Eggplant Designs

Duvet Cover Inspiration

2011-03-25T08:09:00.000-07:00

Our duvet cover is one that my mom made for me when I left for university. It is two sheets sewn together - one navy blue, one light blue. It has served me well for 14 (!?!?!?) years, however, after all that time the poly/cotton blend is showing its wear and there is more poly than cotton left - not so comfy or cozy.

So, I've been dreaming of making a new duvet cover with some thrifted sheets ever since I saw Amanda's version.

I have yet to find the perfect vintage cotton sheet or fabric and I've been looking for at least two years. I have found some awesome vintage cotton pillow cases however and now I'm trying to think about a design that I can make that will be a little bit quilt like, not be too much work and be sturdy enough to last another nearly 15 years. It looks like French seams will be the way to go for some piecing to ensure sturdiness.

Here are some inspiration photos:

Overlocked Duvet Cover on Craft

Vintage Sheet Duvet Cover by Quilted Cupcake

sweet strip quilt by skilly laminx

Patchwork Duvet Cover by rose hip

gagavida's fuzzy patchwork

mostly I love Spool of Thread's ruler wall

shim & sons' clean pattern on white inspiration is indeed inspiring

wide strips seem like an efficient way to get a quilted look

some other inspiration from Flickr

the start of habit of art's strip quilt is also very cute

Dreaming of Little Things . . .

2011-01-02T14:43:00.000-08:00

like a bright cheery space like this:

Photo: William Waldron

This couple lost their newly renovated home to a fire and re-built two cottages on their property into a 351 square foot home. I love its brightness, efficiency and simplicity.

I am yearning for this in 2011 and putting thoughts and energy into making my way towards this.

Welcome New Year!

This Week in Thrifting

2010-03-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

I don't think I've shared this here yet - I finished my thesis draft! Yes, last Wednesday evening!

I awoke Bruce to celebrate around 11pm - headed to Freddie's Flowers for ice cream and came home to enjoy a beer. Worst tummy ache ever (which I incidentally repeated this past Wednesday with wing night at Christie's followed by ice cream and 5 Minute Chocolate Cake - huh? not so smart us MA students?). We celebrated the next morning with a breakfast at The Shine. It was yummy (though not as good as usual, didn't there used to be fruit on the side? this makes a plate look SO much nicer!) and really being across the street, and in sight of our bedroom window, it was a perfect place for a celebratory breakfast.

I haven't been so ecstatic about this milestone since I know there is still lots of work to do - I have submitted my draft. My supervisor is reviewing it (every day longer he has it, I get more nervous and I wonder "Just how bad is it that he has needed a week and a half to read 180 pages?"). I'll do revisions on that draft and produce draft 2 and then once he approves the next draft it goes to my other committee member. Then once my committee member approves it I need to wait 20 business days to defend it. While I wait I prepare a 20 minute presentation and prepare to defend my work. Then after the approx. 2 hour defense is over I may still have to do several revisions and fill out reams of paper work and print several 1,000 pages (!?!) to submit the thesis and graduation papers. There is still much to be done so I haven't breathed my BIG sigh of relief yet. In any case, I am closer. I have something to work with - this is what everyone keeps telling me.

In the meantime I'm enjoying a bit more freedom in my daily routine and a little less guilt too.

And with that, I had a bit of unadulterated fun at the thrift shops this week - I didn't go too crazy, though I found a few fun things.

You can see all the details on Flickr of course. Some favourites include the items I picked up at yesterday's MS Garage Sale which our team, Daphne's Dashers, participated in.

* Joan Osborne, Righteous Love (she's performing at Vancouver Island Music Fest this summer!)
* Carol Shields - Stone Diaries (hands down one of my favourite books ever!)

The rest of the goodies were from Friday's quick trip to the Oak Bay United Church Thrift shop - fun indeed!

And these goodies were from earlier in the week - I went a bit crazy at WIN (clothing), St Aidan's (stuff) & Sally Ann (more stuff??).

In other fun stuff Bruce has not found his bike : ( however he has found one through a guy he is taking his Permaculture Design Course with a very happy new acquisition. Now I just need to get myself a nice road bike/commuter and we'll be bike set again!

I had fun at yesterday's MS Garage Sale - I had the most fun making & packaging the items for our bake sale.

Here are my favourites:

Homemade pizza (rebar focaccia bread recipe crust) for $1.50 each - they sold within an hour or so. Flavours included: sun dried tomato & mozzarella, blue cheese, pear & pecan and kale & olive.

Choco-coconut Nests - $0.25 each. Made with Martha Stewart's Coconut-Chocolate Patties pressed into mini-mini tart tins, placed in an egg carton and a lil' egg ; ).

Our team made twice as much as we did last year at the sale and raised $250 - I am very proud of us! Next year I think a giant bake sale table with pizza and samosas would be an awesome hit - the sugar gets to you after a few hours so something savory is so nice to enjoy - way better than hot dogs!

Well back to Sunday relaxing - enjoy yours!

a little dreaming

2010-03-04T10:49:00.000-08:00

I'm plugging along.

Some days it feels like this masters thesis will indeed win and kill me! Other days the end feels so close I can taste its tinny blood!

So that's that. It is a struggle and there will be a celebration, eventually.

- - - -

In the meantime when I need a break I am still going through all of my magazines and pulling out inspiration pages. It seems like an endless job and everywhere I turn in the apartment I have a half reviewed magazine sitting, waiting for me to finish with it, or a basket full of more to be gone through. Like I said, it seems like an endless job which I am hoping I will finish before the end of the month so I can sell the whack of magazines at our annual MS Garage Sale. It will feel so good to have some space back and it has been nice to re-arrange the book shelves to put other things where these piles of magazines used to be.

My file folders of inspiration for each room are near bursting out of my file rack and so I have been trying to find some of the images online as a way to preserve the magazines for others to enjoy and as a way to save some space in my file folders.

Really it would be simpler to just rip and tear and not worry, however that philosophy would not have taken me to the sites of several photographers to find some other inspiring interiors like these from Michael Graydon:

According to doorsixteen this was for Wish Magazine.

I just love the shards of colour played off against the white backdrop in both of these interiors! And those little boy beds, very reminiscent of this I'd say.

And why with all the tearing and ripping and inspiring? It is a far off, maybe, in the future kind of idea but we may move to a home that is wonderful in its own right and would need some splashes of our taste and some modifications to suit our lifestyle. I think it is even more fun to dream big with a specific project in mind and so while this may be a far off dream it is nice to be constantly inspired by it!

A little peek into my dream plans.

we break from our regularly scheduled thesis madness for . . .

2010-02-08T01:24:00.000-08:00

Last night I was on the double decker bus on my way to see Harry Manx (so much better live than I had even hoped & he played all my favourites too!) at UVic & I spied a lovely little old trike outside our neighbourhood used store.

My heart skipped a beat - mostly because I knew I couldn't get off the bus, grab the trike, run it up the hill and up the stairs and tuck it safely in our apartment and still get to the concert on time.

Bruce met me at the show at intermission fresh off his flight from Kelowna and on our way home we stopped at Christie's for a beer. On our walk home the little guy was still there and I brought it home (though not after some 'serious discussion' about what I would take out of our apartment in return . . .).

I haven't taken a photo yet - it doesn't have its perfect home just yet - I will show a photo soon though.

In the meantime I came across this amazing little gem of a little person bike/trike in my search for other photos of trikes in houses.

