Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Happy St. Patty's Day!!



Did you see any Leprechauns?

Last night I found out about iCraft.ca! What a great site!! I have opened a shoppe there. You should go take a look at the site. If you open a shop before March 31st, you can list for a year for free! It is just starting out, but it looks like it is going to be big! By the way, you don't have to be Canadian to join. I listed a simple light blue Coffee Condom on iCraft.ca. I can hardly wait to list some more.



I think it is really important to not put all you eggs in one basket and to diversify a bit.

Enjoy your business!!

Knitting and Gardening

Ok, I am combining posts here. Weekends, apparently, can be very busy with little time to sit down and write!



I am currently knitting Clapotis. It is coming along quite nicely. I am really enjoying this pattern. I did one extra repeat on the increase section to hopefully make it a little wider. I have to admit, I was a little frightened of dropping the stitches in the beginning, but now I am looking forward to that part. I am using the Lorna's Laces that I got at Value Village. I love thrift stores!!




Well, there wasn't a lot of gardening today as I woke up to this!




We were supposed to drive up to Banff this weekend for DD#2's climbing competition, but at 6am there was still too much ice on the roads to get out of the city. Good thing she had gone up yesterday with another family so she still got to climb.

We did get to Seedy Saturday yesterday though. It is a place to buy or trade heritage seeds. What fun!! We got a few different kinds of tomato seeds, beans, cucumbers and spaghetti squash seeds. It is a good start to this year's garden!!



Hope you had a good weekend!!

Photo Friday

Hey!
Sorry I missed Thrifty Thursday! I got into knitting my Clapotis shawl last night and then all of a sudden it was midnight!!! I only stopped when I finished the ball of yarn I was using. I will do a Thrifty Thursday next week for sure!

Now for Photo Friday!



I notice this sconce while stopped at a red light in the Kennsington area of Calgary. I have driven by here many times without ever noticing it.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Greening our Lives

Wednesdays I will be sharing the green things we already do and the things we are trying to do.

One thing that came up today was cloth bags. We have been using cloth bags for many years. My wonderful, crafty Mother made me a bunch just after Hans and I got married. Since then, we have aquired a lot more. We use them almost everywhere we go. Some of my favourites come from Save-On-Foods. We don't have one here in Calgary, but I got some when we were in Edmonton. They are great because they stand up nicely and they are a good size. Today while we were at Mountain Equipment Coop, I used the small fold up bag that I carry in my purse. I love having one with me for those spur of the moment purchases and it is sooooo small that it takes up no room at all.

This is just one way we try to be green. The bags we do end up with are either recycled or are put on backyard dog duty.

Do you have a favourite cloth bag??

My Other Identity

Yes, I am otherwise known as Gadget Girl! I admit it freely! I love a good gadget and have acquired quite a few. So I thought I would use Tuesdays to share a few of my favourite gadgets with you.

Today we have a newly acquired gadget... my new Mukka!!!!



I have been wanting one of these forever!! You put water in the bottom, espresso in the middle and milk in the top. Put it on the stove and 5 minutes later you have an amazing, creamy cup of Italian style cappuccino. Yum!!! I am quite the coffee geek, so this is a wonderful addition to all my other coffee paraphernalia! I will describe some of those in future posts!!

I hope you are all having a good week! The weather has been so nice here that it has been hard to find time to sit and do any knitting. Hopefully I will get to some in the next few days.

Cashmere

I have put up a new Coffee Condom in the shoppe. It is a mix of nylon and acrylic for durability, but has a touch of cashmere that makes it oh so soft!



I have been giving the business a lot of thought lately and have started working on an actual business plan. I figure if I want this to be a "real" business and move away from it being just a hobby, then I need a "real" business plan. It is a bit of a process to try to see where I really want to go with this, but it is such a learning experience. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is trying to get their business off the ground. Just google small business plan and you will come up with a ton of resources.

Well, off to knit and get a good nights sleep!!

Promise

The promise of spring! I am so happy!



We got out into the garden today and cleaned up some of the plants. It was so nice to get my fingers dirty. I was hoping to see some bulbs poking out, but hadn't found any until I was about to go in. Then I noticed 3 little purple buds poking themselves out of the ground. I almost missed them because of their colour. I was so excited!! The poppies are also starting to show a bit of green. We also saw a bunch of ladybugs! I am so glad they survived the winter. Yeah! Spring is on its way.

Next weekend we are heading to a heritage plant sale. Hans can hardly wait to get his hands on some tomatoes.

