Enjoying the Rain

Ah, I do enjoy rainy days. The sound of rain against the windows, the sparkling of each drop, the misty look of the trees in the distance. Rain, wind, snow – my favourite weather. I was born in winter and I am definitely a winter girl! I don’t mind nice balmy spring days but once it starts getting above 24c, I become super whiny girl. I am in my element with this lovely cold, wet winter.

The material in the photo above is some gorgeous forest patterned material I found at Ikea. The colours are gorgeous and there are cute animals like foxes and squirrels. I’m not sure what I will make with it yet, I want to find just the right project. It might also be a good idea if I learn how to use a sewing machine first. I do have one, I’ve just not used it yet. It’s a cheapie from Kmart that I thought would make a good machine to learn on. Another item on my list of things to learn.

Today I’ve been getting some things done that I previously kept putting off and boy does it feel good to have finally done them! I’m still knitting my ribbed scarf but must admit to being tempted to casting on another project. There are so many lovely patterns out there. But I am going to try to behave and finish the scarf before I start anything new.

What's On Your Table – Tuesday.

Joining in with the lovely Joyce’s What’s On Your Table. On my table today is a lovely cup of Genmaicha and a bundle of papery things for Pip’s Envelope Project. I’m a bit behind on that one, fortunately I still have time to send something in. Will be making an envelope out of an old magazine page later tonight. I used to make a lot of envelopes and stationary bits when I had pen friends. One of the pieces of paper in the above bundle was made with my own fair hands. I really should get out my mold & deckle and make some more paper. Anyhoo, the photo is a bit blurry because the steam from my tea fogged up the camera lens – tea fog!

As I type this I am listening to my favourite singer – Cliff Richard. Currently playing is “Wired For Sound’. Do you remember the song and video clip from the 80s? Cliff on roller skates with lots of dancers, also on roller skates. All in funky disco-like dress. Every time I listen to the song or watch the clip, I want to find a pair of roller skates, grab my walkman and go skating around singing along with Cliff at the top of my voice. That would be so much fun! There is an intro on the clip below, but it’s short and then you can watch this classic, Cliff video clip:

I have a lot of cute on my desk

The above is a photo of my knitting time the night before last. All comfy on the lounge, stripey socks, glass of wine, knitting and watching “I Survive a Japanese Game Show” and then “Airline USA”. I do love me some airline shows. I find airports fascinating. I haven’t traveled much, so far only to Hamilton Island. That is as far as I have been on a plane. I hope one day to get to go travelling overseas. Especially to Japan. Although the airline may not let me back on with my luggage as I would buy A LOT of super cute Japanese things. Kawaii all the way!

Speaking of cute things, here is an older video of my desk which has lots of cute things all over it. And you can hear my voice. Although that may not be a good thing! hehe

My Creative Space | Button Craft

I thought I would play along with ‘My Creative Space‘ this week as I have something to share. I’ve always wanted to have ago at making rings, finally I have! I made this ring using a plain ring blank from Lincraft and two buttons, one slightly smaller than other so that they fitted together. Both buttons were from Lincraft, I love the red one with the shell-like finish. I used a hot glue gun to fix the buttons together and then onto the ring.

Of course now I have made one, I want to make more. Which means I keep looking for interesting buttons, like those below that I found at an antique store. They need a bit of a clean but they are so pretty. I’m not sure if they are plastic or bakelite. I think the yellow ones may be bakelite while the rest are plastic. The two red heart buttons are modern, but the rest are vintage. Hmm…I wonder if the store has any new ones? I feel the need to go check and rummage through the button boxes for more treasures.

Photo Fun

I’ve been going through some of my old files and found a couple of photos to share. The first is of some damper that I made once. The slice I photographed reminded me of the shape of Australia. Pretty fitting for damper! The second photo is of a teensy tiny snowman I made a couple of years ago while living in the Blue Mountains. Ah, snow. I do so love your prettiness.


What's On Your Table – Tuesday

Joining in on the lovely Joyce’s meme – “What’s on Your Table – Tuesday“. She is one of the loveliest, most talented bloggers I have come across so do yourself a favour, and go visit her!

So, what is on the table today? The table here doesn’t change too much, not in decor anyhoo. There is usually a small pile of the latest catalogues and the days newspaper. We have one table in the kitchen where we have breakfast & lunch and one in the lounge/dining. The dining table has prettier things on it. Including the subject of my photo below.

Yes, as you can see, I had too much time on my hands & spent way too much time playing with the photo in photoshop. Simple pleasures, simple mind! Two candles on the table, both white although somehow, one is a little taller than the other. The only time the candles are lit is Christmas and sometimes on a family birthday. Really should use candles more as they are so pretty and I would love to get some scented ones. I regret not buying a gorgeous vanilla scented candle from Crabtree & Evelyn that I saw once.

Do you, dear readers, have a favourite scented candle?

Recipe: Lysh's "Really Good Noodles"

What I cooked for dinner tonight. The vote all around was “delicious!” Yay! So I thought I would share the recipe. Now, keep in mind that I rarely measure things or follow recipes when I cook, so this is a rough estimation of how much of the ingredients I used; adjust to your own taste.

Lysh’s “Really Good Noodles”.
500g minced beef
1 large brown onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
4-6 garlic scapes, chopped finely
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 bunch fresh coriander, roughly chopped
1/4 cabbage, sliced finely
Cumin – 1/2 to 1 teaspoon, according to taste
Ground coriander seeds – a good shake
1 sachet chicken noodle soup, dissolved in 1 cup hot water
handful of basmati rice
rice noodles
olive oil
1/2 cup white wine

Add enough oil to coat frying pan. Once oil is hot, add rice, carrots, onion and garlic scapes. Stirring frequently, simmer until onions and carrots are soft. Add mince, cumin and ground coriander seeds. Once mince starts to brown, add chicken noodle soup mixture. Simmer for ten minutes. Keep an eye on moisture level, you may need to add a little more hot water (or stock) if the mixture dries out. Stir frequently. Add fresh coriander. Stir.
Add wine. Gently separate noodles with your fingers & add to the pan. Simmer for five minutes, stirring frequently. Spread sliced cabbage evenly over mixture in pan. Gradually stir in so the cabbage begins to soften but retains colour. Once the cabbage is soft to your liking, serve.
*Serves 4 adults.

