Degustation at Brents

Brents, 85 Miskin St Toowong 4066 www.brentsrestaurant.com.au

There are different types of foodies out there, but I would say that while I love baking and generally prefer my own cakes and bakes to some of those sold in shops, in terms of actual meals, I am more the type that likes tasting and appraising what restaurants make, rather than physically preparing the dishes myself, especially when it comes to fine dining. Thus, I like trying out different restaurants when I eat out, and what better way to taste all that they have to offer in one sitting than by indulging in their degustation menu, when this is an available option? A few weeks ago, I decided to try out the degustation menu at Brent's with a friend of mine.

Brent's is a restaurant located at the bottom of a very steep road in one of Brisbane's inner city suburbs. It offers an a la carte menu, but is largely known for the different degustation menus that it offers. Not long ago, for the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic, the restaurant created a special Edwardian 10-course degustation menu based on the dishes served in the first class dining saloon on April 14, 1912 - the last meal of the first class passengers. It's an interesting idea, but personally, I'm not sure I'd want to eat a 'last meal' on the day that marks the tragic death of so many people. I'm aware that some other eateries and boats both here and around the world planned similar things to celebrate the 100 year anniversary, but I am at a loss as to what there is to celebrate. It is a sombre event, afterall. If that's not enough to make you want to skip the 'celebration', the Brent's degustation also came with a hefty price tag of $250 per head. But anyway, this gives you an idea of the creative degustation menus that Brent's creates from time to time.

Back to my own degustation experience - an everyday degustation menu, their 'Gourmand menu', at $99 a head. Let me walk you through it...

Along the verandah and through to the dining room entrance we go

Let's go in!

The main dining room (there are dining spaces upstairs also, probably for private functions)

The ambience was quite nice, and the dining room was cosy and intimate, dimly lit, with tea candles on each table to provide extra illumination. The staff was attentive, and wore gloves when presenting the dishes, probably more so to protect the plates from fingerprints, than for hygiene reasons. Either way, it was nice to see that level of service.

The food:

Both my friend and I ordered a fruity mocktail to start off. Now, I am aware that mocktails, being alcohol-free, are generally just made with different blends of fruit juices and ice, but still, I've had some great-tasting mocktails before. This one, however, was not to be one of them. It tasted like orange and pineapple juice from the bottle. At the price they charged - I think it was the standard mocktail price of about $7 or so - I was expecting a bit better.

I can't remember what the amuse bouche was exactly, but it was salmon with some creamy thing, which didn't taste too bad.



Fruity cocktail + amuse bouche

The mushroom cappucino, essentially a creamy mushroom soup, was my favourite dish of the night.

Wild mushroom cappucino, truffle oil and prosciutto crumbs

I adore cheese, and was delighted to see this dish on the menu. However, I always cut the (usually) bitter rind off my cheeses, because I dislike its taste. Unfortunately for me, the goats cheese was crumbed and fried with rind and all. I still ate it, but I think I would have enjoyed it more had the rind been removed. The other elements on the dish were very tasty though.

Crumbed and fried goats cheese, beetroot and sorbet, candied pecan and charcoal lavosh

The next dish was a nicely balanced dish of fresh and light vs creamy. My only complaint would be that when a dish is described as 'red claw yabby', I expect to see a decent portion of it; however, rather disappointingly, as you can see from the picture below, there was only a very small piece of yabby, the size of half a prawn. Other than that, the dish was delightful to eat.

Red claw yabby, citrus cured salmon, cucumber, melon, nasturtium and mandarin jam

The following was presented to us as a palate cleanser. Now, I don't know about you, but in my degustation experiences, the palate cleanser is never listed as a dish in itself on the menu. This one, however, was. It looks pretty, but I didn't like this palate cleanser at all, and the fact that I don't like cucumber doesn't help either. 

