Saturday Morning

With the twins a little under the weather and the weather a little windy, we decided it might be best to spend the day at home. Junior Chef and I whipped up a batch of raspberry muffins for morning tea and I got a chance to play around with my new camera.

We used this basic recipe, replacing the blueberries for frozen raspberries and adding some lemon zest. It's a good recipe to make with a toddler as it gets you to rub the butter and flour together, and what 3 yr old doesn't love getting their hands in the bowl. They might not have been the moistest of muffins but they were quite tasty and went down well with a coffee.

Knit-not Nat

For anyone out there who is still following my blog I thought it was about time I fill you on on where I went and what I've been up to - and as you may have guessed from the post title, there hasn't been much knitting lately.

So the last you heard from me was back at the beginning of August. It was at that time that I fell pregnant again and soon after I started suffering the most horrible morning sickness. I thought I had it fairly bad with my first pregnancy but this time around it was so much worse. I felt too sick and too exhausted to travel to work or leave the house and the thought of knitting made me feel nauseous - so much so that although I had finished knitting the Aeslight shawl for my best friend it wasn't until 6 weeks later that I could bring myself to weave in the ends and block it.

My plan was to wait until the morning sickness had passed and I had a cute little scan to show you at 12 weeks before posting again. Well here's what the scan showed...

...that's right - twins! Needless to say the news came as a bit of a shock. And we found this out the day after my husband had finished up work and we were getting set to move 1000km north, away from family and friends, for a sea change in Noosa Heads on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. After a day or two where we considered putting off the move, we decided to stick to our guns and we made the move in early October. (The morning sickness, by the way, didn't pass until I was about 19 weeks).

Since then we have settled in fairly well to our new life. Jamie has a great job at Ricky's, one of Noosa's top restaurants, and the hours are very family friendly. Nina loves the beaches and the parks and enjoys going to daycare a couple of days a week. I continued working from home for Polli until a few weeks ago, and have found a fantastic midwife to support me through my pregnancy, birth and beyond. We haven't had the best luck with the weather - Queensland has had one of the wettest Decembers on record, major flooding and 3 tropical cyclones - but the lifestyle is great and the people are very friendly. I've struggled with the humidity up here (definitely not conducive to knitting!) but am looking forward to a mild and hopefully dry autumn and winter.

I have started to miss my knitting lately and would love to knit something again before the twins are born. Although I might have left my run a bit late now that they are due in 5 weeks and expected any time soon. A friend gave me Vintage Knits for Modern Babies for my birthday and I would like to make a couple of the Heirloom Baby Blankets from the book, although I struggle to imagine a time when it will be cool enough to need blankets. Instead I might try to knit myself a pair of comfy socks to wear in hospital....

FO: Xavier's Grey Noise Jumper

I decided to call this jumper "Grey Noise". It is quite a nice little jumper and in the Malabrigo worsted it will be very warm. It was very easy to knit and I liked the fact that it was knit in the round so I didn't have to do any seaming - just a little grafting under the arms. It was presented to my adorable nephew at his birthday party on Sunday.



After so much grey I was relieved to be surrounded by so much colour at the party.



Nina had a ball (and ate a little bit too much sugar!).

A Winter Wedding

Things have been a bit quiet on the blog front lately. This is partly because I have been busy very busy at work and also because there was another wedding in the family. My beautiful sister Naomi married her lovely fiance Dan on Sunday 4th July (they like to refer to it as "Dependance Day" now) at Bellachara in Gerringong, about 2 hours south of Sydney.


Bridesmaids: That's me on the left and my sister Nicole on the right. The Bride: looking gorgeous in her 50's style dress.

My fears of freezing on the cliff tops during the photos were unfounded as it turned out to be the most perfect mild and sunny Winters day you could imagine. It was a beautiful wedding and a lovely long weekend away with the family.

My very talented mum was responsible for the knitted shrugs you can see in the photo above, and for all the dresses including the flower girls and the bride! She also knitted two other cardigans for the flower girls, and all this in the space of a couple of months. She makes it look so easy!

I have also been quite busy knitting something old (my not-so-romantic vest is almost done!) and something new (more on that later) and will soon be knitting something blue!

Cedar Leaf Shawlette

The Cedar Leaf Shawlette I have been knitting for my mother in law's birthday (which was on the 5th of May!) is finally finished and on it's way to the land of the long white cloud (New Zealand). I am really happy with how it turned out. I love the design, the colour and of course, the yarn.

This Never Not Knitting pattern is fantastic, it is clearly written and laid out. It was quite a straight forward knit, even though it was my first real experience of short row shaping, using the "wrap and turn" method. I loved knitting the body of the shawlette. I think the fact that you never reach the end of the row makes it quite addictive. Also I like that you knit fewer stitches as you go as opposed to more like some shawls.

