FO – hubby socks

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I’m sorry if today’s post looks a bit weird, for some reason my computer refuses to let me write a new post so I have to write on my phone. Hopefully the format isn’t too off.

I have finally finished hubby’s socks and he was pretty pleased with that! With autumn coming up in Australia it was about time too!

I’m just so happy with how the colour matching worked out, I think they are almost perfectly aligned 😊

I think that was a good way to finish the month too, I’m looking forward to sharing my 18 for 2018 on Friday with you.

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Homemade strawberry jam

Happy Monday everyone!

I am back from my work trip and I am so happy to be back home! Last week, hubby brought back strawberries from work and as there were too many to eat I decided to make some jam with the left overs.

It was my first time making jam and I found it so easy I’m wondering why I didn’t give it a go earlier. Here is the recipe I used.

• 400 g strawberries
• 300 g caster sugar
• the juice of 1 lemon

I just put all my ingredients in a pot over the heat and brought everything to a boil, then I put it on low heat for around 40-45 min, making sure to stir from time to time (every 10 min or so) and that’s it! I think the consistency is really good, if you like your jam a bit firm, I would suggest either cooking it for longer or adding some agar to it.

I thought that overall it was super simple and I wish I had given jam a try before today. Are there any recipes you’ve tried that ended up super simple and that you wish you had given a go earlier?

Hand Quilt Along – 18/02/18

Happy Sunday!

For once, the progress I’m going to show you hasn’t been made this week, as I have been away from home, but actually almost three weeks ago, just after my last HQAL post!

I am quite happy with how this project is going, I have started to assemble the pieces separately from the main body of the quilt as it is getting bulkier. The width is approximately what it will be in the end (about 30″), so now I just have to add some length to it!

Last time

Last time

Until next time!

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Here are the others participating in this HQAL, please go check their posts!

Kathy, Bella, Lori, Margaret, Kerry, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Connie, Deborah,  Susan , Jessisca, Sherry, Nanette, Sassy, Sharon and Edith

Fantastic Bake Along – Ode to chocolate

Happy Saturday everyone!

Like every month, I’m participating in the Fantastic Bake Along hosted by Tracy @itsatsweetday. This month’s host is Tammy from TangleWoodKnots and she decided on chocolate recipes, which was perfect with Valentine’s day. Tami made chocolate peppermint patties but we could all choose our own recipe and so I decided to make choux filled with chocolate mousse. Yum!

The choux recipe is as follow:

• 130 g flour
• 200 mL of water
• 75 g of butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tbs of sugar

Boil the water, butter, salt and sugar in a pot

Pour all the flour in one go and mix on the stove on low heat until the dough becomes dry and forms a ball

Remove from the heat, let cool slightly and add the eggs one by one, making sure to stir well to incorporate into the dough (you really need to work those eggs in hard, or the dough won’t be right)

Make the choux using either a table spoon or a piping bag (I used a zip lock back with one of the corners cut)

Bake at 180°C for 25-30 min or until golden

Making choux might sound a bit hard but it is actually simpler than it seems, and I was super pleased with the result.

The chocolate mousse recipe on the other hand is actually so easy and probably fail proof!

You will need:

• 100 g chocolate (dark or milk, I used dark for my recipe)
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbs of sugar

Melt the chocolate (you can do it in a bowl over a pan of boiling water or use the lazy option like I did and melt it in the microwave by using short bursts at max power)

Separate the yolks from the whites

Add the sugar to the yolks and mix with the chocolate

Beat the whites to stiff peaks and incorporate into the chocolate mixture gently as to not make them go down

Put in the fridge for a couple of hours

All that was left to do was to assemble the choux. I used a sharp knife to make little cuts at the bottom of the choux and then I piped the chocolate mousse into the choux using a piping bag and voila!

Delicious chocolate mousse filled choux!

I would love to see your bakes so don’t hesitate to leave a comment if you have participated in this month’s Bake along. I’m already looking forward to next month!

If you are interested in participating, contact Tracy and you can also follow my Pinterest board where I will be adding all the recipes for the Bake Along.

