Ugh.

I am hereby boycotting viruses.

I am sick.  Again.  For the third (fourth?) time in six weeks.

Plus, it snowed all weekend.  What's UP WITH THAT???

It was a soup-and-juice-and-vitamin-C weekend (can you directly inject vitamin C into your bloodstream, 'cause that would save a lot of time):

Anyway, it turned out ok, because I discovered something really exciting last week and I got the chance to try it out.  Behold (and don't hate me because I'm a geek):

You're thinking: "Rolled oats?  Really? You got excited about rolled oats?  Get a grip, woman."

And you'd be right, except for one tiny detail you may not have picked up on:

"Wheat FREE".  For a Celiac, those words are golden.  Oats are almost always contaminated with gluten from other crops, regardless of whether or not they are processed in the same facilities as other grains.  There is cross-contamination in the field, which makes gluten-free oats incredibly difficult to produce.  I've been hunting high and low for a very long time and suddenly my local farmer's market has begun carrying them.  Without me hounding them about it first!

Hence my excitement, people!  {Well, my excitement was somewhat squelched by the price tag, butletsnottalkaboutthatok?}  Imagine!  I could make apple crisp!  Oatmeal!  Date squares!

For the first time in over 3 years, I broke out my awesome oatmeal cookie recipe (though I didn't have oat bran, I just used rolled oats in lieu).  And they were good.  Are good, I mean.  'Cause I didn't eat them all.  Yet.

Check this out (it really made me laugh):

No, the cookies are not meant to be lacy.  Gluten-free cooking is tricky.  Wheat flour has natural binding properties (from the gluten) which is lacking in other flours (rice, garbanzo bean, potato, etc).  You have to add starches and gums to the mix in order to avoid what you see in the above photo.  I forgot to add the xanthan gum for this first sheet of cookies.  I used some for the next batch and they turned out great:

I used sweetened carob chips instead of chocolate, as the hubbie is allergic to chocolate.

Also, a shout out to all the vegans out there (or veggiesauruses, as my hubs like to call them): the milk in that there glass is not your average dairy.  It is the absolute best milk alternative I've ever tasted (and I've tasted a few, given that we are low-dairy {asthmatic} in this house and try to avoid the real stuff).

It is this:

We use the Original Unsweetened for cooking/baking and the Vanilla Sweetened for drinking with cookies.  Yum!  The Vanilla Sweetened is also really good to use when making things like sweet scones (with blueberries or raisins....oh my...I'm getting hungry) or crepes.  It doesn't have that woody soy milk aftertaste and is easier on the system, at least in my opinion.

If I suddenly start complaining about gaining weight, just ignore me.  I can't seem to control my stomach.

TADA!! The Magic Raglan pattern has arrived!!!

UPDATE (2012-11-29): This is now available as a free Ravelry download.  If you would like a copy of the pattern, you must sign into Ravelry or sign up if you haven't already. It's really worth it, so don't hesitate - it's completely free and without any commitment. Unfortunately, I can't respond to all the emails I get about this pattern: I'm just too busy with my day job and life.  Thanks for your interest!

I have received some good news, peeps.  Samantha, the lady who kindly offered to test-knit my sweater pattern, has informed me that we're a go.

A go.

This is something I've been working on for a while and I'm quite proud of it.  It all started over 10 years ago, when I didn't even own a computer (and didn't really know how to use the Internet - oh for shame!).  I had decided that I was going to knit something more substantial than just another stupid garter stitch scarf and didn't know where to start.  I went to my local craft store to find some affordable (read: hideous) yarn and chatted up the saleswoman.  She told me about this online pattern I should look up.  I ended up on the computer at my boyfriend's (now husband) house and found this pattern online that gave a very detailed explanation of how to design a custom-made raglan sweater, with some ideas for modification.  Here it is, in case you're wondering.

I've used this pattern a few times over the years (no, I never finished that first one - the yarn was just too appalling, but I was happy to have done a test run with something that didn't break the bank).  The only problem I could see was that there was no real diagram and my mind just couldn't wrap itself around the instructions, sometimes (even though I had knit it before!).  So, I got it in my head last fall that I was going to see if I could soup it up and add some additional information.

I had no real way of reaching the original author of the pattern, apart from her name and location from 10 years ago.  Through the miracle of the Internet, I managed to track her down and e-mailed her to ask her permission to make these modifications.  I couldn't believe it when she wrote back that very day saying "Yes!  Of course!"  Turns out, her husband was the one who had posted the pattern waaaaaay back in the early/mid-90's, based on this pattern she'd been using to teach knitting classes.  Hence the lack of images/diagrams.

