I had this lovely quilted jersey from minerva and wanted to make something practical but fun.  I have made another dress like this in the past, it is a sweater dress  with a big pocket at the front but this time I decided to add a  pocket in a different fabric to make it more interesting.   If you want to know  how I made this one have a look at my post on the Minerva site as this one was posted there.

I was hoping to get a few photographs in the pristine snow but as you can see the dogs had just run all over it with their little paws by the time I got outside.

This was very easy to make and is comfortable and practical so I know I will wear it a lot.  I also have a dress to alter for someone and a few more masks to make.  I have had a bag cut out on the sewing table for a week but I have changed my mind about three times as to what to put on it, so there it will sit until I make a decision.

We have been watching a new drama called Lupin, it is French and I have been enjoying that we also watched a film the other night called Perdida, that one was set in Argentina it was ok but not great and husband thought it was a load of rubbish ( it wasn't that bad).  I think I enjoy the different languages and picking out words and phrases I know while following the subtitles of course, I don't think he enjoys that side of it so even when these things are not great television I still feel I am getting something from it.    We always watch something together from about nine onwards, before that I am doing other things so most of out viewing is on Netflix or iplayer.

We have enjoyed walking in the snow while it lasted briefly, the dogs were  very excited and one of them had a limp the other evening I think he over did it a bit.  He is ok now and has been walking normally today, I think it is because they seem to bounce over the snow he must have just pulled it a little.

I have started to crochet a hat, I saw a picture on pinterest but didn't have those colours so I am working with what I have but it also wont look like the image in that I am just doing double crochet (at least I hope that is what I am doing!)  I haven't done this for about a year and I had only just started then so stay with me this is just an experiment.  I am basically making it as a rectangle that I will gather in then make a pom pom for.  I will share in a few days when I have added a few more rows, I know many of you would do a hat in an evening but I am  a novice at this you see, sewing is my first love. 

This afternoon I made  this Lemon tart from Best of Vegan, I had to adapt the pastry so it was gf so my pastry had gram flour, gf plain flour, flax seed and pure vegan spread in it.  It came out really nice so follow the link if you want to make it, if you are not GF you could just make the coconut crust from the original recipe.

We had alpro soy cream on it, it is very tangy but I like it like that, I am going to try and do a new desert each weekend until I run out of ideas.

I hope you are all keeping safe and have a lovely week. 

A Year of Sewing

 It is an odd start to the year but then I could be wrong and maybe this is just the new normal.  We have all been in school as it is open for key worker children so we are in as a full staff currently. Everyone is feeling a bit put out as lessons were planned and people were feeling ready for a fresh start, let us all hope this is the last push and we will see the back of this thing soon.

I put together a couple of photo grids last week of some of last years sewing makes, one of clothing for me and the other two of my bags.  Of course there was other sewing throughout the year in the form of cushions, accessories, alterations and a few other bits but just looking at my bags and clothes makes me realise I was more productive last year then I thought.

So I ran away with the bag making this year!

This next grid I made first so it has the watermark on the bottom and I have since discovered another way to do this without the writing across it.

We started the new year watching a new drama called the serpent, it was shockingly based on real events. After just a few days we have watched all of it so we now need something new for the dark evenings, any suggestions appreciated.

I have seen a beautiful pattern on the Dee Hardwick page, I looked on there after I made my hare dress in fabric by that designer.  I feel it is stunning but far too ambitious for me, having knitted in the past, it takes me a while and then if don't like the finished garment there is also the cost as materials are not cheap.  I know there are a few of you out there who could whip this up no problem, it is lovely...

So it is from a knitting book, here is the link to the page.

If any of you decide to try this I would love to see it completed, it deserves an accomplished knitter. That is all for today so take care and enjoy the rest of the week.