Palate cleanser: Chartreuse marshmallow, cucumber snow, compressed apple, and milk wafer

The confit duck was quite nice, and I was pleasantly surprised by how well the lemon curd complemented the dish. I should mention, though, that it was more like a slice of duck terrine with the skin layered on top, rather than a natural cut of the duck, as you can see.

Crispy confit duck, butternut pumpkin, lemon curd and liquorice

The beef cheeks were cooked beautifully and literally fell apart at the lightest pressure from the fork. The meat was deliciously tender and melted in the mouth. Unfortunately, the sauce/pan reduction was extremely salty and the meat was doused in it. The mash would have helped to cut through the saltiness, had it not been also drizzled with the sauce, making the dish as a whole too salty for my liking.

Slow cooked beef cheek, paris mash, sauteed mushroom, prosciutto and garlic croutons

As mentioned before, I love cheese. That is, all cheeses with the exception of blue cheeses. Unfortunately for me, the cheese course of the day happened to be just that. I ate the toasted bread and the raspberries.

Cheese course of the day - blue cheese

The dessert was fabulous, faultless, moreish. The flavour of the ice-cream initially was a bit strange for me, but I quickly developed a liking for the unique combination of flavours.

Coffee and fennel seed ice-cream and wafer, chocolate and cocoa nib coulis

All in all, the food was nice, and if we factor in all the other elements, like environment, service, and presentation, it's quite a pleasant dining experience. Would I come back? Hmm if a friend would like to try it out, then yes. My best degustation experience so far would have to be at Esquire, a larger, dining space in the city centre, which serves degustation only. Having said that, they have also produced some dishes that I did not thoroughly enjoy. At the end of the day, it's down to personal preference, as each person's tastes differ. I hope this review has been helpful to those who were contemplating dining at Brent's!

Oh, and for all the fashion enthusiasts out there who might be interested, here's what I wore on the night (left):

So Sweet dress by Review, 3/4 sleeve cropped blazer by Review, Halt pumps by Wittner, Classic Q Karlie bag by Marc Jacobs, and birdy earrings by emoceans.

Sticky date pudding

I had homemade sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce for dessert tonight. I bought the ingredients to make it last week, but have delayed making it till today - because the thickened cream for the sauce expires today. I soon found out that today wasn't to be such a good day in the kitchen for me.

Where to start? First, I developed a painful blister on the palm-side of my index finger from hand-dicing 1/1/4 cups of dried dates (someone had decided to store my packet of dried dates in the fridge, making them even harder) over at least half an hour with a knife that begs to be sharpened - but of course the self-sharpening knife sheath is no where to be found when I need it. Cutting a large amount of fridge-cold dried fruit with a small, blunt knife is definitely not a good idea and I'll never do it again. Next, as I am wiping clean the electric hand beater, the cable catches one of the two eggs that I have left out to come to room temperature, and it flies off the bench and splatters on the floor and over my foot (good thing I was wearing an over-sized long apron). Then, as I was grabbing something off another bench, I accidentally nudged a container, which was for some reason sitting right at the edge, and before I knew it, I had half a kilo of halva in a heavy, thick, hard, plastic tub fall squarely onto my big toe, which is now wholly sore and bruised from the main toe joint. It's very tender to touch between the joints too, so I wonder if the bone has been smashed, me having weak bones and all. I breathed deeply and hoped the resulting cake would be worth the pain.

The recipe I used was an Australian Women's Weekly recipe, which was posted on the community recipe section of the Nigella Lawson website. I'm not sure if I am allowed to post the recipe here, for copyright reasons, so I will provide the link to the recipe instead: http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/sticky-date-pudding-1934

