Dear Internets

I have been missing you like crazy the last couple of weeks. I'm sorry both the laptop (57 days left on the warranty! woOt!) and the desktop died at the same time. Trust me, now that the PS3 is running linux, we'll never be apart again. At least not if I have my way. So seriously, what'd I miss?

Off up North to see the wee baby Jake. Have a safe long weekend all...

Jammy Bastard

For serious:

Strawberry Freezer Jam. Me. I made Jam. Admittedly not hard jam, but jam dammit. There were 5 jars. Now there are 4. Did I mention this is sugar free jam? Well it is so there. Low cal, farmers market fresh strawberry freezer jam.

OMG dead from good.

In other news, the kids next door seem to have decided they want to be our friends. Calls of HI NEIGHBOUR ring out if I as much as peep for the mail. You know, all 4 of them. All the time. And the door bell ringing? Yeah.. its begun. This may kibosh the deck idea. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

We also got the downstairs somewhat sorted, a bedroom fashed out, a niddy noddy built and some good Hellboy 2 watching in. Good movie. Go see it. Better than the first one for sure. Full weekend indeed.

Jammy goodness.

Thursday in pictures

Did some baking (after pancakes)

Had some crazy hail

Dyed this

Spun this,

Pickles did some "poor me's"

Then the dogs had a lets dump our food all over the floor* moment right before bed.

Also it was cold enough to turn on the furnace in July.. GREAT. On to the weekend my possums. Bon Chance!






* Do you see Pickles laughing? MOCKING US?!? Cheeky bastid.

We don need no steeenkin' stampede breakfast

When I get up early to make some banana pancakes!

Banana Pancakes

1 or 2 bananas (whatever is going brown and you need to use up)

1 cup flour

1 egg

3 tsp baking powder

cinnamon (a whack)

vanilla (a whack)

splenda or sugar a couple tbsp

milk. um.. like 1/3-1/2 cup maybe?

Mash yer nanner(s) in a bowl. Add the egg, vanilla, cinnamon and splenda/sugar. Whisk until nice and whisked. Add flour and baking powder. Mix, adding milk until the batter is the consistency you like. I like mine kinda on the runny side as I like thinnish pancakes. Keep 'em thick if you like, its no never mind to me. Makes about 12-18 p'cakes* depending on how thin/thick they are.

Cook in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Mmm.. pancake goodness.

This recipe is absolutely modified from my Mums basic pancake recipe which is:

For every cup of flour use 1 egg and 3 tsp of baking powder. Use any liquid you want for moisture. We used to make these for my nephew Mark with ginger ale and I have used soda water with enormous success. Add any flavourings/spices/etc to your taste. Its a great recipe as there is no added fat (besides whats in the egg) and it is light and fluffy and stupid easy. It also makes a little bit of p'cakes or a whole huge tonne. Its up to you. I have also mixed up all the dry ingredients and taken it camping and measured it out by the cup and had like my own pancake mix.

Mmm..

Anyways, the weather here sucks goat balls. Stupid rain and high humidity. BLECH. Is Vile I tell you. Where is my Vegas weather? WHERE?? Ugh.

*Always enough to make sure there is one each for the dogs. Dogs LOVE PANCAKES. At least mine do. They do the doggie disco dance of joy when they see those tasty cakes on the table.

Minimal effort

Sometimes its all I can do to get the basics done. But then days of motivation happen:

They will be up in the shop when they are dry and I can sort them out :)

This weekend was awesome. Especially since I was pretty disappointed to start it. We were gonna go up North to see Jake, but he couldn't get the weekend off. Seriously who am I trying to get the poor kid to take off a long weekend? I know how low totem pole pecking orders work. So we had a great chat on the phone instead and he will book a couple of days off later on and we'll go see him. Oh my boy. I miss him.

Maybe another reason this weekend got good was the addition of 2 cupcakes and a visit to the farmers market at Currie Barracks where I found some gorgeous alpaca/merino roving that practically spun itself into spectacular lace weight? Could be! Or maybe it was finally hot out. Or maybe these guys had something to do with it:

Or maybe I'm just seeing the sunnier side of the street at last. My fantastic husband sees to that. :)

More of a good thing

For my little things that just have be set free..




rosehilldesigns

re-launched at last.

Go, buy some pretty ok?

Hush Hush Handspun Hootenanny!

Who knew I was a joiner? Not me, but here I am:





1. How long have you been spinning? What skill level do you consider yourself? Um.. maybe a year and some. But like everyday. Obsessed. I reckon I am sorta intermediate-ish.



2. What kinds of yarn do you create (singles/2-ply/3-ply/art yarn)? All of it. Some better than others. Can do a laceweight single but not so much a nicely balanced bulky. No art yarn though. Not my thing. :)



3. What do you spin with (spindle/wheel/both)? My ladybug. She rocks the wheel world. No spindle here. Nope no sir.



4. What are your favorite fibers to spin with? Anything you don't like? I like BFL, cormo, soft merinos, bamboo, silk blends. Nothing scratchy. I am such a princess. But um yeah. Soft=GOOD. I'm not whacked about the scratchier (oh sorry... RUSTIC) fibres. I find my skin creeps a little at them and don't like mohair AT ALL. Or angora much either. Gads.. I is dull.



5. Who are your favorite crack dealers fiber sources (etsy or otherwise)? Crown Mountain, Copper Moose and well duh.. KFB. I mean come on... I gotta pimp yo.



6. What kind of fiber do you want to try? Seacell blend!!!



7. Is there any techniques you would like to learn? Um I reckon I could try to spin bulky, but naw. Boucle? Might be kinda interesting but I don't really like to knit with it so um.. nah.



8. Do you dye fiber? If not, would you like to learn? OH HO YES I DO. See links on sidebar pls.



9. Do you have fiber prep tools (and like to use them) or would you prefer ready to spin fiber? Ready spun although I had a great experience carding up some cormoxmerino lamb fleece and spinning it. It may be an abberation though so um ready done pls.



10. What do you do with your handspun? What projects have you completed? Socks a plenty, sweater (on Rav look under bamboo you!), shawls. scarves, hats, mitts.. um.. lots.



11. Are you in need of any spinning gadgets (WPI Gauge, threading hook, etc)? Nope all good thanks.



12. What colors "fall into your shopping basket"? Any colors you just can't stand? I love pink and purple and red, , and black and gray and oh apparently colours on teh cool side. Not so big on the warm autumny colours. Like yellow. Or orange.



13. What is on your wheel/spindle right now? Spunky Eclectic and KFB superwash. In a screaming pink. DREAMY. Biased but oh well.



14. What other crafts/hobbies do you have? Wet felting, needle felting. Heh. I really kept it in the family huh?



15. Other than crafts, what are you passionate about? Horror movies. UFC. My dogs.



16. Do you have an online wishlist? Yeah at amazon.com, oh wait, you mean you do wish lists at yarn shops? Nope.



17. Is there anything that you collect? Pullips (google if you don't know.. they are AWESOME), kid robot toys, Frank Kozik smoking figures, Hello Kitty crap. Random awesome Japanese Kawaii.



18. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What magazine subscriptions do you have? Nope.. and magazines? Rue Morgue, Fangoria. Wired and the Economist. Go figure.



19. When is your birthday? May 24



20. What book or movie character do you most resemble in personality? Sock on Reaper (TV sorry). Yeah, he's a guy. And?



21. What is the climate like where you live around this time (need to know for careful shipments of anything meltable)? Chocolate might melt but I ain't fussy. I'll eat melty chocolate. I'm not at all proud. Hottish but dry. It is August you know...



22. Tell us one weird fact about yourself! I almost always have at *least* one bruise. I am a delicate flower you see. Or am incredibly clumsy. And a bonus! I swear. A LOT.



