Tea on Tuesday

Tea this week includes a beautiful skein of Alpaca yarn sent to me by Regina of Howling Wolf Herbs. 375 yards of a deep brown fingering Alpaca that is soooooo soft! Regina is an avid loom knitter, who has a beautiful site with wonderful herbal products and yarn. Thank you so much Regina! On my loom, but nearing the end, the diamond and ruffle shawl is shown in the second photo. This pattern is part of the "shawl project", and will have both a simple and more challenging version. This version has a lace inset, and is made in fingering weight yarn. A simpler version can be made in heavier weight yarn without the lace inset, to make a simple crescent shawl with a gentle ruffle along the edges.

Here is a close-up photo of the diamond lace inset, which makes the pattern a little more challenging (but not too hard, I promise.) And now for tea: this past week, we enjoyed this pear pie with Bartlett pears right off our tiny pear tree.

Our Pear Tree Pie

dough for a double crust deep 9 inch pie

8 - 9 ripe pears, peeled and cut into small chunks

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon butter

1 Tablespoon sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a pie pan with dough (I like a deep dish clear glass pan,) chill until needed. Combine the pears, brown sugar, nutmeg, almond extract and salt. Taste for sweetness, add a little sugar if needed. Add flour and mix well. Pour pear mixture into prepared pie pan. Dot with butter. Cover with top crust. Place on a lined baking sheet. Bake in lower part of the oven for 20 minutes at 425 degrees, then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake 40 minutes more, until pie crust is lightly browned and filling is bubbly. Cool and enjoy!

Copyright 2011 by Invisible Loom and Craft, Renee Van Hoy. All Rights Reserved.

Tea on Tuesday

Loom knitters love tea ♥

Today's recipe is a favorite of mine. If you have never rubbed the leaves of a scented geranium, you have missed an herbal treat. Substitute mint if geranium leaves have not favored your garden. There is a lovely KAL at Ravelry in the Jane Eyre Fans group. The theme is "Tea on the Moors", and the patterns are open to any tea cozy or mitt pattern you would enjoy making. Prizes and a virtual tea party will be at the end of the KAL for anyone who has shared a finished project. I'm contributing 2 tins of Harney's Tea, winners choice.
Rose Scented Geranium Cake

Like tasting a wonderful aroma! A beautiful cake for a special occaision, or for your special family. This cake keeps well and can be made a few days ahead, or frozen, if need be.

1 1/2 cup sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
6 large egg yolks
3 1/2 cups cake flour
1 cup (whole) milk
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 TBSP. finely chopped rose scented geranium leaves -stems removed

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and sugar a 10 inch bundt or tube pan. For an extra special treat, use rose vanilla sugar for the pan. In a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks one at a time. On low speed, add cake flour alternately with milk. Beat in baking powder and vanilla. Beat in rose geranium leaves. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees, until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out on to a platter and cool completely.
Copyright 2000- 2011 by Invisible Loom and Craft, Renee Van Hoy. All Rights Reserved.

Vacation

We are back from a very nice vacation. The photo shows my yarn "souvenir". I splurged on one giant hank of hand dyed fingerling wool - 1700 yards from "The Drop Spindle". The colors are a very deep magenta and purple. Now, what to make with it? I'm thinking it may be time for a cardigan pattern. After the shawl project is finished.
I have to admit, I did not work much on the shawls while we were gone, but with school starting next week, I will have time to fill, and it will be back to work. 4 patterns are in draft form, two are photographed. Maybe October for the e-book?
A little late, but a few August loom doings: the Ravelry loom-a-long group is making Helen (myheartexposed) Jacobs-Grant's beautiful "Wavy Feather's Shawl" this month. Here is a photo of my version: I made two of these lovely shawls last year, one in worsted weight wool, and one in mohair. Both have been a delight to wear. The Loom Class Group at yahoogroups is making a number of kitchen patterns all month, great for a start on holiday gifts.
Happy looming!
Copyright 2011 by Invisible Loom and Craft, all rights reserved.

On and Off the Loom

The Hydrangea Petal lace shawl is off the loom, blocked, and if I say so myself, gorgeous! Lace can and will be made on a knitting loom. I've ordered the lace, fingering and sock yarns to prove it! The first photo is a close-up of the blocked lace. The second of the finished shawl. It blocked out to a very large size - 70 inches by 35 inches, which is pretty amazing when you consider it was made in one piece on a 59 peg knitting loom.

On the loom, another of the "shawl project" pieces. This is a shawl inspired by one my friend Karen asked me to design. She wanted a simple curved shawl with a ruffle, that would wrap around her. For the "shawl project" I'm working on a version with a lace panel of diamonds. The loom is the 59 peg 1/2 inch adult hat loom from CinDwood, and the yarn is a fingering weight from The Great Adirondack Yarn Co. in the colorway "machalite", lots of teals, greens, and purple.
Other projects for August will be a pair of fingerless mitts for the Ravelry "Jane Eyre Fans" knit along, "Wandering the Moors", and, of course, another lace shawl. What's on your loom?Copyright 2011 by Invisible Loom and Craft, all rights reserved.