honeyflake

greens

backyard tulips starting to emerge...

a torta for dinner...

fresh chives sprouting up in the herb box...

knitting progress...

 

 

london (and knitting) calling

happily wound up some green, wooly beaverslide yarn from the rocky mountains into a ball and cast on for a new knitting creation this weekend... i'm loving this yarn and was so happy to have a bit of time to start working on something new... and on top of that? there was plenty of women's soccer streaming live on our computer. 

watching a new project take off loop by loop while getting to watch the u.s. team play a few games... perfect for a january weekend. (in some way or another, soccer really does seam to work it's way into my knitting doesn't it.) and i have to say that i totally enjoyed watching margaret root and cheer for this team and celebrate their goals... now they're off to the london olympics and we're a bit eager for the summer games to begin. and until then i've got some yarn to see to. 

play

a trio of new legwarmers has been knit for my girl's ever moving, running and kicking limbs. usually these things do come in a matching pair - one to wear on each leg... but this set contains three. each one an improvised pattern of stripes that seemed to design themselves as they were being knit. the final three uniquely striped tubes can be mixed and matched in different combinations — a sweet feature which margaret loves. my goal was to use up some yarn from my stash, specifically a nice unused skein of organic, periwinkle wool. i knew that i'd probably be short on yarn to finish two legwarmers with just that color, so with margaret's help, we pulled a few extra balls of yarn out of the bin... i cast on and just began to play with the yarn and the quantity that i had... changing colors here and there as they took shape... finishing one and beginning another, and then another. knitting these free-form was really such a relaxing pleasure. no rules. nothing to troubleshoot. just fun. perfect for the tomfoolery that finds its way into our days.

my knitting notes posted at ravelry.

green, blue & green

 

sometime in the spring, cousins on chuck's side of the family will be expecting their first child. of course this type of news is always exciting and well, always a great reason to happily create a few new handmades. new little gifts to box up and send along to welcome the new arrival. not being sure if i wanted to knit or sew—i went with both... getting all sorts of inspiration from my blue fabric stash, blue yarn stash and some easily found patterns. in the end, the final projects sprouted from materials that i already had on hand, some even thrifted (certain fabrics and buttons) or made from recycled materials (the yarn) making this a very sweet eco-green, blue and green, baby gift, which i love as much as the wee, teeny-tinyness of it all. 

i had some recycled fiber yarn left over from margaret's tunic. just enough to make this seamless baby cardigan. so very adorable to see this one come together. {ravelry link}. the vintage avacado green buttons were a final addition to this knit. they have had a presence in my button collection for a while — originally picked up second hand in the thrift store's craft section and it was great to find a project to use them on.

two side-tying baby kimonos! the free pattern can be found here at martha stewart's website. these only require fabric, thread and some bias tape (or more fabric to make your own bias tape). all of which i had plenty of, so these two shirts came together quickly.

 

and lastly, a little fabric ball for the fun of it. made from fabric scraps and stuffed with 100% natural wool. again the pattern is free and online.

and there you go... a very green, blue and green themed baby gift. ready to be shipped off to greet a new little person. 

 

classic

yes, it is chuck in his new retro-knit. swell! it seems he is pretty happy to join these other grayscale, handknit wearing lads... who are all straight from the pages of a vintage knitting booklet (minus the friendly banter).  i found this 1966 book at a thrift store several years ago. when i brought the collection of patterns home with me i knew at that time that my skills were nowhere near where they'd need to be to complete any of the projects... but i held onto it with a bit of hope that someday... someday perhaps i'd be using the "choose-o-matic" yarn selector chart on page two, choosing the perfect yarn and a pattern to make something for chuck. something classic that would look as keen now as it did then.

so in january, i felt up to the challenge of knitting a men's garment. i purchased up several skeins of nice yarn (because a big pullover needs a big supply of yarn — super swell!) and i cast on for style 9602 (ravelry link), the round neck pullover...  a more practical choice than the fuzzy, mohair cardigan, tennis cardigan or dickey. i loved the simplicity of this one. the yarn, which is a wool/alpaca blend from the green mountain spinnery was incredible to work with. it was really soft, and seemed even softer when it was looped up together in the sweater. to me it worked very well with the pattern and the vintage look i was hoping for. in fact, all of this project ended up better than i was even hoping for.

truthfully i was pretty amazed when it all came together, fit and was wearable. in addition to that, it passed the weekend test of coffee drinking while gazing at the ground to see what might be popping up and dreaming about what might be planted where this spring... and that sure was nifty!

 

typing a few things

* happy to have finished two separate freelance jobs today. so nice to do that final 'save and send'. twice. i'm feeling thankful for the opportunity to simultaneously design and be home...  that is not me by the way in the photo above, i'm more of a mac person, but margaret prefers to work diligently on this old keyboard, typing up everything she knows and can think of about narwhals, polar bears and how much she loves us (punctuated by many many exclamation marks), all while sporting her lovely typing gloves.

* enjoyed an afternoon of teaching yoga to a group of 7-8 year olds. it was a one time make-shift get together with a eclectic collection of mats and blankets gathered around a circle. their energy and enthusiasm is wonderful (and tiring).

*  a good new tune (track 2).

* craving a fresh-squeezed beet-carrot-apple-ginger-lemon juice from our local juice bar. perhaps i'll bump that up to the top of tomorrow's activities... around the time when margaret was born we frequented liquidteria in nyc and more often than not i got the "beets me" — and while we are no longer living near by, i'm happy to have found an awesome juice place that lets me custom mix a similar elixir and buy some organic kale for dinner all in one check out!

* happy wednesday!

brrrrrr!!!

scarves, hats, sweaters — some useful staples of a good wintery wardrobe — have been created and finally shared here on the blog. seven knitty posts in two weeks (eight including this one). thinking about it, this time when we feel winter drawing near (at least where we currently are) seems like a very appropriate time to have done so. thanks for checking in and reading along as the posts have gone up. i'm very glad that you stop by.

so yeah, outside today, the temperatures are about 28º! if it wasn't for all the holidayness everywhere reminding us of where we are on the calendar, i might believe that it is a day straight out of february... good thing for all those knitted accoutrements. i was certainly bundled up in several when we went out this morning. and the photo above? that's a little something that i brought back home with me from our 28º wool-wearing outing this morning. this lovely 2.5 qt. pyrex bowl was picked up on a quick thrift store stop (my original intent was to check the vintage christmas items for a little deer/fawn for a craft project but no luck there). they were just getting ready to mark this new second-hand donation with a price sticker when chuck and i were walking towards the door. pyrex? with snowflakes? on a super-freezing winter like day? sold! i cleaned it up (one thing i love about pyrex is how easily it always cleans up, no matter what i've been mixing or baking). it is absolutely perfect for our days right now. i'm feeling that urge again to break out the christmas aprons and begin the baking, however i need to take care of a few other things on my list.

soon though, the flour and sugar will be flowing and the winter baking sessions will help warm us all. and another plan for this frosty season? there are many new knitting projects queued up on the horizon. i'm eargerly looking forward and setting some goals that will keep my needles busy and provide comfort and peace at the same time...

• i'd love to begin a wearable sweater for chuck. i have a possible vintage pattern but i need to figure out the needles and yarn for that. there are also a few patterns i've seen on ravelry. i will have to find one that is realistically doable for me right now.

• as soon as the gray pullover was off the needles, i was so excited to move forward, that i began collecting up several possible patterns for the next one! yes, another one for myself. three sweaters that i added to my ravelry favorites back in october are (1)the snowbird sweater (2)the kaari sweater (3) the shalom sweater. again, i'll have to take a closer look at all of them and find the one that best suits my knitting level.

•i'm dreaming that someday in my future there will be cable knitting. someday.

• there is a cardigan i have started for margaret in organic cotton that is stalled out and set aside right now. that project, or something similar may be picked up again.

• there is also a knitted surprise gift in the works (i can not share it now, but the yarn color matches the grapefruit in the photo above! i love it and that pattern too).

if this december day (again, 28º!!!!brrrrrr!) is any indication of the type of winter cold we might be expecting than i'm thinking more knits are a must. so, here's to treasuring all the little ways to stay happy and warm, as the days get colder here... both planned and unexpected.

the pullover post

two years! really. that is the amount of time that passed between first purchasing the yarn and lightweight pullover pattern in vermont on a family camping trip, essentially the beginnings of the sweater, until all the loose ends were weaved in, blocking was done and this handknit was wearable... my first real, live, homemade wearable sweater made by me for me. cool!

 

i've always loved this gray organic wool since i saw it at the spinnery. little did i know that i would be knitting and unknitting it many many times over several years (and through all i put it through, i think it held up beautifully too). the pattern itself was pretty basic (and has since been included in this book). i think the stumbling blocks that were slowing down my progress were just my beginner-knitting-level. once i figured out a few personal knitting quirks the project was on its way to resembling the garment i was aiming for. 

throughout all the on-agains/off-agains that i had with this knit, i was so thankful for the spinnery staff. fortunately for me we were in their vacinity again in september 09 and i was able to bring my stalled vest-like project in for some first hand neckline advice. they were completely helpful and got me on my way once again. all that was left was two sleeves. this step too held me up a bit. but at some point i figured it out (ok, so there may have been a phone call reaching out to the spinnery staff again), perhaps a year later in the summer of 2010, and eventually there were sleeves — two long, even comfy sleeves — making this garment complete and ready to wear.

whew. i'm really very happy that i stuck to it and followed through on this. there were many times i could have scrapped it all and just made a few hats and scarves. but i am glad i kept at it. for one, i learned a lot. always good. and two, i now have this great simple pullover. it turned out to be that convenient, easy to reach for and grab pullover. i found myself pulling it on for those chilly damp days of autumn. and now as we go to the now even chillier days of oncoming winter, it seems to add just the right, easy amount of warmth for going about my days or just simply kicking back. i love it.

