Candice DeWitt

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Currently, on a Tuesday

July 30, 2019 by Candice Leave a Comment

The tomatoes are beginning to ripen in the garden, which means I am starting to ever-so-slowly can up this year’s batch of pizza sauce for use later in the winter. I’m using the recipe from Preserving by the Pint, which has been a fabulous book these last few years as I scale back on, well, pretty much everything.

Pre-kid, you’d find me with pounds and POUNDS of garden produce that I’d be canning up for use later in the season. But these days… not so much. It’s a combination of reasons, really – not putting out as big of a garden anymore, having a kid sucks up a lot more time I’d otherwise spend in the kitchen, and just overall trying to live a little more minimally to help combat the anxiety and everyday stress that I deal with by only making things I absolutely know we’ll eat and use up (rather than because all those jams and jellies sounded fun and then just sit there because I’m the only one who eats them in the house).

The minimal aspect is really something on my brain a lot more lately, especially as we are getting so close to school starting back up and schedules getting even crazier in our lives. The amount of stuff we have has begun to weigh on me and drive me crazy, and I’m about to just go around the house with a bunch of trash bags and toss it all. Just my kitchen cabinets, alone – stuffed with more food than I know what to do with because we buy for recipes and then life happens and we get too busy and never make them – makes me feel anxious every time I open the cabinet or try to come up with a grocery list that will only add to the mess.

I’ve gone on these minimalist-ish binges before. I’ll purge a bunch of things, feel happier, and then move on and fall back to my old ways. But the older I get, the more important it feels to stick with it, both because things are just things and experiences are what Declan appreciates more, and because I really just do not want to spend the majority of my life cleaning up after everyone and stressing about how messy the house is when all of that could be eliminated if I just got rid of a bunch of stuff.

So that’s my mission for the first part of August before life gets hectic again: decrapify the house. Our trash guys will probably hate me over the next few weeks 😀

Filed Under: this little life of mine

Later blogging: vacation edition

July 12, 2019 by Candice Leave a Comment

Hi all! I took longer to get this posted than I would have liked, but such is life. We spent a lovely bit of time at the beginning of July in Traverse City, Michigan for our vacation. I unknowingly planned it during the Cherry Festival, and was told by coworkers that I’d hate it because of how busy it was. But we actually had a really good time, festival and all!

We went north with very little in the way of plans, more like goals of things in the area we’d like to see. I resisted my need to overplan everything, so there was no daily schedule dictating what we saw when. Instead, we just went with the flow and it was the best decision ever. Sunday was spent at the festival, where Declan rode some rides, we watched the air show, and spent some time walking around downtown. Monday we made a trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes, with a pit stop at Wool & Honey on the way there to pick up birthday yarn (since I turned 35 while on our trip), and then after the dunes we visited Glen Arbor to have lunch and pick up wine at Cherry Republic. Tuesday, our last day there, we drove around the peninsula looking around, stopped by the lighthouse where I spent a stupid amount of time obsessively digging in the shore to find Petoskey stones, and then headed back to a park near our AirBnB where Declan played on the playground and I found certifiable Petoskey stones (the ones found at the lighthouse might be more fossils than the real deal, but they looked cool so I brought them home anyway for further inspection).

Since coming home the rest of the time has been a bit of a blur. The first week of work was pretty rough after spending the last few weeks part-timing it while my mom was away. There has been raspberries picked from the garden, some time at the pool, but, mostly, getting back into routines.

I feel like I need more time off, but at the same time I feel pretty rejuvenated and ready to tackle some things around the house. I always seem to want to declutter and downsize more things when we come home from vacation – something about living away from all your crap reminds you of how little you actually need to be happy. So, I’m trying to run with that as best as I can. I’ll never be full on minimalist, but it IS really nice to look around and not see so much clutter everywhere, or the reminders of long-forgotten projects never to be finished. A bit of refocusing on the things that matter was exactly what I needed! <3

Filed Under: this little life of mine

Where was I?

