stash status

Totes addicted to Ravelry peeps. Uggh. Which is kind of depressing because I don't have time to knit and crochet all those things! I really really don't. 
But I have some lovely yarn in my stash, and it doesn't hurt to dream about what it might become?  Some time in the distant, distant future. 

My sisters bought me home this amazing mohair (in white and grey) from New Zealand, home of 40 million sheep.  How about a Ships & Seaside Cowl with a matching slouchy beanie?


That yarn I dyed, the one that came out looking like Cyndy Lauper's hair in the filmclip "The Goones R Good Enough"?

Ahem.  How about Florence?

	 This is SarahDianneT's version 

This Candy Skein Delicious I won a while back.

How about Sweet Dreams? Or Streusel?

This is Krocinelle's beautiful version

This BWM Classic 8ply, gifted to me by my mum.

How about Miette, or a February Lady Sweater?

My remaining skein of Ms Gusset silk laceweight.  How about a Bramble Shawl?

So, that'll take me out till 2020.  Not including gifts I have promised people.  FML.

~Tan

fit and fantastic

So I wasn't going to blog about this one, I thought it kinda didn't count.  But you know what, it totally does, and I'm proud of my efforts, so here it is.

Carrum:  14 Apr 2013, 12KM

Result:  1:50ish
Place: Not important

This run was a bit of an informal event, organised by the amazeballs Heather Morgan of Health In Motion Fitness, to raise funds for her Oxfam trailwalker team.  (by the way, she RAN 100km in 17 hours).

Here's the thing, I didn't run the whole way :(  But I tried!  As my uncle says (and John Denver and Tom Petty), some days are diamonds, and some days are stone, and that's how the cookie crumbles. 

I made it the whole 12km, and I managed to sprint accross the finish line.  I ran about 3/4 of the first lap, and then ran/walked the second lap.  Laps are the worst - other runners will know.  You finish one, and you have SO FAR to go.  Avoid laps if you can. 

So here are the positives:

• I did the whole thing!
• The previous day, I did bootcamp with Rhonda (omg stairs at Moorooduc Quarry, and the hill of doom!) so was super exhausted anyway, so even trying to attempt 12km is amazeballs!
• It was a beautiful day at a beautiful location (see above).
• I didn't collapse.  LOL.
• I didn't get sunburnt.  
• I look gooood!

You know what?  I feel SO much better than I did at the start of writing this post.  I've even changed my title from 'close but no' to something Rhonda told me:  You are a runner now and you're fit and fantastic!  What would I do without her, seriously??

~Tan

The hunt for the ultimate Melbourne CBD eggs benedict: Cafe Excello

After a bit of a hiatus, Eggs Benny is back!  We were a bit unprepared with a venue this time, the place we had chosen were closed!  So there was a bit of a rush around to find another cafe with Benny on the menu.  We found the sun-drenched Cafe Excello on the corner of Spring Street and Little Collins.

Dining date:  16 April 2013

Location:  Cafe Excello
99 Spring St
Melbourne VIC 3001

Individual ratings:

Tanya:  6.5/10

Base: English muffins, pleasingly toasted with a lovely crunch.
Eggs:  Overcooked.  So quite terrible.  They were pretty scrawnly little eggs too.
Sauce:  Pretty sure it was that pre-made stuff, which Lil sis adores and I think is passable.
Ham:  Generous quantity, tasty.
Price:  $14
Coffee:  A little on the bitter side, but not undrinkable.
Service:  Very friendly, though I wasn't sure if I had to pay at the register or if they brought the bill to you, it wasn't clear.  I get diner's anxiety when I don't know how shit is supposed to go down.
Overall comment:  Average.  Not fabulous, not terrible.  Additional inclusion of spinach on the side to make you feel like you're being healthy.  A passable affair, I'm just happy to be eggs benny-ing again!

