Lazy Saturday

Today was a gorgeous day, great weather, no agenda, just a nice Saturday.
I called at the local Farmers Market on my way into the city and bought one of these:

A Bienen Stich Cake (Bee Sting). I was really surprised to see them as I have not seen one of these since I lived in Germany, where they had a different topping of slivered almonds with a honey glaze on top. These were just as nice though and certainly a blast from the past. We used to buy these from the local German baker shop and you could get them as big as a dinner plate!

Something else I wanted to mention are Flatto peaches. I saw these for the first time this week, tried them and they are great, so easy to eat. I will be buying this variety from now on, they are a great shape for putting in lunch boxes.

I made some progress with my socks, I ended up ripping it out yesterday, when I tried it on it was way too big, so I started over with smaller needles:

I really like the pattern, it is so easy to memorise and I think it shows of the colour really well.

I only managed a little crafting time today, I got some more stitch markers made up and also got a lot of fabric ready for sewing, I will be making Boxy Project Bags tomorrow for my Etsy shop. I would love to fit in some dyeing time too if I can.

My Husband bought a car today, a Fiat Bambino, it needs a lot of work. It will be a nice project for Dad and Sons to do together. I am trying hard to imagine what it will be like when it has had a full restoration, but at the moment it looks like a heap of junk.

The picture above isn't the one we have bought, ours is a rusty red colour, lovely!

Yet Another Addiction!

I have found another addiction, that is currently first on my list followed by knitting, petting yarns, spinning fibre,  etc. I have started dyeing my own yarns and now have some for sale at www.serenknitty.Etsy.com (I made my first sale a few weeks ago!). I started dyeing mainly because since moving to New Zealand I have found it very difficult to get the knitting yarns I want, especially good colours, choice here is very limited and most of the yarn shops seem to have an abundance of novelty yarns or acrylic (which are not my taste at all). I have been buying most of my knitting supplies from overseas but the postal costs are sometimes extremely high. So I guessed if I wanted to have any choice I would have to supply that myself.

I started knitting Wanida socks by CookieA last night, I am using my favorite colourway (Hydrangea). It is knitting up lovely. The pattern is nice and easy and I am loving the results so far.

The wound yarn looks like this:

The colourway was inspired by the huge Hydrangea bushes growing in my garden, I live in the Canterbury countryside and find a lot of my inspiration comes from my garden and the surrounding areas.
Here are some yarns (mainly sock yarn) I have dyed over the last few weeks:

I have some more yarns to list in my store, I have been experimenting with darker shades, this range will be named 20,000 Leagues under The Sea. I would dye every day if I could, and when I can't I dream about it!

A QUICK CHANGE OF SUBJECT.....

Coffee makers. Over the years I have had numerous coffee makers, all have let me down in one way or another, whether their own fault or not. I have tried them all. Electric, filter coffee makers, French Presses (plunger). I also remember many years ago when I lived in Germany buying one of those new fangled machines that was supposed to steam the milk etc but it never gave good results (I have since read that unless you are willing to spend thousands on one of these machines, then the others are just not worth buying as they do not have the required pressure).

So on with the story... an impulse purchase at the weekend:

All I can say is this is by far the best coffee maker I have ever owned. Perfect coffee every time. Maybe it is true that often the most simply designed items are the best?

RAVELRY SWAPS:

I am a member of quite a few groups on Ravelry and often take parts in 'swaps'. I love receiving packages from other countries. Here are the ones I received this week:

My package from the Amazing Lace swap, from Hreow in Scotland. This yarn is beautiful, Luxury Sock, 80% Superfine Alpaca and 20% silk, the shade is Double Cherry from Bluefaced.com, it is unbelievably soft. Hreow was very generous and sent me 2 skeins which means I have 524 meters (200g)! I am thinking of using this in a shawl knit along I am taking part in next month. I also received a huge amount of Chocolate, all my favorites (that I really miss, we have Cadbury's here but it is not the same taste).

Later this week I received another package from Hreow, this one had knitting magazines, a pattern and a book of lace knitting which I love (it has quite a few patterns in I would like to knit including EZ's Stonington Shawl).

My Teal package from Colour Swap 6, coutesy of Lolabella. The yarns are gorgeous (I love sublime yarns). I also got a pack of Knit Pick Harmony interchangeable tips (love these too). A gorgeous package and I love the colours.

I have just finished knitting my Hand made project for my spoilee in the Colour Swap 6 group. It is sat drying out on the deck, as soon as it is dry it will be mailed, it has a long way to travel!

I feel a little guilty, I usually try to mail my packages within plenty of time of the deadline, this time I was late starting my package as I had a spell in hospital last month, emergency surgery for a Cholecystectomy. I feel heaps better now, it took a while to get over it though but I feel better than I have done in ages.