Shoshiplatypus

What’s On Your Workdesk this Wednesday?

Wow, this is the 600th desk sharing session! I haven’t been involved in this longest blog hop on the web from the start, but I’ve been around for a good number of years now, and have made friends, gained inspiration, had great encouragement and comfort in difficult times… and above all, had FUN! I am sure we are all grateful to our hostess, Julia, who has kept this phenomenon going for over eleven years. Quite an achievement.

The final needle book

Last week it was pretty much finished, but I wanted to make a red cord to go around the spine. I only had enough red cord in my stash to put on the first two needle books so had to make a new one for this book, and I used red crochet cotton. I discovered that you need to cut a thread 4 times the length of the finished cord, and for this one I cut it 8 times the length, because I wanted to make sure the cord was thick enough, which involved twisting and folding it more than once.

Here it is sewn onto the book. The finished front cover:

The back cover:

and the centrefold.

The cord is not an essential part of the construction, but I think it gives a nice finishing touch.

Review of all three needle books

Giveaway – final reminder

To celebrate this momentous event, I am offering my final needle book with tiny carpets 5 and 6 to a WOYWW member as a thank you for all the above. Please see this blog post for full details, but basically just indicate in the comments if you want to join in the draw. I shall be pulling the winning name out of the hat (or equivalent) during the Zoom session we are having on Saturday. I already have a good number of people who want to win it, and I am feeling increasingly sad that I can only make one person happy and everyone else disappointed! If I had until the 1,200th WOYWW, I might be able to make one for everyone, but I’m afraid I do have to do other things too!!

Looking forward to seeing you all on the Zoom session on Saturday! May the best one win!!

Cat throw

Nooo… not that sort. My new project, to make a throw for my hubby’s new chair, hopefully in time for Christmas.

I’ve downloaded a number of free crochet patterns from the Internet with fun kitties on crochet squares. I have decided to mix and match these, and I’m using yarns in my stash, some of which have had to be plied together to make them the correct thickness (double knitting). After working with a single strand of stranded cotton at 22 stitches to the inch and requiring a head magnifier for the tiny carpets, working at this scale is like crocheting with rope!

I began by making one square which incorporates a cat face shape on which you then have to embroider the features. This pattern was very unsatisfactory and really didn’t work properly so I’ve given up on that one. I couldn’t get the stitch count to work properly for adding the surround to the cat face and ended up by having to divide it up manually and use stitch markers to show where to add the stitches for the background.

This was the final result.

Not worth the hassle. I’ve decided to make plain squares and then appliqué the kitties afterwards.

In addition to cat faces, I’ve got whole cats and cats’ paws to make up. These are pictures of the projects I found online which I am hoping to use.

The cat with the pink spot on its face (which I certainly wouldn’t do!) was the pattern that caused me all the problems. The shape of the cat face is fine and I have made up a smaller version which is also better proportioned (bigger ears in relation to size of head). The ones top right, and the paws, and the “peeking cat” with the pink bottom (lol!) are all patterns for coasters. I can make them what size I want, using thinner yarn if they are coming out too big. The basic squares are about 6 inches. Here are some of the squares I’ve made so far, following the pattern for the squares on the cushion cover, top left.

Here are some of the cats I’ve made so far. These are the ones from the cushion cover. I love how the tails remain detached! I really like the white bouclé yarn ones I’ve made (I’ve used up my entire stash of that now) – lovely fluffy kitties!

You have to embroider the features such as faces, stripes etc on all these kitties. All these pieces will look a lot better once they are blocked.

Working mostly with monochrome colours from black through grey to white, I may join the squares with black, red and orange to tie in with the Persian Tiles throw that I will be making for the settee.

Food

Rye Bread

A coupe of weeks ago I ordered some different varieties of flour from my wholefoods supplier: rye (whole grain and light), and spelt, in order to be a bit more adventurous with the new bread maker. So far I’ve made several loaves of bulgur bread, from a recipe in my independently published bread machine recipe book – a lovely nutty, crunchy bread with the hard little bulgur wheat grains giving it a nice gritty texture – I also added my usual sunflower and pumpkin seeds to this bread. When the new flour arrived, the next batch of bread I tried was rye bread, made with a mixture of the light rye flour and whole wheat bread flour, following the instructions in the manual and recipe guide which came with the machine. Again, I added the same seeds, this time also adding some sesame seeds. The new bread maker has a lot more programmes than the old one, and it comes supplied with a different shaped paddle for making rye bread – probably something to do with the dough being a lot more sticky.

Here is the rye bread soon after it came out of the machine.

Slicing it revealed the lovely dark rich texture of the bread.

It has a delicious strong flavour. It did not rise as much as traditional wheat-only bread and it is quite dense, but that’s not a problem. It is substantial, hearty and wholesome, and very tasty. I sampled my first slices with home-made hummus and then sugar-free marmalade, and both were delicious with it. It will go really well with my nice thick winter soup recipes. I have yet to try toasting it.

