Knitting more Falling Leaves

More beautiful fall weather continues here and in keeping with the fall leaves, here is another knitted project with fall leaves.  I found this pattern over at Purl Bee and decided that it would make a nice matching scarf for the foliage hat I talked about in the previous post.  The scarf took three balls (just over 600m) of  worsted weight yarn and took quite a few hours of knitting.  The pattern is quite wide, so I might have been able to save some yarn and some time by decreasing the width a little.  This scarf is on it's way to it's new home now in the US.  I would like to try this again with some more interesting yarn.  I. had not yet blocked the scarf before taking the picture and quite honestly I've never blocked a knitted item before.  I certainly have no recollection of my grandmother ever doing that.....but it think it really helps with the appearance .....so I guess I should figure that procedure out:)  How hard could it be??

Back with a bit of Knitting

I'm back after a dropping off the grid for a breather.  The combination of a nasty cold, a sick kid, a new job, and too many commitments took a bit of a bite out of me.  I am now starting to dig out (if only a bit) from the mountain of things to do.  Aside from the obvious tasks for this time of year like getting Ike's Halloween costume ready, I've also been finishing up some knitting projects for some swaps I had signed up for before everything got too crazy here.  I decided to try a knitted hat swap, and after some searching, I ended up choosing to make a cute lace leaf pattern from Knitty.  I had my neighbour model it for the photo below.  There was one stitch I think might have done wrong.....so I'd like to try this one one more time.  I did really like the pattern and found it pretty easy to follow, and a pretty quick knit.  Much quicker than the next project I chose to make.....more about that later.  This leaf hat project took exactly 1/2 ball of Patons classic wool and was a very quick project that is perfect for a gift.  My neighbour has already hinted that she might like one for Christmas.

A Month of Cookies-Toasted Almond Cookies-13

Here is another slice cookie to try if you like almonds. They have a very strong almond flavour due to the toasting of the nuts.  I really liked these and will have to make them again.  For me this recipe was another winner!  The cookie itself a bit chewy....not at all like a shortbread type cookie.

Toasted Almond Cookies
2 1/2 cups slivered almonds, toasted
1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup cake flour
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 2/3 cup icing sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 large egg, at room temperature

Toast almonds and set aside to cool.  Mix almonds with the two flours in a small bowl and set aside. Cream the butter and icing sugar and salt together until light and fluffy.  Add egg and stir to combine.  Add flour mixture gently with spoon...do not over mix.  Line a loaf pan with a long length of plastic wrap and press dough firmly into the pan.  Press top level and flat and bring sides of plastic wrap over to cover dough into a firm block.  Refrigerate dough for 3 hour.  Remove dough from pan and cut down the middle into two long lengths so you end up with 2 square lengths.  Cut each length into 1/4 inch thick 'square' cookies and set on a parchment lined sheet to bake.  bake at 400F for about 7 minutes or just until edges begin to turn golden.  Leave on baking sheet until cool enough to handle, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely