Every time I went into the pantry I'd see these two cans of cheery pie filling just sitting there. Waiting. This afternoon I decided it was time to use them. Cheery pie is so good (especially for breakfast the next day).

I picked my carrots last weekend.

Do you remember me saying we'd got the first of our permanent snow a week and a half ago?

Here are my carrot greens.

At first I'd put off digging out the carrots because we didn't think this was permanent snow - it often doesn't 'stick' until after Hallowe'en - but after a few days it was obvious the snow wasn't leaving and the ground was freezing. Saturday was the first opportunity I had for doing garden work with the sun up (it's getting dark by the time we're home and finished dinner now).

It was a little more work than I'd been hoping. The half barrels were pretty close to completely frozen and it took a lot of work with my cultivator and trowel to loosen up the soil enough the pull the carrots out; I broke more than a few of them - carrots not tools - in the process. I forgot to take a picture of the carrots before I brought them inside - I was just so happy to be done - but some of them looked pretty funny with ice crystals poking out instead of roots.

I washed them all in a couple of shifts inside. It turned out they were actually easier to wash while still frozen since once the ice melted bits of soil would sneak into the cracks in the carrots and took a lot more work to get out. I composted more than a few of the smaller ones just because I couldn't get them clean. Once they were all washed I had to decide what to do with a bucket's worth of pre-frozen carrots.

I made soup.

Curried carrot ginger soup.

I roughly followed this recipe. I doubled everything, since I had so many carrots, and added about a tablespoon and a half of hot curry powder. I had turkey stock in the freezer so I used that instead of the chicken stock the recipe called for; I don't think it made any noticeable difference. I didn't add the cream because I was planning to freeze the soup and thought it would be nicer to stir it in when we reheat it; it also gives us the option of using yoghurt or sour cream instead. I think I added extra ginger.

I've now got three four-cup containers in the freezer and we ate a fourth container's worth for lunch on Monday. Yummy! We both thought it was really good and had a nice level of spiciness to it (I swirled in some cream while it was heating up). I love to look into my cupboards and freezer and see food I've put by for later in the year. So fun.

(I've got another four cups or so of chopped carrots in the freezer too.)

Or, "How I Spent my Weekend"

I've been on the lookout for Canadian apples (particularly galas) in the grocery store for a while. I finally saw them when I was picking up things for Thanksgiving and, even though I knew I'd have no time to deal with them for at least a week, I grabbed up as many as I could. I had just enough time this Sunday before walking over to my mum's to get them all peeled and cut up and into a big pot.

I think I added a bit too much water because it boiled for longer than I remember last year but eventually it got there. I canned three jars plain and then added some spice for the last two (and the little bowl of leftovers - yum).

I love seeing jars of my own applesauce sitting waiting in the cupboard - so warm and cozy. The hour I spent peeling and chopping makes me think it might be wise to invest in one of those apple-peeling contraptions though.

Most of my knitting actually happened on Monday. I'd cast-on Rob's new socks on Saturday night and worked my way through the cuff and hem Sunday evening but really made progress sitting in my armchair in the living room on Monday. There is no clock visible from my armchair but I think I was sitting there for at least two hours. I didn't really have a choice - the cat was sleeping on my lap. I stopped to take pictures after the first spider repeat.

Like many very colour saturated yarns I've used before this one is coming off on my hands. By the time I stopped knitting my fingers and nails looked liked I'd been reading a newspaper. But I could tell it was from knitting by the stripe around my finger.

I finished the second repeat before I got out of my chair and, thanks to some time in the coffee shop on Tuesday and a power outage yesterday at work, I'm now finished the leg and three rows into the heel. I can't wait to see how the gussets work on this sock; they are a little different than the ones I've done before.