November 2012 – polka-dots & sparkles

Stuck in my head – southbound edition (Django Django)

Posted on November 28, 2012November 28, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Southbound, the camping festival in January, is now 5 weeks away! That is awesomesauce.
So for the next 5 weeks as I’ll be listening to a lot of southbound bands I’ll be sharing them too.

I have a habit of going to a festival and then 2 weeks later really digging a band which I could have seen live. So I now research. Which is fun anyway.

So this week I’ve been listening to Django Django.
This is an awesome album. I’m always impressed when an artist puts in the effort with their album art. It makes old folks like me, who buys CDs very happy. Django Django have provided a list of every band that have influenced them. And it’s quite a list.

Look at all that tiny writing.

Listen to loves dart

There aren’t enough coconut halves in modern music (hint – the percussion in this video is awesome)

For bonus points check out another Southbound band who’s video is going viral at the moment.
Hot Chip – Don’t Deny Your Heart

~~~
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I heart bunting

Posted on November 25, 2012November 26, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Well after being in a funk last week I made it my mission this weekend to snap myself out of it.

I ignored all the cleaning I ‘should’ have done, kicked the Bloke out of the house (well he had other things to do anyway), and took myself to the Internet.

That inspired me enough to try some new things (paper embroidery), put some things on the ‘things to make when I have a shed’ list (metal stamping), and finished some projects that were hanging around unfinished.

I made these little heart shapes a while ago, and then didn’t quite know what to do with them.
So I made them into bunting!

It’s such a simple project which really brightened my day!

I also dyed my hair which always puts me in a good mood. Except that it hasn’t worked out exactly. But I’m still grateful that is light teal, and that I can have it this colour all the time.
And it reinforces that I look terrible as a blonde. And that I only have one facial expression when taking photos of myself.

~~~
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In a funk

Posted on November 23, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I’m in a funk, a rut, whatever you want to call it I just don’t care at the moment.

I’ve been knitting but it’s all boring. I’ve been listening to the same songs on repeat, and eating crappy food.

Blah blah blah.

This shawl is the best metaphor for the way I’m feeling. It looks uninspiring at the moment, but I have a feeling it’s going to look awesome once it’s finished.

I just want to skip to the end.

At the moment I just want to fast forward time and skip to summer, when there’s cricket planned, southbound, festivals, sun and music.

I’m forgetting that sometimes anticipation is half the fun.
Instead I’m being an ungrateful so and so.

I have so many plans I just want to get started, rather than wait for supplies.

I’m just waiting for things.
And I’m waiting loudly.

~~~
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Garden creatures.

Posted on November 12, 2012November 12, 2012 by bekswhoknits

What a delightful weekend.
Test match cricket is back! This makes me a very happy Bek!
Also the weather was fantastic. We spent a bit of time in the garden. I did some knitting. And there was some cricket watching.
That’s my kind of weekend.

~~~
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Outfit post 2 (now with more polkadots)

Posted on November 10, 2012November 10, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I’m going to have to come up with a better titles but I’m really enjoying these outfit posts.
And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m a big of a fan of polkadots.
(Shocking I know!)

Yellow and black polkadots are my favourites and this dress is one of my favourites!
It’s an awesome feeling when there’s someone in your life who knows exactly what you like and who you are. I’m incredibly grateful and lucky to have two such people, one of whom bought me this dress.
So I love this dress, I love coloured tights, and I love polkadots!

Embroidering things

Posted on November 9, 2012November 9, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I’ve been embroidering. I asked a question on A Sheepish Girl‘s (oh so lovely) blog about what stitch she uses for her text, I’ve been itching to try back stitch ever since.
It’s just like knitting but in lines. (In a kind of not really sort of way.) but a lot easier then stem stitch.

So I opened up phonto on my iPad and typed in a couple of quotes. (If you then set that image as the home screen it makes it easier to trace.)
So once it’s traced onto the fabric, I used back stitch to make the letters.
And things just clicked. More so than they did with stem stitch.

It is really relaxing. Not as much as knitting. It doesn’t have the same TV watching options (I don’t think you could ever embroider with your eyes closed, or during a really important scene), but it’s great for listening to music.

But quotes!!! And music lyrics! I have so many things to embroider on cushions and to put on walls and I can see a lot of decorating until my Bloke gets fed up with embroidery and I have to start decorating my BFF’s house (who reads this and can now request embroidered items. I promise I want embroider a doily for you!).

