Trade-sies

So I've essentially given up on spinning at this point in my life.  I can say that now that I haven't used my wheel in almost a year.  I'm kind of sad, but every time I think of spinning I think how much knitting I could do instead ... it seems to appeal to me more, and thus I knit.

But I also garden now :)
I had no idea when I bought everything this spring how labour intensive and rewarding gardening is!  My mom has always been a gardener, and I have helped to put some of her flowers to rest on more than one occasion.  She shakes her head at me when I talk about cross-pollination now, but I can't help it.  The difference: I grow food.

To the left

And to the right

• Blueberries
• Broccoli
• Herbs
• Lettuce
• Raspberries
• Kale
• Tomatoes
• Garlic
• Onions

• Strawberries
• Green Bush Beans
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Serrano Peppers
• Bell Peppers
• and yet more onions ...

From a salad point of view, this little plot has been the best investment ever.  The lettuce and kale just keep giving, no matter how I abuse them, and the broccoli was the sweetest I have ever had.  The berries will be much more exciting next year, I'm sure.  Few things I know I'll never plant again:

• Zucchini - way too big for such a small space
• Spinach - I suck at it
• Green Beans - no one likes them but me ;)
• Broccoli - it pains me to say this a little because it was so tasty, but massive amount of real estate as well.  We'll see.

My favourite part of this whole endeavour is doing it with the gingersnap.  She loves to plant, water, and eat almost everything we have grown!  A few more close-ups?  I think so!

Blueberries and rosemary

Garlic lowers and a yet to flower clematis

Beautiful, delicious tomatoes

All kinds of peppers!

Many lovely zucchinis

So Now That's Done ...

I'm finished school.  Excellent.  And there's no point in even thinking about jobs for a week or so, thus I get to do more fun things now!
We just came back from a lovely holiday and all I want to do is spend time in the kitchen and garden (I want to talk about the garden separately because I need to devote some time to it ;) ).  First up, BBQ sauce.  It is super hot and muggy here and we bought ribs yesterday for some friends coming over for dinner and I was inspired.

The Barbeque Sauce recipe came from a quick search on Tastespotting, and I will definitely be adding that blog to my frequently surfed.  It is totally delicious, even after a few dicey substitutions:

• 1 tablespoon EVOO
• 1/2 a finely chopped onion
• 1/2 a minced jalapeños
• 3 smoked garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic scape salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 cup homemade ketchup
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

I cooked everything up according to her instructions, and used one of the most exciting purchases from my trip - smoked baby garlic.  

Having not made anything without this wonderful product, I'm not sure about what difference it made to the flavour, but I would like to think a lot since my whole kitchen reeks of the stuff ;)

The other wonderful ingredient that I have access to is garlic scape salt.  

This stuff is gold - it can turn the most boring dish into something fantastic.  Get some if you can!!

We're also talking a lot about sugar content in our house right now, being not super healthy people, but wanting to be.  So I subbed out the brown sugar for honey, the apricot preserves for fresh blueberries, and I made my own ketchup.  Again with mods:

• 13 oz can of tomato paste
• 2 cups of water
• 4 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp of Grade A maple syrup
• 2 cloves finely chopped garlic
• 2 tbsp finely chopped onion
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp all spice
• 1/2 tsp garlic scape salt

This is settling in the fridge right now - it might need some more maple syrup.  I halved the quantity ... 

Anywho - that was the first day home in my kitchen and it was wonderful!

A New Life

So I have gone back to school - for what will be the last time.  I swear.  I am so done with it - I want a job!!  It's only one year, but it is full time ... full days.

It's been quite the adjustment for everyone involved.  Lukie has found himself with way more responsibility than ever before, I have homework again, and baby is away from both of us for a good chunk of the day.  That was the kicker.  Let me say that we could not *be* more fortunate.  My SIL is taking care of her, and not only does she live super close, but her 4 year old son is gingersnap's favourite person in the whole wide world :)

That doesn't mean that it's going super smoothly, but I'm sure it would be a lot harder than if we had to use some other form of child care.  The three hardest things to date?

