I've wanted to get my hands on sour cherries for a long time but have never seen them for sale. I found out by chance last year that a work colleague had a tree and they said they'd let me have some this year. Now I've wanted these because I swear I've seen recipe after recipe that calls for them over and above the jam I particularly wanted to make. On Monday when I was given just over a kilo of them it was already hot enough to take jam off any sort of agenda. Nor could I find a single other recipe that was any kind of use.
For now I've shoved them in a jar with vodka and a bit of sugar (unpitted) to hopefully use when it cools down. I've been promised some more so maybe jam will happen too.
Meanwhile I finished a Kep. I started this back in late may but wasn't totally happy with how it was going so lost interest a bit. I managed to finish it before the heat got out of hand though, and now it's done it looks better than I thought it would.
Every bit of fair isle I attempt is a learning curve, this one was a lesson to plan better - I'm happy with the red theme, but it's bitty - some contrast has worked better than others, and so have some of the motifs. I was using up left over bits of yarns so there and I think a few shades less would have been better as well as more rigid repetition of colours. Next time I'll know.
It's also been a really good lesson in how the different shades work together. There's a scarlet and an orange in there which I was really doubtful about, but the red especially looks brilliant against other red shades - glowing rather than garish. It's definitely encouragement to step out of my colour comfort zone and experiment with more swatches.
Hot weather for knitting but those colours are fabulous
ReplyDeleteThat was a good idea to 'pickle' the cherries, I expect that the resulting liqueur will taste rather good too.
ReplyDeleteMy eyesight is such, now, that I struggle to differentiate between colours on the same part of the spectrum so your kep looks fine to me - whereas patchwork quilts look like a blur of mixed colours.
We have two prolific cherry trees but the birds never leave us enough to make jam with - especially the magpies. Your Keep is lovely. You seem, to my eye, blended the reds beautifully. I'm sock knitting at the moment, my sister would like a pair, but it's too hot to keep at it for long.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Elizabeth Zimmermann believe in knitting hats in the off-season, so to speak? Those colors are absolutely stunning. I had to click on the picture to get a good look. I love fair isle to look at, but my skills (and willingness to weave in ends) are still at a rather... undeveloped.
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