Saturday, December 11, 2010

Ruffled Scarf - pattern included!

I found this great sparkly silver/platinum coloured wool at Michael's the other day and knew it would be absolutely perfect for a friend of mine who loves things that are "practical yet alluring!!", so I decided to make her a scarf.  She's most definitely a girly girl, and I knew the wool really needed a fun, flirty kind of pattern, so I found this great Ruffled Scarf from a lady named Maryse.

Here's the pattern if anyone is interested:

Materials:  Alpaca Ware Superfine Alpaca Yarn, 3 skeins (or approximately 540 yards of a fingering or DK weight yarn; wpi = 14).   (My wool is listed as FINE and I used approx 2 1/4 balls, so about 500 yards)
Size 4US and 7US needles.  (I used 3.5mm and 4.5mm needles)
Finished measurements:  Length:  approximately 48 inches; Width:  approximately 6 inches;
Gauge:  I didn't check gauge, I just went for a relatively drapey fabric.  You want the scarf to be soft and malleable.  (My gauge on this wool is 24 stitches x 30 rows = 4"x4" on 3.75mm needles)
Instructions:
With size 7 needles, cast on 48 stitches.  (I cast on 60 stitches because I like my scarves a little wider, and once it was done it was approx 6-8 inches wide)
Row 1, 3, 5:  Knit.
Row 2, 4, 6:  Purl.
Change to size 4 needles:
Row 7:  *Knit 2 together* 24 times (you'll end up with 24 stitches on the needles)
Row 8-12:  Knit.
Change to size 7 needles:
Row 13:  *Kfb* 24 times (you'll end up with 48 stitches again).
Repeat rows 2-13 until you've reached the length you want. 
Bind off.

And some photos of the final product!

I was very happy with how it turned out, and she loved it when I gave it to her today, so it was a win/win in every way! :)  I'm planning on making this pattern again - we just found some really great chenille wool at the dollar store of all places, so I might see how it knits up in a bit of a thicker weight wool.

Happy knitting!

Friday, December 10, 2010

When life gives you lemons....

Ahh, our story....I know for certain that Luke and I will have a lot of stories to pass along to our children someday.  About how we met, the struggles we went through, the good, the bad, the ugly, and of course the major issues we've had trying to live in the same country once again!!

We've been going through this immigration junk for 10 months now, and it's become extremely draining, to say the least.  We mailed our application in February 2010, and we were supposed to get notification a few weeks later, with our case number, etc....well it's been 10 months and we haven't heard one piece of communication with USCIS!  They hadn't even cashed our cheque yet!!  I have never been so wanting to get rid of money before!!  We had contacted Luke's local congresswoman's office, back in August, to try and get some help if we could. There was a really nice lady there who did her best to get us some info, and the only reason we had any information at all was through her - she was great.  However we just continued to get the run around - no one was able to give us any solid information as to where our application was, why it was taking so long, what had happened, how the ball had been dropped so dramatically....nothing at all!  The US went through an election and unfortunately the congresswoman wasn't re-elected, so at that point her office didn't seem too interested in helping us anymore.  I'm not sure why, but they too dropped the ball.

So we made a really difficult decision - we've canceled our application for the US, and are now pursuing Canadian PR for Luke.  It's a huge change, and one that we didn't take lightly, because we felt we were already so invested in this process, but at some point you just have to look at the signs and see where God is pointing you (and sometimes shoving you!).  It's not going to be an instantaneous thing to get PR for Luke - we still have to go through a lengthy application process, but we're hoping that it will be an easier thing to go through when we actually see SOME progress, some light at the end of the tunnel....something!!!

It's been a really hard thing for us to deal with - we love Colorado and the life we had there, and we love our house.  But when we look back on the signs that God was showing us, we really feel that this is the best decision that we can make.  Luke's job that was once really great, that he really enjoyed, has slowly gone very much downhill since the spring.  He's being persecuted for keeping the Holy days, and the situation is extremely ugly.  Some things that should have happened for us throughout these past few months haven't - and now looking back on them, I think God was showing us for sure that He didn't want us in the US.  If some of these things had worked out like WE wanted, it would have messed us up for Canada Immigration.  So it's pretty neat when you look back and see where God is directing your life.

I feel kind of dumb sometimes, that we didn't come to this conclusion earlier.  We gave all of this immigration stuff a TON of thought before we did anything - we prayed about it constantly and really wanted to make the right decision.  When we applied for the US we really couldn't see any reason why we shouldn't be in the US - everything seemed great and it was all looking positive.  So I think God really needed us to see how bad it could be, and we needed to see just how much He is directing our lives before we let go of what WE wanted and really put every ounce of trust in Him instead.

Anyway, as you are all my friends and family, I wanted to update you all on this.  We have a long road ahead of us still, but I really have faith that this is how it was supposed to be from the beginning.  When we came to this conclusion we both really felt a sense of calm and relief wash over us - I think that really made us feel more confident.  We appreciate any and all prayers you can throw our way - we know God has a lot in store for us, and we know this still isn't going to be an easy journey.  We're still looking at months of being apart unfortunately.  But we hope that with God's help we can once again be back together, and finally live as husband and wife again!  Oh, how I miss that!!

Thanks to all of you for your support and prayers - it means a lot to us :)  And feel free to email me anytime if you want more details or whatever.  We have quite the story!!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Russian Apricot Chicken Recipe

I was part of a recipe exchange a few weeks ago, and a friend of my MIL's sent me this one - it gets two thumbs way up from me!  I thought I'd share it with you, as my whole family liked it a whole lot.  I'm naming it Russian Apricot Chicken....it may have originally had another name, but this seems to work for my purposes :)

Russian Apricot Chicken

  • Chicken (I used thighs, but you can really use whatever you have around, or if you prefer light meat you can use breasts, etc.  I had about 18 thighs in my pan....I really didn't pay much attention to weight!)
  • Russian Salad Dressing (I used one large bottle, roughly 500 ml)
  • Apricot Jam - approx 10-12 oz (300ish ml)   (Mine was just a no name brand, and I was very approximate on my measurements)
  • 1 package of Onion Soup Mix
Mix the Russian dressing, Jam and Onion soup mix together.  Place chicken in a pan (I always put parchment down in my pans - makes for almost instant clean up!), pour the sauce over the chicken. 
Cook at 350 for approx 40 mins.  
I served mine with rice, and spooned the sauce over the rice.  

All in all, this heads right to the top as one of my new favourites!  The sauce has an almost asian taste - it reminded us of a not-so-sweet sweet & sour sauce.  Dad mentioned that it would be delicious as a part of a stir fry, or a beef/rice/tomatoes type dish.  It's one to experiment with for sure! 

I hope you enjoy! 

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Snow Days!

We love snow days!  These are a couple of weeks late, but I figured that was okay....  These are from the first day of the snow when Jordan and I took the pups out for a walk in the yard so we could get some photos of them playing in the snow, and of course the nature ;)
These ones are from the next day when it started snowing a lot more - the first two are looking out my parent's front window and the last two are from the back of the house: