K A bamboo marking pins from Woolbaa.com.au

I am expecting a new grandchild in a couple of weeks, and I have been knitting and crocheting lots of baby clothes in anticipation for the big arrival.

Well, making the clothes was great fun — until now, that is. With the due date hurtling ever closer, I can’t put off the inevitable: sewing up all the pieces and weaving in all the ends.

Part of my aversion to sewing up has to do with pinning the pieces together: metal pins slip out or they prick your fingers (not good form to gift knitted items with blood stains!).

Recently, however, I received a set of 10 bamboo seaming pins with one of the knitting magazines I subscribe to, so when I bit the bullet and sat down to construct my garments, I thought I’d give them a try. I wasn’t quite convinced they would do the trick, but boy, was I wrong. They are brilliant!

And I particularly love the bamboo, because it doesn’t slip around, so there’s no accidental falling out.

Now I want more (for making up larger garments), so with a dearth of yarn shops anywhere close, I took to the Internet to try to locate some. I finally found some, but holy cow, what a range of prices for the same product — from $9 to over $18, plus postage and handling! (The cheapest I found was on the Woolbaa)

If you, too, would rather do almost anything  than start sewing up your knitting or crocheting  — even the vacuuming (my least favourite chore) — then give these pins a go.

I’m not guaranteeing you’ll learn to love sewing up your woolies, but I’m betting you’ll find it far less of a chore.

© Sibrikov

If, like me, you love to knit (hand or machine) and/or crochet, but none of your friends share your passion, you can feel quite isolated — only other yarn tragics really understand your obsession.

If this sounds like you, then you should head to the Knitting Paradise site, which is a forum, comprising over 60,000 knitters and crocheters from all around the world.

There you’ll find the absolute nicest bunch of gals — and guys — who will delight in your creations, help you out when you get stuck with a pattern, share your crafting joys and frustrations, offer encouragement, share their experience through advice and tips, and share patterns and links to useful sites.

Once you have registered on the site and created your profile, you’ll receive a daily email summary of all the new topics posted in the past 24 hours.

The site also has a number of sub-groups of people. One very popular activity involves swapping surprise packages with other site members — you are matched with a swap buddy, receive a potted profile of their life, likes and hobbies, then you put together a parcel of items to send to them (up to a set dollar value), based on that profile.

Another quirky sub-group on the site is the Weekend Tea Party, where interested members get together online over each weekend to share what they have been up to throughout the week.

I’ve dropped in and out of a number of craft forums over the years, but this is the only one that keeps me coming back regularly — indeed, just about every day. And I’ve made lots of lovely friends, some of whom I’ve actually met up with in real life.

So, if you feel like spending some time with people who really get your fascination with all things ‘yarn’, or if you just feel like a general ‘yarn’ with a bunch of lovely people on just about anything, do yourself a favour and check out the Knitting Paradise site.

Knitting Paradise

I also love the gifts I give to look as special on the outside as they do on the inside.

So, when I found this tutorial on the How About Orange blog for making cool gift bows from old magazine pages, all the planets aligned for me.

So before you recycle those old magazine’s you’re done with, keep aside any pages that feature interesting graphics, because they could just find a new lease on life adorning your next gift. Find out how to make your own eco-friendly gift wrapping here.

[Via Crafterholic]

© Eei_tony

Well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it.

The good news is that I have retired from paid work, so I will now have more time for both crafting and blogging — YAY!!!

Of course, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been nurturing my creative side during my hiatus. With a new grandchild due in a few weeks, I’ve been knitting and crocheting up a storm — you’ll get to see my baby stash here soon.

I’m really looking forward to sharing what’s on my needles, what’s baking in my oven, plus the other interesting and inspirational things I unearth pursuing my next biggest obsession to crafting: the Internet.

So, make sure you drop by from time to time to see what I’ve been up to. I’d love to have you visit! The kettle’s always on here.

It’s not a fluffy, aerated type mousse, but a rich, solid one that I swear is a smooth as silk. The secret ingredient, which I defy anyone to identify if they’re not in the know, is olive oil — yes, that’s right: olive oil.

This recipe calls for Cointreau or Grand Marnier, but I think other liqueurs would work just as well, so I  plan to experiment with some different flavours next time round — a dirty job I know, but someone has to take one for the team!

Anyway, try it out. You won’t be disappointed.

Ingredients:
350g quality dark chocolate
3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup light olive oil
1/4 cup orange liqueur

Method:

1. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water, stirring constantly. You can also melt the chocolate in a microwave  — cook on high in 30-second bursts, stirring between cycles until chocolate is almost melted, then remove from the microwave and continue to stir until smooth. Set aside to cool.

2. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add yolks one by one, beating after each addition until well combined.

3. Add cooled melted chocolate to the egg mixture, beating as you go until mixture is smooth.

4. Gradually add olive oil and orange liqueur, beating as you go until well combined.

5. Spoon into small dessert glasses or dishes (or dainty teacups as a novelty serving idea) — you’ll only want very small servings, as it is decadently rich. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 4 hours. Can be made the day before.

Serves 6.

However, because I thought it might be a handy resource for less experienced knitters who may read this blog, I thought I’d take a look and let you know if it was worth investing some bandwith in.

And aren’t I glad I did! I found some great knitting techniques I hadn’t come across before and will definitely give a go, and others that I had forgotten, but will definitely re-acquaint myself with in some upcoming knitting projects.

To get the ebook, all you need to do is enter your email address. You’ll also need a program to unzip the downloaded file — you can use the evaluation version of WinZip, which you can get a 45-day free trial of from here (when it expires, you can just delete it and reinstall it) .

Whether you’re a new or experienced knitter, this free downloadable ebook from the Knitting Daily Web site is a great resource to keep on hand.

Knitting Techniques for More Successful Knitting

If I had to pick my last meal, it would definitely have chocolate as an ingredient — and lots of it. Let’s face it; too much chocolate is barely enough!

One of my favourite winter ‘comfort food’ desserts is chocolate self-saucing pudding; an oldie but a goody. This one is an absolute corker — a coronary in every bowl!

Chocolate self-saucing pudding

Ingredients:
1 cup self-raising flour
1/4 cup cocoa, plus 2 tblspn extra
2/3 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
50g butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/4 cups boiling water

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius (160 degrees Celcius fan-forced).

2. Sift flour and cocoa together into a mixing bowl, then add caster sugar and choc chips and stir through.

3. Mix the melted butter and milk in a jug, then pour into the dry ingredients. Stir until combined and put into a greased ovenproof dish.

4. In a jug, combine boiling water, extra cocoa and brown sugar stir until combined. Pour over the cake batter — if you pour it over the back of a spoon, it won’t disturb the cake layer, giving a better-looking finished pudding.

5. Cook for about 45 minutes, depending on your oven. The pudding is cooked when the surface springs back when pressed lightly.

5. Let the pudding rest for about 5 minutes before serving. Transfer to bowls and top with cream or ice cream.

So, I was delighted to find this funky-looking, retro-styled bag while I was at the shops on the weekend. Now I can be virtuous as well as hip!

It’s available for $1.98 from Big W stores.

One of the quick and easy quilts

If you’re new to quilting and are looking for some patterns that are uncomplicated, but still have the wow factor, you should check out the US Better Homes and Gardens’ All People Quilt site for its 15 quick and easy quilt patterns.

Many of these quilts are great for using up some of your material stash and they are all particularly good if you need to whip up a quick gift quilt for someone. Great for beginners and more experienced quilters alike.

You’ll find patterns and instructions for these 15 Quick and Easy Quilts here.

What with it being winter and all, I was in dire need of some comfort food, so I decided to have a go at making a massaman curry myself for dinner on the weekend. I’m so good to me!

Anyway, now I’m going to be good to you, because it was delicious and here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 600g diced beef chuck steak
• 440ml can coconut cream
• 440ml can coconut milk
• 1/4 cup massaman curry paste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 1 onion, peeled and sliced into reasonably thin strips
• 300g sebago potatoes, peeled, cut into 2cm cubes
• 1/4 cup roasted unsalted peanuts
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• Steamed rice to serve (see my foolproof microwave rice recipe here)
• And you can add some coriander now as garnish if you absolutely must!

Method:

1. Heat oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook beef, stirring, for 4 or 5 minutes or until browned. Transfer to a plate.
2. Reduce heat to medium. Spoon the thick top layer from coconut cream and coconut milk into pan. Cook, stirring, for 3 to 5 minutes or until oil separates and floats to the top.
3. Reduce the heat to medium and add the curry paste and half of the coconut milk and cream to  to the pan. Cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Return the beef to the pan. Add the cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaf, water and remaining coconut cream and coconut milk. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for one hour or until the meat is tender.
5. Add the potato, onions and peanuts. Cook for 35 to 40 minutes or until the onion is soft and the potato tender.
6. Remove the bay leaf. Stir in thet fish sauce and sugar.
7. Serve in a bowl over steamed rice.

The original recipe is from the Taste site, but I made quite a few changes to suit my own tastes.

This dish was so yummy that I got tucked into it before I took a photo of it, so next time it’s on the menu, I’ll post one for you.