And she wants to save the planet?? *face palm*

Well hello everyone!

Rideau Valley Conservation area in Ottawa.
August 2008.

While I procrastinate on weaving in the ends on my finished projects, I figured I would write up a little post about my borderline granola tendencies. Now before you all roll your eyes and stop reading, I promise that I will not use this blog to lecture anyone about saving the planet or to show you horrific pictures of dead birds filled with plastic (although those things are important and/or sad). Basically, I want to do what I can to limit my own and my family's waste - both as garbage and waste of resources - and leave the part of the world that we live in a little better off than how we found it. **awww group hug** Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be all noble here or anything. We are still plenty wasteful, I have never planted a tree, I sometimes forget my reusable bags and I don't pick up every piece of litter I see on the street. I am trying to be more aware of the things we are consuming and the effect our daily lives have on our environment and on our bodies. If I'm being totally honest, as much as I feel all warm and fuzzy about our planet and being healthy, one of the most powerful and immediate drivers of change in my life is that I am cheap err... resourceful and frugal!

Abandoned beaver dam. Parc national Frontenac, 2007.

So if I'm not going to be all preachy and if I don't really know what I'm talking about, then why am I talking about it?? Well, one, it gives me an excuse to post pretty landscape-y pictures :) Also, I figure that a lot of you are probably in the same boat as me. I want to do good and "be green" and I don't want to spend a lot of money to do it. I want to eat healthy and use natural products but again, I'm not (able or) interested in spending any more money on fancy products or foods. Maybe we can help each other? If the blog-o-sphere can be believed, apparently, we can do all of those things without spending more money. In fact, says the blog-o-sphere, we should be able to save money. Save money and save the planet - I'm in! Enter trial and error stage...

I already have tendency to be a diy-er so this process has give me permission to try out all kinds of crazy and amazing (hello soap nuts!!) things to replace the disposable and questionably manufactured parts of our lives. Perhaps if I can share some of our successes and failures, it will help someone else make a little change in their habits too. And perhaps prevent you from making your clothes smell like vinegar, making your garden coop too short or creating a terrible honey/oil/sugar mess in your hair! (And then we can all save the planet and the animals will sing and rejoice la la la) 

Creating our veggie garden last spring. We needed to double the height on one side.
We'll be expanding our garden this year and will plant only edibles in our front yard.

Because I like to pretend I'm all science-y and whatever, I divided our lives into two super technical areas: Food and Stuff. I know - mind. blown. Today, I'll intro a little about the "Stuff" category. I don't want to get too crazy here but I like to sub-divide "Stuff" into: kitchen/bathroom stuff, clothes/laundry stuff and other stuff. (Don't worry - there is no quiz at the end lol) A lot of people don't like categories and that's totally cool, but for me, it makes it easier to tackle a little chunk at a time instead of trying to change our entire lives (too scary!).      

World's greatest graphic created by yours truly.

Probably the biggest and most basic goal that I have is to stop buying disposable things. I work hard-ish for my money and there are things that I would like to do with it other than to almost literally throw it in the garbage.

So some kitchen/bathroom stuff: The first item I wanted to tackle was paper towels. They are super expensive and take up a lot of space in our tiny kitchen green bin. We were seriously freaked out about not buying paper towels! We used them A LOT. I mean, how do you drain bacon without paper towel?? (The answer btw is newspaper which then goes into our green bin. OR to be totally waste free, put it on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet.) One day, we ran out and we just didn't buy anymore. Much to my own surprise, after about 24 hours, we really didn't even notice that it was missing. One of our most used supplies - gone - and we didn't even notice. I made replacement "cloth towels" but really we don't even use those very often. Our trusty dish cloth and tea towels do most of the work. (Pardon the cheesiness for a moment here but this really was a life changing moment for me. What else did I use all the time that I wouldn't miss??)

Fluff butt (environmentally friendly and super cute!) 

and enjoying the "garbage balloons" from the grocery 

store to boot! Sept. 2013.

We've made other little bits of progress towards that goal. Mr. L wears cloth diapers at home (he does wear a disposable to sleep and when we go out since we had a large box and are trying to use it up. Once they are gone, then we'll fully convert to cloth.) Mr. B and Miss N wear cloth trainers for sleeping. We are almost completely over our addiction to baby wipes (they are soo handy!!). I've been trying out different non-disposable lady products and occasionally cloth tp - the jury is still out on both of these although I think I'm being converted on some of them. (The jury is also out on how much more about those experiments I will share with you lol) We still use plastic freezer bags often but we now wash them and re-use them. Those suckers have been washed over a dozen times and are still going strong!

