Pandan cupcakes with palm sugar icing

(That isn't actually a pandan cupcake at all. It's a freakin' awesome looking green tea cupcake with pistachio icing. But it's about the right colour, and I forgot to take photos of mine).

I (uh, I mean 'we') got a KitchenAid for the nuptials. I've not been much one for baking figuring I wasn't too good at it. Really, it was a case of lacking the right tools. I've only turned out two batched of cupcakes so far, but they've both been shop-worthy. The first batch was plain old vanilla with chocolate icing.

For the second batch I got creative. We honeymooned in Penang, pretty much so we could spend a week eating. I adore Pulut Tai Tai, and was pleased to discover the palm-sugary-pandanish deliciousness of cendol. I figured those flavours might work in a cupcake, but couldn't find a recipe.

I fudged a few things together, using the Hummingbid Bakery vanilla cupcake recipe as a base (minus the vanilla). I blitzed a cup of milk with seven pandan leaves, strained the milk, and used half a cup in the recipe (the rest is frozen for another day). It wasn't enough to colour the cupcakes green, but they definitely had that beautiful pandan scent. For the palm sugar icing, I added a quarter of a cup of grated palm sugar to the Hummingbird Bakery vanilla frosting recipe, and went easy on the milk (the dampness of the palm sugar means the milk isn't so necessary). Had an excellent rich toffee/ wine scent. All together it was very, very moreish. Definitely better than standard vanilla.

Because I hate the hassle of icing individual cupcakes, I'll probably just make a big pandan buttercake next time, but I can see pandan-palm-sugar baked goods becoming my sigature.

To do list.

Get married. Check.

So now that my weekends aren't taken up with seating charts and spraypainting cake stands, I can work on other things.

i) This self-closing bag (I'd make it as a Christmas gift for someone, but I can't think who);

ii) More cushion covers for the pups' oversized floor cushions. Need to order/ buy some grunge-coloured fabric, perhaps something tweedy, as no matter how often we wash their cushions, they end up with a built-in layer of dirt;

iii) Sencha blouse, to be made as part of a sew-along with a girl I work with and a girl I used to work with. We all think it's the perfect work blouse;

iv) Olive, with a yoke of pigeonroof studios handspun, and a body out of the new Beaverslide sportsweight 2-ply;

v) Riding to Avalon, without a hood, from some Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed I acquired second-hand;

vi) Conquer my fear of jersey fabric, and run up some shapeless slouchy singlets for summer.

Compositor

So my last post was all about a printer's type case I found on Gumtree. I thought it was something maybe someone young and hip had imported, then no longer wanted. But then when I e-mailed asking if it was still available, the reply was a bit odd.
"Oh yes, it's available. And I have over a hundred of these anyway."

What? Someone imported all these type cases?

No. It turned out, when we went to buy one, that they are owned by an old compositor. He used to set type for posters and newspapers and whatnot back in the UK. And when the process started to be computerised, and typesetting businesses were burning their tools, or sending them to the tip, he started buying this stuff up. For the love of it. When he moved to Australia he brought it with him. I have no idea how much there was, but at one point he sold 10 tonnes (yes) of type to someone in the USA, and he still has two garages full of Stuff. It's the biggest collection of type in Australia, and possibly in the Southern hemisphere. Right here in Perth. It's amazing. He occasionally sells off entire fonts (he is careful not to break up entire fonts by selling single letters or characters) to letterpress owners all over the world.

But really, the quantity of stuff he has belongs in a TAFE or university.

DIY out of one's depth

So, I've recently become completely addicted to Gumtree. It's like Craigslist for Australians. BCB gets, like, three e-mails a day from me that go something like this "Look! Used shipping pallets to trade for a carton of beer! We could totally do something with shipping pallets, right?" or maybe "A hot pink chaise lounge. Can I have it? Pleeeeease?"

Anyway, a little while back I saw an ad for a printer's type case. And I thought to myself "Damn, that would make a cool coffee table top." BCB agreed I could have this particular piece of ephemera. So off we went, picked up said type case.

I totally have plans about how it will work. Glass top (I've even sourced the glass), screwed into nice hefty wooden sides, so the type case can continue to function as a drawer, then some nice solid legs. I'm pondering some modifications to give Buddy, the dog that likes to nest, a little cave underneath.