1. Finding time to cook and bake.  Those are not optional in our home and the amount of time I have to do them is down by a lot.  Today is inspiring me to call Sunday baking days since it is so freaking miserable here ... that might help ;)
2. The work/homework/life balance thing.  I don't enjoy sitting in the living room doing my homework while gingersnap plays.  But there isn't enough time to finish if I don't ... and finally
3. She doesn't care that I'm gone.  This is wonderful because I know she's really happy where she is ... but it sucks because I spend all my time thinking about her and often when we go to pick her up she isn't ready to leave.

Anywho that's life right now.  From a hobby point of view, little projects can get worked on because this first part of the year is a lot of discussion and no one cares that my needles are flying :)

Everyday Bread

I found today that my favorite source for bread recipes is missing :(
I'm not sure what is going on but since I make this *at least* once a week, I'm recording this case I have a brain fart one day and need a reference.

This is, I think, what the recipe from www.thekneadforbread.com is.  Either that or it is my interpretation of it!
---------------------------------------------------------------

Ingredients

1 cup rolled oats
2 cups boiling water

3 tsp yeast
1 tbsp soft unsalted butter
1/2 cup molasses
1 tsp salt

2 cups whole wheat bread flour
~2 cups white bread flour

Putting it Together

Pour the boiling water over the rolled oats and leave until cooled.

Add all the other ingredients, minus the flour, and mix with a bread hook until well blended.  Add the whole wheat flour and mix until well blended.  Add the white flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough is dry enough that it doesn't stick too badly when poked.

Let sit in the bowl, covered, until it has visibly risen to about double its size (this can take up to 2 hours).
Preheat oven to 350 F
Transfer dough to 2 bread pans, cover and place on top of warming oven.  Wait until they double in bulk (usually only about a half hour).

Bake bread for about 35 minutes, or until the top crust is brown and a knock on the bottom of the pan sounds hollow.

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This yields me 2 rather short loaves of bread.  As I have lots of time right now, I make this whenever we're running low.
My plan for the fall is to double it and hopefully get 3 normal sandwich loaves from it.  Two for us and one for my parents, but only need to make it once a week!

And One More Thing ...

I've had a spinning wheel for almost 3 years now ... though I only got excited about it just over 2 years ago ... and then baby came :P

At first it was totally do-able while nursing - this girl ate *so* much and so frequently, I had to find ways to do things while she was eating so I didn't go crazy.  I found a comfortable position for her to eat and me to spin.  It was a wonderful arrangement.

Then she got more efficient at nursing and by the time I thought about it, it was too late so my production slowed significantly.  She was still completely immobile, and the noise seemed to be soothing so there was still opportunity.

Then she started moving.  For the last 6 months, it was not an option.  Gingersnap was so intent on *helping* me spin, and the Sidekick I have has lots of opportunity for little fingers to get hurt, so I stopped entirely.  But ...

The other day while she napped I thought I would take it back out, if only for a few minutes, and spun for 2 hours.  I was so enthralled when she woke up I tried to keep going ... and wouldn't you know it?  She left me alone!!

I spun the whole 5oz Loop Bullseye Bump that day, albeit rather poorly :P very overspun and quite thick and thin ... but I made it and I love it and it's going to grow up to be a Milo for gingersnap :)

So maybe I have another hobby that will start to make more of an appearance again?!?  It will have to wait until I get a few sweaters off the needles ... hopefully more to come in the very near future!

Happy Late Mother's Day

As we spent most of Mother's Day in the car this year, and my traditional gift is to make dinner for my mom and mother-in-law (and any other family that cares to show up), we postponed it by a week.  It was a lovely evening - I made pineapple chicken with rice, salad and roasted veggies.  Quite tasty but *I* think that dessert stole the show.


Doesn't that look delicious?!?  I got both recipes from Ezra Pound Cake - the crisp is her strawberry rhubarb cobbler and I topped it (as the post suggested) with her maple gelato.  I made only one change per recipe - and they would both be *perfect* as written - the gelato was made as ice cream and I put candied ginger in the crisp topping.  Because candied ginger should be in everything.  Just so you know.

