Baking and baggy jumpers...

I've been out and about this morning and treated myself to a book about Shackleton. For years this particular expedition seems to have intrigued me in a way that others haven't. I think it might be Ernest himself that holds the key to that, I mean, who can resist a man in a chunky woollen jumper? Clearly not me. Seriously though, I love tales of exploration and adventure. I'm drawn to tales of factual or fictional journeys. I'm not sure why.

It hasn't exactly been Antarctic weather here but the temperature is up and down like a yo yo. Yesterday I was out with the dogs in just a thin jumper and body warmer, albeit trying to stand up against very strong wind. Today I've been wrapped up in every woolly crochet thing I own.

I get quite twitchy when I haven't got a crochet project by my side. I have to be in a certain frame of mind for certain projects, hence E's blanket is a little further away than my side. I do feel guilty if I have too many wips though and now that they are all in one place I can literally 'whip' them out and see if anything takes my fancy.

So, this oversized 'Rebekka' jumper from a back copy of Inside Crochet re-surfaced. I'm pretty sure it got shelved because I wasn't convinced that it would make a wearable garment and also because I thought I'd run out of yarn. It's made entirely in trebles which makes for a pretty speedy project. I had the entire back panel done in no time. As it turned out I had enough to complete the jumper but didn't like the length (a bit boxy). It's a Stylecraft chunky yarn and the colours available locally haven't changed in years so I managed to get two more balls of charcoal and I've just finished adding to the body and sleeve length. It's definitely wearable, I'm wearing it now and it's extremely warm.

In amongst all this crocheting I baked some ginger biscuits. If I suddenly sound like some kind of domestic goddess, you should have seen the two batches I burnt over the weekend! The recipe was written out at least twenty odd years ago when my brother and I spent a year or two renting a house together and I suddenly came over all motherly and started baking. If memory serves me right this didn't last long and we very soon resorted to eating takeaways and finding excuses to visit 'home' to be sure of a healthy meal! The ginger snap recipe has however, survived, and is usually quite foolproof. I blame the new oven.