Home improvements and charity knitting

The picture above illustrates the past week pretty well. I've discovered that doodling something with my Wacom often helps me get past the worst lack of inspiration - it's something about being able to zoom deep into detail that I find reassuring. Being able to forget about the daunting bigger picture and concentrate on something seemingly insignificant. Yet when I pull back, suddenly everything falls into place. That angry cloud does not fall into this category though, as I treated it as a "how about I finally learn to use Illustrator" experiment.

Another thing that I've found is that chaos around me = chaos inside my head. Sometimes just cleaning up helps. So, today, that's what I finally did. And since it's a sunny day outside, I decided to capture some photographic evidence of Order as long as it lasts, i.e., until my roommates decide to overrule my home decoration decisions, probably tonight when I'm sleeping. Somehow just because I feed, groom and cuddle them they think they make all the decisions in this household.

This is why I cannot have nice things, the tablecloth edition.

I like to store things on tables and shelves - they'd rather keep things on the floor. It's a constant battle. There is, however, one item that never gets messed with: the doggy that lives on the windowsill.

Don't mess with the doggy - he will fuck your shit up.

The doggy has lived here longer than any of us, I found him covered in sawdust in one of the storage rooms. My first housemates thought he was creepy and warned me to not remove him, but I thought he would much prefer to live somewhere he can see outside rather than lie in the sawdust. But they were all a bit chickenshit anyway - can you imagine that they were even creeped out by the lonely child's shoe that appeared from nowhere in another storage room doorway weeks after we had already moved in? Psh, city kids.

I'll freely admit that I have a thing about old toys.

And maybe books.

Perhaps even octopi.

My mantelpiece is a fine example of a place that looks nice for approximately five minutes before it all ends up on the floor. Bluetack? Super glue? Or maybe I can find a way to attach the items on the mantelpiece instead.

That cross stitch there, by the way, I found from a flea market (for 2€ like everything good, it seems?) and tried to replicate but it was going to take the rest of my life so now I just appreciate it all the more. The black on orange is awesome for a rococo chick.

I also finally hung that new cross stitch of mine. I have almost as little wall space as I have bookshelf space, but I think it goes well with my cock. What? My measuring tapes are always AWOL, so I have a cock.

There is a joke in here somewhere.

Well alright, I may also have a thing about cocks.

This used to be my favorite mug until a tragic accident that for once was my own fault. I still haven't found one to replace it. I have Moomin mugs for tea, but they are too small for hot cocoa. I'm also on the lookout for a new small teapot since the cats destroyed the one you can see in the background there. In fact I found the perfect pot to replace it, but can't really justify spending over 20€ for a teapot I don't exactly need. Still, it's so very pretty, isn't it?

Okay, so, now that the pretty pictures are out of the way I can get down to the business of what makes this post more than "lookit my stuff!" There are two different Finnish charity knitting projects that I find extremely supportable, so do take a look and if you feel like advertising or contributing, please do so:

Villaa ylle -keräys collects hats, socks, gloves etc. mainly in men's sizes to hand out to the homeless next October. The knits must be sent off by the end of September.

Kotosukka, on the other hand, collects hand-knit socks to make asylum seekers feel more welcome. There is no organized send-off or time limit, and all sizes are welcome. It can only be found on Facebook atm, but if you're not on it and want the address, let me know in the comments.

Both the homeless and asylum seekers could probably use some warmth and love that comes in a hand-knit and while a pair of socks doesn't solve many problems, at least it's a nice and personal gesture.

They call me the pie master

I watched Twin Peaks for the first time in its entirety last year with my flatmate, who cooks. It started with brie and butter baguettes. Then came the donuts. Soon enough we were stuffing our faces every other night and dreaming about the perfect cherry pie. Apple, bilberry, pumpkin too, but especially cherry. I'm a sucker for that poisonous essence found in canned cherries, Dr. Pepper and arsenic.

The reason it took me about eight months to actually get around making said pie was that it's impossible to find fresh or even frozen sour cherries in Finland and even canned tend to be hard to find and expensive. Miraculously at least Citymarket now carries huge jars of both sweet and sour cherries, and this pie is made with the latter.

Damn good pie, this is. Glossy, too!

I have to say, I am extremely pleased with this pie. I don't know what the secret is because it was all very simple, but let me take you through the process so that I, or you, can maybe replicate it later and pinpoint the source of fabulousness.

The crust

5 dl flour
225 g cold butter

All crumbled together. The secret to a nice flaky crust is to handle the dough as little as possible to keep the butter from melting. The consistence should be teensy crumbs of butter encased in flour. I am now dreaming about a good pastry cutter, but a kitchen blender should do the job as well and I just pinched little cubes of butter in the flour with my fingertips until it was suitably crumbly.

