Playing with Photoshop, food and yarn

My kids know way more about playing in Photoshop than I. I wanted to add a couple of handwritten lines to my vest photo using a tablet and pen, and I didn't have a clue how to go about it. The resulting photo should be credited to them!

The circled area #1 is the spot where I originally was dissatisfied with the stitch-picking-up so I ripped back a few rows and redid it, adding an extra stitch in the cast-on row. Much better now.

The edge #2 is the cast-on for the front armhole, which I'm afraid to say I also had to do twice. The first time, I knitted on 45 stitches but found them way too loose, so again had to go back and re-do it. I am not 100% happy with the edge and may end up crocheting around all the edges when the knitting is done to make it look neater.

While Ninja Boy and Lego Nut were enjoying their art class this afternoon, Tai Chi Man and I went to buy our health foods for the week then wandered around Chapters. I found this book --->
which seems like an excellent one to have at home. It has many of the poses that I have been doing already (using library books) plus lots of other information. For the price of a couple of classes, I can use this at home and not worry about having to return it to the library!





Tonight, I made some mincemeat. Yule is not Yule without mincemeat. Mince pies were always traditional at Christmas when I was growing up, but many commercial brands have suet in them. I have a fat-free recipe in my handy kitchen file that I use every year....here it is for your enjoyment.


Mincemeat (vegan and fat-free)

3 cups dried currants
1.5 cups golden raisins
1.5 cups raisins
.75 cup candied peel
1 pound apples, peeled and finely chopped
2.5 cups sugar
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
zest and juice of 2 lemons
.75 cup brandy or fruit juice

(Notes: I don't use the candied peel as I can't find any that is additive-free. I just leave it out. I reduced the sugar to 2 cups when I made it today. Only use the zest of lemons that are organic and unwaxed. I use apple or grape juice, not brandy.)

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, cover and leave overnight. Put into sterilised jars and leave in the refrigerator for 4 - 6 weeks. (This recipe will fill four 500ml/2 cup jars.)

If Women Ruled the World

I'm very aware that I haven't blogged since Monday. However there is a good reason for that. My blog is my homepage - every time I have clicked into Firefox in the last few days, there's been that great photo of Hugh looking out at me and I haven't had the heart to replace him!

However I suppose I can't leave him there forever, so here's an update.

I'm in the middle of reading a book called If Women Ruled the World: How to Create the World We Want to Live In. This is a collection of essays by women from many different backgrounds. I'm really enjoying it. In fact, I'm enjoying it so much that I'd love it if each of my female blogging readers would write a post entitled If Women Ruled the World and give their version of how they see things being different. It would be great if each person who takes up this challenge could challenge their own readers to do the same. So if you're reading this, please think about writing a post and telling others about it. Pass it on!

************

Off topic, my oldest son has a new name - instead of Computer Geek, to which he objected in the comments the other day, he is now to be known as MacAddict. That's Mac as in Apple Macintosh computers. We've always been a Mac family but when MacAddict wanted his own computer last year he ended up building a desktop PC. He did an awesome job. This was followed up by the acquisition of a laptop PC - he just HAD to have one for our holiday in the spring, and a PC was cheaper. However I have lost count of the number of complaints I have heard from him about PCs, Windows, Microsoft et al over the last few months. I have learned many new computer terms from him, one of them being "the blue screen of death" (which is what you get when your PC crashes - which it has done, many times).

Now he has spent the last dime that he had left on the planet (and a few of ours) to get a refurbished Macbook Pro. A laptop with a 15 inch screen and lots of capacity. He's loving it! He may have had plenty of "learning experiences" with the PCs, but he also had a lot of stress. Having been over to the Dark Side, he has now seen the light and fully appreciates the beauty, functionality and user-friendliness of a Mac.

Oh yes, and he also bought an iPod Touch. This makes, let's see, the third iPod so far. The other two were only Nanos though!

A New Earth

I have just finished reading this book. Eckhart Tolle's latest publication, A New Earth. He is well-known for his previous book, The Power of Now.

This is a thought-provoking book. He talks about the power of the ego and how it is responsible for the suffering we see in the world today. The trouble with being so caught up in the ego is that we forget that the life we live on the earth is only half of who we are. We are so taken up with Form and Doing that we forget about Spirit and Being.

Think of the things that make us miserable - comparing what we have to what others have, complaining when things don't go just right, having to be right all the time (and making others wrong), creating drama where there could be peace, needing to feel superior to others. All Ego.

