Heirloom Tomato

What a wonderful surprise I got yesterday from Jenni - a packet of heirloom tomatoes. They're kinda hard to find.. but she brought them round to cheer me up. and they worked.

I made a little salad - the best thing about these kinds of tomatoes is that you really need no dressing at all on them as they are just so tasty by themselves. I sliced them up, put on a generous pinch of salt, and let them stew a little but to release their tastiness. Once you've left them for 10 mins or so, i sprinkled over some fresh mint and some cracked pepper. I served them up with some grilled haloumi. it was a delightful lunch indeed!

When does a yarn obsession become a yarn problem?

Last Saturday afternoon, calmly sitting at home, chatting, relaxing and then suddenly the phone rings.

It's Mhairi - "Han, Champion Wools on King St is having a closing down sale!"

"oh my god. hang on Mhairi - I'll be there in a minute, literally"

I race out the door, power up king st (thank god I live so close!) running past a few people I know not taking the time to stop and say hello, my empty shopping bag in hand. "A Yarn Sale. A Yarn Sale!!" I'm singing in my head.

I run into Champion Yarns, and start touching (and yes "D", I thought about licking) skeins of tasty wool. I started pulling Jo Sharpe balls off the shelf to work on that blanket I'm trying to finish. Next thing I knew my bag was full and I wasn't going to be eating for a whole week. A small sacrifice considering how much wool I got and how great my blanket is going to be one day.



Mhairi and Kirsty were there. I think they might of been a little scared about my hyperactive behavior. They're new to this whole yarn thing, and are safe for a bit longer before the OBSESSION starts. But they got into it pretty quickly and realised the whole conundrum of buying wool: "if I buy something that's nice, but have no idea what to make with it, is that a problem?" As previously mentioned, they are both novices at yarn shopping and came to the conclusion that it was bad to buy without planning before hand. FOOLS, what fools - BUY NOW THINK LATER. especially when there is a sale on!



I'm not going to use this post of moan about the lack of wool stores in Sydney - seriously, there's a massive hole in the market. I'll save that complaint for its own post. I think that is one of the main things I'm missing about London. For a country that produces some of the best merino wool in the world - where are all the yarn shops? where is all the wool?

First Brown St Crochet Meet up

I've finally got my Sydney crochet gals together. We had our first Crochet meet up last week. and it was fun. I made Mexican, and then we all started to crochet. We've mainly all been working on stuff for the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef here in Sydney, being arranged by In Stitches for the exhibition thats opening at the powerhouse in a few weeks... we had loads to finish. and every one's work is coming along nicely.

The girls hard at work - Mhairi, Kirsty and Erin on the crochet and Cathy catching up on some mending.

Kirsty's Coral

Mhairi's Coral - is as big as her head!

It was Erin's first attempt at crochet (another successful teaching story for me - one of these days I'm going to start charging) and I think she's a natural! With very little instruction she formed this perfect nose warmer! It took me ages to work out how to increase without going all Hyperbolic, and I was trying to teach her to do hyperbolic and she went in perfect rounds! She looks cute as a button!

Entertainment was provided by Ben, and with all the crochet and clothes mending (Cathy refused to learn how to crochet, so she mended things) combined with the soft tinkle of the piano we felt like we'd been taken back to Ye Olden Days.

crochet in the pub

yesterday went to Golden Barley with M & K & B to do some crochet.I forgot my camera. but it was a fun time, beer and hyperbolic reef making

Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef - Sydney

I'm pretty excited to come home and discover that a friend of mine is organising the Australian splinter Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef. In Stitches is the group of gals that are arranging it for an exhibition to be held in August at the Powerhouse Museum.

I saw the exhibit in london and now I get to do some for this one.

Yesterday was the first workshop I went to at the Powerhouse Museum and it was really fun. Loads of people, and lots of crocheting. I think I even made some new crochet buddies to play with.

I made a ravelry group today to try and get more people involved.. and so far its going really well! Loads of members and people already making stuff. fantastics

This is my silly first attempt - its not a great photo (bad bad lighting in the powerhouse) but you get the picture.


Here's some other photos of stuff thats already been made for it.

Sydney Food List - Ramens

One of the first things I wanted to do when arriving back in Sydney was heading for some RAMEN - oh my how I've missed ramen.

A lovely bowl of Tofu Miso Ramen.

Yesterday I went with J & M to Ishi-Ban Boshi in Galleries Victoria and I was very happy about it. Another great reason to go get ramen from here, is that it's right next to Kinokuniya where you can get fantastic craft books.

J likes it as well.

M is pretty happy - its her first time here.


All Gone... well worth the wait of one and a half years!

Back in Business

I've been away for a while - life has been a bit hectic - thats for sure.
I've spent most of the year traveling around the place and doing strange things.

Now i'm back in Sydney and very happy about it. No more London for me. Ever again. Thats a promise..

So, i'm going to get all crafty with it again.. just watch this space.

Photo Shoot part 2

In the next installment of M & F's photo shoot of their xmas pressies from me, here's M in her bed socks - she makes them look sexy, don't you think?

Photo Shoot part 1

I asked M & F if they could take some photos of the things I made them for Xmas. M got some bed slippers, and F got a hat (very similar to mine actually).

They went all out and took some lovely lovely photos, so I had to put them all up here, as they make me laugh, and they'll make you laugh as well. 

First up, here's Feeb in her hat:

Am loving the nativity scene. 

back in action

so, we're home from our holidays. france was lovely. I was planning on doing loads of crocheting while chilling in our mountain cabin but for some reason I didn't get around to doing much. i'll get back into it all now i'm home, and looking for work.