I may have to rethink that year-long trip across North America

We're doing a bit of a reno at our house which has required us to pack up a floor of stuff and move it out of the way.  As we are doing this, we had to determine what we will need access to for the next couple of months and what we can live without.  The number of things I need access to is quite startling.  Too much to fit into even a bus-sized motor home for the trip fantasy mentioned in the title.

I guess some of it comes from being a crafty person.  I need a good supply of knitting projects and several quilting ideas readily at hand.  I need certain dishes to cook with and can't possibly pack away too many clothes.  I always have the belief that if I can complete even half of the projects that I have stash matched against, I will become a minimalist.  Ha!

Just in time!

This quilt has been in progress since the summer.  So it really shouldn't be a just in time for Christmas thing.  Why the long time to completion?  It just wasn't a project that kept me motivated for some reason.  I absolutely love the colours and the finished product but had to force myself to keep going.  I think it has something to do with the amount of piecing involved to get to final construction.  The pattern, from Kaffe Fasset's Country Garden Quilts, I mostly followed.  And the stripy fabric on the right is his too.

This quilt is for my dad who asked me to make a bed-sized quilt for him.  I found fabric selection to be difficult for this.  There were surprisingly few fabrics on the conservative side that were geared to men.  My local quilt shop had a few but only two or three that appealed to me.  I found a few at Bee Modern Fabrics at Niagara-on-the-Lake, a few in my stash and a few from the previously mentioned LQS Quilter's Garden Patch.

I had some trouble getting the corners perfect but when I took it in to Quilter's Garden Patch to find the border fabric, the girl working there told me to not to spend anymore time trying to fix them.  It was good advice.  Firstly because I never would have finished if I had stopped to take out all of the corners. Secondly, all put together and quilted, these issues are a lot less noticeable.

In the end, I really like this and hope my dad does too.

Well that's cool

Another example of my not noticing the obvious ... I was bouncing around Ravelry and noticed their tutorials.  I clicked on the one related to library and discovered something I should have realized on my own.  I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I didn't realize it on my own but am so excited by this find, I just needed to talk about it somewhere.  My husband was mildly interested but obviously didn't understand the benefits of this time saving feature of the site.

Here goes ... I discovered that if I load all of my books and pamphlets into the library, I can search from the patterns I own online instead of flipping through the real books on the shelves.  I don't know why I didn't realize this before.  I knew you could look up books and see the patterns, just didn't think of the connection to the library.  How liberating.  In fact, I found a sock pattern for men in 5 seconds instead of giving up after an hour.  The only downside of this feature - I quickly realized that I have a boatload of books and in reducing stash need to use some of these fantastic patterns to justify the purchases.

I wonder what else I don't know about ...

Finally finished a project

 So it need 2 pictures.  These were a nice easy knit.  Too bad the knitter was a bit of an idiot.  I started the first sock, missing the cuff instructions in the pattern.  I though, ok, I'll just do a third pattern repeat instead to make them longer.  Then (after turning the heel) realized that I was going through yarn like water, weighed the remaining ball and forecast a serious yarn shortage.  So, I figured, since I'm frogging, might as well go all the way to the beginning.

From then on, it was smooth sailing except for some tense moments at the end where I once again knew that yarn was in short supply.  I dropped one row from the foot and made it to the end with about 2 inches of yarn to spare.  Phew!

The pattern is Jack of Diamonds from this season's holiday Interweave Knits.  While I likely would have made them anyway at some point, I was motivated by the Sock Yarn Anonymous group on Ravelry.  Rachel Coopey, the designer, just happened to be one of their challenge designers for the month.  So it was meant to be.

Yarn is Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20, picked up at Stix & Stones in North Bay.  A very nice, soft, smooth yarn.

Vinyl Tap

I just wanted to write a short note on a radio show that my friend Kristen told me about ages ago that I've lately remembered to listen to.  It is Randy Bachman's Vinal Tap and it airs on CBC Radio 2 on Sunday nights at 6.  I think it is on CBC Radio 1 on Saturday nights.  I've only caught a few shows but he covers a theme every week.  This week it was songs that broke the rules.  Think Bohemian Rhapsody, Come On Eileen and the Canadian Railroad Trilogy.  They didn't fit the three minute constant time pop song.   A really interesting show with some music I've heard before and some I haven't.

Spinning

I have too many in progress projects and I need to get something finished:

1.  Quilt for my dad for Christmas - all cut, partially sewn.  I hope to get the hexagons finished today.
2.  Lizard Ridge - about half done.  I'm doing the second version but with two colour ways only - both bought on sale without a project in mind.  I originally started the first version and decided I had no interest in all of the sewing up that I would need to do afterwards.   Good call.
3.  Sweater for my niece for Christmas - no picture anywhere because I can't find it on Ravelry or on the Sirdar website because the book is out of print.  Not to mention the pattern was a photocopy that the yarn store made for me.  They claim that is allowed because the book is out of print.  They shall remain nameless in case that isn't on the up-and-up.
4.  Jack of Diamonds socks that I started as part of Ravelry's Sock Knitters Anonymous October project.  I really like them but they aren't very speedy so I'll be hanging out with these for a couple more weeks I think.
5.  Handmaiden Sea Angel Jacket - which looks much better in real life than in the picture.  I even got to try it on so it should be the right size!

There are other projects as always but I wouldn't exactly call them "live" at the moment.  I also got the latest Vogue Knitting the mail and started reading it yesterday.  That took me down a rabbit hole of:

1.  Looking at 500 different patterns on Ravelry.  I've spent more time there in the last two days than I've spent there in the last two months.
2.  Buying the latest issue of the Sock Report.  I think my next project (desperately trying not to wind the skein) are the fingerless mitts.  I have some nice Sweet Georgia yarn that I think would look lovely. There are also a few sock patterns that I like in there too.
3.  I'm also thinking about this gorgeous yarn that I bought to make a shawl.  Trying to decide between several Jared Flood patterns.  I must be in the mood for a challenge.
4.  I ordered 2 books from Indigo yesterday too.  One is called Knitting the Perfect Fit.  I have made too many sweaters where I haven't entirely liked the fit.  I know I just need to amend the patterns and hoping the exercises in this book will help me.  I also bought another whose name escapes me but it had some lovely patterns, mostly for sweaters.

I'd better get my day started so I can make some progress on some of the above.  Pictures of completed projects at some point in the, hopefully not too distant, future.

Seasons

Until I discovered my love of gardening, autumn used to be my favourite time of year.  Now I feel nostalgic for the summer flowers and the fresh veggies from the garden.

But autumn ... the crisp air, wearing sweaters again, a reawakening of crafty enthusiasm, brand new school supplies.  I guess it still is a pretty great time of year.  And, as someone said to me the other day, you can't have spring if you don't have winter.

Cleaning up the garden = food in jars!

I have always been big on homemade jams and every year make at least one type.  This year I've made Strawberry, Strawberry Rhubarb, Blueberry and Peach.  All very tasty.

