What’s On Your Workdesk this Wednesday?
As before, there isn’t anything worth reporting on my actual desk. This week, on the creative front, I have been concentrating on my knitting.
Knitting
The black sideways knit UFO
This is coming along nicely. I blocked it out on my blocking mat, in an attempt to make both sides the same size, and when it was fully dry, I removed it from the mat, and it appeared to be fine.
However, over the next couple of days, and with some handling, it reverted to its somewhat uneven shape, although I don’t think it is quite as bad as it was. I do not remember this being a problem when I originally made it and was wearing it, so perhaps once the waistband has been picked up again, and it is being worn, the problem won’t be noticeable. There’s nothing I can do about it short of unravelling half the jumper and reknitting it, which I am not prepared to do.
I had remembered correctly that I had done an experimental neckband on this jumper, trying a cut-and-sew, the sort of neckband that is common among machine knitters. In this case it was not a success but came out lumpy and uneven. I had a job unpicking it but eventually I managed to remove it all, exposing the cut knitting. You can see this in the above photo.
I originally intended reinforcing this with the sewing machine, but someone suggested to me that I could run around with a crochet chain stitch just inside the cut edge. This seemed a much better idea because it would not only stabilise it, but would remain stretchy.
This has worked extremely well. Once it was done, I felt a lot more confident in handling the garment with no fear that it would unravel.
With my new stitch markers:
I marked all around the neck edge at one-inch intervals, and picked up six rib stitches per inch. This is a brilliant way of making sure that the stitches are picked up evenly. I have had no end of problems with this in the past. These little stitch markers, which look like miniature safety pins, work so well – they are easy to insert and secure, and just as easy to remove. You can colour code different parts as well, if you want. Once the stitches were all picked up, I left just one marker in at the centre back position, and began to knit in the round, the marker indicating where each new round would begin.
I used my newly discovered method for avoiding those ugly “jogs” in striped circular knitting that I mentioned in my last post.
I knitted just over twice as many rows as I wanted for the finished neckband, adding stripes in the first half and plain black in the second half, and cast off with the stretchy cast-off method that I also mentioned on my last post. Once it was finished off, I slip-stitched the cast off edge inside the body of the jumper, so that the cut edge was neatly sandwiched between the two layers.
The result is highly satisfactory. As I mentioned regarding the purple circles jumper, the yarn I am using for this is off machine knitting cones, so it is lightly waxed. This gives the knitting a somewhat stringy appearance, which will disappear once the garment is washed. Also, once the neckband is pressed, it will lie flatter.
The next step was to pick up the stitches around the bottom of the jumper. I used the longest cable from my interchangeable circular needles set, in order to pick up that large number of stitches, and proceeded to knit in k1 p1 rib, working in the round, in stripes to match the neckband. This is as far as I have got so far.
It needs to be quite a deep band as it sits right on the waist.
Purple circles jumper
I have made a little more progress on the first sleeve, but set it aside for most of this week, in order to work on the black sideways knit. I am anxious to get this UFO completed.
Food
Recipe of the week
Lentil Salad with Spinach and Pomegranate
Unfortunately I had run out of frozen pomegranate seeds, and my hubby was unable to get me any more at Sainsbury’s, so I substituted dried cranberries which I had soaked in hot water for a few minutes. I am keen to try this recipe again using the correct ingredient, but in the meantime it was pretty good nosh, with all the lentils making it quite substantial and nourishing. You can see that I have garnished it with some of my sprouted seeds and some pea microgreens.
We are eating salads for a main course at least four days a week at the moment. I had never been a fan of salads until my whole-food plant-based lifestyle began. I think I was put off by ghastly school salads, and my mum’s dreadfully boring ones. There is actually a wealth of interesting ingredients and flavours that can bring this simple summer meal to life, and you can make awesome dressings completely free of oil, so no need to worry about your waistline!
