Dying with Kool-Aid

I’ve had a few queries about how to dye with Kool-Aid and seeing as I have some ‘in progress’ pictures I figured I could show you what we managed to do in an afternoon. I think the flavours we had were Grape, Pink Lemonade, Raspberry, Blue Raspberry, Lime and Orange.

What you need: Zip lock bags, un-dyed yarn of your choice (not cotton though as the dye doesn’t stick to it), Kool-Aid, more than lukewarm water

Process: Un-skein your yarn (see picture) and in the zip lock bags pour in the Kool-Aid and enough water to almost fill the bag, make sure the Kool-Aid is mixed into the water and dunk the yarn. Close the zip-lock bag, making sure there isn’t too much air left in it and squish the bag to ensure maximum  the yarn is completely soaked. Place yarn bags outside in the sun and only remove them once the water inside is completely cool. Rinse in coolish water until it runs clear. squeeze out excess water and dry!

Happy dyeing!

I dream of Smooshy

I got a great surprise in the mail yesterday. My mum ordered some yarn from Socktopus (in the UK) and as an early birthday present she sent me a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy. I love the colour and think that it will become either a small swallowtail shawl (that I will use as a scarf) or the basket weave shawl (again to use as a scarf) but at the moment it will sit on the table for me to admire and smell (yes, I’m a yarn sniffer!) which The A finds hilarious!

The pictures are a great depiction of the colour, taken in the kitchen for maximum natural light.

I was looking through my Knitting file on my Pictures and found some pictures of an afternoon of Kool Aid dying that a friend and I did in the UK. I will probably do a future how to post for fun.

Smug Alert weddings

First of all watch this South Park Clip

These days I’m finding it hard to read what a lot of people write in forums, be it on Ravelry or on general wedding websites (Weddingbee being the exception funnily enough) While I agree that spending the cost of a house on a wedding is ridiculous and completely insane I also think that having a budget, DIY, eco friendly wedding just for the sake of saying that you had one (cue fart smelling and Smug alert) is also insane.

A lot of forum posts are becoming a type of brag ‘look at what I managed to make out of lace, card and my oh so expensive Gocco machine!’ (and yes I realise that I post a lot of my wedding craft on here, but it’s mainly to show my mum who is in Europe) There are some genuine people out there who are doing their wedding their own way; be it DIY or big and expensive and they don’t apologize for it. But these genuine people seem to getting shot down, ignored and pointed at (and not in a friendly way) and even getting ‘shouted’ over with long paragraphs of their own stuff by the Smug brides in forums.

I left a group that had a lot of these Smug brides where I saw a lot of this behavior (I’d like to point out that it wasn’t towards me!) and no one said anything about it. A lot of them might not think that they had even done anything wrong… but that might just be cause they can’t see through the smug! They aren’t that interested in what you have to say, they just want the opportunity and audience to talk about themselves. I thought it would be a great opportunity to share some resources, ideas and DIY information but I was wrong.

Have any of you seen this type of behavior? What do you think about it?

I’m posting a lot today, sorry about that!

The easy way to blog

Someone on Ravelry kindly gave out some great blogging information that is proving to be fantastic! It’s called Windows Live Writer, and it’s free. You go here and download it for free, it doesn’t take up much room or download quota. It links up to your blog so that you can write from your desktop, save it, or publish it. It records all the setting from your blog so there’s no need for formatting. You can also link multiple blogs so that you only have to go to one place to write your posts.

I’m just happy that I won’t have to spend ages afterwards fiddling with edits to make my posts look normal. Let me know if you end up using it!

It's so hard

They have an ice cream here called Golden Gaytime... yes I know! It's actually really good and something of an icon. They apparently had a debate wether to change the name but the vote was unanimously 'NO'

The advert they have was made in the early 80's and they still show it, and when you watch it you can see why they wouldn't bother updating it:

Squaring up

There's something incredibly relaxing about making granny squares. Once you get what to do things just flow and you almost get hypnotised by the motion of it. The yarn is Spotlight basic 100% australian wool in white and a sort of mustard yellow. I need to get some more but the shelves were cleared out when I last went (they had a sale)

Thanks to some Ravelry users I got some tips on how to adjust the settings on here. Here's hoping that the issues I have with spacing and paragraphs work out!

Wedding Craft Sunday

I'm not religious so on Sundays I do something else and when The A is away it's Craft Sunday!! Woo!! Can you tell I'm excited? In advance I apologise for the crap phone camera pictures, The A took his good camera up north with him in the hopes of doing some experimental photography (with exposure and the like)

Today I thought I would show you my progress of the paper flowers and felt leaves. So far I have a boutonniere prototype that I'm loving (no one else has seen it)

Would you buy something like this if it was on Etsy and it could be made into your own Weddng colours? I'd really like to know so please leave a comment about it.

