This Week in my Kitchen :: Blog Hop

"Each day I find myself snapping a picture or two in the kitchen - a pile of ingredients, a table waiting for us to gather around, a sink full of soapy dishes, a cup of tea, dinner as it comes out of the oven - simple, everyday moments in the kitchen. These photos serve as a reminder of days gone by and as encouragement to carry on in this busy kitchen of ours when inspiration is lacking."              

- Heather from beauty that moves

see more 'in my kitchen' inspiration at Beauty the Moves

-using up whey an yogurt in a rhubarb cake

-most days my lunch is salad

-watermelon 'slushies' for the freezer

-pancakes and  ice cream sandwiches (not in the same day though)

This Week in my Kitchen :: Blog Hop

There hasn't been much time in the kitchen this week, thankfully I had some meals to pull from the freezer and some chick peas for lunch time hummus.  I managed to sew a new apron after I think one blew off the line and across a field (or two?).

Newness

It feels unusual to post about anything new about the shop.  It hasn't been getting much attention for new stockings but all other areas of life have been really (really) busy.  I do have some new prints to stock and also a new absorbency.  I've decided to add an option for ultra-absorbent cores.  This core option is made using 2 layers of bamboo fleece and 2 layers of flannel.  This will be ideal for very heavy flow and also postpartum.  I'll be adding a couple of these ultra core pads to the shop tomorrow.  I'll also add this option for made to order merino wool backed pads.

In my Kitchen :: Blog Hop

"Each day I find myself snapping a picture or two in the kitchen - a pile of ingredients, a table waiting for us to gather around, a sink full of soapy dishes, a cup of tea, dinner as it comes out of the oven - simple, everyday moments in the kitchen. These photos serve as a reminder of days gone by and as encouragement to carry on in this busy kitchen of ours when inspiration is lacking."              - Heather from beauty that moves

see more 'in my kitchen' inspiration at Beauty the Moves

                                

              

            

morning cup, kimchi for one, daily school lunch dilemmas (any ideas?) spring fiddleheads (lots, I need to look into preserving these, cleaning them was half the battle)

A Cotton Yarn Along

knitting:

a nice little free pattern, I'm modifying it to have sleeves so I can use up more of this recycled cotton blend yarn, I think it was from Sidar?


reading:
a yard sale find 'Travels with Charley' by John Steinbeck

               Joining Ginny for a Yarn Along

this week in my kitchen :: lunch edition

 

 

 
"Each day I find myself snapping a picture or two in the kitchen - a pile of ingredients, a table waiting for us to gather around, a sink full of soapy dishes, a cup of tea, dinner as it comes out of the oven - simple, everyday moments in the kitchen. These photos serve as a reminder of days gone by and as encouragement to carry on in this busy kitchen of ours when inspiration is lacking."              -by Heather at beauty that moves

see more 'in my kitchen' inspiration at Beauty the Moves

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merino Wool Interlock Backing

I've decided to bring some wool backing into the shop again.  I used to offer wool backed pads but the fabric climbed to such a high cost I stopped offering it.  The wool I was buying years ago was thick and best suited to serged pads.  This new wool is beautiful, it's 97% merino wool and 3% spandex and has been milled in the USA.  It  makes a nice trim pad and it is so soft and has some stretch too.  Wool is a natural breathable fibre that offers natural moisture protection.

To prep this fabric I've washed and dried it on hot three times, this allows you to machine wash your pads on cool.  After a cool water wash you can put your wool backed pads in to the dryer on a low temperature or hang them to dry.

To test out interest I'll be offering some mad-to-order pads in the shop, hopefully I'll be able to continue to offer wool as yet another option for you!

Drafting (Again)

I've been working on the 11 inch size again.  Selfishly, I wanted this size to be more like my own favourite 12 inch style...a bit curvier and a bit more flared.   I need to re-design the shape of the core to match those flares, and it needs to be a tiny bit narrower, then it will be ready for 

testers and feedback.

Yarn Along ~ A Turmeric Heathered

knitting:

I'm well past the sleeve division on my Heathered cardigan.  I've had it on my mind for a long time and was adamant that it be a sweater that will get lots of use so I wanted the fit to be just right.  I got my gauge on US 6, but then I started knitting and doubting myself....thinking I'm much bigger than I actually am.  I should have continued to knit it on the 6's, instead I jumped to my US 7's.  I just hope it doesn't block to be much too big.  The pattern is very well written and I've been reading a KAL I found for this pattern and it's been tremendously helpful.

Also, I think I'll be casting on one or two pilot hats for a customer.  Both projects will allow for some easy knitting over the upcoming March break.


reading:

I started The Pilot's Wife this week, it's a much easier read than my last novel.

Joining Ginny for a Yarn Along

birthday baking

 A double batch of Applesauce cake (because it used up the whey and homemade applesauce I had in the fridge).   Plus peanut butter cookies, since the oven was on already.

Yarn Along :: Organization

::knitting::  

I've been feeling dissatisfied with my latest knitting projects.  I took a break and organized my most often used knitting notions (looking at my picture I see that project bags would also make my knitting basket tidier).  I decided to re-visit a simple pattern I knit for my daughters third birthday.  I wrongly blamed the pattern and have realized it was the yarn that made for the poor fit of my first In Threes sweater.   I'm moving along well on this version, I'm going to add sleeves to extend the project.  There's also a swatch for a Heathered Cardigan and I'm really (really) excited to start it.

::reading::

I'm half way through The God of Small Things.  After a library book sale and a visit to my sisters I have a nice big stack of novels to choose my next read from. 

Joining Ginny for a Yarn Along

gifting

 a shiny ribbon dress and crown for a niece who just turned four

 a retro inspired turtle print baby blanket and burp cloth

recycled sweater mitts & strawberry jam for a wonderful teacher

Valentines Day gifts for the kids (extra bonus: when the boys outgrow those slippers, they'll be mine!)

Tuesday

~fresh yogurt waiting to be strained and put away, this batch gave me a lot of whey

~dinner is in the crock pot and dinner for tomorrow night is prepped

~waiting for my son to return from Cuba this evening

~hoping my littlest is ok at school today

~today, I got to see the excitement of a kindergarden class that discovered their first quail eggs

~looking forward to visits and celebrations this week 

Yarn Along :: knitting & frogging

knitting:

I'm focusing on one project for now, a mama vertebrae for myself.  I was very careful figuring out my yardage but I'm still worrying about having enough yarn!    I've also been frogging the rainbow sweater from last year.  It just turned out too boxy (my fault, not the pattern) so I'm going to make the yarn into something new.  As my youngest enters a new size range, (out of the toddler sizes and into girls) I feel almost justified to buy a new pattern.  First though I need to organize my knitting basket knitting tools.


reading:

I found a copy of The God of Small Things at a thrift store.  I'm very early into it so there's not much to say yet....I'm sure it will be better than my last read!

A Yarn Along with Small Things

All Bagged Up

I suppose it's a stay-at-home mom phenominon but I do love Mondays, my afternoon school volunteer stint keeps me near home and focused on a busy morning and a good start to the week.  

This morning after snowshoeing and starting some rice pudding I finished up some wet bags I had started over the weekend.  There's new pad wrappers too, in black and white chevron.   Some of these prints I haven't used for wet bags yet,  I'm excited to see what you think!   

There's a big (really big) stack of pads to sew over the next week or so too.  For now though, there will be new wet bags and wrappers going into the shop.

County Cloth Creations Etsy Shop

A Rowhouse Hat

::Knitting::

A Rowhouse Hat, it's my first stranded project and I love it.  I deviated from the pattern a bit so that I could use the yarn I had available.  A great knit and I'll be making many for gifts.

I've since cast on a Mama Vertebrae for myself, and even though I really need to spend time on mending and sewing things for my family.


::Reading::

I'm not reading anything wonderful at the moment, I'm finishing up a book that's just ok.  It's good for  now, since this book isn't interesting enough to keep me up late reading!

Last night I read over the new (free!) sewing pattern by Deer & Doe for the Plantain T-Shirt.  I'm pretty excited about this one, it looks like a pattern I can manage it and it's just the kind of shirt I would go for in a store.  And look you can even make it into a dress!

Joining Ginny for a Yarn Along

New Things

Here's a quick little custom order from this week, it was nice to work with all these bright fabrics.

After getting through a lot of my fabric stash it was nice to add a few new fabrics to the selection, (without feeling guilty about it!) I would like to add a few more,  but at the same time it's easier to manage a smaller selection of fabrics in my little sewing space.

You can see  more fabrics by looking at my Facebook page

As I write this I'm also loading some new listings to the shop