New chef’s knife
My new chef’s knife arrived this week. When I bought the original set of knives last year at the County Show:
the set came in a beautiful magnetised knife block which protects the blades, and includes an integrated sharpener/honer dedicated to these knives:
The chef’s knife in this set, seen 3rd from the bottom in the photo, has a 5 1/2-inch blade. This really isn’t long enough for my preference, so I decided to replace it with an 8-inch one. This knife arrived last week. You can see it here, with the smaller one for comparison. They are lying on my new 18 x 12 inch chopping board which is a dream to use.
A close-up shot, showing the beautiful handle which sits so comfortably in the hand. The blade is nice and broad, and the whole knife is beautifully balanced, with a good weight to it. This is a high-quality knife.
The blade, bolster and tang of the knife are forged from a single piece of high quality German stainless steel. In this shot you can see that the tang is full-length, which adds strength and balance to the knife. It is extremely comfortable to use.
I have discovered a couple of delightful chefs on YouTube, giving tutorials on knife skills amongst other things, and I am now well on the way to mastering some new techniques, and hopefully my erstwhile frequently cut fingers will be a thing of the past! (After all, last year I decided to eliminate ALL animal protein from my cooking!)
Most people say that a chef needs only a maximum of three, or possibly four, knives: the ubiquitous all-purpose chef’s knife, a small paring knife and a basic utility knife. These are the three at the bottom of the group photo above. The top three are a carving knife (I am still using this for cutting melons and various other things as the blade is the longest in the set), the serrated bread knife, and a serrated steak knife. I use this last one for segmenting my grapefruit halves for breakfast, once I have freed the flesh from the skin with a grapefruit knife. So I actually do use all six of the knives in the set, now that I have the chef’s knife of the length I require. Other knives that professional chefs might require are boning knives and filleting knives and other specialist ones but none of these are required for vegetarian or vegan cooking.
I now have a problem as to what to do with the 5 1/2-inch blade chef’s knife which I no longer want. This is such a good knife, and far too good just to put on some village fete table or church sale, to be sold for a pound or two. I had hoped to sell it on Ebay but selling knives is against their policy, unfortunately. I have contacted the manufacturer, asking if they have a market for second-hand knives from their range, but so far they haven’t replied. If I could get about £20 for this knife, to offset the cost of the new one, I would be well satisfied; it has only been used two or three times. The brand new price is £44 on the Robert Welch website. If any of my readers is interested, or knows anyone who might be, please let me know.
Kitties
After their adventure with the birds last week, the kitties have been remarkably quiet over the past few days. This is probably due to the fact that the weather has gone off, and they have had less interest in being out of doors. As we have got out our winter woollies again, so they have reverted to sleeping on the beds most of the time.
A lesson in relaxation.
“I think I shall use my sister as a pillow.”
Health update
You may remember several months ago my reporting my appointments at the physio department for my bladder problems. I had an appointment scheduled in April which of course was cancelled in view of the coronavirus crisis, and they told me to phone them mid-June to reschedule. On Monday I had a phone call from the hospital to say that they do not know when they are going to start face-to-face consultations again, and would like to arrange a telephone appointment for me, which is happening towards the end of June. I don’t like this much, but it can’t be helped. I’d much rather do things face-to-face!
Of course, I have heard nothing further from Exeter regarding my upcoming operation. I shall contact them again soon, just to keep myself on their radar. I don’t want a repeat of what happened last year, when I disappeared without trace from their antiquated computer system! If that hadn’t happened, I could well have had the operation before the coronavirus lockdown and been home and dry by now, but as things currently stand, I don’t anticipate anything happening until next year.
Have a great creative week, everybody.
I am meant to be working, shhh don’t tell! loving the reworking of your jumper, it is looking fab! Hope you get hold of someone at Exeter to remind them who you are, and that they won’t leave you too long Have a good week Helen #1
Morning Shoshi. Well done – the neckline looks good – as does the hem. Just waiting now for winter, so you can wear it!
Take care. Stay safe. God bless.
