things i'm making/have made

Last week I made Anzac biscuits. I had to explain a million times what these are because it’s an Australian/NZ thing. These are biscuits/cookies that were first made in WW1 to send to Australian and NZ troops who were collectively known as ANZACS (Australian and NZ army corps). They’re made from nonperishable things like golden syrup, coconut, oats, flour and butter so they would withstand the long journey to where the troops were stationed. We antipodeans have Anzac day on the 25^th of April to remember the troops who died in Gallipoli. It’s common for kids to study this in high school, and the “Anzac spirit” is a big deal for Australians. For some reason, this particular day, when the troops landed at Gallipoli, is remembered as when our national identity was founded. I think because it was the first major thing we did as separate from the Empire. Anyway I’m not very patriotic, but it felt more special making these and telling everybody about it.

I have started crocheting again, spent Saturday morning in bed crocheting and watching Stepmom (tearjerker starring Julia Roberts & Susan Sarandon). I’m making a hat even though, as somebody at work told me yesterday, we’re going into summer. Feel like in England we can wear hats all year round due to unpredictable and generally mild temperatures. I will upload a picture and pattern at some point I guess, it’s my favourite hat pattern and it’s super super easy and pretty.

Aaaaand last night I made hummingbird cupcakes for my manager at my internship’s birthday this weekend. Hummingbird cake usually has pineapple and banana in but for some reason in my mind I figured it would be better with peach or perhaps I made one ages ago with peach.. so I decided to substitute that instead of pineapple which I don’t like very much to be honest. I used this recipe and this one as inspiration. I just used SR flour because in particular recipes I think it’s legit to skip the plain flour and baking powder/bicarb/baking soda game, and I used walnuts instead of pecans because they are cheaper. By the way, if you ever need to cross reference recipes, I would definitely recommend using tastespotting. The best website for inspiration/ideas/food porn. Something I noticed about hummingbird cake is that although it's apparently a "southern" food, nobody really knows where it originates from. MYSTERY CAKE. It's really good anyway.

2012 with wool & i rejuvenation

more and more I have been thinking about giving up on any career goals I may sort of have and am thinking about throwing in the proverbial towel and becoming like a freelance domestic. I just want someone to pay me to bake yummy things or crochet hats and then tweet about it. jk I am still ambitious. but think I will definitely blog more about things I am making, doing and reading creative-wise. also seems cute to have a bit more of a 'life blog'

starting with these things:

svpply
not overly sure what the deal with svpply is to be honest, I have a feeling it collates stuff from shopping sites all over the internet. and it sort of 'remembers' what you've been looking at and selects items based on your previous browsing... but it's beautiful looking

frankly
this is a craft magazine for the webite 'folksy' which is a British craft website. I'm not sure if it's print.. seems closely related to frankie mag if so hmm. their articles all tell you how long it will probably take to read, which, in light of some of the things I've been bookmarking on the AV club, is quite kind of them

when I was volunteering at Future Cinema's production of Bugsy Malone last weekend I met this lady who works for a bakery in Shoreditch called Crimson Heart. cool gal, great cakes, terrible website! she was telling me about these themed cake nights they have as part of this British/worldwide organisation called Clandestine Cake Club. a cake club is easily the best thing I've ever heard of.. I really want to start one in Crystal Palace! also I want to investigate whether there are crafternoons around CP, seems like a thing that would happen there. or maybe I'll just start one myself, a la Brown Owls.

and here are things I would make if I had the funds to buy more than 15p packets of Sainsbury's noodles
hot chocolate on a stick
lime macarons (will have to write up the recipe I make them with for ya'll)
I really really want to make Japanese curry because back home I ate it like 3 times a week.. but in London there aren't as many hole in the wall asian places to get your fix like that, you have to go to horrible chains that charge you an arm and a leg. I've been researching it a bit and it seems like you need these specific Japanese curry cubes or you have to chuck a whole bunch of spices and veg in to make it like they do.

anyway next time I am going to do a blog post about Crystal Palace and what it is like here and other things of that nature

overload

A few weeks ago I went to Southside Brown Owls. I was really interested to see how everybody acted when they were meeting in real life. Southside was a good group to pick because they have only met a few times - I went to their third meeting. It is run by Shannon Rowe and Katrina Higham. Katrina owns the Windsor Deli, which is where the meeting was. She writes a food/craft blog. Shannon doesn't write a blog but she seems like an avid tweeter which is just as important these days. At the meeting chatting about online craft things I got the sense that twitter was the way of the future just because it's less involved. Speaking from experience, trying to write this blog, I concur: you can easily get 'snowballed' with all the stuff out there. Too much information for one gal.

One of the things that I've wanted to do for a while was to write about the craft-ish blogs and sites that I read/have read.

Whipup.net

My favourite thing about this website is the 'roundups' of patterns they do. It's an excellent aggregate of cool/fun patterns, recipes, craft books or websites. Their crochet one is particularly good.

Sarah McNeil
Illustrations, sweet things. Pretty.

Camila Galaz
Camila draws illustrations of pigeons in greylead, which I find really endearing.

Mrs Robertson Presents
There are a lot of blogs out there, it is true. But when one stumbles upon a blog that is actually well written - that my friends, is a keeper. Recipes and anecdotes from nearly-country Victoria from the inimitable Mrs Robertson.

Purl Bee
Purl Bee is useful for finding patterns, much moreso than whip up is. I believe they have a bunch of tutorials.

Kootoyoo
I used to read this blog religiously because it had beautiful pictures and interesting projects that recycled old things into awesome new stuff. Not so much any more, but at a glance it seems to be continuing on in the same fashion. I also dug this blog because it wasn't overwritten with cheeriness.

Ravelry
This website is essentially an index of patterns, free or for a small price, online. You can add your own (I assume, I haven't tried) and favourite the ones you find, use and like. Quite a good resource.

Northern Craft Bonanza
NCB is another craft group that meets in Melbourne. I have tentative plans to go to a meet when I get myself organised - it's closer to my place than any of the Brown Owls groups.

Brown Owls
Orchestrated by Pip Lincolne, this is a really excellent resource for anybody with the slightest interest in craft anywhere in Australia. The idea is that anybody, anywhere can begin a group under the name 'Brown Owls' and use the website to organise it. On the blog there is a calendar of the forthcoming meets. There are 3 or 4 different groups around Melbourne, a bunch in Sydney and elsewhere in Aus, and some all over the world! Sew exciting.

Sew much 2 read.