Out of the Comfort Zone and Loving It!

This post is brought to you by Nuffnang and Spotlight.

So, I'm not a knitter ... have never been a knitter ... have tried and it just hasn't clicked with me ... crochet any day, but not knitting ... UNTIL NOW!

I was asked if I'd like to try out some lovely cotton yarn and some knitting needles from Spotlight, and I was like ... "Yarn, well of course!"  And then this lovely package of brightly coloured cotton arrived together with some cool green knitting needles, and I suddenly thought ... "What have I done? ... Knitting!!!"  After some deep breathing into a paper-bag, I realised that this would be a great chance to have a go at some knitting... sometimes it's good to step out of the comfort zone after-all, huh!  A change is as good as a holiday, and all that ... right!

I had to see my Mum (aka ... Knitting Extroadinare) and she suggested having a go at a Dolly-sized Kina.  Now a Kina is this gorgeous little short-sleeve cardigan pattern, and one that my Mum has knitted many times after seeing it in blog-land.  In fact she's made one for each of my girls, one for me and one for herself, as well as several others including a couple of the dolly-sized ones.   Here's Hannah in her lovely green Kina.

Anyway, I had a look at the pattern and realised that the dolly-size is a free pattern (with 2 sizes to choose from), it's knitted all in one piece, only uses knit and purl stitches, and seemed like a nice quick project which I was definitely going to need if I was to be successful in knitting something.  Just perfect for a beginner.  

So I got dressed into my Kina too ... you know, for added inspiration in the hope of channelling my inner-Kina... I grabbed this gorgeous fuchsia cotton (available from Spotlight here) along with my funky green knitting needles and cast on the little Kina.  Who knew I'd even be able to remember how to cast-on, but I actually managed it.  My happy-dance was short-lived though, as I soon got stuck, but after another visit with my Mum for her to help me get my head around the increasing, I was off and running.  

And after that, this little cardi came together in one evening, complete with a sparkly button from my stash because, well .... SPARKLY!

And there you have it ... I'm out of the comfort zone, and loving it ... now I'm even looking for other knitting patterns for using the rest of this yarn ... maybe something in a bigger size next time.  

So about the yarn... It's called Flinders, and its 100% cotton from Spotlight.  This is 8 ply and it's really soft and lovely.  I've always preferred the feel of cotton over acrylic or even wool, and these 50 gram balls are no exception.  I'm lucky enough to have a Spotlight close to home, and I'm definitely a frequent visitor for pretty much anything crafty that I need ... fabrics, buttons, yarns, and anything else I can find when I'm there (I never just come out with what I went in for ... it's actually a running joke in my house!).  But for those of you who can't get there, did you know that Spotlight have a website? ... You can totally order online.  I had a quick look, and these yarns are $3.99 per ball at the moment.  Not bad at all for 100% cotton.  It knitted up beautifully, with no splicing, and the little Kina is so very soft. I actually think this yarn would be lovely for a crochet (or knitted) throw rug.  It's smooth and soft and with the gorgeous colour range, there's sure to be a colour to suit any project.

So, step out of your comfort zone and try a new craft ... you won't be sorry, and how lovely to have another craft option to choose from now ... you know, when I'm not crocheting, or sewing or doing anything else I can think of to avoid housework! 

Oh, and I think Dolly is pretty stoked with her new Kina too, don't you!

The new season of The Book of Once Upon a Time by Disney Junior

This post in brought to you by Nuffnang and Disney.

Story time is one of our favourite times of the day … it’s a win : win for everyone really.  Our girls are transported into imaginary worlds whilst increasing their vocabulary and enjoying 100% adult attention, whilst Mummy (or Daddy for that matter) lap up the cuddles as we snuggle close together so everyone can see the pictures.  We love books and reading.

Well, I’m excited to be able to share today about the launch of the second season of Disney Junior’s The Book of Once Upon a Time.  Now, whilst I wholly advocate reading with our kids, this is fantastic for something a little different, and is also a great idea as a wind-down-to-bedtime activity.  These stories can even be used as a little pre story-time before your usual bedtime reading ritual, and is complete with a sweet little lullaby at the end.  What a great tool to signal bedtime to little ones.

