washcloth

Geeked out knitting.

Posted on December 11, 2012 by bekswhoknits

It’s the countdown to Christmas, and all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a dalek.

So much for rhyming.

I got a swag of doctor who goodies in the mail last week, including Doctor Who monopoly! Which I need to ~~con~~ persuade someone into playing with me.

Apparently Monopoly is banned my bloke’s family due to its rage inducing properties.

But my little brother loves doctor who and monopoly, so I may invite him round for a game.

(Can I congratulate myself on a smooth segue?)

While I was watching all of series 6 & 7 on the weekend, I needed some themed knitting.
As I’m doing dishcloths for Christmas this year, I found this adorable dalek cloth.

So little brother, this is your Christmas present (to go with your Lego storm trooper alarm clock you’re getting for your birthday).
I’m such a cool sister.

~~~
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Enough with the sneezing

Posted on September 10, 2012September 10, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Three boxes of tissues, a packet of antihistamines, buckets of lemon tea, and some knitted dishcloths.

That was the weekend.

I figured dishcloths are probably the best thing to make whilst being all germy. They’re going to be washed anyway so the germs will wash out.

And everyone in the family is getting dishcloths for Christmas. They’re practical which fits in very well with my family’s gift giving ethos.
Plus my mother in law is a big environmentalist and I’m going to score mega brownie points with some home made scourers. Although I’ll probably end up with a standing order.

So I spent most of the weekend with ravelry open looking for different types of dishcloths.
There’s the
waffle cloth, ripple cloth, heart cloth, and a loin cloth.

I was planning on giving the leaf to my Mumsi until the Mister kindly pointed out its resemblance to a loin cloth.
Thanks hun.

Grandmothers favourite.

Posted on September 7, 2012September 6, 2012 by bekswhoknits

This is the sum total of my knitting this week. Between resting my elbow, and then succumbing to the common cold this is all I’ve achieved.
Trust me, it’s difficult to knit when you’ve got one hand permanently holding a tissue to your nose.

So here’s one grandmothers favourite dishcloth in a horrible colour way (Moda Vera print).
It looks so pretty in the ball but the colour changes are too close together for my liking.

Anyway, this will be going in someone’s Christmas present and they’ll never have to know that I don’t like it.

Beside i dont know what else can I do with horrible yarn.
And what else I can just churn out when my nose stops dripping for more than 4 minutes.

I’m hopelessly pathetic when I’m sick. Someone fetch me some hot lemon and honey drink.

Friday (finally)

Posted on June 22, 2012June 22, 2012 by bekswhoknits

What a week it’s been.

So here, presented without comment, are some of the creations I’ve finished off in the last few weeks.

For bonus credit, go have a read of this commentary of the Ravelympics saga.

A poor example of how to handle a copy right infringement. Particularly as the knitting community understands copyright pretty well. But Caitlin has blogged really extensively and writes better than I could (or have a right to considering its not my country’s idiocy. But we have plenty of our own)

A slice of organic life

Posted on May 21, 2012May 20, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I was given this book a few years ago now, and it’s since become a constant companion.

It’s quite light on, but it does give a nice overview about living organically.

It makes me day dream about keeping pigs, and making jam, and living more sustainable.

I’m quite glad that my Mister shares these dreams and aspirations (even if he day dreams of chickens, ducks, geese, and weiros, which would be slightly more useful, but not quite as relaxing for this bird-fearing girl).

Last Christmas I started a trend of all handmade gifts. This year I intend on continuing that, but I do want to diversify. I also want to have those ‘last minute gifts’ handy in the cupboard.

So I spent most of this weekend knitting up dishcloths.
I felt very proud of myself as they were wish homespun yarn from our recent Bridgetown Adventure.

At the time I felt a little disappointed with this yarn, because I just didn’t know what to do with it. It is quite coarse and doesn’t feel nice on your skin; it wouldn’t be good for clothing.
But it is knitting up into dishcloths quite nicely, and I can see them being quite good for exfoliating cloths.

This is why I started looking through that book. I think these would be lovely presents with a home made lavender soap.
I have a lovely lavendar plant in my garden, which is very underused.
Unfortunately this book didn’t have a recipe for soap, but I will make a carrot soup tonight.

When only biscuits will do

Posted on November 8, 2011November 8, 2011 by bekswhoknits

a basic biscuit recipe with three variations.

The first one has chai latte tea in it.
I only had chai tea bags so I tried to dilute it as much as possible.

The second ones have a hershey’s kiss on top of them.

The third ones have choc mint flavoring. Well choc mint drinking chocolate, and lots of it to flavour it.

I have no idea what we’re having for dinner but we have biscuits.

Here’s my amended recipe for chocolate mint biscuits

Ingredients
125g butter, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, at room temperature
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons chocolate mint powder
1 tablespoon milk

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl until pale and creamy. Add egg and mix until well combined. Sift flour and baking powder over butter mixture. Add milk, chocolate mint powder, and stir until just combined.

Spoon onto baking trays.
Place a Hershey’s Kiss on top of of each biscuit. Alternatively squish top of biscuit with a fork.

Cook in oven for 12-15 minutes.

Enjoy with a hot cup of tea. Or mug of hot chocolate mint drink for extra indulgence.

The weekend in review

Posted on October 24, 2011 by bekswhoknits

Driving along in my automobile

Posted on September 21, 2011September 20, 2011 by bekswhoknits

And putting the time to good use.
After weeks of not having a washing machine, and waiting (not so) patiently for a spare that was coming from the in-laws rental property we had a washing machine to pick up.
Not the one from the in-laws which we were hanging out for, but one from the Mr’s brother, who had one sitting in their spare room for about the same time that we had been looking for one. The Mr and his brother play golf together on a fairly regular basis, in which time I’m sure they have to talk about something, but it wasn’t until his girlfriend and I were talking and the penny dropped and we now have a washing machine.

Sunday mornings at the laundromat had become a little stale. It’s a strange crowd of people waiting for the liquor store to open.

So we had a washing machine, all we had to do was pick it up. So we drove to the in-laws, picked up their trailer, drove to the brothers, picked up the washing machine, dropped it off at home, and then dropped the trailer back. A pretty long round journey. A one dishcloth length journey.

I had picked up this pattern before we set off. It was short enough that I could view it on my phone and easy enough that I wouldn’t have too many dropped stitches to try and pack up whilst driving.

I’m not too happy with the pattern. It’s not really as symmetrical as I would like. The increases and the decreases don’t really match. The grey wool is Homemaker Acrylic from back before I knew what good wool was. It’s really whetted my appetite for washcloths. I like the instant gratification of them. In fact I’ve knitted a few more between Saturday and writing this post.

See how the pattern isn't quite the same on the increases to the decreases.

The finished one in Moda Vera Marvel Orange is for my mumsi. That was started and finished on Sunday. It’s her birthday soon, but after I finished it I remembered I’m meant to be buying her a GPS because it’s her 50th. I might wrap the GPS in a washcloth?

The one on my needles in Moda Vera Marvel Blue is waffle knit dishcloth. I’ve had a bit of trouble with this pattern. I’ve frogged it 3 times now because I missed a pattern row. But my concentration isn’t all that great after 3 wines and watching a game of football which is decided in the last minute.

I wish we had another driving holiday planned. Last years drive to Adelaide and back (7100kms) would have been great for knitting. I don’t think it will take much to convince the Mr to go driving somewhere, it’s just a matter of when.

And just to make it clear (if anyone was thinking otherwise) I’m not actually driving and knitting at the same time. I make a very good passenger.