Favorites



favorite painting/picture(link): I like this: http://francis-bacon.cx/popes/figurewithmeat.jpg



Candy: chocolate. good chocolate. really. not that waxy stuff.. at least 50% cocoa. Or good toffee. Mm.. toffee...



Food: Pizza, cheese.



Drink: beer, lemoncello, oh.. wait! COFFEE. Good strong espresso blends. I may have a coffee problem you know.



Movie(s): The Punisher, House of 1000 Corpses, 70's Blaxplotation Horrors, Planet Terror, Ghosts of Mars (shut up), American Psycho, Steel Magnolias.



TV Show(s): Reaper, Buffy, Supernatural, The Office (both but YAY JAM), Bullshit!



Book(s): Call of Cthulu, Voyage to Arcturus, American Psycho



Guilty Pleasure(s): Hall and Oates. Jesus kill me now with that voice Darryl Hall.

Notes from the weekend..

First things first. I get it. I agree. I surrender.

Krispy Kreme donuts reign supreme. For reals. When they opened up here a few years ago, we went, we tried we mehed. They were sweeet ye, but whatever. Yesterday Chris got it in his head (which I think may be a slightly scary place to be sometimes) he wanted a KK donut. A HOT ONE. So we trundle out to the NE and low and behold.. HOT DONUTS. So we go in and watch the process* and order. Well.. for Mr I Need A Hot Donut, he didn't order one. Instead I DID.

Which I proceeded to piggle down like it was manna from heaven. Which it was. Seriously. A hot, slightly crispy, sugary, steamy, puffy, delicious slice of heaven. Chris asked for a bite and I growled at him. For reals. Growled. Like a dog. I mean WHO DOES THAT? Well me apparently. I consented to the worlds smallest bite and when he nearly fainted from the good he went and bought 2 MORE. Which I promptly snarfed one of. I HAVE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE. Like literally.. 2 donuts at a time? 2 beers, well hells yes! 2 coffees? Natch. BUT DUDES.. OMGEWTFBBQ.

I bow down to the hot nuts of Krispy Kreme and forever swear off the nasty Tim Horton's with their trucked in frozen dough. Screw you. I mean I have been off your weak ass brew you try to pass off as coffee for a long time, but this is it. DONEZO.

In other news:

Hello Kitty Kuromi hard candies? THE WINNER.

Beet salad from Lina's? THE OTHER WINNER.

Sunshine? Nice to see you!

Dogs going for walks in the park? YES.

Secret Knitting? CHECK.

Well done weekend.. well done.

I think my Mummy and Daddy (Mumsy! Dadsy!) will be stopping in on their way down south this week. It will be awesome to see them..

PS HEY BLOGGER.. how about you stop sucking all kinds of stuff with the shitty picture uploading hmm? Thanks.

*incredibly awesome donut birth scenes. Not at all frightening.

Bamboo you..

Hand spun from carbonised bamboo fibre. Pattern to come (I think) soon.

Really pleased with how this came out.. just in time for MORE RAIN.








Sorry the blog has been quiet lately, will try to rectify asap.

Wow

-16 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Poor (Failure) Take the test!

Good thing we don't live back then! I wonder if my slatternly red polish is the kicker.

Vegas in Pictures

VEGAS

First night dinner

Day 1. Planet Hollywood

Big Winner. Really.

Day 2. Ceasars and KA!

MGM Giant Tequila Bar. :)

Day 3. Trader Vics for lunch. Bowling/DRUNK @ The Rio

Uh oh.. Jeff knows something is up....

Oh HI BEER.

SEE WHAT HAPPENS?

I am not responsible for any other content beyond this point.

Poor Vegas ducky.

Day 4. Hangover lunch @ House Of Blues.

Art.

Paris Buffet

Day 5 Last day. Venetian. Bellagio. Scary things.

Chris' new BFF Humpy.

Bye Vegas.. see you soon!