He helps you to see what your ego is doing, and when you can see that, when you can see even a little tiny part of what he's talking about, you can start to become more aware, and even laugh at yourself when you catch yourself stuck in your ego again.

This moment is really all there is. So many of us are stuck in the past, rehashing situations (oh boy, I was doing that again last night instead of just relaxing into sleep!) and getting all stressed about it. Or living in the future, saying that we'll be happy "when...". So much of our life is passing us by as our heads are stuck in the "past" or the "future" instead of enjoying the present moment.

My impression is that we should be more child-like. A child observes with wonder but doesn't judge. A toddler points with a fat little finger at a dog, just looking and absorbing the image. A child plays with a toy, not worrying about something that happened yesterday or what will happen in five minutes time. So much of MY time is spent telling my kids to pick up after themselves, or brush their teeth, or whatever, that I sometimes forget to just spend time being around them without nagging at them - this is not conducive to a peaceful atmosphere or open communication.

Tolle says we need to find our inner space. Just watching our breath can help us do that. Noticing the gaps between the breaths. Stopping our "monkey mind" from running away with thoughts all the time.

And finally his three "modalities" for living a purposeful life - acceptance, enjoyment and enthusiasm. Think of something you'd rather not do. Maybe washing the dinner dishes. Maybe enjoying the job is a stretch, but if you can do it with acceptance then it will be more pleasant than banging and stomping about the kitchen, muttering to yourself about the unhelpfulness of your family and how you're taken for granted, etc etc! Without at least one of these modalities, you are creating suffering. Stuck in a traffic jam? Yes, I could enjoy that - if the traffic was stopped, I could pick up the knitting that I always have with me and knit a bit, and the waiting would immediately be enjoyable. Better than sitting there fuming with anger and worrying about how I'll be late for something.

I recommend this book.

Awesome socks, books and music!

Aaah, the excitement of finishing a sock. The toe is the best part - you know you're almost there, the rounds get shorter and shorter, and before you know it the sock is on your foot. Of course, there is still another one to knit :o)


There seem to be elections everywhere this week, so I thought I'd add a couple of my own votes to some great music and books. The above book, The Fall, has my vote for Book of the Week. The sub-title is "The evidence for a Golden Age, 6000 years of insanity, and the dawning of a new era."

This is a well-researched book that explains the type of culture that existed in "pre-civilisation" times (matriarchal, peaceful, artistic, close to nature) and then goes on to show how things changed (patriarchal, warlike, material). I haven't read much of it yet but the summary on the back promises to suggest action we can take to return our society to a state of harmony.

The sub-title should, I think, be "It doesn't have to be like this"! It is very apparent from my reading with the children (Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer) that the last 6000 years have been a period of one war after another, male domination and oppression of women, children and nature, constant fighting for power, land, wealth. All in all, a miserable state of affairs, but one which I hope we can change by not accepting that it is normal or natural for human beings to live like this. Why can't we return to a time of peace, co-operation, equality? I can always hope.


My exercise this week has been on my rebounder (mini-trampoline) and following the yoga poses in this book. Some of them I can do and others are more challenging, but I enjoy trying. I especially love the Salute to the Sun (video from YouTube below)...

You can do this one any time, anywhere, and I usually do a few in a row, as I find I get more flexible with each one. It really makes the energy zing!

While I was on the rebounder, I was listening to my current favourite music - Afro Celt Sound System. This stuff is effing brilliant - a fusion of African drumming and Celtic fiddling, great vocals, a beat to make you want to get up and dance. I borrowed all three CDs that I could find at the library and I wish I had more.

I just found a video of one of my favourite tracks - it's called Release and features Sinead O'Connor's voice.

Well, a long post, but lots of food for thought. Enjoy the music!

Birthday book

My friend gave me a gift certificate for one of our local yarn stores. I went in there yesterday (with two boys, who very patiently waited while I had a look around).

I had considered buying an i-cord maker - you know, one of those little gadgets where you set it up, crank the handle and yards of knitted cord shoot out of the bottom. Unfortunately they had sold out.

I took a look through the books and decided on this one. I have borrowed it from my local library a couple of times and I use the sock pattern in it almost every time I make socks. I decided this would make a good purchase, one I can keep referring to over and over, that will never be out of date or out of fashion.

I still have almost $4 in credit left to spend...that will have to wait for another day.

Knitting books from the library

I have three library books this week which will interest the knitters among you. The first is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Things I Learned from Knitting...whether I wanted to or not.

This is quite a small book (perfect perhaps for tucking inside your knitting bag or giving as a gift). It is written in the Yarn Harlot's usual entertaining style. She takes many popular quotes and expands on them from her knitter's point of view. This is a quick read and I'm glad I waited to get it via the library rather than buy it myself.


