By grannyg, on May 30th, 2010%
Hi everyone!! I’m backkkkk!
Obviously I’m so rested I think I announced the episode as 29.. oopsie!
Well you might notice a couple of changes which I’ve talked about in the intro of the podcast. What is that i up there? And why is this show less than 2 hours long? May has brought about a few changes in the house of granny… the episodes will now be broken into two parts released over two weeks. One will be the interview show – which is what the i is, this week is episode 28 interview edition. Next week will be 28g for general which is where we’ll still have all that lovely chat about what’s happening, what’s in the tins, what’s on my nightstand etc etc
So! What does today’s show bring. I interview Maree Buscke from skeinz. You can find all the details on that website too about Knit August Nights and pretty much most other things we were talking about.
That’s all for this week – until next week!
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By grannyg, on May 17th, 2010%
We have a winner for the combs!
here is the random number generator having done it’s ‘thing’
and 29th comment from the top was;
Well done Paula!!! These will be winging their way to you shortly
As so many of you are now freinds, it did feel weird doing the draw myself – I was very careful to do this properly – but next time I’m going to invite an impartial person to do an live draw somehow – granny’s old ticker can’t handle the excitement 
By grannyg, on May 11th, 2010%
Intro
Apologies for Granny’s voice, she’s got a wee cold. Last week’s special edition podcast for the Majacraft Aura wheel attracted an unprecedented number of listeners, thanks to those of you who have stuck around. The draw for the Majacraft combs will be done as a blog post within the next couple of days and the winner will be emailed. Granny will have a light workload on the podcast during May, need to do some extra housework.
Crafting this week
Working on the mittens, beading with granddaughter and tidying the studio. Granny will be tutoring at the Knit August Nights in Napier and will be teaching Fearless Knitting & how gauge can become a fickle friend. Registration details are on the co-organisers’ blog who has also set up an online shop Skeinz. Over the next couple of weeks Granny will be sewing, knitting a new garment and coursework material.
Yarn Review: Zealana Kauri
Kauri is a fingering weight yarn 60% NZ Merino, 30% Possum & 10% Silk. Zealana has been marketed overseas for a long time without being available in New Zealand. It is now sold at Knitworld and Mishi Yarns in Ellerslie. Granny was impressed by the colours however she is surprised by the lack of twist in the yarn. It has six twists per inch on her twist measuring tool, compared with Vintage Purls Sock Yarn which has more than twenty twists per inch. Low twist creates a soft yarn so should be used with fibres which have a long staple and are quite grippy like gottland. This yarn would be challenging for crochet as it’s an S-Twist so would unravel while crocheting. Granny pulled apart the fibres to find the staple length; the longest she could get is 3-4cm when folded in half. She can’t understand why a fibre with such a short staple length would have such low twist as the fibres will just come out and pill and it has low tensile strength as the yarn pulls apart easier and would not block well. The finished product of this yarn would not last, it would pill and wear through especially with something like socks. The yarn doesn’t even have 10% elasticity, more like 6% and doesn’t bounce back. Granny is disappointed that it is advertised as the best of New Zealand yarn; the durability and elasticity of the merino has been sacrificed for softness. She also thinks its quite pricey NZ$12 for 40g. Granny doesn’t recommend this yarn. She’d interested in what other people’s experiences have been.
In the Tins: Chocolate éclairs with no cream
Inspired by the Bakewise book. Jasmine talks about her blog Casting on Trouble. The éclairs are made with choux pastry.
Chocolate éclairs Recipe
6 large eggs (room temperature or put in a bowl of hot water if straight out of the fridge)
1 cup of water
4 T unsalted butter
½ teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of sugar
1/8 teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup of flour
1 teaspoon of ammonium bicarbonate [Shownoter note: A raising agent, which was used historically before baking powder was widely available.]
Non Stick cooking spray
Rocks or mortar
Creating a steam oven: put rocks in container in the bottom of the oven and pour on water. Granny used a rock mortar she bought from an Asian supermarket.
Recipe ***
Tour of Qualityyarns’ Milton Mill
Tour of Qualityyarns New Zealand Ltd.
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