Squash Muffins

Breakfast yesterday morning.

I think these muffins are the ultimate saving grace of the gluten-free baker (diary-free too, and if you use Egg Replacer instead of the eggs, as I do, it's egg free as well).

Ultimate Gluten-Free Squash Muffins

1/2- 1 cup Maple syrup (depending on how sweet you like them)

4 eggs beaten

3/4 cup oil

1 1/2 cups Water

2 cups pureed squash

3 cups rice flour (brown or white, whichever you prefer)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

Combine all of the wet ingredients in one bowl and all of the dry ingredients in another. Blend together. Bake at 350 in an ungreased pan. Muffins take about 20 minutes, bread is around an hour, cake is somewhere in between. Keep and eye out because it varies from oven to oven. This makes around 24 muffins or two loaves of bread. Leftovers freeze well.

Enjoy!

We're off to a concert today, featuring two of my very favorite performers. I can't wait! Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Mardi (a.k.a. the rainbow dress/tunic/tank)

note: I'll be updating this post with some new photos later in the week. I was just so glad to finally have it typed out that I thought I should put it out here!

I finally typed up the pattern for my one-size-fits most 6 months-6 years, grow-with-me dress-tunic-tank (it also looks adorable when worn as a jumper or sweater vest). More photos and information can be found here and here.

I think that for a larger child, going up a needle size, using thicker yarn and adding a bit of length should do the trick. If anyone tries this, let me know how it turns out! As is, it fits up to a 24" chest quite comfortably.

I've decided to call it Mardi, after the friend that sent me the yarn to begin with!

Mardi

Materials needed:
Size 2 circular needles
dk weight yarn
stitch markers

Gauge:
6 sts= 1"

Straps:
CO 125 stitches, join round
*Round 1: knit
Round 2: purl*
Repeat from * to * 3 times
Round 9: knit


Front Shaping:
Row 10: K15, bind off 35, k25
*You will now work back and forth in stockinette (knit one row, purl one row) on these 25 stitches, working the first and last 2 stitches in garter stitch (knit every row)* for 4 rows.
Row 5: k 2, kfb, k to last 2 stitches, kfb, k2*
Repeat from * to *
Break yarn

Shoulder strap shaping:
Join yarn and bind off the next 35 stitches

Back shaping:
Work as front shaping for a total of 3 sets (note that you will be working across 30 stitches instead of 25). Remember to keep the first two and last two stitches in garter!


Joining:
Cast on 10, place marker (this is the new beginning of a round), cast on 10
K across front, cast on 10, place marker, cast on 10, knit across the back to join the round.

Body:
*Kfb, k to 1 stitch before marker, kfb, slip marker, kfb, k to last stitch before marker, kfb*

Repeat from *to* until front measures 13” or to desired length

Trim:
*K one round, P one round*
repeat from * to*
Bind off all stitches

As always, I'd love to see it when you're done!

Leaf Mobile

Monday morning Galen woke up with a burning desire to make a mobile. I have absolutely no idea what inspired this, but it was all he could talk about all morning. Really, his resolve suited me just fine as I've always loved mobiles of all sorts. The only thing was to decide on what kind to make. Simplicity was of the utmost importance to me. And a bit mother nature's bounty was the answer.


We gathered our leaves that day, though most of the ones around our home are decidedly past their prime. The blackberry bushes still yielded some interesting splashes of color. And the little bit of red oak available to us was still at it's stunning best. We managed a bit of yellow from the birches. And really nothing says "autumn" like the big brown oak leaves anyway. And they are so sturdy that they we often find the wind skidding them around on top of a crusty snow; with no sign of a blemish or a crease.


We dipped our leaves in beeswax that evening before dinner.


Then our project sat until Wednesday. We had plans for a full family field trip on this day, but the rotation of this illness made it so that we had to divide up. Steve, out and about with the older boys, and me at home, tending under the weather littles.


Galen and I took this opportunity to string up our leaves and hang them in the playroom. It was hard to limit the kids when they were so enjoying dipping the leaves. Which meant that we ended up with a lot of leaves. And of course Galen insisted that we simply must use them all, making the resulting mobile quite large. It's hung close to the ceiling and he can still reach it while standing on the ground.

It's a bit lop-sided at the moment. One very large and heavy leaf fell off the end, setting it off balance. I kind of like it. We're going to say it has artistic flair. A decision that probably had a lot to do with the fact that I have absolutely no desire to climb on a latter to fix it!

Work in Progress Wednesday: a flop

I've never really attempted one of these theme type days (the work-in-progress Wednesdays, book sharing Mondays, gratitude Fridays, wordless Wednesdays and so forth) for any length or time because that doesn't tend to be my posting style. I post what's on my mind, when it's on my mind, and go from there and it's suited me just fine for many years now. But at the moment I'm actually feeling like I could use a bit more discipline in several areas of my life, blogging included and crafting especially! I'm feeling what a friend refers to as "pixilated", as in lacking focus. So I'm going to try one theme day for a bit and see how it feels.

I had an unofficial work-in-progress post last week too, did anyone figure out what I was working on? Or did come off as a crazy women with that one???

The pictures in this post are from a crafting failure. This little hat was supposed to be part of Màiri's Halloween costume. Only it ended up far too little. As I new it would the entire time I was knitting it. I have no idea why I decided to keep knitting and trust the pattern instead of myself. Not sure what I'm going to do with it now. I may just frog it. I have some friends who are pregnant right now, but as far as I know, all are expecting boys. Galen says Teddy might be in need of a new hat, but only if I finish it with ties (apparently Teddy has no tolerance for his hats falling off). We'll see.

