In order to distract you from the fact I am *still* doing Christmas knitting and not showing you… I thought I’d fill you in on an adventure we had yesterday.

My FIL has a friend with a helicopter and he organised for him to, erm, drop by yesterday. It is a wee three seater, so there was room for Mr 12 and I to go up. He also let me take Miss 1. Miss 3 had the chance to go too (in a separate ride) but she thought it was altogether too noisy. The intention was just a quick run around the perimeter of the property and over it to see the highlights (my PIL have a rather idiosyncratic garden).  However this plan was scarpered by the fact that my PIL live under the flight path for the local international airport and we were unable to get clearance to do this. 

So, instead we were treated to about 15 minutes worth of flying over the local environs, checking out teeny wee sheep, horses and orchards from above. You will just have to believe me about the stunning view over the Canterbury Plains to the Southern Alps though as DS only managed one shot on the PIL’s new camera before it said “memory full”. 

However DH did better from the ground and he was able to capture our landing, and was suprised to see Miss 1’s reaction to the trip.

Oh, hard to tell from there. What about this shot?

Yes, that’s her fast asleep

It’s that time of year again – summer holidays have begun and we have made the trek south to visit family and friends.

Leaving home is probably the hardest part of taking a holiday. Especially when you’re leaving home behind for more than a week. Some dilemmas:

The packing dilemma. Not just what clothes to take – I’ve become a very efficient packer over the years, especially once I realised packing a good outfit in case my husband saw fit to take me out for a nice dinner was just silly given all the travel my nice outfits got, in comparison to how much they got worn. My biggest packing dilemma was the knitting one. How much yarn to take, *what* yarn to take, which patterns to pack, what *will* I feel like knitting during our stay and so on.

So, I have packed my Whisper Cardigan and then realised I forgot the second ball of yarn, so there isn’t too much more to be done on that these holidays. And I packed my Cotton Fleece, some for the girls and some for me, project as yet undecided. *And* I went pattern-less – yay for Ravelry’s Library function – it means I can access any paid patterns I’ve purchased from wherever I am. Just as well really as my printer spat the dummy last week. I think it is on a permanent vacation. Hmph. And I packed the two unfinished Christmas projects destined to go under trees close to me. One was a single sock and the rest of the ball of yarn, with the pattern lost. Thankfully the pattern writer emailed me a new copy of it – bless you my friend!  So that sock has been flying off the needles today in my quiet moments. Which there are so many more of when there are four adults to share the care of the three kids!

One other project I bought with me is a pattern I am writing and testing at the moment – I’ve a couple of testers lined up, but if anyone is keen to try a baby and toddler sock pattern, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll contact you.  I’ve got two sizes, one for babies, the other to suit older toddlers, and I am looking at sizing up a third size for slightly bigger feet too. It’s a lacy pattern more suited to girls. But I am working on a unisex pattern as well, so boys’ mamas will be catered for in the new year too.

But back to the dilemmas

The garden dilemma. It is so hard to leave behind a newly thriving vegetable garden when you go away! We planned our trip to leave 2 -3 weeks earlier than usual, so hopefully the garden will be in full swing when we return.  I spent a good few hours in the flower garden spraying, weeding and trimming the week before we left, as well as stakeing out the vege garden as well as I could. Where we live we can get a lot of rain, which tomatoes hate, and it results in blight. Hopefully I’ll avoid it this year and the wee yellow flowers on the plant now will be yummy ripe tomatoes by our return. Our blackberry was in flower with wee fruit starting to form as well, so I will be keen to see what this looks like on our return.

The toy dilemma – it’s very difficult to justify packing *any* toys when you know there’s a whole suitcase of presents packed already. Luckily Mum came over with a box of stuff yesterday so the girls have been very well amused between that, the little things we brought with us, and the paddling pool.

I think those are the biggest dilemmas. The best bits of travelling for Christmas has been that (aside from the knitted gifts to finish) I have a smooth run up to the big day – our presents are all wrapped and labelled, tree and stocking ready, the travel has been accomplished before the big rush, and here we are all relaxed and ready to enjoy this special time with family and friends.

Oh, except I appear to have forgotten to pack the Christmas stockings. I wonder if that means Santa doesn’t know where to find us this year?

