Squee Sunday

So, I got this through the post yesterday:

That's my god-daughter and her brother (who are also my cousins). She's wearing the hoodie I made for her! And it fits!

Yep, that's me with them on the left. And the other is my god-daughter in her Christening dress. It made me smile so much to get these!

What's made you Squee this weekend?

For more squees, click here

Gluten Free Pizza Recipe

I'm posting this due to a request, but if anyone wants to try yummy gluten free pizza, here it is:

Disclaimer: This is not my recipe, though we've made some changes. The original is printed on the flour packet

Ingredients:
450g/16oz white bread flour (this is a blend of rice, potato and tapioca flour + xanthan gum)
2tsp Quick yeast
2tbsp sugar
325ml/11floz warm milk
1tsp vinegar (we used malt)
2 eggs
6 tbsp oil (we used olive)

1. Mix together flour, salt, yeast and sugar
2. In large bowl beat milk, eggs and vinegar. Add the vinegar last to prevent the milk curdling
3. Add the flour and mix to form a sticky dough
4. Continue mixing, adding the oil. The dough should be much stickier than any bread dough you've ever seen before. It should be sticking to everything and shouldn't be rollable like pizza dough usually is
5. Oil an oven dish and spread out the dough. You will need to use an oiled knife to do this or it will be impossible.
6. Leave to rise for about 30 mins
7. Cook at 200°C (400°F) in a non fan oven/180 °C in a fan oven until base is firm and nearly cooked (about 15 mins)
8. Add toppings of your choice
9. Cook at  200°C (400°F) with the fan on until cheese is melted and base is slightly crisp around the outside (about 15 mins)
10. Enjoy! 

ETA: This is how sticky the dough should be:

Year of Projects Week 16

I think it's time for a review of my list, since in 16 weeks I've only completed 3 projects. My list is currently looking a bit overambitious... I've not removed many projects, but I've removed big ones

So onto the new list:
Knitting

WIPs
Rainycloud
Betty the blob
Central Park Hoodie
The boy's scarf
Build-a-bear clothes

New Projects
Cabled Jacket with Hood for the God-daughter's christening present - completed 14th August 2011
Tubby by Anna Hrachovec
Arielle by Kim Hargreaves
Jumper for Mum
Pug Dog Washcloth for H's birthday - completed 3rd October 2011
Dishcloth for V's birthday
Make-up Socks
Textured Cushion by Amy Butler for the boy

2/13 completed

Sewing

WIPs
Tatty Teddy bookmark

New Projects
Popcorn bookmark for H

Gran's birthday embroidery

Blackwork test stitch - completed 10th July 2011

1/4 completed

These are things that I would still like to complete this year, and will still be included in the list, but I will not count them as part of the challenge (i.e. I don't need to finish them to complete my list):

Frog my purple scarf and knit a better one

Cross stitch for the boy
Map of Yorkshire

Lickle Ted - Lickle Bit Shy

So far, I've done one pattern repeat on my socks. Hopefully, I'll have more time to stitch next week, so more will get done!

Tuesday Tunes

Now, as many people know Peppermint Mocha Mama is one of my favourite blogs. Now on a tuesday, she does Tuesday Tunes, which I have decided to shamelessly deal (with due credit of course =P). I feel like I need to spread the love of my favourite songs and possibly reflect on what I've been listening to

This song is one of the most beautiful I know, and is so raw and powerful. I've been listening to it today in the microscope room whilst taking photos of slides and it fills that little space and brings a tear to my eye.

An Unexpected Project

Yesterday afternoon, I got a text from H asking if she could borrow my sewing machine to attached a zip. Now i new exactly what that meant, but I invited her over, and set her up with the leotard she wanted to attach a zip to, the zip and a piece of tailors chalk. She looked at it very confusedly for a minutes, then asked for help. So I took over as I expected. The zip was to go up the front of the leotard like this:

What I didn't expect was that she also wanted to make a hood. She (actually better make that I) was making a Halloween costume for her birthday, and wanted to make the grey leotard Jesse J is wearing in this video (Warning NSFW lyrics):

She had brought a grey t-shirt with her, but didn't seem to understand either the amount of fabric needed for a hood, or that the colours needed to match.

There was just enough fabric in the t-shirt (which had a design on the front meaning the front couldn't be used) to patch the back of the leotard, which had a scoop back, to make a normal neckline which a hood could be sewn to. As it was a different shade of grey to the leotard, I left part of the original seam showing, to make the change in colour look like a design feature rather than an accident.

I then sacrificed my grey vest top to make the hood:

I cut the top of the vest off along the dotted line, then cut up one of the side seams

I then opened out the vest like this, and seamed the two sides marked A together. I then seamed the sides marked B around the neckline from one side of the zip to the other. Luckily, it was almost exactly the right length. This also meant that the neatly sewed hem around the bottom of the vest became the hem around the front of the hood, whilst one of the sided seams became the seam at the top of the hood.

Finally, I had her try on the leotard and pinned the hood in a curved shape at the back to make it less pointed, then seamed that.

The finished garment:

And a close up of the hood:

What do you think? I don't think it's too bad for a surprise scratch job.

