Fence beats Dog!

The backyard fence has gone in! No more of the neighbourhood mutt crapping all over our lawn! It will save me from all that rock throwing and yelling! Although there were a few miscalculations by the fencers (they put the horizantal posts to the pail top line and we have some gaps at the bottom to fix up) - overall it looks great and we just have to paint it. For anyone with a rough-sawn wood fetish here are some before-and-after pics:

And in the last photo are my vege planters - CH helped me get them in this weekend thankfully and I planted some zucchini and radish. Some lettuce, capiscum and tomatoes are seeding themselves at the moment too. I'm thinking some peas and strawbs would be nice as well ... there's a whole load of space!

As you can image there wasn't a whole lotta crafting going on this weekend - I started up a cowl neck with some Patons Jet stash (inspired by Splityarn's knitting) on Sunday night and meandered along with the Donkey Blanket. It was actually like summer this weekend - which is just great for getting outside but unfortunately not so good for sitting round crafting! Maybe with the backyard humming I can starting picnic knitting! There are a few sewing projects to go - 2 more summer tops I have in mind with the fabric below.

I was reading Twenty Cent Mixture's blog last week and missing that old market stall buzz - thinking it would be cool to create some little products again, meeting and chatting to stall visitors all day - keeping the crafting force alive. Alas I do not have a tardis (my handbag could be one at times) to travel back and forth in time gaining a few more hours here and there to craft more. Maybe I'll do some next year ...

Crap! Just realised I missed Kraftbomb again!!

Oh and BTW I do have an adult project to show you - but it's not a success due to my overwhelming habit of ignoring the actual pattern, thus living up to this blog's name. It's going to be frogged as soon as I can find the heart to do it (my motivation is probably the fact I'll get to use the Mighty E again!). Tune in next week for the sad story of adult knitting gone wrong!

Bowl-Licker

No knitting this weekend folks (in fact, just quietly, I've lost my knitting mojo at the moment & here's hoping it's just a spring thing). BUT I did get some sewing done. I've had a couple of projects in mind - firstly a set of boxer shorts for CH's birthday and secondly some summer tops for me.

First - the boxer shorts. This is a Simplicity pattern (9056?) that I've had for years which is very easy although you need to check the measurements - it has very long & wide leg measurements. I used some Texas Check cotton @ $7 p/m which should soften up after a few washes. They have an elastic waistband and handstitched the edges/fly. CH likes them although is perturbed I made him undies!!

Second - my summer tops. I've been trying to curb my consumerisim by shopping unneccessarily but all the summer ranges in the shops right now are driving my resolve mad - I haven't been shopping for nearly 3 months too. So I came up with a pattern that could be made with little fabric - hopefully even by recycling a skirt or top. The pattern is simple to sew (basically joining 2 squares and looping a neck tie) and could easily be varied - satin ribbon, shorter length, halter neck - but this version only took me 1.5 hours and used 1m of 150cm wide fabric from my scrap bin. I'm really pleased with it as you can slap a belt round the bottom, or tuck it in, or let it hang loose and looks good with jeans or shorts. The neck tie can be loosened right off or tied up tight around the neck like all the pussy-bow shirts around.

It was a bit difficult getting a photo with it on - this was the best I could do -set timer, run for percieved centred shot, pose, wait, check, REPEAT! LOTS!

It was CH's birthday this week so I made him a choc-banana cake with choc icing even though I had been debating about trying a lemon icing for something different. I couldn't do it in the end though - hell don't you agree the best bit about making choc icing is the bowl clean-up mission (oooh yeah I'm a serious bowl-licker):

Hi!

I just added a new post but it's gone and published itself on the 4th of Sept. Had to let you know - it's a beauty and didn't want you to miss out eh!

mmm ... Lake Taupo on a good day!

All things yellow ...

Another attempt down the mountain last weekend, starting off with a mint day that rapidly turned into a big ole whitey-white-out!

A bit more knitting of the donkey-mitre-square blanket this past week. I am definately a fan of the wrong side pattern and even think a mix of both could look good:

I have been attempting my first adult knitting project too - a cardi for me - having been unsuccessful at finding a pattern to fit my kidsilk mohair I opted for a shrug/cardi from a free Lion Brand pattern: knitted on 20mm needles with 3 strands 2tog. However it's proving to be a very HAIRY yarn and I'm going off the colour, so I've stopped short to make it a smaller shrug. More photos later as I'm still trying to figure out how to join the holey thing in a tidy manner.

