Dyeing the Winter Blues Away

In Ottawa there is this fabulous wool shop called Wabi Sabi that has a big dyeing studio that you can rent and use for your art projects. In a few weeks we are teaching a felting workshop with our Mom and so needed to prepare a few items for the show and tell. 

Here is what happened: 

Our talented mama prepped the dye bath

We happily started our little projects all while listening to the conversation of the knitting group in the front of the shop. 

Mumford and Sons was playing...and...A jar of coral dye accidentally met it’s untimely death 

The walls, our hands, our mama, the floor were all dyed lovely shades of coral. We looked sunburned!

The knitting group fell instantly silent. The shop girls came to our rescue, laughed and helped us clean it all up..we ended up all having a big laugh and lots of fun. 

Here is what the finished dyed prefelt ended up becoming:

 

Happy Monday! :)

A Friday Ritual

A single photo without explanation. A moment captured- a time to be still, to breathe and remember. 

Happy Friday!

Carole's Melt in your Mouth Cinnamon Buns!

Here in Canada winter blahs settle in usually around now. Most of us in my family are all trying to find ways to not go stir crazy: we create, eat, run, eat some more, drink port, knit and watch lots of movies and maybe eat again. Our mom Carole, makes the absolute best -winter days-beat- the -blahs- cinnamon buns! When we hear that bread machine whirring our little hearts (and big hearts!) leap for joy. Here is her classic recipe that makes you want to go back for a second, and maybe third. Enjoy!

Carole's Melt in your Mouth Cinnamon Buns

Dough

Using a bread machine, add ingredients in exact order and start on dough setting.

1-1/3 cup of filtered water

2 tbsp powdered soya milk

1-1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp Earth Balance or organic butter 

3- 3/4 cup Whole Grain Spelt Flour (check out this link if you are new to Spelt Flour: benefits of Spelt )

1 tsp bread machine yeast

For Filling:

1/2 Cup of Earth Balance or organic butter 

1/2 to 1 cup of brown sugar (up to what you like)

1 or 2 tablespoons of cinnamon (again up to you :)

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 400'. Butter up baking dish. 

Once dough is done, melt the 1/2 cup of earth balance or butter and set aside. Place dough on a flat surface, let it rest for a few minutes.

 Knead dough for a few minutes adding extra flour as needed. Roll out dough into a large rectangle about a half inch in thickness. Spread melted butter over dough with a brush or your clean hands. Spread generously with brown sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon. ( at your discretion- we like to load it up! ) 

Roll dough into a big roll and cut into about 12 pieces. 

Place on baking dish, cover with a clean towel and let rise for about 25 minutes in a warm area. Bake at 400'  for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and turn onto a clean surface while still hot. Let cool and add glaze.

Lazy Glaze

1 tsp melted butter or Earth Balance
3 tbsp of soya milk
1 cup of icing sugar
1 tsp of vanilla 

Mix milk and butter, add icing sugar and vanilla until a desired thickness. You might need more or less of each depending how you like your glaze. If you are like us, we slather it on in vast amounts. 

Enjoy! 

How to make Colourful Cowls *Easy Pattern*

Is your neck feeling a bit chilly these days? Do you look at your odds and ends of yarn and wonder what am I going to do?? Have you been knitting scarves for years thinking that’s all you can do? Well it’s time then to introduce..the Cowl! It’s easy to make, fun to wear and the options are endless.

I love making cowls because they are super simple. A few Christmases ago I made one for each of the ladies in my family. Here is the pattern I made:

Super Easy Cowl

What you need:

Size 6.5mm (10.5 US) circular needles

200g of yarn of choice:

I used 2 skeins of Berroco Campus for my mom’s cowl and 1 skein of Misti Alpaca, 1 skein of Berroca Campus for Charlotte’s (I stripped it)

 A darning needle to weave in the ends.

Instructions:

Cast on 96 stitches. Join together in the round. Knit stocking stitch until you have 15 inches or so. We like ours big as they wrap nicely and fold well in coats. Cast off! Weave in ends.

Now be creative! Switch up the stitch and wool if you feel inclined. 

I made another cowl for Charlotte this year but used odds and ends of wool. I made it smaller too, so that it would be a bit different. I also knit with a spool of glitter thread to give it a bit of sparkle.

Leah wanted a huge big chunky cowl, so I used this pattern: Gap-tastic Cowl
I used the Misti again and added a skein of Ozark in the middle.

What are you knitting these days?

Ladies toss away those skin tight t-s and bring in..

The Boyfriend Shirt!

We three girls are huge fans of the L, XL women's shirts and the L fitted boyfriend shirts . Not because we want to hide ourselves or bury away in large amounts of fabric..but because they are so cool! So versatile! So fun to use in outfits! They are also classy and oh so much more comfy then the skin tight t’s. Toss or give away those stuck to you, painted on t's and replace with the  Boyfriend Shirt. 

If you take the time to scour the shops to find the right shirt, it pays off and the look will work for you.  We like shirts from Gap and Zaras, but we watch and only shop on their sale days. You can look in second hand shops too, or look in your brother/ boyfriend/man in your life’s closet. Tip: just ask first : )

This is Leah’s shirt: It is a L fitted Boyfriend shirt from Gap that we found for $10.00!

 

Here is the same shirt worn three different ways, on three different girls. We all are wearing skinny jeans of various brands, but you could also wear a pencil skirt with any of these outfits.

The Off to Class and a Coffee Date Look:  Leah likes the shirt as it is and pulls it off with lots of pearl accessories. The pearl necklaces are from our ninety-seven year old Great Aunt. We love preloved jewelry! Her shoes are a ten dollar Target find, and the bracelets were from Joe's.

The Saturday Night Out on the Town Look: Charlotte loves cowls and feathers with a passion. She switches the look up with a skinny belt. It gives that nice tiny waist and looks super cool with a cowl or scarf. This sparkly cowl is from Zaras-another ten dollar find! We love peacock feathers, and put together those earrings last winter. 

 

Hi Ho Hi Ho it's Off to Work I Go: Renee dresses up the Shirt with a cotton black blazer from Zaras. Hehe another sale score!The funky feather necklace was a gift, and the cool leather bracelet is from one of our favourites shops here in Ottawa called Heavens to Betsy.

 

 

 



How would you accessorize the Shirt?

 

Oh what to do with that Messy Monday Hair!!!

It is Monday and sometimes on Mondays we wake up and feel like this:

Eeeekk!

But then Super Stylist Leah comes to our rescue!!

We know not all you have Super Stylist Leahs in your home, so today she shares how to do a really easy look.























The Twisted Charlotte Ponytail

This look is a very simple dressed up ponytail.



Step 1: Pick up the sides. Run your finger up an inch above each ear. Grab the hair and twist it.

Step 2: Once you have a twist around two inches, push the twist up to give it a little volume. Secure with bobby pins.

Step 3: Run your fingers through the hair that is left and guide it into a ponytail, and secure with elastic.

Step 4: Pick up a section of hair from underneath the ponytail that is slightly thicker than the elastic. Wrap it around the elastic twice.

Step 5: Secure a bobby pin close to the elastic, underneath the ponytail. If there is an end sticking
out, pin it into the hair that is gathered close to the head.

Voila!

We love you Super Stylist Leah!

A Friday Ritual

A single photo without explanation. A moment captured- a time to be still, to breathe and remember. 

Happy Friday!