I would never spend this kind of cash on a little bike however I think this classic design is ingenious!

From Design Within Reach

Okay, off to bed!

___________

I've had a good week of thesis work and I am SO close to having a very workable draft to give my supervisor before I head to Ontario dark & early Wednesday morning - it is just taking so long. Soon, soon!

February it is.

2010-02-01T13:30:00.000-08:00

This is a week of many hopes and plans and motivations. Bruce is away to help his dad prune his apple trees in Armstrong and I've got the place to myself to try to get a draft of my thesis done & hopefully to finish off my long overdue quilt project.

Bruce left at 6:45am this morning and I'm a bit lonely already, and unkempt. I sense a week of hermitting is in order. Really, I don't want to leave my apartment.

And so in an attempt to motivate myself I've come here (via Apartment Therapy & Chez Larrson & Soule Mama & Knitting Iris . . . some regulars who keep me company.

This is what got me going - don't you love the simplicity?

Someday I hope to make a bed just like this - I love the style and re-use-it idea and the promise of cozy cuddling. I love finding new blogs & new inspiration - I adore Ashley's photos and decorating style.

I would love to make a pillow like this gingham one with this ruffled floral detail!

____________

And now thanks to this boost of blogging inspiration I'm off to tackle this first

& then this if I have time

Wish me luck & if I have my way with both of these, I'll be back here a few times between now & Saturday.

Happy first week in February!

First 2010 Friday Thrifting!

2010-01-08T23:26:00.000-08:00

On Fridays I like to hit the Oak Bay United Church Thrift Shop - the sign on Foul Bay Road (and apparently their website as well) says it's open 10:30-2:30 but I think that's a plot by the hardcores to throw the meek off, it's actually open 10am-2pm.

I was a bit slow this morning so I didn't leave the house until 11:30am, and almost didn't with the rain and my renewed resolve to spend less this month. Then I logged onto Flickr, saw this photo posted by gottalittlespacetofill in the Pyrex Love Pool and then thought to myself, "What if the best treasure is there, waiting for me?" "I better go!" And so I went.

It is a really nice walk from our place on Fort Street down to Foul Bay so even though it was rainy and a bit blustery (albeit warm-ish) I was happy to be out waking. Happily, because of the rain, I made the 'excuse' to stop in at Good Things Consignment. There were a few things of interest there that I wish I asked to take photos of to share, but nothing that grabbed me until I looked up in the back corner - lamp shades!!!

I've had these green lamps for at least two years. I got them with my friend Bryony at a very grimmy, but extremely eclectic and interesting, garage sale in Esquimalt. I love their milk glass like colour and snapped them up for $10 or $15 I think. They've been in storage for a while and a month or two ago I brought them up because we were in desperate need of lighting in our living room - lit by one functioning lamp and one somewhat functional lamp. It is amazing how long you can put up with something inadequate - like nearly two years on this! Anyway, we had a Sears gift certificate from our wedding last summer and we went to Sears on Saturday thinking we would find something. Nothing - the selection was terrible and there were no staff in the housewares department to help us. This solidified my extreme dislike of dealing with large chain stores. We went to The Bay downtown, again with gift cards, hoping we'd be successful there. The Bay doesn't sell lamp shades alone and the staff recommended The Victoria Lampshade Shop - this solidified my partiality for local shops. My next plan was to go to this store on Burnside sometime in the near future, however, as I mentioned above I need to spend less this month, not more. Hence my attempt to use the $100's in gift cards we have lying about.

I had been looking at thrift shops without success for a pair of somewhat modern and matching shades but hadn't seen anything. I should not have given up my faith in the 'Thrifting Gods & Goddesses'. They were there, patiently waiting for me. Now our living room feels so much more cozy and bright; bright! The staff at Good Things were amazing and they even let me bring one shade home to try it out - I had to pay for it of course, but I could have brought it back to receive a complete refund. Instead I rushed out just after 5pm to pick up the other - I patiently waited for Bruce to get home to make sure he didn't hate the shade and then ran down the street to bring its pair home before they closed at 5:30. It feels great to have one 'search' crossed off my list!

I happily left Good Things to head down Oak Bay Avenue and I knew it wouldn't be a chore to hit up House of Savoy. The owner Anna is lovely and while these are not the thrift store prices I'm usually used to (and rightfully so) the items are usually great quality and are fairly priced - at least for the things I find to be my style.

I tried on a number of things that I really didn't need and had my eye out to look for a dress for my sister-in-law's upcoming wedding in September. I didn't find that (though I'll be back!) but I did find an amazing leather brief case/tote/lap top bag. It was in the sale bin for $28 & apparently retails for $285!!!

Now, I don't really need a briefcase, being a cycling, yoga pants & t-shirt wearing, stuff my lap-top in my water proof pannier student. However I hope I won't be that woman too much longer - I'm looking ahead to being a smart and stylish self employed consultant who is dreaming and planning to open an Okanagan apple cidery with her husband. In this future I envision carrying my lap top full of cidery documents and business plans in this amazing bag while wearing cute little black capri pants with these shoes, meeting with cider masters and credit union managers.

A girl's gotta have the right wardrobe to make her dreams come true right? These shoes were too cute to pass up and were $38 - they were apparently $148 retail two years ago!

Last night I decided some of my goals for the new year involve adding a bit more style and glamour to my life - these two items certainly meet the criteria!

And so, with the bag purchased and held until I doubled back past the store to walk home, and the shoes awaiting my final decision upon my return, I finally headed to wards the thrift shop around 1pm - phew!

It was quiet by 1pm - so quiet that I, probably the only person in the thrift shop under 50, heck maybe 80 years old, stood out like a sore thumb. A very interesting young man (the only one who volunteers there, which should be a clue) tried to pick me up with his amazing knowledge of number theory, his beginner Hebrew and a confession about his medicated state. It really made me wish I could handle those kinds of situations more gracefully. He really did seem nice, though not my type even if I wasn't married, and he seemed so embarrassed when I told him I was married. I really wish I could deal with those things better. Any suggestions?

Well here are my first Friday thrift shop finds for 2010 - more details over on Flickr:

Well this 'cycling, yoga pants & t-shirt wearing' student & 'planning to open an Okanagan apple cidery' dreamer is off to bed!

May the thrift gods & goddesses be on your side this weekend!

First 2010 Wednesday Thrifting!

2010-01-06T21:56:00.001-08:00

I made it to my favourite thrift shop today! It is open 10am-2pm. After hitting the nearby Fairways grocery store for some dinner fixin's I arrived at the thrift shop around noon - my bus transfer expired at 1:15pm so I was surprisingly efficient. Some tins for next Christmas' goodies, a Fisher Price toy!, and little person, a glass, a jar and a skirt. $7.83 total. Very reasonable if I do say so.

And, as I got off the bus I remembered an old office chair I had seen out back of our building so I thought I would see if it was still there - indeed! Plus, some opaque containers for my stash (as Benita calls it). To see how nicely they both cleaned up, head on over to flickr.

I'm in a huge nesting phase right now - much to Bruce's annoyance. Today he came home to find about 30 projects scattered here and there. He patiently cleared the table of several of them for dinner. What a guy indeed! I'll post some photos soon of the 2010 apartment re-nesting.

How are you dealing with the New Year?

Okay, back at and then some sleep!

We’re tired of buying bags of organic cotton balls and not having anything to show for it!

2010-01-03T23:51:00.000-08:00

Well not really - who wants to keep all those used cotton balls? Our compost pick-up service probably likes them better anyway.

