Saturday!!!

 Good Evening Internet Friends!

Rained on and off all day today so I decided I would stay home and get things done rather than go out and run any errands.  The forecast looks like rain for most of next week so I will be driving to work as I am not that dedicated to riding my bicycle🚴.

Did the vacuuming, floor washing, baseboards wiped, all surfaces dusted, wood surfaces oiled and 9 loads of laundry done so all clothes, kitchen and bed linens have been washed as of now.

Baked a loaf of banana bread:

After cleaning was done and between loads of laundry I did a few rows on my newest knitting project: 

 I bought this set of books for my birthday last week from River City Yarns.  I bought all three books and as a bonus 2 skeins of their Epic Yarn was included in the pack.  I chose Maritime and Snow for my colours.  

Kiddo wanted chicken for dinner so I marinated some chicken drumsticks that were on sale earlier this week at Costco and made some Parmesan roasted veggies to serve with:

 

 Took kiddo and doggie out for a long walk after dinner.

Will do a bit of knitting now and maybe get to bed on time....

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you all the BEST Day EVER Sunday tomorrow.

Kathy

Knitting A Mitten!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today was kind of cold and the wind was chilly, almost felt like winter outside.  

This evening after getting all the household and mom chores done I knit a bit on my mitten.  This is a Thrum Mitten and the kit is one of my Yarn Crush subscription boxes.  

One mitten completed!

I have already cast on the second mitten but am beginning to think the snow will arrive before this pair of mittens is ready to make their winter debut ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Whirlwind Sunday....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Well, my three day weekend is over and now back to work for 4 days, off for one and then evenings this weekend.  I can always account for my days yet always seem to wonder where the time goes.

This morning kiddo and I were up bright and early because we had to help his Boy Scouts group organize and inventory all of their equipment for the upcoming season.  I started a load of laundry before we left.

We returned home after lunch to carry on with the laundry (we were cold though cause it started to rain on us) and get ready for school and work this week.

First off because the weather seemed rather nasty outside I cut down all of my chive plant and chopped it up and put it in the oven at 170 F for two hours to dry:

All chopped and ready for the oven on top of a piece of brown paper.

Two hours later I have almost a cup of chopped dried chives.  These are now living in the freezer for use in cooking in the upcoming winter (which right now seems like tomorrow).

I decided that I better start working on some of the veggies from the haul last weekend so decided a quick way to get rid of lots in a hurry would be to make borscht:

We had some for dinner and will for lunch as well tomorrow.  The remainder has been packed into containers and is bound for the freezer as I really did not feel like starting the canning process late in the evening (today anyways).  

Nothing tastes better in my mind than soup with fresh bread so I made Oatmeal, Multi-grain, Whole Wheat bread:

YUM.  My favorite with butter!

For dessert I used the last of the fresh rhubarb from the refrigerator and made Rhubarb Crumble Pie:

I LOVE this dessert!!!  So Yummy!!!

Now of course in typical me fashion while all of this was going on laundry was not enough to keep me occupied so between loads and batches I also worked on:

Socks!  I wore my wool socks today and they were amazing as always; I was cold but my feet were not.   ☺

Thrum Mittens because it is getting cold out (as I have mentioned a few times....right?).

Both of these yarns are from my Yarn Crush/Sock Crush subscription boxes.  As I sat knitting these today I realized that part of what I love about these boxes is that the boxes only contain yarn from Indie Yarn Dyers!  As you likely know I love supporting small and local businesses and these boxes allow for me to expand my yarn intake more than I probably would on my own as right now I have 4 favorite Indie Dyers and pretty much always use these.

I will post more details later in the week about each of these, but for tonight I think I shall go to sleep.  It's been a long but very good day. ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

What am I Doing Now???

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I went out over the weekend to the farm to my garden.  Not sure who had the brilliant idea to plant all those carrots, beets and potatoes but whomever it was was NUTS.  Now I know this is no where near the garden my mother used to plant.... but in my defense she fed five people; I feed two all the time, and three when hubby is home from camp so no real comparison.

Here is my version of a tailgate party for the September Long Weekend: 

There are carrots, beets, tri-colored carrots, onions, rhubarb, green, yellow and purple beans on the tailgate.  

Potatoes red and purple ( I do not grow white or yellow potatoes cause I just don't like them). ☺

I really wanted to leave the pumpkin until the weekend but was worried with the temperatures dropping something would happen to it and then I would be upset.  In perspective this pumpkin is larger than a gallon pail.