I recently bought the Canadian Living Preserving book and it has a bunch of really good looking recipes so I decided that it was time to expand beyond the world of jam.

One recipe that caught my eye as I was flipping through the book on its first read was green tomato chutney.  Every year at this time, as I clean up the garden, I'm faced with tons of green tomatoes with few ideas on how to use them.  This chutney recipe uses 4 pounds which makes me feel good about putting them to use rather than throwing them into the compost.

I also, after waiting for a lot longer than expected for them to ripen, have bunches of tomatillos.  Too many for salsa.  A few weeks ago, I baked some and used them as a salsa for fish which was really good but one can only eat that so often too.  So I looked in my new favourite preserving book and there are several uses for tomatillos.  I picked a recipe for a tomatillo salsa with roasted green and jalapeno peppers.

Finally, because I don't know when to stop, I also pickled the remaining beets.  Now I'm ready for a nap and realizing that I need to become the sort of person who thinks to eat chutneys.  I'll use them on sandwiches, at least.

Last week I was up in North Bay and my dad wanted help cleaning up crab apples that had fallen from the next door neighbours' tree.  I started bagging them when I decided that they should be put to better use than the landfill (no curbside composting up there).  So I made crab apple jelly.  This was my first experience with jelly and I found it quite easy.  Tasty too.

Now I just have to find room to store all of these jars.

The simple projects

My niece asked for a pair of mittens in her school colours of blue and gold.  I put that on the list of things to think about for Christmas knitting, deciding I would have to go shopping for the yarn at some point (terrible hardship).  Then I was sorting through stash, yet again, when I came across leftover yarn from a felted bag project of a few years ago.  While the gold is really yellow, based on the schools website, I think the blue is pretty close.  The pattern is from Weekend Knitting and because the yarn is bulky, I finished these up in a couple of hours.  Instant gratification!

Only because I couldn't eat it all at once ...

... I remembered to take a picture of the bread I made the other day.  Also from the book Homemade Pantry is this lovely sandwich bread.  I let it rise right away instead of refrigerating as directed in the recipe (no room in the fridge for any more bowls) and it worked perfectly.  It rose more than most whole wheat breads and I used some of the whey left over from the ricotta cheese excitement.  I think I'll make some more this weekend so we're set up for lunches as we head back to work.

Another addictive knitting project

And a good use for leftover sock yarn.  I'm always looking for uses for the leftover sock yarn and, although a previously made baby blanket was a good project, I wanted something different.  I discovered this project, the Mini Mania scarf, on Ravelry quite accidentally while popping around the site as one does from time to time.  The weave-like stitch seemed to take forever to grow but once it did, I enjoyed seeing how the colours would move from one to another.  I followed the designer's suggestion of changing yarn between a solid and a variegated sock yarn and quite like the results.  Now the question ... should I keep it for myself or give it away for Christmas?  I do plan to make another with "fat" sock yarn.  Once that is done, maybe the decision will be easier to make.  Or maybe not.  I can never have too many scarves.  Hmmm.

It's always too late to take a picture of food

Because I always think of taking a picture after I have eaten it!  Anyway, yesterday's dinner was a multi-step affair.  It started on Monday with making ricotta cheese from my new favourite cookbook, The Homemade Pantry.  Wow.  It was so easy.  And one of those things that you can have cooking while doing something else in the kitchen or wherever.

Then yesterday I made almond-basil pesto, also from the above book.  I had no success with basil in the garden this year but Longos was selling huge plants last week so I bought one and had been dreaming of pesto ever since.

Next I made pasta from scratch (4 cups flour, 4 extra large eggs, 4 tsp whey from the ricotta process (or water)).  And was reminded again how much I love my Kitchen Aid mixer with its very practical attachments, which include a pasta machine.  I mixed a few tablespoons of pesto into the ricotta and made a stuffed pasta by cutting squares, spooning about 1 tsp of filling on one half and folding the other half over the filling, pressing the edges together to seal.  I was nervous that the little bundles would split apart in the boiling water but had no issues.

The sauce was partially a fridge clean-out combined with a big harvest of cherry tomatoes from the garden.  I quickly pan fried garlic and onion, cooked some shiitake mushrooms for a few minutes and then added halved cherry tomatoes.  I cooked that mix for a couple of minutes,  added some white wine, rosemary and a couple of teaspoons of pesto and let the whole thing simmer.  A little shot of cream and some pasta water at the end and dinner was ready. 

More kitchen experiments

This year I grew ground cherries for the first time.  I had never actually heard of ground cherries before I read something in Garden Making magazine last year on tomatoes, tomatillos and ground cherries.  So, while ordering some different tomato varieties from the seed catalogue at Cottage Gardener, I also picked up some ground cherry and tomatillo seeds.  The tomatillos aren't ready yet but I've been picking ground cherries for several weeks.  They taste, to me, vaguely of hazelnuts with a sour edge.  After collecting a bowl full, I decided I should make a small jam with them.  That seems to be what all of the recipes I could find did with them so, despite the fact that I feel they would be good in savour dishes too, I decided to throw in some sugar and lemon juice with the berries and make some jam.  The only trouble, I let them boil just a shade too long and made ... toffee!  Oops.  Good thing I have seeds left in the basement to try my ground cherry experiments again next year.

Today's cooking experiments were far more successful.

First up, I made ricotta cheese.  It was surprisingly easy and the results taste really good. The whey left over from the process is going in bread sometime this week.  The ricotta itself will be part of ravioli which will allow me to break out the pasta attachment for the kitchen aid mixer.  Always a lot of fun and a bit of a mess but I am never disappointed with the outcome.  There are many things that taste better homemade but I think fresh pasta is one of my favourites.

I also made crab cakes for lunch today from Lynn Crawford's Pitchin' In book.  Yummy, yummy, yummy.  The remoulade was also delicious.  Instead of the salad suggested, I just cut up some of our over abundance of tomatoes and sprinkled them on top.  This will definitely be made again.

Finally, pulled pork just came off the barbecue and will be perfect for lunch tomorrow.  I think I'll read for the rest of the afternoon!

Let's go to the Ex

We're on vacation this week so decided to go to the Ex, something we haven't done in forever.  It was good to walk around but it is an expensive day for what you get.

The food building is as good as always, if you count more ways to make french fries than one thought possible and other stellar dietary offerings (which I am counting as good for this one day in the summer and never again for the remaining 364 days of the year).  The one thing I did find is that the food choices are no longer all that unusual.  It used to be, as an example, that the Thai counters were unusual.  Now we have at least five good Thai restaurants to choose from in a very small radius.  I did enjoy my 10 am snack of perogies (which bore only a passing resemblance to the real thing as I understand it - deep fried didn't seem to be a part of our Polish neighbour's recipe when I was growing up).  And then for lunch I had a Korean-themed wrap.  With cheese and a corn tortilla - definitely fusion.  But again, tasty.  The sampling of Dutch frites that I stole from my husband was also very good.  Fresh out of the frier with lots of mayo.

