Success!

Damn! Now I have to decide what I'm going to do with this really ugly bit of knitting that I didn't manage to get confiscated....

(Listening to: The Mission, Resurrection)

Oh yeah - almost forgot - another plea...

Are you in Australia? Do you have a DVD recorder? Is it free tomorrow night?

If so would you consider recording Get Ready to be Boyzvoiced for me? (SBS Saturday 12th May 2007, 10:40pm) I have it on video but would be very very happy to have a DVD copy as backup.

Name your price! (assuming it's not a 6 year supply of Boots toothbrushes or a Kaleidoscope Dolls House)

Plans, pictures and plots

I had such grand plans for this week - I'd even convinced myself that I'd make presents for the boys (I think I still will, but now I've decided I'll post them to them afterwards to say thank you, thus buying me some much needed time). But the week seems to have mysteriously disappeared and I'm going to be lucky if I manage to pack (especially as the skirt I want to take is still soaking wet - thank God for hairdryers!) and do the dishes...

And, as seems to happen when I decide to plan a day off, work has gone completely ballistic (I'm finding myself wondering if I could take my laptop to Melbourne with me and do some work on Monday even though it's really an annual leave day - but then I tell myself the world won't end if my clients have to wait one incy wincy teensy weensy extra day before they hear back from me...)

I went up to Parliament House today for work and took some pictures but they're all crap so you're not going to see them. Sorry!

Instead, here are some pictures my knitting obsessed and dolls house enthusiast readers:Knitted cushions I made a couple of years ago. The tape measure is in inches. I used Appletons Tapestry Wool and 1.25mm needles. The cream one came first then I (insanely) decided I'd try cables. You know, just to see if I could.And a picture for the sock knitters among us. No, I didn't make these. I bought them for 50 (NZ) cents a pair (yep - you read that correctly. 50 cents a pair - I snapped up three pairs before they could change their mind and started charging a realistic price) at the NZAME Hamilton Miniature Convention way back in...ummm... OK, a long time ago!

And speaking of knitting, I have a plan. Or is it a plot? Tomorrow I'm flying to Melbourne.

After Stitch 'n' Bitch discussions about this post where Needle's Edge manages to *gasp* knit on an airplane (and during which I suggested this year's Knit in Public Day in Australia should involve a nationwide deluge of people with knitting needles trying to get airside to knit - and make a peaceful protest at the utter idiocy of banning knitting needles on internal flights), I thought I could (potentially) sacrifice my $2 Hot Dollar 4mm bamboo circular needles and some crapolla acrylic yarn and see if I can manage to do the same....


(Listening to: In bloom: French Electronic Music (double CD, $3 from Vinnies. Score!)

Bagging it out

I've been a bit busy sewing the last couple of days with bags needed for:

* My Mystery Bag Swap International 2 (done, dusted and in the post well ahead of schedule - no photo as it would spoil the surprise (and besides, I forgot to take one!))

* L who had a birthday this week. I decided to make her a fold up shopping bag to match the pouches I made for her back here:

Folded
Unfolded!

* Nick and Dermuid who are kindly putting me up this weekend in Melbourne. I'm still trying to decide if they'd prefer shoe bags or fold up shopping bags - or if I have the the time, materials (and inclination) to produce both before Saturday morning!

(Listening to: Men without Hats, Folk of the 80s (Part III))

Also not a birthday present!

Lovely Anita (no blog as far as I can tell) heard my plea for Boots toothbrushes and so a swap was arranged: toothbrushes for Vita Weats (That has to be up there in the list of odd international swaps!)

I certainly got more than I bargained for: enough toothbrushes to keep me going for 6 years plus a bar of yummy Rococo dark cardamom chocolate.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Anita! Your package will be in the post Thursday.

Is this cheating?

Day 5 of my Use what you have month and I bought wool.Very small wool!I also picked up some lovely vintage miniature goodies from one of my favorite sellers:(after I actually found her!) The show moved from Bankstown to Olympic Park last year while I was away and I used to know exactly where the stalls I wanted to visit first were and make a beeline for them as I entered the hall.