 Method: take one unfocused, supposed to be knitting Christmas presents knitter. Add some extra cheap but lovely yarn and a nice pattern, and a circular needle or two. Leave for a week or so.  Remove resulting garment from needles, sew in six ends  wash, dry in sunshine and try on small cute girl child.

Yes, I have a confession to make. I haven’t finished my Christmas knit list, but somehow found the time to try  out the lovely Never Not Knitting’s Spring Garden Tee.  I’ve had this pattern on my wish list for months now (since the Northern Summer I guess), and with the fine weather finally here, I just couldn’t resist casting on one for Miss 1. 

The yarn I used is a now discontinued Sirdar yarn called Indigo.  It is a DK 100% cotton yarn that was made in denim colours, and is designed to fade like denim.  It also is intended to shrink 10% on its first wash – thus this has had a proper wash before wearing, and I knitted it 10% longer than the pattern to accomodate the shrinkage.  This was possibly the score of the year for me price wise – I bought 4 balls at $1 each, and this top used a little over 2 balls.  Yes, this top cost less than $2.5o to knit (!).  They were in the clearance bin at a LYS, because they had faded a little in the sunlight, but not under the label. I think that this not overly noticeable and adds a little  bit of character to the top, and I think it should be fine after a few washes and wears if the yarn does what it’s designed to do.  I enjoyed knitting with this yarn and it feels quite silky to the touch, very different to other cottons I have worked with.

The pattern is knit all in one from the top down, although you do go back to pick up with neckline and sleeves to finish them off.  It was the first of Never Not Knitting’s patterns that I have bought and I found it to be beautifully presented, technically edited superbly, and a simple well designed knit. I love the simplicity of the design, the wee lace cap sleeves are such a cute detail, and I have to say that they fall beautifully, with the lace in exactly the right spot. I did have to size down the needles quite a lot to get gauge – I used 3.75mm for the body and 3.25mm for the edgings.  But the end result was worth it (I’d been hoping for a chunkier knit to interperse my small sock knitting with).

I didn’t time the photo session particularly well, so I will hope for some better pictures another day. Miss 1 recently had some immunisation shots and she is suffering the after effects, I got her munching a biscuit so I could take some! For now you will just have to trust me when I say the colour is amazing with her beautiful blue eyes.

I tried out a new technique when I was joining balls, and I was delighted with the result.  I used the “Double Knit in Join” from Knitting Help.com. I would have used the Russian join but the yarn was made of lightly twisted single plies, and I didn’t think this would work. This method was no extra work at all, and has come up great – you can barely tell where the ball changeovers are, despite there being a number of stitches worked with two strands at the crossover point.  I used this same join for the cotton in the market bag I finished recently too.I’m not sure what other methods of joins are popular with bamboo and cotton yarns of similar constructions, but am keen to hear your favourite techniques! I used this same join for the cotton in the market bag I finished recently too.

Yes, from this…

To this…

Yes, the cute wee square is  a bit bigger now. And in the mail off to its new home too.

This is knit to a free pattern, the Grrlfriend Market Bag, and I knit it out of Anchor Magicline cotton, using nearly 150g.  The ball band recommended 4.5mm needles, and so I used these for the base, and then switched to 4mm needles once I started to use a circular needle.  Only because despite a good look I couldn’t find my 40cm 4.5mm needle anywhere! It could probably have done with the bigger needle though – this is designed to st-r-e-t-c-h, so I might have foiled the plan there somewhat!   For future reference I knit 30 repeats of the pattern – it tells you to knit however much you want

This was a fun wee knit – it took about 3 days knitting on and off, and I would definitely knit it again. I have two market bags, one a bought one, and a super large bag knitted in hemp I was gifted a few years ago and I get so much use out of them.  Some shops are finally starting to charge for plastic bags here so it pays to carry a big versatile bag to avoid having to pay for plastic, and if you are doing multiple errands a market bag is so useful.  I wasn’t sure how the cotton would look striped up in this pattern, but I really like it – it seems to suit the purpose admirably. Now all I have to hope is that it arrives safely at its destination, and that its recipient likes it!

