Monthly Archives: April 2013

Enjoy The Journey …

Posted on April 10, 2013 by | Comments Off on Enjoy The Journey …

These three words can be applied to life in general, take the time each day to  go forth and focus on enjoying some, if not all of it.  I’ve been trying for the past few months to do just that, to look where I might not look, to veer to the left instead of the right, to open myself to new ideas and actually listen to people and not focus on what I’m going to say in response.  It’s been interesting.

I am not the most patient of people… especially if I’m planning a trip to the Vineyard.  I do try to contain myself but it’s hard when my head and heart are so focused on getting there.

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I try to incorporate the words seen here in a window display at Sanctuary in Oak Bluffs, into my goal of being calm and not driving those around me crazy with my anxiousness. Does it work?  You’d have to ask my family.

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IMAGINE – I always imagine myself on MV, it’s part of who I am. I think about where I’ll go and what I might do and where I’ll be staying. I picture myself doing my favorite things and having new adventures.

ENJOY THE JOURNEY– part of the experience of going to MV is getting to MV. The travel routine is pretty well set. There’s always a stop in Mystic, CT for lunch and when Chappy is with us to give him a chance to stretch his legs. One of the favorite parts of the journey is driving down Route 28 from Falmouth to Woods Hole. There’s something about this two lane road that makes me smile and makes my heart race as I get closer to the ferry to MV. Once on the ferry the final part of the transition from mainland to Island begins.

The Islander, everyone’s favorite ferry…

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BREATHE– something I almost have to remember to do as I get closer to MV. Once I’m there for awhile I relax… at least my version of relaxing, my family thinks otherwise.

FAITH – I have faith that I will return to the Vineyard. I have faith that I will always find peace and contentment there. I have faith that I am renewed there. I have faith that it will always, somehow be in the lives of my family.

So basically …

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but even if I’m not, I’m …

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which is a continuous state of mind for me.

What rituals or habits do you have when you’re planning a trip to the Vineyard… and what MUSTS do you have to do once you’re there?

- by Joan -


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Trying To Craft

Posted on April 10, 2013 by | Comments Off on Trying To Craft

Some people say I have too many irons in the fire.

Other people say “jack of all trades, master of none”.

I disagree with both.

True, I have waaaaaaay too much going on for most normal, rational people.  Especially now that it is spring and I am working on getting gardens in, dealing with new lambs and kids, raising new ducks, clearing out brush, managing four homeschoolers and reorganizing much of the house.  It makes it pretty difficult to find time to knit or sew; never mind learn how to use my spinning wheel or loom.

But I think having many varied interests and projects can be a really good thing.  For one, I am never, ever bored.  Not ever.  There is always something that can be done, and always something that can be learned.  I can also generally find something to talk about with new people.

It does, however, make it challenging to find the time to do some of the things I enjoy.  Often by the time I’ve taken care of all the things that need my attention I am too tired for the things I want to do.

But it’s okay, because soon school will be done for the summer and the gardens will not need such intensive care during the day (in fact once the heat hits for real I’ll be doing outside chores early in the morning and late in the evening).  The animals will be in need of more attention, but nothing that I can’t knit in between.

So I have plenty of projects lined up waiting for this magical time of less things to worry over.

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This lovely Joel Dewberry fabric is waiting to be an A-line skirt for me.  I have a bunch of projects waiting to sew, actually, but right now this one is my favorite.

And just what does one do when one’s best friend is a star in the yarn and fiber world?

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You horde all the yarn she makes. (My craft room is looking better now that I’ve got this unit for all my yarn and fabric!)

Oh sure, I get plenty of free samples of her yarn.  The problem is, once you’ve held and petted the yarn it becomes imperative to get your hands on as much of it as humanly possible.  I’ve spent plenty of time trolling WEBS and buying out quantities of JMF yarn whenever I can.

SO there are plenty of yarn projects lined up.

The one I am tackling first is this lovely Honeybee Stole pattern with some luscious yellow Findley.

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Such a fun, light, summery project and I CANNOT WAIT to get started on it!  I have a flowy white sundress it will look perfect with.  Also, this yellow Findley just cried out for it!

