honeyflake

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.

a good read and a cup

found amongst the piles o' thrift yesterday.

coffee and corner kicks

saturday morning. a little french press and vintage subbuteo... while the coffee brewed chuck rummaged around in the attic, to locate this old table-top soccer game from his childhood to share with margaret. she was thrilled to discover this treasure of her papa's while they played a friendly match together. and me?  i got to tailgate — sipping coffee from my white mug while i watched the wee weeble-like soccer folk getting flicked around the sun-lit green fabric playing field. cheering from the stands... part hooligan/part soccer mom... gooooooaal! 

one evening snapshot

long sleeves for autumn

remember the stack of fabrics i stumbled across at the thrift store? well, i had some time to sew a little something with it a few weeks ago. something for margaret. something for the early autumn days when tank tops nor sweaters will do... a lightweight long-sleeve shirt. 

i closely followed "pattern l" from this japanese sewing book, which included a small front pocket, a flower embellishment made from coiled fabric, a front, a back and sleeves. puffy long-sleeves no less. flowy long-sleeves to cover little arms on crisp seasonal days — so they can comfortably go about their business of collecting acorns, climbing trees and giving hugs.

thrifted for threads

during a quick trip to a local thrift store, over in the back, near the afghans and many crewel kits, i noticed a cardboard box filled with some old fabrics. lots of sweet and slightly dated cotton florals and ginghams. i sorted through the stack and chose a few to bring home (see above) where they were washed and refolded. (they turned out to be larger than i had thought). the more i looked at these second-hand-time-warpish calicos, the more they actually started to grow on me. and then you know, the project ideas soon came to mind. a lining for a bag? a possible fall skirt or shirt for margaret? perhaps something from here? of course, it is all still in the mulling about phase, but if this daydreaming continues, i have a feeling that something of the sort will be added to my project list soon and hopefully these rescued remnants will be turned into something new. eco-crafty-fun.

location. location. location.

i absolutely loved this month's tie-one-on theme from the minute i read it: local pride. i loved thinking about our town and our space in this world and then letting those thoughts be the inspiration for a new home-sewn apron. at first there were thoughts of our state bird, state colors, etc... but i kept coming back to our beach and the atlantic ocean. (surprised?)

i started thinking about all the time we spend out there strolling the shoreline looking for treasures and had a vision of a beach apron, with the perfect pockets for collecting. i sketched something out and began sewing back in august. i had pulled out all of the light, beachy, white and off-white fabrics from my fabric boxes. a bunch of them were actually some old torn/stained tableclothes that belonged to my grandmother, great-aunt, and great-grandmother — and seemed quite ready and waiting to be repurposed. unable to choose just a few, i ended up patchworking small swatches from them all together making a large front pocket (for the clamshells, driftwoods, etc...) then, behind the big pocket is a little slim white pocket for the small, don't-want-to-lose treasures (seaglass, beachglass, seaglass, you get the idea...).

wearing an apron out on the beach felt just right. it blew in the wind, i could brush off my sandy hands right on my hips and the pockets functioned as they were meant to. (chuck actually was the only one of us to find a piece of green beachglass this particular day and he was kind enough to let me just "hold onto it" for him in the white top pocket)... the tie-one-on deadline for submissions was pushed back from august until october (whew! not sure i would have had it done in time otherwise) and that is when all the local-inspired aprons will get compiled into a photo gallery. i'm so looking forward to seeing all the amazing hometown creations...

sew summer

torn between my pile of fabrics and the sunny beach, today i was lucky enough to fit in a little bit of both. (a little more beach time than sewing time though, i think) i'm somewhat excited to have located my rotary cutter and to have begun a new project....

school dress

while browsing around at a yard sale last week, whose little newspaper classified read "50 years of bric-a-brac", i came across this sweet little dress. it was way, way in the back corner of the driveway lying on a box. i asked the women about it (thinking "are you really selling this treasure? did it accidentally get placed in the sell pile?") and she said it was made by her mother-in-law who went to trade school for dressmaking in new york city instead of high school. she believed it was her school smocking project and pointed out the label in the dress.

i had never heard of this school, but seeing the address i realized it was right near our old apartment. i had walked by this school almost daily going for walks, food shopping, running past to catch the 6 train... and here now finding it's way to us was a perfect little creation made at that very building, preserved perfectly (it was still precisely pressed with pleats and cuffs, not one worn spot, just a bit of dust and ageing) and on top of it all, just the right size.

