More Berries!

At this time of year we are always berry crazy.  Berries are pretty much my favourite fruit, and when I can get them local and still warm from the sun I simply must eat them.  As a result a lot of the berries I buy never even make it home.  Most of the ones that do are just eaten out of hand.  But I do love stuff with berries in it too, even if just as another excuse to eat them.  So, for the last few mornings I have been having Berry Oatmeal for breakfast.  Stop squishing your face up, oatmeal can be yummy and it is good for you.  Look, the berries even make it pretty! 

Really easy too, because who needs a difficult breakfast?

Mixed Berry Oatmeal

3/4 cup milk

2 tsp cinnamon

1-2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 cup berries (other fruit would work too)

2/3 cup oatmeal

Warm the milk, sugar and cinnamon for maybe 2-3 minutes.  You can adjust the amounts of sugar and cinnamon to your tastes.  Add the berries and crush them lightly.  Just a little bit to release a bit of juice, this is not your stress reliever for the day.  Stir in the oatmeal.  Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to simmer.  I use quick cook oatmeal, so it only takes about 5 minutes.  Just follow the package directions if you are using the regular kind.  Garnish with more berries (of course!).  Its sooo good, you really just have to try it.

Heard enough abut oatmeal?  Gratuitous kitty pictures!

I don’t have a lot of good pictures of Loki.  She has perfect timing and usually turns her head or moves at the last second so I get a picture of her back. 

And finally just something pretty I found outside today.

Tuesday Update

Spinning update:

Mystery Batt #1 has been spun!

Very fun, and  I think the yarn is fun too.  There’s not much of it though, what should I make with it?

Knitting update:

Still working on the socks mentioned earlier.  they are plain stockinette, and look really good, but I was feeling the need for more of a challenge, so I got out my Selbuvotter book and the yarn I bought a while ago for some mittens.  However, as much as I love these colours together it was not to be.

The pretty variegated yarn doesn’t have enough contrast with the green, so you can’t see the pattern.  Since the whole point of Selbu mitts is the pattern I started over. 

Much better.  The contrast is even better in person.  I am doing NMH #7 with the cuff pattern from NMH #9 which I liked better.  So far it is going swimmingly.  Swimmingly enough that I spent far, far too long looking at other stranded mitten patterns on Ravelry this morning.  I like a lot of them, and lucky for me Mostly Mittens and Magnificent Mittens are being re-released soon.  And since we are on the topic of obsession – any one know where I can get a copy of Latvian Mittens for a normal price?

Summer update:

 

Fresh Strawberry jam.  ‘Nuff said.

Something new

My first handspun yarn:

Meh.  I was not very impressed.  Not only by my lack of skills (I had no idea what I was doing – I was happy it was looking even vaguely yarnish) but by the fibre itself.  I don’t really love mohair for knitting, and it seems I don’t love it for spinning either.  Or at least, for learning to spin.  However, it was given to me by my lovely instructor, so I thought I should at least attempt it.  The other thing?  See the colour?  A lovely brown, nice depth, good as browns go.  But when was the last time you saw me knit something plain brown?  Exactly.  So, having finished with the brown, I’m now working on  this:

Yes!  Much better!  The colours that is, not my spinning skills.  I’m still managing to produce some sort of thick and thin wierdness, which I think goes just perfectly with the complete randomness of this batt.  It is a  1oz Mystery Batt from Extreme Spinning on Etsy, that I got in my Phat Fiber box.  Very fun so far, and it looks like something I might actually knit with!

Why I Love Crochet

Potholder #2

Originally uploaded by heatheratjoeyshouse

1) It’s so quick! 2 days to make this, and it is double sided. Really.
2) It has a good rhythm.
3) It’s what I learned first, so it has the same nostalgia as Saturday morning cartoons for me.

Giant Sucker Fish Attacks Allamagator!

Giant Sucker Fish Attacks Allamagator!

Originally uploaded by heatheratjoeyshouse

Details at 11:00!

Sucked in…

So.  Last week I started a new sock. (I see you rolling your eyes.  Stop it.)  It went great!  The fastest sock I have ever knit!  I loved the colours and the yarn, and how I was knitting it (top down, after thought heel) and all that good stuff.  I was so excited when I got it done.  Four days!  I knit a sock in four days!!  That means I could have a pair of socks in just eight days!  Right? Right??!!?  Absolutely!  Except…

Neighbours are just in the process of adopting a baby.  He came to live with them this week.  Clearly that calls for some sort of celebration, and we all know that a new baby needs something knitted!  What sort of neighbour would I be if I didn’t welcome the little guy properly?  The fact that I love, love, love knitting wee baby stuff has nothing to do with it, of course.  So, also quite quickly, the required hat fell off my needles.

A nice stripey little hat, meant for next winter, made out of some soft stripey scraps I had in the bin.  One was Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Spirit yarn, and the other was… ummm….  something else stripey.  No idea, sorry.  Cast on 80 sts, rib for a bit, alternate yarns every 2 rows a la the Turn a Square cap , standard swirly decreases on the top, add a tassel and lookie here, you made a hat!  Nice.  I love patterns like that.

