Knitting is the new Nintendo

Almost a month later I've completed the 2 week program to upgrade my wardrobe. (See my precursor to this post here if you missed it.) Haha, story of my life! I was so busy I couldn't even do the program meant for busy people in the allotted time frame. I suppose had I really committed to it every day I would have gotten it done in a reasonable time frame, but life happens as I'm sure you know!

Anyways, I've finally created for myself a capsule wardrobe! However, I'll be honest, it's not as minimal as I was hoping, yet still a significant improvement. I will not downplay the fact that it was really difficult. Something I've wanted to do for a while, so at least I was mentally prepared, but perhaps maybe I've thought about it too much so it was overwhelming. My dilemma first and foremost is that I have too much. Plain and simple, I had a closet full of clothes, yet nothing to wear. I am a sentimentalist and honestly love all of my clothes, but find it really hard to get rid of old pieces even if I only wear them once in a blue moon. Thus I gave myself some grace in creating my first ever capsule wardrobe. I know some people can go in one fell swoop and donate everything they remove from their closet in the first try, but that's not going to be doable for everyone, me included.

I'm just happy I was able to make some progress with this project, maybe I'm not quite where I want to be, but I'm proud of myself nonetheless. Just look at the amount of hangers I have left after!

Hopefully I won't need this many hangers ever again!

In the end I've paired down my capsule wardrobe to approximately 70 items. Some of you are probably thinking that's how much you have in your closet now! I know, I know, so that's why I needed to do something! But remember this number includes all bottoms, tops, outerwear, and footwear (for me that doesn't include workout or sleep wear, accessories, or dresses). I'll attempt to break down my full capsule in another post another day as I still have yet to tweak a few things.

This is basically my closet now :) so much better!

When upgrading my closet there were two things that contributed to it being more difficult than what the average blogger makes it out to be. Part 1 of my stress was considering the fact that I live in a city where the seasons are not distinct. Last fall we got a huge dump of snow in the first week of September, then we hit +22 degrees mid March. Temperamental weather is the main topic of conversation in this city and that will never change as will trying to keep a wardrobe accommodating to this type of climate change without taking up a whole closet! In addition to the seasons I also need to consider my work life. Unlike most of the bloggers who I've seen do capsule wardrobes, I have to dress business/smart casual for work which means I need to leave some room for extra pieces for that. Some of the blogging ladies recommend doing a completely separate capsule wardrobe for work then, but I've attempted to have pieces crossover to minimize numbers. Plus I'm trying to grow into a more smart casual style in everyday life anyways. Those two things in mind it made it tough for me to eliminate items. Hopefully if you are creating a capsule wardrobe you are able to navigate these challenges easier than I did!

Since I need to keep a seasonal wardrobe, instead of donating everything I simply packed what I am keeping away (the reason behind the name 'capsule') so that when fall arrives I can put away my summer pieces and pull out the cozier items. I plan to do this approximately every 3 months and my hope is that each time it will get easier to get rid of items that I haven't worn in a while, thus lowering my item count a little each time.

All in all, I'm loving my 'new and improved' wardrobe so far! It's a complete shift in thinking for me to have so much less to choose from. It's causing me to be more creative and more importantly to be content with less, ultimately it's the track I want to be on and am excited to see how this goes over the next few months.

Do you think you'd ever attempt a capsule wardrobe?

One of the latest knitting projects that I attempted was a simple seed stitch cowl. Perfect for a beginner knitter!

Supplies
Needles: 12 US
Yarn: Loops & Threads Cozy Wool (Bulky) in 2 colours
Tapestry needle
Final Size: variable

Abbreviations
CO: cast on
K: knit
P: purl

Pattern
-CO 25 stitches (you can make it as tall or short as you want but it needs to be an odd number)
-Row 1: K1, P1, repeat to end
-Repeat row 1 for 65 rows or cowl is desired length (essentially measure to fit around your neck comfortably without being to tight or too saggy)
-Bind off
-Use the tapestry needle to sew the ends together. (It does not have to be neat)
-Thread tapestry needle with two strands of the other colour yarn. Along the seam from top to bottom, make large Xs, (about 1x1 inches).  



Please note: This tutorial is for personal use only. I originally found a picture of this cowl online though no pattern was available so I created my own. For the original picture click here. Please do not reproduce this to sell or pretend that you made any of it, please give proper credit when featuring elsewhere. Thank you!

