I hope everyone is having a relaxing week-end. I will try to post the knitting buddies on Monday. I will leave you with some helpful knitting links, including some free patterns for useful household items. The first link is a pattern for a simple knitted bath mat that can be made just to the size and color you need. It is a quick and easy pattern perfect for beginners from the purl bee: http://www.purlbee.com/simple-cotton-bath-mat/ Another pattern can be used for throws or baby blankets, and the fun is in the choosing of colors to customize the blanket: http://www.loopknits.com/2008/08/09/wave-blanket/ While looking on the web for knitting links several years ago I found "Knitty" a grand magazine of free patterns and helpful articles on knitting- it is webpublished every season and you can look at back issues and print off patterns anytime you want: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer08/index.html when the season changes they put out fun new issue with knew patterns--if you book-mark it just change the season -for example change summer to fall and it will get you to the new issue. A great site with demo videos to help when you cannot figure a problem out is : http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/knitting-tips it explains and shows you through the videos a whole list of things from stitches to finishing to fixing those pesky knitting boo-boos. I will give you more knitting sites over the next few weeks. Don't forget that the deadline for the pincushion or waterbottle holder swap is Sept. 6th. You should have your parcel in the mail by then. I am starting to receive photos of the swap parcels and will begin putting them up after September 6th, on our flickr site. If you have any questions or problems please email me, Sharon: cdetroyes at yahoo dot com and I will try my best to help out.
Hi Sharon
ReplyDeleteI have a question completely unrelated to the knitting. My husband has bought me a bread maker (have had one long time ago) and would like to know where you buy your bread flour? The only source I know of is the major supermarkets, and I prefer not to purchase it from there is possible. I live on the northern outskirts of Brisbane (not that far away from you), so I am able to travel to buy it, although large distances would not make it economically viable. Any information you can give me on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for a wonderful blog site, I find it very inspiring to achieve more out of my day.
Hi Rhonda
ReplyDeleteWhen I look at your picture and read your blog I wish you lived just up the street from me so we could visit. I feel like we visit each day through your blog and yet how wonderful it would be to see you in person. Have a wonderful weekend.
Rita
Thank you! thank you! thank you! for the knitting websites. You must have been reading my mind, or frustration. I pulled out my knitting bag this evening and tried again. The only success I had was frustration. I'm going to check out your links.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
Hi Andrea, I'm not Sharon, I'm Rhonda. Sharon is my right hand woman who helps with the swaps, links and much of the organising here.
ReplyDeleteSo, to answer your question, I buy my bread flour, and a lot of other bulk items, from Simply Good at Morayfield.
Morayfield Simply Good
ADDRESS: Shop 3, 156 Morayfield Road, Morayfield
PHONE/FAX: 07 5498 3722
They also have a shop at Alderley:
ADDRESS: 9 Samford Rd, Alderley QLD 4051
PHONE/FAX: 07 3856 5000
SHOP HOURS
MONDAY- FRIDAY: 9:00AM - 5:00PM
SATURDAY: 9:00AM - 12:00 NOON
SUNDAY: - CLOSED
http://www.simplygood.com.au/
Hello Rita and Lisa!
Rhonda,
ReplyDeleteHusband was on Vacation last week, and I'm a little behind on reading my blogs...if you still need another knitting mentor I'm willing to help.
Hi Rhonda. I have been reading your blog daily for about a month now. Thank you for giving me some direction in life. You have provided me with information I have needed for a whole range of things from making soap, washing powder & liquid, lovely recipies and getting me interested in knitting again after so many years of not picking up needles. I am truly grateful. I have made about 10 dishcloths, a pair of socks, gloves and hats for my little grandaughter and now have many more projects on the go. My family think I have flipped! We are in the process of planning a completely new vegie garden (our back yard is a completely blank canvas at the moment) and are actually looking at getting a few chickens as well. Thank you for the links to the knitting sites as well.
ReplyDeleteI love knitting! I've been up to my elbows canning eggplant and tomatoes (Would someone please tell those vines that enough is enough??) I finished the peaches but may have to make pickled peaches because my blogging friends tell me that I simply cannot miss out on them. MORE canning!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm happy to be a knitting mentor although it looks as though you have plenty.
Blessings!
Lacy
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteI'm not Rhonda, but I do use my bread machine a lot.
I found that I can use regular whole wheat flour and still have "foldable" bread - bread that doesn't crumble or break when you fold it in half. In other words, it acts like white bread, but has the nutrition of whole wheat. (I do grind my own, but you can buy any flour and use this trick to enhance the bread.)
The trick is to use 1 tablespoon of Vital Wheat Gluten. (It's the fancy name for gluten.) You don't even have to buy the gluten, that can also be made at home, but it is a bit of a project - takes a couple of hours to make it and dry it.
I'm in the US, so I don't know if your local stores carry it, but I find it here in the aisle with the flour, yeast and other baking items.
Also, in case you haven't USED the bread machine a lot, be careful of your measurements. Usually bread is made by hand and the bake controls every aspect of the making. When you put it in a machine, the machine takes over. You have to measure carefully, be prepared for some "failure" loaves - loaves that over rise, under rise, etc. But once you figure out how YOUR kitchen affects the recipe(s), you can get perfect bread every time. The other piece of advice would be to make sure you take 3-5 minutes EACH time you make bread to make sure the liquid/dry ratio is correct. There will be little variances in each batch. By standing there an watching the machine until you have a proper ball of dough, correcting with either a tsp of water (or less) or a TBS of flour, you can have perfect bread.
HTH,
Darlene