June 11, 2019 by Candice Leave a Comment

I meant to post up weekly about my Yellow Bird Food Shed box but… oops. We ate more salads out of box 2, and if I’m being honest box 3 basically went… ignored. Today being Tuesday, I have yet to even dig in to box 4. We’ve been awful at eating at home because of life and stress. Though we’ve also been awful at eating out… honestly, most nights Declan and I more snack than eat real meals.

I finished a thing. A “Sunlight for Sad People” shawl out of some yarn I bought back in February that I meant to turn into a scarf to wear to the cold Columbus Crew spring games. I cast on for something almost immediately after buying it and then screwed it up and it became a whole mess, so I ripped it all out and started fresh. I like this one much better. I decided to add some black to the edge, which I think ends the shawl nicely. I also did increases on the wrong side, as well, to make the ends longer for tying, as I hate how short they can be on triangle shawls. I’d almost say it’s too warm now to wear it, but temps this week have been cool for June so who knows – might get to use it while I hang out on the porch with a drink after the kiddo goes to bed.

Things are quiet around here, otherwise. I’m feeling a bit… panicked about not having as many things done as I had hoped with not having class take up all my time and energy. I mean, yes, this is only June 11th. But there’s 76 days until I start up class again. Yes, I’m ridiculous and have a countdown. Yes, it is making me panic more. I feel like in the month or so that I’ve not been tied to my desk for homework I should have wayyyyy more done. I haven’t canned a single jar of jam yet, nor any macarons or any other delicious baked good. In my mind, I thought I’d get all of this domestic stuff done so I could go into the semester in August feeling like I made the most of my free time. Same goes for my sewing – I have a Wiksten tank lingering on the dress form, several different fabrics meant for dresses and skirts and tanks that I have yet to even cut into. And my knitting has been pretty ADD as I jump from socks to cardigan to shawl and then spend stupid amounts of time looking at patterns and projects that I’ll probably not get to. Also, books. I had a list of books I wanted to read this summer. Probably isn’t going to happen anytime soon, unless I magically get a kid-free evening to really sit and immerse myself in something without interruption.

I HAVE been better on my whole self-care routine that I mentioned back around Mother’s Day. Not great, but better. I went to the gym 2 weeks in a row. Nevermind that I didn’t go today and will probably not go Thursday because of how my schedule is this week. But progress, right? And I’ve been eating better. I also started on working on some other misc things around the house – mostly working on letting go of old projects that I have no desire to revisit/finish, letting go of some sentimental clutter that I’ve held on to because of feeling obligated to and not because I actually wanted to, etc.

Filed Under: this little life of mine

Yellowbird Food Shed – Week 1

May 24, 2019 by Candice Leave a Comment

I decided to sign us up for the Yellowbird Foodshed box this summer on a kind of last-minute whim. I had heard a few months ago about their boxes but then promptly forgot about it again until early this month when I was in the local juice shop and someone came in to ask about the boxes and verify their pickup date. As soon as I got back to my desk at work I was on the website and signing up so I could get in on the first box.

Last week, that first box arrived, which was quite an exciting way for me to break up my day at work. I opted for the base/medium box, which was $30 – I opted for this version because I knew there was probably no way we’d eat all the produce from the large box.

Each week I receive an email with the intended contents of each box so I can know what i have coming and plan ahead. Here is what my box list looked like:

Box list here

I also chose to add on strawberries and blue potatoes to my box, which meant my cost that week was slightly more.

Over the course of this last week i put my produce to use as follows:

Spring salad mix was made into salads (duh) – For the first salad I fried up some bacon, chopped up one of the apples, threw on some dairy-free cheese, and drizzled the whole thing with a vinaigrette I made with some Olivina oil and vinegar in my pantry. The 2nd one was similar, only I used watermelon and mint from the box with some feta.

Kale was used in a marinated kale salad (dressing was goat cheese, honey, and apple balsamic vinegar from Olivina) and topped it with dried cranberries and pecans. I also took thin slices of the evercrisp apples and made a grown up grilled cheese by sandwiching the apple between slices of muenster cheese.

