Shoshiplatypus

What’s On Your Workdesk this Wednesday?

UFO time!

Black sideways-knit jumper

The black sideways-knit jumper is now finished, washed and ready to be put away for the winter. As predicted, the rather stringy-looking new ribbing has fluffed up and softened in the wash as the wax was removed from the yarn. Despite my blocking the jumper, and giving it a good stretch while it was wet after washing, once it was dry, it was still misshapen and bigger on one side than the other, and looks as if it would be a good fit on Quasimodo, but when it’s on, it is not noticeable, fortunately.

Green mohair cardigan

I have now started work on the green mohair cardigan, which is another sideways-knit garment. I remember knitting the band for this when I was recovering from my hysterectomy back in 1995! This makes this one of my older UFOs. I made a mess of it and it was all puckered up.

It went in a box, and after that I gained a huge amount of weight (subsequently lost) and the cardigan didn’t fit me anyway, so there was no incentive to do anything about it.

However, now, after Julia’s UFO challenge, I was determined to redo the awful neckband and finally get this right. It is quite a long cardigan and was taking up a lot of space in a box in my studio. After unravelling the neckband, I added stitch markers at one-inch intervals so that I could pick up the stitches evenly.

In this picture you can see the interchangeable circular needles that I have assembled, using my two longest cords (30-in and 22-in) and if you look carefully you can see the small connecting piece into which the cords are screwed, to join them into one. Given the length of the cardigan, this is taking a lot of stitches.

Before unravelling the old band, as a matter of interest I counted the number of stitches I’d picked up per inch, and it averaged only 4. I now know that for 4-ply, I need to pick up 6. No wonder it was so puckered. The back of the neck looks a bit stretched, and in order to tighten this up a bit, I am picking up 5 stitches per inch for this part, which should make it lie a bit more neatly.

Purple circles jumper

I am still pressing on with the purple circles jumper, making good progress on sleeve #1.

Teabag emptying

Following our WOYWW hostess Julia’s suggestion, I have started emptying my vast collection of used teabags out in the garden in the sunshine. However careful you are, it makes a mess, so it makes sense to do it outside. I had four Really Useful Boxes full of teabags and I have now tipped them into red plastic baskets and the boxes are now in the pantry (see below).  I am glad to have started on the teabags and will have to decide what to do with them all – I’ve got more than enough for any sort of teabag art! There is still a huge quantity to be done, but at least I’ve made a start.

Pantry spring clean and revamp

Ever since our walk-in pantry was constructed, the bottom shelf and the floor underneath were chaotic and have been increasingly driving me nuts. This photo was taken some time ago, and since then, it had got a lot worse.

I had several red plastic baskets containing opened packs of dry goods, secured with clips – these were excess foods which would not fit in the jars. It was hard to know exactly what I had, and every time I wanted anything it involved a protracted search. I was unsure what the best solution was, and I spent some time investigating kitchen and pantry storage ideas online, and eventually, last week, came to the conclusion that another Really Useful Boxes drawer unit was the solution. I already have two of these – one in the bathroom:

and the other in the kitchen, which you can see in the kitchen chaos photo below, tucked under the worktop.

These drawer units are brilliant. On the Really Useful Boxes website, they have a page where you can build your own, either with boxes or drawers, so it is tailor-made for your individual space. You can choose to have casters or not, and there is a choice of tops. For my kitchen and pantry ones I have the normal flat top, and for the bathroom one I have the stationery top, which is divided into little compartments, ideal for easy access to small items. They are lightweight, easy to clean, and very practical.

I took everything out from the bottom part of the pantry and gave it a good clean.

Chaos in the kitchen! You can see the new unit being filled. Each drawer contains supplies according to category: condiments, nuts, seeds, grains etc.

Here it is in its new home. There is space on the left for a few bottles.

Over the space of a couple of days, I took the opportunity to give the whole pantry a good spring clean and clear out some superfluous stuff.

This is how it looks now that everything is put back. It is very much better organised, with less clutter on the floor.

Most of my unopened packs of bulk whole-foods are stored in the kitchen in the flat, out of the way, but I have brought some of them into the pantry and they are now in the four Really Useful Boxes on the bottom shelf, for easy access.

A quick tour of my pantry

In the above photo, you can see the panel on the right. This was constructed using some left-over laminate floor panels which give a bit of interest and contrast to the kitchen decor.

The inside of the door is fitted with some magazine racks to hold my various baking parchments, foil etc. and my freezer bags organised in cardboard tubes. There are also hooks for my apron, shopping list and meal planners, and some freezer labels.

Because the pantry is so small, it is impossible to photograph it all at once, so I made a photo montage. Some of the pictures are a bit distorted but you get the idea!

On the left-hand side, the small shelves towards the front are filled with mostly savoury items: tins, jars and bottles, nut butters, vegetable powders, seeds for sprouting, and also my tea and coffee in constant use. There are more small shelves to the left of the pile of biscuit tins, and these contain sweet things – some tinned fruit and various other items such as gelling agents etc. At the bottom there are some jars of spare nuts, and on the floor, a basket containing more freezer bags. I save all the bags from my frozen blueberries etc. which are quite strong and have zip-lock tops on them. Each one holds a cooked meal for 2, or portions of cooked chickpeas etc.

