This Is The Very Last...

Lousy picture on this blog.

Relentless

Crawling? I am so over that.

Think you can hide the computer cord from me on the couch? Well guess what I am going to get up there.

Tomorrow I am going up the stairs.

Good Thing

Oh. My. Sweat.
It is 800 degrees here today, I think I have heat stroke. I don't have any pictures of the caramel apple making because 25 minutes of stirring the caramel until it was just at soft ball kinda zapped the umph outta me.

I'll talk you through it. Apples covered in caramel, dipped in chocolate, covered in smarties, mini M&M's and sprinkles, chocolate and such all over the kitchen and 3 little girls, 3 moms ate too much and felt pretty barfy, sugar induced food coma enjoyed by all.

So in this heat I am knitting my daughter a toque. It is stocking stitch with a rolled edge. I need a vote on how to finish up the top. Here are the options
1. plain top
2. i-cord
3. i-cord tied in a knot (this is Ken's choice)

I am open to suggestions.

O.K. I am heading back to the fan.

40 Cloves

Last night I made chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. It was about 35 cloves too many. Since I've learned that most of the garlic in grocery stores is grown in and imported from China I've been buying garlic at the market. Huge heads with mega flavour. The recipe took 4 heads of garlic.
Ken and I were hurting all night. We even had ice cream to try to purge our systems. I think I will remove the recipe from my book, it is a little over the top.

I am knitting away on my Kauni. there is progress. I had much uninterrupted knitting time on the weekend, even got to listen to a podcast, Lime and Violet. It amused me, also encouraging to knit while listening to folks that are knitting. I started Laila's toque with the Mirasol that I bought at the Knitter's Fair. Click here for pictures. It is going really quick and I hope to be done for the weekend.

Clarabel is insisting that I knit her a matching one instead of the purple (her favorite color) colorway. Here's the reason why- the purple yarn is hers and she wants to knit it herself when she is bigger.

That's right my 3 year old is building a stash in anticipation of learning to knit.

Lucky for her the skeins are only $8 and I am always happy to buy more yarn.

We picked apples on the weekend. (No pictures, I forgot the camera) In an attempt to use up the 800 apples today we are making caramel apples. I will take pictures!!

Must run Laila is making an attempt to chew the computer cords. Perhaps attempt is not the right word, she is chewing the cords.

Everybody Loves...

Marineland. (Do you have that song in the States?)

Truth?

I don't.

Don't love it at all. In fact I thought it was a small step up from the days when they used to load a whale into a truck and cart it inland charging everyone 50 cents to see it until it died, then they just dumped it.

I took consolation in the trainers. I have to assume that to work with whales and dolphins one must be passionate about said animals and take good care of them.

In the spirit of laughing at one's self, here I am enjoying the ladybug rollercoaster. In my defense it was a lot faster than I thought it would be.



I then had a turn on the bumblebee ride. After that I was done for. No knitting on the ride home had to keep my eyes on the horizon.

Hands In The Kool-Aid

I would like to begin with a short announcement. Ken is out this evening at a conference. It is 8:30pm and both of my children are in bed. Asleep. I might of skipped the teeth brushing part and perhaps Laila is wearing a not so clean diaper or outfit. But sleeping. I am not so naive to think that Laila will stay asleep. Likely she'll have a 40 minute cat nap and then be up 'til midnight. Ken should home for that part.

Busy day over here. Clarabel and I gave the yarn dying a go. It was really warm and I figured the yarn would dry well outdoors. We did 2 experimental skeins. I was very non-controlling and let Clarabel turkey bast Kool-Aid where she wanted, I was allowed to take turns though. Here they are basking in the sun.

I used these directions. I had some trouble with the wrapping in plastic wrap and microwaving, the dye all ran together and mixed up, also my plastic wrap wasn't big enough to cover all the yarn. Any tips would be appreciated. Next time I might try dipping the yarn into the color instead of turkey basting it on.
The colors are pretty muted, I really like the reddy one. I mixed two colors to make it, of course I have no clue which ones.
I think I'll knit a felted purse for Clarabel with the purple/blue one.


See Clarabel in the background with the hose. She insisted on washing her hands after yarn dying outside with the hose. How long do you think it took her to drench the chair and the yarn? The yarn was alright not sure about the chair.

I think Clarabel had the right idea. Yarn dying is messy work.


Of course you have to make some Kool-Aid to go along with your Kool-Aid yarn dying. FYI-Drink only 1 glass, it's kinda vomitous and look what it does to your skin.

Samantha started a meme. I wasn't all that happy about it but I hate being left out of a party. It is a self-portrait meme. So here I am.

Highlighting my garden that needs some attention. I am tagging Mandi, Janice and Natalie.

Already she is up! In fact she woke up about 4 minutes after Ken waked in the door.

P.S. You guys are really funny!!! Ken and I have been laughing about your comments about the salsa. We will share some, eat some and gift some. Perhaps there will be a salsa contest. Can you mail salsa??

In Case Of Rain

Today was Salsa Day.







I think the yield was 23L.
We also did 3L of roasted red peppers and 2.5L of roasted poblanos. (A 500ml jar broke in the water bath.)
Ken smoked some jalapenos and made an adobo sauce. Already he has plans to improve on the recipe for next year.
Very thankfully Ken's parents came home from their vacation a day early and offered to come over and take the kids to the park. Then generously picked up some pizza for dinner. So it all went fairly painlessly.

The kitchen looks like a tomato red pepper bomb went off but we are prepared for any salsa emergency that may arise.

A Little Behind

Two kids up twice in the night leaves very little sleep for the mommy and daddy. You folks know how it goes. Lost some days.

Yarnhog is having a contest (for sock yarn!!!!) She's asked that we show our knitting spots. Here's mine-

I was trying to get a shot with me in it and actually knitting but no go. Always I was dragging my heels because I didn't really want to post the filth of my chair on the internet. Of course I can see the tv from there and I can hear the ding if I get a new email. (Often the sound is off on the computer 'cause it can get a bit distracting.) You can just see the little table I have to hold snacks, patterns and such. (Clearly I need to do a little declutter work on the computer table.)

Now, because those folks at IKEA are always thinking, my footstool is also a storage space. At present it is fairly tidy because I'm just going to town on my Kauni but usually it's all filled up with bits and such. Those are the felted slippers I made eons ago, not sure what to do with them. Also those IKEA folks made the covers washable so that you can remove the filth, I just haven't gotten to it in a little while.


And...

look what I made last night for dinner. I was so impressed with myself that I had to get a picture. It is a souffle. I tried it last week but it didn't souff. Under no circumstances was I going to let it get the better of me so I tried again. By the time I put the camera away and got the table set, it had deflated. Yummy though.

Off to knit night.

Top Ten Reason Why Life Is Good.

I am totally copying Haley. I thought this was such a great idea and that it would put me in good spirits and I am really a bore these days.


10. I have discovered a new book and it is changing my life. Between Parent and Child by Dr. Haim Ginott. It was recommended by Moxie and I respect her 2 cents on stuff so I thought I would give it a go. Clarabel and I are getting along very well, there have been no fights since I started reading. Even the battle of the tv is tolerable. There is peace in my home.

9. Laila enjoyed sweet potatoes for dinner. I gave her a mouthful to amuse her while we were eating and she loved it. So I kept feeding her. They were cooked in chicken broth and spiced up with ginger but there isn't any scientific reason why baby's first food must be bland. (If there is I would rather stay in the dark.)

8. I have been able to knit a little bit everyday.

7. The house has stayed tidy. Doing a little bit everyday is working out great. Perhaps next week I will step it up to decluttering.

6. I am starting a community kitchen and my friends are totally keen. I'm really excited. It is a group that comes together to cook and share food. I think we will aim to make foods that can be kept in the freezer.

5. We have free tickets to Marineland. Unfortunately Clarabel has Marineland and Disneyland mixed up and she thinks we are going to Disneyland and that she will see the princesses that live there. (Why does a 3 yr old know all this about Disneyland? I'll tell you. Her father and she look it up on the internet. )

4. Food, shelter and clothing. And it is getting cooler so I'll be able to wear my fancy new jeans and shoes.

3. My children are perfection. They have food, shelter and clothing too.

2. Our shelter has a new roof, which has fixed our eavestrough problem. We just had a major thunderstorm and the eaves worked great. Tomorrow I will cancel the work order to repair the eaves.

1. Our 5 year anniversary is coming up soon. I believe my beloved husband is planning an weekend in Toronto and a fancy dinner. I believe this because I said "Let's go away for a weekend in Toronto and have a fancy dinner. You plan it." Isn't it great that after 5 years of marriage I have learned that he can't read my mind?

And a bummer bonus- When we came home after the long weekend, we lost half of our cable channels. I looked into it today and it turns out that we were watching the analogue package while paying for the basic package. Nuts. No more Iron Chef America for me.

Bugs

Many, many bugs in my brussel sprouts. You can't get bugs out of brussel sprouts, they were all nestled in there. Lucky for us I have a persistent habit for buying enough sprouts for 1400 people and there were enough bugless ones for our dinner.

