My adventures with cigarette pants

So, there you have it. My first big sewing project for 2015 is ON!
After some dithering about which pattern I could use, I finally settled on B5895, which I had already made before.
As I wanted to start afresh and correct whatever fit issues I might have had with my first version, I did a first muslin using the untouched pattern. And here it is!

I'd say it looks OK, both back (sorry, no picture of the back - I'm not equipped to take good pictures of my backside on my own!) and front, from the waist down to mid-thighs.
As evidenced on pic nr.2, the side seam is slightly pulled forwards when I get to the pocket area, so maybe I should taper the seam allowance to 1/2 in when I reach the top of the pocket on the side seam, and then gradually go back to 5/8 in.
I also think I should taper to a size 10 from mid-thighs down to the hem, to really get that "cigarette pants" look.
Also, I lengthened the legs a bit too much - I'll have to hack off a few inches as I want them to hit just above my ankles.

Woot!

Here they are...my owls!

For those of you who may not know it, the pattern is Kate Davies' o w l s.
I used Tassadit's cropped version as an inspiration.
This was my first time knitting bottom-up, and I think next time I knit a bottom-up sweater, I'll make both the body and sleeves longer...sewing the underarms shut did make the body creep up, and my sleeves look more like bracelet or 3/4 length...but I like it this way, and it's not really a problem since I meant to wear it mostly with my Chataigne skirt, which is very high-waisted!
It's not perfect - I did something weird when I picked up my wrapped stitches at the back, and one of my underarms was sewn shut on the right side instead of the wrong side - but it was my first bottom-up project, and my first project involving cables, so I'm quite happy with how it turned out!
My Ravelry notes can be found here, in case you're interested. 

Some Cuisine : Butternut Squash Lasagne

I like butternut squash. And I like butternut squash soup. But sometimes I get a bit bored of it. This is how I came out with this recipe.

Serves 4 :

• 12 lasagne sheets
• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 of a small butternut squash
• 10 slices of coppa or pancetta (or 10 slices of Italian style ham if you can't find coppa or pancetta)
• 250 g of mozzarella di buffala
• 50 cl vegetable stock
• 1 dash of white wine
• 1 tbsp sugar
• pepper, dried rosemary, dried sage
• grated parmiggiano or grana padano
• grated emmenthal

Peel and dice the butternut squash.

Peel the onion and garlic. Shred your slices of coppa. Put all of this in a frying pan with 1 tbsp olive oil until the meat starts to be crispy and the onion soft. Add a dash of white wine. When it's evaporated, sprinkle with sugar to caramelize.

Add the diced butternut, pepper, sage, rosemary, then the vegetable stock. Simmer till the butternut is soft. The water must evaporate, but not too much - you don't want the lasagne to be dry!

Turn the fire off. Drain the mozzarella and dice it. Mix it with the meat, onion and butternut. Add 2 tbsp grated parmiggiano.

Take a deep dish that goes in the oven and start layering the lasagne. Start with enough lasagne sheets to cover the bottom of the dish, then ladle the butternut and coppa mix and spread it evenly. Then, alternate between lasagne sheets and butternut mix until you're out of the filling, ending with lasagne sheets. Sprinkle 2 generous handfuls of grated emmenthal, put in the oven for 20 min at 200°C.

Serve hot.