Kale

When you have a vegetable patch in the garden or an allotment you're going, from time to time, get a surplus of something or other. Hopefully it's something that can be frozen or pickled or turned into jam, but occasionally it isn't - or, as is the case at the moment due to tomatoes and runner beans, there just isn't space in the freezer. 

So, I'm working my way through a seemingly never-ending supply of kale. I'm not fond of it just boiled, as you might cook cabbage or broccoli, which leads to some interesting experiments.

I like to add it, much the way I would spinach, to dishes with strong flavour, such as stir fries, chillies, curry, goulash, tomato dishes for pasta, with bacon chops in an apple juice sauce, and both in and shredded on top of enchiladas.  

My favourite way though is none of these but roasted - with oil and spices - to make Chinese 'crispy seaweed'.

 

Rainbow wool project

Just before Christmas my youngest daughter went to Riga for a weekend, and brought back this wonderful rainbow yarn for me. 

I struggled a bit to decide how to use it - there wasn't much, and I wanted something which would show off the marvelous colours, while avoiding the obvious thought of stripes.

This is what I decided on - stripes with stitch interest. It shows the colours off to perfection, and worked brilliantly as a scarf. As a hat, though it looked strange, like a baby's bonnet or something a flower fairy might wear so I decided to rip that back and start again.




















 This time I went for a simpler plain stitch with just an odd row of reverse stocking stitch at intervals to echo the similar lines in the scarf.

I DID get it finished!

 In January '19 I bought some wool in a sale, intending to crack on and make something, but I never really got started. Then in autumn I found it out but couldn't remember what I'd intended to knit.
A lot of hunting among patterns and making alterations to this and that followed, and eventually by the end of February '20 I'd finished!

The full photo isn't very clear but what I wanted was a hip length cardigan, wide at the bottom, fitted at the top. It pulls in at the waist with a repeat of the fancy hem rib, and my only regret is forgetting to add pockets.








It's probably not the longest it's taken between buying yarn and completing a garment because sometimes I just buy on impulse and hoard the wool, but it has taken a while.