I won't list all of things that we could improve on because all that does is stress me out and makes it seem like a lost cause :( Instead, I pick one or two things at a time and once we are comfortable with the changes (like the paper towel) or decide that a greener option just doesn't work for us right now (like the freezer bags), then I move onto something else. My next goals are non-freezer plastic snack bags and plastic wrap. I have all of my fabrics picked out so that I can make some reusable snack bags and plate/bowl covers for the fridge. I'll write up a little how-to post for those (if they turn out lol) and the washable "paper" towels.

Now I know for a fact that I am not the only hippie in my family or circle of friends! What things have you and your family done to reduce waste in your household? Any crazy and exciting things you have tried? Also, how do people store their cheese?? It's seriously one of the only things holding me back from getting rid of plastic snack bags!

That darning pile is starting to get a little large...

Hello again!

Two posts in two days! I had written most of this to share with you yesterday but decided to split it up. I have a busy weekend planned so I figured I might as well put this up today and then you'll get a few days break from my random babbling - I promise :) 

I have more little makes to share with you today - a little bit of everything really. Some sewing, knitting and crochet. Please excuse the photo quality - the only time I can take pics is after the kids have gone to bed and we don't have great lighting in our place. As I get more organized and until the summer rolls around, I'll try to take pics on the weekends when it's sunny. Another reason to look forward to summer - nice and bright evenings!

My super duper organized hallway darning pile. I keep thinking if I leave it out in the open, I'll get to it faster but instead, we just end up staring at it longer lol

I really hate weaving in ends. It doesn't take very long and isn't very hard so I really have no excuse. I just don't like it, okay?? *hmph* Every once in a while, I'll sit down and take care of the whole thing in one go. The pile's starting to get a little tippy now though, so I imagine that will happen in the next week. Plus now I have a bit of extra motivation because I can't show you all my finished projects until the ends are sewn in, now can I?

<Insert clever segue to sewing project here> Hmmm... apparently that command doesn't work lol

Miss N and Mr. B have decided that their lovies (Baby doll and Big Blankie) require some new threads. An order has been placed for a "Hello Kitty dress with stripey under wears" and a sleeping bag for Big Blankie. I have to admit that I am making these in slow motion because my sewing space is in the basement and it's a little chilly down there in the evenings right now. Everyday when I get home from work, Miss N greets me by yelling "Daddy! Mommy is home! Mommy, my baby doll still doesn't have her dress yet" and then she looks all sad and blinky. There is usually about 5-10 minutes between the time I get home and organized and the time we eat supper, so we run down stairs, pin and sew a seam and then head up for supper. Not a very efficient way to make a dress! Slowly but surely though, it is coming together. Mr. B is much more reasonable in his demands and says that I can wait until I can just make his whole sleeping bag at once. He says I will have time on the weekend because I don't have to go to work. So clever those two!

This is my first dress using this pattern that Miss N stole from my mom. So far, so good!

On the crochet front, I have been making hats. No real destination in mind - they are just a dose of virtually instant gratification which I almost always require after working on large projects. I love the cream yarn and the coloured wools that I used for these hats. The wools were an amazing thrift shop find at $1/ball. It's so squishy and warm and the colours are fantastic! The cream yarn is what I bought to make a few flowers for the Autumn Daisies Blanket. The ball bands are all buried in my project bag but when I show you the finished hats, I'll let you know what brands and colours they are.

Random hat collection. Hats are excellent bus projects - easy, quick and portable!

Little flower experiment. I'll need to make more of different sizes and a few fabric ones before deciding what to put on each hat.

I love that these little baby hats are like blank canvases. I'm ready to get into the real fun of crocheting and sewing some little flowers and picking out some fun buttons to sew onto them. I recently purchased too many a wonderful variety of buttons off of ebay. When I added them to the stash, I realized I already had a ton of colourful buttons lol Like many crafters, I try very hard to tip toe the line between "enough variety to foster creativity" and flat out hoarding! (I'll let you guess which side of the line my other half thinks I fall on...) I really can't wait to start using them - these colourful, shapey buttons make me super happy!

I seem to have accumulated a few buttons over the past couple of years... I'm pretty sure most of them are in this bin now!

I've also started crocheting squares for a Mario blanket for my nephew's birthday in May. The squares and pattern design have been mercilessly stolen from my sister-in-law's pinterest page. (Thanks C!) I don't want to spoil too much of the surprise so I'm not going to post the inspiration photo just yet. I will share the square pattern from Creative Jewish Mom though. I did make some minor tweaks to it. Warning to non-crocheters - the next paragraph will likely sound like gibberish to you. If so, let me know and I can teach you! Or, you can simply read past it to the english text that follows :)

4" squares - 18 down, 176 to go!

