JANUARY 2015

I've made a positive start to the new year.

Some new socks, hot off my needles

made with some yarn that I bought while on holiday back in the summer in Salzburg.

And a first for me in 2015 - a "selfie" of my modelling feet, which actually became a feat in itself.

It led to plenty of new year exercising, my nose virtually grazing on the carpet

as I struggled to get both feet in the picture and then when I had to come up for air I realised that I needed to plunge straight down again to take another as by keeping my legs and feet tightly together I looked more like a modelling penguin.

(photo deleted!)

 I've finally opened my bag of yarn goodies from Wool Warehouse and have made a start on a tiny baby hat.

Kate has decided not to know the sex of her baby but she is not a pink girl anyway and sways more towards greys and blues so I've gone with these colours to start with.

The Drops Alpaca Silk is for a crocheted blanket which I really loved as soon as I saw it on a blog that I follow - Heldasland

 Before I go I thought I'd leave you the recipe  that I found for these Cheese & Rosemary Sables that I made for christmas, they were so easy to make and really tasty.

Ingredients

175g plain flour + some for dusting

Half a level teaspoon of salt

Half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper

Half a teaspoon of english mustard powder

150g of unsalted butter chilled and cut into small pieces

75g of finely grated mature cheddar

75g of finely grated parmesan cheese

1 beaten egg

75g of finely chopped walnut pieces

1 tbsp of finely chopped rosemary and some sea salt 

Method

Rub the butter into the flour, salt, cayenne pepper and mustard.

Add the cheeses and 1 teaspoon of cold water and bring together (like you would pastry)

until you have a dough ball.

Divide in half and roll out each on a floured work surface so you end up with 2  3 cms long logs 

Wrap individually in baking paper and then cling film for 3-4 hrs and pop in the fridge
 (I left mine overnight and they were fine)

Preheat the oven to 180c fan or Gas 4

Brush the logs with the beaten egg and roll in the walnuts.

Cut the logs in 4-5cms slices, place on some baking paper on a baking tray 3cms apart

Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle some with the rosemary and some with the sea salt flakes.

Cook for 11-12 mins.

Once cooked store in an air tight container.

I doubled this recipe and they kept really well. They went down well with pre dinner drinks and I will definitely be making them again.

Why don't you give them a try!