Share All The Things Friday #3

It's been a bit of a roller coaster of a week. 

Releasing my pattern was super exciting and I've been completely blown away by the wonderful comments and support I've received. Thank you so much - I'm so grateful! But, it's been a tricky week too. I've told you already that my Dad is sick. He had a pretty hefty operation about two and a half weeks ago and he's still in hospital. Things have been a bit complicated and this week he hasn't been so good. I'm really grateful I'm on this side of the world at the moment.

Five things to share? Here we go:

• The yarn in my picture is almost edible. I adore the colour and it actually sparkles. As yet I'm unsure quite what it'll become but it deserves to be a show-off piece of lace I think. Meraki Studio yarn is dyed by very lovely Jo, right here in Auckland, New Zealand. This skein is a 75% superwash merino/ 20% nylon/ 5% stellina blend (her Dewdrop Sock base) in the Fusion colourway. 

• I get into breakfast "grooves", eating the same thing day after day while I'm in love with it. My lastest groove involves "porridge" from the fantastic recipe book My Darling Lemon Thyme by Emma Galloway. Emma grew up in Raglan, a place very close to Mr Myrtle's heart (he bought me the book) but she now lives in Australia with her husband and two children. The recipes are all gluten free and mostly dairy free. I love it because the recipes are both delicious and very affordable. Here's my version of her "porridge" (for one):

Half a cup of quinoa cereal (ground up quinoa - Emma uses millet which is also yum)

One chopped up banana

A little sprinkle of sultanas or raisins

A teaspoon of coconut oil

A tablespoon of LSA (ground linseeds, sunflower seeds & almonds)

About half a cup of almond milk

About half a cup of water

Pop everything into a small pot and heat gently stirring quite regularly. Watch it, it only takes about 5 minutes max to cook. Add more water if you like it sloppy.

Then, pour it into your bowl, cover with a bit of almond milk, quickly wash your pot and squeeze an orange into it with about four or five chopped prunes. Sizzle until the prunes have absorbed the juice. Pour these over your porridge.

Eat immediately and enjoy!

• If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that my new Settler Shawl pattern made it into the "Top 20" on Ravelry this week! It was a brief but fabulous thrill to see it there. Do you check out the "Top 20"? I do. Every day. You need to be a Ravelry member to see it  (but that's free, so if you're not a member, do it now!) and you can find it by clicking the "Patterns" tab then the link in the box on the left of the page under "hot right now". There's a fancy algorithm that gets a pattern into the top 20 and I think it has something to do with the rate at which a particular pattern is "favourited", "queued", looked at and bought. I love checking it out because it's always changing and the patterns that feature there tell you so much. You can see when big name designers release new stuff. You get to know new designers that are getting popular. Lots of free patterns pop up and it's a good way to check out what people are enjoying knitting. Accessories are popular but there are often garments there too. It's also a good way to find out if a designer has a sale or giveaway on. If there are a ton of patterns appearing by one designer, chances are they've got a sale. If one designer pretty much dominates the first two or three rows, my bet would be they're having a giveaway. It was fun to see my shawl up there for a day and that was totally because of you. Thank you so much!!!

• I am going to make myself a Tolt Folded bag this summer. Tolt is a free pattern that looks as easy as pie and creates such a funky bag. Apparently you knit a rectangle then fold and seam it to create the magic. Knit from super bulky yarn it would whip up in no time.

• Sezza has released her Modern Princess sock pattern and is discounting it for the weekend (you don't even need a code!). I've knitted several pairs of Sezza's socks now and love them. If princesses aren't your style (although I'm not sure how these wouldn't be) she's got a whole bunch more to choose from - do check them out!

Have a happy weekend!