7th January 2010

You know , I hadn't actually realised just how much knitting I had done last year compared to sewing --- check out the lists on the right , just a bit of a difference !!
I think that towards the end of 2009 knitting kind of became an obsession of sorts and not always in a good way... don't get me wrong , I love knitting and I love it when someone asks me to make them something but it became a bit too much and I was just knitting bunny after bunny after bunny and as much as I adore the little blighters it came to a point where I decided that I really would like to make something else .... too much of a good thing I think the saying is. Also I wanted to take some time out to do other things , instead of enjoying playing with the boys , playing Farmville on Facebook ( I know I know ) or even reading blogs I would feel guilty for not knitting .
This year is going to be different , I'm going to relax a bit and make some different things - I have some awesome patterns which just haven't had a look in ........YET..

It's 7 days into the new year and I have already started a few things and finished a few too ... would you like to have a look?

A blanket for a baby due in 2 weeks -- this one might be a bit late as it's got quite a way to go yet.



And after everything I've just said , this one is going to be a bunny but it's a bunny with a difference and something I agreed to do for a lady who has already bought a couple of my other little critters.



This is going to be one of those patterns that I've wanted to knit but never got around too - I'll leave it as a surprise though !



And lastly, something I'm quite proud of as I kind of designed it .... it's nothing major so don't get too excited, but I do think they are rather cute?



Hopefully I'll get these few things finished by end of the month as I would really like to declare February as a sewing month ( more about that later ) but if they don't get finished by then I'm not going to get stressed by it ... no pressure .

So that's my crafty bits so far ..... I'll update as I'm going along , remember my post a day for January.

Oh , and the meal last night was also a success but boy the lady does like to use a lot of garlic , any tips for getting the smell off your hands would be greatly appreciated ( sugar didn't work Maree ) and on the menu for tonight is sweet and sticky pork noodle stir fry .... sounds nice don't you think -- I'll let you know tomorrow.

6th January 2010

The response from hub was a big thumbs up -- yeah.

I thought you might like to try it for yourself so if you enlarge the pic you should be able to make out the recipe . The ingredients might be a bit blurred though so just in case



75g ( 3oz) butter
1 onion peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic
50g ( 20z) plain flour
700ml ( 1 1/4 pints milk )
300 ml ( 1/2 pint ) chicken stock
1/4 tsp nutmeg
salt and black pepper
400g ( 14oz ) cooked chicken diced
200g (7oz ) cooked ham
lasagne sheets
110g ( 4oz ) cheddar cheeese

And on the menu for tonight we have meatloaf with tomato sauce ( it was supposed to be tomato and basil but I'm not venturing out again in this weather, according to the news a further 16" of snow is due to fall today !!) served with Cheese and Garlic Potato Gratin . Sounds nice doesn't it?

Hope you are all having a nice Wednesday whatever the weather........... and I'll see you again tomorrow with some crafty stuff .

5th January 2010

There is nothing like a nice home cooked meal to warm you up when you've been out in a snow blizzard is there?



I have to say that I think my first cooking attempt went down quite well, I made Chicken and Ham Lasagne which I suppose in itself sounds quite easy but I made the chicken stock from scratch and even though I had a bit of a problem getting the sauce to thicken ( in the end I just threw in a bit extra flour ) I really was quite surprised at how long or should I say how short an amount of time it actually took to do. No longer than using the prepared sauces in a jar and a heck of a lot tastier. The boys enjoyed it too which was a good thing but the main test will be what Hub thinks of it tonight when he gets home from work .... I'll be in bed when he gets in so won't find out until the morning - fingers crossed.



Now, what meal shall I cook next ... where's the cookbook :-)

4th January 2010

Thank you for the get well wishes, I do feel so much better now thank you.

Milo went back to school today and this was the view across the school playing fields - isn't it pretty? At last things can get back to normal now -- normal is good don't you think?



I had a good read of the cookbook yesterday and there are some lovely recipes in it , I've also ordered another book on recommendation from Steph and thanks to Lesley and Hege watched a Rachel Allen cookery programme on TV, I didn't even realise she had a programme, ignoramus that I am!!
So in my quest to cook I decided that a cupboard clean was in order to figure out exactly what things I had and what I needed , here's the cupboard before, a bit embarrassing I might add.



and here's after



I couldn't believe there was a carrier bag full of out of date stuff, some of it from 2001 -- hangs head in shame...
I've been to the supermarket and bought a few bits and pieces and tomorrow I'm going to attempt a culinary masterpiece ha ha ..
You know , I feel a bit like the Amy Adams character in the film Julie and Julia , apart from the fact she could already cook and I can't .... wish me luck

3rd January 2010

I'm not feelin too well today , think it's just a bug though fingers crossed.
I picked up this book at the library yesterday so I'm going to have a flick through and see if I can find some easy to do recipes. When Hub starts calling you Queen of the Packet Mixes you know you need to try and do something about your cooking skills ..... or lack of as the case may be.



Oh, and it snowed again last night ............

2nd January 2010

Bit of an odd day today , the kind of day where you have stuff to do but you don't want to do any of it although you do actually want to do something - does that make sense ?
One thing we did manage to do was to go to the library to take the Christmas books back although we did risk life and limb to get there as the snow had all turned to ice and it was lethal. Good job we didn't have far to go .

Walk to the end of the street where they are adding buildings to the hospital hence the big ugly crane ( I wasn't happy when they knocked down all the trees that were there last Summer)



Take a left up to the second set of traffic lights, where the big church is on the corner



and next to the church you have our little 100 year old library.



While we were there Milo decided that he would like some books about space and the planets so off he toddled to ask our lovely librarian where they were.

Luckily she has known him since he was a baby because when she asked if he wanted to be an astronaut when he was older his answer was........



No , I'm going to be an ice cream man!!!

1st January 2010

Hi, I wasn't intending to write any posts for a few days but after seeing Mother Natures New Year present to us I just had to share.
Last night we had the most gorgeous full moon
edit... I've just found out that this moon was in fact a quite rare event as it was in fact a blue moon and the next one won't occur until 2028



and then this morning ..........................





















Maryanne..... if you read this , it was lovely to hear from you ... please send me an e-mail or something :-)
And, I've decided to join in with Nablopomo this month and do a post a day --- so fingers crossed you'll be seeing a lot more of me in January ..