Car Baby!

So we had a great trip - totally got myself all worked up for nothing!  We split the 11-ish hours of driving over 2 days (in both directions) and baby did great ... which means I had a *ton* of knitting time :)

The first is my new me sweater:  it's Viridis by Robin Melanson and is being knit in Elsebeth Lavold Silky wool in an orange colour numbered 36 and I'm pleased to say that I got a fair amount accomplished!!  

Next up was a fall sweater for the gingersnap - Gramps by TinCan knits out of madelintosh vintage in Thunderstorm, and Tanis Fibre Arts Green Label in Royal blush.  We're off to find buttons for this one today so I can call it finished!

And what kind of trip would it be if there wasn't a little stash acquisition?!?

The first is Knitted Wit, DK superwash merino in the Moody blues colour, and the second is Spud and Cloe fine in the sidewalk colour (there's a few more of these off camera ... I may have bought a sweater's worth ...)

So it wasn't really a holiday as I normally define it, but between the disposable diapers and only being responsible for gingersnap food, it was pretty good!

Road Trip!

Tomorrow we leave for gingersnap's first road trip ... which has left me more than a little anxious for the past week.  She was not a great car baby for the first few months of her life; 3 minutes in, no matter where you were or how long there was to go she was screaming.  And screaming for the duration of the trip.  It was awful.

She's gotten much *much* better - we went to Washington a few weeks ago and had to sit in a horrendous border line and she did great.  So I'm hopeful.  This is not to say that I haven't done a lot to make this as painless as possible for all three of us.  (As a side note, this is the first time we're leaving the dog for any length of time.  We'll see how that goes :P )

When I was weak and bought the stacking toy the other day, the purpose of my trip was actually to get stuff for the car; specifically this (doesn't this child look happy?!?).

I feel like it has great potential for a long time, since they're required to be in a car seat until they're like 12 or something now ;).
To go with it, since we're going to try and have all her meals in the car, I bought a silicone placemat, a sippy cup, and a new block set.  I figure new toys are exciting right?  Even at 10 months?

Music, books, food, toys ... I think I have more stuff for the car than for the week at our destination!!

Anywho: 5 hours tomorrow, then 7 on Sunday.  Oh my.  Thinking about it makes my stomach queesy. I'm going to go prep more food.  Wish us luck!!

Too Much of a Good Thing?

I have to admit - infants are not all that fun.  Sure they're cute, and relatively easy to care for (especially if yours slept as well as ours did at first ...) but *nothing happens*.  After a few months of that, I wasn't sure how anyone could be a stay-at-home mom; I was so bored.

But gingersnap is growing leaps and bounds and gets more fun and interactive every day, and now I'm not sure how I'm going to survive leaving her with someone else.  It's amusing to me, and probably obvious to every mom out there, how quickly my opinions of such things changed ;)

Anywho, lately I have been so enthralled with how she is learning.  Toys she used to pick up and put down she is actually learning how they work and is *so* impressed with herself when she figures it out!  Her most recent obsession is stacking; anything stackable will do, but her favorites are these

The one on the left is from Fisher Price, and the right is Ikea.  Both were Christmas presents from grandparents, and though we hardly needed 2 of *basically* the same thing, we kept them both.  Watching her dump all the pieces off, then figuring out how to put them back on was wonderful entertainment for me.  Problem solving at work!

So since she was enjoying these so much, wouldn't she enjoy a third too?!?

Never send me to a toy store by myself - general rule of thumb that Lukie should probably learn pretty quickly ;)

New Sweater!

So we crawled under a rock last week to wait out the storm that was the stomach flu.  Nothing was done.  We are going to forget that week ever existed and move on.

I have a new sweater!!  It had a rocky start but came out more wearable then I could have hoped for ...

