Are we there yet?

I have been knitting, knitting, knitting almost non stop! and I'm almost there!

This is the view I have had for most of the week and a half I've been knitting non stop! Although that is not entirely true. I have made a lined purple jacket which I will photograph when I get new batteries for my camera. I also had lunch with the book club girls- Though I've hardly read a book in ages! I've watched several movies though as it is much easier to do that than read while you knit.

See my new red shoes. I LOVE red shoes and have done since I was a little girl when I fell in love with the story of the red dancing shoes. On reflection I don't know why because it is quite tragic really as she dances herself to death. Maybe that is exactly why I loved it - she died dancing!

I am much happier now I have some nice shoes to wear on my holiday and some thermal singlets Oh and I made a pair of soft, stretchy, black,wide leg, wool pants too! ( I really must learn to ban myself from blogging when racked with hormonally induced magnification of my self esteem issues!)

I also stopped for afternoon tea with some of the girls from the school I used to work at.

I made an Apple and Rhubarb Crumble Cake.


I used the basic vanilla cake base from this cake but added 3/4 of a cup of milk rather than 1/2 a cup to make a less dense cake. I topped the batter with about 1 and 1/2 cups of stewed apple and rhubarb and topped with a crumble mixture
2 tble spns raw sugar
3/4 cup wholemeal plain flour
1tspn (or a good shake) of ground cinnamon
60g of butter
1/2 cup of chopped almonds

Rub butter flour and sugar together. Add almonds sprinkle over cake mixture. Bake about 50 mins in moderate oven until golden and skewer comes out clean.

Enjoy with organic clotted cream!

I also made Caramelized Onion and Fetta Tarts
These are so easy and very yummy! (Don't let on how easy they are as people think you are very clever!)



Caramelized Onions
3 or 4 spanish onions sliced
a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to cover the base of a frying pan
about 2 tble spoons of brown sugar
a good splash of balsamic vinegar
a good pinch of sea salt

Gently fry the onions in the olive oil as they start to go translucent add the sugar and balsamic vinegar continue to cook until they are soft well coated. Add salt.
At this point you will need to taste the mixture to see if more sugar or vinegar is required to get the balance right.

Tarts
Caramelized onions
puff pastry sheets
your favourite fetta (or blue cheese for a yummy variation.)
chopped rosemary

Cut pastry into squares and pop into patty pan or muffin tins.
Top with onion mixture, crumble over cheese and sprinkle with chopped rosemary. Bake in a hot oven until pastry is crisp and golden.


Back to my knitting, this is it so far. It is as long as I am and I am 175cm tall. I've got half a ball of wool left to go. Plus one left to add some crocheted edging but am unsure if I will add it or not at this stage. I am rather enamored with the lovely long lines created by the plain knitting.


Must dash into Freo soon to buy wool for Chicky Babe's scarf that she has requested for the trip to match her hat. She also wants a dress made for the yr 10 dinner dance that will be 2 nights after we get back from Melbourne so I best do it before I go!