Copenhagen Calling

That's the name of this beautiful cowl I knitted late last year. Obviously it's too hot to wear it at the moment so I don't have any photos of it on me.

The pattern is by Isabell Kraemer (the same designer of my toe sweater) and is just lovely, not difficult but enough to keep most knitters interested with the sections being just long enough before changing. I'm trying to learn new skills when it comes to my knitting so this was the first step towards colour work and I can't wait to try something a little more difficult soon.

The yarn however was a bit hit and miss. I bought the teal yarn along with cream, it's a merino yarn and is so lovely and squishy so I was looking forward to wearing it when the weather cools down. As I was knitting it up however, the teal was staining my hands pretty horribly and although I can live with that I was scared of what it might do to the cream yarn once it was washed. Unfortunately there is no grey in the same yarn range so I had to settle on another yarn and although it looks great it is quite scratchy so I'm not sure how it will feel once it's wrapped around my neck.

Details ravelled here.

xx

Farm Auction

I went to my first farm auction last weekend, Mr H has been to a few in the past and nabbed some bargains, but this was the first I had attended. I picked up some lovely old galvanised tubs and buckets with the intention of turning them into pots like these.

Source

But we paid a premium price for them so now I'm not sure if I want to drill holes into the bottom of them. The largest tub may already be a little leaky so if it is I will happily take to it with the drill but the others I'm not sure of. Next time I may just consider buying new ones and finding a way to age them.

Have you been to a farm auction? Nabbed any bargains or not so bargain goods?

xx

Welcome 2017

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are enjoying the fresh start of the new year. I'm not one for resolutions but I do like to take stock of how I'm travelling along and this year is no different. I have been battling with some fairly major anxiety issues for a couple of years so I've recently started seeing a psychologist to help deal with it. I have turned into a bit of a hermit, rarely venturing anywhere other than work and when I do go somewhere other than my 'normal' places it makes me extremely nervous. The ENT, neurologist and the psychologist have all assured me this is fairly normal when dealing with Meniere's Disease but I am hopeful that over the next few months I will start seeing a difference in how I cope with it.

I have set myself some other goals, just some things I'd like to do or learn in 2017 including:

Making cheese - I received a cheese making kit for Christmas 3 years ago (obviously you can't rush these things) and I really want to finally put it to use.

Making soap - I'll admit the whole process, and dealing with lye, makes me more than a little nervous.

Inspecting and raiding our bee hives - yes, we have our own hives now as well as the others here.

Get around to putting my own stamp on this place. It's now been 3 years since we moved here (yikes!!!)  and although we have done the front boundary fence, the place hasn't changed that much.  So I have a few plans to change that.

Have you made any resolutions for 2017?

xx

The toe sweater

So the second toe procedure is now done and dusted and was definitely more successful than the first. The biopsy came back clear and the recovery was much faster and less painful. I highly recommend skipping the first and going straight to the second, tee hee.

But the time I spent off my feet was definitely not wasted. If you follow me on Instagram you would've already seen this but for those who don't, here is the result!

Introducing the toe sweater! The pattern is actually the Ravello sweater from knitwear designer Isabell Kraemer but the new name seemed appropriate.  I seriously loved this pattern. It is knitted in one piece, perfect for a first time garment knitter like me and no seams to sew, yay!

It is knitted in fingering weight yarn (4ply to us Aussies) so you would think it was a slow piece to knit given how smaller the stitches are but it only took 4 weeks of somewhat casual knitting. Sure there were some days when I got through a lot, especially at the beginning and the end, but for the most part there was only a bit done each day.

If you want all the details, it's Ravelled here.

R

Matchsticks

This is not exactly a recipe, just an assembly really. But they are ridiculously easy and sooooo yummy. And they take almost no time to make.

I'm sure they have some fancy name but as kids we knew them as Matchsticks. My kids now love them as much as I did when I was their age.

Ingredients:

• 2 sheets puff pastry
• Cream
• Jam
• Icing sugar

To make:

• Cut puff pastry into small strips; I cut mine in half and then each half into 6 strips
• Whip cream
• Make a sandwich with two strips of pastry using jam and cream as the filling.
• Sprinkle icing sugar on top.

Make a cup of tea and enjoy!

x

The Tale of the Toe

Once upon a time there was a round spot, living quite happily on a big toe. It lived there harmlessly for many, many years until one day it slowly started changing. It changed so slowly it took a long time for the owner of the toe to notice it was changing until one day it was no longer round but an odd, uneven shape.

So the owner of the big toe took the toe to the doctor who said 'I don't think it's bad but we'll remove it anyway.' The owner made another appointment for when she had a week off work, knowing it would be a little uncomfortable for a few days.

A quick snap of the spot where it lived happily in spite of the bad nail polish

Two weeks passed and the owner returned to the doctor to say farewell to the little spot that had kept her toe decorated for many years. The nurse said 'This is going to hurt'. Thanks nurse. Then the doctor said 'This is going to be pretty bad'. Thanks Doc. The doctor then gave the owner a needle and said afterwards the owner did really well as she hadn't sworn at him. The owner replied that she had squealed quite a bit though because it bloody hurt.

So the spot was surgically cut out and two stitches were inserted where the spot had been. Unfortunately the big toe was about the only spot on the owner's body that didn't have any extra skin or fat so the hole couldn't be entirely closed and was instead left slightly open. Ugh.

The spotless toe last week

The spot made its way to the pathologist to find out what species of spot it was and when the results where in the owner was told the spot was definitely changing and would've one day grown into a big, bad melanoma and that although the spot had been removed the extra tissue around the spot hadn't been enough of a safety zone and the owner would need to return in 3 weeks to have the whole procedure done again.

The moral of this story? CHECK YOUR SPOTS!!!!!

The end.

Around the Block Cowl

I have finally finished this very late birthday present for one of my cousins, she has three boys so needs all the pink she can get!

The pattern and colour scheme is by Sandra over at the Cherry Heart blog, I know I have mentioned Sandra's podcast before but her blog is absolutely beautiful! If you love a craft blog you should definitely have a look.

This is the first time I have used DROPS yarn and it was not the last! I have already used one of their cottons for a baby blanket I have almost finished. I'll post on it when it's done.

Details on my scarf are Ravelled here.

xx