There you have it - your very own how-to on designing and knitting a custom-fit top-down raglan with whatever yarn you want to use, whatever gauge you like, the size/length/style you want, in the stitch pattern of your choosing.

Almost too many choices, come to think of it...

PS: If you use it, I'd love to see the results!

Homemade Garden Obelisk

We had some more beautiful weather this weekend, so it seemed a shame to sit indoors at the computer, putting together my new pattern (I promise, it's coming!).  In between appointments for haircuts and trips to the grocery store, we took a nice long walk on the beach with the canines and spend the rest of the time out in the yard, cleaning, cutting and digging.

I've been meaning to start collecting some willow branches to make some garden structures (I make my tomato cages out of branches, instead of wasting money on the cheap metal ones that always break).  It seemed as good a time as any to get out there and do it!  So, without further ado, here is the story of my Sunday afternoon:

I grabbed my trusty-rusty (not really, on the "rusty" part) Fiskars cutters and set off to find branches along the ditches and marshy parts near our house.

I cut about 14 long sturdy twigs - they're actually young birch trunks, which grow like weeds at the back of our property (see photo above).  Then, we ventured further out with the car and found a whole whack of dogwoody/willowy shrubs and did a bit of selective pruning to get an armful of skinny, flexible branches (if you leave 2/3 of the shrub intact, you won't do any damage to it...besides, these are considered weeds 'round these parts and they get totally mowed down every few years):

Then, I grabbed some hemp string:

And I took a few minutes to clean up my branches (snipped off the twigs and cut the ends at a sharper angle, making it easier to ram them into the ground):

The next step was to take a small branch (any one, it doesn't matter) and tie the string to it, leaving an 18" tail hanging from it:

...which I attached to a second branch...

...and used them to score a circle in the ground (I guesstimated the size of the circle - it all kind of depends on the length of the sturdy branches...you'll see what I mean in a minute):

Magic!

That's when I took 12 of my sturdy branches, all nicely trimmed and "sharpened" at the bottom, and stabbed them into the ground, spaced like the numbers on a clock face (I told you to collect 14 of them because you never know if one is going to break on you or be too bendy to work right...):

Next up: take a length of the twine and tie those babies up in a teepee.

This is where I stood back and hemmed and hawed about whether or not my circle was too big (it was) and what I should do about it (decided to do nothing, as I was losing the light and wanted to hurry so I could show you my work):

Then I took one of the thicker willow branches and started the weaving part:

I started layering more twigs on top of it, alternating them and inserting new ones as needed (use only the sturdier ones for this - the little skinny weavers are best saved for the top).  I had to constantly shift my bodily position to see and access the entire perimeter of the structure.

When the bottom branches started to peter out, I had to add new ones to the top of the ring:

Here's what it looked like after a few rounds:

I kept going for another round or two and then started "snaking" the weavers up in a spiral.  I started using slightly thinner weavers, but ganging them two by two to get good stability out of them:

...and kept going...

...and going (giving the bottom portion a haircut along the way)...

...until I got all the way up to the top, where I wound all the weavers around the bundle and jammed the ends back down inside the knot (let me know if you need clarification on that part - I couldn't take a good photo, as my hands were busy):

At that point, I could untie the string and crossed my fingers, hoping it would all stay together (you can always retie it if it seems like it all wants to fall apart - take more weavers and jam a couple down, fat end first, into the top of your knot, twine them around and jam the ends back down through the top of the knot, pulling it as tightly as you can):

The branches got a little trim (but would also look nice, untrimmed):

And PRESTO:

Now, this is a sturdy little bugger and it's stuck in the ground really nicely, but I can always yank it out and move it if I want to.  They travel well in the back seat of a car (hint: Mother's Day is coming!) and can be re-installed, as long as the person doing to installing takes their time and goes slowly, gently pushing each branch down, one at a time.

This is a great structure for sweet peas or other climbing plants.  It also looks good, naked.  It's up to you, really.  I make simplified versions of this for my tomato plants.

So, there you go!  Now you can do it, too.  Happy weaving!

Progress!

I just checked my Google Analytics, and it seems that, against all odds, you are still with me.

So, here's your treat for sticking around:

Well ok, it's not much.  'Tis but a humble sleeve cuff.

I still have a whole 'nother one to knit.  Drat.

But, it's SOMETHING, right?!?

And though I am valiantly (and vainly) trying to fight off a particularly insidious stomach virus, I have a few other little treats for you:

Chives, coming out to enjoy the sunshine.

My sedum is already growing!  In April! 

