New Dress?

With the next event only 3 days away everything's a bit hectic in trying to make sure all my ducks are in a row. And yet I'm still trying to get the red dress that should have been done ages ago done for the weekend.

*sigh* I don't think I'll ever learn about last minute sewing.

Rest assured though, I am being supervised, and anything Suzie-supervised is bound to turn out well*. 










*Where "well" may mean covered in cat hair.

Layered Mint Cheesecake

Recently I shared a picture on my facebook page that seemed very popular indeed. Certainly the physical cake didn't last long at all.

Now, I shall preface this recipe by stating that it is not mine. It was generously shared some time ago on another social media long since abandoned, so I can't find the user name of the original poster. That said, should the owner find this recipe and decide they'd prefer it not to be posted, please contact me and I shall dutifully remove it. And on to the recipe:

Ingredients:
Base
287g chocolate cookies, crushed
57g butter

Cheesecake
3 x 227g packs of cream or soft cheese (this time out I used the lactose free philadelphia, which seemed to work quiet well)
172g caster sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
100g semi-sweet chocolate, melted (I prefer to use 70% cocoa chocolate)
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
Green food colouring

Method
1) Preheat the oven to 180oC and grease a 9" loose bottom cake tin.
2) Melt the butter and mix in the crushed biscuits. Press the mixture firmly into the tin and put into the freezer.
3) In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar together well. Add the eggs, one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat well.
4) Take out a third of the mixture and mix mint extract and green food colouring into this portion.
5) In the remaining two thirds, add in the melted chocolate and stir well.
6) Spread a little less than half of the chocolate half of the mix over the cheesecake base and allow to chill for 10 minutes.
Note: This chilling is the magic step, this is what allows the layers to be poured separately to give that wonderful look when cut.
7) Add the mint layer, making sure to spread it gently so it covers the bottom chocolate later without disturbing it. Chill and add the final chocolate later in the same manner.
8) Cook the cheesecake for 44-55 minutes depending on your oven, but you may want to check it after 40. When cooked the cheesecake, insert a knife into the cake; if cooked, the knife will come out clean. Make sure to allow the cheesecake to cool somewhere warm (on top of the oven would be ideal) as if it cools too quickly, it may crack. This doesn't harm the cheesecake or the flavour, just takes away from the aesthetics.
9) Last, but most important, enjoy!

You can see from the recipe above, it would be very easy to substitute other flavours into this cake to make a variety of cakes.. must get around to trying a chocolate orange flavour one of these days...

First Yarns

What better way to spend a sunny bank holiday Monday, directly after an event which while not going to plan, was no less wonderful a weekend, in getting to know the new spinning wheel.

Two and a half years since my last attempt meant I had to turn to YouTube to find directions on how to get started, and even then there were many, many false starts before I managed to get everything working together. Funnily enough, it was when I kicked off my shoes so I could feel the treadle through nothing but my stockinged feet, just like last time, that it all worked smoothly. I'm hoping the same will hold true for my slippers when I'm in garb using the wheel. Oh well, if not it'll be an excuse to have some exceptionally pretty socks made up to show off.

I've started spinning using Ashford Merino Silk, which is 80% New Zealand Merino and 20% silk. I stopped here so I could divide the fibre, and make sure I only used half on this bobbin so I could ply it properly later. The yarn is coming out quite fine at the moment, though with the odd slub here and there, that it's enough to keep me hoping that it'll come out, when plied, as a nice fingering weight yarn, so I can knit up something pretty to show off.

Silver Linings

Let me tell you a tale of woe... of sorts.

At the start of this year, what seemed like a minor laptop repair turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg; my laptop died and had to be replaced. While I had the rainy-day funds to cover the replacement, this same fund was my travelling fund, so various events, such as going to the Crown Tournament in April in Depedene under Wychwood had to be cancelled.

I was rather miffed about this.

Time passed. I started thinking a lot about the money I was putting aside for a spinning wheel since I got bitten by the bug almost two and half years ago, and thinking dammit, maybe it's about time I got it. Only to have the exchange rates change significantly and with the goalposts moved, resign myself to saving a bit more birthday money.

Cue more dramatic sighing.

Now this was where a very dear friend of mine stepped in. This lady is lovely, clever, and utterly ebil. Once she knows what you like, she takes great pleasure in tormenting you with links to things you can't possibly afford (I've lost count of the number of castles for sale I've viewed now thanks to her). But for all that, her unparalleled skills on escudo-bay, or e-bay to the layperson, more than make up for the ebil.

I mentioned this exchange rate frustration to her, and she took to escudo-bay on a mission. A few styles were considered and rejected until she came across one perfect example. With accessories. 

 Barely used and all for half the price of a new wheel. Collection only, but on the way to Crown tournament, which she and her husband were still going to. Now, if I'd still been going to the event, the wheel would not have fit in the car with them on the way back. Not that I'm really one to believe in destiny, but it's hard not to think that this spinning wheel wasn't meant for me. And Suzie, having personally inspected the wheel, is inclined to agree.

A&S Champion of Lough Devnaree

Continuing with posts of activities from last year, and one which really shouldn't wait much longer, is that of the A&S competition from the Champions of Lough Devnaree event. 

This was my first proper A&S competition entry at this event (a previous last minute entry of a re-created necklace with portrait inspiration does not proper documentation make), and the theme chosen by the previous winner, Lady Agnes des Illes, was "Paradise".

Initially, I wasn't quite sure where to start with this one, but I browsed Wikipedia a bit and eventually came across a reference to the land of Cockaigne, or Cloud Cuckoo Land as it is known in modern terms. Using this page and reference as my springboard, I found repeated reference to small honey cakes sold at fairs being the origin of the phrase. An A&S entry about research and baking? Sounds ideal for me!

I chose to make three types of cakes from period recipes; gingerbread from a 15th century recipe, a simple Lebkuchen recipe, not having the moulds for anything but a simple recipe, and a perhaps slightly less period Elizabethan almond cake recipe, because I just adore almonds.

Cakes made, I delivered them up for the competition and waited anxiously for the judges to judge, trying not to watch them all the while. I'm not sure I'm really able for the waiting. It's the anxiety that keeps me from entering in more competitions I'm sure.

Results weren't announced until feast was over, and it was difficult to eat on top of that many butterflies. My thanks to Lady Sela for enduring my steel grip as I waited for the winner to be announced.... and I won! I was so utterly delighted!

I asked Lady Agnes to go through the comments on my scoring afterwards, and I can see where I failed to take into consideration the strength of modern spices compared to what would have been used in period (except for the gingerbread. I think that may have been a personal taste thing, as it was perfect for me). And my referencing is a bit rusty. But both very workable-on things. 

Next year's CoLD is due to be held in early September, and I get to keep the staff of office and the title of A&S Champion of Lough Devnaree until then. I've restrained myself from carrying around the staff too much though, given how I almost knocked someone over in the first half hour of holding it... *ahem*

Drachenwald A&S Exchange - Received

I've now obtained permission, and have updated my previous post with the name of the recipient of my A&S gift. And having made my gift for the exchange, you may wonder what it is that I received.

My gift was made by Lady Ameline de Leeuwe; two beautiful hand dyed skeins of merino fibre for spinning. Yes, I've taken two pictures here, the one on the left with flash, but it's necessary to show off the wealth of colours in the fleece. The linen bag to hold the fleece and my spindle, is embroidered with yarn that was itself spun and hand dyed! The stitches are so soft and even it's almost impossible to stop stroking them.

Thanks to an outbreak of Real Life, it actually took me a week after I'd received my gift to take pictures to share on the Drachenwald A&S exchange group, but I actually started spinning with it right away. It's coming together so lovely and fine, I don't think I've been able to spin this evenly before. Just goes to show the quality of the product ;)

Drachenwald A&S Exchange

So, when I went to the leather working workshop, what was it I did on the Sunday? 

Well, last year I took part in the Drachenwald A&S exchange for the first time.The format is simple; you get a form to complete with details such as your society name and device (if any), period of interest, favourite colours, etc, all details to help your recipient decide what to craft for you. My recipient, Lady Mylla O'Reilly, a 16th century bourgeois Flemish woman, had an interest in sewing and a preference for an autumnal palate, so I decided to make up a sewing kit for her with items that could conceivably been made of a middle class woman's sewing box. I based my items on findings from the Thames River, reasoning that there would have been reasonably regular trade between England and the Netherlands, and it was likely they'd be using the same tools, without too much in the way of regional variations. 

 
To start I carved a simple apple wood awl, and made up some felt which would form the leaves for the planned pinbook, and as a place to keep all the hooks and eyes together.  


 
I've found that hooks and eyes abounded in the 16th century. From woodcuts which clearly show the presence of hook and eye closures, to the rusted findings from sunken ships, these seem to have been a common closure option. I made up these using 0.8mm brass wire, which were hammered to work hardened the wire. The hooks were hammered flat and folded into shape after. The pins I made were also made with brass wire, but this time using a slightly heavier gauge, 1mm thick. The coils I made separate to the pin shaft, and hammered them flat onto the pin when I was hardening the wire. The points were sharpened on a file, and the pin was sanded lightly with fine sandpaper. I had meant to try the period method of using ground pumice to sand the pins, but my tub of pumice chose just the right moment to go missing...

The pins were displayed in a pinbook with four leaves cut from felt, and an outer of leather which was painted with the recipients (newly approved) heraldry, and sealed with a beeswax-olive oil finish.

I made up a bakers dozen of embroidered buttons, using brown cotton embroidery thread over wooden beads, using a variation of a detached buttonhole stitch over eight spokes on the buttons.




 

But the pride of the work box was the leather components, as well as the pinbook, there was a simple (purchased) snips and snips case, and a pouch for a piece of beeswax, all stamped with the same simple pattern. And I also crafted a leather needle case. 

The case was formed by stitching wet leather around a piece of wood, with a rubber mallet being used to help flatten out the seams after sewing. The outer piece was sized and stamped before being sewn into place, which took up most of my Sunday at the workshop, and with the deadline fast approaching, had to be completed that day. When all the leather had finally dried out, for which I allowed about a week, it had shrunk and very much tightened around the wooden form that I'd used. It order to remove this, I screwed a screw into the wood, and using pliers and brute force, managed to pull the wood out. Now, annoyingly, this left the inner leather case a little loose, however when I put in the fingerloop woven cord for the case, this made the fit nice and snug again. The case and other leather components were then dyed with commercial dyes to give a uniform look and sealed with a likewise commercial dye so I could be sure the dye wouldn't bleed when the leathers were in use.

So with gift completed and put into a purchased woven basket with a piece of white linen to help keep everything secure, I posted it away and waited anxiously to see if it would be on the mark. And I'm very pleased to say it was, and my recipient was quite pleased with it.