Now, for a regular shortcut pastry you usually just mix a small amount of water in with the butter-flour mixture. Apparently you can replace some of the water with vodka, which will then evaporate from the pie and result in a deliciously flaky crust. The recipe I used contained a small amount of vinegar, which I suspect works in a similar manner. I added

0,4 dl water
0,1 dl vinegar
0,75 egg (I mixed the yolk with the white and left a little in the cup for later)

I then smoothed the pastry into a lump, divided it into two (I even used a scale to do it!), wrapped the halves in cling wrap and put them in the fridge.

The filling

1 jar (350 g) of sour cherries + about half the liquid
3 dl brown sugar
a healthy dose of cinnamon
1 dl flour

All mixed together. Now, this is the point where I took a two-hour nap, so I let the filling stew and the pastry cool in peace. It's imperative to keep the pastry cold, but who cares when you combine the filling ingredients, not me.

After I woke up I took one half of the pastry out of the fridge, sandwiched it between cling film and proceeded to roll it into a thin, pie dish sized shape, readjusting the cling films every now and then to avoid wrinkles and stickiness. I let the bottom cool off in the fridge while I rolled out the other half and cut it into the lattice strips. Then I brushed the bottom with the remaining egg, added the filling, made a pretty lattice top, brushed it withe remaining egg remains and baked the whole beauty in 220°C for 35 minutes. Let it cool for a bit and served with ice cream. OMG perfect! For the record, there was no cherry essence taste: apparently adding a little almond extract makes it even more delicious. I couldn't use it because of an allergy, but do try it if you will! And the vodka crust, too. Just don't eat it raw too much.

Om to the fucking nom nom!

In other news I've been more inclined to start projects than finish them. There's a pair of wool pants on the needles that will probably only premier next winter because it's most definitely spring now, commission hats are waiting to be cast on, a sock pattern awaits proper inspiration, I think I promised to make two pairs of socks for different people... but most excited I've been about Geodesic cardigan (links to Rav, here's the link to Interweave store).

I'm at the first tucks, how exciting!

I was originally going to splurge on some Malabrigo lace for it, but in some fit of common sense decided on this mystery laceweight wool I found from a thrift store. A bit disappointingly the first of two skeins had numerous cuts here and there, but no trace of any animals and all my yarn is nowadays safely tucked away in ziplock bags so I decided not to worry about it. I ended up with two bigger balls and several tiny ones. But hey, 150 g of laceweight for 2 euros, what am I complaining about? It's a very pretty purple, too.

I've also been on a cross stitch highway. I decided way before Yule while making the kitty-vomit-thing that I needed motivational sign myself. Something like a motto I could live by, that would inform anyone visiting my home of the values I live by. Something pretty, sophisticated and subtle. Something like...

The antique frame compliments these delicate stitches perfectly.

The font is from freepatternsonline.com and two of the birds from tipnut.com. The frames and the bird on the bottom left I designed myself. As before, the picture below should be big enough to work from. Because I know what's been missing from your home decor.

You're welcome.

Some things finished

Today I made a traditional Sunday excursion to visit my friend Malike and her kittycat, which was also a first outing for my Daybreak (links to the pattern at Ravelry). It's the first pattern I've ever purchased and the second time I make the scarf. Easy to memorize yet not boring, very versatile and oh-so-pretty, I wouldn't be surprised if I made it a couple of more times over the years. I am surprised that the biggest size is not that big after all, but I'm happy with it even though I was expecting a huge massive scarf to wrap around my face. There's nothing stopping anyone from making it bigger, of course.

Also featured: one cake-shaped pin cushion, box of crackers and drill

 Blocking has never done as many wonders as it did this time making the scarf bigger, softer and drape better. Of course, I did have help.

In the back: Pulla, aka the little monster. In the front: Kölli, aka 6,5 kilos of brains.

 
Apologies for the picture quality, but somehow the lighting is not all that good around here on February midnights. Which is why, since I was actually going outside for a change, I took my camera with me. Behold: scarf in action!

Oh right, the yarns: one black skein of Austermann Step, and a little less than one skein of Noro Kureyon Sock. The yarns have very different textures, which miraculously is not a problem AT ALL.

You may notice that in addition to the scarf (and a cowl which is probably my most useful knitted item ever) I'm wearing a hat. It is my own brainchild with fleece lining and the added warmth of crocheted, scalloped flaps. They work wonderfully, by the way, except that I can't hear a thing. Not always a bad thing.

The flaps do not quite lie flat but I'm too cold to block them.

While I was at it, I took a picture of a wall hanging I made for Malike. Now, this is not my idea, and I just now tracked down the original at Crafster. This is my version, however. The font I'm pretty sure I found on www.freepatternsonline.com, but I can't find it anymore. The border I designed myself.

The reason why I'm hunting down the specifics is that I have the grid lying around just waiting to be shared. If you click the picture below and then save it on your computer it should be plenty big enough to work from. Knock yourselves out!

Yes, cross stitch is cool.

By the way, the owner of those paws in the photograph above would like you to know that he has so far only vomited on the bathroom floor.

Malike REALLY loves her bathroom floor.