Grissini

Both my kids seem to love all things Italian when it comes to food.  They are more pleased with a lunch of salami, cheeses, olives and dips than anything else, and why not, it is all pretty yummy.
Faced with a rainy saturday with no fixed plans DP decided to have a go at making Grissini (breadsticks), or greasy knees as the kids call them.  Out came the tried and true italian cook book and several hours of rising and kneading later we had yummy breadsticks for afternoon tea.

They had a certain rustic look about them and someone couldn't wait to get their fingers on them....

I must admit dipped in olive oil they were very scrummy.  It is still quicker and easier to buy them from the shop but not as much fun :-)

Breakfast Time

Usually we have breakfast at the table or else we would never get out the door to work/school/daycare in the morning.  On the weekends though sometimes we let Mr A watch some tele while having breakfast and it seems someone else didn't want to miss out ;-)

FO Lavender Honey

The most recent thing off my needles here was a gorgeous wee cardy for Miss M which I completed as part of a mystery KAL (knit-a-long).  So what is a mystery KAL?  Well you sign up to get sent a portion of the pattern at regular intervals and complete the project having no real idea what you are going to end up with.  Okay so that is a little overdramatic since I knew I would end up with a cardy for Miss M but other than that it is a bit of a blank slate.  I guess this kind of knitting is a bit risky, I mean what if you hate the end result.  Well actually in this case it wasn't really risky at all as the KAL was being run by Elena Nodel and I don't think there is a single design of hers that I don't either love or adore.  I have no idea how Elena does it but all her designs are very unique and truly adorable as well as functional.
The patterns this time around is called My Honey and is designed for DK weight yarn.  Once again I wanted to knit from stash and I also wanted to be sure I had plenty of yarn so I didn't run the risk of running out before the end, so I chose to knit this in Bella Baby Layette which is a bamboo wool mix and has a fantastic sheen, drape and stitch definition.
To give you an idea of how the mystery KAL works here is my project after clue 1.

And here it is finished.

And a close up of some of the details.  I love the lace yoke.....

...and the delicate puffed sleeves make this so girly.

And to finish some (not particularly good) modeled pics.  I really need to get better photos of Miss M wearing this as the weather was rubbish when I tried to take these so could only get inside shots.

I finished this off with some gorgeous hand crafted buttons I had in stash from Buttons by Benji.  Very pleased with the overall result.

FO By The Sea

This wee cardigan was a gift for a friend who had her second gorgeous wee boy in March.  Once again I decided to knit the fabulous Baby Vertebrae cardy by Kelly Brooker.  This is the third one of these I have knitted now and honestly I think that is the most times I have ever knitted a single pattern.  Usually once I have knitted something once I don't have any desire to make another but this is so practical for wee babies and quick to knit that it is my fav baby gift knit at the moment.
This time around I chose some Cleckheaton Merino Bambino yarn that I had in stash and although initially I wasn't too sure about the color I was really pleased with the end result.

To knit the 0-3m size took only approx 70g of 4ply yarn as well so this wee project is not only quick but economical on yarn.

And to complete the gift nicely I managed to find a wee onesie locally that matched perfectly, yay!

FO: Cape Palliser Cardy

First of the catch up crafting posts.  This is a lovely quick knit that I did for ME!!  Yes I stopped knitting for the kids long enough to make something for me for a change and I am so pleased with the end result.

The pattern is the Lighthouse Keepers Wife by Melissa Schaschwary and the yarn is Cascade Eco.
There are so many things I loved about this pattern as soon as I saw it and I have been wanting to knit it for a long time.  So when we were heading away on holiday and I knew I would need some mindless knitting it seemed like the perfect project.  I opted for the short sleeved version for autumn and I have already had a lot of wear out of it.  I made the size small but I did add a few extra raglan increases to increase the armhole depth or it would have been a little tight under the arms.  I also just kept knitting until I ran out of yarn so it is slightly longer than the pattern specifies.  Which brings me to another point, this would have to be one of the best value adult knits ever, completed with hood from a single skein of yarn.  Okay they are 250g skeins but still a very cheap cardy.  Also knitted on 9mm needles it is done in no time :-)

Although I have worn this a lot I don't really have any decent modeled pics so here are a few that Mr A snapped when it was first finished, excuse the terrible posture.

A final note on the name of this project.  I called this Cape Palliser as I knitted this while on holiday with Granny and Papa to Martinborough where we visited the Cape Palliser Lighthouse :-)

A return to blogland

Well somehow it has suddenly been almost three months since my last blog post.  How did this happen exactly?  Is there actually any reason or am I just slack?  Well in truth there are a load of reasons, one of which being I am just slack (and busy).
There has been a lot going on here since the end of January, a lot of which I will try and catch up on over the next week or so in a barrage of catch up posts.  In a nutshell we have had a fabulous time with Granny and Papa visiting from Scotland, sick kids, sick pets, more visitors, and more birthdays than you can shake a stick at, oh as well as all the usual day to day stuff.
On top of that though I've not been that well myself.  A comment made at my local knit night ages ago got me thinking.  I overheard someone saying "bloggers are such happy people" and I wondered if that was really me?  Am I one of those eternally happy people? Do I just blog about things that make me happy?  Or do I just blog when life is going along ok?  I think for me it is really a mixture of the last two.  Things have been tough since Feb with medication side effects and anxiety issues added into the mix of the chaos above.  The exhaustion has meant that I haven't been on the computer much, haven't been crafting much and as a result of both of these haven't blogged at all.
On a plus note though I am feeling heaps better now and getting back on top of things, crafting again and generally enjoying life :-)

More soon.