Jordan's Irish Sweater

Jordan told me he wanted a sweater. That was last Christmas. He gave me those pleading, begging eyes that said, "I will be very, very disappointed and sad if you don't. You have a whole year! What could be so hard about that? " 

Of course I was happy to oblige. He was forgetting he'd have to get his photo taken in it. Lol. We chose a suitable pattern and I used the cone (2/3rds) of green tweed Irish wool I had bought in Donegal to make my dad a sweater or a vest. So it also has an intrinsic meaning literally knit right in. 

The pattern is called Hugo, from Brooklyn Tweed, by Véronik Avery. I purchased it on-line and I recommend their website for patterns - patterns that make garments recipients will actually wear because they're classic, but modern. Interesting cast on for the hems and cuffs (I enjoy details like this) and true to size so far as I can tell... There are instructions for men with wider shoulders, which I followed, and felt worked, however you can judge that for yourselves. 

I knit the parts: front, back, sleeves during my time in Northern Ireland over the past summer and managed to assemble them into a sweater, knit the collar, sew on the buttons and block it before Christmas morning. Sure I had a lot on the go, but I was definitely suffering from what I presume many other knitters are also plaged. That is, I know better than to think, but inevitably overlook and fall into the trap of believing I'm just about finished, when in fact, I'm not, as I still need to sew up, knit collars and edgings, finish the ends and attach notions. 

The wonderful thing is that after all the knitting and finishing, it actually fits! What do you think? 

String of Days

Yes, an unexpected string of days off in my schedule. 

Time to catch up on things, including sleep and really getting better from being sick. 

How nice. And to indulge in things Farm. Or things Rabbitry.

Here are a few endeavours:

Tractor cushion... Looks like a jean skirt but was made from a pair of jeans. Honestly. 

Sewing is not like knitting. It's difficult!

Metal seats are cold or hot. So, cushion required. 

The Rabbitry: 

The floor had a few vermin holes which I suspect could allow sneaking predators inside, 

so they needed to be filled, as did low spots. 

The temperatures here aren't kindly to concrete, and who knows? 

The chicken coop is likely more than half a century old! 

Original floor, with a few repairs, plus our new wet parts.

Pouring a thin layer of concrete on top of an old layer isn't ideal, 

especially in cold weather but with the holes to be filled and the nature of the undulations 

and the fact it's not a high traffic, load bearing area, (rabbit cages will hang from the ceiling) 

it seems a decent choice based on the exorbitant cost of Sand-Crete. 

Without proper delineation I was worried both about tightly closing the doors and floor clearance, 

so I made and added a threshold on our inside door and a lower part on the outer door. 

I'm not going to call the job levelling - more smoothing - 

increasing in valleys and an overall height gain. 

Jordan kindly mixed ALL the concrete for me, by hand. What a love. 

Open and...

... tightly closed. 

I am the slowest carpenter. Ever! Lol. An all day carpenter. 

If doing this again I'd have filled the holes first, then done the expanse all at once. Seaming isn't really effective without the stress-crack tools. Speaking of tools, I probably could have gone out and bought a few, but because this isn't meant to be expensive, I only used a grouting trowel I already owned. That considered, it's not a bad job. Still, I should have organized to do it all at once.

I'll seal the floor and hopefully it'll be quite clean and washable and the seams, well seamless.

 Alas, nothing happens overnight! 

*****

My bathroom, though lacking a shower 

(we got a shower attachment though, and that is much better) 

and requiring hair washing to be done upside down - good thing I'm flexible - 

is an old fashioned and lovely place. 

I'll expand on that shortly. For now I'm back to my orange and gold toes. 

Oh how I love that tilework! Hoping to get some artwork from the same time period. 

Art Deco and cats and bubbles? Yes. Yes, please. 

On the cooking front, I was quite focused on my new cast iron skillet. 

I had some trouble initially even though it was meant to be pre-seasoned. 

That's not something you should believe, because it's just not true. 

So after a few irritating experiences, I started over and 

seasoned on the stove top twice and then once again in the oven. 

It seemed effective and was then proven so when I made tortillas:

They were a sort of enchilada casserole when they were eaten. They were delicious! 

To the point we've now probably become store-bought tortilla snobs. 

We, as in us and Eric. It was a sort of room mate reunion. Not like FRIENDS per say, 

but if we win the Powerball lottery we might be in the same financial category.

Check out the recipe and tutorial from Pioneer Woman here. 

I'm sure you don't need a cast iron skillet, but I'm sure you need these tortillas. 

What ARE you waiting for? Oh and I didn't have lard on hand, so I used butter. 

Seems that was fine. So you definitely have no excuses. 

But next time I'll be more prepared. 

I made bread, but that is not unusual, but felt we were due for cinnamon buns. 

