Monthly Archives: May 2013

Every Farmhouse Needs A Table

A REAL table.  Not two plastic Sam’s Club folding tables bolted together and covered with tablecloths to keep people from suspecting.

That is sadly what has passed for the main table in the house for a few years now.  We needed a fairly large table and as you can imagine, real wood tables are rather expensive, especially ones big enough to allow for up to ten people to sit around them (remember, we host family gatherings for the holidays).

And when you think of it, so much life happens around a table when you homeschool and when you make it a priority for the family to eat together at meal times.  Why not have a table you love?

So, a while back we acquired a beautiful rustic farmhouse table.  The problem was, moving it was ridiculous.  It had been put together so poorly that it was nearly impossible to life without pulling the entire top off, and the legs had nails sticking straight out in places.

It took Paul a bit of work, but he spent time reinforcing the whole thing and taking out any hazardous nails.  I thought it would never be complete and in the house, but the results were well worth the wait!

05.20.13b

05.20.13a

05.20.13c

We inaugurated it by having an impromptu dinner guest (my friend Margie who stopped by and had a butternut risotto foisted upon her) and everyone agrees it is a far nicer table than what we were using previously.

 

 


Tagged: Homeschooling

WIP: Sarah’s OJAI Hooray Sweater – Sleeves and Buttons!

Hello friends! Sarah here with an Ojai Hooray Cardigan  update!

In my last post, I talked about picking up for the button bands. Since then I spent some relaxing time knitting an oasis of 2×2 rib!

Button band in progress!

(By the way, have you ever seen a more luscious green? The more of this sweater I get knit up, the more bananas I am about the colour. Every year it seems like the CSA yarn share dye options are more gorgeous!)

About halfway through the button band knitting, I took a break and knit the sleeves. I’ll explain why in just a minute. First, sleeves!

This sweater is a top down raglan construction. So, the shoulders and yoke are knit first, and then stitches for the body and sleeves are separated. When it’s time to knit the sleeves, those stitches are ready and waiting!

Blog 5 Photo 2 Edit

The Hooray Cardigan has shorter sleeves – sort of between bracelet and ¾ length.  I adjusted the sleeve length to fit my actual arm instead of the pattern measurements because I’m really, really short! This was easy to do – I just cut out length from sections without any shaping. Looking at other knitters’ project notes on Ravelry gave me the idea for another small modification: instead of working the sleeves in reverse stockinette, I just turned them inside out and worked regular stockinette. I knit faster than I purl, so it made the sleeves much quicker!

Blog 5 Photo 3 Edit

The sleeves also have deep ribbing at the cuffs.

Blog 5 Photo 4 Edit

The pattern suggests two different finishing techniques for the sleeve and button band edgings. I chose attached i-cord, which I am kind of bonkers about. It looks SO tidy and clean! I’m especially pleased with the attached i-cord edge on the sleeves, because it’s seamless.

Using a combination of this Purlbee tutorial and this Knitty article, I cast on provisionally, knit the attached i-cord bind off around the sleeve edge, and then kitchenered the two ends of the i-cord together! Voila, seamless edging!

Blog 5 Photo 5 Edit

Blog 5 Photo 7 Edit

Both sleeves finished! HOORAY! :)

Blog 5 Photo 10 Edit

Now, why did I take a break from the button band? I put it on pause because it was time to add buttonholes, and I like to choose my buttons before I decide on buttonhole placement. That way, I can place the buttonholes based on the size and number of buttons I choose, instead of having to narrow my button choices to work with existing buttonholes.

Here in Victoria, we have the BEST button store, the Button & Needlework Boutique. They have an amazing selection of gorgeous buttons, and I always have a hard time choosing! I very often go with buttons that match the colour of my sweater, but sometimes contrasting colours or textures catch my eye.

Blog 5 Photo 8 Edit

I narrowed it down to about five different buttons, some contrasting, some matching, and all made out of different materials.

Blog 5 Photo 9 Edit

Matching or contrasting? I think I’ll wait until my next post to show you which ones I bought!

Blog 5 Photo 11 Edit

By then, I should have a whole sweater to show you. Whoa.

Sarah hangs out with her cat, drinks a lot of tea, sometimes eats amazing muffins for breakfast and knits as much as possible in beautiful Victoria, BC.

Great News!

Today is a very exciting day for me because today, Lauria comes to work for Juniper Moon Farm full-time!

Lauria Kincaid has been a great friend to the farm for last five years. She and our friend Suzy actually helped me ship some of the very first shares we ever sent out, back when the farm was located on Martha’s Vineyard.

Since then, Lauria has made herself indispensable by blogging a couple days a week, running our sample knitter program (with some help from my sister when she was unavailable) and stage managing our photo shoots.

Lauria

Actually, stage managing is what Lauria was doing before she joined JMF. But the theater world’s loss is very much our gain. Lauria is a master of organization and a genius with a spread sheet! I have never known anyone with her particular skill set and it’s a great match for us.

Lauria will be telecommuting from Boston, so don’t be surprised if an order from the farm has a Massachusetts postmark!

Those of you who already know Lauria from our Ravelry group will understand why I am so excited to have this amazing woman on board. We haven’t quite decided on a title yet, so if you have any suggestions, post them here along with any messages you have for Lauria.

 

 

May Evening Shadows …

Edgartown – Martha’s Vineyard

5:35 pm

copyright 2013

5:58 pm

copyright 2013

6:06 pm

copyright 2013

- by Joan -

(www.mvobsession.com)


Sewing Sunday

Sewing Sunday is something my friend Amy and I have been intending to make into a weekly event for ages and ages, but we’ve never been able to pull it off consistently. It seems like the more determined I am to absolutely without fail spend a Sunday at my sewing machine, the more likely it is that something will come up to stop me.

But this week I succeeded in making Sewing Sunday a priority and it was perfectly lovely. I cut out the Wiksten Dress in three different fabrics, two for me and one for my sister Carrie.

Wiksten Tank Top & Dress

The nice thing about Wiksten patterns is that they come with a step-by-step tutorial, which is the next best thing to have the designer herself standing right beside you making encouraging noises. This particular pattern is for beginners. It’s nice, because you don’t need any notions and there are no buttons or zippers to complicate things.

Sewing Sunday: transfer the pattern to freezer paper

Amy taught me to transfer patterns to freezer paper, rather than cutting out the pre-printed pattern, in case I want to make another version later in a different size.

Sewing Sunday

Sewing Sunday

Sewing Sunday: cutting out the pattern

Cutting is the scariest part of sewing for me. I kind of got over that today by cutting out the pieces for three dresses in a row. By the time I got to number three, I was speeding right along.

Sewing Sunday: stitch up the side seamsI was doing just fine until it came time for the top stitched hem. I had never done a hem with curves before and I got really frustrated before I realized that there is a trick to it. Lucky for me, my good friend Youtube had plenty of tutorials.

After dinner, I will tackle the hem, so all that’s left to do is to put the bias tape around the sleeve and neck openings. Hopefully I will have time to get at least one finished before next Sewing Sunday!

The Darby Show

You’ll have to excuse us….and indulge a bit in our love for a certain little lamb.

Darby has made a complete recovery and is now officially our shadow.  He likes to follow me out to the garden, he likes to follow Emily while she feeds the chickens.

He is happy to let Oona and Neve bestow a suffocating amount of snuggles upon him.

05.19.13a

05.19.13b

It creates no end of amusement to the kids when he follows me into the house, or hangs out in the garage to see what Paul is up to, crying out little “maaaaas” every so often (it sounds just like a child calling his mom……spookily so some times).

05.19.13c

05.19.13d

Occasionally we’ll even find him standing at the back door, having gotten up on the deck but not knowing how to get back down.

He’s finally starting to put on weight and no longer nurses from his mama – though they do hang out and snuggle together.

Still, I’m not sure he realizes any longer that he’s a sheep!


Tagged: Farm, Pets

Katy and Chappy On MV …

Katy and Chappy are my granddogs… their mom is my daughter Deb..

This is Katy (Katama)  our Boykin Spaniel, she was our first dog to go to Martha’s Vineyard… actually our first dog to ever go on a vacation with us. Here she is on the Islander in May 2000, looking happy and eager to get on with her adventures.

She enjoyed her first dip in the ocean… running and barking and trying to catch an elusive wave or two.

At Katama/South Beach, the place she was named for she was a little unsure of the waves so she mostly romped along side of them.

