Catching up on hats, wooden boxes and pulses

It feels like I am coming up for air again. Much as I love the holiday season, I do feel rather drained, OK really drained, by the time the the dust settles. It is mid January already and it is time to get my poop in a group and get back in the swing of things!

I knit a lot of hats for gifts this year and they were well received and greatly appreciated.Some years it can be a bit of a crap shoot, but this year cabled hats are big and are in. You just gotta roll with it!

knits in the wild

Recently we were pulling into the grocery store and I espied these two, daughter Rachael and her partner Brandon, loading groceries into their car. And they were wearing their hats!! Be still my knitting heart!!! Of course I had to pull over and yell-I mean call out softly and graciously-I need a picture of you two goobers!! Brandon is my ally on this one and a picture was taken.

Brandon's hat is Habitat, a Brooklyn Tweed pattern. I knit it with Tosh Vintage in Charcoal. I love this hat and with the yarn, the cables really pop. He has been wearing it a lot so that's good.

Knitting with black yarn can be less than uplifting at times, but the request was for black so black it was. It's hard to see the cables in the pictures so I overexposed one picture. The pattern is Take Heart, a pattern from Pom Pom Quarterly. I knit it with Ultra Alpaca Chunky-a nice wool/alpaca mix. It fits great!

Father Cables, a YOTH pattern, was sent out east to our son. Its a great pattern-I knit it with Tosh Vintage in Tart.

I knit a couple of these hats for our son and his partner also.There are made using the Madelinetosh Essential Hat pattern using Unicorn Tails.I am missing one last picture of a hat. I have been promised some pictures, but I am not holding my breath! I have requests for more hats but I am kinda over hats for the time being. Enough about hats! Why do people not send pictures!!!

Our Backyard Farms Boxes

Oh that Pinterest! I found some pictures on Pinterest of vintage wooden boxes used for display some time ago. Since our house is full of a lot of old crap that has great potential, I figured we could put together some boxes using some upcycled materials.

So we knocked together some boxes, thought of a name, and assembled some full of seasonal decorations for both our home and as gifts to special people. As soon as the potted narcissus and other spring bulbs are out I will make up a spring box.

Cooking stuff

I think in my last post I was talking about making marshmallows. Let me tell you, they are da bomb!! Everyone loves them and they are really good. And really, they are just puffs of air, so no concerns there. They are super easy, I used a recipe that didn't involve candy thermometers or anything too complicated. I made both plain and toasted coconut. Next up I will try some with spices or different fruit flavours. I am on a sugar detox from Xmas, sort of.

On to more things healthy!!

The UN has declared 2016 to be the year of the Pulses-dried beans, lentils, chickpeas etc. I have taken the pulse pledge, to incorporate more pulses in my diet weekly.They are full of protein, vitamins and minerals. Great antidote to marshmallows, but you have to have a balanced diet in my view.

I make lots of chilies and soups using beans and pulses but I thought I'd incorporate them into some baking. I made these pumpkin, lentil muffins and let me tell you they are delicious!! The recipe is Pumpkin Loaf and it can be found on the Pulse Canada website. The advantage to using lentils is that it allows you to use less fat, adds moisture and gives you a protein boost. I added chocolate chips in....just because! Yumm!! I also used a pumpkin pie squash we had grown this summer. We have a cold corner of the basement and I am totally astonished my squashes are keeping so well.

At the end of the year on IG (where I am Chrissyknitz), everyone was posting there favorite nine for the year. It is a good reminder to be happy and grateful for the good things in our lives.

At the close of the year we celebrated our 35th anniversary. Holy doodle, where did the time go!?! That seems like a big number ,just a minute, it is!! We are still a pair of goofballs just getting through life! Lots to be happy and grateful for! I am a little late to the party but I wish you all a Happy New Year. Let it be a year of peace, contentment and joy.

Keep Smiling!

Chris

Glorious Pom Pomery!!

Well my friends, it is a very busy time of year for all of us. Lots to do, to plan, most likely to not do, maybe it is a good way to keep us distracted from the long dark nights and short dim days of December.  I am actually sort of on top of my knitting projects, but not much else.

There have been a few hats knit for Christmas and since none of my family ever looks at my blog, I am A- OK to post a few pictures.

There is such a big trend in knitwear to adorn knit hats with big bold glorious pom poms! I love pom poms!! There was a time when pom poms were less than fashionable and were, I hate to say it, sadly considered downright goofy and rather gauche. My kids would have died a million deaths of embarrassment if I had affixed a pom pom to their hats or even worse if either of us wore a hat with a pom pom on it. And were seen wearing it in public!! Well, times change and a certain fashionista has requested a chunky cable hat with a large faux fur pom pom!!

The hat in the top picture is Katahdin  knit with The Fiber Company Acadia. This is really really lovely yarn. Its a blend of silk noil, alpaca and merino wool. It is so soft and has such a nice texture. When I found the bright pink pom pom, I almost swooned! It is so perfect! I did make some mods to the pattern and changed the needle sizes.