I digress! Here’s my embroidery attempts.
The quotes are from Silversun Pickups, Wolf Parades, and Parks And Recreation.

~~~
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Stuck in my head – sugar army

Posted on November 7, 2012 by bekswhoknits

These guys are my favourite Perth band.
I’ve been listening to their new album and it’s pretty good. Their first album is really quite awesome too.

They always put on a cracking live show, and I’ve had many a Sugar Army induced neck injury or lost voice.

This is one band who should be bigger than they currently are.

~~~
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Try it with more wine

Posted on November 6, 2012November 6, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I was bored on Saturday morning and there was nothing on tv. I was bored enough to check out Coles recipe on demand on Foxtel. And it was this recipe. (This is a true story, Coles are not paying me to plug this recipe, as flimsy as this back story may be I really am this bored sometimes).

It is a good recipe. It’s beef ragu with rigatoni. Or in my case tortiglioni.

Really easy recipe, just perfect for those afternoons when the weather is doing its best to convince you it’s winter (even if it should be spring).

This is the way I made it.

the ingredients
Chuck steak 500gm
1 Onion
2 cloves Garlic
1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
1 cup Beef stock
2 400gm Tinned tomatoes
1 stick Celery
1 Carrot
1 potato

the recipe
Coat the chuck steak in flour.
Fry it in a frying pan. (If you have a casserole dish that is stove proof use that.)
In your casserole dish add all the non-meat ingredients.
Once the meat is brown, put that in the casserole dish.
Put that in the oven for 3 hours, or until it’s stew like.
When it’s ready to serve, cook up some pasta.
Add Parmesan cheese and Bob’s your Aunty.

Such a quick but hearty dish.

Although it was a bit lacking I felt.
I would add some red wine (whilst browning the meat), and probably brown the onion in the red wine.

More wine in general.
And my Bloke wanted more vegies. Some peas maybe, or some cauliflower.
This really is a good base to add things too.

But definitely try it with more wine*.
*if you’re thinking about ‘I am Giselle, I am a french bitch’ you win a red balloon. If you have no idea what I’m talking about you need to watch Coupling. Steven Moffat wrote it. That speaks for itself.

~~~
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The weekend I tried to teach myself to stitch

Posted on November 5, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I really only want to know embroidery so I can write/stitch really cool quotes and phrases. And then I can hang them on the wall or put them on cushions.
But I have a lot of practicing to do first.

Also on the weekend, we cleaned out the spare room. We now have room to swing a cat, or do a full 360 revolution when I’m at my sewing machine.

I started a whole stack of really cool blogging related projects.
I caved and my blog now has a Facebook page. Go look on your right – there’s a fancy Facebook thingamajig. Currently it’s linked to this blog (obviously), my Instagram, and there’s a spotify playlist for all my passion pop Wednesday (song of the week) picks.
If you’re a Facebook person, go and check it out.
(If you’re a twitter person you can find me at beks_sparkles

I also knitted a whole lot for a blog tutorial. And I’m planning a giveaway!
It’s exciting times.

There’s also exciting news on the family front. There’s going to be a wedding!
Not mine, but my Bloke’s sister (who is one of the coolest people I know).
So I did the dutiful thing and introduced her to pintrest! (YOU’RE WELCOME!)

So it was a pretty awesome weekend. I’m really excited about the future.

(What’s a weekend post without a photo of Max.)
~~~
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It’s an outfit post!

Posted on November 3, 2012November 7, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Wow. It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these.
But I reckon this is a good enough reason.

This is my cardigan! I am still super chuffed that I finished a big knitted project.

And this is my bookcase. The biggest reason that I haven’t done many outfit posts is that our apartment is so tiny, it gets no natural light, and there is no neutral place to use as a back drop.

So in lieu of a neutral place, I thought I’d show a part of my apartment that I’m proud of.
The first place that springs to mind is my cd collection. But that’s right next to the only window in the place and is really awkward to stand in front of.

So the next place is my bookshelf. I love to read. And I love to watch tv. To the left you can see my tea cup collection. And on the top shelf you can see my Dalek (and other assorted Doctor Who merchandise).
It’s forever changing, and being shuffled around, but I’m thinking of doing more outfit posts here. I’d love to know what people think of the location. Too cluttered? Too distracting? Or is it me? Will you all judge me on what you see in my bookcase?
Actually, if you haven’t already figured out who I am, my bookcase will certainly confuse or enlighten you.

So enough chat, here is me, pretending to model, wearing my own knitted creation.
(My jeans are cotton on, my shoes are from rubi, and my tank is from temt)