Rambling Roses Design

Ah September, I expected you to be so very different! Sigh!!

What should have been the first day of school filled with the excitement of seeing all their friends, exchanging summer stories, getting locker assignments, and meeting teachers, our kids were greeted with the unfortunate news that the teachers’ union in our province declared a full-scale strike 🙁 So, September began with no school and this continues indefinitely!

I decided to take the glass half full approach and told the kids that we would be doing “school” every morning at home. This announcement was met with a few groans, but I did say that there would be plenty of field trips involved to accompany their learning which made them change their minds real fast! Today is Day 5 of our school-at-home routine and I think a trip to Science World is warranted later in the week!

While we do school, I’ve been hand stitching some english paper pieced hexagons.

With our current schedule being the way it is, all I can manage to do are a couple hexagons here and there. I salute the many moms who homeschool their kids all the time!! Man, it’s hard to coax them to stay on course especially given that Prithvi is in Grade 10 and Kiki is in Grade 2. So, it’s mostly me “teaching” Miss. K while occasionally hovering over Prithvi. Yeah, pre-calculus is way different from regrouping numbers!!

I’ve sort of lost my knitting mojo and I’m sure it will return as soon as the leaves begin to turn outside. I’ve got a couple cozy things on my knitting needles so it’s not like I’m stuck looking for a project or anything 😉

Anyways, if I keep up with the the hexie making, I think can get enough done to make a cute notions pouch soon(ish). These little hexies are the perfect way to use up fabric scraps.

I’ve got a bunch of scraps.

If that wasn’t enough, while we were away, I bought a bag of… you guessed right, scraps!

Time to get back to no school-school. Talk soon 🙂

Wewantthisstriketobedonealready!!

Posted by Preeti & filed under Kids, Rambling, Sewing. This post has 7 comments.

It’s hard to switch gears from the pace of summer vacation to back-to-school mode, but such is life and it’s got to be done! We had a splendid time visiting the Oregon coast and it was one of the most memorable holidays we’ve had so far.

Of course, we took thousands of pictures but don’t worry, I’ll only share a few 😉

The Oregon coastline is one of the most spectacular driving routes in North America. As we passed sandy beaches, majestic cliffs, gigantic windswept boulders and lighthouses, it was hard not to be overwhelmed by the breathtaking beauty of it all.

We began our journey by crossing over this very, VERY long bridge from Washington into Oregon. The Astoria-Megler Bridge spans the Columbia River that separates the two states. Our first night was spent in lovely Astoria.

We did all of the touristy things that Astoria has to offer including climbing to the top of the extremely tall Astoria Column.

Once you get to the top, you completely forget that your knees feel like jelly and your lungs are on fire because the view is simply amazing!

The restored home of Capt. George Flavel and his family, the Flavel House Museum was a nice stop in Astoria.

(someone needs to really clean out that dirty camera lens, oops!)

I especially loved this staricase at the back of the house but I do not envy the maids who might have had to trek up and down those stairs all day doing various chores.

And look at all the tiny, perfect stitches on these hand pieced quilts.

I love the soft colors and the look on this one.

If you are ever in Astoria, you HAVE to stop for fish and chips at Bowpicker Fish and Chips. The lines can be long, but the wait is so worth it!!

We left Astoria and continued on down the coast thinking that we would stay the night at Seaside or Cannon Beach. Considering the many hotels that are between these two cities, we thought we’d find a room for the night! NOT!!!!! There wasn’t a single room available unless we drove three hours south to Florence! Vineet jokingly told the kids that we might have to spend the night in the car, they didn’t think it was one bit funny 😀 Anyways, we knew our best bet would be to head inland into Portland and stay there for the night and so we made that impromptu detour. What’s a family vacation without some adventure right? We’ve been to Portland before and we love that city so it was nice to be able to enjoy an unexpected visit 🙂

That “winging it with a place to stay” was only for the one night because the next part of our vacation was actually booked earlier this spring. We found a beach house to rent for a week in Netarts Bay which is part of Tillamook County and it was just amazing. The house is set up on a hill and overlooks the bay to the west and the open ocean to the east.

