Weekly Update

For the longest time, I've been a list maker. This drives my husband nuts but helps me out, especially in my sleep-deprived state. I'm a night owl, which means that I usually make lists at night and then have no memory of what went on that list early in the morning (you know, when shops are open...). In the spirit of making lists, I've decided to do a weekly update about things that I enjoy and appreciate, things that I'm hoping to accomplish during the week and, of course, my lovely knitting projects. So, without further ado, my first weekly update...

Some knitting this week:

- working on my Winterfresh Kina cardigan. I've made good progress on it but have been a little bored with the rows and rows of stockinette lately. I'm this close to finishing, so I'm trying to keep it up.

-testing a pattern for someone to check for accuracy. The pattern is called Forest Baby and Child Pullover by NEEDdesigns (on ravelry here). This is almost instant gratification! A baby sweater knit with two strands of worsted weight yarn held together. So fast.

-starting a Redheart pattern called Square Upon Square, which is a crocheted blanket. I love the colour and design of the blanket. I've finally wised up about bigger projects like this and started off with only one ball of yarn, rather than buying all ten up front. This is sometimes how I'm left with a million skeins of yarn. I was thinking about doing a square or so a day, which means it should be finished in about three months or so. I'm not in love with how the squares are joined so I'm trying to change the pattern to my liking. The first set of squares that I'm doing are a similar colour to the picture above.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to show off the finished cardigan and baby sweater in less than a week. By the way, can you guess what my favourite colour is?

Some things I'm loving this week:
-my 34th birthday. I don't typically like to do anything big for it. I'm not sure what we'll do this year. Maybe dinner at a restaurant?

-going to the White Heather Tea Room with a very good friend. We order the Big Muckle Giant Tea for Two every time we go and this visit I brought home a package of Mad Hatter tea. If you're ever in Victoria, it's worth a visit - just make sure you book ahead.

-M and T sharing a bedroom! So far this has been a love/hate relationship. We finally bit the bullet and stuck T in his crib in the bedroom. The first night there was a bit of crying but it was pretty smooth. The last two nights they've been taking turns getting up every 30 minutes or so, with last night being particularly bad - M was up for about three hours in the middle of the night. Ugh. But, I do really love having the rest of the house to ourselves again.

-M finally using the potty! In the midst of the Nights With No Sleep, she decided that she's going to do everything on her own, including using the potty. We were all very excited about this milestone (for evidence, see here and here) and made a very big deal out of it. M has been announcing details of the experience to anyone who will listen.

Some things I'm working on this week:
-getting together one or two boxes of items to donate

-doing at least three cringe-worthy errands. These are chores that I've been putting off for any number of reasons but I cringe about every time I think about them. I want to get some of these done instead of letting them take up real estate in my thoughts everyday (like they are right now).

-going to do yoga four times this week

-drinking eight glasses of water a day. I (like most people) don't drink enough water, so I'm going to consciously do this for the next week.

That's all from me. What does your week look like?

You Know You Drink Too Many London Fogs When You Need To Start Making Your Own Syrup...

As I've already written about, I have a serious love affair going on with London Fogs. In an effort to try to be somewhat economical, I started making my own at home, rather than buying them from a coffee shop all the time - you can see my recipe here. Vanilla syrup is a crucial part of the London Fog. I figured that out after a few experiments trying to make my own London Fogs at home, then started buying my syrup from a local coffee shop. I didn't like that I had all the other ingredients on hand, so I decided to try my hand at making vanilla syrup. The only problem? Vanilla beans are super expensive.

So, I did some research and I discovered that a cheap place to buy vanilla beans is on ebay. I know, who would have guessed? The once precious beans (that were in the cupboard only to be looked at, never to be used) are now ingredients that I use all the time. The package that I last ordered was 30 beans for $10 Canadian, and they were perfect. I was worried that they were going to be terrible and shrivelled, but they were great. The beans that I ordered weren't as long as the ones that you can buy in the grocery store, but the last ones that I bought in the grocery store came in a glass vial and were 2 beans for $8 Canadian. I think I'll stick with ebay.

