Knitting Pattern Swap

Mister postman delivered a parcel for me today. In the form of knitting patterns and other little treats from Joy. Thankyou Joy the are great and I cant wait for a friend to have a baby so I can do the little beanie for them! Come on people - pop those bellies...

Work in Progress Friday

Wow - is it really Friday again - ALREADY. Where has my week gone.

Here is a progress photo for you all. Getting there slowly. back is finished and I am half way throught the front. I cant wait to get onto the sleeves and add some colour into it.

Double Pointed Needles and working in the round.

Well Double Pointed needles really put a new spin on "Women with two pointy sticks!"

Tim sat watching me last night and just said "Why dont you just drop a needle?" Humm - I dont really think he got the whole concept of why I was actually using them!

I would really love to get a set of bamboo ones - so that is my mission - and I would love to use them to knit the red dress for Amelia and would really like to knit a pair of socks!

A Little Bit RED!

Ok - so this is going to be the next knit for Amelia. I found the wool at the op shop the other day ( not that I need any more wool) It is 5ply and is from the Wangarratta Wool Mill - what a find.

The picture is from the latest copy of Shop till you Drop for Kids. I dont actually have a pattern for anything like this so it will be my first attempt at making up a knitting pattern.

WIP - Friday.

Ok so I know that it is not Friday. Amelia and I went to Melbourne to pick up Tim. Yeah we have a husband and dad back. This is my Work in Progress. I know that it looks a little different than last weeks. That is because I unravelled it and started again (one of the advantages of knitting)

This will be a very plan and boring jumper, but I will jazz it up with a cherry appliqued into it!
Hopefully it will not look as boyish then.

Chocolate Cake and a Piggy

Chocolate Cake and a PIGGY!

Well it was Emma's birthday (my friend from Darwin who followed us here - or did I follow her???)

And since both of our Tim's are away I thought that I would invite her over for dinner!

Emma is a confessed lover of CHOCOLATE CAKE and PIGS. So my gift to her was just that.

I was a little worried though and very red after the experience of making the cake. As I descided to try a new recipe. Yes that is beetroot in the picture and YES it was in the cake!

Ok Edited to add the recipe:

BEETROOT CARROT CAKE ICING
4 eggs 125g cream cheese
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil 30g chocolate
2 cups castor sugar 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons bicarb
1 x 825g tin of beetroot - drained and blended

METHOD
Beat eggs in large bowl. Gradually blend in oil. Mix in sugar and vanilla.
Sift flour, cocoa, salt and soda together and fold this into the egg mixture with the beetroot.
Pour mixture into two greased cake tins. Bake in a moderate oven for 1 hour or until cakes are cooked.
Cool for 15 minutes and then remove from tins.

ICING
Beat cream cheese until creamy. Add melted chocolate and fold in icing sugar.

MY NOTES
I used my sponge tins for the cake. When cooled I placed strawberry jam and cream in the middle and the icing on top. Next time I will SIFT the icing sugar - but I was running out of time and needed to get Amelia through the bath.

I hope that you enjoy this. And come back to let me know what you think of it.

We Interrupt this Program...

To Bring you RAIN!

Yes Rain ... Real Rain ... The type that falls from the sky and you get wet.

Sorry - Just a little excited - I have not seen rain in over 9 months! And I did not even think that it rained in Victoria. Well we are in the middle of a drought!

Currently we are on stage 5 water restrictions - so, no watering gardens, lawns or washing of cars. We are collecting grey water from everywhere grey water can be collected in the hope of keeping the plants alive and a small patch of lawn green for Amelia to play on!

WIP Friday

Well I have started on another jumper for Amelia.

Ostrich and Totem - Wool is from the discontinued stuff that I bought in October. (Yes it is from my stash - I should really take a photo of the PILE of Wool that I have so you all believe me)

It is the hardest thing to knit - due to the colour. It is actually darker than it is in the photos. I really like the pattern through this.

A Cup Cake Hat - And an unhelpful Model

Ok - so this is the finished cupcake hat that was set as a knit - a - long, so long ago that I can not remember on CraftyMamas.

I used the free pattern on The Naked Sheep as a guide. But I had NO IDEA what a MN was! So I made it up. (humm will have to do it again and write it down so I know what I did! I think that it looks ok though - A little more frosting than the original - but cute all the same.The instructions called for kntting in a round - or circular needles and I had no idea how to join them and was too impatient to get on the net and find out how - so I just knitted it up using ordinary needles and then stitched it up. It was fun to do and something different, I am sure that we will gets lots of looks around here!

The whole hat is actually knitted up using wool that I have found during my op shop hunts.

And I really just wanted a nice photo of Amelia wearing her new head attire - but she was not playing the game today! Oh Well...

Kitchen Sewing Swap - EB!

1. What colours are your kitchen? Wooden and grey/white, I move every year or two and usually get something new for our new kitchen - so my lucky swap partner gets to do it this year as I have not gotten around to it yet. Here is a picture for you! NOTE - THIS IS NOT WHAT MY KITCHEN USUALLY LOOKS LIKE, I AM IN SHOCK - I ACTUALLY HAVE BENCHES! 2. What is your favourite appliance?
My favourite plug in appliance this year is going to be my slow cooker - I can not wait for it to get cold and I can put something in it and smell it cooking for the whole day.
My favourite non-plug in cooking thing is my ROMBERTOFF. My parents have one and they bought us one years ago - I think that it is one of the most used things in our house - we love roasts and it does the best lamb!

3. What do you love cooking most?
I love cooking lots of different things and have way to many cookbooks. And now that I have found 'the internet and goggle' there is no stopping me! I enjoy cooking something different all of the time...

4.What item would you love most from your swap partner?
Surprises are good! But I do need an oven mit (a big one that goes up your arm - I am terrible at burning myself)

Powder Puff and Feathers Jumper

Well this is what I have been working on! I jumper for Amelia - it is knitted from wool from my stash! I actually picked up a whole heap of wool from Spotlight last year for 50cents a ball!

I can not wait to get her in it and cuddle her - it is so soft and cuddly...It was a pain to knit up - dropping stitches was a night mare and meant pulling out half of the jumper to find the stitches! Humm. But I am glad that I stuck with it.

Cute Floral Bunny

Oh look how cute this little bunny is. I am so in love with Bunnies at the moment - I so chould have called my WAHMania shop something to do with Bunnies instead of BUGS! Humm

Anyway - you can also have your own little bunny too. Available here!