The rest of the buildings weren't terribly exciting but we checked them out.  I was disappointed that there didn't seem to be a horse show this year.  That was usually good for entertainment and a place out of the sun for a few minutes.

My favourite bit - I beat my husband at one of the games and won a little smurf.  Smurfs are obviously in this year.  You could win one at every stall.  Last time I was there, the item at every game was a stuffed flower (of which I have 2 or 3 somewhere).

All in all, it was a nice day but a $16 entry fee for expensive junk food, a couple of games and ok exhibits seemed a bit over the top.  But compared to the multiple-thousand dollar vacation we aren't on because of cat care challenges, it was a steal.

I love cashmere!

Something I didn't really think about until this sweater.  I love cashmere.  It is so, so lovely to work with.  Even though this sweater was all stocking stitch I never really got bored of it because I loved the feel of the yarn in my hands.

It was finished during the closing ceremonies of the Olympics but it took me this long to get my act together and blog about it.

The yarn is Handmaiden 4 ply cashmere and the pattern is the one that comes attached to it.  I got it on sale at Stix and Stones in North Bay during the course with the Yarn Harlot so it came with a nice little discount on the slightly-more-expensive-than I usually buy price.  But it was definitely worth it and I'll be keeping my eyes out for more.

As soon as I finish all of those projects in my stash, of course!

A pedestrian world

I try to cycle regularly in the summer.  Usually for 20 or 30 km, nothing crazy, just enough to get out, get some exercise, see the sights.  I am always happy when I find a bike lane that is road tire friendly.  While I don't hesitate to ride on regular roads with the traffic, it is much more relaxing knowing the chances of a car riding up my back are slightly lower with a bike lane.  The best ones are usually at the side of a paved road.  They are better than the ones attached to sidewalks that people have paved over when they did their driveway or that haven't been repaved after heaving in the winter, leaving millions of road tire-sized cracks in them, just waiting to flip over the unsuspecting skinny-tire cyclist.

But on these relaxing bike lane rides, there is always at least one, if not 6 (like today), runners who run in the bike lane.  I know why this is.  The local running store, has a guest speaker who tells everyone at every clinic not to run on concrete sidewalks because they are so much harder on your joints than pavement.  What he doesn't tell them, likely to increase traffic at his health-related business, is that the fact that the pavement is slanted for water runoff, and isn't good for your joints either.  As a former runner with an IT band problem, I have felt the difference between running on a nice flat sidewalk and on the side of a road at a slant.  I'll take the sidewalk every time.

Anyway, I get a ticket for riding on the sidewalk.  Why can't a runner get a ticket for running in the bike lane when there is a perfectly good sidewalk just a metre away?

On the subject of feet

I finished my longest-on-needles project (sock category).  They are a plain rib knit that I used to do all the time until I decided to get a little more exciting and add some pattern into my sock life.  These happened to be on the needles when I made that life-altering decision so they have been ignored generally.  Except for those situations where I knew I needed something easy to pass the time.  They have accompanied me on several plane trips (Boston and Philly come to mind), have been my train knitting project in between winding skeins for something more exciting, recently came with me to the passport office and have been to various appointments of all sorts.  Finally they are done.  And as usual, I like them very much.  A straight-forward pattern that fits well in a great colour.

And in other foot news, I saw a guy on the train the other night wearing those shoes that some runners wear that look like 1980's toe socks ... with his work attire.  Someone needs to tell him that the look is just not a good one.  It looks goofy on runners but I can at least understand that there are reported to be benefits running in these.  They really don't go with business casual.  For some reason he had to walk up and down the aisle of the train a couple of times so I got to admire them twice.  I hope he doesn't wear them in the office!

A new sweater!

I have a new knitting crush - Norah Gaughan.  I've admired her patterns but this is the first I've made.  It is from Volume 3 of the Berroco collection and was a really nice knit.  The leaf design results in an a-line shape which I like and the collar was constructed in a way that was new to me.  So, I got a nice sweater out of it and learned a couple of new things at the same time.  The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the layout of the pattern.  There was no chart which required a follow-along with the words.  I found I had difficulty following the 102 rows at times.  It probably didn't help that most of the knitting for the front was done on long car trips.

I used Dream in Colour Classy, picked up on sale at the Needle Emporium a couple of years ago.  I love the feel of that yarn in my hands and the large skeins mean fewer ends to sew in!

I'll have to comb through the stash to see if there is something else suitable to use for one of Norah's other patterns.  I received Volume 9 for Christmas and, now that I think of it, bought some yarn to make a wrap I think.  Must go look.

Off to see who wins the men's tennis and work on arm number 2 of my next sweater project.

Knitting for following the Olympics

While I'm not participating in the Ravelry salute to the Olympics (it looked like I had to be way to organized to follow along), I am going to work on finishing projects.  I have a sweater blocking right now that I finished yesterday, am continuing to make steady progress on a second sweater (part way through the first sleeve), have the second of a pair of socks that I forgot about until after I had joined the Sweet Georgia sock club (which I justified joining by telling myself I had no sock yarn) and a pair of fair isle mittens that I decided were a good outdoor project for summer, being small but requiring some thought to keep me interested.

I'll focus on these for now.  Once done, I'm sure I can find some others in progress.  In fact, there is a felted bag that has been in progress for a few years, a baby sweater that I stopped when I realized it would be too small for the 1 year old I was making it for and a sweater from Custom Knits that I started ages ago.  I am sure I can find a few others as well.

We'll see how far I get.  It has to be a better effort than the ill-chosen sweater I was making during the winter games 2 years ago.  I feel like I have a reasonable chance of success in at least finishing the list in the first paragraph.

Go Canada!

Another stay-cation

Our cat with special medical issues is keeping us home for yet another stay-cation this year.  This week we've focused on nice lunches out as our different-from-normal-life routine.  

Our first stop last Saturday is one of my favourite sushi restaurants in Oakville - very small with friendly owners and yummy food.  It is called Kenki Sushi (Kerr Street) and, in addition to very good sushi and sashimi, they make a crispy salmon concoction that is perfect.  Their bento box lunches don't seem to change and the service is fast so it is a great place to go on a busy-with-errands Saturday.

The next spot we tried was Colossus Greek Taverna.  I'm not normally a huge fan of Greek restaurants due to the same-ness of the ones I've tried but this place is different.  The food isn't cookie-cutter and has a little more imagination than most of the others I've tried.  My souvlaki-on-a-pita had crispy onions and the salad was more like the Greek Salads I remember from Greece.

Keeping with the sushi theme, OC's at Stoneboats, in Bronte is a sort of fusion sushi place.  Sushi but with some North American aspects - for example, one that we tried had cream cheese in it.  I'm not sure how long it has been since the change in ownership but if our experience at lunch was any indication, this restaurant should do well.  And they have the nicest patio in Oakville (which isn't saying much but it is still a nice patio).  We tried four different rolls - an avocado roll topped with mixed wild mushrooms (good but the mushrooms kept falling off), Crunchy Salmon with walnuts and avocado (yum), Haida Warrior with various fishes (also yum) and the special which I can't quite remember but it featured shrimp with the aforementioned cream cheese (yum again).