A few months ago I began using Nezza Naturals’ Lavender Neroli Toner. Soon my husband was more addicted than me and even though we tore each organic cotton ball in half, we seemed to go through them like crazy!

A week or two ago we ran out of cotton balls and Bruce has been using toilet paper as a stand in because I said I would make some re-useable balls/pads.

With a gifted Tawashi Flower from my friend Bryony in mind, I came up with a knitted re-useable alternative to those wasteful cotton balls.

Best of all I unravelled the front & back of a cotton pillow case my Nana made me a few years ago that I never got around to stuffing and sewing up and has since fallen out of style. Re-purposed into re-useable - I like!
__________

Bruce's Re-Useable Cotton 'Balls' (manly style)

SQUARE

Cast on 10 stitches.
Knit in garter stitch each row until there are 8/9 garter stitch rows or until ‘ball’ is as long as it is wide (aka square).
Cast off.

Measures approx. 2x2 inches

DIAMOND
I increased until there were 12 stitches on the needle and then began decreasing.

Cast on 1 stitch
Increase Row: Knit 1, increase 1 (knit in front & back of stitch) knit to end of row
Repeat until there are 12 stitches
Decrease row: Knit 1, knit 2 together, knit to end of row
Repeat until there is 1 stitch left
Bind off and weave in ends

Measures approx. 2x1 3/4 inches

2010, I'm not Ready for you Yet!

2009-12-31T14:20:00.000-08:00

As a child I recorded New Year's resolutions in a brand new diary. I often received a diary for Christmas - sometimes there was a whole page for each day, sometimes just a few lines. My resolutions usually involved vowing to write in my diary every day. I'm not sure why I was so persistent in resolving to do this year after year. It could be my 'need to please' kind of personality, doing what I thought I should do as a child - write in a diary, use the gifts I was given etc. Although I think there was also a healthy (& hilarious) dose of "If I'm famous in the future, someone will want to read this." (Oh the dreams!)

Aside from recording these resolutions in my diary (which I usually only wrote in for about a week straight - I have several diaries stored at my Dad's with scribbles up until January 7th or something - the rest of the pages are blank!) I rarely reviewed them or followed through on them. Most likely because they weren't SMART (something I've learned to consider more recently when setting goals - not that I've mastered this technique either) - if I recall correctly, typical pre-teen goals recorded in my diary usually went something like this:

- be nice (not exactly specific or measurable even - seeing a pattern with that 'need to please' child?)
- keep room clean (not exactly attainable - especially considering I shared with my younger sister)
- find a boyfriend (not exactly realistic considering I didn't really have control over that matter - though you think it would have been an easier goal to achieve since I grew up in a class full of 28 boys and 3 girls for the 9 years I spent in elementary school ; )

Anyway, you get the idea - maybe your pre-teen years were a bit like this too?

Aside from attempting fresh starts at each New Year, I liked to try for this each September as well - starting off the new school year right, you know.

Well this January 1, 2010 will be started off on a chaotic and messy foot. My new year has probably begun this way before (and most certainly will again) and it probably isn't that significant, however, this year it seems a little more overwhelming than most.

Here's what I'm talking about . . . my shared office/craft space . . . (the space where I want to begin working on finishing off those last two chapters of my MA thesis in earnest on January 4th):

{for notes on this chaos see my set on flickr}

{My handmade Christmas intentions got out of control! And I'm still not done - there are some
gifts yet to made/mailed somewhere in here.}

Since we have plans to head out tonight to enjoy our first Atomic Vaudeville show and I have a giant cramp in my neck (could it be from blowing my nose too enthusiastically with this cold?!?) I really didn't get to tackling this room today so that it would be fresh and neat, and clean, and organized and inspiring to get me off on the 'right foot' for 2010.

:o {

Well it is what it is. And you know what, I wouldn't change it for anything.

So here's to all of 2009's ideas, inspirations and intentions! May they carry me forward to an even better 2010!

And I guess that's this year's resolution - just keep doing what I'm doing - even if that goal isn't Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant or Timely. It seems to be working. At 32 I've never felt more me, nor more connected to who I want to continue to grow to be, and that ain't so bad.

Here's to 2010 - Happy New Year to you!

{What are your resolutions for 2010?}

The Ghosts of Thrifting Pasts

2009-12-15T18:43:00.000-08:00

I posted this on our personal family blog back in April and thought I would share it here too so that some explanations could accompany some of the photos I 'm uploading to my Thrifting set on Flickr.

Here goes . . .

My weekend started out on Friday evening with my 5th Bi-Annual Clothing Swap. Twice a year (usually spring & fall) I invite a group of women to bring clothing they want to get out of their closets. We enjoy tasty food and drink (I made tasty sangria with some of the remaining bottles of our wine shop brewed Wild Berry Zinfandel) and enjoy riffling through each others cast offs to find some great new pieces for our own wardrobes. I scored well and have a new dress, 5+ sweaters, a pair of jeans and a skirt to show for my swapping efforts. It is always a fun time and I love finding clothes (for free) that I may never even give a second glace to at the store a great way to spice up the wardrobe on a student budget!

. . .

Saturday was a garage sale bonanza for my friend Bryony and her 3 year old and I. We hit the annual Rotary garage sale held at Central Middle School - Kelly's school next year. Great finds for ok prices - always got to dig a bit deeper for charity garage sales ; ) I found some cute things which I have already cleaned and put away - sorry no photos - including a lamp, some vintage linens and a steal of a deal on a vintage Pyrex divided Snowflake casserole dish (like this one here - top shelf, left hand side behind the 'S' in the snow garland) for just $1!!!

We also headed up the peninsula towards the annual Dean Park neighbourhood sale (located in a rather posh area just south of the airport) and stopped in at a church rummage sale I had seen signs for the day before as I biked out to see Stephen Lewis speak at Royal Oak Middle School. Our stop at Garden City United Church was successful and I came away with two armloads including some sock yarn and a Fisher Price Happy Apple (thanks for the keen eye Bryony!) - the prize being this quilt for $5!

It is a bit of the crazy quilt style in that the pieces vary in shape. It is backed with yellow cotton and the pieced front seems to be a synthetic rayon - shiny, smooth stuff. There are some rips and tears and worn pieces (like the pink & white polka dot piece) but I think this will be a lovely picnic blanket.

Stopping at this rummage sale was fortuitous as we saw signs for a few other sales. We missed turning at one sign and took the next right instead - this led me to see an amazing find on the side of the road and I asked Bryony to stop.

I ran over to a scruffy looking table and lifted the nailed down cardboard-like top to discover it was hardwood!

I ran back to the car and we immediately tried to squeeze it into the back. It wouldn't fit with three of us in the car so Bruce and I came back later to pick it up. When we did, we learned the story of the table from the woman who was moving and giving it away. Her mother-in-law had been a rather small German woman who made sausage. The sausage maker/grinder was clamped to this table (lots of marks on the table to tell that story) and since she was short, the legs were cut down so that the grinder would be at the perfect height for her. The table is just over two feet tall and hits me about mid thigh. I was hoping it would be a good coffee table but it is too tall.

Instead, after a serious baking soda scrubbing to remove years of sausage grime and to get some sticky bits from the topper off, some elbow grease to pull out about 25 nails and that plastic red

trim, and an oiling to freshen it up, it is now sitting under our living room window asking for an appropriately sized chair so I can use it as a bright and inspiring work table.

HEY, it just dawned on me . . . with the light from the window and the large surface of this table, this may be the perfect sewing table! No more sewing at the dining room table and having to move it and/or eat around the sewing - how great is that?

So, that was my thrifty weekend. Garage sale season is officially here in Victoria with the arrival of warm, sunny spring weather so stay tuned for more!

Wednesday is Thrift Shop Day

2009-12-09T16:23:00.000-08:00

Today was a nice quiet visit to the thrift shop at St. Aidan's. I wasn't there too long and I had some specific things on my list (Christmas shopping to fill baskets with kid craft materials). I found a few things on my list and a few others as well (of course!).

I especially love the oak leaf soap dish - lovely find!

Check out flickr for notes and close up photos of the other items including my mysterious Pyrex find - if you have any hints, please leave a comment! I'm curious!

In other thrifty news we are the proud new owners of a big, white, comfy chair! I have been coveting a 'chair and a 1/2' for some time now - good friends of mine have a lovely chair and ottoman set that just seems perfect to curl up in with the kids, or your knitting, or a good book . . . (you get the idea)

BEFORE

This 'beauty' has been sitting in our living room with sheets on it for the past few days since it was in a pretty sorry state when we picked it up from the UsedVictoria seller who happily took 1/2 the asking price since it was in far worse shape than the original photo let on. The photo above was taken at the gas station - we drove it there to vacuum some of the cat hair off. It took $5 in loonies!

Today, Wes from The Soap Exchange came with his eco-friendly citrus cleaner and steam cleaned this chair, our couch and two thrifted tub chairs we've had for forever. I washed the cushion cover for the big white chair earlier in the day and now everything is drying. It looks SO much better and needs one more vacuum with a brush attachment (the car wash vacuum didn't have one of those!) to get the last of the cat hair and it will be pretty good. There are some serious cat slash marks (right down to the foam/wood) on the lower right leg of the chair so we'll see what we do about that. Maybe a patch a'la Soulemama's cozy patchwork chair on page 178 in Handmade Home or maybe a whiter version of these. Some day I may tackle making a slip cover but I said that about the thrifted tub chairs - somehow I think this chair is different . . . I do love it! Can't wait to reveal the 'After' shot!

Well I best go - the sun is setting and I've got too many windows open, too many piles around the apartment and oh yeah, a thesis to write!

Thrifting!

2009-12-03T01:50:00.000-08:00

A glorious day for hitting the St. Aidan's United Church Thrift Shop! So many lovely treasures & a few holiday gift items were found as well!

Favourites include:

This lovely vintage plastic tray
- I have a weakness of these you know - $1!

This very sweet book $1

This very lovely cotton wrap sweater - $2

All this blue!
I love these flowered envelopes which remind me of all the lovely vintage 70s stationary I scooped form my mom's stationary box when I was a bit younger - $0.50

You can see the whole set on flickr.

Now I'm looking forward to Friday's thrifting bonanza at Oak Bay United Church & James Bay United Church (a whole house full of stuff!!!).

In the Kitchen

2009-11-25T13:58:00.000-08:00

Afternoon Kitchen
l-r: Jerusalem Articoke Pate baking in the oven, a pile of dirty dishes, the sink and little dishwasher connected to it, fuzzy bright light (jar with tea lights), crock pot of potato leek soup, big measuring cup of chicken stock.

It was simple enough, put a freshly defrosted chicken in the oven for dinner - my Gmail calendar popped up and reminded me at 2:30pm yesterday. Lots of time to get it in the oven so it and a host of other veggies from our veggie box would be ready for Bruce when he got home at 5pm so he could eat before he headed off 5:25pm to his second night course at the college, this one on tree pruning. I intended to put the chicken in and then come back to my desk to start some thesis work. That didn't happen.

Instead, I stood in that kitchen (quite happily I might add) for the next 7 hours. I woke up this morning (don't ask what time, but yes it was 9:30am) and promptly went right back at it and spent another 4 hours in there. It's a happy enough kitchen despite its lack of counter space. The light in there can be really nice in the late afternoon, especially in summer, and we're pretty well outfitted with good tools to get the job done. The 60s plywood cupboards were not my favourite when we moved in but they have grown on me and they are sturdy and simple and don't pretend to be something they're not (like the faux wood, plastic veneered ones in our last apartment). And I love the counter tops too. They are fully 60s vintage and are in amazing shape.

The photo above is probably a very typical scene after I have been in the kitchen for several hours (hey, sometimes it only takes minutes!). I don't really like to do dishes - hence our tiny portable dishwasher (aka the Marriage Saver) - and Bruce , I'm not sure he likes to do dishes either, but he really likes a clean kitchen and clean counters. I could work around things for weeks until I'd used every dish in the kitchen and then I'd think about doing dishes.

So what was the edible result of this lovely scene (the stack of dishes is now smaller - I have just put the dishwasher on for the second time today)?

1. Full Roast Chicken dinner, including garlic mashed potatoes, family favourite cabbage salad, roasted winter squash, steamed fresh crinkle cut carrots and frozen corn served with cheese cubes, slices of kohlrabi and garden green tomato relish (made before Thanksgiving & it still tastes delicious).

2. Crock pot chicken stock from said roasted chicken carcass, veggie box carrots and leeks

3. Leek Soup (kind of like French Onion Soup - my dad used to make leek soup out of wild leeks with toasted bread and melted cheese on top - yummy!) - the veggie box leeks were sauteed in some bacon fat from the freezer that we had rescued from the baking pan from a breakfast feast a few months ago. The beef broth was some of the 16 litres that we were able to make using the bones from Glory, the heifer a group of us bought butchered from a lovely farmer in the Cowichan Valley.

4. Potato Leek soup using the crock pot chicken stock, veggie box leeks sauteed in the crock pot with some more of that thriftily saved bacon, island potatoes and the cooking water from the dinner potatoes and steamed veggies.

5. Tahini to make the Jerusalem Artichoke Pate

6. Jerusalem Artichoke Pate (recipe from Saanich Organics, doubled & modified as described below)

1 cup Jerusalem artichokes, washed & chopped***
4 tbsp nutritional yeast****
4 tbsp each olive oil, tamari, tahini
4 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 cup hazelnuts, finely ground*
1 cup almonds, finely ground**
2 tsp rosemary leaves*****

Place all ingredients except for rosemary and hazelnuts in food processor and process until smooth. Add ground nuts and pulse again. Oil a loaf pan and sprinkle with rosemary leaves. Spread dough over top, evenly in pan. Bake 350 degrees F for 55 minutes. Allow to cool before serving. Spread on crackers or use as a sandwich filling.

* purchased from Village Family Marketplace, sourced from Butler Hazelnut Farm
** left over ground almonds from almond milk making, frozen awaiting such an opportunity to use them)
*** from our Saanich Organics veggie box
**** I used a tiny sliver of Village Cheese Parmesan we had left
***** growing on our balcony (they grow like trees here in Victoria)

I'm having some serious motivation issues with thesis work these past few weeks so I am struggling with that, though I'm feeling a bit better about it at this moment and I think my marathon stint in the kitchen may have helped.

So, now that the fridge & freezers are full of left overs I think I can turn to some thesis work (sigh).

Cookin'

2009-11-22T21:23:00.000-08:00

We've got some of Dixiebelle's Fragrant Lentils & Rice cookin' in the crock pot for the night.

I'm looking forward to packing up a tasty lunch to take to work tomorrow!

Ingenious!

2009-11-21T01:44:00.000-08:00

Could I love this project any more? Probably if I woke rested tomorrow morning ~ it's late right now! I am really wishing I will see a set of these in a future thrifting trip!

Nighty night!

Evening approaches

2009-11-20T17:08:00.000-08:00

Some lovely light and liquid at my window:

'Tis the Season part deux!

2009-11-20T12:55:00.000-08:00

I was around town on Tuesday and had lunch at Mo:Lé. I sat right beside their notice board and while I knit and waited for my lunch to arrive I spotted a few more craft fair notices. Here is a more complete list:

*Out of Hand* Crystal Gardens (713 Douglas) Nov 20th - 22nd

*Knitted Owl* Fernwood NRG (1240 Gladstone) Nov 20 6-10 pm & Nov 21 9am-5pm

*Hemma Made* Hemma (1274 May) Nov 28th, 5 - 10 pm

*Rock, Rock, Rock n' Roll Market* Logan's Pub (1821 Cook) Nov 28, 3-9pm

*Noel Bazaar* Victoria Event Centre (415 Broad) Dec 1-3

*local craft sale* habit (522 Pandora) Dec 5th, 5-11pm

*Dickens Faire* Glenlyon Norfolk School (801 Bank) Dec 5, 10-4pm

*Tribal Market* Base Lounge (1303 Broad) Dec 5, 12-8 & Dec 6, 12:30-6pm

*Moss Street Holiday Market* Moss & Fairfield (1330 Fairfield) Dec 12 & 13, 10-4pm

*Holly Jolly* Can West University (950 Kings St) Dec 12, 10-5pm & 13, 12-5pm

& continue to keep your eyes peeled for the annual *Smoking Lily Sausage Party* a guy's night out kind of party - you can even leave a list for him ; )

'Tis the Season!

2009-11-15T21:50:00.000-08:00

. . . for handmade holiday craft fairs in Victoria!

Last year my friend Jen and I had a great time exploring the handmade holiday craft fairs in Victoria and we purchased all kinds of gifts for friends and family and some lovely goodies for ourselves too.

Last night a group of us met to kick the season off at Igloo, an event I first heard about from Cory Judd at her Shi Studio sale in September. The evening featured a great number of Victoria, Vancouver and Island designers along with drinks and food in the lovely Marriot Ballroom. We each came home with a new little treasure! I purchased this extremely awesome tee (I told you I'm a geography geek right?) from Identity (isn't this shop cute!) which I plan to shred up a bit to make a bit more woman friendly (I don't really get a 5 o'clock shadow). Modification may involve cutting out the neck and maybe taking in the torso and arms a bit as well. Or maybe it will become a pillow - Benita's tutorial at Chez Larrson is inspiring!

And that's just the tip of the iceberg - here's where I'll be heading to see new and exciting local design over the next few weeks:

*Out of Hand* Crystal Gardens (713 Douglas) November 20th - 22nd

*Noel Bazaar* Victoria Event Centre (415 Broad) November 26th - 28th

*Hemma Made* Hemma (1274 May) November 28th, 5 - 10 pm

*Rock, Rock, Rock n' Roll Market* Logan's Pub (1821 Cook) November 28, 3-9pm

*local craft sale* habit (522 Pandora) December 5th, 5-11pm

& keep your eyes open for the annual *Smoking Lily Sausage Party* a guy's night out kind of party - you can even leave a list for him ; )

Happy shopping!

Loving . . .

2009-11-14T11:52:00.000-08:00

I was introduced to Katherine Morley's work in the July '09 issue of House & Home (I'm a subscriber you know).

I love this pin:

and these bookends:

I think what I love best about her ceramic works is the humour that seems to be embedded in each piece along with an overall view to simple beauty.

Just what I'm looking for in my life right now!

A Post per Month?

2009-11-06T08:27:00.001-08:00

Lying in bed early this morning I thought about how I would write this post. SO many creative things are whirring around my head these days and I want. to. blog. about. everything!

I would dearly love to start blogging regularly and am not sure why I haven't in the past. However I am just going to make an effort. A post per month from now on? I think that would be do-able. However I don't really think that's good enough. I love reading blogs and I can't wait to read new posts each and every day so if I actually want to connect with people through this blog I doubt that will work. However I have to start somewhere, so here I am.

This is a bit difficult since this blog is not what I want it to be, yet, however I will take my time, show myself patience and build it slowly into the blog I envision. And since my main life priority right now is to finish writing my masters thesis so I can move on with my life I will just do what I can so my blogging thoughts do not take over in my head leaving no room for thesis thoughts.

With that said, I need a new umbrella and really want one that will last - I found these Monsoon Vermont trashion umbrellas and they are 25% off. I think I'll email them to see if they have any that are made without pastel colours . . . I'm hoping for some blue and orange like in this messenger bag or orange and red like this travel wallet. I'm emailing them now and will pass this by Bruce to see if he's in favour since he may need ot use it from time to time as well!

November Blogger out. Hope to be back soon.

It's 3am & I Can't Sleep

2009-10-15T03:03:00.000-07:00

Today I stumbled across Benita's blog, Chez Larrson and I would rather not admit to how many hours I spent reading through her archives. I'm not saying it wasn't pleasurable, it was (maybe too much!) and so, little was written or worked on in the way of my thesis. I was up until 2am pouring over Benita's beautiful posts and I have now tried to sleep for almost an hour but I can't because I can't stop thinking about her beautiful, organized home and all of the changes I want to make to mine. I want to wake up tomorrow and dig in!

I can't though. I shouldn't. I MUST wait until PT (post-thesis). Not sure I can though. Maybe I can use a few of my ideas to motivate me to get some thesis work done. Do a little thesis work, and then I can 'reward' myself with some home organization and improvements? Sounds perfect. Here is my list:

Find some sort of 'legs' to place under the white shelving piece on my side of the closet to keep my sweaters out of reach of the dust bunnies.
~~Move the newspapers and newsprint I have been collecting by the front door to the balcony where they will be more handy to use to line our compost pail~~
Hang three pieces of thrifted wallpaper above the couch & then hang our wedding photos
~~re-organize under the bathroom sink; clean & use the old yogurt pails and unused large & long plastic container that I have in my stash~~
~~use the old rubbermaid container to contain some of the rarely-used smaller plastic containers~~
Find some old tins to place around the legs of our basic bed frame so we don't have to keep stubbing our feet on those not so nice roller legs; add some felt to those rollers while I'm at it
Remove the caning and get some glass cut for Bruce's bedside table
recover the bench in the entrance way with linen from previous Babe owner
sort through kitchen cupboards and consolidate
organize hutch display behind glass door
organize wine storage in hutch; find more tubes for storage; cover tubes in white paper
~~go downstairs to the trash/recycling area and rescue that old brown shelf thingy; can it be used for something (on balcony?) even if stood on its end?~~ NOTE:I think the 'shelf thingy' came from a renovated apartment we re-purposed it to create a whole new look for our entry way - photos to come!
~~go downstairs to the trash/recycling area and see if there is anything worth salvaging from that old fridge - wire racks or bins? Could the wire racks be used to hang laundry? Dry herbs?~~
go downstairs to the trash/recycling area and look for any great "white, clear, plasticky, useful and formerly meant for take-out, ice cream and candy" containers
~~cover a toilet paper roll in paper bag paper; add 2-3 slits in it to keep the large knives organized~~
NOTE: I carved up some plastic wine corks instead - worked much better - I'll take a photo soon.
~~bring up the garage sale green lamps from storage;~~ clean them and find something to cover their tops - use Sears gift card to purchase shades? ask Bruce
Cut bath mats into two; bind them and use one at the tub and the other at the sink. My feet are cold!
~~add felt bits to feet of sewing machine case - move it to craft area in living room.~~ Clean out old green wooden cooler and put sewing bits in there - will it work as a sewing bench? Make a cushion for it (source soy foam and wool batting).
Find a place for to-be-gifted casserole dishes and take-out pans; what can be stored above the fridge now that the microwave blocks it?
Find better way to store old cassettes to clear off dresser in living room; what can the old cassette drawers be re-used for?
Slip cover chairs; fashion some padding for the arms; paint the legs
add l-hooks to the kitchen cupboard doors to hang the cooling racks
put honey in syrup dispenser like this one?
~~get some sleep!~~