Problem? I've got no woodworking skills. Zip. I don't even own a saw! I don't even really want to learn them... but I want my coffee table! What's a girl to do? (no, seriously, got ideas?)

Unexpected kindness.

hi. hi there.

So... this place has been quite for nearly a year now. And a lot has changed in that year, too. I've moved house, twice, acquired two dogs, had to find a new car when the old one got written off... anyway, the car's not so very exciting, but by reason of the two pups and the house the focus of this blog might change a little.

I'm still knitting, of course, and spinning. But now I'm also the owner of a beautiful, beautiful little terrace house built in 1898 (that's before Australia was even a country, people). It's in pretty good condition, but needs plenty of cosmetic work. So some of that stuff might feature here.

Also, our little family has doubled in size with the acquisition of Lola, then Buddy. Both are pug x cavalier king charles spaniels. Lola, being little, pretty, neurotic, friendly and gentle, was bought from a nice lady as a puppy. Buddy, who is big, fat, lazy, cranky and loves a belly-rub, is a rescue dog. Understandably, these new family members might get the odd mention also. In an unflattering light, if Buddy gets into my spinning fibres again (that god he didn't get through the plastic bags!)

The Get Well Soon Beanie

The Goldfish is also showing the knitting community the '100% acrylic' label on his scarf.

Sorry about the terrible photo quality. There are more detailed shots (including the modd-ed crown decreases - I used the stitch pattern all the way through the hat, rather than changing to stocking-stitch for the crown) on the ravelry page.

Oh jeebus

Laminaria: Manlier than you think

The Get Well Soon beanie (for BCB's partner in film-crime) was gratefully received. Um, so gratefully I got three texts the morning after I gave it saying how well-liked it was. Then one the next day, and one the day after that. The recipient (henceforth christened the Goldfish) has no short term memory right now, and cannot remember sending any of them. Nonetheless, "Good beanie, this" has become a little bit of an in-joke.

The Goldfish has a big-number birthday coming up this year. Since he appreciated the beanie so well, I thought I might knit him something else. But because it's a special birthday, and he's had such an awful year, I wanted it to be Special and Heirloomy. I moaned to BCB (and the Mt Lawley Stitch'n'Bitch) that if only the Goldfish was female, I'd knit a beautiful lace shawl. Someone suggested that maybe a sort of manly-shawl thing might cut it. I finally decided to raise it with the Goldfish, when he complimented my Laminaria.
"Would you maybe like something a bit similar, but like, more manly?"
"You kidding? I'll wear this one!" (and he proceeded to wear my Laminaria for the rest of the evening, while also whinging about not wanting a fuss for his birthday).

It came up again the other night. He asked shyly for a "scarf like mine", "or even one like BCB's" before doing a bit of "oh, no, just kidding. you don't have to."
So he's coming over this afternoon to talk colours for his Laminaria-to-be.

I would really, really love for it to be handspun, because I would think that was all the more special... but his birthday is late August/ early September... I can knit about 100m a week, and spin about 50g a week... I just don't think the maths work out, do they?

A very useful book list

I was trawling the internet looking for information on Latvian Mittens this morning (isn't that what everyone spends Saturday morning doing?) and I found this Extremely Excellent List of Reference Books, from Knitting Beyond the Hebrides. I have heard of most of them, seen many of them, but only own one or two. But to me this is a very neat canon of knitting, for the less trend-oriented, more technique-oriented knitter.

On knitting, worry and the world wars

A fortnight ago BCB and I found out that our friend (and BCB's partner in film-crime) was going into hospital for a month. While I am very glad he will be getting All Fixed Up, it is still a very scary and stressful time. We did not realise he was that unwell. Because my bedside manner is quite terrible (more sarcastic, than reassuring and caring) I decided to knit a beanie to show my love.

Prior to starting said beanie I was a bit of a wreck. I wasn't sleeping too well, my appetite was a bit sketchy (extremely unusual for me). But the beanie calmed me right down. The repetitive action, and focussing my concerns into a physical object, worrying about gauge instead of health, really helped. And I wondered if, in part, this is why knitting for soldiers was so popular in the World Wars. When you can't see the person you love, and you don't exactly how they're doing but you can be pretty sure they're not having much fun, knitting makes you feel like you're helping. I think.