It's still soup weather here and the other night I made soup of the three C's - Carrot, Cumin & Coriander. Seriously tasty recipe of my own (as if you can every really say that though cos I'm sure someone elses has made and published this somewhere in the big wide world) I promimse even though this photo is looking more like a traumatic baby-sitting experience I had:

Fry 1 diced medium onion and 2 cloves of garlic in a bit of olive oil. Add 1/2 cup of chopped celery, 1 bag of organic carrots (trimmed and chopped into small cubes), 4 white potatoes (chopped into cubes with skin on) and sweat for a couple of minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups each of hot water and chicken stock (you can use vege stock too). Add roughly a teaspoon of roasted, crushed coriander seeds, cumin powder and curry powder. Simmer until all veges are soft and squishy - then whizz about 1/2 the soup up and add back into the pot. Add 1/2 a cup of red lentils and simmer for another 20mins - keep an eye on it though as it can stick quickly. Add 1/2 cup of chopped fresh coriander 5 mins before serving. Serve with sour cream or unsweetened yoghurt and season with pepper if you want - it's a spicy thick soup & easily a whole meal.

Election Day annouced & I'm suddenly feeling political ...

I'm very intrigued in this social/political meaningfulness of crafting that has emerged over the last few years. I mean just check out what's happening in Australia, USA or NZ . I did Women's Studies 10 years ago at Vic and never really 'came out' politically even though I worked in the Domestic Violence arena for a few years. Currently I work in a hugely male-orientated, corporate world making little attempts to change the system YET I still think of myself as feminist - supporting and valuing people regardless of their gender and associated stereotypes.

However I have for same time now pondered how one assimilates her desire to shout obscenities at pervy business men in lunch meetings, pull on a pinny, shake her fist as pay inequality increases in NZ, whip up some Florentines and read the latest NBR, Catharine McKinnon or Ann Oakley "Who's Afraid of Feminism?" or Debbie Bliss "Baby Knits for Beginners" or a No Idea mag? My increased attention to all things crafty means I'm having to really work on not accepting the stereotypes of this, historically women-only, domain. Why do I find myself saying "I knit" like I am excusing myself for a dodgey habit or trying to prove point - because social constructionisim is a strong brew to hold down!

I started reading a few fem sites recently, which are perking up my interest in this personal/political arena again - and let's face it the Americans are always over-the-top on politics and social reform which is highly entertaining for a kiwi:


Guerrilla Girls
Feministing
I Blame the Patriarchy

What also got me thinking about this was talking with Granny G and Arty Farty at KR last week about how for several years now media have been harping on about the "knitting is making a come-back" storyline which has just got BORING. I mean how many SnB groups, Cupcake cafes, retro handmade cushions have to appear in markets before "crafting" becomes mainstream. Mainstream in the sense that like ipod movies, Facebook status updates, Jennifer Aniston's love life and recycling to make your carbon footprint lighter - it's no longer a topical issue - just part of everyday normal life.


I read a great theory of "craft-vism" from a blogger (who, 1000 apologies to them, I can't find the link to now) that crafting in any form expresses a person's creativity and that that form of creativity has been commericalised and restricted to art galleries, auction houses, restaurants and uber-coolness. Crafting brings art back to the people and reinforces the healthy necessity of creativity to our daily lives.


On a practical level I believe everyone (woman, man or child) needs to re-learn crafts whether it's knitting, cabinet-making, preserving or hand printing. As the earth's population grows we in the lazy West need to be more resourceful, responsible and self-sufficient - less reliant on the capitalist world that's being encouraged as to the world's largest growing populations and economies.


So yeah ... I was feeling a bit sentimental today!

Curing the plague

is easy the natural way: just take 10-11 x hot lemon and manuka honey drinks over the course of one weekend ...... but add 1 entire box of man-made pharmaceutical goodies and then you're really cured!

I found these beauties in my front garden this morning - right where there was meant to be new lawn growing! Tough one but they're staying for now as freesias smell nicer than grass clippings on a hot day!