I am in search of a school for my children. I would like to find a one room school house kinda place. One teacher, few kids. Like homeschooling only they aren't home and I'm not the teacher. Any ideas?

The Spoils

Yarn Festival 2007 - check
Clean bathroom - check
Even vacuumed all the floors - check

Here's are my purchases

Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn in Spring Tickle colorway. How can you resist spring tickle?? This is for me. Not sure what pattern I am going to do, maybe Monkey Socks.


Sock yarn for Ken. It is Mountain Colors in the Moon Dance colorway. It is superwash, nylon and mohair.


And....

3 skeins of Hacho from Mirasol, it is a fair trade yarn from Peru. It is so very fabulous I can hardly stand it. This is the first time I have bought yarn because it was pretty. The 2 purply skeins are to make a hat for Clarabel, though she is trying to talk me out of a hat b/c she just likes to hold and play with the yarn. The multi-color is to make a hat for Laila.

Totally controlled, just a little something for everyone. I did enable a fair bit of yarn shopping, though not nearly as much as I would of liked. I was desperate to get my SIL knitting a sweater but she opted for socks. Did manage to get the others on the sweater train.

Thanks for all your 2 cents's on teething. I forwarded all the comments to my mother, I haven't hear her verdict yet. Laila now has 2 teeth.

Also, I am encouraged to know that most of you are out there struggling with house cleaning too.
I am off to make dessert, something with pears. There are 2 dozen on my counter. And I think make a meatloaf, it is raining and not much fun for burgers.

Go and have a look at beckyknitstoo, she is having a contest and asking for ideas for what to do with Rowen 4 ply.

I'm growing a little foliage

Turning over a new leaf.

When the house is a mess, I am a mess. When the house is dusty, I am dusty. When the house is unhygienically filthy, I am, well, just plain gross. This isn't groundbreaking and I'm sure most of you out there feel the same way. There is only one solution to this dilemma and it isn't pretty. I must clean my home. (Are you tired of me going on about this?)

Cleaning before everything is the new system over here. It is taking top priority all else. Knitting, reading, eating, cooking, blogging, staring into oblivion wishing I had a nanny and a chef and a maid. I didn't really come up with this idea, I kinda stole it from Elinor at Exercise before Knitting. (I'll tackle the exercise once I can keep up with my house)

So far it is going very well. I have spent 15 minutes at the end of each day tidying up toys. Today was a unbelievable mess, Clarabel and her best buddy played shopping. It involved carrying toys from the basement upstairs in shopping bags and dumping the bags out on the floor in Clarabel's room. They didn't stop until there was no room left on the floor. Fortunately Ken was home from work early and I was able to tackle it. They were happy playing for a really long time though.

Sunday is my deep clean day. I think I have to deal with the bathroom. It's dangerously close to that unhygienic thing...

The reason I am going on at length on this topic is that I will not blogging until I've done my cleaning chores. As there is a bit of a backlog on filth, it is likely that I will not be a mega-poster for a bit.

That being said, tomorrow is the knitter's fair and I am going to spend my allowance on something yarny or yarn related. I'll be posting some photos.

Kauni progress is going slow. Once Clarabel starts her preschool it will be knit like stink on a monkey.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

I am home and quite thrilled to be here. Though I would have liked if the house elves had done a better job in my absence.

Here's the update-

We did not dye yarn. This is because there is no Kool-Aid for sale anywhere in Quebec, only Crystal Light. (What is Crystal Light anyways?) I was at my grocery store this morning and there was a ton of Kool-Aid, so I'll get on it soon.

Laila has a tooth. Also she is working really hard on crawling and is likely to be moving shortly.
(As an aside- My mother is very concerned about why babies must endure the pain of cutting teeth. Any insight to this would be appreciated and I will pass it along to her.)

Clarabel starts her preschool today.

We buried my grandparents and it was a lovely day of celebration.

I managed to do some knitting. There were many set backs. First was the error of stitch counting. Then there was the error of stranding technique which lead to a serious tension error.
Then there was a few sleepless night due to the new tooth event and my knitting time was eaten up by naps.

So here's what I've done. The tension is still pretty wonky. My tension is different with each hand and at present the yellow yarn is a bit thinner so that's not helping. I don't think there's much I can do about it except to keep knitting and improve as I go. I am hoping for a few expert opinions at the Guild meeting tonight.



After my second counting error which caused me to tink out 2 rows my lovely father said "That's all you've done, you've been knitting since you got here?"

A few days later as I was swearing about the tension he said "Is your pattern too hard?"

He won't ask these kinds of questions anymore. I've told him. In fact just yesterday he said "It's going to be great because the yarn you choose it so great."

Another muggle converted.