The Book of Once Upon A Time is a series of Disney stories, which are shared in the most fun and magical way by Aussie Actor and Playwright Kate Mulvany.  The stories air on the Disney Junior Channel (Foxtel Channel 709, and SKY Channel 105) weeknights at 7:10pm, and are also available online here.   You can even download the stories as eBooks from iTunes here.  We don’t have Foxtel at home, so we’ve had a look at the stories online, and both my girls were mesmerized.   We’ve watched the Snow White and Rapunzel stories so far, but can’t wait to check out the Winnie the Pooh, Sleeping Beauty and of course the Frozen stories, among others.  Kate Mulvany has a great story telling style, which just captures the kids’ attention and has them enthralled in these traditional Disney stories.  And who doesn’t love a Disney story, right!?!  To think the same stories I grew up with are now being enjoyed by my kiddos.  In a world where things change so quickly, sometimes the good old stuff lasts the distance, huh!

Another thing I like about these stories is the attention to detail.  Even though the stories are presented on the TV / computer / handheld screen, Disney have paid attention to traditional story time themes with page-turning and illustrations, but have added some little touches of animation for some extra fun.  It’s really well done.  We as parents are always looking to stimulate the girls’ imaginations, and this kind of story telling is just the ticket. They love it, and I love watching them engage … especially for Hannah, who is 3 … this little one has an amazing imagination.  The stories are great for developing her language skills too.  

Don’t worry, you can still totally read your own books with your kids and enjoy snuggles with the kids afterwards, or, who am I kidding … snuggle up and watch The Book of Once Upon A Time stories with them … who can say no to an extra cuddle with a freshly-bathed, pyjama-clad little munchkin anyway?

So, here’s the premiere episode “Snow White and the Great Jewel Hunt” for you to enjoy.  Just grab your nearest munchkin and check it out.

Pattern Test: The Ileana Dress

Now I can finally share the other recent pattern test I've done, and that I've been teasing you with on Instagram and Facebook ... I had so much fun with this one, I actually ended up making 2 dresses ... I couldn't resist.  Introducing the Ileana Dress from Compagnie M.  Oh, and if you use the code ILEANA10 you'll get a discount on both the printed and digital patterns...just sayin'!

So for Bethany's size 8 dress I chose the following options ... Bow collar, half-circle skirt, classic bodice, cap-sleeve and drop-shaped pockets.

This pattern has soooooo many options.  I love it for that.  In one pattern you can make so many different dresses.  There is such variety that you wouldn't even know they were from the same pattern.  That's what I call value!  I absolutely think this will become one of my all time favourite staple patterns.  Let me list some of the options:  Firstly you can choose whether to do a full or half circle skirt, then you can choose the collar - a floral collar, a bow collar, a rounded peter-pan collar or a pointed peter pan.  You can also choose whether to do half collars or full collars.  And we haven't even spoken about the 3 faux placket options yet, not to mention the sleeve options, or sleeveless of course, and the option to do a raglan bodice, and the pockets, oh the pockets...  So as you can see, you can get just as creative as you like.

To be honest the number of options gave me a slight panic-attack at first, but I soon found that once I had picked my options, the dress came together so easily.  Once again Marte's instructions and pictures are fantastic, and I can claim that my zip-phobia is now well under control.  Marte taught me with this pattern to install my very first (and second) invisible zips.  I've never seen instructions quite so easy to follow for zips.  It completely dissipated my zip anxiety, and made me wonder why I've been so stressed out by zips to date.  I might be a little addicted to them now.  I've also used her instructions when making a couple of dresses with exposed zips too ... I'm on a zip roll.

Oh, and do you like this fabric?  I picked it up for $2 a metre at my local fabric store.  Couldn't leave it there for that.  It's totally not my usual colour pallet, but something drew me to it and I thought it was perfect for one of Marte's designs.  Bethany likes it too.  She says it makes her look like an adult ... I guess when you're 7, that's pretty much the best thing ever.  How things change, huh!  

Anyway, after watching the tester-group design and show their dresses during the testing period, I just HAD TO try the floral collar.  This time I chose a daisy print from my stash and made up a size 4 for Hannah.

This dress just screams spring, and being in the middle of a cold-snap in Sydney, spring is totally what I'm longing for.

So again, I chose the classic bodice with the cap sleeve, and the half-circle skirt.  And this time I added a full floral collar.  So cute!

So, for my next Ileana, I think I'll try a raglan option, with a half-raglan sleeve and a faux placket.  