I didn't make any changes to the recipe, except that instead of using the food processor to do everything, I did everything manually. There's two reasons for this: firstly, I think that one of the main joys in baking is derived from the actual manual process. On the practical side, toddling about in the kitchen also keeps the mind from idle thoughts and provides much needed exercise, if, like me, you spend most of your days off work during Winter largely housebound. The second reason for not using the food processor is quite simply that I have a gorgeous, brand new, top of the range (I think) lipstick red Kenwood handmixer/food processor thing that is still in its massive box in the kitchen, and I have been too lazy to take it out, clean it, and clean and make a clearing on the kitchen bench to provide a permanent station for it, amidst my assorted mess of cake tins, mixing bowls, cake plates, etc. Of course, after this finger blister experience, I am going to assign all date chopping chores to the food processor from now on. I should point out though, that through hand-chopping, I was able to discover a whole pip that had been left in one of the dates (Freshlife brand, in case you're interested) - imagine if someone had unknowingly bitten into it! I don't imagine processing the pip in the batter will make the cake taste that great either.

If you are also someone who prefers to make the pud without the aid of a food processor for whatever reason, you could follow what I did:

Hand dice the dried dates, then soak them in the boiling water, in a bowl, with the bicarb stirred through. Then cream the sugar and butter together; beat in the eggs, one by one; stir in the date mixture (being careful if you are using an electric beater when doing this, because it is likely to splatter); and lastly, fold in the flour.

The 1 hour baking time seemed a bit excessive to me, but when I poured the batter into the cake pan, it did look rather thin, so I assumed that was probably why it needed so long in the oven. The cake tester came out clean after exactly an hour, but I was concerned it might be a bit dry.

For the butterscotch sauce, I decided to make it in a make-shift double-boiler, i.e., I combined everything in a large mixing bowl and cooked it over a saucepan of simmering water. The reason I did this, instead of making it directly in the saucepan, as per the instructions, is because I used a portable gas cooker, the temperature of which is hard to control, and which has a tendency to very quickly burn things, as per past experiences. Turns out today was destined to be a fail day for me, because although I kept the mixture over the heat for a very long time, until all the water in the pan had evaporated, the sauce only just thickened ever so slightly. I gave up after all the water was gone and it became a safety hazard, and ended up with a butterscotch sauce with a runny consistency, so it was more like a syrup.

Plating up time was the moment of truth. 

When I turned the cooled cake out (though I would have liked to have served it warm), I found it to be well-risen (considering how thin the batter looked), damp, moist and tender. I can't say I've had sticky date pudding on many occasions, simply because there's always been other more appealing desserts on the menu that would win me over, so I am not particularly well acquainted with the taste. If what I made is anything to go by, I enjoyed it, because it's moist and tender, without being overly sweet, but I'm not a big fan, especially of the smell of the dates. From memory, I believe the pudding is supposed to be wetter...but I could be wrong. I drenched mine in the butterscotch sauce/syrup, and the sweetness of the sauce definitely adds a nice dimension to the dessert. I do wish we had vanilla ice-cream in the freezer to accompany it though!



More yarny goodness!

I've received my parcels of yarn from Hulu and Black Sheep Wools! Yippee! Hulu dispatched their stock first, and it was also the first parcel I received, so kudos to them. The other took a little bit longer to come, but they had a free worldwide shipping promotion, so it negates the slightly slower delivery time factor. I wish they'd always offer free international shipping! Or at least reduce the shipping costs. Hulu and Deramores offer lower shipping prices, but I find I order more from the former, because Deramores, of all the online yarn retailers that I've purchased from, ships the slowest, and slow shipping is generally a deal-breaker for me, being not the most patient person in the world. Both parcels arrived in good condition, despite the dreadful rainy weather we're having here!

Back to the yarn.

The first parcel contained some KnitPro needles and some balls of Sirdar Snuggly DK acrylic/nylon blend yarn. Since I'm knitting beanies for the premmies at the hospital, I have to use manmade fibres, in case the babies are sensitive to certain natural fibres; but sadly, there are few of this type of baby yarn in 8ply available at local craft stores. I looked around in 2 of the biggest craft stores, and only found 1 type of yarn, which only had 2 colours - cream and dark, musky pink - in stock. I was hoping they'd at least carry the baby pink and blue that I bought last year, but nopes. I want to create not just boring beanies, but cute ones in pastel colours, so I decided to get some online.