I am hoping to cast on tonight – barring a thousand distractions.  It is lace, afterall, and as I have said many a time before, lace knitting and children  JUST. DON’T. MIX.


Tagged: Farm, Garden, Homeschooling, Knitting, Sewing

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Reality

Posted on April 10, 2013 by | Comments Off on Reality

There was a question on Facebook this week about seconds. What do you do with your seconds?




So I've had a very busy two months. There was some weaving.

My latest wool blanket


 I was working hard to build up inventory for a new fiber festival in Virginia this month (Powhatan Festival of Fiber).  I took advantage of an opportunity to move from my old studio at LibertyTown

(here my loom is already missing...)

 to a bigger and brighter space that I will share with my painter friend Carol Phifer.





Of course.  It was also FINALLY time to move into our new old house!  So the Saturday before the house move I decided to throw out my back. 

 I have finally learned the lesson of Asking for Help.  Artist friends helped with the studio, neighbors helped move items we didn't want the movers to take, the UMW girls rugby club (Rent a Rugger) helped move my pottery studio gear from the shed behind our rental and my buddy  Beth (Artist in Residence Extraordinaire) and her fantastic significant other helped me move my kiln.

After a full day of movers loading the truck, then unloading the truck we were left with this.


and this



We are getting there.  But slowly as I am still being careful with The Back.


Medicine helps.


Which brings us back to the discussion concerning seconds.  During all this moving and rearranging I had a kiln load of pots turn out less then good.  Sellable?  Maybe. But not a good representation of my work for a new show.  Seconds? I struggled with the idea of selling some at the LibertyTown artist yard sale in two weeks....but I finally decided that I was not happy with them and did not want them in circulation.  No matter that many people might not see the flaws.

So out came the hammer.
And it felt good.  No regrets.  (The best sign that it was the right choice.)

And since there is no time to recreate that load and my back is still healing I had to make the decision to pull out of the April show.

I will spend the next weeks setting up my home studio, organizing the home weaving space and working to have the few problems in the new place fixed.

And icing.

It's all good.

Even if that little clay box can hold half a kiln load of pots.

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Chocolate chip cookies

Posted on April 10, 2013 by | Comments Off on Chocolate chip cookies

Keith's chocolate chip cookies IMG_0708

 

Keith’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup melted butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups Nestle chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

Mix together sugars and butter until well combined. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together dry ingredients and then beat into wet mixture just until combined. Fold in chips and nuts. Bake at 375F for 14 minutes or until  brown around the edges.

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StitchinCrochet PRO!

Posted on April 10, 2013 by | Comments Off on StitchinCrochet PRO!

Finally, another loose end tied up. This particular loose end has been around for 3 or 4 years.  I've been collecting e-mails, handy symbols that I missed, and re-organizing this font for a looooong time.  It's done now.  I've simplified the organization of the glyphs so they are grouped together by type: dc increases together, dc decreases together.  I tried to be sure there were corresponding increase and decrease symbols where it was relevant, and I eliminated some of the more fanciful and esoteric symbols that are not used commonly.

And, the result is StitchinCrochetPro now available on myfonts.com!


For more details on what glyphs/symbols are included in this version, check out the "gallery" section of the font here.  It includes the keyboard key and symbol abbreviations guide as a pdf.
Let me know what you think if you get a chance to try it!

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New Knitting Class!

Posted on April 10, 2013 by | Comments Off on New Knitting Class!

Spring Shell Knitting Class
When: May 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd from 7-9pm
Charge: $45
The Etherial Tank is is light-weight summer tank that’s fun, cute, and versatile. Wear it on its own with jeans or under a blazer for work. Knit out of lace weight yarn, this project is perfect for skill building: it has just a little bit of everything. Worked from the bottom up, this summer sweater is worked both flat and in the round, in lovely simple stockinette set off by some simple lace. You will get to practice switching from working in the round to working flat, and do just the tiniest bit of seaming. This is not a beginning knitting class. Some knowledge of knitting is needed to knit this sweater. HOWEVER, if you have never knitted either a sweater or lace before, you can knit this pattern.
Supplies:
-Size US 3 Circular needles (24-32 inch) or size for gauge
-Enough lace weight yarn for a sweater in your size (or the size of the person you are gifting it to)
-Note: Acrylic or Cotton yarn is not recommended for this sweater as the lace will not block properly
-Oodles of Stitch Markers (at least two that are different from the rest)
-Tapestry Needle
-Waste Yarn
-Blocking Wires (Optional)
Please come to class with your (washed and blocked) stockinette gauge swatch and the proper size needles for casting on your sweater.

