Oat & Raisin Choc Chip Cookies
I found a large container full of raisins in my fridge during a clean out and I have to use them by July. I found a recipe on the net and started baking immediately. I had all I needed from my pantry so it was a good chance to use even more stuff up before they expire.
The ingredients are butter, honey, self-raising flour, bicarb soda, oats, brown sugar, raisins, choc bits and dessicated coconut. You can easily mistake this for an Anzac biscuit or Anzac cake. Same straightforward procedure of mixing the wet ingredients to the dry ones. I don’t know why I keep going back to this kind of recipes. I think I just love the taste of oats and coconut and the chewy texture.
The fun bit was rolling them into balls and lining the cookies up in military-like lines.
“Attention cookies! We have received orders for you to be baked at 180°C. I know it’ll be hot! It will be uncomfortable! But think of all the other cookies out there! Make them proud! God speed!”
“HALT! Cookies, show no fear! You may think that huddling close together will ease the pain! But it is not wise! I’ve seen it happen before. And it is UGLY!” (Flashback….)
“Cookies! Spread out!”
I’m glad they listened to Lieutenant Cookie. 
Look how much better they turned out.
These cookies are talented, you know. Lieutenant Cookie have trained them to form many formations to deceive the enemy.
But we have received intelligence about their movements and have created counter-intelligence to crumble their defences.
*gobbles another cookie* Mmmm…
The cookies are moist and very sweet. In the future, I’ll probably half the amount of brown sugar and omit the choc chip altogether. I’ll double the amount of sultanas instead. I might also cut the butter to 150g as they were just a little too oily.
But other than that, they’re bloody beautiful, mate! Haha… Cookies are almost gone already!
Oh by the way, does anyone know any other good raisin/sultana recipe? I’ve barely made a dent in the container! I hope Richard likes sultanas as much as I do cos he’ll be eating them every week till they’re all used up.
Recipe from Taste.com.au:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17571/oat+and+raisin+choc+chip+cookies
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Best Crochet Cap in The World
I have crocheted the best hat in the WORRRLLLD! Well, at least for me anyway. I crocheted this swirls cap in… wait for it… wait… ONE day. Yip. One warm, gorgeous, too cute for my head, hat in less than 24 hours.
@ Ravelry
I started after dinner on Saturday night and crocheted till bed time around 11pm. By that point, I had already finished the main hat. I woke up in the morning and did a few more rounds. I crocheted the brim in the car on the way to James’. All it needed was a piece of plastic for its brim.
While everyone was busy preparing lunch, I cut myself a brim from a plastic folder and crocheted the edges closed. Too easy!
I LOVVEEE this hat and I was so pleased to see how I looked in it. Perfect fit despite using a thinner yarn than recommended. Of course I wanted to take photos of the hat straight away. And there happens to be beautiful autumn tree in the backyard and a grinning mother-in-law happily sharing the moment with me.
Pattern: Swirls Cap {Ravelry} from Sophia Kesssinger
Yarn: Cleckheaton Country Naturals 8ply
Hook: 4.5mm
Mods: Used 8ply wool instead of 10ply/worsted weight
I washed the hat the next day and the yarn was even softer. I’ve not used Cleckheaton before and I’m glad to know that I’ve got soft, cheap, machine washable wool at Kmart. Makes life a lot easier as I’m only minutes away from the shop. I only used 2 balls for the hat and I’m sure I got the wool on special months ago. I think this hat would have only cost me $7 in wool! *pats myself on the back
Well, I’ve leave you today with a photo I took of James’ backyard. He is damn freaking lucky to live in such a beautiful place for such a cheap rent. It’s just disgusting!
Luxurious Knitted Hats
First and foremost, I hope everyone had a great Mother’s day and that you’re all well rested and ready to start a brand new week. 
Two weeks ago, I received the 2009 Bendigo Woollen Mills shade card, together with their proud announcement of the new “Luxury” range. The range boasts to be softer and at the reasonable price of $11.50 for a 200g ball/400m. As a bonus, orders received before 31st May from the new Luxury range will receive two “Luxury” patterns free!
I had promised Emma, my sister-in-law, that I will knit hats for her and her son, Jackson, just before receiving the shade card so the timing couldn’t be better. She picked the colour Lake and I chose my two free Luxury patterns from Bendigo Woollen Mills.
The yarn arrived a few days later and it was soft! I was pleasantly surprised as I’ve bought from their other ranges which promised to be soft but they weren’t. I was thrilled to have finally found machine washable soft merino wool at such a low price. Their shipping is only $3 and if your purchases are more than $30, postage is free.
I immediately casted on for Jackson’s hat and was happily knitting when I found loose bits of yarn poking out of the strand of wool. It happened 3-4 times but it was no big deal as it disappeared into my knitting with a little snip.
I was determined to finish the two hats before Mother’s Day so I had a knitting marathon for 3 days straight. The hats were completed, washed and dried well before my deadline and I was very pleased with the results. The yarn was even softer after washing!
Pattern: Combined Odessa {Ravelry} and Hurricane patterns
Yarn: Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 8ply
Needles: 3.5 mm and 4 mm
Mods: Details below
CO 110sts on 3.5 mm needles.
Followed the instruction from Odessa for ribbing.
M1 and then changed to 4 mm needles.
Work Hurricane’s body and decrease.
Decrease didn’t work too well. Probably decreased too quickly on the last 2-3 rows. Hat doesn’t lie flat but fits okay.
Pattern: Jacques Cousteau hat
Yarn: Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 8ply
Needles: 3.5 mm
Mods: Knitted the woman’s size and knit in rib for only 16cm (instead of 20cm) before decreasing.
Emma and Jackson received their hats on Mother’s Day and they both spent the day at home lazing around. We took a quick family photo before we left to have lunch at James’. Notice how well behaved the dog, Ash, is sitting on Emma’s foot while the photo was taken. Hehe… Silly dog!
More hats on Wednesday! 
See you then. Take care!
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Two Skeins of Malabrigo Later…
Restoring Vintage Suitcases Part II
Continued from Vintage Find…
I’ve cleaned the vinyl on the suitcases and removed rust from the metal parts. I suspect the suitcases are in a much better condition now than it has been in decades. But I was still curious to see what effect the “cut and polish” stuff (meant for polishing cars) would have on the metal bits of the vintage suitcases. Please excuse my use of “stuff” and “bits”. I really don’t know what the heck they’re called!
In the picture, you can see the “cut and polish” stuff I was going to try on the metal parts. The metal bits on the suitcases looked pretty good at this stage and I doubted there will be much difference after I “cut and polish”.
So I got to work with a clean soft rag and the tiniest amount of “cut and polish”. I buffed the metal and couldn’t see much difference. I had a look at the rag and was pleasantly surprised.
The gunk on the rag motivated me to keep going. I sat there for a while buffing meticulously, comparing each metal bit to the unpolished one next to it. It’s very hard to capture the difference on the camera but I took photos anyway.
The closure on the right has been “cut and polished” and I hope you can see how much shinier and brighter it is to the metal around the handle and the centre closure. Well, all the metal parts look like that now.
The next step is to work on the interior of the vintage suitcases. In an attempt to get rid of the musty smell, I’ve placed large scrunched bits of newspaper inside and closed them up. I got this tip from Googling. The carbon in the newspaper ink should absorb any smells. I’ll open the suitcases again on Monday to fix the tears on the paper lining. Hopefully, the smell will be gone by then.
Oiyi asked what I’ll do with the suitcases. Frankly, I don’t really know. Richard has this funny idea that we should leave them by the door so that when we have guests over, they think we’re flying off somewhere. Or that we should just leave them somewhere in the living room cos they look so good. Haha… Errr, I don’t think so!
What do you think I should do with them?
Related Post:
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My First Mammogram at Age 30
I’m 30 and I just had my first mammogram and ultrasound. I’ve decided to talk about this topic openly here, despite it not having any relation to my regular craft posts because I feel that there are not enough young women talking about breast cancer. Hence, I have not really paid much attention to my own breasts.
At my age, none of my previous doctors have ever offered to do a breast examination on me, even when I’ve mentioned my family’s breast cancer history. But I’ve been seeing an excellent doctor regularly over the last year and when it was time for my regular pap smear, she also suggested that it was a good time to do a breast exam.
She asked me whether I’ve self-examined my breasts before and I told her honestly that even though I have, I can’t really tell whether there are abnormalities. You see, I am thin and have small breasts. Everything just feels like breast tissue to me. But the doctor did find lumps on both breasts which does not feel like normal breast tissue. She said not to worry and to go get a mammogram and ultrasound. This happened just prior to leaving for Singapore and I had to wait until I came home from the trip before I could make the appointment. So it’s been quite an anxious few weeks from the discovery to the actual mammogram and ultrasound.
When I was at the clinic and was directed to the mammogram room by a young female technologist, I felt rather shy and nervous. I really wasn’t sure what to expect. She asked me a few questions and explained the procedure to me. I asked her naively how she is going to squeeze my small breasts between the two plates. She answered, “We have ways to do it”. Her so-called ways were to gently pull and squeeze my breast into place. Then the plates pressed down very hard on the breast before she quickly ran over to the computer to take the scan. Each breast was scanned from top to bottom and side to side.
Well, besides being rather embarrassing and slightly painful, the right breast scan went without much of a hitch. But the left breast scan hurt like hell! One of the lumps that my GP found was in the top of my left breast and when the two plates squeezed down from top to bottom, I was in so much pain, I was tapping the machine and let out a little scream. I begged her to loosen the plates but she apologized and quickly ran over to the computer to get the scan and ran back to release me! Arrrgghhh. I still feel weak just thinking of it! Then I still had to do the side to side scan on the same breast but luckily that was fine.
She apologised and said that the pain was probably from a cyst. “Cyst! What?! Is that bad?” I asked worriedly. She said the ultrasound will show more. We looked at my mammogram scans on her computer screen and she said that she couldn’t see anything abnormal. Most lumps come and go depending on hormone levels.
My ultrasound sonographer was a young British man named Simon. It was weird being in the room alone with him, exposing my gel-covered breasts to a total male stranger. We chatted about where we were from and how we felt living in Australia now. Conversation was light and easy but not enough for me to forget why I was there. He found quite a few lumps in both my breasts and one was a rather large one at the top of my left breast. The cyst. He said it was difficult to say whether lumps are good or bad but from what he can tell, they all look harmless.
“What makes you think it’s harmless?” I asked. He replied that he can easily see behind and around the lump via ultrasound. It’s not a solid looking mass which is uneven. “But you cannot tell for sure unless we do a biopsy, which is up to your doctor,” he concluded. Right. He thanked me quickly and told me that was all for today.
Well, I’ve discussed the results with my GP. The lump of concern is on my right breast and it is most likely benign. However, we will ultrasound it again in six months to see whether there are any changes. The pain I felt during the mammogram on my left breast is probably from the mammary glands being squashed and no, there is no cyst as thought by the technicians.
Despite the ackward, embarrasing and slightly painful experience, I’m really glad that I have done this. The most important thing is that I have started a record of my breasts for future reference and it has given me peace of mind. I hope that by sharing my experience I have started some of you thinking about your breasts and general health and well-being.
Thanks for allowing me to digress and we’ll be talking about crafts as per usual on Friday.
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