Grandma’s Favourite Dishcloth

Grandma's Favourite Dishcloth

Everybody who makes dishcloths at some point or other will come across a pattern for Grandma’s Favourite Dishcloth.  These are so easy to make and the pattern can be quickly memorized.  At christmas my mom gave me balls of cotton as stocking stuffers…and i quickly knit up a pile of new dishcloths…some of which have already been working hard at the sink…others went to friends.  If you’re looking for something a bit more funky, I also made up a bunch of the Starfish Dishcloth found on the blog sew-funky.  The pattern is very easy!

Grandma’s Favourite

Cast on 4 stitches

Row 1:   Knit 4 stitches.
Row 2:  Knit 2 stitches, yarn over, knit to end.

Repeat row 2 until you have 52 stitches (or less if you’d prefer a smaller dishcloth)

Row 3:  Knit 1, Knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to end.

Repeat row 3 until only 4 stitches remain.  Bind off.

Harvest Season

It was such a perfect autumn weekend…even despite the on/off rain…the sky cleared up occasionally to reveal some beautiful sunshine. I hiked a few of the trails behind the cabin and took in all the new forest colours. This was also probably one of my last weekends here at the cabin. Although I don’t leave technically for another two or three weeks…I am away the rest of the weekends…and I just really felt like I needed to make the most out of being here. Saturday couldn’t have been more perfect, with lots of knitting and cooking. A big loaf of zucchini bread, fresh biscuits and a slow cooker full of chilli.

I combined two recipes and added a dash or two of my own imagination…and here is the yummy “Black Bean Chilli” slow cooker recipe that I came up with. I’m eating the leftovers right now and watching the sun make its last splash of the day onto the beach!

1 small onion, finely diced
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 medium zucchini, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups water
1 -14 oz can black beans, rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
4 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp hot pepper sauce or one diced jalapeno pepper

1 green pepper, diced
pepper to taste

Combine first 12 ingredients in 4 quart slow cooker. Cover. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours.

Add green pepper and cook on high for another 20 minutes. Add pepper to taste.
Serves 6.

Ebb Tide Dish Cloth

I have just finished a weekend of packing, moving, cleaning and winterizing the cabin.  On sunday I locked and closed the door…and Mr. Tig and I drove to our new place.  It was such a great summer…and so magical to witness the fall colours and the entire place slip into a new season.  The committee purchased a lovely skein of merino/bamboo named “Ebb Tide” for me…and I am currently dreaming up what project I will tackle with it that will provide me a little piece to carry my memories of Kushog Lake around with me.  In the meantime, I sat down last night (snuggled in for an old movie) and knit up a dish cloth (I am part of a dish cloth exchange where we send a dish cloth to a different person in the group every month).  I decided to pull out a hot blue ball of cotton and knit up this Ebb Tide Dish Cloth…working an incredible summer and new beginnings into it. 

Ebb Tide Dish Cloth

Cast on 31 sts.

Knit 3 rows in garter stitch. 
Continue in pattern as follows:

row 1:  k3, (k1,p4) across, k3
row 2 and 3:  k3, (k3,p2) across, k3
row 4: repeat row 1
row 5 and 6:  knit across

repeat rows 1-6 until desired length.  Finish by knitting 2 rows in garter stitch, casting off knitwise on last row.

Insert Sounds of Shock

it’s true. if you spend enough time knitting you will eventually become a somewhat dependable carpenter. Today I made a frame…and (insert sounds of shock here) it actually worked out to be a rectangle. a real proper rectangle.

i have also a new favourite website.  It’s called www.cookingbynumbers.com and its because of this website that I have now discovered that a can of tuna, an apple, cooking oil, spices, eggs, limp celery, onions and lentils are all extremely valuable ingredients with or without meal planning.

If I had an ice house…I’d fill it with wool!

 

 yeah…its true.  i’m a lazy blogger.   I’ve completed knitting a handbag that will be felted soon…haven’t touched either of the sweaters i’ve been working on all week, have been reading cheap mystery novels and writing absolutely nothing!    I also failed to resist the urge to purchase new wool the other day when I was in Huntsville dropping off a friend who came to visit.  I couldn’t help it.  I should have been buying supplies for making preserves and instead…wool.  i am now making another handbag to be felted out of the new wool…because I figure if I turn it into something new almost immediately I can be absolved of my guilt.

