Last Day to Enter

Hi Knitters,

I just wanted to remind everyone that today is the last day to enter for the 100th Post Giveaway. Just leave a comment at the end of the post (click here) and you will be added to the drawing.

Have a great day!

P.S. I will post the winner tomorrow! Good luck to everyone!!

Thank You!!

Good Morning Knitters,

First off, I have to say a HUGE thank you to all of you who have commented on my 100th Post Giveaway! You are all so kind! I never even realized so many of you were reading my blog. THANK YOU!!

On another note, I'd like to explain why I haven't posted in so long. My Mom and I have been cleaning out the bush around our place for the last week or so, and each day by the time we come in I'm usually so tired that I just don't have the energy to come online. We're finally getting very close to finishing it though, so I'm hoping that I'll be around more often!

I have been working on a little bit of knitting. It isn't anything too fancy, just very simple since by the end of the day, I can only do something easy. It's my first ever toe-up sock. I wanted to do them this way because I have to skeins of yarn and I wanted to be able to use them both up and make long, warm socks. I've got one partly done so far. I found doing the heel a bit tricky, but I think I figured it out. I'm basically making my own pattern as I go. I seem to have a little bit of trouble sticking to sock patterns...I like to experiment with them.

Oh, I should also mention that the new Knit Picks Felici fingering and sport weights yarns are out! (Although I'm so late in posting this, I'm sure everyone already knows about it, but on the off chance that at least one of you does not, I thought I should say that) I placed an order on Tuesday morning, and it shipped the same day! I'm very excited to see the new colours, and the yarn. I've never worked with Felici, but I've heard so many good things about it. The new sport weight will be nice because it will work up faster (which I always like) and be a bit warmer and squishy on my feet. :-)

Well, I'm off to do a little more clean-up outside. I hope you all have a wonderful day!!

Happy Knitting!!

100th Post Giveaway!!

Hello Knitters,

I have something very exciting to share with you! Today is my 100th post, and to celebrate, I'm having a giveaway! One lucky winner will receive: 1 Blue Sky Alpacas Project Bag, 1 Spud and Chloe Pencil Case, 1 Spud and Chloe Two-For-One Socks Pattern and 2 Skeins of Spud and Chloe Fine in the new shade called Lipstick. All you have to do is leave a comment (just one per person please) at the bottom of this post, and you will be entered to win. I will leave the contest open till Friday April 30, 2010 @ 11:59 pm and will post the winner on Saturday May 1st. I wanted to do something special for all my wonderful readers, you all are such an encouragement to me and I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment on my blog! Thank you so much for all your support!

Good Luck To Everyone!!

Quick and Easy Earth Day Dessert

Hello Knitters,

Since tomorrow is Earth Day, I thought I'd share a quick and easy dessert that you can whip up in no time. Especially if you are caught off guard by how quickly Earth Day got here :-)

Ingredients:

1 box Jell-O Instant Chocolate Pudding (4 - 1/2 cup servings size)

2 cups cold milk

1 chocolate cake, cupcakes, cake shavings from when you leveled off a cake (which is what I used, I had froze some the last time I made a cake), chocolate angel food cake, brownies, or even Oreo cookie crumbs...really just use whatever you have on hand that is chocolate that you can crumble up.

Supplies:

1 new flower pot (do not use one that previously had dirt in it)

Tin foil

Saran wrap

Silk flowers

Assembly:

1. Take a small piece of tin foil and fold it to a size that will fit in the bottom of your flower pot to plug up the drain hole.

2. Line the inside of the flower pot with Saran wrap so that it covers all of the inside.

3. Make the chocolate pudding according to the directions on the back of the box.

4. Take whatever chocolate thing you are using, and crumble it up into bite-sized chunks.

5. Put some of the chocolate crumbs in the bottom of the flower pot, about 1/3 full.

6. Add a layer of the pudding, filling the pot another 1/3.

7. Crumble up the remaining chocolate crumbs into even smaller pieces to resemble soil. Sprinkle the crumbs on top of the pudding, filling the pot almost to the top.

8. Add your silk flowers by pushing them into the pot as if you "planted" them.

9. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or longer.

