knitting neels

What do you do when you’re waiting for fish to cook? You bake up a pear pie! I have discovered that pears tend to go off all together, and all at once. The good thing about this is that a very ripe pear is unbelievably sweet and perfect for a tart, so you can chop them up and get rid of them all together! For this, I made 10 oz of shortcrust pastry. I lined the tin with two-thirds of the pastry, chopped in the pears, added a few drops of almond essence (err on the side of too little rather than too much), and popped the lid on the tart. 35 mins at 190 degrees and dessert is ready by the time you’ve eaten your dinner. Yum yum!

You might remember that, ages ago, I knitted up a pair of Hedera socks from Knitty. They turned out really well, except I cut the last one a little short. At the time, I figured it wouldn’t really matter. But this morning I decided to just admit that I put off wearing them because the right foot pinches a little. I chopped off the toes, picked up stitches, knitted a few extra repeats on to the foot, reknit the toe shaping, and voila! A wearable sock.

The fix is obvious on the sole, but totally invisible on the other side. After a few wears, the sole will probably be well matted and the fix will disappear.

I swatched for Arisaig (Knitty) as well today. Using Jaeger Merino 4-ply again for this. I didn’t intend on pinning this out so badly, by the way, but I was too tired to re-do it. I really like the lace pattern and it knits up nicely with this yarn.

Here is some proof that my sewing machine is truly vintage… 60s style. This is the stiff plastic cover that shrouds my sewing instrument. Every time I lift it off the table I marvel at the fact that I carried it home on the bus by these very handles.

So, thwarted by my previous attempts at setting a zip in my skirt, I went on a mission today to at least buy a zipper foot for the machine. There is a Singer Sewing Machine at the corner of Talbot and Gardiner Street and the guy there produced a proper zipper foot for me within about 10 seconds. I discovered upon my arrival home that I do not have enough material to rectify the skirt (I cut out two pieces the same by accident) and therefore, have nothing to sew a zip into! Maybe this is for the best because I noticed when I was dusting the machine that the little rubber band thing that goes around, like the fan belt in a car, has nearly worn right through in one place. I’m not surprised because I’ve never replaced it and it’s probably been there since it was bought first.

Tomorrow: Raglan body join sleeves in ecstatic union!