Baby beanie

Thought I'd share a picture of my latest model, my too-cute little step-nephew, Leo. He's modelling a green beanie I made for him. Baby beanies are even more fun than full size ones because they come together even faster and look even cuter. Nothing to it, just do a big beanie pattern but with less stitches. Go here to see my beanie pattern. I cast on about 90 stitches for the baby beanie and made it a bit shorter.

Knitted Slouchy Socks

Winter's coming to a close down here and I've only just finished my slouchy socks. Anywho, here they are. I used a lovely multicolour yarn in muted tones, and they're just basic socks with a pattern of knit three, purl three. It's also an uneven thickness wool so they ended up looking rough and rustic, which charms me :)

These are the boots I knitted them for, but I can also imagine a future running around in tights and these big socks at home because they make me feel cute and comfy :)

Watercolour Takahe Painting

This one is twice as big as the other two paintings in the previous two posts. The bird is much larger than the other two as well, so it seems appropriate. I'm really enjoying painting these, but I'm back to university on Monday so expect not to hear from me for a while.

Watercolour Stitchbird Painting

Watercolour Fantail Painting

I'm on university holidays and have been itching to do some arty stuff so I settled on having a go at some watercolours of New Zealand birds. I've started off with a fantail, which is a bird I think no one dislikes.

Hopefully more to come!

Sweet and Tangy Tofu Stir-Fry

Stir-fry's are awesome. That is a fact. Anyone who disagrees simply hasn't tasted one of my stir-fries. There, that's my bragging, now here's the recipe.

All my stir-fries (and all good ones I think) have a base of soy sauce, vinegar and sugar. This makes them salty, tangy, and sweet. The best.

I'm sorry, I don't measure, so I'll try give you a bit of an idea how much of each ingredient I used, but it's really up to your taste buds, just keep tasting as you go  :)

Ingredients:

garlic, ginger, onion, mushrooms, brocolli, carrots, lemon
soy sauce, vinegar
herbs of your choice, brown sugar, salt, cornflour, chilli
tofu, cashews

1. Dice up some garlic (I used 4 cloves) and roughly chop up an onion. (Also grate up some ginger unless your using jarred stuff like me).

2. In a pan put approx a cup of water, 1/4 cup of white vinegar, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, the garlic, ginger (1Tbsp), and the onion.

3. Add some herbs (I used sweet thai basil, mint, and coriander) and chilli (flakes/ground/fresh), and cook until it reduces down quite a bit and starts to get sticky.

4. Add about 1/3 cup soy sauce, 3/4 cup of water, and the veges you want to use (I used brocolli, carrots, and mushrooms). Cook until the veges are tender and the sauce has reduced down again.

5. While the veges are cooking, cut up some firm tofu into approx 1cm cubes. Put them in a plastic bag with some cornflour and salt. Toss to cover. Fry in a pan on high heat with a decent amount of oil until browned.

6. When the veges are nearly ready add in the tofu and some lemon juice, cook until combined and the tofu has taken on some of the flavour of the sauce.

7. Serve on white rice with cashews sprinkled over it. Yum!

Knitted Cushion

I'm desperately in need of some cushions for my couch and as we recently got new pillow inners for our bed I thought I could use the old ones for cushions. Knitting a cushion cover is super easy, it's as simple as casting on enough stitches to cover the width of the cushion (I'm halving the pillow inners), deciding on a simple pattern, (I did some cabling, but a plain knit would look equally lovely and homey) and knitting until it can fold over and fit the inner. Sew together two sides, so it's a pocket, slip in the inner, and sew it in. Easy peasy. It's pretty quick and satisfying.

I doubled the wool to give a chunkier knit, and I also ran out of yarn so I just made the front, and sewed it onto a cushion cover I made out of fabric. I also intend to make many more, and shall post when I do. :)  So here's the steps in photographic form:

1. Cut up the pillow inner into the size you want.

2. Sew up the fabric to cover the cushion, into a pocket, leaving a strip unsown (I used the fabric that was on the inner as a lining, and to show me how big to make it)

3. Turn inside out and stuff with pillow inner piece.

4. Hand sew up the opening carefully.

5. Pin the knitted front onto the cushion, stitch on carefully.

6. Have a super-duper enjoyable time with your new cushion. I had a photo-shoot to celebrate :)