Frozen

I just got off the phone with my husband and the poor guy has been freezing his butt off up at the head of Knight's Inlet :( We have some wicked arctic outflows here right now and the frozen temperatures have made it so cold that they've been running their oil stove and two heaters just to keep warm on the tug.

Here I thought we had it bad. When we woke up this morning the windows in the laundry room which is the furthest room from the woodstoves actually had thick ice growing on the inside of the windows! The temperature is at -10 with the windchill bringing it closer to -18 but poor hubby figures they are about twice as cold :( He might get a chance to come home for a couple of days tomorrow due to the weather so I'm hoping he does so that he can get a chance to warm up!

The kids and I made a few mad dashes outside today to gather firewood, go to the mail and visit my mom but I think we are all quite content to huddle indoors *grin*. I woke up feeling very festive and thought it would be nice to have a new Christmasy table runner for the coffee table in our family room. I have seen some very lovely runners lately and really love the pinwheel style quilted ones so I've started cutting out and marking 4 inch squares of red fabrics to sew up and cut into my dual colored blocks :) I just need to find some white cotton in my stash and I'll be ready to start piecing it all together tomorrow.

Hope things are warmer for you all *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina

Apple Peeler Fun

This evening the kids had fun peeling apples with the hand crank peeler :)

Opa's apples from the orchard always seem to be a little scabby and the kids prefer to have them peeled so they each took turns cranking their apples round and round on the peeler as it peeled, cored and sliced them all in one easy step :)

What could be more fun than that?
I can think of one more thing... how about eating a giant apple spiral :) You should have seen them gobbling them up as fast as they could spin them on the peeler. Somehow it just makes eating them so much more fun *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina

First Taste of Winter

I love how winter transforms our wooded roads into something magical :) So far we only have a dusting of snow but it makes everything look so clean and bright. The kids can barely contain their excitement as they wait for more to fall so that they can pull on their coats and mittens and build snowmen and winter forts in the yard :)

I've been going through the craft cupboard pulling out felt, buttons and thread getting ready to let the kids loose in our stash so we can make Christmas ornaments. I thought this year instead of just stringing popcorn for the tree it might be fun to make a felt garland to. We don't actually get our tree until around the middle of December but I don't think it's to early to start *grin*.

Before I head off to bed I just have to share this very strange sunset with you. We were loading the groceries into the car when I looked up and noticed the sky all aglow. The photo really doesn't do it any justice but what was so interesting was the dark shadows coming from seemingly nowhere. It didn't matter what direction we traveled, it stayed the same. I have no idea what could have been making them but we weren't the only ones gawking at it when I took the photo!

Wishing you all a happy Sunday :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Holiday Linky Love

The snow has been falling all day and it has me wanting to sing Christmas carols *grin*. Okay well maybe not quite yet but it does have me thinking about what gifts I want to make and what new holiday decor we can craft for our stash :)

I am loving these adorable miniature gingerbread houses!! I ran across them over at Not Martha and I can't wait to make some with the kids :) They will be perfect to perch on top of our cocoa mugs!

Need a good stash busting project for the holiday season? How about one of these fun fabric flower wreaths! Another perfect project to get the kids involved with as it is just fabric circles layered and tacked to an inexpensive vine wreath :)

These little yarn trees are so stinking cute *grin*. Now that I've started doing more knitting I've got little odds and ends of wool leftover from projects and I'm going to let the kids go crazy winding up these little trees. I think they will be a lovely addition to our nature table :)

And last but not least are these little trinket pouches that will be just perfect for my little guy :) I love the oversized grommets for attaching a carabiner to! I can just see him clipping them to his pant belt loops and filling them with his special treasures or taking them outdoors when we go for nature walks. I wonder how many rocks or pine cones we can fit into one of those little pockets *grin*.

What are you making this holiday season?

Hugs,
Rosina

Weaving Cedar Bark

Earlier this week the kids and I had a chance to participate in one of the many fantastic homeschool programs that a nearby museum offers. This class was particularly exciting because we were going to learn how to weave a mat using red cedar bark. So cool!

The above photo shows a coil of bark that had been harvested from cedar trees only minutes from where we live. Members from the museum went out into the forest with a first nations guide and he showed them exactly how to harvest the bark from living cedar trees without damaging them. They had a photo slide for us to view and the fellow said a little prayer/blessing to the cedar tree before cutting into the bark and then they pulled strips of bark off of the tree in giant lengths reaching from the base of the trunk all the way upwards. Once the bark was pulled from the tree they then separated the softer in bark from the rough outer bark and the inner portion was what we worked with :)

When we arrived there were strips of the bark that had been soaked for a couple of days to soften them and make them pliable for weaving waiting for us on the tables.