Speaking of gifts, I got some yarn in the post today from Tangled Yarns some of which is for a Christmas present and so will be hitting the needles shortly.  This is my third order from Tangled Yarns and I have been super impressed with Kelly’s service. She is based in Brisbane and I’ve heard her bricks and mortar store is just gorgeous. Her online store has been growing too, and I was pleased to grab some Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece for some summer tops for the girls while I was browsing. Love the colours – I got Wisteria and Berry. Not exactly sure which colour for which girl yet though. Or exactly what pattern either. But you might get a hint tomorrow  Oh, and I could not resist the last skein of Malabrigo sock yarn to add to my stash. I am thinking shawlette rather than socks though…

I think my post-Christmas knitting is well sorted with this lot – just one and half more knitted presents to go! Some (other) knitted goodies are already in the mail with more to be sent tomorrow How is your Christmas knit list going? I hope you managed to sneak a few skeins for yourself in too while you were shopping!!

In addition to the rush of  working on my marking contract and pre-Christmas parties, it is also nearing the end of the school year.  Tonight was DS’s school disco, and instead of DH dropping him off and then coming back home, we decided to take the girls out for a beach walk and icecreams. Yes, it appears summer has finally arrived.

And what an idyllic evening it was.  A light sea breeze, relatively low humidity (actually, I just checked the weather website and it is 96% humidity now, so cancel that. I just *felt* lowish).  There were surfers galore out tonight, with a nice one metre or so swell, so the girls enjoyed watching them a little. Or rather, Miss 3 did, Miss 1 was too busy trying to join them.

One of the awesome features about our home town is the coastal walkway that has been created over the last decade. Before then, it seemed that the sea was almost semi industrial – the site of the city mall and parkland next to it is the old railway yard, and it is separated from the sea by just one road and the parkland of the walkway – such a prime site! The walkway is hugely popular, and we met lots of cyclists, small dogs, rollerbladers and others out walking enjoying the evening.  They mostly seemed to think Miss 1’s determined setting of the stride, and insistence on independent walking was delightfully cute - just as well really. 

Of course, taking the camera wasn’t a priority tonight, sorry! All we have to show for it are some grubby shoes, and a wee handful of treasures. And happy memories and hopes of many more idyllic evenings. Miss 3 was excited by the small free seaside swimming pool and hopes it will open soon (it’s due to open at the beginning of the school holidays, so that’s within a week), so I can see her powers of persuasion being exercised in the near future).

Well, actually I didn’t, dusting is DS’s job. But I * did* dust off my DPNs.

And I quite enjoyed using them. No stitch markers needed to work out where to do my increases was a bonus. Slightly more difficult was trying to sit on the floor knitting while a toddler used me as a jungle gym (or a slide…). Yes, DPNs are far more pointy and dangerous using magic loop!

I love these 4.5mm Knitpicks Harmony DPNs. Such a scrummy finish, and delightfully unslidy, which meant the cotton yarn stayed put. Yes, despite the aforementioned stupid decision to knit while supervising Miss Active.  So, highly recommended. I have another project that needs DPNs waiting in the wings, so I think I will break out the smaller sizes and abandon the idea of magic looping it. I’m up for a challenge of working with small pointy sticks. I think.

Yes, I have a confession to make.

Back when I was on my yarn-buying ban, I had to indulge my knitting obsession in other ways. One way was to subscribe to Interweave Knits.  I had bought the last few issues and have found them to consistently have at least two-three patterns I’d really like to knit, so it seems that they are probably a good buy for me. And, well, when you can get five issues for the price of four, and when the price you pay is approximately the price of *two* issues off the newstand here, including international postage, well, it seems like a no-brainer.

My friend Sarah commented that she had seen the new issue in her local magazine shop on the weekend, so I was hopeful mine would arrive soon.  And today, while I was surrounded by stacks of marking, it arrived.  What a lovely lunch break I had today!

The one problem with this issue is that it’s for Winter. And, I am informed, it is summer here. Hmmm, I’ll keep you informed on that one.  So, while I am liking some of the patterns, it is likely to be a wee while before any of them hit my needles. 

For me, I like this one best:

Called Aquitane, it has a simple beauty, although I’ll have to watch that wide neckline!  It is knit in the round from the bottom up, and has a fairly limited size range, but it *does* have my size, so that’s something!