Margaret #2
Hope you hear from Exeter soon Shoshi. You have done a great job with that UFO and it will no doubt be extremely satisfying once it is completely finished. Lily and Ruby look very comfy on that bed, no wonder they are not as interested ingoing out lol. Meow to the kitties, stay safe and happy WOYWW. Sraah #17
You have done wonders with that jumper picking up the stitches and knitting the collar and welt, it looks very neat and I hope that the shaping behaved itself afterward. I forgot about the the fabric so thanks for the reminder:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/allisonscraftemporium2016?_pgn=6&rt=nc
She sells a wide range of items and was kind enough to refund me some of the postage costs as I’d ordered quite a bit.
Hugs LLJ 12 xxx
Gosh Shoshi, that jumper is amazing, well done. And the kitties, gorgeous as ever.
Thanks for sharing
Chris #6
I have nothing but admiration for your perseverance with the jumper. Kitties definitely know how to relax and look absolutely adorable. Hoping your telephone consultation is productive. Stay safe and keep creating.
Sandra de @7
Hi Shoshi, your work on that jumper is amazing. You just have an awful lot of patience to do that. It does look great, and I am sure you will get great pleasure from wearing it. I’ve no suggestions on how you could sell the spare knife. I hadn’t realised (but it makes sense) that they cannot be sold on Ebay. I hope the telephone consultation goes well, and that you do hear something soon from Exeter. I’ve already been forewarned by the cardiac nurse that my October appointment for my gadget check, will most likely be a remote download. Have a lovely week and stay safe and well, Heather xx #3
Morning Shoshi
Your knitting looks beautiful but l’m afraid all the technology is double dutch to me. Knitting is one of those things that baffles me although I so admire anyone who can do it properly like you. I can manage a scarf and that’s it!!
Your kitties look very contented. Our garden has been full of baby birds over the weekend and so we’ve had to keep ours in to give them a chance to fly away. She doesn’t catch them or anything but watches them and the adult birds get irate.
Have a good week
Hugs Lisax #24
Wow, another amazing jumper – you’ve done a brilliant job reworking the neckline, it certainly looks quite a complicated task – as I’ve got older I work less and less with black as my eyesight struggles to see the darker details as easily as it used to. Your kitchen knives look formidable but beautiful quality, it’s really worthwhile investing in a good set isn’t it. Love the pictures of the kitties – they really do know the best thing to do on a grey, wet day – it must be tempting to curl up with them!
Hope your telephone appointment works out for you, I suppose it’s better than risking going into the hospital environment, but I do know what you mean about preferring to be face to face.
Keep up the good work with the knitting,
Diana x #5
Hi Shoshi, just realised I have forgotten to send you the link to the blacksmith. In case I forget again, his name is Alec Steele. Your knives do look lovely, we have a magnetic strip on the side of the oven cupboard for ours, we have such a small worksurface area in the kitchen, I try to have as little on it as possible. Have a lovely week, Stay safe, Hugs, Shaz #13 X
Hello Shoshi!
The jumper is looking good, well done for puzzling it out, you should be very proud of yourself.
Your kitties are adorable all snuggled up together, thank goodness there’s been no bloodsports this week, unlike our uncouth boys, yet another day of decimating mice. I blame the parents.
Your salad looks delicious, I love lentils.
Despite training as a chef and years spent in corporate hospitality, I’ve never invested in decent knives. I leave most of the cooking to Jon.
I’m glad your health issues are being attended to, have you that they expect 10 million people to be on NHS waiting lists by the end of the year follwoing the pandemic. Keep nagging your hospital and don’t get forgotten.
Loads of love to you. xxx
Hello Shoshi, you will soon have finished that beautiful jumper. The neck looks perfect! Those little pins are so cute and useful. Salads are lovely in the hot weather and I enjoy a salad with some hot foods. My husband is not keen on salad with hot food though. Since I am nearly always cold, I do prefer hot food. I have just put my heat wrap on as it seems quite cool at the minute. Ah the heat is just starting to warm up my cold shoulders 🙂 your beautiful kitties keep each other warm and cosy. Happy WOYWW Angela #28
You jumper looks great, loving the pattern. I like the new knives too, a good balance is so important in a knife. Kitties look comfy too, how lucky they are to have such a loving family. Wishing you a lovely creative week and a very happy woyww, Angela x19x
What a fantastic set of knives. I am in awe of your knitting skills – the jumper looks amazing. Give the kitties a cuddle for me! Happy WOYWW. I hope you have a good week. Stay safe. With love & God Bless, Caro xxx (#9)
Oh well done you, fab result on the neckline of that jumper, it actually looks stretchy and comfy. Great idea with the crochet chain, so much easier to handle the thing if you aren’t scared of loosing stitches every time you breathe in! I’m totally with you about the length of the Chef’s knife too, 5.5” would be too short for me too. That’s a good looking collection you have now!
