Fingerless Gloves

Fingerless Gloves

I caught the train down to Jan's in the south of France last week, and whipped up these gloves on the way. I'm pretty happy with them, I didn't have a pattern, but there are two of them, and they both look the same, which is a great goal kicked for me..

I used two different stitches, I would of liked some more of that Maggi Knits to make them into mittens, but I only had enough for what I did - 50g on each hand. It's very soft alpaca. I'm loving them. I better not lose them!

The Knitting & Stitching Show 2008

Well Well Well.
The Knitting & Stitching Show was truly amazing. I was overwhelmed by it all. D and I got there at doors open (10am) and walked out of there, well rolled out of there carrying way way too much yarn at about 5pm. Who knew you could spend so much time looking, touching, talking about, dreaming about and purchasing yarn. Actually, I kind of did think the whole day would pass quickly.

I got some amazing yarns (spent far too much money) and meet loads of great people.

Maggi Knits was excellent, such lovely ladies. I purchases this amazing alpaca in orange and some Tweed Fleck Chunky in Denim Blue

The lady from Purl (a new British alpaca wool producer) was great, I got some lovely chocolate brown DK. They had great designs there as well, I wish I had the budget to get more.

From Uppingham Yarns I got these lovely ecological Aran weight yarn. They are so soft and lovely, I might need to get more so i can make a cardi or something.

And from Socktopus I got some lovely hand painted fingering yarn from Hazel Knits and Koigu. I also made a new Ravelry friend, Erqsome which is great!

This lovely handspun and kettle dyed wool from Uruguay in greys, blacks and whites (I think it will make a great beanie), and also this chunky handspun Merino wool from Argentina.

The thing that pushed me over the edge was this amazing Chunky Baby Alpaca from bluefaced, which is so soft and amazing I just to have it - and loads of it. I think I'll need more but I'm going to try for a blanket with this stuff. It's just so lovely.

D and I had loads of fun, stopped for a bit of packed lunch, did a few workshops (which weren't great, just OK) and generally were amazed by everything we saw.

We did buy a lot!!

I can't wait for next year!!

Mexican Food Festival

Luke and I headed out to the Mexican Food Festival the other weekend which was being held at the Brunswick centre. It wasn't very big - but we did have some yummy food. Also some very interesting food, Luke had Ox tongue (which I could not bring myself to eat).

We did get some extra mexican spices to bring home and use in my Excellent Mexican Black Beans, and some yummy taco kinda things. Also some Horchata and this really strange, but rather nice Beetroot cake.

Knitting Nite #6 (or is it 7?) and we've getting bigger

We had another knit nite the other week. and boy oh boy - have we grown. It's very exciting to get new members, more friends to hang out with.

AK has joined. and I think he's going to be a pretty good knitter actually, he's even made jumpers and things before. This time he wanted to make another jumper - with a baby deer picture on it. At least he won't be making a scarf like we've all been making lately.

A turned up as well - which was a bit of an accident, but she looked like she needed to knit - so the first rule of Knit Nite being "no judging" we welcomed her with open arms. And she might come back for more.

The only issue with having so many members is finding a time when everyone can turn up!

Updates from previous members:

M finished her scarf this evening - and she's pretty happy with it. I reckon it looks ace, I hope her friend appreciated it!!

D has finished her B.U Scarf - finally, and I think that's very very good for her to move onto new projects - which is already is. (note the double meaning)

I've nearly finished my scarf.. but as usual, I have 50 projects on the go and never sure which one to take up.

In other news - I think we have a new name, which will be announced in its own special postings. Watch out for that one.

Home Cooking From the Garden

I totally forgot to put these up a while ago. They're off our first (and only) meal from our home grown tomatoes. The tomatoes were pretty good (considering we'd had such a hard time growing them) and loads of them ripened at once, it was a coldish night and they needed eating - a salad just wasn't going to cut it. So I came up with another plan.

I made a Roasted Tomato and basil pasta. Very easy indeed, and so sweet and yummy.