First:  the yarn is MarigoldJen BFL sock yarn in Amy's Punky Plum - I bought it for the knit-a-long that the Stockinette Zombies hosted over the last 2 months.  I have high hopes for this sweater as the swatch has been through the washer and dryer at least 5 times (I lost it in the pocket of a pair of jeans for a while) and come out soft, drapey, and not a pill on it :)

 I did on the other hand have a moment when I openend the package - the skeins were not very well matched.  Two matched perfectly and one looked like a different colour all together (can you spot it?)  But with some artful alternating which I would have done either way, I was getting a fabric I was happy with.

Next: the pattern is the Serina Cardigan, a $6 download from Ravelry.  The yardage requirements on the pattern page state the following

Yardage Requirements:    850 - 1600 yards (777 - 1463 m)
Sizes Available:            32"-50" bust

I wanted to make around a 44" size and had around 1450 yards of yarn.  Wonderful .... or not.  Bought the pattern only to find that size needs 1600 yards.  What?!?  Grrrrrrrrrr ....

I took a deep breath and read the pattern.  Conveniently the bottom of the sweater had a lot more fabric than I originally thought so I got rid of some of it to get back some of that yarn and crossed my fingers. I left the arms to the end, intending to split whatever was left from the body in half and getting as far as I could but I needent have planned so much.

The bottom of the sweater for my size was intended to be about 50" around and mine is only about 42" so I actually have yarn left over:

And I'm happy.  I definitely needed a closure of some sort and since I thought buttons might be too heavy, opted for a really light weight shawl stick from Black Sheep Yarns.

(And I'm still on track for my 13 sweaters of the year ;) )

Sweaters!

This for me, like many other people, has become the year of the sweater.  I've finished 3 me sized sweaters already this year with another in progress and also a birthday sweater for my nephew!

This is the Serina Cardigan by Gretchen Ronnevik ($6 on Ravelry) in Marigoldjen's BFL sock base. After a few initial problems this sweater is flying!  I only have the sleeves to go ... but man was it a rough start ... but I'll chat more about that when it's finished ;)

Next: Diplodocus by Kate Oates

My nephew is turning 4 this year and if it has anything to do with dinosaurs or the movie Cars, that kid is *all* over it.  I can oblige that pretty easily!  He said the sweetest thing to me recently - it's important to know that one of his shower presents (long before he was born and I knew he was going to be *huge*) was a sweater that never fit him, so now it belongs to one of his babies.  He got 2 new babies for Christmas and a few weeks ago told me

"This baby is nice and warm, but these 2 are so cold.  We need to make them sweaters.  This one likes red and this one like orange.  We should make them in those colours.  Can we make them tomorrow?"

Melt my heart you are so freaking cute.  His babies will also get sweaters for his birthday.  Obviously.

Oh Pets ...

So we have a few pets ... three to be exact.  Two cats and a dog.



Since the introduction of gingersnap, there has been a little less love for all three.  We know it and though it's sad, we also know that in a year or two it will go back to the way it was ... the dog does not want to wait :P

Lately, she has gotten super fearful toward strangers (dogs and people alike) to the point where I'm no longer comfortable walking her next to the stroller.  If she gets it in her head to bolt, I'm not strong enough to do anything about it and we are *all* going down.  So Lukie started taking her for her morning walk and then whoever has time is responsible for the evening.  It's not working.

She runs out the door whenever she can now and it is *impossible* to get her back.  Last night was one of these cases and it was scary.  She was gone for 2 hours while I was out tutoring; Lukie was taking care of gingersnap and minding our nephew.  It is nearly impossible to chase a dog that does not want to be caught with a toddler and a baby in tow (not that he didn't try) ...

It's the fear that makes this frightening.  If she was just running and enjoying life it wouldn't matter!  She's registered with our city so there's a little fine if she's found by someone other than us but who cares really.  Her fear makes her super unpredictable and if she felt she had been backed into a corner I don't know that I could say for certain that she wouldn't become agressive.

We love her to bits and pieces and are willing to do almost anything - but we don't even know where to start ...

An Apple a Day

At the beginning of the year, we started having SPUD delivering our produce and milk once a week.  It's pretty awesome.  Our deliveries are every Thursday and this means by Wednesday I'm looking to finish up the stuff from last week.  We have had some definite flops ... for example we will never put parsnips and beets in the same stir fry again :P

But last week I had a surprising success!

