Clown Socks and Hanspun!

Hello my dears. First thing - I am switching to bi-weekly shop updates. I put lots of lovelies in the shop last Friday, so keep an eye out next week! I need to dedicate more work time to preparing for my favourite show of the year, Fibres West.

Wanna see some things I finished? I am madly head over heels in love with these socks:

I have crazy clown socks and you are totally jealous.

They were knit toe up, two at a time, with a Fleegle Heel. I love knitting toe up socks, even if cuff down heel flap socks fit me best. I find the extra structure and density of the heel flap keeps the socks from sliding around.

I knit these two at a time because they were dyed in a very particular yarn prep: the sock blank. I got mine from Fat Cat Knits in her Child's Play colourway, but there are other sources if she isn't able to make you one. A sock blank is two strands of yarn held together and knit (generally on a machine) into a rectangle. The dyer then can do all sorts of fun things, creating gradients, stripes, or fascinating variegated colours. The knitter unravels the blank to knit it. I wanted to have seriously matchy crazy socks, so I did some googling and figured out how to work socks two at a time. Honestly, I deeply disliked the method and won't do it again except to knit up my other sock blank. It would be great for those of you who suffer from debilitating second sock syndrome, but that's thankfully not an issue for me.

Action shot! Not pictured: my seething irritation at all the tangling and yarn management.

Another fun project was this handspun:

I spun this yarn from matching gradient batts that I carded on my Fancy Kitty Kitten (if ever a giant spiky wool tool sounded like a sex toy, it's that one). They were a blend of superwash merino wool, sparkly trilobal nylon (also known as firestar), and recycled sari silk in my My Little Pony inspired Luna colourway. The yarn blends smoothly from grey to turquoise, marine blue, navy, and black. I think it'll make an amazing shawl.

It's a simple semi-woolen 2-ply, spun for softness and bounce. I gave it to my mum for her birthday so I can't remember the exact yardage, but I'm thinking about 400 yards of fingering weight. So pretty! Sari silk makes all the difference, adding a textured tweedy look that makes me grateful I am a spinner.

That's all for now! I'll have more fun things to share soon.

 

Shop Update: Bright Sunshiny Day

I know lots of you are trapped in some sort of polar vortex madness. That sucks. It's sunny (if a bit nippy) here and I thought I'd do a nice bright update to send some sunshine out into the yarny world.

The Magic of Meal Planning

Two of my goals for this year were to make more food from scratch and to save money. I've had encouraging success with both goals over the past two months, and I owe it all to meal planning. I've read so many blog posts about wonderful stay-at-home-mums who save a bajillion dollars by making month long meal plans and hoarding coupons and grinding their own flour, all while homeschooling and bicycling and gardening and sewing all their clothes from upcycled organic cotton. Honestly, I feel defeated in the face of these women's incredible efforts. As much as I'd like to emulate the enthusiasm and discipline of the hippie super mamas, I know my limits. I had to come up with a method that worked for my family and allowed considerably more lazy internet browsing time.

Here are my basics. I hope they help you find realistic inspiration!

The notions bag I got at our knitting group's holiday party has already come in handy! I knew it would!

I plan our meals weekly. Every Friday I sit down for 20-40 minutes with the grocery flyer and the contents of my fridge, pantry, and freezers to come up with seven days worth of lunches and dinners. I make sure easy meals are planned for busy nights and Jake-friendly cooking is planned on nights I'll be out. I ask if there's anything the family hopes to see on the schedule and include requests if at all possible. My main goals are:

• Use all perishables before they go bad so no food is wasted.
• Plan purchases around the meat and produce that is on sale or earns extra loyalty points. This cuts the food budget down considerably and encourages creativity.
• Make sure our diet is varied, healthy, and delicious, with lots of fresh veggies and as few processed or ready-made foods as possible.
• Try new recipes and flavours. I knew I was pinning tasty things on Pinterest for a reason!

Because I know what's for dinner ahead of time, the rush and stress is gone from cooking. I am much less likely to make "put all the things in the fridge in a sauce over pasta or rice" on tired nights when inspiration refuses to strike. We order less takeout. Produce doesn't rot. Cooking is fun again. Jake's lunches are planned ahead of time (and are usually based around the previous night's dinner) so I can pack them up at night, saving money that he would otherwise spend on fast food. Knowing what's for dinner ahead of time also allows me to make things from scratch - If I know I need tortillas I can allot an extra half hour to roll and cook them.

It's amazing.

I use a few tools to keep track of things and I thought they might help you too:

 

• Pepperplate app: this awesome free app stores recipes and has a monthly calendar for meal planning. The in-app shopping list allows you to move easily between your calendar and recipes for efficient grocery planning. It has timers you can use while cooking, and can multiply your recipes for you (so you never double the baking soda but not the flour ever again. Yuck). The interface is sleek and intuitive, and the same account can be synced to multiple devices so you can send your partner to shop, or plan on your PC but use your phone as a shopping list. Love it.
• Mint.com app: I use this free budgeting app to track all my finances. I just checked now - before meal planning we spent $550-$725 monthly on food to feed a family of three (including restaurants, fast food, coffee shops, alcohol, everything). This month we have eaten better food and will be spending less than $400. I think we'll continue to spend even less as I gain more experience and self control. I'd love to get it to $300.
• PC Plus app: this is only relevant to you if you do your groceries at a President's Choice affiliated store (we go to Real Canadian Superstore). Their points program follows what you regularly buy and offers you points based on those items. It's a little hit and miss (no, Superstore, I will never buy crackers stop trying to make me) but still useful. If you're going to buy potatoes anyway, and they want to give you extra points, plan two meals with them instead of one and save a little money!
• Pinterest: I know, Pinterest is a giant time suck full of ridiculous, impractical hot glue projects, Taylor Swift quotes, wedding dresses, and obnoxious thinspo photos. It's also a Mecca of craft inspiration and delicious recipes, depending on who you follow. I follow some amazing boards and I've tried several delicious recipes. Check the blog sidebar if you want to follow me or check out my friends. I haven't seen a thinspo image or a popsicle stick craft on Pinterest for months, all because I carefully curate the boards I follow. Don't knock it unless you've really tried it.
• Costco: if you stay away from name brands, don't overbuy, and watch for sales, Costco is an amazing resource. I pay $13 for 20 kg of flour and store it carefully in sealed buckets at home. Suddenly, baking bread is actually cheap. Large cuts of meat (I'm looking at you, 4kg pork loin) that you can cut and freeze can be a great deal too. My amazing local fair trade coffee company costs less than half the grocery store price, making it actually reasonable. Grain free cat food with an excellent ingredient list costs barely more than WalMart Purina and might save you a fortune in vet bills. As always, beware good deals on things you don't need. The membership costs money, but you can split it with a friend or family member and shop together.

Well, that's all I can think of today - I'd love to hear from you! Do you plan meals? What are your favourite recipe sites? Are you an amazing couponing flourgrinding home sewing organic super mama with the secret to how you can do all the things in only 24 hours a day? (Is it amphetamines?) Tell me!

 

 

Rainbow Dash Hat - Twenty Percent Cooler

If you've spent much time with me in person, you probably know that I am a big fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It helps that I have a nearly four-year-old daughter (holy crap!) but honestly, I'd watch it even if she wasn't around. It's adorable, hilarious, and completely without cynicism. There are very few shows aimed at little girls that don't make me grind my feminist teeth, and while MLP isn't perfect, it's pretty close.

For Christmas I made my daughter a pony hat. Not just any pony hat, either. A Rainbow Dash hat. Because clearly she needed one. Sorry the photos are a little sloppy - it's not easy to keep a child still on Christmas morning.

While I improvised the entire project (I have been doing that a lot lately) you could easily modify any hat pattern to be a super awesome pony hat. I made the mane by finding the centre line of the hat and tying small bundles of yarn every few stitches.

For the ears I made simple single crochet triangles, picked up along the crown of the hat. You could also knit them and sew them on, or make them from felt.

The pompoms were the perfect touch. Both the mane and the pompoms were made from Knitpicks Felici self striping yarn. It was much cheaper to buy one ball with all the colours I needed than shell out for all six colours separately. The body of the hat is Knitpicks Brava Sport. It's a fairly pleasant acrylic to work with, though I did find it squeaky. Can't beat the price though!

Isn't it cute? I made it big enough that it almost fits me, so she'll be able to wear it for as long as she's interested in ponies!

 

FO - Handspun Arbutus

I don't often spin yarn for a specific project. Sometimes I look at fibre and think "this should be a cowl" or "downs wool means socks!" But beyond that... Meh. This fibre, however, knew was going to be Jane Richmond's Arbutus cowl right away.