There’s a walking path from the house straight down to the beach. The sound of the waves and the couple dozen resident seals sunning themselves on the nearby sandbars, bliss!

Spectacular sunsets and views of the Three Arches standing strong in the Pacific Ocean, so very memorable!

The kids go back to school on September 2, the day after Labor Day. Bittersweet after the summer we’ve enjoyed together as a family. Although, I’m looking forward to the quiet so that I can actually get back to my sewing machine!

Summer 9

True that we have a few more weeks until summer officially ends, but September always feels like the beginning of a new chapter!

Posted by Preeti & filed under Family, Travel, Vacation. This post has 3 comments.

We’re heading out to the Oregon Coast in a couple days, so I’m writing this post in-between loads of laundry!

Like many others worldwide, we ventured out to catch a glimpse of the August supermoon. It was lovely, but the sunset before that was even more spectacular. Too bad we didn’t get any sunset pictures since it was all about the moon that night!

While we were waiting for moonrise, we spotted a beaver swimming to his house. I’ve never seen one in the wild before and I admit that I was more thrilled about that sighting than the whole moon thing!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer so far and none of that Polar Vortex insanity for my wintering Southern Hemisphere friends.

This summer has been so different from our usual try to do everything all at once before it ends style. There has been plenty of just ’cause and things like, let’s go get milkshakes even if we have to drive 40 minutes to that old-fashioned diner that makes them or decide to walk by the lake even though it’s bear country out there and walk really fast to trick those bears, (yeah, that doesn’t really work because mama bear got all protective about her bear cub and I could taste my heart at the back of my throat!!) The things that happen only during the dog days of summer. I love it! I think I’m a summer girl. But then again, I say that about every season 😉

Catch you on instagram while we’re on the road and oh yeah, I’ll be packing enough craft projects to keep my fingers busy. Maybe I’ll even finish something!

Posted by Preeti & filed under Rambling. This post has 3 comments.

I didn’t realize shawl knitting could be so much fun! You take stripes, garter stitch and short rows and you have yourself a winning combination! The Color Affection shawl was the perfect relaxing summer project and I was almost sad when I bound off the last stitch. Not for too long though, as I was plotting my next stripey project 🙂

For this shawl, I used Tosh Merino Light. The yellow is leftover from the Vitamin D cardigan I finished last summer and I paired it with a faded blue and a deep blue-black.

As far as knitterly notes go… I began the shawl using a garter stitch tab using Stephen West’s instructions. As always, I used a larger needle to knit the entire pattern and I’m glad I did because you really have to be mindful while knitting stripes especially when you switch colors. If you knit too tight (like I tend to do), then chances are that you will get a scrunched up edge. The answer to my tight knitting woes :: automatically reaching for larger knitting needles 🙂

Additionally with this particular pattern, to ensure that there is no puckering in the three colored stripes section, I added a yarn over (YO) between the first two stitches on every row. On the return trip, I dropped the YO and finished knitting the row. The extra bit of yarn adds the right amount of slack to help the stripes lay flat and once you’re on the next row, you can’t even tell that there was an (intentional) YO.

I bound off using a larger needle and Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off (JSSBO). Ysolda explains this technique really well in her tutorial. The edge turned out super stretchy and gave the whole shawl and smooth finished look. I’m going to use the JSSBO all the time now!

Color Affection (my Ravelry notes)
Pattern: Color Affection by Veera Valimaki
Yarn: Tosh Merino Light in “Candlewick”, “Denim” & “Thunderstorm”
Needles: Size US 7 / 4.5 mm

The shawl turned out to be a generous size and is so lovely and cozy wrapped around. I’m sure I will be so grateful for its warmth during morning drop-offs at school later this year 🙂

I might even knit this pattern again… now, that’s saying a lot since I hardly ever knit the same pattern twice 😉

Posted by Preeti & filed under Accessories, Finished Knits, Shawl. This post has 8 comments.

A few days ago I posted this on instagram

Our berry bonanza from a local blueberry farm. These are ahh-MAZ-ing! Blueberries are a regular feature in our kitchen throughout the year since they freeze perfectly. Blueberry pancakes, muffins, pies, smoothies, even in salads :: blueberries and crumbled goat cheese over arugula, my fave!

I thought I should try making blueberry scones. Actually, I’m not a big fan of scones because I don’t like the after taste of baking soda. Then, I found this scone recipe which uses fresh blueberries, lemon juice and most importantly, no baking soda!

From start to finish, this batch of scones took less than 30 minutes to make.

The perfect accompaniment to a mid-morning cup of coffee. And no, I didn’t eat all of them… at once 😉

I substituted the milk with buttermilk which made them so light and fluffy and there is just enough sweetness from the berries and a tiny bit of sugar (I used less than a 1/4 cup of sugar). I also didn’t bother with the glaze.

Fresh lemon juice and lemon zest enhance the flavor of the berries. These scones got a thumbs up from Kiki so I’ll definitely be bookmarking this recipe to make again!

I’ve also got a bit of blue action happening with my crafting. A few rows of blue thrown in on my Hitchhiker Scarf.

And some tiny half square triangles with a blue theme 🙂

Posted by Preeti & filed under Accessories, Food, Kids, Quilting, Shawl. This post has 5 comments.

I showed you this picture last time…

Now these are the remnants.

Which can mean only one thing :: I finished my Color Affection Shawl, yaa-hoo!

I definitely learned a few things about combining colors with this project.

See how vibrant that yellow-gold yarn looked in the yarn cake? In the finished shawl, the blue makes the yellow appear quite muted. You can’t tell with these pictures because they are closeups and your eyes are drawn to the yellow. But from a distance, meh!

All that science behind visual color pairing aside, I actually finished something, ahh! I can’t believe it!!

I’ll get this blocked and put up a post with finished pics soon after this heat wave has passed.

There has been a bit of sewing progress too. Rows, plenty of rows.

More about these projects next time.

It’s the weekend, folks! Enjoy!!

Posted by Preeti & filed under Finished Knits, Quilting, Shawl, Stashbusting. This post has 7 comments.

Today, we celebrate this amazing, beautiful country of ours.

Happy Birthday Canada!

Red and white was the flavor of the day. These cheesecake brownies didn’t turn out as pretty as I imagined they would be. However, they get full marks for yumminess!

Of course, it’s also strawberry season (and cherry and blueberry, oh my, I’m in heaven!!) so I made our favorite summer drink.

In a cocktail shaker, crush sliced strawberries, a couple leaves of fresh mint and a half teaspoon of sugar using a muddler. Once the strawberries are smashed well, add ice a slice of lemon and a splash of Sprite to the mixture and shake well to “marry” all of the flavors. Pour into chilled bevy glasses and top up with more Sprite.

For the adults, we added 2 oz of vodka making a grown up version.

I hope you are enjoying summer in your part of the world. (Winter for my lovely southern hemisphere friends :)) I love summer evenings with breathtaking sunsets and daylight finally fading when the clock reads 10 pm.

As the evenings stretch out, our favorite thing to do lately is sit outside until the mosquitoes win and we’re forced to go inside 🙂 For such days, I’ve picked out a summer knitting project. I’m late to the Color Affection party but that changes now that my yarn is wound and I’ve cast on. Endless rows of garter stitch tranquility!

The yarn I’m using, Tosh Merino Light in Denim, Candlewick and Thunderstorm.

Posted by Preeti & filed under Accessories, Canada, Family, Food, Shawl. This post has 2 comments.

Zippered pouches are the best. I use a whole bunch whether it is to keep my knitting and sewing notions tidy, or to store my button collection, or even to keep my makeup organized. I’ve got a little one that I throw into my purse to hold items that usually get lost in the abyss. You know the “runaway” stuff that you have to fish out of the bottom of your purse, lip balm, mailbox keys, hand sanitizer, that sort of thing!

I was asked to make a set of six zippered pouches. It was great fun pulling various fabrics for each one. Since I had to make six, I went about putting them together assembly-line-style!

Each pouch uses various fabrics and the best part was adding the contrasting zipper. Zing! Pop!!

