Birthday Treats

My big boy L turned 7 on Saturday. It's been a weekend of cake and gifts. I'm all caked out, but I had enough left in me to make these tasty little treats for L to share with his classmates today.


Made with the trusty Eggless Muffin recipe. I got to use my new toy, an icing syringe for these too. That was fun, but I think my technique needs some work. They were tasty anyway!

A Declaration for December

With the end of the year nearly upon us, I've decided that December will be UFO Month.

I don't want to start the new year with outstanding WIPs. Well, not too many at least.

Remember this photo?

Well I have to confess that it's not a truly accurate representation. There are two other WIPs that didn't make it into the picture. I discovered them after I posted. I did know they existed, they had just momentarily slipped my mind. Yeah, that's right.

But the good news is that one of them just needs some finishing touches, and the other is halfway done.

So out of the above projects, 2 of them will be finished in December, plus the other 2 that aren't pictured. So that's 4 WIPs to be finished before 31st December. The other 3 are socks and I'll keep them as my take-along WIPs, since I haven't worn socks for about a month now and I'm not likely to put any on until maybe March.

The good news is that as a parent of 3 young children, I have no social life, which means plenty of evenings at home to get these done!

Oliver + S - Popover Sundress!

With the recent heatwave my inclination to sit and knit has waned a little. And since my sewing machine's recent lack of use has been playing on my mind a bit, I decided it was a good opportunity to do some sewing instead.

I'm still VERY much a novice at this, but this cute little pattern - Popover Sundress - was pretty easy going. The instructions were really clear (even if I did manage to attach and sew the first arm strap on wrong!). Once I worked out what I had done it was plain sailing from there. I also managed to burn my thumb twice while pressing the straps, before I decided to turn off the steam.

The fabric is just some from the quilting section at Spotlight that I picked up some time ago. Fortunately I had contrasting shades in the same print so they go well together. And they were the only pieces that I had enough of to not have to go and buy more.

Seems to be a hit with Miss F. She arrived next to me at the computer this morning with it on - albeit inside out and not over her shoulders, but the fact that she had both wanted to put it on AND managed to do that much herself, impressed me and tells me she likes it :)
The sewing bug has bitten!

Spring Cleaning

I'm slowly making my way through a number of things that need to be done around here. One of them was to sort out my WIPs and see just what I've got sitting around waiting to be finished.

These bags contains all my WIPs. Fortunately, for all but one, they live to be finished another day. I'm actually in two minds about the unlucky one. So for now I haven't ripped it out, but I have taken it off the needles (to use for something else). What will be will be on that one.

One very unlucky, longstanding WIP, has been layed to rest though. This one is from waaaaay back. It's presence in the drawer has been bothering me since I put it there, who knows how long ago. I finally decided that I'm never going to finish it. It was likely going to be too small for me anyway. So this is what it now looks like.....

R.I.P Central Park Hoodie....

And a recent addition to my crafting paraphernalia....No chance to even have a play with it as yet. I'm hoping to get to some lessons. For now it's decorating the bedroom. The kids are fascinated with it.

This is getting ridiculous

Forecast for Monday
Fine with high cloud. Light to moderate southwest to
southeast winds.

Precis        Fine. High cloud.
City:         Min 19    Max 28

Tuesday       Fine. Sunny.           Min 15    Max 34
Wednesday     Dry. High Cloud.       Min 20    Max 41
Thursday      Possible late thunder. Min 25    Max 41


It's not even summer yet!

In knitting news I have restarted my Rusted R o o t and finally got back to
where I was when I ripped it out.  It's amazing what a sweat you can
work up just sitting, knitting.

Make It Perfect

Make It Perfect are having a mega-giveaway on their blog.

So get on over there and get yourself an entry! I did :)

Not really knitting weather

Warning Summary
The SES has issued an Extreme Heat Watch for South
Australia.

Forecast for Monday
Dry, hot to very hot and sunny. Light to moderate northeast
winds, tending southeast in the evening. Light to moderate
afternoon sea breeze. 

City:         Max 37

Forecast for Tuesday
Dry, hot to very hot and sunny. Light to moderate northeast
winds,tending southeast in the evening. Light to moderate
afternoon sea breeze.

City:         Min 24    Max 37

Wednesday     Dry. Sunny.      Min 25    Max 39
Thursday      Dry. Sunny.      Min 25    Max 39
Friday        Dry. Sunny.      Min 20    Max 36
Saturday      Dry. Sunny.      Min 16    Max 34



Please note, I don't live by the sea.   Maybe it's time I started that dress in
cotton that I've been planning to make for F?

Eggless Chocolate Muffins

Take this...


and this..
.
put them together...


and you get this...



mmmm...


yum!


Recipe here. I added chocolate chips.

If I could turn back time

I would have listened to that voice in my head that said "oops, you've knit a bit further than you probably should have before joining the front", and I would have ripped it back a bit then.

I would have tried it on just a little bit earlier.

And most importantly.... I would have checked the pattern before ripping it out entirely, and then I would have known that the next size down actually requires casting on the same number of stitches as the size I originally started.....

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.