And my other two picks are both potential knits for DH.  First up is the Shredder Pullover. And lookie, it uses the same cute cable as my Jimmy socks!!

And, maybe not my thing with the colourwork, but I like the lines of this pullover too.

This issue is the first regular issue with the new layout, which features themed groups of patterns initially photographed together and then with all instructions following.  One commentator mentioned the seeming increase in full page advertisements that accompanies this change. I hadn’t noticed it so much in the Weekend edition, but certainly noticed it in this magazine. However I happen to quite like ads about knitting… so no complaints here.

Overall, this is a nice issue with a balance of things that make me think “what on earth were they thinking?”, and “no, never”, a few “that’s nice” or “my mother would look good in that” in addition to the gems mentioned above. There are lots of women’s knits, a colourwork cardigan for young girls, and a handful of accessories (no socks this issue?).  So, all in all, I like this issue, and I can see myself really enjoying my new subscription.

Right, so you wanted me to dish up more pictures of yarn and dessert. So, a word of warning. If you think that seeing pictures of delicious desserts and divine yarn will make you seriously jealous or very hungry, you’d better not read too much further today. I will not be held accountable for your actions!

But for those of you who are still reading, here are some pictures.

Sam kindly pointed out I’m mistitled the yarn I recieved – this is what I got, alongside the wee rhubarb tarts.

Lots of berry themed desserts, but all of them were delightfully different. This first one has touches of blueberry, and the jelly was made with wine, I’m told those strawberries packed a punch!

A cute mini pavlova with strawberries and cream.

Gluten Free Chocolate Brownie with Strawberries. The beautiful plate was part of the gift. I love the semi solid reds in this yarn, which was dyed with food colouring.

More lovely desserts first up – a lime  and ginger cheesecake

Crumble and (Weight Watcher’s) Custard

And finally, a lovely spiced apple cake with caramel sauce

Delicious yarn, delicious desserts, such amazingly clever friends. We have decided to do it all again in the new year with a different theme, and the twist will be that the parcels will be prepared and then we will have a lucky dip to see who gets what   It sounds like fun!!

What a delicious and delightful evening we had last night! First we had a shared dinner, and then the yarn swap festivities began. Each person got to open their parcel, yarn was fondled around and dyeing techniques discussed.  Then after a quick photo session we lined up the yarn with the dessert that inspired it. And, then the desserts were history. 

It’s supposedly the beginning of summer now.  The last four days have been rain and more rain. The local airport has been closed for three days this week already due to low lying fog. And what has this to do with our swap? Well, the berry season is well underway despite the unseasonal weather, and you could certainly tell this from the desserts and the colours of the yarn. But despite similar inspirations, there were lots of variations on theme within the swap. Here’s a selection from the evening.

This is the parcel I recieved, with 200g of 10 ply yarn, dyed to go with a lovely wee tart willed with marscarpone and topped with stewed red rhubarb.  Beautiful!

And this is the yarn I dyed for my recipient.

You saw the dessert yesterday – I hadn’t realised how much yellow would be in it when it was made up – I focussed on pinks, with a touch of boysenberry and a little brown for the gingernut crumble on the of the parfait. The yarn is 100g of 4 ply Vintage Purls yarn.  My recipient hasn’t knitted socks before but had expressed a desire to do so.  I gifted the glass I made it in, along with three more to make a set, all with lolly parfaits, along with a few other goodies too.

I think you will agree I have some incredibly imaginative friends, and there is some beautiful yarn going to be hitting the needles around these parts sometime soon.

I’m not sure if you all want to see the desserts too? It feels like a massive picture overload for one post, so if you think I should share the delicious goodies, leave a message and I’ll post pics tomorrow

Usually when I think about cooking something, it’s about taste, availability of ingredients, or filling a sudden culinary desire. But today I made a desert that was all about colour.

Yes, tonight is our yarn swap at knitting night, and it’s based around a dessert. So, this is the dessert I made. But I don’t get to eat it. My swappee gets this along with her yarn and a themed gift. I don’t know *what* I’ll be having for dessert this evening, but I am sure it’ll be all about the colours. And probably delicious too!

So, I’ll be back later tonight or tomorrow with an update all about who ate what…