Sunday, November 30, 2008

golden dears.


I had been hoping to post following a few days of knitting and crafting with friends, but it's harder and harder to organize an evening with fellow crafters! I know there are several circles and craft nights, but after a long day of work it's so hard to leave the house! A close friend from the island came over and we had the nicest night, just knitting and catching up (and inspiring me!) that it reminded me how much I miss living in a smaller city and being close to friends with common interests.

My hats for myself for the winter have been turning out beautifully and i'm onto the wrist and arm warmers, but the one i was making for my husband has turned out to be quite the challenge! I've been knitting with bigger gauge needles for so long now, that it's so hard to knit so tight and so small! I'm hanging up that towel and hoping he comes around to bigger stitches! I'm also looking for inspiration for the knitting bags.

I'll leave you with a great site for links to every knitting pattern you ever wanted!

www.knittingpatterncentral.com

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Hats off to Brooklyn!

My babies are gone! I sent them off yesterday and they are currently to friend's place in Brooklyn. I'm excited, but also nervous about this all. What if no one likes them? What if no one buys them? We'll see in short time!

They are going to be selling at www.unisnewyork.com, (thanks K!) and hopefully in January I'll start up an etsy shop. That's my goal right now! I made a striped one out of my left over colours and am now making matching wrist warmers! I'm also making pillow covers for the cushions in our living room. My husband covered our wood tv stand with an image he took on the South Beach trail in Tofino(he works in print) and I'm trying to tone down the colours in that room to more neutral and earth based. Seems like those are the colours I'm drawn to lately! Lots of greys, browns, ivories, greens and black. Will I ever stray??

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Live Creatively

It's late (for me) but I wanted to share with this new site I came across. I'm was looking for a sewing pattern/idea for creating a knitting bag to carry all my accessories conveniently and in my (internet) travels, this is what I found. I'm going to have to spend my entire day off exploring the site, but so far I'm addicted!

http://www.livingcreatively.com.au/

enjoy!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

label me.


I could not, for the life of me, think of a label name, so i just went with what i know. My husband designed the labels and used a print of his that I love, and it makes me feel pretty special that he would let me use it! So here they are and I absolutely love them! Hope you like them, can't wait to see them with my knits! Now I just have to go out and find a craft punch to get those tiny little holes. They are the pretty tiny and will look really nice pinned on with embroidery floss.

On another note, I'm finding the long hours of work and trying to get things done a little exhausting, but it's all worth it. Now if only I could figure out how to do this as my main source of income! I need to get rid of the exhausting part (work) and have more time for the fun part (knitting)!

Thoughts?

Saturday, November 15, 2008

12 down 3 to go...and a new bed.



I'm listening to emmylou harris and neil young sing "wrecking ball" and finishing the hats...slowly.  This was the song we finally decided on for our "first dance" as a newly married couple, and I can't beleive it took so long to find it!  I've started (and stopped) two more hats, different homemade patterns for both myself and my husband, hoping to warm into winter, but they'll come when I'm finally finished these hats.   I've added some pictures so you can see what I'm up to!
On another note, we actually bought our first real bed!  Okay, okay, it's still from Ikea, but I really feel like this one isn't going to fall apart on us and give us a good nights sleep, which we could really use!   Also, I really want to start a knitting/crafting night here with some ladies, but it's so hard to coordinate and the ones that are happening aren't really that close to my neighbourhood, so I'm kind of using this blog as my own ladies night.  Please comment with any projects you are starting! 
Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend and likes the hats! xo

Thursday, November 13, 2008

wooly hats...x15

I'm so close to being finished the hats, and someone said to me today "you must be sick of them by now" and you know what? I'm not! It's been so motivating having these hats to knit, with a deadline, that it's forcing me into creativity. I don't really feel like I have any time right now, but in the end it will be worth it. I'll photograph what I have done in the next day or two and give you a peak.

On another note, the crock pot birthed us turkey and wild rice chili and it was delicious. the recipe for this one is as follows:

1 pound turkey breast tenderloin or
skinless, boneless chicken breast,
cut into pieces (i used ground turkey)

1 15.25-ounce can whole
kernel corn, drained

1 15 ounce Red Kidney Beans, drained

2/3 cup uncooked wild rice
rinsed and drained

2 4-ounce cans diced green
chile peppers, undrained
(i used herbed diced tomatoes)

1 med onion, chopped

1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin

few dashes bottled hot pepper sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced
2 14-ounce cans chicken broth

1 1/4 cups water

In a 4-5 quart slow cooker combine turkey, corn, beans, wild rice, tomatoes, onion, chili powder, cumin, hot pepper sauce, and garlic. Stir in Broth and Water. Cover and cook on low-heat setting 7-8 hours or on high-heat 3 1/2 - 4 hours.

Enjoy! Tomorrow is garlic and artichoke pasta.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

One New Crock Pot and One Less Book


We have slow cooked meals! I went out with my list yesterday, and it turned out that both things took quite a bit of deciding. The crock pot was a hard one, as I knew we wanted one, but what was the right choice in a sea of crock pots that all cost relatively the same amount? I ended up grabbing the Original Crock Pot (with digital timer and heat setting) and am pleased to say it works amazingly well (it was on sale - and I'm always weary of why). I started with a Rosemary chicken stew and the house filled quickly with this scent for hours, and this baby is now a welcome addition to the family.

The book on the other hand - did not turn out so well. As soon as I got to the hobby and craft section there it was, staring straight at me. I opened it with great excitement and quickly realized that it was filled with pages upon pages of words! Don't get me wrong, I love to read! but when it comes to cooking and crafts - I want pictures! I like my pages laid out in colours, textiles, patterns, recipes and with a little wording. I think what I envisioned was a book that combined all things domestic in recipe and pattern form with simplicity, but that was not how it turned out, and at $40 (CAD) I wasn't convinced it was a good purchase. Maybe someone can get inspired to combine a book with all these things?? PLEASE! So off to the knitting section I go to find a replacement. Another sea of choices! I quickly realized I was cutting into crock pot and knitting time so I grabbed some cooking magazines and headed home.

I should say that another reason I started this blog was to track my current dive into the knitting and crafting sections of my life. I made a hat (a tam of sorts) a year back, with no set pattern and just an idea to roll with, and in the end handed it to a friend. Well, said friend moved to New York, and works in a shop there, where her boss and co-workers loved the hat. So I was asked to knit 15 hats in three colours in 3 weeks! It's a true test of feat! and my love for knitting, so I'm happy to oblige, even if this turns out to be a one time thing. You will hear more of this adventure along the way.

Friday, November 7, 2008

The St(art) of Domesticity

I'm starting this blog to keep track of all my knitting, cooking, baking and sewing....and more (whatever that entails!) I'm stepping out this morning with a starting point of a few key things. One would be the crock-pot to save our lives (or at least an hour each day after work) and a new craft book http://yarnstorm.blogs.com/knitblog/my-book-in-the-usa.html(to inspire me during those extra few hours that the crock-pot gives me each day). This blog will be my record of whether these two things will save me....and inspire me, or leave me pretty much in the same spot I started in (with less $$) - hopefully not the latter!