Lil sis:  7/10

After a long break, this week's Eggs Benny were delicious!  Sauce was the generic stuff which tastes great and they were on the traditional English muffins which is always a winner.  My eggs were a little overcooked but not bad at all. Spinach on the side which is not needed at all.  Coffee was average but for the price we got our moneys worth.

And how does that look on the benedict-o-meter?  Rounded up to a generous 7 Benedicts out of 10!

Make sure you check out my map and the Eggs Benny Leaderboard to see the other eggs benny locations lil sis and I have checked out.



~Tan & Jacks

summer lovin'

Hahaha song titles.  have yaself some cliche

Woo I started working on the Sweet Summer Rays shawl as part of my very first KAL.  To be honest, I can totally handle a more complicated pattern, but I like it anyways and I really want a nice shawl in this colour.

This is some of the fabled Wollmeise! It's the sock yarn, I think the "pure" is supposed to be better?  Anyway, this one has some great stitch definition, not particularly soft but giving me a lovely spongey fabric so far.

~Tan

Linking to- WIP Wednesday (Tami's Amis) | WIP Wednesday (Ambassador Crochet) | Yarn Along (Small Things) | Keep Calm and Craft On {Crafting on} (Frontier Dreams) | What you doing Wednesday (SusanD1408 Crochet Addict) | Hookin on Hump Day (My Merry Messy Life) | Muster Party (Fluster Buster)

herman the german

I was recently given a Herman the German Friendship Cake starter!  So frickin exciting!

Not heard of a friendship cake before?  Neither had I!  Herman is a sour dough conconction, which when given you to, you care for and feed for 10 days, before dividing into four portions, three for friends and one for yourself to bake into a yummy cake!

If Herman stops bubbling, he dies. 

Herman's growth a day after feeding.  Aww they grow up so fast!

Herman mach 1 ended his life as a lemon cake.  I changed the basic recipe (on the instructions) by omitting the apples, raisins and cinnamon, and adding the rind of 3 lemons to the batter, and whipped up a 2/3 quantity of this microwave lemon curd recipe.  I put 2/3 of the batter into the tin, followed by a layer of the lemon curd (even then I didn't use all of it, maybe 3/4) and then scooping the rest of the batter over the top.

You need to cook this sucker for a LOOONNNGGG time!  I estimate about 2 and a half hours!  It might be my oven. 

However, the result is an extremely dense and moist cake.  Even 3 days later it was still just as good.  The top was super crunchy, and the lemon curd gave it a delicious tartness throughout the cake.

I was due to distribute my 3 Herman babies on the Thursday before Good Friday.  Nobody wanted him!  Well, 1 person wanted him!  Everyone else was going on 'holiday' and couldn't handle the 'commitment'. So I took him home to start the process again.

Herman mach 2 ended his life as a choc-berry cake.  Inspired by one of the recipies on the site, I added 1/4 cup cocoa, about 160 gr choc chips and a good couple of handfuls of frozen mixed berries.  Again the cooking time for this was astronomical (like, 3 hours!) but again, the cake turned out amazingly moist.

I brought this to a work morning tea, and was totally chuffed to see heaps of people going back for seconds, and one colleague pronouncing it the 'best cake ever!'  We all know how my sense of self worth is directly proportionate to the appreciation of my cookery by others, so that was a good day.

I thought the friendship cake was a totally nifty idea.  If you like it but haven't been given a Herman starter, why not make your own?

~Tan

365: 21-40

21.  New milestone:  evidence of the first time I've ever run 10kms!
22.  New gear I treated myself to.  Unfortunately these shoes hurt my feet!  Trying to wear them in.
23.  Amazing coaster set in the shape of a bitter melon (originally thought it was a choko) with slices of the melon inside the melon.  Genius.
24.  Cute engraved bricks by children at Highpoint.
25.  Leonardo.
26.  The view from my workplace.
27.  The view on my way out of the workplace (best thing ever).
28.  The print from my girliest dress.
29.  Knitting. (duh)
30.  The Kitten lounging around.
31.  Happy Easter!
32.  A hang of hand-dyed yarn.
33.  My office coffee mug (the tardis disappears when it's hot!)
34.  Awesome grafitti on Hosier Lane.
35.  Postcards from Russia <3
36.  Crochet.  (duh)
37.  Cracked my sewing machine out of it's box for the first time!
38.  Rain crept up very quickly that day.
39.  Herman the German.
40.  Waiting for the early train. 