 Parcel 2 arrived today and contained RYC Siena, which is a 100% mercerised cotton yarn in 4ply (colourway: Pasture (light green shade)). It feels okay for a cotton yarn, so hopefully it will knit up ok too, without untwisting like a lot of cotton yarns seem to like doing. Although the colour is a nice, soft green that is comfortable on the eyes, I'm now a bit iffy about how it will look once knitted up into the jacket. What do you think? (pattern pictures shown below)

Hmm flat knitting in a 4 ply yarn, with 2.75mm, 3mm and 3.75mm needles... This is going to take me forever to make! It's meant to be a Spring pattern, so I'll put it aside and see what happens then! I've still got so many WIPs to attend too. Argh! I need to keep reminding myself to focus on one project at a time! By the way, in the pattern images, the jacket actually looks a bit big on the model. While I get that the shoulders were a bit puffy back in those days, I'm sure the body of the gowns and jackets were (more) fitted. In the front view, the jacket front looks a bit baggy on her, in a non-flattering way. I wonder if she's wearing a size too big or if it's designed to be a very relaxed fit like that... I hope more people knit this and post their notes and pictures up on Ravelry to give me a better idea of what to expect and to let me know if I should make any mods!

Quadruple chocolate loaf cake!

I was in a bit of a pickle on Friday night. I was to have my last French class of the term the following day, so we were all supposed to bring in a plate of food/drinks. I think since after highschool, whenever I'm asked to bring a plate of food, I automatically associate that with homemade food, mostly in the form of some delicious baked sweet treat. Anyway. I've been preoccupied the whole week with random things, (okay, I'll admit I've been online shopping again, as well as doing that final bit of research before buying a new ultrabook with ivy bridge that I was waiting so long to become available here (and yes, I am using it now - hooray! No more pinching other people's laptops to use!)), so basically, I forgot all about it until Friday afternoon. My plan of action was to bake a batch of my favourite cookies - that is, pecan, chocolate and cranberry oat cookies from Nigella's Feast cookbook - when I got home after work that night, since cookies are the most effortless things to make (minus all the chopping of ingredients involved).

Come 11pm, I look in the larder and gasped in disbelief - there were NO OATS LEFT! There was maybe like 2 tbsp of it left from last time, which is obviously not enough. In panic mode, I reached for my trusty copy of Feast in hope to find another low-effort cookie recipe, which I would have the ingredients for. I was unsuccessful in that arena, but flipped to the chocolate cake chapter and had an "a-ha!" moment when I remembered how well the Quadruple Chocolate Loaf Cake turned out last time. It was dark, very chocolatey, lusciously moist, and, did I say chocolatey already? It probably sounds a bit funny when I say it's dark, because it's a chocolate cake and would obviously be dark-coloured; but, you know how some chocolate cakes end up a light brown or just a normal brown colour? Well, this one was an intense dark chocolate colour, like mudcake; like as though real chocolate was mixed into the batter. I think I used Nestle baking cocoa last time (I prefer Green and Black's chocolate, which I did use and do still use in everything calling for chocolate, but I found that its brand of cocoa produces a rather lighter brown colour in the resulting cake), but this time I used the Henry Langdon brand of dutched cocoa powder, which I bought from a gourmet food store in Melbourne. I was a bit worried about the colour it would produce, since I've never used this cocoa before, but it turned out wonderfully well, and imparted a deliciously chocolate flavour. It would have been awful if it disappointed, because I think I spent quite a bit of money on it. I had all the ingredients required for this recipe, except for the sour cream, which I ended up substituting with thickened cream, hoping that it wouldn't make too much of a difference.

I stayed up til about 1ish to prep all the ingredients (measuring, chopping, etc), and set my alarm clock for 6am.

