For you my friend

Here is a little look at what I am making you for your birthday (mainly just to check that you don't think it's instantly hideous!). Believe it or not that is the daffodil yellow silk blend wool that you chose from my stash, it was a very sunshiny day and it all got bleached looking. I am really pleased with how this is coming along though, I just hope that the size is ok!

The Kindness of Strangers

I joined an international knitting swap with a group on Ravelry, which is super geeky but turned out to be pretty fabulous! Look at the great stuff I got! Some really nice greeny blue and organic wool, plus noro wool which I keep hearing about but seems to be absent from all NZ knitting shops. Why, when we have so many sheep, do we have so little choice here? This person sent me 6 balls of lovely wool and some other stuff too, including the cutest pattern for a knitted bat! I particularly liked the wooden marbled dpns, very pretty. If I was the type of person to say 'squeee!' it would go here. You have to come round and look at all my loot. I need help deciding what to make. 

And here, finally, is a photo of the shrug that I don't think I will ever actually wear. I do quite like it still, I just don't know what I would wear it with. I think I need to buy a nice, simple black summer dress. Or maybe I could commission you to make me one? Seriously? I can't find any that work on me, my shoulders are narrow and my hips are wide (sigh) so they are not usually flattering. By the way....can you see the coloured in stitches in the shrug? NO! Haha, I'm so clever!

Knitting mysteries are turning out to be not so scary after all

Starting with the mystery of the double pointed needle (or, as I now like to call them, dpns). They were not as bad as I had been expecting, just a bit fiddly. And I kept forgetting to change to the spare needle and ended up with all my stitches jammed onto 2 needles (not very circular knitting) and having to redistribute. But overall, not too worrying. So pleased with my new hat! It's just a shame that I made it so far into winter. But I think I might take it to Peru, as temperatures at night go below zero apparently. Brr! Also might need some cosy headbands!

You can see I am looking pretty smug in this photo, but it sums up the pride at having learned something new : ).

I started your birthday present today! Such a gorgeous wool, I'm really glad that I got a few balls of it before it was discontinued. I will take a photo and let you have a preview soon. The Devonport markets went well! I made some moolah which was nice, would have felt a bit shamed if nothing had sold. Will be going back to do it again in few months...just need to build up the stock levels again.

New dress

Don't you love it when a new item of clothing rejuvenates things in your wardrobe that you haven't worn in ages? My new Juliette Hogan dress does just that for a pair of boots that I bought two years ago and have NEVER worn (I am aware that this sounds like a shocking waste of money, but they're pretty cute...)! The problem was that I didn't know how to wear them. And now I do. New dress, I love you.

PS: You can borrow her sometime if you ever feel the need for a clothes swap.

Photos from the weekend...

Hi Fi,

I hope you don't mind these photos going on the blog, thought you might like to see them but I will take them off I you don't want them here! I think you look gorgeous, thanks for being such a great model. I have some wonderful new wool from Mel to make into a jumper which I am excited about! I also think I might try making that lovely brown cardi/tunic/cabled top one day, it looks so cosy.

In case anyone other than ourselves ever reads this stream-of-consciousness blog, the patterns and designs shown in these photos are Mel Clark's originals and will be available to purchase and download from South Seas Knitting blog, Slip Slip Knit, soon. Anyway, hope work is going well! I am knitting like a crazy person to get enough done for the Devonport Craft Market which is on the 2nd of August. Hope you can come and say hi!

Leftovers lunch and healthy cakes

Lunch made from last night's dinner. I cooked an awesome dinner last night. Free range pork fillet with a sage, caper and lemon stuffing, with roasted pumpkin, beetroot and the last of the capsicums from the garden. Also did some vege sausages for G. Leftovers made a good hash. Lemony coleslaw with cabbage, carrot, apple, walnuts and fennel (from the garden).

Tim thinks this picture is just a mess and I'd have to concede that it probably is...

And these get me in the good books with E because they're dairy and gluten-free:

3/4 C rice flour

1/4 C ground almonds

1/4 C cocoa

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t  salt

1 C caster sugar

2 eggs, separated

1 C rice milk

1/2 C chocolate chips

Mix first 5 ingredients, plus half the sugar in a bowl.

Whisk egg yolks with rice milk and stir into dry ingredients.

In a separate clean bowl, beat egg whites until peaks form. 

Add remaining sugar to whites and beat until peaks form again.

Fold one third of egg white mixture into flour mix.

Gently fold in remaining egg white mixture and chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into 12 well-greased muffin pans and bake at 200 degrees C

for 12-15 mins or until firm when pressed in middle.

Instead of studying

This is what happens when you are sick to death of uni and the dumb exams which ask you to study the children's responses to reading (for goodness sake!)...so much for not making any more pairs of things for a while! And just as a note, the baby things are not for me...they will be gifted! The pink wristwarmers are quick and fun, made them for Selina, you should make some to learn how to cable! The buttons cover up my awful seaming hehe.