Archive for September 2010
As the summer is ever so slowly winding down, I have really been enjoying sitting and crocheting in the evenings. I’ve been working on this scarf for a little bit and I love how it turned out. After Dawn had completed a couple of these gorgeous scarves, I knew I had to jump in and try some as well. 
This first one is for the kid’s swimming teacher. I have no idea what her personal tastes are as far as clothing as I only ever see her in a bathing suit and cap, but she has dark hair and I think it will go well with her complexion. It’s a pretty bold colour, so I hope that she likes it. Everybody could use one bright, bold scarf, right? I really loved this pattern, the repeats are super easy to remember which made it perfect for picking up and putting it down, a definite must with four kids and plenty more interruptions. I promise, I have been doing more than just crochet, but I wanted to show this to you all before I give it away. Hope everyone is doing well, don’t you just love the chill in the air?
crochet, gifts • Saturday, September 25th, 2010 • 11 Comments »
As the summer winds down we have been enjoying the last of the summer sun. We’ve had a few chilly days, which I must admit felt really nice to be able to snuggle up with a blanket and a cup of tea. 
The occasional wildflower picked by my eldest son, tomato sandwiches and plenty of mud cakes. 
I’ve had several posts running through my head, but I just haven’t had the time/energy to sit down and write them. Life is a tad chaotic around here at the moment. Busy work schedule for Hubby, swimming lessons several times a week, ballet on the weekend, sorting through all of my boys baby clothes to pass along to my soon to be born very first nephew. The house is a mess, the girls haven’t been sleeping well, which of course means mama hasn’t been sleeping well, but life is good. We are all healthy, and happy, and I am looking forward to the (hopefully) slow down of the fall. One of my favourite things about fall is the chill in the air and being able to throw a sweater on and finally not be so hot. What is your favourite thing about this season?
family, food, gifts • Tuesday, September 21st, 2010 • 8 Comments »
I’ve had several projects on the go that I had to keep under wraps as they were for gifts, but now that these slippers have been received, I can show them to you all. I really do love to crochet, and I love the look of crocheted items, but it is nice every now and then to crochet something that doesn’t look crocheted, if you get what I mean. These slippers are a great example of that. They were crocheted and then felted and I am really pleased with how they turned out. The pattern is brilliant and fairly straightforward. They are crocheted in one piece (the strap is separate) and then felted. A few stitches to attach the strap is the only sewing required. I used some thrifted cover-your-own buttons from the sixties and the babe helped me make them. I love the earthy colours, perfect for transitioning into the fall weather. If you are in need of a good gift idea for the holidays, then may I highly suggest these slippers. One slipper can easily be done in an evening and if you are making several pairs, you can just save them all up to felt when you are finished crocheting. There are so many fun colours of wool out there and tons of brilliant buttons, you can customize these to your hearts content.
crochet, family, gifts • Wednesday, September 15th, 2010 • 15 Comments »
This is the first ripe raspberry on our bush for this season. I had an odd sense of deja vu and after a few seconds of thinking about it, realized that almost exactly a year ago, I started this blog with our first raspberry ever. It’s been quite the year. There have been challenges a plenty, but also many, many good times. My family has grown a little older, I have gotten quite a few grey hairs myself. I’ve loved blogging, though I had to adjust my schedule slightly as at this point blogging every day was getting to be a tad too much. I’ve met some new good friends, and been able to read about so many other people’s lives, which is just fascinating. Being a stay-at-home mom who homeschools, it’s been wonderful to have this online community where I can be inspired by the many other amazingly talented women out there. I can’t thank you enough for stopping by this little place and making me feel so welcome. I truly appreciate the comments and the friendships I have made. Here’s to another year!
family • Saturday, September 11th, 2010 • 10 Comments »
These are one of the yummiest cookies I have ever had. The flavour is so complex yet subtle, they are absolutely scrumptious. They were gone in a flash, a definite favourite with the family. Mind you, they are rich and very buttery, so it is probably a good thing that there are six of us, fewer left to hang around and tempt me. This past couple of weeks has been crazy and we are still trying to get into a new fallish routine so I haven’t been doing much extra lately. We’ve had swimming lessons, a different work schedule with Hubby to get used to and just general business.Things should smooth out here soon but in the meantime, we are enjoying the occasional cool day, lots of reading and snuggling and dreaming about the future. If you like cookies, and who doesn’t, you should definitely give these coconut lime cookies a try, you won’t regret it.
food • Thursday, September 9th, 2010 • 4 Comments »
This past weekend we paid a visit to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was beautiful and we spent a little bit of time driving round to find some elk. They are starting to congregate to rut (their mating period) and we were lucky to spot a few. 
Here is a cow, She is beautiful. During the rut, the biggest, strongest bulls will have a harem of up to 20 cows. 
She’s been spotted. This was one big elk, and he wasn’t more than 50 yards away from us. Every year when they congregate, the bulls will fight for dominance and only the strongest maintain harems. 
The chase is on. He went after her licking his lips and bugling. 
Rejected. Silly boy, even cows need a respectable amount of wooing. 
The bugling of the male elk is eery (at least to me). It can be heard for miles and sounds like someone is being murdered. Incidentally, our eldest can imitate it perfectly. What a majestic creature, we were so lucky to see them so close. We did end up seeing one male and his harem of 17 cows, but they were much farther away. We are hoping to go one more time when there are many more elk in the meadows, it would be great to see some of them antler wrestling for dominance.
nature • Monday, September 6th, 2010 • 5 Comments »
I love pesto, but have never made my own. I had a bunch of basil that needed using up, so I gave it a try. Boy was I glad I did, it tasted so much better than any other pesto I have ever had. There are tons of recipes out there, but this is the first one I came across, so this is what I tried. 
I’ve never made it before as basil from the store is expensive, and boy howdy those pine nuts are ridiculous. I found them in one store in town and they were $35 a pound. That is way out of my food budget, so in future I will be substituting walnuts or almonds (as I have read that lots of people do). 
The pesto made a delicious pasta supper, so let’s just hope we get a bunch more basil growing here in the next few weeks so I can make and freeze some for winter.
food, gardening • Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 • 10 Comments »
As the summer is ever so slowly winding down, I have really been enjoying sitting and crocheting in the evenings. I’ve been working on this scarf for a little bit and I love how it turned out. After Dawn had completed a couple of these gorgeous scarves, I knew I had to jump in and try some as well. 
This first one is for the kid’s swimming teacher. I have no idea what her personal tastes are as far as clothing as I only ever see her in a bathing suit and cap, but she has dark hair and I think it will go well with her complexion. It’s a pretty bold colour, so I hope that she likes it. Everybody could use one bright, bold scarf, right? I really loved this pattern, the repeats are super easy to remember which made it perfect for picking up and putting it down, a definite must with four kids and plenty more interruptions. I promise, I have been doing more than just crochet, but I wanted to show this to you all before I give it away. Hope everyone is doing well, don’t you just love the chill in the air? 
