WIPs (Works in Progress)

CRAFT: I'm still working my way through my stash and actually feeling inspired to do all the shelved knitting projects that i never got around to. So I've been making a lot of little projects, a couple hats, two pairs of fingerless mitts, some new knitting class projects for my classes at Top Drawer Yarn Studio.
I'm continuing with this and have started on an alternative felted slipper project so that my class will have intermediate and beginner plus versions. Wahoo! I'm working on improving Ella Rae's Persian Slipper pattern and working it in Cascade Ecological. I'm hoping that students will share yarn and swap colours to get truly unique projects!

The next big projects I'm planning right now are a coffee table for my living room made out of an old basement window and a patchwork wall hanging.

Mel is having a baby so I'm dreaming of all the fantastic knitted gifts I'll make for her little bean. I already gifted a two-colour baby version (4 increases instead of 6) of Stemwinder and so am going to update the pattern with both versions. I've decided that I like her partner because she said he would put a baby boy in a magenta sweater. That's perfect because that is what I want to make them. In my thrift  haul from the other day I snagged a vintage pattern book with the sweetest sweater. It's got a lace flower pattern around the neck, wow. I want to update the pattern and use Sweet Georgia Worsted. It's beautiful but Superwash wool is kind of icky but useful for baby knits. I think I'll just go ahead and do it.

OH! And one of the most exciting things that I'm working on is a photo shoot with a Asia. I'm going to shoot a bunch of my new and old projects and re-publish or publish them and have them printed on thicker card stock ala ChurchMouse. Love!

I'm also having a bunch of my old ink cartridges refilled (70% savings!) at a local print shop and am going to play around making stationary by copying images from old books that I've collected.

I've been planning a tattoo from Handsome Cabin Boy Tattoo soon (I should book, now?). It's been  a while since I've had work done so I've almost forgotten how much it hurts. I'm thinking about a design for the other arm or should I leave that one alone and finish my forearm and do my other leg? I can't decide which to do. I also want to add to the background of my right arm so I should do that now?  Robyn says I need to take it easy or I'll be covered head to toe before I'm 40. So what? hmmm.

COMMUNITY: We had a derby game on Saturday (my first of the season) and yesterday I felt like I was hit by a truck, the feeling is fading though I have no voice left. We've got a bout debrief meeting set for Thursday before practice and then we'll be welcoming our new recruits! Can't wait. I love to meet new skaters who watched the bout and want to join immediately. It's awesome!

My KAL is starting a new project on Friday night. We'll be doing Amiga from Knitty's Spring/Summer issue from last year in Noro Kureyon sock. I'm going to do a short sleeve version out of the Silk Garden Sock. I only have one ball of my colourway and Dar used 2 balls of Kureyon (more yardage per ball too). Wish me luck! I've got to do a little work to figure out my plan of attack. Oh and I should think of something to make for the group to snack on while we are there...

KITCHEN: I suck in the kitchen lately. The only reason I've stayed alive over the last few days is because of my granola and milk diet. I've been soaking the granola for 1/2hour in milk or so then devouring it. Whoa yum. 

I did make a couple batches of Martha's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from her Baking Handbook the other day! WOW. These are the best oatmeal cookies I have ever had. Salty, sweet, butter free, uses maple syrup and brown sugar. I think that spelt (gluten free) flour could be substituted no problem, you'd just have to find wheat-free oats to make them gluten-free. I'll be making more soon, maybe for the KAL?

Curried Gnochi

This is an older blog post I never got up on ohsweetie from my foray into using the backlog of squash I had! Now, I have a backlog of pumpkin, so it's nice to unearth these! I'll be posting a few of them over the next few weeks! Did you know that you can keep squash in a cool-ish closet ALL WINTER and it'll still be usable almost up until April (when you can process and freeze the rest of it for the spring/summer?). Pretty incredible stuff.

This is based off a recipe from Fine, Thank You...

