Month: January 2011

Day 10 and 11 of Christmas Vacation

Day 10 and 11 of Christmas Vacation
The last two days were pretty relaxed. Yesterday was a hot one, and we mainly huddled in the house. We did go for a walk in the afternoon around Sydney Uni. (We’d been hoping the Macleay Museum was open, but it wasn’t.) I worked on my socks for a while, discovered an error, and ended up frogging them back halfway. The Snook made me Jamie Oliver’s “30-minute” roast beef for dinner (but with pork fillet instead of beef). It was great!

Today I went for an 11.75km long run to Centennial Park and back. After lunch, the Snook and I went to George Street to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I enjoyed it, especially the first half. (I was THRILLED to see Lucy getting to kick some ass with a sword.) For dinner, we made Martha Stewart’s Perfect Macaroni and Cheese. And that’s it! Time to go back to work…

Day 8 and 9 of Christmas Vacation

Day 8 and 9 of Christmas Vacation – Happy New Year!
Yesterday morning started with a 5km run around Sydney Uni that conveniently put me over the 1000km mark. Back at home, I showered and spent some time sharing my completed goal all over the Internets. In the afternoon, I had a nap. (No, seriously.) Then it was time to get ready for our New Year’s Eve dinner party. Unfortunately we had a couple last minute cancellations due to illness, so in the end it was just us and our friend Kunaal. It still rocked though. We had Nuts and Bolts (the Aussie equivalent of Chex Mix) along with Braised Chicken Thighs and Sauerkraut. Dessert was a selection of Indian sweets along with our homemade ice cream. Being big nerds, the three of us all plugged in our laptops and ran around World of Warcraft together. It was fun! Kunaal headed off at 11 and we stayed up to watch the fireworks on TV and listen to the booms out the window.

This morning I figured the best way to start off the New Year was with pancakes and bacon. Yum. Then I knocked off some chores: updated our money management software, adjusted our budget, and balanced the books. I also Skyped with my sister and helped her with some web hosting issues. Then I remembered a small piece of work I’d promised to do for Candi, so I fixed that up. After lunch, I casted on for my first “Super Special Six Pattern Sock Club 2011” pattern of the year. (Yes, really.) I’ve got both socks past the cuff and I’ve done two repeats so far. The Snook and I are also cranking through Angel Season 2. I can’t believe I have to go back to work in three days…

Olivia’s Rainbow Blanket and BSJ

Rainbow Baby BlanketOlivia’s Rainbow Blanket and BSJ
Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that the first two projects shown on my knitting round-up below haven’t actually been blogged yet! That’s because I only just finished them yesterday. First up is an actual, honest-to-god CROCHETED item: Olivia’s Rainbow Baby Blanket. This is a project that I basically made up myself. My Mom had sent me 5 balls of “Sugar and Cream” cotton last year and I’d idly started crocheting squares based on this pattern. When my niece was born a couple weeks ago, it inspired me to join them all up into a blanket for her. I did 12 multi-colour squares (rotating the stripes each time so the squares are all different) along with 4 solid squares. I joined them all together with Cream, then crocheted a Cream border all around. Then I did a scalloped border in a different colour on each side. I’m really happy with how it turned out! I was debating on whether to back it with some fleece or flannel, but I think I like it the way it is.

Rainbow Blanket   Rainbow Blanket   Rainbow Blanket

Next is yet another Baby Surprise Jacket. I used some Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed that was leftover from my St. Brigid. It came out quite big, but I figure she’ll grow into it. The buttons are made out of coconut. 🙂

Baby Surprise Jacket   Baby Surprise Jacket