Orgiva's mighty Migas competition (loadzapics)

This weekend was fiesta weekend in Orgiva. As usual, it pissed it down most of the time. Apparently this is to be celebrated however as it is an omen of plentiful rainful over the winter and therefore good for the land. I dunna like it though.

One of the highlights of the weekend is the mighty migas competition. Families and friends form teams and gather in the plaza near our home to build their own makeshift stoves out of breeze blocks and wood on which they cook their version of migas.




Migas, in case you don't know, is basically breadcrumbs. The mayor turns up at some point and a panel of suitably important people judge who makes the best breadcrumbs in town.

You might think there there isn't a hell of a lot you can do with breadcrumbs, particularly since everyone seems to be using the same brand of shop-bought crumbs rather than making their own, but dear me, you would be so wrong. Take a look:






This lady's gone for the bacon and jamon option, if it's ever been part of a pig, she wants it on her crumbs:


And as you see, this fella is going to put chargrilled sardines on his:




While this team went chuffing migas mental with melon, sardines, sun-dried tomatoes, some kind of bean broth and a mystery vegetable (chicory?) the uncharitable might say they just used anything they had left in the fridge but we prefer to think of them as the migas mavericks:



And if you get bored of breadcrumbs you can always get blotto on beer and start playing with prawns:

Camera!

It's so good to be taking pictures again. Crafty Fox kindly asked for an update of what I've been knitting recently and here's what's been on the needles for most of this month:

The purple tubes are alpaca legwarmers commissioned by my friend Nadia after she saw Angie's pair on the blog last month. I have some modelled shots to share hopefully in the next couple of days.

I have also been knitting something for myself - some of Cookie's BFF socks in the gorgeous Noro yarn that Suzanne gave me earlier this year. I think these are the first thing I have made for myself this year so it's fitting that I should have completed them around my birthday. Yes, they are now finished but I need to take some nice pics in daylight and then I'll post up the full nerdy details.

P.S. the material that the knitting is resting on is some pink spotty oilcloth that Auntie Jane sent me for my birthday from Dunelm Mills Derby and is soon to be used for my kitchen revamping project. Thanks AJ!

Anonymous in Granada

Anonymous asks whether there are any yarn shops in Granada. I'm afraid I don't have any details to share but there are several small shops dotted around the city. Granada is pretty small and it's a lovely place to wander around so I recommend going on a yarn hunt.

If you would like some more detail on where to find them I recommend this site although please remember that it is always possible the shops may have moved or closed down since this was published. Also remember that most shops are closed between 2-5pm for siesta, many shops don't open at all on Saturday afternoon (i.e. they may open from 9-2 on Saturday only and not open up after siesta unlike on weekdays) and pretty much nothing is open on a Sunday.

If you do find a shop selling yarn and they don't have anything you like it is worth trying to ask if they have other stuff not on show. Yarn is very seasonal here in Spain and while the writer I've linked to above said she didn't find many natural fibres when she was in Andalucia I have found them but they may not be around until the weather gets colder.

Spanish Knitting Word of the Week:
Lana = wool

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This week my sister and her fiance (they got engaged the day after they arrived here!) have been staying and much fun has been had. She also brought me a new camera so expect a picture laden blog very soon.

More Etsy loveliness

I know I'm always telling people about Etsy but really, the amount of creativity and inspiring design on there just amazes me...since we are approaching Christmas present buying time (well, I bet the adverts will be starting in the UK soon, Christmas doesn't seem to be such a commercial thing here) I thought I'd share my current favourites:

Fearless Fibers and Wildfirefibres for beautiful laceweight yarns (and more) - that Thor colourway is stunning isn't it?

Handscreen printed fabric from Umbrella Prints

Woven earings -sounds weird, looks great - from Sincear Jewelry

Bamboo roving for the ambitious spinners and felters in your life from Traditionalfiberarts

Crap n tat turned into useful notebooks by Spanish craftivist Contexto

Cute rubber stamping from Craftpudding

Julie Peach sells hand-printed linen and notebooks. I just ordered some of her stuff for someone who I know appreciates such good things...but I think when it comes I'm going to want to keep it all for meself!

Fabric buttons - for your hair! from Spanish seller Coletas

Hemp bags from TippyThai **

Handweaving from Shugi

And just look at this little crocheted Kenny! Would be fab Xmas present for the man if only I didn't find crochet about as appealing as having my teeth scraped. OK, well maybe it's not so bad but I don't think I could manage anything as precise as this or, shudder, follow a detailed crochet pattern.



**AUNTIE JANE - YOU NEED TO GET YOURSELF AN ETSY SHOP!!

Is this a bit crazy?

I'm getting really interested in weaving.

It started with a recent email from Knitting Daily where they were plugging Handwoven magazine, one of Interweave's many fibre titles. I just love the look of that cover piece, I think it's a towel - imagine using a handwoven towel!

Then I went on Craftster and saw some great links which led me to this blog which has such a beautiful baby blanket...can I handle another fibre-art?*

Are there any readers out there who weave? Where would you recommend as a starting point for an absolute beginner?

*Hm, perhaps it would be more honest to ask 'can Kenny handle living with me obsessing over another fibre art?'one which can require huge lumps of equipment to boot - although I might be able to sell the idea to him as a way of using up stash....