Please also check out the other amazing bakers/cooks normally participating in the Fantastic BAL

• Tami @ TangleWoodKnots
• Tracy @ ItsaTSweetDay
• Kathy @ SewingEtc
• Brenna @ Crochet539
• Kate @ LifeTeaAndEverything
• Tina @ KristabellasHodgepodge
• Lucia @ CrochetKnitAndMore
• Connie @Connie’s Creations
• AJ @A Petite Slice of Life
• Rebecca @Twinklehook
• Abbey @Three Cats and a Girl
• Marcia @Una Regiaen Bicicleta

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WIP Wednesday – Read between the lines

Happy Wednesday everyone, and happy Valentine’s day!

I hope you spent a great day with loved ones and that you had an amazing time. I have been super busy, similarly to last week and also super tired (12h work days will do that to you!) but I still managed to get some knitting done. I think I mentioned recently that I started the Read between the lines shawl (RBTL for short) and I’m absolutely loving it! It’s my first time doing illusion knitting and I’ve been enjoying it so much. The pattern is worked in horizontal stripes but the illusion makes it look as if the stripes are vertical, neat right?

The pattern asks for Scheepjes whirls but I had two Illusion Cakes from Lincraft (one of Australia’s main craft stores) so I just used those. I’m loving the colours so far, I think the final shawl will be quite muted but in a good way and will hopefully go with a lot of my clothes. There is also a crochet version of this pattern available for the non-knitters and I’ve seen some amazing versions on Instagram!

I’d love to know if you are making one of those shawls, I really enjoy seeing all the beautiful colour combinations!

Again I wish you all had a great Valentine’s day ❤

WIP Wednesday – Hubby socks

Happy Wednesday!

I hope that your first week of Feb has been great, I have just been so busy that I missed my usual Monday post. I’m afraid that I will only be able to blog on Wednesdays for the next couple of weeks, but fear not, I have a few things on the go that I will definitely be sharing when everything is back to normal!

This brings me to today’s post, I have made a start on my second pair of socks of the year, and I have a half finished object (HO) to show you!

I’m using self striping yarn, and to make them more manly than my socks, I’m not doing any lace pattern. Hubby was definitely relieved about that one! The socks kind of fit on my sock blockers, because I discovered that I have hobbit feet (almost the same size as hubby’s). Or maybe he just has small feet? Either way, those fit him, and he is happy he will have a new pair for winter. I really like the striping effect on those, I think they look great! I have lost the ball band somewhere though so I can’t remember what the yarn is, but I shall find out and I will mention it when I finish the socks.

I have also made a start on the Read Between the Line shawl and I love it! I will try to take some pictures and share that next week 🙂 I wish you all a wonderful end of the week!

18 for 2018 – February update

Happy Friday and welcome to February!

I can’t believe that January is already over, the first month of the year has just gone by so fast! This is my update for my 18 for 2018, and I’m quite excited with what I’ve accomplished this month!

18 letters sent to friends – 0/18
With the interstate move I would like to keep in contact with friends so I want to make the effort to send them handwritten letter throughout the year.

None this month, but this is because I’m actually visiting back next month. I think I might next month though, as I got my best friend into knitting and would like to send her some new knitting needles 🙂 

17 new recipes tried – 5/17
If you’ve been following me for a while you will know that I love cooking and baking so this should be pretty easy. Plus, the monthly bake-along will definitely help me with this one!

I’ve tried a few new recipes this month. The first one was the ginger snap recipe from the fantastic bake-along. I have also tried to make crackers, and they were so amazing I’ve made several batches already! I got the recipe here. I’ve also made a few recipes from one of Jamie Oliver’s cooking book I got for Christmas.

Gingersnaps

Crackers

Tapenade white fish

Puff pastry chicken

Peach pork

16 painted units of miniatures – 0/16
My husband and I play a miniature game and one of the fun parts is to build and paint our own miniatures. I haven’t done much last year so I hope to catch up this year by painting more models.

I have been working on two units but I haven’t finished any yet. Hopefully in February. 

15 books read – 0/15
I’ve decided to tune down this goal from last year, as I don’t have a lot of time to read. But I feel like 15 would be a good number to reach this year.

This month just has been so busy I didn’t get time to read books, lots of papers for my thesis, but unfortunately that doesn’t count! 

14 mitered squares added to my memory blanket – 0/14
I have started a knitted memory blanket using my scraps of yarn from previous projects (mostly socks) and I’d like to see it grow this year.

I haven’t added any square this month, but I have a few projects using 4ply yarn, so I will be able to add more soon hopefully!

13 batches of biscuits made and eaten – 2/13
Again, with the bake-along this should be quite easy to accomplish!

I have done two this month, one was the gingersnaps and I made montecaos again, as they are my husband’s absolute favourite!

Gingersnaps

12 pairs of socks – 1/12
We have real winters in Melbourne, so hubby and I will definitely need new socks, I thought one per month was a manageable goal.

I have finished my Candy Corn socks and I have made a start on a pair for hubby, so I’m doing pretty well with this goal.

11 new stitch markers made – 0/11
I have been playing with shrinking plastic lately and I’d like to make new stitch markers using some cute drawings.

I haven’t really thought about this goal yet, but I am thinking I’d like to use some scientific drawings or nerdy themes. 

10 new movies seen – 3/10
We go to the movies almost every week, so I think this goal will be easy to reach, but it will give me a change to blog about movies I see a bit more.

I feel like there weren’t that many good movies coming out in January but I still managed three, Pitch Perfect, The Greatest Showman and the last Maze Runner. My favourite was the Greatest Showman, it really had a great story and I loved the songs ❤ 

9 amigurumi made – 1/9
I obviously love amigurumi enough to design some! I want to precise that those 9 amigurumi will be from other designers, I might even participate in another ami-along.

I have finished an awesome whale amigurumi that I talked about on Wednesday. I’m in love with it and can’t wait to give it to my friend!

8 months cross-stitched on the Snowflower diaries Joyful world calendar – 1/8
This did not get worked on at all last year, so I’d like to finish it this year.

I’ve actually finished the May instalment of the Joyful world. Very excited to have started on this again, it’s just so cute!

7 games of 40k played with hubby 1/7
The good thing with painting miniatures is that I will definitely want to play more (I’m hoping anyway) and this will definitely be a fun activity to do with my husband.

We’ve had one game so far, and I’ve smashed hubby mwahaha! I forgot to take a picture of the massacre though but I will next time for sure!

6 new designs published – 2/6
As you know I already have two new designs that I need to write up and publish. I have also started on a knitted shawl design using the beautiful yarn I got in NZ. Very excited about this one!

I’m stoked with this goal, I can’t believe I managed to publish both Wiley and Sandy‘s patterns this month, yay! 

5 km ran without stopping – in progress
This doesn’t seem like much but currently I can’t run more than a few minutes without having to slow down to a walk, so I’d like to be able to actually run without dying for 5 km!

I’ve been actively training for this, I’ve gone for several 30 min runs, with intervals to increase my cardio and I’m feeling really good about it. I haven’t done much last week though as it’s been consistently above 35°C during the day and well above 25°C at night. Hopefully it cools down in the next few weeks and I can train some more.

4 LOTR squares finished – 1/4
Yes I know I’ve been making this for ages but 2018 is the year I get it finished!

I’ve gotten back into this as well, yay! I’ve finished Gimli and I think he is pretty awesome 🙂 

3 jumpers knitted – 0/3
Similarly to the need for socks, I will need more jumpers this year! I already have the yarn and a pattern for my first jumper so I’m hoping this goes smoothly.

I haven’t cast this on yet but I do have the yarn ready so maybe I’ll cast on in February 🙂 although I have a lot of WIPs as usual!

2 getaway trips – 0/2
We are trying to save money for a house deposit this year, but I’d still like to get a couple weekends away with hubby. We already have one planned, we will be going to the Bendigo sheep and wool show in July.

We have planned to go back to Brisbane for a wedding in March, does that count as a getaway? If yes that will be the first one of the year 🙂 

1 thesis submitted – 0/1
I’m so keen to finish my PhD, so this is definitely my n°1 goal this year!

I have my thesis review next week, so this is definitely getting closer, wish me luck!

I hope you have all been getting on great with your goals too