I started with a ch5, instead of ch4 for my loop. It's just personal preference - I find with ch4 it gets a bit squishy for me. I have also counted my ch3 at the beginning of each row as a "dc, ch1". I found when I followed the pattern to a T, I ended up with one wedge that was one stitch larger across than the others. You can see this in the picture on the blog - it's the top right wedge. It looks fine in her square but for some reason, it was really obvious that I had a larger triangle there. So for the last repeat, I did one fewer dc and then joined with a slip stitch into the second chain of my initial ch3. I forgot to take a pic of an individual square but I'll be sure to do another update as I work on this blanket.

Gibberish complete.

My last project isn't really a WIP yet but I know I MUST make one of these this weekend. The Penguin Foundation, based in Australia, has a Knits for Nature program. The foundation uses the little sweaters for a few purposes. The first is to put on these little penguins that have been caught up in oil spills or other messes. The sweaters prevent the penguins from cleaning their feathers with their beaks and ingesting the oil. They also send sweaters to other organizations and use them for fundraising activities. Not only are these the cutest things ever, but they may also be saving these little penguins' lives! Melodramatic but true!

Knits for Nature sweaters for penguins! Pic from their facebook page. 

Anyhow, super SUPER adorable and for a good cause = must be made. Based on a recent facebook post, due to a recent news feature and a few groups sharing their pictures and links on faecbook, it seems that this organization may now receiving tons of support. I was tempted to google and see if there were other groups that need little animal knits but I am too afraid of what I might find! I have too many projects on the go already lol With all the good uses the foundation has, I'm sure they'll find a use for my sweater too :)

If you want to make a penguin knit, you can download the pdf here.

Apparently, I have a pretty busy Saturday ahead of me! What are your plans for the weekend? Know of any animals that need a cute sweater??

Have a great weekend!  

Seedy Saturday

So I know I still haven't done a "Who am I?" kind of post yet. It's just kind of weird to talk about yourself for very long. (I know you know what I'm talking about.) If you've been dying to know a little bit more, you can check out my new-ish  About page. It's not super mind-blowing or anything, especially if you know me personally, but it will need to serve until I come up with a more exciting post! If you have any random questions, leave a comment on the page and I'll write back with an answer if I can.

Now on with the show!

Last Saturday, Miss N and I went to check out Seedy Saturday Ottawa. I'm glad we went at the beginning of the day because it was crazy busy there! We went early so that we could check out the 10:15 workshop on square foot gardening. Our little veggie garden is laid out like a square foot garden (SFG), in a grid instead of rows, but it isn't really a square foot garden. To truly follow the SFG method, your garden needs to have a closed bottom and you should be using a specific mix of peat, vermiculite and compost. If you google "square foot gardening" you will find TONS of info on the subject. It's really intriguing but I think I need a bigger yard before I start building any raised beds lol   

Miss N growing her own garden while listening to the talk. She was so good and quiet for the whole thing!

I liked the woman who did the presentation. She had only recently switched from "regular" veggie gardening to the SFG method and was able to make lots of comparisons of the two which was nice. Unfortunately, due to some techy issues at the beginning, she ran out of time.

After the workshop, we browsed some of the vendor tables. There were so many seed packets that it was overwhelming. If I ever go with the intention of buying seeds, I will be sure to bring a list! Other vendors were selling everything from gardening supplies to organic baked goods to honey products. We were so busy looking around that I forgot to take some pics *oops*

Miss N making seedy crafts in the kids zone.

Other than the workshop, our main reason for heading to the event was to check out Ottawa Plantcycle's swap table. They have a yahoo group that I've not seen and a facebook group. I had an excess of seeds left over from the packages I got for my winter sowing experiment to give away and there were a few things that I was looking for as well. I want to start growing herbs this year so finding some seeds for that project were my top priority.  We picked up some lemon balm, dill and red garlic. Val, the lady hosting the table, insisted we take more, so we brought home some yellow beans, tiger's eye dry beans, cantaloupe and some dried out onions as well. The onions are pretty well kaput so I'll probably just toss them in the compost. A good haul none the less - esp considering the price! (As an added bonus, a girlfriend of mine gave me even more seeds when I went over to her place for tea on Monday. Thanks A! Who can turn down wonderberry seeds?? I don't know what they are either lol)

Our loot.

