From hamsters to hamsas

Everyone loves a zombie hamster,
but even I have to concede they might not be quite right as a wedding present. This week I embroidered hamsas onto oven mitts as part of a wedding gift - they are being given along with a poffertjes pan.

If you don't know what poffertjes are, click here to see the pan or here to see the tiny, delicious Dutch pancakes themselves. Mmmm, poffertjes. If you've ever been to an outdoor festival or market, chances are you've seen a poffertje stall. They're the ones with the huge queues of people trying desperately to pronounce ''poffertje'', failing, and ordering ''a plate of the (insert embarrassed mumbling here) with cream, please''. I can't pronounce them or spell them - if it weren't for Google teaching me, this post would be full of ''pfoffertjies" and "pffooferjebbes" and "er, you know, those little Ductch pancake things". Luckily Google understood what I meant when I keyed "pfofferjes'' into the search engine, which initially took me here - and you should go there too, just so you too can have the joy of discovering the word "douchetastic". (The art on that site is pretty awesome, too.) I plan to use it in daily conversation from now on.

At the supermarket checkout: "How are you today?" "Douchetastic!"

When an old friend calls: "It's douchetastic to hear from you!"

When ordering wine at a fancy restaurant: "Is the 2005 cab sav douchetastic, or should I have the 2006?"

Anyhoo, the oven mitts (which are definitely douchetastic) were commissioned for a couple named Nadine and Tom (hence the N and T), who collect hamsas. I have never met them but I hope they have a truly excellent, douchetastic wedding day.