For the outdoors types, there's this book - How to Knit in the Woods: 20 Projects for the Great Outdoors by Shannon Okey. The book includes tips for how to choose yarn and projects for travelling and how to pack. The patterns are grouped according to type, and include a hoodie, blankets, socks, marshmallow stick holders, a washcloth and hanging towel. I don't plan to make anything from the book, but I can see many knitters enjoying making these projects. Great colour photos.


The Knitting Patterns for Dummies book by Kristi Porter is written in the usual "for Dummies" style. It's black and white except for a colour photo section in the centre. The patterns are very comprehensively explained. The assumption is that you already know the basics of knitting - casting on, binding off, knit, purl, etc (though there is a skills appendix at the end). There are chapters on stitch patterns, colour, patterns using rectangles, triangles, circles. As a fairly experienced knitter, most of the patterns in the book would be simple for me, but I do want to make the top-down ribbed cardigan, if only I can find just the right yarn that'll knit up at 4 stitches to the inch. There are also scarves, potholders, tops, hats, jackets, shawls, bags, baby things, men's sweaters...a good range for any knitter.

Reading...

I finished reading Farewell, My Subaru, that I talked about last week. It was a quick read, an amusing book about the author's initial challenges getting into a greener way of living in New Mexico. There is also a website, though I haven't visited it - farewellmysubaru.com.

I have also just finished a 645 page novel by Robert McCammon called The Queen of Bedlam. This was a gamble, picked up at random off the library shelf. I wasn't sure whether I'd like it at first, but it soon became evident that it was a compelling story (in the detective genre) set in New York in the early 1700s and I loved it, especially the main character, Matthew Corbett. This sort of book, along with Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series and Jack Whyte's Skystone series, are now my preferred reading, rather than the paperback fluff I used to consume.

Canada Day

Canada Day was a quiet one for us, mostly hanging around the house, getting some cleaning done (I'm ahead of schedule for my "spring cleaning" and all my mason jars are sorted and tidy) and the boys did some writing, math and listening to more Story of the World. This evening, after a walk around the neighbourhood, we read from an excellent library book, The Illustrated Book of Myths, retold by Neil Philip.


This is a beautifully illustrated book and I counted 68 myths in the contents at the front of the book. They are drawn from many old cultures, from Sumerian to Greek to Celtic to Australian Aboriginal. Today we read a few of the Sumerian and Greek myths, as they fitted in with our reading from Story of the World. I don't often say this, but I think this would be a great book to own.

Nilesh Mistry's fantastic illustrations make it visually appealing to me and to the children.

Tonight we plan to go and see the fireworks display for Canada Day which will be happening over Okanagan Lake. We haven't bothered for a few years, but this one is apparently going to be twice as good as they are making up for cancelling it last year. I think it was too hot and dry last year to risk sparks setting off forest fires.

We've had very hot weather the last few days, plus thunderstorms and raindrops the size of golfballs, and lightning did start a small forest fire which I believe is under control. I'll be glad when the temperature dips back into the 20s again - it'll seem cool after this!

This week's reading

I found a couple of interesting books at the library yesterday (while escaping from the 36 degrees Celsius heat).

One is called Farewell, my Subaru, An Epic Adventure in Local Living. It's written by Doug Fine, a journalist who decided to buy a ranch (he named it the Funky Butte Ranch - yes really) in New Mexico. I only just started reading it, but it looks like it's going to be a good read...amusing, full of anecdotes and factual tidbits like "The average tomato travels fifteen hundred miles from the field to the table".

The other is written by Paul Watson, the Captain of the Sea Shepherd. This man and ship have been in the news a lot this year...he works tirelessly to stop the the annual Canadian seal killing. The title of the book is Seal Wars, Twenty Five Years on the Front Lines with the Harp Seals. I was protesting about the seal hunt when I was a teenager at school, and it's sadly still going on. It's amazing that there are still seals left to kill - you'd think that people would have wiped them out by now, with a 350,000 quota each year. I am looking forward to reading about his experiences - I have long admired those who take action, get in the front line, spend their time actually out on the ocean in the inflatables, getting in the faces of those who kill intelligent mammals in cruel ways.

Mists of Avalon

I so enjoyed the Jack Whyte Skystone series that someone recommended I read The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I think it was Joanne. It's another version of the legend of King Arthur.

I am well into the book now, but when I read Sheila's blog post, I thought it would be a good opportunity to share in the tagging. So here are three sentences from page 123, five sentences down from the top.

