Patience

 

I have it and I don't have it. 


I don't know how I can sit for 10 hours doing one thing and be mad when somene  is 10 minutes late. I'm usually fine waiting in lines, but I can't stand chatting with the clerk. I can have patience teaching someone for the first time... but not if I've showed them already. 

 

I've decided blankets are a good tool to practice patience.

 

This blanket got me through a long, cold, dark and lonely winter of living alone. I loved it and I love it. 
I used soooooooooo much scrap yarns for this so who knows how many skeins total. I started last winter watching all of the available Downton Abbey episodes, which ran out waaay before my knitting did!
Projects like these are so great for passing time. I looked forward to banging out a few squares each night and paring up fresh colors each time. No two are the same... but I'm sure someday a child will prove me wrong.
I took the time to sew as I went, trying to get rid of all the ends and make strips so the final "sewing up" wouldn't be so daunting. It was still pretty daunting, but it just took a dreary winter day (the following year) to get re-inspired to finish. (Or more likely, bored with all my other endeavors.)
When I started, I had NO bleeeeeping clue I'd have my own yarn store in which to find the perfect border yarn: Manos del Uruguay's Maxima in the color acid. Yeah. It's the best. I also made a sweater out of it. It's probably not the last thing either,  I love the color so hard.
I don't know who will be the recipient of this blanket... a future child maybe? That's what I was thinking when I started. Hopefully it'll be my child, should I be so lucky, but who knows? It's kind of a strange size, bigger than a crib but not quite a twin or lap blanket. Well... it fits my extra long lap perfectly as long as no one wants to share... which is fine, because there's another long, cold, dark and lonely winter of living alone ahead and I need something to cover me for a bit until this winters blanket gets a little bigger.
I'll show you that one next year.

 

 

 

Hot Toddy.

I am whiskey's girl, but we're not exclusive... yet.  I keep an icy gin on hand, for hot summer nights and fancy dressed nights on the town. Red wine comes over for girls night (every night) and we knit and watch movies in our yoga pants. Then there's the list of beers (aka guy friends) I play darts with, sit at the bar with, cram into the canoe, watch sports with. But oh whiskey! He is the dreamboat with the handlebar mustache you can't put down.  It might be twenty below, but that inch of amber fluid will keep you warm well into the evening.  There's Rye, who, let's face , will probably stand you up for band practice, but always makes a damn good cocktail if he shows up. There's Scotch, the salt and peppered bachelor, who has managed to distill smoky campfire memories into each drop and proclaims his groomsman will all wear kilts should he decide to settle down. He won't, so don't get too excited about the kilts. Then there's my man, Bourbon. He makes the bed. He smells like Uncle Karl's vanilla infused pipe tobacco and wears the same three plaid shirts in rotation (you don't care because it what's underneath that you focus on). You'll feel sexy just by holding the glass.

He makes the ultimate Hot Toddy... you could almost call it love.

 


 

 

Hot Toddy

makes four-six servings

I make the main liquid and then store to re-heat as desired adding honey, fresh lemon juice and whiskey to each glass. 

 

8 cups water

3 lemons

3 cinnamon sticks

1 vanilla bean, split

Fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped. (about 1T)

Honey

Bourbon

 

Instructions

Zest 1 lemon. Cut 1/2 of zested lemon into thin slices, removing seeds. 

Place water, chopped ginger, cinnamon sticks, lemon zest, lemon slices and vanilla bean in a pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer for twenty minutes. Turn off heat, cover and let steep for desired length. (I waited about an hour or so)

Strain liquid into a jar, if saving, or into cups if serving.

To each cup add: a generous amount of yummy honey, the perfect amount of bourbon and juice of 1/2 lemon.

 

 

My new home!

In January I moved into a new house. A tiny little house that's basically just two rooms, stacked on top of each other. It's small, but amazingly, fits all the stuff I need. Plus, it's a short walk from the cafe, the dance studio, the food co-op, the hair salon, the dentist, the book store, the library, the grange hall (where the farmers market and community musical rehearsals are), the hardware store, the art supply store and the community garden. Phew. Main street could still use a few more stores, but for now it serves me well. I'm super close to the lake too! It's nice to get local eggs around the corner. And a latte. As far as small town Maine goes, I'm pretty lucky!

I sit in this chair to knit, rug hook and quilt. I often have to wrestle it away from my fur ball, Louis. Often, we can compromise and just share.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The kitchen features a tiny gas stove (rare in Maine) and a moveable table. I love this. I can use it to help cook, eat or cut fabric. After getting to work in a huge studio for a while, the smaller space takes a bit of getting used to. I actually have to pick up when I'm done or else I'll have a side of thread with breakfast! I can't really work or store on anything too gigantic,  but I can move the table at least, to make a quilt sandwich.

