Just in time for summer-Alpaca Knucks!

These Knucks are my first completed knitting project in Taiwan. Made out of Alpaca they will be toasty warm in winter months. I started these when it was so chilly in our apartment that I was wearing a sweater and long underwear. It’s April now and the days are only getting warmer so they will have to wait awhile to get worn.

I’m super happy with them. This is an excellent pattern and the yarn is super soft.

In gluten free news I found a delicious bread I can eat.

Heitong Gao ie Black Sugar Cake is made with rice flour and brown sugar and can be found around Taipei. Super delicious and check out this texture:

So yummy. Plus it’s great to take a break from cooking and just buy some bread from a street vendor.

Exciting news! I’ve started my International Internship at the Taiyuan Asian Puppet Theatre Museum. Right now I’m helping to prep puppets for an upcoming exhibition in South Africa. I got to assist sewing these beautiful puppets to be displayed.

These lovelies are both Taiwanese shadow puppets.

Josh and I recently returned from Tainan. We saw a spectacular puppet show by the talented Goodoo Theater. Their show Heart Sea Fantasy was phenomenal and we will be featuring them in Formosa Moon.

Knitting, baking but most of all puppets!

Great progress on the knucks last night. I used Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off so the cuffs easily stretch over my hands. Every time I do this BO I forget how so Cat Bordhi’s tutorial was quite helpful.

When I first became gluten intolerant I was getting sick almost every time I ate. My naturopath doctor said my body was in crisis mode and overreacting to grains, processed foods and sugar. He put me on the GAPS Diet for two years. Now I am thankfully able to eat other grains but find I still like making GAPS Diet food. This apple walnut dessert is simple yet delicious.

I was able to find all the ingredients and my small bread pans worked great. This is one of my favorite breakfast dishes.

In other news, our puppet Floyd has some new roommates. Our friend C.S. was clearing out his studio and knowing I loved Taiwan puppet theater offered to give us two remarkable puppets.

Guan Yu and Floyd getting acquainted.

The Monkey King also moved in. We will be making videos ostensibly for Formosa Moon promotion but really I don’t need an excuse to play with puppets.

Knitting, Biscottis

I’m making great progress on my new Knucks. This is a great pattern!

Gluten free biscottis have been the snack I’ve been craving most since coming to Taiwan. I used this new recipe that used only almond flour instead of my usual flour mixture.

They aren’t as pretty as I’m used to making but they taste delicious. The recipe called for almond paste which I didn’t have. Perhaps that would have provided a smoother texture?

Fingers and Puppets

I spent last night knitting in bed while listening to a podcast accompanied by gentle, persistent rain. This alpaca yarn smells so good! Now that the fingers are made I’m zipping along on the main hand section.

Josh took me shopping in the Song Shang District last night. I did not bring enough socks with me so stocked up. Check out my Gudetama socks!

That lazy little egg cracks me up. There were lots of interesting clothes.

As a costume designer I’d certainly say fashion is important in life! Furthermore, I think it can be incredibly empowering.

We also visited the Puppetry Art Center of Taipei.

Their displays were excellent and they even had shadow puppets.

Hopefully, I will be lining up a puppet gig soon. I am completely enthralled.

New Knucks, New Bread

Taiwan gets chilly in the winter so I figured a good first project would be a new pair of Knucks. I’ve made this pattern many times and highly recommend it. Knucks make great gifts but these ones will be for me. For the yarn I’m going with this beautiful hand dyed skein from Foothills Yarn & Fiber in their Peacock colorway. It’s currently rainy and cold so the alpaca yarn will keep my fingers toasty. It feels so good to be knitting again!

Gluten free baking here has been a challenge but I’m determined to make it happen. My latest cinnamon raisin bread turned out delicious. I used a combination of white rice, brown rice and tapioca flours.