The red hats are coming along nicely. I've modified my cable beanie pattern slightly to make them a touch larger, since Aidan's head seemed to grow out of his within the week! I definitely enjoy knitting up these quick little hats! I just wish I could see all the wee bairns wearing them!

I've also been selected to be a test knitter for Knit a Bit of Whimsy. I'm almost ready to start this pattern as well. The yarn I've selected is a bit larger then what she used so I might knit up 2. One in Bernat Roving with a contrasting yarn of James C. Brett Rustic. Like I used for the Balaclava. [Still don't know if I want to sell this pattern or just make a youtube follow along video] The second cowl I think I'll use Lion Brand Tweed Stripes. It's the correct wpi but might prove to cluttered. We'll see. I can always frog it!

Keeping Busy

This is how I show my depression to the world. By putting out crafts of all types and keeping myself very busy so that I might not have to think about that which is killing me inside. In the past few days it hasn't been helping but with time I imagine this pain will become as manageable as all the others. In light of my crying myself to sleep and waking up with those horrid crusty eyes I treated myself to a Starbucks Soy Pumpkin Latte and a warmed blueberry muffin after dropping Daniel off at work. He's driving my rental home tonight. Since I'll be heading back to Virginia in the morning with father and cousin Esther. My pumpkin cozy still fits Starbucks cups beautifully!

My quote of the day "You're really spoiling me this morning!" They got a kick out of that. The guy who rung me up said they try or always or something like that ... I can't remember (it's my alzheimer's kicking in).

So yesterday; my day off, I spent the whole time either in front of the stove or my sewing machine. I started by waking up really early (10am ;3), grabbed a backpack, and hopped on my Saoirse and took off for The Andersons. Totally without eating breakfast first. I warn you, don't try that at home! Lucky me they were making things all over the store so I helped myself to some samples ... watermelon, apple slices with honey peanut butter! So yum! Anywho, I filled both my backpack and saddle bag with Pint Ball jars, rolls, grapefruit (because I was freakin' hungry), some liquor, Darjeeling loose tea, half a gallon of apple cider and a large red bell pepper. Then tromped home!

My colors! Don't you love them!

Once there I put everything away, jumped back into my jammies and started cooking. I put the bell peppers in the oven (I had some green ones from mothers garden) and sat down to sew.

I made a lovely knitting/crochet needle scroll that I have been meaning to make for quite some time just never got around to. I realized after I was sewing on all the pockets that the lovely tan fabric with the brown reliefs is reminiscent of fall and the other two are more spring. In the end as long as one doesn't look too closely it still works. I blame the ornery children who were distracting me while shopping for these fabrics!

Once the peppers were scorched I put them into a calonder in a bowl and covered them for 2 hrs (which I continued to sew during).

1hr till time, I put the apples, cider and water on the stove to cook. After about 30 min I had to take them off and puree them then put them back on with spices and sugar. At which point I had to do some juggling. I had to make sure the apples didn't scorch and peal and seed the peppers. I actually was able to do all this with out making too big a mess. Since I was not actually thinking freely but rather concentrating on each task at hand I never thought to take photos so sadly there's no photos of my peppers or apple butter ... sorry! I did get photos of my peaches and Jalapenos from my other jam I made!

I'm sure you can guess what these are!

All in all I finished cooking at about 5pm. I didn't finish my scroll until 10:00pm. Then I had to take a damn shower! Oui! My day off went by super fast!  I clearly slept in too long!

I got 3 and a half pints of apple butter. The half I brought to work this morning for everyone to enjoy. & I got 1 jar of roasted bell peppers with garlic. I'm so getting ready for winter ... can ya tell?! Next up I believe is pumpkin butter. I just love pumpkins! Unless of course mother wants some roasted peppers.

I'm slowly adding to this span but in the mean time it's all paternal.

I found this on my jump. I made it a while ago when I was really board. It's my blood line following my for fathers, going back till I reached the bonny shores of England at which point it gets harder ... for me anyways. They were all listed as farmers which I guess is were I get my desire to have my own land to toil in. Slowly I will be adding their other children and making it look less like a tree branch and more like chaos!

Also without a photo is the blanket I'm knitting for Bare Baby Photography. It's a chunky knit with i-cord edges for her newborn photography and a pair of fingerless gloves I'm making for a friend client. I'm slowly getting a lot of commissions, I think everyone is realizing I need the crafts to stay sane.

Thai Peaches Jam

So last night I made some Peach Jalapeno Jam with Thai Chilies. Long story! Okay, no twisting my arm! I started out with 1 Jalapeno pepper. Before I added it I sampled it for both freshness (not that I doubted since it came from Debbie's garden) and heat. Sadly they only had a little heat so I busted out a Chili from the same garden and cleaned it up. Wow did that hurt! As soon as I touched a sliver to my tongue it lit my mouth on fire. That one I dropped in whole about half way through cooking it since the Jalapenos weren't heating things up any. Even after introducing the Thai chili I wasn't getting any heat. I'm not sure why either. Very disappointing that.

Anywho, I cooked it longer than I should have. It didn't mess with the flavor or burn at all but I did mess with my quantity. I was hoping on at least 4 half-pint jars but only got 3. Sigh! I blame it on attempting to get some heat in there. In the end I even kept the Thai Chili in the jam rather than pulling it out after I got it hot enough. I still possessed 2 of the jars for later consumption or as gifts and kept the 1 with the Thai Chili out for sampling at work.

