Thursday, November 07, 2013

Marks and Spencer was right out of chocolate Brussels sprouts.



It was sort of depressing – the 6th of November, and a special Christmas item already gone. The shop may be getting more in, but it is not very often I can muster the strength to walk up Dublin Street these days. I put 7000 steps on my pedometer yesterday – the usual is about 4000. But had nothing else to show for my effort.

They are chocolates that look like Brussels sprouts. I tried googling, later on in the day – maybe I could order them from somewhere. No luck. All I found was my own blog entry, and a number of terrifying references to real Brussels sprouts coated in chocolate. It is difficult to think of anything more disgusting.

Knitting

…was a comfort, as always, after all that fruitless walking. I was tired after my exertions, so I let Rams & Yowes go after the minimum two rounds I require of myself. I then knit the whole of the sixth piece of the Silly Christmas Project. Tonight, I must begin to assemble it.

It looks easy, at first. I must sew three of the six pieces together, and then pick up stitches from the assembled object and knit another piece. After that, the real fun begins – decoration, including three more little pieces of knitting, on fine needles. And embroidery, which I don’t know how to do. Best of all – the instructions are fairly detailed for decorating the front of the object, but for the back, I am just told to wing it, using a real-world exemplar as a model.

This evening I might even finish the underarm increases for Milano/Relax 3 and proceed to divide for front and back. Tomorrow, surely. It continues to be a mighty end-of-day solace.

Miscellaneous

The little book from the Shetland Museum turned up yesterday. I’m sure I’ve never seen it before – so there is no duplicate to send anyone. It simply illustrates some of the gems of the collection, and pretty wonderful they are.


Franklin has a new blog entry on the Lion Brand site. I would miss these if Zite didn’t pick them up. You already have to scroll down to find this one, although it’s dated November 6. Here’s his latest for Knitty, this time with a Franklin-specific link, just in case you missed it.

7 comments:

  1. I managed to get my dad some of the sprouts, thought it would appeal to his sense of humour. Maybe one of us could get some and send them to you? Alternatively this place has some on sale, I think it caters for expats and is the only place I've ever found M&S food selling online (M&S when are you going to start doing online food ordering, if only of your ambient products???) http://www.britstore.co.uk/Marks-and-Spencer-Food-Marks-and-Spencer-Christmas/c1_1662/p39207/Marks-and-Spencer-Net-of-Milk-Chocolate-Sprouts-130g/product_info.html

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  2. This is why Christmas turns into such an ordeal! I do hope that you were having better weather than we were in Essex for all this trudging about.

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  3. Jean, I'm so relieved to know that they are not Brussels sprouts covered in chocolate. I read yesterday without being able to ask. I had fantastic roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon and blue cheese right before reading your post, so I guess that's how I was thinking. Good luck finding some. Looks like you've got some help out there.

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  4. I, too, was thinking they were the vegetable covered with chocolate.
    Knowing they're all chocolate is much better. Knowing they're all gone is sad.

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  5. Anonymous2:33 PM

    Mind you they are not actually "chocolate brussels sprouts" but small chocolate balls covered in foil printed to look like like a Brussels sprout. Can send you some if you still want them :-)
    jennyS

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  6. =Tamar8:41 AM

    For the first time, I disagree with Franklin. In the Knitty article, he says that Jughead's hat is not a high fashion item. I think that the appeal of the hat is precisely that it does look a bit like Jughead's hat!

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  7. I saw them advertised in my handmade christmas magazine. I couldn't find them on the marks and spencer website so I called the customer services. Both the customer service assistant and his manager had never heard of them! I looked at britstore to get some but the £7.50 postage as week as an increased price of £3.50 makes them too much for me. If anyone does happen to get some anywhere and would consider selling them to me please contact me at Laura.mulcock@btinternet.com. Thank you & Merry Christmas!

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