Crochet

I have been REAL busy crocheting lately and our blanket is close to the "finished" status - something I'm really looking forward to. I bought a lovely book (will share sometime soon) with 500 crochet pieces and have been trying out different stitches and patterns for our blanket. It will be a real patchwork/quilt/blanket/piece of art, hehehe....

So far I've made 70 blocks and have about another 30 to go, phew! What do you think?

Happy day!

Winter warmers

With winter upon us, it's not a bad idea to invest in a good pair of handmade wool-lined boots to keep your toes warm during the cold months.  I saw these at a local market the other day and I fell in love....(sigh!) Gurmuki boots are handmade in Cape Town, South Africa with locally sourced materials. There are more products in their line, like laptop/tablet carriers and beautiful summer sandals (for the lucky ones up north who are going into warmer weather now). Sonja Nell, founder, designer and owner of Gurmuki is very passionate about her products and when you slip on a pair of Gurmuki's you'll know why. They are comfortable, warm and funky enough to fit any style or taste.

Here's a peek at a few of their items....

 images courtesy of Gurmuki 

For more info visit the web page here or their Facebook page here. I can't think of a better investment for winter-warm boots than these!

Happy week!

Crochet blanket

To continue with my "dream" to give our bedroom a make-over and keep us warm in winter at the same time, I started to crochet granny squares for a blanket for our bed. I chose some lovely shades of grey for this and yes, I know; grey in winter is not all that great, but that's my colour preference at the moment, so....

See what I mean? These colours are really lovely! I'm hoping to have 15 squares done each week until I have enough for a blanket big enough to cover our bed. Ha! Will keep you posted on this project, for sure!

Happy weekend all!

South African food

When my sister came around for lunch the other day,  I made something truly South African with a bit of a twist;  bobotie springrolls. Bobotie is a Cape Malay dish made with minced meat, spices and dried fruit and is served with yellow rice with raisins. We always serve it with sambals on the side too, such as plain yoghurt, desiccated coconut, chopped tomato and onion, sliced banana and of course, chutney! There are several recipes for Bobotie on the internet, even Nigella Lawson has her own version (ours is a family secret, so I won't share it here....).

If you like a sweet and spicy meat dish, this would be something to try! I like to take the meat-mixture and roll it in phyllo-pastry sheets to make "springrolls". Rather than deep-fry, I bake it in the oven and it is absolutely delicious!

Happy day!

Crochet again

It's in the air. Cooler nights and the sun coming up later each day; winter is on the way. With that in mind, I started a couple of crochet projects. This one took me a couple of hours only.

I need to alter the original pattern a bit, but I'm planning on making a few more of these before winter is upon us. Then there are several more patterns on Pinterest  which I'm very keen to try out too. I'll keep you updated!

Happy week!