A Day At The Cottage and Other Tales

We had a wonderful day at the Dunkleys' cottage this month - great conversation, great food, and great scenery. The cottage gardens are more beautiful each year and really suit the woodland setting.

 

 

This was Nora's first visit to the cottage and she loved it.

 

 

Dave was very patient with her, making her lie down and calm down before he threw the floating  toy for her to retrieve.

 

 

She could play this game endlessly.

 

 

Ah, retrievers...

 

 

Yesterday, I acquired a pair of Addi Turbo Sock Rockets from Have A Yarn in Mahone Bay.

 

I am a great fan of Addi needles and when I first saw a review for the Sock Rockets, I was keen to give them a try.  I cast on a cabled sock pattern this morning and they don't disappoint. They combine the quality of Addi with the sharp tip of Knit Picks products. They feel great in the hand and the stitches glide off the needles.

 

 

 

Ironwood Farm Kale

 

Ironwood Farm Carrots and Chard

 

The Nova Scotia government has announced that it is issuing specialized licence plates to support the Buy Local movement. I think it is a great idea.

 

And, finally, the sweet satisfaction of finishing Lucy Darling's Sweet Peasy sweater! I had it three quarters done when I fractured my wrist so it has been languishing for most of the summer in the yarn drawer.

 

 

Pattern: Sweet Peasy

Yarn: Ultra Pima by Cascade Yarns

Colour: 3748

Needles: Circular - 4.5 mm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ironwood Farm and the Flavours of Childhood

Nova Scotia Hodge Podge

Every Wednesday, Movita goes to a pick up spot in Halifax to get the CSA box from Ironwood Farm  and she brings it out to the house. And every week, we have fun taking off the cover to discover what is inside. This week, there was a small bag of fresh basil, blueberries, a fine onion, a few new carrots, a few new potatoes, young yellow beans, an English cucumber, baby beets, a magnificent head of Bibb lettuce, two young tomatoes, and a plump, pretty eggplant.

So Wednesday night's supper was a pot of Nova Scotia hodge podge. I use Jackie Huskins' recipe - the one that Movita posted on her blog. I like it more than the less healthy one we used growing up that had a touch of salt pork. Jackie's tastes every bit as good.

Ironwood Farm

I don't know what varieties Rupert and Heather are growing on their farm at the mouth of the Avon River in Hants County, but vegetables have not tasted this good since my own dear father kept a large vegetable garden so many decades ago that it now seems like another lifetime.

I am the first one to take advantage of, and enjoy the benefits, of the global market place but while supermarkets now have fruits and vegetables available all year round that in the old days consumers only saw at certain times (or not at all!), it seems to me that we are most often getting hybrids grown more for their ability to ship well, to store well, etc. and less for real, old fashioned flavour.

So I have been enjoying chard and beet greens that are absolutely delicious and bring back memories of childhood. And carrots that are oh, so carroty!! And beans that make you wonder why you aren't eating beans every single day. The Buy Local movement has a lot of merit.

Warm baby beets with a touch of vinegar

Celebrating Socks

It is so good to be able to knit socks again. Every day I pick up the needles feels like Party Day!

There is nothing like a temporary disability to make you appreciate not only the ability to indulge in favourite pastimes but, as well, to perform even the most mundane daily tasks.
Now some people might consider sock knitting to be a pretty mundane pastime. But I find it immensely satisfying to produce something so practical and useful. And the steady rhythm of the process is relaxing.

I could not at this moment describe to anyone exactly how to do the slightly more complex German twisted cast on for a sock. But my hands remember how to do it quickly and easily - even after an absence of seven weeks - leaving my mind free to wander and solve the problems of the world (if only the rest of the world came to me for the answers!!).

Pattern: Simple K3P1
Yarn: Austermann Royal Colour
Colour: 0108
Needles: Circular - 2.25 mm

Pattern: Simple K4P2

Yarn: Fortissima Socka

Colour: 1066

Needles: Circular - 2.25 mm