3: Pretty Woman, nananana na

"Debbie Brett, the top model who was dubbed 'the most beautiful girl in the world' has a stunning 21-inch waist' and is still only photographed with her arm in front of her belly in this bizarre creation. This is the sort of garment where you can really show off your pubic hair (bottom left). I presume Prince Charles was a fan of this one too.

2: Ms Oatmeal-Doubleboob

"Eve Pollard is a favourite TV AM personality [...] and has chosen an ultra-conventional neutral shaded cricket-style sweater with an absolutely shocking cleavage."

One of the more normal offerings here, but with a really incredibly ill-fitting bra. Ouch.

Advent Calendar

I thought I'd cross-post these from my Facebook. I'll be giving you one picture from "Celebrity Knitting", a wonderful 1985 book, every day til Christmas eve. Enjoy.



"Three Degrees", Prince Charles's favourite girl rock group, apparently (remember this was before the Spice Girls grabbed his arse). Prince Charles' approval seems to be generally a proof of quality, this will be a recurring theme in this book.

The girls "went wild over these designs and let them go to their heads in the most flattering way". Can't argue with that. I like to think they look a bit like the three wise women. Certainly exotic.

The ultimate twee shopping experience

I went on a bit of a shopping spree at Cabot Circus yesterday to celebrate passing my PhD viva (whoop! major corrections to be done though).
I am so easy to please. If something is either red, has bows or polka dots, I want it. If this goes on much longer, I will look like Minnie Mouse. I do try to vary things a bit but I just love my red dotty bows so. So I now have a new red beret with a black and white polkadotted bow on, a sheer cream blouse with a bow, and some absolutely awesome underwear with little russian dolls all over it.



I'm not going to put a picture of myself in my pants on the internet, but it looks like this. It's hard to see but it also has little metal charms shaped like matryoshka dolls. Love.

Nope.

Well, I didn't get the knitting job. This was really a once in a lifetime opportunity, and it looks like I blew it.
I really could not have been better qualified, well, unless I had some actual work experience. I will still try to buy a copy of the Knitter, even though I'm not sure how I'll do that. Seeing as this was the last job application I had running in this country, I'll now definitely be off somewhere else. Don't know where, really. I hope I'll actually get my act together and go on my long awaited american road trip.

Warm and cuddly

I'm doing well with my Christmas presents this year. Over a month left and I'm almost done! I decided to make a really luxurious hot water bottle cover for my friend and bought the poshest soft yarn I could find - Mirasol Sulka, with 60% Merino, 20% Alpaca and 20% Silk. Oooh. I could almost become a yarnie.
AS for the pattern, I thought I'd try an illusion pattern. It looks like it's just stripey:



but it has this hidden picture on one side:


and this on the other:


I think she'll like it.

mm. Cakey.

I made some Donauwellen cake the other day, which went down very well with the intended recipient. Unfortunately that only got rid of 5 pieces, and I made a tray of about 20 - and this is a pretty heavy cake. It has a cakey bit, both plain and chocolatey, cherries, a vanilla custard type layer and chocolate on the top. YUM. Fortunately another friend is having a cake party on saturday, so I hope it'll keep until then!

Here's a translation of the recipe I used (from Hausfrauenseite):

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 200g margarine
• 200g sugar
• 6 eggs
• 300g plain flour
• some vanilla essence
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 6 tbsp cocoa
• 1 jar of cherries*

* in Germany, cherries are generally sold in big glass jars, in their own juice. You can buy these at Aldi in the UK, but alternatively, tinned cherries probably work too. I think you need about a pound.

for the custard cream:

• either: 1 packet German "Vanillepudding" powder, 100g sugar, 500 ml milk
• or: make up a pint of custard, using slightly more custard powder than recommended - it should be quite firm.
• 250g margarine

For the chocolate icing:

• 1 bar milk chocolate
• 1 bar plain chocolate
• a little fat - lard, butter or margarine - to make the topping shinier and softer. I didn't add this which is why it cracked when I cut the cake.

Dough:
Whisk together the margarine, sugar and eggs. Combine with flour, baking powder and salt, add a little vanilla essence. Spread half the dough on a baking tray covered in baking parchment (or just greased, if you don't have any baking paper).
Mix the remaining dough with the cocoa and spread over the light-coloured layer.
Scatter the drained cherries over the dough and press them in lightly.
Bake for 20-30 minutes at 200°C in the pre-heated oven.
When the cake has come out of the oven, it needs to cool for a little before you can add the next layer.

Custard cream:
Prepare either German "Vanillepudding" or stiff custard, leave to cool slightly.
When the cake has cooled and the custard has not quite set, stir the margarine into the custard and spread it over the cake.
Leave to set (the fridge helps).

Chocolate topping:
Melt a little fat in a saucepan and add the chocolate (broken into pieces), heat and stir until no lumps are left. I prefer to do this in a bowl set into a pan of hot water, previously boiled in the kettle, it also works and you avoid burning any of the precious chocolate. Spread on top of the custard layer, let it set (fridge again), cut into slices and eat!