AWOL - back now with gluten free tips and recipes

Hi to all my followers. So sorry I've been AWOL. No excuses, I've just been neglecting my cakesknitsandcosies blog ever since I rebranded to Lynne's Pattern Parlour. So I 'm going to kickstart this blog, with handy tips on gluten free living and crafting.

Here are my first gluten free tips:

Gluten free bread.

It's really difficult to make decent gluten free bread. I've given up trying. But there are couple of 'bought' alternatives that are really nice.

1. Genius bread - great for eating as a sandwich (not as nice when toasted)
2. Dietry Specials bread - great for toasting (not easy to eat as a sandwich)

I buy a loaf of both, and here's a great tip:

Divide each loaf into smaller portions - 3 or 4 slices in each. Wrap and freeze. Just take out when needed. Gluten free bread goes stale very easily, so freezing it like this means you can avoid throwing it away (it's far too expensive for that!!)

Here's a lunchtime gluten free treat - You very own Welsh Rarebit
Take 2 or 3 rounds of gluten free bread (I would recommend dietry specials for toasting), 2-3 slices of cheese per round and 1 slice of ham, chopped finely, dried herbs if you have any. Toast bread on one side, turn and lightly toast on the other. Remove from grill and place cheese onto toast, then sprinkle the ham over and dried herbs. Return to grill. When the cheese is melted, remove from grill. Add a little gluten free tomato ketchup if desired (most brands are gluten free - just check ingredients). There you have it - a 'normal' lunch, with all the benefits of being gluten free and no butter too - so less calories. You could also add a sliced tomato or salad. Enjoy.

Keep following for more gluten free tips and recipes

Reflections

It's been a good year for us all at Cakes Knits and Cosies. We re-branded during the year to two new shops:

Lynne's Pattern Parlour - for fun patterns to knit and crochet
and
Lynne's Knitted Notions - for fun knits and fab gifts

You can find both of these shops on etsy and folksy and I'm pleased to say they're both doing well. My aim next year is to build up more stock for Lynne's Knitted Notions. My neck cosies are really popular, as are my flower neck scarves and my little amigurumi creatures.

My daughter has been a great help too - she helps me to knit when I'm really busy and is a great model, being so beautiful. She has some great marketing and business ideas - remarkable, considering she's only 16.

Our Waldo scarves are becoming more popular - I'm working on a new design for a Waldo hat, so watch this space. If you haven't heard of Waldo the Worm - click here to buy his fab book. Great for kids and adults too - the artwork is amazing ......

I've designed for Let's Get Crafting magazines - I've been featured in every issue this year, which is amazing. I hope it continues. So what's next for Lynnes Pattern Parlour and Lynne's Knitted Notions? Well I have loads of design ideas to write up and I hope to secure more magazine commissions throughout the year. I'll be planning, designing and marketing much more in 2011. Fingers crossed for more success my handmade goods and patterns.  Hope you've all had a good year too, and may 2011 bring every success.

Let's Knit and Craftgawker

I was recently directed to a Craftgawker, a gallery where anyone can showcase their art, crafting and photography skills. It's a great place to discover new artists and handmade goods to inspire your own creations. The submission requirements are quite specific and they only accept "beautiful, well balanced, craft related photographs". They have to link to a blog (not just a shop).

So I was absolutely over the moon when my ladybird bootees were accepted. Since then I've had a few rejections. But I persevered and my latest commission for three donuts were accepted. If you click on the link below you can favourite the images - so please could you take a look and favourite mine - thanks so much .....

http://craftgawker.com/

I made these donuts because Let's Knit magazine want to feature my donut pattern. It's just a link to my folksy shop - not the actual pattern - but any publicity's great - especially in one of my favourite knitting mags.

Here's a clip of the front page of cratgawker, featuring my delicious donuts:

The donuts link to my other blog at http://lynnespatternparlour.blogspot.com/

My Rosacea

I thought it's about time I started to talk about my rosacea. Mainly in the hope that I can inspire other rosacea sufferers to get to the doctors and get some help . That's just what I did and now things are a lot more managable and boy, does my skin look a million times better. To be honest, it's barely noticable now and I feel happy again. I was quite traumatised over christmas when it flared up really badly, so much so that I was glad to be snowed in the house.........

