Ocean blue

I am so pleased that the Creme Brulee is finished. I took all these pictures pre-blocking (no, I will never have any patience). It is being blocked at the moment, which I hope will make it a wee bit bigger.

As you can see in the picture, it is a bit more fitted than the pattern says it should be. I've blocked it to the correct size, so time will tell. Even if it stays this size forever, it is nice. It was absolutely mindless knitting, which was perfect at night when I was relaxing. I'm excited to see how I enjoy wearing bamboo. 

Pattern: Creme Brulee
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Bamtastic. I liked working with this yarn.
 

I'm also really pleased with how the three needle bind off looks on the sleeves. I'd done it once before, so long ago that I can't remember on a top I didn't keep, so it was nice to do it again. I love how it looks.

That's it for me this week. Have a great weekend.

School holidays

We are in the middle of the school holiday here in Victoria, and the weather has been cooperating. Hurray!! Here's a fun-fast-free project for the little ones:

In case it isn't obvious, I have no idea how to build a tee-pee, but we got there. Three old bamboo canes and a sheet handed down from my parents. The girls had great fun playing in it. Totally worth the 10 minutes I spent building it.


Recently I read the book Pomegranate Soup, and what I loved about the book was that there were recipes at the start of each chapter. One reminded me of my university boyfriend, we used to buy this yogurt drink in bottles in San Jose. I loved it them, I love it now. Here's how I made a single serving, based on the recipe in the book. And, you have to drink it out of a canning jar. Just because. Probably for the same reason I have to drink my iced tea out of one.

Dugh Yogurt Drink
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 cup (or between 3/4 and 1 cup) carbonated water
1/4 tsp salt (or as you like)
1/8 tsp pepper (or as you like)
* if you are so inclined you can also add 3/4 tbs chopped fresh mint. I am still nurturing my garden mint so I didn't use any.

Combine, stir, add ice if you want it to be super refreshing. Enjoy.  

I do also have some WIP's this week. I'm still plugging away on my Creme Brule (hope to have it done for Friday!). I also have started a block from my Nicky Epstein Block by Block book that is layered lace. I'm not even sure what I'm going to do with it, but I wanted to give it a try.

I am also working on a crochet phone case for the girls. I want to make a strap so they can carry it like a purse. We'll see how I go, I'm just experimenting right now. I'm not even sure it is a practical thing to make. It is good to keep practicing my crochet though!

And that's it from me for now. See you later!

This week

Hello and welcome. I've had a pretty slow week, but that could be in part because I haven't felt well. Perkier now though, and the kidlettes are off school for two weeks. I hope the weather improves so we can plan some fun outdoor activities.

I have a couple of small FO's to share this week. The first one I made to put under the Ball canning jar I use to dry long spoons/knives in the kitchen. It just needed a little something to catch any drips.

Pattern: Set of ombre coasters free pattern on Ravelry
Yarn: Lily cotton from my stash.


The next project was purely inspired by a post over at Minding My Own Stitches. The whole time I was crocheting this I kept thinking, "I'm making a stocking for my dog, I'm making a stocking for my dog!" But really, it is very cute. It is also a good way to practise crochet, and I need all the practise I can get!

Pattern: Dog stocking free on Ravelry
Yarn: Jarol Mother of Pearl I've had in my stash for ever. It isn't nice yarn at all, even though it is marketed as baby yarn. It has a sparkley thread running through it that makes it scratchy. It was gifted to me ages ago and I've been trying to use it up since. I held it double for the pattern, and got rid of quite a bit.

Lastly, it was my husbands birthday this week. He is not a birthday-loving guy (gasp) and doesn't even let me make a cake. But I got around that by making Eccles Cakes. If you haven't had these before, go ahead and make a batch right now. I'll wait. Good aren't they?

We used to eat them a lot in Scotland (ok, ok, bought from a bakery and never home made--until now. Home made is so much better). 

These little beauties are puff pastry filled with a currant/candied peel filling. Delicious! I used raisins because that's how I do things around here, and I used more filling that the recipe called for (1 tsp per cake, that is just ridiculous, I must have used 2 tbs each). If you are a fan of mincemeat type flavors, I cannot recommend these enough. VERY easy. VERY tasty.

And that's if from me for this week. Have a great weekend and happy crafting!

Why didn't she tell me quilting was hard?

