on my needles

I recently came into a bit of unexpected money and I am thoroughly enjoying it.. I went to John Lewis and splashed out on a few balls of fancy fancy wool - so expect an influx of knitting posts coming up.. I've been on such a roll with it recently, churning stuff out!

These are some little ankle socks that I've been making from a very basic pattern - just a short rib around the ankle, then the turning of the heel straight away. I actually finished them last night, they're from a really gorgeous wool I found for half price in John Lewis that is crazy soft and a really beautiful purple.

Apart from knitting my life away -  I am off to Devon for a week tomorrow, and I'm very excited. We used to go there every year when I was little, and I'm really looking forward to spending a week on the beach and going for walks and stuff. Expect lots of seaside-y photos when I return and have a good week without me.

moments of panic

Last night I had one of those little moment where your heart dropped.. I went in to where my fish are kept and I saw my beautiful Angelica (above) lying behind/underneath a biggish rock I have in their tank. Cue me bursting into tears, throwing the lid off and shoving my hands (sleeves and all) into the tank. I don't really know what was wrong with her, whether she was asleep or stuck or something, but she was lying on her side sort of tucked underneath the side of the rock. The thing that bothered me most was that she wasn't really moving, even when my hand came close to her, and she normally swims right up to my hand looking for food.. But when I moved the rock she sort of came out and swam around, but for a few minutes I thought she was dead and it really got to me.

Anyway there was a sort of point to this post, not just my attachment to my fish, haha. The only pets I've ever had are fish and I know how some people think that because they're somehow less worthy of care - that they're not as precious. Some people think that a fish can't be affectionate or that because people think that they're stupid or something.. but that feels so wrong to say.

My Angelica is a very affectionate creature with a very distinct personality (like my other fish actually) She swims right up to me when I pass by and kisses my hand when it goes in. She's also very smart - recognising me and finding food and playing.. 

I don't know, I'm all over the place with this post but it's a moment to appreciate something that doesn't get appreciated enough, I don't think. 

hector the humpback whale

Hazel the Humpback Whale by Bec Brittain on Ravelry.

Say hello to my little friend...! His name is Hector, and I knit him all by myself [well, with a little bit alot of help from my mum]. He wasn't hard to make, just a bit of a faff because the pattern was a bit of a mess, it's all over the place but the outcome was worth it, as I now have a cuddly little bedmate. He's a huge success with all my friends and everyone I've shown him too, but he's just so perfect, haha. Who knew a stuffed whale would make a twenty-three year old girl so happy?! 

The pattern was one I found on Ravelry, and it takes a bit of patience, but once you get into it it's not too bad. I knitted him in a fairly cheap grey acrylic (Stylecraft DK in Graphite) because it wasn't worth using anything fancy and he took about 150g worth of it (1 1/2 balls). 

I named him Hector, because I felt like he was a boy, and not a girl...

very merry berry picking - take two

It's that time of year again.. blackberry picking! I don't really know why I enjoy it so much, but there is something weirdly enjoyable about getting attacked by brambles, ripping holes in my leggings in my quest to get the best berries, and getting bruised looking fingertips.. Last year I went with my mum, and I'm sure we'll go again later in the year, but I was feeling restless yesterday afternoon and needed something to occupy myself. It was super quiet today up the airfield and I just felt very content. I came back with a boxful of blackberries, a handful of crabapples, and a bunch of cow parsley to decorate my room with.. A good day, all in all.

fudge, glorious fudge

I think my biggest sweet-treat-weakness would be fudge. Or maybe chocolate raisins, but probably fudge. I remember buying little bags of it on holiday in Cornwall and Devon savouring it piece by piece. Even now, my parents buy me a box of the crumbly fudge for my birthday. It's just a weakness. 

I was in Lakeland a while back and saw a sugar thermometer - I've always wanted to try making fudge or caramel so I bought it, but it took me a while to get around to making it, but I finally have and I am in love with fudge all over again. Just looking at the photos, my mouth is watering all over again. I really want to try out some different flavours - perhaps peanut butter or chocolate? Anyway, if you know me in person, you'll probably be getting this as a present sometime in the future! 

So I combined two recipes to make this - the main fudge is from the Carnation milk website, with the amount of salt that the Cornish sea-salt site says is good. I didn't want the fudge super-salty, just enough to make the sweetness balance out. 

1 tin condensed milks (396g tin)
150ml semi-skimmed milk
450g demerara sugar
115g salted butter
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp of sea-salt (I used Maldon sea-salt flakes, because they're really good)
(A bit of extra sea-salt to sprinkle on top whilst it was solidifying) 

1. Line a roughly 20cm squared tin or bowl with baking parchment.
2. In a deep, heavy duty pan (I used my mums jam making saucepan, as the mixture bubbles up quite a bit) combined the condensed milk, regular milk, sugar and stir on a low heat until it is all dissolved and combined.
3. Bring to the boil and simmer on a low-medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring continuously, otherwise it sticks to the bottom of the pan and burns, which spoils the fudge.
4. The next bit is when the thermometer comes in useful - I boiled mine until it said "soft ball" on the thermometer, which is about 235F or 113C. How you can tell it's done if you haven't got one, is by dropping a small amount of it into a jar of cold water, if it forms a small ball and doesn't disintegrate in the water, you know it's done.
5. Stir in the 1 1/2 tsp of salt and the vanilla extract and remove from the heat immediately. Now you need to start beating the fudge as much as possible. Me and my mum took it in turns to do this because it needs to be stirred constantly for about 10-15 minutes, until the mixture is thick and a little bit grainy, however if you over mix it, you'll be able to feel it is rough on the bottom of the pan.
6. Pour into lined tin and smooth with a spatula, and use the last of the salt to sprinkle on the top whilst it is still cooling and solidifying. Once it had cooled a bit, I put it into the fridge for a bit, so it was easy to cut up.

Just as a warning, this makes a lot, so be prepared to have a lot of fudge on your hands. No-one else in my family really likes fudge, so I just have a huge tub in my kitchen.. What a shame.. 

Let me know if you try this out!