Of course I ended up pressing snooze at least twice, but it looked like the sun had just woken up too.

I got on it straight away, still sleepy-eyed.

In the recipe, Nigella says to bake the cake for about an hour. I noted down last time that it actually took 1hr 18 minutes to cook (maybe the pan she used was a wee bit larger?), so I checked every 5 minutes or so after the hour was up to test for doneness. I think it ended up taking even a little bit longer than the 1'18''. It was still a bit sticky in one little spot that I tested, but it is a damp cake and Nigella said it was to be expected. I love her conversational style of instructions!

Done! Look at the intensity of that colour. I must have taken this photo after pouring over the chocolate syrup, because the surface appears so glossy.

There's little holes all over the top from pricking all over with a cake tester, to allow the syrup to seep into the cake evenly.

It must have sat there in its pan on the cooling rack for at least 15 minutes or more, while I madly rushed to finish the rest of my French homework and get ready for class that morning. Needless to say, it wasn't sufficient time for the dense, damp cake to cool completely and it was still steaming and burning my hands when I transferred the sliced cake to the container (didn't want to bring a knife with me to class and to shopping after!). You also have to exercise caution when transferring this cake, especially when in cut slices, because it breaks apart easily, due to its tender moistness (especially when it's still hot!). The pricking through with the cake tester possibly also contributes to its fragility, particularly if you do it in the way I did it - I think the above photo explains it all! The chocolate splinters didn't completely melt onto the surface of the cake this time though, which was good. A taste test proved that using thickened cream produced just as delicious a result as the sour cream. This was definitely good news, because I hardly use sour cream unless I'm using a particular recipe that calls for it, but I almost always buy thickened cream to have as a standby in the fridge, when I plan to improvise random dishes during the week.

All sliced and boxed, with the final sprinkling of the grated chocolate topping added! I used Lindt Dessert 70% dark specialty cooking chocolate for this, because I wanted to emphasise the cake's chocolateyness with its lovely dark colour. And yes, it does taste as amazing as it looks!

I took this photo with the flash. It makes the colours look less accurate somewhat, but it shows better definition, so I thought I'd throw this in as well.

The whole house was filled with chocolate aroma and, since I had to keep the lid off the container in the car, because the cake was still emitting quite a bit of steam, the car was also filled with the strong smell, such that I started to feel quite nauseated! I love the smell of chocolate, but not when I'm hungry from not having breakfast in the morning and from lack of sleep. By the time I got to class, I felt so sick that I was just totally over it, especially since by which point the cake was STILL steaming hot and the aroma was STILL wafting out of the open container, distracting my neighbour (but unlike for me, in a positive way). It was very nice how most of my classmates made an effort to hand-make their plates of food too. Most were sweet though, so there were plenty of left overs! It was a very big compliment when the aforementioned neighbour requested to take some of my cake home. I ended up getting the others to take home the remainder.
I love making chocolate cakes, but the truth is that although I like to eat the occasional little bit of chocolate cake (but only if it's very richly chocolately and delicious, like this particular cake), I'm not actually really a big fan of chocolate cakes and desserts in general. I love eating chocolate out of hand, but it's just not quite the same in baked form for me. Similarly, my family also has this sort of relationship with chocolate, which is why I don't often make chocolate cakes at all. Everyone else I know seems to adore it though!

Knitting yarn fibre scandals

I was looking through some knitting blogs before, and came across articles about court cases over false claims about milk protein content in certain types of yarns, and the absence of cashmere in the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino yarns (acrylic being the real component). Am I the only person who wasn't aware of all this, all of which started about 3 years ago?! I feel so out of the loop! I guess the Australian media doesn't feel the need to report these sort of cases, as yarn is not as big an industry as it is overseas. Fortunately, I am not a big fan of Debbie Bliss yarns and have only ever used two types, both of which aren't 'cashmere' blends - and both of which I didn't enjoy using at all, the horrible stuff. This court case - be the allegations true or otherwise - has reaffirmed my decision to never touch this line of yarn again.