Just another Lazy Sunday

2008-02-17T17:37:00.000-08:00

Just a lazy Sunday after a party we hosted last night as a thanks to everyone who helped us get to Ghana on our Habitat build. The last guests left around 2am so it has been a slow day - esp. this afternoon as I awake from an unintentional nap. Does anyone else have a ridiculous time waking up from naps? I do. This is why I usually avoid them.

I'm excited to be posting here again and feel like this is the space to share so many things. Like just a few minutes ago I logged on to check out Soule Mama's blog and thought I would play around and check out some of her links. There was a link to this article under her 'Inspiring' heading which I really enjoyed and so far I have fallen in love with Christien Meindertsma's knitted designs - check them out, they are wholesome, thought provoking and stunning to my eye. I am especially in love with pouf (as below, but also click the little sheep in the middle of the page to see more) and with her technique - click on the flock and click the arrow to the last photo to see her gigantic cast on stitches - amazing!

Christien Meindertsma's pouf - stunning.

Well now that I'm slightly more awake and a bit motivated to do some clean-up before the work week begins I'll be off, but first a little dinner at the pub up the street with my Superstar ; )

Happy Sunday!

Been Gone So Long

2008-02-12T00:14:00.000-08:00

It has been way too long since I've posted here . . . 6 blogs seems to be a bit too much for me so I'm trying to decide what to do - keep all 6, combine most of them into one? Decisions, decisions! What I have decided is to blog more so this blog will skip directly from 2006 to 2008 with brand new posts!

I have several projects on the needles, so many vintage finds to share, a gazillion photos to put out there into the Flckr world and it seems, not enough time to do it. More blogging is in my February list of resolutions though so stay tuned one way or the other!

It has been a long time . . . (from October 13.07)

2007-10-13T22:44:00.000-07:00

I just found this in my drafts . . . had to post it because the details about Alyssa's gift make me smile ; )
______________

It has been a long time since I have posted here. This was not my intention but that's the way things have happened. I love being able to sit down and type and write and share but man, sometimes life gets in the way. Thinking back, I have no idea what I've been up to since December, really and it is strange to know that so much can happen in one's life in the span of several months and really there is not much you can remember.

Here's what I do remember:

1) We're leaving for two months in just 22 days! England, Switzerland, Germany, Ghana and Ontario are all on our hit list - it is coming fast and I'm really starting to look forward to it.

2) I left my job in August to try some new things. Fundraising for our trip to Ghana kind of got in the way of pursuing anything right away, but leaving that job was a big change which has given me lots of insights into future ideas for paid work and the kind of lifestyle I would like to enjoy. Exploring the blogging world of women who capture and craft and express and thrift and sew and knit has given me a lot of inspiration in my journey and I am very excited to see where I will choose to lead myself - so many ideas!

And here's what I've been up to most recently:

First, I must pass credit along to the creator of this bag for inspiration.

My apologies go out to this woman because I have lost all reference to her name or blog and can't find a link anywhere in my files. So, if you know who created this bag, I would love to post a link here as thanks for the inspiration for this:

My gift bag for my niece Alyssa's third birthday. This summer we gave a very cute bag to our niece Anabel, on my boyfriend's side of the family, for her third birthday and she loved it! It was a very cute and was purchased at the Vernon Farmer's Market. It was larger, almost shopping sized, plain canvas bag with a panel of jungle fabric on the outside, a zippered pocket and rainbow webbing straps. The straps made the bag nearly as long as her though but she loved to carry it around and asked for it often and was always looking to carry the little sticker books we got her in the bag for enjoyment on every car ride.

So, when Alyssa's third birthday was approaching I new a bag was in order. I also knew I had a bit more time to make something so I stumbled around the blogosphere looking for inspiration and I found it. The materials are almost entirely thrifted (the thread to machine sew things may not have been, but likely was) from the Tommy Hilfiger jeans that were donated to our fundraising garage sale (it felt good to cut up that guy's stuff!) to the turquoise corduroy from Value Village to the floral fabric lining the handles (some ripped and dirty pajama bottoms that caught my eye in a free box on the sidewalk) to the cotton thread used to secure the fabric lined handles with a modified blanket stitch. The little flower was something my mom had in her patch drawer in her sewing cabinet for years which we agreed was the perfect addition.

I was rushing a bit at the last minute to finish so my brother could take it back with him to Ontario on Thursday so I didn't have time to line it as I would have liked but I think it still looks okay. Here you can see the interior and one of the first times I have used my labels for anything other than my baby blankets - it was fun to sew this one in to this bag.

Here is a shot of the whole gift:

1. handmade gift bag
2. side-of-the-road-free-pile tins (filled with thrifted plastic animals and glow in the dark stars)
3. 2nd hand books
4. locally made Sunset Bay Honey Farm lip chap (or 'lip chomp' as the girls like to call it ; )
from the Moss Street Market
5. felted wallet
6. natural juice bears
7. a little note book from a Victoria based artist I can't recall the name of,
purchased from Sorensen Books, a great book store on Cook St.

And a shot of the little wallet I felted from Cat Bordhi's book:

Stocking, Stocking - Oh How Close We Are to The Big Day!

2006-12-21T23:05:00.000-08:00

Well, here is it is so far, in all it's glory!

I'm liking it and my intarsia technique is getting better I think (despite the faulty purling). I have 46 rows to go - well really only 30 and then I knit the toe. After the toe is done I will pull out the false stitches (the yellow line on the right and the black line on the left) and knit the two sides of the heel.

I am very confident I will be done all knitting in time to board a plane to Toronto on Sunday morning. My plan is to occupy my time on the flight with the pleasures of weaving in ends and sewing up seams - joy oh bliss! At least I'll be strapped into a seat so I guess that means I'll get it done.

I am nervous about what I can and can't take on the plane in terms of knitting needles - I would love to take these socks (don't mind the giant knot which has kept me from knitting these for over a week - knitting from both ends of the ball not to smart).

I think security will likely ban my tiny, circular metal needles. "Great, a stabbing AND a strangling object, perfect! You're clear."

Does anyone else have any recent experience flying with needles? I'd love to take some plastic needles on board to do a scarf and maybe some dp bamboo needles to do a hat. Will they care?

How is everyone else doing with their stocking progress? We are so close my Mistletoes! Monday will be the day of beautiful stockings and much celebration, I can just feel it!

Oh and check out this fabulous pin I've been wearing on my hat all week - thank you miss Jennifer! (Sorry, next post - Blogger won't upload it and it is too late to trouble shoot tonight).

Stocking Update - Week ? . . .