Rosacea is a chronic skin condition that affects the face and neck. For more information from the NHS, click here. Sadly there's no cure, but it's managable with various gels and medication. The main thing is that certain factors trigger off rosacea, such as stress, sunlight, cold weather, hot drinks, alcohol and certain foods.

The trick is to work out what triggers your rosacea. It's very time consuming but the best way to manage rosacea is to avoid the triggers.

My triggers are, hot water (eg. hot bath/shower), chemicals (eg. in shampoos, soaps, bathroom cleaners, those dreaded air fresheners that keep spraying every few minutes arrrrh!!!), direct heat (eg from radiators, fires, sun), various food products and drinks - any alcohol, pepper and I'm sure it's either sulphite additives or food that trigger a release of histimines. I'm still working on this one.

So, as well as my wheat and gluten intolerance, I have to avoid lots of other foods too.

I've seen three different GPs, had allergy tests and blood tests, and finally the 3rd. GP I saw prescribed Rosex gel and antibiotics for three months. The antibiotics really worked and now I just use the gel, twice a day, as well as avoiding all the triggers, which in itself is hard work. Cold showers, washes and no alcohol. I also take an anti-histimine every couple of days, which helps too.

I feel a lot happier now though, I look pretty normal again and my face is a lot less sensitive. I would urge anyone suffering from Rosacea to push their GP to find a solution for them. It's definitely manageable.

I blog more about my daily rountine and the products I use - as my GP said - you don't need to buy special creams that cost a fortune.  It's certainly helped me, so hopefully I can help someone else.

Craftgawker

I was recently directed to a Craftgawker, a gallery where anyone can showcase their art, crafting and photography skills. It's a great place to discover new artists and handmade goods to inspire your own creations. The submission requirements are quite specific and they only accept "beautiful, well balanced, craft related photographs". They have to link to a blog (not just a shop).

So I was absolutely over the moon when my ladybird bootees were accepted. They're now on the front page. If you take a look - perhaps you could favourite me (click on the heart on the photo). The more hearts the better, just click here then click the heart on the photo.

The bootees link to my other blog at http://lynnespatternparlour.blogspot.com/.

Here's a clip of the front page

I've done it!!

Well, after much ado and with a lot of help from my patient hubby, I've finally launched my two new shops on etsy. I have split my old shop CakesKnitsandCosies in two new shops:

Lynne's Pattern Parlour, for my knitting and crochet patterns

and

Lynne's Knitted Notions, for my handmade gifts

I hope I've done the right thing. I've been wanting to do this for ages, as I don't feel that the name of CakesKnitsandCosies really reflects what I'm doing. I want to have shop names that are clear about what I'm selling. I'll be closing my CakesKnitsandCosies shops and blog eventually.

I need to open my shops in Folksy and MISI still, but I have a headache now, after all the computer work I've done today. So I'll tackle those another day.

I still have my patterns to list in Lynne's Pattern Parlour and I need to get some handmade goodies listed in Lynne's Knitted Notions. But at least all the tricky technical stuff is done now.

I'll be blogging about my (hopeful) success on my new blog here and posting some free patterns too along the way.

I'd love some followers on my new site, and at some point I hope to create a monthly newsletter that you can sign up to.

Dancing Folksy Friday

My daughter is away at the moment on a 3 day Dance Workshop with the British Ballet Organisation at the prestigious Elmhust School for Dance in Birmingham. She was really excited as she wants to train professionally as a dancer, so this is a great opportunity for her.  She's 15 at the moment, so she may change her mind, but she's always danced and is really good. I can't wait to go and watch the performance on Saturday.

My folksy friday this week is dancing, hope you like it.....

From top left, clockwise, these dancing folksters are

1. Annabella designs
2. All beauteous things
3. Jay designs
4. LJG Art & Illustrations

For more gorgeous folksy friday showcases, click here