real life
This pretty thing was spotted at In The Pines last Sunday, and last weekend it was finished in picturesque Bridgetown.
Whilst I was checking out Ford House I snapped these pretty pictures.
It’s 100 stiches on 9mm 80cm circular. 2 rows 2×2 rib then seed stitch until its the perfect length. Finished off with another 2 rows of rib.
If I was to do this again I would skip the rib.
It’s knitted using Moda Vera Shiver. It’s a super squishy yarn which is really easy to knit with.
Purdy!!
About this time two years ago, the better half and I were on a four week camping holiday where we drove from Perth to Adelaide and back.
So most of the last month I’ve been reminiscing about where we would have been this time last year, and it’s given me the camping bug big time.
We were always planning to go away this weekend, but we were both able to get the time off between Anzac Day and the weekend as well.
I’m pretty excited. It will be our first longer-than-two-day holiday for quite a while. Especially since we’ve both started new jobs within the last year and neither of us took a break in between.
So unexpectedly being able to have a 5 day holiday is all kinds of awesome.
Except we have to go into planning mode pretty quickly. Fortunately we’ve got most of it down pat.
So I placed a food order last night, and more importantly quickly cast on a pair of two at a time toe up socks. I would like to have some socks on the go, but the cast on requires a bit of concentration. So hopefully I can get the toe increases done tonight and then i’ll take that, my green cowl, my blanket of doom, and possibly even cast on another sock-head hat just for good measure. Or maybe that’s a bit too much. I’m not sure! I mean it is only 5 days. And we are taking our bikes, and fishing rods, and possibly hiring kayaks.
Maybe I’m overthinking this. Actually I know I’m overthinking this.
So I have the food sorted, and the knitting sorted. Now all I need to do is actually pack and get down there and start enjoying the impromptu holiday.
On second thoughts – I have sock yarn for my blanket, I might just take my sock-head hat needles, just in case.
I will return to my regular scheduled posts next week. Depending on mobile coverage I may be able to post some photos.
Everyone have a safe Anzac Day – Lest We Forget.
And some nostalgia from our Adelaide trip.
This is what camping is to me.
I know this seems like an odd post, but in preparation for my finished object (a plastic bag holder) tomorrow, I thought I’d share my patented technique for folding plastic bags.
Well it’s not really mine, I learnt this from an aunty’s friend. It was on a trip down south because they had a farm. I always wanted to grow up on a farm. Mostly because I sounded so cool in Enid Blyton novels. The place had a really awesome stream too.
But the real takeaway is how to fold plastic bags.
Plastic bags are infinitely useful. Going swimming its so easy to just put all your wet things into a plastic bag until you get home.
We use them as a bin too. And I always carry a couple in my bag just for emergencies. And they’re easier to carry if they’re folded.
So here is my tutorial for folding a plastic bag.
Take your plastic bag and lay it flat on the table.
Fold it in half, and then in half again.
Roll the bag up.
Pull one loop between the other and tie.
And there you go.
One convenient plastic bag, all wrapped up and ready for anything.
Tomorrow I have a knitting pattern to store all of these plastic bags neatly.
Work has been hectic this week. In a really good way. I enjoy my job and am constantly grateful that I was given this opportunity.
But it doesn’t stop me from singing a little Dolly from time to time.
That girl had pipes!!!
This week instead of the fruit and vegetable ‘magic box’, I bought the salad box.
It came with another kilo of carrots (I’m bugs bunny), but some other yummy salad items.
So salad it was.
This is really my sort of meal. I love the refreshing-ness (not a word) of salad, particularly on a hot March day.
I cooked some chicken thighs to go with it, and a sauce that doubled as salad dressing.
I went out on a limb with the sauce. I borrowed this recipe from taste, but altered it.
the recipe
Melt butter in a pan.
Add garlic
Add chicken
Allow the chicken to brown. Add a tablespoon of Australian Mustard and try and coat the chicken with it.
Add 1/2 cup of white wine and 1/2 cup of chicken stock.
Once that has reduced a bit, add two tablespoons of philedelphia cream cheese and mix that through the sauce.
Serve with salad (i had lettuce, mushroom, capsicum, onion, cucumber, tomato, and cheese. )
You could use cream instead of cream cheese, but I used what I had in the fridge.
It didn’t get rave reviews from the Mister, but I didn’t expect it to. Next time I’ll make the same chicken and serve it with mashed potatoes. That might go down better.
But it hit the right spot for me.
You don’t win friends with salad.
It’s a long overdue post but this year all three (the Mr, the BFF, and me) all managed to get the Superbowl Monday off work.
Last year we watched it How I Met Your Mother style. As in we all didn’t find out the score (a little easier in Australia but still not easy), and then watched it later that night (after watching said HIMYM episode).
This year we went to our friendly local (who has also hosted many a grand final, football game, post cricket celebrations, and general alcohol related frivolities) the inglewood, where bright and early (think 7am) we were at the pub with alcohol and tea in hand.
The atmosphere was great even if the score wasn’t (girls had pats, boys had giants). And cheering was done by all.
Bad pats!!
Inspired by sarahcastically’s post about her hockey outfits, and a twitter war about football and merch, I thought I’d share some photos from Saturday’s game.
For those who live under rocks, I’m a Port Adelaide supporter. This is unusual given that i live in WA and not in Adelaide.
Even more unusual, I live with an Adelaide supporter. Adelaide supporters and Port Adelaide supporters aren’t meant to like each other. And two Perth born people aren’t meant to support opposing Adelaide teams and fall in love, but that’s what happened.
(We’re certainly not meant to start watching NFL and support Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings either! We’re all about the rivalry).
It’s a very confused household. Certainly more confused by my best friend, who doesn’t and has never lived with me, but has a wall of (some of) her supporters merchandise. When we go to games we always leave from my place so it makes sense. Or maybe it doesn’t. Nevertheless there is a wall of Hawthorn merchandise in my tiny apartment. But she always support my team and I support hers, unless we’re playing against each other when it’s pistols at dawn, bitches.
So, on Saturday my team were in town. They have 1 maybe 2 games in Perth a year and I try to see them as much as possible. While I wasn’t pleased with the result (we lost by 5 points) I was pleased with the effort that we* showed.
It was a gorgeous day (even with the result) and I’m looking forward to the season.
Now prepare to be impressed by the merch I took to the game (and trust me, there is more!), and the sunset on the way home.
*yes i’m one of those people who include themselves in their football team.
We got new curtains installed! That has been on the list since day 1.
When I bought the apartment it had some hideous blue curtains.
Hideous and really didn’t match what I wanted this space to look like.
I bought some grey and black striped curtains pretty soon after, but I didn’t do the research well enough. They were expensive and they didn’t fit.
That annoyed me no end.
They were a constant reminder of how much I spent on an ill fitting product.
So when it came to replace them I didn’t have a big budget. So ikea to the rescue. The curtain rail was ~$10 (score!). I didn’t like any of the non-sheer curtains, but we need privacy. So I had the idea to buy bulk sheer ones and group them.
I think it’s worked well.
I love the flexibility I now have.
They can be sheer during the day, and bulked up during the night.
With the new couch, the place is starting to look cohesive.
It’s so nice having a space to call my own to come home to.
Some would say my man and I are a strange couple. We don’t celebrate Valentine’s day (or most other Greeting Card holidays), I’ve never celebrated my birthday, and he’s a Christmas grinch. We both believe that all the little gestures during the year are better than one grand gesture.
But one thing we do celebrate every year is the WACA test. The WACA (Western Australian Cricket Association) test is the one international test match in Perth every year.
Allow me to backtrack for a bit.
My Man and I share a love of cricket.
We met at a pub’s beach party (because Australia doesn’t have enough beaches, we recreate them in pubs aswell), when we both broke away from our friends to check the score to the cricket.
We started talking about cricket and we must have hit it off because he called me the next day and we had dinner later that week.
In particular we’re both fans of Test Match Cricket. That’s 5 days of sport. And so the first year we were going out, I got us both tickets to the Test match as his Christmas present. And we’ve gone every year since.
This week we were arguing over how many years we had been going out and it was resolved by counting how many test matches we’d seen together (4).
With yesterday’s win, we’ve now seen 2 wins (India, England) and 2 losses (South Africa, Sri Lanka).
But the best part about this year is that my Man can now say he’s taken me to see India, at the WACA.
It’s one of my favourite quotes from Fawlty Towers. I love the Major. He’s such a well written character, and when he’s saying this quote he does it with such sincerity and comedic timing.
It’s always an enjoyable experience. This series against India generated quite a lot of interested so there were more people there than usual (Ashes excluded), but we still had some space either side to spread out. And the best thing is, Australia won!
Happy Christmas and New Year to you all.
I’ve enjoyed my little break. I finished most of my Christmas knitting and baking with some time to spare and even made a few pressies for myself.
I’ve had a bit of time off work to relax and unwind, but after being a month old at the new job I only took the Public Holidays off – but still two long weekends in a row was quite nice.
I spent a lot of time catching up with friends and family, my liver took a bit of a beating but I’m glad to be back talking to you all.
Last year was a fantastic year. I saw so many great bands and have so many good memories. I learnt how to knit (and can’t imagine a time when I haven’t knitted), I bought a sewing machine (and vaguely know how to use it), and I tried my hand at embroidery.
My boyfriend moved in. We had a few notable events together. I looked after him when he got his wisdom teeth out, we endured the great flood (two bedrooms of sewerage is not fun), gave police statements (whilst our apartment was unliveable due to the great flood), and eventually got life back to normal. We both changed jobs (for the better), celebrated new couch day, new mattress day, and new ipad day.
My best friend moved in down the road. Together we’ve laughed until we cried, cried until we had to laugh, seen cricket matches, football matches, and spent a lot of time at The Belvoir (The Getaway Plan, Portishead, Cold Chisel, & Gotye – in the space of two months).
We ended the football season where we started it, at The Inglewood. How much of our time and money has been spent there this year? I don’t know, but it’s been a faithful friend.
And soo much good music. Southbound started the year with a bang, Soundwave, On The Bright Side, Future of The Left, And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, The National .
And new albums too!
The Hairpin and Ravelry have become two very close friends. Between them and all my blog friends, there is all of my internet time.
So here’s to 2011 – and here’s to 2012 being just as good.
Cheers
polka-dots & sparkles 