This year I had to wander round looking lost for the first half hour before getting my bearings....
(Listening to: Jamiroquai, Emergency on planet earth)

Sunday in Sydney

Princess B and I went for a wander:Dropped of at IKEA (where I spent money, but not on myself). Then we had a coffee:And went to the Miniature show which was disconcerting as it's now at Olympic Park and all the stalls have moved so I couldn't find my "usual" stalls....I found some good knitting from NZ: (Here's my finger for scale!)And there was even entertainment!And some history...
(and in case you haven't worked it out - all the pictures are of miniatures)
(Listening to: Hird, Moving On)

The Biggest (not) Morning Tea

You may ask "Wyong earth go for Afternoon tea in Wyong?"To which the only reply is "It was invitation from Di, The Op Shop and Apron Queen (sorry, you can't quite see the hand embroidered Crinoline Lady in her apron in this picture...)Approximately 30 of us raised $520 for Cancer research. It was a good day (and Di adored her knitted cupcakes!)

I'm away for the weekend...

...with limited computer access.

So here's a link to check out: Quotes on shopping.

I suspect this might be my next knitting project...

And a really cool black and white link from my father:

Oh bum! It would seem cupcakes are now passé...

...just as I packaged up mine to take to Sydney tonight.

Yup, it would seem scones are the new big thing (odd, I didn't even know Americans knew about scones - always thought they called them biscuits...)

And I'm pleased to say I was one year ahead of trend. (*snort*) Now if I could only work out a pattern for knitted scones...

(Listening to: Sketch Night & Day (free with April 2007's Living Etc magazine)

IKEA Hack/ Mothers' Day gift idea

I'd forgotten about this IKEA Hack and thought I'd feature it now in case you wanted to steal the idea for a Mothers' Day present.

I bought some Ribba frames years ago and broke the glass in one of them. Rather than throw the frame away (or put it aside where it would sit forever while I got round to getting new glass cut for it) I did the following:

* Removed the mat, leaving just the backing card in place.
* Bought a packet of Home Brand wooden clothes pegs, and stained one with the wenge coloured stain I had on hand.
* Waited for the peg to dry then glued it onto the backing card.
*Clipped on a postcard I'd picked up at an exhibition I went to (originally I'd planned to change the card on a regular basis but Man Ray has been in there for a couple of years and seem to have no plans to move)

The entire project cost under $2 (the cost of the pegs, with enough left over for 11 more frames!)

Even if you bought a frame from the op shop and a test pot to paint the frame and peg with, it shouldn't cost you more than $5 to make.

(Listening to: Fabric 3)

_________________________________________________________________________

Featured on IKEA Hackers in June 2007.

See my other IKEA hacks:

Colouring in fabric (December 2006)

Zippered pouch (December 2006)

Shopping tote (January 2007)

Rationelle coasters (February 2007)

Not a birthday present...

... so I could open it immediately. Thrift Shop Project sends me such good parcels.

Thanks Kristin! More chocolaty minty goodness on the way (even though you say you still haven't finished the last care parcel I sent)

(Listening to: Everything but the girl, Walking wounded)

May I say?

So how did it get to be May already? Sheesh! Where has the year gone? In three weeks (and one day, but who's counting?) I'll be 41.

I've rejoined Use What you Have for this month. And then realised I'd planned to replace my nasty awful very very green cutting board with a slick new foldable black one but it was too late. Until Princess B came to the rescue and said she'd buy it for me for my birthday. What a gal!

Speaking of birthdays, I'm planning something new (apart from actually being here for it for a change!). It's called patience and it works like this: I get a birthday present. I put it in the Birthday Present Box and LEAVE IT THERE until the actual day. At which stage I open the contents of the box over a leisurely breakfast. Interesting a concept, eh?

I'm all over the place this month with two trips to the Sydney area, one to Melbourne and a birthday weekend down the coast (I haven't been down there for years. I'm a bad bad Canberran!)

