Dying cotton string

I was enjoying working with cotton yarn, but it dost a bomb, and I had some string and some dye...so badda bing badda boom, an idea formed. I could try dying some cotton and crocheting with it, it is definitely worth a try!

I realise that the cotton yarn in the shops is softer than string, but I wanted to crochet baskets for use in the bathroom (for cotton wool balls etc) to give away as Christmas presents. and I don't need a soft yarn for this, in fact, rougher, stiffer and more durable yarn would be more ideal.

First off I unwound the string as I thought the string would dye more evenly this way. But I was then thinking that if you left the string in the ball it would give it a tie-dye effect, going lighter and darker in places. Following the instructions on the dye packet I proceeded to dye my string.

I used dylon hand dye powder, as that was what I had at home. But I think that this would be a disaster with a washing machine dye, and it would be tumbled about too much and just end up in a knot.

Once the cotton is soaked and stirred for long enough, you rinse out all the dye.

Then you let the string dry.
I did two lots of the maximum weight stated on the packet, in the hopes it would give me a darker intense blue the first time around, and a paler light blue the next. Success, this is exactly what happened, two shades of blue, same pack of dye.

I did find it a little annoying to untangle the string at the end, but it wasn't too much bother, I just popped a film on, and sat own with a cup of tea.

I think you could tie the string into bundled lengths, making untangling practically not necessary and winding unto balls loads quicker. But I am not sure if what ever you use to tie the bundles together would stop the dye from getting to the string, like when you tie-dye and the parts under the string/rubber bands don't change colour (much).

All in all I enjoyed this, I did mange to dye the string and have an outcome I was happy with. I ended up with about 800g of blue cotton.

In my local yarn shop, it is around £3 for 100g of cotton yarn (although theirs is softer)
The cost of the whole 800g would be less than £10 pounds, so a huge saving. Luckily for me, I had everything at home in the cupboard awaiting another crafty moment, so I didn't need to go out and spend more money, I had spent it already!

Happy Crafting
xoxo

What I have been up to:

Lately I have been getting back into yarn crafts, knitting  and crochet. It all started up again because at the school I work at some people decided to start a knitting and crochet club, I thought I'd go along and have another go.
Well I have well and truly caught the bug again. This is how I am, I like to be creative and keep busy, but often just go off of something and don't do it for ages (years in some cases) then just pick it up one day, and I am off again. Once I get on a trend, I go all out, start to do said project (crochet atm) everywhere and almost in my sleep.

Well first off this time round, I had the patience to follow crochet patterns, and actually make some amazing things, that actually look like I want them too, and not just a wooly waste of time.
Second off, I discovered that you can find some audio books on youtube. Which meant I could crochet and listen to a story, which suited me down to the ground for an after work activity. When I am knitting I barley look at what I'm doing, my hands just know what to do, crochet on the other hand needs a little more concentration and looking at!

The first thing I mastered was the ever so popular granny square!

Which I then went a little coo coo on and made all sorts, with different colours and patterns an stitches:

This was my first attempt at following a crochet pattern, and even though I made a few mistakes, I am damn proud!

Then I tried Hearts:

Then I made an incredible knights helmet with the idea of wearing it for a fancy dress lord of the rings quiz night that I was organising and hosting:

With a movable visor:

In this picture the visor is held on with hair clips, but I have since sewn on buttons.

The I decided it needed a beard to go with it!

I was dressed and Gimli for the fancy dress quiz night, it was great fun, and lots of fun was had by all.

Happy cooking (crafting)

xoxo

Making my own wrapping paper and cards this christmas

It bothers me that the wrapping paper that you can buy cannot be recycled. So I bought a roll of brown packing paper, then thought of ways to make it look more festive and less drab.  I thought about ribbons and coloured string, pretty gift tags and shop bought bows.

I hurt my back in November, and I had to spend 4 days home from work, mostly sitting in a hard backed chair and a little walking around, being someone who is normally busy I struggled with this doctor given advice, so I used that time to do this:

I made some stamps with lino:

This was my first try of lino' cutting since doing it in school, so I was quite impressed with how they came out. I bought a few stamps as well mainly because they were reduced.

I printed cards:

Tags:

Wrapping paper:

I was really happy with how the presents looked in the end, I had a great time making the paper and loved adding some pretty finishing touches.

The bronze angel is made from salt dough, which I rolled over a textured mat deigned to be used for cake decorating. I used a biscuit cutter for the shape, poked holes in them so that they could be threaded onto a ribbon. I cooked them until hard and then painted them. I made these last year and had some left over.

Happy making
xoxo

Red onion and paprika cheese scones

I was asked to make a few cakes for a charity bake sale, I made courgette and carrot cupcakes, morello cherry scones and these beauties. I wanted to have a savoury option that was a bit different from the norm so came up with this idea.

I took a normal cheese scone recipe and just added some fun extras.

Makes about 12 scones:

225g self raising flour

40g butter 

1 egg

100ml milk

100g cheese (grated)

pinch of salt and pepper

Ideas for added extras:

Paprika, cayenne pepper, mustard powder, souted onion, olives, sun dried tomato, roasted peppers (I'm sure there is a lot more that would be brilliant in scones)

• Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C and grease a baking tray (I used a silicone non stick mat)
• Sift the flour into a bowl, add the powdered spices and then rub in the fat.
• With a fork mix in half of the grated cheese and any onion, olives or other added extras. 
• Add the egg and milk and stir with the fork to form a soft craggy dough, do not over mix.
• Turn out the dough onto a floured worktop and using your hands pat into shape so that it is about 2cm thick.
• Using a cutter of your choice (cooking times will depend on the size you have cut the scones so don't make them too large or the centre will never cook, I used a 2inch round fluted cutter) cut out the scones and place them onto your baking tray. 
• Reshape the remaining dough and cut more scones out.
• Sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese

• Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, they should be golden brown.

I didn't manage to get a picture of these when they were cooked as they got collected still warm and whisked off to the bake sale. I did save one for my husband and he loved it and I received good reviews from the people at the bake sale. 

I will have to make these again to get some more pictures for this blog :)

Happy cooking

xoxo

Wrights bread mix-brioche

I had a go at Wrights brioche bread mix this morning, here is what I did and how it turned out:

Ingredients (easy as):
1 packet of Wrights brioche bread mix
240ml warm water

• In a mixing bowl add the water to the bread mix and bring together to form a dough and rest for five minutes.
• Knead for two minutes and rest for another five.

• Shape into a loaf or make 10 rolls (I made 8 slightly larger rolls and changed the baking time)

I made eight plaited rolls

• Leave the dough to rise whilst pre-heating the oven to 210 degrees C (I went to 200 degrees C as m oven is quite fierce)
• The packet says bake a loaf for 30 minutes and rolls for 15. I baked mine for 10 minutes and the rolls were almost over done (again down to my fierce oven) so keep an eye on how browned the bead becomes.

Some of the rolls stuck together due to oven spring 

These rolls have a lovely crumb structure and are just what you want from a brioche. The flavour is good but in my opinion it is a little bit basic. If I use this bread mix again I will add some flavours, maybe some lemon zest, or chocolate chips (to make my husband happy).

Happy baking

xoxo

Pizza

Every now and then I try a new pizza dough recipe, using my pizza stones in an attempt to make the perfect pizza.

This recipe is Ken Forkish's pizza dough and I have had the best success so far with this recipe, I have a few adjustments to make, but overall it was a great pizza and we loved it.

This is a dough that you start the night before to give the dough a chance to develop flavours.