I think I have used yarn with - or claiming to have - milk content before, but not in any of the brands named in the court cases. I was wondering why Rowan Milk Cotton was being discontinued, after releasing so many patterns specifically for this type of yarn. Uh oh - does that mean that they have false label claims too? Just the other night I was thinking of buying a few balls of Milk Cotton Fine to knit the vest in the Mist pattern book by Kim Hargreaves. Oh well! I never liked knitting with cotton yarns anyway, which I find too splitty.

I think there was also some talk about other natural fibres in some yarns being imaginary, like alpaca and the like.. hope they're not true! I have thus far bought most of my alpaca yarn in the Classic Elite and Blue Sky Alpacas brands, or from Purl Alpaca Designs, which are all 100% alpaca. Being from an actual alpaca farm, as the case is for the latter, I'm confident that that lot at least is the real deal.

Who knew that there would and could be so much drama in the knitting world? I know it's still a business, but I associate hand-knitting and yarn with all things homely, natural and real - an ancient art that transcends time and place. I guess that doesn't really carry my meaning across; but the bottom line is that I didn't expect such dishonesty in the yarn industry. One of the reasons why people choose to knit - one of the reasons why I knit - is because I like to be able to control the physical and textural properties of the garment I create. It's also the closest we'll ever get to working with the raw fibres, unless you like to dabble in fibre spinning as well. So it feels so awful that we, as consumers, who promote this handcraft and support the yarn industry, are being deceived by manufacturers. Some people on the Ravelry forum were saying stuff like consumers aren't really being ripped off, because KFI/Debbie Bliss were undercutting the costs of other cashmere yarn-selling companies, so the usual cashmere price wasn't being paid anyway. To me, that makes no sense, because I most certainly would not pay $10 for a ball of wool/acrylic yarn blend (or however much they're charging for it). And anyway, costs aside, the point is, they are deliberately misleading consumers to believe there is a luxurious fibre in the yarn, which is wrong in principle and is illegal besides! The things people would do for money. Unbelievable.

If we are being lied to about fibres in balls of yarn, by big, well-known, expensive brands like Debbie Bliss as well, I wonder how many ready-to-wear items that we pay premiums for in department stores and boutiques contain fake natural fibres too? And there I was thinking that we only have to be careful with fake leather and brands for cosmetics and handbags out there. Speaking of which, be very, VERY careful when you shop for Ted Baker bags. I bought a very pretty patent leather baby pink clutch earlier this year from David Jones, and have since been in love with the brand. I was recently at the department store again to look at their handbags, and was going to buy one in the same shade of shiny baby pink as my clutch; BUT, upon looking at the label for another TB bag and finding that it said it was made of PVC, I checked the pink bag in my hands and found, to my disbelief, that it was also made of PVC and polyester! Needless to say, I did not get it - there was no way I was going to pay $310 (or whatever it was) for a PVC bag! I had a look online, on the House of Fraser website, and noticed that for a lot of the TB products, they actually don't list the materials the bags are made of, which is a bit unsettling. If it wasn't because I saw the label on that bag, I would have assumed that all the TB bags are patent leather, as you would, seeing as some of their products are, and because you would expect genuine leather from that sort of brand and for the price. I wouldn't say they're being deceptive, because they don't have leather claims on those PVC bags, but it is a bit sneaky, especially in the case of online retailers who don't disclose the composition details. I know the wallets are all leather though, and am very glad for that, because I love them so much! So there you go - make sure you check the labels in the bags before you purchase!

In case you're interested in reading about all the kerfuffle that's going on with the yarns (the Debbie Bliss court case is still ongoing, apparently), here are some links I found:

Milk fibre yarns:

http://cascadeyarns.com/milkproteinfiber.asp
http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/yarn/1771136/176-200

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino:


http://www.cascadeyarns.com/lawsuit.asp
http://www.kgw.com/news/business/Wash-kniting-firm-accuses-rival-of-spinning-yarn-105875253.html
http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/yarn/333168/551-575

My conclusion: must get a spinning wheel one of these days, so I can buy fleece directly from the farms and spin them into yarn myself!