The key is cream cheese icing. 

I used a regular white dough recipe, about 1/2 a cup of butter melted with a cup of 

brown sugar and cinnamon to taste. I like cinnamon! And nutmeg is tasty, too.

And add raisins if you like that extra moisture. I certainly do! 

Bake your rolls in a parchment lined pan or dish, 

because this makes lifting them out a cinch and cleaning is easier. 

Also if you have use a metal pan like I do, they won't get a metallic taste from cooling in the pan. 

Then make Sweetaploita's cream cheese icing. If you want to eat the picture below, that is. 

Yah baby, yah. Mmmmmm

I finally cleaned up from Christmas. That left the house kind of bare... We will have to work on that. For now the living room is on safari: yellows, browns, charcoal, cream, orange and red.

The charcoal is a good addition to those colours. Gives an anchor. And feeling. 

We will acquire more bits and pieces over time as collecting is fun, 

and here is a wee sentiment from Northern Ireland. A lovely little painting from my friend Kim. 

I made up the frame from some reclaimed wood from a big pile of rubbish. 

(Rubbish is great!) Speaking of rubbish, if you are of the ilk that someone's trash might be someone else's treasure, you should listen to this song. One Man's Gold. 

Oh, and part of liking country music, is about liking the story in a song. 

Just in case you needed one more reason to love country music. 

Yee-ha! 

2016 Begins!

A whole new year for a whole lot of new projects! 

Happy 2016! 

Now that we have our farm we are very, very happy 

and looking forward to all the adventures this first year will bring us. 

We have lists within lists of all we hope to have the time and money to accomplish. 

The good thing is, we like lists. 

Jordan doesn't always like referring to lists though - he says it's kind of like cheating. 

I disagree. I guess he likes to see what he gets to. I like to arrive home with everything I need.

Our first farm project, involving animals, is our "Chicken Coop", which once was a chicken coop, but is currently a rustic sitting room, with wood burning stove. 

We like it a lot, but we'll add to its functions.

Addition one will be a Rabbitry. I'm very excited about keeping rabbits 

and I'm being somewhat obsessive apparently. 

Nevertheless Jordan's happy to help me with my Rabbitry, and for that I'm thankful. 

I'm sure it'll become a very nice warren. 

I've chosen to breed Champagne d'Argent rabbits specifically 

because they are beautiful, well tempered, meat rabbits. 

When they are born they're all black. 

Around six weeks old they begin to turn silvery on their bodies. 

I'll get my trio in early May - two does and one buck. 

For now we are preparing their home and thinking of French names...

(So cute!!! I really cannot wait!) 

And of course we want to hatch chicks. Because chicks become chickens, and chickens lay eggs, and what is more appropriate for a wee farm than the ubiquitous chicken coop? 

We would like to hatch them, but we might just buy them. 

We will see about these feather babies in the Spring. 

In the meantime, we are eating well. 

Our new cast iron skillet just made us some heart shaped French toast. 

It was really good topped with grapefruit maple yogurt!

Also I made some mascarpone and used it two ways so far. 

Below in mini quiches:

And on top of a pizza with a pear and onion sauce. 

There are no photos. 

We ate it all up. 

And burnt our tongues we ate it so fast! 

I guess I'm due for a cake. 

And other cheeses. 

And to show off all the awesome things I got for Christmas! 

While it's cold I'm dreaming of growing a garden. We (I) will have quite a chore salvaging and reclaiming the area, but it did at one time grow enough potatoes for a whole winter. 

I'd like to vary my choices of vegetables, generally within the zone's most likely candidates, 

but it's good to know the land has been accommodating.

As I personalize our home, I'll share our rooms and house. 

I'll be starting with our bathroom upstairs. Or maybe some of the simpler rooms. 

It's wonderful in the first place, but like the predecessors, 

will get a tad of my elfin dust, and become just perfect for us. 

(Except this home is better than all the rest by a landslide) 

Inside projects are good for this time of year! 

It's a shame I didn't yet blog when my Dad and I did the renovation on the condo in Richmond.

It really warrented those 'before and after' pictures. 

That was a time before phone cameras. 

Or at least before I had one.

Here is the one and only remaining photo.

That bathroom was truly an oasis. I loved it!!!

I also take fewer photos in the cold it seems, for the sake of my fingers avoiding frostbite. 

We are still feeling so amazed by the fact we live in such a beautiful place, 

both home and property. 

We do need to get our internet sorted out. 

It's so convenient how it helps me to communicate, research and plan! 

For now it comes to our little house, but not our main house and it's cold in there because who wants to pay for heat in two houses? Not me. So I've been writing to you in my parka! 

Time to go in for a latte. How did I ever get out of the frothed milk habit? Delicious and warm!