2006-12-03T23:02:00.000-08:00

Who knows what week we're in (well I guess some simple math and reading back over my earlier posts would clear that up) all I know is that we've got Twenty-Two (22) Knitting Days Until Christmas my dear Mistletoes!

Here is my stocking progress to date - lots to do yet but Tuesday night is knitting group night so I'll have more for you then.

Hey Frosty kind of looks like the Fonze in this picture . . .

There is room for improvement in my intarsia technique but I'm still happy with how cute it is. I know she will love it and that's all that matters. I can't wait to see her little face on Christmas morning!!!

Socktoberfest Socks, Stocking Progress, Felting & Grave, Grave, Grave Knitting Errors, Oh My!

2006-10-27T22:57:00.000-07:00

I have been SO busy over the past two weeks, I've barely had time to do pretty much anything I actually enjoy and do in order to relax. As we speak I have just finished sorting a huge pile of papers on my desk and have cleaned up as much as I can (considering our bathrooms are still in disarray after some renovations - almost done, down to the painting, also in the bedroom, and finishing touches) before my mom arrives in, well minutes ... she should be here any minute, for a nice long visit from Ontario!! I am excited!

So, knitting . . .

Socktoberfest Socks: Two weeks ago, at Stitch 'n Bitch, I finally finished the toes and I wore them the next day (I haven't since though, as like Laura, I have laundry on my list too!). Julia, the week's knitting host, kindly took some photos for me - check these beauties out - nice photography skills eh?

Stocking Progress:

Here you go! So far, it is coming along ... I still think it is a bit skinny but compared to my old one, it is. ALSO! At that week's knitting session I also learned that I have been purling INCORRECTLY for the past, um, maybe 10 years!! How did I not notice this? How did no one else catch this? Basically I was purling with yarn at the front of the stitch instead of pulling it behind and I was twisting every single stitch in every bit of flat knitting I have done in the past 10 YEARS! This explains why I always thought the switch from knitting in the round to flat knitting seemed more awkward - it always required a sort of twist and twitch of the needles to get the knit stitches off from the previously purled row ...

So, unless I completely frog the stocking I'll have to continue to purl incorrectly for this project, and then continue to purl correctly for the other things I'm working on - mostly little wallets and purses to felt and sell at an upcoming craft fair. Yeah, I know sounds complicated - but I'd rather not frog . . . but the perfectionist in me might . . . but then again, we're almost into November - the BIG stocking day will soon be on its way!

Well, that's all I have time for tonight - so many exciting things in the world of knitting but so little time to knit - I'm looking forward to a road trip with my mom and having her drive so I can really go at 'er!

Stocking Update - Week 5 (Already!?!)

2006-10-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

The stocking is only a bit further along however, it is only suffering from neglect with the great progress in my Soctoberfest Socks! No photos yet, but I'm going to try and weave in the ends and tighten up/untangle the kitchener stitch toes so I can wear them tonight, damn it!

I began these socks some time ago (you know, I can't even remember when I started them!) and was using them as a sort of motivator to help me push towards finishing my MA thesis (how else does a knitter motivate herself in things not knitterly?) and getting to the ultimate goal of defending the thesis and wearing the newly named 'Thesis Defense Socks'. Well about 2 weeks ago I decided this thesis was keeping me from moving on with and living the rest of my life and I decided to withdraw from my program and start doing things I love. And so, the 'Thesis Defense Socks' became the 'Birthday Socks' but didn't quite get finished on Sunday (too many phone calls and a squash dish to prepare for dinner) and then became known as the 'Freedom Socks' which I think is a much more appropriate name. So, I'm heading out with a friend tonight to attend a live show downtown, something I never would have done while I was 'working on my thesis' and so, I WILL finish these socks and wear them tonight! Here's to Freedom from doing things you do not love and to freshly knitted socks!

Stocking Update - Week 4

2006-10-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

Here's where I was last Sunday:

This photo was taken in my friend's car on the ferry on our way over to Salt Spring Island for the annual Apple Festival.

I'm a little further as of our S'n'B meeting this week and have the face done and am on to the scarf. Poor snowman is looking a little long in the face since my gauge is less wide than my old stocking but I've got to stay to scale and make this stocking the same size as Alyssa's sister's stocking. I'm sure he'll still look cute.

Here are some photos from the Apple Festival:

Fulford Hall was filled with people and apples - hundreds of varieties were displayed on these tables, look at all that colour! Here we enjoyed apple (orange cox) and apple raspberry pie for breakfast - delicious!

Every apple variety grown on the island was on display at the hall - here is a tiny wild apple displayed in a blue naglene bottle of course.

Then we went on, following the map, to visit orchards and farms in search of tasty treats. We headed to Moonstruck Cheese, where was saw this very cool Parking sign (udder & all) and I purchased some blue cheese for my dad hoping it will keep until Christmas.

We then met up with some other friends and visited Bright Farm where they have 350 varieties of apples, pears, plums and cherries as part of a preservation orchard and were given a tour by the owner. I purchased some Alexander apples which are the apples I grew up with in my grandparent's orchard.

Then I treated myself and purchased this beutiful butter dish made by Judy Weeden. I love it.

Now I'm on to enjoying the long Thanksgiving weekend here and I've planned a party to celebrate my birthday, Post Thesis and the opening of Trailer Park Boys the Movie so we'll be enjoying cheese burgers, pepperoni, jalapenos chips and other heart stopping treats. The rest of the weekend will be filled with farmer's markets and farm tours, local produce, hangover recovery, hiking and family feasts! Happy Thanksgiving!

Stocking Update - Week 3

2006-09-29T22:39:00.000-07:00

A little late on Friday to do my Mistletoes update but hey I'm not doing too badly actually updating on a Friday!

It has been a bit of a long week (a whole other blog really, but I decided to withdraw from my masters program last Saturday which has meant a really good but slightly unsettling week) but I did make some very nice progress on my stocking during Tuesday's S'n'B session - the smoking snowman's hat is almost done and with the start of the pattern, everything is much more interesting and moving along much more quickly. I do have to look up an online tutorial on intarsia again; some of my transitions look very nice, others very sloppy - I'm less interested in letting that kind of stuff slide with this stocking so we'll see if that translates into actual frogging of errors.

Photos to come after the weekend I hope - I'm off to an apple festival this weekend and I'm sure I'll bring the stocking along since travelling involves a ferry ride AND my driving friend will have her digital camera I bet, so maybe a stocking shot with apples!?!? Excitement!

When Knitting Becomes an Obsession

2006-09-25T23:34:00.000-07:00

Maybe you've already seen this, but if you haven't and you're a knitter you MUST.

It is very cute and speaks to me in so many ways about how I do indeed feel obsessed about knitting some days - and who hasn't scratched their head with their needles from time to time (well all the time?) or felt like throwing them into a deep canyon too?

I'm almost embarrassed . . .

2006-09-23T17:34:00.000-07:00

I think photos are pretty important and interesting parts of most blogs, especially knitting blogs. I also pride myself on being a bit of an amateur photographer (even though I really only know the basics and am more comfortable shooting in automatic than ib manual). So for these reasons it pains me to even have to upload this photo . . .

Ah yes, the 'incredible' photo quality of the Logitech QuickCam 8.4.6 - here's a beauty at a whopping who knows how many pixels.

In any case here's the stocking so far in all its fine form, 33 rows in. I'm not so keen on the lettering since it looks a little 80s computer-ish up close, but from a distance it isn't so bad I guess. Only 2 more rows until I get to start the colour work and the smoking snowman's hat - this part of the pattern goes much faster once you start into the colour work.