Packaged egg whites!

So I was grocery shopping at Woolies the other day and saw a new product on the refrigerated dairy shelf - cartons of egg whites! This would of course be useful for people who have dietary restrictions on egg yolks (due to fats/cholesterol), but would also be a huge convenience for those of us who want to make angel food cake, meringue, macarons, and other delicious things that require only, and a lot of, egg whites, without having to make a heap of custard afterwards to use up the egg yolks (or wasting it all, in the case of those who can't think of anything to make with them). I have, in the past, read about packaged powdered egg whites that serve the same purpose (except that you wouldn't be able to make them into omelettes...right?), but unfortunately, these are not available in Australia; or at least I haven't been able to find such a product. 

I do have some concerns about this product though: for example, what is the consistency like? To be able to accurately measure teaspoonfuls of egg whites, as per the instructions, it would have to be quite runny, and not viscous like fresh egg whites. However, I'm a bit confused about the whole 'replacing 1 large egg' thing anyway. Replacing the VOLUME of the egg yolks with egg whites is not going to produce the same result as if egg yolks were used, especially in baking. My other concern is that it doesn't really tell you the size of egg from which the egg whites were extracted. Of course, this would not be a problem if you measure out your egg whites and yolks by weight; in fact, this product would be fab for these recipes, because you don't have to go through so many fresh eggs to make up the weight. However, most recipes specify small, large or x-large eggs, as opposed to weight.

Other factors which are considered quite important to some consumers include the conditions under which the eggs were laid - caged/cage-free/free range? Are they organic? Were the hens grain-fed? Do the farms meet RSPCA standards? None of these factors are actually specified on the carton. Thus, I'd probably stay away from this product if you have some sort of exacting standards for your eggs.

Personally, I prefer buying free range eggs, for happy hens = better tasting eggs, right? But if at any stage I have to make a large batch of something-or-rather using just egg whites, I might turn a blind eye and opt for this, just for the sake of convenience! 

Eep! More project distractions!

Okay, so it is no secret that I am unable to practise project monogamy. I get distracted by every interesting knitting pattern or yarn that I see, especially when there's some sort of sale on, which, in my mind, justifies a purchase. My biggest problem is that I cannot just look and admire - no, that would not do; I must have it for myself! In this past week, I have bought 5 e-books from the Interweave online store: knit.wear Spring 2012 issue, Boutique Knits by Laura Irwin, Folk hats: 32 Knitting Patterns and Tales from Around the World by Vicki Square, Interweave's Compendium of Finishing Techniques: crochet, embroider, knitting, knotting and weaving, and the set of series 1-4 from Volume 1 of Weldon's Practical Knitter, as compiled by Interweave. I have also bought more Knit Pro cables and interchangeable needle tips, some balls of Sirdar Snuggly DK to add to my premmie beanie-making stash, and 13 balls of Rowan Sienna 4 ply (a 100% mercerised cotton yarn in the green 'Pasture' colour) to make that romantic 19th century-looking fitted jacket by Jennie Atkinson (supplement from issue 42 of The Knitter)....amongst other non-knitting-related things...but let's not focus on that :P 

How gorgeous is that fitted jacket, by the way? Has anyone knitted/started to knit/planning to knit it too? The only off-putting factor for me, however, is that fact that it's knitted on - what was it? - 2.75mm needles?? Oh, and also that all the pieces are knitted flat and have to be seamed together. Ever since learning how to knit in the round, the very thought of knitting something flat seems like a waste of time. Of course I do understand how some garments needs seams for stability yada yada yada.. I am attracted to the interesting shaping of the piece and the bustle (!), but I think knitting the whole thing in one colour, in one type of stitch pattern (stocking stitch, if my memory serves me right) with a fingering weight yarn on tiny needles might become a boring, tedious task. Yep, not for the faint-hearted, but I do like a challenge, albeit maybe only once in a while!  

