I have, in these past months, turned 40! -once upon a time I thought 40 to be old and so very far away but now that I am here I realise that my young self should not have worried as 40 seems to be quite okay and fairly reasonable from where I stand. Perhaps when time travel is invented I can go back to my wee self and assure that me that no one cares that I shouldn't have worn frosted eye shadow, or that the girls that made my life a living hell at school really were just horrible girls and they all grew up to be horrible people and I will turn out just fine thank you very much! Ah youth I would not pay to be there again for another go around. My parents were supposed to come and celebrate the big 40 with us but there was a small issue with an ash cloud in their part of the country and torrential rain with flooding in our part of the country, so with much sighing and a tinge of sadness it was agreed that we would postpone the celebration for another time, but my wonderful partner and kiddies took me out for a lovely family dinner that made it all better.
We have shivered through a rather wet and cool winter and we are starting to see the little buds of spring popping up to say hello and it promises months of sitting at the beach and enjoying late spring/summer evenings with the sounds of children playing a cuppa in one hand and my knitting in the other. It has also prompted some spring cleaning which has played havoc with my joints but has made my cupboards look sparkly and new.
With the change in weather has come some changes in the kitchen, I have thrown fear to the wind and have ventured into cooking things that have previously terrified me....namely my nemesis dum dum dummmmm PASTRY! Now in my childhood my grandmother would knock up a pastry that was flaky and beautiful and I would stand beside her watching and helping, you would have thought that I could copy what she did but no, apart from a choux pastry, I don't think it counts as they teach you how to make this one in school, I could not conquer the pastry battle -it would win and win and I eventually shied away from the victor and allowed it the victory. But then I watched the contestants on Masterchef just knock up pastry like it was so easy anyone could do it, so with sleeves rolled up and breath held I returned to the battleground with a steely eye, a bucket load of determination and a fall back pastry in the freezer just in case. Recipe in hand I started the Sunday dinner of Chicken Pot Pie, I laid out my ingredients and slowly began to create the pastry topper, I did all the recipe said but was very unsure when I placed it in the fridge to rest but I persevered and when the pie went in the oven it really looked like a proper pie. 45 minutes later a beautiful thing emerged and was placed on the table, the first cut was terrifying but it looked all right and when everyone tasted it the verdict was that it was just like the shop ones only better. A big relief for me and also the realisation that I can do this, now that I have done it once nothing can stop me and since my foray into the world of pastry begun I have also mananged to make some little rhubarb tarts with beautiful homemade sweet pastry.
I have also been creating my own line of hand knitted animals that I hope to sell on Etsy and at the markets here around Christmas time, they have been a bit of a trial and error process but I have finally managed to create a pattern that is all my own and, I even wrote it down so that when I have a day where I can't remember why I walked into a particular room I can at least knit something.
These are the animals that I have made so far, I have been trying to make Australian animals but I really couldn't resist an elephant and I am sure that no one will really mind that I made her. They have all been made using pure wools, pure alpaca or pure cottons, I have really made an effort to use natural fibres to ensure a soft fluffy and cosy critter, but I have used man made fibrefill to stuff them with so that they can be washed and you can be sure they are kiddy friendly.
I apologise for the mammoth size post and I hope that I have not bored anyone too much, I do have so much more to share and now that I am computer able I hope to be able to share it all with you.
Until then my lovelies,
xoxoxoxoxoxox
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