Oh Crumbs!

A very dear friend of mine is well known for her freezing habits! Amongst the goodies in her freezer, you will find home-made breadcrumbs, crumble-mix and "emergency scone mix"! Taking a leaf out of her book, today I decided to use up some stale bread and make some breadcrumbs to go on top of a tasty lasagne. Whilst I was at it, I made a bulky bag, so that I should be in stock for quite a while...










Today I made some delicious Carrot and Coriander soup (loving BBC Good food at the moment!) which was a lovely Autumn warmer for a family who were busy doing jobs around the house (and a little boy who is currently poorly). I highly recommend the recipe (see link) as this was really good...

In crafty news, I have been making needle cases for my craft stall from a pattern in the lovely Cath Kidston Sew! book.

These turned out really nicely, but they were very fiddly to make!  I had to write some amendments onto my pattern as they seem to have missed out a few steps, however I was pleased with the end product (although I may play around with the design for future attempts).







Next up... pin cushions and some bunting....!
Happy weekend, and, for those in the teaching profession, happy half-term!

Branching out...

Over the last few weeks I have been doing a variety of crafty bits and bobs. Lots in preparation for my stall next month at the School craft Fair. Some of my projects have been...

Starting a patchwork cushion cover under my Mum's instruction....

Pinning fabric panels onto some flannels for little personalised wash cloths... These are lovely for a little gift, and you can use whatever fabric you have handy!

 

A spot of card making.... I haven't done any for ages- particularly since moving house, but I located some of my card making materials the other evening and cleared a spot on the table and set about making a batch of cards. A satisfying evening's entertainment.

And a day isn't a day in our household without a little knitting... I am currently working on a couple of different pairs of fingerless gloves and wrist-warmers.  The above pair is adapted from a pair in the "Sirdar Weekend Denim" pattern book, and have a lovely chunky effect.

I always appreciate suggestions of good fingerless glove patterns, as these are a particular favourite of mine to knit at present....

Catching up...

 As mentioned in a previous post, I have got lots of catching up to do in terms of making things for an upcoming craft stall, so, last weekend I was making fingerless gloves, thanks to a super easy pattern shared on http://tinyhappy.typepad.com/tiny_happy/2006/06/winter_hands.html
The first pair were made from a nice chunky sirdar Tweedie wool...

These gloves grow really fast and are lovely and comfy- brilliant for the increasingly cool mornings!

I have made these in several colours and sizes. Some of my favourites are....

  

I particularly like the fairisle effect Crofter Chunky wool. It knits up beautifully, and gives a bit of interest to an otherwise quite plain pattern!

In other news, I have been enjoying using a certain cooking book....

and last weekend I made a firm favourite- potage parmentiers (leek and potato soup). SUCH a simple recipe, but so delicious...

Besides making the fingerless gloves as shown above, I have been making some more of the beautiful fingerless cabled gloves as shown here. These are a lot more fiddly than the chunky knit ones, but the effect is gorgeous. They are done in DK yarn, and can be made to varying length. The ones I am currently working on are not massively long...

... and I have just discovered (thanks Mum!) Katia Ondas yarn, which makes a scarf in one ball...

FUN!

On a less fun note, this is what I am doing with lots of the rest of my time...

 Grr. Marking! 

Happy Wednesday.