Ersatz post to keep the blog warm while I compose a kitchen renovation post, and write out the sourdough bread recipe as per several requests

With the turning of the year last week I’m feeling the need to turn inward myself, hunker down by the fire and be with my family. And my knitting.

Soups and stews are simmering away on the stove most of the time these days, and as I write there’s a chocolate pudding in the oven, its fragrance filling all the nooks and crannies in the house. It’s even lured Son #3 away from his Lego.

I meant to blog about the winter solstice, and what it’s come to mean to our family, but the moment passed me by and besides, you can read about it in the archives from previous years. The danger in having a blog more than one year old is the repetition. Maybe I’ve said all I have to say? I’m afraid of this little space becoming one of those Today I ate a cheese sandwich blogs, so you might just have to look at photos for a while until I find something worthwhile to say. Or go read funnier, more eloquent blogs. I’ll be knitting socks by the fire for a bit.

In the meantime, because every post needs a couple of photos, here’s a pair of black wristwarmers made recently for a customer. Gees Louise, how hard is it to photograph black?

Great big catch up post (or, what the heck I have been doing all this time)

Hmmm, it’s been a while.

There’s been action behind the scenes though. While I’ve been away:

My blog turned two! And I missed it! Again! Sheesh;
Seemingly everybody in the blogosphere announced their pregnancy, had a baby, or is expecting a baby in the next few nanoseconds;
I missed the Melbourne blogmeet due to a last-minute change in schedule for Son #1’s violin soiree;
A couple of my laundry photos appeared here;;
I spotted a little someone wearing one of my tomato hats;
I held my most successful ever market stall at the school’s Twilight Market yay me;
The following weekend Son #1 had a music exam and I was more nervous then he (but determinedly did not show it, apart from the white knuckle thing);
The winter solstice celebrations have been and gone;



We have had most of the new kitchen installed (tiles and two powerpoints [on the tiles] still to go). Photos next time;

Vera flowered;



There have been many late nights and a couple of essays submitted, resulting in the lounge room looking like this on several mornings;



More knitting of wee baby socks has taken place.



That’s the new kitchen bench that the sock is sitting on, by the way.

Here’s the other benchtop, over on the island bench (this was the one that was meant to be a beautiful timber island bench but due to financial considerations ended up being a beautiful laminate island bench. Sigh). Full kitchen renovation shots tomorrow for those who are interested.



Please excuse my breakfast. It’s there for, um, scale? Or maybe to just show off my first loaf of sourdough in the new oven (which doesn't need cranking up to the highest setting to actually cook foodstuffs all the way to the centre! Fancy!) and the last of Shula's plum jam. Hint.




And you? What have you been up to then?





Oh! In other exciting developments, it seems I’ve won the Spanish lottery, and a nice chap in Nigeria is offering me a million dollars to help store some of his money for a while. Gosh, it’s all go round here.

Put the kettle on ...

It would appear I've been on a blog break.

Back later tonight when I've got the littles in bed.

Yarn Pr0n

Look at this lot. Oh yum.



I wish you could reach through your screen and experience the incredible soft gorgeousness of this sock yarn, which was part of a swap with the interweb’s most famous pudding. It’s going right to the top of the TBK (To Be Knit) pile. Right after I finish all the projects on the needles that is, like the socks for Son #1, more baby socks, the other baby sandal, the cherry hat, the Pearl Buck, the Anjuli Jacket, oh god the shame. Is it normal to have this many projects on the go concurrently? Or is it a sickness?

Don’t answer that. Instead, help me with this.



The yarn (3 little balls of 25 grams each) and the fabric (a Jacqui E size 18 blouse from the op shop, purchased so I could perpetrate mayhem on its teal gloriousness and refashion it into something else) were a happy accident. Purchased from the same op shop, but a week apart, I have them sitting in my study together while I ponder the perfect project. Some sort of soft toy that incorporates fabric and wool? A clever item of clothing?

Help me?

Pretty please?



In other riveting news, my kitchen was ripped out today amid much dust, noise and swearing from tradesmen who DO NOT ENJOY mudbrick houses. And it’s baked beans on the camping stove for the next week I believe.

Meet Me in Melbourne

Only six more sleeps until this.

Don't forget!

A Week in Pictures ... final

It's all go around here ...

The mister has been busy painting the house.

Goodbye mission brown, hello aubergine.





And we have spent today transferring all our pots, pans, crockery, cutlery and assorted kitchen paraphenalia onto the dining table in preparation for Tuesday, when the entire kitchen is demolished.

Total chaos ensues.

A Week in Pictures. #7

Scenes from my desk this week …







And for Amy,



mangosteens.

A Week in Pictures. #6

Tea tonight.

Get some pork on your fork.

A Week in Pictures. #5

A Week in Pictures. #4

A Week in Pictures. #3

Angel in pyjamas.

A Week of Pictures. #2

Voodoo wristwarmer pattern from Knitty, with a couple of minor variations from me (picot cast off and a bit of cable detailing).

A Week of Pictures. #1

Sunday to Sunday.

A week of pictures. No Few words.



PS. Please join in if you like!

again with the cute ...

The Baby Sandal.

Knitted from the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino book, but in an 8ply cream wool from stash.

This pattern was a minor headache (which goes some way to explaining why thus far it is a singleton. Um, just like the eeny teeny baby sock. The attention span of a two day old gnat, I have). I couldn’t make head nor tail of some bits of it, and ended up googling debbie+bliss+baby+sandal+cashmerino+HELP! I came across a smattering of fellow bloggers moaning about the notoriously vague nature of Debbie Bliss patterns, and breathed a small sigh of relief that I wasn’t alone. None of the google results was of any assistance, mind, but there is comfort in being part of a wider teeth-gnashing group, and I soldiered on, guesstimating what to do next. The second sandal has been ripped back twice now and I’ve temporarily lost interest.

Besides, some delicious red 8ply has arrived from Bendigo Woollen Mills (because in my two suitcases full of stashed yarns I can’t find what I need; what is with that?) and I’m happily ensconced in another tomato hat (or should that be cherry?) for the littlest cherry in the Born Lucky household.

In other news, I've just taken part in an academic study on op shopping.