10. Serve with ice cream, a big dollop of Cool-Whip or whipped cream. Enjoy!

Note: If your flower pot happens to be on the smaller side, you will have left over pudding and cake. You can either make another flower pot cake, make individual servings using small dessert cups or even wine glasses, or layer the remaining ingredients in a small mixing bowl and use for dessert the next night (which is what I did).

I hope you all enjoy this and have a wonderful Earth Day!!

A Regular Bush Woman

Hello Knitters,

I have to start off this post with apologizing to you all. I know I've been talking about how I have some surprises to share, but the thing is, I've been so busy lately that I haven't gotten a chance to get any of them completed. I was thinking about this the other day and realized that I have four, yes four, projects that are half way done. So to fix all of this, I came up with a plan of making myself a knitting calendar to keep me on track and finish everything up. I seem to get distracted by new yarns and new projects and the ones I'm working on end up sitting on the sidelines. This is the last week for the Pancake House to be open, so that means I will have more time to work on these projects I hope.

Today I spent most of my day outside sawing and lopping down dead tree branches with my Mom throughout the bushes around our yard. So many dead branches came down over the winter and it really needed to be done. We got a lot accomplished and have quite a few piles for Dad to burn when he has a chance. There's still a lot more to do, but they're calling for rain tomorrow, then we have to go to the city on Thursday, but hopefully Friday we can get back at it. The weekend looks like it could be rain, so I should have plenty of time to work on the knitting projects.

I'm getting close to finishing up the projects for my swap partner. When I'm done posting, I'm going to go and wind up some Spud and Chloe Sweater yarn for the socks and hopefully get working on those tonight.

Anyways, I should go and do that and finish making my knitting calendar. I promise that over the next few weeks I will have some of the special projects completed!

Happy Knitting!

Emmie's Birthday Party

Hello Knitters,

I hope you don't mind me sharing some photos of my Yorkie, Emmie's birthday party. Like I said in my last post, I was planning on having her party on Sunday when everyone would be home. Well, things didn't go quite according to plan. My sister had to work on Sunday afternoon, so we had Emmie's party on Saturday night. Mom and I made vegetarian pizza on flat breads, and we had banana cake with peanut butter frosting for dessert. As you can see in the picture above, we did wear our party hats!




Dad even tried to get Emmie to wear one, but she wasn't too impressed with that idea.




She has a lot of food allergies, so we have to make her food from scratch, and because of this, I'm very, very careful about what she's allowed to eat. I did give in though and let her have a little bit of cake, it was her birthday after all. She ate it so fast that this was all I could catch of it with the camera.

This is our lab, Cassie finishing off her piece of cake. Bananas and peanut butter are two of her favourite things. She has to share my banana I have each morning with me. As you can tell, she quite enjoyed it.

Sorry I didn't get any pictures of the rest of us! My memory card for my camera was full so I couldn't take any more. I'm going to get them done up next time I'm in the city.

On another note, I've begun working on my swap partner's hat! It's coming together really cute so far. I can't wait to start the little socks, the pattern looks so cute!

Well, I should get back to my knitting. Since it's such a lovely day here, I think I'll do some knitting outside on the deck. I hope you all are having a wonderful beginning to your week!

Take care and happy knitting!

A Doggie's Birthday and a Pig

Happy Weekend Knitters,

I thought things around here were going to begin slowing down now, but I've found that there seems to always be more and more things for me to do. I've got a busy weekend (although in a good way) and then I think the coming week will be on the busy side too. I'm not complaining though, I quite like having lots to do!

Yesterday my Mom and I went to the city, and I got to pick up my package of yarn that I ordered to make my Springtime in Paris swap gifts. I cast right on last night for an added little goodie for my swap partner :-) I'm hoping to get working on the hat and socks tomorrow. I'm very happy with the yarns that I ordered. I'm using Knit Picks Comfy Worsted. It's soft and very comfy (I see where they got the name) feeling. I can't wait to see how the hat turns out!