Ingredients to make 5 pizzas

700g warm water (weighed to be more accurate)

1/4 tsp dried yeast

1000g white bread flour (I'm using Wrights)

20g salt 

• Take about 3 tbls of the water out of the water and set aside.
• Autolyse the dough: mix the remaining water and the flour to form a dough and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
• Activate the yeast in the 3 tbsp of water that was set aside.
• Mix the yeast water and the salt the the dough and knead for a few minutes, if doing this by hand you will need to wet your hands to prevent the dough from sticking and do several stretch and folds until the salt and yeast are combined. If you have machine kneaded the dough after 30 minutes rest give it 2 stretch and folds.
• Transfer the dough into a large bowl (I used a large cake box), cover, and leave the dough to triple in size (about 12 hours)

• The next morning divide the dough into 5 equal pieces, I did it by eye but if you are unsure you can weigh the dough and each portion should be about 340g. I used olive oil to stop the dough sticking to the bench and my hands.
• Shape the dough pieces into balls and pull the dough around to the back of the dough ball a few times to create surface tension. Place the dough balls into something (I used a roasting tray) that is big enough to hold the dough with room for expansion. I oiled the tray and rolled each dough ball around in the oil to stop the dough sticking to each other and the tray. Cover with a plastic bag or cling film and put in the fridge for at least 6 hours.
• To roll out the dough place each piece onto grease proof paper that has been sprinkled with semolina for that traditional Italian flavour. Dip your fingers in oil and push and stretch the dough out into a circle but don't squash and deflate the crust.
• Cover with your favourite toppings, making sure your tomato sauce is cold so it doesn't kill the yeast in the dough.

• Place your pizza onto your pre-heated pizza stone (probably as hot as your oven will go 250-300 degrees C) I used a pizza peel but you can use an upside down baking tray.

We topped our pizza with a homemade garlicky tomato sauce, choizo, onion, orange pepper, courgette, basil oil and mozzarella.

This is a photo of the crust to show how lovely and airy it is.

Happy Cooking

xoxo

Courgette Risotto - Wendy's recipe, Wendy's allotment veg!

This recipe is stolen from my mother in law. She cooked it for us a few weeks ago and I loved it. As she has given us some vegetables from her allotment (including very big courgettes/marrows) I decided to cook it for us last night and use up some of the glut. I have changed the recipe slightly to our taste.

Ingredients to serve 2:
1 tbls oil
1 small onion
1 small leek
1 stick of celery
150g risotto rice
4 cloves of garlic finely diced
A small glass of white wine
1 litre of stock (either home made or stock cube, chicken or vegetable)
zest of half a lemon
A few stalks of fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese to taste (we used about 50g)
Knob of butter (about 15g)

(Wendy's recipe used a splash of single cream for a richer risotto)

• Finely dice the onion, celery and leek and start to saute in a large frying pan with the oil.

• Cut the courgette into roughly 1cm chunks (with the marrow I discarded the seeds) and add to the softened vegetables in the pan and continue to saute.
• Warm up stock in a saucepan or make up a stock cube with boiling water.
• Add the rice and the garlic to the frying pan (that is still on the heat) and stir around until the garlic becomes aromatic.
• Add the wine and let it sizzle away for a few minutes

The wine I used, it was just a bit left over in the bottle from another day.

• Add a ladle full of stock and allow that to be boiled away and absorbed by the rice.
• When the risotto starts to dry out add another ladle of hot stock and stir every few minutes.

• Keep doing this until the rice is al dente (this takes about 15-20 minutes) which means it is cooked but still has some bite to it (not mushy)
• Add the lemon zest, butter and parmesan, stir around and season to taste.
• Risotto should be served moist, we added more parmesan and fresh ground black pepper onto the each portion.

We like risotto it is filling, healthy, versatile and often a good store cupboard standby. This recipe would be great with chunks of chorizo added to the pan before the onion, or you could replace the courgette with squash, add chicken, pea and prawn, the possibilities are endless and I suggest you just try with your favourite flavours or just what you have in the fridge!

Happy Cooking

xoxo