Sparkly skirts and local literature

I've been busy lately, and feel like I'm fitting in little bits of lots of things and only getting a small number right through to completion so far. I am getting some very long projects at work through to successful completion and I'm satisfied (and a bit exhausted) with that.

Last weekend Fionn went to a sixth birthday party and so I made a pink sequinned sparkly skirt for the effervescent Kate. Brighid wanted one too so I did an unlined one for her. They are both a bit wonky, but nevertheless look great - it's not about the sewing but about the swirly sparkly pinkness.

My treasured friend Marion in London has had a baby girl called Lyra. I still haven't finished the jacket for her but I am knitting as much as possible and loving the way facebook means I can see pictures of this newborn wonder from across the globe, only hours after she was born. I am up to the yoke on the jacket now, and then only have the hood to go. I came across a technique I didn't know but my trusty Readers Digest guide (well Mum's actually) taught me well.

We are eating from the garden every day but I'm not getting out to do much planting or weeding or mounding of potatoes at all. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow...

Last week we went to the book launch for Paul Maunder's book Tornado. I am loving reading the stories and thrilled with the inspiration it has given my six year old son, who is now writing poems and stories and talking about publishing them. They aren't children's stories but the very act of going to the launch and realising he has a friend who both publishes stories and throws a mean paper plane down our hallway in competitions has had quite an effect.

I've been reading and changing foods, the odd potion and fitting in some swimming as I've had some return of the demon arthritis. One consequence is looking again at the oils I consume. I've generally steered clear of soy and canola oils for a long time but they slip in easily when pre-made foods are involved. I realise I 100% have to make my own pesto if I want to avoid canola and ditto for mayonnaise. I have done pesto plenty before (though that was before I broke the food processor) but mayo will be a new project. Might muck around with garlic aioli this weekend.

Comments

Nik said…
Hi ya! Mayo is super easy and a 1 minute job if you have a stickwhizz. I use an Alison Holst recipe (not the flour one) and it's good. From memory has an egg, 1 tsp mustard powder, 1T ACV (or lemon juice) and about a cup of olive oil (the more oil you add the thicker it becomes). I then use the hand whizz and don't even have any dishes afterwards. LMK if you want the proper recipe.
November 25, 2009 at 6:21 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

McCalls 7288 & altered Style Arc Barb pants

Image
Black never photographs that well, but it's pretty useful otherwise.  I need to wear the jacket a few more times, but at the moment, it clearly needs a narrow shoulder adjustment, and that will also bring the armscye upwards.  It's a little too big from the waist down as well.  So the cuddly jacket is working for this one, but I might make the shorter version.  I had been thinking of the pleated back again, but maybe I will go classic, after seeing some beautiful online versions.  I didn't get the button placement right for the collar to sit flat, and now that I've lost my jacket-sewing virginity, I decided I was ready for Jackets for Real People to teach me how.  Book Depository really is like a late night addiction for nerds, and just to make things efficient, I ordered Elsa Morante's History as well. The trousers are my first foray into sewing pleather.  The walking foot handled it beautifully.  I started with Style Arc Barb pants and kept on trying them o
Read more

Livingstone daisies

Image
I love them. Just bought and planted another punnet's worth. Those psychedelic pink ones are particularly appealing. The very cool picture is, of course, not mine, but one I found on a google search. I am making progress on my camera layby though. Also planted out what I think are marigolds from the Italian stall in the Wood (Nelson). I mounded my maori potatoes and weeded out lots of unwanted yams. Also planted out more lettuce from the garden shop plus repotted some of my own lettuces which I grew from seed. They are not quite ready for the big wide world of the open garden where the blackbirds and slugs love to feast, so they can get a little bigger in bigger pots first. I repotted six sungold tomatoes and planted out another cucurbit. Is that the correct generic name? I sowed zucchini, squash and pumpkin seeds in the same tray and now they are indistinguishable. I would like to be able to know the zucchinis from the pumpkins and next year I will do a little more careful label
Read more

Heartburn & Paris Etc

I never seem to read anything in sequence for book group anymore.  Wrong book for the wrong meeting, or I have to go home because I was falling asleep because I spent three hundred hours of my life filling in forms for the government to satisfy itself that I am doing my job (generally ensuring that I don't have time to do my job) or some other thing. So here is my record.  Not even all about books.  After the wonderful America is not the Heart by Elaine Castillo, I read Nora Ephron's Heartburn , (originally published c.1983 and recently reissued by Virago Classics, for the first time. After reading almost everything I could find about Elaine Castillo after finishing her novel, this is what stuck in my mind: What is striking about “America Is Not the Heart” is how it’s unapologetically Filipino, peppered with expressions in Ilocano, Pangasinan, and Tagalog and nuances like wearing tsinelas, calling everyone Ate, faith healing -- with no italics, no footnotes, no glossary
Read more