Homesteading diary: Home brewed Kombucha

About a month ago, I became the new owner of a mother kombucha aka SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). The same night I got it, I spend a few hours researching how to take care of my new pet. I discovered that kombucha could not only make a delicious beverage for your pallet, but it was also proved that it could help to increase your immune system.

 I fed her with sweetened black tea and covered her up with a clean cheesecloth for about ten days, before harvesting my first batch of kombucha tea.  I didn't bottle it up and decided to drink it straight away instead. An oh my, I've never tasted anything like this before. The taste was really amazing!

Along my research, I saw that pople could also make fizzy juice from kombucha (it sounded so fancy,) if you would let it ferment for a few days within a bottle. And that could make sense, because I was already making ginger ale, and the process was quite similar. So, on my second harvest, I bottled it up with some fresh pears slices, and let it rest outside to carbonate for three days before putting it in the fridge for two.

The second batch was such a little success! I didn't have any champagne cups to drink my fancy juice with, but I it didn't really matter, I was so happy with the little bubbles that I had in my jar.

I cannot wait to try it with wild berries this summer!

Dianthus caryophyllus

It's very hard to explain how simple flowers can bring so much joy in a kitchen and in a heart.

Eleven out of twelve {a test knit hat}

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon one amazing picture on sweaterspotter's Instagram profile. She posted this beautiful photograph of a yellowish, bubblish hat, that happened to be her newest design. As soon as I saw it, I knew that I had to knit it, sooner or later. Lucky me, I was able to test knit it! 

Oh this pattern was such a joy to knit! Bobble after bobble, you could see how the whole thing was going to turn out. And after the first repeat, I realized how brilliantly Anna wrote it down. I don't know when the pattern's going to be released, but I'm pretty sure that as soon at it will be, a lot of needles are going to click.

The yarn that I used for this project was really not the best choice though. The pattern calls for a worsted weight yarn, but I couldn't find any here, so I decided to double this sport weight instead. Even though I enjoyed knitting the pattern a lot, the yarn was a big challenge for me. It wasn't really pleasant between my fingers. So, I'm really looking forward to knitting it again, but with some exquisitely soft yarn.

It's in those places that my heart belongs to

Yesterday afternoon was pretty magical. I was lucky enough to be able to witness the first signs of Spring. The sun was high in the blue sky, shining on my woolen blanket, and heating up my back while I was working on some stitches.

I had initialy planned to hike a bit, and search for a beautiful lake that I can spot everytime that I take the train that brings me deeper in the countryside. I ended up walking for a few hours, without finding the whimsical lake. But it was so much better that way! Beautiful lake, I'm not angry at you. I'll search for you another time. You let me spent the most beautiful time in a mysterious woodland, discovering new places, smelling the young pine tree branches, and listenning to the birds that were welcoming the Spring. Dear lake, thank you for this wonderful day.

Linen & Cotton, WIP |Heathered|

Pattern: Heathered // Yarn: bc garn, allino in mustard

Heather & Tulips

I realised that since my cardigan's finished, I found myself browsing ravelry pages persistently, for sweater patterns. I selected a few, and set them on the side to knit them later. But there's one cardigan that really caught my eye during my investigation. This sweater is not only perfect in appearance, but I also find its name so appealing. It's called "Heathered", and is pretty in so many ways (Heather is probably my most favourite flower). This top down cardigan is very simple, yet its details make it so elegant.

Once I knew which cardigan I wanted to knit, I had to find a yarn that would be the perfect match. At first I thought that I would use merino or alpaca. But I realised then that Spring is just around the corner, and I would have plenty of time later this year to get ready for the colder months, and knit with warmer fibers. Instead, I decided to give a try to something new for me: plants fibers.

This cardigan is going to match two of the knitting goals that I set this year - knit another cardigan, and try another fiber. So the yarn that I chose for this project is a beautiful mix of linen and cotton - the perfect match for a Spring/Summer garment.

* I have a new packaging for the snoods in my shop - simple paper bags that are made here in Latvia, by people with disabilities. I really like how they turned out!

** I found pretty vintage soviet boxes the other day. I use them to store my wooden pearls/ threads and other tiny little things that didn't have a nice place to rest yet.