Crochet hat with paisley feather.

So, this is my latest crochet experiment - it's an appalling photo I'm afraid - the hat has a very attractive scalloped edge, but you can see the crochet paisley feather pretty clearly.
I finished it today, and I'm pretty delighted - it remains to be seen if I get laughed at in the street though.

Lace type pancakes

So. I started blogging again because this was sooo unbelievably cool.... and ALL THE RECIPES ABOUT IT LIED.

Apparently this is really easy, and there are loads of pics of pretty heart pancakes and stuff... uh huh. Maybe if you're a really, really brilliant piper, or, if you just happen to have a squeezey bottle in the house when you decide to make crazy ass pancakes at 5pm on a Sunday afternoon... for normal people, this is how you can actually do it. Also... I suggest that you make normal round pancakes in the pan first, just to like... get your eye in.

You will need: 2 clothes pegs and a disposable piping bag. Or if you're really hardcore, and you LIKE being covered in batter... a homemade one. I'm not telling you how to make one, because I'm not hardcore, and I'm not nuts. Buy a roll in the supermarket, they're awesome (I realise this goes against earlier admonishments about the availability of squeezy bottles. I don't care. Squeezy bottles are not a life essential, disposable piping bags DEFINITELY ARE, and also the manufacture design is really cool).

You will also need: a LARGE, heavy bottomed, non-stick frying pan. You can make these in a little pan, but unless you have serious wrist control, you're going to spend a long time cleaning the environs of your hob. And a flicky over thing. And a plate to put the finished pancakes on. And scissors.

This recipe is in cups; a cooking cup is not the same thing as a mug. Sometimes cups are obviously the American way of safeguarding their recipes from copying by the outside world - in this case, it's just flipping simpler*. A cup is 250ml. Just in case.

The actual recipe:

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp melted butter

1. Sift the dry ingredients together (Delia says to do this from high up so it adds more air, personally, I've always found this adds more mess, but suit yourself).
2. Break egg into separate bowl and check it's still edible. ie. not smelly, and the yolk has not seeped into the white. Mine was officially best before 25 days ago, but it still looked fine. Might want to check I'm still blogging next week before using this advice though...
3. Chuck lightly whisked egg and milk into dry stuff and whisk together. 
4. Heat up pan. Then whisk melted butter into batter. 

At this point, you have perfectly good pancake batter you could make normally and save lots of mess. 

To actually make lace pancakes:

1. Open up disposable piping bag, fold top two inches over your hand so it won't slip through or get battery, pour batter into bag.  It probably won't all fit, don't worry, don't let the cat swim in it, and you can top up the bag later. 
2. This is the cunning bit: fold up the open end of the bag - fold the sides into the middle, then roll the end down a few times and stick a peg on it. You can now put the batter down without it going everywhere. Do a victory dance to celebrate your genius.
3. Squeeze the batter out of the pointy end, fold it over to prevent the batter shooting out, and cut off the tip. It is better to cut off too little than too much. If you do get snip happy, put the bag inside another bag and try to do better next time.
4. Hang the bag over the pan (which is hot, just in case you missed that bit) and unfold the pointy end to let the batter come out. Waft the bag around in little loops, trying to stay an inch or so from the side of the pan. When you have a fairly even pattern of loops, pinch the end to stop the flow of batter. 
5. This is the bit which is more cunning than seven foxes: fold the pointy bit up, and put the other peg on it... tah dah! Now you can put it down.  
6. When the pancake isn't sticking to the pan, and before it goes black, flip it over and do the other side. 
7. Make a slightly squished crease across the middle of the pancake with your flippy thingy. Fold the pancake in half, make another squished crease, and fold it in quarters. Arrange artistically on plate. 
8. Repeat ad infinitum. 

Eat them with something tasty. I went for yoghurt and tinned peaches, but only because they were on offer. 

*pun spotted on read through. argh.