In the centre, from top to bottom, there are three fixed shelves, the centre one being a marble slab for coolness. On the three sides are small moveable free-standing shelves stacked on top of one another, to provide more storage space. Nothing is more than two items deep, so that everything is visible and easily accessible. These small shelves are filled mostly with jars containing dry goods – whole-foods such as nuts, seeds, grains and legumes, and dried fruit, all of which I buy in bulk from a whole-foods supplier online. The top shelf on the right is for spare tea etc. On the slab, I have my water filter jug on the left, and a couple of baskets containing excess fruit that won’t fit in the fruit bowl which is out on the kitchen counter, and anything I want to keep cool but not in the fridge. This is normally where I have my seed sprouter (need to start some more!).

Underneath the slab, on the bottom shelf, are the four Really Useful Boxes that used to hold all those teabags, now containing unopened packs of dry whole-foods, and the bread flour and porridge oats in plastic containers. Underneath, on the floor, is the new drawer unit containing opened packets of whole-foods which can be accessed to top up the jars.

On the right-hand side is my spice rack which extends from the ceiling almost to the floor. This was made for me many years ago and has moved house with me all my adult life. The top section houses various kitchen utensils which either don’t get used that often, or which won’t fit in the utensil jar beside the hob. Underneath, my spice jars are arranged in alphabetical order for easy access.

On the right on the floor is my two-tier vegetable rack with brown paper bags containing potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions.

Not to waste any valuable space, there are even more small shelves behind the panel on the right-hand side of the pantry. This slightly distorted montage photo shows the shelves containing mostly unopened reserved supplies of items more easily accessible elsewhere in the pantry. On the left you can see the edge of the spice rack.

It’s really hard to get far enough away from anything in the pantry to photograph it! The space is so small, but it works really well for me and now I’ve got it properly organised and spring-cleaned from top to bottom, I am feeling very chuffed with it!

I still have a few more labels to make for some jars. Once this is done, the pantry will really be how I want it at last. Of course, there will always be minor changes to be made as I discover new recipes and ingredients, but for now, this is a system that is working for me.

Food

Recipe of the Week

Spicy Hummus Wraps

Edited: Photo now added.

My own recipe, loosely based on a couple of other recipes.

Ingredients:

4 large wraps, preferably whole-grain
1/2 cup hummus
1 tsp rose harissa paste
3/4 cup roasted vegetables
3/4 cup cooked chickpeas (or 1/2 tin)
2 tabs non-dairy yoghurt
1 tab lemon juice
1 apple, thinly sliced
Small quantity of baby spinach leaves, chopped
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Mix hummus, harissa, roasted vegetables, chickpeas, yoghurt, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl.

2. Spoon onto the centre of the wraps and sprinkle on the apple and spinach.

3. Fold the wraps and cut in half.

4. Serve hot or cold with leafy green salad.

New maxi-dress

I have a new blogging friend, Vix, who often shares photos of herself in her awesome boho clothes (very much my style!) and I decided to get myself a new maxi-dress from Ebay, having seen her latest one which I really liked. It was a little bit long for me, but it had a superfluous little frill around the hem which I have cut off, and it’s fine now. It is really comfy to wear, and I can wear a variety of T-shirts underneath it, or as-is on really hot days.

Since I lost all that weight, I am able to give some of my old clothes an airing once again. People often used to say to me, “If you haven’t worn something for two years, you aren’t going to wear it again, so get rid of it and clear the clutter,” but I couldn’t bear to part with some of my really individual clothes and knew that if I lost weight, I could wear them again. People also said it was pie in the sky, thinking I’d ever lose weight, but I proved them wrong on that count too, and I am really enjoying giving my favourite old clothes a new lease of life. I might take a leaf out of Vix’s book and post some more photos! I’ve always loved dressing up, and have always made my own style and never been a slavish follower of fashion. Dressing ethnic/bobo/hippie is also very cheap!

Kitties

A couple of glorious days has meant we’ve all been spending time out in the garden and the elephants umbrella has been out again (always a delight)! The kitties love being in the garden when it’s fine weather, and have their favourite places. Here is Ruby sitting on her favourite rock in the rockery. Queen of the Castle, and mistress of all she surveys.

Lily glooping about and exposing everything (shameless hussy) on the patio as usual!

Ruby crashed out after an exhausting day enjoying herself in the garden.

Lily asleep in a box.

Garden

A few pics of the garden. My hubby has put some bedding plants in the patio troughs and tubs. The ferns on the primrose bank have grown really big since the last lot of rain.

Some flowers on the rockery outside the kitchen.

A view of the upper garden. Rambling Rector (the rose someone gave my hubby as a retirement present!) in his full glory!

Have a great creative week, everybody. I’m sorry I didn’t manage to visit everybody last week but time seemed to run away with me. Also, whenever the sun is shining, I want to spend the afternoons out there enjoying it, and other things tend to get neglected!