I have some knitting to do.

clockwise from top left ; Blaise's backpack, Flash's sock, zephyr for the Sheep shawl (not started), test knitting, lovely ripply scarf in kidsilk haze and jo sharp's silk georgette.

For the past few months I have been flat out designing, knitting and trying to get the website up and running, now that it is up, I have tweaking to do, but not the same volume of work as I have had. I knit on stock items everyday for at least 4 hours (I call it "going to work") but because I have launched the website during the "off' season (high summer in the northern hemisphere, spring on the horizon in the southern) I have a bit of time to play with every day (and I am NOT going to spend it doing housework) so I have piled my UFOs onto the table next to the couch, and will force myself to finish them while I still can (the test knitting is just there for show, I have to finish that today to ensure that the pattern is correct)

I feel a bit like I am "in waiting", I am in that no-man's land of online stores - the Just Jussi store is there, but until the advertising and links kick in...it kind of isn't there, I have had over a 1000 unique visitors, they are there for the free patterns, not to buy, but at least it helps the search engines to take notice.
It is so hard for me to just sit on my hands and wait - people who know about this stuff keep telling me that it will take 6-8 weeks to get a sale ,and I've had 2 in a week (to people who are not related to me or friends!) but I know it will take time and lots of effort to generate more.

Ok time to move my butt, and to show that I am not knitting 24/7 I will share a recipe;

Sticky Date pudding

Ingredients
200g pitted dates (chopped)
1 teaspoon baking soda
150ml boiling water
125g butter
125g brown sugar
2 eggs
125g self-raising flour

Method.
Put the dates, baking soda and boiling water in a bowl, stir and leave for 20 minutes.
Beat butter and sugar until creamy.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating until light and fluffy.
Stir in the flour, then the date mixture.
Pour into a medium size baking dish or casserole.
Bake for 30 minutes at 180°C check with a toothpick to make sure it is cooked.

While the pudding is cooking, make the sauce
200g brown sugar
50g butter
1 cup (250ml) cream
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Method
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to the boil, then simmer for 1-2 minutes.

When the pudding is ready, remove from the oven and coat the top lightly with enough sauce to produce a sticky glaze. Return to the oven for 2 minutes.

Serve with extra sauce and whipped cream.

This is the standard recipe, we do something different, when the pudding is cooked we serve it up piping hot, cover with Monin gingerbread syrup and eat with vanilla icecream or custard.

enjoy! (and to those readers in the northern hemisphere, print this out and stick it in your cookbook, with all of that beautiful weather you have no need for comfort food!)