Upstairs is my bedroom, a tiny office alcove(behind the orange partition) and my bathroom, which has the best shower ever! It also has open shelving, so I decided to get some tins at the flea market to hide away my 'less pretty' toiletries.

 

Where I sew...

plus a washer & dryer!!

 

Some experimental things I've been making for a show in May

Apron Endeavor

I'm now selling  aprons at Cafe Nomad, the awesome cafe in my town where I also work. This is my second batch thanks to the lovely "Main Street Supporters" out there! I'm also selling knitting needle cases at Artful Hands a little further up Main street, but I don't have photo's just yet. So fun to make each one be different.

Recent YarnPlay Projects for Lion Brand

Ok, so I'm WAY behind in posting these... but here they are nonetheless! Thanks again to Emily for such great photos!

Woven Place Mats:Click photo for how to instructions.

I love this yellow/pink pattern. I made a *mistake* but it turned out to be a pretty pattern, so I went with it.

 

Gift Wrapping Ideas:

Click photo for how to instructions

Click photo for how-to instructions

 

FALLing in love...

Isn't it amazing that when you set forth to cook all day, suddenly it's three and you realize you haven't eaten a 'real' meal yet? You nibble on this, test that, drink a glass of wine (just to make sure it'll add the right flavor to your pot roast of course) and just feel stuffed with aromas.

This is just that day. Waking to a quiet cup of coffee with a little knitting, followed by a walk around the garden harvesting herbs and then chop chop!  I roasted a chicken with rosemary, sage & thyme butter, am marinating even more chicken for my uncles favorite dish and put a pot roast in the slow cooker with tons of fresh herbs, veggies and secret ingredients to pop the flavor. Oh yeah, also, a cooks illustrated banana bread variation that is delicious! I'm eating it right now and it's the most of one thing I've eaten yet today.

Fall always pushes me toward the kitchen... to roast, stew, or bake things, which I meet with pleasure. I'm happy to be here. I'm just in love with the way things are right now. Except for tea-parties that don't involve stuffed animals and imaginary friends (or do they??) but that's a story for a different blog!

Adding to the FALLing in love... an adventure to the county fair. I've already decided that next year I want to submit items and try to win so many ribbons!

New Book: Knitting Green Conversations and Planet Friendly Projects

I'm excited about this new book by Annd Budd called Knitting Green. (Ok... secret's out, I'm biased because my knitted Bike basket is on the cover, woo hoo! My first cover project!!)

By making things ourselves, we automatically help the earth (I think) because we're not supporting huge, mass-marketed, smog-spewing machines. And by buying patterns like these, you're putting more money into the hands of smaller designers, like me, which feels good, right? I hope so. I also hope that this book will help consumers (like me) learn more about sustainable materials and practices.

Take a look at some of the books projects below. The bike basket is knit using jute twine, lined with a beautiful oil cloth from Kokka Fabrics and finished with yellow purse handles and tabs to snap to your handlebars. I really didn't want to send ithis project in because it looked so cute on my bike! I also did a cute slipper pattern that will fit practically any foot in your family and makes good use of those leftover bits of yarn. You can see photos of the slippers on the last page, below.  Click here for more book information and to pre-order. The book will be available in May!

Knitting Green

Mom's Handmade Holiday

My mom got all handmade gifts from me this year...

 

The Oragami Organizer from One Skein Wonders

 

The "Not-Ugly Car Trash Bag" also from One Skein Wonders

 

A chair cover of my own design

The chair before:

 

And finally, the Praying Mantis from Amigurumi Knits

Look closely...

Can you spy the awesome, Mod podge Magnum PI container I made mom for her birthday in 1987? Not bad for a seven year old!! Of course, my Aunt Wilma did help. On the back I wrote a very inspirational birthday message: "Have a Happy Time!"  surrounded by rainbows. I love that Magnum still has a special spot in mom's room, now joined by a much creepier gift!

 

 



Coordination

When random things line up in unexpected, pretty ways, my heart goes pitter-pat. I like to pay attention and let such moments inspire me. In fact, this is why I wanted to start this blog in the first place... to point out that inspiration is all around. It's not necessary to seek it out, 'work hard' or over think to find it, it's just there.

Some might not think it's worth the few extra dollars to buy fancy patterned page markers over the cheap post-it kind. Some might find page markers in general a frivolous expense... but I use them liberally, so the fact that I now have pretty printed ones instead of florescent yellow (thanks mom!) makes me really happy. It's so small and simple, but it really does brighten my day.  Look...

