Happy Easter!

Wishing you all a most blessed and happy Easter! If you are travelling, keep safe on the roads. 


Christus resurrexit! Vere resurrexit!  


Enjoy the Easter break and I hope you get some time for weaving. I'll be working on this one, which is a new design for my next Etsy pattern. 

See you all soon!

Easy flat bread recipe

When I need bread in a hurry, I make flat bread! It is quick, cheap, easy, and means I can have fresh bread in under an hour. I often serve it as a wrap with salad, meat, dip, falafels - whatever, it's all good! And if you have leftovers, the next day you can toast it into healthy chips for dip or use it as a pizza base.



Ingredients:
4 cups plain, unbleached flour
2.5 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
350 - 450ml warm water

Place dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix. Make a well in the middle and add the water, about half at first and increase as you need to. You may not need all the water - it depends on your climate and the dryness of your flour. You want a very moist, but not sloppy dough. Mix until the dough comes together and there are no dry spots remaining. 

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes, until the dough is soft and supple. Flour or oil the bottom of the bowl and place the dough back in. Cover with a clean tea towel.
Allow to rise for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour or until doubled in size. Once again, this time will vary according to your climate.

Once the dough has risen, cut off lumps of dough about as large as the palm of your hand.
On a well floured surface, flatten the dough first with the palm of your hand, turning it over the coat both sides with flour. 
Now roll the dough out until you have a round that will fit in your pan and is quite thin, but not too thin to pick up and transfer to the pan. (I just pick it up with my hands).
Place the round into a preheated, very hot non stick frypan. Do not add an oil - we want a dry fry.
When the surface of the round begins to bubble and puff, turn over to cook the other side. It only takes a minute or two on each side. You may have to adjust the heat as you go to ensure the bread cooks quickly but doesn't burn. Every few rounds, you may wish to  quickly wipe out the surface of the frypan with wet paper towel or a damp cloth as flour can accumulate and start to burn. 

Stack your bread rounds on a plate and cover with a clean towel until ready to use.


My kids love to eat them fresh out of the pan, smothered with butter! If I can keep them out of the kitchen for long enough, I often serve this bread with homemade hommus or labneh.



I would love to do a video to accompany this flat bread recipe sometime, would that interest you? Let me know!

Spring Table Runner Weave Along!

Recently, my Youtube subscriber count passed 12,000 (isn't that amazing?!) I decided that it was a milestone worth celebrating with a weave along. After consulting with my weaving friends, I came up with a design for a Spring Table Runner. I'm thrilled to bits with the ends result!



The weave along starts next week, but the introductory video can be viewed now, and the PDF pattern is available to download, giving you some time to collect your yarns. And if you miss the start, don't worry, you can join in when you're ready.

Make sure you're subscribed so that you don't miss the new videos as I post them, and I will also be sending out newsletter notifications, so be sure to sign up to my email list.

By the way, if you haven't entered the giveaway yet, there is still time!

I hope you can join me, this will be fun!

Fear of the loom!

I am sometimes surprised by the fear that can exist in newer weavers (and often not so new weavers as well). The fear that you will get stuck and not know what to do, the fear that the project won't turn out the way it's supposed to, the fear that you are not smart enough to learn how to use your loom, the fear that you will waste yarn if you make a mistake... I could go on.



I know people who have abandoned a new loom into a corner, a spare room or (dare I speak it?) a dusty garage. The fear is too great to make a start and they feel they have failed before even beginning.

I say that I am surprised, but I really shouldn't be. All it takes is a few moments of thinking back to when I was a new weaver. I was so excited by this beautiful piece of equipment, but silently terrified! What a privilege, but what a responsibility! 



Is that fear still with me? No, although I do sometimes feel an apprehension when trying something new with very expensive yarn!

So, how to rid yourself of the fear? It's actually very simple. You arm yourself with the knowledge you need and you practice! Read books, find resources, take courses, find weavers, join groups and network. And practice! Start simple and work your way up. Think of how an athlete trains. That is you, at your loom. Training, practicing, learning from mistakes and building knowledge.


If you do this, the magic will start to happen. That magic is CONFIDENCE! And with confidence, the sky is the limit.

If you are at that frozen with fear stage with your loom, perhaps you need some extra resources to help you out. 

My Youtube channel has a plethora of videos to help you get started in weaving.

My Online Weaving School is a great place for learning and gaining confidence. 

My Facebook Group is a friendly and welcoming place for weavers of all levels.



I hope this post will inspire you to go out there and weave beautiful things!


New Giveaway! 10 years on Etsy celebration.


It's hard to believe I've been an Etsy seller for 10 years! To celebrate, I'm giving away all 7 of my digital download Etsy weaving patterns to one lucky winner.
All the best with your entry!

Use this link to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway


This blog is closing!

All posts will now be found at my new site.  Click here to go the the new site.