We had brought a picnic lunch so we sat in the lobby and gobbled up our wraps and crackers. After that we headed out to catch the bus. It turns out though that we still had lost of adventure to come... There were so many cars in the small community centre parking lot that the bus was blocked in. OC Transpo decided to re-route the bus we planned on taking so that it would start and end farther down the road. Unfortunately, no one could tell us where the bus was now supposed to start. We had a choice between walking along the route or just heading up the hill towards home.

Walking up from the river to another bus stop.

After a long but enjoyable walk, we finally caught a bus and got home just in time for Miss N to have "quiet time". She doesn't normally nap but this time she slept for 2 hours. Plenty of time for me to make some bread and do some garden planning!

Now if only it would be spring already!!

I was going to share a few more items from my making pile with you today but this post is long enough lol I'm still a bit surprised that anybody reads this thing already. I don't want to push my luck with super long posts plus now I have something ready to post next :)

Happy Friday everyone!

A camping we will go

Algonquin Park, Highland Trail, July 2009.

Of all of the things I love to do, camping, specifically backpacking, is my hands down favourite! There is something about bundling everything we need onto our backs and hiking out into the woods that makes me feel so small in the best possible way. A friendly reminder that no matter how large our problems and stress seem, we are just a small and wonderful part of something so much bigger and slower and older than us. Waking up to the sounds of water, a breeze, bugs and birds is the best possible battery recharge to me. Plus that first morning stretch and deep breath of fresh, clean air - absolutely priceless!

In case my weird rambling isn't enough, here are a few nature glamour shots to get your brain thinking summer!

Prequ'île PP, July 2009.

Voyageur PP, June 2013.

Frontenac PP, June 2011.

Algonquin PP, July 2009.

This is the time of year where I start itching like crazy to get out in the bush for some peace and adventure. The urge to go backpacking is even worse this year because, although we have done lots of car camping and cottaging, we haven't been on a proper back packing trip in 2 summers now. Growing and raising a baby is a good excuse but still! This year - we. must. go. and if we can swing it, we'll be bringing Mr. B and Miss N with us this time. Super exciting!

Photo ops on our most recent backpacking trip. Frontenac PP, June 2013.

I'm a little late on the planning front. Reservations for back country campsites at our provincial parks can be hard to come by depending on your destination and your route. I've been holding out though until I was sure that we would have all the gear we need to accommodate 4 people instead of just two. We're most of the way there - just need to figure out the tent. It's a fairly important piece of gear with kids....

Mr. B and Miss N hiking at Charleston Lake PP. Sept 2013.

Since we'll have the kids, well two of them anyway, all of my planning tactics for distance and breaks will need to be thrown at the window. We need somewhere relatively close to the trail head (no more than 2-2.5 hours plus lots of breaks!) and the site must have a decent shoreline for the kids. No circuits for our first family trip, just head in set up for a couple of nights and then head out. Leave lots of time for play and exploring. It's hard to focus on writing this post because I keep zoning out to day dream!

This is my happy spot - a beautiful sunny meadow FULL of blueberries.
Along the trail south of Big Salmon Lake, Frontenac PP, June 2011.

I'm pretty sure that we'll do our first trip at Frontenac Provincial Park. We've been there a few times so we're familiar with the area and the trails. I prefer to backpack during shoulder season when it's just us two grown ups. I don't mind the bugs in the Frontenac area early in the season - it's a small price to pay for the solitude. (The bugs in Algonquin are a different story entirely... My next trip there will be an autumn one!) As much as I don't want to wait though, I'm thinking that late August or early September is probably our best bet with the kids. It'll be drier, a few less bugs and the water will be nice for swimming. We'll likely have neighbours at the site clusters but hopefully they will be nice, normal people and not drunken teenagers canoeing in for the night *fingers crossed*

If you're curious about the park, the Friends of Frontenac Park site is pretty informative. There are a couple of versions of the trails map, as well as descriptions and pics of the campsite clusters. Even if you're not one for backcountry camping, the trails are beautiful and would make great day trips.

I can smell this picture! Super green and a nice break from the sun when you need it.
Northeast of Big Salmon Lake, Frontenac PP, June 2011.

I have a site chosen for us to hike to on Doe Lake and another one chosen that we could canoe to on Big Salmon Lake. We haven't settled yet on which we would prefer. There are definitely pros and cons to both with 2 littles involved but it's more about logistics than them. The kids are both pretty able hikers on the type of terrain we would encounter on the trails there and I'm sure they will be fine in the canoe. We really just need to flip a coin or something and get on with it already lol

The basic map from the Friends of Frontenac Park trails page.