Today is my Yorkie, Emerson's 4th birthday. I can't believe she's 4 already! It just seems like I got her yesterday... She seems to know that it's her special day. I was sewing her up some toys for her presents this morning, and she came in my room to peek at what I was doing. She had to have a little chew on one before I even got it finished! We're having her a party (yes, I know she is just a dog, but by golly, she's my dog and she's going to have a party) tomorrow since everyone will be home. I'm baking her a birthday cake (although she can't really have much of it, it's more for my family to eat) and I'm cooking a special dinner for everyone. I'll have to share pictures with you all on Monday. Who knows, maybe I'll even make us some party hats!

As you can see from the picture at the beginning of this post, I finished Ella's pig! I got my Mom to do some of the sewing up, and she came up with the idea for the bow on her neck. I think she turned out pretty cute :-) I hope Ella likes her.



Well, I should get going, I've got to start on the cake. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

Happy Knitting!

Yarn...Need I Say More??

Good Afternoon Knitters,

How is everyone doing this fine day? It started out dreary and grey this morning, but it looks like it's clearing up now! I just came in from taking pictures of all the yarn goodness out on the newly greening grass! I can hardly wait to show all of you! I took pictures of the sock yarn I got when I was in Traverse City a while back as well. But I'll begin with the Knit Picks.

We will start off with the Stroll Tonals. They are - Golden Glow, Blue Yonder, Blue Violet and Queen Anne.

Then we have Imagination in - Looking Glass, Unicorn and Mermaid Lagoon (I got this one a while back, but it wanted it's share of the spotlight).

This is the Stroll Hand Painted sock yarn in - Tree Fort and Make Believe.

Risata in Babydoll (I bought two balls, but one is currently being used).

Aren't they all just so lovely! I'm so impressed with what great yarn I can get for such a small amount of money. It's all so nicely done! Yay for Knit Picks!!

Now this is the sock yarn I got in Traverse City. They are as follows - very top (the purple-ish one) Berroco Comfort Sock, second row - OnLine Supersocke 100 Florida Color and Trekking (XXL), then the bottom row - both are Lana Grossa Meilenweit Soja.

Now for the newest, and most anticipated (at least on my part) Spud and Chloe!!!!!! They are in the Sweater weight and the colours are - Watermelon, Splash and Popsicle. I was so surprised at how much you can feel the cotton in it. I was expecting it to be more wool-like, but I really like it! It really is squishy! I can hardly wait to start knitting with it to see how I like it!

What lovely bunches of yarn! I'm so happy to have them, and can hardly wait to knit with each and every one of them!

On another note, you have to pop on over here, to check out Suzanne's wonderful blog post about the To Love a Child charity. She so kindly asked me if she could use my pictures of the hats I knit for her post!! I feel so honoured! You really have to check it out :-) This April is the charity's first anniversary, so if you can, please donate to help them celebrate it.

Well, I'm off to finish off baking some chocolate chip cookies for my Dad's lunch. Have a wonderful afternoon everyone!

To Love a Child Charity Hats

Hello Knitters,

How is everyone this week? I'm doing good. What is everyone currently working on? I've been knitting little baby hats for the Itty Bitty Knits Group's April Charity, which is To Love a Child. So far I've made 6 of them and am almost finished my 7th. I want to make 8, but I have to see if I'll have the time to get one more done, I think I should. I'm going to mail them to the lovely Suzanne (she is the one hosting this month's charity) tomorrow when I'm in the city. This is a really wonderful charity, and I highly recommend that you check it out, as well as the adorable hat pattern that Suzanne wrote up to make hats for it. It's amazing to think that one little hat that only takes a few hours to complete can mean so much to a newborn baby in another country, isn't it?

Oh, I almost forgot!! I finally got my Knit Picks order!! I picked it up on Friday. I'm very pleased with all the new colours of the Stroll Tonals that I ordered, they are so bright and beautiful! The lighting here right now is not the best, but I will try and get a picture of them all for you and post it soon.

Remember the surprise that I shared a sneak peek with you all the other day? Well...I have some sad news...I ran out of yarn. I got one half completed, but I don't have enough to finish the second half. I'm in a bit of a pickle now trying to decide if I should show you all what it is now, or wait till I get the new yarn (which I forgot to order yesterday...oh my gosh, I just realized this right now!), which might be awhile. If you have any preferences, just let me know :-)

Well, I should be going. I'm trying to finish up hat number 7, and then I'm going in search of yarn for hat number 8. I hope you all have a wonderful day!!

