Quick crochet makeover

Here we have Exhibit A: a filthy, horrible, tippy-over kitchen stool. Inexplicably beloved by all who live here, it would be unforgiveable to get rid of it, but the grubby state was driving me mad...
So, after a few evenings in front of the telly with hook in hand, a new cover was created. It was quite simple, so there's no pattern: just keep working in rounds, increasing about every 10 stitches. For the pink and green stripes, I worked in the back loops only, to create a ribbed stripe. To make the sides, just work in rounds without increasing until it is long enough, then for the final 2 rounds, decrease about every 10 stitches. (And don't worry if it comes out a bit uneven or lumpy... once it is pulled taut over the seat, you won't even notice.)

So. It's still tippy-over, but at least it's pretty.

Approval: granted

Painting the fence

One of the big advantages of owning a home rather than renting is that you can paint anything you like without needing permission. (Of course, the downside is that you have to pay for it too...) So, last weekend we did just that.


Here is the before shot. This fenceline was crowded with shrubbery which blocked out a lot of light, so we cut that back several months ago. That only left approximately 18 square metres of corrugated iron to paint...


I chipped off some samples of green paint from the fence that was already painted, and we took it to the paint shop to match. The colour we chose was as close as possible, and it looked fine... until the sun shone on it! Then I realised that the colour we'd chosen (a lovely deep, blue-based bottle green) was completely different to the previous colour (brown-based, more of a khaki green). But only when the sun shines directly on it - in the shade, they both look extremely similar.

There was a little bit of paint left, so I painted over the old paint. I ran out just before I got to the end, but at least it's not so obvious now. I'm very happy with the way the fence looks - it freshens the whole back yard up. And now all that's left is to fill the border garden with my summer vegetables.

Vintage crochet

I made some motifs from a vintage pattern. I even used vintage cotton thread and an old steel hook. An enjoyable, if fiddly way to spend an evening or two. I am thinking about stitching these on a cardigan, perhaps with some embroidery and a pearl bead or two...

Spring has sprung

Spring is here, even if it's been a little slow to show it round my place! A lot of my bulbs have turned out to be in rather shady places so are taking a bit longer to flower than I would like. But this weekend I had the first daffodil - it's a miniature called Sundisc. I also have blooms on the camellia and one of the iceland poppies has decided to open. I can't wait for more of them to burst open, although I do love the funny little buds.

I couldn't hold back any longer so I cleared the table in my art room and got out my seed raising mix. This table gets full sun all day so it should be ideal for raising seedlings. So far I've sown onions, Black Krim tomatoes, marigolds, nasturtiums, and a cottage garden mix. Plenty more to come!

This is my seedling potter. You just get a strip of newspaper, wrap it around the barrel, fold the ends over and twist it in the base. Then you have a little pot made of newspaper that will break down quickly once it's put in soil - no disturbing the roots! I had started saving toilet paper rolls to use this way, but this is a lot better. You can get them from The Company Shed.

I've also started digging over the garden and adding compost. This is the first time I've done this and it's pretty exciting - especially since I'm using my own compost! The compost looks and smells like dirt (at least until I added sheep pellets) so I'm assuming I did it right!

After that, I laid out bricks to see how a brick path through the potager would look. It looks awesome! Then I ran out of bricks. Hopefully I can get some more bricks soon, because I'm really feeling the itch to dig, plot, plan and organise the space.

Shopping

Oops... this is the last post on my holiday that I meant to publish two weeks ago. I had the pictures uploaded and everything! I have been distracted by the springlike weather we've been having which makes me want to neglect my computer and spend all my time outside. But more on that later!

Anyway, these are some of the goodies found in various second hand shops around South Canterbury. As you can see, I'm all about vintage china plates and kitchenware at the moment.


Oo I love this silver tray... I am having such fun setting up different little vignettes on it each day. The green vase is the twin of the teal one in the photo above. And that's a tiny selection of the buttons I picked up... lovely old buttons, some hand carved from shell, the tiny misshapen ones my favourites of all...

And I couldn't turn this down... a gorgeous pale green gazunder! I'll be using it as a planter rather than keeping it under my bed in case of emergencies... but good to know it's there right?

Eating out

Mum and I made it our mission to try new and exciting food every day of the Christchurch part of the holiday. We began with afternoon tea at the Cupcake Parlour. See how pretty it all is... vintage china plates, Cath Kidston tablecloth, swirly icing and silver sprinkles. The cupcake was delicious, as was the icing - very rich though! There weren't many people eating in at the Cupcake Parlour, but there was a steady stream collecting takeaway orders.

The next day we went out to visit Seagars at Oxford. It was incredibly busy - word has sure got round about that place. We arrived just after 12 and all the tables were full, so we were invited to browse in the kitchen shop next door until one became available. Five minutes later a waiter came and told us a table was ready, so in we went. The staff were great - really friendly and helpful. I was slightly less than impressed with my main though. I ordered the Oven-Roasted Monkfish which was supposed to be served with lemon hollandaise, potatoes and fresh greens. There were about three drops of hollandaise (to be fair, they were extremely tasty drops) and instead of fresh greens, steamed winter veg. However the veg were still crunchy, as demonstrated when I tried to spear a piece of carrot on my fork and it pinged away, bounced off my lap, landed in my handbag and wiggled all the way to the bottom. I think the monkfish was nice, but it was hard to tell because the bacon flavour was so strong. Oh - but there was a lovely mash, with potatoes and cabbage and maybe even parsnip, hiding under all those crunchy veges!

Mum had the Carrot, Cumin and Cashew Nut Fritters. She said they were nice but wouldn't rave about them.

Fortunately dessert made up for it! This is the Dessert Nibbly Platter - a little bit of everything including pecan pie, lemon meringue pie, blueberry pie, fruit cake, chocolate mousse and ice cream. So good, especially that mousse, yum.

The next morning we went to the Farmers' Market at Dean's Bush, Riccarton. There was a fascinating array of handmade, organic and gourmet foods there. Handmade bread, cheese, chocolates, cookies, two different cupcake stalls, fresh meat and veg... I had a wonderful hot chocolate flavoured with Mayan Spice (chai spices and a hint of chilli!) which certainly warmed me up on a cold morning. I bought a goat's cheese fetta (Mum has a recipe for a leek and goat's cheese tart - which I am still waiting on, hint!) and...

...macaroons! I'd never seen these in real life before and I just had to try some. And yes, they are every bit as good as you read about. Soft meringue shells with a creamy ganache centre.

They are from J'aime les macarons (I love macaroons) - very appropriate name! (The one at the front is rose and it was my second favourite. My first favourite was the middle one - bitter chocolate.

Holiday week

Last week I had a much needed week off. I spent most of the time with my mum - as we live in separate towns we don't often get to catch up and do things like go shopping or go out for coffee, so we decided to do as much of that as possible in one week. By the end of it, I was all shopped out and had eaten enough sweet things to last me the rest of the year (or so I thought yesterday - I still managed to force down a gingernut for afternoon tea today though!)

Food and shopping will come in the next couple of posts, but in the meantime here are a few photos from the first two days, which we spent in Timaru.

Timaru sunrise - taken from the window of my dad and stepmum's house. I thought how pretty and misty it all looked, but realised later that the mist is probably smoke from people's fireplaces (it was a completely still morning, and very cold at minus 2 - brr!)

From the same window but another direction.

Caroline Bay. The haze was still there, as was a strange pinky/gold glow in the sky. It was like sunrise, but at 10.30 in the morning!

They have put a new fountain in a the Bay. It's an ostentatious, Victorian monstrosity covered with mermaids, twin-finned merbabies and a cherub riding some kind of seahorse. I love it!

Even on a grey chilly day.

The lovely mermaids seem to be wearing frilly skirts of some kind. They don't seem to mind the water dripping in their faces, but I bet they are looking forward to summer and a bit of sunshine on their tails.

As am I! We were quite lucky with the weather though and that was the only grey day - the rest were sunny and warm, and were a welcome reminder that spring is not too far away.

Striped hot water bottle cover - crochet pattern

One of the good things about a cold winter's night is snuggling up in bed with a toasty warm hot water bottle. Of course, you need a good cover for your hottie so you can cuddle it without burning yourself. Here is an easy crochet pattern, worked in double crochet (US), which buttons at the bottom for ease of removal.

