Tuula socks

För ett par år sedan besökte vi släktingar i Finland. Medan vi var där passade damerna i sällskapet på att besöka ett par handarbetsaffärer. Jag köpte ett par babysockor, som var stickade i en modell som jag aldrig hade sett förut.

Det fanns även en historia bakom sockorna som gick ut på att en äldre dam hade stickat just sådana sockor utav sin upprevade tröja till en liten flicka som frös om fötterna en kall dag under andra världskrigets evakueringar.

Av en händelse snubblade jag över ett par bloggar där de skriver om just dessa sockor!

Restgarner

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Tusen tack för att ni delar med er!

Jag provade att sticka Tuulasockan på 2 stickor. Jag använde ett ekologiskt muga-silkegarn från Sidengården. Jag använde stickor nr 2 och stickade minsta storleken, och resultatet blev bra!

 

 

Sorry for the Swedish text. I found a Finish pattern for a special model of baby socks, called Tuula socks. I used a silk yarn and knitted the socks using two pins.

Rye bread

This morning I tried yet another recipe of Martin Johansson’s, a rye bread. I have not cut it yet, so I’m excited to see how it turned out.

 

The recipes in the book are very simple, but good. I’m used to use a machine to knead the dough, so the folding technique is new to me. The dough is also much stickier than I’m used to. The only thing that doesn’t follow the recipes when I bake is the baking time in the oven. Perhaps it’s my oven, but I need to have the bread in the over for a much longer time than indicated in the recipes. Compared to other recipes I’ve tried the baking times in this book are short.

I bought bread malt yesterday from our local bakery! It is a fluid, and not flour as I had hoped. I would like to make bread called “Malaxlimpa” for Christmas, but then I need “memmamalt”. I will try to order some from Finland. I’m sure I’ll find some interesting recipe using fluid bread malt for my Christmas bred!

Baby socks to go with the hat

I made a pair of sock of the same yarn as I used for the hat.

The pattern for the socks is a free pattern called Baby Booties by Drop Design.

I made the sock about 5 mm shorter than described in the pattern, but I still think they look big for a tiny new born.

Bread with rye, wheate, and durum

I have tried another recipe from Martin Johansson’s book “Bröd och pizza”, namely the bread he calls “Bread with rye, wheate, and durum”.

It is based on sour dough, which I first mixed with water and flour:

 

The dough is then prepared by simply stirring it together:

The dough rested for just over 3 hours, during that time I folded it 3 times.

The dough is then supposed to be put in two proving baskets, but since I don’t have any, I put the dough in two bowls:

 

After 12 hours in the refrigerator I put the bread on a hot baking plate:

The bread turned out quite nice, I haven’t sliced it yet though, I had to get to work!

 

Walnut baguettes and ginger bread

This week-end we began the preparation for Christmas. We will celebrate Christmas Eve together with the rest of the family, and it is our mission to provide everyone with cookies, sweets and bread!

We began by making ginger bread.

The dough took two days to prepare, the cookies 30 minutes, and the reduction to 50% after they came out from the over, about 2 minutes. Of course you have to taste every shape! I’ve divided the dough into suitable sizes and frozen it, so in two weeks I hope we will have (had) enough of ginger bread.

I also tried a new bread recipe. I lent a book from a friend of mine, Francesca at BB Italia.

I did the walnut baguettes and they turned out lovely!

I often use a machine to knead the dough when I bake, but this recipe called for a different technique. You simply blend all ingredients, and then fold the dough a couple of times during the day. I must say that it resulted in less washing up, and very nice bread! Thank you Francesca for the tip!

A baby hat and this week-end’s bread

If everything goes well, our little family will grow by the beginning of March! Both boys are born in the summer, so we don’t have any baby clothes suitable for the late winter month. Every year I hope that the spring will come early, but truthfully, the warmth don’t come back until early May.

So, to keep the little one warm I made a baby hat of a silk/alpakka blend, FIN by du Store Alpakka.

 

I lent the pattern from my mom, who bought it 30 years ago. I’ve made this pattern before for different hats for the boy, and it has a great fit!

We baked some bread as well this week-end. This time we made S:t Gallen Bürlibrot, by Jan Hedh.
The bread is made with sour dough. The sour dough was not in best shape though, but the bread was really tasty all the same. It was especially good after it had gone thru the toster.

 

 

 

 

Surprises

Today when I got home from work the house smelt lovely! In Sweden, St Lucia saffron buns are very popular this time of year, and my three boys had decided that it was time for the first batch to be made!

 

The classic saffron buns are quite nice, but the boys made these really delicious, stuffed with butter and almond paste. It was a very popular Thursday evening snack yesterday!

Furthermore, there were two packages for me in the post!

 

We try to minimize our use of plastic at home, especially when it comes to cooking, eating, and food storage. There are so many reports on hazardous softeners in plastics that are suspected to act as hormone disruptors, especially for infants and particularly for boys.

I’ve had my eyes opened for something that can replace plastic film, something we use a lot of. So I found Bee’s wrap:

It was quite expensive, but I was really excited about this product!
The Bee’s wrap is a piece of fabric infused with beeswax, jojoba oil and tree resin. It is made by a small company in Vermont.

I had to try it immediately! Voila, a piece of parmesan cheese wrapped in Bee’s wraps.

As you see, the wrap is really snug. You use the warmth of your hands to form it really stick to the shape.

The third surprise was in line with the Bee’s wrap, namely Otter wax.

I’ve seen that other bloggers use this to make waxed table cloth and bibs for kids! These are projects that I hope I can share with you soon!