 but i have accomplished other socially wonderful things lately.  Steph came for a visit this weekend and it was filled with outdoor fun.  paddles, a view of the loons that don’t come down to this end of the lake as often as I’d like, a heron on the end of the dock lazily enjoying a sunny sunday, four straight days of sunshine (that’s a record for this summer), climbing the dorset fire tower (including a hike up the steep trail! phew) and a portion of the Circle of Five Viewpoints hike in Algonquin Highlands.  Oh and Steph showed me the quick rip method of turning material into strips for knitting…so i have pulled out the crochet hooks and i’m working on a recycled fabric basket.  We also enjoyed the Madison Violet concert that took place at the Dominion Hotel.  It was fabulous…and next time i’m in civilization I’m going to pick up a copy of their cd.

 today I was naughty and had a delicious strawberry cheese bear claw from the Halls Lake bakery…followed by ice cream for lunch and beer to celebrate the end of the work day.  its time to do groceries again…obviously.  and its also time to clean the kitchen and tidy up the mounds of craft supplies.

 but before i delve into house cleaning, organization and the cooking of a proper meal…i’m going to read another chapter of this ridiculous mystery novel…guess what?  there was a dead body found in the ice house…if I had an ice house…i’d fill it with wool! oh wait, no i wouldn’t, that would be terrible for the wool!

A Wind Powered Knitting Machine!

I was just talking today to someone about the theme of “Wind” for an upcoming Eco-Tourism newsletter.  Than I start my usual dorky habit of surfing the web for new craft sites and blogs, checking out ones I already have saved in my favs and reading up on new innovative ‘green’ things. Well…was I ever shocked to find a blog post about a Wind Powered Knitting Machine.  Is this possible?  Can I have one?  I’m like a kid…and this thing is like the new Cabbage Patch Kid or My Little Pony or Transformers…and its obvious when I was a kid based on my toy selections.   For the record…I still heart Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan.  I think wrestling is even more fake…but in that bad kind of fake…but the good kind it used to be in the 80′s.  what?  did this entry just turn into a rant about the World Wrestling Federation in the 80′s.  Seriously, I know nothing about wrestling.  I don’t know much about the 80′s either…because I was the youngest child and just copied everything my sister did…right down to excessive use of the crimper, really high bangs, arguing over a Debbie Gibson tape, suspenders and (another shocking truth) I still love leg warmers.

Ummm…back to this wind turbine that knits…I might not know a lot about a lot of things…but I do know a lot about knitting.  and other crafty things.  And I am very passionate about sustainable things…energy, travel…I’ve recently become super conscious of where the items I buy come from…this includes purchasing Canadian Wool, shopping for clothes primarily at second hand shops and eating (as much as possible) in season Ontario produced veggies.  I haven’t given up avocados, bananas or scrumptious melons yet.

If there is some way that I can use this crazy summer full of storms and giant winds…to knit..or have something knit for me.  Let me tell you..I’m going to be a little obsessed with this for a while.  http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/07/wind-powered_knitting_machine.html

More about the wind knitting factory:  http://platformtworca.wordpress.com/category/windmill-project/

the benefits of a tiny kitchen

There are many benefits to a tiny kitchen…

-no utensil is ever too far out of reach
-the small pantry shelf always look full and plenty of goodies
-the stove  and oven finally feel more involved with double duty as dish storage
-the oven door, when open, doubles as a serving tray
-i never have to complain about too much counter space and nothing to do with it.

I had a bad guest this past long weekend…which has led to me to want to conserve even more my precious time out at this cabin.  From this point on…if you don’t like the outdoors…please do not come visit!  Now that I got that off my chest…there were many enjoyable things about last weekend.  A visit to the Newfanglers 3rd annual art festival was fantastic…so much beautiful art…and I only wished I had a house to take some of it home too.  The musical performance I watched was creative and innovative and altogether refreshing!  I also got to finally visit the newly purchased home of my friend Terri.  This is

good…because I wanted to visit it while it is still labelled “newly purchased” and not show up five years from now with a potted plant and a card saying “congrats on your new home”.

And despite dealing with a bad guest and septic system problems…the weekend ended like all good long weekends should…with a cold beer by the lake!

It wouldn’t be a week in my life if there wasn’t knitting news to tell.  So i have almost finished the two front panels and back for the “slouch rib cardigan” i mentioned in a previous post.  I’m so excited about this one.  Its the brightest blue I have ever had the pleasure of knitting with…and will ensure that I am visible at all times while hiking this fall.

For the longest time I have collected images of crafts that I am interested in making.  They go into a folder on my computer and the folder gets fuller and fuller and

fuller.  It is like a visual to-do list.  I picked off that list this week and made a cute knit wristlet/cuff using some leftover mixed fibre purple wool I picked up while living in Gatineau.  Now I just need to find the right buttons.  I also knit up a quick travel tea bag holder for my purse…because leaving home without good tea should be a crime.  After finishing up two of the picture-list projects I jumped into the design of a new felted handbag.  It is more than half knit…and hopefully will go into the washing machine to be felted early next week!