Snow, Buns, Parsnip soup.... and if you're patient, A Toque!

We didn't even make it to November...

For some people, the first snowfall of the year can be depressing, summer is definitely over and fall quickly passed by, now all we get to look forward to for the rest of the year (and first 3 or 4 months of the next year) is unrelenting cold and snow.  I'm odd, 'cause today I was really happy and for no specific reason either.  I woke up, it was bright out (since everything is white) and it made everything seem so cheery.  Even while I was doing chores and painting door frames, I couldn't help but smile to myself.  I love my husband, I love my house, and now with the snow, it feels like Christmas is just around the corner.  I even asked my husband before he left for work if we could watch "A Very Merry Muppet Christmas" tonight but he said it was too early for that....

When my husband was leaving for work this morning, he said that he wouldn't mind if his wife made some buns today...... so I did.

For dinner tonight a perfect accompaniment for the buns (and the snow) would be soup.  But not just any soup.... Parsnip Soup, made with fresh homegrown parsnips from my parent's acreage.  

Here's my recipe.... serves 2 with leftovers for a lunch.

1 med onion,diced

2 stalks of celery,diced

1 garlic clove,roughly chopped 

1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger,finely chopped 

about 1 tsp of garam masala 

about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon                                           

-Throw all this in a pot with a tad of olive oil and a little butter, saute until onions soften and the kitchen smells wonderful.

Then add in...

2 large parsnips, chopped

about 500ml of stock (chicken or veg or a combo of both)

about 250ml milk (whole, 1%, 2%, skim, it really doesn't matter)

-Bring to a boil and then simmer until parsnips are tender. Blend it up however you have to resources to (I used an immersion blender but a regular blender would work just fine as long as it's done in a couple of batches).

-Garnish with some grated asiago cheese and ENJOY!

 

 Now for the toque..... 

I designed this super easy and quick to knit toque in remembrance of all those over-sized (for a child's head) toques that I had to wear if I was ever at my grandparent's farm in the winter.  I hated wearing them 'cause they were so boyish and way too big for me.  Since then, I have grown fond of those memories and I wanted a warm, over-sized hat to keep my ears warm (especially today) in colors that were not farm equipment compatible.

 

 Happy Acres Toque

Needle: size 13 (9mm)

Yarn: Super Bulky (I used a hand spun yarn) in 2 colors

Gauge: 5 sts & 6 rows = 2in. in stockinette stitch

Abbreviations:
        st(s) = stitch(es)
        k = knit
        p = purl
        k2tog = knit 2 stitches together

Pattern:    With first color CO 46 sts

        Row 1:  k2, p2 ribbing across row, end with k2
        Row 2:  p2, k2 across row, end with p2
        Continue these 2 rows for 3 inches

        The rest of the touque will be worked in stockinette stitch.

        Continue with Color A and work 4 rows.
        Switch to Color B and work 4 more rows.
        Back to Color A and work 4 rows.
        And again to Color B and work 4 rows.
        Switch back to Color A and work 4 rows 

(so far you have worked 20 rows in stockinette stitch)

        Start decrease...
        Row 1:  K2tog across (23sts)
        Row 2:  Purl
        Row 3:  K2tog across, K1 (12sts)
        Row 4:  Purl
        Row 5:  K2tog across (6 sts)

        Break yarn and thread through remaining sts, pull tight and sew seam.
       
        Make a pom-pom and attach to the top then wear with pride!

My bedtime snack

I had mentioned to my husband that I was craving some peanut butter so he decided to make me a bedtime snack.  After 5 minutes in the kitchen he brought me a little plate with 3 spoons on it.  In the spoons were marshmallow fluff, peanut butter and a garnish of M&M's.  It's not the healthiest (when I'm trying to lose weight) but it was so good.  I love my husband!

Autumnus Scarf

This past summer my husband and I paid a visit to Gig Harbor, WA.  We came across a yarn store that was closing down and having a sale.  There wasn't much left when we stopped in but I found a couple skeins of Malabrigo Aquarella in a color I thought only I could love.  I had to buy it (and it was 60% off!).

After many failed attempts of making a scarf pattern that the thick and thin wool looked good with, I came up with this.... just in time for autumn....

 Autumnus Scarf

What you need:

• sz 13 (9.0 mm) knitting needles
• cable needle for bulky yarn
• 2 skeins Malabrigo Aquarella wool or about 130 yards of any Super Bulky yarn
• scissors

 Gauge:  

• doesn't matter

 Pattern:

• Cast on  12 sts
• knit 2 rows
• work 20 rows in stockinette stitch starting with a knit row 

Work Braid (8 rows):
1.  Slip 4 sts onto cable needle and hold in front of work.        Knit next 4 sts then knit 4 sts from cable needle.  Knit remaining 4 sts.
2.  Purl row
3.  Knit 4 sts.  Slip 4 sts to cable needle and hold to back of work.  Knit next 4 sts then knit 4 sts from cable needle.
4.  Purl
Repeat these 4 rows

After the 8 rows of the braid have been completed, work 20 more rows in stockinette stitch continued by 8 more rows of the braid, then 20 more rows of stockinette, etc.....   I worked 7 braids in total.  Finish by working 2 purl rows after a stockinette section and then cast off purl-wise.

~enjoy~

I never thought I would but...

... I started a blog.  I have joined the millions of other people who have decided to publicize their every move. "Why?" you ask.... I really don't know, I guess I decided that this could be my little diary, if not for someone else's enjoyment, then for me to be able to look back at my many projects and endeavours that I attempt and sometimes complete.  The title isn't meant to sing my own praises... one day I'll give an explanation...

So..... ya....... I'm not really sure where to go from here.

Ok, ok, ok, I'll explain my title, I don't want to sound conceited right off the bat, 'cause really, I am not the most confident of people.  It's something I'm working on.

My story...

I have quite the interest in obscure hobbies (and as you may have noticed.... many periods in a row).  I also am very happily married to a husband who is very patient with my many obscure hobbies.  Where shall I start...
 Piano and singing:
My parents put me into piano lessons when I was 5.  Like most kids at that age, I hated to practice and thinking about it now, I am so thankful that my parents weren't slave drivers about it cause then I probably wouldn't be playing it anymore because the fun wasn't taken out of it.  Practicing aside, I loved playing the piano.  I just didn't like to be told what to play and classical music wasn't exactly the most fun.  I remember getting some of my "Little Golden Books" out, placing them on the piano and I would make up music and sing the words to the story.  I think my parents even tape recorded it once without me knowing.  Fast forward 20+ years and I still love to play piano (and now keyboard, hopefully one day a keytar!).  I play mostly in church but have also played for a wedding dance in a cover band and did some other stuff (wedding ceremonies, Christmas events, etc).  Awesome fun!!  In the last few years I have also added guitar and bass guitar to my repertoire thanks to my now husband whom I fell in love with while he gave me lessons. 

Knitting and Crochet:
My Baba taught me to crochet back in the day when I was just a little gaffer (maybe 7-ish or so, I really don't remember)  and I would dabble in it now and then but it didn't really take off until about 6 or so years ago when I taught myself to knit, then I got terribly addicted to yarn although I didn't buy a lot of it.  I mainly admired it from afar.  Ravelry has now made me a knit and crochet fiend!  The last couple of months, I have been taken up with handspun yarn but I decided that it was too expensive to buy.  Like most things that I want but am too budget minded to buy, I get thoughts that I could make it myself so.... I made myself a drop spindle and ordered some raw carded wool from a woolen mill here in Alberta (I support local resources) I can now add hand-spinning wool to my portfolio.  Now I am obsessed with finding a good spinning wheel so that I can make better and more wool in a shorter amount of time but unfortunately the wheel that I bought yesterday is not functional... I really should have done more research.... I'm sure there will be more on that saga.

 Fishing:
Growing up, the only summer vacations my family really did was camping and fishing.  I LOVE the outdoors!  Some may think that fishing is dirty and stinky, but I don't.  I was (and still am) the little girl at the fish gutting bench, cutting open the fish, opening the stomach to see what it was eating and attempting to make fillets with a dull knife.  Dad really needs to get his filleting knives sharpened.  Anyways, to add to my fishing experience.... my dad got a fly tying kit one day from my uncle for Christmas but I kind of inherited it.  I found it fascinating that you could take a bare hook, some thread, feathers, deer hair and other little treasures that birds and dead animals have given us and make the most perfect little intricate fly to catch fish with.  Now, whenever my brother goes fly fishing, he describes to me some of the bugs that he's seen on the water and I try to replicate them in fishing fly form.  It can be a challenge sometimes but it feels so good when someone catches a fish on a fly that I made.  Oh, and fly fishing is something I love to do but I am not exactly skilled at it.  One day I will take lessons and then I'll be a pro... hopefully.  The best place to go fly fishing when you don't know how to fly fish is in little lakes on top of the Rocky Mountains.  You can catch trout like crazy with no skill at all.  It's so fun but you have to hike there (which I enjoy,  husband... not so much) and you get to see the most amazing scenery!  Ok, enough on fishing for now.

Baking and Cake decorating:
My mom always made my brother and my birthday cakes growing up and I loved watching her decorate them.  I remember sitting across the kitchen counter from her and watching her pipe all the icing on the cake with the star tip and making a lump of shaped cake into something awesome.  In 2008 I started my own cake decorating business called Scratch Etcetera.  I make cakes for any occasion.  Stacked and carved, mostly with fondant and a lot of love.  It's my one hobby that I get paid for!  It's so sweet <-- bad pun

Well those are most important hobbies and interests that I can think of right now.  I'm impressed, for not knowing where to start, I've gotten quite a bit down...  So now blogging will be the next thing that I want to master.  I have never been much of a creative writer but I also thought I wasn't much of a public speaker but I did a cake presentation a few weeks ago at a women's event and it went really well!  Bear with me as I figure this blogging thing out...