so along with some yards of free moth-ball scented fabric (of course a dressmake would have old fabric), some vintage christmas ornaments and a few beads that margaret chose we took the dress home. i gave it a soak in some vinegar and mild soap and hung it out on the line. i seam to have washed away all that nice crisp pressing that the dress had, i tried my best to recreate those pleats, but i couldn't quite get it... so we'll go with the more flowing look...

the details on this dress are amazing to me. the blue and pink consistant embroidery, the smocking, the tiny buttons, (i'm assuming were all done by hand?)... pretty cool. and pretty fun to photograph too. i'm thinking that this dress and us were meant to be. thank you 50 years of bric-a-brac for calling us to you.

apron strings

hello new vintage apron. welcome to summer 2007. oh that bright thing in the sky? that is the sun. where have you been hiding that you haven't seen daylight in so long? yes of course, in a box of vintage tablecloths deep in nonnie's basement. sweet. and aren't you just the brightest old treasure to surprisingly be found... here, let me just tie on those strings and give you a whirl.

very cool. like a little ticket for a ride in a time machine... this morning, after taking my grandmother for a quick trip to the hair dresser, we had the opportunity to sit in her yard and sort through a box of her old retired tablecloths. right on top was this fantastic apron. i tried it on immediately and haven't taken it off.

i wore it in her yard while perusing one of her numerous cookbooks, hoping to find a recipe for the kohlrabi we received in the csa box this week. i kept it tied on while turning the summer heat up in the kitchen by cooking said kohlrabi (a little butter, stock and tarragon — i'm a new fan). i continued wearing it as i then cooked up a batch of zucchinni fritters (yes, in this heat i was frying up fritters, but with a cheerful apron like this who would be troubled by such things), screen door open, listening to etta james. and i'm wearing it while i type. i'm thinking i'll pass on wearing it to yoga, but tomorrow i just might be ready to tie it on again.

all dressed up

this weekend we prepared for and celebrated easter. there were holiday traditions old and new.
saturday we colored our eggs, baked some cupcakes and made margaret a new spring dress. it all came together and by sunday morning. margaret woke to find that yes, the easter bunny had been here and as he did every year since i was a kid, he had hidden an egg in her new easter shoes... (and if we had big living room drapes in this house as my parents did in the 70s i would have hidden one under there too to further keep traditions alive)

something untraditional that i did was to make margaret her easter dress. i'm not sure when i decided to do this, or how i even arrived at the final dress. it all sort of just happened organically, just one thing leading to another and a dress unfolding in the process... i originally had been planning to make the dress out of some vintage material i have been holding onto - big green and yellow flowers, probably old curtains - which i thought was very springlike. so i picked up some green cotton for the inside lining. when i got home i realized that the new green cotton matched the green on her new shoes. so i decided to scrap the flowered dress idea and let the green fabric stay on the outside of the dress. switching gears to now make a simple green one. maybe with a cool pocket for holding easter treasures? so in trying to match the shoes, i pulled out some natural colored antique linen (which my grandmother and aunt had just stumbled across and given to me -apparently it was my great grandmothers that she had gotten from italy, perhaps something she even brought over here with her). it was really hard to cut into that linen, so i cautiously embroidered it first, took a deep breath then cut out the pocket... the rest of the easter dress came together quickly,the front, the back, the hem, etc... finishing it off with 2 vintage greenish buttons in time for it to be worn on sunday with the new shoes. (once the beet colored egg was collected) it was so nice to have discovered the old family materials like the linen and buttons to include in the process of this dress. they just made it a bit more special and sentimental, and for a day of traditions and family what could be more perfect?

all buttoned up

vintage threads

I've had this pink fabric for a while. It came from my grandmother's attic. She was cleaning out some things and offered this fabric along with several others to me. It then sat in my attic. It is really pink. Bright pink.

Then a few weeks ago, my mother surprised me with a great collection of vintage buttons that she found at an antique store. A really cool mixture of reds and yellows.

The buttons were a spark to create something new. My original thought was to match them with some primary blue vintage linen I thought I had but couldn't find. But then I saw the pink and decided I might be able to pull off a dress for Margaret. Bright colors are really out of my creative comfort zone. I'm more of a subtle, natural color type of person. Well anyway, I finished it on friday night and with the luck of unseasonably warm weather she was able to wear it to a birthday party saturday. So here it is, I still can't believe I made something so bright...