Yarn along

Knitting | I've just received this gorgeous skein from Pickles, and I'm getting ready to swatch it. That's the early C. present that I was talking about last week, and that's the pattern that I have in mind for it. I also made a little progress of my Keynote, and I'm still working on new designs for the shop.

Reading | Jane Eyre. She's already settled at Thornfield Hall, and just met Mr. Rochester. And I received my copy of Herbal Medecine. This is going to be so much fun!

Listenning |To Horse Feathers a lot, and the new Lana Del Rey.

*I'm joining Ginny's yarn along this week.

Herbals

This week has been so hectic for so many reasons! We started by celebrating Jāņi which is the Latvian Midsummer festival. We spent quite some time in the kitchen, cooking and eating caraway cheese. Then we headed out to the woods to pick more mushrooms. It's still the very beginning of the season, but we were able to forage enough to eat them of garlic bread. It was divine! Next time, I intend to bring a small pan and fry them in the forest.
We've aslo been busy making renovations in the flat. We're planning to get rid of most of the old Soviet furniture that takes so much space and create a minimalistic space: paint the walls white, remove the old linonium and put clean parquet instead, surround ourselves with lot of plants... (this diy caught my eye!) Last week, we removed the very old and dirty wallpaper in the hallway, and yesterday we had to plaster many parts of the walls. There's still so much work to do, but it's been very nice to work as a team. I never thought renovating could be so much fun.
I haven't been knitting that much lately. But I made significant progress on my Keynote since last time. I'm also working on new designs for the shop. Spending time outside really helped me in the creative process, and I cannot wait to start knitting the sketches that I made.

The rain is pouring like crazy these days. And I wonder if we're ever going to have a proper Summer this year. But that means that everything has been growing so fast! Yesterday evening during my walk, I realised that the blueberry bushes that were not carrying any fruit two weeks ago are full of them now. So this morning, I went back to the woods, more equiped that yesterday. I got four several boxes to pick wild strawberries, blueberries and leaves.

I never I would get that much! But we did het enough to fill two containers of jams and enjoy our morning pancakes with. The leaves and the wild strawberries are drying on trays in the kitchen, and hopefully in just a few weeks, I'll be able to blend my own herbal teas.

* The set of knitting needles can be found here.

Evening walk

I just came back from a lovely walk in the woods and the meadow. It's been so refreshing to go out after spending the whole day inside, renovating the flat and cleaning up the dust that accumulated in every corner.

After whole the rain that poured these last few days, I feel that the plants in the woods grew so fast. Most of them are already in bloom and tiny mushrooms can be spotted between the light pillows of green moss. I also spotted several places where I can get wild strawberries and blueberries. I tried to get some, but it was already late in the evening - the mosquitos were starting to invade the woods, and found my legs particularly sweet. But I cannot wait to get back tomorrow morning, before the rain if I can, and collect as much as I can!

Wishing you a lovely evening.

Yarn along |Knitting| | Reading| |Watching|

 

Knitting

Since I left Latvia to visit my parents in France, I realized that I barely touched my needles - except during the flight. And I haven't knit much since I came back too. To tell the truth, I've been busy trying new things, and enjoying some time outside - especially searching for wild mushrooms! So when I decided to pick up my knitting, I was a little bit frustrated. I was reading the notes that I had taken, when I realized that I was off 20 stitches - I had misunderstood the increasing section! Sigh. So after unravelling, I cast on Keynote for the second time, and underlined the important explanations on the pattern, just to make sure that I won't make the same mistake twice.

I've also been browsing Ravelry quite a bit, searching for some patterns to knit - as Christmas presents probably! I had already decided which yarn I'll be using, so it didn't take me too long to decide which of these two patterns I would choose (I chose the second one).

Reading

While in France, I felt the urge to explore my old bookself, and search for something to bring back with me to Latvia. After several readings, I still find Jane Eyre fascinating. I've also been reading sporadically Wild fermentation, and tried new recipes. I'd love to give a try to miso fermentation! And at last two digital books that I read on my laptop: Wildwood Chronicles, and Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Watching

I've just finished watching the last seasons of Game of Thrones & Orange is the new black. Just started watching Upstairs downstairs.

*I'm joining Ginny's yarn along this week.

An easy Summer recipe: fast fermented pickles

Since I started brewing my own kombucha last year, I've been eager to learn more about fermentation. For a few months already, every meal  that I eat starts with a fermented something - sauerkrauts, sauerrüben and most recently pickles.

Pickles are so fast and easy to make. They don't have to ferment for a long time before we can start eating them. After a day, you can already bite into the first one!

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LESS SALT FERMENTED PICKLES RECIPE

•  1 gallon jar / lid
•  1 cheesecloth
•  1 kg of cucumbers
•  1 tbsp pickling spices
•  5-6 garlic cloves
•  2 dill sprigs
•  2 horseraddish sprigs
•  2 blackcurrant sprigs
•  8 tsp of sea salt (adjust when it's cold)

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Start by sterilizing the jar and the lid. Wash the cucumbers and cut both ends. Place the pickling solution ( spices, blackcurrant, dill, horseraddish and garlic) into the bottom of the jar. Place the bigger cucumbers at the bottom of the jar, gradually reducing the cucumber size (place the small ones on top). Add the salt (don't add too much -you can always add more after tasting the water). Boil water to fill up the jar. When the water has reached 100°C, pour it into the jar. Cover with the cheesecloth and the lid and wait until the solution is cold.

Wait for one day and then enjoy! The longer you will wait, the more fermented the pickles will be!

A forager's simple wishlist

1. It's always a good idea to keep a foraging ressource whilst mushrooming in the woods. But if a book is too heavy to carry around, there's also some apps that are very useful to identify mushrooms. Check and double check the item you've foraged before eating it.

2. I recently learned that there's a proper way to pick mushrooms. Always carry a knife around, cut the foot of the mushroom but not the root. Remove any dust and mud with the little brush while you're still in the woods so you won't have to do it at home.

3. A basket is the forager's essential. The mushrooms want to breathe after they've been picked. Avoid plastic bags as much as possible. Bring several brown paper bags to keep the different species apart.

4. Here in Latvia, the woods are infested by ticks. So we usually dry to dress up with light colors, so the little besties would be spotted easily if they try to climb up. I can easily imagine myself running trhough the woods with this gorgeous linen dress.

5. A pocket compass is always handy. You never know where the quest of finding mushrooms might take you.

6. The best moment to forage for mushrooms is usually just after the rain. That's the moment they stop "hidding". Foraging can sometimes take many hours, so keep your feet dry.