HRYC

 A few weeks ago I decided to make a cake. A spiced apple cake. One that I used to bake for office morning teas, with a layer of oats and apple that perched atop a spiced apple cake. I went ahead and made the recipe below. Turns out it wasn't the recipe I thought it was, but it tasted pretty damn great. As promised to a few people, here is the recipe. (no photo, as we ate it too quickly)

Jane's Apple Cake

1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 medium-sized apples
100g butter, melted
1 cup flour
1 tsp each cinnamon and mixed spice
pinch ground cloves (optional - I didn't have any so didn't use it)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (again, I went without)

Grease your baking tin and turn the oven to 180 degrees celsius. 

Measure the sugar and egg into a large mixing bowl. Melt the butter. Peel and grate the apples, then quickly add them to the egg and sugar mixture. Throw in the metled butter. Sieve in the dry ingredients. Stir until mixed, then pour into greased baking tin. If you are adding nuts, sprinkle these on top.

Bake for about 45 - 60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to sit for 5 - 10 minutes before turning out. Serve with cream or yoghurt or nothing at all.

I may not have taken a photo of the cake, but on the same day two of our Saturday Sit & Knit regulars came in wearing the same hat. In different yarns, though! They looked so fantastic I had to take a photo.

Maureen, on the left, wears her Houzuki hat in Green Grey Malabrigo Silky Merino. Lisa made her version from Carmine Vintage DK. Looking good!

We love seeing your finished objects - so please do bring them in to show off!

xx Tash

Hip hip hooray it is finally here! After much putting-offness, we were at last able to do a giant Cascade order to replenish our non-existent stock. 

And thanks to a really great exchange rate, we've been able to drop the price of both Cascade 220 and Eco. Hooray! Most of the 220 is up online, and we've just put the Eco up there too (don't mind the dodgy images, once the light is better we'll take photos and put nice ones up). As always, the colours are simply glowing on the shelf, filling the shop with even more yarn joy. 

It's hard to describe the feeling of opening a great big box of yarn. Every time we receive an order there's this heart-bursting moment of cutting through the tape and seeing what's inside. So many colours all sitting together, just desperate to see the light of day and be made into something amazing. I will the skeins to plump up and spread out after being squished closely with their neighbours. Unexpected shades sit next to each other and suggest surprising combinations and bring daydreams of stripes. All the while, I sternly tell myself not to hide any for my own use. Tempting as it is, all this glorious yarn is for you. 

xx Tash

First up, we want to say a huge congratulations to Caren Wilton for winning the Twice As Nice pass! Hip hip hooray! Also to Janine Boon and Sarah Gray who won spot prizes. Thanks for all your lovely comments - it's so interesting to hear everyone's other craft experiences.

If you missed out - don't fret! We have a second pass to give away next week.

Now, with only 3 short weeks until Handmade, we're pondering the non-yarn class options. 

Recently i've been craving sandwiches. A good, hearty sandwich is always a winner in my book. That and soup. You can squish so many flavour combinations into a simple parcel and just have a great big mouth-party as a result. Ruth Pretty is presenting a Taste Masterclass titled 'The Countess of Sandwich' which sounds pretty intriguing to me. 

Besides the fact it has a fantastic workshop title, Obi One Kimono is top of my stitching list. I love kimono silk fabrics but it can be tricky to figure out the best way to up-cycle them in a way that does justice to the history, provenance and beauty of the fabric. With Sarah Wirth guiding you along, you'll learn how to cut and seam a skirt or other item you fancy. 

(by the way, the more I look at the programme, the more I want to run away and take all the classes. This is such a fantastic line-up!)

Big, chunky, handmade rugs are everywhere. And if you haven't seen them yet, you will soon, I guarantee it. Using recycled materials such as threadbare sheets or t-shirts that haven't been worn for years, they often speak of handicrafts from a couple decades ago. I remember our neighbour having a fantastic one on her lounge floor when I was 8, and wishing I had they skills to make one.

With the Braided Rugs class Jane Wrigglesworth will teach you how to make your very own. The best part: no sewing. I LOVE projects that require no tools except for the materials! You may just see me sneak into this one.

I could go on and on...this was only intended to be one post, but I'm going to extend it into a second. 

In other Handmade 2013 news, i've decided to take on another of those not-so-smart deadlines as i'm prone to do. I'd quite like to have a second Rocky Coast cardigan knit up, as well as my White Pine cardi. White Pine has been in my queue for aaaaages and at long last the yarn has arrived for it. Crazy? Yes? Probably. There's only 20 knitting days until Handmade.

Are you planning to wear something special you made to Handmade? You should! Drooling over each other's finished objects is what we do best. Just don't follow my lead and create silly. ridiculous deadlines for yourselves...

 To celebrate Wonders of Wool this weekend, we're doing our only-ever-once-a-year promo: One day, one dollar off!

And if you can't make it to the market or the shop on Saturday 4 May, you can get $1 off every skein of Knitsch Sock if you add the code 'oneday' at the checkout page of your online order. 

Please note this offer excludes Knitsch seconds and only applies to yarn.

As Handmade approaches with great rapidity, i'm thinking more and more about the multi-craft nature of the event. Handmade is wonderful in that it presents a whole range of crafts - from knitting to sewing, cooking to zine-making. 

For knitters, I think the best part of the weekend is that you can try out things you've always wanted to have a go at, but needed the gentle push in order to get started. You might fall in love with an entirely new making process, or decide that spinning isn't really your thing. Until you try, you won't really know.

One of my biggest problems is that I want to DO ALL THE THINGS. I want to make, make, make. And play with beautiful colours and fibres and fabrics and immerse myself in the pleasure of creating. Events such as Handmade fill me with so much joy and an overwhelming sense of just how much I love craft. 

Holland Road Yarn Co may well be a yarn shop, but that doesn't mean we're all just knitters. Sewing was my first love, until I discovered that knitting added a new level of portability. I adored weaving on the rare occasion we were able to do it at school, and have seen some incredible examples of fabric woven from the yarns we sell. Now I can also officially say I'm a spinner (more on that in another post). I've also been known to dabble in cross stitch, I can crochet, i've made use of tiger tail and beads to make jewellery, and pretty much anything that involves turning a material of some sort into something new gets me all in a fluster of excitement.

Add in there baking and dyeing yarn and it's a pretty much complete list of my loves. 

'So tell us about the giveaway!' you say...

How to enter:

Entry closes 5pm Wednesday 8 May
Prize drawn 5.05pm Wednesday 8 May