Tomatoes, red, purple and yellow!

This evening has been spent blanching the tri-colored carrots!

While the carrots are boiling and cooling I have started working on my latest knitting creation.

For the past 14+ days I have been driving the F 350 Super Duty Crew Cab with an 8' box as my daily vehicle.  This means that there is no heated underground parking garage for me when I arrive at work.  To park the truck I have to park almost 3 blocks away from work and walk.  Every morning it seems to be a little colder on my hands.  

Since I love knitting (it is still my favorite of all crafts and let's keep that in perspective I learned to knit when I was 8 years old and it is always part of my daily life) I decided it was time to knit myself a new pair of mittens.  My yarns are all from Indie Yarn Dyers.  There are so many fabulous yarn dyers here in Canada.  Just about the time I think I have found my FAVORITE yarn, I find another that I love just as much if not a little more.  I love being able to support these Indie artists and the work that they put into the wool that they choose and the dyeing process to get the unique one of a kind colors.  Most of the yarn that I use is wool, sometimes I will get a wool with a silk added to it.  It is rare for me to use commercially prepared yarns as I love natural fibers and the feel of true wool for my projects.  I also love these more natural wool yarns because I have a lot of allergies and skin sensitivities that are not affected by the yarns I get from Indie yarn dyers.  I always encourage people to try these not as processed wool yarns before they give up on wool because it is just so amazingly soft, comfortable and warm in winter.  ☺

Cast On and away I go!  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Teacher's Convention

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

My son had today off for Teacher's Convention and I had my regular day off today.

We stayed up late last night watching movies and then slept in this morning.

After breakfast we headed out to Emerald Hills to do some shopping.  We hit up almost every store there and got him a hair cut before going to Red Robin for lunch.

After lunch we came home, took the dog out for a walk and then made dinner.

My Yarn Crush box arrived and I was so excited about this months shipment.  The box contained:

A Thrumming Kit for a Full pair of mittens, not fingerless mittens.  I am so excited to get started on these, but I got two sets of socks on the go, and some quilting, oh and wait some scrapbooking things too!

As for scrapbooking I did finally finish my December box of Paper Pumpkin:

The kit was for a monthly calendar on a holder stand.

I have cancelled my subscription to Paper Pumpkin as of this month because the kits are really hit and miss with regards to quality.  The paper is not Stampin' Up quality and there are a lot of kits that I just don't like and will not likely ever use.

Now I should likely go to my craft room and do some of these projects ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sunday Funday...

Good Late Evening Internet Friends.

Today my son and I are referring to as Sunday Funday.  We accomplished almost nothing except for some laundry being washed.

I did a bit of knitting, still not anything that I can really showcase.  

After lunch we headed out with the dog for a walk to my friend Sharon's just to see how my quilt is coming along.  I will say it looks AMAZING!!!  Probably the nicest quilted quilt that I have ☺

Since it was Sharon's birthday recently I finished up the last pair of my fingerless mittens from Yarn Crush and along with blog friend Jane's idea of putting the cheapy dollar store gloves under these I gifted these to Sharon for her birthday because they are pretty and RED.

Of course I made a gift box:

Used one sheet of my brand new It's My Party Designer Series Paper from Stampin' Up and I even made the box using my Gift Box Punch Board!  OMG.  Only the ribbon is contraband ☺

Inside the box went these beauties:

I have been loving these monthly yarn and pattern and small gifty packages from Yarn Crush but unfortunately although they are a Canadian company the kits are priced in US dollars meaning that the next time I go to pre-purchase my subscription the cost will be significantly more and not sure that it is worth it (sad face).

The walk was great although cold it was - 26 degress Celsius (-15 Fahrenheit).  We all including puppy walked quickly:

Arriving home we made hot chocolate and then watched some tele under quilts ☺

Back to work tomorrow, so off to bed I go.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Work In Progress Wednesday

Good Very late Evening Internet Friends!

I should probably be in bed by now, but since I do not work tomorrow I thought I would try and get one of my Work In Progress Projects done tonight.  Since I am doing this I also thought that maybe it was time again to link up with fellow Crafty Persons over at The Needle and Thread Network.

Progress update is for one mitten completed (threads not tucked in) and one mitten just needs a thumb and threads tucked in.  I LOVE these mittens.  They are from my October subscription to Yarn Crush.  I am loving these boxes (okay, I like yarn).  Each month's project so far has been something that normally I would not have made, but have made anyways and enjoyed it.  October was fingerless mittens...seriously.  I live in Edmonton where no matter how the city may try to spin it, winter here is COLD and HARSH.  The mittens turned out really pretty, but really not sure what purpose they will stand other than being my indoor mittens????

While in Banff over Christmas I was able to score some more of this wonderful yarn from Raventwist and will be knitting mittens appropriate for Western Canada.

As of dinner tonight it is snowing outside.  Here is my front yard...COLD:

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Boxing Day

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

Today was a DO NOTHING kinda day for us.

We slept late, went outside and sat in the snow for a bit (literally, the snow if powdery soft and not really too conducive to pulling in the sled).

After lunch we ventured in to Canmore to see what was gong on.

I met up with Hasmi from Raventwist as I was hoping to get more yarn to finish off my Yarn Crush October Mittens.  These mittens are fingerless mittens and of course I live in Western Canada where winter is actually COLD!

She was out of the red dye lot that I have but I was able to get more of the Aurora yarn of which I will knit a full pair of mittens from and a color called Chili Pepper:

We wandered the streets of town for a bit and found a sale at Rocky Mountain Soap Factory so I stocked up on a few things:

Then we headed back to the resort for dinner and an evening of watching television movies!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Knitting A Mitten

Good Evening Internet Friends,

Today was a very quiet, relaxing and uneventful day.  We slept late and did some sledding and that was about it.

After dinner and a Christmas movie I did a bit of knitting.  This is one of the fingerless mittens that I got in a Yarn Crush mailing a few months ago.  I love these mittens and I think that I just might have to knit a full pair of these mittens someday:

I know I should finish this mitten and the other, but I also have another skein of wonderful yarn that is calling my name.....maybe I will cast it on tomorrow....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

My Grandma Sadie used this expression about her life all the time.  The older I get though I am not truly sure she understood the concept of it in the manner that I do.

This morning my son and I started the day off by getting up and getting to Santa's Breakfast for 0900 hours.  We made it, although we had to eat at the preschoolers table by the time we got our food!  My son thought it was hilarious that his mom could fit at the preschoolers table ☺

Then we waited in line to meet Santa.  Santa was awesome.  My son has not got a list this year as to what he wants for Christmas so when asked by Santa what he wants he replied "stuff".  Santa was awesome and let him know that Santa has "stuff".  ☺

After that we headed off to try and get my son a hair cut.  Thankfully we were out and about early enough in the morning that his favorite hair stylist was able to squeeze him in.

Afterwards we stopped at Bulk Barn and picked up some random goodies which included these sprinkles that I put on our hot chocolate this evening after walking the dog:

Then it was back to Millennium Place for skating lessons:

After skating  headed off to his Christmas piano recital of which he played his own composition of Deck the Halls.  He was very proud of himself for accomplishing this as was I.

Then it was finally time for lunch.  We used a Groupon for poutine at My Fries.  Yummy as always.

Next up we stopped by Sweet Convenience to buy candy with (you guessed it) another Groupon I had!!!

Lastly we stopped by River City Yarns and picked up some wonderful woolly goodies.

Coming home I decided that maybe I should do something with all of the craft chaos that I have going on right now.  "Sew" here is what I accomplished:

I sewed the buttons onto my Fingerless Mittens (still a silly concept I think) that was one set of mittens from my October box of Yarn Crush.  I did have to make these mittens a little smaller than the pattern not because my hands are small but because although I knit to gauge there was not enough yarn to complete both of them as long as they were supposed to be.  Now I have 4 left over buttons for another project I guess.

Now it's off to bed as skiing starts tomorrow, and there is laundry and baking for lunches this week and groceries and house cleaning and ......................................

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Life From a Box???

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Okay, it has been a long time since I blog posted, but don't worry I have still been crafting, just too busy to blog post about it.

I realized this weekend how much of my life revolves around boxes these days.

Each month I get a box in the mail from Sweet Georgia Yarns with my sock of the month yarn.

This month's yarn is called Frozen Grapes:

It is so beautiful to touch, and I really need to get a project started with it!

I also receive in the mail a monthly subscription to the Frivols Club offered by the Quilt Patch because even with shipping it is cheaper to order it than pick up locally (seriously):

"Sew" much fun!!!

