Saturday in Pictures-knitting, reading, melting, sewing

 Knitting Lorelei's scarf. Thanks for the kind comments the other day when I asked if this pattern/yarn combination was too busy. The more I knit on it, the more I like it.

 Blogging, snacking, soup happening in the background and dinner in the crockpot.

 That there is melting snow and the first glimpse of sunlight my driveway has had in 6 weeks.

 Some treasures I found at the library this morning. I find the library is like chocolate-I can't leave with just one. It's a problem and might explain my troubles with keeping track of library books and the fortune the library is making from me in late fines.

Dreaming. Fabric for zippered cases and patterns for new summer clothes. 

I am in love with this green and pink floral.

Don't be fooled that my Saturday is all idleness and bliss. In actual fact there is un-photogenic laundry going on, tidying, keeping the peace between kids and procrastinating from cleaning the bathroom. Outside it is all brightness and melting snow and I feel the first stirrings of hope that spring is on it's way and it's so hard to be focussed on a day like this.

Yarnalong: Walden and Waffling

Joining Ginny today at Small Things blog for Yarnalong:

Reading: I finished The Heart of Christianity the other day and I'd like to read it again soon as I think I missed a lot in my first read through. It took me a bit to understand the scope and jist of the book. A lot of the ideas were above my current thinking and didn't sink in until I'd journeyed through the book.
And then I reached for Walden. It's been on my list of books to read in this lifetime but it's not an easy read either. The language is old and takes concentration to catch his meaning. With my interest in simplifying life and all the times I keep running across quotes from Thoreau that resonate with me I figured it was time to give it a go.

Knitting: Lorelei's Scarf from Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders. The library should just give me this book as I've taken it out so many times. I'm not sure what the yarn is. I think it's Paton's Kroy sock yarn in one of their jacquard patterns but I'm not sure. I found it in a bargain bin at Michaels awhile ago and recognized it as sock yarn and of wooly content but without it's ball band to be sure. It's not enough to make me socks and I really wasn't sure what to do with it so it's been languishing in my stash. I pulled it out the other day, decided on a lacy scarf pattern and began. But I'm waffling. I love the yarn and I love the pattern but I'm not sure they go together. Is it too busy do you think? It's going to be 5' of this repeat of colour plus the lace pattern.
Anyhoo, that's what I'm knitting and reading.

Alpacas, Quilts, Spinning & Sheep

This morning as I was trying to decide on a blog post topic I thought about putting on all my winter gear, grabbing my camera and capturing the bright sunshine on the snow. Then something in me snapped. NO! No more pictures on snow and ice and cold things. I am tired of carpe dieming this season and trying to be cheery about it because the fact of the matter is that I'm tired of being cold, of the snow, of feeling trapped in the house because of all the afore-mentioned reasons. This southern-ontario girl is staging her own winter rebellion.
Instead, I bring you photos of the International Plowing Match we went to way back in September. These photos are much nicer and more colourful. Enjoy!

There were ploughs and plowing but I thought the handmade goodness was the best part for sure. I am always amazed at people's creative talents. Looking at all the quilts and fleeces and spinning and rug-hooking inspires me to keep on with own my pursuits.

Gratitude Sunday: Flowers in February

Joining Taryn at Wooly Moss Roots blog for Gratitude Sunday, a time to look back at the week that was and reflect with gratitude.

Feeling grateful this week for:

::Pancake Supper at church on Tuesday and the enthusiasm my children show in helping others and being of service in their community.

::The beginning of Lent. I love rhythms, and the contemplativeness of this season. I gave up wheat again this year and am finding it easier in some ways but still difficult to avoid in everyday life.

::Signing up for Kathy Stowell's Three Creative Steps to Mama Biz Bliss offering. I am looking forward to someone outside of my head helping me to give my ambitions a direction to head in. 

::several hours with my friend at The Outdoor Adventure Show in Toronto on Saturday. So many inspiring places to go and add to my bucket list. Someday...

::A good chat with a very good friend who knows me so well and understands me and despite all that still seeks me out ;)

::Making plasticine art with my daughter. We made flowers to remind us spring is coming.

::Black Bean Soup and Corn Scones from The Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home cookbook last night for dinner. 

::Learning the lesson again and again this week to slow down and be mindful of what it is going on around me. I am learning to slow down in my parenting and not rush. I am learning to be mindful of the interactions I have with my kids. I am learning that each request to join them is a chance to bond. 

What about you? What are you feeling grateful for?

Thrifty Thursday: the difference between thrifty & poverty

You know those moments in parenthood when your heart just breaks wide open and you realize you need to do some damage control?? Yup. I sure do. That's what this week's Thrifty Thursday post is all about. Financial-Parenting-Damage Control.
I always forget how tough the months after Christmas and before Easter are. It's not that I'm dealing with a nasty credit card bill from too much Christmas spirit. We don't go into debt for Christmas. We just don't do it because we know first hand how hard it is to pay back money we don't have after the fact. Instead we keep the gifts simple and thoughtful.
It's the fact that food and heating costs go way up after Christmas. Everyone is inside and near the kitchen and thoughts turn to snack time multiple times a day. Combine that with the fact that The Boy is now 13 and The Em-ster is 10 and it really is unbelievable how much food kids can pack away!
It has been bitterly cold this winter. Today I woke up and my car thermometer told me it was -18C and when I got in my car at 4:30 this afternoon it was still -18C. Plus the wind chill. Burr. We live in a 50 year old house that desperately needs to be reinsulated and as a result the furnace seems to be going constantly.
I've been trying to make sure all the bills get paid on time and budget out money for The Boy's grade 8 trip in June plus the cost of everyone wanting to entertain themselves with friends. Our resources have been spread pretty thin this last little while and really the only place I have room to move is the grocery budget. I didn't realize how much this was stressing everyone out until The Boy vented finally tonight when I was trying to work out the finances for this pay period.
Ugh.
It's not that anyone was going hungry or that the fridge and cupboards were empty-far from it. It's the fact that the stress of "doing without" was getting to him. The doing without the food that isn't nutritionally dense that everyone always wants (read:chips, ice cream, lunchmeat). I wrote in yesterday's post about the push and pull of not buying your kids everything they want so they fit it versus making sure they feel comfortable in their social group and not odd man out. It seems lunches are a political arena as well.
Ethically I find it hard to buy lunchmeat, white bread, cheese strings and Jos Louis' for their lunches. That food is expensive, full of stuff I don't want them putting in their bodies and pretty low on the nutritional scale but that's what they want and what they claim all their friends get.
What's a mom to do?? What do you tell your kids that actually gets beyond the peer pressure side of their lunch choices??
So damage control. I assured him all is well financially and that the reason he was getting the food he was getting was because it's healthier in the long run but I will make sure he finds some treats in the cupboard for next week. I sent him and his dad and sister to the store tonight to begin the shopping. I think letting him see the cart fill up with the staples (milk, eggs, fruit and something tasty for lunch) will make him feel better about things. We had a good conversation about what he considers essentials that he doesn't want to see go empty and I included a chat on the importance of rationing things out so they last. His list is a reasonable one that I can totally get behind: milk, bread (whole wheat is fine), fruit, yoghurt, salsa dip makings, eggs and the dreaded lunchmeat. Gotta choose your battles mama!
I am learning that kids too just want to feel like they're being listened to. I am learning that I am inflexible sometimes and I need to bend my own rules when it really matters. I am learning that my idea of what real poverty is and what their idea of poverty is are blessedly far apart but they need to feel safe in the fact that there will always be food in the cupboards.

Yarnalong: Blueberries & Tweed

Joining Ginny today at Small Things blog for Yarnalong:

