Wee Tweed-ley O (& a bit of baking)

My friend with the -now 3 year old- son hinted to me last Christmas of sepia visions of Enid Blyton-esque boyhood: side parted hair, baggy serge shorts, brown T-bar sandals and of course the fairisle vest.
Well, seeking to not only facilitate this romantic vision, but also to make as much of it from leftovers as I could this is what I came up with

Wee Tweed-ley

The first attempt was a more 'Norwegian' chunky snowflake motif until I got about 80% finished and realised the tension of my floats (yes! I am au fait with the lingo now thankyou) was, well, tense. Do the words tight and bottleneck mean anything to you?
A world of ripping and re casting on later, we cut to a smaller, fiddlier pattern with much shorter floats. This time I am so consciously getting loosey goosey with them I'm starting to fear they are just going to be positively dangling and drooping down the back! But no, a good stretch in the blocking takes care of that.


Pattern: Adapted from Blank Canvas Childs Vest by Cari Luna
Modified to knit in the round and with a round neck. (The first ill-fated version I worked with original v-neck. Lots of dangling bits of yarn either side of a v neck? OY! All I can say is now I know why steeking was invented).

Yarn: Grignasco Tango (discontinuted? thanks Grignasco!) Leftovers of dark grey/blue from my Here and There Cables Scarf, plus a few grams of green, pale blue and cream. Love this yarn.

Motif: From Inca Hat by Zoe Mellor (on ravelry)

Verdict: Colourwork? Yes I think I've had my experience now. No, I don't need to do that again thank you kindly sir. But cute vest though even if I do say so myself.


It's very rare that I come over all Nigella Lawson -like but when I do I tend to go a bit berserk. Not only did I finish, block and photograph this little vest, I also -in between dishes and laundry- simultaneously baked up a batch of cupcakes.
Oh let's face it I was really just avoiding the final really boring bits of a freelance job I'm about to deliver.

Voila, or indeed "Hup ho" as habitual would say. I love that and I'm going to walk about saying it for the next few days just watch me.


Recipe: Adapted from Donna Hay's Carrot Cake

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bi-carb powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 knob grated fresh ginger (a knob = how much you like fresh ginger or not)
2 1/2 cups grated carrot
1 cup roughly chopped walnuts


Preheat oven to 180 C.
Beat sugar and oil for 3 mins.
Add eggs gradually , beat well
Sift flour, baking powder, bi-carb, cinnamon and ginger over sugar mixture
Add carrot and walnuts, mix until just combined.
Pour into muffin pans lined with baking paper circles or those little pattycake things
Bake for 25-30 mins.

ICING
250g softened, unsalted, cultured butter (or you may prefer 250g cream cheese)
1 cup sifted icing sugar
Juice and zest of 1 orange
Splash of vanilla essence

Beat butter in a mixer until light and creamy, then add icing sugar, juice, zest and vanilla. Continue beating until combined.

Makes approx 1 dozen cupcakes.