Thriftism

Spring has sprung and it's time to be thinking about beginning your garden. A garden is a great way to save money. Vegetables are not cheap at the store and fresh vegetables, the ones that taste way better, are even more expensive. This isn't even taking into account if you want organic produce, but creating your own organic vegetables isn't too hard. Besides saving money, have a garden also encourages healthier eating by providing loads of vegetables (and fruits if you plant them). Believe me, you're more likely to eat the vegetables if you already have them and you know that you'll just throw them away otherwise. Finally, gardening is a great hobby to have. It's the perfect excuse to get outside and enjoy the summer rather than getting caught up on inside work.  You'll get lots of fresh air and get out of the nightly habit of watching TV or other sedentary activities. If you're really not into vegetables, try having a flower garden. Having a ya

 Today is a pretty big day for us- we are celebrating our 4 th anniversary! Last night I decided I should bake a cake because obviously there is no better way to celebrate than by eating cake right? At least that's how my mind tends to work. However, we've been trying more and more to switch to gluten free products. This isn't out of necessity but for the health benefits accompanying the switch. Bleached flour for example has basically no nutritional value and will still add calories to your baked goods. So I decided that since we got a grain mill earlier this year I figured we could switch out the regular flour for garbanzo bean flour. Garbanzo beans provide loads protein and fiber along with calcium, magnesium, and iron to name a few good things about them.  Enough about the health benefits, everyone knows beans are good for you and I wanted to make a slightly healthier cake.  If you read the grain mill article you'll remember I said you should grind A

As promised, these are the mittens I made to match the baby hat I posted about previously. I actually made these the same week I finished the hat, but life has gotten busier and busier so this is just getting posted now. With these I followed the sizing and decreases from The MuckyMacBook , but changed the rest of the pattern to get the look I wanted. These were really easy and made the pair when I was sitting around one Saturday morning.  These mittens were sized to match the hat, meaning both are for the 0-3 month range.  Materials Used: Black Acrylic Yarn (A) White Acrylic Yarn (B) Tapestry Needle Size 6 Knitting Needles CO 28 with A 1-12) K1, P1 in Rib Stitch for 12 rows using color A. 13) K1, M1L, K26, M1L, K1 14) Switch to color B and purl entire row. 15) K1, M1L, K28, M1L, K1 16)Purl 17)K1, M1L, K30, M1L, K1 18) Switch to color A and purl 19) K1, M1L, K 32, M1L, K1 20) Purl 21)Knit 22)Switch to color B and purl 23) Knit 24) Purl 25) Knit 26) Swi