I’ve been incredibly busy with work over the past few weeks and incredibly busy with a hangover over the past weekend. I know that I’ve reached the age where half a bottle of wine will cause me grief for two full days – I just don’t apply this knowledge when someone is topping up the glass. And I might have had just a little bit more than half a bottle.
Last weekend was Harvest Festival in Bacchus Marsh. The part I like best is the grape stomping and the apple pie contest at the Bacchus Hill Winery where the fella and I go for lunch and a bit of wine tasting each year. I won the apple pie competition last year so naturally I had to defend my title this year.
The morning of the event I was rolling pastry and peeling apples for the pie. I use a ye olde family recipe handed down through generations of last minute google searches. I only make one pie per year so my beloved was rather pleased that it was pie time again. After the tasting by the judge, the pie goes home with the owner, missing only a small slice. There would be apple pie and ice-cream after dinner that night.
So I won the competition, drank a lot of very good wine and agreed to teach a baking class at an organic collective – as you do. I decided that I should gather all my bits and pieces together, so I collected my blue ribbon, my prize (a fruit and wine hamper) and then I went to pick up my pie.
All the pies were eaten!
There must have been about 15 pies in the competition and only the really ugly ones were still intact. A great horde of drunken bogans had decided that it was fine to just dig in and eat the pies. I was horrified.
The owner of the vineyard and restaurant was incredibly upset on behalf of all the pie makers – but in the long run it’s just a pie. I assured her that it was fine and I wasn’t really worried. It wasn’t her fault and she was so busy working she wouldn’t have had time to notice that a mob of drunken grape stompers were chowing down uninvited. Also, she washed my pie dish for me so I couldn’t be mad about that.
What this means is that I need to make another pie in the next week. The fella only gets one fruit pie per year and it just seems mean to have him miss out because some greedy pigs think its fine to eat the competition entries. Also, depending on whether the cooking class I agreed to teach ends up being this weekend or next, I could find myself spending a LOT of time in the kitchen.
Now here’s the problem. I don’t really have time to faff around in the kitchen this week. I mentioned in a previous post that I’m putting together a set of samples to show off my work. I still can’t tell you what they’re for, but I need to have a piece of lacework, some fair isle, a structured garment and a few more extra bits and pieces of my own design.
I need these finished by next Wednesday and I’m really behind in my schedule. Tonight I’ll finish my last hat and get it washed and block it in front of a fan. Then I’ll try to finish up a toddler dress that is about 50% done. I need to get the sewing machine out for this one as it has a fabric skirt which reminds me that I’ll need to pre-wash the fabric tonight. It just goes on and on.
Here is a summary of what I hope to have in my “folio” of samples.
– Dandelion Beret (my own pattern) – COMPLETE
– Colette Capelet – COMPLETE (but I want to re-knit the cast-off and add nicer ribbon, probably tonight)
– Charnia Beret (my own pattern, not yet published) – TO BE COMPLETED TONIGHT
– Spanish Dress from Debbie Bliss’ “Design it, Knit it – Babies”. FRONT COMPLETED – WANT TO FINISH BACKS AND SEW UP BY TOMORROW
– Little Shells lace shawl. NOT STARTED
Fair Isle gloves – NOT STARTED
– Baby Dress – COMPLETE (currently on display at my LYS, I’ll ask if they mind me borrowing it for a few hours. Not sure if I want to include this because it stretched a bit after it was finished and it just looks like my gauge is a bit off).
– Baby cardigan. NOT STARTED I don’t know if I’ll have any time for this, I suspect not. Maybe I should do this instead of the shawl – it would be a better sample for finishing skills and the berets might be enough lace to show I can do a yarn over.
I’m a bit panicked just thinking about it all right now I know that I can churn out the gloves really quickly – maybe over two nights, but I really want to have a piece that shows my seaming and sleeve insertion which means I think the baby cardigan will win over the lace shawl.
So much to do, so little time, such a big hangover!
