Little House

What did I do with this nice paper?

I'm trying to simplify things this year because I just don't want the stress. I think I have most of my shopping done... almost. I can't find the key that opens my storage locker, where all my Christmas decorations are, so....... I'm not having a tree this year! That simplifies things now doesn't it? I put off decorating for so long this year that it would be pointless to do it all now anyway. I do want it to be a little Christmas-y so that's why I did the garland and wreath, which really didn't take much time at all. The way I cope with the stress is to make sure I have time to be creative and make things... like cookies or this...

See, I do have a tree after all. This is the house before I added the little night light and vellum windows.


The paper mache houses came as a set of three (for $17 !!) at my new, favorite art supply store, Loomis. They opened another, bigger store on Broadway near Granville. (For the Vancouver readers, incase there are hundreds of you!)

And Now For Some Christmas Content

An early Christmas present I got for myself at Michaels (which I almost never go to!) I see all the craft stuff and it makes me NOT want to craft.

But this bag... it has a gazillion pockets. Perfect for craft crap that I might want to carry to a friends or the park in the summer...

So what I did with this, was rip a bunch of strips.....

and tied them to lengths of yarn to make these, a garland an a wreath. Hey who doesn't like making Christmas decorations using wire coat hangers!

Smooth Sailing

This is the smoothie I've been having most mornings, lately. Starting off with soy milk, I add some frozen chopped up bananas... or fresh, depending.

Then I add most of this crap. Some 3-6-9 oil blend (essential fatty acids) , Greens Plus, wheat germ and maybe almond butter. If I want to mix it up I add some ground hemp seed (protein powder) It's not tasty, I'll use it up some how. The baggy is ground psyllium husk (fiber). It's recommended you add this to a drink in the evening. I tried it in a smoothie and it wasn't pleasant. It soaked up all the liquid and I had to use a spoon.

There she goes, my beloved Cuisinart hand held. It's powerful and a damn sight easier to clean up than a blender! I highly recomend it. I used to blend up soups all the time when my kids were little. (in the blender back then)


Ooh yum, doesn't that look good? Actually, I really it. This, straight from the measuring/mixing cup while playing a few games of Spider Solitaire does it for me.

Snow Day

Now you finally get to see me! I have to mail this new hat off to a certain someone but I'd regret it if I didn't take a picture of it first. I think it's still a little big even though it's been through the wash twice. Ill leave it up to her to decide. See, you could wear it with the brim up too.

I did want to take pictures the very first day of snow but my batteries weren't charged. All the trees were lacey and everything looked pristine. It made the city look like the country side.
The snow is pretty much gone now, it's kind of drizzly again. We did get to go for a nice walk in the park though.

The river rocks here look like they're wearing hats.

Knitting Crazy

I had part of the day off, so this morning I finally decided I'd better update this place so people know I'm still alive.
I took a whole bunch of pictures and most of them looked too garish and overexposed. Do you think I know how to work my camera yet? Do you think I could find my manual? Anyway, I was busy trying to figure things out, changing settings, taking pictures, tidying up, looking for my manual and I think I went into some kind of time warp. I could have sworn it was four o'clock or so but it was only one pm! Anyway, I'm still not really happy with these pictures but I can't find the secret setting that makes all the pictures come out just right.

I bought this great book, Hip Knit Hats by Cathy Carron. When I first flipped through it I realized that I would make most of the hats in it. There are a few hats done with novelty yarns, which I'm not fond of, but otherwise, I love this book.

See, this purple hat is the one on the front cover and it looks great on. I drastically changed needle sizes for this one. I'm getting cleaver at mixing different yarns to create the proper gauge. This is a good reason to have a good variety in your stash!

Here is the same hat in a different mix. They each took one good evening of TV watching, speaking of which, my favorite show at the moment is The Office.

I've also been working on this beauty, a scarf in Drops alpaca, soooo soft. It's as adventurous as I'm going to get in lace, at the time being. Easy peasy Feather and Fan.

A real quickie scarf in the beautiful Noro. I can't tell you what it is because I've misplaced the tag. It's got these two nice fluffy angora patches at either end. I love this colour mix!

Ok... these socks ( the start of this sock) aren't quite so bright. It's weird, knitting bulky hats then moving back to this. It's like knitting on tooth picks.

So, that's it for now.

I do have some snow pictures and I also want to tell you about the morning smoothies I've been making and you can tell me if I'm getting carried away.