I did have a bit of a mishap on the last row of the main crescent part, where you are supposed to pick up the wraps as you knit right across. I don't quite know what I did wrong but I think in some cases I was actually picking up a stitch before the stitch to be wrapped!! I was also a bit put off by the little loops left by the wraps on the wrong side (is that normal?) Anyway, I couldn't figure out how to fix my mess and ended up ripping back to the garter stitch trim (so almost the entire thing). Knitting it the second time in one week wasn't quite so fun but knitting the leaves was enjoyable even if they seemed to go on forever.

If I was keeping it for myself (alas I am not) I would definitely wear it as a scarf as opposed to a shawl but it looks great either way.

One skein of Malabrigo Scarf

My sister Nicole entered my knitted gift giveaway back in March hoping to win a red scarf. Even though she wasn't an official winner I wanted to make her something. She is a regular follower of my blog and one of the few who leaves comments (which is always nice!). She has also just returned to work after her second child so I decided to whip her up a one skein wonder as a mothers day gift.

Having the self imposed restriction of using only one skein made the pattern choice a little tricky but I ended up choosing to knit the Drop Stitch Scarf (ravelry link) by Christine Vogel.

It was a nice brainless knit and only took me a few days to finish. I followed the lead of other Ravelry users and wet blocked this, increasing the size from 115cm x 15cm (knitted size) to 165cm x 17cm (after blocking). The result is a good sized scarf and the stitch and slight variegation of the yarn show up beautifully.

#3 - One Great Knitter (or two)

Today my job is to write about a knitter whose work (whether because of project choice, photography, styling, scale of projects, stash, etc) I enjoy. I can't start anywhere else but with my lovely and über-crafty mother, Michelle.



Mum has been knitting since she was 8 years old, so that means she has been knitting for almost half a century! She also spins, weaves, sews, and paints, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Name a craft and she has most likely tried her hand at it.

Her craft room is an experience in itself. Walls lined to the ceiling with crates full of yarn, categorised by colour or weight or application. There are shelves full of spindles of weaving yarns and a loom or two, and bookcases crammed with craft books. I am so lucky to occasionally have access to this wonderland (closely supervised of course) and a stash that makes the mind boggle.



Mum is one of those knitters who can knit up a garment in just a few nights or a few hours if it is for one of the grand kids. She also seems to be able to just figure things out and makes things up as she goes. Basically she is the polar opposite of slow and steady me, who is always grabbing my trusty Needlecraft book or looking for video tutorials on the internet. Below is a picture of my little angel Nina wearing one of the garments her Granny knit her last Winter. I love this hoodie and will try and squeeze her into it a few more times before she grows out of it totally.


Knitter in the making, Nina, wearing her gorgeous yellow cabled hoodie.

When it comes to a knitter outside the family and outside of my actual circle of friends, then the other great knitter whose work supplies me with many hours of online browsing, reading and spending is Kelly of Tangled Yarns in Brisbane.


Tangled Yarn' s Snapdragon Tam by Ysolda Teague (photo © Tangled Yarns)

I feel like a bit of a knitting groupie but luckily I have already confessed to Kelly that I am writing about her. I first discovered Tangled Yarns when I was on the hunt for a Malabrigo supplier in Australia, and when I found the online store it was like someone had created the dream online knitting store just for me! I then subscribed to the newsletter, started following the blog and joined the Ravelry group, all of which are inspiring and informative.

Unlike most e-newsletters, which seem to just want to sell you something, the Tangled Yarns weekly newsletter is a great read and always welcome in my inbox (I have never said that about a weekly newsletter before!). I love how Kelly takes the time to point out interesting patterns in a new publication, or suggests and links to online patterns that can be made from her yarns. Such a great idea!

I love the projects that Kelly chooses to make. They incorporate gorgeous colours (and many shades of grey - my favourite!), and cover many styles from children's wear to toys, afghans to cardigans. And as you can see, all are beautifully photographed. She also makes me want to learn to crochet!!


Tangled Yarn's crochet projects: (L-R) Filigree Bowl by Linda Permann, Babette Blanket by Kathy Merrick, Ruby Hexagon Blanket by Nova Seals. (Photos © Tangled Yarns)

An Autumn Day

Earlier this week I took a drive with my husband and daughter out to the Mount Tomah Botanic Garden. I wanted to make the most of our day off together and to enjoy the autumn colours of the upper Blue Mountains. Here in Sydney the cool autumn weather that we experienced over the Easter long weekend seems to have retreated again and the days are unseasonably warm and sunny in the mid to high twenties.