Then there is my subscription to Paper Pumpkin.  This month's kit is one that will be completed ASAP:

I have also started receiving a box of monthly yarns from Yarn Crush.  This month there were two skeins of yarn to make 2 pairs of finger-less gloves.  Not sure that these are in any way suited for the climate here in Western Canada, but I made them anyways just because I loved the feel of the yarn, the color and also the pattern.  I have finished knitting them now and just need to sew them together.  Thankfully as of yet there is still no snow on the ground in Edmonton (the snow we received the other evening melted by morning) and there is still greenish grass in the river valley.  Here is the river valley this evening:

These are the mittens waiting to be sewn together:

Tomorrow maybe???

Now, if that is not enough boxes to arrive on my door step I also ordered a 6 month subscription to Bark Box for the puppy.  He loves all of his toys and snacks that he got this month and interestingly enough the Shih Tzu fits in the box:

"Sew" there we have my life from boxes.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Awful Waffle Sunday!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today is Sunday and as usual that means I got up a little earlier than everyone else and made WAFFLES!!!

I even tempered some Bernard Callebaut chocolate to drizzle over the waffles!  They were very tasty.

Mid afternoon I decided that we needed cheesecake for dessert.  Why?  Not sure, but I thought we did so I made a cheesecake and strawberry sauce for it:

OMG it is delicious.....I have been back to the fridge a couple of times for "just a bite" since dinner ☺

For dinner I poached Atlantic Salmon with a creamy dill sauce and served with mashed potatoes, broccoli and salad:

While waiting for laundry loads this afternoon I did manage to finish my Thrumb Mittens:

Apparently it is a good thing I finished these today because when we took puppy for his walk this evening this is what I discovered:

Somehow, this is the first snow that we have had this fall.  I should not complain because I cannot remember a time when by November there had at not been at least one snow fall.  My petunias only froze on Wednesday!!!  ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Knitten' A Mitten...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

This morning while waiting for the school bus with my son I realized that fall has actually arrived here in Alberta.  The temperature was -5 Celsius (23 Fahrenheit) but felt like -8 Celsius (18 Fahrenheit).  Of course since I am getting old all of my bones felt like they were frozen to the core and it took me most of the morning (despite wool socks) to warm up!  ☺

This evening I decided to spend some time working on my Thrumb Mittens because I am going to NEED these very soon:

TAH DAH!!!!

Now off to make a warm cup of tea and do a little more knitting before bedtime.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Here Comes Monday....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I had BIG plans for this weekend.

On Saturday morning I got my son up bright and early and after breakfast we headed off to the Home Depot for the Saturday morning Kids Workshop.  This week my son got to build a Football toss game:

I find this class fun and also a little hilarious.  Yes, I may have grown up on the farm in Saskatchewan but my dad was by trade a Finish Carpenter.  The dad's at this class try to build for the kids and not use glue, and the moms don't want their nails broke etc, and use TOOOOO much glue.☺  The end results can be quite funny.  

After running a few errands we headed over to the Creative Stitches Show.  Of course I bought some new yarns.  Surprisingly I only came home with one small table runner quilt kit, a pattern, one meter of hilarious fabric, and a few fat quarters.  There really was nothing I "needed".

Then it was time to load up the car and head to the farm to dig up the potatoes this weekend and pack up anything perishable for winter from the trailer so that my husband can winterize it next weekend while I am at work.  About a half hour from the farm I got the backseat warning of "MOM, I'm going to be sick", and so he was.....  I thought that maybe it would pass quickly, but not so much.  So, by late evening I loaded him and a small pail filled with paper towels and grocery bags back into the car and came home.  

Thankfully, there are lots of quilts in the house with which one can make washable nests and so that is what I have most of today.  Now, I can say there is a reason for all my quilts. ☺

While he was napping this afternoon I did finish my mitten:

My son thinks it looks like an oven mitt, hopefully it will be as warm as one!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Saturday Knitting

Good Evening Internet Friends.  

Woke up this morning to an overcast sky and forecast for rain so we stayed home.  I did a bit of house cleaning and de-stashing of my craft room.

After dinner I watched some television with my son and knit on a pair of mittens I am currently making:

 This is the first time that I have tried to make Thrummed Mittens.

Now just to put in the thumb, and start the second one!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Mittens

Today while my son was at art class I finished knitting a mitten.

This mitten is part of the Christmas Club Biscotte from Biscotte & Cie:

Alright, one hand done, now to try and get the other one done by Christmas so that I can actually say I was done these before Christmas!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy