The Big Knit

It has been about a year since I last picked up my knitting needles.

It's daft really because I enjoy knitting and I was pleased as anything with the last project I completed, my Zombie. It's like a lot of the things I enjoy - dancing, playing guitar, painting, reading, running,  photography, decorating... - there is simply not enough time to dedicate to them all. Knitting was one of the hobbies that slipped down the priority list and landed in the holding pen to be rediscovered later.

'Later' came yesterday.

I had heard about a campaign from Innocent to raise money for the Age UK charity. The campaign was called The Big Knit and the idea was for people to knit little woolly hats that would be placed on Smoothie bottles to be sold next month. For every 'hatted' bottle sold, 25p would be donated towards the cause. I thought I had missed the deadline to submit the hats but when it was extended, I knew it was a project that I wanted to get involved with - along with my trusty knitting partner, my mum.

Mum came to visit yesterday and after lunch, we printed a knitting pattern from the Big Knit web page and got cracking (or perhaps I should say clicking). We opted for the most basic design but took a moment to marvel at the intermediate and advanced designs on display.

I wasn't even sure I'd remember how to knit, but I did. The pattern, true to its word, was very easy. It was no time at all before our first hats were completed. All that was left to do was make little bobbles to sew on top for decoration. My daughters Ivy and Charis were both available to help so I delegated the task of bobble production to them. They were willing - but not very able. Ivy nearly cut her finger off and Charis decided it would be easier to learn to knit. Sadly, that was not the case!

Charis - talented musician, gifted scholar, rubbish knitter!

Between us, with some input from dad who never likes to be left out, we muddled through with laughter aplenty. We made five in total - four bobble hats and one Hallowe'en inspired design that I made up. I felt proud of our efforts.

It was a lovely project to take part in - lots of fun to do and helping a worthwhile charity.

Ours are all ready for posting. I can't help but wonder where they will end up. 

http://thebigknit.co.uk/ 

A Taste of Childhood

For Christmas, my mum bought me The Great British Book of Baking. It is the official book that  accompanied the BBC series The Great British Bake Off which she and I both enjoyed.

Mum bought me the book after I admired the copy she had purchased for herself - one of many recipe books that she treated herself to last year. The funny thing is that despite having an enviable collection of recipe books, she hardly ever cooks anything from them. She has her tried and tested recipes that she knows by heart and rarely deviates from them. More often these days, she lets my dad loose in the kitchen while she gets on with her latest knitting project or goes on her computer. Dad and recipes really don't mix.

So despite a wealth of ideas and inspiration at her fingertips, my mum's cooking repertoire remains small. She is very competent with what she does but feels no desire to get experimental.

The other odd thing about my mum's cooking, is her obssessive compulsion to have everything perfect. Biscuits must be regularly sized and shaped. Any that fail to meet her rigorous standards will be thrown in the bin (or given to dad to eat!). Choc chip cookies must each contain the same number and distribution of choc chips (she places them meticulously by hand to achieve this). I laugh about it with her but it really is very alien to me.

I love to cook. I especially love to try new things or tweak old recipes to give them a new twist. I do take a pride in the presentation but if it all goes wrong and looks like roadkill (which it often does), I am fine with it as long as everything is vaguely edible.

Recently I was reminded of a couple of old favourites of my mum when I came across a two hand written recipes. I remember her cooking these particular family favourites in the  kitchen of the house I grew up in. I had a go at making them myself.

Although the recipes couldn't possibly have belonged to my mum as they were metric - grams is a swear word to my strictly pounds and ounces mother - the taste and cooking smells were very nostalgic.

Of course, if my mum had made them, the jam wouldn't have been so blobby and uneven and the sultanas may just have been a little more evenly distributed!

The 12 Knits of Xmas

I loved knitting little pumpkin decorations for Hallowe'en and really enjoyed the time I spent with my mum doing it.

I decided to embark on a new project, again with a seasonal flavour, and mum was more than happy to restart our "knitting club".

We are making (or attempting to make) all of the birds My True Love Sent to Me using The Twelve Knits of Christmas pattern book.

We started with the swan.

I don't think I'd ever have the patience to make a jumper or anything bigger than perhaps a tea cosy but I love making little things with very few stitches and rows and lots of interesting shaping. The best part for me is making them up and adding the details that give character to the finished result.

I was so enjoying making my swan that I carried on after my mum had to leave and in a bid to get a head start, so that I have the slightest chance of completing this project before Christmas, I then went on to knit whatever else I could manage.

My biggest problem is that being new to the whole knitting game, I have yet to accumulate all the wool oddments that are ideal for this sort of craft. Mum has bags full of the stuff in all the colours you could ever need but they are in Wrexham, 45 minutes away, and next knitting club is not for another week and a half.

I used my limited colour choices to knit up as much as I could. I now have enough assorted bird body parts waiting around to make me feel like some sort of mad ornithological Frankenstein.

It's my mum's birthday today. She has yet to see my finished swan so this is for her. Hope you're proud of me mum and HAPPY BIRTHDAY.