Ingredients

Spice Mix
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1-2 tbsp curry powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp dried red chilli (or one dried chilli chopped up).

Gnocchi
1/2 yellow onion, diced
8-10 cloves garlic, roughly minced
3 cups of favourite winter squash, cut into small cubes
8 crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 can coconut milk
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 cups greens (kale, spinach, chard), finely chopped
1 500g package of gnocchi
1/2 to 1 cup of warm water, as needed


In a small bowl mix 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1-2 tbsp curry powder, 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1 tbsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, and 1 tsp dried red chillis
Fry 1/2 of a diced yellow onion in 2tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Once golden, add 8-10 cloves garlic, roughly minced, 8 crimini mushrooms sliced, and 3 cups of cubed winter squash. Add spice mix and stir to just combined. Cook for about 5-8 minutes stirring often and adding super small amounts of water to make sure veggies don't stick. Add the can of coconut milk and 2 tbsp of soy sauce and stir to combine mashing any clumps of coconut paste as needed. Lower heat to medium low and cook until squash and other veg are almost falling apart. Add 2 cups of finely chopped greens and a 500g package of gnocchi (or equivalent homemade). Up to heat to get a boil out of the coconut milk, stirring to avoid sticking, and cook for length of time on gnocchi package (6 to 8 minutes). Note: you may have to add 1/2-1 cup of water to ensure the gnocchi is mostly covered in liquid so it will cook. Try to add the water as carefully as possible because too much would be a travesty.  Once cooked serve with yummy bread or a nice winter beer. YUM.

Smoothie Saturday: Breaking all my rules about Sustainability

I find it hard to take pictures of a good smoothie, but this is what you get. My family doesn't buy bananas. After reading Animal Vegetable Miracle I felt like I couldn't eat anything that wasn't sustainable and must stop eating veg and fruit that are shipped in, immediately! Which is actually difficult in our small down regardless of how much awesome is within 100 miles. So I chose to forgo the following fruits: papaya, pineapple, banana, and mango. I did this to feel better about eating: grapefruits, limes, lemons, and oranges. We don't really eat melons in general and maybe buy grapes once or twice a year. We're huge fruit eaters and buy BC fruit as much as possible in the summer and then can it (YUM).

My work had a workshop this past week and we had leftover bananas = treat! This recipe was inspired by my love of smoothies (and my inability to go spend $10 on one at the local juice bar, no joke) and an oatmeal banana smoothie from Martha Stewart. If you eat bananas I recommend you slice them up 1cm-1.5cm thick and freeze them on a tray and then put them into ziplocks so you can pull bananas out for smoothies whenever. This recipe made about 750mL of velvety banana protein goodness. PS you can replace the hemp hearts with a neutral or choc or vanilla protein powder if you want!

Banana Choc PB Smoothie aka Protein Power!
Note: Make sure bananas are frozen in slices to make it blend easier/smoother and make the chunks of banana less cumbersome in your straw.


Ingredients
3-3.5 cups of frozen sliced bananas
1 big heaping tbsp of all natural smooth peanut butter
1 handful of chocolate chips
2 cups of almond milk
1/4 cup hemp hearts

Directions
Pile all ingredients into blender with Almond milk on top. Blend on low for 20 seconds and then on high until smooth. Add extra Almond milk if you like it thinner.

Working Class Communities for Change!

Anti-Enbridge Protest, Prince Rupert BC this January 2012

My community likes to call itself the "Community with a Heart". People that do community activism (social justice work) refer to it as a Magpie community. One that gets excited about something shiny, but gets bored pretty quickly or doesn't have the motivation or means to ensure follow through. Pretty much, my community is a community that's always in survival mode. Agencies and Governance in town are chronically always too poor to hire more than one person to do everything and that person is always adding new ideas and community issues or coalitions to their long list of things that aren't getting done any time soon. There isn't often enough time for these people to get away from all that stuff that takes up their time to get together and talk about their intersections and how they can work together. They're often too worried about paying the bills or making ends meet in their own lives and jobs to step back for a breath of air and think strategically or about the whole community (or have the time to address their shit, like self decolonization for example).