adorned

we like to get our tree up and decorated pretty soon after we bring it home. on sunday it was merrily adorned with lights and ornaments, making itself at home in our living room across from our string of advent flags. like several decembers in the past, our traditional countdown is underway... each new day there is another small, simple surprise in a pocket. for sunday, i left this handknit ornament and a note that we'd be decorating the tree (something of a tradition too). this wooly bauble is from the holiday ornament pattern in this book. it was a very quick little gift to make (actually, 'little' might not be the best word choice there, the final ball turns out surprisingly large, like grapefruit size! luckily the wool stuffing keeps it light for hanging)... for the yarn, i chose to use some leftover wool from projects past. simple and natural. i like that. and i'm liking the sweet evergreen in the house too.

shareable

another hat using yarns in my stash. this one is the hurricane hat pattern (available free here). i strayed from the pattern a bit though — using whatever yarn i had enough of and whatever needles i had. i wasn't sure what size i'd end up with and it turns out it can fit both margaret and i. shareable!

a cap

 

keeping it all simple today, with an easy-breezy knit hat... this project from my fall knitting flurry is the family ribbed hat pattern from more last minute knitted gifts. this newish book is just in my possession temporarily while i have it out on lend from our local library... but i've had it long enough to give this project a whirl (while queuing up some of the bigger projects for a later point in time). for the sake of using what i had on hand, i swapped out the recommended yarn and just used some manos del uruguay scraps (that were actually left over from a hat pattern in the previous last minute knitted gifts book — i wasn't sure that there would be enough purple, so i stuck in a stripe of another color, but in the end i think i could have made it all the way with just the solid purple).

this was a very quick knit. which is nice and needed sometimes... but what i love even more than it's simplicity, speed and ease is seeing it worn about, keeping margaret warm up top. yes, that's the best.

the simo dress

the flavor of today's knitting post is slightly different from yesterday's very relaxed and pattern free scarf. this project began not with a random ball of yarn but with seeing the pattern online, loving it and wanting to make margaret one exactly like it. and luckily, when i called her over to check it out, she seemed to love it too and said that yes, she would wear a dress exactly like it. and just like that the making of another handmade wearable began.

i purchased the pattern, called "simo" — available in the berroco pattern booklet, right away before my gemini girl could change her mind. of course, with aspirations of making the exact dress in the pattern photo, i chose to use the recommended yarn too, which really appealed to me for this project. it turned out to be berroco remix in nightfall, a tweedy eco-friendly yarn made of shredded up recycled fabric fibers. something new and different for me and i was excited to try it. 

once i began, with the proper yarn and the proper needle size, i followed the directions line by line, stitch by stitch... moving forward with ease, encountering a few firsts for me along the way... like joining the front, back and sleeves together at the yoke and also knitting the checkerboard stitch for the scarf. (both steps were completed successfully, giving my knitting confidence a slight humble boost!) 

i think margaret is pretty pleased with this tunic style dress. it is soft, comfortable and easily layered and made exactly for her.

sideline scarf

i'm calling this project my sideline scarf. as it was knit mainly while sitting on the sidelines as a spectator(mama) at many youth soccer games, practices and tournaments in october... and also because it's super long length lets the rib pattern go on about as long as the lines on the field. 

this scarf was 100% improvisation. i happened to have a tremendous ball of cascade ecological wool on hand and after finally completing the previously mentioned gray sweater i was very much looking to start something easy and pattern free for my next project. this wool seemed like it would evolve nicely into a scarf of some sort. maybe for me. maybe for margaret. i just wanted to knit without much thinking. i selected some straight needles, size 10, and cast on 33 stitches. simply keeping to a knit3, purl3 rib... while i waited on the sidelines of margaret's fall practices i knit, while at the early weekend games i knit and at the big fall tournaments in between games and during some of the more nail-biting matches, i knit...

until, towards the chillier end of the season, i ran out of yarn and bound off... yes! three cheers for a super easy wooly creation. completed in time to be happily worn to a few last games and practices. 

 a nice long chunky wool scarf? perfect sideline attire i think!

so, i've been doing a little knitting

it seems that knitting has had a large absence from this blog lately. it has been a very long time since i've shared a finished project or anything newly cast-on and in progress. for a while i was pretty much in limbo with a sweater and i wanted to get everything resolved with that before i switched over to anything new... i eventually completed the pullover in september and from there, well, many new creations have emerged... 

(margaret illustrating the giant mountain of wooly knitwear that has made it''s way off the needles here this autumn)

new creations that were both improvised and straight from patterns and somewhere in between have been completed and i just haven't gotten around to mentioning them on the blog like i used to... so now i plan to do just that. i'm putting together a few consecutive posts, to add to the knitting category (and also to my ravelry page...) so feel free to check back throughout the week as i go about a little autumn knitting recap.

 

autumn's arrival

just a quick farewell to summer 2010! and a warm — eighty degree-like warm. excellent beach-day warm. i'll just take a light bag with some knitting and a latte and a fleece just in case warm—welcome to autumn.

about a scarf

 

1. so, i was working on knitting a pullover — a project that i enthusiastically began back in 2008. i loved the wool and the pattern. i wasn't loving the challenges i kept encountering in completing it. i kept wanting to pick up my knitting but i was stuck... so in the summer of 2009 i brought my halted sweater along with us on a trip to vermont and we stopped at the green mountain spinnery for some first hand advice. (as you might imagine, they were extremely helpful and encouraging).

 

2. while there i picked up a few more skeins of yarn in some lovely colors for future projects (and down the road at the local co-op we picked up some limited batch ice cream that we've yet to see anywhere else since then... but that is not really relevant to the scarf)

 

3. not long after that, while sitting around in the woods, i spontaneously cast on 45 stitches of mountain mohair in an unofficial basketweave pattern... temporarily abandoning my sweater at a sleeveless vest stage. it was nice to go back to knitting something simple, that required little thought and experience. so enjoyable that i just kept going. and going...

 

4. until sometime in autumn, when i finally thought this wooly neckwear was lengthy enough... that's when i cast off and bundled up.

5. and that's about it really. from a troubled sweater (still considered an active work-in-progress) to a little experiment with some needles and colored yarn that ended up as a scarf... which i've been wrapping around and about (did i mention that it was quite lengthy?) to somewhat shelter myself a bit from those harsher elements of winter.

a hat

 

i mentioned some yarn the other day, that i had wound up into a ready-to-be-knit ball. just one skein of a brown greenspun fibre, maine organic, from the green mountain spinnery. it had been stashed away for quite some time. waiting i suppose for just the right project. and oddly enough, sitting pretty much right next to that yarn in the box was a tear-sheet i had pulled from a magazine back in 2007. it was a page on winter knits and where to buy them... i just clipped it because i really loved the chunky brown ear-flapped hat. looking at the page again i realized that it would be perfect for the keen organic wool, pretty easy to make and margaret was due for a new winter cap... truthfully she's still happily sporting her beach inspired creation from a few seasons ago, but this mama thinks it is time for an update... so deeper into the box i dug for my #9 circular needles and the photocopy of the 'kim's hats' pattern (from here).

and there it is a few mornings later. the hat and inspiration. i'll show this new winter handknit to margaret tomorrow morning and she can try it on... hopefully it will be a good fit and something she can wear right away - i'm hearing that the first flakes of the season might be ready to fall on us soon.

here's to keeping warm and cozy in december! happy friday!

crafty holiday memories

so the new year has rolled in. the house is in order... bringing a fresh sense of calm and space here. mmmm... love that. we're back to our normal daily rhythms. the pace is so very different from just a few weeks ago. remember the holidays? the excitement? the comfort? the joy? the creating? the knitting, sewing, journaling and whittling (oh yes, at our house this year there was whittling)... it's sort of strange how one minute it's here and the next thing you know the sounds of the season playlist is giving way to all rebel rockers... i don't know, perhaps its just the pine-withdrawal talking, but how about a little handmade gift retrospective for the gift-giving season of 2008? sound ok? wonderful... 

let's see. i think i began with the knitting. several surprise pairs of toasties knit... different colors and yarns for different people. i wanted to blog about some of the wool and this pattern back in december, but then that would be it for the "surprise" factor. so here they are just before being given...

i loved working on this knitting pattern from leslie each time around...

 

ok, next... remember i mentioned last month how i was very inspired by some of the toy crafts in living crafts? chuck and i both loved their cover idea of making this hobby horse simply out of a pair of socks, wool and a fallen branch. margaret has always wanted one of these, so chuck gave the project a whirl. (this was where the late-night whittling came in. some pre-christmas night's i felt as if ma and pa ingall's had just moved in and replaced us.) here's the finished horse (aka: old paint).

then of course there was some handmade from santa and the elves. for margaret there was this knitted organic wool doll sweater. looks like they too were inspired by the same magazine (downloadable pattern designed by waldorfmama).

(apparently he loves his sweater so much that he hasn't taken it off since the 25th). now to close out this little (not-so little?) crafty review... there was a new santa-made supply of doll clothes. (pretty sure he got the patterns from this book). a couple of simple dresses and pants for margaret's wee friends. 

well, thanks for coming along on this holiday recap. the end result of an ever evolving list of creative ideas/to-dos during the month of december. hope you've enjoyed seeing some of our projects (be sure to check out the links) and here's to the spirit of christmas crafting big and small.... 

 

joyful little things

so, i mentioned that around here we have some advent flags going on. (and — i just discovered that our advent flags made an appearance over at whipup amongst some other very sweet and creative takes on the homemade advent calendar. cool!) the mama and the papa have been steadily filling the pockets with simple and small somethings that margaret looks forward to each morning. perhaps it is edible (nuts in the shell that need cracking, honeysticks, chocolate) or perhaps it is something to do (bake cookies, get the tree). with the spirit of holiday crafting saturating the air around here, even the simplest things are bringing out the inspiration and creativity. it's inevitable, it's absolutely enjoyable, and it's how we've ended up with such micro-crafts as tiny knitwear and mini-books... 

 

this miniature sweater was quickly knitted up and turned into an ornament for sunday's pocket "decorate the tree today". i used some leftover yarn from my leg-warmers and the pattern from last minute knitted gifts (i was thrilled to find it not checked out at my local library last week, after all we are approaching "last-minute" so it's good to have on-hand, right?). margaret was pretty charmed by it's smallness. and i was too... some other small items i've been inspired to make are the little books above... i did a simple binding with embroidery floss, and embellished the cardstock cover. their pages are filled with little reveals (heavy on the silly drawings) about what the activity is for that day. i used the embroidered tree book for "get the tree today" and the star book is yet to be used. i'll have to see what's in store for us in the upcoming days of advent... plenty more joyful little things to create i hope.  it's a very simple way to turn something ordinary into a splendid new treasure.

today so far

• it's friday
• it's sunny
• i spotted a woodpecker — a red-bellied? — out the window
• i'm planning our tree picnic 
   (wondering if i have enough marshmallows)
• i'm wearing my just-finished knitted cowl 
   (a quick seed stitch + llama yarn improvisation) 
• i'm watching margaret simultaneously color and 
   bop around to christmas songs
• i'm loving the latest issue of living crafts (info on lots 
   of organic wool and homemade toy ideas)
• i'm no longer watching margaret simultaneously color
   and bop around to christmas music because she is
   now hidden underneath the wood table with a pile of
   red paper, tape, scissors and her stapler making 
   a little something that i can not see...

yes, that is today... so far... happy friday! 

it's been getting quite chilly here lately and so i've been...

 
baking doughnuts and serving them with mugs of hot ginger tea. (a simple elixir of fresh chopped ginger, a little lemon boiled up and then sweetened with a bit of honey).

 
playing post-office and wearing my super cozy toasties (made by erin — and delivered in person when we got to meet a week or so ago in nyc!).

working on the sweater project... the wool, the hot water bottle and the blanket surround.

stayin warm!

touch of grey

now just look at that! who turned off the color?  hmph. today's crafty update is apparently brought to you by the color grey... and i'm liking it an awful lot. i feel as if striping away the bold patterns and colors really make the textures stand out so much more — hence the close up of textures today. fabric & yarn. i'm finally getting the chance to work on my quilt block for the 2nd month of onequilt. i love the neutral fabrics meg has chosen for us to work with this time - i now just need to sew it all up and finish it...  and for those sewing needle-free moments today there were some knitting needle moments with yet more grey — the sweet new grey wool. can't seem to put this project down. i think i might actually be able to see a sweater shape taking place. yay for that. yay for grey. now if you'll excuse me i've got some lovely hue-less fabric scraps that need piecing... sing it jerry.

have you any wool

yes sir, yes sir (thanks to a little stop at the green mountain spinnery on our drive to vermont) it seems like we had a whole tent full...  

 

one bonus perk to our last camping destination was that the roads leading there also took us right by this great natural yarn source. we stopped by to check it out. fun stuff. very eco-friendly yarns aplenty, made right there on their vintage equipment, which was chugging away spinning spools, while we were there. we got to tour that part of the spinnery too and talk to the workers — margaret was given some carded fleece samples and a little pink yarn of her own. eventually, after contemplating all the splendid colors on the shelf i finally decided on a bit of organic gray wool and a little bit of a salmony/pink/orange wool to take with me as souvenirs from the green mountain state... not long after, we arrived at our campsite. and that is how we ended up in the mountains, in the rain, in a tent filled with yarn. rain the first morning kept us in our shelter a bit longer, amongst the sleeping bags and headlamps, so we began sorting through the bag of yarn. margaret and i raveled up a few yarn balls while the summer rain fell outside and we talked about possible projects and crafts (a sweater for mama? papa? a scarf for snoopy?) it was nice.

i've since begun a new project with the gray. a possible sweater for me (we'll see how it goes - an adult sweater project is a first for me). so far i love working with this yarn. it is so simple and wooly. the way the fibers are spun really lets you feel that. you see the little white and black strands intertwined and that has me thinking back to the sheep... and it is so nice to know where it has come from and how it was made. a great momento, i think, from our summer to carry with me into fall.

ready to winter like its 1984

finished one. finished the other. two twenty-six inch long tubes. lots and lots of knit one/purl one/knit one/purl one/knit one/purl one... i'm glad to say that last week i finished up the legwarmers that i've been working on for myself. i actually started them back in february and have been toting them around with me for months knitting a bit here and a bit there (that rib stitch was a bit tedious, good thing that yarn was so dreamy). the pattern i chose came from here  — i knew as soon as i saw them in all their comfy, slouchyness on the back cover, that i wanted to make a pair of my very own. so, finally last week i cast off. now they're ready to wear. just in time for the autumn chill, i suppose. however, they're even pretty awesome on an august afternoon, whatever the decade. 

made in the shade

the library books were returned. the csa vegetables were picked up. we had our lunch. margaret was happily involved in playing, buzzing about. ahhhh... before the evenings activities started (cooking dinner, cleaning up from the day, out to yoga class) i embraced a few minutes of this late summer heat filled afternoon to retreat to the shade. seems i spend the greater part of the season seeking out the sun, but today i went for the shade. much much cooler. (the august heat has arrived.) the yard chair was moved to the shadiest, quietest corner and there i sat with my knitting (same old legwarmers which i'm so focused on finishing lately. i'd say that i'm 75% there. one is complete and the other is about half way. inch by inch it is coming along.) just so very nice to have those few quiet moments to break up the day. to notice the calendula that's popped up in the garden, to notice the blueberry bush that is now officially blueberry-less until next year, to notice the clouds and the breeze... all while the needles were clicking away. in the shade. of course, i must admit that this time was not without it's interruptions. you know, things were happening — such as margaret's excitement and need for me due to the dragonfly she thought followed her into the house (a full search was immediately done and i have yet to see any winged creature turn up) and events of the like. good summery interruptions — because think about it, how often is it in february that we run around the house (camera in hand of course just in case) searching for a renegade dragonfly?

and now here we are, at the end of the post, at the end of the afternoon. i'm off now to check on my dough, get dinner together and eventually i'll grab my mat and head out to class. here's to the spirit of the season, cool breezes and shadey backyard nooks. i'll let you know if that dragonfly turns up on my pillow tonight. be well.

ready to wrap

fresh off the needles and ready to be wrappped - wrapped up as a gift and given to a friend, soon to then be wrapped around ten new little toes in a few weeks. i found this free pattern, very small, on the wrapper of some cotton yarn. the yarn i was using for our plant cozy. i've since been quite anxious to give it a try. with my friend in mind, i started a pair of booties this weekend — allowing myself plenty of time to work through the project, in case it took weeks and weeks to complete this gift (or as in the case of my still-in-progress legwarmers, months and months) — and low and behold, with the knit two at once method (something else that had been waiting on my knitting *must try* list.) it went much faster than expected. definitely a quick knit project. i finished them up this morning, debated probably a little too long about using the green wool for bows or leaving them plain, snapped their photo and now these wee little feet warmers are ready to go. sweet.

 

two saturdays ago

my first bloggy meetup. well, unless you count meeting up with my cousin at nonnie's house, then of course meeting grace would technically be my second time meeting up with a friend from blogland. either way, it was just very cool. it was a sunny spring weekend morning filled with fun, smiles and crafty adventures in the city... a coffeeshop, a bookstore, perusing ribbons, tassles & ric rac, and wool — yes the wool... grace brought along an amazing skein of green yarn! for me! (thank you grace.) its the type of textured yarn that looks so beautiful just as is, wrapped up in a bundle... and once i find just the right project for these fibers i'm sure i could bring myself to unravel it, to create something knitty and new. (a hat? scarf?)

it was so nice to go on this adventure with grace. just think this whole sweet outing came to be, all because of a little thing called a blog.

shelf life

so for the most part, our bathroom's eco-renovation was pretty much wrapped up months ago but truthfully, there are still many small decorating "to-dos" to do and little ideas still in the works... its now about the details even though its been a while since the main projects were all squared away and completed, like the sink, the tub, the tile, the exhaust fan, the reclaimed-wood shelf project... ah, the wood shelves... now that is a good story. one i really want to get to tell here on the blog, but i will wait. yes, i'm going to wait on that because today's post is not about those shelves, but just about a new little bit of green that now resides there. a small philodendron. up on the top shelf. a little house plant we thought would make a nice addition to the green room... but his generic plastic planter? that needed to be addressed... and then fortunately, i came across a knitted pattern for pot covers in this knitting book. a plant cozy — perfect! and a decorating decision? even better!! so, i gave it a try with a pair of size 6 needles and a small skein of simple organic cotton yarn... by the end of the day our little leafy friend was sporting his new eco-threads... up on the wood shelves... which i'll get back to someday...

d.i.y. stitch markers

several people have asked me about the stitch markers that i use in my knitting. they are really just little bits of twine, embellished with beads, that i tie up myself. super, super easy and homemade. so for fun, i thought i'd put together a tutorial for anyone that might want to whip up a few of their own. let's see...

materials:
hemp twine
beads (i've been using some old wooden
ones i saved off of an old sweater)
scissors
white craft glue

1. begin by stringing a bead on a piece of twine that is big enough for you to tie, about 4" - 5" long.

2. tie a simple over/under knot, but do not pull it too tight at first. then tie another of the same simple knot on top of that (aka: double knot). adjust the loop so that it is about the right size (keep in mind that it will need to fit over your knitting needles easily).

3. tighten. make sure it is tight by pulling all around twine, both inside the loop and from the tails.

4. put a drop of glue on the twine knot to keep it from unravelling. let dry.

5. trim away extra tails of twine, close to the knot.

6. done! make several to keep in your knitting bag. i have some with different shades of wood beads for when i need color-coding to keep track of different stitches on one project.

and there it is... a step-by-step guide (probably one of the simplest crafty how-tos on the internet) for making your very own hemp stitch markers. make a few and enjoy!

a few days... and a few japanese craft books later...

a few details to share from wednesday's trip into the city to see martha... let's see..

1. the show will air on monday the 25th.

2. the day was really fun. i was able to scoot up to midtown before the taping began to browse the craft section of kinokuniya (and picked up a couple japanese craft/sewing books since the bag project flowed so nicely). after perusing the book store for slightly longer than i had planned, i walked down to the studio, arriving plenty early for the show.

3. i got a lot of knitting done on my legwarmers during the whole process (while waiting to go in, while waiting for the taping to start, while watching the taping, on the trip home, etc...) and while i got to knit, i got to talk to knitters...

4. the audience was truly filled with knitters and their creations of all types. there were some serious knitting skills in that group - sweaters, hats, toys, blankets, etc... most of it didn't make it on camera i don't think, but a few cool things like toys should be on. (they were really amazing.) and there was something so cool about being surrounded by so many knitters. people were so friendly, asking what you were working on, what pattern you used, how long you've been knitting... all these people with the same interest gathered together in one spot, sharing their happiness was just so nice.

5. the taping of the show went fast. lots of bright lights, clapping and energy. there was an adorable craft/baking segment on making marzipan look like knitting. and a just as sweet segment on projects from sock and glove, which was originally a japanese craft book (do you see a theme here?) that has recently been translated into english. then at the end, as we all left the show, we were handed a copy of our own to take home with us. excellent.

new knitting sack

so i've been wanting a bag for my knitting for a while. a hand-made tote of sorts specifically for carrying around my knitting projects with me from place to place. it hasn't really been a top priority because i've been able to get by with any old bag that holds the yarn and supplies. but when i received confirmation that i'd gotten myself a ticket to be a part of the martha stewart show's audience of knitters (yes really, an audience full of knitters while the show gets taped), sudddenly "sew a new bag" bumped itself up to the top of my to do list.

the making began with gathering some linen, cotton, embroidery thread and a pattern from this book. a truly simple tote with a basic circle bottom. so simple, it didn't really matter that i couldn't translate any of the japanese instructions. seemed just the thing for carting my wool, needles, etc... i followed the pattern pretty closely, but decided to add the circle embroidery on the pocket and add the inside lining. this morning it was completed and i was very excited. just in time to stuff it with all i'll be needing for tomorrow's martha adventure!

chocolatey

the cocoa hued yarns i got going on the needles today. started that pair of legwarmers (the pattern is from this book, which i've taken out from the local library for the third time...), and so far the mix of the wool and mohair is turning out to be extraordinarily soft. i can not wait to be able to try them on, but i've got a bit more knitting and purling and knitting and purling to do first...

the cocoa covered marshmallows we whipped up for valentine's day sweets. same as last year, natural marshmallows dipped in a melted homemade chocolate/butter creation, wrapped-up and tagged...

here's to cocoa and sweetness filled days...

wintery mix

a little morning mediation... a little knitting... a little valentine making... a little knitting... a little chamomile tea... a little knitting... a little snow... a little knitting... a little more snow... a little knitting... a little finished wool hat for my mom... a little photoshoot out in the snow... a little more tea.

today

holiday warmth {revealed}

can you believe it is possible to still be posting a holiday related post? its true. with our out of town trip last weekend and other goings on this week, we're still trying to clean up, organize and move forward around here. taking down lights today. putting away the last of the decorations. assimilating all the new toys into new homes. listening to some music and drinking some coffee in between... and now that almost all the gift giving is complete i can finally share some of the little handmade creations that were being secretly worked on throughout december. (so many times i wanted to post about these, but in the name of secrecy and surprise i held back) oh, and i can share two little surprises that i received as well. one thing i noticed about these creations is that there is a running theme (planned or unplanned i'm not exactly sure) of warmth. take a look...

warmth to hold. a little wool woodland mushroom that i needle felted for margaret one night. this ended up in our advent calendar.

warmth to wear. this turned out to be the season of hats for me. with two little ones for the dolls and two grown up ones for chuck and my dad. (i used the same pattern that i used in the summer, with a slight variation).

warmth to swaddle. the already mentioned doll quilts that came together without much of a plan...

more warmth to wear. a scarf. for me. "made by" margaret. unbeknownst to me, she stashed away a super long fabric scrap from a project i was working on (another gift that i forgot to photograph) and she presented it to me on christmas morning as a scarf. for me. i was pretty proud of this of course, and wore it all christmas day.

more warmth to hold. my other handmade-by-margaret surprise. a sweet, slouchy, super-sized, mug cozy for my tea and coffee. again, invented by her, on her own. she used another fabric scap and gluestick to whip this up. clever. and it makes me smile.

so that is some of top-secret craftiness that was going on behind the pre-holiday scenes here, in addition to the not-so-secret, produced in multiple quantity projects like the cards, the kids' silkscreened shirts (which i'm not showing yet because i've got 2 boxes that still haven't been mailed to their wee little out of state recipients), the cookies, etc... whew! looking back, that's quite a bit of elf-like fun and activity for one month (and really i do enjoy all the opportunities to create). no wonder we're moving a bit slower than normal around here. glad i could finally get a few details of these handmade projects out there. now its back to corralling pine needles.

