Linaloo

Happy Halloween!

 
Ours is a white one!

Rainbow farfalle baby quilt

 
In your face winter blahs.

You have not yet managed to deplete all my energy reserves or surpress my drive to make stuff.

I present the finished rainbow farfalle baby quilt using mostly thrifted pillowcases with a bit of Amy Butler thrown in for good measure. In the end, I quilted in the ditch as a free motion quilting foot was a special order (and long wait) for my humble little sewing machine.  Baby size quilts are such a satisfying project - not too big to be intimidating or time consuming, but perfect for a whimisical and (relatively) quick quilting fix.   

Based on this tutorial from Film in the Fridge.

Socks for the soul

  
Like clockwork, my winter blahs have arrived this week with a vengeance. I've been trying to ignore the signs (exhaustion, feeling run down and a general apathetic malaise) for a while but I'm too shattered to fake it anymore. I've given in and have succumbed to putting my PJs on as soon as dinner's done, watching crap tv on the couch and early nights. I know it will pass quickly but for the next few weeks I'll be in hibernation mode.

The upside of all this feeling rather sorry for myself is that sock knitting is turning out to be very theraputic and good for the soul.  I've already cast on the next pair...

Simple recipe recording :: crumbly apple cake

 
I have been pondering for some time how best to store all my favourite and frequently used recipes in a useful way that can also be kept for posterity.  Until now, I have a a mix of favourites referred to time and time again stored online (food blogs, recipe sites etc), ripped out pages of magazines stored in a messy overflowing folder in my kitchen and of course, in a collection of recipe books.

Overwhelmed by too many choices for a long time, I finally took the plunge this summer and plumped for a simple low tech recipe box and index card combinaton.  I like that I can take the cards shopping with me if need be as a reminder of the ingredients...and I can copy recipes from my favourite books without fear of splattering the glossy pages.  Although I know that there are plenty of more sophisticated ways of storing this kind of information electronically, I have rather enjoyed the satisfying task of transferring my collection of tried and tested family favourites by hand onto these neat little cards. 

How do you store yours?

The recipe above is for crumbly apple cake which is so easy and simple. Just in case you feel like trying it, the recommended cooking time is 40-45 minutes!

Purls of wisdom

"Socks are a miracle of engineering.  When you knit a sock, you're doing it the same way it has always been done.  You're connected with knitters over the last 700 years, all making socks and watching them wear out." 
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Knitting Rules.

There's been some cosy fireside sock knitting going on here lately.  Rather infuriatingly I lost my basic sock recipe pattern from Stephanie Pearl McPhee (the Yarn Harlot) that I'd found on Ravelry and printed off for my first pair last year.  Now it seems to have mysteriously disappeared from the web. So I tried another pattern but couldn't get on with it and decided instead to buy Stephanie's book, Knitting Rules.  

Craft book purchases are a generally rare event for me. I'm the queen of frugal (if it hadn't escaped your notice) so I usually I use freebie patterns I find online or borrow books from the library. I'm so glad I actually bought this one. It makes so much sense to my mathematically challenged brain, it's like having a comforting friend holding your hand and encourging you to just go with the flow and not to be intimated.

Instead of knitting patterns, she provides basic "recipes" for socks, hats, scarves and sweaters which can be tweaked and modified to your preference. This kind of guidance makes me feel smart, like I'm totally getting it, rather than simply mindlessly following directions. And her words on sock knitting are brilliantly insightful with the added bonus of being hilariously funny.

Autumn colour week :: red & brown

 
 
More pictures from the archives today...we've had miserable wet dark weather the past few days so getting outside has been a challenge.  Thank you for all your kind comments about my photos and...I really appreciate them.

It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and I count my blessings that I do have so very much to be thankful for.  Happy weekend all!

Autumn colour week :: orange

  
Most of these are pictures dug out from the past. The second one is from a preschool pumpkin picking trip three years ago.  Back then, Tommy was a bolter - regularly delighting in running as far away from me as possible whenever he could. He didn't stop and would keep on going forever.  It was a pretty long (and nightmarish) phase that lasted over two years...I could never take my eye off him and even lost him once or twice.   If you're a parent of a bolter you know how stressful it is.  Anyhow, he was wearing an orange hat that day when he jogged off into the distance, and I thought it made a cute photo. 

Needless to say, I had to break into a sprint to fetch him not long after.
 

Autumn colour week :: yellow

   
The colour of happiness.  All day today my eye was drawn to all things yellow. From the lines in the middle of the road, to school buses passing by and to the golden trees in my neighbourhood.  Tomorrow is the turn of orange!

A walk in the woods

  
 A perfect autumn walk in the woods provided some stunning photography opportunities today.  Next time, I plan to take a tripod as capturing all the amazing funghi in the darkness of a forest was quite a challenge.

Taking these pictures I was reminded of two very inspiring artists whose work I have come to love through flickr.  Fellow Canadian, and crocheter extraordinaire Margaret Oomen (you may already know her through her blog, Resurrrection Fern) and UK land artist, Richard Shilling whose work never fails to blow me away!

In need of a bit of a challenge, I'm taking part in Poppytalk's Autumn Colour Week on flickr as of tomorrow if you feel like joining me!