Too many irons in the fire? Why not add some pumpkin pie
Can you believe it is October already?! My dad always says time passes more quickly as you get older. Boy, is he ever right! I'm sure having a million things going all the time also contributes.
I don't have much to show for crafts this week; my life is being consumed by another large project. However, I did start and finish a pair of mittens and made some progress on a project I haven't touched in a long time: my sweater spin. I am enamored with that project, but so many things keep me from it. The mitten project has been a lot of fun as well. What little kid doesn't want to wear mittens made from their very own sheep?
Handspun, hand-dyed and knit for a young girl
from the fleece of her very own sheep.
Sweater spin: one single down, many more to go.
On the fitness side, I finished Country Heat, which was a great program. I really enjoyed. Over thirty days, I lost five pounds, which I credit mostly to being disciplined with clean eating. I got a little off course food-wise before starting, so I made a concerted effort to get it right, which I did, for the most part. What I like most about Country Heat is how approachable it is; my kids can do it with me. It is a great introductory program for someone who wants something effective but not so challenging they become discouraged. In the big Facebook group with Autumn Calabrese people kept remarking on how happy they felt after the workouts. That's what dancing does for you! In addition to being great exercise, it lifts your spirits.
With that in mind, there is still time to join our Dance Off challenge group. A couple people have told me they're in for Team Cize; it would be fun to add to the Team Heat roster. If you're interested, please let me know. A good place to get in touch with me is my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/dahlhousegym
With everything else going on, I had some pumpkins start to get a little squishy on me. One was baked into a pie. The other will most likely become a cheese cake. The kids each brought home a pie pumpkin from a fall festival, so I see more baking adventures on the horizon.
Ingredients: dates, cherries, pecans, almonds
cinnamon, nutmeg, dark chocolate
In addition to baking, Ainsleigh and I whipped up a fun little snack food. Lärabar is snack bar made with clean, whole ingredients. They're really good, and pretty easy to make at home. There were some tasty looking recipes on this site, http://leitesculinaria.com/88638/recipes-homemade-larabars.html, which we used as a jumping off point for creating our own. We used dates and dried cherries — together equaling about a cup, and pecans and almonds, which together also equaled about a cup. I didn't measure anything out, just used roughly equal amounts of fruit and nuts. The fruit was soaked in hot water while we chopped the nuts with cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg. The fruit was added to the processor and we chopped some more. The idea is to chop up the fruit enough so the bar sticks together. Ours could have used a bit more chopping, but it was fine. At the end we added a couple teaspoons of shaved dark chocolate and pressed them into a small pan. After they firmed up in the refrigerator, I cut and wrapped them. I see more of these on the horizon as well!
This is a chart I've been meaning to get to for a while. The Christmas before last, I was making a whole bunch of Christmas ornament gift toppers . I wanted each to be unique, so some of the miniature sweaters were adorned with duplicate stitch in traditional knit motifs. I hit a snag with the tree. A row of perfect triangle trees is cute. A single triangle tree is not so cute. A chart for a small tree is not hard to find. One which is not symmetrical is. Enter the sketch pad. My goal was a scraggly tree, which was small, but was still recognizable as a tree. This is the result. As a matter of personal preference, I think this looks best when the chart is turned upside down and is used on a piece being worked from the top. That way, the top of the tree comes to a nice point.
Before my mom taught me to knit, crochet and sew, that knowledge was passed to her. My Grandma Hansen was a tough lady. The kind who wouldn't tolerate rude behavior or disrespect from anyone old enough to control the tone of their voice. She could still a child squirming through church with an outstretched hand. She was also the kind who, with a wink and a smile, would slide an M&M across the table to a kid to shy to ask for one, then elicit a whispered, "Thank you," with a gentle, but expectant, "You're welcome." Grandma Hansen in 2005. Grandma was also a crafter. She gifted many crochet dolls to her grand-daughters. One Christmas, each grand-kid was given a pillow case. Mine, a black and white panda print with lace on the cuff, is still in circulation. Another year it was a pajama set, wrapped and topped with a little crochet animal. My brother's gift topper was accidentally sent out with the wrapping paper, and she made him another. It sh...
At deer camp, Uncle Mark observed I really need to get back to blogging. He's right! It's been far too long, and there is so much to share. The delay can be partly attributed to my desire to have a video with each blog, which ended up taking much more time than initially anticipated, time I just don't have — but more on that later. Also, my phone storage is full again. In the past, that was solved by using google to back up my photos so they could be deleted, but now my google storage is full, too. I take a lot of photos! Why don't we get to the goodies right away? I have a pattern to share with you! This little fox is incredibly simple to make, and the results are just too cute. It's a basic chevron stitch and whips up in no time. The full pattern is available for free as a ravelry download . The fox design and my lack of time are actually very much related. The story started a couple years ago when my Auntie Becky met a lady named, Lois. Lois had alpacas, a...
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