w is for wednesday

w is for w.i.p. (work in progress).
just a glimpse of some projects i have going on. most of the ones here are of the doll-accessory variety. i'm thinking these will make great wee gifts for the advent flags (which will go up this weekend) or as gifts in the stocking. it is pretty hard to work on these and have them remain a secret. quite challenging actually to keep anything from the resident all-knowing four year old. the works in progress include two knitted doll hats, a doll sweater, a pair of felt doll shoes and two doll knapsacks. all do-able i think, it is the keeping them a surprise that i am worried about.

w is for without a net.
i pulled this classic double-disc album out off of our cd shelves today to import it into my itunes. i thought i should include it in this "w" post for sure. this was one of my very first cds. part of the *11 free* cds i received when my sister got me to join the columbia house music club (being 1990 i think my official first cd was the police?) right before i went off to college. i was transitioning from albums and tapes to the smaller, modern cds. yes, off to college i went with a dinosaur-sized 3-disc cd player and a small handful of new music. this one quickly rose to the top. 1. because, well, it is the grateful dead and 2. it was probably one of the few that my freshmen year roomate and i could agree upon. she was a huge follower of the band, and while i really liked them, at that time my feet were still pretty planted in all the new wave i knew and loved (the smiths, the cure, etc...). listening to this cd today, as it gets converted into mp3s, takes me back. i remember watching my roomate frantically calling the dead's hotline in california, long-distance, daily to see when mailorder would start for tickets. this was fascinating. and i had no idea that just a year or so later i too, along with my good friend and now-husband, would be blissfully sucked into the vortex of the grateful dead phenomenon. we ourselves soon were mail-ordering tickets. we were travelling. we were dancing. we were collecting and trading bootleged live shows on maxell tapes. (some of these traded audience taped live shows are already in my itunes like the 9.2.68 show at betty nelson's organic rapsberry farm.) goodness. but without a net was my first. the beginning of an extraordinary and wonderful musical adventure.

w is for wordy.
hmmm, apparently i have no problem going on and on about who knows what here today. i know some of you prefer the shorter, photo-based posts. i'm sure those posts will return soon. however, if you have taken the time to read through all these words today, thanks!

cloaked

who is that there, underneath the golden cloak? a lost baby-fairy stuck in a tree? a wee gnome on the look out? dandelion girl? just a girl sporting a newly finished mama-knitted creation? depending on which way the wind was blowing at
the park, it was any one of these at any given moment...
oh, the sweet new possibilities of a big, fun, drapey, hooded, woolen outer layer! a result more than i planned on when first cast on the yarn...

i picked this pattern up on my last trip to purl. i was looking for a new project. something somewhat simple but something not too advanced for me... something not too quick but something that wouldn't take me all winter... i asked the super skilled knitters there and right away they pulled this pattern for a child's poncho. it looked just right. perfect. just what i didn't know i was looking for. the hood could have been a challenge, but it was optional, as well as the drawstring.

as a knitting project, i loved this one. it felt like a great match for what i wanted to work on and i was really happy to be making something that i would get to see worn by my pint sized muse. simplicity. i didn't really expect anything much more, but margaret (and apparently all of her aliases) really has taken to this new cloak. part warm autumn wear, part play/dress-up. what more can there be? (maybe a little fringe perhaps but she's asked me to leave that off.) so i've put away the yarn, considered the knitting done and let the newly cloaked personas be...

w is for wednesday

w is for wool details.
i'm still carrying around my golden knitting project that i started a few weeks back. the main shape is there - now it is all about the details. the pattern calls for an i-cord. i needed to research this on some knitting sites to figure out what it is and how it is done... turns out it is a thin yarn tube created from repetitively knitting three little stitches row after row. after a few tries on several different sized needles i got it going and a drawstring is now underway, just a few inches to go. next up — fringe!

w is for washing and ironing.
little clothes. little clothes line. little wash board. little iron. wash-day never looked so sweet. and if you too have a wee pair of two inch mary-janes in need of ironing — today, this was your place.

golden opportunities

hello november. hello chilly days. hello spending a bit more time indoors and hello finding opportunities to enjoy a little warmth and comfort.

while picking up the needles and wool.

while having a cup of morning coffee.

while stirring up a pot of polenta for lunch (to be topped with parmesean cheese of course).

prep work

the initial steps of the project have been taken and we are finally on our way. a new knitting project? well that too, but no, something bigger. what is really beginning is the green remodel of our bathroom. we started planning back in january and now, months later it is underway. tile has been carefully taken down and preserved, pipes have been exposed, water has been turned off, 1949 newspaper pages have been discovered, etc... i suppose we might turn to the life of nomads for a while, staying with family when needed. i hope to keep the blog updated with the stages of the project as best i can, when i can, from wherever i can. as for the golden hued knitting, it will be my silent companion, my portable craft, through these next few days (weeks?) of creative construction. and away we go!