A quiet morning at Edgartown lighthouse was nice after going to the beach, shopping and meeting people. Unfortunately it was Katy’s one and only trip to MV… a year later she was hit by a car and died at only 20 months old. Did you ever see such beautiful yellow eyes. She was a sweetheart and we miss her and love her.

And then along came…

Chappy (Chappaquiddick) our second Boykin Spaniel and our first boy dog. His first vacation, in May 2002, at age 10 months was of course to MV, and he loved the beach too.

And Sengekontacket pond which is a little calmer then the ocean.

Relaxing at Vineyard Haven harbor is fun too… watching the ferries arriving and leaving and sometimes meeting an Island dog to chat with. This by the way is his mom Deb’s favorite picture of him.

Chappy had to visit the place he was named after too so here he is with Deb on Chappaquiddick.

Two of the places we’ve stayed with Chappy are Bradys NESW and The Island Inn, they’re great place to stay with or without your pet. Chappy says a few of his favorite stores are – Good Dog Goods in Oak Bluffs… the treats there are wonderful (especially the cheese ones and the peanut butter ones) and the people always remember him and sometimes get down on the floor to play with him. He also recommends the Black Dog for their dog biscuits… he says they’re droolicious.

Chappy’s been known to visit my blog from time to time… here are a couple of his posts:

CLICK HERE for “Chappy Visits MV”

CLICK HERE for “Vacationing With Pets”

- by Joan -

(www.throughjerseyeyes.com)


Country Rhodes In May …

copyright 2013

copyright 2013

copyright 2013

copyright 2013

- by Joan -

(www.mvobsession.com)


The Three Week Kettle Bell Challenge

3 Week Kettle Bell Challenge

I hate to jinx it by even mentioning it here (because every time I plan to start working out again, I get sick) but my sister Carrie and I are starting Prevention Magazine’s Three Week Kettle Bell Challenge on Monday.

Things I like about it:

  • 3 weeks isn’t very long, so I can commit to it without worrying about what will come up
  • Prevention Magazine is so reputable that I believe them when they say that I’ll see results in 3 weeks
  • There isn’t a lot of equipment required- just one kettle bell or set of dumb bells
  • It only takes 20 minutes a day.

Finally, I need to get on a regular fitness plan (those Michelle Obama arms I want aren’t going to sculpt themselves) and this seems like a very gentle way to start.

Anyone want to join us? I think it would be a lot less dreary more fun to do this as a group! We will have a dedicated thread in our Raverly group here where we encourage each other and share questions. And I will blog here about how it’s going. We can even come up with some yarn and knitting related prizes!

What do you say? Are you in? You can check out the workout here and get your weights over the weekend.

 

 

Destash!

Overwhelmed by the sheer number of things I have to get done, I’m procrastinating by going into a flurry of organizing & decluttering.  (In my defense, the sense of accomplishment and peace achieved does result in increased productivity post-procrastination.)

This time decluttering includes destashing some personal yarn, knitting bags, and books.

Bags are listed on Ravelry in the Knitting Bag Lust group here.

Books are up on Amazon here.  If you see more than one book that you’d like, email me & I’ll pull the listing off Amazon so shipping can be combined.

This yarn is lovely yarn that, in a perfect world, I’d have time to use.  But I don’t foresee using it any time soon (i.e. in the next, oh, five years).  Which means it would be better off in your hands!  US shipping included in the prices.

fiberphile

Fiberphile Merino Nylon sock in Pumpkin Spice (top) $22 & Fiberphile MCN sock in Siren Song  (bottom) $22

marthas vineyard juniper moon

Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm Spring 2009 Cormo CSA Share. 600 yards, undyed. $35  sold

rowan magpie

Rowan Magpie 9 skeins. $85  sold

sundara sundara and danido

Sundara Sock in the following colorways (now on eBay, user dschalek)

  • Embers over Flame
  • Sangria over Garnet  sold
  • Chocolate Covered Caramel sold
  • Cha Cha
  • Brambleberry
  • Magnolia

Dyed by Danido Luxury Sock in Hazelnut. Gorgeous.  It’s nestled in between the Magnolia & Brambleberry, above.

slackford

Slackford Pathway Sock (top) $18 & Slackford Hedonist Sock (bottom) $20

starmore campion

A slew of Campion.  See my Rav trade page here for more info on colors etc.  (now on eBay, user dschalek)