So, my recipe:

Homemade Vanilla Syrup

2 (to 2 1/2) cups sugar

1 cup water

3 vanilla beans

Mix sugar and water together, bring to a gentle simmer. In the meantime, cut the beans lengthwise, scrape out the vanilla seeds and add it to the mixture. I also throw in the whole beans after they've been scraped out. And that's it. I let it simmer for a little while (maybe 10 minutes?), being sure to stir it often so that it doesn't burn. It turns a lovely golden colour and makes the house smell delicious. Using a small funnel, I then pour it into a bottle with a stopper. The bottle that I used had about a cup of Pippins cider from Sea Cider Farm and Ciderhouse at the time, so I took one for the team and finished it. I know, that was big of me.

Slicing up the vanilla beans and scraping out the seeds. I actually scrape the seeds out with the back of the knife, then wipe the knife back on to the bean and toss the whole this into the pot. 

Simmering away. Notice the burn mark on the spoon - this is not an uncommon occurrence in my house. You can see the clusters of vanilla seeds that were scraped out of the beans, as well as the whole vanilla beans floating in the syrup mixture.

Incidentally, I made my second to last batch of syrup about a week before we left for Christmas vacation. When we came back about two weeks later, the bottle looked like this:

The sugar had crystallized and was covering the sides of the bottle and the vanilla beans that I had stuck in the bottle. There wasn't much left, which is why I had to make a new batch not long after the last one. I think that sticking the vanilla beans directly in the bottle just gave the sugar more surface area to crystallize, so it went a little faster. However, it had a lovely vanilla taste and the crystals were beautiful.

It' so satisfying to make my own drinks every morning, knowing that the cost of making my own at home is a fraction of the cost of buying one in a coffee shop (My estimate per cup - about 30 cents, using premium earl grey tea). I also love that I now have delicious vanilla syrup at home that I can use in other ways - I'm sure it would be delicious poured over ice cream or in a mixed drink. 

February Goals Update

So, it's February. How did this happen already? January went by in a flash. I can't think of what's been keeping me so busy.

Wait, now I have it.

Exhibits A and B:

M is growing by leaps and bounds. We have full conversations and her memory is incredible. I told her about a surprise yesterday, assuming she wouldn't remember. When my husband got her up after her long nap, it was the first thing she told him about. She's a very happy, friendly little girl now that we've figured out her allergies and have changed her diet.

T has stretched out over the last few weeks, getting even taller. He loves solid food (which is actually an understatement; the kid hasn't met a food that he doesn't like). He sits up easily on his own and is this close to crawling. I have mixed feelings about that one, since I currently enjoy that I can put him down and come back a minute later to find him close to where I put him.

My goal of knitting and having a cup of tea everyday has been really successful so far. I've been able to knit every day. I sometimes do it at midnight, but I make sure I take some time. I've also been able to sit with a cup of tea (usually while knitting) every day as well (except the day I had hot chocolate instead - I'm still counting it!). It seems like such a small thing, but because it's my goal to knit and drink tea every day, I'm getting into the routine of finding a little bit of quiet time for myself. The act of taking this time has been great for me. In my work as a counsellor (when I'm not on maternity leave) I talk to people all the time about finding some down time. I love that I've found a great way to put it into action for myself. It's also great that I've been vocal about it, because my husband has been supportive of me doing it and often volunteers to take the kids out to play to give me a bit of time to myself.

I've been doing yoga on and off for the past few weeks as well and have really enjoyed it. I tried to do it for a week straight, but ended up doing four days in a row. The fifth day, my option was to do yoga at midnight or go to bed, and I chose to go to bed.

I try to practice a philosophy that a good friend shared with me. Years ago, I was talking about something that I had eaten that was bad for me and how I felt guilty. She talked about not beating myself up or restricting myself - rather, she suggested that I add something positive instead. So, have a chocolate bar, but also have a spinach salad with your dinner. I love that philosophy because it takes all the guilt and shame out of decisions and focuses on the positive. It definitely fits with my glass half full kind of thinking.

So, on my end note. I've mentioned before that I want to create and post 12 knitting patterns this year. I was thinking that I would do one a month. I've actually completed one project but need to still write up the pattern, and I'm half finished another project. I have ideas for another five or six. So, while I didn't meet my goal of posting the first pattern in January, the bigger goal of 12 patterns is very doable. I think part of it is just be brave (there's something a little vulnerable about putting your work out into the cosmos). For me, a big part of accomplishing a goal like this is to talk to people and share your goals with them. So, now I've done it. Stay tuned...my first pattern will be out shortly.