The community gets money and support and creates official community plans for everything and then doesn't work together to address those plans together. Because once that process is over (a process that took time away from their day-to-day lives) there's all this other stuff they'd been ignoring that they have to catch up on.

The other side of the token is trying to accomplish everything knowing something has to be done. I'm in a working class family for sure. We're never sure how we're going to make it to the next pay check, we can't afford luxuries or even basic things sometimes, but we're living richer than we ever have in the past (financially and socially). Personally I focus on taking breaks when needed (and not being too apologetic about it), sharing work and meals in the community, and contributing to community coalitions and strategies, rather than trying to do something alone.

Are you in a Working Class Community? What does social activism in your community look like when everyone's starved for time and money?

Thrift Store Hauls: Share!

Don't you just love thrifting? There really is something magical about the moment you realize that the item that you've uncovered is a real treasure. Do you know what I mean? Today I found, amongst piles of donated, old, under valued...stuff (is there any other word) that my entire haul was going to cost me $2.60. I called that old lady crazy, gave her a $10 bill and left with my goodies. YES! and I still think I got a great deal.

mountie tin with full chess set inside, bathing suit, mug, vintage knitting and crochet patterns,
woven purse, measure tape (i can't resist), assorted rick rack, pin cushion, painted basket 

And the best thing? It's only just started. SPRING CLEANING makes for the best time to thrift. And it's also the season of the first garage sales!!! wahoo! I'm getting really excited just thinking about all the fun I'll have treasure hunting.  It's so much fun to get out in your community, meet people and get some good deals on stuff. I love meeting all the old ladies volunteering at thrift stores, they seem to get such a kick out of young people (yes, me) who like old things. It's cute. Gives them a little faith in the next generation, you know. At least that's what my grandma says.

So when you've gotten a great haul full of little oddities, things you love, collect, or just a pile of random thrifted items that make you smile, share them!  Send along a photo of all the goods piled on a table, arranged perfectly, or stuffed into your fave shopping bag and send it to us and we'll put them all together in a monthly feature. Email it to me and Diandra at yerhomesweethome@gmail.com.

Woop! Here's to thrifting! 

Current Project Love!

 This little guy is Herman the Enigmatic Bear designed by Rebecca Danger, have you heard of her yet? Her monsters and critters are simply the best, I love them. Check out her website for free patterns and more. I'm going to give him an angry face, Herman here is one of my class projects for the net round of knitting classes at Top Drawer Yarn Studio here in P.G.. I've used the last full ball of my Mission Falls 1824 Merino in this weird curry colour, only suitable for a bear I think since very few people want to wear this colour. Goodbye forever Mission Falls!

Happy Valentine's Day! These lovely little hearts are from Norah Gaughn, she is delightful! One of a kind, these sweet little hearts are super easy to make up, then fulled (just go easy on the felting) and so cute! I'm imagining a clay flower pot with a bunch of these atop painted skewers!

The best thing about knitting little gems like these? They are fast, allow you to stash bust and there are no ends to weave in! Wahoo. Oh, and today I found that I didn't have any poly fill for stuffing so I'm using some thrifted acrylic yarn that I will never knit with. Smart!

FRIDAY FAVOURITES!!!

Excuse this random assortment, themeless :( Just got home from brat camp and I'm pooped!!

Epherma!! LINK. 

Bleubird's Wedding Pictures! LINK. 

BOSSY LOVE feat Kween G - "Fight This Off" from Bossy Love on Vimeo.

SUCH A GREAT VIDEO!!

New Julie Ruin Coming Soon!! Source: facebook.com via ohsweetie on Pinterest

Raw, vegan, hemp protein bars!! OMG YUM. LINK. 

Re-Creating Recreation for Communities

One of my favourite parts of this time of year is the seemingly sudden return of warmth in the sun's rays. You may be wondering: "What IS that strange yellow orb in the sky?". In P.G. and area at least, the sunshine has been around all winter; we haven't gone a week without seeing it though it seems like we enjoy it more because now we can feel as well as see it. The typical 'Winter-in-P.G. Uniform' includes: wool socks, big boots, long johns under jeans, heavy coat, scarf, mittens, toque, and sunglasses. Don't forget your sunglasses! The sunny days are great because it feels like spring is finally coming and we start to see more people outside doing stuff: commuters on bikes, more runners, dog walkers, and kids playing. We northerners stop going outside simply out of necessity and start enjoying the winter we have left.

I've been spending time on the last few afternoons at the outdoor ice oval here in P.G.. It's a civic facility run and maintained by a group of volunteers and the City of Prince George. Let me tell you, the conditions at the oval are perfect! The reason for my sudden interest in ice skating? I mostly don't want to embarrass myself skating in the PG Iceman on Sunday. We've formed a Iceman team made up of derby girls this year because we think it is an important event to be a part of and of course because we want to win. Or at least so we can show people that we are serious athletes and maybe sell some tickets to our next bout?!

When we are active together it feels good, right? If you are part of a group of athletes working towards a common goal (i.e. get better at Roller Derby, run my best, ski faster than the others), you can leave the rest of your life and family stuff at home, you can turn off your phone, and have fun doing something you enjoy. It's freeing to forget about all the other stuff that is going on and be part of something bigger than you. When you join your community doing something active like a charity run or something else, the feeling is even better (you can't believe it, right?). In P.G., the Iceman is a great community event that brings all kinds of people and athletes together. The best part of the whole event is the friends and family of the competitors that come to watch and cheer them on during the later legs of the course. I often hear from runners and skiers that the encouragement of the people watching keeps them going and helps them finish. I think that the motivation from fans comes from something inside that feels good, not just the encouragement but the satisfaction of being part of the community; those cheering are telling you that they appreciate all the time that you've put into your sport, that your hard work is worth it, and that it is valuable. You've added to their experience of living in this place even more than the warming sun ever could.

This is community support in action. When a community wants to be active, is active, and supports others to be active, I think we've created community recreation. We can do this purposely by participating, volunteering, and supporting events and initiatives. Even if we can't be there for an event we can volunteer in the pre-production, we can sponsor it, we can do promotion (we can tell everyone we know about it). We can create meaningful and lasting recreational events and opportunities in our communities.  

So while this winter comes to a close, come out and support athletes you know. At the PG Iceman, at a derby bout, or at another community event. Even if you can't compete, you can participate by being there to witness the greatness of sport and the greatness of your community. 

Let's be active and healthy together. Let's re-create recreation for our communities. 

Census Schmensus

Yesterday was the release of the 2011 Census results in Canada. CBC has created this online interactive thingy where you can look at population growth in your community and then compare it to others. Of course, because the Federal Government scrapped the long form census the depth of information we're gathering about Canada's citizens is lessened (do they figure we can just survey facebook now or something?).


In my community, Port Alberni, the population raised a whole 0.5%. Which is ignorable on the population scale. The local First Nations have a marked increase in their reported census populations and that could reflect an actual growth in the First Nations population (more people moving home to the Nation or more children born) or an increase in response to the Census (and less Census jamming).


In Prince George the population also only rose a smidge at just over 1%. Some rural parts of the area have had a drop in population, and others had quite a rise (new housing developments?).

The issue with having a population growth based census is that it's centred around a capitalist model of growth. If you're not growing you're not doing well. Communities all around Port Alberni are growing, why is Port Alberni not growing? And because the national discourse around the Census is now around growth (eg. the growth of the population in the West vs the stagnation in Ontario) and "lack" of growth, communities are going to be encouraged to "grow" their populations more than quality of life (which the long form would be able to capture data on).

Have you got to play around with the Census tables? What do you think?