YOU NEED:
A heap of tomatoes (cherry, or larger ones cut up, it doesn't matter)
basil
garlic
olive oil
dash of balsamic vinegar
pinch of sugar
S&P

Heat the oven up to about 17o degrees, mix all the bit together in an oven proof dish, then leave them in the oven until soft and gooey and caramelise, maybe about 30-40mins depending on how hot your oven is.

Take them out, mix them into some penne or spaghetti, grate some Parmesan cheese and you're away. couldn't be easier. and pretty yummy indeed.

Off to Allly Pally

Finally, after so much waiting the day has arrived - we're off to Ally Pally for the Knitting and Stitching Show! We had a great knit nite last night with new members and everything (photos to come), it was to prep for the show today.

Dinusha and I are very excited (understatement of the year). I have a few ideas of things I "need" to get yarn for. But who knows what else I will stumble across. I hope because it's the last day of the Show I won't miss out on much. 

But I'll update later.. I'm sure to have loads of pics.

A weekend without a camera

Well, I'm without a camera this weekend as Luke's gone to Copenhagen to visit a friend so he's taken it with him.

The weather has been horrible, raining and windy, and grey - exactly the kind of weather where you want to stay inside and stay warm, especially if you feel like you have a cold coming on again.

So, here's a few things i did this weekend:

• The biggest thing I did was finally begin to rearrange my recipe folder. I've been meaning to do this for so long, and have been umming and ahhhing about the best way to organise them. It's mainly recipes I've cut out of magazines and newspapers. Before yesterday they were all in a total mess - just piled into a folder making it difficult to find anything.  I was considering cutting them all out, sticking them on index cards and putting them in a box, but I knew I'd loose all the pictures - which is kind of what I like best about recipes anyway. In the end i organised them in sections (chicken, lamb, beef, herbs, vege, tomatoes, asian, french, italian and so on) it was a mission and there were recipes spread all over the living room floor as I sorted them out. I wish I could of taken a photo of it - it was a MESS. I've basically finished.. a few more odds and sods to sort out. But it's a good feeling.
• Made roast pumpkin soup with garlic. I got the main idea from Soup Kitchen, but kinda changed it a bit. I wasn't super happy with it, but it worked out ok.
• Worked on my scarf - I really need to finish it soon as winter is well and truly here. Will post some photos of it soon - I'm making it from the yarn I purchased at La Droguerie in Paris. I keep meaning to post pictures of all the things I bought there, but keep using them before i get a chance. It's a cute stitch I'm using - Maybe I'll post the pattern up here. It's not very complicated.
• I hang out on Raverly a bit. I signed up ages ago and haven't really done much on there and kind of want to. So I posted on a few forums, tried to find some new groups. I also wanted to find out about the buzz for this weekend's Knitting and Stitching show at Ally Pally. I'm going with D and we are pretty excited. I have a feeling its going to be great. So I've been thinking about that a fair bit to (should I have a shopping list, how much money should I take, is one day enough). We're thinking of having a Knit Nite on Saturday to get all excited about heading out there the next day. It will be good if Maaike comes as well.  I'm sure I'll be posting with joy and excitement next week.
• I also thought about my job loads. I keep meaning to post about this.. as its relevant and kinda exciting ... I will one day soon.

So, all in all a pretty eventful weekend.

Bag #2 - Corduroy

So I finished my second home made bag.

This one was for a birthday present for Maaike. It's black corduroy with a lovely blue/greyish cotton lining. I tried to make sure the straps were as strong as possible as I know she seems to carry around half her possessions all the time, so we'll have to see if it holds.

I did discover that my lovely Jones Deluxe sewing machine is probably not great for thicker fabrics (3 or 4 layers of cord seemed to break the needle a few times) but I got there in the end.

She was pretty happy with it when I presented it to her at Knit Nite yesterday (I think) and so am I.

(These photos aren't the greatest as previously mentioned our old little canon is breaking somewhat, I hope to have that rectified soon with an early birthday present, hint hint)