Commitment

Hi All!
I don't think it's a lack of commitment to my blog, though I am sure that it seems that way at times LOL!! I think that it is I just don't always have an inspiration on what to write about so I just don't write. I really want to keep up on my blog. I think it is a great way to document what is going on in my life even if it is just me who is reading it. So, I have made a list. You can see it on the left hand side of the page at the top. I figure if I have a topic to write about, then it will be easier to get into a rhythm of writing.
So I will be back on Sunday to share what is happening in my garden.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Happy New Year *cough cough*

Yes, I know I am a bit late at wishing you all a Happy New Year. It has been an eventful start to the new year. I took December and most of January off from making anything for my shop. Instead I focused on xmas presents and then making a few things for myself and my family. It was a nice break, but now I am knitting again for the shop and am feeling all pumped up about some new things that I will be adding soon! A little while ago, I added Mug Whimzies.



They are used to identify your mug from other similar ones. They would be great for a coffee or tea party or for an office that has similar mugs. They also work on styrofoam cups if that is what you have at work. I hope you like them!!



On the thrifting front, I was at Value Village the other day and decided to go look at the craft section even though I wasn't planning on buying anything. Well, I turn my head and see some nice yarn in skeins. I go over and pull it off the rack and see that it is Misti Alpaca!! I scan again and see 3 more bags of nice yarn. I grab it all and then take a look. There was another bag of Misti Alpaca, 9 skeins of Koigu and 4 skeins of Lorna's Laces!!! So, basically I got $470 worth of yarn for $70!! They were all complete skeins and they smelled new still!!! I was so excited that I was vibrating! Oh I love the thrift store!!!!!

Well, off to pick up DD#2 from climbing and then back to knitting!

It's November

Hi!
I'm still around. Thanks for sticking with me. It was unplanned, but I took the last couple of months off from blogging. I just didn't feel inspired enough to write anything. But I'm back and hopefully can keep up on this blog.

We've been doing a lot of things around the home. I have been feeling the need to eliminate a lot of "stuff" from our lives. I don't know how we accumulate all of this junk. I swear that it multiplies at night LOL!! In the last month or so, I must have donated at least a dozen boxes, a few bags and a futon. It feels good to have less stuff and there is still more to do. I have yet to tackle the storage under the stairs. We have changed around the living room for the first time in 6 years. The change has been really nice. I can see more changes coming....

We have been also working on reducing our footprint on this earth. We have been trying to eat more local food and buy more local products. With winter coming here in Calgary, it is going to get more difficult to eat local food. But we will keep going to the market to see what is available and try to plan better for next winter so we have so more preserve produce. We are trying to buy less packaging and less plastic. We already use our own bags when shopping, even though we still get funny looks sometimes. We compost and recycle as well. It really frustrates me though that Calgary is soooo behind in recycling! We don't have curbside recycling and there is no where to recycle plastics besides plastic milk jugs. I don't see how any major city can be so backwards.

Anyways, I have been working on xmas presents and hopefully will be done these by the end of the month. So I have been busy knitting. I have also become hooked on Ravelry. What a great site!!

Well, that is it for now. Off to knit.... I'll leave you with a picture of DD#2 up high.

Bits and Pieces

What is it??




It is my 3 1/2 year old LG dryer that isn't under warranty anymore! DD#2's clothes weren't drying and I had my sheets in the wash when we realized it. So we called where we bought it and apparently we didn't get an extended warranty on the dryer ( I do believe the sales guy said that dryers rarely break down LOL!!). So without a warranty, my electrician hubby took it apart to see what was wrong. It turns out it was just a fuse, but of course we figured this out late Saturday afternoon on a long weekend. We couldn't get the part until Tuesday!! Oh, by the way, Sears is a great place to find parts for appliances! We didn't even buy it there! So DH and DD#2 took the wet laundry and travel Yahtzee to the laundry mat to dry. DH put the new fuse and a sensor in yesterday and all is well!! It was only $50 in parts. The place where we bought the dryer from wanted $100 just to come look at it!! My DH is definitely my hero!


In other breaking news.....the world is being taken over by aphids! Who knew!! There are millions of them out there!!! AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!


The good news from this weekend is that Michael's had a 50% off coupon!! I know, I don't really need more craft supplies, but I just had to feed my addiction! I got this...



It is a Xyron 510!!! It makes anything into a sticker!!!!!!! This one is 5" wide. You can also get refils for laminating and for making magnets!! This is going to be so much fun!

I put a new Coffee Condom up in the shoppe.



I finally got outside to take pictures yesterday morning. The aphids lightened up a bit so I rushed out and got some done... just before my camera battery died!! LOL!! I feel like a comedy of errors lately LOL!! But I did get some done, so check out the shoppe for some new stuff. I really love this new soy/wool yarn from Patons! The colourways are just so nice and the yarn is really soft!

Off to do laundry! Have a creative, bug free day!!

