Knitting Mojo

I seem to have the knitting bug again after a long uninspired few months.  I'm halfway through this easy vest although it is supposed to be for a child and I've been tampering with the pattern to make it my size.  This is usually not a good idea especially when you are a novice like me but what the hell!

Yesterday I spent ages cutting 3 large bedsheets into 1 inch strips in order to start on an oval shaped rag rug to use as a door mat just inside our ranch slider.  This must be the biggest ball of yarn I've ever seen!

Let's hope this time around my crafty ideas are well executed into a useable finished product....unlike most of my other preious knitting or crocheting projects.

Grams's chair, Before and After

Say goodbye to the 70's vibe avocado green

Hello duck egg blue; finally fresh and modern!

Tamales!

I've never made a decent tamale but with all the ingredients in my freezer I thought it was about time I tried again.  Luckily I found this brilliant you tube channel.  After watching a few of her tamale making videos I cracked on to give it a go myself. 

masa dough made with oil instead of lard

soaked corn husks, cheese and salsa ready and waiting

a good smear of masa and a huge block of cheese (I should have used twice as much cheese)

Steaming away for hours

The result was so yummy.  I should have used as much cheese as she suggested but it looked like heaps.  She also put a big slice of jalapeno in hers which would have been divine.  Of course I never got around to taking any photos of the final product on the plate; we were way too busy feasting on them!

Before and After......(or just after)

I can't believe that nowhere in my photo folders is a picture of this before I had it reupholstered.  I love a good before and after photo montage (does that word make sense here).  But anyway, here it is AFTER:

It went from dull, off white and very stained to bright, colorful and modern.  We are lovin' it!!!

Leprechauns and Little People

After reading about all of my American friends whose children were building leprechaun traps in hopes of being taken to pots of gold at the end of rainbows, I decided that perhaps we should get into the St. Patrick's Day celebrations as well.  I asked around to a few friends to see if they would be doing anything for St. Paddy's Day and the usual response was a strange and questioning look on peoples faces.  There would be a very tiny percentage of people in our tiny population of New Zealand who actually acknowledge St. Patrick's Day.  I decided that we would be the first in our tiny town to do something "Irish" for the occasion.  Beef with Guinness, potatoes with parsley, sauteed cabbage and Baileys mousse with whipped cream and praline was my ode to the festivities.  9 adults and 10 children came over for our official St. Patrick's Day party and it was a huge success!  Wearing green and drinking an assortment of Irish stout, whiskey and baileys we enjoyed the first of hopefully many to come Leigh village St. Patrick's Day annual celebration dinners!

Of course because of all the action and little people running around that we had to tend to, the camera was shelved and completely forgotten about.  The food photos were taken the next day with the leftovers!!!!

At Long Last...

Not only has it been a long time since my last post but it's also been a very long time since I have finished a knitting or crocheting project.  I suppose in the summer that sort of craft is the last thing you want to be doing.  We've had many sunny summer days spent on the beach or outside in the garden instead of sitting quietly on the sofa knitting away.  I knew this project would take me ages even though it is big fat wool knitted on big fat needles which is why I started it in springtime knowing I would probably finish close to winter.  Just in time to need a warm shrug.  I finally sat myself down last week and MADE myself finish it once and for all.  And you know what?  I'm actually pretty pleased with it!  It is the softest cashmere/wool blend.  Debbie Bliss Como.  With all the leftover bits I am hoping to make a moss stitch patchwork cushion cover for the living room.  So without further ado, here it is....

Before and After

Entry Hall before with pale yellow walls

Stairwell in white with lots of little kid finger prints

Lots of butter yellow wall space to be covered

Looking up from stairwell (handmade glass sconce courtesy of sarah saso)

Awesome bright orange handrail with dirt hiding brown walls

Repainted shoe shelves and Pete's gorgeous photos proudly hung above

Revamped and practical as!

Loving my etsy rug!

Close ups of our local underwater sea life