Oh and asparagus i sliced up and cooked up with scrambled eggs to get some veggies in with my breakfasts.

I haven’t used the watercress yet and i’m afraid now it’ll be bad but i didn’t plan very well for my box this first week. Same with the swiss chard, which looked an awful lot like bok choy. I put my potatoes to use by roasting them in the oven with a little olive oil and they were delicious! And blue/purple on the inside, too!

This week my goal is to better use the contents of my box so nothing goes to waste, so stay tuned for next week’s Yellowbird Food Shed update to see what I actually end up doing with it all!

Filed Under: this little life of mine

A pile of things I know I should do (but probably won’t): a Mother’s Day reflection

May 12, 2019 by Candice Leave a Comment

Mother’s Day has been, for me, a mixed bag of feelings. Historically, I spend the day bouncing around from one emotion to the next, and sit a little too long with my disappointment and become an emotional, moody mess.

That is not going to be me this year.

For too long I’ve spent my “special” day feeling hurt over not being appreciated or celebrated enough by my people. I mean, the whole house would fall apart, both figuratively and literally, without me. Don’t they even care about how easy their lives are because of me? (I’m kidding… a little)

But I had this realization today, after a day out shopping with my own mama, that I’m not being fair to myself here. Yes, I want to feel loved and appreciated for all I do for those around me (and I’d rather it be more than just one time a year, but whatever) – but I don’t do enough for myself to show myself some love. Not in the ways I really need and should, at least.

I don’t mean taking myself out for a pedicure or shopping and splurging on some new clothes. I mean that I am literally neglecting myself lately. For example:

  • I’m not working out like I used to (or at all, if I’m being honest) and while life was hectic with college and all, I’m willing to admit that I used it as an excuse to justify not going when, ultimately, the hour-ish that it would take out of my week wasn’t as impactful as I made it out to be. And when I do go to the gym I have to take my kid with me and it’s not the enjoyable experience I used to have going kid-free, and then I use THAT as an excuse to not go, too.
  • I am eating trash. And a lot of it. I used to be so good about meal prepping and having healthy foods to eat. And then life got busy and I got lazy and it became easier to hit the drive-thru. Except now I’ve gained 30 of the 20lbs I lost from all my prior hard work (yes, 30), my clothes don’t fit which is depressing, and overall I feel exactly like that whole “you are what you eat” thing. (Gross, friends. I feel GROSS.)

So this Mother’s Day I’m fixing this. You can’t pour from an empty cup, and you can’t expect others to appreciate you when you don’t even appreciate yourself, right? Right.

So tomorrow I’m going to sit down and make a giant list of all the ways I can show myself some more appreciation and love and take care of myself just like I take care of everyone else. First on the list will probably be “stop hating my body and just make peace with it” followed up by “feed my body like I love it” aka stop eating sausage breakfast crunch wraps from Taco Bell even though they’re so freaking good.

Filed Under: this little life of mine

Porch knitting season

May 2, 2019 by Candice Leave a Comment

I’ve missed this very much. Sitting outside enjoying the lovely weather, knitting, watching the world go by…

Filed Under: this little life of mine

Stash overhaul

April 28, 2019 by Candice 1 Comment

Classes are over until Fall semester and I’m taking on a task I’ve been meaning to do for a while now: documenting the yarn stash. For a while, I had been really good about photographing and adding yarns to my Ravelry stash so I’d know exactly what I had. Then I had Declan, and life happened, and the stash got a bit out of control.

I’ve always had this goal to work on knitting my stash down, which is admittedly pretty hard to do when you don’t really know exactly what you have where. After a nightmare of a morning, Declan had his TV and screen time taken away and I decided that this was a perfect opportunity to recruit his help. He likes using my camera, so his job was to take photos of the yarns. I’d pull yarns out of the cabinet, make sure they were added to Ravelry and add them if they were not, and he got some practice learning how to focus the camera to take photos so I could upload them to the coordinating yarn stash page.

