Toys, cozies, a hat and a bag!

 So first up is my foray into knitted toys.....this voodoo princess is for Miss Sevyn's 1st birthday pressie, isn't she cute!!!!

A buzzy bee for a group knit along...

A mommy echidna and her puggles - okay this is crocheted not knitted LOL

Then we have cozies - simple, fast and fun knits! Made one for my Dad, one for my fav barista boy and some to decorate my plant bottles.

This bag was made for my Dad for Christmas - such a great pattern!

Then a quick test knit.....

or two......

 And finally a cool cuff for a valentines swap.....

Handmade bookmarks

2015 giving back - SANDS

Each year I choose a way to 'give back' ..... this year after much thought and stumbling across a beautiful page: Marcus's-Butterfly (and seeing her article in the newspaper) I decided this year would be all about SANDS and donating my time and crafting skills to Marcus's butterfly page in particular.

Sands supports parents whose baby has died at any stage during pregnancy or the newborn period. https://sandsqueensland.wordpress.com/ or see the national page.

At such a heartbreaking time the small blankets, sets and beanies can be something to treasure and hold - as a parent myself I could not imagine losing a precious one and so I am honoured to help any way I can.
If you'd like to help here is the pattern page and guidelines for making special sets: https://sandsqueensland.wordpress.com/butterfly/patterns/

I am aiming this year to compile a box of handmade items once a month ..... I'm almost ready to send of my January box :)

Bunting sets - one for the angel and one for the parents to treasure.....small ones are 16- 24 weeks, bigger ones 24-30 weeks approx - for angels too small or delicate to be dressed.

20-28wk hats

16-24wk beanies

 xxK

To crochet with love...

 

 Been crocheting a fair bit lately....still knitting amongst it but crochet has been stealing my heart.....I love how quick it is, how easy and fun to make things up as you go......

Christmas crafting

Ornaments for swaps, custom orders and knitted and crocheted gifts.........May we all have a Merry and blessed Christmas xx

5000 poppies project....

 Because I am grateful for their eternal sacrifice xx

These are my contribution to the 5000 poppies project here in Australia....I crocheted mine and made one for each of my children using Jen’s Very Simple Poppy Pattern. Instead of using black yarn I am doing them in all red and then attaching a black decorative button for the middle.
Follow this link if you'd like to join in .....

http://5000poppies.wordpress.com/

"Our initial aim is to “plant” a massive field of handmade poppies in Fed Square Melbourne on Anzac Day 2015 as a stunning visual tribute to Australian servicemen and women for more than a century of service in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. We have been fortunate to have Phillip Johnson, Australia’s premiere landscape designer join us to develop our display, and we are gathering together over 100,000 poppies from all over Australia and indeed the world for our project."

Knit bracelets and a cuff......

 

I love this super easy bangle pattern from Ambah http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/easy-knitted-bangle ....great for scrap bits of yarn and the perfect no brain knitting!
I'll be making a bunch for Christmas gifts!

Next up is a knitted cuff - a new release pattern (with a matching cowl) also by Ambah http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/zaggy-cuff

Pictures post!

Etsy shop update!

 And here is the link if you'd like to visit...... 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheseLittleWagons

Two simple gluten free recipes - Chicken/vege pie and a caramel dessert.

I do lots of experimenting with food especially since becoming diagnosed celiac and having to go gluten free - lets face it gluten free has come a long way but most times it's just ugh! I took basic methods of cooking and did things my way to create simple easy recipes.

First up a chicken pie!

(Recipe makes a good sized family pie)

half a pumpkin
4 potatoes
A large chicken breast
a large leek
1 onion
big knob of butter
spinach (say 5 leaves)
250ml of cream
pie pastry  (I buy a slab of pre-made GF pastry and roll it out myself but you could make this from scratch)
half teaspoon each of spices of your choice (I used Chinese 5 spice, nutmeg, turmeric and ground cumin)
salt and pepper
Fresh herbs - parsley

Method:

Okay so first I boiled the pumpkin and potato together....drained them than mashed.

Roll out your pastry, put it in the pie dish and blind bake it in the oven til light golden.

In a fry pan cook the chicken (cut up into small chunks), onion, leek together with a big knob of butter. Add in your spices, salt and pepper to taste. Lastly throw in the fresh herbs and spinach. Once it's all cooked take it off the heat and stir in the thickened cream andthe mashed pumpkin and potato. Stir well to combine.

Grab your cooked pie shell and spoon in the mixture. Put pastry strips on top and cook until a beautiful deep golden brown (I did mine for about 10-15mins)

Enjoy.

Alternates to this recipe would be to add in some whisked eggs with the cream - this would make for a pie that would hold it's shape better. Or change up the veges, spices etc. Or if your not a fan of a full pastry pie just put a lid of pastry over the top instead placing the filling straight into the empty pie dish.

and now we want dessert ;)

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This one is simple and easy and barely takes 5 mins to make - very similar to a cheesecake :)

Caramel cheesecake dessert!

1 tin of caramel bake and fill (find this near the sweetened condensed milk tins in the supermarket)
1 250ml thickened cream
500g of Philadelphia cream cheese (2 blocks)

With an electric mixer mix together the cream cheese and caramel....when it's nice and smooth with no more lumps of cheese pour in cream and whizz again until smooth.
Set in fridge.
I like to layer a wine glass with frozen berries, pour in the mixture until near the top, pop in some more frozen berries and then heavily sprinkle with flaked choccy!!!! OMG Yum!

Again this recipe is able to be changed up however you like - pour it over a biscuit base, mix in chocolate piece!