And the picture up there? The bag I'm making for my Mystery Bag Swap International 2 partner. I'm loving my new cutty tool which I bought only because it was a) white and grey and b) on special. Why didn't I buy one of these years ago? It's amazing!

(Listening to: Erasure, The Innocents)

Library stuff

This is new to me but it would seem it's been doing the rounds for at least a year - how did I miss out seeing it before now? Pity they don't actually exist as I would be happy to add 20 toy Librarians to my desk!

And I'm loving the ACT Public Library Service at the moment. I got an email yesterday afternoon letting me know the copy of Shopaholic and Baby I'd reserved was waiting to be picked up (yay! I just saved $32 which is particularly gratifying as this book was a fast read and was back at the library less than 24 hours after I picked it up.)

While I was at the library I wandered over to check out the knitting/ architecture/ design books and spotted the complete three volume set of Phaidon Design Classics sitting on the shelf minding their own business. ARGH!!!!! They were scooped up and I staggered over to check them out before someone realised they should be reference only.

So here's a pile of loveliness that "saved" me $280:Alas the library don't appear to have (or be ordering) Jessica Adams' The Summer Psychic but, before I succumb to buying it, I've sent feelers out to library contacts stretching from here to the Central Coast in the hope of managing to borrow a copy to read.

(Listening to: Thomas Dolby, Astronauts & Heretics)

Muffin tops!

Another grey and rainy autumnal Sunday afternoon. An invite to afternoon tea at V & M's. There's only one thing to do: make muffins!

Clarks' Cafe Spinach & Feta Muffins (the gluten free version)

500g flour (gluten free if necessary)

2 Tbspn baking powder

a good pinch of nutmeg

a good pinch of salt

1 egg

200ml oil

2 cups milk

1 cup cooked pureed spinach

1 cup finely diced feta cheese

1. Sift the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt into a large bowl.

2. In another bowl mix the egg, oil, milk, spinach and feta cheese.

3. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid ingredients. Blend carefully with a perforated spoon - if you overbeat muffins, they peak like little Mt Everests!

4. Spoon the mixture evenly into well-greased muffin tins and decorate with an olive on top (optional - they also taste good if you add some sliced olives to the mixture!)

5. Bake at 200 c for about 15 minutes, until the muffins are golden.

Serve warm with coffee and a good book.

Cupcake love

Ohhhh... these are so goooood!

I'm so happy that they came out just the way I pictured them...

The only problem is I now have to box them up (I need to go cadge two small bakery boxes from somewhere) and give them away. *Sniff*(The stats:

* Pattern from here, slightly modified.
* Frugalled wool bought here and here for a total of around $5.50 (leaving me enough wool leftover to keep churning these babies out if I feel so inclined)
* Cupcake bottoms lined with cut down Woolies Home Brand disposable white plastic glasses, weighted with stones I already had and, tucked inside, a lavender bag made from a bit of an old net curtain and lavender from the markets ($6 for a bag of which I used half)
* Stuffing courtesy of my old guest bed pillow.
* Various "toppings" found in the stash of craft stuff I picked up from Hot Dollar ages ago.)

(Listening to: The Christians, The Christians)

New & good (incorporating Second Hand Saturday)

Here's a round up of new and good that I've discovered (or created) recently:

* Darrell Lea's Peanut Brittle bars (covered in dark chocolate and sooooo good!)
* Stone's alcoholic Ginger Beer (not covered in dark chocolate but also sooooo good!)
* National Gallery of Australia's make your own postcard pad (just draw or stick a photo on the front and you're ready to go)

* Threadbanger's Thread Heads programmes
* The May black and white swap I set up this morning on Swap-Bot (come join in the fun!)
* And, finally, this week's frugalled goodies:

• Three metres of fabric: $8.00
• Vintage suitcase, in excellent nick (with original cruiseline stickers on the sides!): $5.00
• Vintage scales: $4.00
• Vintage white plastic storage box thingy: $3.00
• Cream cabled hand-knit scarf: $2.00 (I was surprised to see the pattern for it when I was looking through Taph's copy of this pattern book. How weird is that?!)

