A new world knitting record!

OK, it’s official: I’m a champion! Well, me and 255 other knitters. We all braved the cold early morning in Martin Place, Sydney today to knit squares to make blankets for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment at Prince of Wales Hospital and establish the world record for group knitting in the process.

My mum, who has successfully battled cancer on three fronts over the years, couldn’t get to the event today, as she has the ‘flu, but I was there to fly the flag for her — or wield the knitting needles, at least. However, she’s going to be knitting up a storm at home for the cause.

If you , too, couldn’t make it to the event today, but would still like to be a part of this good cause, you can knit squares for blankets at home, plus scarves, wraps, hats or any other garments to help alleviate the chill sensations experienced by patients as they undergo chemotherapy treatment.

To give you an idea of what is needed, we knitted 10-inch squares today using 9mm needles and 8ply wool — you’ll need to cast on around 30 stitches if you’re a knitter with average tension.

All completed items can be sent to the following address up until July 1:

New Idea Knitting Event
Pacific Magazines
35-51 Mitchell St
McMahons Point NSW 2060

Tags: cancer, Charity, Guiness World Records, Prince of Wales Hospital

Beaded earrings — five free patterns

The Beading Daily Web site has instructions for five great beaded earring projects, which you can download from here — and they’re all for free!

This site also has other great free projects, plus the pay-to-download recipes are very reasonably priced.

You can sign up to to the site here to receive free email notification of new additions to the site, plus beaded jewellery tips and tricks, and you can join in the community forums with other beaders.

Tags: Beading, earrings, free patterns, instructions, Jewellery, tutorials

Pea and ham soup

June 1 may be the first day of winter in Australia, but winter doesn’t begin in the Lipscombe household until the first pot of pea and ham soup makes its appearance for the year.

Our pea and ham soup is not for the faint-hearted — it adds a new meaning to ‘hearty’, as you can literally stand your spoon up in it!

It’s the best comfort food for lunch on a cold winter’s day and it freezes well to take to work for lunch through the week.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

1 large ham hock
500g green split peas
1 cup of pearl barley, rinsed
3 large brown onions, chopped
1/2 bunch of celery, chopped
4 large carrots, chopped
3 bay leaves
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Place the ham hock in a large boiler of water and bring to the boil, cooking for just a couple of minutes — this helps remove any impurities or scum on the hock skin. Remove the hock and set aside; discard the water and wash the boiler in preparation for cooking the soup.

While the hock is blanching, chop the vegies (I put my vegies as they’re chopped into a large Glad cliplock bag, as there are a lot of vegies here and I can just discard it when I’m done — one less thing to wash up!).

Add a good splash of oilive oil to the boiler and add vegies, cooking for about 10 minutes until they’ve started to lightly brown.

Add the ham hock and remaining ingredients to the vegies and add enough water to cover. Bring to the boil and cook on a slow simmer for around 3 hours — you’ll need to stir occasionally, as this soup can stick, and top up water periodically as needed, depending on how thick you like your soup.

At the end of the cooking process, remove the ham hock. Strip the meat from the bone, shred it and return it to the soup. Stir through and serve with crusty bread.

Bon appetite!

Tags: Cooking, pea and ham, recipe, soup