Firstly, please don't judge the colour of my cheese - I'm finishing up the last few boxes of Annie's mac and cheese that Lukie likes.  I would prefer if the focus is on what is added to it and the potential I feel this has if I made it properly!

The idea started with a recipe posted by Naturally Ella, and was changed based on my leftover SPUD veggies:

1. Sautée some onions and garlic together in EVOO on medium heat until the onions were translucent, then add a medium, peeled sliced up sweet potato.  Cook that until the sweet potato is soft, but not finished then add 1-2 sliced (not peeled) apples.  Finish of this concoction by adding 2 de-cased chorizo and continue leave on the heat until the sausages are cooked.
2. At the same time get your mac and cheese going, whether it be from a box or from scratch.
3. Get a bigger serving dish and mix the contents of both pots together, and lastly mix in a couple of generous handfuls of kale until it is wilted.

I only used kale because that's what I had, and I feel that it wilts just as nicely as spinach.  I added the chorizo because it's hard to sell Lukie on a vegetarian dinner (and who doesn't love chorizo ;) ) and the apple was added as an after thought because it was to soft to eat on its own but I really liked the combination!!

I think what I really love about this dinner is that very shorty it will be something that the whole family will be able to enjoy!  It's always at the back of my mind when I cook now - the more often there's only one dinner to prepare, the more successful I can be at getting us all fed!

Oodles of Toques

I've been on a sweater kick this year, but as of the last few weeks was having a hard time finding mojo for my fourth sweater of the year.  The answer (in the form of *many* bad pictures ... sorry - I am working on that ...)?

Toques!!!

The first two are for my mother-in-law.  She requested some this year and I *almost* never turn down a request ;)  The first one is the Pressed Leaves from Alana's new collection Botanical Knits made from some Madelinetosh DK in tart.  The next is the Antler Toque from Tin Can Knit's collection Pacific Knits (I want to make just about everything in this book ... but I digress).  I made it from Berocco Ultra Alpaca, trying to work through the last few balls in my stash.  My supply appears to be endless :P

Finally there's Selkie for the gingersnap for next fall/winter from Wooly Wormhead's upcoming collection Playful Wooly Toppers (with the first 3 patterns available now).  I *will* get a better picture of this one - I love it to bits and pieces and will be making it again.  It used up the perfect amount of scraps I had of Madelinetosh Vintage (light blue/Mourning Dove) and DK (dark blue/Stovepipe).

I think I can now get back to my sweater and not hate every moment of endless stockinette ... but that doesn't stop me from dreaming of the next project(s)!!

Where 2 Hobbies Meet

I have had a love of cooking for quite some time now, but it has only been recently that I worry about sourcing.  The organic label doesn't matter so much to me as the local (ish) one ... so we've been eating a *lot* of root veggies and apples.  But there is hope - I found this yesterday:

Let's look more closely at this, shall we?

It made my little heart sing :) I actually didn't see these until I was finished paying in the grocery store, but quickly made a u-turn and bought 2 overpriced bags.  I'm very excited.  Now we just need green onions back and I'll be one happy camper!

But I digress.  I started out with this topic because of what the gingersnap eats!  Her first good veggie mix was squash and zucchini baked with some sage.  We have graduated from that (because I couldn't find any more squash) to sweet potato, green peas, apple, garlic, and sage.

Mixed with a bit of olive oil and baked for an hour or so there is no blender required - it mushes quite nicely on it's own!  Served with 9% MF Greek yoghurt and blueberries I feel like she's getting all the appropriate food groups ...

Most of our lunches have become finger food because there's only so much of my life I want to dedicate to spoon feeding her so little chunks of mozzarella or bocconcini and shredded chicken makes up her protein.  Those cookies I spoke of and cheerios make up the rest.  For the chicken, I use the President's Choice Free From line of products and bake it with some shallots and rosemary, again in olive oil (covered) for about 40-45 minutes.  We often share this part of her lunch - it's pretty tasty!

The last thing I wanted to share is the most recent addition to her meals - oatmeal.  I know we could have had it a long time ago, but I don't like it and thus she didn't get it ;) I needed something quick today, so oatmeal with apples and nutmeg seemed like a good choice.  She, like she does with many first bites, thought this was the worst food ever, but after a few bites I could tell this was going to become a favorite.

I have real problems getting her fed by family members because of this face.  It's deceptive!  But it we gave up every time she made it, I would still be exclusively nursing my 10 month old.  Perseverance.  I read somewhere that if after the 15th time you've tried a food you may have something they won't eat.  Before that, keep trying :)

The Pickiest of Green Eaters

I've been with Lukie for a *very* long time, known him for longer, and for the first few years of our relationship I watched him dislike vegetables and not eat a lot of fruit.  We were young enough that it was not my problem to care, but when we started eating (non take out) meals together on a regular basis, I had to change something.  We started small ... literally.  If he couldn't see it, I could *probably* get away with it ;)

The first sizeable chunk of anything I fed him was coloured peppers.  Nice and easy.  Then came green onions, broccoli, etc. and as he got used to the flavours, I could increase the size of the particle I was feeding him.

I'm happy to say that I now have a salad that he not only eats on a regular basis, but asks for more than once a week.  I feel like I've won.  A bed of baby kale, sliced carrots, apple, cucumber, and pecans with a handful of crasins.  Pair that with maple balsamic dressing and I've pumped him full of 2-3 servings of vegetables :D

The other night, I paired it with honey mustard chicken drumsticks and an mildly adapted version of these cakes.

I didn't have any fresh parsley, and couldn't find any that was appropriately sourced, so I had to find something equally as tasty.  My answer to this problem is usually cheese.  Here's what I did:

~ 1 cup of cooked (as directed) couscous

~ 0.25 cups of chopped white onion
~ 3 cloves of chopped garlic
~ 0.50 cups of rinsed, chopped garbanzo beans
~ 0.25 cups of crumbled feta with Mediterranean herbs from Trader Joe's

Mix this all together, then into the couscous.

~ 2 eggs
~ lemon zest

Mix this in next.

~ olive oil

Warm up the oil in a frying pan, then use your 0.25 measuring cup to scoop the mixture to the size of the cake (smaller if you want them smaller ...).  Drop them in the frying pan and smoosh down to desired width and fry until golden brown.  Flip and repeat.

Lukie ate his plain, but I dipped mine in ranch dressing - both ways are pretty delicious!

The Sunscreen Mountain

Mountain.  As in making mountains out of molehills.

When it got beautiful here a few weeks ago, I started thinking about using sunscreen on the ginger snap.

Then I started worrying about putting sunscreen on the ginger snap.

Then I started putting more clothing on her to avoid putting sunscreen on her.

Then she started sweating :P

So I built up this topic *so* much in my head I thought I would never be able to make a decision.  I don't like the idea of lathering her in chemicals, but I understand that sun exposure will be worse.

Mountains I tell you (or no one in particular because I'm pretty sure I'm talking to myself ;) ).

Anywho, I finally looked into it further by asking my most knowledgeable friend.  Google.  She told me that there are basically two different camps - chemical or oxide.  The chemical camp use different chemicals that absorb into the skin to protect it.  They must be applied at least 20 minutes before exposure to be super effective, and though we haven't seen it yet, there may be long term effects behind the absorption of these chemicals.

The oxides on the other hand (zinc or titanium) sit on the surface of the skin.  There's no absorption and it has the added bonus (or at least I see it as a bonus) of having little to no wait time after application!  Though I would love to say I will always be prepared, I know myself better than that so my decision was made.  Oxides it would be!

Now to choose.  I had a few people recommend Badger, which seemed like a good option, but in the end I went for Green Beaver.  Same (single) active ingredient and it's Canadian.  I haven't used it yet, and now that I've made a decision it is of course raining again, but I'm just happy to have made a decision!