Most of my crafting over the last two weeks has been Halloween related. And I'll get around to sharing all of that eventually. We were invited to a costume party mid-November, which will be a good excuse to get into those costumes that didn't see much use at Halloween.

Meanwhile, I woke up this morning and realized with a start that it's really and truly NOVEMBER now, making Christmas, not some far off, distant event, occurring sometime in the vague and far off future, but a very definite reality, occurring next month. Eek!

Suddenly those meager beginnings at preparations seem very, very limited indeed. It's time to really and truly get a move on now.

Just stopping by...

To post a couple of pictures from a nature walk that we took with some friends last week.


I've got my hands full today with sick little people, and after a night of no sleep, my resources are limited.


The echinacea, vitamin C and elderberry syrup are all all flowing freely here. And I'll have some chicken soup going before long.


No one is too bad off just now. I think that with a little extra nourishment and a lot of rest and love, we'll all be better again in a few days.

A Halloween Piñata

A new addition to our usual Halloween celebration this year was a piñata made by one Mr. Elijah Rain.

It turned out really well, I was impressed!


This is the first piñata that I’ve ever been called upon to fill. I grew up with ones full of gum balls, tootsie rolls and junky little plastic toys, so this required some thought.

Here’s what I ended up with:

• Little baggies with lumps of clay
• Colored pencils (some regular, some metallic and shimmery, some chunky for and built for little hands)
  
• Some of my chocolates
• Roasted pumpkin seeds
• Gum (the stuff I mentioned here)
• Raisins
• Stickers
• Glitter glue
• Goji berry and orange white chocolate (which was wonderful AND a gorgeous bright orange!)
• Nuts and dried berries

But my favorite thing was these little blank books that I made, simple though they are:

I’m on a big fancy paper kick at the moment. I love all of the fun and inspiring prints out there. The covers for these (which all have a coordinating print on the inside) came from an autumn inspired craft paper pack that I found on clearance at the craft store.

I wanted to add in green chips and popcorn, but I didn’t get around to making them. A friend suggested polished rocks and gem stones and another mentioned bouncy balls, both great ideas, but didn’t have time to get any. I was kicking myself for not thinking to add packets of some of the seeds that we gathered from our garden. I thought about those little gnomes made of a felt cloak stuffed with some wool, but that was one of the treats a couple of years back and my family has just received some fresh ones, so I filed the idea away for the future. Maybe whistles of some sort? Or kazoos? I thought bells would be fun. Friendship bracelets? Honey sticks? Small felt animals?


I should have ample opportunity to use all of my ideas. Iain already made a piñata for his birthday in January (let’s just hope it holds up well in the attic) and Galen just announced that he wants one for his birthday too. So, if anyone else has any inspired ideas, put them out there because I’ll be needing them!

~Sometimes I suspect that Elijah actually *is* Harry Potter!~

Now, perhaps you’ve noticed that I have a nasty little habit of making the simplest of things exceptionally complicated?

You see, the things is, I don’t like the whole piñata mentality; this rushing and pushing and shoving to grab as much as you can. Kind of puts me in mind of that poor person being trampled to death at a holiday sale last year. I’m just not comfortable with it. And when you are looking at an age range like we were (from not yet 2 to nearly 10), there are very good odds on the little people being pushed aside, with huge discrepancies between treat bags resulting. Beyond which not all of the filler was appropriate for all ages.

Enter The Grand Plan.

I had this idea to turn it into a kind of treasure hunt. I made each child a bag with their name on the front. On the back was a child specific list of star stickers, with each combination matching a prize in the piñata. So, for example, 2 year old Rosa would have the combination for raisins, but not for gum. Each child was to seek out one of each thing on his or her list, with the older ones helping the little ones once their own bags were full.

I know, me and my ideas! A little too rigid perhaps? Too structured? My fear was that a) it would be too convoluted, and b) it would negatively impact the joy and spontaneity of the moment. I may never know. I didn’t exactly get to see my grand plan in action…

On Halloween morning Steve was feeling kind of off, but still running errands and going about his usual business. By noon he was slowing down and not looking so great. At 1 I was optimistically filling the piñata. By two he was unconscious on the futon in the middle of the living space, despite the four kids crowded around him and making a racket. And by three I was calling to cancel. Did I mention that he spent last week in training classes at work, closed up in a small room with two other guys, both of whom currently have children diagnosed with swine flu? Yeah.

snapshots: this moment

bottom of the fifth

Them: pleased with themselves for talking their way into staying up late.

Me: cramming for Halloween


Her: doing her very best to follow my lead.


Them: searching the stations, trying to find the game, keep the game, get back to the game; playing yahtzee at the slow parts and commercials.


Littlest Him: creeping down through the night. "I can't hear up there!"

All lights on long into the dark. So much for bedtimes. Yawns are stifled.

Them: pretending they know what they're talking about

Us: trying not to show our laughter to them

Me: ushering Littlest Him to lay down, "You can stay and listen, but you must stay tucked up!"

Littlest Him: sneaking away to hide under the table and hoping that I won't notice his little self.

There will be sleepy heads in this house tomorrow. But tonight makes me smile. Tonight makes me laugh. It's so very full of home and life and family. Tomorrow will take care of tomorrow.