I especially love the pale blue bird on this one.

These pouches are fully lined inside so all those seams are nicely hidden.

The zippers are all from an Etsy store, Zipit. Super fast shipping!

The one below was the most fun to make 🙂

I was also requested to make three pairs of mini mats and one larger one. I couldn’t quite make these up as quickly as I did the pouches because each one is like a mini quilt, so there’s more work involved.

These are all made using Bonnie & Camille fabric in the Scrumptious line. Quite scrumptious indeed 🙂 I used Kona cotton in grey to contrast. Can’t quite remember if it’s Ash, or Smoke, or Pewter.

Whew! That was a lot of sewing. I’m glad it’s done though.

I’ve been wanting to make all of the cute little minis that keep popping up on instagram, so adorable. But first, I’ve got to finish this WIP that’s been waiting on the sidelines for over a month now.

It’s going to take a while so I’ll let you know how my progress goes! I’ve got high hopes for summer sewing… with the kids off from school, I have a feeling I’m kidding myself 😉

Posted by Preeti & filed under Bags, Sewing, Sewn Finishes. This post has 9 comments.

I cannot believe I haven’t shared details of this finished sweater yet! I guess since it’s been put away with the rest of our winter stuff, it was out-of-sight out-of-mind.

This pattern is Twigs and Willows from Alana Dakos’ book Botanical Knits. I really enjoyed knitting the yoke on this sweater with the cabled leaves and vine motif. The pattern for the yoke is written as well as charted. For this garment, I used Cascade 220 in a heathered green.

If you’ve been following my blog a while, you know that as much as I love seamless knits, I really don’t mind seaming sweater pieces together while finishing. Be warned that this is a seamed pattern.

The sweater is slightly cropped with an extra long ribbed bottom edge. I love how the pattern incorporates waist shaping into the ribbed hem.

The bulk of this cardigan is done in plain stockinette, so, it’s a relatively quick knit (says she who took almost a year from cast on to blog post, hah!)

Twigs and Willows (Ravelry)
Pattern: Twigs and Willows by Alana Dakos published in Botanical Knits
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers in colorway Turtle
Needles: Sizes US 6, 7 / 4, 4.5 mm

I’ve got a tweedy shawl on the needles even though it’s the wrong season to be knitting something this warm and wooly! I will never learn!!

Posted by Preeti & filed under Cardigans, Finished Knits. This post has 8 comments.

Ah, June’s here already. As cliché as it sounds, where has the time gone!! Last month was busy and this month is promising to be even more so. Vineet and I went away for a few days to San Francisco. It was wonderful and we loved the city.

The sights were amazing and both of us being foodies, we thoroughly enjoyed many culinary delights. So. Much. Eating!!! San Francisco is all hills, most of them face-plant steep!

Look at the street above the bridge… yeah, steep!!

The smelly but adorable residents of Pier 39 🙂

My FitBit recorded over achiever step counts each day, woot, woot! Until… I stubbed my toe on an uneven flagstone. It hurt a bit but wasn’t too bad. Then, I stubbed it again. Ouch! That hurt, big time!! Serves me right for wearing my Chucks instead of sensible walking shoes!

This happened on day 3 of our vacation and we had two more days to go. I spent the next couple days popping Advil and saying, “aw, aw, aw!” the whole time. That didn’t stop us from continuing to explore the city. Even walking down Lombard Street!

We wanted to bike across The Golden Gate Bridge. However, better judgement prevailed and we opted to take the shuttle instead… good idea!

By the time we got back home to Vancouver, my entire foot looked like it was stung by a bee and hurt like the dickens.

Off to the doctor I went and my fears were confirmed – I had broken my toe!!! But you know how it is with toes, only time can heal the break. No cast or crutches (which I am quite thankful for). Plenty of ice and rest was the only remedy. I’m still hobbling about but definitely on the road to recovery.

Memories of San Fran will always make me chuckle and next time we go, we will bring warm jackets :: man, is it ever windy and cold there. Also, I’ll most definitely be wearing sensible shoes 😉

Posted by Preeti & filed under Travel. This post has 4 comments.

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