I can say at least that the jam looks pretty. I left the skin on since the peaches are from Lynd's Fruit Farm only scrubbing the fuzz off. So there's bits of skin and mushy chunks of peaches. Then there's bits of green jalapeno. The red Thai Chili blends in with the jams color a bit.

I should have picked up some peaches from Reverend Larry's garden while in Virginia for my straight up peach jam!

I've also been working on knitting ... no surprise there! I've got a nice purple cable beanie I'm working on and I'm going to make a pair of matching let warmers. It's all newborn size so it'll work for photographers or people with newborns who want them.

Self photography!

I've worked out a deal with my sister on this as well. When her clients chose the prop they want she's going to offer them the prop if they wish to have it. Obviously they'll be purchasing it but it'll be cheaper then if they bought it from my website and had it shipped.

I also had a meeting for a fair coming up. The lady suggested I hit up Boho with my jewelry. She said that it would benefit us both (the boutique owner and myself). I was flattered when she told me "this is quality work." as she was browsing my jewelry collection and that if she ever needs a baby gift she knows were to go. Even if nothing else comes of this meeting I'll still be happy knowing she likes my work. However, I hope I can scrounge up some artists and get in this show!

Labor Day in Virginia

Blue Ridge

Over the Labor day weekend some of my family went to Virginia to visit with my sick uncle. He's doing better than he was during the Rendezvous but unfortunately as we were leaving Monday afternoon he was heading to the ER. It was most unsettling!

However before then my cousin and I were taking my other cousins senior photos. It was such fun that I might attempt to do other senior photos if the opportunity arises. Granted I wont have access to such wonderfully majestic sights but we do have some nice locations to work with in Columbus. There are quite a few funny photos that bring out his personality and then the typical serious portraits.

Knowing that there were horses down the road I made an effort to walk there and get some photos. Little did I know that it would rain and that there would be a family of deer waiting when I got there.

Between my cousins and I we got a lot of photos. I wish the horses didn't have fly masks on but there was nothing to be done for that.

Gorgeous black horse and deer family

 There were 2 Tobiano Paint's and 1 big black beauty. If I had to guess I'd say Morgan but I'm not sure.

Raining hard

Among my cousin's photos was this fun shot of me taking the photo above. I'm all wet! My poor camera got wet as well but it wasn't too bad since I was hiding under a tree.

Me taken by Philip

We had some excellent food while in Virginia and I finally got to go to Sweet Things to enjoy there excellent ice cream and milk shakes. I got a Chunky Irish Girl Scout Smoothie and tried their Peach Habanero which is ironic since I'll be making that flavor in jam today. All in all very good! But sadly we never did make it to Michie Tavern. They have some of the best food on Earth. My favorite is their stewed tomatoes, to which I have the recipe and home styled fried chicken. Maybe next time.

 As I was skimming through my SD card I stumbled across this photo of little miss Evelyn. Taken a while back when I first got my new lens. I was really just the spotter but I figured that since I have a zoom lens I would just take some photos from the back ground. As you can imagine since I wasn't getting in Evelyn's face that I didn't get the best shots and I have yet to get any since my sister is keeping her all to herself. Unless of course she needs a baby sitter. I guess I could just pose here when sis isn't around but as a photographer who hasn't worked with babies much I would feel more comfortable with a spotter. So I guess I'm out of luck! All well it's still a cute photo! [I played with it in Photoshop a wee bit and smoothed out her face and darkened the photo some.]

Baby Evelyn

Blackberry Peach Hat

Ah! Finished! That was perfect!

I only have 3 jars left. Of course I had a commission prior to even cooking this batch! So happy! Ah but the smell! I just love blackberries and can I just say that every year I miss blackberry season. I almost missed it this year. And I was sad that I couldn't use my friends white peaches for this jam since they were too soft by time I got the blackberries. My belly liked them though! Num num num!

I'm thinking of altering the recipe slightly so that the peaches can stand out more and getting rid of the seeds so that Daniel can possibly eat them.

Then I also finished a lovely little baby hat. It's based off of the sack hat style but I added a wee bit of patchwork. Not any major alterations! Then I wove in a lovely whimsical silver ribbon.

 

Thanks to jam making I missed bike night! While everyone was out racing about Columbus I was home being a homemaker! Pfft such choices!



Smocked Cable Beanie

Well I finished the knit hat I had planned for Mallory. It was to go with the smocked dress I had given her for Christmas. However after about an inch along I realized it was too small. I kept knitting however, thinking perhaps it would stretch nicely. I mean it is ribbing after all. Now completed I find I was wrong. If I attempted to stretch it, it would look more like a fedora. My sister will be happy with it I'm sure since it's the perfect size for a newborn. What with her being a newborn photographer and all.

I'm attempting to write it all out at the moment. I probably should have done this while knitting it but I kept getting distracted by the knitting. So know I have to go in and try to find all those damn decreases:  they're hidden quite well if I do say so. So that is the point in which I find most challenging to write into pattern. Those damn decreases! Once done however I'm going to stick it up for sale. My figuring on this is that if the pattern is complex enough to charge $3.00 and thus create a competition for my selling the hats then I'll sell the pattern. If not then I'll just post the pattern for free use:  with credit on the design of course.