The last couple of months have been trying.  Somebody or other sick constantly.  Then we were burgled.  I’ve always been perversely proud that we’ve never had anything anyone would want to steal.  But then there was the laptop, so away it went, along with a few pieces of jewellery.  Things of monetary value that I never considered as such.  My grandmother’s engagement ring and enamel locket, the gold locket I got for my 21st birthday, and some gold earrings Mr. Foxy commissioned for me from a contemporary jeweller about 20 years ago.  The loss of my grandmother’s pieces is hardest to bear.

Then, unexpectedly, we bought a house!  Our own house, a proper one with a proper yard!  Despite looking at properties on and off for the last three years, I had just begun to worry that I would never have my own home – anything suitable was unattainable, anything affordable was unsuitable.  The elation of knowing that we don’t have to scour the real estate advertisements every week and spend weekends rushing to open inspections!

There’s one small hitch … we need to build on to it to make it big enough.  The prospect is daunting, but exciting …

A fine winter’s morning

+ lots of adventures to be had

+ 16 guests (as well as a smattering of siblings)

+ 24 cupcakes

+ 20 chocolate crackles

+ 18 savory muffins

+ not enough fairy bread and copious sandwiches

+ various chips, dips, vegetable and fruit platters

+ cake

= 6

(And a celebration for me of six years of mothering my rowdy, sensitive boy.  Long may he enjoy tree-climbing as well as computer games, and fairy tales as well as dvds.)

A sixth birthday is on the horizon, and bringing with it a big party.  There were so many friends to invite, that it just had to be the whole class.  I’m hoping that a local adventure playground can provide the entertainment, and a (hopefully very) little effort with the catering will make it special enough.

A castle cake was chosen by the birthday boy from a library book, and simple papercut embellished invitations have been distributed.  And there has been flicking through magazines and books for inspiration.  

So much of the food I associate with parties is based on a nostalgic view of such occasions, things that were special treats when I was a kid.  Fairy bread, cocktail frankfurts, butterfly cakes, sausage rolls.  I was excited to come across an updated recipe for chocolate crackles in last year’s Donna Hay Kids’ magazine, and had to try it at once.  Although it substitutes the traditional copha and cocoa with butter and chocolate, it still has that unmistakable texture and the contrast between smooth chocolately mass and airy crispness.  Yum …

Chocolate Crackles

(Here I halved the original recipe and filled about 20 small patty pans (the size down from the large muffin cases), and used a mixture of dark and milk chocolate, as opposed to all dark in the recipe, to make it more kid-friendly.  I also changed the method a little in dealing with melting the chocolate.)

• 50 g dark chocolate
• 50 g milk chocolate
• 50 g butter
• 1/6 cup golden syrup
• 2 cups rice bubbles

Melt butter and golden syrup in a largish saucepan over a low heat.  When melted (but not boiling) add broken up chocolate and remove from heat.  Allow chocolate to melt into the mixture for a while then mix gently until combined.  Mix in rice bubbles until well coated.  Fill patty pans with teaspoonfuls of the mixture.  Refridgerate for 1 hour, or until set.

(Edited to add image from second batch of this recipe.)

Blogging has been a bit thin on the ground here, and knitting not much better, but there are a few small projects I haven’t shared here yet.

I couldn’t resist making the Kelp Scarf, designed by the lovely Michelle. (Ravelry link).   An organic, sculptural piece that can be looped around the neck a few or several times to form a longer necklace or snug cowl, this was a great quick and simple project.  The yarn is Lincraft Splendour, and I used the entire 50g ball with just a couple of inches to spare – most satisfying.  Such a soft and squishy yarn.  I’m not normally a fan of variegated yarns for myself, but the long, gradually changing colour sections and rich tones of this yarn, almost Noro-like, are appealing to me.

Quite some time ago I managed to complete two little tops for the twinnies.  The pattern is the Girl’s cap-sleeved spring shirt by Shelly Floyd. (Ravelry Link).  I had downloaded this pattern ages ago, as I loved the idea of this being knit continuously in the round in one piece – no seams!  I was worried I’d get sick of the rounds and rounds of stockingette, but this wasn’t the case, and the pieces grew quickly.

They are knit in Bendigo Woollen Mills Cotton 8plyin Honeydew and New Ochre.  I was worried that I wouldn’t like knitting with this yarn, as it is quite unyielding and string-like at first glance.  Not tactile and bouncy like wool.  However I was won over and understood why so many other knitters rave about this yarn.  It did produce a surprisingly soft fabric and wasn’t hard on the hands at all.  As this yarn isn’t very lofty, I didn’t like to go up a needle size at the body section as the pattern instructs, so increased 12 stitches at this point.

I’m happy that these cool little tops will get wear next summer too, as I was, as always, generous with the sizing.

Then there was a new little baby girl in London who required some handmade knitwear.  I actually started this before I knew it was for a girl, hence the gender-neutral orange.  The pattern is the Easy Baby Cardigan by Diane Soucy (Ravelry link), knit in Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8ply in Pumpkin.  Such a great little basic pattern, and again seamless apart from the top of the hood.  The hood seemed to take forever, but once I got to the raglan increases, things seemed to move along quickly.  Easily completed from a lovely BWM 200g ball, with enough left over for an improvised crochet dress for my orange-loving girl’s own baby, who returned sans attire from a visit to creche.

As much as I would like to show off some tasteful easter crafting, I must admit that my new obsession is Hama beads (or their Swedish cousin, Pyssla).  You painstakingly put coloured beads on a pegboard in a design, iron it to fuse the beads together, and you end up with a flat plastic beady thing.  Although the end product may seem somewhat dubious, it is incredibly addictive, and even my rambunctious five-year old loves making these.  We have recently made a suite of easter decorations together, and he has loved coming up with ideas for what to make.  It’s so lovely to see him quietly concentrating as he chooses and places the beads.  It’s obviously good for developing fine motor skills, but I think there is also that calm purposefulness that you get with knitting or any other repetitive craft.

For me there’s something comforting about the regular grid structure, and creating simplified and geometric patterns and designs.  Maybe it appeals to me in the same way that knitting fairisle does.  Perhaps Rex, who often gets frustrated when drawing when his pictures don’t come out how he imagines them, finds this structure allows him to control the forms he wants to create.   And working alongside the usually rowdy boy, quietly and calmly, is such a delight, as is witnessing his satisfaction at creating something. 

In other Easter making, I hope to get around to some egg dyeing before Sunday.  The pashka is in the ‘fridge and the chocolate is at the ready.  With more planning, I would have liked to create a version of Soile’s Easter wreath, which I think is so wonderfully witty, if faintly disturbing.

Fragrant green tea and fruit toast for an unhurried breakfast on the back step.

A thoughtful and generous package from the lovely Bells.  I recently won a contest to celebrate the anniversary of Bells’s wonderful blog, and was lucky enough to receive a perfect little project bag made by her own fair hands (I love the fabric combination), and a skein of the most swoon-worthy yarn from Knitabulous.  It is the 50/50 silk and wool blend 4 ply in Summer pudding, a lovely subtle rhubarby red.  What a glorious shawl this will make – maybe this one …  Thanks so much, Bells!

Shells collected from the seaside on the weekend by my boy.  I love how he marvelled over each one, no matter how imperfect, noticing the colours or sheen.

Hardly timely news, but young Mr. R started school this year.  There were no tears, just much excitement, pride in a new uniform and school bag, and a fair bit of uncertain clinginess.  I have always worried about this, as I tend to remember the less positive aspects of my own school days, but I feel reassured that current schooling methods are more sensitive to, well, sensitive kids.  What I wasn’t counting on was the extent of the change to our day-to-day life and routines.  Apart from the hectic double drop off before work, there is a whole new community that we are part of.  Kind of wonderful, but also kind of exhausting.

