I've been doing a little bit of gentle knitting lately. First up is this baby's pull-on hat.
It's knitted in Rooster (www.laughinghens.com) Almerino DK. This is a beautifully soft yarn being 50% baby alpaca and 50% merino wool. The hat took absolutely ages to knit as it's worked on size 3 1/4 mm needles in k1p1 rib. I'm quite pleased with it now it's finished but I'm not sure about knitting another one as it took so long to complete (I am a fairly slow knitter). The little lace flowers are from some vintage trim I picked up at a jumble sale last autumn.
Secondly, and much much quicker to knit, is a wash mitt for mum knitted in Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton. I've done a few face cloths already in this yarn and they are buttery soft and wash and wear wonderfully well, but mum had the clever idea of a wash mitt and so this first one is for her.
One side has ridges for a bit of light exfoliation.
The other side is smooth.
Finally, here is the recipe for the Plum and Oatmeal Madeira Cake I made last Friday.
Ingredients:
250g English Plums, 100g softened Butter, finely grated zest of 1 Orange plus 3 - 4 tsp juice, 100g Caster Sugar, 2 medium Eggs beaten, 125g self-raising Flour, 1/2 tsp Baking Power, 50g medium Oatmeal (I use porridge oats), 100g Icing Sugar.
1. Preheat the oven to 170 C, gas mark 3. Grease a 450g loaf tin and line with non-stick baking parchment, making sure that the paper comes at least 1cm above the rim of the tin. Halve and stone the plums and cut into chunky slices.
2. Using an electric whisk, beat together the butter, orange zest and sugar in a large bowl until very pale and creamy. Gradually add the egg, mixing well after each addition, and sprinkle in a tablespoon of the flour with the last of the egg. Sift the remaining flour and the baking powder into the bowl, add the oatmeal or oats and gently stir in with a wooden spoon.
3. Stir in two-thirds of the plums and tip the mixture into the loaf tin, spreading it level with the back of a spoon. Scatter the remaining plums over the surface. Bake for about 1 hour or until the surface feels firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave in the tin for 20 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool a little.
4. Beat together the icing sugar and enough orange juice to make a smooth paste that just holds its shape. Drizzle the icing over the top of the cake and leave to cool completely.
5. Make a nice cup of tea and cut a large slice!!
I have to admit that I don't bother with the baking parchment, although I do grease and flour the tin well. Also, I add all the plums to the mixture and don't bother scattering any over the top. And I use far more of the orange juice and icing sugar than the recipe says in order to fully cover the top of the cake.
This is a wonderfully tasty cake and it remains beautifully moist and fresh for a few days (should it last that long!!)
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