Monthly Archives: February 2012

Quick Hit

You knew there was absolutely zero staying away from this yarn, right? One single one-of-a-kind skein (the first MadelineTosh I’ve ever used! It is nice!) met up with a neat, quick, trim little pattern, and two of the most alluring tassels ever tossed.

It was easy as thinking about it to wind up, cast on, and tie off– the whole affair was begun and ended in about two days. Really, I couldn’t not.

And I have a fantastic new hat.

Thing is, I was going to send this as a mid-semester pick-me-up to my blue-eyed sister, Charlotte (seen in the Brindled Wrap here), because the color and style would suit her.

But… my mind changed. Blame the tassels. And, unfortunately, there’s not enough yarn left for another (if I’d been as clever as I wish I were, I’d have knitted two trim 55g hats, instead of letting the first run to a super-slouchy 66 grams, leaving the skein’s extra 44 grams to sit and collect dust in the yarn cabinet).

OH WELL. NEXT TIME.

  • Pattern: Norby, by Gudrun Johnston, from the delicious Wool People 2.
  • Yarn: MadelineTosh Tosh Merino Light, in Midnight Pass
  • Needles: US 2 addi turbo, 16″
  • Dates: Feb. 8 – Feb. 9, 2012
  • On Ravelry: yes

PS: and, from now on out, TASSELS FOREVER.


Sweeties Day

For Valentine’s Day I gave my sweeties fun glitter projects for school.  It’s been quite a messy morning, but it’s been worth the peace and quiet and overall happiness that has been the result.

We all look forward to Valentine’s Day because of dinner.  Every year since Paul and I have been married we have had Chinese for dinner on Valentine’s Day.  The first two or three years it was a fluke (we were living in NY, restaurants were impossible but there was great Chinese take – out), and then once we realized there was a pattern going it became tradition.

So tonight we are all excited for Chinese, and we are adding a new element.  I got a fondue pot after reading all of Susan’s blogs from Zurich this week and tonight we’ll have chocolate fondue for dessert (I cannot wait to try cheese fondue, though. Maybe tomorrow?) with strawberries, marshmallows, pound cake cubes and pretzels.

How about you? Do you have any fun Valentine traditions?


JJ Blouse Tutorial – Part 1

Doing Life Together

Just a peek.  Saturday, I indulged in just a little peek at the kind of life I think we're all trying to live, when we listen to the deepest places in our hearts.  It's a place where people choose to live together, and work together, and wrestle with all the tough stuff that makes it seem impossible to stick it out together.  Community.  Intentional community.  Where you're loved and accepted and contribute and benefit and grow and mess up and get fixed, and it's all just another day.

You know how much I love the Homestead Heritage community just north of Waco.  This faith-based agrarian society practices and teaches the kinds of sustainable, "old fashioned" skills that keep a group of people connected physically, geographically, emotionally and spiritually--things like woodworking, blacksmithing, spinning, weaving, horse farming, beekeeping, cheese and soap making, and more.  I have a couple of pals who love this place too, and who join me in dipping our toes into the pool of Doing Life Together every chance we get.

Laurie and Lisa

Laurie drove down with me and we met up with our friend Lisa from Lubbock.  Lisa was there at Homestead Heritage taking some weaving classes, and when she's this close to our neck of the woods, we just have to get together.  Laurie and I brought some knitting and spinning, and made ourselves at home off to the side while Lisa finished up the table runner she had started on her rigid heddle loom.

The folks in the class showed off their work, and made us feel totally at home, because, well, that's what you do in community.  Especially when you have so much in common.

Weaving Class

Some folks come to take classes here because the old-time crafts are fun, novel, cool, and intrinsically satisfying.  Do they understand the deep river of life running through the hearts of the people they meet here?  I'm sure some do.

Lisa's Sidekick

Lisa does.  She has brought this community into her heart, and they have welcomed her into theirs.  The fiber is the common thread, so to speak, but it's just a link.  It's not the core.  We all have the wool and cotton and linen in common, but the real connection is much more fundamental than that.

Table Runner on the Loom

We're woven together by the understanding of the value of each individual, and the value of the community as a whole--by the dignity we receive by having meaningful work to do--by the grounding we get from stewarding the earth--by the responsibility we share in passing all this on to the next generation--by honoring our Creator, who engineered this need for community into our very DNA.

Ten Year Old Hadassah Warps Her Loom

This life in community laughs at the idea that satisfaction can be bought or sold, traded or consumed.  This kind of profound satisfaction can only be achieved when you know who you are in the context of community, and your specific role.  There is no one just like you, and no one can ever take your place.  You are loved and needed, and your community is less if you're not there.

