homemade & lovin' it!

so...the kids all came down with funky colds & coughs this week. :( 

that is the bad news...the good news is that as i have been slowly creeping my way into the world of herbalistic remedies, we made our own medicines!! 

 it was so exciting & so...well, it was so cool to be able to make our own cough syrup vs spending $8-10 on the herbal ones @ the market. 

(side note, one of my good friend says 'market' instead of grocery store & i just LOVE it!  so, i am giving it a go...anything to help the chores seem less chore-ish, right?? ;)

anyway, 3 out of our 4 children woke up with coughs right off the bat, so i whipped up a standard honey & lemon juice cough syrup to get us on the road to healing...

super simple & you can use it immediately!!

1/2 c honey

1 1/2 tbps lemon juice

doseage: 1-2 tsp as needed.

yup, that's it! i put ours in a little jam jar, put on the lid & then shook it until combined.

the other & more potent & has to sit overnight, so i made it up as soon as i was done dosing out the other.

take a good-sized (yellow) onion & a squat little jar only slightly larger than said onion.  slice the onion up real thin & stuff it into the jar, then cover it all with honey.  if yours is like mine, you might need to stick your fingers (or a spoon -- in retrospect ;) in & sort of mush it all around to allow the honey to work its way down the sides & to the bottom of the jar.

let this sit overnight, then remove the onion leftover & store in the fridge. 

doseage: 1 tbsp (children 1-6 years) & 2 tbsp (ages 6 & over)

this was amazing!  bean had an especially nasty cough throughout the previous evening, all night long & when he woke up the next morning.  i gave him a tbsp of the onion syrup & he hardly coughed @ all for the next 3 hours or so.  a couple more doses & he was well on the mend.

i will warn you, it does smell very strong of onion, but it tastes like honey (well, aside from a wee bit of an onion after taste ;) 

i LOVE this for so many reasons, not the least of which is being able to physically see & touch each ingredient (unlike those insanely long named ones that are created in laboratories!)

and what's more...i am soon to be taking herb classes with my friend kati.  she is an absolute doll & an amazing woman in so many ways.  i truly love & respect her & can't wait for her classes to start.

the classes will run each monday in march, for a couple of hours each evening.  my sister is watching the kids & i am counting down the days!!

what's more, we get to keep the remedies/salves/syrups/tinctures, etc that we create in the class.  i can't wait!

don't worry, i'll share what i learn with you, most definitely!!  xo

it's papa!!

bebe found this little superhero guy @ a friend's house & came running to me saying "look mama, it's papa!" i concur, it does bear a striking resemblance to lance. ;)

happy sunday...! xo

a transition & recent projects...

things here have been a little bit crazy as ev, our 2 year old (soon to be 3 @ the end of march) is in a bit of a transitional phase.

(translation:  she is no longer napping, of VERY rarely & is thus going to bed earlier & of course, waking up earlier as well).

this is all fine & dandy, except that i have gotten a bit (too?) comfortable to our 'old' rhythm...you know the one where i not only had an few hours each afternoon to sit & *breathe*, but i also i had the early morning hours to my self for crafting & reading & gazing out @ the morning's sunrise & what not.

hmmm...

all in good time a new rhythm will find its way to us...until then, i embrace our quiet mornings together and i try to sneak in a bit of extra "me time"/crafting time in where i can. ;)

here are a few projects that i have managed to complete over the past few weeks...

first up a pair of legwarmers, for my friend kristen...i'll be trading these with her for a special mother's day present for someone special...;)

lance's aunt cricket requested a pair of convertible mitts, ones that would reach up to her elbows.  she lives in michigan so i can imagine that the extra length does well to keep out the bitter cold winds!

for my mother's (now very late) christmas present, i have been working on a pair of convertible gloves.  these have given me a bit of a time...not because the pattern is difficult or anything, but just because hands vary so much.

i knit a 'sampler' mitt according to the pattern...

knit the first mitt according to pattern, but 4” vs the 2.5” called for, perfect! however, realized that the hand potion was much too loose/bulky for my mother’s petite hands.

so, re-knit using size #5 dpns

the ribbing & fingers seem to be perfect, so will stick with #6’s for them…

run down of mods…
ribbing in (k2,p2) knit 4” (vs 2.5” suggested)
knit hand portion & mitten flap w/size us #5 needles mitten flap in plain stock
modifying thumb to include flap as well

*all in all, once i got the first mitt tweaked & re-tweaked, the second one came together rather quickly.

the are very outdoorsy, my parents....kayaking, hiking, long weekend trip to hither & yon in their sportsmobile.  i do hope that these fit the bill, but i of course, sent along a note specifying that if there was ANYthing that she didn't like or needed tweaking, to let me know.  so, we'll see how they hold up in the "real world"

i did fall in love with these while making them & decidedly need to make myself a pair.  so, that is the tricky part...all my mods are in speculation...i like to make things for myself first, use them & then tweak them before gifting (if need be).  with these, we'll just have to wait & hear the reviews.

also, had to post this...

a scanned copy of my mom's hands that she emailed to me so that i could print it out & work the final measurements for her mitts...i LOVE it!  it now hangs on my project board. :)

saturday i took a bit of a *break* from making gifts & made myself a new hat!!  i realized not too long ago that, even though i am constantly knitting something, i hadn't knit something for myself since october 2010.  wowsers!

 figured i deserved a little something too.  so, i set to work on a roaring rainbow (a scrappy lyon hat) as our sweet pup more or less devoured my other favorite winter hat.  it still needs something...deciding between pom poms or tassels for the i-cord ends. 

i also plan on indulging myself with a few other knit lovelies.  i have my eye on both a sweater & a scarf/cowl (this one i am still deciding on).

 

still have one last christmas gift to knit though...

 

oh my gosh!!  i almost forgot the gift i made for my sister!...it is brilliant!!!  ok...i actually made 2, as i needed on as well...

that's right, knitting needles cases.  there are loads of tutorials our there for knitting needles holders/rolls/cases, but in the end this one looked right about perfect for us. 

both used mostly the same fabrics (scraps we found during our last visit to the clearance center).  i had to tweak the measurements here & there, but i had nearly enough of each.  ended up having to use other remnants for the interior pieces, but didn't they turn out lovely??

(please note the *secret* chicken pocket...my favorite part, i must admit)

i let her pick, as this was her (extremely belated) christmas gift.  she aid that all her needles fit in it, so that is perfect!  my straight & dpn's fit, but i still need one more...shorter & with wider pockets for my circulars.

all in good time...

otherwise, we are gearing up for our spring session of homeschool co-op, along with working to get the garden prepped for the early crops.  giving lasagna gardening a go...on that note, i would like to thank my sister & her boyfriend, sam halbert, for their lovely christmas gift...*20* bags of leaves for our garden!!

whoop, whoop!