Amaryllis-a Plucky winter flower hat

 

 

Many of the blogs I read have featured beautiful blooming amaryllis plants during this past holiday season. They really are such pretty plants and it is fun to watch them grow. I mentally put that on my list for next Christmas, along with don't go shopping at the mall on December 23rd! ( Having a bit of sippy sippy of Tara's homemade Baileys on ice can stay though!). I saw a great hat pattern on the recent zine publication, All Bundled Up, compiled by the Plucky Knitter. This collection of patterns is awesome, I could knit all of them, and her colours are unreal. I bought a pattern, found some great colours and proceeded to knit. It wasn't till I was half way through I actually looked at the pattern name and then those two brain cells of mine clicked. Here is my Amaryllis!!  And here is the pattern. I really really like this hat!!

 

 

I knit it using Madelinetosh Vintage, with colours Nassau Blue, Button Jar, Coquette and Silver Fox. Its pretty bright and snappy but it is a great antidote to all the gloomy weather we have had lately.

It fits really well. I am definitely going to knit another one soon. I will try another colour in the mix. My felted mitts matched too-another bonus!

 

 

 

 

 

The weather here has been really monochromatic. It is hovering above and below freezing. No complaints there!. We get a lot of valley cloud in the winter, so we get really socked in. The plus side is the cloud protects us from very cold temperatures and it also protects our fruit trees and vineyards.  We are all longing to see some sunshine and bright blue skies. It would sure be nice to see the top of our mountains again too!

 

 

 

 

 







 

 

Well there is always a bit of cooking to think about on cold dull days. I made some Focaccia bread and some Cream of Broccoli soup.  The soup recipe is here. You can add some dill and herbs for seasoning. It's really good, good for you and super easy. I am always looking for new recipes or meal ideas. What are you cooking? Please share!

 

Keep smiling!!

 

Chris

 

 

 

 



 
 



 
 
 

                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking ahead to a Happy Creative Year

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Gnomes Chomsky, Engels and Marx debating New Years revolutions

 Here we are again, and here I am again, a little late to the party. I have enjoyed my fellow blogger's warm Christmas and New Year's wishes. I really can' t add anything more eloquent or more thoughtfully expressed. However I do wish all of you a happy, calm and creative year ahead!

Christmas here was fun and very relaxed . There was a lot of eating, laughing, knitting (on my part) and general multi-slacking activities. Just perfect. I have lots of knitting done but alas, no pictures or glam shots have been taken. Santa brought us a new laptop as our old one bit the dust a few months ago. I am having issues with MICROSOFT 8 as I can't load Blogger Dashboard. Does anyone have any thoughts? I am using my iphonefor pics on my kids laptop still. Hopefully all be resolved soon and I can use my camera...etc. In the grand scheme of things its not  a big deal but I do like things running smoothly.



 

 

 

We had a mega dump of snow at the beginning of the week, over a foot and a half. It was crazy!!!
Unfortunately Mr Sciatica had an episode (my man) and I was the chief shoveller. After several inches had fallen, I opted for "let's not clear the driveway and just keep a path open!" I survived and it warmed up and the town is now a big slush bowl. Good excuse to stay in and knit, drink tea and finish up some Christmas chocolate!

I would like to share with you some really nice thoughtful gifts I received from a couple of my knitty buddies.

 

 

My friend Shannon knit me this lovely cowl using Crazy Zauberball. She used the September Cowl pattern. I love this pattern as it takes a yarn with long colour runs and transforms it into such a interesting lacy piece. Honestly you couldn't plan these colour changes out!. She also made me a super cute project bag. I love them both! She has some upcoming knee surgery so I will have a captive audience....mwhahahaha, I have lots of knitting planned for her down time.

My friend Wendy gifted me this gorgeous woven African basket. I was instructed to find a small project to put in it...now there's a tough job.  She also gave me some of her delicious apricot jam, it is sooo good. I have been the lucky recipient of her jams and jellies and they are such a great treat! Thanks a bunch Wendy!!

