Ready For the Snow! NOT!!!!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

This evening I finished my pair of Winkelmittz mittens!  The fantastic news to this is that the pattern is now correct as well thanks to yours truly for finding it!  

I have been working on these mittens since early last spring, but no matter what I did something was not right.  Finally I sent a message to the designer and she agreed that there was a typo.  Once that was fixed these mittens came together perfectly and easily.

This is now hands down (pun intended) my favorite Thrum Mitten pattern:

TAH DAH!

These are so super cozy and warm I want the snow to come back just so I can try them out!  Who am I kidding?????  I still hate winter, but at least I have new warm woolly mittens for the upcoming 17 months of winter (not really.....a bad Western Canada joke).  

Now it's off to start some of the many other knitting projects I have in the house.

I am still trying to recover from night shifts last weekend.  Had my turn around days but somehow did not get turned around to day shift before starting back for three day shifts this week.  I really think Monday disguised itself as Wednesday this week on top of that☺

Hoping that this weekend I can get my days and nights sorted out as well as my 200 lbs of tomatoes.....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

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

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