It's "twinklebunny" by Ixchelbunny - a blend of merino, tencel, and angora rabbit. It's lusciously soft and the colours look just like a lavender farm in summer.

I made the cowl a repeat larger than the pattern, mostly because I had lots of yarn left. It's unbelievably cozy and warm, so much so that unless we have a serious cold snap I'll barely be able to wear it.

I'm so happy with this project. It's great when something comes together exactly as planned, right from the fibre. Go me!

 

Shop Update: The Blues (and greens)

I've got a pretty little update for you guys today! It features three of my favourite colours to dye - Deep Space, Supergreen, and Kozmic Blues. I took the photos with my ipod today to see how it worked out. I think next week I'll be going back to the regular camera. The colours are fairly accurate but the background isn't as bright as I would like. Ah well, I tried.

Thanks for looking guys!

 

Doing Inventory is Bad for the Stash

I had originally planned to do my shop inventory on January first, prior to re-opening for the new year. That plan was thrown off by the death plague (better now, thanks for asking!) and I didn't get to it until yesterday. By that point I was feeling pretty nonplussed by the whole process, which may have affected my grabby hands, because I kept moving things across the room to my stash instead of counting them.

Oops.

These pretties (Squish in Crabapple Jelly and November) will likely become Veera's Here and There hat:

A skein of Squish in Diva will morph into something lovely for a March girlbaby:

I will finally create the perfect Colour Affection using Kashmir in Havana Club, Pinkle, and Sweet Spot:

And this batt was just too perfect to let go (sorry guys, but you can hardly blame me):

Also detrimental to the stash - my holy grail in sock yarn form. I've been on the hunt for Trekking XXL in colour 550 (a better name would have been "giveittomerightthefucknowi'mgonnadiefromlackofrainbows”) for about a year now, and my awesome sister-in-law gave it to me this Christmas! I'm a lucky girl.

LOOK AT IT! Amazing. Have a peek at the projects using it on Rav. You're jealous now right? She got it at Paradise Fibers, if you're interested.

There are also undyed sweater lots set aside for me (yay! I'm thinking red for one!). I don't really know what happened - I've been so good in previous years. I am going to have to work so hard to decrease stash volume this year. Wish me better luck!

 

In 2014 I Plan To Be Awesome (AKA The Goals)

Welcome! It is time for my yearly resolutions/goals/intentions/shit I hope to do or not do as the case may be.

I am always flabbergasted when January rolls around. For twelve months I think "OMG this year is flying by so fast and I never get anything done!" and then, when I take time to revisit my last goals, I realize how much has happened, how much I have changed, and how far life has taken me. I've noticed that the older I get the faster time flies, so it's nice to experience this grounding sensation. A year is a long time, full of possibility. Breathe and remember how far you've come. Okay, apparently the older I get the more willing I am to write new-agey affirmation shit on my blog. Oh the shame.

2014 Life Goals:

• Take my road test.

I got my drivers licence in 2013. It's a learner's licence, and, among other things, it doesn't allow me to drive by myself. I need to get in lots of practice, learn how to do the fiddly stuff (parallel parking, I'm looking at you), and gain the confidence I need to take a road test without suffering attacks of nervous diarrhea.  

• Be me.

You may have raised an eyebrow at that diarrhea comment. Well, too bad. I am going to stop censoring myself this year. I'm awkward, outspoken, and prone to fits of profanity (I'm basically a fat Jennifer Lawrence without the charisma and money and pretty wardrobe). I'm an atheist. I'm a feminist. I have questionable mental health and hilariously irritating physical health (see: nervous diarrhea). I'm angry about some things, foolishly passionate about others, and wildly in love with the world. Sometimes I'll have opinions or say fuck. You'll be ok. I'm still pretty nice and I love otters so we still have something in common.

That's weapons grade cute, right there.

• Pursue personal fashion.

I want to dress up, wear makeup, and feel awesome. I have spent my entire life feeling too fat to be noticed and too awkward to live fully because someone might see me. That is no way to live. I love fashion - hell, I spent several years and a fair bit of money pursuing a career in it - and I want to play too.

• Pay off all debt and begin to rebuild savings.

Our only debt, thankfully, is our car. I want those payments gone, and the interest they carry gone with them. Paying it in full will eat a huge chunk of our savings, which I would like to rebuild with the money going to car payments, and anything else I can shuffle in that direction.

• Implement a family chore schedule.

My house isn't a pit of filth, but it could use work. I want to make a weekly cleaning schedule so things like "grody bathroom corners" and "dust behind the TV so thick that the dog can't eat it even though he regularly tries" and "what exactly is that musty smell?" aren't part of our life.

• Put child in preschool and use time gained productively.

Rei will be four at the end of this month. She can read single words, she is starting to get basic addition, and she has an imagination that puts Anne Shirley to shame. She needs preschool. Staying at home with her has taken her this far, but I've hit my limit. I'd like to have her enrolled by September and to use the time I gain away from her to find paying work, or, failing that, do what I can at home to significantly reduce our cost of living.

• Build strength and stamina.

I have a cranky knee and I get winded too easily. The fat is obviously an issue in both cases, but weight loss isn't specifically the goal, because thus far it's been a miserable impossibility. More exercise is a must, though I will have to work around said knee. Increased dog walking, maybe swimming... who knows?

• Make more food from scratch.

I have this hippie dream of eliminating all processed food from my family's diet. I also dream of eating Kraft Dinner every day, but some dreams are too good to come true. I'm pretty good about baking all our bread and making all our soups, but I'd like to extend that to things like tortillas, all sauces and curries, and other baked goods. I think it should save money and improve our health.

• Read.

All the things.

• Blog more.

Lucky you! I'm not likely to write the next great Canadian novel if I can't even keep a blog going. I want to expand beyond pathetic weekly shop update posts. That's not a blog, it's a poorly received e-billboard. I hope that more blogging will also help me improve my writing skills.

2014 Crafty Goals:

• Finish a stocking

Har de fucking har har. You will see this goal every year until they are ALL done. I have one cross stitched stocking about half done. Life shouldn't be this hard.

• More garment sewing for myself and Rei.

I love sewing clothes. I've had some setbacks and learning experiences over the past year, but I would like to move beyond them. I need to improve my finishing techniques and choose patterns and fabrics that will integrate into my wardrobe.

• Knit and spin down the yarn stash.

I've been suffering stash guilt. It is too large, with too many single skeins. This is entirely because I insist on buying yarn with no project in mind. I have no desire to go cold sheep or count yardage-in vs. yardage-out, but I want to work from what I have as much as I can, for an overall volume reduction.

• Spin for Evenstar, then knit it.

The Evenstar Shawl is my Holy Grail project. It was a failed goal last year, and I'd like to try again. I have eight ounces of amazing Merino/Yak blend from Sweet Georgia that I'd like to spin into a gradient for it.

• Spin for a sweater from raw fleece.

I've done this before and I adore the sweater. I'd like to do it again, using a Texel/Finn/East Frisian fleece I bought in 2012. This means lots of quality time with the drum carder, but that's OK. If I was very ambitious I would also hope to spin a sweater's worth from the Rambouillet cross fleece I have. I don't think I'm that ambitious. That seems crazy.

• Make a quilt for us.

Now that I've made one quilt, I feel the need to do it again! I'd love to make one to cuddle under on the couch, as well as maybe a decorative quilt to hang on the wall. I don't know if I'm ready to do one for our bed yet. We shall see.

• Weave more.

Pretty self explanatory. I want to expand my repertoire, I have some projects in mind, and I need to get over my irritation with warping my little rigid heddle loom. It's time to suck it up and do it.

Well, there you have it. Many goals, all of them realistic (if I can keep myself under a reasonable amount of control). We shall see how I do! If you are setting goals I'd love to hear about them. We can all be accountable together!

Accountability 2014: Last Year's Goals and My General Awesomeness Rating

It is the first day of January, and I am in a blanket fort on the couch desperately trying to forget how sick I've been over the past week. You know that epic stomach bug that's been terrorizing North America? It. Is. Really. Awful. Lots of handwashing ok guys? I'm fine now, but super tired. Luckily, I can blog from my blankets!
I take a perverse enjoyment in rehashing the last year's goals to see how I measured up. Come join me as I crow about my successes, wallow in my failures, and spew word vomit onto the screen. Be grateful that's the only kind of vomit I'm producing now. Stupid Norovirus.
2013's Crafty Goals:

• Knit 15km.

Oh hell yes. 16.1km. That is so much knitting I can't even contain my smugness.

• Spin 9km.

I lost my spinning mojo towards the end of the year, which is unfortunate as I really could have made this goal. I clocked in at 7.6km, which is not too shabby. In other news I'm going to be doing away with my knitmeter widget in favour of a spreadsheet that doesn't get all cranky with me. Maybe a more pleasant inputting experience would make this meterage measuring less of a chore.

• Finish one of the three cross stitched Christmas stockings.

Yeah, no. Stupid fucking stockings. They are going to be worth it. They are going to be beautiful. I bought a snap frame to replace my traditional embroidery hoop and the stitching has picked up again over the past few months.

• Make a patchwork quilt.

I did! It's beautiful! I made my parents a nautical themed quilt for Christmas, and I loved the whole experience. I am planning future quilts as I type.

The back is simple unbleached cotton flannel. Isn't it cute?

• Knit the Evenstar Shawl.

I tried. I really did. I got out the yarn and pattern and needles, went to swatch, and then realized I'd done something I have never done before. I bought the wrong amount of yarn. I was short by nearly 200 yards. I knit a sweater with it instead, and I have some fibre to spin for the next attempt at the shawl of my dreams.

• Release at least four patterns.

Almost! 3 patterns in a year is a lot less than I'd ideally like, but still. They're good patterns.

• Slightly reduce yarn and fibre stash volumes.

Yarn: yes. Fibre: look I'm sure you have faults too. Why are we only talking about mine? It isn't all about me here.

• Don't buy more raw fibre, and work with what I have.

I didn't find myself even tempted to buy more, but I didn't use the fleeces nearly as much as I had hoped.

• Weave.

I am disappointed to say I failed this goal miserably. I'm feeling a bit stumped by my lack of weaving progress actually - I want to weave, I want woven things, but I just don't do it. I'll try harder this year.

• Knit sweaters.

Like a boss. I knit five in 2013, all of them for me. Sweaters for a lady of my signficance are no small commitment, so I am pleased with this.

• Knit selfishly and pursue other crafts if I prefer them over knitting at that moment.

I did! I got a little carried away with the Christmas crafting this year (OK, brag time. 4 pairs of socks, 3 of which were for man feet, 2 pairs of fingering weight mitts, a laceweight cowl, a hat, a cross stitched sampler, two handsewn neckties, and oh, just an entire quilt. Bask in my awesomeness, go on) but I did what made me happy, embraced crafts as they appealed to me, and was happily productive.

The aforementioned sampler

2013's Life Goals:

• Read.

While I am miles away from my pre-parenthood book-a-week status, I read almost a book a month this year (for comparison, last year I read a book. Like, one). I got a Kindle for Christmas, which has made reading while knitting possible by fixing the whole "paperbacks don't stay open if you're not actively holding them" problem. Also, I can read racy novels and nobody will ever know.

• Train the dog.

Loki has improved, for sure. Part of it comes down to the fact that he's (FINALLY) maturing. His leash manners are great, and he is extremely obedient if treats are involved. I taught him to roll over the other day, just for fun. He's a pest, but boy is he clever.

• Get my driver's licence.

I DID IT. My learner's licence has irritating restrictions aimed at a sixteen year old, but I'm working on getting ready for my first road test. I haven't even tried parallel parking yet.

• Improve my mental and physical health.

I was well on track with both, but a month of near inactivity due to bronchitis this fall has really set me back. I'm still very happy with my efforts, if not always with their results.

• Put more money in savings.

We moved into a bigger, more expensive home this year, and faced a number of unexpected expenses. Did you know that if your puppy's balls don't drop, a simple neuter turns into a $900 operation? Turns out the testicles had never worked after all, but hey. They're out now. No use crying over spilt testicles, amirite? I'm happy that we came out ahead, but I didn't meet my goal of saving 10% of our incomes.

• Better outward self care.

This goal was all about presentation - hair, makeup, clothes, cleanliness etc. I think I did a great job. I discovered the miracle of dresses, learned loads of new makeup techniques, and successfully transitioned my hair from black to platinum blonde without looking like a skunk in the meantime. Go me.

• Continue to grow my business.

Yes! I worked harder, sold more things, had more fun, got more exposure, and made more friends.

• Do fun things with family.

Not in the way I had originally planned, with camping trips and adorable Kodak moments, but we found a very pleasant groove in our family time.
When I do the (very official and quantitative) math, I earned a 61% in crafty goals, and a solid 81% in life goals. I'm pleased with me! Every time I feel like a failure in 2014 I'll remind myself that I'm more of a solid B minus. Yay?
I'll ponder and post this year's goals soon. Until then, dear readers, avoid touching strangers and sanitize everything!