Goode Wool Hunting Knitting Club: Our First Meeting

Our first knitting club meeting (where we actually knitted - we did have a preliminary meeting at the lovely Liberte cafe, with wine and sans knitting).

Perhaps I should say it was a knitting couple rather than club, as there were just the two of us! Actually it was almost just me, but I phoned Katelyn (she had forgotten) and she came along. I am glad, as I might have had to eat the whole cake all by myself, and then I would have felt like a glutton!

We had a really lovely time, knitting and chatting by the fire, drinking wine, eating cake and a lovely goat's cheese from the local markets.I would have to say the first knitting meeting was a great success and I look forward to the next one.It was sheer bliss to knit without interruption, and to do it with such good company is even better.This is the scarf I am knitting at the moment. I'm using beautiful Jo Sharp alpaca yarn - two types together( Alpaca Kid Lustre and Alpaca Silk Georgette).The alpaca is so incredibly soft, it is a pleasure to knit- the lustre is a mix of alpaca,mohair and merino, the silk georgette has alpaca,merino and 20% silk - lovely.

The stitch comes from one of her patterns - it is actually for a cardigan, but I just wanted a scarf, so I copied the 5 rows that make up the pattern.
The cake I made is an old favourite gluten free recipe that everyone seems to love. It is so good that no one notices that it is gluten free, as it has a lot of ground almonds in it.I sometimes make it as an upside down pear or apple cake simply by pouring the batter over the peeled and sliced fruit which sits on top of 2 tablespoons of brown sugar which has been melted with 4 tablespoons of honey.

However for the knitting club, I just made the basic cake and topped it with vanilla cream and kiwi fruit and strawberries.Yum.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
100grams butter
1 cup sugar ( I used caster, but any sugar is okay)
4 large eggs
200 grams ground almonds OR half almonds and half gluten free flour
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:
Beat eggs and sugar until double in volume. Melt the butter, and add to the egg mixture along with almonds (sifted flour if you are using) and vanilla essence.
Pour into a 20cm lined and greased cake tin.
Bake in a moderate oven (180 degrees Celsius) 30 -45 minutes. It is variable depending on your oven - my cake was ready by 35 minutes.

Enjoy with lashings of vanilla cream ( I added a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste and 2 teaspoons of icing sugar to the whipped cream - about 250mls) and fresh fruit.

So, I think the knitting club has gotten off to a great start.I hope we'll get many new members enjoying a chance to stitch and chatter with us next time.