Aside from that, I also need to book a couple of car camping trips. We are trying to go to a different park every trip with a general view of camping in as many of the Ontario provincial parks we can. Unless we win the lottery, we won't be able to hit them all. Too many fly-in only parks up north but I'm sure we can put a pretty good dent in the list of accessible parks! At some point, I plan on adding a page here to keep track of where we've been and maybe house a few of our pics.

Time to go flip that coin and dream of sunny meadows and fresh air!

Are you campers? Have you tried backpacking and where did you go? Where are your go-to places? Feed my addiction for camping stories! Links to trip reports (yours or just good ones you've read) would make for great bus reading for me :) 

2 things from my making pile

Happy weekend everyone! It has been a crazy week - lots of appointments, errands and general running around. I'm am really looking forward to lazing around for a day or two.

I want to share two of my current work-in-progress (WIP) projects with you today. I originally wrote this post on Thursday but have been waiting for some decent light to take pics. It hasn't happened yet so I've tried to capture the colours the best I can. Hopefully, when I'm ready to show you the finished products I'll get a day of sunshine to work with!

A couple of my current WIPs

Interruption to rave about Ravelry: If you do any crocheting or knitting and haven't heard of Ravelry, I strongly suggest you check it out. There are TONS of free (and paid) patterns, as well as discussion boards, project logs, techniques, etc... It's the site I use most often for finding patterns so most of my pattern links will take you there. You will need to have an account to view the patterns and pics on the site. Don't worry - it's free and super easy! The End. 

Back in January, I started work on a blanket large shawl to wear at my work desk in the morning. I get to work a little before 7AM and it's quite chilly in our work space until the heat really kicks in. I wanted something fairly simple and not too lacy. After all, the whole point is to feel cocooned and cozy. I went with the "Penelope Shawl".

I'm loving this pattern. Simple, easy and quick - perfect work for the bus!

Part way through, I ran out of wool and then discovered that not only had the colour been discontinued but the entire line of wool seems to have been discontinued! Internet to the rescue - I found some online and since it was 60% off I made sure to order plenty of extra. The yarn I was using is Red Heart with Wool which is a wool/acrylic blend. I'm a little bit sad that's it's been discontinued because I only just discovered it and have really enjoyed working with it. Plus it comes in so many super bright colours!

I should be able to make the kids a hat set or two....

Since I am so impatient productive, I couldn't take a break while waiting for my order. And since I didn’t have anything else on the go (lies! lies!), I started work on a random baby blanket in nice, rich fall colours using this Daisies Blanket pattern. I really love this pattern, it's another one that is simple but beautiful. Once my shawl wool came in the mail, as much as I wanted to finish it, I did not want to let my beautiful little baby blanket sit and rot in my WIP basket. For once, I actually stuck to it and cast it off before jumping back to my crochet. (Actually, that may also be a bit of a fib. I mean, I am done knitting the blanket, but I still need to crochet and embroider some little flowers for it. At least it's not attached to needles anymore, right??) 

Sneak peak of my Autumn Daisies Blanket.

I was off work Wednesday to go to a few appointments and take care of a couple of errands. This meant lots of time on the bus, which meant lots of time for uninterrupted hooky :) I really made a ton of progress on the shawl and finished the last non-border row - all 359 stitches of it!

My stripey penelope shawl waiting for some finishing touches and good blocking!

Now it's decision time. I'm not sure if I want to use the border design from the pattern. It's nice and well written but a little more showy than what I had in mind. Plus I'm afriad of the lacy edge getting caught on things around the office. You may think that sounds crazy but you would be amazed how many things I have snagged clothes and wraps on in my cubicle. Admittedly, this is likely my own fault and not my cubicle's... No matter where the fault lay, this necessitates a plain and simple finishing touch - maybe a few small stripes of the blues and then a picot stitch like the one below from Craftsy. I've been looking at edgings and nothing seems to have clicked. At almost 400 stitches a row, I'm hesitant to take a gamble and ending up with something I don't love. I've frogged enough projects now to know that I should just take my time. I'll know when I find "it".

Picot edging from Craftsy

Any advice from my crafty friends? Do you have any go-to border stitches for your blankets or shawls? Send me pictures and links!

Up next: Miss N and I went and checked out Seedy Saturday this morning. I'll fill you in on our adventures. I've also got a few more projects to show you and would like to do a post about our camping goals for this year. Anyone else planning their summer camping (or other vacations) yet?