Finally, today we went to Cayuga to the Twisted Lemon.  Also a very good place.  I had a salmon wrap with so much flavour it almost overwhelmed my senses.  Very, very good.  I especially liked the little bites with drinks while we waited for lunch - fried wonton wrappers with lemon and pepper.  Difficult not to eat the whole bowl immediately.

That may be all for lunches out this week but with three days left, we may end up trying some others.  The added benefit of driving all over the place going to lunch places is that I have been able to get a bunch of knitting done on the way.  Nothing finished to show for it but at least I'm making good progress!

Book publishers must not understand inspiration

I've been looking at a selection of fabrics for my dad's Christmas quilt for a couple of weeks trying to figure out what I want to make with them.  So this morning, I finally found inspiration in a Kaffe Fassett book.  Perfect.  It fits the fabrics exactly the way I think they should go.  It even looks fairly straightforward although I will have to cut and sew carefully for a change so the joins line up.  So, I have the time, I have the inspiration and the pattern requires blowing the templates up 200%.  Ugh.

When I am inspired, I want to get going.  I don't want to dig into the pockets of all of my jackets to find a bunch of quarters (or loonies probably), drive to the library, photocopy the pattern and come back.  And my local branch isn't open on Saturdays so would have to go to the crazy busy branch a little further away or find a Staples.  By the time that was all done, I would be distracted by some other project or have lost interest in quilting and would put the project aside until next time.  No progress made.

I wish I was one of those organized people who plans things out in advance but I am not.  I like spur of the moment and fancy that this characteristic means I'm somehow a creative type.   There is the other part of my brain, which dominates at least 5 days of the week, that completely understands the financial reasons behind the publisher's approach.  Fortunately the pattern is easy so I'm increasing it the old fashioned way, with paper and pencil.  Except that I am ranting on the blog but will get back to the quilt in a few minutes rather than a few weeks.

On the plus side for today, I rode up to the farmers' market again this morning, watching the clouds the entire time.  As soon as I turned the corner onto my street, the thunder started.  By the time I was inside making myself a latte, the rain was teaming down.  How is that for excellent timing?  Thank you to Mother Nature, not only for the rain, but for waiting until I made it home before opening up the skies!

Happy Canada Day!

Check out this link ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBI68Il4Zsc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I have an excellent excuse

And the excuse is ... I am out of sock yarn.  I blame Ravelry for reminding me that I'm out of sock yarn.  That, and the fact that socks are so much better for the train than something with long needles.  So I went to the Sweet Georgia website and joined their July, August and September yarn club.  As a message from the stars, signup was open until June 30th.  Perfect.  I have always wanted to join a yarn club.  Now I have.

I have actually completed a Christmas gift ...

... in June!!  The pattern for these socks was free from the Vogue Knitting Free patterns website.  The pattern is called Serendipity.  They were very easy, very fast.  If I made them again, which I'm unlikely to do because there are so many other patterns to be knit, I would pick a plainer colour way.  It is very difficult to see the pattern in these with all of the changing colours.  I still like how they turned out and they are now in my brand new Christmas gift pile.  We'll see how long it takes for other items to join them!

Wascally Wabbit

I debated about making this hat with the earflaps.  Worried that it would look a little too Elmer Fudd.  But I think it is really cute.  And a very fast knit.  And small so perfect for summer knitting.  I did have to redo the stitching around the edge.  My first go-around was too tight and I couldn't fit the hat on my rather large head.  Fortunately, loosening up the stitching was all that was required and we are now good to go.

Completely unrelated, I finally got my bike out of the garage and went for a good long ride on Saturday.  They moved my local farmers market from a walk away to a decent ride away.  I like an agenda when I ride.  So I went to the farmers' market, Monastery Bakery (and remembered that I don't really like shopping there - too busy, so everything seems to take forever) and then to the vet to pick up medication for one of the kitties.

Another 180 degree turn, I'm disappointed that England lost to Italy in the Euro cup in a shoot out.  I was cheering for France to win the whole thing (long shot, I know) but they lost yesterday.  Now I need to decide between Italy and Spain.  Italy because of some Italian heritage and Spain because wins for them would mean I don't finish too far behind in the pool!

Rhubarb Sorbet

We had company for dinner tonight and I was looking for a dessert that I didn't have to bake since it is hot outside.  We have air conditioning but I've always felt a bit funny about heating up the house via the oven and then making the air conditioning work extra hard to cool things down again.  Not terribly frugal.

Anyway, I was leafing through cookbooks and was inspired by the ice cream recipes but didn't have cream in the house and didn't feel like going to the grocery store again.

Then I saw sorbet recipes.  Hmmm, I thought.  I still have some rhubarb in the garden - although I would have to say this year has not produced a bumper crop - I wonder what a rhubarb sorbet would be like.  I was going to improvise and then decided, since I've only made ice cream twice before, that maybe I would take a surf around the net.  This sorbet did pretty much what my improvisation was going to be.  I made it.  It was delicious.  A very delicate rhubarb flavour and very refreshing.  I didn't have the ginger and, as  mentioned, did not want to make another trip to the grocery store so left it out.  I did have vanilla vodka so thought that made sense.  It was yummy.  And, I think the ginger would have masked the rhubarb flavour so was quite happy with the end result.

Random Garden Thoughts

1.  I think I would select daisies as my favourite flower, especially the painted ones.  These pink daisies are at the top of the list and I also like the crimson flowers that I can enjoy while sitting on the patio.  Then there are the white ones that bloom a little later in the summer.  They are a bit sturdier and seem to last a bit longer.  Of course, I also really like lilacs and peonies and black-eyed Susans and Echinecea and ...

2.  We picked up another rain barrel yesterday.  That makes 3.  The town sells them for less than 1/2 the store price once a year so you can't go wrong.  I think it is healthier for the plants and presumably saves a little money.

3.  The peas are almost ready to eat in quantity.  I did my annual stand in the garden and eat from the nearest pod this morning.  Peas never taste better than at that moment.

4.  We have some potatoes that will be ready to start digging shortly.

5.  I am loving the large quantities of herbs at my doorstep.  The cooking imagination can go in so many directions when so many lovely flavours are at hand.

6.  The only downside of summer - it was too hot to knit outside today.  Project-wise, I was working on a sweater which was part of the problem.  Need to get those summer projects lined up and ready for the hot weather.  I must stay productive and focused on the stash reduction - even though I picked up some more Noro on sale yesterday.  Ugh!

How Many Recipes?

It is raining outside so I'm tackling the big pile of cooking, knitting and quilting magazines that I have put aside with dog-eared pages to copy to my word program or clip into a binder.  This process is making me reflect.  How many recipes, knit and quilt patterns does one person need?  Is the real purpose of the ridiculous number of cookbooks, Fine Cooking, Bon Appetit and LCBO magazine issues inspiration or do I just have an obsession that I'm trying to justify?  Same goes for all of those knitting patterns.  Is this just another form of stash?  I don't really have any answers but I think I'm going to vote for inspiration and continue on with my organization.