Confession: I'm hooked on podcasts... so it's nothing bad :) I have a fairly lengthy commute to and from work everyday and so it's nice to listen to something other than the same ol' same ol' radio all the time!

There's a few different podcasts that I listen to. A couple of years ago I started subscribing to Focus on the Family Daily Broadcast. They have new ones every day so it's hard to keep up, but then when I do listen I can pick the one I feel is most relevant or interesting sounding to me. FOTF covers all sorts of topics from light-hearted nutrition tips to tough conversations about human trafficking and more, all with the wisdom of the Bible and God at the forefront of it. They have different guests on the show each time that make it engaging and entertaining. Plus they share personal stories and lessons others have learned. I enjoy these quite a bit!


More recently I have gotten into a couple of podcasts I'd heard of through CBC radio. The first is called Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids. Let me tell  you, if you ever need a flashback to your childhood and/or need a good laugh this is 25 min well spent. It's created from a live open mic show that happens across Canada throughout the year. My friend and I went to the one when they were in Calgary and it was a hoot! Essentially it is what the title says. People read stuff they wrote in their childhood days, mostly journals, but some school work or letters, and creative writing too. Some of it can be serious or scandalous, but most is downright funny! I haven't dug up any of the things from my childhood writing yet, but I should, and maybe, just maybe next time they are in town for a show I'll sign up to read :)

The other CBC podcast I enjoy is called This is That. It is described in the info section of the podcast as "a current affairs program that doesn't just talk about the issues, it fabricates them". Someone flipping channels on the radio might tune in for a moment and wonder how this news could possible be true, and that's because it isn't! It is quite humorous and can be so far fetched it's absolutely ridiculous, yet very enjoyable. Each 30min podcast is made up of about 4 'interviews', everything from a woman who sells invisible art, to an Albertan town who is inventing their own accent, to a woman who is petitioning for new puppy maternity leave. The unfortunate part about this podcast is that they are not making new episodes in 2015 yet so what's available is only that from the fall of 2014. Regardless, it's still a great show and I highly recommend it!

What podcasts do you listen to? None? Well try one of these, in my opinion, you can't go wrong :)

Happy listening and safe driving!

It's time... it's been plaguing me for a while, I need to do something about my closet. I've got way to much and yet not enough. So I'm taking action! I've found a couple of minimalism fashion blogs which both have tons of great info on how to have great style with less.

It was actually last summer that I came across the concept of the 'capsule wardrobe'. It's basically a closet filled with a limited amount of items (for example 37 - all inclusive of tops, coats, bottoms, and shoes). The idea is that you will have less to choose from, but all pieces that you love - the 'less is more concept. When I came across it I was so convinced I wanted to try it, but when I actually started to empty my closet I got extremely overwhelmed and discouraged because of the sheer amount of clothes I had and how many I'd have to wade through and choose only a few. (Sad I know, first-world problem...) So I didn't end up creating a capsule wardrobe then, but I did purge bags and bags of items which I donated and that felt good.

This is a fresh year however and I have a new determination to do this. I've done more research and am going to start slow to ease into the idea of a smaller wardrobe. Currently I'm doing a 2 week program to kick start the upgrade. Through this process I'm looking to identify better my own personal style, learn how to shop better and more intentionally, and eventually pair down the number of clothes I own. I'm not going to provide you details on how to do this because I'm not the expert, but as I go I may update you on my progress :) Like me, if you are having wardrobe woes, do check out these blogs, I'm sure you can find something of use there. I have! Also follow my Fashion Things Pinterest page, where I'm pinning the articles I'm finding the most beneficial and interesting. Happy Friday!

a minimalist fashion blog

Not too long ago we had a chili cook off at work. It's been an annual occurrence for almost 10 years! This was the first time I participated and it was a lot of fun!

The chili's were lined up on the table and had small jars in front for anonymous voting. Each individual was given one dry bean as their vote. Fun!

I've only made chili a handful of times in my life, to be honest I never used to like beans, but in chili they are okay. I quite enjoy making chili though and another confession, each time I make it I use a different recipe! The cook off was no exception, I had the attitude that I was participating for fun and if I won great, if not, it was fun to try (an ancient family recipe wasn't a stake here haha).