Happy Knitting!!

Bunnies, Bunnies Everywhere!!!

Hello Knitters,

How was everyone's Easter? Mine was very good. It was quiet and relaxing, which was nice after the busy week before :-) Above, is a picture of the tiny Easter bunnies I made for my family. They were so quick to make and really fun. I used the Catnip Bunny pattern by Selina Kyle. If you want to see more about them (yarn, needles, etc), you can check them out on my Ravlery project page here. After taking this picture, I went to do something and came back to find three of them in a circle and one a bit farther away on the floor. I asked my Mom if she moved them, and she said no, and that's when I found out it was my Yorkie, Emmie. I think she thought they were for her! She took quite a shine to them. So I thought I would make her some that she could play with because they're just her size. I made her five, but she doesn't seem to like them quite as much as the ones I made for my family because hers do not have pom pom tails (she would just chew them right off!). I'll have to take a picture of her with them and post it for you to see soon. These are some of the first few things I've made for her, so it makes me so happy to see her playing with them!

I also wanted to share with you all the adorable wreath my Mom made for me! Last year I sewed this bunny, but she just didn't look right, it was like there was something missing. This year when I took her out, Mom came up with the idea of putting her on a wreath I could hang on my bedroom door. She found some pretty Easter eggs, and made this up for me. She's so talented, and I think it looks great! I'm keeping it up for a while longer because I think it can go for Spring decor as well as Easter.

Now I know a while back I mentioned that I was working on a special project that I wanted to share with all of you...here is a sneak peek! I hope to have it done soon, but I haven't gotten to spend as much time on it lately as I thought I would. It's on my to-do list for today though!

I also wanted to let everyone know that I'm going to have another (quite possibly even better) surprise for you in the very near future, I will tell a bit more about it in a few days! I'm so excited I'm having trouble keeping it quiet!!!

Well, I'm going to get back to my project, I wish you all a wonderful Tuesday afternoon!

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter Weekend Knitters!!

I hope you are all enjoying yourselves and are getting to spend lots of time with family and friends...and even to knit a bit! Things here are going great. My Mom and I were going to take a run into the city today, but this morning when she went to drop off some cookies at the Pancake House, she found out that there was only 25 bags of popcorn left. So instead we stayed home and made 6 batches of the Maple Caramel Popcorn. She ran 12 bags up as soon as they were done around 11:00 am, and then she has now just took up the last of the bags. I'm so glad that the Lord is really blessing everything! Now we are planning on going to the city on Monday. Which I am really looking forward to because I have a Knit Picks order as well as a Jimmy Beans Wool order just sitting there waiting for me! It's all working out though, because it gives me something to anticipate! :-)

I wanted to include a couple of pictures of some of my products I've been making so you'll know what I'm talking about when I'm babbling on about them! lol The picture at the beginning of this post is of the Easter cookies (in the basket on the left), the Easter themed cookies on a stick (they are animal themed - bunnies, puddle ducks wearing their Easter bonnets, birds, etc...), and in front are a few bags of Maple Pecan Shortbread cookies (in the light-coloured square basket). They are all sitting on the counter by the cash register at the Pancake House.

This is a picture of the Maple Caramel Popcorn (sitting on the table in the big basket as well as in the little basket down below) and if you look really hard, you can see the tops of the bags of Espresso Maple Pecan Shortbread cookies (they're in the small basket right next to the small basket of popcorn). This is a shot of the picnic tables with the benches stacked on top of them in the gift shop. The story behind the tables is that when we had our old Pancake House (we build a new one I think 5 years ago), these were the tables that we had, and you would sit on the benches! We've gone a long way since then! lol

This is a close up a some of the Easter cookies. I thought that we had close to 200, but I was wrong, we only had almost 130 that went up for sale. I so hope that people enjoy them!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend reflecting on what our Saviour did for us, and spending some time delighting in Him! And I hope you also get to spend some quality time with the folks who are important to you (and sneak in that knitting!).

God Bless you and yours and have a great Easter everyone!