No knits!

I have been knitting though, I've finished a chunky baby cardi in grey blue Rowan big wool fusion, a pumpkin baby hat, a bullseye red, white and blue pinwheel blanket and I have 1 sleeve and the hood to finish on the stripy cardigan for me.

I've started crocheting a Hallowe'en wreath too. Photos at another point as I am on DH's laptop and all the photos are on the pc upstairs.

Mum and Barry are coming to visit next weekend which is great, We've not seen them for a while and I do miss my mum!

Dh is decorating the front room at the moment, all cream walls apart from the one opposite the window which is a semi bitter chocolate colour that echoes the blind material which is chocolate with cream and pink velvet flowers. Looks better than it sounds! I got a bargain on Ebay, a 20m roll of blackout lining for only £47.90 which works out at about £2.40 a metre!

What else can I tell you? Hmm, I'm 33 weeks now and baby is still doing aerobics every minute, especially when I'm driving! It's still head down thank goodness but my poor ribs are suffering. I think I've come out the other side of a bad patch, everything was hurting, topped off by migraines that I couldn't take any medication for. But apart from that I'm feeling good and very positive. Especially as the pushchair and car seat have arrived!

Oh, DH bought me a slow cooker, how did I live without it!? We've had mango and pineapple upside down pudding, lamb casserole, chicken casserole, porridge and last night I cooked a gammon joint in it then glazed it in the oven - yum ! I put a little brown sugar in the cooking water, along with bay leaves, cloves, and onion and peppercorns. I glazed it with honey and chinese 5 spice powder. It is so tender and sweet, really gorgeous :)

Better be off now, take care everyone,

Ali xxx

Two posts in one day! Free pumpkin recipe

Aren't you lucky people :)

I wanted to share these pumpkin scones with you. They are divine!

Preheat oven to 200c

250g squash/pumpkin, steamed until tender. Mash with 20g butter until smooth. Beat in 1 egg, pinch of salt and pepper. Add 300g self raising flour, 30g each pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Mix until you have a soft dough, you may need more flour or a splash of milk depending on the juiciness of your pumpkin.

Put on a greased baking sheet and roll out to about 2cm thick. Cut into squares and gently separate them from each other. Brush with milk and top with a little grated cheese. I used a babybel as we have run out of all other cheese!

Bake for about 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly and then put on a cooling rack. Eat warm with butter :)

So many pictures!

Look! I got my first SP package! Penelope Pitstop is a tricky one...look, no stamps, no postmark...I am typing this whilst being serenaded by Lily Allen, thanks so much PP, I love it! It's going to be my new driving music :)

I made the scarf this weekend. I used a mistake rib pattern, 1 row knit, 1 row knit 1, purl 1. Cast on 21 stitchs and used 8mm needles. It's great, definitely different. I'll take it to my LYS tomorrow as the ladies want to see it knitted up.

Both girls had fun in the bath yesterday...It was so hard to get them in focus. I'll try again....

Look at my clever girl (with her pretty new haircut xx). She's been learning off and on for a year now, but when she picked it up yesterday she just got on with it. She managed to do 2 rows and then had to go and see what Daddy and Maddie were up to. Look how neat the last 2 rows are... I'm so proud of my Millie. She went up a group in reading on friday too. I took her to the bookshop to choose a new book as reward and she chose the first St Clares book by Enid Blyton...she is so my daughter!

Fancy a yoyo? That is what these biscuits are called. I found the recipe in my Edmonds Cookbook that I brought back from New Zealand. You use custard powder in both the biscuits and the buttercream. I s'pose they are like custard creams really. The biscuits are like shortbread and I'm off to make some more!

Bagels

Sunday is DH's morning for a lie-in. Our lovely girls decided that 6am was a good time to up...So, we made bagels!

I've cast on for a pair of socks knit in Rowan Calmer, I'm using the pattern from Easy Knitted Accessories (Jeannette Trotman) but have converted it to be knit in the round. My MIL has to go into to hospital soon and I thought a pair of snuggly bed socks would be good comfort.

Ironing calls....Happy Monday!

Vodafone gave me a new phone

It's a pale pink (what did you expect?) Motorola Razr V1.3 or is it 3.1? I dunno. I phoned up for an upgrade, was told this phone would be £10, went into store and was told it would be £110, phoned them back up and got it free! Apparently I'm a good customer and they don't want me to leave. I'm happy!




Anyway, here are a few pics I've taken with the camera, I'm quite pleased with it but it definitely needs good light.

Emilia this morning, not in focus at all!

Maddie in focus - having good light really helps!

Ready for school, watching television before we go.

Sticky cinnamon buns - Jim Fobel's recipe.