Our daughter gave me these. They are pretty funny. I have a  (cough cough) considerable hand knit sock collection and there have been a few jokes made about this. Gotta laugh at yourself!

The gnomes were knit using an Alan Dart pattern. I love his knit toys but all those pieces! Sewing them up is a real patience builder. I think our three sages our discussing that Hot Pirate Babe found in a garden. Hope springs eternal fellas!

I will be back with some more completed projects and I am sure you are all missing out on another exciting and riveting update on cooking with squash. I did make a pumpkin cheesecake for Christmas, it was really good. Counts as a vegetable in my books!

Keep smiling friends

Chris

Merry Christmas everyone!

Another year has rolled around and here it is Christmas again

Outdoor skating rink

tree bombing

I found this really touching.

taking brownies, pumpkin cheesecake and westie sugar cookies to Shannon's

I wish you all a peaceful happy and safe holiday

Hope Santa is good to you all !

Merry Christmas!!

Chris

Keeping your head warm !

With our recent cold snap (and it was unusually cold) I was very happy I had knit this hat I am not a big hat wearer as I find I look pretty goofy in a lot of them. But when the daytime high is -12C you have to get over that real fast!

This hat is Purlbee Simple Pleasures Hat. I knit it with one strand of Shibui Staccato with one strand of Shibui Silk Cloud in Ash. I love my hat! It is super warm and super lightweight, looks great on everyone.



There's the Old Trout and Archie!

 

 

I really like the colour, it blends in with my natural highlights! If you are interested in knitting this one , you can find the project details on my Ravelry page. I am silverfox.

Under the category "Look Ma I have no hair!", there was another great reason to have this hat. I recently opted for a new hair style. I decided with my daughter's help to change it up a bit. I wear my hair pretty short, well let me tell you, it sure is a lot shorter now. We are talking buzzed up the sides and back and longer up top. I love it! It is very very short now and I will take a pic when it grows in a bit-for me that means a week! My hair grows like the mischief and it is very thick. Well its quite a bit different now and my other hats are all a bit big-again give me a week or two. Hmm come to think about it my daughter was on a lot of heavy pain meds at the time, hahaha, it is all good!

Speaking of my girl, thanks for your well wishes on her wisdom teeth extraction ordeal. Well, you know in life sometimes things don't always go the way we'd planned or hoped for. She has had a lot of complications and it ain't over yet. I will say no more as I don't want to tempt fate. We have a great saying here, This too shall pass!

 

I am currently knitting her a sweater. This one is going to take awhile. Details will be provided at a later date!

 

 

 

Yesterday when were taking his nibs out for a walk, we saw these wild Trumpeter Swans at the lake. We have lived here a long time and I have never seen them before. Soon as they saw us they hit the water. They are really big birds, easily over 3.5 feet. Archie was mercifully quiet and still as you really really don't want those birds taking  a run at you! It was quite exciting to see them though!

 

 

We are getting our Christmas mojo back! Today it was Westie sugar cookies. Kinda silly but fun!

 



Keep Smiling Friends!

Chris

A Churchmouse Cowl and how can it be December already??

I must be living in some kind of time/space warp, I can't believe it is December 5 already!! I am really  enjoying reading all my fellow blogger's Christmas gift making and decorating. What an awesome bunch! Sadly I haven't quite got my groove on with my own Christmas preparations but I am sure soon I will launch into high gear. Okay maybe not so high but at least get the ball rolling!  When our kids were younger and we had a lot more family around I was pretty organized and super busy. Now I am more of a multi-slacker. Times change and that's perfectly okay.

 

 I knit this cowl recently. Love it ! I thought this would be a great quick (ish) knit for some of you who want to knock off another gift, or better yet, make one for yourself!!

