Feijoa and vanilla jelly ...

Sunday, April 29, 2012

I've never made jelly before and didn't realise how easy it was - other than trying to rig up the jelly bag suspension part of the process.  Oh, and not having jars on hand.   Finally used 2 outdoor chairs and a long garden stake - no photo's of that mickey mouse contraption will be posted though!   And an assortment of odd jars I found in various cupboards.

I made vanilla extract last year for Xmas pressies (vodka and vanilla beans) so used that - the smell was delicious ....


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A star in a heart ....

Wednesday, April 25, 2012


I've had this little button for a couple of years and when I tried to use it, it's never worked. Either the wool was the wrong shade of pink or the pattern didn't work with it but now I've found the perfect match!


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More moody blue .....

Monday, April 16, 2012

As I had some leftover blue I thought I'd add that to my ever present shade 0050 (creamy white that I use in just about everything !!) throw in a bit of the leftover red brick colour and knit this little stripey sailor top ....





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Moody blue ....

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

A friend is going to Spain for a couple of years and I've made a vest for her gorgeous baby boy to wear in their winter.   He'll just about be 1 by then so I made the 1-2 year size and finished it off with some of my cute little ladybug buttons.






I used a new wool by Shepherd which has knitted up really nicely (I usually use Cleckheaton) and as it comes in 100g balls I had enough left over to knit a vintage racing helmut to match.
Excuse the wine glass prop - it's a bit hard to photograph a helmut without a model!!!


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Chilli jam ....

Monday, April 9, 2012

Last summer I discovered Nigella Lawson's chilli jam recipe and made what I thought would be enough to last us all winter however, as I chuck it in every imaginable meal (not just chilli con carne but omelettes, fish cakes etc.), sadly my jars ran empty.   So this summer I put in twice as many chilli plants and have ended up with 12 lovely jars. 



The recipe is soooo easy - you just whizz a couple of red peppers and about 250g of red chillis (you're supposed to deseed them but I leave them in as we like it hot) in the food processor, pop a 1kg packet of Chelsea jam setting sugar and 600ml of cider vinegar (I used apple cider) on the stove and let the sugar dissolve without stirring, chuck in the whizzed chilli and pepper mix and "rolling" boil it for 10 mins.   Then let it cool down before bottling.   As it cools it's supposed to get thicker and while the batch I made this weekend didn't thicken up as much as the last two it doesn't really matter for what I use it for.   So easy - and so much better than paying the $8 per tiny little jar if you have to buy it .......

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Eggs - but not Easter ones .....

Wednesday, April 4, 2012





Just wanted to share my under $10 eggcups with you (from the red shed!)

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Pink and grey revealed as coconut ice ....

Sunday, April 1, 2012


This stripe combination reminds me of coconut ice - not that I've ever seen a piece with grey through it!

The bit I absolutely hate about knitting stripes is sewing all the ends in ...




Choosing the right button ...



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