Knitted wings. And rings.

Long time, no post. My apologies.


Well, my Baz Luhrman-themed 26th birthday party was a success. For many reasons. We had 25 dear friends in attendance, some of whom even managed to dress up. ;) We had several Moulin rouge dancers, in top hat fascinators and fabulous corsets, Mims with her awesome 1930s hair, our mate CJ's tribute to Australia, complete with cork hat and toy sheep, Ellen dressed in velvet as the Red Curtain, and my Matt as Ewen McGregor's Christian, looking super cute in suspenders and the fedora I bought at the Leeds Festival.


We had some some brilliant food, including my famous Nachos with vegetarian bean dip, and a truly scrumptious choccie cake, made by Ellen. We had Medori and orange juice, tonnes of great conversation, highly superior music through the speakers and, thanks to a bit of clever furniture shuffling, we actually managed to fit pretty much everyone in our lounge room! Everyone chatted, everyone hugged, everyone seemed to get on brilliantly. Awesomesauce.


The best bits, however, were craft-related. But of course. First of all, there were my wings.

Epic, yes? Definitely the most effort I think I've ever put into a costume- not only making the wings (which I got finished three hours before the party, I'll have you know!), but running all over the city trying to find a white skirt and top which A) fit, B) were just a little itty bit flattering on and C) didn't empty my bank account in one hit. Harder than it sounds. The Panda yarn for the wings (which a fellow crafter refers to as "the filthy condom of yarn") may have only cost $6...but by the time I'd got the top and skirt (on which I spent far more than I was intending, but hey), and shelled out for a new white bra (which I swear got just as many compliments as the wings!) and some magic knickers, my poor bank account was squirming ever so slightly. *sigh* That lovely Malabrigo I was planning on shouting myself is having to wait.


Anyway, the wings looked awesome, and generated many oohs and aaahs. I ended up using a piece of dowel wood to hold them in place, as the floral wire I'd got from Spotlight was beyond useless, and used gold elastic for the straps. I also made them extra long, so they could be easily seen over my shoulders...which was great, except I couldn't fit through our lounge door. And had to walk down our hallway sideways. And almost jabbed several of my guests' eyes out, especially when hugging and navigating my way through the lounge room, trying to find my camera and various drinks. Ah well. I looked good, my wings stayed in place, and nobody lost an eye in the end. Win.


The second awesome craft-related thing from that night was this:

Yes, it's my very own knitted engagement ring. :D The highlight of the evening came when Matt, aka Darling Boyfriend, asked me to marry him- in front of all of our guests. 


Basically, he came into the lounge and announced he was going to give me my birthday present...and plonked a massive cardboard box down at my feet. Inside said box was a cute little knitted box*, complete with purple knitted lining...which was empty. This had me faffing about for at least a couple of minutes, trying to figure out what the blue heck what was going on...before he said, quite cheekily, "Looking for this?", while holding up the ring. Which he put on my finger after giving a lovely speech, and going down on one knee.  I said yes, and everyone went mental. Again, awesomesauce.


And, y'know what makes it better? Darling Boyfriend, now Darling Fiance, knitted the ring all by himself. Almost. Remember how I taught him to knit? Well, someone, aka Ellen, got there first. It would seem that at the back of the Wellington Public Library, far from my prying eyes, she taught him the basics, supervised the knitting of the ring and helped him sew on the stone- which he chose himself from Tiger Eye Beads. And, well, it is, as my Mum proclaimed after I'd flashed it under her nose, simply magnificent. Totally adorable; totally apt. I have a fiance who learned to knit to make me an engagement ring...so, really? How can a girl not say yes? ;)

        Yes, I'm aware I look fat in this photo. I plan to do Weight Watchers before the wedding. 

                                          Post-proposal face nomming!


So yeah. I had awesome knitted wings, and an amazing knitted ring- not a bad birthday, as birthdays go. As the yarn is already getting kinda scungy, we'll soon be replacing the knitted ring with this one, once DF pays it off. However, I will definitely be keeping my first engagement ring, no matter how yucky and matted it gets...and will be passing it on to the kids, with any luck!


Aw, and the wedding crafting can now commence! Once we set a date, that is...

