I'ma Bear! RAAAAA!

Mum's new kitten!

And this is my mum's new kitten!
There are new kittens everywhere!
I can't wait to meet her on Thanksgiving :)

Her name is Vita.

Jake's new kitten!

His name is Eddard!
He's cuteness all over the place!
He kept rushing the camera and wouldn't stop moving long enough for me to get a sharp picture but here he is!

<3 

Forest

I walked through the forest,
I followed the narrow path,
Shadowed by the children
Of the trees.

They watched me quietly
With those wild eyes;
Glassy round and wide

Beautiful copies of yours and mine.

Yummies

Hey, just felt like sharing a recipe for one of my favorite fall foods: roasted butternut squash soup. It's like, so good.

It's dairy-free but still so creamy somehow, and you can make it vegetarian by substituting vegetable stock for the chicken stock.

I like to make a lot, either to share with people or to freeze some for later. So this serves about 5-8 people. Also, it tastes so much better if you can use all organic ingredients (stock and veggies are pretty cheap).

Ingredients:

2 medium-large butternut squashes

2 quarts/cartons chicken stock (homemade or store-bought is fine).

2 stalks of celery

1 large onion

1 large carrot

3 shallots

2 apples

olive oil

cayenne pepper (or chile powder is fine too)

curry powder

allspice

cinnamon

rosemary

salt and pepper

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Peel and chop squash into 1-inch chunks, scraping out all seeds from the middle (this is a pain in the ass). Arrange in a large baking dish with shallots (peeled and chopped in half) and sprigs of rosemary (dried rosemary is fine too). Season generously with salt and pepper, and drizzle a little olive oil over the whole thing. Roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until squash is tender.

Chop the onion, peel and chop the apple, carrot, and celery (you don't want celery strings in your soup). Heat a large stock pot over medium-low with a little oil or butter (I like to use butter for this, you just need a little). Once the pot is hot, pour in the onion, carrot, celery, and apple. Season generously with salt and pepper. Cook them all together for 10-15 minutes until the veggies are soft and translucent. You don't want to brown them or caramelize them, so make sure the heat isn't too high. At this point, pour in the roasted squash and shallots, and then pour in enough stock to cover everything. Add in a healthy dash of cayenne, a tiny dash of curry, a regular dash of allspice, and a regular dash of cinnamon. It's very technical so get it right. Bring soup to a boil and then lower heat. Simmer for 5 minutes. At this point, you must blend the soup. If you have an immersion blender it is so much easier, but it can be done in a regular blender. Just add the soup in small quantities, and go REALLY slow. Once blended, if the soup is too thick, you can add a little stock to thin it out. You want it to be thick, but not like baby food. Taste for seasoning, and add whatever is missing. And then, voila! Soup du jour!

Serve with a little dollop of sour cream or yogurt, or toasted nuts if you're fancy. Crusty bread is a must!

There you go loves!

Oversized slouchy gaby-hat

The Smalls keep asking for their own slouchy Gaby-hats.  

Here's the pattern in case any of you feel adventurous 'cause there's no way I have the time to whip one of these up for each of you, no matter how deep my love for your pretty pretty faces.

P.S - My mum hopes ya'll like your Jammy-jams. <3

Now you too can make the slouchy green hat I'm wearing in this picture (you can't see it, but it's extra roomy in the back, and in general....I have a rather large head though :P ).

And hey don't forget guys...an apple a day keeps the doctor away (see evidence of my own impending apple consumption below) (also see close up of finished Gaby-Hat):

Let us now commence the knit-o-log!

The Yarn

I found the yarn at Michael's! It's a wool blend, and it stripes all fancy-like all by itself. :)

Lion Brand Amazing yarn in Rainforest

Gauge

4 stitches = 1 inch in stockinette stitch

Fit

Custom sized to fit an average Smalls head, in a slouchy way.

Note: A Lisa-Smalls head may warrant a decrease of about 8 or so stitches...though her hair may make up for it.

Especially perfect for stuffing up-and-in some poofy Lisa or Nina hair. <3

Cuff

Cast on 78 stitches to the size 8 circular needle. (Nina, size 8 is not THAT small. Get over it :P ).

Join for working in the round, being careful to not twist the stitches. Place marker to indicate the end of the round.

Round 1: *K2, p2, repeat from * to end of round.

Repeat Round 1 until the piece measures 6 inches from the cast on edge, for a wide, glorious cuff.

Crown

Change to the larger needle, and knit every round until the crown measures 7 inches from the top edge of the cuff.

Time to decrease! 

Next Round: K17, k2tog, k17, k2tog, k18, k2tog, k18, k2tog (74 stitches)

Knit 2 rounds.

Next Round: *K2, k2tog, repeat from * to end of round.

Knit 2 rounds.

Next Round: *K1, k2tog, repeat from * to end of round. 

Knit 2 rounds.

Next Round: *K2tog, repeat from * to end of round (This round will be a litle tight on the circular needle.)

Just a few more seconds...

Cut a 12 inch tail and thread the tail through the remaining stitches.

Remove the circular needle and pull the tail tight. Thread the tail through the center top to the inside of the hat.

A Halloween Story

I was just reminiscing about Halloween.

And how as kids my brothers and I went out all decked out in my mom's most recent sewing projects armed with nothing but a pillowcase each and the pure resolve to fill them to the brim.

I don't think we ever actually got them that full, but in my mind the pillowcase was always half-full.

(being of an optimistic nature)

Anyway -

THE best part about all the trick or treating was coming home, dumping our candy out on the living room floor in three piles, and tallying up the goods. We never mixed our candy (NO WAY), but rather took careful stock of what we had (in preparation for impending thievery), disposed of anything open (popcorn balls?), broken (lollypops), or unsavory (peanuts/raisins) and then proceeded with the process of trading goods.

This was way more badass than any monopoly property trades, and definitely had way more on the line.

This was like, little-kid-trade-your-soul-for-a-mounds seriousness right here. And we definitely had a barter system...like:

One name brand candy (milky way) = six shitty candies (excluding gold pirate coins)
One mini Three Musketeers = one full size Snickers
One Starburst packet = two Dum Dums.
One Nerds box = One Nerds box (seriously)

And so on.

And we knew that we damn well better save a few blow pops for mom (as payment for making our costumes, of course), and almond joys and Reese's peanut butter cups for dad (as payment for escorting us safely through egg-bombed streets) or else use them as decoys to steer him away from the full stash later on. (I don't know about you people, but I had an entire drawer devoted to halloween candy, and the stock would last until Easter...albeit by then it consisted of stale tootsie rolls and the occasional starburst)

And then when the trading and packing away and tallying was done, I rationed it out until the next appointed mass-candy-receival (i.e. Easter).

Like, I'm talking, I get ONE Three Musketeers a week ( my favorite halloween candy).

Now I just buy a bar of super dark chocolate and I'm set for approximately ten days before I need to replenish the supply.