Saturday, March 26, 2011

Knitting: Armando

This hat is SO fast to knit and it shows up a handpainted varigated yarn so beautifully. It was simple enough to memorise and be able to knit and watch TV and complicated enough not to bore the beejeebus out of you.

It is not however the most masculine design and only a fashion forward gentleman would wear it out and about. After I completed it Matt said that the pattern was a bit fussy :) but anything other than stockingette or plain 2 by 2 ribbing would be fussy as far as he was concerned. Since it's a match for his gaming gloves that I knitted earlier in the month I don't mind it can stay on his computer desk. Since we're coming into winter he's going to need it for those late night killing sprees.

This is the pattern designed by Gina House (Sleepy Eyes Knits). There's a more feminine version called the Amanda as well which I will for sure knit for myself (I may even pinch the Armando occaisionally) and it's knit in Cascade 220 Handpaints.

OTTO = style and substance (my favourite kind of substance)

Today we went to Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander Winery in town to see the OTTO espresso machine being demonstrated.


This machine is no doubt the sexiest stovetop coffee machine on the market and it's SMALL so I will get back a whole lotta bench space when I gleefully throw our sunbeam cafe series coffee machine out a window (trust me after 5 or more years of service that machine is DEAD).

Craig, who was demoing, is proud of his machine and rightly so it makes tasty unctuous espresso like coffee and it's made from high quality materials that will last a lot longer than our last machine did. This is one time that you should listen to the old adage that you get what you pay for (which also holds true for haircare products and shoes).

I know that you might look at this and think it's a bit wanky and expensive, and for sure there will be some people out there who are wanky and will buy it for it's looks rather than it's functionality but you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover this little machine isn't all style and no substance, it makes damn fine coffee! and it's small enough to take camping :)

Winter Baby

Yesterday I went to the second Ravelry Rocketeers Stitch and Bitch at The Basin Community Centre there was a good turn out of 20 or so adults and 10 kids and the place was a frenzy of chatting, stitching and socialising. So good!

Afterwards I dropped in at Hand Me Downs which is a well organised, second hand baby stuff retailer in The Basin and brought Lucia some winter duds (see photo for cuteness) and picked up the CUTEST ugg boots for her.





Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Lucy Lu

So Lucy Lu and I have had a great long weekend together.

We've cat patted, shopped, danced and sung. On Sunday we went to Lilydale Lake with Matt and hung out in the sun soaking up those precious warms which are promising to dissapear soon.

She's making a bunch of new sounds Ds, THs and Ss and Matt is getting very excited because sometimes it really sounds like she's going to bust out a Dadda.

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(Just hanging out on the couch sitting up all by myself)

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(Doing the grocery shopping)

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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Happy Birthday Matt

Today is Matt's Birthday and I made him chocolate sugar cookies with peppermint icing and laid them out on the table to surprise him :) I used this cookie recipe and added 35grams of cocoa powder to make them chocolatey.

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Under the Oak Tree


We've been sick with a cold but the weather has been mild so Lucia and I have been hanging outside under the oak tree again taking pictures of ourselves.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Cooking: Old School Recipes

I know that there has been a back to basics movement and people are seeking out classic recipes and I'm happy to tag along on that train. So I have this cook book that I remember using for pikelet recipes when I was about 9 years old and it's one of those fundraiser stylie cookbooks from the Yallambee Activity Centre in Deniliquin (near where my Aunty Colleen and Uncle Mike live).

I used to love makeing pikelets and one afternoon after school around about grade 5 I invited back some of the cool girls from school to my place. Mum wasn't home and I thought it would be a great idea to make pikelets. It must have been halloween or st pats day because we made them green. So I'm cooking away and being a smartarse and I say to one of the girls 'You have to put the handle of the pan in because it's dangerous when it sticks out, a little kid might grab it' and I smack the handle of the frypan and it spins around and collects this giant bowl of green pikelet mixture and flings it across the kitchen and we dissolve into fits of panicked laughter. At that exact moment my Mum walked in and I remember knowing that I was in the shit, probably not for making a mess because my Mum loved me being creative, but for cooking when she wasn't home (which was dangerous).

So enough of my tangenting. The point of my post is that I made these Orange Cookies. They're very tasty, although not quite orangey enough for my liking and they're very light, almost cakey. The delicious orange icing saves the day though.



The recipe is as follows incase you feel the urge.

2.5 cups plain flour
Pinch Salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup soft butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 dessertspoon orange rind
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Additional icing sugar and orange juice for icing

Mix butter and sugar, add eggs and rind and beat until creamy. Stir in the flour, bakign powder and salt alternately with the orange juice. Lastly add chopped nuts. Drop teaspoonfulls about two inches apart onto a greased tray and bake until golden for about 11-13 mins at 200 degrees celcius. When cold frost with orange icing (made my mixing pure icing sugar with orange juice until a spreading consistancy is reached).

Lucia is sitting up

My little bubba is sitting up, albeit with a little pillow protection for when dangerous listing becomes falling on her face. She has a cold today but is still in high spirits playing with the easel magnetty thing that she got from her Aunty Audra.

Knitting: Good Gaming Gloves


Made these gloves for my brother John's birthday, to wear to keep his fingers toasty when he's up late at night playing WoW with us to keep his hands warm (modelled by Matt). When Matt was wearing them for the pix he thought they were awesome and wanted a pair too, so I ended up knitting two pairs.

I got almost all four mitts out of one skein of Cascade Handpaints (100g ball)with the exception of about 4 rows of one thumb. So I might have enough for a matching beanie.

The pattern is Men's Fingerless Mitts by Kathy of Piece by Piece.