Let it snow!

I went down to Ohakune last week and managed to catch up on some HUGE snow at Turoa - unfortunately it was a complete white-out, with 50m-30m visability which is a complete waste of time riding in!! Never have I seen so much snow on the road up to the field:

I caught up with my friend Erik to watch the Whakapapa v Turoa mountain crews battle it out in the annual tug-of-war. This was serious stuff - just take a look at that table! 4 person team who have to light all three bulbs up by the minutes end to win. Two rounds each team. Erik was pretty pleased as her Turoa Womens A Team took the gold for the ninth year. (Sorry Erik - I know you'll hate me for that photo but it's such classic happiness my girl!)

I also found a yarn shop - The Crafty Snowman, 33 Clyde St, Ohakune, ph 06 3858133 - if you are down/up that way please drop in and see Sharon - she has plenty of knitting and crochet supplies for those white-out days!

And I finally put The Mighty E down for a moment to start some knitting this week - a mitre square blanket in "Donkey" brown and white stripes. I actually like the reverse side more - it's a bit more subtle stripe. With 5mm needles, cast on 70 st, place marker after 35 st and k2tog before the marker on every row. To start a new square, just pick up 35 st off last square, cast on a further 35, place marker as before etc. For every 8 rows of Donkey, knit 2 rows of white.

And don't forget Jaffas - Kraftbomb this Sunday, 1pm-4pm @ Grey Lynn Community Centre.

The Mighty E reign continues!

um, yeah, I'm still winding ....

It's a keeper!

I was fairly skeptical when Jussi handed over this wool winder "The Mighty Empisal" at KR on Sunday - it looked difficult. BUT I take it all back and in the words of the Dutchman in 'Goldmember' - "it's a keeper!". I am obsessed - first re-winding all the Fleece Artist kidsilk mohair balls,

and then all the 8ply Wool Company "Donkey" and Katia white Cotton.

I have since run out of winding opportunities and am actually thinking of just winding random skeins for the hell of it. THANKS JUSSI!!

Since knitting seemed far less exciting now, thanks to The Mighty E - I baked and cooked this week instead. Dinner on Sunday: jar of supermarket pesto, sweet vine tomatoes, frozen broad beans heated in boiling water for about 5min and skinned, roasted pine nuts and garlicky cabonnassi = no room for pudding.

Anzac biscuits (Edmonds Cookbook) for the office today: interestingly enough I discovered there is a difference between wholegrain and rolled oats - one requires molars and the doesn't! NB the obligatory biscuit close-up comes from reading bloggers such as sixoneseven and joythebaker who are really inspirational foodie photographers for me.

The last knitting project before The Mighty E arrived: slippers for me, usual cable pattern, knitted out of 3 strands of some odd, maroon, 100% wool balls.

I'm going down to Turoa tomorrow as the next 2 days look primo weather for their massive 455cm snow base - the henious price of fuel, accomodation and lift passes (not to mention the mortgage) now make the timing of a boarding trip crucial. While I haven't skied in the northern hemisphere even I know a crowded chairlift queue, icy fields and wind gusts isn't a choice day on the hill. Oh plus I need to get at least one ride in before my cousin's ski weekend so I don't shame my senior position as eldest by spending the whole weekend on my ass!

Spring is in the air (for a moment)

What a weekend - Auckland actually had sun! Yes we all warmed our little Jaffa hands for a moment and tried to start our lawn mowers. But then the lawn mowers wouldn't start, the rain came back and I had to light a fire ...

but it did provide the opportunity to get some knitting done - a night by the fire with PJ, a lovely organic tomato risotto, bottle of cab-sav-mer saw the start of some new slippers for me!

I keep meaning to blog my crafty space at home since I was so excited about the prospect of space before we bought the house. Below is MY desk in the study - complete with suitcase storage, Maccona Coffee jar button holders, my Tate Modern postcard calender and very special Jennifer Pudney cross-stitch TTP made me.

These photos are a bit old and I'm laughing because since Feb my needle collection and the books/magazines have doubled - in just 5 months.

PJ and I found these old suitcases during the inorganic rubbish day last year. We lined them with some cotton (using a glue-gun, which is a very cool tool and everyone should own one) and now I use them to store my stash.

The next DIY adventure has also begun: involving excessively big nails. I priced up buying kitset planters for the paved area and decided I could build them for half the price. What an oh so clever miss I am - but 8 nails later and I'm nursing a darn sore forearm and a very black knuckle - I struggled to operate a mouse yesterday! The aim is to fill 2 planters with veges in time for this summer.

I made a table cloth too - I was looking for some good linen to do some hand printing on but found this instead. Good old Geoff's Emporium is full of great fabric offcuts. This lovely thick linen curtain fabric cost $12 - that's a bargin 2m table cloth! Pretty easy stuff really - just hem each side using an iron to get a flat, straight edge.

Me and My-Big-Gob

Me and My-Big-Gob agreed to take up a challenge from Kristie at KR that if she blocked her jersey I would start an adult project (that’s adult-sized project, not adult-only project!). I have an immense fear of knitting adult projects (excluding scarves). Perhaps this fear undermined my attempts to knit CH a jersey "subconscious treason" damn it!

My top 3 fears are:

1. I won’t finish it because it’s too tricky.
2. It won’t fit like I imagine it will, ending up with either a) my arms looking short & stumpy and/or b) my waist & boobs merge to become a "woob".
3. I will have to follow the knitting pattern rules to avoid 1. & 2.

So I'm going to start a cardi for myself. I have this delicious yellow Mohair/Kidsilk yarn and have been looking for simple pattern. I’m not a fan of yellow normally but I think a cropped cardi in this colour over a black, grey or white top would be ok on me. The Panda Starshine pattern book has some cute patterns - I'm thinking the pink bolero or the blue cardi.

I sure hope My-Big-Gob can knit!

In other knitting news, I finished The JoeJoe Tank Extension Project - I think they turned out well even though the felted blue one looks a bit worse for wear now. I'll have to find pictures of the lad wearing them now to make sure that extra 16cm was worth it.

And I've been knitting up little hats for the prem unit at Starship too:

I spent Friday at the Food Show which to be honest was really disappointing and proves I've been too often - a lot of the same food with much of it already available in the supermarkets. My top favourites however were:

• the Kohu Road icecream (rich choco and milky choco),
• Whittakers Orange Peel Dark Choc,
• Te Mata cheese stall (especially their Pukepoto Le Carre)
• Lemon Z limoncello and
• Halfords earth gems ... like a new potato only prettier and cannot be overcooked!

And Capt Mich was back in town to whip up a few Frangelico Choco moussies ... mmm

And has anyone seen this local event advertised - “Kraftbomb” – I think it's great to see another craft event (Craftwerk being the other) for Jaffas. It’s set up by City and Karla – I’m going to head along to finally get my hands on one of City’s cupcakes after reading about her baking antics for so long.