'Must stay on Task...'Must not be distracted by Knitting!

Given the list of things I need to attend to in the next few days I have no business being on line looking at anything to do with knitting.

But checking my email just now I found notification the latest Brooklyn Tweed "Wool People" is out...I weakened, succumbed to temptation and had to take a peek...

My goodness I think I could just knit BT patterns for the rest of my days and nothing else...well...maybe not all the rest of the days...sometimes I would have to also knit baby things as gifts in which case I could also knit a thing (or 10!) from this too!

Seriously, Jared Flood and his crew and Nora Gaughan could keep a knitter like me happy and busy...that reminds me, not only do I have no business looking at knitting on line I also have no business taking time to blog about it either!

'Must run!

P.S. Its not like I'm on line looking at knitting stuff because I haven't been knitting in real life! Despite dedicating much of yesterday to His and Her's Thank You Mitts, as of this minute I'm still one mitt short of a full "Thank You" load...I have no business even being on line!

Missives from the "Front"

Christmas "hustle bustle" or full on "battle" with a To Do list? Right now it feels like the latter.

I seem to be winning but only after launching a full frontal assault on the thing with two extra battalions (Darling Daughter and My Beloved) providing extra fire power over the weekend.

There has been a bit of entertaining and a lot of socializing and "...this is the last time we'll meet before Christmas so we'll do something special..." kind of stuff. (there has been no tree-buying and precious little decorating)

As for Christmas itself we're hosting the 18 in laws for dinner Boxing Day and late last week our Christmas Day unexpectedly grew from 4 to 9 around the table.

Darling Daughter came back from her vacation with a broken arm (slipped on the pool deck!) That created both a flurry of activity upon her arrival and subsequently has meant her assistance, although keen, is limited.

The worst "fighting", however, has been with the "Thank You" mitts. I could have knit the guy a sweater in the time I've had to dedicate to those things only just finishing them on Saturday a month after starting them! My efforts guessing at appropriate sizing while combining two patterns has demanded a lot of ripping and re-knitting. Twined knitting means twined ripping...uuuuuuugly!

But at last now the work on the 60 stitch dk version for his wife has begun. Actually I misspeak because I mis-bought mis-matched yarns (one is a dk weight, the other is worsted) And that's not it either - I thought both were 50/50 Wool and Alpaca...nope, one is Acrylic??? Wool and Nylon!!?

Oh well, too bad, too late...gonna just have to make it work!

Like I said, 'feels like a bit of a battle.

Progress On the Mitts

I think I've worked out a formula for the Thank You Mitts.

'Started the decreases later and began on front and back on two outside rows before commencing decreases on the side closest to the "trigger finger".

Once left with 8 stitches (16 total) I added one row straight and plan to graft the fingertip to yield a wee bit of width at the top of the fingers.

While all of it's fresh in my mind I've cast on for the second mitt planning to do thumbs and grafting on both mitts at the same time.

My chocolate "event" yesterday ended well with a successful arrival in one piece at the party but not before some dicey moments after pre cutting when the weight of all that ganache began to pull the slices outwards like a giant Terry's Chocolate Orange.

My solution was an organza ribbon around the whole works held in place by a tooth pick disguised with mint leaves.

Next came a call to my Beloved begging him to come home promptly so I could drive his automatic vehicle rather than my much jerkier, rougher riding standard. I worried the ribbon might not be up to start and stop rush hour traffic across the city.

Disaster averted! Cake delivered and I even got to bring home some leftovers for the guy who lent me his car!

Chocolate Chocolate Everywhere!

Just working on my contribution to the annual awards dinner at the obedience club where I train with Hudson.

Recently voted in after couple of years volunteering to demonstrate my worthiness I want to make a good impression. What better way than with the universal currency of chocolate?

And who better to go to for a recipe than Martha!

(I know, I know, lots of you hate her but if you're used to working with her recipes like I am her recipes have no equal that I've been able to find.)

The cake is laced with sour cream then filled and iced with mint chocolate ganache topped with chocolate mint leaves made by painting melted chocolate onto real leaves then peeling off and applying to the cake.

To be clear the ganache is made with 2 pounds of semi sweet chocolate melted into a litre of boiling whipping cream enhanced with a bit of salt, peppermint extract and corn syrup (for gloss!)

Yesterday I made the two layer cakes and the ganache

Today I am in assembly mode.

As experienced as I am with "Martha" I made two huge errors yesterday both of which yielded a quantity of chocolate on floor, cabinets and counters.

Nothing, however, compared to today. It is on everything...back splash is indeed splashed, coffee maker got hit, its on my clothes, all over the counter, the taps, tea towels, oven mitts, countless spatulas, knives, whisks and sheets and sheets of parchment and waxed paper. Hudson was spared but only just...I found spots on the floor right in front of the dog bed where he's been sleeping.

Aaaand of course I had to "taste" the trimmings I took off the tops to level them out before icing and as I iced the ganache ended up all over my hands - not just my fingers - all over my hands - I've had more than the odd "lick" of ganache so I also feel quite sick with the sweetness.

BUT IT IS GOING TO BE SO WORTH IT!

Darling Daughter has taken my camera with her on a trip we won (Swiss Chalet Dip 'n Win!) So I won't be able to really document it but I'll try to get at least one snap somehow for the record book and to share.

In knitting news I'm continuing to slog along on the thank you mitts. There has been ripping and much un-twining of twined yarns. It is not fun. I can only hope that like the cake it will ultimately also be worth the effort. Unlike the cake I am going on my "recipe" rather than an one developed by a team of experts so the a positive outcome seems much less certain.

Nonetheless...Onward!

Thanks for dropping by!