Flowerpots need sleeves too

So I don't have any words of wisdom, no particular insights, no funny story for you today. I'm still waiting for spring but it seems I still have a long wait ahead.

I am planning to plant some flowers on our patio, to buy a new umbrella and coloeful pillows. I have this image of warm and sunny afternoons spent there, enjoying a glass of lemonade, my needles clicking away. That's not too much to ask, is it?

In the meantime, inspired yet again by Debbie Bliss' "The Knitter's Year", I made these three flowerpot sleeves. They just looked cute

Trying to phtograph this FO, I was wrapped in my parka, with my gloves and hat on, hoping the set-up would not get blown away by the -20C wind.

So really, under these weather-conditions, flowerpots DO need sleeves!

Cabane à Sucre

The days are finally getting a little warmer, so we were looking for a fun family activity. March and April are traditionally sugaring off season around here, so a plan was hatched. There are numerous sugar shacks in the Montreal region, pretty much something for everyone’s taste.

We chose the “Sucrerie de la Montagne”, as it was warmly recommended by friends. A little research revealed that it is designated a Quebec Heritage Site, so it was certainly going to be an authentic experience.  It’s about an hours’ drive from our house, and we passed the time listening to a medley of A’s favorite songs , such as “Whoomp there it is”, “I’m too sexy”, “Jump” (Kriss Korss), “Paparazzi”, and the Barenaked Ladies’ “Snacktime”.

As soon as we left the city I felt this sense of calm descend over me. I’m always surprised to see how caught up we get in the stress of everyday life. Try as we might, it always gets a hold of us. This is why outings are so important to us.

We arrived early, so we took a walk around the 120 acre forest of century old maples,  before it got too busy. It’s all old log cabins, some of which can be rented for overnight stays. They have their own bakery, where they make bread and sugar pies, and of course a distillery to transform sap and maple water into delicious maple syrup.

Brunch was served in a room warmed by a crackling fire, on long picnic tables. The waitresses wore traditional garb and we were entertained by two musicians singing French chansons. It really seems they are living life as they did years ago.

We feasted on pea soup, tourtiere (which is meat-pie, a local specialty), sausages and maple smoked ham, a delicious egg soufflé, mashed potatoes and meatballs. And as if that was not enough, we finished the meal with pancakes drenches in maple syrup and the most delicious sugar pie.  I personally enjoyed the tourtiere best, A was a big fan of the ham and S though the eggs were *eggstraordinary* ( ;-)sorry, I could not resist).

The drive home left us content and lethargic, ready to nap on the couch with the sun streaming in the windows dreaming of a spring that is…oh, so close!

Learning Colorwork

What a week! Oh, what a week! I was on my own with A. for two weeks, as hubby is exploring the Orient for work (poor him, I know).

You may remember that I was looking forward to a knitting course at this wonderful little yarn store called Espace Tricot. I’ve never knitted a two-color project, and I felt it was time to learn a new skill. To my delight I saw that they had a colorwork course scheduled and I thought to myself, what better way to spend a snowy March evening than in a cozy little store surrounded by a myriad of colorful yarn, books and all kinds of knitting gadgets, and in the company of fellow knitters intent on acquiring a new skill? So I signed up.

The plan was to photograph the whole experience and tell you all about it. Well, unfortunately, 10 rows into my knitted swatch I got a phone-call from my baby-sitter, that my son was not feeling well and I better rush home. Which of course I did, and it turned out that A. had a pretty bad case of gastro. Now, a week later, he’s recovered and is back to his usual mischief.

So I finished my little swatch at home, and I can say that I now know the basics of Intarsia, but that’s about it. Then again, not bad for an hour, right? I am hoping that soon enough there’ll be another course I can sign up for because there is so much more I want to learn!

Roman - inspired spring hat

Another weekend, another party. Therefore another knitted gift. Actually two knitted gifts as there are two of his friends whose birthdays fall within days of each other.

It’s another Purl Bee pattern of course. As I am still hoping that spring will soon be upon us, I chose this hat which is great for chilly spring days. What do you think? And in this photo you can also see where my experiments with wrapping have led me… thank you again, Irina.

                                                                                           

Come back next week to hear about my knitting course!

Mystery pattern

The more I knit, the more I tend to notice patterns around me. There’ll be a woman’s scarf on the metro, or a pair of mitts, a child’s hat. There is so much inspiration out there, and at the same time so much to learn.

I did not have to look too far though, for the subject of this post. My adorable little niece received this stunning hand-knit dress, as a gift. I would love to be able to replicate this pattern, but I have had no luck identifying the type of stitch. For once, the internet has failed me!

So I am asking all of you knitters out there to help me figure out what this stitch is called.  Someone must know….

An early start to spring cleaning

I’ve been seriously knitting for a few years now, and I’ve of course accumulated a lot of yarn scraps. My knitting gear is stashed all over the house ( I dream of my own little corner one day), and it’s getting harder and harder to find what I need, or keep track of what I have. What better solution than a knitted one?

In Joelle Hoverson’s “More last-minute knitted gifts” I saw this super-simple pattern for a basket that is perfect for my needs. It took almost no time to whip it up, and I was impatient to finish it. So impatient that even though I did not have the correct size circular needles to finish the edge, I used a pair that was slightly too long, resulting in an edge that is not as tight as I’d like it to be. The finished basket, though not perfect, is very practical, so I immediately started working on one twice the size.

I’m going to have to make a few more of these baskets because there are numerous uses for them.

Happy Valentine's Day

I had this idea of knitting adorable little hearts in preparation for Valentine’s Day. I even thought it would be cute for A. to take them to daycare for his little girlfriends (yes, plural, not girlfriend, but girlfriends). But after about an hour of trying to knit 6 stitches with 4 needles and dropping them, retrying, twisting the whole thing, retrying, dropping the needles again, having a glass of wine, starting from scratch only to lose a needle again, I decided that baking is the way to go!

Maybe next year I will give it another try knitting hearts. I ended up finding some patterns that look promising. After all, it is important to know when to quit, right?

Since I am a food network addict, and a compulsive list-maker, I have a collection of recipes I am planning to try. It was not at all hard to narrow it down to a red-velvet cupcake recipe by Chuck Hughes, star of the show “Chuck’s Day off”.

Armed with new confidence and with the support of my 3-year old assistant baker I got to work.

The recipe is very simple, and it took us no time to make the batter. We watched with anticipation as the cupcakes began to rise.  Because I had naively ignored the instruction of only filling the cupcake mold half-way, my first batch, I must confess, looks more like a muffin than a cupcake, but thank heavens the taste did not suffer. I ended up redeeming myself with the second batch.

One cupcake had to cool off immediately in front of the open window so that my impatient son could sample it right away, and the verdict was in…..delicious!!!!

With some high-calorie frosting and red-colored sugar, here is the end-result.

In the end I think that A.’s girlfriends will probably prefer these Valentine’s Day gifts anyway.