Winter weekends...

Can sometimes look a little like this...

Furry pom-pom creatures, made by the 7yo. The penguin (right) and mouse (front) would have to be my favourites. Although the yellow lion is pretty darn cute...

Our sourdough starter is
truly alive and
frothing! It is like having another pet in the house...albeit a very quiet, low maintenance pet!! At feeding time, our small pet here recieves equal quantities of flour and water. The flour is any type I have to hand, often with a little organic rye thrown in to get the yeasties excited while the water is from the tap that has been allowed to sit overight to evaporate the chlorine.

Winter weekends have been known to see many a batch of hearty winter slow cooker soups. Great for chilly Saturdays when our daughter has netball - everything is tossed in before we go and the smells waft around all day giving us a delicious dinner at night.

Cartoon doodles by the 9yo

My knitted vest was picked up again this week after it had sat in the wool corner for several weeks, untouched. The yarn is handspun alpaca which is super, super soft! I'm using 4mm needles and a pattern from an op-shopped knitting booklet.

Every row in the pattern in different so boredom is kept to a minimum! The repeats are:

1st row: P3, *K3, yrn, P3, rep from * ending last rep with P3

2nd row: K3, *P$, K3, rep from * ending last rep with K3

3rd row: P3, *K1, K2tog, y fwd, K1, P3, rep from * ending last rep with P3

4th row: K3, *P2, P2tog, K3, rep from *ending last rep with K3

5th row: P3, *K1, y fwd, K2tog, P3, rep from * ending last rep with P3

6th row: K3, *P3, K3, rep from *ending last rep with K3

I've completed the back and this is the front that I'm working on now (101sts on the needles)...although I think I'm going to run out of yarn..eek! Fortunately there is still a big bag of Dusty's fleece to be used so I may have to crank out the wheel this week...

Here is a peak at the 9 yo's origami shelf in her bedroom:

She has really taken to it and is constantly ransacking the house for any scraps of paper she can get her eager little hands on. There is an 'Activity TV' channel on the web where she gleans insider tips and watches demonstrations (like a kid friendly youtube), as well as studying a couple of library books borrowed from school.

This one's her favourite - a diamond picture frame.

I'm sure some of you will know what this is below. Yes? Do you happen to have one in your house?

Citrus spray cleaner on the go...

Correct, this is my first attempt at the famous citrus spray by Nellymary!

Hubby's daily orange peels are added to the jar of vinegar and are 'brewing' at the moment...I can't wait to use it, it smells absolutely divine!!

Our chilly winter weekend was kick-started with a cake made by the 11yo. Is it ok to be super proud of her efforts? She made the entire thing from start to finish all on her own. It was very exciting because we were given "The Tin" last weekend from Oma for her to use and it popped out perfectly (we were slightly worried). Don't you just love how the hearts all line up around the outside making a centre star in the middle? The tin was given to Oma by a friend who had brought it back from the USA last year (and it's very, very heavy!!)

Five members in the family meant that we each received our own heart to consume at our leisure!

Here is the recipe as written by Oma for the 11yo to follow:

Marmorkuchen (Marble Cake)

Grease and flour cake tin. Heat oven to 180c.

Ingredients:

150g butter

150g sugar

 4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

8 tablespoons milk

325g self raising flour

2 tablespoons cocoa

Method:

• Cream butter and sugar until fluffy
• Add eggs, one at a time, beating well
• Add vanilla
• Add milk
• Fold in flour
• Put about a third of the mixture in a smaller bowl and mix in the cocoa to this mixture
• Put about half the main mixture into the baking tin, making sure it is evenly spread around the tin.
• Put the cocoa mix into the tin on top of this and make sure it is spread evenly
• Put the remainder of the main mixture into the tin, spreading evenly
• Use a fork to carefully spread the mixture (to do this put the fork into the mixture vertically and take it in "jumps" around the pan - this will spread the chocolate mixture through the rest a little bit)
• Put cake tin in oven. If using an "Oma" tin, bake for 45 mins. If using a lighter tin, leave it in the oven for 50-60minutes until you are sure it is cooked all the way through.
• Let it cool for a couple of minutes (not too long), then use a knife to slide carefully down the centre section where the 'hole" is, and also around the outside of the tin to make sure it is not sticking anywhere. Then turn it out on to a wire rack and allow to cool.
• Sift icing sugar over it when it is cool
• ENJOY!

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend whatever it sees you doing! :)