What's your goal?

They're Plotting Against Me

I really love being a mom. I knew that it would be the best thing that I would do in my life, and it's even better. I love the sweet moments, like this morning when my 2 and (almost) a half year old daughter M told my seven month old son T that she hoped he'd had a good sleep and asked him what he had dreamed about. So sweet.

However, there's at least one moment everyday that is surreal. I find myself doing something that I could never have imagined before I had kids. Sometimes it's ridiculous - my husband and I frantically tossing our house searching for Bear, M's little stuffy that she always carries around. The few times that I haven't found Bear, I've resorted to elaborate stories about what Bear might be doing. Maybe he went to the store? Maybe he went to visit Grandma? Maybe he's in jail? That last one is a joke, but I find that the stories are getting more fantastic as she gets older.

The most surreal moments of my day to day life now revolve around the bathroom. I just want to warn you, if you're thinking about having kids, you might want to stop reading right here. You've been warned!

M can use the potty. She's a very smart girl (naturally, I'd say she's a genius). She's also very, very feisty. At first she enjoyed the novelty of the potty. We made a big deal over every time she went. But, she's recently decide that she isn't going to use the potty - no way, no how. The problem is that I'm so over diapers, it's not funny. Some days I feel like I'm just alternating between changing each kid's diaper. As soon as one is changed, the other needs to be changed.

So, back to M. I really want to be patient and let her go at her own pace. But, I'm not above trying to bribe her. I've tried various things - Smarties (the Canadian chocolates, similar to M & M's), pulling out the new Valentine's Day stickers, painting, etc. Yesterday I tried to bribe her with big girl diapers - pull-ups! Only for big girls. You just pull them down and go to the potty. Two hours later, cue M coming into the living room and presenting me with a VERY full pull-up that she figured out how to pull off, all by her big girl self! Ugh. The clean up. Let's just say that some of her room was left unscathed, some was not.

Shortly thereafter, M heads out the door and I decide that this is a good time to give T a desperately needed bath. My back has been hurting, so I bathe him in the kitchen sink. He's so cute, sitting by himself, laughing and splashing. A rare quiet moment in our house. I pull out my camera:

A minute later, he makes a funny noise that he usually makes while pooping. I scoop him out quickly and he pees on me. It says something about how long I've been parenting when I tell you that my only reaction is to laugh. My, how times have changed.

That's when I go to drain the water and discover that there was a surprise left for me in there too. It gets worse from there, but I think I've already shared enough disgusting details for today. Let's just say I wasn't laughing anymore.

But seriously, two gross incidents in one day? I think they meet up at some point during the night and plan that they're both going to get me the next day. At least the bleach was already out.

London Fog Love

Part of the inspiration for the name of my blog came out of my love of tea. I mentioned here that my goal is to drink a cup of tea and take time to knit everyday this year, since these two things are very relaxing and enjoyable for me. I don't think I know anyone who wouldn't benefit from a little extra self-care.

A little note about my goal - so far I've knit everyday this year, but I did miss one day of drinking a cup of tea. However, I did have a big mug of hot chocolate, so I'm counting it!

So, back to the tea. I will drink almost any different kind of tea - herbal, black, green, rooibos...you name it. I do have one serious addiction though. I could drink about 10 London Fogs a day. If you're asking yourself what a London Fog is, you have been missing out!

T entertaining himself and waiting patiently while his Mama makes herself a drink...

A London Fog is another name for a earl grey tea latte with vanilla syrup. My sister-in-law told me about them many years ago, thinking that it had my name all over it. It sounded good, but at the time I didn't go to any coffee shops very often (since I don't drink coffee..I know, shocking!) so I didn't try it for a month or so. When I tried it, a serious addiction was born. All of a sudden I went from rarely going to coffee shop to wanting to go every single day. Twice. Or three times.

I figured out that I had to learn to make my own pretty quickly. At first I was mixing earl grey tea with vanilla extra and milk, which was OK, but definitely a poor substitute for the real thing. This was the recipe for the real deal:

Homemade London Fog
Hot earl grey tea (I've found that nicer quality earl grey makes a difference, but have been known to use any that I come across in my cabinet)
Milk (cow's milk, almond milk, rice milk, cream - your preference)
Vanilla syrup

Brew a pot of earl grey tea. In a mug (the bigger, the better!), mix a dollop of vanilla syrup with a small amount of milk. The amounts really depend on your preference - I seem to prefer about a teaspoon of vanilla syrup with about one third of a cup of milk. Pour the hot earl grey tea directly in the mug and enjoy.

