this moment ::

Inspired by Soulemama's {This Moment}

{this moment} - a friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from my week. I want to pause and savor this moment.

making jam ::

This year we made not one, but two rounds of jam. What else to do with 20 lbs of strawberries besides eating and juicing them, right?

First recipe was inspired by Meg's post from her jam making a few weeks back. It came from "Canning for a New Generation", what a great book, with lots of tips for new canners as well as seasoned canners. When I saw that there was a recipe for a Strawberry and Lavendar Jam, I was sold! I just so happened to have fresh lavendar blooms right outside my kitchen waiting for me to make this recipe. {I also love how the book is divided into seasons which is perfect for garden planning!}

Next up was my standby Strawberry Jam recipe which we've come to enjoy making and eating each year!

Somehow, our Strawberry Jam doesn't stay around long!

mornings ::

My favorite way to start my morning isn't with coffee or tea, it's with juice, fresh from the raw fruits and vegetables in our fridge.

Today's juice was made from:

Cucumber

Celery

oranges

apple

ginger

parsley

cilantro

spinach

It is yummy! It you don't happen to have a juicer, which I didn't for a while, go by your local health food store, buy a "milk nut bag", use your blender by blending all these ingredients, and strain all the juice and pulp through the milk nut bag (a little at a time) into a bowl and you will have some fabulous nutritious juice!!! Save the leftover pump for your garden, it makes excellent compost! Enjoy!

Connecting ::

There's been lots of connecting going on around this house this weekend! It's been absolutely fantastic to see.

Here's to making the most of your weekend with your family!

this moment ::

Inspired by Soulemama's {This Moment}

{this moment} - a friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from my week. I want to pause and savor this moment!

Strawberry Picking ::

May marks the beginning of one of our favorite family outings - Strawberry picking - right next to Blueberry picking in July, Peach picking in August, and Apple picking in October - so many great things to come!! Our family really looks forward to each of these seasonal adventures, which seems to always change somewhat each year, depending on the weather, crop, crowd, etc. This year, we really wanted to find a new farm, something not too far off the beaten path, not so commercial, with big yields of fruit. For you locals, this year we found this spot which met all our goals in mind.

20 pounds later, we headed home to start working of our strawberries, for more yummies to come!!

this moment ::

Inspired by Soulemama's {This Moment}

{this moment} - a friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from my week. I want to pause and savor this moment.

Happy Mother's Day!

This little girl is making my Mother's Day magical! Hope yours is too!

this moment ::

Inspired by Soulemama's {This Moment}

{this moment} - a friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from my week. I want to pause and savor this moment.

Lessons learned ::

I had high hopes of this being Rosemary’s Easter sweater. A nice cool, cotton, soft sweater - pattern is Garter Stitch Jacket by Debbie Bliss. Indeed I met my deadline, but oh did it turn out too big! First I messed up on the fronts and had to rip them out and start over, but that was the easy fix!

There is definitely something to be learned here. This sweater. Oh my is it big. What did I do wrong? I made a gauge swatch before starting this 9-12 month pattern, checked the Debbie Bliss errata website page, {yes there are some mistakes in this original pattern, be sure to check it out before making this sweater!}, but it still turned out way too big, and she’s 19 months old! Luckily, it too is an easy fix, she just needs to grow!

What I learned is gauge is everything. I’ve gotten by the last two years of my knitting career not having to worry too much about gauge. But this last project was the crusher. From now on (and I have started two other knitting projects since this sweater was cast-off the needles) I make a swatch and have it checked by someone more experienced than me because obviously I made my swatch and thought it was correct when it wasn't!! If only I had known.

I did want to say quickly that I really love the color and feel of this yarn. I haven't particularly liked knitting with cotton yarns before because they feel stiff to me, but this was good, and cool to knit with. It's Cotton Supreme by Universal Yarn in lavender. I’ll definitely be using this brand again.