Granny ripple Ta daaah!

Some early followers of my blog, and I mean REALLY early followers, may remember me talking about  starting this blanket ages and ages and ages ago. It's so long ago that I cannot find the original post. I've been making it on and off for well over a year. And the good news is: It's done! Finished! 

This is a really easy pattern and goes very quickly (believe it or not). The reason I took so long was that I've been sidetracked by lots of other little projects, but if I'd worked solely on the blanket it would have probably taken me three months at most. Anyway, it's now finished and has gone to its new owner. I made it with Schachenmayr nomotta Bravo yarn, it's 100% acrylic but very soft and not at all scratchy. 

Here's the pattern if you want to try it http://thelazyhobbyhopper.blogspot.fr/2011/08/how-to-crochet-granny-ripple.html.

I took the photo on the stairs because it was the easiest way to see the whole blanket but the blanket is single bed size. And please ignore that loose thread. I did weave it shortly after taking the pic.

Here's Zippy!

Isn't he fun?  Zippy has been on the go for quite a while and at last I got around to finishing him! No pattern yet but I might be able to remember how I made him. He wasn't too complicated. And he's so, so cuddly.

My flapjacks recipe

For me, flapjacks are such an English treat. I have images of Quaker oats, golden syrup and good English butter. And tea, of course. You can't eat them without a steaming cup of tea. 

Luckily, and despite living in France, I always keep a can of Lyles Golden Syrup in my supply cupboard. The organic oats I buy for porridge are probably better than Quaker, and French butter is almost as good as its English counterpart. The resulting flapjacks are crispy, sweet and buttery. They're best if your let them go completely cold before eating them, though more than half of the ones I made were consumed while still warm. They aren't for dieters but they are sooooo delicious. And so even easy a (supervised) child could make them. 

Here's the recipe. Simple and quick.

Ingredients

125g salted butter

125g soft brown sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup

350g rolled oats

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and add the sugar and golden syrup. Heat until it just starts to boil, then add it to a mixing bowl where you'll have placed the rolled oats.

Using a wooden spoon, mix well until all the oats are covered with the syrupy mixture. 

Press into a shallow baking tray and bake at 200 degrees C for 15 minutes or until golden.

While it's still warm, mark into squares with a wooden or heat-proof spatula. Leave to cool completely before eating (if you can wait that long!)

Recommneded: Drink with tea poured from a real a teapot.

Fun with photos

While I was planning to buy a new camera, one of the options that existed on the more expensive cameras I looked at (but didn't buy) was a gadget that meant you could obtain a black and white photo with just a bit of colour. For example, one red strawberry....

or why not one pink bunny...

Well as you can see, I didn't need the more expensive camera. I found PicMonkey!

Abby on While She Naps has a great tutorial on how to achieve these fun effects. Enjoy!