I Spun Some Jacob Wool

This community of Homestead Heritage reinforces the message everywhere you look - from the hand crafted everything, to the meticulously tidy grounds, simple and modest dress, quick smiles, open hearts, helping hands, and guileless eyes of its citizens.  These folks know who they are.

Warped for Wedding Dress Material - 40 EPI

People in our culture have a terrible time remembering what's real, and who they are.  We've separated ourselves from each other, from the world we live in, and especially from the idea that we did not make ourselves.  We ricochet around our days, grasping at significance, only to have it vanish into thin air when we try to catch it in a jar.  I bet you know people who are so lost and discouraged that they seem like mere shell people.  Where are your hollow spaces?

Shed Sticks

Every time I set foot on the property at Homestead Heritage, I am renewed in my mission for Jacob's Reward Farm.  We have a very similar calling, if you will, as an intentional community.  We don't have the luxury of having all our community members actually live together, but we come together as often as we can, and we spend time recognizing each individual's gifts and needs.

Natural Dyes

We're downright evangelical in bringing our friends to be part of the farm family, because we've all learned first-hand how much we are warmed and healed when we let our new friends take up more and more real estate in our hearts.

Weavers' Dream

No community is perfect - it's made up of people who have flaws.  But the nature of community strengthens the places of weakness, and galvanizes the areas of strength.  We're buckets more than the sum of our parts.  I'm not the same person who brought her first sheep onto the place back in 2007.   The farm has forced me to re-imagine what I thought about how life works.  I'm learning how much I need my family and friends, and that my friends need me--that I cannot do anything of lasting value alone.  I'm learning that my heart can stretch to include lots and lots of new friends.

There's room for you here, too.  Please come...

Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone out there!  As we get started, just know that we love all you needle crafters and hope that our Grand Opening will be a HUGE success.  Don't forget to spread the love and tell your friends about us. 

I was so happy that our knitting needles arrived!  Clover Takumi Velvet dpns, straight, and circular needles are all put away and ready to be shipped.  Some crochet hooks and other knitting accessories should be coming in next week as we get ready.

I have been working hard building the website, using Yahoo! and I'll be available for questions via email or phone as everything gets going.  I'm building and maintaining it myself to keep costs down.  We will be using PayPal to accept payment and you don't need a PayPal account to order from Midwest Yarn.  You will also be able to register an account with us, and your information will be protected by Yahoo! Security.

I'm trying to make the website as user-friendly as possible, including categories for yarn sorted by fiber, weight, and brand.  As we grow, the website will evolve with us.  So, make sure to tell us what works and what doesn't.  And don't worry, ordering online won't go away when a brick-and-mortar shop opens.

Shipping will be available via UPS (for US customers) and USPS (for international customers).  Orders over $50 to US customers will receive free shipping during our Grand Opening months (through August 2012).  Various other offers and savings will be offered throughout the year.

I also want to share an excerpt from my blog at Cherished Moments about this endeavor and my hopes for Midwest Yarn:

"I guess online yarn shops are somewhat taboo in the LYS industry.  I knew that, but I'm still plunging forward with the Midwest Yarn project.  I keep telling myself, 'You're not WEBS, not Yarn Market, you're Midwest Yarn.  You're online to raise capital for the brick-and-mortar shop.'  I'm hoping that this mantra will help me through the Grand Opening jitters.  This is a HUGE investment and I don't want to fail.  Small business profits go to feeding families, not paying for undeserved bonuses or padding the bank account.

I'll still be knitting, I'll still be designing, and at some point, maybe I'll be able to hire an assistant or bring on a business partner to allow me to be more involved in the industry.  My mission is to promote the longevity of needlecrafts like ours.  I don't want to step on any toes, I want to bring people my age and younger on board...

Let's get my generation and the next into the mix!"

With that being said, I'm committed to making Midwest Yarn successful, getting to know my customers, creating innovative ways to teach knit and crochet, and providing excellent customer service.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone out there!  As we get started, just know that we love all you needle crafters and hope that our Grand Opening will be a HUGE success.  Don't forget to spread the love and tell your friends about us. 

I was so happy that our knitting needles arrived!  Clover Takumi Velvet dpns, straight, and circular needles are all put away and ready to be shipped.  Some crochet hooks and other knitting accessories should be coming in next week as we get ready.

I have been working hard building the website, using Yahoo! and I'll be available for questions via email or phone as everything gets going.  I'm building and maintaining it myself to keep costs down.  We will be using PayPal to accept payment and you don't need a PayPal account to order from Midwest Yarn.  You will also be able to register an account with us, and your information will be protected by Yahoo! Security.