The main flowers and big leaves are looking good too, though am thinking that it looked better without the red.

Here's my messy table with all my stuff on it. It will need to be tidied before Tuesday!

A gratuitous shot of my new reading/knitting/computer glasses that I got for $10 (yay for KMart!) It was the best out of about 15 I took, nothing like no make up and messy hair on a Sunday morning! The lighting makes me look like my chin flows right into my neck.... dear god!

And look how nice it is outside!!

NOTE: This post was going to be a lot longer, it took me less than 10 mins to write the long version but have spent almost an hour fixing all the blogger formatting probelms with spacing and paragraphing. I am seriously thinking of moving to Wordpress. ARGG!!!

Books

At first I had a little bit on the side that said what books I was reading, seeing as I was reading things in three days (like 'The Boleyn Inheritance' by Philipa Gregory which I finished this morning) I thought it was a bit useless and ended up not updating it as often as it needed to be.

Anyway, I went to the library (yet again) today and picked up some good ones. I found the wedding section, which was about 10 books in total, and picked up 'Anti-Bride Etiquette guide The rules and how to break them' it has some interesting stuff about invitations and how to deal with sticky situations. Not that there have been any situations but you never know ;) I also got 'Bridal Bargains' which is aimed at people in the US but they have some great insider tips on what to ask for and what you should and shouldn't be paying for.

I got the novel 'Like water for chocolate' which is one of my favourite films and always makes me cry. I have read the book before and thought it would be a quick but fun read while The A is away. I also picked up Suze Ormans' 'Women and Money', Suze is the financial gal on the Oprah show and I caught her on the tv denying a woman who was in debt and who wanted to get a loan to buy a thid car - needless to say she was great and really pounded into the lady, I think that was when I liked her! She makes a lot of sense and as I am already reading 'Five years to financial freedom' by someone else (the book is in the other room and can't be bothered to go look) I figure I might as well read her at the same time! Not that we are in any position to buy a house or car yet but it's a good idea to know what's going on when we do finally take that step. I don't want to sit at the bank and not have any clue what they are talking about and be able to get the best deal (which isn't always the one they offer to you first!)

I have also been experimenting with felt leaves and will take some pics when I can be bothered. They look great with the paper tissue flowers and I have mocked up a boutonniere to see the effect.

Everyday birds

The first thing I noticed when we got to Perth was how different the crows sound here. They make a throaty gargle that sounds like a cat in trouble. I also think that they are bigger, but I got shot down on that one. Everyday we have differnt birds that fly over in groups or in twos and I always ask The A what they are, he doesn't always have the answer so I have fun looking them up online.

The most common ones I see here are:

Willy Wagtail (they 'wag' their tails)



Pee Wee

Crows

Galah

Lorikeets

Easter Weekend footy

Hope everyone had a good Easter Weekend. I realise some people still have today off but The A left this morning, but only for a week this time.

Yesterday was HOT! Fremantle Dockers were playing at the Subiaco Oval so we decided to get some tickets and spent the afternoon cheering them on. They lost to The Adelaide Crows (80-104) but the last quarter was really exciting as they managed to equalise several times.

The Dockers mascot is that blond figure you can see above. He went around the oval doing back flips, cuddling kids and dancing with the ladies. The A thought it would be great to get a pic of me with him, I don't really like being photographed and I was stuck to my seat because of the sweat (I said it was HOT)

Even though they lost, it was a really great game to watch live and I think I will definitely be supporting the Freo Dockers. The A supports Geelong but thinks he will support the Dockers as a secondary team (he fells bad for them as they are the underdogs)

We did have some chocolate on Saturday, I got a Charlie the Easter Chick and The A had a big rabbit which didn't stop him from trying to eat some of mine! I eat chocolate really slowly as I'm not really a sweet tooth so while we were watching a movie (the Third Mummy movie) I had the last part sitting next to me and The A couldn't take his eyes off it and tried several times to distract me to try and grab it.

Right Now

eating:: orange and poppyseed cake with orange cream cheese frosting;

feeling:: happy that the laundry basket contents have more than halved, that The A will be here until Monday and that he will be gone only for a week, then a week back then again a week away;

listening:: Tori Amos (American Doll Posse) and some birds outside;

watching:: the tv is off and I'm looking at the palm trees waving around in the wind;

loving:: the new shampoo and conditioner I bought yesterday. My hair was getting frazzled and this stuff has worked MIRACLES and was half price at Coles.

admiring:: the paper tissue flowers I tried to make last night. 5 sheets of 500x750mm at $2 each makes these a cheap and lasting craft. I can make loads and use them as fake flowers to brighten up the flat (after I use them in my bouquet of course!)

enjoying:: checking off the things on my to do list, emailing people the forms they kindly said they would do for us;

researching:: how best to cook the two lamb shanks I bought yesterday for dinner tomorrow night, TAFE courses and jobs

Talia Vest

A bit late in posting about this but here are the finished photos of the Talia Vest.