In the past, I've never really liked the idea of e-books, because I prefer to have the actual hard copy in hand - I like the tactile qualities! Yes, I'm a bit old-school like that.. I only used to get the e-magazines, as not all are imported into my country, and getting an overseas subscription is not very economical, due to P+H costs. However, due to my inability to control my all-things-knitted-related purchases, it's gotten to the stage where there is absolutely no storage space left for neither book nor yarn. Thus, I am turning to e-books now. I guess there are benefits of e-books, besides being able to save physical storage space: one can simply print out the pattern that is being worked on, instead of having to lug around the whole book, if working on the project on the go; the download file for the e-book will always appear under your account (Interweave store), so you don't have to worry about having to search for it in book boxes or about damaging it (providing that online technology doesn't change such that current file formats will become obsolete - in which case, printing out ALL your e-books at the one time will cost a fortune!); and, perhaps the biggest benefit in my opinion, is that no matter where you are - if you go on a holiday, relocate, etc etc and it's not practical or possible to take your huge book collection with you - the books will be available at the click of a button, providing you have access to a laptop, tablet, or even smart phone (and you won't even need internet if you've pre-downloaded the files to your electronic device). In fact, for one of my projects now, I downloaded the pattern onto my phone and am reading the pattern that way - saves me taking out the laptop, especially when I just want to do a spot of pre-bedtime knitting, and would be useful if I want to take my knitting project out and about with me. 

Prior to these distractions, I was merrily working on this Winter's batch of premmie beanies to donate to the local hospital that I have been knitting for for the past 2 years. I'm now up to my 10th one! This time round, they're a bit plain, but I've decided that it's probably more practical to spend the time decorating them to make more hats instead. Also, by leaving them plain, the hospital foundation will hopefully be less likely to sell them this time! I think for this batch, I will stop at 20, for if I don't have a target with a set finish date, the little babies probably won't get these for a while! 

Some of the premmie beanies from the current batch! 

The other project I've started to work on recently is the Side Slip Cloche (the one with the pretty ruffle feature on the headband) from Boutique Knits, which I am making for my sister's birthday present. She wanted a unique beanie that she can wear this Winter, which seems colder than usual (I've never found it cold enough to wear beanies where I am). As you can see from the picture, I haven't gotten very far along.. but the present is belated anyway, so what's an extra week or two, right? 

Knitting the hat band with the ruffles

Meanwhile, I have also been "Should I or should I not?"-ing about buying a yarn I haven't tried before to knit another Great Gatsby Dress, because I love it so much, and a few online stores seem to all be having some sort of sale on some yarns at the moment. As mentioned in a previous post, I want to knit the dress in a more appropriate yarn that will not drag the dress downwards, and which would be suitable for Spring/Summer wear. I was looking at cotton yarns, but don't like working with stringy yarns... and then I was looking at Sublime Merino Cashmere and Silk DK, but I read on Ravelry all the bad reviews about the yarn being splitty and pilly. At the end, I checked the Rowan by Amy Butler Belle Organic DK that I had bought ages ago for that frilled neck edging 3/4 sleeve top in Amy Butler's first book for that yarn, but which I had recently decided was too much of a bother (due to flat knitting and having to bead and seam etc etc) and was going to use them for an 1869 pattern for a knitted corset instead, and serendipitously, it has the same recommended gauge as for the original yarn that's called for, AND it's a 50% organic wool/50% organic cotton blend, which means it should be less stringy and knotty than standard cotton yarn! Not the biggest fan of the look of the yarn or the colour (I bought it because it was the colour used in the pattern picture, in which it actually looked a bit better), but it will do fine. And no excuse to buy more yarn - perfect! :)