Butterflies

Just popping in quick to say that I caught a butterfly!!




Oh... I mean I bought a butterfly!! LOL!! It is actually a Cutterfly by Cutter Bee. Here it is open:



It is a multi-tool for crafters!! It has a rotary blade, needle nose pliers, a distress tool (a file) that can be used as a screwdriver and a Rub-On tool as well, tweezers, a paper piercer, an embossing stylus, scissors and a 13" tape measure. They are all attached to a handy keychain! I was humming and hawing about it and DH looked at it and said "hey, it's a tool, you have to have it!" LOL!! I will let you know how it works!

Well, off to read my new book! I haven't been posting the last couple of days because I am lost in Diana Gabaldon's newest book! It is called Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade. I get so absorbed in her books!!

Have a great evening!

Cold Lake

Good COLD Morning!

It got down to 1C this morning! Isn't it still summer?!?

I took a bit of a blogging break to go up to Cold Lake to visit our friends. We were supposed to go camping, but events of the weekend put that idea off. It is ok though, because it was cold and raining. We did spend one morning visiting other campers and having a wonderful camping breakfast! There is nothing like espresso while camping!



I got a bit of knitting done, but not as much as planned. That always happens when I am visiting. I have great plans to knit all the time, but I end up chatting too much to remember LOL!!

Daisy had a wonderful time being out in nature! She met a new friend, Shadow, and ran around the campground chasing squirrels. The dogs had a squirrel stuck up a tree for at least an hour!



Can you see the poor squirrel?



I have been relisting some of my Coffee Condoms in the shoppe and today I hope to get some pictures taken of some new items. Hopefully the sunshine will hold out!

Thank you for all the wonderful comments!! I love receiving every single one of them!!

Have a creative day!!!

All Decked Out

The deck is done!!

The last board was screwed on this Saturday and then on Sunday, under the threat of rain, we stained the deck! It is so wonderful to see it finally done! DH has worked so hard on the deck, doing it all himself (I helped where I could). He had to fit it in between work, overtime, the weather and time with the kids (which is very important to him). But it is finally done! I am so happy! The backyard seems so much bigger now. Yesterday we washed down the table and chairs and BBQ and put them up on the new deck. Today DH is going to build some stairs from the sliding door to the deck. We have 2 back doors (odd eh?) and we haven't used the sliding one because it hasn't ever had stairs. So this is really exciting for us LOL! Anyway here is a picture of the beautiful deck!




And this is the patio DH built a few years ago.



The backyard has so much useful space now!


Thank you to everyone for the recent comments!! It is great to know that I am not just talking to myself LOL!!!! I have been tagged by LoraKelly Designs. I will get to that asap. It is funny because you mention not liking to be "IT" as a kid and that was me as well!! I will do my best at tagging others though! Thanks for the tag!!

Have a beautiful day!

Don't Cry over Broken Casein

Ok, I'm trying not to :( I love my casein knitting needles! They are so smooth and warm up in your hands while you are knitting. The yarn moves so nicely on these needles. But they are getting harder to find. I heard that they may stop making them! I broke my 3.25mm one yesterday, they come in sets of 5, but this is the second one that I have broken. Now I don't have enough to knit with. :( Next time I am at my lys, I will see if she has more, but I know her stock was getting slim. I think I will try to find some online. I had to get some new 3.25mm needles so that I can knit my Coffee Condoms. I found these at The Store Upstairs in Airdrie. They are so cute and look like drinking straws.



They are nice, but the yarn doesn't move as smoothly as on my casein needles.

I did cheer up a bit after my visit to VV Boutique! They have been moving things around and sections are a bit mixed up right now. I happened to go down the sheets and blankets aisle and found some more craft supplies. I opened up the black binder on the shelf and found this!!



A binder full of wrapped DMC floss!! I was so excited, I quickly put the binder in my basket. As I moved down the shelf a bit I saw some more black under some towels. I move them out of my way to find another binder!! Full as well!! I was just so excited. There are 360 different colours all wrapped on these very cute teddy bears! And there was only one "naked" (as DD#2 put it) bear in the lot!! This makes me itch to get back to my stitching!!!

Thrifting is so much fun!!!

Gocco

Yesterday was a good thrifting day. We took DD#2 to the naturopath who happens to be right beside Good Will. (Lucky, I know!) I was wandering around and picked up a couple of coffee mugs. Then I turned down one aisle and there it was!!!!



I was so excited! It was open, but it looks like it wasn't used. Two of the light bulbs are missing, but all of the inks are still sealed. The pen is missing though, but that is alright! There were also 3 tubes of pearl ink! All of this for only $35!! I was just beside myself. When I got it to the car and showed DS the original price of $139 he looked at me and said "Start the car! Start the car!!" LOL!! That is exactly how I felt!!

