Moving on!

My website has moved!

http://ohdessaknits.com/

B's Favorite Cookie Recipe

B and I have a favorite cookie recipe. We've tried others, but of all of the recipes I've found that involve adding candy bits, this one is the tastiest. We've made it with M&Ms, Reese's Pieces and those little chocolate candy bits, and it was all delicious. I always let B pick out what we are going to put in the cookies when he comes grocery shopping with me. (Except this last week, I went alone, and it was so peaceful!) This time, we had no M&Ms to put on top of the cookies to make them pretty because B decided to dump the whole (luckily small) bag in. He loves making cookies. Mostly sitting on the counter and testing the M&Ms to make sure they are still good. He also likes adding stuff to the mixer. He really likes mixers. I do too! I swear my baked goods are better since I got one for Christmas the year before last. I think its the extra air and stronger arm. 

The one thing about this recipe is that it has to be made as written. I've tried doing it with butter or margarine instead of shortening, as I don't typically have shortening on hand, but it just makes them too soft. Since they are pretty soft to begin with, it's not a good thing. Seriously, these taste like the sort of cookie you'd buy at a coffee house in the good way. Pro-cookies! And they taste terrific dipped in milk (or milky coffee!!)

New mittens in progress

I am half done a new pair of mittens. They are super warm and thick. I used Noro Kureyon in colour 253 for the main body. It's the most boring Kureyon there is, but I wanted someting more than just plain white. I used Ístex Létt-Lopi for the black, because as I've said it's a great solid colour complement for Kureyon. They are knit from the bottom up with a Latvian Braid on the cuff (what can I say, I am crazy for them right now) with 3 nautical stars up the front and classy striping on the palm. The thumb has a little buttonhole for easier texting. After knitting, I duplicate stitched some colour on the stars with some leftover Kureyon. I just need to finish the second one. I would have finished it this weekend, but I was knitting another secret project is crazy cute.

B and the Hot Wheels Color Shifters Tour

We took B to see the Hot Wheels Color Shifters tour the other day.  We drove down to Kildonan Place early in the morning. When we got there, there were tents and tables set up with playsets. Inside the tent was the main attraction, the color changing Mustang. B went crazy for it all, it was awesome. He is still talking about how it changed colors when he touched it. They gave him a little book with all of the current Hot Wheels in it, and he keeps going through it and showing me all the cars he has. He loves cars. He is getting to a point where he recognizes and differentiates between different brands and models well. 

Little O is doing great. He is starting to pick foods up and eat them. And he is hilarious. He has such a big personality for such a little guy. And he is always giggling. 

I have promised myself that if I get one project off the needles today I will dye some wool and roving to make some thrummed mittens. I hope it motivates me! I have a few things on the go, and I think there is one for sure I can get done.  I need more fingering weight yarn! Everything I have seems to be worsted. I keep drooling over yarn online. Make me stop!

New Etsy Shop!

Along with featuring my patterns on Ravelry, I've decided to set up an Etsy shop for my patterns!

There are only two patterns up right now, but expect more in the future! I've committed myself to a goal of at least one new pattern a month, and when they go live, I'll post here. Later on in the month, be on the look out for both a new pattern for sale on Ravelry and Etsy, and a new free pattern here in this blog! 

More mittens and yarn (and some exciting news)

I am working on some new mittens right now, a bulky worsted weight pair on size 6 needles. Thick and warm. I have all this Noro and Létt Lopi leftover from all sorts of things begging to be used up. I actually finished a mitten yesterday, but there were so many little things I wanted to change, I figured I would just start over. There are just so many mittens I want to make and not enough time. Expect some awesome mittens in the future. My favorite part of making mittens is coming up with a good repeating pattern for the palm. This one is more of a simple pin-stripey one. I bet there is some sort of bug related Norwegian name for it. Would they be considered ants? Or lice? Or something else altogether perhaps.

On our weekend day trip I managed to finish the lace edging on the shawl I am working on. It's my first lace (and shawl) attempt. All that YOs and YO a million times knit-twenty-stitches-together-at-once stuff makes me nervous. Mostly all the loose yarn. I do love projects where there are complicated repeats over many rows. It's like a challenge to remember all those rows.

I also picked up some new yarn. I got some Kroy Socks for some gloves I am going to make. This photo does not quite capture the colour (flax) as they come off a bit cool here, but it is the perfect worn grey colour with a bit of a yellow-y tinge. The grey I'd imagine fisherman's mittens to be (as I live on the prairies far away from fishermen) Perfect for some men's gloves. I also finally bought some roving so I can make thrummed mittens. I am going to dye it some fun colours before I start.

The most exciting news is that I am going to have a pattern in the Deep Fall issue of Knitty! It comes out in October, so you will have to wait until then to see it.

Road Trip: Kenora

It being the August Long Weekend, we decided to spend our Saturday in Kenora (or Nora as B calls it). If we drive a couple of hours north, east, or south of here it's all blah and fields (and Target if you go south). I can only tolerate so many fields of corn and canola. But if we drive east just a bit, you hit the Canadian Shield where the road winds through blasted rocks and we wonder if our tiny car can actually go up hills (it can).

We set out early (but later than we had meant because we slept though the alarm). The boys took it easy the whole way there, B in the back watching Cars and O sleeping while I worked on a shawl project I just started. B got really excited when we started seeing all the rocks and water and stuff. And the flipped over car on the highway. Eeek.

We got there before noon and had a picnic lunch in the park by the lake (of the woods?) B thought that the boats were cars on the water and asked how we would get there. That is what happens when you live in the middle of a continent in a city with gross rivers. He was really amused by he boats and the tiny water airplanes. O was really amused grabbing grass. Oh how simple it is to be a little baby. We walked around a bit, as it was Harbourfest, We took B to the kids area that was set up. He was so excited to go on the bouncy houses, but changed his mind when we got closer. They had horses though, and B went on his first horse ride (just like Woody from Toy Story as he put it)  and fed a baby cow (it was really a black and white sheep) some hay. They also had lots of little games set up and B loved winning prizes and having an excuse to throw things. We walked around a bit, and ultimately decided to head back a bit earlier because the boys were cranky and needed a nap. Hottest ride home ever. Eesh. We seem to have great luck picking the hottest days to day trip. And of course, I have a sunburn now. Pout.

And this might be one of the strangest things I have ever seen. It had a rapper costume and a suit too.