Gauge Woes

I've been knitting a while now ... long enough to know that I can't beat gauge.  I've tried and failed epically on many occasions.  Still do.  But usually it's my fault for not checking first.  When I do check - then I feel slighted.  My most recent sweater is what brings on this rant.  I swatched; I got gauge (or at least close enough that I was happy); I cast on and ran, trusting the pattern to not lead me astray.

My concern first appeared was when I finished the sleeves.  They looked more like elephant trunks (or something slightly more obscene ...) than sleeves because the seed stitch on the underside of the arm had significantly different row gauge than the pattern.

Whatever.  Totally blockable, right?

I continued onto the body, trusting my swatch and did the number of rows it said I needed to achieve a body length of 17".

See that wave in the bottom?  That's not an illusion - that's the sweater.  Never mind.  By this point I had washed the sleeves and had decided that it wasn't as big a problem as the pictures were leading me to believe.

Fast forward a week.  I'm finished.  I blocked it to the appropriate measurements no problem.  When I took out the blocking wires, it stayed put.  These were all very good signs.  I wore it out for the first time yesterday and by lunch the back was well above my pant line.  It started out below the tops of the pockets of my jeans :(

I took it off, bathed it again, and this time hung it to dry, hoping that the weight of the wet sweater would help.  We shall see.  Right now, it looks like the ribbon I sewed onto the underside of the button band is too short, but that is in fact where I would like the sweater to be, so hopefully with shrinkage it will sit there?

I have hope that I can yet love this sweater.  But for now, I'm a little disappointed.

Favorite Dinner

My parents got back from a spring break trip early yesterday morning, so since they had to work in the morning and I have lots of time on my hands, we brought dinner there last night.  It's one of our favorites, but it always takes me by surprise how much time it takes to prepare!

These are the makings for Vietnamese Spring Rolls (minus the rice paper): homemade peanut sauce, baked prawns, radishes, cucumber, carrots, fresh cilantro, and rice noodles.  That's it.  Yet somehow we were an hour later than I intended.

On top of taking a long time to prepare I learned a few things that I probably should have known about myself:

1. My kitchen is very dark and there is really only one spot at all conducive to photography.  Right there on my stove
2. This means my stove must be clean :P

Since baby clearly can't eat that, she had her standard squash, zucchini, long grain brown rice mixture, 9% MF Greek Yoghurt with blueberries we froze last year, Cheerios, and her favorite cookie (the first recipe on the page).  

Up for tonight?  Chicken drumsticks, couscous cakes, and our new favorite salad :)

Expectations

Alrighty then.

Hello, my name is Steph and I am a hobby addict.  This used to not be a *real* problem when I didn't have a little person relying on me for just about everything in her life!  I would, without hesitation, spend entire days either on my butt knitting, or in the kitchen cooking.  There were a few glaring problems with this lifestyle once baby came:

• Housework was not (and still isn't) a priority for me.  So long as the cat litter didn't smell and the dog had been walked, I considered myself pretty on top of things.  The fact that I had three fur producing animals was not the signal that vacuuming should have a very prominent place in my routine ;)  Baby started crawling a month ago, and though I can still contain her, that is quickly going to become harder and harder and I would like to not worry about what she is going to find!
• Cooking and baking are wonderful things to do - I'm not suggesting that I stop them.  But I would spend hours making one meal.  The problem that I found is if I didn't have the time I wanted to put into making this elaborate feast, I didn't want to cook at all.  So not only did I insist on having a fully stocked kitchen at all times, we also had take out on a very regular basis.  We were becoming quite unhealthy, to say the very least.

In creating this space, I hope to keep myself honest about a few goals I have.  I want to keep my hobbies, but I need to balance a clean and healthy home with them.  What I want to post here on a fairly regular basis are (in no particular order):

• Food - dinners, lunches, whatever stops us from eating out so much.
• Knitting - finished and in progress projects.
• Baby - because parenting is quickly becoming something of a hobby for me.
• Home - this is my biggest undertaking really.

I will always be enthusiastic about my hobbies, I just hope that eventually the rest of my life won't suffer quite so much for them :)