Reading: I'm still working my way through The Heart of Christianity and just finished the chapter on "thin places", the places where you feel God the most. What a perfect way to describe it. My thin places are out in my canoe alone, hymns that I love to sing and of course, when I'm sitting and knitting.
When I need a break from the above book I read The Blueberry Years by Jim Minick. Jim and his wife Sarah share their story of operating a blueberry farm in Virginia. I'm only a chapter or two in and it seems like a good, easy read. I have a soft spot for books about homesteaders of any kind. I imagine their lives to be satisfying and simple where their worries boil down to the basics of food, water, shelter. Can you tell I'm feeling overwhelmed by life? I'd like to not be worried about how much time my kids spend in front of the tv or whether they fit in at school when I don't order them pizza for lunch every Tuesday or buy them the same lunchbag/winter boots/backpack/fill-in-the-blank that all the other kids have. I choose not to do these things from a place of thriftiness and also to teach them they don't need all this stuff to be whole. But I do remember what it feels like to be the odd man out and what a relief it is to have (fill in the blank) just like everyone else. This parenting thing is full of the pushing and pulling of wants and needs, ideals and morals isn't it? Definitely overwhelming sometimes.

Knitting: tweedy blue owl mittens. I started the thumb last night while listening to the Em-ster read her french home reading. I do love the feel of this yarn and even the bits of hay and whatnot I'm finding as I go along. It reminds me that a real creature grew this wool.
The wool is Berroco Blackstone Tweed, no colour name, just a number. The pattern is my usual 2 needle mitten pattern.

Still Life with Wool

I asked for a few hours to myself today to get some knitting and other things done and ended up with an empty house for 6 hours. Woah. What is a mom to do with such a bountiful blessing??

I knit. Of course. (Duh) and did several other things knitting-related.
Above is some Berroco Blackstone Tweed on it's way to becoming owl mittens. I'm going to try something new and knit my usual owl mitten pattern but instead of casting off all stitches and sewing the mitten up I'm going to cast off only half then knit a triangle to be folded over the mitten to look like an owl face. I saw something like it on the internet but it involved knitting the mittens in the round. I know lots of people prefer to knit their mittens in the round and I've tried but old habits die hard. I'm a 2 needle mitten girl.
Yes, I'm knitting a blue owl. Part of me, the type A part says this is ludicrous. Owls are not blue. Owls are brown or white or grey or some combination thereof. Not blue.
The creative hippy side of me says why not blue owls?? Is there a law that says owls can't be blue?! In my mind I see a lovely pair of tweedy blue owls with orange beaks and piercing white and orangey eyes.

Gratitude Sunday: Green & Light

Joining Taryn today at Wooly Moss Roots blog for Gratitude Sunday: a time to look back at the week that was and reflect with gratitude.

Feeling grateful this week for:
:: pink tulips my sister in law brought when she came for dinner tonight
:: my pottery lamp. I love to light it at every dinner and watch the flame. It reminds me of camping, cottaging and the Christ candle at church.

:: winter. If I say it I find I do feel grateful for snow and cold and warm woolies. But I'll be thankful when spring comes though.
:: 3 days off in a row thanks to Monday's stat holiday here-Family Day.
:: hope and new beginnings.
:: my new Mama's Notebook planner-more on that soon.
:: the safe arrival of a new baby in my circle of acquantances. Maternal and infant mortality rates are blessedly low here but bad things still happen and I always say a prayer of thanksgiving when all goes well.
:: free tickets to the Outdoor Adventure show in Toronto next weekend. I was himming and hawing about whether to go with a friend when we came by these tickets. I love it when that happens.
:: this cake:

Keeping Busy on a Snowy Saturday (in pictures)

 What it looked outside our front window today

 My daughter heading outside to play

Layers of knitting: owl mittens, creeper mittens and one fox mitten

 A new purse from re-purposed fleece made by my daughter

 Dinner in progress: Sweet and Sour Meatballs from Fix It and Forget It-Recipes for Entertaining

Playing Blokus

Happy 1 Year Blogaversary to Me

I interrupt my regularly scheduled Thrifty Thursday blog day to bring you a small celebration.

Today is our 1 Year Blogaversary! Yup, last February the 12th I sat down at this ancient computer and wrote my first blog post.

135 posts later I am amazed at the changes. I think my writing is improving and I know the photos are getting better thanks to my friend, the Canon Rebel EOS T5. 

 (Me, trying to figure out how to make it go)

(Still slightly confused but getting better)

My day to day working life has changed immensely and for that I am well-pleased. 

