secret project revealed!

I did it!!  I finished my first big knitting project! After making my first mini blanket I decided I was going to make a bigger blanket.  It's not huge or anything but I am very proud of it :)

I didn't have a pattern to follow, but I knew what I wanted the blanket to say. I looked at a few patterns online but didn't find anything I liked very much. Once I gave up on trying to find a pattern I tried to download a program that would allow me to make my own.  It was quite the process, but I am so glad I stuck with it and figured out how to do it!  I used a program called KnitBird.  The free trial only lets you keep the program open for half an hour before it closes and you can't save it BUT if you make your pattern quickly and take screenshots you can put them into a word file and print it out that way!

This project was a huge learning experience for me and it was definitely frustrating at times, but overall it was so fantastic!  I am a firm believer that the energy you feel when you're knitting gets transferred into the project you're making.  Because of this I only try to knit when I am in a happy or relaxed mood so that all of my positivity gets to be shared with the recipient of the final product!

I'm incredibly busy with school right now so please excuse my absence but I will do my best to share whatever it is I'm working on whenever I have the time.

week 5: string art

This is something I'd wanted to do for awhile, but I'd just never made the time to do it.  Yesterday I decided I'd go to the beach, find a perfect piece of wood and get busy.  Once I picked the word I printed it out, taped it down and used it as my stencil.  Then I stuck in all the nails and started wrapping.  It didn't take long, and I can't wait to put it in my room at school!

Reading break is going by way too quickly!  I can't believe how fast time goes when you're really having a good time!  I've slept over at my friend's house every night except one since I've been home and we've spent most of our days together too!  All the fun times have meant that school work has been put on the back burner, but tomorrow that will change..  I'll be hittin' the books hard.

Hope everyone's week has been going well!  I have a few post ideas so I'll be seeing you again real soon :)

week 3 & 4: orders

I'm a bunch of days late with this post because I've been a very busy bee!  Last week I had a midterm - well a couple of midterms really, but that's a story for another day - and I also wanted to get a couple of toque orders finished.  The one on the left was for a family friend's daughter as a birthday gift and the one on the right is going to one of my dad's best friends.

The weather here has been incredibly cold the past few days so it feels good knowing that I've tried to help keep people warm and cozy.

I'm on reading break for the week and so far it's been fairly busy.  The past few days have been spent mostly with friends and it's been great having time to just relax and hang out without school work being the primary focus.

I hope that wherever you are, you are warm and happy and healthy!

week 2: secret project

This is a post in my weekly series of "Create" posts that will be things I have made by hand or am in the process of making. Enjoy!

I have been working on this project for about three weeks.  It's just over half way done and I CANT WAIT for it to fully done.  Both so I can share it and just stare at it and admire it!  This project has taught me so many things so far and I'm quite proud of myself.  I've ripped it out twice and started from scratch and, as frustrating as that was, I'm glad I did!  I can't wait to show you when it's all done!!!

week 1: homemade granola

This is the first post in my weekly series of "Create", posts that will be things I have made by hand or am in the process of making. Enjoy!

Last night I made granola.  My mom made some delicious granola over the Christmas break and I just ran out so I decided to make some more!  It was super easy and fun to pick what I was going to put in it.

Recipe:

3 cups of oats

3 tbsp of brown sugar

1 tsp of cinnamon

¼ cup of oil

⅓ cup of honey

1 tsp of vanilla

handfuls of nuts and dried fruit

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Combine the remaining ingredients [with the exception of the nuts and fruit] in a measuring cup.

Pour the liquid mixture over the dry ingredients and combine until the oat mixture is completely covered (might be helpful to use your hands)

Spread out over a cookie sheet with sides and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes (until the oats are a golden brown)

Mix the granola, try to flip it over so it bakes evenly and let it continue to bake for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Let granola cool on the pan, mixing occasionally.

Pour granola into a mixing bowl and add the nuts and dried fruit.

Store in airtight containers and enjoy for days and days to come!

a year of creation

Hello there!

I have recently come up with a “new years resolution” for the blog.  Each week I will share something that I have created.  It can either be a work in progress or something recently completed. It will range from a meal to a knitted or crocheted thing to a picture I drew.  It’s going to be slightly random but I think it will be a fun way to document a year of little projects.  I am aware that I'm a few weeks behind so instead of 52 projects there will only be 50 official ones...  but technically I made donuts and a coffee cozee so really I'm right on schedule! 

I hope that the weekend treated you well and gave you an opportunity to take some time to relax, create things and connect with the people you love!