It still needs buttons on it but in all it's a great quick knit that will look great when it gets cooler over long sleeved shirts or a pretty top.

Fishy recipe

I love it when The A cooks and last night he decided to try out my fish pie recipe. I took it from an article in the Independent when we lived in the UK and tweaked it a little.

Caros' Fish Pie

Two fillets of Haddock (or cod, but they are endangered, or at least they nearly are….. so best use Haddock, plus Haddock has a stronger taste which suits this pie)
1 ¼ pints of milk
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 bay leaf
Parsley
A few pepper corns
Ready made puff pastry
1 beaten egg (to paint on the pastry)
75g butter
Flour

1. In a medium saucepan (I used a big wok because that’s all I had) pour the milk, onion, carrot, bay leaf, and pepper corns. Add the fish fillets and cook on low until the milk starts to simmer, take off the heat and cover. Let the fish cook in the hot milk for 10 – 15 mins.

2. Sieve out the milk into a handy bowl. Clean and dry the medium saucepan (or wok), use said saucepan for the roux = melt the butter and add the flour (enough to make a paste) then slowly in thirds add the fishy milk to create a creamy sauce (season as needed) Meanwhile flake the fish off the skins into chunks.

3. Add the chunky flaky fish bits along with the carrots and onions into the creamy béchamel sauce. Roughly chop the parsley and also add to the sauce. Cook for around 3 mins or until hot.

4. Preheat the oven to about 220°

5. Bring out your baking dish and spoon the fish carrot saucy stuff into it. Take the puff pastry and place on top of the fish, making sure the edges are sealed. I had leftover pastry so I decorated it with a fish, but you can do what you like with it. Don’t forget to prick the top with something sharp so it doesn’t overflow.

6. Paint the top of the pastry with beaten egg and bung in oven until top is nice and golden.

Sunday Tourists

We were both a little house bound on Saturday so we decided that we would get out and do something different yesterday. There isn't a shortage of free and fun things to do here, and as long as we can get there by train or bus (which is almost anywhere) we are there!

Fremantle itself has a lot of nooks and crannies that you wouldn't know about unless you passed them on your way to somewhere. The city offers a lot of Heritage walks and you can either get a leaflet (with map and explanations) at the information centre or you can get them online. These are fantastic, but they do need to improve on the map directions a little.

Yesterday we decided to do the Convict Trail. Unfortunately a lot of the buildings or sites are no longer there but you do get a good idea of what it was like when you visit the Fremantle History Museum (more on that later) We started out in the harbour (to see a jetty that is no longer here) and had fish and chips for lunch (part of why we did the Convict trail was because it was the longest trail... burning off those chips!) the trail then went through the main strip in town to the Prison where we took some pics of the cottages just outside it.

You can apparently stay in these cottages, but I'm not sure that I would! We looked to see how much it was to look in the prison but you have to do a tour. I have been wanting to do a torchlight tour in the evening so we will probably do that sometime soon when The A isn't at the mines.

From the prison the trail took us to the Fremantle Arts Centre, a lovely limestone building that houses the Fremantle History musuem and is also where we went to see the Cat Empire last month. The museum is by donation and we both thought that it was really informative and the old photos in the corridors are fascinating to look at. The building itself has been a lunatic asylum (it has a 'Cell' that they had for patient isolation that you can go into) a women's shelter and has housed American soldiers during the second world war.

The last stop on the trail was at the top of the hill and was the quarry where the convicts got all the limestone for building (the prison and Arts centre) all that was left of it was two stone entrance gates that looked out over towards the maritine museum. The area also had the first cememtary which we discovered had been levelled for the (nasty 60's style) High school. I ended up taking lots of photos of the area hoping to capture 'something', but with no luck.

As a treat once we got back to town we had a beer!

April fooled

I got April Fooled yesterday. I didn't even realise until this morning.

The Today morning show on channel 9 featured a new Govmnt incentive to school zone speeding by having men in flip flops and board shorts holding up 40kph signs to get people to slow down.

I thought it was true.... (scroll down and watch the 'Mike comes clean' video)

The unemployed

Not having to get up and dress in something nice and no having to do your hair/make-up can get a bit demoralising, you start to feel like an androgenous sloppy weirdo, so, inspired by some 'how to' hair videos on You Tube I went and got my bobby pins, velcro hair rollers and hairspray for some girly hair time.

Some of the great ones (even though one is in Japanese, you can get what she's doing):

and the results of my hair time (and after some make-up)