Week One: Demystifying Lace (and Lace Charts) and Fit
We will discuss what knitted lace is, how to read a lace chart and compare the written instructions with the chart. I will provide example of other lace charts for reference. You will want to bring your oodles of stitch markers this night so that we can cast on and begin working the lace repeats. We will also discuss fit and make any adjustments to the pattern to make sure you have a sweater that fits.
Homework: Knit through lace edging and begin work on the body.

Week Two: Working in Pattern
In week two we will work our way up the body of the sweater, knitting in pattern. We will address any problems you encountered during week 1’s homework. If you need to adjust for length, this is where it should be done.
Homework: Knit to underams (split for armholes in the pattern)

Week Three: Splitting for Armholes and Decreasing
This week will transition from knitting in the round to knitting flat as we split for the armholes and begin shoulder shaping decreases. Notice, the decreases happen in the stockinette portion of the sweater
Homework: Knit front and back of sweater until you are ready to seam

Week Four: Seaming and Blocking
We will seam your garment and discuss how to block it to size (with a blocking demo, if I can manage it.)
Homework: Wear your Etherial proudly

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Bud-ies …

Posted on April 9, 2013 by | Comments Off on Bud-ies …

copyright 2013

copyright 2013

- by Joan -


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WIP: Hattie Cowl

Posted on April 9, 2013 by | Comments Off on WIP: Hattie Cowl

I have a WIP post for you! It’s a day late, but since I spent 5 hours in doctor’s appointments with my husband yesterday (Lauria here, not Susan), I have a lot more to show you than I would have yesterday! Lots of knitting time!

Had I gotten this post written before the doctor appointments, all I would have showed you was this:

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(I can’t get enough of this color combination! Walnut and Ghost Fern in Herriot.)

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A brilliant tubular cast on modified for two color double knitting, which I found here. And I could have taken a photo of the solid part with a couple rows of the colorwork section. But, since I had 5 hours of knitting yesterday, I can show you a much further along cowl!

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This cowl uses the Ombre chart from the Hattie Dress. I came up with the idea in the middle of the night and I couldn’t sleep, I was so excited. I’ve never double knit before, and I am hoping that blocking will solve some of my knitting mistakes. It won’t solve the mistake I made just to the left of the green stitch marker (tan side). I didn’t notice that until just now! I’ll have to fix that.

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This is my styling assistant. He loves to get in the way! He flopped right down on the swatch I had fortunately finished photographing, just before I started photographing the cowl. (And don’t worry, I picked up that stitch the dropped off the needle!

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New Handspun

Posted on April 9, 2013 by | Comments Off on New Handspun

It has been really busy at work, and it has just been sucking all of my brain power. I have been so tired that knitting in the evenings just feels too hard. Nutso, right? The good news for you is that I have been spinning like mad instead. These three sets of handspun are available right now!

handspun cormo
400 yards fingering weight handspun cormo

alpacaconfettihandspun
250 yards worsted weight handspun, local-to-me alpaca and sparkle

handspungradients
A collection of 4, 100 yard skeins of yarn spun in a gradient

And I have more on the wheel!

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Vegetable Literacy

Posted on April 9, 2013 by | Comments Off on Vegetable Literacy

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While we were in Florida, we paid a visit to Barnes and Noble to peruse the travel books. I happened to pick up Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison and was immediately smitten with the cookbook. One has to be careful not to make your luggage overweight when traveling lest you end up paying  a hefty fee at the airport so I bought the ebook version (for which my overstuffed bookshelf is also thankful) and immediately began making lists of recipes to try. Last night I cooked the braised fennel with tomato and saffron as well as sauteed baby artichokes. Both were delicious! We also had chicken piccata which was a huge hit with Daniel. He said, “be sure you remember this recipe because I want it again!” I left my chicken breasts whole and I used salt cured capers rather than brined and substituted white wine for the stock.

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