The rich green hat above is the Bray Cap a great Brooklyn Tweed pattern. I knit it with Tosh Vintage in Cousteau. It's a very rich bluish green colourway. The emerald green pom pom I found looks perfect! I love it! This was a great hat to knit.

My buddy Melissa very kindly modeled it for me!

And this hat has yet to be made, it is the last hat (maybe) on my gift list. Enough hat talk, I have more hats for another day. I am reveling in all this glorious pom pomery!!

My friend Wendy and I recently attended a Green Wreath workshop sponsored by our Regional District.

We were given materials to make green wreaths using plant and tree material we can all find in our yards and maybe our neighbours. It was loads of fun. We chose to construct a free form more organic design- at least that's what we called it. We really didn't have a plan. Now we are pros...lol!!

Our friends Pamela, Heather and her daughter Meghan went the next day. They had a plan ahead of  time. They wrapped old picture frames with chicken wire and then stuffed their greenery into the form. Their wreaths are beautiful!

And then there are the bales. We had a very nice warm fall but an Arctic front swooped down into our Valley a several weeks ago. If you can believe it, we still had veggies growing in the bales. We quickly picked what was left of the tomatoes, ( turns out it was 70 lbs!) and lots of other veggies.We thought now that's that, the bales are done and off to hibernate for the winter. Bye bye bales!

It got cold, really cold. The ground was frozen hard. I felt a little sad saying goodbye to the bales but truth be told, our love affair had cooled. I needed a break,a little time away.  I went out one afternoon and the arugula, chard and kale and the rest of the lettuce were frozen solid. It was OK, I had moved on. 

A warm wet pacific front rolled in last week, bringing much needed moisture and above average temperatures. I looked out my kitchen window and I am looking and some of the greens were looking remarkably upright and green and dare I say, somewhat alive. It was like they were waving at me and saying "Hey Chrissie, you haven't got rid of us yet-don't give up on us!!" So I went out and can you believe it, the arugula, chard, kale  and some lettuce were alive. I picked a couple of bags of stuff for dinner. I just don't get it, and please don't get me wrong, I am ever so grateful but I am thinking this is really weird. Now I know you can extend the growing season if you tarp the bales with clear plastic but we just thought maybe we'd try that next year. Winter slothfulness has set in here! We have BIG plans for next year but we talk up a storm around here!

Lots of people online and on Pinterest rave about home made marshmallows so I thought I'd give them a try. They are currently resting in their pans overnight. I have no idea on how they will turn out or what to expect. They can made with lots of flavours, chocolate, cinnamon, squash, peppermint...etc. I am just joking about the squash, just checking to see if you are still awake. I'll report back soon on the finished product.

Until then.....

Keep Smiling!!

 Chris

Still Veggie-licious and my Spincycle Hat

Do you ever just look at the calendar, shake your head and think Good Grief it is mid October already!?! It has been a very busy several weeks/months. I am behind on lots of stuff, but the earth is still spinning on its axis and the sun comes up every morning, so it is all good. 

There has been some knitting so for all you knitsters, here is my Spincycle hat.

The pattern for this hat is Cuba street, it is a great colourwork project. It is fun to knit and works up quickly. I used Spincycle Dyed in the Wool Yarn. I love this yarn. It has a great colour gradient that travels throughout the skein. The yarn is produced by two young women in Washington State, just south of us. It is a totally domestically produced wool. Wool is gathered from domestic sheep and then it is dyed and wool spun locally. It is a great example of complete vertical integration, I love it. This seems to be a big trend in the wool industry now. I think it is terrific as we are supporting our domestic industries, providing jobs locally and the best bonus is a beautifully handcrafted regionally local product. 

I admit I did knit this in the summer but I am a sequential chronological type of thinking person and I am getting all my knitting ducks in the row!

And the veggies are still growing

Herb bed

 We have been blessed with an absolutely beautiful fall, with warm sunny days and crisp cooler nights. I think our lovely weather window is about to close soon. It is mid October ! However the veggies are still growing in the bales and we will take whatever we can get! We have also planted some chard, kale tatsoi, arugula ,lettuce, collards and chiaggia beets for the fall. It will be very interesting to see how long we will be able to harvest food from the garden this fall.

anaheim peppers

borage

 

 

still churning out tomatoes

mint alley

peppermint chard

beans

a couple of carrots catching upon the latest bale buzz

beans, borage,  lovage and lemon grass

 Our squash groundcover experiment was a great success. The vines did cover and protect the soil and my sedums and we picked over 150 lbs of winter squash! That is not taking into account all the zucchinis we harvested from the 3 plants-we all know what zucchinis do! I think they are the rabbits of a garden!! It is squash nirvana here so brace yourselves for many squash based recipes in the weeks to come.

Recently we drove down to Summerland for the day. Summerland is a very pretty town south of us on Okanagan Lake. Their downtown streets are beautifully decorated for fall. If you are ever visiting there, go to Drew's Kitchen for breakfast or lunch. The food is soo good!

now is this straw or hay!/!

Have a great weekend friends!

Keep smiling!!

Chris