So Excited! SQUEEEEE!

This time tomorrow I'll be really excited (ok, in all honesty I'll probably be running around like a chicken with my head chopped off trying to find something 'vital'). I'm already getting butterflies just thinking about it.

This weekend I'm getting together with some of my most favourite crafters and friends for a weekend of knitting, crocheting, sewing, spinning, dyeing, stitch marker making, eating, drinking and nattering (notice, I left out the sleeping, I'm fine with late nights :) )

It's going to be my first time to be childless overnight since Penny was born Feb 2007 (and I was obviously pregnant with her before that and experienced some sleepless nights prior to her arrival)

I have a swap wrapped all ready to gift, along with boxes and piles of things to take, including a spinning wheel and bobbins, fibre for spinning/dyeing, yarn for knitting/dyeing, dye gear (I'm not very sophisticated, it just equals a bottle of vinegar, food colourings and an avent steriliser), stitch marker making gear and the patterns and my knitting needles will be added closer to the time as they'll be in use tonight.

I can't really add a pic of my swap yet in case the swappee happens to see it, though I don't know who will be the new owner of it - it's going to be a lucky dip type swap (and people have bandied about the idea of it being a dutch swap where you can take the swap off someone else!)

My husband on the other hand this weekend will be at home with the 2 kids, he is looking forward to it though and is already planning trips to the library and to feed the ducks.

Suck!

We didn't get a stall at Craft 2.0 for the June 12th fair...maybe now's a good time for me to put the knitting away for a bit and learn to spin.

eden's Been Released

You may have seen me blogging about test knitting 'Simplicity' for tikki recently here and here

Here's a couple of pics to refresh your memory

Well, the pattern was released yesterday with it's new name 'eden'. Eden comes as an e-book with 2 different patterns, eden's adam for the singlet/vest version, and eden's eve for a dress (watch out for an example of this one in the next couple of weeks hopefully)

From tikki's blog:
"Both share the same starting point in the pattern and are knit on 3.25mm needles and 4mm needles.

The pattern is primarily written for cotton or cotton blend yarns and the beauty of this pattern (I think) is that you can actually knit the garment in either 4ply, 5ply, 8ply or 10 ply yarn for the same sizing. It is also suitable for wool, but I would recommend the 4, 5 or 8ply for that for a suitable end fabric.

The pattern also comes with a palette of ideas at the end on how you can individualise your own eden, think stripe ideas, pockets, embellishment, hemlines"

Now for the exciting news - the lovely Georgie has gifted me a cottage license for the eden patterns as thanks for the test knitting which means I'll be knitting them for sale soon! Watch this space for more updates. Thanks Georgie!

Hey, and Georgie is also running yet another fabulous competition over on her blog for eden, pop over there and have a look

They Call Me The Testing Wench

And I love it - have I mentioned how much I like testing? Tee hee

I've been involved in 2 fabulous test knits in the last week or so. The first for a soon to be released dress and skirt pattern by Shannon Passmore (of Crafty Desires) called 'The Flapper Dress'

This fabulous design uses 10ply and results in a lovely full twirly skirt - perfect for little girls that love to dance and spin.

I knit this using Bendigo Luxury (one of my favourite yarns) and was going for a skirt that would go with a lot with the main colour being Denim Blue. Penny picked the pick contrast (of course).

I have yarn lined up to knit a couple more too, one for Penny for nice winter wear, and another for a fabulous warm layer for mucking around in at kindy (seeing as my madam often refuses to wear trousers, a warm dress at least keeps her chest/back warm and toasty)

The other pattern I've been lucky enough to test has been a new design by Georgie Hallam - otherwise known as tiKKi, called Olearia. This simple knit is knit with 8ply in a yarn that ensures good drape. I would've loved to have knit this in some Bella Baby Layette I have in my stash as I think this would've worked prefectly with the pattern, but I also wanted a little warm layer for Penny to wear over everything this autumn and so a 100% merino was selected.

This pattern is called Olearia after a native flower that grows in Aussie that must come in lots of different varieties. This pattern has 3 different versions - this shrug version and 2 cardigan versions.

This was cast off a couple of days ago, and since then we've worn it out heaps and received lots of compliments too. It's perfect for this time of the year but I know that it's a pattern that I'll definitely knit again.

Completely unrelated - notice anything different about my blog?

Stitch Marker Addict

Like I need something else to become obsessive about - but I like making stitch markers, and I wanted to anyway to send to people that had won my blog competitions and who I've been involved in swaps with so I thought I'd have another go making a few more

So, here's a few more pairs :)

(Incidentally I ended up keeping the paua pair, well, it was because I needed a few more stitch markers than I had to test knit Shannons flapper dress and I really liked these ones, so *whoosh*, into my stitch marker stash they went)

Well Since You Asked For It

Here's a really great Hot X Buns recipe, this one starts off in a breadmaker, and then needs to be left to rise for the second time, so it takes a good part of the day - but man are they yum.  Thanks again Ma

Penny glazing the hot X buns

SUPERB HOT CROSS BUNS (FOR BREADMAKER)

Place in breadmaker in order listed: (or reverse order if yours likes liquids last)

320ml room temp water
1 egg
2 tblspns oil
½ cup wholemeal flour
3 cups bread flour
1 teaspn salt
1 tblspn sugar
1 tblspn yeast

Turn machine on, using “dough only”. Add at 25 mins/when beeper sounds (my #$%@ beeper didn't sound so I found out that the kneading part stopped after 30 mins):

75g chopped peel
1 tblspn mixed spice
1 tblspn cinnamon
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup sultanas
½ cup currants
(It was a last minute 'I think I'll make hot cross buns' decision - so I didn't have currants or mixed peel and just used a cup of sultanas - we liked them a lot here)

When machine signals dough is ready, remove onto well floured surface and knead into long sausage shape. Using scissors cut off pieces the size of a tennis ball and place on well greased or baking paper lined swiss-roll tin. Balls of dough should touch each other. Place ¼ cup white flour + ¼ cup cold water in zip-lock plastic bag, squish around to thoroughly combine, cut corner off bag, and pipe crosses on to buns. Allow to rise till twice the size, brush with melted butter and bake in preheated oven 200° C 20-25 mins. Remove from oven and immediately brush over with glaze (¼ cup sugar, 2 tblspns warm water).

And who doesn't like a holiday that encourages the eating of copius amounts of chocolate and sweet fruit buns?! Hope you are enjoying the holiday with those you love and like sharing Whittakers with (hey, did you hear that Whittakers are looking into easter eggs for next year - LOVE!)