I love thrifting!!

We Have Cukes and Zukes!

Good morning!

I wanted to share some exciting pictures this morning. Ok, exciting for me LOL!!! Out in the garden, the cucumbers and zucchinis are finally showing their faces!! This year the garden didn't get nearly enough attention, so we have just had radishes and lettuces mostly. We did have a whopping 5 carrots and 3 beets though LOL!! But now the cucumbers and zucchinis are out!! I have to remember to pick the zukes before the get as big as DD#2's head this year! Here are some gratuitous garden shots!





Speaking of DD#2, she has been drawing a lot lately. Her newest thing is to just use black markers. She has drawn some amazing things in the last few days and has been really experimenting with this new medium. What do you think? She made this for a friend of hers.



I have actually been making new things for the shoppe!! They are almost ready to put up. I have to just work out the logistics for them and have a sunny day to take some pictures and then I will add them. I am hoping to do a few craft fairs in November and I think I need more on my table than just my Coffee Condoms. I also need some variety in my shoppe. I have realized that the block that is bothering me so much is that I feel that even when I am just trying something out, it has to be perfect because it will go up for sale. I have finally convinced myself that I can just try new things - just for me! They don't have to go into the shoppe until I am pleased with the result. For some reason that was a hard thing for me to get past, but now I am finally having fun making new things again!! Yay me!!

Thank you to everyone who is reading my blog and for all the great comments! Even if you are just passing through, please feel free to say "Hi!"

Have a beautiful and creative day!

July

So....I am finally getting around to catching you up on our July.

Almost every day in July DD#2 and DS spent the 6 hours at the mobile skatepark. They had such a great time!! They both learned some amazing new tricks and each only ended up with a few scrapes and bruises.




So that meant that there was a lot of driving and a lot of Booster Juice in July.

Amongst all the driving, DH started working on the deck. It has been a slow process between the skatepark, work, overtime, weather, a quick trip, and other stuff that needed to be done. I have been helping where I can, but he has done most of the work himself. It is almost done now, but the last 2 days have been raining, so all we get to do is look at it right now.



On July 3rd, by baby turned 12!! We had a great day at the water park and then came home for some homemade-gluten-free-cookie-crumb-based-better-than-DQ ice cream cake! DD#2 and I made it from scratch. It was her idea since she is eating gluten-free now. And, if I do say so myself, it turned out darn good!!! She wanted to make the ice cream as well, but for this time I talked her into store bought ice cream. Next time, we will definitely make our own! The base was a mix of gf chocolate cookie crumbs and some gf peanut butter cookies that DD#2 made. Yum!!!



Then on July 9th DD#1, my oldest turned 18! We spent the weekend up in Edmonton and met up with our friends from Cold Lake. We had a wonderful time! We stayed in hotel. We don't do that very often as usually when we travel we either camp or stay with friends or family. The master bedroom in the hotel suite was bigger than our own bedroom! We went to the Old Strathcona Market on the Saturday when we were there and came upon this!




It was the perfect time to be there! There was so much to see! What fun!

Then at the end of the month it was my turn for a birthday. I turned 38. When did that happen?? LOL!!! DH took me out for dinner and got me a new compact digital camera! I now own a Canon Power Shot SD800. It takes great pictures and is way more compact than my DSLR. It fits easily in my purse so I can take more quick shots for blogging!!! Now I just have to remember that I have it with me LOL!!!

Well, those were the highlights of our July. Now hopefully I can keep up with my blog in August. So far I am not off to the best start, but I am working on it!! LOL!!

No Excuses

Yes, I am still here.
It has been a busy month, but that is no excuse for not keeping up on the blog.

I have sat down to write a few times, but seem to just come up blank. Then I go off to some of my favourite blogs and think that I can never blog that well, so I just don't.
Silly, huh? I know. Everyone has their own style of blogging and I think I just need to find my own instead of thinking I should be like everyone else. Not that every blog out there is the same! They are all so different and so wonderful. I just need to find my own way. So I hope you can bear with me while I figure out my blogging path!

I got a couple of books out from the library on blogging. One is The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog by Rebecca Blood and the other is No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog by Margaret Mason. Hopefully these books will give me some wonderful insight into how I want to blog.

July has seen my youngest daughter turn 12, my oldest daughter turn 18! and myself turn 38. It has been an interesting month. I can feel some big changes coming. Do you ever get that feeling that there is something big just waiting in the wings? I think I am in need of some change right now. I think it will be exciting and I can hardly wait to see what is in store!!

I am going to end this post here, but I will be back later with some pictures and some tales of the month of July!

Thanks for reading!!!!