Tag Archives: Knitting

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The Calm Before The Storm

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If you live on the east coast, chances are you are waiting for “Frankenstorm” to hit.

We made sure all of our vehicles had gas, went grocery shopping and did all of our dishes and laundry.

Fortunately (for us) it looks like the storm will be hitting a bit north of us, so we likely won’t have to worry about much weather, but better safe than sorry, right?

We spent some time putting posts in the ground and plotting out the fence line yesterday, making sure that whatever tree trunks and brush that is still out there won’t interfere.

Today is pretty grey and windy, but so far no rain.  Paul is working on more posts while he can, and I am enjoying some rare quiet time in the house.

Oona has been sick with some sort of virus that makes her tired and irritable, and she has spent a large portion of the day asleep on the couch with Gully.

 

So really we are in a state of “Watch and wait” to see what will happen with the storm.  I made pumpkin bread from a Trader Joe’s mix that Susan gave me (I added pumpkin seeds to the top – delicious!).

I worked on Emily’s Haloween costume a bit (sneak peak of her wig….)

And I have been working on the second sock of my Halloween pumpkin socks.

 

Hopefully we won’t lose power, but if we do, there’s plenty of candles and fuel for the fireplace.  Either way, we’re all cozy and toasty and enjoying a lazy fall SUnday.

Happy weekend!

 

 

 

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Welcome October!

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I cannot believe it is already October, can you?

I wish I could say there’s something to report other than burning, burning, and more burning.

The good news is that instead of a giant pile of brush preventing us from installing the fencing, we now have a small pile of smoking ash and small chunks of trees.

Today was rainy and chilly (a perfect start to October, if I do say so) so we didn’t start mapping out the fence line.

We did have school, nap, and watched old episodes of Warehouse 13.

I made Butternut Squash and Apple Soup (but this time I slow roasted the squash and apples in butter before pureeing them).

I worked some more on my Halloween socks, and the kids got a little stir crazy.

You can tell by the pretty princess wings Gulliver’s been sporting.

 

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Equinox

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Happy first day of fall!

It is decidedly UN-fall-like out there today, but that’s okay.  Paul’s working on brush burning and I am working in the craft room.

You ever get mostly done with a dress and realize you have to tear out the zipper and re-do it? No?  Just me?

Yeah, that’s what I am working on.

Also, these:

Halloween – colored socks.

If I get this dress sorted out I’ll be making more couch pillows from this:

Love those fall colors.

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Soupy Fall Day

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Y’all might want to sit down for this one.

I finished a pair of socks.

I know, shocking.  A finished object.  What’s more, I immediately cast on another pair of socks that’s been waiting in the wings for a few YEARS.

If you can believe it – these are from the same ball of yarn.  This is just the way it knitted out.  Crazy.  I wasn’t sure I was okay with the difference at first, but honestly, a pair of hand knit wool socks is a pair of hand knit wool socks.  They will be well appreciated in my boots come winter.

They also fit quite comfortably inside my new orthopedic shoes.  (Orthaheel – I love them!)

The pattern is Grumperina’s Jaywalkers (this is my 4th pair I’ve knit – I know the pattern so well now that they are easier to whip out).  The yarn is Schoppel Wolle (Zauberball, I think) that I picked up at Maryland Sheep & Wool last year.

It’s been awful and dark and rainy and very windy (we are under a tornado watch until 7 tonight) and thick out  so the kids are snuggled on the couch watching movies and I am working on the next pair of socks.  On the stove we’ve got some Butternut Squash and Apple Soup bubbling for dinner.  This is my favorite go – to fall dinner because it’s easy, delicious and terribly in season.  You can find the original tutorial I posted for it a few years back  HERE.

Make yourself a big pot (it’s gluten – free!!)  and serve with a salad or some hot sweet potato rolls.

Go! What are you waiting for???

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A New Space To Create

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You may or may not know that recently Paul started a new job.  He has been commuting to work every day and is traveling only rarely now.  It’s not bee as big an adjustment for us as I was originally worried it would be, and the kids are certainly benefiting from more papa time during the week.

The other side benefit?  Since he is working every day out of a regular office at a regular 9 – 5 (ish) job, he no longer had any use for the home office.  Since we bought this house the room that had been designated by the builder as “Living Room” has been Paul’s office.  It’s far too small to be a living room, and since the room with the fireplace next to both the dining room and kitchen (labeled “family room”) was much bigger, we had a living room already.

But this smaller room is in a primo spot: in front of the house with floor to ceiling windows and nice french doors. In other words, I’d been eying it for years.

Well, I no longer have to wish.  Paul gave it up for me now that his office is at work.  I spent the last week cleaning it out, painting it, and moving all of my stuff (Including a massive desk that should never be moved by anyone).

It took two tries to get the color just right, but now I am glad I went back.  I love this colonial blue.

I painted around and behind Paul’s post – surgery chair and the server rack.  It took FOREVER to get all of that stuff organized and moved out.

Before Paul could get all of his stuff out I began moving mine in. I couldn’t wait!

Everyone got excited when we moved the big comfy chair from the bedroom in.  It’s a favorite spot to nap and read.  I spent the first two months of Oona’s life sleeping in this chair.  Very comfortable.

Now that the room is complete you can see a good reason for the comfy chair in here – the flat screen tv Paul mounted to the wall above my desk (the monitor on top of my desk are the cameras outside – these will be important once the animals come home).

Everything fits quite nicely.  I kind of want to spend all my time in here.

I have a room surrounded by things I love, that is all me.  It has already become the center of family activity – Paul likes to sit in the big chair and relax while I work on creative things, and the kids like to watch me and the tv.  Even the dogs are in on the action.

I may have to make use of those french doors before too long.

 

 

 

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A Quick Non – Finish

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I sort of finished a sweater for Oona.

As in, it’s done but she won’t let me have it back long enough to properly block it.

The pattern is called Boheme, and I used Juniper Moon Farm’s Sabine.  It knit up super fast, and I added two little i-cord flowers, similar to the Boheme sweater that was gifted to Oona in December by our friend Suzy Q.

The buttons were some adorable Jemima Puddleduck ones I found at JoAnns ages ago, and was thrilled to finally have something that matched so perfectly!

Hopefully at some point it will get blocked so I can get a decent picture of the lace portion on the bottom.

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Lizzy House Quilting Weekend! (extra-long post)

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Let me start by saying that if you work with fabrics you should know Lizzy House.  Because if you don’t, you are missing out BIG TIME.  Lizzy has beautiful prints in beautiful colors – so much so that Susan collects hoardes bundles of it to display in her house.  It’s that beautiful. 

Lizzy came to the farm this weekend to give a quilting workshop (farm plus BFF’s plus quilting?  I was SO in) and I was thrilled to be a part of it.  I’ve not done a lot of quilting myself, and what I have done has been mostly frustrating because I never really bothered to figure out how to quilt, so when things went wrong I wasn’t really sure how to fix them.  This class was perfect because I am not necessarily a beginner, but I needed to see people properly working a quilt to fill in the knowledge gap.  And now that I know what I was doing wrong I realize how kind of simple the fixes were.  Quilting is so very much easier than I was assuming it is, and so very much more fun!

Don’t you just love this Hello Kitty machine Virginia is sewing on?? Virginia owns “Gather Here” a beautiful yarn & fabric shop in Cambridge, MA.  If you’re in the neighborhood, drop in and check it out.  And tell her I said hi!!

The bonus?  Aside from spending the weekend sewing at the farm, my dear friend Amanda came down from Boston.

I do not get to see Amanda nearly enough.  That has to change.

I collaborated with Caroline and I am pretty sure a new quilting fiend has been born in her – she took right to it and loved it.  Don’t be surprised if she’s designing quilts by this time next year!

Lizzy herself is just as beautiful and friendly and fun as her designs.

We were all working on making our own version of the quilt you see behind her – but not just “making” it.   She shared a story of personal loss that spurred her to begin quilting, and how it saved her.  How all of the emotion and love and sorrow and all of it went into the quilt until it became more than just “a quilt”.  This is very familiar to me as a knitter, and to other knitters as well.  Our craft is a kind of therapy and I have spent many hours knitting while mulling over whatever is happening in my life at that moment.  From then on, that project always reminds me of that moment, like a snapshot.  There are knitters I know who will call something their “angry scarf” or their “lucky socks” because that is what they remember most about knitting them.  I oddly have a project that makes me think of Niagara Falls because I was listening to a “This American Life” segment about the Falls while I was knitting it.

Lizzy’s fabrics being bundled into a gorgeous stack.

This quilt project was about that, but in a more “intentional” way.  Lizzy tasked us with deciding what we wanted our quilts to be about and to focus on that while working on it.  I can tell you my intentions for it were all about my friendships at the farm (both old and new) and my hopes and feelings about finally getting my own farm underway.  This will be an intentionally happy and lucky and grateful quilt.  And Caroline and I worked on it together!  I will remember that every time I see it and it will make me happy.

This is Lisa.  Lisa lives locally (YAY!!!) and for all of you who are local, she and her husband own Revolutionary Soup.  Right??!!!  You can also check out their blog at Red Row Farm.

Caroline and I used a collection by Moda called “Papillon”.

I can’t wait to show off the project when it is all finished.  We knocked out 12 of the 18 squares for the top.  I’ll be machine quilting it once I’ve gotten the backing fabric and sandwiching material.  Nothing fancy – I think the fabric does a knockout job on its own.

If you’re thinking about learning to quilt but are unsure – find a class.  I can’t promise it will be as fun as this was, but it will take away much of the fear factor and get you going on the right track (if you live in the greater Boston area, Virginia’s shop is a great place to take classes, and you can use her machines there by the hour).