Once again my eyes are bigger than my stomach

Southern Ontario strawberries are ready!!!  And it is cool outside so I decided to make jam.  Generally jam making always coincides with the hottest day of the year so I was quite motivated to get this done today.

I drove up to Springridge this morning and picked up lots and lots of strawberries.  I had decided before going that I was going to make 3 batches of jam ... straight-up strawberry, strawberry rhubarb (with orange peel this year) and strawberry kiwi (to use up the kiwis cluttering my refrigerator from my organic delivery service, Wanigan).   Success on the jam front - all have tasted great off the spoon, all the lids popped down and I only have one bowl in the refrigerator to enjoy immediately.

But I over-estimated the volume of strawberries required for this endeavour.  You would think after some signifiant experience in the area of jam making and general strawberry eating that I would have a clue by now of the volume that one person can consume but apparently not.  Oh well, a good excuse to make a strawberry crisp (crisp being my favourite dessert on the planet even outranking double chocolate chip cookies).  I sent a container over to the in-laws and I still have a lot left.

So, as in every other year, it looks like I'm going to follow my usual summer eating pattern - eat as much as I can before it goes out of season and remember that it will be another year before it tastes as good as this.

Rag Blanket

Rag blankets are fun to make.  This one is going to Project Linus and if I get this written quickly, I might have time to drop it off at Spun before they close.

I had leftover flannel from some baby blankets I made for the babies of 2 cousins so pulled it out, figured out the largest sized square that would let me make the maximum number of squares.  That size was 3 1/2 x 4 1/2".  The batting pieces were cut 1 1/2 x 2 1/2" and I sewed a corner-to-corner cross in chocolate brown across each fabric/batting sandwich.   Then I sewed them together with a 1/2" seam allowance (next time I would use 3/4" - it gives more room for sewing machine slippage - I had to fix a couple of spots that came apart in the washing machine).  

The best craft item I think I have ever purchased are the special scissors for snipping these blankets.  They seemed a frivolous purchase at the time but they are more comfortable in the hand and the blades are short enough that cutting through the seams is harder to do by accident.

I just love these blankets.  They are quick, easy and cozy.

Course with the Yarn Harlot

This weekend, I spent some time with Stephanie, the Yarn Harlot, in North Bay.  She was up there doing a talk entitled "This is Your Brain on Knitting" which was very good and thought provoking.  Since I have family there and haven't been up all winter, it seemed like a good time to make the drive.

Stephanie's talk was very good and I was especially interested in the study at a convent in France comparing Dementia and Alzheimer's incidence in nuns who knit (lower) versus nuns who did not (higher).  Since my mother had Alzheimer's and her only relative who lived past 55 also had it, I suspect there is a genetic link on that side of the family so think about it in relationship to myself.  Since we have already established through many posts that I love knitting, hopefully I have another strategy (besides exercising and trying to eat properly) that will help me to fight off this dreaded disease if I have inherited those genes.

On Saturday, Stephanie gave a course on how to knit faster.  Prior to the course, I wasn't sure how she would fill the entire day on this subject but she did.  She started with the history of knitting and then showed us the different knitting methods and got us going on each of them.  In the end, we filled the day and I learned a number of different things.  A very good course and a great way to spend a day.  I even made a new friend who I hope to stitch and bitch with shortly.

Thanks to Stephanie and Rae from Stix N Stones in North Bay for a great weekend!

The last tulip

For some reason, even though all of the other tulips have been finished for at least a week, we have this one left.  It stands on its own, looking very fresh and I love it.  Maybe it was the only one of a late variety that the squirrels didn't get.  Or maybe it just likes the weather.

Despite my resolve to be patient and not plant the tomatoes for a few more days, I caved and planted them late yesterday afternoon.  There was some logic to this decision.  It is supposed to be quite hot today so I didn't want to wait until today and have them deal with the stress of transplanting combined with the stress of the heat.  Looking out at them this morning, they are all upright and happy looking so, fingers crossed, I don't think it was a mistake.

My least favourite part of gardening

I love starting plants from seed, especially tomatoes. There are so many varieties to try that you can never find in a grocery store, a local garden centre or even a farmers' market.  This year I'm growing varieties I've been reading about over the last few years:  Federale, Black Brandywine, Green Zebra, Stupice, Druzba, Black Cherry and Black Prince (an endangered variety that is going to be my first foray into seed saving in the fall).  I also started a bunch of other veggies and some annuals in the basement.

The only drawback of all of this winter productivity ... hardening off.  Bringing everything up the stairs and outside for an hour on day 1, a couple of hours on day 2, several hours on day 3, etc.  I have to admit that I have been very bad at this in the past and, for the most part, my plants have survived after showing me in no uncertain terms that planting them too early has not been appreciated.  So this year I aim to more closely adhere to a hardening off schedule that will hopefully make things easier on the plants.

I spent the first three days lugging up and down stairs but today have left most of the plants in a cold frame.  I did cheat and plant a couple of things in the garden just to push the boundaries a bit.  We'll see what happens.  I look forward to all of those yummy tomatoes in a couple of months but until then I'm going to complain about the chore of hardening off.

I feel inspiration coming on

I had a pile of batik fat quarters that I bought on sale at my local quilt shop sometime in the fall, I think.  They have been sitting on a shelf in my craft room, looking pretty but not going anywhere towards a project.  Then I bought some French General fabric on my trip to Stitch in Jordan and they have been inspiring me to create a new quilt.  Since I always wash my fabric - the first quilt I made can never be washed because, despite pre washing the fabrics about 10 times, they still run.  So the quilt hangs on the wall where I hope it will only get dusty. Otherwise, it will have to be dry cleaned or something because as soon as I wash it, I will have to kiss it goodbye.

Anyway, I always prewash my fabric.  And to make a decent load, needed more than just the red French General for the washing machine.  So, I looked around to see what other non-washed fabrics were on hand and spotted the batiks.  Their cheerfulness as I hung them out and the way they looked on the line (not washed out as in this really sunny picture) has now pushed the French General out of my thoughts and the batiks are now sitting in a freshly ironed pile waiting for a project.  I'm thinking I might make something with the curvy templates I bought last time I was in my local quilt shop buying thread and trying not to buy more fabric.

Latest obsession ... finished!

Despite really long rows by the end, this project was fun to make.  It is called colour affection and I discovered it on the Yarn Harlot's blog.  Another good little project that I couldn't put down and I like the way it turned out.  I used sock yarn (as opposed to the variation using lace weight) and that was probably the better choice.  Even though I enjoyed it, I think the lace weight would have gone on too long.

Now it is back to a focus on stash clearing.  I have one sweater in progress and started a new pair of socks.  Unfortunately, neither have addictive qualities and the garden has been distracting me away from projects so I'll have to get myself motivated to continue onward if I'm going to have continued success on the two projects per month.

On the bandwagon again!

It started with the Noro striped scarf.  Then it was Monkey socks, followed by Bella's mittens.  Now it is Colour Affection.  I saw it on the Yarn Harlot's blog and I just had to make it.  Had to make it now.

Luckily, as a birthday excursion for that very day, my request was a trip to Jordan to go to Stitch, a lovely yarn and fabric store that I had yet to visit.  Now that I have visited, a return trip is a must.  This is a great little store.  Lovely fabrics and a good selection of yarn.  I reversed some of the positive stash reduction headway I have been making by adding some more fat quarters to my collection.  And this yarn.

After seeing Colour Affection on the YH blog, I immediately hopped over to Ravelry, bought the pattern, popped it into my knitting bag and off we went to Jordan.  I found these three colours, wound them almost as soon as I got home and cast on.  I've been working on the shawl quite a bit since.  And it is still holding my interest.  It is a simple pattern, garter stitch, and yet still addictive.

Other things that happened in Jordan and area:

1.  A lovely lunch at On the Twenty - leek and blue cheese quiche with a nice Cave Spring Pinot Noir
2.  Malivoire Winery
3.  Thirty Bench Winery
4.  Upper Canada Cheese Company
5.  A nap in the car on the way home!

Must get back to the Addiction/Affection.

Charity and Stash Reduction Combined

I am still (somewhat) firmly in stash reduction mode.  More on defining the somewhat in a future post.  Two more projects done for the month of April although one, the pair of socks, might have been expressly excluded from the goal in January.

The other project is a blanket for Project Linus.  I have wanted to do something for charity besides joining a board - which would probably be rewarding but reminds me too much of may day job and not enough of what I wish was my day job - crafty stuff.  So a while ago I stumbled on Project Linus and the making of blankets for youth in hospitals or other difficult situations appealed to me.  I hadn't actually done much about the goal to participate in Project Linus until I saw that the local coordinator was going to be at Spun in Burlington a couple of months ago so I went over to check things out.

This blanket is my first project.  It was made from some yarn I picked up at The Needle Emporium's summer tent sale a few years ago and I just made up the pattern.  Cast on 135 stitches, knit 5, purl 5 to the end.  Purl the next row and keep repeating until the yarn runs out.  The result is cozy and I hope it will comfort someone.  I'm also in the middle of a raggedy quilt using left-over flannel from some baby quilts I made last summer.  Future projects aren't figured out yet but I want to work a few of these blankets in each year.  That will satisfy both my desire to do something for charity and my need to find crafty time during the day.  A win-win, I would say.

Curling Socks

I was in a bunch of bonspiels in March and April and brought this Nutkin sock along with me to work on between games.  Since I can't stand sitting around doing nothing, they were perfect.  Enough interest in the pattern but not too much so that I couldn't participate in conversations going on around me.  A great little pattern and a really nice Tosh Sock colour-way.

I found it quite surprising the number of people who talked about being knitters or wanting to learn to knit when I pulled them out and started working on them.

The drives to these different events also involved me working on another sweater project so I may have looked a bit of the obsessive knitter.  This is in no way wrong but my male team mates didn't completely understand it.  But I did enjoy the look of utter amazement on their faces when the owner of a coffee shop we were at asked me if I made the socks that I was wearing.  We then launched into a several minute conversation on homemade socks and the crazy socks she had made with bits of left-over sock yarn.  My friends said it was like we had been speaking an entirely different language!

Things are growing!

Spring is bursting out all over.  The sad looking peach tree, that hopefully won't have peach leaf curl this year after the therapy from the fall, even has buds on it.

Arugula, onions, radishes and kohlrabi are pushing through the ground in the veggie patch.  I have about 4 asparagus spears.  Maybe in 2 or 3 years I'll be able to actually eat some of them instead of letting them feed the roots.

In the grow op, I've added more soil to my tomato plants. The ground cherries and tomatillos, newly added to my seed starting repitoire, are growing.  Neither are looking particularly hearty but I'll keep my fingers crossed.  I've never actually eaten tomatillos or ground cherries but was intrigued by an article about them last year.  Since I don't think I've seen either in the grocery store around here, they just beg to be planted.

Until I started gardening, my favourite season was fall.  The leaves turning beautiful colours, the cooler air, school supplies.  But once I started gardening, it was game over for fall and spring became my favourite season.  The hope of all of those yummy dinners to come with fresh-from-the-vine produce.  The impatience to see if the work we did to get the perennial beds just right has actually worked this time.  This last is the reason gardening keeps drawing me back.  Of course we didn't get it right and it is back outside to try again.

Daydreaming when I should be doing 1000 other things

I'm sitting here at the computer to check out the weather next week and should be getting up to pack for my latest bonspiel adventure.  But instead I'm staring at bags that I have made that are hanging from hooks on the wall and wondering why I like crafting so much.  It might be because my job is very far removed from being a creative outlet.  It could be because I like pretty things and feel that sense of enjoyment in looking at something pretty that I made myself.  It could be because I generally don't like doing nothing at all (even when day dreaming I'm thinking that I should do a blog post and get a little more regular with this again).  It is most likely a combination of the above.  People who don't craft think I'm strange but I know there are a lot of us out there forging ahead.

I planted several different seeds this weekend ... peas, carrots, parsnips, beets, arugula, kohlrabi, radishes, onions, potatoes (the last two technically not seeds).  Several veggies planted a few weeks ago are doing well in the grow-op in the basement.  Tomatoes that I planted last weekend are starting to sprout.  A couple of varieties haven't quite made an appearance yet but I expect to see the slow pokes over the next couple of days.  I love the planting season and all of the hope of summer veggies yet to taste!

Well, back to those 1000 other things.  Happy Easter!  Since I'm not a fan of turkey, it is going to be beer can chicken for dinner tonight.  Not your traditional Easter fare but one of my favourites.

Technically not a big project

But my second project of the month is still on the needles so I'm counting this Alhambra scarf, completed a few days ago as success.  It was time consuming with the little pattern repeats so I'm counting it.  Since it was my resolution, I can change the rules.

And, not only did I complete it, I wore it to work today.  Not really obvious here is the length - about 28 inches long.  Just long enough to wrap around and tie once.  It would have looked very nice with a pin holding it together but who has time to figure out if one owns a pin when running out the door, 5 minutes later when one is supposed to.  I'll have to look around for some sort of pin.  Hard to know whether I have such an item.

And, question for the day.  Why is it when you have a night to yourself, put on your pjs at 7pm, heat up mac and cheese and pour a glass of wine that someone always comes to the door to sell something?  Fortunately, I saw the visitors but they didn't see me so I was able to slip into the kitchen and hide.  I am absolutely not answering the door in my pjs unless it is the cops.  And even then, I would still run upstairs and put on a bra!

Despite steady project completion ...

 ... I really don't feel like I'm making a dent on the craft room.  But just keep putting one foot in front of the other and it will get better, shelf space will be discovered, clutter will be reduced.

I finished this quilt top several months ago and as with many, it sat on the shelf waiting to be quilted.  Now it is done, done, done!  And I love it.  I especially love the little flowers in each of the squares - close-up below.  These resemble the doodles I am constantly doing on powerpoint presentations in endless meetings so I now feel like the doodles are actually serving a creative purpose.

Crafting has been a bit slow in March mainly due to curling.  Curling has been going very well lately.  My teams are doing really well in league play and I am going to another event in a few weeks after qualifying last weekend.  The nice thing about these out-of-club events - the travel time helps me get some knitting done.  And sock knitting is the perfect between-game past time.

Still not finishing much

I have a couple of projects on the go that had minimal progress this week.  Need to make up for that this weekend.  I am being inspired by other things so am still looking confident that I'll see completion by the end of the month.  Sources of inspiration this morning (not all craft related):

1.  Denise Schmidt has a new book which looks lovely.
2.  I ran out of thread on the quilt that I am finishing so had to go to Quilter's Garden Patch, the local quilt shop the other day.  I impressed myself by only buying one black and white print to balance my stash of black and white prints which will be transformed into a quilt eventually.  I did have a few other fat quarters in my hand but, with great self control, put them back on the shelf.  But I did buy the 7" Crazy Curves Template from Elisa's Backporch Design.  I feel that this will kickstart my stash clearing.
3.  101 Cookbooks has a very nice looking chocolate bundt cake today.  The links on the site also led me to an olive oil banana bread and black bread both of which sound really good.
4.  I received Lettuce Knit's email newsletter in my inbox yesterday which is inspiring me to keep knitting, reduce the stash, so I can buy more.

Now all I have to do is stop playing an incredibly addictive Moonlight Mahjong (if you have a Mac, it is at the Ap store waiting to invade your life) and get working.

Surfing

Looking through the latest Vogue Knitting magazine, I was directed to the first website below and then just started poking around the internet.  Some of my new and not so new finds this afternoon:

1.  Quince & Co. has some lovely patterns.  I'm particularly smitten with Castle, Solstice, Belfast Hoodie and Tundra.  As I work through my stash, I must remember to go back to this site to see if anything in inventory has compatible gauge.
2.  Less about the website and more about the podcast - Spilled Milk.  I really like listening to Matthew and Molly waffle on about food.  Molly's blog Orangette is another I frequently visit.
3.  Every time I see Josee Savaria at an art show, I want to buy something.  Each time I find it impossible to decide which of her pieces I like best and haven't really wanted to part with the cash (or been able to figure out where I would have some wall space to hang one for that matter).  I did buy some cards which will greet no one but are on hand for inspiration.  I particularly like the Paysages Marines series.

Yesterday's dinner went well.  Except my niece's dislike of any salad dressing but Caesar.  Since I didn't have any, she had some cherry tomatoes instead.  So pretty much a success, I would say.

The Lull Between Projects

With my focus on large project completion, I find myself without as much crafty subject matter to write about.  But great news on the blue sweater front, it fits!!!!  And I like it!!!!  I should know by now NEVER to try something with cables on until after it has been blocked.  The extreme form-fitting nature of pre-blocked cables discourages me, I wash and block and am happy.  Note to self ... STOP trying it on pre-block.  I used to block before I sewed the pieces together, maybe I'll go back to that approach on the next cable project.

We're having picky eaters, in the form of my teenaged niece and nephew, over for dinner tonight.  One is off chicken, the other off pork.  They like pasta but one doesn't like sauce.  One requested steak so we're good there.  And I'm making homemade macaroni and cheese and a salad.  Hopefully the other will find something in the selection to please.  Fortunately, I can always count on them eating my chocolate chip cookies.  And, as their aunt, a little slacking on the nutritional value for one meal can be excused.  It is in the aunt's rulebook, written at the dawn of time.

Relaxing ...

... on many fronts this morning.  I'm listening to the lovely "Soft Place to Land" from Kathleen Edward's new record Voyageur.  I've only listened to the whole record once since buying it last week but it has moments of haunting beauty.  Since many of the songs seem to relate to her recent marriage breakup, this makes sense.  I have liked her music for a long time and this record is different/sadder than the others but still very nice and I think the best yet.

Other things relaxing - the cables in my new February sweater after washing.  It is still too damp to try on but it is definitely better than pre-wash.  Despite doing the swatch in another lifetime, I did have a memory of that behaviour in the swatch so had my fingers crossed.  Now I just have to keep them crossed in hopes that things didn't relax too much.  Anyway, the sweater is "putting down roots" from Inspired Cable Knits by Fiona Ellis.  For some reason a pattern that could not hold my interest.  But it is finished, for better or worse.  Hopefully better after all of the time and energy.  If not, a relative, friend or donation bin will get a nice new sweater.

March is National Craft Month

I'm not sure people who actually are as obsessed with crafts as I am really need a month dedicated to crafts but Quilters Connection Magazine pointed it out to me so thought I'd pass it along.  

In other news, I finished my February sweater and have decided that there may have been a reason that it has taken at least 5 years to complete.  I am not happy with the finished product.  Mainly I am not happy with the way it fits.  But it is a cabled sweater that I haven't blocked yet so I washed it this morning and it is downstairs hopefully taking on a more flattering shape right now.  Picture to come post blocking.

I think my knitting project for March will be a blanket for Project Linus.  I pulled out some yarn that I bought at the Needle Emporium's summer sale a few years ago that I think will look nice.  I'm not sure I'll have quite enough to make a decent-sized blanket so was hunting through the stash trying to find something to mix with the main yarn and noticed that I have quite a bit of stash.  I knew this, of course, but when you are digging around looking for something and the boxes to look in seem to go on for days, it really hits home.  

Hammer Required

Some projects make me feel very clever.  Generally, if a sewing project turns out in a way that looks even remotely like the pattern, a feeling of cleverness follows.  This project, the large betty shopper (not sure who betty is and why she doesn't get a capital b) from Amy Butler, has been in my possession with fabric for over two years now.  It is one of the projects that I had in mind when coming up with my 2 projects per month resolution for 2012.

The fabric that I purchased with the pattern is not featured here.  I decided to change it up and possess another bag pattern that will hopefully be a future 2012 project with the original fabric.

This project is pretty straightforward but did take me a decent amount of time.  I have made a couple of other Amy Butler patterns and find the instructions easy to follow for someone who isn't a natural born sewer.  My favourite part of the construction - the grommets.  Now those are clever, not to mention that hammering them in is a great stress reliever - something that can be useful at the end of a sewing project.

Now I'm off to watch curling (Scott Tournament of Hearts) and try to finish my sweater of the month.

Public Transit Observations

While not as interesting as the subway, occasionally you see things to make you smile on the GO train - in a good way.  Today on the way home, it was a guy totally grooving to his music, complete with drum solo.  He looked like a slightly disheveled businessman, not the sort to generally get into the beat on the train.  Glad he found a tune that rocked him and that his evening was clearly off to a great start.