Crafting + friends + successful scones + animal pikelets + boys knitting + Youtube vids = Happy Ezza

I am fairly impressed with how my social calendar is looking at present. Last weekend consisted of going to my mate Steph's African hand-drumming gig (brilliant fun!), a Crafternoon and a visit to my Dad's farm. Next weekend, we have a party at my best friend's flat, to celebrate her new job and, the weekend after that, we have my Baz Luhrman birthday bash, for which I am knitting wings as part of my costume. Not bad, for a self-confessed Nana In Training!

On the crafty side of things, I hosted the aforementioned Crafternoon at our place on Saturday, which was, on the whole, quite lovely.  The tradition of the Crafternoon is something my crack team of knitty girlfriends, as I have dubbed them, and I have had going for some time. It started one afternoon late last year, when my fabbo friend Ellen invited a bunch of us over to her place for crafts and a few cuppas. We had a brilliant time, and decided it must be done again, and soon. I hosted the next one at mine (complete with a Facebook invite featuring a picture of Spider Man knitting himself!), and they've sort of kept going from there. 

The one at my place last weekend was the first we've had in a while, what with life obnoxiously getting in the way, as it tends to do. I thought it was high time we revived the tradition- so I squished 9 people into my lounge (including two fellers!), plied them all with sugar and cheese, and left them to it! Success!

Here, have some photos.

There was, of course a fantastic spread. However, my favourite edible items were, by far, the duck and rabbit shaped pikelets, lovingly crafted by Fran. Super cute; super tasty. Beside them are some gluten-free chocolate brownies contributed by her fiance, which were dee-vine. Real blokes bake, it would seem.

Miriam, beavering away on her first pair of hand-knit socks- a feat I have yet to accomplish in my three years of obsessive knitting. Love her ring!

Carrie and Tasha, two relatively new, but nonetheless awesome and dedicated knitters. Tasha is working on these cutie-patootees, which she plans to donate to the Wellington Hospital Neo-natal Unit:

A hat Steph is working on: a super cute faux-cabled number for a friend's birthday.

Fran, our sole Happy Hooker for the day, valiantly continuing with The Never Ending Scarf, that dreaded indominable project to which we've all fallen prey at some point. It is, however, mucho pretty, for she is a legend.

DB, getting amongst it, and continuing with his practice piece. So proud! *tear*

The obligatory group shot. The ginger-haired lad in the corner is Mikey, Miriam's Boy Thing, who she is also teaching to knit. For real blokes knit, of course. We had an amusing conversation the night before about what he could use to knit with, apart from wool. We decided, in the end, that Twizzlers, string cheese and sausages were perfectly feasible options. ;) In the end...he decided on wool. ;P

All in all, everyone seemed to have a grand old time- especially when we started cranking out the Youtube videos, and having rather intense discussions on the caffeine content in Mountain Dew (some countries do add caffeine to Mountain Dew, others don't. Can't remember the specifics. Either way, it's gross), Wellington bus prices, favourite home-made pizza toppings and the inherent sexiness of men holding babies. And kittens. And how much better-looking men in uniform are when pictured holding kittens. I don't generally do the men in uniform thing, BTW. Sacrilege, I know.

So yeah. Happy times. I was particularly chuffed that the cheese and chilli scones I baked for the gang worked out, and were polished off within the first hour. I used this recipe (very easy, I assure you) and added a block of chopped-up feta, a liberal amount of cumin powder, some chilli flakes and about three tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce. Mix it all together, bung it in the oven for 20 minutes, allow to cool, serve up, slather with butter. Bliss. More than makes up for my attempt at making Russian fudge, which was many shades of fail. Luckily, I live with two strapping young lads who are not so fussy, and are more than happy to volunteer their services as human garbage disposal units. *sigh* Better luck next time, eh?

Anyhoo. Following on from our successful little gathering, Ellen and I are now planning a Christmas Crafting Clutch- where we host a weekend long crafting session, during which we all, while loaded up with chocolate and energy drinks, support each other in our dash to finish all our Christmas crafting by 25 December. Seeing as my Christmas knitting queue seems to be creeping threateningly upwards, I fully endorse this idea- especially where there are copious amounts of sugar, chesse and Ellen's pancakes present. Might even try Russian fudge again, if I'm brave enough...

Oh, in other news...how truly awesome is the latest edition of Knitty? I am currently in the process of swatching for the Brambles Beret, for I am head-over-heels in mad hot monkey love with it. Not that I don't have my wings, two long-overdue presents and a sweater vest to finish, or the aforementioned Christmas knitting to start, or anything. ;P I also plan on making myself a Carnaby once the silly season is all done and dusted. Tres cute, no? ;)