This basket of muffins also happens to be modeling my new Ripple Linen Basket Liner. Muffins are a fun treat to serve when you have company and serving them in a basket with a pretty liner adds a festive touch.
For those interested, this is a basic blueberry muffin recipe from The King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook, but any muffin recipe will do!
When I have company and plan on serving something hot in the morning, I employ this little trick to lessen the preparation time in the morning:
Baking Tip #1: To make things easier and faster when you have company, prepare in advance by mixing the dry ingredients together the night before and also preparing the baking pan. That way in the morning all you have to do is add the wet ingredients and pop the muffins or whatever you are baking into the oven!
Seeing that muffins by themselves are perfectly delightful but do not make for a balanced breakfast, I generally also serve a fruit salad and something hot such as Irish style steal-cut oats.
I have toyed with the idea of knitting a basket liner for some time as I am always baking dinner rolls or muffins of some sort. I'm not sure that I chose the best pattern, though. Despite the seemingly simple design, I did not find this to be the simplest of knits. The first tricky bit is that you employ a figure-8 cast-on which I suspect is not the easiest technique if you are not familiar with using double pointed needles. I did find Hello Yarn's series of photos demonstrating this cast-on technique very helpful; having seen the photos, as well as being very comfortable with double pointed needles, I did manage just fine. The next tricky bit is working with the wet spun linen itself. I found the yarn to be stiff and uncomfortable to knit as well as having a number of small breaks in the skein. It is linen, though, and the finished product is worth it!
Project Specs: Approximately 1/2 skein Euroflax 100% wet spun linen; US3 straight and circular needles; Island Moss colorway; pattern: Ripple Linen Basket Liner from The Knitter's Book of Yarn; blocked dimensions: 13" square. The only modification I made was to continue the increases until I had 48 stitches between each marker. I did this as the finished dimensions of the pattern as written was for a 12" square, and I thought that seemed a bit skimpy.
Mr Puffy has asked if he might also have a basket liner for his treats. I've told him "we'll see."
18 comments:
I have the yarn book so I'll have to take a look at the pattern. The cast-on certainly seems to be rather involved. But, your liner is lovely.
Do you use the King Arthur book often? I've heard that the results just aren't the same if one doesn't use the King Arthur flour their recipes were written for. Have you found this to be true?
It's lovely, and in my favorite color too! I think I'll make one for my mom, since she's using baskets, when she has company, and she very often has company. She likes to set the table nicely. The muffins look delicious, and the whole setting is very inviting!
It's beautiful!
It looks beautiful, and yummy muffin's too. Wish I could join you for tea (I mean coffee) ;-)
The pattern does sound a little tricky though, I've never done a figure 8 cast on!
Lovely! I'm afraid that I'm rather content to fill up on good muffins, and those look very good indeed.
I too am curious about the King Arthur recipes. I have a cookbook sponsored by King Arthur, and I too was told that the recipes wouldn't be quite the same without THAT flour...
(And on Wordpress's behalf, I apologize for using my Blogger log-in.)
OK, I would really like to come to your house for breakfast, or tea, or something - it always looks so appealing!
That is such a pretty liner, I'm glad you persevered, it looks to be worth it.
Surely if you don't make another liner for Mr Puffy's treats, you'll make *something*, right? Otherwise, it seems like benign neglect to me ... ;-)
Ooh, knits in action. It's beautiful!
What a lovely touch! I love it.
The liner is so elegant. It really adds a nice touch to your basket. I often just use a dish towel, but your liner is so much nicer.
I can't blame Mr. Puffy for wanting one himself. It would make me feel extra special.
Mmmmuffins! They look yummy!
I'm here by way of Denise at the Knitting Den and I've been reading and enjoying your blog. Beautiful knits and Mr Puffy is just adorable. You're so lucky to have such a talented model/advisor!
What a great basket liner! That colour is beautiful. The muffins look really yummy, too. =)
What a great idea and a small project (my favorite). I wonder if you can make one out of wool tho'. The fibers may stick to the baked goods.
Wow that is beautiful!!
And the muffins look good too!
Vicki
That is a beautiful basket liner.
Congratulations on winning my giveaway. I need your contact details so I can post it off to you.
What a pretty liner. Love the color!
Oh, I love this! It makes the table look so nice and the pastry all the more inviting. Plus, if it were made a little bigger, it could be folded over to cover warm breads or tortillas. Great job!
I have been working on the liner as well. Your's is absolutely gorgeous. I have had probs with the ripple & lace border even though familiar with lace. Counts continues to get really off--too many kids running around maybe. Did go back and add increases as you did to make a little larger. thanks for providing the numbers.
Hi Annonymous! I'm so pleased you like my basket liner. Like you I need to knit lace without distractions or I get goofed up too. I would love to see pictures of yours when finished - send me an email!
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