Well technically it’s not exactly the same recipe as in the book. It was actually for a ‘Classic Victoria sponge with all the trimmings’ but I had a craving for chocolate cake instead. I used the same sponge ingredients except I added cocoa for the chocolatey goodness and the filling is 40g butter, 40g icing sugar and 1 tsp cocoa. Yum.

My last attempt to make a chocolate cake was a complete disaster. If the sponge wasn’t so heavy it would of made a great frisbee put it that way! I’m really pleased with how this one turned out though.

The ‘Cook with Jamie’ book is split in to chapters i.e. salads, pasta, meat, vegetables, desserts etc and each chapter has a useful few pages about each subject.

The dessert section was particularly helpful as it explained the methods available for making a sponge or cake, whisking, creaming, melting etc and gave top tips for making cakes. I could see straight away where I had gone wrong before so, without getting too confident, I was hopeful that it would work out well this time.

There is still room for improvement. I could see that when I was blending the butter/sugar mix with the eggs that it was beginning to curdle. I don’t know how or if this affects the end result but I do know from the book that it was happening because I was blending them to rigourously. Jamie says they need ‘gentle persuasion’ to blend together.

Also, I have always used our electric mixer to combine the ingredients and I think I made the mistake of mixing the flour in too long last time. It just knocked all of the air bubbles out of it. I mixed the flour in a lot less this time and they rose more in the oven, however there was a fair amount of unmixed ingredient in the bowl when I was transferring it to the cake tins. I think this is more a fault of our electric blender than anything so maybe mixing by hand will have even better results.

I started by looking online for some interesting recipes and found some good websites, for example www.goodfoodchannel.co.uk but the choices were a bit overwhelming for a complete beginner. Where to start?

Instead I decided to check out the cookery section in the local library. They have a good selection of cooking books here in Aberdeen so this is what I have decided to do….

Each month I will loan one cook book from the library and make a selection of recipes from it. I didn’t want to set myself a big challenge like Julia in ‘Julie & Julia’ the movie and attempt to make every recipe in each book. As much fun as that would be I don’t have enough time and would only be disappointed when I didn’t succeed. Instead I am going to pick a selection of recipes that I think we will like and give them a go.

Wish me luck!

I’m not sure what happened with the scarf. I love the yarn and I love the pattern but I put it down and didn’t have any urge to pick it up again. Strange. So I have decided to frog it and find another project that will inspire me to do something with the yarn.

I do however still love the crochet bag but I haven’t made any progress on this either as it was packed for the move and I have only just managed to unpack the box it was in.

Instead I have started a new large project. I’ve only ever worked on small projects before and I don’t seem to have much luck getting started with bigger projects i.e. jumpers and cardigans etc normally. I find that I don’t have the right needle size or because I don’t have the same yarn that is used in the pattern I can’t get the gauge to work out with my substitute yarn. I have put this down to my knitting inexperience as i’m sure there are solutions to the hiccups i’ve been having.

Despite this, I tried again with a cardigan pattern I liked on Ravelry called Springtime in Paris. I’m knitting it with Denim with Wool (James C. Brett). It took a bit of swatching the get the gauge right’ish and so far it’s looking good.

I’ve finished the first sleeve and I blocked it on my new blocking station (ironing board) last night.

Now i’m working on the body of the cardigan which is constructed in brioche stitch. It’s a nice easy stitch which means I don’t have to concentrate too hard whilst knitting and watching TV with Mr Stitchitch.

River in Banchory Video

Yay, we are finally fully unpacked and settled in our new home following our move back to the UK. It has taken a while to get sorted but we now have an internet connection and I have a fancy new desk for my computer and crafty goodness!

Progress on my craft projects has been slow as you can imagine but I do have some news to report.

I have a new sewing machine. Well it’s not just new but it’s also my first ever sewing machine (thanks mum!). I’m very excited. So far I have made 2 projects and i’ll show you some pictures very soon.

I have finished not one but two doilies from my new japanese doily book and I love them. I also have a third in progress at the moment. Again pictures to follow very soon just as soon as I take them.

I brought a new crochet book called ‘Contemporary Crochet‘. It has some very nice patterns in it and I have made a start on one of them, updates to follow.

Back soon. x

I’ve wanted to make a lace scarf for a while now. Whilst in the US I brought some lovely sock yarn by Lorna’s Laces. I did intend to use it for socks but it seemed a shame to use such a nice yarn to make something people won’t see very often. Instead I went online to Ravelry in search of an alternative project and came across this pretty pattern called Fern Lace Scarf.

I have only completed one repeat of the pattern so far so it’s difficult to see the detail from this picture but when I stretch it out by hand it looks like it is going to be really nice. I am really pleased with how well the colours are knitting up too.

I have also started making a crochet bag from a japanese crochet book I brought in New York. More pictures and details soon.

Sorry the pictures aren’t very good. I took them too late at night really and there wasn’t any natural light left. I will take some better pictures of my progress soon.

As a trial run I made the smallest size out of some cotton stash, it’s so cute.

I managed to complete it pretty much error free, thanks mainly to the clear pattern instructions.

I’m really pleased with how the seam turned out. Futuregirl has also written a seamless crochet tutorial which she updated recently and it’s the best I have found so far.

Once I get back to the UK I will buy some nicer cotton and made myself a bigger one. I’d also like to embellish it will stitching somehow…..