We are big fans of Robert Welsh knives here too! We have a few of the larger chef’s knives like you have, probably exactly the same larger one, but my son got one of the santoku style chef’s knives that you’ve just purchased last year for his 13th birthday and he won’t use anything else. With 4 of us all doing a lot of cooking we use various sizes of our knives every day because there are always at least 2 waiting to be washed! I had no idea you could get frozen pomegranate seeds so I shall look out for those! Lisa-Jane #23
You are so patient with your knitting. I am fine with small items but soon get bored with larger projects. Your jumper is fab. I hope you get sorted with your health problems – this virus has caused so many issues. Stay safe. xx Jo
Before I got to the end of the knitting section I thought “I would do a band like this on the bottom” and lo and behold that is what you are doing – it looks good!
I love salads and we used to eat an awful lot but haven’t done so of late. This delivery shopping is not so easy to get and use fresh stuff so I thought of something else. Now we have a regular order, much smaller amount of money necessary, with a local greengrocer. I hope it carries on when they reopen but it may not. Strange thing – we are having salad tonight. No lentils but there will be pumpkin and chia seeds sprinkled on at the end. We tend to like them chopped up and throw all kinds of things in, especially fruit like melon, bananas and apple so I had better go and get that ‘balled’ up soon.
Great knives there, I remember when you got them at the beginning and I mentioned some my friend in America bought me. I rarely use the boning knife and I am not vegetarian so that sits in prime condition.
Glad the kitties have settled, lovely to see them sleeping together like that – they are always a delight to see.
Take care and stay safe and well
Hugs, Neet xx
Hi Shoshi,
I’m very belatedly doing the rounds and have been catching up on your knitting doings with great interest. I shall definitely be putting the jogless circular knitting and the stretchy cast-on and cast-off techniques to use from here on in (thank you for those!) and am also giving you an appreciative virtual round of applause for the successful resolution of the cut neck neckband adventure. My goodness, that took courage! I’ve looked at projects involving cutting and steeking before and never had the nerve to try them. Maybe i should just practice on a swatch!
Those kitties just live for the photo ops don’t they? “Come Ruby, let us arrange ourselves artfully on this delightful matching bedspread, for surely our personal photographer will be unable to resist?”
I hope your virtual consultation goes ok. My husband’s recent video appointment with his epilepsy consultant was actually quite successful – no travelling to and from the hospital and no parking fees – but we do know her quite well now as he’s been seeing her for several years, so I think that possibly makes a difference.
Have a good week!
Amelia #34
Hi Shoshi! You are a knitting magician! I just love that sweater, and all the fascinating changes you are making! Your salad is definitely restaurant worthy, you’ll have to open your own restaurant soon! As for the knife, I hope you find someone who can take it! I have so many knives, probably more than I need, but I tend to use them all somehow! My hubby had his double knee surgery cancelled due to the virus, but it’s back on now – tomorrow! Eeek! The kitties are just too cute on that blanket! We haven’t had great weather lately either, getting cold again, but that doesn’t stop Mittsy from bounding out the door in the morning like a puppy! Have a great week, Lindart #29
You are really trying with that jumper! I don’t understand the technicalities but kudos to you for perseverance. Sorry to hear about your appointment delays – there must be a terrible backlog building up all over the country. I agree with you about the face to face but its better than nothing. Great kitty piccies as usual. Happy WOYWW, stay safe, stay well, hugs Cindy #12