This is The Inside Outside Churchmouse Cowl. It is a great straightforward knit. I started with a provisional cast on-I use a crochet cast on with waste yarn. Then I knit approximately 8 inches with Shibui Stocatto-a fingering weight yarn in Tar. I then started knitting my stripe sequence with two strands of Kidsilk Haze Eclipse in  Aquarius alternately with Shibui Silk Cloud in Raspberry. When the stripey part was the same length as the plain part I grafted the two edges together. Grafting with the mohair was okay, you just need a lot of good light and a big dose of patience. If you are not a fan of the graft., a three needle bind off would work just dandy. It is amazing to me that this cowl just folds nicely on the rounds where I changed yarns.
 My cowl is so nice to wear with a coat or atop a sweater. It is super soft and just drapes nicely. This is a great stash buster project and a great way to use up left over sock yarn. You could have a lot of fun with this pattern!

My squashapalazoo continues. Today I made a butternut squash apple soup. This time instead of making a curried soup I made a warm spicy one. I used ginger and pumpkin pie spice to flavour it . It tastes great but it tastes even better if you add a couple of glugs of maple syrup. Yum! The house smells awesome!!

I was recently nominated by two awesome bloggers for the Leibster  Blog Award  by the lovely

The Best Chocolate Fudgy Brownies!!

I will dispense with the pleasantries today and be quick to the chase! Who amongst us doesn't like a delicious piece of chocolate brownie? For the majority of us there is no question,it is a no brainer!!

Here at Chez Chrissy we are in love with this one! You may notice there small little orangey yellow bits in the brownie and it does have a secret ingredient...

 

 

Yes my friends, it is a butternut squash! We all know that squashes are considered superfoods now. They are full of vitamins, mineralas, fibre, antioxidants, phytonutrients...etc.

 

oops in the recipe you don't add butter to the chocolate, I did and it was fine

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Some very brilliant cooks discovered that if you add squash to some chocolate, butter, flour eggs..etc, you produce the best fudgiest brownies! And on the rare occasion they last more than a day, they taste even better the next day. I found the recipe here. They are fantastic, wait a minute they are doubly fantastic as they contain a super healthy veggie!! I don't know if they qualify for a veggie serving but it is worth a try! 

 

  Now kids, you have to make these and if you aren't interested in making them, then get someone to make them for you. If you are eating gluten free, it only uses 3/4 c of flour so I think you could substitute a gluten free flour easily. I have a friend who is celiac so I am going to make them for her.

 

 

 

 

 

Since I am all about the squash these days, I bought the book. Oh my, this is a good one. I have made the pumpkin cupcakes (yum) and the cheesy squash cornbread. There are tons of good recipes for veggie dishes, soups, desserts, you name it! Love it !!  Nom nom nom!!!!

 

 

 

 I have been knitting Kelpie , a Brooklyn Tweed pattern. Love it, but for the life of me I can not believe how many screw ups I have done with this one. It is not a particularly difficult pattern but I have ripped out many many stitches and rows on this puppy ( maybe too much chocolate?). It is a very interesting construction and I do like knitting projects that use different techniques. I have finished a few things lately and I just have to get off my arse and take some photos.

 

 

 

We have had a bit of a cold snap this past week. We were taking his little lordship out for a walk at City Park and I snapped a few pics with my phone.

 

There's a big heron sitting on an abandoned osprey's nest

 Thank goodness for great technology, half the time I really don't know what I am looking at that well and the pictures come out quite decently.

 

 

 

Have a good week friends

 

Keep smiling

 

And go make some squash brownies!

 

Chris

Skiff a Brooklyn Tweed Hat and some of my knitty buddies!

 

It is amazing how one strong wind and a cold front moving in can change the seasons abruptly. Over night the leaves are blown off the trees and we are left with stark silhouettes across a stormy sky. I knit the hat above way back in September. I saw this yarn, Debbie Bliss Luxury Aran and Skiff, a new Brooklyn Tweed pattern and I had to do it. I knit it for my husband and he really likes it. But my friend Shannon did the modelling for me. She likes it a lot! (you can see her mailbox in the background). She is a great knitter and we can talk for long periods of time about patterns and wool and all the projects we can do!