Finally the girl said, in that same strange tone, "I see deer - a great herd of deer, and a man among them with his body painted - they put the antlers on him - oh, he is down, they will kill him -" Her voice trembled and again Viviane passed her hand above the surface of the water, and the ripples passed over the surface.
"Enough," she commanded. "Now see your brother."

Now, you've read this, so if you have a blog, you're tagged!

Odds and ends

I wanted to write about a few things, none of them momentous enough to merit its own post! So here they are.

Last night's dinner was a VERY large salad - lettuce, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, green onions and cucumber. With it, R and I had some raw nut burgers that I made up as I went along, and they were quite good, though they would have been better had I used walnuts instead of brazils. I think that those brazils had been sitting around at the bulk food store too long as they had an odd taste to them. Anyway, I have nearly used them up. I just mixed everything up in my food processor - nuts, parsley, a little onion and garlic, seasalt and a couple of tomatoes for moisture, and made little patties which I put in my dehydrator on low heat for a few hours.

I have spent several nights this week sitting up past midnight, reading the books Uther and The Saxon Shore by Jack Whyte. These novels are excellent. For depth of story, historical detail and content they rival Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books (high praise indeed)! A friend recommended the series to me - the first book in the series is The Skystone.

The series starts in Roman-occupied Britain and chronicles the development of the community that becomes known as Camulod. By the end of Eagles Brood/Uther, the baby has been born that is called Arthur, who is destined to become High King of Britain. I have two more books to go. Highly recommended.


And finally, a little bit of knitting, which has definitely been neglected lately. I used some chunky yarn I had left from another project to knit this little purse. The stitch is called Woven Stitch - it does look woven, and is denser than regular knitting. It's made by alternating these two rows (even number of stitches, stitches slipped purlwise)
Row 1 *K1, slip 1 with yarn in front, yarn back*
Repeat across row
Row 2 *P1, slip 1 with yarn in back, yarn fwd*
Repeat across row

I cast on 30 stitches with a size larger needle than that recommended on the ball band (because it tightens up) and knitted for 7 inches. The width is almost 6 inches. I found a red zipper at my local thrift store for 10 cents which I handsewed in, then sewed up the sides with the yarn tails. A quick and simple gift.

Knitting book review

Whenever I go to my local library, the first section I head for is the knitting books. I often borrow books that I’ve had before, because it’s just so nice looking at the pictures!

Two of the books that I borrowed this week are No Sheep for You by Amy Singer and Knitting for Peace by Betty Christiansen. I like both books, so thought I’d do a review of them for you.

No Sheep for you - Amy R Singer

The sub-heading for this is “Knit happy with cotton, silk, linen, hemp, bamboo and other delights” and as you may have guessed it does not have any patterns in it that use wool. Amy is allergic to wool - I’m not, I choose not to use it, but I can benefit from her book too. (Actually, I don’t use silk either, but I still like the book!)

Amy starts out by telling us all about the different kind of fibre options that are open to us - hemp, linen, cotton, silk, rayon, bamboo, corn, lyocell, modal, soy and synthetics - where they come from and how they are made. She also lists the yarn’s qualities, how it should be washed, dried or blocked - very comprehensive in an attractively presented and entertaining way.

The second chapter tells us how to substitute yarns. Say you see a pattern for a beautiful garment that you really want to make, but it’s knitted in wool, you need to know how to substitute that yarn with something that will give you a good result. The only thing that we non-wool users can’t do is felting.

After reminding us of the need to knit a gauge swatch, we’re into the patterns. There’s a good choice of things to make in varying levels of difficulty. Twenty one designs including three women’s cardigans, two men’s sweaters, socks, thrummed mittens (using silk instead of wool), a coat, a bag, a lacy shawl, interspersed with more handy hints.

Knitting for Peace - Betty Christiansen

The sub-heading for this book is “Make the world a better place one stitch at a time” and its mission is to tell you about many of the organisations that accept donations of knitted items and also give you patterns you can use to make things to give.

Chapter One starts out with a history of wartime knitting, and how knitters the world over have helped clothe and comfort people in need. We are given a short history of organisations like the Red Cross, The Ships Project and the Revolutionary Knitting Circle and contact information for them in case we want to follow up.

The following chapters describe twenty charities or companies that are working for the benefit of children, elders, premature babies and animals and there are 14 patterns including socks, a child’s vest, a blanket, a shawl, hats and teddy bears. They are all simple to make and the book is in inspiration to any knitter wishing to give back to the community.

Happy Knitting!