I brought myself a really good book called ‘Chains by Becky’. It is packed with lots of interesting chain patterns and clear instructions. I brought myself some coloured jump rings to start with and made myself the following byzantine bracelet. I only had a cheap lobster clasp at the time and it doesn’t really do the bracelet justice so I will change this for a better one at a later date.

After 2 or 3 repeats of the pattern I was hooked and headed online to order myself some silver jump rings to make another one. I also brought myself pretty silver clasp to go with it.

I hope to make some more silver chain jewellery in the future but I will have to save up first. Sterling silver is definitely the best choice compared to plated silver but it can get quite expensive.

I hope to find a spare minute to post about my last painting lesson in Baku and show you some pictures of my first chain maille bracelet. I’m addicted to jump rings!

:O)

We started out using a thin brush and ochre coloured acrylic paint to draw an outline of our work onto the canvas. I still wasn’t 100% sure how I wanted it to look when I started but I knew I wanted it to include foxgloves. You can just about see the outline of the foxgloves in the picture above. We then applied a wash of background colours.

Once that was dry we added background colour to the foxgloves themselves in various shades of light and dark to add depth to the work. Before we knew it two hours had passed and we were ready to finish for the day.

In Lesson 3 I added further details to the foxgloves but unfortunately I forgot my camera so I don’t have any pictures to show you.

Next week we are leaving these paintings for a while and will have a go at painting still life! Ek! :O)

It’s been such a long time since I painted anything and I had forgotten how much fun it is!

It turns out that there are a few other ladies interested in improving their brush strokes as well and so we started lessons.

Our teacher is a very lovely Russian artist called Lena. She has been painting for many years. Her husband, who passed away about 5 years ago, was also a brilliant painter and they shared the studio we are working in within the famous ‘house of painters’ area in Baku. Their son is also a painter, however he is currently serving his military service in the army.

Our first lesson was an introduction to Lena and her work. She showed as many of her paintings all using acrylic and other additions such as fabric and gold foil to add texture and interest to the work.

Lena then introduced us to our canvases…..

They are huge! It was a little bit daunting at first but after a while I really liked the idea of having so much space to work on. Lena explained that she wanted us to have freedom to paint whatever was inside of us. :O)

Next, we added plaster of paris to the blank canvas. This was to add texture to the surface so that the work has depth when we eventually paint over it.

Lastly, Lena showed us how she adds gold foil to her art work. I really loved the results we got on these scrap canvases. I would love to use this technique on my work.

More pictures from lesson 2 soon….

We had a very comprehensive tour of the different art studios including clay, oil painting, carpet weaving and the student exhibitions that will be opening very soon.

Each piece starts out as a pencil drawing and is then turned into a painting or clay model.

It was really interesting to see how each student painted the same subject.

Each room was full of colour! I really like this picture of a students easel and work space.

This room was full of students and their looms working on their graduate submissions.

The finished works of previous graduates are displayed throughout the halls of the academy.

I have just started painting lessons myself. I had my introductory lesson this week and next week we start painting! I’m really looking forward to it.

We managed to track down the offending vehicle and waited outside for the owner to return. Thankfully he was very nice and happy to pay for the damage. Below you can see the damage to his car.

Things work a little bit differently here when it comes to car repairs. In the UK it would be normal to replace the bumper and this would normally cost quite a lot. In Azerbaijan, they don’t replace bumpers and panels but instead bang the damage out and re-spray it. I was a bit dubious I have to say but it’s all fixed now and i’m amazed and really pleased with the result. It’s looks like a brand new bumper and the colour match is perfect! We are just waiting for the new light fitting to arrive as it has to be imported and then we will be back to normal.

I really love this pattern, if you haven’t seen it before you should take a look at the pattern on Ravelry. Also see the completed projects, i’m sure you will be inspired to start your own.

Pioneer Sweater

I love the colours in this wool, they match my needles prefectly! It’s called King Cole Mirage (shade 870). You can see it here in my stash on Ravelry. When I saw it in the shop and I had no idea what I would make with it but I had to buy it anyway. I decided to make this V-neck sweater, it is published on Knitty but I actually came across it on Ravelry.

Sirdar Firefly Sweater

The pattern and yarn for this project was brought for me by my nan and as the weather is warming up here in Baku I thought I would cast on.

We got many curious looks from the local community. The majority of people thought we were media, I guess they don’t see many people taking pictures just because they like taking them.

Spring is definitely on the way!

The fruit and vegetable stands are already starting to sell some of my favourite spring/summer fruits. I brought a pineapple the other day that was so juicy and delicious I ate the whole thing to myself!

I want to come back here at night and take a picture of this fountain when it is aglow with colourful lights.

The remains of years past.

Sheep grazing in the local park. I tried to forget that they will soon be sold for slaughter.

I really like the city mosques, the stone work is so ornate and make a great picture against the backdrop of modern skyscrapers.

And lastly, my day of picture taking wouldn’t be complete without a photo of one of the many neighbourhood cats!

Since blocking it I have noticed a few mistakes but they are not too obvious so it’s OK. It is also bit ripply in places which seems to be a common comment for this pattern on Ravelry but again “pah!”.

Overall, i’m really pleased with how it’s turned out. The pattern is just sooo pretty.

I have enough of this yarn left to make another one too!

I was determined to finish it and not let it get added to my pile of unfinished projects so with a massive drive during the first race of the Formula 1 season this weekend I managed to complete it.

Here it is pre wash…

Then pinned out on the bed to block…

More pictures once it has finished drying!