Treacle Tart Experiment

This is an interim blog post. I am knitting, but the pace is a bit slower. I've been working in fingering or sock yarn. Takes time to finish a project.

The dessert at left was made for Thanksgiving. Every holiday I like to try some new item, just for fun.

Treacle tart was mentioned as Harry Potter's favorite dessert. A few months ago, I bought a tin of Golden Syrup out of sheer curiosity. The taste is sort of buttery. Treacle tart was the most promising recipe I could find to use it. Note- Black Treacle is a syrup that is essentially molasses. The British tend to use the word "treacle" to denote sugar cane syrups in general. I had to discover this on my own. My Scottish in-laws have been utterly incapable of providing any meaningful conversation on the topic. My curiosity drives them nuts (in a long list of grievances).

Treacle tart consists of a short crust pastry, the top crust must be latticed or may be omitted and a sugary filling. The recipe that I used. called for Golden Syrup, fresh white breadcrumbs, ginger and lemon. The mixture is then baked. My kids really liked it.

There seems to be a lot of variation in the recipes for this dessert. There are lots of versions online. I am not posting the recipe that I used because my results were very different from the recipe description. The recipe stated that the tart would be "cookie-like". I mixed the ingredients, weighing them out according to the recipe. The mixture I got was very dry. It could not be poured into the crust. I ended up adding more syrup and also some evaporated milk to get a moister filling. I did this because some modern recipes call for cream and sometimes eggs. After I filled the crust, and assembled the lattice top, the tart still didn't look right. The filling still looked too much like a pile of crumbs. I cover the tart and left it in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, I baked the tart, with good results. The breadcrumbs broke down overnight and I got a smoother, homogeneous filling. It was sweet and a little bland. The next time I try this, I will increase the amount of lemon and ginger. I would also prefer to get the "cookie-like" texture mentioned in the recipe. Possibly, leaving out the dairy would produce that. I will research more variations of this dessert before I try again. It's and interesting variation in the family of sigary pies such as Shoofly, Chess, and Pecan Pies.

European Mandrake, knit

This was a LOT of fun. I started out to knit a mandrake root, as mentioned in Harry Potter (book 2). As I was looking up reference material, I learned to distinguish between the two varieties of plant commonly called mandrake. Mandrake is also fascinating as a medicinal plant on it's own. My project was knit to resemble a European Mandrake, which has purple flowers and an orange fruit. The North American variety, looks like an umbrella, with a white, waxy blossom.
The root/body was knit of a worsted taupe yarn from my stash. All knitting was done on size 6 DPN. I knit a5-inch long cylinder of 40 stitches around. I cast on with waste yarn so that I had live stitches at each end of the cylinder. For the legs, I divided the stitches evenly and knit two tapered tubes, ending with about three stitches. I purposely made the tubes different lengths. For the arms, I picked up stitches on either side of the body and knit irregular, tapered tubes. The arms and legs were threaded with pipe cleaners and stuffed with a bit of fiberfill if it fit. For the head, I decreased a few stitches to suggest a neck and shoulders, then knit straight up on about 30 stitches to form a head. The leaves were knit from groups of 3-5 stitches, all around the head. The flower and fruit were knit separately and sewn on. I added extra strands of yarn to suggest smaller roots on the ends of the appendages. There is at least on published pattern for a mandrake available on Ravelry. I developed my own so I could avoid sewing up. I also wanted to focus on botany rather than the cartoon aspects of the project. I specifically did not want to "anthropomorphise" the root by adding a face.

Brandywine Shawl

Brandywine Shawl is done. Finished about two weeks ago. I did not photograph it until a few days ago. This one needed some time to grow on me. It was knit in a double strand of alpaca laceweight yarn. I've decided that (for now) I don't like laceweight yarns. I put a lot of effort into this project and it came out the size of a kerchief. To be fair, perhaps I should knit this pattern in a sport yarn and see if I like it better. The color is nice and I've worn it once.
Since the weather has suddenly turned cold, neckwear has decided benefits. I have recently discovered that a wrap around the neck/shoulders can feel wonderful, particularly if one is prone to getting a stiff neck. I also happen to work in a drafty office. Finally, it gives me something to fidget with when needed. I'll be playing with shawls/stoles for a while longer. I'm excited about the work of Stephen West and will link to him in future posts.

Pbthpt

Well, foo. I've been knitting, but grumpy. For weeks. Taken no photographs. Foo.

Pokeball Hat

I'm not exactly enamored of the picture, but sometimes it's good to model the knitting. If you have kids, you know what this is. It is a Pokeball Hat, named after the TV show/card game...money and time suck known as Pokemon. I made this in a couple of days for a friend of my kids, now college age. He's actually wearing it with glee. He wore it around the backstage area of school. I've been asked to do a plain black beanie for the Tech. Director. I'm happy to oblige since this teacher has done a lot for my kids. Also, this was a nice diversion from the other projects that are preloading the guilt. I'm am back to diligently working on the Brandywine Shawl. When it is done, I will not be buying laceweight yarn for a long time, even on sale! Way too time consuming for my taste. I've got a lot of yarn that I'd rather be knitting, in prettier colors.

Hillbilly Not Witch

This is not working out as I had envisioned. It has no style yet. No panache. Says "corncob pipe" rather than...magic. The hat is knit and felted. That part is OK. The spider is OK. The structure sux. I have tried fabric stiffener. No luck, but everything else around me is stiff, sticky and stained white. That product does WONDERS with cat hair.

I have also bought felt to make a supportive lining. What a pain. Felt, plus a stiff wire is almost enough for the brim. Felt alone works for the cone.

Third and final solution.....I got a cheap witches hat at a discount store. Put my hat over the cheap on. The brim is supported. I still need a felt lining in the cone. I will stretch the brim and overcast it to the wired rim of the inner hat. Not elegant, but I won't be wearing this all that much. Finally, I wore the hat inside when I bought it. Easiest way to carry the packages. My husband saw me entering the house in the witches hat and got vaguely disturbed. He said it looks too appropriate for his taste.

Madam Sprout with Spider

Well I'm plenty late with this. I am working on a black conical hat, to wear at work at the end of October. I've got black robes that I made seversl years ago, also for a work-related party. Anyway, once I started on the hat, it occured to me that THIS would be a fitting vehicle for a Barbara G. Walker spider. The photo at left shows the half-finished hat with half a spider. I am knitting pretty true to the pattern, which is unusual for me.

Update- The hat is finished the knitting stage and actually looks pretty good. I spent two sessions hand felting this in a bowl of hot water with detergent. It is DEFINITELY felted. Somehow, the hat did not stiffen up as expected. I have sewn a heavy-gauge wire into the rim- no use. I am experimenting with fabric stiffener......to no avail. Next trick is to make a black felt liner to support the knit. I'm not crazy about it, but if it works, it works. More photos to follow.