If Lizzy is going to be in your area giving a class or workshop – DO IT. I can’t speak highly enough of her.  And for heaven’s sake if you find some of her fabric GET IT!!!

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Let’s Start a Magazine Together!

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This is the post where I steal an entire bit from Susan’s blog and pass it on here.  She and the crew at JMF are starting  magazine.  A beautiful, lovely, useful magazine centered around all things done by hand.  Cooking, sewing, knitting, building…..you name it.  I’m super excited about it (and having a hard time not boasting that I’ve known about it for quite awhile and have seen some of what’s going to go into it…..it’s too exciting to keep to myself!).  Here it is in Susan’s words. There’s some lovely prizes to be had for those who can help get it off the ground.

Very Big News!

by Susan on March 2, 2012

So for months now I have been alluding to a big secret I’ve been keeping. I am thrilled that today I can finally share the news with all of you.

Juniper Moon Farm is starting a magazine called By Hand. By Hand will be a lifestyle magazine for people who make, with departments for cooking, crafting, DIY, gardening, and do-gooding, with a bit of travel and profiles of makers every month.

The idea is to celebrate creating things with our hands, and to explore the motivation to make things in a world where there are cheaper and immediate alternatives. It will be both practical (patterns, DIY projects, etc) and thoughtful, with a lovely and gentle aesthetic.

We have lots of amazing contributors and editors on board already, and the first issue is well underway. But before we go any further, we need your help!

We are holding a Kickstarter campaign to raise the rest of the money we need to make the magazine everything we want it to be. And as an added inducement, we have commissioned so amazing rewards! Our art director Michelle Lukezic has designed posters and t-shirts that are going to be incredibly popular with people who make things with their hands. Here’s a sample:

There are posters and t-shirts for each of the sections in the magazine!

If you like what you see and want to support us, great! If you can help us get the word out about the Kickstarter and the magazine we will be forever in your debt!

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Quickies

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What’s going on right now:

  • There’s 14 1/2 dozen eggs in my fridge right now.  It’s getting dire, people.  I am going to start doing egg drops on peoples’ doorsteps.
  • I’ve been reading 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C Mann and I am loving it.  There’s all kinds of great little – known facts about the impact that contact with the “New World” made globally. Did you know that at Columbus’ time (he was called Cristobal Colon then, btw) people had known for years the earth was round; Columbus (or Colon) insisted it was pear – shaped, with the very top resembling a woman’s nipple?  Did you know earthworms were unknown in the Americas before the Europeans arrived?  Or that Pocahontas’ name was actually “Mataoka”.  The name “Pocahontas” was a nickname which meant “Little Hellion”?
  • I’m working furiously on Wicked using the luscious Superfine Alpaca yarn Caroline and I bought from the Montpelier Fiber Festival in the fall.  It’s very slow going, and normally I would be ultra bored with it by now, but the yarn is just so wonderful I can’t put it down.
  • To assist with all that knitting – we got a new dvd player.  Okay, we got it because our old one broke.  Paul picked up a new one with all these crazy bells and whistles that I can barely figure out BUT.  I can access my Amazon Prime account through the dvd player so that I can watch any of the streaming shows and movies from my online account ON MY TV!!!  I know I am so late to the party on this but I am very much enjoying it!  Now I don’t have to rely on my laptop to watch Downton Abbey!!!  (And goodness, if you haven’t been watching Downton Abbey, please do.  It is so very good!)
  • I started working out every day back in January.  I’ve been alternating between a strength – training Pilates program with resistance bands and an “Ease into 5K” program on the elliptical.  I also gave up soda completely and have replaced it with green tea.  My favorite is The Republic of Tea’s Blueberry Green Tea.  I’m feeling pretty good.  My goal is to run on the beach this August during my book club beach weekend.  My super – fit friend Beth runs every morning while we are there, and this year I plan to join her.
  • Today I got my spinach and broccoli planted.  As last year, I am using all heritage non – GMO seeds from Baker Creek.  We’ve expanded the vegetable garden site and I am excited for all the fresh veg we’ll have this year!
  • Last but not least, I bought supplies to take to Juniper Moon Farm this weekend where I will get to meet Lizzy House! She’s giving a quilting workshop and I get to go sew with some of my favorite people (and meet Lizzy House!!!!!!)

What are you up to this week????

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Snowy Sunday in Pictures

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I didn’t think it would happen – I dismissed all talk of it.

But it happened – we got SNOW!  Not only that, we should be around 4 inches by the time it stops – a positively HUGE amount for us!

The recipe for the French Onion Soup comes from Susan and it can be found HERE. It is AMAZING.  I made some crusty bread today to go with it and pulled out my French Onion Soup pots, filled them with soup, stuck a thick piece of bread in each one, topped with grated gruyere and OH MY GOODNESS.

Best way to warm up on a snowy, blustery day!!!