We also made gluten free pizza for the first time! As I said earlier, I don't cook, so the boy and V made the dough whilst H and I were making the leotard

It was yummy, but the recipe was a bit weird. If we'd left the pizza in for the time needed to make the base perfect, the toppings would have been completely burnt. In future, we're going to pre-cook the bases. My contribution was the topping on the left half of the left pizza =P

Also, Ginger Kitty now has a new name: Perdita (Said Perd-it-a not Perd-eet-a) meaning "she who is lost," and Purdy for short. She's definitely a knitting and sewing cat:

Yes, that is the leotard she's sleeping on. Looks just like all the cat blocking pictures I see on Ravelry. I was actually in the middle of cutting that when she decided it look comfy, and I couldn't bear to move her for ages!

Thank you, thank you very much...

Was I ever excited when I was reading some of my favourite blogs this morning, with my cup of coffee, when this popped up with my little blog attached to it! This was from Keri over at whendidibecomeaknitter, which is a truly brilliant blog, mainly because she approaches everything with such humour. It really makes me laugh at loud at some point. And not to forget, she does some pretty good knitting too =P

The rules for this are:

1. Thank the person who awarded it to you and link to their blog
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass this one to 15 newly discovered or new to you blogs. (I hope I can make someone else smile to have recieved this, like I did)

So without further ado,7 things about me:

1. I really can't cook. I see all these blogs with pictures of amazing food, and I'm envious. But it's not because I want to learn to cook that food myself, I just want to eat it. I have no inclination to learn to cook, but luckily the boy is an excellent cook, so I still eat well


2. I wear a lot of black, mostly in the form of band t-shirts, because I buy one for every gig I've ever been to. I also have all the tickets from every gig I've ever been to which is over 100, and a ticket album to put them in, but I haven't yet put them in it, because I have more tickets than fit in the album


3. I went to Malawi when I was 16 on a charity tour, and it was life changing, especially seeing health care in a third world country. I became a much less selfish person, and it put all my problems into perspective to see what people there live with, and how they're still smiling.


4. I've just joined my university's Knit-a-soc as a volunteer, which means that I will be teaching people how to knit (let's see how that goes...). I'll also be helping to teach Brownies (a branch of girl guides from ages 7-10), and running charity knit workshops to make baby clothes for our local NICU and squares to make into blankets for the homeless


5. I'm a very messy person, but I wish I wasn't. I try to tidy up once a week, and love the house when it's tidy, but it never stays that way. I wish I had the knack of putting things away immediately, but it's always stuff I'll need again in a few minutes, or don't want to put somewhere and forget where I put it. I do always know where everything is though.


6. I learnt to sew long before I could knit. I remember being a very small child and making a dress for my doll on my Mum's antique sewing machine. And by antique I mean that it was once a pedal powered machine that had been converted to electricity, and when the needle broke, my Dad had to track down an antiques dealer who specialised in antique sewing machines to find a new one. The guy couldn't believe we still actually used the thing. It belonged to my great-gran, and will probably come to me at some point.


7. I wouldn't count myself a creative person, but would say I was a crafty one. I can't come up with my own ideas for making something, but I can follow someone else's plan and make something really nice that is personal to me. I adapt rather than create, and I'm happy with that

And now onto the blogs I'd like to give this to, and suggest that you read. In no particular order:

1. Peppermint Mocha Mama - an incredibly stylish blog with a writing style that I love
2. Napiligal's Blog - lots of amazing socks and picture of California sunshine that make me very envious
3. I knit. Any questions? - a very well written and witty blog
4. Knit... Purl... Wait, What?... Damn! - a great blog by a pretty new knitter who makes some lovely things
5. Master of a Thousand Things - knitting with added geekyness, and some amazing food pictures.
6. What Deliah Did - an amazing cross stitch designer, with some great beginner pieces, and a stylish blog with great pictures
7. Misadventures in Craft - a really engaging and well written blog with some great knitting and food
8. Confessions of a Yarn Addict - great blog, with some very cute pictures of Little Man, her son
9. It Might Be a Metaphor - lots of great knitting and spinning
10. Gingerbread Girl - with amazing rainbow pictures!
11. Good purl gone bad - a blog I'm quite new to reading, but some great knitting and crochet. And check out her Babette blanket!
12. Lynda Grace an Hour Away - a great blog by someone who's going through some tough times at the moment. Give her some love!
13. Needles, Pins and Baking Tins - amazing pictures, and quilts that are just wow
14. Writing, Yarn, Pucks and Diapers - knitting, crochet, babies and cats, what more do you want?
15. Le Inevitable Year Abroad Blog - not actually a craft blog. It's written by a friend of mine and it's HILARIOUS, and I would highly recommend checking it out

It was very hard to come up with 15, and I could definitely recommend more than this!

Year of Projects Week 14 & 15

So this is all the knitting (or crafting in general) I've done for the last 2 weeks (except a very small and secret project). It's the start of my socks, which I am making from the Joy of Sox book. It's these: Make-up Socks. I love the leafy vine pattern, and I thought that the autumnal colours of my yarn went with the pattern perfectly.

In other news, we seem to have gained a fur baby

She's adorable, and so fluffy! We have no idea who she belongs to, but we let her in the house for a bit last night, and after we went to bed, we could hear her crying outside the door! And now she's asleep on our spare bed... She'll be out again tonight, but I hope she has a house to go to! She has a collar on, but it's very old and battered, so I'm not sure if she has an owner or not. I know that we feed her, and next door to us feed her, and I've never seen her go to any other houses. She could go when we're not there, but I always see her outside on the street if she's not at ours or next doors'. Also, she's not spayed, and my friend thinks she might be pregnant. Having only experience of a male cat, I have no idea if that's true or not... What do you think?