New knitty

Here's something I can blog about without my own photos - what's everyone's opinions of the new Knitty? It'd be nice to get some comments on the blog as it's weird sometimes blogging into the ether...

I think it's one of the strongest issues in a while, I suppose I am biased towards autumnal patterns though...and there's some cracking sock patterns which is always great. The Hourglass socks are stunning and I like the way they have been photographed knitted up in two different yarns to give you an idea of how they would work in a non-solid colour although personally I would always knit something like this in a solid.

I see that Glittr has already completed a Morgan hat - in my opinion her's looks better than that shown with the pattern, I think the tweedy yarn she has used perfectly suits the flat cap style.

Not sure what I'll knit first from this excellent set of patterns. I love the look of Camden on the model (which is a little strange because often I find such post-modern details as detachable sleeves irritating) but doubt it would suit my figure...wonder if I could convert it to a v-neck..

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From this week I thought I'd bring you some Spanish knitting terms so let's begin with something basic:

Hacer punto = To knit (or literally 'to make points')

I need photos!

It's really hard trying to blog without a camera...I've realised how much I rely on the pictures to tell the story. Without them, I don't really have the same urge to blog.

It's not for the lack of material. I've been knitting almost constantly for the whole of the summer but I have no nice photos of the finished articles to share. There are a few pics on other people's cameras but I haven't been sent them yet and there's no fun in simply describing a knitted item without an accompanying picture...is there?

We have started another house-sit this week, another nice place with some fun pets to look after. It's great to have the extra space because my sister arrives here on Saturday for a week with her partner. They have chosen an excellent time to visit; the blistering heat of August has abated and there is just the loveliest soft sunshine all day with a cooling down at night that makes it much easier to sleep.

I love September.

And sis is bringing a new (to me) camera with her so there should be photos on here within a week.

Mini hats

More pattern talk! I'm so chuffed that Woolly Wormhead has released another hat book (she says it's a booklet but I'm calling it a book 'cos I think ten patterns = book) this time for babies.

Wee Woolly Toppers is available here for just a fiver - that's 50p per pattern which I think is fantastic value for such innovative designs. I hope I can make time to make several of these before Christmas.

At last!

I can't tell you how much time (and paper) I've wasted trying to print out Knitty patterns over the years. So I am so delighted that Knitty has finally gone printer friendly as of this issue.

All together now: "Hurrah!"

Raise your glasses please

In congratulating this pair:

having made it to forty years of marriage on Sunday.

It's me mum and dad!

*The Rices all send their thanks to Maxine and Allen for their help with our putting together the wedding album that never was - mum and dad both love it and we are all really grateful for your help...

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Re. recent discussion of fairy tales, story-fans may also enjoy this podcast which combines story telling with knitting. I like the way the podcaster mixes well-known stories with more unusual tales.

Also, perhaps you have all already seen this, but whilst sorting through some of the papers that friends kindly brought out for us this summer I found I had missed this excellent article by AS Byatt on the links between sewing, spinning and stories. Here's the link in case you missed it too.

In my usual efficient manner I see I have posted this the day after the exhibition referred to closes but it's still worth reading Byatt's analysis of the exhibits if you like this kind of thing....

Zombie Skull Help!

Need some pattern help knitfans....

I need to knit some skull wristwarmers - quickly. I'm convinced I've seen a free pattern online - maybe on Magknits before it got pulled? - but now I can't find it.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks!

EDITED TO ADD:
Aha, these just might do the job....but any other suggestions are very welcome.

Oilcloth supplies

A couple of years ago, when visiting my friend Anna in Saltaire, I saw her make a lovely job of renovating some old dining chairs using funky oilcloth fabric from Reprodepot.

I am about to try something similar with two chairs here and am currently coveting oilcloth from Denver Fabrics, although Kenny isn't yet convinced as to how essential it is for me to have two retro pink dotty chairs... The beauty of such a project is that I get to enjoy using a fab fabric without having to surrender it to my terrible sewing.

I am very sad that despite a great deal of help from Suzanne and Lindsey my relationship to my sewing machine is still rather fractious. I wish I could whip up last minute gifts a la Alice but I just can't seem to get to grips with it. Although at least I see from Anna's recent post that I am not alone in this!

I thought I'd post the Denver link up here for all you other fabric fiends as they have a brilliant collection and ship outside the U.S.

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Been trying to entertain an eleven year old visitor this past fortnight. In desperation one hot afternoon this week I turned to photobooth on the Mac for help and it kept young Felix entertained for a couple of hours.




My conclusion is that I look rather good in 'thermal' imaging -

shame they don't allow it for passport photos as I look bloody awful in my recent one of them and I'm stuck with it now for ten years...

I think this moose-like one of Felix is my favourite though.

Cody's Cuentos

Eleena from the 'Voices in Espanol' podcast left a nice comment yesterday and I wanted to draw attention to her other podcast and blog because it combines two of my interests: learning Spanish and fairy stories. I have loved fairy stories from childhood, the more sinister the better!

So if you want to challenge your Spanish listening skills and hear a great story at the same time I recommend you visit Cody's Cuentos along with me. I might only understand one word in twenty but it beats trying to listen to Spanish talk radio.