Make: Table Runner

I had some rainbow yarn left over from my Rainbow Gauntlets, but not quite enough for a real project. I searched online for some more of the same YarnArt "Dancing Baby", and managed to find some being sold in Turkey (I love the Internet!)

However, when it turned up, it was of a much poorer quality than the original yarn, especially the dye quality, so I couldn't really mix the two as planned.

I crocheted it up into five big squares anyway, and decided that the slightly chunkier yarn would be quite heatproof, so I decided to make them into a table runner.

I joined them using the Flat Zipper method described here. This method was not the fastest way to join crochet squares but I quite like the effect!

Now I just need a dining table to put it on...

Make: Baked Lemon Cheesecake

It's the first episode of my 2015 dessert-making resolution and, since we had three lemons left over from the cocktail party, a baked lemon cheesecake seemed like a good way to start!

Stage 1: make the base - using bashed up ginger biscuits and some melted butter, pressing the mixture into a 20cm tin, then chilling... With a cup of tea, while the base sets in the fridge.

Stage 2: make the cheesecake batter - whisk up a mix of ricotta, eggs, yoghurt, sugar & cornflour until smooth

De-zest the three lemons and then de-juice them - apparently 11secs in the microwave makes them easier to squeeze...

Add the zest and juice to the batter and pour it onto the base (this bit was really satisfying!)

Stage 3: the bake. The recipe recommended 40-45mins in the oven, but it was very hard to tell when it was actually done, so we gave it an extra 5-10mins to bake, just to make sure it wouldn't slosh everywhere when we took it out the tin.

Ta-daaa! And with just a short battle using a tin, two skewers, and with one expletive, we got it off of the base and safely onto the plate! I cracked out some icing sugar stencils (thank you, Lidl!) for some final decoration.

Not too shabby an effort, I think!

And the reviews? "Very light, very creamy" and "mmmmm, good..." which I would call a success!

2015 - A Happy New Year

My New Year's Resolution from 2014 was to finish all the half-started projects that I had lurking around my house. As is evidenced in this blog, I have managed to finish some projects - I've now got several dresses back in my wardrobe and ready to wear again, others that now fit me a lot better and my mending pile is a mite smaller. So those are some successes!

I've also started and finished several new projects, mostly blankets. I've taught myself to crochet and made a giant granny square blanket and also an epic patchwork Tetris blanket. I've made things for me, as well as presents for others.

That said, I've still got a way to go when it comes to projects to finish. University posters, photo books, a few more dresses, a few more blankets. A half knitted bias-knit jumper. An owl door-stop. Four balls of sparkly cream wool destined for a shrug.

So while these will give me something to "get my teeth into" in 2015, my actual NY resolution is less of a "make" and more of a "bake" - I'm going to learn how to make a selection of delicious puddings! I've never made cheesecake from scratch before, so I think that'll be my first one...

Of course, this won't stop my conventional making, mending and amending - but will help to expand my creative repertoire!