Double (mitten) trouble.

This week I cast on some mittens for an exhibition that's to take place in Donegal as part of the Carbon Footprint Project that I mentioned in this post. I won't rattle on about the ethos behind the project again - I give a brief, maybe too brief, synopsis in the linked post. As part of the project there's to be an exhibition of items knitted/crocheted up using the Inishowen wool that Tallulah and Seema have spun up, and these are to some way represent or suggest the notion of climate change. For example, you might knit a hurricane hat to represent some of the more dramatic effects carbon emissions are having on our climate. Right now I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to weave the concept of climate change into my project, but I enjoyed knitting on double-pointed needles so much when I made these mittens that I figured I'd just cast on and let the inspiration flow.

As some of you may know, my enjoyment of making things also extends to cookies, cakes and all other manner of baked delights. (I cook as well, but I don't enjoy it as much). I made a conscious decision not to include my baking on this blog, given that the majority of the time I'm not making anything that unusual, and I can't see anyone really caring that much. By this rule though, maybe I should include things which are a bit different, when and if I make them. Last week was my house-mate's birthday, and rather than a cake I decided to try my hand at his favorite biscuit - namely, fig rolls. I found a recipe here, and while mine certainly didn't look as pretty as theirs, but I personally thought they tasted pretty good. The pastry used both white and wholemeal flour, which I thought made them quite more-ish. There's also not much sugar in the recipe, so as biscuits go - fruit, not much sugar - they're probably far from the worst thing you could be eating.

As I say, mine are far from tidy looking, but I really wasn't taking any care at all to make them look nice. Devoting a few more minutes to their presentation would probably make all the difference, if you were bothered about that sort of thing.

A big monster one for the birthday boy!

Happy Halloween everyone.