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Alison Hawke

Alison Hawke

Handspun secret pal revealed

A parcel arrived yesterday from my handspun secret pal (whom I now know as Jenifer of cast on, cast off) and it was wonderful! I waited until I could photo this in daylight today. Beautiful stitch markers, a tape measure, a knitting playlist CD (with some interesting songs on it)

Spinning FO: Mandy Merino

4oz hand-dyed merino from Spunky Eclectic in Mandy 324 yds, wheel-spun 2 ply, mostly sportweight. This is the most yardage I've got out of a 4oz lump of fibre. I'm aiming for sock weight next, which would be 400 yds from the same amount. With this

Amazing Grace

Saw Amazing Grace on Friday night. Not your usual kind of film but very good. I knew vaguely about William Wilberforce, but I didn't realise he was connected with Pitt the Younger, or how the slave trade and the sugar trade were connected, or that privateers were still

Fortune Cookie

My Fortune Cookie told me: BAD WOLF. Get a cookie from Miss Fortune Season One of Doctor Who anyone?

FO: Elfine Tofutsies

Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit. And it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit, either. Elizabeth Zimmerman Pattern: Elfine Lace socks (PDF pattern file) Yarn: SWTC Tofutsies colour 728 ("Three Feet Short") Gauge: 9 st/in on 2.5mm needle, using Magic Loop technique Modifications: Sherman

Recipe: Comfort Food

It's been a long time since I posted a recipe. This one doesn't have a name beyond "that chicken bacon peanut sauce thing," but it's good comfort food and we get four meals out of it. Ingredients * 1 packet of chicken breasts

Projects in all directions

The second Elfine lace sock is coming along nicely (though you can't see the pattern on sock #1 in the photo), and I'm planning something different for the next pair: Sweet Georgia yarn in Slayer red from The Loopy Ewe. I'll be putting slow

Cheese mines of Wales

BBC News: Cheddar matures 300ft down mine. Big Pit, Wales' working mine museum, is lending its mine shafts to a firm creating a Welsh cheddar cheese. A Blaenavon company which makes four types of cheddar says the temperature 90m (300ft) underground is ideal for its 40kg (90lb) blocks of

Upcoming yarn

I was prowling the SWTC website, and they have a whole bunch of interesting looking yarns coming out besides the Tofutsies. These ones caught my eye: * Craft, 35% milk Fiber, 65% organic cotton, 5.5 sts/in on US 6 needles (4mm) * Rock, 40% soysilk, 30% wool, 30% hemp, 5

Finding history

BBC News: School wall yields historic items. A unique piece of local history has been discovered in the wall of a local primary school in Gravesend, Kent. A bottle containing artefacts from the day in 1893 when building work on Wrotham Road School finished was dug out by workmen building

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