We made our way to Mount Tomah via the Hawkesbury towns of Kurrajong and Bilpin, stopping at a roadside fruit stand to buy freshly picked pink lady apples, homemade plum jam and a bottle of famous Bilpin apple juice. The narrow windy roads flanked by orchards and rolling green hills remind me of driving through New Zealand's North Island. I found it interesting how much the landscape changed once we left the Hawkesbury and re-entered the Blue Mountains, returning to the gum forest.

The grounds and views from the Botanic Gardens are beautiful and breath taking. As are the views along the Bells Line of Road between Mount Tomah and Bell. It was a fantastic day out (although next time I will have to get organised and pack a picnic to eat in the gardens) and a timely reminder of what an amazing place I live in.

Miffy Birthday Cake

The evolution of a Miffy birthday cake - apologies for the poor photos taken late at night

I was unable to find a recipe/template for a Miffy birthday cake for my daughter's 2nd birthday party so I decided to make my own. I borrowed a cake board from my sister and was limited to its size: 30cm x 45cm. I then scaled it down slightly to fit a 23cm round tin and a 23cm square tin, so that I could bake both in my oven at once. Feel free to use my templates to make your own Miffy birthday cake (Template 1) (Template 2).

18/4/11: Photobucket has removed my templates from their website due to copyright reasons (grr!). If you would like the templates emailed to you please leave a comment below including your email address, however I can not guarantee a speedy response as I now have newborn twins at home.

I used the same basic cake recipe that I had used for her 1st birthday cake (a simple number "1") but this time I used Bakels Whip 'n' Ice for the icing. A cake making friend recommended this to my mum and it was ideal; it is very white (essential for a white bunny) and quite easy to use. I think you have to purchase this from specialty cake decorating stores. Miffy would not be complete without her black outlines so these were done with licorice straps, licorice discs for eyes (2 year olds love licorice, right?!).

Although I couldn't bear to eat a piece at the party (having had my fill of cake cut-offs and icing the previous night) I would say it was a big success. The best part of the day for me was when Nina was asked what her favourite thing about her party was, and she replied "my Miffy cake". She is not even old enough to know how to suck up to her mother so I was thrilled and very touched.

Progress Report - Romantic Vest

Although it is a painfully tedious process, I have been forcing myself to knit a row here and there when I'm on the train or in the car. And slowly but surely I am beginning to see a faint light at the end of the very long tunnel... I am almost finished knitting the back! How I will ever find the motivation to even cast on the front I don't know but for now I am focusing on the positive aspects.
Listening to the Never Not Knitting podcast helps to keep my mind entertained even if my hands seem to be working in slow motion.

I also took courage today when my sister sent me 21 gorgeous photos of my nephew Xavier wearing the seed stitch hoodie that I knitted for him last year. The fresh autumnal weather this morning gave her the opportunity to put it on him, for what could be the last time as he is almost too big for it now. At the time I found knitting the seed stitch very tedious but seeing it again now after 6 months I am very impressed with how it looks and am proud to have knitted it.

So onwards and upwards...

Big Cook Little Cook

I might be biased but I think my husband is a genius! Sometimes I am a little wary when he decides to start baking without a recipe, and talks in ratios. But today the proof of his culinary prowess is in the pudding - or should I say cookies!

Chocolate and Pecan Cookies

250g butter

50g peanut putter

120g brown sugar

450g plain flour

100g dark chocolate chips

100g pecans, roughly chopped

2 eggs

3 tbs plain youghurt

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp all spice

Raw sugar for dusting

Method:

Preheat oven to 165°C

Combine the flour and spices in a large bowl and then rub in the butter and peanut butter until combined and sandy. Add the sugar. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and yoghurt and then add it to the rest of the mixture. Fold in the chocolate and pecans.

Form heaped teaspoons of the mixture into balls and place on baking trays approx 5cm apart. Flatten slightly and sprinkle with granulated raw sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

Big cook (Jamie) and little cook (Nina) in action! Nina is the chief taster and in this picture she has just discovered that flour does not taste that great just on its own.

Tying the knot

I hope that people will forgive me for being such a bad blogger and lazy knitter over the past 5 weeks. I reason for this is that I am only just recovering from the insanity of planning a whirlwind wedding, over the Christmas period no less, and tying the knot on January 16th. It was a wonderful day and the weather was kind to us in that it didn't rain, although it was humid like the tropics (thank god for the fans!).

Thank you so much to our amazing friends and family, especially my bridesmaids and those who travelled from interstate and NZ.
Also a big, big thank you to Anna and Nicky for doing the flowers and saving the day when my Etsy hair pieces didn't arrive in time (the arrived on the Monday after!).

The highlights of the day had to be the first kiss with my husband (I know it sounds cheesy!) and the amazing 7-piece jazz band, Howler's Cotton Club.


I was expressly forbidden to take any knitting with me on the honeymoon, which would have seemed out of place lying on the beach at Kingscliff anyway...