Pumpernickel bread

I was then keen to try my hand at Pumpernickel bread, so I made a loaf on Sunday. I used a recipe from my bread machine recipe book. It contains rye flour, white and whole wheat bread flour, and a little cornmeal. Traditionally, pumpernickel bread achieves its characteristic dark colour and texture by using whole grain rye flour and long slow proving with a sourdough starter, but mostly these days this is achieved with the addition of molasses to a lighter rye flour with some of the bran removed, and in this case (surprisingly) a couple of tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder, which didn’t make it taste of chocolate. When I opened the jar of molasses which came in my recent wholefoods order, I was taken back instantly to my early childhood in the 1950s – the smell reminded me strongly of the malt my mother used to give us! Did anyone else of my vintage have this as a winter tonic for growing children, as was the fashion at the time (or the less palatable cod liver oil) – and while we are on the subject, who else wore Liberty bodices? Lol! That dates me, doesn’t it! Anyway, to get back to my pumpernickel bread… The recipe specified caraway seeds, but I don’t like the flavour of these, so I added black sesame seeds instead. On the rye bread programme on the machine, as with the regular rye bread, it only took 3 1/2 hours to make, instead of the normal 4 hours for regular bread, and again, I used the special paddle for it. Here it is, shortly after coming out of the machine when it had cooled a little.

As with the regular rye bread, it didn’t rise as much as normal wheat-based bread, and is quite heavy and dense. Here it is sliced.

You can see what a rich dark texture it has. We had a couple of slices with our tea that afternoon, spread with a little almond butter, and we both enjoyed it immensely.

It has a slightly cakey texture which I think comes from the addition of the cornmeal, and a gorgeous crunchy crust. Definitely one to be enjoyed with a cup of tea. I shall try it with soup, marmalade, hummus and any of the other things that we usually eat accompanied by bread. I don’t think it would toast very well as it’s pretty dense and moist.

I was intrigued by the name and looked it up. According to Wikipedia, “Pumpernickel is a type of rye bread that is originally from Germany. The origin of the word is pretty entertaining: it’s a German word that comes from pumpern, which means to to break wind and Nickel, a take on the name Nicholas, which is associated with goblins or devilish characters.” It is also known as Devil’s Fart Bread!!! Apparently it doesn’t really cause this problem – it’s actually really healthy for the gut – and neither of us has noticed any untoward effects!

Traditional pumpernickel bread made with whole rye grain and slowly fermented with sourdough starter has the greatest nutritional benefit, which is somewhat lost by the easier baking method using lighter rye flour and some wheat flour, molasses and normal baking yeast. The benefits include a low glycaemic index, and according to one study, between four and eight times as much resistant starch as normal wheat breads.

For the photos of these rye breads, I have placed the loaves on my grandmother’s traditional bread board, and added her beautiful bread knife. The handle is made of bone and carved into the shape of a corn cob. This is one of my family treasures! I don’t know the history of it beyond the fact that I remember her using it from my earliest childhood. I’m afraid I don’t use it to slice my bread, though, because attractive as it is, it doesn’t cut as efficiently as the serrated bread knife in my Robert Welch knife set.

Nutrition

The nutritional benefits of rye

Studies reveal that rye is helpful  in the control of diabetes, and helps with weight loss. It is also known to fight cancer and cardiovascular disease and to reduce blood cholesterol levels. According to a study by Harvard University, unprocessed whole grains such as rye, millet, quinoa and oats are far more nutritious than refined wheat. We regularly eat all of these grains. I do use wheat flour in my bread – my basic loaf is half-and-half strong white and strong wholemeal, because I find 100 percent wholemeal is a bit too heavy for regular consumption. I always add seeds for extra fibre, taste and texture, and for their nutritional benefits. Many people with type 2 diabetes have to avoid regular bread like the plague because it plays havoc with their blood glucose levels; refined and processed wheat flour is far too rapidly assimilated by the body, whereas unprocessed whole grains, and the flour made from them, are packed with fibre and are assimilated much more slowly, thus avoiding that dangerous glucose/insulin spike. They have a higher satiety value than processed and refined wheat, so that you can eat less and feel more satisfied and for a longer period. They also contain protein and many micronutrients in the form of vitamins and minerals. Rye is rich in vitamin B 1, 2 and 3 and minerals such as zinc, phosphorus, magnesium and calcium.

A few months ago someone gave us a home-made white loaf. It was a beautiful loaf and well baked, but to me, after a couple of years of eating whole grain breads, it tasted like cotton wool! It had no substance to it, and very little flavour. My taste buds are now acclimatised to much more wholesome and flavoursome bread and I certainly have no interest in purchasing the rubbish that largely passes for bread in the supermarkets these days, which has very little nutritional value and no flavour or substance.

What is rye?

Rye (botanical name Secale cereale) is a cultivated cereal grass akin to wheat. Wheat has a bland flavour which makes it useful for many different baking applications, whereas rye has a strong, distinctive and sour flavour, and it makes a robust bread. It is also fermented and distilled to create rye spirits.

