1706 steps – one of
those days when I don’t think the telefonino is trying. I baked a loaf
of bread. I walked around the garden with Archie (and up and down the steps).
We did some gardening on the front step, sowing nasturtiums and salad leaves. Well, perhaps that doesn’t add up to
much.
The sourdough
tastes nice, and rose properly, but it’s stuck to the parchment paper it was
baked on. I’m tempted to try this recipe again more or less right away – it consists of spelt flour
plus some seeded flour from Waitrose. And this time, I'll flour the parchment paper.
I don’t think I’ve had to do that before, but this loaf may have been wetter
than previous attempts. Wet – or “hydration” as we call it – is a good thing in
sourdough.
Audio Books works
a treat. I don’t entirely like the voice and manner of the woman who is reading
“Wives and Daughters” to me, but you can’t have everything. I seem to have some
Audio credits, so I got another Italian book, “Lessico Familiare”. Perhaps I’ll
try that next.
But the main thing
is, it’s splendid for knitting-to, just as I hoped. I finished knitting the
Polliwog, including the sewn bind-off, and I’ve dealt with most of the ends. So
tomorrow blocking, and sending off that order to Jamieson & Smith. And
giving some thought to how to wrap things up and dispatch them to London. I’ll
send both shawl and Polliwog to Rachel, to hand on to her new grandchildren
when she gets them.
Rachel got the new
New Yorker, with the article about Ravelry, last Saturday. I was in despair
when it didn’t arrive here even on Monday, but it came yesterday. I don’t think
I learned much. Was it a mistake to try to eliminate the pro-Trumps?