I want to make myself a cozy sweater. I borrowed one of Rob’s a couple of weekends ago and I want something similar but with a better fit for me through the shoulders. Since I don’t want to wait until I can save up for a big yarn purchase I’m gong to make my sweater out of some of the Cascade 220 in my stash. I’ve got a whole bunch of partial skeins in different colours and I’ve ordered two skeins of grey to tie them together with. Now I just have to decide on my pattern and my colour combination.

For the pattern I’m waffling between two Jane Richmond patterns: her Ladies Classic Raglan Pullover and her new Clarke Pullover. The Cascade should work for either as long as I use the correct gauge. The Basic Raglan has a bit of waist shaping and looks really nice. The version modelled on the pattern has zero ease and I like the look of it. Loose but not sloppy. It would probably fit under my coat. The Clarke pattern is described as a boyfriend sweater. The neckline is a bit wider and there is no waist shaping. It’s designed with four inches of ease for a loose cozy fit. I’d probably still end of wearing it to work but it really says “weekend” to me. I think I might be leaning more towards the Clarke Pullover. It depends a bit on how each pattern will look with my stripes.

I’m planning to work the colours in four big stripes across both the body and the sleeves. When I ordered my grey the colours I’d picked out were red, yellow, dark blue and dark green. I like how they are colourful without being super bright. It turns out they are also the Hudson's Bay Company colours in the wrong order. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I like the HBC colours but wasn’t planning to make an HBC sweater. If I was I’d have ordered cream instead of grey. While I was swatching I noticed I had a gradient of yellow, yellow-green, dark green and really dark green in my knitting bag and I kind of like that colour scheme too. I’m not sure if will look as good with either the grey or me though. I have a feeling there is more swatching in my future.

p.s. After weathering a cold for most of a week I was really craving brownies on Saturday afternoon. When I started looking for a recipe I found this one for chocolate cake in a mug and gave it a try instead. I didn’t have any nutella in the cupboard but I found some chocolate peanut butter and it was great. A dollop of cream on top was a nice addition but not really necessary. I think a mug of this would satisfy any chocolate craving.

This is a lovely recipe that I frequently think of but seldom make. It requires a bit of planning because it starts off the night before with some cold tea. I don't usually remember it until the morning when I am making a fresh pot of tea and think "If only I'd saved the old tea last night…". For once I thought of it in time and instead of pouring a pot of cold tea down the sink I poured some into a measuring cup and mixed it up with sugar and raisins and peel and set it aside for Saturday morning. Maisie got up with me instead of sleeping in a bit and was very curious about the bowl of stuff we'd left out last night. She kept asking to see it. She enjoyed watching me beat and add an egg and then some flour and asked me to turn on the light when I put the loaf pan in the oven. I have to remember to set the oven a little cooler with my loaf pans. They are dark and I find things come out of the oven a little overcooked around the edges. I did my best to wait until the loaf was cool before cutting into it - it just falls to bits if you don't - but got impatient while it was still a bit warm. It's delicious and the citrus peel adds a nice bitter bite. Maisie liked it too but referred to it as "puzzle bread", presumably because she had to pick apart each piece to get out all the fruit.

Barm Brack
from Company's Coming Muffins and More, also appears in Company's Coming Millennium Edition.

In a large bowl combine:

   1 C cold tea
   1 C raisins
   ½ C mixed peel
   ½ C currants
   1 C sugar

Cover and let stand over night. The next morning beat well and add:

   1 egg

along with:

   ¼ C melted butter or margarine

In a small bowl combine:

   2 C flour
   1 tsp. baking powder
   ¼ tsp. baking soda
   ¼ tsp. salt

Add dry ingredients to fruit mixture. Stir until well blended. Spoon into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350F (175C) for 60 - 70 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool. Serve sliced with butter.

This was my breakfast this morning: tea, an apple and a rhubarb muffin.

I made the muffins yesterday so I could take half a dozen over to my mum. I don't know why but I was pretty set on rhubarb. We won't have any from the garden for a while yet but I still have plenty in the freezer from last year and I thought it would make pretty pink muffins. I did some quick internet searching for a nice recipe but they all called for things I didn't have or were a lot fancier than I felt was necessary. I ended up making my usual blueberry muffin recipe with rhubarb instead. They turned out perfectly.

I'm sure I'm not the first to post this but just in case someone else out there is looking for a simple way to use up some rhubarb (fresh or frozen) here is my recipe:

Simple Rhubarb Muffins
(adapted from the blueberry muffin recipe in Company's Coming's "Muffins & More")

1/4      cup    butter or margarine
1/2      cup    sugar
1                   egg
1          tsp    vanilla
1 3/4  cups   flour
3         tsp     baking power
1/2      tsp     salt
3/4      cup    milk
1         cup    chopped rhubarb

Cream butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternating with milk (dry - milk - dry) and mix just until moist. Fold in the rhubarb. Divide batter into 12 greased muffin cups and bake for about 25 minutes at 400℉ (200℃). They are especially good if you sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar before you bake them.