In the past 365 days you've seen the creation of many (many!) pairs of mittens for the Etsy shop I opened in October. You've seen the completion of one Holden Shawlette, one Strangling Vines scarf and the bittersweet Jackaroo (which fits my 10 year old daughter instead of me...sigh).

So thanks all you guys for checking out what I was up whether you stumbled upon me in the great wide web or through Ginny's Yarnalong or Taryn's Gratitude Sunday. I've appreciated your comments. I love seeing all the countries you read my blog from. I've never been to Sweden or Czechoslovakia or Argentina but this little blog of mine has!

Here's to another year of change and growth and knitting and parenting bliss ;)

Yarnalong: Weasley Girl Sweater Take 2

Joining Ginny at Small Things blog for Yarnalong:

In this post about this time last year I began on That Weasley Girl sweater for The Em-ster. A fairly easy, customizable pattern by Jacquelyn Landry that I found one day while floating around the internet. So, I measured my girl, may even have knit a test swatch and knit like a crazy woman, all smug and happy.
Ahem.
So sure was I in my knitting and measuring. The pride before the fall. I had her try it on when I was way past the point of no return and lo and behold it was WAY TOO SMALL. It sat in my knitting bag for months until I had the courage and emotional fortitude to rip it out and start again.
The Spirit finally moved me this week to try again.
So I measured. And knit and blocked a test swatch and all seems to be going well.
Lessons learned: I knit tight, tighter than I think I knit. Must knit test swatch. Also, remember to try sweater on kid and make alterations to pattern based on real things not unicorns and fairies in own head.
The wool is Paton's Classic Wool in coral, knit on 4 mm circs.

I am still working my way through The Heart of Christianity. A slow process but good.

What we do right around here

There are days when I feel like I am an absolute failure as a mother. Days when nobody is happy, things get forgotten, one kid leaves the house wearing her favourite hoody that is a pictorial history of this week's dinners. I bet you sometimes feel like that too.
My kids are so sweet and one of their bedtime rituals is to give me a hug and a kiss and say that I am the best Mom in the world. Last night I muttered under my breath "I doubt that." Yikes.
This Mom needs some positive in her life so here is my attempt at making a list of things we do right around here, things I feel good about in my role as parent:
1. We maintain a consistent bedtime routine and we are at the point where they just do it when either mom or dad announces "bedtime" without many reminders of what comes next. Keep in mind they are 10 and 13.
2. At least half the nights every week I connect with my kids for some one-on-one chat time in the dark. Probably the single most important thing I do as a mom.
3. We eat dinner together pretty much every night of the week.
4. I manage to get them to eat healthy food more often than not, mostly because I generally don't buy junk food.
5. They make it to school every day of the week on time. Considering the sheer chaos that happens between 8:00 and 8:20 every morning that sometimes feels like a freakin' miracle!
6. People tell me my kids are very polite and well-behaved at their houses.
7. Both kids are good at self-advocating for their needs at school and extra-curricular activities.
This feels kind of like a gratitude list.

I think sometimes we focus so much on what is going badly in our parenting journey that we glaze over all the good stuff that's happening. Maybe we should sometimes take a minute to make a list of what we're doing right so it doesn't all feel like doom and gloom. We do a lot of really great stuff as Moms and we need to remember those things and hold onto them for the hard times.

Just like how we would never tell our kids they are absolute failures we shouldn't let ourselves think WE are absolute failures.
I encourage you to write your own list of things you feel like you're doing right in your parenting journey. If the Spirit moves you, leave it in the comments below or as a link to your own blog.

Gratitude Sunday: Time and Grace

Joining Taryn today at Wooly Moss Roots blog for Gratitude Sunday. A chance to look back at the week that was and reflect back with gratitude.

It is a weird, cold, dark and damp day here and I refuse to take a picture to acknowledge how cold, dark and damp it is. I am trying to ignore the steadily growing feeling that I am sick of winter. This photo was taken last year on a glorious, sunny day in January and is much nicer than what is actually out my window right now.

This week I am feeling grateful for:

::Monday's snowstorm. If it's got to be February, it should be snowy and cold and it is.

::getting paid (by accident) on Monday instead of the usual Thursday. Doesn't change the finances any but it is a relief to see a higher number in one's bank account when one doesn't expect it.

