"Super" Shoes

When my husband went to Fan Expo in Toronto this year, he bought the coolest shoes for me.  The company is called Sexy Strut and can found here http://www.sexystrut.com/15/.  It was a custom order because they didn't have my size in flats at the show.  It took a while to get them because they had to go through a "rubberization" process to waterproof them.  They are absolutely gorgeous!

    

  

  

Warm Glow in Cold Weather

Despite the side effects from Hurricane Patricia we've been experiencing (cold temperatures, strong winds, heavy rain), there is still one rose left on my rose bush going strong.  Nature is amazing.

I now have a miniature garden inside, too, which I purchased from a friend at the dojo.  I adore succulent plants!  She did such an amazing job with this.

To further sustain me in these weather conditions, there is of course my knitting.  My physiotherapist recently commissioned a pair of socks from me.  I used a beautiful ombré yarn for it - Lion Brand Landscapes in colour Tropical.

Pumpkin Time Again

About a month ago, my son stated he wanted to make crochet pumpkins as Halloween decorations.  I found a pattern that used cluster stitches.  He could do it but found it very difficult to manage.  I found it difficult as well.

So I did some more searching and came up with a couple of other patterns.  And here they are in all their glory; some with eyes, and some without.  Note the long tendrils on the tiny ones so they can be hung. Change the colour and they become Christmas ornaments.  I love multifunction patterns.

 

The mini pumpkins can be found here:  http://www.allfreecrochet.com/Halloween-Crochet/Mini-Pumpkins

The medium sized pumpkins can be found here:  http://www.petalstopicots.com/2012/10/little-pumpkin-crochet-pattern/

The large cluster pumpkin can be found here:  http://www.yarnspirations.com/pumpkins.html

Waterton Lakes National Park

It was our first visit to Waterton Lakes National Park. This tiny town exists on the park grounds and operates for about 4 months of the year. We took a ferry across one of the lakes to Montana. A lot of people do this type of excursion and spend a day or more hiking. When we returned from our short boat trip, we visited the Prince of Wales hotel, also on the park grounds. It definitely abounds with old-world charm.

 

 
 

Saskatoon Farm

This was our first time visiting Saskatoon Farm. We picked Saskatoon berries and sour cherries - yummy! The scenery was breath-taking.

Drumheller Revisited

It’s been 7 years since we first went to the Royal Tyrrell Museum with the kids. It was great to be back! It’s still my favourite museum. After our museum visit, we took one of the walking trails through the Bad Lands.

Now they rule the Badlands

Slipper Repair

We bought a fairly expensive pair of moccasins for my son from L.L. Bean. The moment he put them on his feet, one foot burst open. I returned it immediately claiming it was defective.  They were very good about it and exchanged it without hassle. The next pair arrived and didn’t burst immediately; however, a couple of weeks later, they burst, too. I was really disappointed.  We never had issues with the quality of their products before. Even though shipping was free, after paying duty, taxes, and with the exchange rate, what began as a fairly expensive pair of moccasins became a very expensive pair of moccasins. I was therefore very determined to get my money’s worth out of them and repair them myself.

Never underestimate the power of crochet.  With one 4mm hook and a bit of yarn (and needle and thread), the moccasins have been saved.

I began by doing an initial row of single crochet in the existing lacing.  I worked back and forth for a few rows.  I did fewer rows in the toe area for shaping purposes.  Then, I crocheted a few rows along the side of the work to extend the length that meet the leather thong that tied up the top of the moccasin.

 

When I got to the thong, I incorporated it into a row of single crochet. Therefore, the thong could still be adjusted while my crochet work had an anchor. Finally, I sewed my crochet work to the top of the moccasin. Success!

So Much Yarn, So Little Time

I know, I have a closet full of yarn.  I don't need any more - really I don't.  I need more yarn like I need another hole in the head; and then Michaels has these clearance sales on all things sparkly and shiny and I have a breakdown.  So sparkly.  So shiny.  Must have.  What's a poor girl to do.

Trying to figure out patterns for it now; working test swatches.  The yarns featured are Isaac Mizrahi West Village and Bernat Knit or Knot.  Knit or Knot is tricky.  It comes packaged in what looks like a skein, but when you open it, you discover it comes in 2.5 yard lengths of novelty yarns that have to be pulled out separately, then knotted together to create two equal sized balls that can then be knitted together ( I have not looked at the knotting instructions - sorry).

I think there is something different going on between Canada and the U.S.A.  In Canada, all I have is Bernat Knit or Knot.  In the U.S.A., they seem to have different ladies names of Bernat Knit or Knot and "Jessie" seems to come closest to what I bought in Canada.  Bernat provides plenty of instructional YouTube videos for your edification.  Here's a link to get you started.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9xPxUtUx88

I imagine you could crochet them into a scarf as well; I'm toying with that also.

Enjoying the Fruits of our Labour

Something we haven't done in at least 2 years is make lavender lemonade and lavender ice cream.  The past couple of years have been really wacky with jobs and we really haven't had much of a "life".  This year, with my husband's job change, we have been able to get back to a more sane lifestyle and made lavender lemonade and lavender ice cream.  I don't really have good pics of the lemonade making, but I do have some for the ice cream making.  Essentially, you want to boil and capture the essence of the lavender leaves (I took the residual flowers and put them in a vase which added a lovely aroma to the dining room table) and then add it to a cream mixture in the case of ice cream or a lemon juice mixture in the case of lemonade; you filter the leaves out of course.  There are so many more recipes on the internet than just a couple of years ago; I encourage you to Google them to find what you like.

Garden Thief

So if this cutie is eating only my weeds, who's eating my eggplants and beets?