I’m Not A Deer Hat & Scarf

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Deborah

I thought I made a post last Fall about the hat that I knit for deer hunting season….but upon close inspection of past articles, nope, found nothing.

To back track a wee smidgeon, last Fall I went for a walk, around the first week of November, or whenever deer hunting season (with guns) starts in Ontario. As I am walking down the road (my daily ritual), hunters in full gear on ATV’s whizzed by me with their guns strapped to the backracks.

Hmmm I thought, not a good place to be out walking with all these hunters around with nothing … Read more...

Atomic Sunrise & Goosebumps

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Deborah

I tried something new on the weekend and ended up with an Atomic Sunrise and Goosebumps. No, those are not new cocktail ideas…although they could be, I will have to think on those a spell.

Anyway, back to my new adventures. I have oodles of Wilton’s Food colouring gels in the kitchen not being used up since I don’t bake as much as I used to (lots of reasons, and hubby being one of them). With closing the Northern Homestead for the winter, all my natural dye supplies are up there waiting for Spring to arrive and me with it. … Read more...

The Great Avocado Dye Experiment!

Posted on January 15, 2016 by Deborah

Yesterday I posted a recipe using avocados, and in that recipe I said to save the pits and skins for later use. I guess I *should* have been more specific, but I thought it would be interesting to see how many people would be wracking their brains wondering what the heck would you use them for. I mean, they are inedible after all, and unless you are wanting to grow an avocado tree, why save the pit?

So here is what I do with them….

To one 500ml canning jar, I added 3 oz of chopped avocado pits. Combined 3/4 … Read more...

2016 ~ The Year of the Wheel!

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Deborah

Happy New Year to everyone! Yes, it has been awhile, but how many of you had the time to try and keep up a blog AND do all things Christmas-y? Baking, cooking, shopping, wrapping, visiting, etc?

That is my defence and I am sticking to it.

I can also add spinning, knitting and weaving into the above as many of you who follow me on Facebook can attest to as I regularly post pics of FO’s or WIP’s (Finished Objects or Work in Progress) to brighten the days of those cruising on FB.

Now that the holidays are fading in … Read more...

2015 Summer Vacation

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Deborah

*Hello*!

Can you see me waving?

No, not the loon (who seems to be waving) but me! 😉

Long time, no chat everyone! Totally my fault though as the past year has been nothing short of controlled chaos (and I use that term loosely). Last summer hubby and I started getting our house ready for sale, meaning de-cluttering, purging, building a new bathroom, gutting and renovating the original bathroom and sprucing up the property. All that effort eventually paid off, even if it tried our patience (and bank account) as we sold promptly this past March in 3 days.

After … Read more...

Flip Flop Beach Bag

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Deborah

In my *real world* job, I help clients find their next new home and/or help them sell their existing home. The entire time I am dealing with people, I am carefully watching for indications of favourite colours, trends, interests, tastes and anything else I can pick up from them (unknowingly of course). I then utilize this information to come up with a tailored and personalized closing gift.

Like this Beach Bag.

Which is for Deb (same name, cool eh?), who LOVES flip flops. She has the largest collection of actual flip flops I have ever seen in one household, along … Read more...

Dyeing With Marigold Flowers

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Deborah

This year I had an abundance…..no…an over-abundance of Marigold flowers around the Homestead. They not only provide cheerful, sunny, colour to my garden landscape, but they are also perfect companion plants in vegetable gardens as their somewhat obnoxious smell wards off harmful insects, as well as luring the pollinators towards my veggie plants.

So what to do with this overabundance of flower heads? Well, you can’t eat them, but you can use them to dye yarn with. Which makes sense since I have been spinning up a passel of yarn in the latest hobby craze to enter my life.

Dyeing … Read more...

From Sweaters To Soups To Spinning

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Deborah

It’s hard to believe how fast *summer* flew by. By summer, I mean that bright yellow thing in the sky that was supposed to give us heat for oh…say about 3 months or so?

Not this year. We had snippets of heat, but certainly not what we are used to. Rainy too. Good thing I have a home-made recipe for killing moss, because I need to use it on my hair to get rid of what’s now surely growing up on my head.

With Fall snapping at my heels, it is almost time to pull out the soup pot. First … Read more...

How Come There Isn’t Enough?

Posted on August 26, 2014 by Deborah

I need more time. 24 hours in a day isn’t enough….

24 hours in one day
– 8 hours for sleeping
– 1 hour for eating
– 8 hours for working
– 3 hours for “domestic chores”
– 1 hour for errands/etc.
= 3 hours a day for knitting/fiber related hobbies….

Seriously

How am I supposed to get these projects done?

This is what I have on the go at the moment (not counting the project that is currently on Bob the loom, whom is missing from this photo…sorry Bob). I have a sweater just started (the lovely gold/brown yarn), … Read more...

Summer Bounty & Fiber Thrills

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Deborah

Me: Let’s see…what was my password to log into WordPress?

WordPress: Username ______________ Password ______________

First Try: Type type type type….Nope, that isn’t it, let’s try another one.

Second Attempt: Type type type type…..
Crap, this is what I get for leaving it so long between posts.

Third Attempt: Type type type type….. Yay! I’m in!

As for my audience here….have you missed me? I sure have missed y’all (typed with a southern accent, make sure you read it in one). It has been an insanely busy Spring that launched headlong into Summer. So busy that I haven’t had time … Read more...