It is an ancient grain, cultivated for many thousands of years. It grows wild in Turkey and surrounding areas, and since Mediaeval times it has been cultivated in central and eastern Europe as a staple bread grain. It is now cultivated in many countries around the world.

While it does contain gluten and should be avoided by those with coeliac disease, many people who cannot tolerate the gluten in wheat are able to consume rye with no problem.

A major problem historically with rye was that the grain is susceptible to a fungus known as ergot. If animals and humans eat rye contaminated with this fungus, they become seriously ill with a condition known as ergotism, which causes mental and physical problems such as hallucinations, miscarriage, tissue necrosis in the extremities, convulsions and death. This was always more of a problem in northern countries with damp climates which suffered recurrent epidemics of the disease. Many witch trials took place during these epidemics, such as the Salem trials in Massachesetts in the late seventeenth century. People suffering bizarre symptoms such as convulsions were believed to be bewitched, and causing stillbirths in the community, leading to mass hysteria and the unjust execution of many women as witches, and it is now believed that ergotism was the cause. Ergotism is rare today because of rigorous modern grain cleaning methods.

An alkaloid known as ergotamine is derived from the ergot fungus. It is a vasoconstrictor and is used in the treatment of migraine. When I first began suffering from migraines in my late teens, my father gave me Migril which contains ergotamine. He derived great benefit from it, and I also found it to be a very effective remedy but after a time I had to stop taking it because it was giving me weird out-of-body sensations! I remember my dad telling me at the time about the epidemics of ergotism.

There is extremely little risk of anyone contracting ergotism from the consumption of rye these days. The health benefits of this extraordinary ancient grain far outweigh any risks in the modern age, so it is very unlikely that you will be arrested as a witch if you eat a loaf of rye bread. Any weirdness in Shoshi’s behaviour should be put down to alternative causes.

Our new furniture

Our new two-seater settee and armchair (both electric recliners) arrived at about 9.45 a.m. last Wednesday. The delivery men were very efficient and friendly. We’d had the old ones taken away the day before, and they were happy to move the old recliner chair into the flat. In our old house we had a very large sitting room and a three-seater settee and two armchairs were fine in there, but our present one is quite small by comparison and the old settee dominated the room, and there wasn’t room for both chairs. With the new setup the room looks much better proportioned and we are very pleased. The furniture is extremely comfortable.

There is very little choice these days – colour-wise, everything seems to be greys and beiges and browns and no colours unless you go for leather. I had hoped for dark red again (my favourite colour) but my hubby said he really liked the charcoal grey of the model we’d chosen which was on display in the shop, and after only a moment’s thought, I also decided that was a good idea! It really needs Shoshifying, though, to make it more interesting and also to protect the fabric and keep it clean, so throws are definitely in order. For the moment, until I can get the large one made for the settee, I am using the lovely quilt that was sent to me by a lady in America five years ago when I was having my chemo.

The electric recliners work very smoothly. Beside the switches on the outside of the arms on each piece of furniture is a USB port for charging your phone etc. Nice touch! The switches are illuminated by cool little blue lights.

We have been told to use both ends of the settee equally, because the upholstery does compress after a while. We noticed this with the old settee – the middle section was quite a bit higher than the two ends! I have decided to alternate between the two ends on a weekly basis and not daily, because it involves shifting all my computer stuff and rearranging the cables etc. I much prefer the left-hand end but don’t want the furniture to wear unevenly.

Kitties

A bit of a kitty fest this week after a couple of lean weeks.

The kitties were a little wary of the new furniture at first, as they always are with anything different or new, but it wasn’t long before they had fully adopted it, with my hubby’s chair being particularly initially.

The progress towards the full takeover.

Ruby: “Don’t look at me like that! This is MY chair!”

Ruby is happily settled, and Lily is definitely on the way, thinking how comfy her sister looks, and that she might just join her.

Lily: “Maybe later. The arm of this chair is just the right width for me. I think I’ll take a nap.” (This one sleeps for England…)

“Ah! That’s better!”

The following day, they are well and truly established in the most comfortable spot in the house and I fear my hubby will be sitting on the floor again soon. They say to us, “Thank you for buying us this lovely new furniture to sleep on.” They co-ordinate so well with the charcoal fabric! I said to my hubby the other day that we’d chosen that colour because “it goes with the kitties.” You can see where our priorities lie, can’t you.

Here they are, sitting on the stairs. A bird’s eye view.

More comfort time on my hubby’s chair, with some vigorous washing of Lily by Ruby. She holds her down with her paw and gets really stuck in. Lily is a lazy lump and rarely reciprocates.

Lily: “Happy to be here.”

One up, one down.

Lily on the arm of the chair, all fluffed up to keep warm. Little hamster chops!

Ruby on my legs (favourite place), winking at me.

Last night they were both on my favourite end of the settee, and rather than disturbing them, I’ve decamped to the other end!

Some vigorous washing by Ruby, right inside Lily’s ear. I adore how Ruby’s little nose wrinkles… Note the paw holding her sister down.

And so to sleep.

Have a great creative week, everybody.