::giving grace and getting it back in spades. Neat how that works.

::having the mechanic look at our car and it not costing the arm and a leg I thought it was going to.

::getting together with friends on Friday night for wine and dinner and good, intelligent conversation

::a quick date last night for pie and hot chocolate. Best $11 I've spent all week.

::sleeping in this morning. Heavenly.

::the fact that my son is able to do his own laundry from beginning to end without my help. 

::church this morning and making it on time.

::Baileys in my hot chocolate this afternoon. 

Wishing you a warm, blessed week and the joy equivalent to Bailey's in your hot chocolate.

Thrifty Thursday: Kitchen Thoughts

One of my favourite things to think about and talk about is what I do in the kitchen. I love to cook and I love to cook delicious, preferably healthy things. We do eat meat and gluten, dairy and some processed food but not too much- just enough to be real.

If you remember from my last Thrifty Thursday post about money and ethics, the two are never more in conflict than in the kitchen. I would probably spend less on groceries if my ethics surrounding healthy food and who I'm willing to support and how things affect the environment didn't come into play so much. I imagine you have lines drawn in the sand about food too. I'd love to hear about them and how you deal with your inner conflict between ethics and money.
Danielle over at Blissful and Domestic blog has started a challenge for the month of February called Take Back Mealtime. I love this idea around saving money by not eating out and encouraging family mealtimes. In this house we eat dinner together pretty much every night. It saves us money, brings us together as a family and teaches through demonstration healthy eating habits.

When I saw that Danielle had launched this challenge I thought it was the perfect week to talk about food and saving money. I want to go beyond the basics of "Make a grocery list" and "menu planning", "make it from scratch" and "shop the flyers". What do you do when you've already done all those things and you still want to shave money from your grocery budget??
Here are some of my ideas and things that have worked for me:
1. Use up every bit of everything. If you buy a whole chicken for Sunday dinner, use up the rest of the chicken meat for sandwiches on Monday then put all those chicken bones in a pot and make soup. It's amazing how much meat is left on a carcass. It takes time but time is free to strain off the stock, and pull the little bits of meat out. Add in all those odds and ends of vegetables laying around in your fridge and you have another meal. Making soup is an art form, best attempted without a recipe. It's not hard so don't be intimidated. Plus bone broth is amazingly good for your digestive system.
2. I shop once a pay period, that means once every 2 weeks. I make a menu for all the meals we're going to eat including snacks. I check out the flyers for the grocery stores near me and tweak the menu according to what is on sale. I shop once (usually) and then that's it. I don't got back to the store until we get paid again because I know I'll end up spending more than I think I will. It teaches every one in the house to ration out the food and to think ahead. We were supposed to have homemade mac n' cheese last week but because everyone was snacking on cheese we had none left for that meal and had to eat a less popular meal. Lesson learned.
3. Always keep the staples in good supply. For me that means always having baking supplies on hand so if school lunches and after school snacks are looking skimpy the last few days before grocery day I can make a batch of muffins to keep everyone fed and happy. I also always have lots of oats for oatmeal, rice, beans and canned tomatoes in the pantry.

4. I'm a believer in stocking up. If something you always use is on sale, buy 2 or 3 and store it. Why pay $1 more if you don't have to? Get to know your local farmer's market. Produce in season at a market costs so much less than at the grocery store. And you can get great deals on buying in bulk. The potatoes above lasted us at least a month, kept in a cool dry place. We ate most of the bag of apples out of hand and the rest went into muffins, pies and copious amounts of apple sauce that I canned and saved for the depths of winter.

5. Discover the art of gleaning. It's an ancient practice meaning to gather after the harvest but can also mean just to gather. Where I live I see wild apple trees on the sides of the roads. In late summer those trees are loaded down with apples free for the taking. It's worth it to find out what wild things grow in your area and to take the time to gather them up (best to make sure they don't actually to belong to someone!). One year I gathered enough apples to make 10 cups of apple sauce! Not bad for free.
So, thanks for hanging in there with me for this loooong post. I get so excited talking about all the stuff going on in my kitchen.
Feel free to share your ideas, tips and suggestions in the comments below.