Humble Crumble

I have been telling anybody who'll listen (or even just pretend to) over the past few weeks about my steadily growing rhubarb plant. Yesterday marked the culmination of much anticipation as I harvested, baked and ate the juicy bright red stalks. Pictured below is my rhubarb and lemon custard crumble. I feel like a proud mother, content in the maternal glow of her love for her highly achieving offspring whom she has cared for diligently. Its ridiculous. 

Natalie

Summer Bakin'

Normal people give photoshoots to other people or clothes or some such thing. But weirdoes like me spend hours straight experimenting with a camera and a set of freshly baked blueberry and bittersweet chocolate summer cakes. Then they get way too excited and upload numerous snaps of the same thing to their blog. Just because they can. That's self publishing baby. I'm sorry...

These beauties are going to beloved friend Clare who is currently in the throws of the Leaving Cert. Good luck my little favourite, I have great faith in your skills of cramming. Hehe...

For everyone else, well, enjoy salivating....

;-)

Natalie

Birthday Bike Makeover

My moments of contemplation and then, if I’m lucky, inspiration are almost exclusively drawn from time spent on my trusty bike (http://craftystudents.blogspot.com/2010/01/blog-post.html). I Regularly cycle from point A to point B and upon arrival have no notion of the journey which I have just undertaken but have some new crafty idea or a mental list of twenty things to tell my Knit Wit in crime, Brid. Contemplation of what to get Brid for her 20th birthday followed this pattern and you will understand, therefore, how I came to the conclusion that her gift should involve the pimping of her own aged bike, a purple and rust Falcon Cheetah bought for her tenth birthday. (See below)

However, a particularly vile episode of facebook rape was fresh in my mind. Perpetrated by none other than said birthday girl the contents of which I shall not repeat here but reactions from friends included such comments as; “I took a screen cap of this, it'll haunt you forever now Nat HAHAHAHAHA!” I thus ended up scheming my way into the construction of a plan ending in much deserved payback, but also not so wonderfully a Garda report.

 Pocketing Brid’s spare lock key one day from her house I snuck back to her gaff when I knew she had a shift at work and “stole” it. Bang on twenty minutes after her shift had finished my phone buzzed and sure enough Brid was on the other end swearing and blinding about the “***** ***** ***** ****** Pikey” who had just nicked her ride. Sudsing her bike down in my yard whilst simultaneously pontificating about the rise in crime in South Dublin these days proved sweet retribution (dulled a little when I realised that Brid had marched down to Donnybrook Garda station and filed a full report… oops!)

Personal scores settled, I moved on to the business of the day, the filling to the sandwich. Operation bike makeover. I sanded the frame with black grade sandpaper. Any rougher sandpaper, the hardware shop man told me and I would have a “dodgy situation on my hands”. Next I covered the parts of the bike not to be painted such as wires with masking tape to protect from paint slips. Cracking the Pot of “Deep Green Hammered” paint the hardware man had recommended as “the queen of the metal paint world” (what a legend) I proceeded to work on the bike frame. My trusty brother Jonathan (see below) joined me and attempted to direct operations, leading to a messy paint fight but also a finished bike. A mere 9Euro for a whole new bike body, crafty to say the least. owe you one!

For the basket I wove fake flowers through the wicker and added a horn purchased at the incredible price of 5Euro from a bike shop on Camden Street. The shop had lost the attachment to secure the horn to the handle bars but a friend’s boyfriend stepped in and conjured up a make shift version which works perfectly, Thank you McSherry…

The final touch was a toy swan placed in the centre front of the basket with its wings outstretched. I wanted to imitate the quintessential Rolls-Royce trade mark, The Spirit of Ecstasy (picture below). Drawing a parallel with this emblem seems to emphasize the bikes transformation from a rusty old yoke to the Rolls-Royce of pimp.

Brid and I had a joint birthday BBQ. The sun shone, the drink flowed and the BBQ smoked. Everything was perfect and the summer was ushered in with style. Half way through the BBQ I gave Brid her revamped bike. Her face was absolutely priceless. The utter disbelief which turned to delight as she realized that her Garda report had been for naught which played across her face was magnificent. Our Friend Anita, an aspiring photographer caught her expression perfectly, see photos below. 

We were absolutely flattered by one friend who drew a comparison between our collection of friends and food to the idyllic Bulmers ads which are so crucially a part of a Dublin summer. Win. See the big mosaic of photos below, some of the highlights of a lovely afternoon.

Natalie

Knitting is undoubtedly a sexy activity... RAWR.

My sister found this picture on the ever so vast world that is the interweb. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was destined for our blog. What could be better than a voluptuous red-head wearing a half-knitted top with a saucy slit up the side of her skirt surrounded by wool? Nothing I say!