And now that the hat is done I can get back to my super fast sock, right?  Sure, yeah, that was the plan for today.  Until I saw these, and these, and went to look at the swap pictures here .  Aren’t they pretty?  I know, some of you are saying “pot holders, Heather?  Really?  Potholders?Lame!”  Ok, so potholders aren’t high art, but they are a wonderful exercise in colour, texture and shape.  You can cram all sorts of colours onto a potholder, just to see how they look.  And if its not so great?  Well, it’s a potholder, not a blanket, or a sweater, or something else that has sucked up a lot of time and effort.  It’s really just for fun!  It’s a great summer project!  It’s quick and easy!  It’s… so easy to get sucked into!  Pattern books have been requested from the library.  Yarn ahs been purchased.

If you need me, I’ll be in the corner with my hook.

Oh, the socks I mentioned?  They are a gift, can’t post the pictures here.  But here’s the Ravelry link if you want a peek.

Sock Monster!

Quick!  Hide your socks!  There’s a monster under the bed and he’ll eat them if you’re not careful!

As you can see this monster only likes mismatched socks.  He’s not picky on the type of sock though.  He also likes to eat dust bunnies for dessert.  It’s nice to be useful isn’t it?

Think you might like your own sock monster?  His pattern is now available in the Joey’s House Etsy Shop or through Joey’s House on Ravelry.  Sock Monster is knit in the round, on 2.25 mm needles using sock yarn of course!  The pattern comes in PDF format and includes 6 pages of instructions for both the Monster and two different socks.  There are full colour photos and email support from me if you get stuck. 

To celebrate  the new Sock Monster pattern I’m having a little contest – the first five people to leave a comment here on the blog with a way to contact youwill receive a free Sock Monster Pattern!  Ready??  GO!!!

ETA: Wow, what a ot of great replies!  Thanks everyone who has stopped by to leave a comment today.  The five free patterns have been given out.  The winners are:

periwinkle

sjanova

Rossella

Mary  and,

ilovewool.

If you are one of these lucky people and you have not recieved your pattern by now please check your email and/or your Ravelry account, as I have sent them all out.  For eveyone else, thanks for stopping by, we love having guests!

Bicycle! Bicycle!

Last year, when Punky learned to ride her 2 wheeler, we hauled out my old bike and I took it for a spin.  I had not used this bike in a long time.  It was a mountain bike, and while there is nothing wrong with that, this one just didn’t seem to fit me right.  I went for a short ride and my arms, shoulders, wrists and butt ached to the point that I was dreading the short ride back home.  Clearly, if I was going to be able to ride with my family, Mama needed a new bike.  We looked last year, with hopes of catching a good sale as it was the end of the summer.  I really love the bikes from Electra and Nirve - they are seriously funky looking, nicely built, decent components and super to ride.  They also come with a rather super price tag, and so have been placed solidly on my “When I win the Lottery” list.  This season we started the search for a used bike.  A friend suggested a place in nearby Guleph  She described it as a big warehouse type of place full of every kind of bike and bike thing that you could imagine.  That is exactly what Backpeddling is like.  If it is bike related and they don’t have it, you probably don’t need it.  They have every kind of bike, every kind of vintage, every size, every price, and every accessory.  And on top of all that the service is superb.  The guy helping me just finished selling a very fancy bling-bling kind of low rider (complete with purple crushed velvet banana seat.  Spectacular.) when I asked to try out a slightly beat up Schwinn cruiser.  Not only was he happy to drag it out and adjust the seat for me, he didn’t bat an eye when I said I needed a basket.  He even helped Punky pick out a new pink squeaky horn for her bike.  This is really one of those places you love to send other people because it really could not get any better.  It was just as much fun as going into a really good yarn store.  Really.

Ok, so enough gushing, you want to see what I got right?

It’s a used (more fun to say “vintage”)  Schwinn, single speed with coaster brake.  Not really sure how old – I am assuming it is vintage styling rather than true vintage. 

But it’s just what I wanted, and really fun to ride.  Joey has offered to paint it for me, since the current paint job is a bit beat up.  and he’s good at that kind of thing.  I’m going to see what colours are available before I make any decisions.  And the basket is big enough to hold “at least a hundred balls of yarn” – according to Punky.  Who am I to argue with that kind of logic?

Here’s the deal…

The deal, as found on Ravelry, was this: Toadyjoewanted to destash.  Quickly.  She didn’t want her sock yarn anymore (no, I don’t get it either), so she was giving it away.  Along with a good chunk of her knitting library.  She’d send any one who would agree 2 skeins of sock yarn and the book of your choice for free – if the recipient would then knit her a pair of socks and mail them back.  Free sock yarn?  Free EZ book?  Sign me up!!!

Here’s one of the skeins of yarn, basking in the spring sun. (Did I mention that the snow finally seems to be gone?)  It is Rio De La Plata Mulitcolour.  Very nice and soft.  I’m liking it.  Is free yarn always softer?

Here’s a close up of the socks.  I’d like them to be a surprise, so that’s all you get for now.  I am making up the pattern as I go (yes, shocking, I know).  Right now I am calling them Toadybell socks.  I hope she likes them!

Happy Easter

Egg dyed with Wilton’s Black.

Dyed using the Joey’s House patented Drip-Dye technique.  Dye your egg as you usually would, then, using liquid food dye in the squeezy bottles drip a drop or two onto the still wet egg and let it run.  Very scientific.  Hope you’re all having a  wonderful weekend!