Some of the pictures were blurry and I just went with them. Others – when he took a bit more time to really slow down – turned out pretty darn good for a 4 year old using a DSLR. I really just wanted something – anything – listed on there so I could know the colors and yardage on a quick glance.

So far, I have nearly all the full skeins accounted for. Next up is the partials, which will be more difficult as I’ll not only have to try to remember what yarns they were, but I’ll have to weigh them to gauge how much leftover yardage I have. Mostly that’s all sock yarns that I plan on mixing and matching to make some frankensocks just to use them up.

I may or may not just decide to skip the partials and just try to remember to weigh leftovers going forward so I keep an accurate count of yardage, but we’ll see. I’ve got a LOT of free time now with summer break and I might go a bit crazy if I don’t stay occupied at the rate I’ve been accustomed to. Boredom and I don’t really mix.

Filed Under: this little life of mine Tagged With: stashdown

I never tire of these start-spun-plied snapshots

April 23, 2019 by Candice Leave a Comment

Spinning yarn is this magical thing. It’s magical enough, to me anyway, to be able to take something as simple as some fluffy sheep’s wool and add a bit of twist to it to make yarn. But the magic that really gets me is the kind that happens with dyed rovings.

I know how it happens, of course. It’s not actually magic. I understand that the way the fiber is prepped and spun, the way it is plied, etc all contribute to this transformation. But every yarn I make leaves me feeling the same way – this feeling of disbelief that THIS yarn came from THAT fiber. That the colors – gorgeous already in their original form – blended and muddled to become an even more beautiful finished yarn that shifts and flows.

It’s not even the pretty colors, either. I have found many projects from other spinners where the initial braid would have been a hard pass for me. It just would never be something I gravitate toward and buy. But spun up? Totally different story. Which, really, is just a lesson for me to stop turning my nose up at certain things so often and make more of an effort to branch out. Because chances are, there’s really hardly a way for the finished yarn to be anything but amazing at the end of it all.

Filed Under: this little life of mine

Newport

April 22, 2019 by Candice Leave a Comment

It’s rare these days that we get to take days off at the same time, but the planets aligned this year and we both had Good Friday off. We wanted to go camping, but the weather was expected to be cold and rainy and, generally, miserable, so a quick change of plans led us to Newport, KY for a quick overnight trip.

We spent a little time on Friday exploring Covington and the river front, which was lovely. When the rain started up again, we ended up heading back across the river to Cincinnati to find a mall where we could hide out from the rain. Instead, we ended up eating dinner at BJ’s Brewhouse, and then venturing into Whole Foods for wine and little bunny cupcakes for dessert before we made our way back to our hotel so Declan could swim in the pool while I knit on the socks I brought with me.

Saturday we did breakfast at Wafflehouse before we headed to the Newport Aquarium. I almost feel like having the Columbus Zoo so close to us has ruined Declan on things like the aquarium. He didn’t seem to care so much about much of any of the exhibits except for the sharks and the shark bridge. I, however, loved seeing some things I haven’t seen before. Especially the moon jellies – I almost wish I had taken my knitting in with me, as I would have just sat there and knit and watched them for hours as they floated so peacefully.

Today I’m home working on a paper for class (well, trying to, anyway). It’s the last week and I am MORE than ready for a break after taking classes for over a year straight. I’m not sure I’m going to know what to do with myself having weekends free to actually relax instead of doing homework.

Filed Under: this little life of mine

A little Easter baking

April 21, 2019 by Candice Leave a Comment

You can’t have Easter without a carrot cake bunny for dessert. We’ve been out of town most of this weekend, and I’m still working on going through the bazillion photos we took on our little adventure, but we were up bright and early this morning to bake for lunch at Nana’s this afternoon. With help from “Chef Declan,” as he called himself.

Filed Under: this little life of mine

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Hi there.


I’m Candice. I knit, and spin, and sew, and garden, and make jams and jellies and… you know, mostly? I do very little of that anymore because I’m too exhausted after work and motherhood and fighting for some personal space. Read more

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