Pre-kids, I used to take a milk frother and froth the milk and vanilla mixture in a separate cup, then pour the earl grey into a mug, and then add the milk mixture. These days, I'm happy with being able to drink my tea before it's room temperature.

The vanilla syrup is the make-it or break-it ingredient for the drink. You can buy your own from almost any coffee shop. Or, you can learn to make your own. I'll post more about making your own syrup soon.

The Rainbow Blindingly-Bright Wallaby

Now that I'm focussing on some of my works in progress that have been languishing in my yarn stash, I'm actually making some headway. I finished Mom's Eleonora Shrug last week and have moved right along to M's Wallaby.

I was checking out yarn on KnitPicks a long, long time ago. I came across a rainbow self-striping yarn called Chroma Worsted in the colourway Lollipop. They have the same colour in a fingering weight as well but I had already picked out a few skeins of Felici Fingering weight yarn in Rainbow, so I didn't want two different sock yarns in similar colourways - apparently I have a slight addiction to self-striping yarn. I came across the Wonderful Wallaby pattern on Ravelry and decided that the yarn would be a great match for the pattern. I wanted to break up the stripes a bit so I decided to pair the Chroma with KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Bare. Several helpful people on Ravelry said that it would pair well together because the weight was similar. I also liked that it was about a third the price of the Chroma, making my Wallaby a lot less expensive.

I ordered the yarn and waited. And waited, and waited, and waited. It turns out that it can take a long time to get a yarn shipment from the US into Canada. I think that it was almost a month before I received my box in the mail. My poor husband had to put up with me racing to the door everyday for a month. He had some good eye rolls going by the end of that month.

I originally cast on for a size 2 but decided to frog it and cast on again for a size 4. I wanted to my daughter to be able to wear the sweater for a while, and given my track record, I knew it could take a while for me to finish it. So, besides some minor mistakes I made from knitting when I was too tired, the project sped right along. I finished knitting a few nights ago, used the kitchener stitch to finish the hood and one of the underarms and held it up to admire my handiwork.

That was when I noticed that the opening for the neck (called the placket) and the pocket on the front of the sweater weren't lined up right. In fact, it was really off, by about an inch. The sweater is small and there isn't a lot of distance between the placket and the pocket, so it was really noticeable (at least to me). My husband could tell when I pointed it out, but said that I was a crazy person and should just leave it alone. The problem is that I had spent so much time and energy on the sweater that I knew that it would drive me nuts every time I saw it. I thought about how to fix it and couldn't think of a way besides ripping out the whole sweater. 

I posted on Ravelry, asking for help. Within two hours I had many different, very creative responses. Some people said it probably wasn't as noticeable as I thought and that I should just leave it. Some suggested that I embellish the sweater so that it looked intentional (this is when I realized I should post a picture - the sweater is already a little eye-searing). A few others suggested ways that I could rip out the pocket while saving the sweater, and reattach the pocket. I was not looking forward to another long slog of work on the sweater, especially when I had already thought it was finished. 

Last night I set the sweater out and looked at it. Frustrating. I tried to be creative to see if there was a way around fixing the pocket. I even looked at the placket, thinking that if it was moved a little, then the middle of both would line up. Obviously, though, you can't move the placket.

Except, I realized that I could. The placket is split in two and gapes open quite a bit. I figured out that I could take a button and attach it to the placket, so that it held the two edges together. I tried to place it a little higher up from the original split so that the front doesn't pucker so much. Not a perfect fix, but definitely better and now it's something I can live with.

The best part? She actually wants to wear the sweater. I'm still in shock.

Finally...

If you've seen my site at all in the last week, you've probably seen one of the twenty or so different incarnations of my layout. I finally chose this one, created by Green Tangerine Designs. You should check out her etsy shop. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Speaking of etsy, my lovely friend Jasmine recently opened up an etsy shop of her very own. Check out her beautiful photographs here. She's been a photographer for as long as I've known her (wow, how have 18 years flown by so fast?) and has a great eye for taking pictures.

So, I wanted to share a knitting project that I started in October 2010 and have finally finished. It was meant to be a Christmas present for my mom (again, in 2010!) but I've only recently completed it. It wasn't really a difficult project. Part of the reason it took so long was that I don't live near my mom, so I couldn't have her try it on while I was working on it. I guessed at her size and her arm length. I didn't want to make the sleeves either too short or too long. It also took me a while because I modified the pattern so that the cuffs weren't as wide as they were in the original pattern. This took some serious math because the piece is knit from cuff to cuff, so while you're figuring out different numbers for decreases on one side, you're sorting out increases on the other. I also made the cardinal sin on not writing down my modifications. Why do I do this? I continually have this problem. On this project, I figured that I spent so much time figuring out the mods for the first cuff, I'd easily be able to remember to finish off the last cuff. It turns out that one and a half years later my memory wasn't so great. Of course, it doesn't help that when I cast on I had a one year old, and when I cast off I had a two and a half year old and a seven month baby. So long sleep and bye bye memory!

So, without further ado...

The pattern is Eleonora, by Knitting Nonstop (also known as Dawn Matkovic). You can see my revelry page here. It's an elegant shrug and I decided that I needed some nice yarn to make it with. My mom liked the colour of the original sample that the pattern is based on, so I searched high and low for a purple DK weight yarn that wouldn't break my budget. I ended up choosing KnitPicks Gloss DK in Blackberry, which I think was a really good yarn to fit the pattern. The yarn is a lovely blend of 70% merino wool and 30% silk.

Well, my husband just called to tell me that he'll be back with the kids in about two minutes, so I'm typing even faster. I think I have just enough time to put the kettle on to make some tea before they get home.

ETA: Here is a preview of the next project that I'm working on. It's been another work in progress forever but I've decided that I'm going to finish it this week. 

Here's M checking out what I'm making for her. I explained what it was and she asked me to 'go knit now, please.' Why, yes thank you, I think I will.

Testing...testing...

Testing...testing...


Originally, I only created this post as a way to try and sort out the website. What a headache it's been! I've learned more about blogging templates and html coding than I ever planned. But, as I get closer and closer to the vision that I had for my website, I'm feeling like all the hard work is worth it. Perhaps it wouldn't sting so much if I could do most of it during the day, rather than late, late at night when the kids are sleeping!

While I've been sorting out my blog, I've had a chance to go through ravelry and pull off some of my favourite pictures from my projects. Here are a few of my favourites.

One of the best pleasures in life - knitting while having a cup of tea.

The Snapdragon Tam that I made for my sister-in-law. The pattern is by Ysolda Teague.

My July Heat Wave Ruffle Wrap, based on the 'November Ruffle Wrap' pattern by Kate Jackson

Lovey Dovey, made for M. Pattern by Sylvia Hager. I keep meaning to make a bigger one, but this one started off as a dress and now fits as a top.

My First Snow Mittens - well, at least one out of two. The other is still sitting on my needles. The pattern is by yellowcosmo (on Ravelry.com).

Little Pumpkins - pattern by the fabulous Susan B. Anderson. She's such a talented lady! I absolutely love all of her patterns.

M's Whirligig Shrug, pattern by Stephanie Japel.

My nephew's Roaring Dinosaur. Pattern by Zoe Mellor.

M's Baby Blanket. Pattern by Terry Kimbrough, Susan Leitzsch and Lucie Sinkler.

Just a quick check in tonight.

I have a lot of things that I want to write about but I want to give them all the time and attention that they require, rather than just posting something quickly.

I feel as though I have about a million projects that I want to do, but the two million chores that I have to do keep getting in the way. I wrote out a little list of about 12 things that I wanted to get done today and promptly thought of three more things to add to it. I made some headway and had big plans tonight to keep tackling my list, but...both kids are sleeping at the same time! M went down with a big fight tonight and T finally got tired of hanging out with me and fell asleep wrestling his stuffed giraffe. For a while I sat on the couch, trying to figure out what to do with these rare moments of peace and quiet.

In the end, I decided to do something that I want to do. I've got my knitting set up, Arrested Development is loaded on the laptop and I've raided the cupboard for a handful of chocolate chips. And by handful, I mean the bag. Heaven!