LunaKnit

I love everything sweet. I’ve often laughed about it and said that my vocabulary does not contain a phrase “too sweet”. I could eat dulce de leche straight from the jar with just a spoon (let’s just be honest and remove the word “could”, as I have done it many times) but my husband is more into salty treats. So when I first made salted caramel we finally found something the both of us love equally much. We had some friends visiting on Saturday night so I decided to bake something. I love baking and I usually make something every weekend. I often ask my friends to come over for a coffee to have an excuse to bake, because making a cake or a batch of cookies for just the two of us would be catastrophic in the long run: we would just end up eating it all in a day or two and the resulting weight gain would be inevitable. I decided to make something with salted caramel and came up with this recipe for a salted caramel pie with meringue on top. The meringue was actually more of an

It’s always nice to find a new way to do things: an interesting pattern, construction, shape or technique. The Fuse cardigan was something like this for me. Something unexpected. I usually know how something is knit just by looking at a photo, but this was constructed a bit differently than I would have thought. I was a bit too eager to start this project and didn’t read the pattern notes as well as I should have before starting, and missed the bit of knitting the sleeves first. So I started with the body, but that really doesn’t make any difference. I changed to 5.0 mm needles to get the right gauge. The pattern was written quite concisely and briefly without any further explanations, and there were some things you had to kind of just  know  or figure out yourself to get right, so I wouldn’t probably recommend this to a beginner. One thing was the short rows: “wrap and turn”. If you have never done short rows before, try to look around the internet for expl

photo As a child I used to love all kinds of nature documents on TV, actually I still do. I wanted to be a zoo keeper working with elephants, or a marine biologist and study whales and dolphins. One of my childhood idols was Jacques Cousteau. I still remember his iconic red cap, and it was the inspiration for my knitting. The red yarn I chose is not quite as intense as the one he used to wear but a bit subtler, rustier shade. My idea for this cap was that it could be worn in a couple of ways. So it can be a loose “boyfriend” type of a slouch or a beanie, when the hem is doubled. I also wanted to make something that is easy and effortless to knit so you can finish it in a day or two, and watch TV at the same time. All my caps and beanies are adorned with cables or lace, and I wanted to knit something simple, but still versatile and wearable for daily use. I’ve noticed that the more advanced knitter I have become, the more I have shifted away for basic simple knits and shapes,

I already finished this Adara sweater last weekend but only had time to take proper photos today. Outside it is storming; it started yesterday in the evening as a snow storm (which I thought sucked since it had already felt like spring for past couple of weeks) and this morning it came down as rain. I forgot my umbrella home as I left for work, but at least I had my Hunter boots on as the roads were covered with melting snow slush. I’m not sure if the umbrella would have helped anything in that weather though, as the wind blows impossibly hard… The Adara sweater kept me warm and cozy despite the weather. I used Garnstudio Drops Nepal in 1709 Navy blue and Drops Loves You #4 in 9110 Light grey. Some things I would like to point out about this project. First of all, the sizing is quite large. I made mine the second smallest size and it is quite loose under the arms. I’m not quite sure if it’s supposed to be this big, but I might have wanted a bit smaller size. I mad

This is now my new favorite hat, hands down. The pattern is by Sara Gresbach and can be found here . I never before thought that I could knit a hat with cotton yarn, but it worked out wonderfully. I don’t know why I was so fixated with the idea that hats should always be knitted with wool or wool blends. The stitch definition is wonderful, the yarn doesn’t tickle my forehead at all (as seems to be a problem with even the softest of wools). And the color, I love it. I changed to a bit smaller needles and dk weight yarn, as the spring is coming and I wanted something lighter to wear. Really easy and fast to knit, but the result looks much more complicated.   

This is my new favorite cookie recipe. It took me a while to get the flour amount right so that the cookies are not too dry and brittle, as often happens when baking without wheat.  Rosemary Chocolate Chip Cookies makes 20 250 g (1.1 cups) butter 1 dl (0.4 cups) caster sugar 1 dl (0.4 cups) brown sugar 2 eggs 4.5 dl (1.8 cups) flour (I used 3.5 dl organic cornmeal and added 1 dl of potato starch) 0.5 tsp baking powder pinch of sea salt 200 g dark chocolate chips (7 ounces) 1.5 Tbsp. minced rosemary (I used fresh but I guess you could also substitute this with dried rosemary) Set your oven to 200 degrees C (390 degrees F).  Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a bowl, mix the flours, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl beat together butter and the sugars until soft and creamy. Continue to beat the mixture and add the eggs one at a time. Gradually beat the dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mixture until well combined. Stir in

Wheatless bread buns and pancakes with blueberry yoghurt and organic honey. A bit over a year ago I was diagnosed with wheat allergy. And barley, and rye and even oats. Since childhood I always thought I had lactose intolerance, and as I also have atopic allergy, no doctor ever took me seriously. In December 2012 I was finally sent to allergy tests for the first time in my life, and the results were a bit shocking. I had no lactose intolerance or any allergy that has anything to do with milk products altogether. On the other hand they did find quite a lot of other allergies: perfumes, spices, metals such as nickel, chrome and cobalt, some plants and the aforementioned grains. My first reaction was disbelief and confusion, and a deep sorrow: no more pizza, pasta, cakes, cookies, cupcakes, bread… I’ve always LOVED bread; I used to say that I could live on toast and butter. After a while I decided I won’t let this bring me down, and started to experiment in the kitchen. Some

The past weeks have flown past too fast and it’s already March. I have been busy at work and at the same time had a flu, so after work I’ve been too tired to do anything much. I’m starting to feel better now and last week we had the opening of our new exhibition at the museum, so the work load is smaller. I still thought I should update what I’ve been doing, so that’s why I decided to post my February knits. I finished some knitting projects and started new ones. I’m totally in LOVE with my new sweater, the Stone Cutter. It’s just about everything I want in a sweater: big and chunky and warm without making me look fat :), the color is a lovely shade of gray that goes with everything and it still has an intricate cable work that makes it feel special. I love the yarn as well, I used Garnstudio DROPS Lima, which is soft and doesn’t tickle. The sweater is something I can use at work, or a coffee date or just lounging around at home on a lazy Sunday.  I had been i