Ashburn

The Ashburn shawl, designed by prolific knitwear designer Melanie Berg who describes it as

'… an eye-catching triangle shawl with asymmetrical flair.  Garter and slipped stitch patterns create a subtle medley of textures, and an endless combination of color choices lets you be as demure or as bold as you like'

I used a bright blue from Easy Knits (he calls it Tardis blue) and a skein of Madeline Tosh Spectrum (a blue/purple/green lightly variegated lace weight that I held double).  It’s mostly garter stitch, with some slipped stitches thrown in for texture, and is quite easy to knit in front of the TV or while chatting.  A side note, the blue was absolutely colour fast – I was very impressed given the intensity of the colour.

The combination of decreases and increases at each end gives it the shape of an extended, asymmetrical triangle.  Ultimately though, I thought the triangle was too shallow, so I cut some paper in the same shape and played around with folding it into a cowl. 

Voila, I wrapped the cast on corner around and stitched it down and I ended up with a cowl at a good length to double-wrap without risk of strangulation.  I particularly like that more of the slipped stitches are visible, as it sits quite flat across my chest, like a bandana. 

If I were to knit it, or a shawl of a similar shape, again, I would slow down the decreases – perhaps I would only decrease half as often as required. 

Yarnporium

The Yarnporium came to town at the start of November, and what a small but glorious show it was!  Over 2 rooms of the beautiful Kings College (the Strand campus), as well as classrooms, a lovely array of yarn, notions and related accoutrement was laid out to tempt yarn lovers.  Organised by Yarn in the City (who also organise the Great London Yarn Crawl), the event ran over the course of the weekend, and included multiple classes as well as the marketplace – and I enjoyed the whole weekend!  From my Saturday morning shopping with my friend Alison, helping on a booth, taking a class and then helping with the pack up, I had a full on yarn weekend.

I took Renee Callahan’s ‘Brioche Next Steps’ class – I already knew how to do brioche stitches, but really struggled with the increases and decreases (don’t look too closely at the crown of the brioche hat I recently made for Geoff).  Renee’s class was enjoyable and well-paced – we covered a good amount of material, and the 3 hour session was the perfect length. 

Saturday afternoon I helped my friend Woollenflower (Jules) on her booth – it was such a nice experience to talk to people interested in her yarns and pouches (I just love my tartan pouch). 

Shopping wise, I bought some Smoke at Easy Knits (a custom blend for them from John Arbon), and some Frisky Sock from Debonnaire (in the loveliest midnight blue/black).  I picked up a Pom Pom Quarterly, some lovely Jul closures and a Christmassy project bag.

It was a great opportunity to meet some fun knitters – it’s always lovely to see London dyers like The Wool Kitchen and Travel Knitter, as well as designers like Helen Stewart and Stephen West!  And also a lovely opportunity to admire the knitwear – the building blocks shawl looked amazing in almost every colour combination, and there were some really amazing cardigans as well.  All in all, it was a great weekend, full of yarn and friends!

X-Gin

From Geoff...

Gin, in most of its forms, is delicious and my summer go to-drink aside from Pimm's. So in an attempt to pretend that it is still warm, I joined a gin club! The promise of hard-to-find gins and tonics was too hard to ignore.  First up, X-Gin, a really novel gin that is a long way from the traditional London Dry. It attempts to recreate the smell and taste of Mayan Chocolate, with strong cocoa and vanilla flavours coming through the standard base of juniper and spices.

I thought it was pretty good, with a nice balance reached between the old world bitter juniper and the new world chocolatey smoothness. Probably wouldn't get a bottle of it, but definitely one to keep an eye out for in pubs.

The gin came with Fever Tree Tonic and a small bag of cocoa nibs. I was a bit disappointed to get Fever Tree, which is available everywhere, but I guess they needed to pair the gin with a neutral tonic to keep the gin as the foremost flavour. The nibs was a very nice addition, as they would be hard to find and are suggested as the garnish on all the suggested recipes! Other garnishes that worked well were lime and black pepper, making it feel like you are drinking a gourmet chocolate bar. All up, a really good start to the gin club with a well-thought through box. Hoping for more of the same next time!

We have the best new neighbour

Geoff and I recently welcomed a new next door neighbour.  A young Turkish guy, who says he works from home and travels a lot, so we don't expect to see him much. We recently opened our door to find our new neighbour with an offering of pistachio baklava.

oozey and delicious.

Embracing Autumn

Geoff and I took a wander around our neighbourhood over the weekend, soaking up some golden sunshine and revelling in the signs of Autumn.  

Golden yellows

Bright reds

Tinges of orange 

Damp.

Kate and Geoff ate Paris

Before going on our trip to Paris, I joked that we were going to eat all the croissants in Paris, as we had a list as long as our arms of the patisseries that we wanted to try!  As well as lots of oysters!

In no particular order, here are some of the delicacies we enjoyed:

Butter croissant at Du Pain et des Idées

Supposedly one of the best butter croissants in Paris, and it did not disappoint.  Flaky, crispy, moist in the middle, rich and smooth.  Absolutely delicious. 

Aux Merveilleux de Fred

Apparently the cakes sold here are called ‘Merveilleux’ – little meringues, that are still slightly chewy inside, surrounded by a delicious flavoured cream, and nuts, or chocolate shavings. Light and airy, incredibly satisfying to a sweet tooth

François Pralus

Pralus sells a brioche studded with pink praline (almond and hazelnuts) and was so buttery and especially lovely with a cup of tea

Berko

We devoured a delicious piece of lemon meringue cheesecake – tart lemon curd swirled through the cheesecake and topped by billowy meringue.  Lovely.

Stohrer

A much more traditional looking French patisserie, and I really enjoyed a religieuse – a coffee flavoured choux pastry bomb!  Highly recommended. 

Chapon
Yes, this is a cone of chocolate mousse, covered in crumbled praline.  There were 5 mousses to choose from - different chocolates from all over the world!

A touch of Melbourne in Paris

We certainly earned a coffee and éclair after climbing the hundreds of steps up to the Sacre Coeur, and used the lure of a taste of (Melbourne) home to get up the last few.

The Hardware Societe has a very small café in Paris, absolutely crammed with tables, staffed by English speakers and is the home of some coffee from Padre at the South Melbourne Markets. 

Geoff and I bought a flat white each (horrendously expensive but delicious) and shared a raspberry and rose water éclair while relaxing in the sun on the steps of the Sacre Coeur

It was a nice reminder of Melbourne.