I have to say that overall I am very impressed with the stockings that everyone else in the knit-along have begun (Darra has already finished her first!) and I'm loving the diversity and creativity!

Knit on Mistletoes!

Stocking Update

2006-09-19T22:53:00.000-07:00

Well I'm not much further along in the stocking knitting since my post late Friday night. With a weekend of babysitting I didn't have much time for knitting, let alone complicated knitting with a graph to follow and lots of squares to count - and after our Stitch n' Bitch gathering at my place tonight I don't have much to show either - following a graph pattern is pretty difficult when there is always so much interesting conversation to jump in on!

It was a good gathering though with some delicious snacks as always - chocolate, cheese and wine as well as a lovely garden-fresh tomatoe, cheese and arugula salad and I made an Okanagan fruit buckle with plums (from my boyfriend's parent's orchard), nectarines and apricots using this recipe. There were six of us tonight and the projects varied from felted bags (this is our group's favourite pattern to modify) to afghan squares to baby hats to socks knit with handspun wool to a cool fuzzy hodded wrap/poncho. Knitting night is one of my favourite nights of the week!

So yes, back to the stocking update . . .

I am knitting a stocking for my 2 year-old-niece for Christmas. Last year I finally finished the one I started for her 4 year-old sister (I think I started that one in 2002) and when I gave it to Niece #1 she immediately wondered where the stocking was for Niece #2 - such a nice big sister - and wanted to share hers if there wasn't going to be one for her sister. So, Aunt Brandy is on to knitting family stocking Number 2.

Stockings in our family are very important. My great aunt knit matching stockings for my mom and each of her five siblings and knit one for my dad and my brother and sister and I to match. My mom's stocking was knit with 100% wool while my aunt was living in England and as a result is pretty much its original size. Ours on the other hand was knit with chunkier acrylic and so they are much larger than my mom's (more stocking = more loot!) and have stretched over the years as well (we used to wear them as giant socks when we pulled them out of the Christmas decoration box each year). My mom always went out of her way to make sure Christmas was huge for us kids (sometimes to my dad's chagrin) and the stockings were always full and usually had a giant orange stretching out the toe. Every year the three of us kids would fight over who got to put their stocking on which chair since wherever our stocking sat was where our pile of presents from Santa would sit as well. Stocking location was extremely important since we had two old stove pipe holes that opened up in the living room ceiling, one from the bedroom I shared with my sister and the other in my brother's bedroom. Vying for a spot on the chair under the stove pipe hole meant that you could get a sneak peek at the gifts Santa brought you without having to wait to walk down the stairs with everyone else. I think this may have worked for one year and then after that the stockings were always 'mysteriously' switched and placed on the couch across the room or in an opposite chair - foiled by Santa again!! So Christmas stockings are an important part of our holiday traditions and is especially important now to my sister who absolutely loves the fun of Christmas and now has her own two (soon to be three!) children to share it with.

So what do these much loved stockings look like?

Well here is a shot of mine and the toe of my boyfriend's, (knit by my wonderful aunt!) from last Christmas.

This is the same pattern I'll be knitting for this stocking. I think these stocking patterns are very cute and they are very vintage! They come from the Knit-o-Graf Pattern Co. (check here for some vintage knitwear patterns by this company) and the pattern is by Della Fitch, copyright 1952. Here is a peek at an original pattern image I found on EBay for these stockings.

My sister has the lovely Santa sleigh scene on the top left, my dad, brother and boyfriend all have the Santa one on the top right and Niece #1 has the one on the bottom right (she was the first in the family to get this one I think) and sadly, my brother-in-law has a bastardized puppy dog version (I wish I had had the chance to make him an 'original' pattern before my mom bought that one for him, oh well can't remove it from the tradition now).

I'm using a 3 3/4 mm needle (No.5 US) though the pattern calls for a No. 3 - these were the needles I used last time (if I recall correctly) so though I'd like to knit this one up a bit bigger to match the ones from our generation I have to be careful not to make them different sizes for this generation since equality among all children in the family was also a big 'tradition' at our house. I'm using Smart Superwash 100% wool for the majority of colours and will use one ball of Patons Country Garden DK 'The Claire Murray Collection' for any yellow in the pattern.

So that's it, the stocking update! How are your stockings coming along?

I do have a few other projets on the needles which I'd like to share but I don't have access to a camera right now. My boyfriend just left on his 2nd Navy sailing trip for 6 months (less a week!) and he's the one with the digital camera so I'm stuck here with film which doesn't serve a new blogger very well. In the meantime I'll have to make do with poor photo quality from my webcam to show some basic photos of my projects - either that or I'll just have to invite friends with digital cameras over more often for knitting photo shoots ... hmmmm, any volunteers?

Mistletoes Stocking Knit Along

2006-09-15T22:58:00.000-07:00

I have officially cast on 82 stitches (as of 9pm tonight) and have knit about 5 rows. The knitting on the stocking for Niece #2 has finally begun! I will post more details about the pattern and wool next week, for now I'm off to bed since I'm doing a sleep over babysitting job this weekend - most certainly fun, but it will be tiring if I don't get my sleep.

Eggplant Babies

2006-09-10T22:31:00.000-07:00

The whole idea of starting a little side project called "Eggplant Designs" came from the blankets I love to make for babies I know. These little gems are a flannel ruffled blanket and from what the moms have told me, they come in handy.

I've only made three of these blankets but I LOVE to make them. I love to pick out the perfect material for each baby (or as the case may sometimes be, their parents), I love how quickly they sew up and I love how cute the ruffle is and how warm and cuddly they are.

Here are photos of two of the blankets I've made. The first photo is of the first Eggplant Baby, Aidan.

Aidan is the adorable baby of my friends Amy & Mark. He is now 14 months old and also received matching burpping pads I was able to make with leftover material.

The second and third Eggplant Babies are Isabella and Rob respectively. Photos are pending for both of these cuties but in the meantime here are two shots of the John Deere blanket I made for Rob to give you a better idea of what they look like close up.

Edit:And here's a recent photo of Isabella - Wade & Bryony's oh so cute cutie - thanks for the pic Bryony!

I'm looking forward to making two more of these in the near future. On Tuesday my boyfriend's sister-in-law is scheduled for a c-section and my sister is due with baby #3 in late December.

While I have other more pressing projects on the go right now (not the least of which is my MA thesis, something I have to keep reminding myself of!) I'm hoping I might be able to take these blankets retail and sell in several local stores as well as online. I have a line on some organic fabric and I'm on the look out for vintage flannel to really make these blankets unique. The first step in making this a reality was purchasing some labels to attach to my creations. I ordered these online from Carmen at Luscious Labels and I love them! (Sorry for the webcam quality photo.)

The next step will be finishing my thesis so I can free up some time (or more realistically, finally have some "guilt free," free time) to devote to building this little side business. In addition to making these blankets, I also love to design and knit items for others and take photographs so I decided that any name for my creative business couldn't be limited to reflecting one creative outlet or the other and I chose the name Eggplant Designs. Why eggplant? I'm not really sure exactly, but my favourite colour is purple and I do love the shape and sheen of a large plump aubergine so I think that may have swayed my decision.

So that's the story of how Eggplant Designs came to be.

Eggplant Designs Online

2006-09-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

Post # 1 is complete ... now I can share all of the knitting and sewing I'd rather be working on than working on my thesis.