And these are my Hens and Chicks, with a little "hippy dippy Pioneer-Woman-Photoshop-action" action.

I am totally diggin' (HA!  Diggin'?  Get it!?) the garden activity!

Let it grow, let it grow, let it grow...

I finally have some stuff to show you.  Before you get all excited, I must admit that it isn't much.

I hope to have more for you at the end of this long weekend.  I plan to spend most of my time out-of-doors, as this is our forecast:

I assume that even if you don't understand Celsius, you can appreciate that this is very unusually warm weather (and I also assume that you can appreciate how rarely we see the sun, in this seaside corner of the world).  So, you can probably understand why I am so excited right now that I am wiggling in my chair...

I am going to get down and dirty this weekend, in that I will be crawling around on the ground and there will undoubtedly be mud involved.  My garden is a mess and though I could never have imagined it, things are already growing.  It's a MIRACLE, friends!

So, without further ado, here is what I have to show you:

{Scrapbookers, avert your eyes.  The complete lack of attention to detail in the following photos will horrify you and possibly give you nightmares.  The rest of you may look, but this shall be proof that I have never gotten into scrapbooking and that it is probably best that I keep it that way.}

I have a page (or a few pages, in some cases) for each *type* of garden area in the yard.  We have an acre and there are all sorts of different little ecosystems that I would like to landscape.  The spring bulbs are going to get planted in the woodsy portion at the front end of the property and I want them to naturalize, so I don't have to think about them.

The meadowy-ornamental-grass-and-coneflower-and-gaillarda garden is going right next to/over the septic field (sexy, huh?), where the best earth is (gee, I wonder why).

We already have a wetland-type garden started in our swale and it seems to be thriving, so I'm going to add to it.

We are going to build some raised garden beds because we have only crappy earth next to the house and I'm tired of fighting with it.  The herbs (and other edibles), sweet peas, and small perennials are going in those.  I already have approximately 100,000,000 hostas that I either received for free or paid a pittance for, so I'm going to put those in raised beds at the front of the house.  My daylilies will stay in their existing spots, as they seem happy and the earth there is more-or-less ok.

This is my garden plan (I say "my" plan, because my hubbie couldn't care less and just goes along with anything I say anyway):

I can't WAIT to get started, friends.

Now, before you ask me about what my favourite references are for gardening, I'm going to tell you:

I'm not sure.

I mostly hound my friend Ruth for advice (you'll be meeting her and her garden for real in the next few months...I shall spare no expense to get you the goods on how she does things over at her place).  I also have a friend (former employer) who is a wonderful landscape architect and who is happy to answer my incredibly redundant and ridiculous questions, over and over again.  My grandmother loves to garden and we gossip about plants whenever we talk on the phone (she sends me garden porn on a regular basis - God bless the internet and e-mail).  I read Canadian Gardening voraciously (thanks to aforementioned grandmother, I receive a subscription as a birthday gift, every year...I think she does it so she has someone to gossip about gardening with).  I do a lot of snooping around on the internet.  I don't really have a gardening book collection to speak of.  I have one really gorgeous guide on ornamental grasses (buy it here, if you'd like) and a french-language book on vegetable gardening.  I don't refer to either one for actual gardening, though (just to look at the pretty pictures *I'mficklecoughcough*).  I learned about gardening from my mom (surprise!) and it was just something we always did.  I'll admit, my gardening is really just one long exercise in trial-and-error.

Lots and lots of error.  And trial.  Lots of that.

I will leave you on that note with a promise to post some nice photos a little later this weekend.  This photo is from a little series I took of my kitchen window, earlier this week (in anticipation of beach-walking-weather):

PS: I haven't touched my sweater in a week.  It's a sad state of affairs, people.  I warned you that gardening was going to turn my brain to mush, right?  Well, I hope you like mush.

So. How ya been?

Good?

Oh, that's nice.

Me?

Well, I'm just fine.  Busy as hell, but feelin' good.  Much better than that fateful day a few weeks ago when I shamelessly begged for your friendship.  Much much much better than that.  But still, very busy.

So that's why I've been avoiding you.  Ok, not avoiding.  Just prioritizing and unfortunately for you, that means avoidance of the internet. 

On Saturday, we went to Halifax, where we ate nachos and shopped at MEC.  We also went to the Farmer's Market and the mall (oh Gap, why did you have to halt production of my latest favourite made-in-heaven jeans?).  But you know what I forgot to do?  You're not going to believe this!

I forgot to go to the yarn shop.

Forgot.  To.  Shop.  For.  Yarn.

I'm still shaking my head at my sheer absentmindedness.  It must have been the world-class nachos.  The cholesterol must have addled my brain.  That's the only explanation.

Then, Sunday brought chores and the finishing up of mending projects (ugh), and I figured you wouldn't want to hear about that (you also didn't want to hear about the hour I spent re-fastening loose floorboards, right?).

So, that's why I've got nothing for you.

Well, ok.  Not "nothing".  There's this:

This is a little blurry, isn't it?  Sorry about that.

This never ceases to amaze me.  I know that makes me sound like a) a naive child or b) a pot-smoking, granola-crunching hippy.  But, I can't deny it - I'm always surprised when my seeds sprout.  When those first little stems poke up out of the ground, I inevitably do a little dance of joy, where I clap my hands like a dork and wiggle back and forth really fast.

It's really mature.  And attractive.  You should try it.

Anyway.  This is the only progress I have to share with you, sadly.  The sweater has stalled since you saw it last.  I have no new clothing to show you.  I am working on something right now (free pattern to follow!), but I can't show it to you because it's for someone who reads this blog.  I'll post it when said person is in possession of said gift.

{Now you're wondering if it's you, aren't ya?  Well, let's put it this way: If your birthday was last week and you've agreed to file my income taxes for me, then the answer is yes, this gift is for you.  If not, you're out of luck.  This time.}

Other than that, the sweater pattern is being test-knit by a very kind soul and I'll have that up as soon as she has finished and I've made some adjustments to the wording.  The tutorial for the pants is going to morph into something much bigger, methinks.  I've been thinking about going off on a longer general-clothing-sewing-instruction tangent and I may have to work a bit more on that before I'm ready to start.

The garden planning is somewhat on hold for this week.  I'm going to pick it up again this weekend.  I have plans to also go and visit my friend Ruth who is not only my yoga instructor, but a gardener-extraordinaire.  I'm going to document a bit of what she does and how she does it for you, my blog peeps.  She just got back from a three-week trip from Mexico (the jerk), so I'll give her a few days to gain her bearings before descending upon her, looking for gardening advice.  In the meantime,  I am looking at inspiration and getting some information together to make my planning easier.  I'm going to make a few of these, so I don't have to contend with my clay soil (P-Dub, I love you).  Oh, and when I say that "I" will make them?  Don't believe me.  I will be involved, but I can not lie to you - I shall be heavily aided by a certain male member of this family.  And by "aided", I mean "he'll be doing most of the dirty work and I will get to stand back and make sure it gets done right".   Like usual.  HA!  Just kidding. 

Sort of.

{I've actually been feeling increasingly guilty at the amount of work the hubs has been doing around here (*cough*hesdoingthedishesrightnowwhileIblog*cough*), so that's kind of why I took a little Interwebs-hiatus.  And that's the reason for the floorboard-fixing.  I just can't let him do everything.  It's not fair.  So, if I disappear for a while again, it's for a good cause - the survival of my marriage.}

Anywho, I gotta go and get some work done.  I'll be back soon with more stuff to show you.  In the meantime, if you've got some special tutorial/blog post requests, please feel free to leave them in my comments.  I'll do what I can to oblige! {Like, do you still want a mitten tutorial, or will that be put aside until autumn, in favour of gardening and sewing?  It's up to you.}

Here's a parting photo of Ruth's garden, taken in 2008, in late May (spring arrives very late, here - you can see that the trees are just starting to bud):

This only shows you about 1/3 of the garden, and doesn't give you any indication of the adjacent orchard. 

I know.  She's crazy.  But you wanna guess how much awesome (organic) food I get, for giving her a hand with the weeding?  Oh, yes.  It's fab. you. luss.

Ok, so farewell for now, my friends!

Gun-shy, little guy?

I was driving home today and I was totally blown away by all the wildlife I saw (Holy crap, Daylight Savings and some nice weather and blamo!  Turns out I'm living in an episode of "The Nature of Things"!).  After seeing 4 bald eagles (one of them was a teenager carrying off what looked like a still-wriggling squirrel), I wasn't expecting to have a fox cross the road right in front of the car.

I stopped and rolled down the window, whipped out the camera and just started shooting.  Of course, I didn't check my shutter speed, first.  And when he saw the camera (and maybe heard my radio), he bolted.  Up until that point, he sat there looking at me, just like I was looking at him. 

This is the only Photoshopped-all-to-hell, way overexposed shot I got of him, as he was making his getaway:

That settles it: I'm not going anywhere without my camera, from now on.  And I'm going to leave it in Auto Mode, when I'm not using it.  Bollocks.