Total spent: $22.00

(Listening to: Blue States, Nothing changes under the sun)

Money, madness & a meeting

Money: On the way to the post office this morning I found $20 on the ground. Looked around to see if I could see the owner (no luck). So now I have a conundrum - do I hand it in to the police?

I found $50 a couple of years ago and took that to the police station - where they looked at me like I was insane but took it anyway. 3 months later I went and picked it up from them with a clear conscience.

But $20 seems such a small amount. But maybe not to the person who lost it. So perhaps I should ring the police and see what they suggest - they may have a minimum they'll accept as lost property.

Madness: I received a letter from my bank offering to increase my personal (car) loan to $30,000. I won't, of course, but it leaves me wondering how insane the banking system is these days when I could (scarily easily) arrange access to over $50,000 worth of consumer debt. Without any surety!

As it is I could go on a spending spree to the value of $21,500 without my financial institutions batting an eyelid. In fact they'd all probably immediately send me letters offering to increase my credit limits.

Meeting: Twitchy Fingers bagsed my spare Canberra book and today I met her for coffee to do the handover. Taph was right, she's lovely and I hope to see more of her in the future without me having to run off to another (work) meeting.

(Listening to: Aztec Camera, Love)

Cake & crap poetry

The cake got made. I popped over to the supermarket and bought a mix "to save time". I came home, I looked at the back of the mix packet and realised that, since I was adding eggs, butter and water, I have just spent $3.00 on a bag of gluten free flour, baking powder and sugar (not to mention a list of other unneeded crap), all of which I already had in my cupboard (except the unneeded crap, which, oddly, I could live without) and which would cost significantly less than $3.00!

The Shopping Sherpa got severely sucked in. It won't happen again.

The cake was a roaring success. The dinner was fun, especially after Julie pulled out her copy of Versability: the poetry game (and M & I discussed the possibility that it may be by the very same Burton Silver of Bogor fame - which I now know it is. From marijuana addicted cartoon hedgehogs to poetry games. Most odd)

We tried playing a few rounds of Versability (the premise being one person reads out the first two lines of a poem and you have to guess the rest. To much hilarity, especially as the level of the wine bottle drops.) Once we lost the focus to play properly the evening moved onto quoting the poems we knew (other people had much more highbrow tastes than I did, my contributions including gems such as:

"The boy stood on the burning deck

his feet were covered in blisters.

He though he had his own pants on

But found they were his sister's..."

And the ever popular:

"A thousand hairy savages

sitting down to lunch -

gobble gobble, gulp gulp, munch munch munch.")

And then degenerated into a reading of arguably the worst poem in the world after which there wasn't anywhere to go but home to bed...

(Listening to: Alphaville, Prostitute)

Circles & squares

It's definitely the start of birthday season around here. Last night at Stitch 'n' Bitch Taph presented me with a very large bag which contained (as usual) lots of wonderful goodies she'd collected for me.

I got spotty fabric (in two different weights - one thick for baggy outsides and one think for baggy insides), black and white spotty cups and saucers and more black and cream knitting needles to add to my ever growing collection.

She also had a pile of slide boxes (remember slides?!) full of empty slide frames that she'd rescued from work. They have real glass in them. And each box had been marked "Dolls house windows". Not sure about windows but my head is filled with ideas for quick and easy modern looking dolls house picture frames and maybe even a cool screen when I work out the best way to attach them to each other.

So did I spend my Anzac Day working this out? No, I've been a terribly lazy git and have spent the day reading magazines and knitting. It's grey, overcast and cold and I just couldn't get motivated to get off my bum and run round like a mad thing achieving everything on my To Do list so opted to shorten it to just one (easily achievable) line:

1. Relax and enjoy a midweek day off.

Except I think I need to add one more thing:

2. Bake gluten free cream sponge to take to dinner at J&M's this evening.

(Listening to: Zero 7, When it falls)