Fisherman's Wool

Here's a project I finished back at the end of November! I originally started these because I wanted some tall, cabled socks to wear in my boots. But partway through I changed my mind and they became woolly leg warmers (still perfect for in my boots!).

I wasn't sure how much I'd wear these, but I got them done around Thanksgiving time and since then I have worn them a ton! I love them!! I've found that leg warmers are a lot more versatile than I thought - with jeans, skirts, etc!
















( I especially love that they won't wear a hole in the heel like my other homemade socks, so I can be wearing them for a long time to come!)








They are made with Fishermen's Wool - 100% raw wool from a sheep! :) While some may find wool itchy, I love the feel of natural fibers and maybe I'm used to it, because once I'm wearing them I don't find them itchy, just SO WARM and cozy!!

Cute with short boots too!

I completely made up my own pattern, so I may or may not be able to repeat it from my scribbled notes... But I very rarely do something the same way twice anyway!

Painting with Words

Last summer a friend of mine encouraged me to start creatively writing again, which I used to love to do but hadn't for quite a while! So I began again to try to describe the surroundings and experiences of my life and the thoughts that I was pondering. One of my favorite things to do is try to describe a scene in such a way that you can picture it, feel it, smell it, and be there with me!

The small work boat that I drive all summer

When I'm not at school, I work as a Captain on a small transportation boat in the San Juan Islands of WA. This job provides me with so many incredible experiences and my soul is constantly being fed with the beauty and splendor of the creation around me! Here is a “painting” of an early morning out in the islands:

The First Breaths

Aug '13

It's a gray day. But completely calm.

The surface of the silvery water is smooth like silk, rippling only occasionally at the disturbance of a diving bird or a porpoise coming up for air. Reflected on the glassy expanse is the light gray cloud cover softly blanketing the sky, and brightening a little now so I know the sun must have risen somewhere above.

Wispy strands of mist cling on the rocky point and sweep along the shore, looking like strands of cobwebs that God forgot to sweep up last night. Up the wooded island mountainside smoke appears to be wafting skyward from amongst the trees; are fires burning? No, it's just a trick of the steamy clouds.

The world is still and quiet; I and my silver boat are the only things stirring in this early morning oasis.

But now a low beach is appearing through the haze, with small, sleepy houses sitting along the shore. There at the water's edge a man stands waiting for me, covering a yawn with a work-worn hand and pulling his hat down as rain drops begin to fall. I guess I'm not the only one awake, beginning another day of life and work, moving along to the rhythm of the islands.

The drops are coming faster and wetter now – I pull up my hood to go out on deck. With a smile and a simple “good morning” I welcome the man into my warm cabin. He answers back and then a comfortable silence rests between us as the beach falls away behind; it's too early for talk.

It's a good day. The rain will stop and everything will wake up soon, but for now this is just my own world – a watery landscape; quiet, mysterious, alive with God and brimming with possibility. There's a smile in the Creator's eyes, and in mine too, in anticipation of another day of living and breathing with Him...

The islands await!

Westley's first Christmas sweater!

I was working on these cute boot socks when I decided I really needed to start my baby nephew's sweater (This was the beginning of December!). So I began yet another project! I did end up finishing this one sock, but still haven't started it's mate yet...

For Westley's sweater I started with the same pattern I used for Ruben's sweater (check out that post and pics here!), but this time I changed it up even more, and decided to try adding a hood! The most challenging part is knitting with four balls of yarn at one time, while also switching back and forth between 4-5 needles! But it turns out looking so neat!

I got it finished just in time for Christmas!

Merry Christmas Westley!

Simple Christmas Creations!

At the very end of November I had the delightful opportunity to go with some friends to the Lassen National Forest lands to cut down a Christmas tree for our little apartment! We drove way out into the forest and found some beautiful trees! 

Because I didn't have any Christmas ornaments here, of course I had to make some! So here are just a few of my favorite creations this holiday~

I love my tree! It brought joy into our house all Christmas!

Poppies finished!

I finished a rather large painting a few days ago! I wanted something to fill in the big blank space on our livingroom wall, so this is what I came up with! It's the biggest painting I've ever done (24x36), and I really enjoyed it, so I'll probably be doing another big one for the opposite wall!

This is the small watercolor version I painted first.

Almonds Almonds Almonds!

Mmmm... Fresh, foamy almond milk! Love it!! 

I've been making almond milk at least once a week, and my favorite part is when it has just come out of the blender all foamy! A few people have asked how I make it, so here's my super simple recipe!

Almond Milk:

All the amounts are variable, depending on how thick you like your milk and how you like the flavor. Experiment and have fun!

I use about 1 Cup of raw almonds for 4 Cups of almond milk.

-Soak almonds in water, anywhere from 7-12 hrs. I usually put them in a bowl of water when I go to bed if I want to make the milk in the morning, or start them in the morning before school if I will have more time in the evening. 

-Drain and rinse in fresh water. 

-Place about 1 Cup of almonds (or slightly more for thicker milk) in a blender with 4 Cups of water and a pinch of salt, and blend thoroughly.

-Pour the milk through a nut-milk bag or other fine fabric to strain it, and squeeze the pulp. The milk will be foamy and delicious!

-For VANILLA Almond milk, rinse out your blender and pour your strained milk back in, along with a blurp of vanilla and 4 or 5 dates (or sweetener of your choice). Also, when I make vanilla milk I usually wait to put the salt in until this step, but I don't think it matters.

-Blend thoroughly again, and there you have it!

After a while in the fridge the foam settles out and there may be some unusual looking separation that occurs, but it is actually usual... just shake it up a bit and it will look normal again!

Enjoy!

P.S. If you're wondering what to do with the almond pulp, just place it on a cookie sheet and brake it up as fine as you can, and place it in a warm oven (I warm up the oven and then turn it off - you don't want to bake it, just dry it out). When the pulp is dry, blend it into flour in your blender. Then make gluten-free cookies out of it! :)

Weekend Gnome project!

Last weekend my core group at school had an October "harvest party" and costume contest - the costume theme was from the woods (like trees, mushrooms, animals, Robin Hood, etc...). Sooo, because I love gnomes so much, I decided I would become a forest gnome!

I only had a few days to create a costume, and the challenge was that the only fabric I had on hand was.... a set of ugly tan curtains that had been abandoned in the bottom of our linen closet. So, I decided to cut them up!

This costume was the result! The curtain turned into a cute tunic with yarn ties at the neck, the skirt I had made a few years ago out of scraps of quilt fabric, and I ran to Joanns to grab a piece of reddish-orange for my hat.

Leaf embellishments

I realized as I was working on the details of the shirt, that I was spending an awful lot of time on a simple curtain costume, but hey, I was having fun sewing! I did the seams well and put time and excellence into it just because I can!

Sleeve detail 

Skirt patches

I had great fun being a gnome for a day! I'm sure I will find an excuse to dress up again sometime soon!