And in fact I got 2nd! (out of 5) The man who won last year won again this year. It was good chili I'll admit, but I've got a plan now and I'm in it to win next year!

If you'd like to know which recipe I used I'm going to share it! I made some adjustments from the original as I doubled it to feed more as well the grocery store didn't have all of the exact ingredients I needed. I also took a tidbit from another recipe I read and incorporated it in. But hey, it's chili and the greatest thing about that is it is completely flexible and fairly forgiving :) That's my kind of cooking!

Enough talk, let's cook!


Chocolate Bacon Chili

Ingredients
-1 package of bacon
-2 pounds ground beef
-1 onion, chopped
-1 tbsp + 1 tsp chili powder
-1 tbsp ground cumin
-2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
-3 garlic cloves, minced
-Two 15oz cans Home-style Baked Beans
-1 tsp dried oregano
-One 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
-One 15oz can red beans, drained and rinsed
-One 15oz can diced tomatoes
-4 cups tomato sauce
-2 cups beef broth, low sodium

Directions 
In a large fry pan cook your bacon. Fry it fairly crispy, but not burnt. Set it aside, but leave the bacon grease in the pan. On medium heat add your ground beef and brown it. Drain off the fat.

In a large dutch oven over medium-high heat, stir together your ground beef, onion, chili powder and cumin. Next add the cocoa and garlic, mix together and cook for 2 minutes. Next, add the home-style beans and oregano and cook for another minute. Add the black and red beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and beef broth. Lastly, crumble up the bacon and mix in. Cover your chili and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

I love to eat my chili over nachos with sour cream and cheese, delicious :) 

The trophy - next year!

The competition!

When you double a chili recipe it make for a lot of cans!

3 Tier Diaper Cake

Supplies:
1 package (84) of size 1 baby diapers
1 round base (I found a cardboard cake base at the dollar store)
1 small package of multi-sized elastic bands
1 paper towel roll
A hot glue gun
2-3 rolls of ribbon
3-6 baby items to decorate (baby utensils, socks, pacifier, hair brush and comb, hair bow, etc.)


Directions:
1) There are two methods to assemble the diapers to create the cake tiers, I used both. The first way is to roll each individual diaper. I did this for the base and top tier. For the base layer I used an elastic to hold them in threes around the paper towel roll, and I did enough to cover the entire cardboard base. The second way is to stagger layer them one on top of each other (does that make sense? see the picture below if you're not sure.) Once you've got the entire layer done you'll use 1 or 2 very large elastics to hold it all together.
As you can see above I didn't start with the paper towel roll in the middle, but I realized part way through assembly that it would be extremely beneficial to keeping the 3 tiers together!

2) Once you have the cake built, it's time to jazz it up! Use the ribbon to conceal the elastics. (It also helped cover the faint blue bears on the diapers in the middle row!) Use the hot glue gun to keep the ribbon in place.

3) And now the best part! Decorate with all the baby items you collected. There should be space enough that they rest easily on the different levels of each tier. I used a hair clip as the bow at the top and I didn't glue the items to the cake because when stationary, they seem to stay just fine.

This cake was obviously for a baby girl, but I've seen some just as cute for baby boys, plus you could just as easily create a gender neutral cake if the sex is unknown at the time you're making it. Just let your imagination go!

That's right, you read it correctly, Mini Egg Cookies!

There are so many different recipes out there for scrumptious cookies, and I'm sure I wasn't the first to think of putting mini eggs into cookie form, but I would like to say I did come up with these on with my own imagination before I was able to 'Google' or 'Pinterest' anything :)

It's super simple:
1) Take your favorite choco chip cookie recipe
2) Smash up some Cadbury Mini Eggs and use them instead of the chocolate chips.
3) Enjoy!

Here's my recipe!

Mini Egg Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup margarine
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups whole Mini Eggs

Directions
First combine the margarine, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a small bowl. Next mix in a larger bowl the baking soda, salt, and flour. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir. Now the fun part! Place the Mini Eggs into a large Ziploc bag and smash them up to your hearts content (you may like bigger chunks or smaller pieces, its up to you)! Stir the smashed mini eggs into the batter. Drop by teaspoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 7-8 min at 350F. Makes about 2 dozen.

You really can't go wrong with this one, a super soft and yummy cookie, perfect for Easter :)