I love to see the stereotypical image associated with knitting being thrown out the window. I'm sick of it being associated with grannies sitting in a rocking chairs knitting working their needles through squeaky acrylic wool.

Don't worry my friends, I shall be continuing this rant at a later date but right now the Law books beckon and the knitting must be formally abandoned.

Just announcing to the followers of the knit-wits that for the next two weeks the blog shall be residing in the "lockdown" zone. With these exams looming closely on the horizon we must devote ourselves to our studies... Don't worry we shall be back in a fortnights time with lots more knitting, baking, crocheting, sewing and we shall be introducing tutorials!

Have a lovely two weeks and to those doing exams, g'luckzys!

Smooches

Bríd x x

Manly Knitting.

This scarf was a mere WIP (work in progress... Hahaha! Knitting acronym) back here: http://craftystudents.blogspot.com/2010/01/college-knitting.html I made it for my severely awesome amigo Niall who is kindly being my man-hunk model below.

The scarf consists of a classic vertical drop of knit two purl two in my much-loved lamb's pride worsted. Always a winner!

Knitting for a man is a difficult task to undertake I believe. You never know if they'll like it. They are fussy in ways that most women I know could never be! You have to get it right or else the fruits of your labour will lie in a crumpled heap under a pile of smelly socks at the back of a wardrobe that hasn't been cleaned since lord knows when. There's nothing more disappointing than spending hours making something and then never seeing the recipient wearing it. Most frustrating thing a knitwit like myself can experience.

I think that when knitting for a man, the most important thing is to keep it nice and simple. I am usually a huge fan of little embellishments on a normal basis. But on this occasion I had to put that aside to make something wearable. I don't think a man would appreciate a little smiling heart or a cluster of woolen flowers in the same way that I would! Also, the wool is super important. Most of the men I know are far too blunt to sport a horrifically itchy woolen wonder even once or twice for the sake of your feelings. There's a science to this I say!

Now that I have inducted Niall into the world of knitting by making him a scarf maybe I can take his knit-witted-ness to the next level and teach him to knit... Now there's a plan!

Apologies for the current spell of inactivity in knit-wit land. Summer exams are approaching and we both have an entire semesters work to cram into two weeks. Lamentably, crafting must reside on the back burner until the old zim-zams are finished... *sigh*

Have a great weekend.

Le grá,

Bríd x

Another Sunny Day. Another Scarf!

I knitted this piece of neck-snuggling loveliness up recently. I bought the wool in a little shop in Bruges in Belgium. It's a deliciously light cotton and proved to be the perfect component for a spring-time scarf! It must be said that there is something oh-so-wonderful about going on a little wool spree in anywhere but Ireland. I could honestly rant for days about the extortionate price of wool in the Emerald Isle. Don't worry, I'll spare you all an ear-full!

Once again, I must thank my sister Clare for being such a wonderful model. Anyone who offers to roll around in semi-damp grass for the sake of a photo deserves some sincere gratitude! However, as Dublin decided once again not to be rain-soaked, I felt it necessary to take some more outdoor shots!
This scarf represents my first proper experiment with the domain of crochet. I used an old book of my Mum's to help me tackle some shell edging and the flower below! I must admit that I found it rather difficult at first but as soon as I got the hang of it, I was in AWE! I cannot quite believe how quickly crocheting transforms a ball of wool into a little flower... It's like knitting coupled with caffeine pills! Hahaha!

I think I need to give the scarf knitting a rest for a while! As I said in the last post, the monotony drives me somewhat insane. However, while in the throes of study for summer exams where the brain is working overtime, it is quite lovely to switch off and do relaxing and mindless knitting!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Bríd x

Something to keep you nice and warm!

This is a little something I knitted up for my friend Yasmin. I knitted it to match the gloves I knitted for her in an earlier Knit-witted moment (shown here: http://craftystudents.blogspot.com/2010/03/in-keeping-with-my-current-obsession.html) My sister offered her sexy self to be my model. You may not believe it but yes, this is in fact a sunny day in the typically rain-ridden Dublin!

I knitted this using Lamb's Pride Bulky! I am such a fan of that wool. Moss stitch was once again the stitch in the spotlight. A little rose served as a perfect embellishment piece to match the gloves. The little beads were a lovely souvenir from the sunny wonderland of California. I picked them up in a craft metropolis called "Jo-Ann". It's literally a supermarket for craft, aisles are filled with everything one would need no matter what they intended to construct! I was in paradise and that's putting it mildly!

I must admit that I am always happy to finish off a scarf. Row after row of the same stitch makes me go a little bit insane. It always takes So LONG to finish as well. I think that now I need to do something that will be quick and easy to make. Quick gratification is needed! Or maybe I just need a little dose of patience. Hahaha!

Hope you all had a lovely Easter!

Bríd x