MATERIALS:
Slightly more than 2 50g balls of plain yarn (I had to join a 3rd ball just to do the last couple of rounds, annoyingly). I used a fairly chunky, slightly lumpy chenille type yarn.
1 ball contrasting yarn for stripes (I used a variegated self striping yarn).
6 mm crochet hook
3 buttons, approx 1 inch across

ABBREVIATIONS:
ch = chain
dc = double crochet
dc 2 tog = double crochet 2 together (decrease).

PATTERN:
In colour A, ch 54, join to make ring.
Rnd 1: ch 3 (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc in each chain (54 dc)
Rnd 2: ch 3 (counts as 1 dc), *ch 1, skip next dc, 1 dc in next 9 dc* twice, ch 1, skip next dc, 1 dc in next 27 dc, join in 3rd ch.
Rnd 3: ch 3, 1 dc in each dc (1 dc in each ch 1 space) (54 dc)
Rnd 4: Join colour B.
You don't have to fasten off with colour A - just bring the yarn up the inside of the rows, to join on each time you change colour (see below).
Ch 3, 1 dc in each dc (54 dc)
Rnd 5: Join colour A. Ch 3, 1 d in each dc (54 dc)
Rounds 6 - 22: continue as for Round 5, alternating between 2 rounds of colour A and 1 round of colour B.
Rnd 23: Join colour A. ch 3, dc 2 tog in next 2 dc, dc in next 22 dc, dc 2 tog in next 2 dc twice, dc in next 23 dc, dc 2 tog in next 2 dc, join.
Rnd 24: ch 3, dc 2 tog, dc in next 20 dc, dc 2 tog twice, dc in next 21 dc, dc 2 tog, join.
Rnd 25: Join colour B. ch 3, dc 2 tog twice, dc in next 14 dc, dc 2 tog 4 times, dc in next 15 dc, dc 2 tog twice, join.
Rnd 26: Join colour A. ch 3, dc 2 tog twice, dc in next 10 dc, dc 2 tog 4 times, dc n next 11 dc, dc 2 tog twice, join.
Rnd 27: ch 3, dc 2 tog, dc in next 10 dc, dc 2 tog twice, dc in next 11 dc, dc 2 tog, join.
Rnd 28: Join colour B. ch 3, 1 dc in next 25 dc, join.
Rnd 29: Join colour A. ch 3, 2 dc in next dc, 1 dc in next 12 dc, 2 dc in next dc, 1 dc in next 11 dc, join.
Rnd 30: ch 3, 1 dc in next dc, 2 dc in next dc, 1 dc in next 13 dc, 2 dc in next dc, 1 dc in next 11 dc, join.
Rnd 31: Join colour B. ch 3, 1 dc in next 2 dc, 2 dc in next dc, 1 dc in next 14 dc, 2 d in next dc, 1 dc in next 11 dc, join.
Rnd 32: Join colour A. ch 3, 1 dc in next 3 dc, 2 dc in next dc, 1 dc in next 15 dc, 2 dc in next dc, 1 dc in next 11 dc, join. Fasten off.

Bringing the yarn up between each colour change.

FINISHING OFF:
Sew in all loose ends of yarn. Lay cover flat and align buttonholes so they are evenly placed along the bottom. With a fabric marker, make a mark through the buttonholes onto the back side. Stitch the buttons on securely - if neccessary, use a small dot of glue to hold the knot in place. You won't need to block this - but be aware that if you use a wool or wool blend yarn, the heat of the hot water bottle will probably felt it a bit.

Check out ma leeks!

I am officially stoked with my leeks. They aren't as fat as the supermarket ones, but check out those long white shanks! Beautiful, I say. I have about 40 growing, so even if you bought them on special at .99 cents, that's still $40 worth. Not bad... that will make me a few batches of leek and potato soup!

Weird Cat Behaviour #1

the first in an occasional series

Eating from the compost heap
Well, it's actually a pile of vege scraps ready to go on the compost heap. I kept coming out onto the porch to find them scattered everywhere, at first I blamed hedgehogs until I actually caught him in the act. I guess you have to sample everything - you never know where a little scrap of jellimeat might be hiding, after all!

Potato peelings - yum yum!