afghan | spincushions

The second week of school holidays has flown by. We have been a bit more out and about this week, with a little less emphasis on baking sweet things. We are all a bit over them to be honest. Need a few days of fruit & veg & salads I think to de-tox LOL.

I was very happy on Monday when my wonderful wool from Bendigo Wollen Mills arrived. I chose Luxury pure wool and it is just so soft and drapey – exactly what I was after for this throw.

I couldn’t wait to start my throw that will be just for me. So I didn’t – I started!

I kept going every spare minute a nd soon discovered I had a problem. This is the first time I am making a large scale project where I have to work out the wool requirements myself. The pattern calls for an America yarn and I was confident the wool I had chosen was pretty much the same. I looked at the length each ball of the recommended yarn and simply ordered the equivalent length in the Bendigo wool. Bah bah – wrong! I completed the first round of the pattern that repeats 6 more times and I’ve already used a whole ball of wool! At this rate I will need at least another 5 balls - that’s an extra 1500 metres of wool! Hmm I’ve obviously got to learn about more about converting wools. Oh well! Hopefully, if I order quick enough the dye lot will be the same.

On a more successful note, I also crocheted up a beanie for a couple of my kidlets.

Since last week’s blog post, I’ve had a request for the recipe for one of the baking wonders, so here it is :

Lime and White Chocolate Fingers

250g (9oz/2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

145g (5oz/2/3 cup) caster (superfine) sugar

75g (2 1/2 oz) unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons lime juice

grated zest from 2 limes

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 egg yolk

150 g (5 1/2 oz) white chocolate chopped

Preheat oven to 170 deg C (325 deg F/ gas 3). Lightly grease and flour 2 baking trays

Sift the flour & baking powder into a large bowl and stir in the sugar. Whisk together the butter, lime juice, zest,vanilla, egg yolk until combined. Add butter mixture to floour mixture and stir until a firm dough forms.

Take tablespoons of the dough and , on a lightly floured board, roll into thin logs 12 cm (4 1/2 inched) long. Place on prepared trays and bake for 10 minutes or ntil firm, swapping position of the trays halfway. Cool on the trays for 5 minutes, then on a wire rack til cooled completely.

Melt your chocolate and drizzle over cooled biscuits. Leave to set (if you can). Enjoy