The page markers completely match the book cover! It's so cute, I just want to leave it laying around so everyone can see how 'together' I am! (ha)

So then later on in the week I was putting away some yarn that I had lost interest in using. It had been sitting around in the drawer/basket/pile for so long I just wasn't inspired by it anymore. Since it was taking up prime real estate in my room, I decided to put it in a storage bin, but then an awesome thing happened. These five skeins lined up next to each other, in this exact order, I kid you not. A perfect color scheme for a baby blanket I had just decided to 'think about' making. And so it was...

And the stitch pattern swatch I have going...

Remarkably close to the page markers and book, wouldn't you say??

 

New Project: Quilt Restoration

Thank goodness for friends of your mom who cast off treasures like this:

A finished quilt top in need of a little love... Oh bliss! I love quilts that are mostly white with all these cute little pattern pieces. Now I can get right to my favorite part which is hand quilting the layers together.

First I'm going to iron the top piece so that all the petals are flat and take out the old ties. Then I'll get some cotton batting to make the 'sandwich' with the backing fabric. I haven't quite decided about the backing fabric yet. Should I go simple and get a nice quality, whole cloth back that's just white? Should I get a cute little patterned fabric, like flowers or polka dots? Or should I piece together a back using the old fabrics I have downstairs at my moms house? Part of me thinks that piecing the back together would be the most resourceful, 'quilterly' and congruent with the style already set forth. There aren't too many non-cotton fabrics, so I don't think the maker was cutting up old shirts and dresses or anything! I'm not sure if these are feed-sack fabrics, but they certainly point that way. Perhaps she got a bag of scraps from the fabric store?

I think I'll investigate the fabrics downstairs first, to see if any would match, then go from there. I also want to add borders on all sides of the quilt top, since the motifs are currently quite close to the edges. I don't want anything too distracting though, no patterns. I would go with white, but trying to match the current color would be impossible and would probably look terrible. So I'm thinking a subtle, muted solid color like a light green, gold or coral. Something unusual to satisfy the artist in me. This is so exciting!

I plan to quilt around the outside of each motif and at the same time, tack down any loose tips. This is probably not the 'right' way of doing it, but I thought it would conserve time and thread. If I'm going to be going around anyway... why spend hours tacking down loose tips before hand? Not to mention tying all those knots?

Any suggestions for what I should do in the center of the flowers?

Going Home

My apartment in a truckA few days ago I loaded all my possessions into a rental truck and made the seven hour drive back to Maine... with my cat. Thankfully my pal Sarah came a long for the ride and kept Louis (the cat) from jumping in my face. He chilled on the dashboard mostly while I admired the leaves and made small talk, unable to comprehend all I was leaving behind.

The time to move from Brooklyn hit me like a ton of bricks. Really? Leave the coolest place? (it is right?) Why? I have everything I'll ever need here. It's hip, happening and there's so much to do! Right. There's so much to do. At any given moment you could be doing something else much cooler, with much cooler people, wearing much cooler clothes or shoes. My friends are pretty rad, so I tended to focus on the shoes part and since I was almost always broke, buying such things was usually out of the question. Oh NY, how you inflated my insecurities!

My Marks family send off. They all came to wave goodbye, heart wrenching, but much appreciated!But I don't want to dwell on the darkness, because the city is a fabulous place, I'm sure in time I'll even be able to lift my "I heart NY" mug high, but it just wasn't working out.

Of course I have HUGE plans of doing everything I ever wanted in life in this new magical land of opportunity, but for now...I'm content to collect my thoughts, breathe fresh air, talk to people I haven't seen in years, invest in some new projects and find my smile.

Things I will miss:

  • My pals and their kids
  • The flea and these pickles
  • The slate sidewalks covered in leaves and a little rain
  • The Brooklyn Bridge
  • Brooklyn being part of my addressThe Marks brought me a parting gift and as I opened it 2 year old Clarissa said "Happy Bithday Gimmie!" which just killed me!
  • Bike riding in all seasons (ok, I didn't really do that, but at least I could!)
  • Brooklyn Family Thanksgivings
  • Being able to get almost anything at anytime
  • Being able to drink as much as you want and still get home safely (hello subway/car service!)
  • Things being open past 9pm!
  • The skyline
  • Parties on my roof

Things I won't miss

  • Traffic
  • Being underground
  • Cockroaches
  • The anger... in every line, street corner, subway car, driver...
  • Carrying my bike up four flights!