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Yay! I’m not a chef or recipe writer, so use the recipe as a guide only. Experiment – add your favorite seasonings. Try adding some zucchini or maybe some corn kernels. Keep stirring throughout – you want to make sure the mince and noodles don’t stick to the pan. Stirring allows you to keep an eye on whether you need to add more liquid.

Anyone get the movie reference hidden in this post? Virtual cookies to you, if you do! hehe

Retro Recipe: Lamb Curry

Time for another retro recipe. This time we visit the land of curries with Marguerite Patten’s ‘Book of Fish, Meat, Poultry and Game’. Published in 1962 by Paul Hamlyn Ltd.

Lamb Curry.
1 pound lamb cut from leg
1 oz. butter
1 gill yoghourt
2 tablespoons curry powder
3 onions
1 clove garlic
2 sticks of celery
1/2 pint stock
salt
1 banana
2 tablespoons of chutney

Cut the lamb into cubes and fry these in the butter for a few minutes then remove from the pan. Mix the meat with the yoghourt and curry powder. Slice and fry the onions, garlic and celery. Add the meat mixture and sauté for 5 minutes. Stir in the stock, add salt, bring to the boil, them simmer for about 45 minutes.
Add the sliced banana and chutney. Continue cooking slowly for a further 15 minutes. Serve in border of rice, garnished with banana and gherkins, and accompanied by chutney, pineapple and ginger.

*You may find this cooking unit converter handy to convert from imperial measurements to metric.

I love the presentation. Truly I do! I’m not one for modern fancy towers of food with ickle dribbles of sauce, sorry, jus. I love me some kitsch presentation. I fancy a few gherkins and some curry now. Nom.

Blogging and Knitting

Today I am still re-cooperating from the flu and pondering how to make my blog more interesting so it has regular readers.

I’ve been blogging for about ten years on a few domains and blogs but recently had a big hiatus. I wish I hadn’t done that now as I lost all my readers. boo! I’m planning on adding all those previous blogs to this one, but that will take quite a while as I need to format them all for wordpress plus find any missing images. The image below is one I made five years ago to celebrate blogging for five years. You can see some of my past blog names and designs. Whee!


More Knitting

Finally took photos of another older project so I could add it to my Ravelry profile. One that I have only recently started wearing, even though I finished it at least a year ago. The pattern is ‘Salad Wristers‘ from the talented Presents Knits. Holiday 8 ply wool yarn. Out of all my knitted items, this is the project that has attracted the most compliments – even from total strangers!

Bonus furry hair from my precious Kitty, Max!


My big black panther, Max! Aww, he’s so cute! :)

Yay For Knitting

I finally cast on for a new knitting project, yay! It’s nothing flash or fancy, just a basic ribbed scarf. I was faffing around on Ravelry, through my knitting books and magazines trying to decide on a pattern. I had my usual thought pattern of “I can’t knit that! Too complex for me!”. In the end I just picked some yarn and decided to do a basic scarf to get myself back in the habit of knitting. I’m using some Moda Vera Harmony yarn (pink & green) and some of my vintage knitting needles. Pink, of course.

Still have the flu and am now up to the coughing stage. Felt terrible this morning but feel a bit brighter after taking some nurofen. Hence the casting on and blogging about it. I found some photos of my older finished knitted projects and thought I’d post a few here.


‘Sister Socks’ a pattern from Yarn Magazine, Issue 3, June 2006.

Knitted cakes from Jean Greenhowe’s ‘Jiffy Knits‘.


Another Jean Greenhowe pattern, this from her ‘Toy Collection‘ booklet.

Vintage Crafting

I’ve been flicking through some of my craft books to find something easy to make while recovering from the flu. I have a complete set of ‘Stitch by Stitch – The illustrated Encyclopedia of Sewing, Knitting and Crochet.’ which was published in 1984. There are 20 volumes and lucky for me, the ones I have are all in excellent condition.

You can sometimes pick these sets up at book sales and on eBay – keep your eyes out for them as they are wonderful. Lots of basic and advanced instructions with detailed illustrations. The projects range from clothes (kids & adults), household items and toys. There are a few different editions, so the covers may look a little different than mine. The three projects below are ones that caught my eye today as they are quite fun and cheery.

I really want to make the pompom bathmat, that would feel so good and sqooshy under your feet! If you’d like to make one of the projects above and just cannot wait until you get your hot little hands on the books, I found some links with similar projects.

  • Pom Pom Rug from Super Minx. It’s from a vintage craft card set, neat!
  • Anjie from Pom Pom Emporium (super cool name) mentions a book that has a pattern for a pom pom rug plus she links to a free pattern from Lion Brand yarn.
  • My Google Fu failed me and I couldn’t find any patterns for licorice allsort cushions or similar projects. But I did find a recipe for Licorice Allsort slice. You need something yummy and sweet to fuel creativeness! The recipe is from Taste.com.au, a site that is awesome for finding delicious recipes. Really worth checking and bookmarking. The photo of the slice is from Taste.
  • Lucy from Attic24 has a gorgeous tutorial on crocheting hexagons which you could use to make a rug
  • And of course, the lovely Pip from Meet Me at Mikes has a wonderful set of video tutorials so you can learn how to crochet.