Making as a way of giving Thanks

As a dual citizen (US/Canada), I'm often feeling betwixt and between this time of year.  We celebrated Thanksgiving in October in Winnipeg, but right now, everyone --my family and friends--in the US is running around, getting ready for Thanksgiving.  We will be having school and work as usual tomorrow... but I can be thankful anyhow...

1)So, I'm throwing my own party here on the blog.  First, if you've been wanting to buy any of my Rav Patterns , including my brand new pattern, Woolly, you can save 25% off any of these patterns on Ravelry from now until November 27th at midnight (Central Time, US & Canada) with the coupon code:
Thanks

2) Second, if you are the kind of person who wants to say thank you by knitting for others, well, that is awesome.  Yarncanada.ca wants to help you by giving yarn for you to knit for your good cause.
They are offering free yarn (with a contest) to knitters in both the US and Canada who like to knit for good causes.  So, if you knit for charity, hop on over there and enter their competition; the deadline is December 15th.

3) I cannot really cope with this time of year without cooking stuff.  So, I'm making a roast and some potatoes and sweet potatoes and some squash and kale---and....my Professor bought me this cool set of things I had to tell you about.  Here in Winnipeg, we have lots of root crops.  We have an extended season vegetable share this year, so we're getting a lot of cabbage, carrots, etc and there's only so much slaw a person can eat, let me tell you.

As my friends know, my attention span for cooking is about 24 hours.  After that, I seem to forget things like sourdough starters or sauerkraut and, at least when I lived in the Southern US, they would grow strange pink or green colors and the Professor would come along and throw it out to protect us from keeling over.  (He took those university health and safety classes while I did Arts& Social Sciences. :)

But I still was curious about fermentation.  Small batch fermentation in a cooler climate seemed like more of a sure thing, so he bought me Pickle Pipes and glass Pickle Pebble glass weights to try this out with canning jars and rings.  (We already had loads of those) I'm making my first small batches of sauerkraut and pickled carrots now.  They sure look good sitting on the counter...and these silicon pickle pipes have a little valve at the top so the fermentation gets air without introducing anything else into the concoction.  I look forward to seeing how it comes out.

--Canadians, here are links to Amazon.ca for these things, I used the US links above first--
 Pickle Pipes and Pickle Pebbles

(I'm using a handmade book by my friend Janet as a way of keeping notes on my kitchen experiments.)

Have a wonderful holiday, or a great Thursday--wherever you live!

A Sale, Slow Fashion and Fun

Thanks for all the kind thoughts about Harry-- we appreciate it and miss him very much.
And now, some knitting talk:
A while back, I wrote about my stash and a sweater I'd just made.  Here's the thing--I made the sweater, and the kid was happy wearing it.  Very happy.  However, I just didn't love the yarn, it felt droopy to me, so I gifted it to my mom in case she could use it.  It went to Virginia.

Time passed and my kid loved the heck out of this sweater, and it stayed in good shape.  However, this year, when he put it on, the sleeves were way too short, and so was the length of the sweater.  (This kid's one long string bean in shape!)
I dug in the stash but could not find the leftovers...as they no longer lived in Canada.  My mom came to the rescue and mailed the yarn back from Virginia...so re-fashioning this sweater cost a lot in international postage.  (Thanks, Mom!)  Here is a quick snapshot of the sweater, with it's new additions.  Note the stripes on the sleeves and two additional orange and blue stripes on the bottom.  I also ditched the seed stitch at the bottom in favor of ribbing, as the seed stitch made it look even more droopy.  Kid is back to wearing and enjoying this enormously.  I still find Rowan Felted Tweed DK a bit limp, but it knits up nicely and has worn very well.

This year, I realized it was not possible for me to be coming up with much to say about slow fashion in October, as I did last year, as I really live it all year round whenever I can.  This sweater remake is a great example.

Also a good example?  My twins were doing horse races in the yard a few days ago after school.  I made their race horses--they are hobby horses.  I doubled old Smart Wool socks with big holes to make those horse heads, and used bits of felt from felted sweaters (from diaper soakers when we cloth diapered) to make their eyes and other features.  The only costs were many hours of my time and the broom sticks from the hardware store.

In honour of Canadian Thanksgiving, I am running a little Ravelry sale on my patterns.  Until October 16th (ends midnight, CT US & Canada), my knitting patterns will all be on sale with the coupon code: Thanks

Also, I've learned recently that my local bookstore, McNally Robinson, has copies of all three of my books available online here, and actual print copies of my latest book, From the Outside In are now available there, too.  So, if you like to do things the old fashioned way and buy your books in person in Winnipeg, now you can!

Happy American Thanksgiving!

I missed North American Thanksgiving this year.  Yup.  I'm a little sad about that.
I was in the US for Canadian Thanksgiving in October, and in I'm in Canada for US Thanksgiving... but I am still thankful, and want to pass along something to you.

Here it is.  You can save 25% off of any of my Ravelry Pattern downloads from November 23rd through November 28th.  (the sale ends at midnight, CT, US & Canada)

Please use the Coupon Code:
Thanksgiving2016

So, after all the turkey is cooked and you're ready to relax, sit back and get knitting, you'll have some new patterns, on sale, to enjoy.  Here's the link to my Ravelry patterns.  Knit On!

American Thanksgiving- a sale

Pumpkin colored Spire Smock from Knit Green-- available on Sale at Ravelry

As an American living in Canada (and a permanent resident here), today, Thursday, is just a regular day.  I mean, I know it's American Thanksgiving--happy Thanksgiving!  However, for us, we had Thanksgiving and a holiday in October....it was awesome, thanks, and we are having an ordinary work day.

Well, ordinary besides having a sale.

Until the end of November, I'm offering 30% off all my patterns for sale on Ravelry.  This includes my eBook, Three Ply.  If you were wanting to send a knitter a gift, you might want to consider a Yarn Spinner Story+Pattern.  However, for a real deal, you'd buy Three Ply, because if you purchase it at this discount....all the patterns are 50% off.

There's a coupon code: Thanksgiving

Please, Enjoy!  Use it!  :)

A funny story or two about this odd North American holiday disconnect.

Recently, an American relative asked my professor husband what he would be doing on Thanksgiving, meaning ....Thursday.  He explained that he would be at work, likely at his desk or in his laboratory.  "But," the relative replied, sounding confused, "you always call me then!"

"Yes," says the absent minded professor.  "I use the phone on my desk."

(Did you laugh?!  Understated humor, indeed....)

Second story:
I visited with an American friend this morning who has lived in Canada for a long time.  Probably she moved here when I was in grade school, or something like that.  She had tea and apple crumble ready, and we 'celebrated' the day for a couple of hours by getting together.  She told me her husband felt desperately deprived without his "All-American" pumpkin pie, but she was offering him a heart-healthy apple crumble.

I explained that nobody in our family is in love with pumpkin, but that apple desserts were definitely a thing with us.

At the end of the visit, she handed me a treat to take home, and it was a pumpkin bread.  We laughed.  I traded her one pumpkin bread for most of the apple crumble.  I bet her husband will enjoy it!   We sure will eat the crumble for dessert....

Kid and Adult sized Basketweave Hat--on Sale on Ravelry

See?  Not so ordinary a day after all.  Homebaked dessert on a weeknight!?  Wow.

Say Hi or Happy Thursday in the comments, ok? :) Joanne