Previously:  1-20
~Tan

slouchie

A super quick hat I whipped up for the amazing Rhonda's birthday.  This is me modelling it, but trust me, it looks better on Rhon.

Regognise the location?  Same photoshoot as last week's FO.  Can't show off everything at once though can I? 

Docklands.  Thanks Lou for the sweet photography!

Pattern: Giftie Slouchie Beanie.  Also see here.  Stupidest picture for a pattern I've ever seen. Oh that's a nice beanie, let's cover it with snow so you can't see the pattern!!  Anyway, good pattern.  I'd do one more pattern repeat next time do get it a bit slouchier.
Yarn: BWM Classic 12ply.  I always  forget how quickly 12ply works up.  I think I need to make everything in 12ply from now on.
Needle: 6mm circulars.  I've never used dpns, and swear I never will.
Ravelled here.
~Tan

-Linking with-
Tami's Amis FO Fridays | Fiber Arts Fridays at Wisdom Begins in Wonder | Natural Suburbia for Creative Fridays | I've Made Friday at SusanD1408 Crochet Addict | I ♥ Fridays at Petals to Picots

hosier lane

Had a spare half hour before I was meeting a friend in Melbourne the other day.

Scooted down to Hosier Lane for a few quick snaps.  Even saw some "artists" in the act - though I wasn't quite brave enough to capture the moment.

It really amazes me that there's these incredibly talented people out there, who exert all this time and effort into creating this beautiful art, knowing full well it's only temporary.

This wasn't even half the lane way.  There was this great piece down the other end but I couldn't get to it because there were dudes doing work.  Curse you workers!!

~Tan

p.s. more postcards in my Zazzle store!

better

Feeling much better about this cowl now that I have made some progress.  It's not ast stiff as I anticipated, so I don't think it will be that bad to wear around one's neck.  You don't really get to feel the yarn worked up this way, so the scratchiness shouldn't be a huge issue either. 

Last week you probably didn't know what I was banging on about, this week it's lot clearer.


Awesome photography, brought to you by the crazy lady taking pictures of her crochet during her morning train commute.

One row of kitties to go, then this sucker will be just about finished.  It looks quite tribal, which is what football is all about right?
~Tan

P.s. another song to reflect my changed attitude to this project.  Kind of.

Linking to- WIP Wednesday (Tami's Amis) | WIP Wednesday (Ambassador Crochet) | Yarn Along (Small Things) | Keep Calm and Craft On {Crafting on} (Frontier Dreams) | What you doing Wednesday (SusanD1408 Crochet Addict) | Hookin on Hump Day (My Merry Messy Life) | Muster Party (Fluster Buster)

What happened in March

I wanted to post this a bit more proximate to the end of the Month, but whatevs, here's my March in review:

Smashed out another two Fun Runs, 8km and 5km respectively.

Crocheted through the heat wave (it's like I keep telling you, because I'm so hard core), and shared lots of projects in progress and finished with you

Visited the Organ Pipes National Park.

Watched a bunch of movies.

Celebrated the birthdays of two sisters with a scrumptious high tea and pedicures!

Received some lovely postcards, and even started making my own!

Got totally addicted to Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.

Showed off my expanding tureen collection.

Was giften Herman the German Friendship Cake starter. 

Started my 365 project on instagram.  (Which I appreciate, I have repeated most here!)

Bought The Kitten an ENORMOUS cat tree, second hand from eBay, because previous kitty only had 3 legs and couldn't climb it!  Awwww!

Did you get up to anything awesome last month?

~Tan