This morning, a lady got off the train carrying a loom and an in progress project.  Not sure if she was working on it in transit but it was interesting and when she dropped one of the shuttles, one of the other passengers chased her down the stairs to give it back to her.  I debated about catching up with her to chat but ran into a friend so walked to the office with him instead and forgot all about her.

Another satisfying pair of socks

These purple socks, if I had kept up with my sock-every-two-month goal would have been done about 6 months ago.  The fact that they were started about 6 months ago aside, they were a satisfying knit.  A nice pattern but also an easy one.  This is a key requirement for a pair of socks after the ridiculously complicated sock pattern shown in green.  They come from Ann Budd's knitted gifts, a nice book I bought ages ago but haven't made a project from until now.

In other matters, I'm trying to decide if I should feel guilty about spending almost the entire weekend inside puttering instead of figuring out a way to enjoy the nice weather.  I think I've talked myself out of it by finishing this sock project, a book by Jill Shalvis (totally guilty pleasure), done some work (the kind that pays the bills), practiced curling for an hour to get a really bad game on Friday out of my system and some cooking - today is sweet potato soup, osso buco and meatballs in tahini sauce.  Moderately productive and very relaxing.  Isn't that the point of the weekend?  I think that nullifies the guilty feelings, just a bit.
Off to see where I left off on a sewing project to continue these feelings of productivity.

Economics lesson through coffee

Starbucks has moved me to the left on the demand curve for lattes.  I have always been able to justify the $3 plus price for the latte as a treat a couple of times a week.  Of late, I had switched to a better coffee place, Aroma, near the office which also happens to be cheaper and they give you a little chocolate with your order.  Add to that the purchase of a home espresso machine which has curtailed weekend purchases and I haven't been to Starbucks for a while.  The other day, I was on my way to a meeting, a little early and desirous of a coffee fix.  So I stopped in at one of the numerous convenient Starbucks locations in the concourse.  And paid $3.50 for a tall latte.  For some reason, $3.50 has pushed it into the category of too expensive in my mind.  Not that it will likely impact Starbucks much.  Just saying.

To Shannon who likes the iPod cover - give it a try - it is really very easy.  I'm only good with sewing straight lines so can vouch for its simplicity!

New iPod Cover

About a year ago, my beloved, ancient iPod was stolen.  While I was upset about the iPod, I was more upset by the really nice case I had it in.  I bought it in Peru so, in addition to really liking it, it was a daily reminder of a fantastic trip.  Since my job at the time was over-the-top stressful, this daily reminder was a small comfort to me.

I got over losing the iPod quickly enough because I got to replace it with groovy new technology but just stuck the iPod in the felt sleeve the old one came in and kept meaning to make a new cover.  But should I knit something, sew something, did I want a zipper or a button.  Then bouncing around the internet, I stumbled on this cover with its handy little tutorial.  It took no time to make and I have a cheerful little iPod cover again.  An added bonus, while not really making a dent, it used up some scrap fabric.  Next project, the earbud cover.

I think I tempted fate ...

... with the talk in my last post that eating so many oranges on my healthy diet would mean no colds for me.  Hah!  I currently have the worst cold I have had in years, and maybe ever.  Included in the lovely things barraging me is pink eye.  Never had pink eye before.  No idea where I got it from but I am a compulsive eye scratcher so I'm not surprised that, once exposed, I transmitted it to my eyes.

Fortunately, my job can be done from home quite easily so, while I have taken sick days, I was able to work from home quite a bit.  Which, when you look in the mirror and see red, watery demon-like eyes staring back at you is probably a good thing.  I had visions of people running away from me in the hallway.

The good news out of all of this, on a 2 hour conference call today, I was able to finish my January project, the Ona sweater by Perl Grey in Fleece Artist Organic Wool.  I wasn't sure it was going to fit but it does.  A nice cozy, comfortable, bum around sweater which is exactly what I wanted it to be.  My only issue was that the die-lots of the yarn were quite different.  The second skein was more grey than blue/grey.  I decided as I was knitting it that I didn't care.  Hours of stocking stitch to get to the point of the second ball had pretty much caused me mind-numbing boredom so I couldn't face a rip out just so I could carry two strands at once.  And I decided that where the colour change happened, it almost looks like I did it on purpose.

So far, New Year's resolutions have been on track.  Mostly followed the Bon Appetit Food Lover's Cleanse (the spirit of it at least since there was way too much cooking to be 100% exact) and lost at least 4 pounds in the process.  And I have generally been behaving myself since.  Although, I have to admit that the cold has resulted in digging a few cookies out of the freezer once or twice.  Of course, now that my husband will know they are there, I might have fewer available very soon.

I completed 2 major projects this month.  One a quilt from a previous post (that has been keeping me cozy while sick) and this sweater.  Bring on the February projects!  Good thing there is an extra day.

Missing the wine but probably won't get a cold

As written in my New Year's Resolution post last week, I am following along with the Bon Appetit Food Lovers Cleanse for 2 weeks.  It appealed to me because I wanted to eat healthier after a Christmas season of too much everything.  I thought something that told me what to eat and provided recipes would distract me from thoughts of cookies.  And the menu includes a piece of chocolate for dessert most nights and 4 drinks per week - can't go wrong with that.  Finally, since it is Bon Appetit, I thought the recipes would be pretty good and so far it has delivered.

Although I haven't been able to follow it to the letter - curling 2 nights this week meant 15 minutes for dinner so improvisation was necessary - I find it quite good.  There is lots of citrus and a ton of veggies to use up my allotment from my organic food delivery service.  Knowing that I could have wine by the weekend has given me something to look forward to.

My only challenge is breakfast.  I always eat the same thing for breakfast and I like it that way.  So moving off that has been my biggest challenge.   I can eat most things 95% of the time but I am a bit picky at breakfast.  Add to that a dislike of yogurt and needing to be in the mood for eggs, I'm struggling.  I think for the most part I'll stick to the hot cereal (which I'm calling gruel) since loading it up with blueberries and some walnuts makes it okay.

The good news that keeps me going - I've lost 4 pounds.  Not a bad way to start the New Year and I have reminded myself that I really do like salad.  I just tend to fall into the trap of grabbing something else because I'm too lazy to throw all of the pieces together.

It is easy ...

... to make a resolution to finish one project a month when one is almost finished.  We'll see how it goes for the rest of the year.

This was one of the quilt tops I have had completed for several months.  I quilted it about a month ago but just finished the binding yesterday.

It is a Buggy Barn pattern that was pretty interesting to make.  You pile up the fabrics for the blocks, put a template over top and cut where the template lines are.  Then move the fabrics around in each pile, sew them together and it looks like a complicated construction when really it is quite easy.

The second photo is of the back of the quilt, using up some scraps and other fabric I had in my stash.

I love the way the whole quilt turned out but I did run into a problem I haven't before - my back wasn't completely wrinkle-free when I pinned the layers together so there are a couple of places with wrinkles in the back.  I'm usually quite fanatical about ensuring the layers are flat so am disappointed with that but love it anyway and will probably be the only one who notices.  Or cares.