Went to places full of history and folklore

stayed in the city and by the sea

found cushions to match our outfits

and travelled home through places of nostalgia and remembrance.

Christmas and new year’s activities seem so for away now.  As I’ve taken a fair chunk of time off work, we’re now in a summer holiday frame of mind.  Some things we’ve been up to:

• Reading: bedtime stories.  Rex is old enough to enjoy chapter books, and we’ve worked through The Hobbit, Stig of the Dump and Harry Potter.  I’m now addicted to Harry Potter books and trying to track down the rest of the series second-hand.
• Watching: movies!  I saw Tangled with Rex, and The Tourist with Mr. Foxy.  Enjoyed them both immensely.  I saw the 3D version of the former, and there was a most delightful moment in a scene where there were lots of lanterns floating in the sky.  Rex leapt to his feet and reached out to touch one that seemed to be at arms reach, and I noticed that all the other kids in the audience were doing the same!  Magic indeed!  And I was loving the good old-fashioned escapism of adventures in Paris and Venice with the impossibly elegant Angelina and hapless yet dashing Mr. Depp.
• Listening: to Dickens, and I always seem to turn to the Amelie soundtrack lately.  Plaintive, wistful, charming and olde-world-French.
• Eating: too much chocolate.  But at least the latest new family meal idea has proved to be a winner – pesto made with handfuls of parsley, baby spinach and walnuts with a small clove of garlic and a few glugs of olive oil.  So great to see the vegie avoiders getting a burst of leafy green goodness.
• Sewing:  transforming trousers with torn knees into shorts, for both large and small.
• Making: Kirsty’s crochet granny shrugs in small girl sizes.  A fun and not too taxing project for the holidays.
• Despairing: at the cruelty of nature in sending devastating and seemingly worsening floods to our northern neighbours.  Even more bitter following so many years of drought.
• Anticipating: a road trip to country Vic and urban NSW, our first holiday as a family of five!  We’re leaving tomorrow, and are still madly packing!

Happy new year!

Christmas decorating is quite low-key here this year.  Apart from the tree, a crocheted star garland here … and there.  (Such a fun and addictive pattern!)

And what was that on the mantle?  Well, when I saw these (from here) I couldn’t resist making a few.  Instead of making felt hats, I used egg cosies that I had on hand.  As the elf population increased encouraged by the enthusiasm of my offspring, more hats had to be made …

I first made several sets of these egg cosies as Easter  presents a few years ago after falling in love with some on the cover of a Donna Hay magazine (issue 14).  Here is the pattern I made up, in case you have any eggs, or elves, that need hatting:

Egg Hat Cosies

Materials: Small amounts of 8ply /dk weight yarn (I used Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8 ply in Almond for those above and  BWM Alpaca in Havana for the ones below.)

4mm double pointed or circular needles (for magic loop method); darning needle for finishing

gauge: 5 stiches to the inch

• Cast on 32 stitches. Join taking care not to twist.  Work in stockingette stitch for approx.  2 inches (don’t unroll hem to measure).
• *knit 6, knit 2tog* repeat to end of round (4 decreases)
• next round, *k5, k2tog* repeat 3 times
• next round, *k4, k2tog* repeat 3 times
• continue in this manner until there are 4 stitches left (ie., previous row was *k 0, k2tog*)
• work an i-cord for half an inch or so, break off yarn and thread though stitches a couple of times, tighten and darn in ends.

Variations:

• for a more tapered hat, knit straight for 1 inch before starting decreases, then knit a plain row between decrease rows.  k2tog on last 4 stitches and fasten off without i-cord.
• or, decrease two times per round instead of four (ie.* k 14, k2tog* repeat once, *k13, k2tog* … etc.)
• start off with a k2 p2 rib for about half an inch on any variation.