I'm trying to make the website as user-friendly as possible, including categories for yarn sorted by fiber, weight, and brand.  As we grow, the website will evolve with us.  So, make sure to tell us what works and what doesn't.  And don't worry, ordering online won't go away when a brick-and-mortar shop opens.

Shipping will be available via UPS (for US customers) and USPS (for international customers).  Orders over $50 to US customers will receive free shipping during our Grand Opening months (through August 2012).  Various other offers and savings will be offered throughout the year.

I also want to share an excerpt from my blog at Cherished Moments about this endeavor and my hopes for Midwest Yarn:

"I guess online yarn shops are somewhat taboo in the LYS industry.  I knew that, but I'm still plunging forward with the Midwest Yarn project.  I keep telling myself, 'You're not WEBS, not Yarn Market, you're Midwest Yarn.  You're online to raise capital for the brick-and-mortar shop.'  I'm hoping that this mantra will help me through the Grand Opening jitters.  This is a HUGE investment and I don't want to fail.  Small business profits go to feeding families, not paying for undeserved bonuses or padding the bank account.

I'll still be knitting, I'll still be designing, and at some point, maybe I'll be able to hire an assistant or bring on a business partner to allow me to be more involved in the industry.  My mission is to promote the longevity of needlecrafts like ours.  I don't want to step on any toes, I want to bring people my age and younger on board...

Let's get my generation and the next into the mix!"

With that being said, I'm committed to making Midwest Yarn successful, getting to know my customers, creating innovative ways to teach knit and crochet, and providing excellent customer service.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone who reads my Cherished Moments blog!  I truly love each and every one of the people who have helped cheer me on, laughed with me, cried with me and been an inspiration to me over the past year.  Have a great one!

Design
I know it's been a while since I last posted, but I'm having a blast getting Midwest Yarn up and running.  The tentative website launch date is February 27th and with the way things are slow to arrive, it looks like that was a good date to pick.

Katya Rose
Size 6-12 months
In between website building and Peanut entertaining, I've been working on a few new projects.  I published another pattern on Ravelry.com called the "Katya Rose". 

It's a jumper and pant set featuring picot edging.  It ranges in size from 0-3 months to 18-24 months.  I love working with merino wool and this project was no exception.  I picked out the colors Fuschia and Snow from Millamia, purchased at Ruhama's, my favorite LYS.  I also crocheted a flower and put it on the jumper to decorate it for the picture and for sale on Etsy.

I always feel self-conscious about the photos I take because we have a small, poorly lit condo, and I can only get semi-descent pictures in a few areas of the house and at specific times of the day.  Being that we're in Wisconsin and in the middle of winter, sunny days are also few and far between.

Knitting Madness
I've been feverishly knitting in the few minutes I get in my spare time as well.  I knit a scarf out of Noro Kureyon Sock, using a pattern from Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders.  I figure, since I have so much sock yarn in my stash, I might as well work through the book a little bit to bring down that stash, if that's even possible.  If I have time, I might even do Sock Madness through the Ravelry.com group (and that's a real big IF, but I missed last year's because I never had knit a sock before).  Now that I've learned/mastered a lot of new techniques over the last year, I'm hoping that I can stand a chance to even keep up with the sock pros.

Yea, I've been knitting for over 20 years, but I'm a young one compared to a lot of my knit/crochet counterparts.  I just want to prove that I can do it, even if I only make it through the first round.  I'm a slow knitter.

Coming Soon
Midwest Yarn's launch and more pattern designs.  On deck for a pattern: sweater vest.

Seven Things

So seven things ya'll don't know about me.

1.  That secret desire to take part in a chain letter thing.

2.  I've traveled through or lived in 46 states.  (I grew up as an army brat.)

3.  I've been a vegetarian for 25 years....but I don't really like vegetables.

4.  I lost my first tooth while picking wild flowers in upstate NY.  (I was BITING them off because they were so stubborn.)

5.  I struggle with shyness unless I'm sitting behind my loom, at my spinning wheel or with a table full of my pottery.

6.  I have a fear of bridges...ESPECIALLY the Chesapeake Bay Bridge out of Annapolis.  In fact that one kind of cured me of freaking out over the smaller ones.

and

7.  I absolutely HATE any kind of confrontation.

NOW I can go back to stressing about the selling of this house, the mysterious oil tank, and all the pots I need to have available over the next several months!

Croquis + Me

Vineyard Valentine Mosaic …

My creation

Some of the places and things I love about the Vineyard.

Ocean Park Bandstand.. Illumination Night.. post card.. Edgartown waterfront.

Gay Head cliffs.. writing in the sand.. Edgartown lighthouse.

Menemsha sunset.. the beloved ferry Islander (retired in 2007)

The Tabernacle.. Oak Bluffs beach.. Gay Head lighthouse.. Old Whaling Church.