What happened to Muir?
The only thing I have on my needles now is the Muir scarf which I casted on March 22. It’s been more than two months now and progress is slow. Something about this project is not working for me.
It might be the chart that I’m knitting from. 32 rows for each repeat. It’s painstakingly slow for me and I need to concentrate so hard. Mind you, I have the focus of a goldfish! By the end of the day when I do have time to knit, my brain and eyes are too tired to deal with it. And I swim away from Muir yet again.
The other possibility why I’m put off from this project is the way the Malabrigo yarn stripes. It stripes almost every two rows and the pretty leaf design seem lost. Tell me again why I pushed on with this? I should have listened to my instincts and picked another pattern.
Or it could be that I picked laceweight yarn so progress is slow. In two months, I’ve knitted 70cm. I admit that I have been distracted by other projects. But now I’m left with this. 110cm of lace knitting to go. I can’t bare to frog it and start again because it really is a soft, light and airy scarf. Exactly what I set out to achieve for my friend in Singapore.
I’ve taken a deep breath and I’m going to keep going. I might try to knit an hour of it every morning when I’m bright and alert. (I’m a morning person) Every week, I’ll show you my progress. Maybe that will drive me on.
Have you had a similar experience with one of your craft projects? What did you end up doing?
Related Post:
I Still Knit!
Banana & Cranberries Bread
Sunday morning I woke up early and turned the oven on. I was on a mission. A banana smashing mission. I had two overripe bananas in my fruit bowl which needed to be cooked. And it needed to be cooked now. I googled “two bananas recipe” and turned out that I could make banana bread. Did you know that? Only two bananas needed!
Smashed bananas, golden syrup, sugar, egg, wholemeal self-raising flour and a pinch of salt went into a bowl. A greased loaf pan waiting for the goopy mess. But I felt it needed more so I threw in a small handful of cranberries and a sprinkle of ground cinnamon. Mmm… that’s better.
I had a cup of tea while watching the morning news and 30 minutes later, BRRRNNGGG. Banana bread is ready! Woo! It smelled so good. Wished you had smellablogavision. 
I had to wake Richard up. I didn’t want to wait another minute. So he stumbled out of bed and I shoved a plate of banana & cranberries bread in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. Let’s just say he didn’t do his usual complaining when I get him up early on the weekend. Hehe…
Banana bread recipe from Ninemsn Recipe Finder:
http://recipefinder.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=276672
Two Pies in One Day
The pie I made for Saturday’s dinner was an adaptation of a Chicken and Vegetable Pie recipe. I had planned to use up my last piece of chicken breast that’s been sitting in my fridge for a few days. But I think I was a day or two late. The chicken smelled funky. 
As they say on Iron Chef, there was “situation substitution”. I boiled up 3 eggs and used up all the vegetables in the crisper. Saturday is normally groceries day so I only had a green capsicum and a handful of snow peas left. I also replaced leek with half an onion and used frozen peas and carrots.
I cut the hard boiled eggs in half and placed it on my creamy vegetables. A sheet of puff pastry went on top of the lot and was glazed with egg. I didn’t cook it straight away. Richard wasn’t going to be home for a few more hours so I left it in the fridge and only baked it when he was on his way home.
It’s so impressive pulling this out of the oven as soon as the husband walks in the door after a 12 hour shift. Talk about good timing! We were both drooling at the sight of the crispy pastry. We LOOVEEE pastry.
You can’t see the egg in this photo because it’s hidden under the pastry but the combination of eggs, creamy vegetables and pastry was so good. Richard proclaimed, “This is definitely a keeper, love!” and I must agree. It’s really filling and heart warming on a cold day.
Chicken & Vegetable Pies recipe from Taste.com.au:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/5733/chicken+vegetable+pies
For dessert, I baked impossible pie. Impossible pie got it’s name because it looks impossible for the sloppy mix to turn into a pie. I have to admit that it’s perfect for a lazy cook like me. I don’t like stuffing around with a million steps and a long list of ingredients. Puts me off straight away and I’ll look for an easier recipe. So when the steps are to mix all ingredients together and pour into a pie dish, I’m all for it!
This isn’t the first time I’ve made impossible pie. I’ve used a recipe my ex-colleague gave me but I’ve achieved the best result with this recipe. I’ve read that it’s best eaten cold. Although some have eaten it warm with ice cream or cream. I had mine cooling in the fridge till dinner time and brought it to room temperature when the vegetable pie was baking. It was so frigging hard not to eat it as soon as it came out of the oven though. It smelled soooo good and the house was filled with the sweet coconut fragrance all afternoon!
The sloppy mix formed a base, smooth custard centre and a coconuty top as it was baking. Moist, sweet and the texture was delightful. If you haven’t tried making impossible pie, try it. So easy to make. There are so many variations including savoury ones. You’re bound to find something you like. Just google it.
Impossible Pie recipe from Best Recipes:
http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Impossible-Pie-L592.html
I’ve Been Painting
I’ve been painting for the last three days and I’m taking a break today. My body aches and I really need to get some other things done, like reading the manual for my job training on Tuesday. Yes, JOB training. 
I’ve been accepted to work as an exam invigilator at the local uni. It’s only casual work during the exam periods for the rest of the year but I’m grateful. Any extra bit of cash will help further our home renovations.
Speaking of which I’ll show you what I’ve been up to this week. My initial plan was to do the renovation room by room so that I can contain the mess in one small area. But it’s not going as fast as I hoped because if I do that, I am dependent on Richard and his dad to do the electrical stuff before I can paint. So I’m just painting whatever can be painted and not follow the recommended order to do things.
I painted the bathroom walls on Monday. The walls are now a bright, clean white instead of a dirty yellow. The bathroom instantly felt bigger. (Ignore the ceiling, tiles and accessories. That’s for the future.)
BEFORE
AFTER
I’ve also started on my linen cupboard which ended up in the living room since we knocked down the wall last year. I’m attempting it to blend it into the walls by painting it white and removing the door knobs. The walls around it are yet to be painted.
BEFORE
WORK IN PROGRESS
I was even thinking of painting the inside walls of the cupboard a totally different colour. Maybe a sky blue. And I need new shelf lining. The store bought ones are not wide enough. Any ideas?
In case you were wondering where all the contents of the linen cupboard are, they are all in the spare room. Thank good for spare rooms!
Quick Post
Morning everyone! I don’t have time for my normal post today as I’ve started home renos again. Yesterday I painted the bathroom walls and today I’m tackling the living room. I’ve taken before and after photos but I really just want to get things started. So I’ll be back soon when the dust has settled, literally!
By the way, THANK YOU for all your comments, especially about my crochet cap! I’ve been a bit slack and not replied to your comments personally but I will get around to it. I really appreciate every single one of them.
Have a good week and we’ll catch up again soon ok. Take care!
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