We started with a very basic basket weave pattern of just weaving the strips in and out of each other while alternating the pattern so it looked like a checker board.



As soon as all of the pieces had been woven we started to work the ends in by flipping them over and weaving them into the opposite sides. It looked really simple when we were shown how to do it but when it was time to do it ourselves you really had to pay attention to which way you flipped the ends because one wrong move and you muddled your pattern *grin*.

Here are two of the little woven mats the children made. As you can see there were a few little boo boos where the pattern got a little mixed up :)

We all had so much fun and now I'm tempted to try pulling some of the bark off of a few of the cedar trees we have here on our property *grin*. I think I'm supposed to wait until spring though so that will give me a little more time to find out exactly how to do it so that I don't hurt the trees :)

Hugs,
Rosina

right now, I AM

....marveling at how there is always a calm after the storm!
Last night the wind and rain blew so ferociously that I thought our roof would lift right off yet today it is clear and bright. I was teasing the kids that there mustn't be one pine cone left on the trees above our house because it had sounded like McSquizzy and his army of squirrels had pummeled our house with every one up there *grin*. If you don't know who McSquizzy is you can see a quick one minute animated clip of him and the rest of his Fuzzytailed Clan here *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina

Click the frog to learn more!

Yarn Along

A post of my current read and what is cast on my needles ~ Inspired by Ginny over at {Small Things}

I finished my little pixie hat that I was making last week and thought that I would challenge myself and try a new pattern using circular needles :)

I've had a copy of the cutest little book called Baby Beanies by Amanda Keeys but all of the hats are knit on the round or with 4 needles so I was a little intimidated but I thought that I'd give it a go and try this little beret. I just love the little lace pattern it has :) I'm using a soft merino wool and so far the pink ribbed portion has worked out well but I'm having a bit of trouble joining my green. The first time I didn't join it properly and it didn't knit in the round and the second time when I wrapped the two colors together like it said to in the book it messed up the dashes of green wool showing through the pink for the first purl row so I'm going to have to check out youtube for a little tutorial and see what I'm doing wrong!


What I'm reading this week... the November copy of the British Country Living magazine. Love, love, love this magazine!!! This issue was very fitting for my yarn along post as it a great article on Britain's wool production over the years and another article of thoughts on growing up constantly surrounded by sheep, a wool directory and even an article on one woman's small business of turning fleece to yarn :)

Can't wait to see what everyone else has been up to this week!
Hugs,
Rosina

Operation Christmas Child

Every year the kids and I always want to pack a shoebox full of goodies for the Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child and this year we got two boxes to fill for a little boy and a girl :) When I announced that we were going to do some shopping for our boxes the kids hit the store running *grin*. Each of them had their own shopping basket and got to pick out pencils, erasers, notebooks, markers, crayons, activity pads, face cloths, toothbrushes, soap, and of course a little toy and some candy :)

Tonight we spread out all of our goodies on the kitchen table and sorted through them dividing them up into two piles and tried to squash as much as we could possibly fit into each of the boxes. I sure hope that they don't mind that our boxes are slightly bulging! LOL. Now we just have to find out which church in the city is one of the official drop off spots and we can get them sent on their way :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Pixie Hat

Oh man am I having fun knitting *grin*.
There was a slight change in plans though. Remember that gorgeous fall colored merino wool that I started with? Well apparently I can't read a pattern properly or maybe I was just to excited to get started but I goofed up and was supposed to knit with two strands of wool instead of just one. So long story short, I ripped out half the hat, started over with adding in some mossy green wool and voila I have a new look! The bright orange tones of the first wool are still there but much more muted now. I'm still loving it though and the double strands have given the hat such a thick and yummy weight :)

The main body of the hat is finished complete with a little pixie top which is so cute :) Now I just have to finish the ear flaps. I had never 'picked up' stitches before so that was interesting to say the least but I think I've got it all under control now *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina

News from Haiti

Photo via {GAIN (Global Aid Network) Canada}

Remember those little notebook and crayon sets that the kids and I made and sent to Haiti with my uncle about a month ago? Well I just got an email letting me know that he had posted this photo on the GAIN facebook page of some of the children enjoying them while waiting to see a member of his medic team :) I can't wait to share this with the kids in the morning!! They will be so excited to see pictures :)

We have been following along in the news with updates on Haiti. Hurricane Tomas struck Haiti causing flash flooding and evacuation in areas just before the GAIN team landed and tonight my aunt told me that they were rocked by a fairly strong earthquake and rioting as well. All this on top of the cholera outbreak that is spreading. I know that any prayers for the safety of the volunteers and for the people of Haiti would be greatly appreciated :)

Hugs,
Rosina