{Double Fan Scarf - free pattern}

I've been wanting to use this yarn for a while now, I wanted to see how the colours change in it. I've been looking for a perfect scarf pattern, which I found (well, almost) in a book borrowed from my local library.

I say almost because I've modified it a bit: the yarn that I used in a bit thinner than the one used by the original pattern; in addition, I wanted a bulkier, wider scarf. So I doubled up on the fan column (and made a few small modifications as well).

{Tomato Marmalade}

It's been yet another summer with abundance of tomatoes! Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining; just running out of ideas on what to do with them... Until I looked in this book I have that contains recipes of various preserves.

Salsa? Done...
Spaghetti sauce? Been there...
Tomato marmalade? Well, that's interesting!...

So I decided to give it a try... until I was in the middle of chopping and measuring my tomatoes and I realized that the recipe has an error in it - it states 2.5 lbs/2 kg of tomatoes. But wait, 2.5 lbs is only about 1.1 kg rather than 2 kg!!! AND the book recommends to follow the recipe exactly as the balance between fruit, sugar, pectin and acid is crucial for gel formation. What was I to do?!... I just decided to sort of wing it. I am quite please with the result (including my kid that now wants it on her sandwich ALL THE TIME!). Try it with your chicken or fish :)

{A blanket of puff shells}

After finally finishing a blanket for my son, I figured I should do one for my daughter as well. Lucky for me, a local small yarn shop was having a sale! There, I picked up 30 balls of lemony Rowan "Cotton Rope" yarn (that's right, 30 balls! and it cost the total of only $30). This particular pattern - 3D, or puff shells - is not complicated at all; what takes time is the sheer size that I decided to attempt. The result looks beautiful, and what's more important, my daughter just loves it!

{Basic Fruit Purée}

Starting your baby on solids is an exciting milestone, but can be a bit daunting for any new parent. You want to give your child the best, and you know that food is a big part of that. If you choose the old-school way of starting your baby on purées (the route I took with both of my kids, at least for now), you can either buy prepared jars of purées or make your own.

Making your own is SUPER simple, especially in the beginning. You can make batches of single ingredient purées and freeze them; when ready to serve, it's fun to combine with other things such as cereals, meats, etc., or just offer on their own. I promise you, baby's taste buds will love it!

Today, I'll show you how to make fruit purées. I've tried many different ways of preparing it, and my favourite in terms of taste is baking. Yes, it IS more time consuming (but that's just because you have to wait for your fruit to bake), but the outcome is delicious!

Nectarine purée thickened with oatmeal cereal

{Delicious Meatless Spaghetti Sauce}

Although we live in a city, I garden in our backyard, and this is that time of the year where tomatoes are starting to ripen. Not to jinx it, but we get a generous amount of tomatoes every year! I really love tomatoes, but even I can't eat that much! In the past, I've done a delicious and easy salsa recipe (found HERE), and a few years ago I had a lot of tomatoes still green when we got our first frost that I made a relish.

This morning I weighed my tomatoes - 5 lbs! What to do with that? I didn't want more salsa, so the next best thing, I thought, would be homemade spaghetti sauce. I've never done it from scratch, only used store-bought, but we all know how different (and better) things taste when they'Re made from scratch. Am I right?!

So... let's dive into it!

Why I chose a meatless variety: I wanted to make a big batch - can it, so we could enjoy it for more than one meal. Canning meat products is more complicated (don't want bacteria to start breeding and spoil everything), and this process usually requires a pressure canner (which I don't have, have never used, and they are expensive). Plus, meatless given you more options when adding meat later - you can do the traditional ground beef/pork, but it can also be chicken, even sausage; the possibilities are many!

{Crochet Suck Pads}

Very recently, I became a happy owner of Beco Gemini baby carrier. My baby loves it, but they don't come cheap! So to protect the straps from drool, spit-up and chewing, I highly recommend getting/making some suck pads. These are usually sewn from cotton fabric. Although I can sew a little bit (and these ARE pretty easy to do), I'm not good enough to figure out velcro, clips, etc. I crochet, that's what I like!

These suck pads are SUPER easy to do - all you need to know are a few simple crochet stitches and how to crochet in a round. The suck pads will be slip-on.

{Tip: Yarn Winding}

Let's face it, you've ever tried knitting or crocheting, you have run into a problem with size, or pattern, or something else that you've required you to loose the yarn again. If you decide to do so early enough, winding it back is rarely a problem. If however, you have a lot to wind back, or if you bought yarn that comes in a skein rather than a ball, you might have a bit of a mess on your hands.

In my most recent case, I decided to crochet myself a top. However, I didn't really like part of the pattern offered by the diagram, so I substituted it for something else. Problem - sizing became an issue (the pattern I chose wasn't as stretchy making my future garment too small for me to wear).

So I loosen it... all of it... The prospect of winding it was daunting. That is until I found a pencil to sacrifice and my handy drill!!! It's SUPER quick and easy:

* just wind a little bit onto the pencil by hand,
* tighten the end of the pencil into the drill, and push the "trigger"
* while doing the above, direct the yarn up and down the pencil to even out the distribution on yarn on the pencil.

See, I promised that this would be an easy hack!

Cheers,
Nadia

{Fluffy Pancakes}

My mom and grandma make the best fluffy pancakes hands down! Living in Canada, I haven't been able to replicate it as their recipe calls for use of kefir, a type of fermented milk product (they do sell it in stores here; although close, it's not quite the same in my opinion).

Finally, about 6 months ago I came across this recipe that yields awesome fluffy pancakes that everyone in my family can't get enough of! Try it, and I'm sure it will become your new Sunday favourite.

{Easy Basic Salsa Recipe}

A short time ago, I was given about 10 lbs of tomatoes. Although I absolutely love tomatoes, there's just no way to eat that much before they spoil. I decided that doing some preserves would be the best option, and salsa is a great choice! I've looked through a number of recipes before settling on this particular one. I like it because it's simple, requires basic ingredients (no fancy spices), cooking time is long enough that there's no processing of jars to follow. It's simple, fresh and delicious!

(click on images to enlarge)

{Thick Baby Blanket}

Here it is, my first finished project to share with all of you - a blanket for my baby boy!

I'm not going to lie, this one took a really REALLY long time; granted, I only did a little bit at a time, but it's a time-consuming pattern nonetheless.

(click on images to enlarge)

I adapted the pattern from a beautiful crocheted hat I found HERE (it's in Russian, but you'll find the actual pattern diagram there as well).

{My trials}

Here's the thing - I love making things myself; be it cooking, crocheting/knitting (even a little sewing), or some other general crafting. I don't have any sort of formal training; most things I was taught when I was much younger; some things I taught myself. It doesn't always turn out well, but that doesn't stop me from trying again!

I plan on sharing my trials on this blog. I hope that you will be inspired to try my successes and help me improved my fails (I'll post some of those too, I promise!). Sometimes, I lack time, but I'm going to try and post as often as I can!

I love comments and always try to reply. Please be kind. :)
Suggestions and tips for improvement are always welcome!


Take care.