Prestgårdens krydderkaker ( Parsonage spice cake )

Prestgårdens krydderkaker

-          100 g butter

-          2 eggs

-          200 g sugar

-          175 g flour

-          1.5 dl sour cream

-          2 teaspoons baking powder

-          2 teaspoons cinnamon

-          1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves

-          1 ½ teaspoons dried ginger powder

Instructions:

-          Preheat oven to 175 degrees

-          Melt the butter and let it cool a bit

-          Beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy

-          Mix in sour cream + dry ingredients + melted butter

-          Pour into a greased 1.5 liter bread pan and bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean

-          Let cool completely before decorating with powder sugar, light glaze or the decoration of your choice.

This is a traditional Norwegian spice coffee cake, and while there are several versions this is the one I make each Christmas.

For the original  recipe in Norwegian see : www.detdoteliv.no

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So, it’s been about 40 days and time to strain and taste my Christmas liquor. See 40 days Christmas liquor

Straining though a coffee filter was taking a very long time, so I ended up filtering it through a clean dishtowel folded several time. 

The taste is sweet, coffee/orangish. I tried some in my coffee and that was ok, then I took a little with an ice cube that was also alright, but I did find it a bit bitter.

Typical of my life at present - Recipe writen in Norwegian and English

A simple, no fuss cake that doesn't take too long to make.

Antique beaded reticule purse

In late October when my husband and I were visiting family in France we took a little detour into an antique shop filled with all the classic assortment of heavy furniture, large painting and overpriced pieces of local history. I love antiques, but do prefer to pick up things at charity shops or flea markets as once an item goes to the antique dealer the prices tend to dim my interest rather quickly – though I have to say my husband has become pretty good at bargaining or getting deals for multiple item purchases.

But, displayed along a lot of small this-and-that there was a pretty little beaded purse in relative good condition with an asking price under what I have seen on Ebay (a good place to get a general idea of the current worth of vintage/antiques – though not always fool proof as the value of those items are affected by popularity and demand; what might be sought out today could be completely forgotten the next year)

So that little reticule purse came home with us, and makes a lovely addition to my collection of 1800’s ladies accessories and needlework items. 

The purse was knitted with each stitch containing a bead, it was then lined with white cloth and edged with a blue silk ribbon. As expected the silk is completely worn and damaged, then there are missing beads, but overall it’s in pretty good condition for its age. The seller said it was made in Germany and while I am not an expert in purses I can imagine it was worked in the middle of the 1800’s as it features typical motifs of the time - An oriental scene, palms, a man and woman with turban and Ottoman costumes. 

Captivated by the tales of A thousand and one night, the Victorians developed a fascination for all things oriental and this is often seen in needlepoint patterns and art of the time period.

Would you like to try making your own beaded purse ? Here is a tutorial I found online, maybe I should test it out myself ? 

Pattern: Knit a beaded bag

More interesting reading here: A history of the beaded bag

Antique beaded bag

Other side

Details - A few glass beads are missing, probably broke and fell off as the string is mostly intact

The silk lining on the top is damaged

Notice how some beads are larger than others, maybe they were made by different companies ?

My pretty Whippet - Victorian era cross stitch pattern

Officially recognised as a breed by the Kennel Club in 1891, the Whippet was a popular hunting and racing dog.

This design of a smart looking Whippet with a blue collar, and colourful tasselled blanket is re-charted from an antique, hand painted Sajou pattern.

A beautiful counted pattern perfect for a framed picture, or decorative throw cushion.

Design Area: 132 x 70 stitches

If stitched on 28 ct linen/ 14 ct aida the pattern will measure :

9,43" x 5,00" / 23,9 x 12,70cm

This pattern is available on the website, ETSY and Makerist

Detail of the face - notice the missing paint.

Mars ( March ) 1844 ? or 1849 ?

Signed "Sajou"

Here you see how the charts look like in color and symbols, and just symbols

Simple cable headband - Free pattern

Having traveled abroad twice in the past month and consequently spend some considerable amount of time browsing Pinterest between flights, I developed a small  itch to knit something small, something that could be done in a couple of days, but also something useful. These are the kind of itches that ladies ( and some gents get too ) when they have several larger projects on the go, but miss the small thrill of casting on a new project on their needles.

The weather prediction was rain, heavy rain for the whole weekend, either way I had a cold and I figured we would probably be spending the better part of Saturday and Sunday indoor. 

So I took a look at my Pinterest board and found a simple, quick knit headband. The pattern recommends using drops big Merino, but my local shop didn’t have any so I just got a another  type of wool that fitted a size 5 needle. 

I simplified the pattern a bit by doing a simpler border instead of the seed knit stitch which is k,p,k,p.

For 1 headband you will need:

-          - Knitting needles size 5

-          - 1 ball of yarn

-          - 1 cable needle

-          - Sewing needle

The pattern was originally written in Norwegian and can be found here: Pannebånd

( P- purl, K- knit )

-         

          Cast on 21 stitches - 

T

-        Row 1 - purl the whole row

Row 2 - p6, k9, p6

Row 3 - purl the whole row

Row 4 - p6, k3, place 3 sts on cable needle and hold in the back of work, k3, k3 from cable needle, p6

Row 5 - purl the whole row

Row 6 - P6, k9, p6

Row 7 - purl the whole row

Row 8 - p6, place 3 sts on cable needle and hold in the front of work, k3, knit 3 from cable needle, k3, p6

-          Continue until desired length, bind off and sew the ends together