And a big thanks to Marte for having me to test again on this one.  I had a blast!!

Homemade Yoghurt, and some Yoghurt recipe ideas

Brought to you by Nuffnang and EasiYo.   All opinions are absolutely my own!

I love when I receive an email asking if I'd be interested in product testing something.  It's fun, but most of all it lets me try something out that I may otherwise have not known about, and give my opinion.  And today's product review is no different.

There's a new EasiYo in town.  Do you remember the old one?  Well, wait for it .... I have one, and here's how it compares to the new shiny red one....

The original was first developed about 20 years ago apparently ... boy that makes me feel old!  I'll admit that I bought the original EasiYo many years ago, and I've used it on and off over that time, but it has been a while I'll confess.   Why ... well, I don't really know.  I mean homemade yoghurt ... who can go wrong with that, huh!  And I'd forgotten how quick it really is to do.

You just grab your 1 kg jar that comes with the yoghurt maker, (the one on the left is the old version ... how much prettier is the new one!!), fill it half full with room temperature water, add your yoghurt sachet, then put the lid on and shake.  Then you fill the jar the rest of the way to the top, another little shake and pop it in the yoghurt maker that's been filled to the level marked inside with boiling water.  You put the lid on, and in 8 hours ... fresh yoghurt, ready to go.  And apparently the longer you leave the yoghurt in the maker, the thicker it becomes and it's safe to leave it in there for up to 24 hours.  I have done mine overnight each time, and the yoghurt is a beautiful consistency... oh, and I've been told that the probiotics in yoghurt are at their most potent when it's freshly made, so there's another reason to make it at home.

So, the flavours ... I was lucky enough to be able to sample a bunch of the flavours.  So far we've tried the Passionfruit (definitely the favourite all-round so far), the coconut (which I absolutely loved) and the plain, which I've used in cooking and if I get my act together soon, I might even had a go with using the rest of it to make some Labna.  We'll see ... I'll keep you posted!!

And one other thing that I like about this new EasiYo and the red-shiny-ness of it is that it absolutely matches my kitchen colour-scheme.  That's definitely an incentive to keep it out on the bench for regular yoghurt making ... it's just so darn pretty!

So, with all this yoghurt in the house, I thought I'd find a couple of recipes.  The first was this amazing Lemon Yoghurt cake ... I posted this teaser on Instagram ... It's one of those drizzle-the-hot-lemon-syrup-over-the-hot-cake-and-watch-it-soak-in kind of cakes ... Yum.  This one uses plain yoghurt!

And it was a great excuse to get out my Gran's vintage cup and saucer for a slice of cake and a cuppa on a cold winter's afternoon.

I just love a cup of tea in a real teacup ... don't you!

Next, Hannah and I decided to make some frozen yoghurt treats.  She recently watched an episode of PlaySchool where they mixed yoghurt with berries, froze it and ate it.  She's been trying to convince me since then that we needed to give this a try, but Hannah hates berries, so I wasn't really sure what to do.  But when everyone loved this EasiYo Passionfruit yoghurt so much, I figured this was my chance.  Here's how Hannah and I made these Passionfruit Banana Frozen Yoghurt treats:

Ingredients:
- 500g passionfruit (or whatever flavour you want) yoghurt
- 1 banana

You'll also need some ice-block moulds ... we used these funky-shaped ones.  Hannah told me immediately that she would be having the "love heart icecream".

To make them, just dice your banana up into 1cm-ish sized pieces, then mix together with the yoghurt.  Can't be much simpler, really!

Spoon the mixture into the ice-block moulds and freeze!

 Oh, and don't forget to lick the spoon!

These are really tasty (I ate the pink one!).  The frozen banana almost disappears and the passionfruit yoghurt has such an amazing passion-fruity flavour ... makes me long for summer!

So, we've had a ball product testing the new EasiYo maker.  I really would recommend it.  It's quick and easy.  The yoghurt is thick, creamy, and tasty, not to mention it is free from artificial ingredients, gluten-free, and suitable for vegetarians.  The new EasioYo is available in Australia from Big W, Woolworths, IGA and online for $24.99 (RRP) and the yoghurt sachets for 1kg fresh yoghurt are available from $4.50.  So, it's not expensive either.  I also think these would make a great gift!