Hello! Today I'm taking a wee break from knitting FO's and sharing a sewing one. I know, I haven't done that in a long time. I can say things have been helped along quite a bit by actually living within 15 minutes of a fabric store. I love it so, so much. 

I started this back in May 2012, and wow that stewed for a while in the "if it is in the closet and I can't see it I don't have to work on it" pile. Of course, we had some major life events between then and now, but still, I'm glad to have this done.

It is a mish-mash of different things, thought up by my then 6 year old. I used her old receiving blankets for the strips, and she picked out all the other fabric. To begin with I thought that coral pink would be terrible, but now I have to say I like it very much. She loves the backing fabric so much she uses it both ways. Turns out I could have just bought two big pieces of fabric and quilted them together and she'd be happy. Live and learn. Anyway, the first one is done and dusted and the second one should be easier (famous last words). Stay tuned.

In other sewing news, I've also been whipping up some new cloth napkins from stash fabric:

And making dog toys, also from stash fabric. That green one to the left is an old toy I made her, it is well loved. This dog loves to destroy, and I have to use the thickest fabric I have. The blue one I just made only lasted a night, even though it had four layers of fabric........

Thanks for stopping by my Finished Object Friday. Have a great weekend, I'll see you next week! 

Happiness

Hello and welcome to my WIP Wednesday!! Am I the only one having issues with blogger? It did NOT want me to write a post today. I finally won, because I am stubborn and I had some time on my hands. 

Coming hot off my super happy finish of Flowing Lines, I cast on Creme Brule in Plymouth Bamtastic yarn. My knitting is all backward lately, knitting a sweater in the hot sunshine, and now a summer top in the cold spring greyness. Oh well, hopefully the sun will be out again soon.

In addition to knitting, here are some other things  this week that are making me happy:

A new friend gifted me all these herbs from her garden. Chives, mint, two kinds of parsley, cilantro, thyme. People are so lovely!

This is my new yarn bowl. It is an Opp shop find--they were having a "fill a bag for $5" sale and I got my monies worth (the girls got some summer clothes as well). I love it!

The girls are cutting bits of yarn to leave out for the birds that are nesting. We were trying to entice some swallows to nest nearby, but I think we may have failed. I really want them to stay and eat the mosquitoes that are plaguing us!

Lastly, we made ribbon wands. As my Dad pointed out they are huge, but as I said to him, we don't do small and dainty around here. The girls and I went to a local craft fair and they were fairly taken with the ribbon wands. I told them we could make two our selves for the price of one at the fair, and they accepted the challenge. I was right, and they got to pick their own colors. Win-win.

Ok, this time I really mean lastly, here are two books I just finished reading and wanted to share as they were both amazing. Totally different, one is sci-fi (4th in the series by Robin Hobb, she is fantastic) and the other, uhm, well, a book that takes place in the 60's on the east coast of Australia. I recommend both!

Have a great week!

go with the flow

Hello, and thanks for stopping by. I've had several things that made me happy this week: large amounts of sunshine and warmth, baking cookies, cuddles with the kids, gardening (and not hating cutting the grass), and finishing my Flowing Lines.

I knit this sweater in record time, two weeks! It was a pleasure from the get go, and of course I love this wool more than I should. Like, a lot! I want to buy more of it, right now, and knit more things. Fabulous stuff.

The only mods I did on the pattern were to lengthen the body a couple of inches (I have a long torso) and to make the sleeves 3/4 length (I ran out of wool). I really like the way it turned out. Of course, it has no buttons yet, because the shop didn't have any I like. I will look online, but in the meantime, I wish I hadn't put the buttonholes in, because it is fabulous without. Maybe I'll just discretely sew them closed.........

Funny thing about these pictures. They aren't the best. I was just putting on the sweater when Rori ran into the house and shouted, "I need you, I've lost Isla." So I ran with her to the school thinking something terrible had happened (they had gone back to school to find something left behind, it is 2 blocks from the house). Turns out she was only hiding from the teachers because she thought she would get in trouble, even though I had sent her to ASK the teacher for help. Sigh. So when we got home I made them take pictures for me. The day was grey, they weren't interested, and the sun was going down. So all in all, I guess they aren't that bad. On the up side, this sweater is like a warm woolly hug. I did not want to take it off. But I do want to try blocking it.

Details:
Pattern: Flowing Lines
Yarn: Malabrigo Rios in Lotus   

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend.