The Fruits of My Labor

Dear Mom,

Sibella Cardigan

Lavender soap in a wool soap sock.
This will be a hostess gift. 

I spent a hot, sweaty afternoon canning tomatoes.
This is the first 6 pints. 

I spent that same sweaty afternoon making Ina Garten's
Roasted Tomato Basil soup, with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden.
We'll have a taste of summer's bounty this winter!

These yellow pear tomatoes are my favorites!

Zinnias!

I am collecting a freezing these yummy blackberries for a future dessert.

This is Market Jacket. I used Bartlett yarn - Coral Heather, and finished knitting this in about 2 weeks.

Washed, blocked and waiting for buttons.

Love,
Kim

Missing in Action

Dear Mom,
I guess I should have put "Write Blog" into that schedule I was so proud of in my last post!

There have been several blog posts swirling about in my head since that last post on January 30th, but I just didn't make time or have the motivation to actually write and post them.

Mostly what happened is I fell down the rabbit hole of sweater design and knit, wrote, test knit, and published a new sweater pattern: Friezestyle. This consumed most of February and March.

I made this one using up some of my handspan yarn.

The idea for Friezestyle was born after knitting class one afternoon, when one of my loyal students picked up a shop sample for this scarf and declared "wouldn't this be a pretty sweater!"....

 My guardian angel must have been driving because I think my brain was knitting a sweater all the way home.

In between and around all that knitting, the Young Lady came home for spring break. While she was home, we matted and framed some of her art work for submission to the student art show. We celebrated when 2 of her pieces were accepted. I drove down for the opening of the show and proudly witnessed her accept an award for one of her pieces. That same piece sold, too!

This week we move her home for the summer. It is hard to believe that this little girl will be a college sophomore!

In the spring storms, we lost a large tree. Luckily, as it split and fell, it did surprisingly little damage to the fence. Having it removed was a scary thing for my wee black beast. 

 I sat on my back porch with my knitting and watched a crew of Very Muscular Men remove that tree and another we felt had overgrown its place in the yard. I'd helped plant the trees and felt I needed to witness them leaving. I was fascinated by the precision removal of the tree. And once that fascination wore off, I found myself admiring some strong shoulders and flat stomachs.... I am sure those Very Muscular Men saw an old lady and her scared dog with nothing better to do.

It's a good thing they couldn't read my bubble.

And a few weeks later,  new trees are planted.

We've been in this house for almost 26 years.  Our large yard was hard, barren and drought-stricken when we moved in. Almost everything in this yard was planted my My Hero and I. We are beginning to see the need to rejuvenate and replace some of our overgrown landscaping. Unlike my gray hair, which comes in however it wants and I choose to accept gracefully, we are faced with the challenge of blending new landscaping into our mature landscaping- and hope to allow that to look natural as it happens.

After the knitting frenzy of that latest design came to fruition, the sewing bug bit me. And it bit hard.

I made one Top 64 out of a pretty cotton,  was mostly pleased with the results but found it tighter than I find to be comfortable across the upper arms.

I made a second Top 64 using a pretty Anna Maria knit fabric. This one feels better, but I have very little experience sewing with knits.  There are things I will try to change and do better if I make a third.

For quite some time I'd been admiring, then second-guessing, and mostly had dreamy ideas percolating over the Ann Carolyn Smock. Do a google image search for Ann Carolyn Smock and you will see why I couldn't shake this pattern out of my head.  I've really wanted to find that perfect sewing pattern for a top. I worried that Ann Carolyn's gathers across the yoke would not be flattering. I kept coming back to it. And finally decided to go for it. I wouldn't know till I tried, would I?

I ordered the pattern. I bought some inexpensive fabric to make the shirt version.  I have to stop right here and say that Ellen Mason's instructions are thoughtful, well written, and clear, with helpful hints and practical advice throughout. Reading through them is like having a friend sharing her best, most encouraging advice. Sewing this shirt was fun. The pattern is brilliant.

So, I successfully sewed the shirt. It fit, was flattering, the sleeves were just right, but the back was tight when I moved my arms. I was discouraged and sad, but not quite ready to give up. My first thought was my go-to self punishing one: "If you weren't so fat. If you would just lose weight..."

I let my brain percolate.

A day or two later, while getting dressed, a pleat on the back of one of my shirts (that fits without binding, that is not a knit) smiled at me. A pleat! All Ann Carolyn needs (for me) is a pleat. One little pleat at the center back. And we live happily ever after.

Here is Ann Carolyn Smock #1.

Notice the cute pocket!
The pockets are very roomy!
I LOVE POCKETS!

The pleat. I added a decorative button to the back for fun.
I've had these buttons since the early 90's.

And here is Ann Carolyn #2:

I have fabric for more. There will be more. Just wait and see! 

Okay, and let me say another wonderful, smart thing about this pattern! Fabric requirements for each piece are included so you can easily decide to mix and match fabrics with out guessing at yardage. BRILLIANT!

Comfy, cute, my new uniform- with sleeves rolled up in the summer and under a hand knit cardigan in the winter. I have yarn and fabric combinations queued up. I may look like I am channeling my inner fifth grader at recess, but wearing these makes me so happy that I don't think I mind if I do. I just need saddle shoes! Meet you at the swing set!

Love,

Kim

Blooming

Dear Mom,
We've had plenty of rain, and heat and humidity, too, and my flower garden is blooming!

Dame's Rocket

Hydrangea

Bee Balm

Tickseed, Delphinium, Hollyhock

Morning sun on Marigolds

Oak tree sprouting from an acorn! I found the freshly sprouting acorn when prepping the
soil for the new flower garden. I am sure a squirrel planted it under the hot tub.

Isn't the Hollyhock beautiful?

The zinnia's are beginning to bloom also. I have a snapdragon, pincushion flower and a zinnia in the milk glass bud vase on my kitchen window sill.

Love,
Kim

Marigolds, Merino, and Mohair

Dear Mom,
Before I cleaned up the garden, and inspired by these books, I harvested a gallon sun tea jar's worth of marigold flowers with the hopes of dying some of that lovely Merino/Mohair roving I have.

 I must confess that it took me awhile to get over some of the weights and measures and science and decide to see what happened with what I have. I pre-mordanted the fiber in Alum and prepared the dye stock by simmering the marigolds in a huge stock pot for about an hour. It was still warm outside and my windows were open. Although I did not find the smell offensive, I don't think I'd want to do this with the windows closed. In other words, this is a fair weather process.

After I strained out the plant material I gently put the roving into the steamy marigold broth. I allowed it to steep for about 45 minutes. To avoid handling the fiber, I placed it into a large mesh zippered laundry bag. I am glad I did it this way because I was able to pull the fiber out and save the broth. It took several rinses before the fiber was clear of residual dye. I spun the bag of fiber in the front loader and laid it out to finish drying.

I was very pleased with the result!

 A few days later I decided to play things fast and loose (for me) and put another batch of pre-mordanted fiber into the leftover, re-heated marigold broth. Another good result- a little paler in color, but still very pretty.

 Then I really got carried away and reused the alum mordant bath on two small bundles of roving and put the twice used marigold broth into two crockpots. I let the fiber "cook" all night.  I am sure there are good reasons (probably many of them) for these crockpots to end up at the Goodwill where I purchased them. I discovered one of the reasons for one of those crockpots had to be that it gets way too hot. When I checked on my little experiments the next morning, one of the pots was sputtering and boiling over! Yikes! I was afraid I'd find a felted blob of wool inside. Both pots yielded more pretty color, and the overheated fiber has an interesting bronze color.

Crock pot 1- "normal" heat

super hot crock pot

This next photo has all 4 rovings lined up from 1st batch on the left to the super heated batch on the right.

I've started spinning that first ball. I have a bright red felted wool coat and a navy pea coat and think this yellow wool will make a pretty scarf or maybe even a scarf and hat that will look nice with both.
In spinning this blend of fibers, it is a treat to see the shimmery mohair bits with the merino and how they've each taken up the dye differently but very subtly.
You should be able to see the slight differences in this next photo. Some of the shades are a result of the dye not being consistently absorbed throughout the roving (which I like) and some is the difference in the merino and mohair.

I won't have any more marigolds to play with until next summer. I do have other things on my dye shelf in the garage to play with though!
Love,
Kim

To Everything There is a Season

Dear Mom,
There is a Frost Advisory tonight, which means today is the day they plants come in off the screened porch and find their spots inside for the winter. I like making things cozy, but I will miss using the porch. I spent many relaxing hours out there this summer.
The coming frost will be the end of the zinnias. I snipped a huge bouquet of the last of the best of them and brought that inside, too. I've harvested the dried seed heads for next year's garden.

This summer I filled the flower box outside the kitchen window with lavender. I do enjoy looking out at the flowers there, and this year had the added pleasure of smelling the lavender. Emptying that flower box is depressing. And looking out at the barren flower box all winter makes me feel the cold weather even more. I decided to fill the box with the beautiful things Mother Nature has in my yard. I don't know how long it will stay looking nice, but I am pretty proud of how it looks right now.

I clipped some Norway spruce branches that were laden with pine cones, picked pine cones off the ground,

added some colorful oak and maple leaves

and some hydrangeas and poked in a few dried Black-eyed -Susan heads.

I harvested a bit of basil before the frost hits it- enough for a new recipe I'll try this week. I am not ready to buy "fresh" basil at the grocery store yet! In hopes of keeping it through the winter, I brought in small pots of basil, chives and oregano despite my not having any luck with that in the past.
More evidence of my reluctance to let go of fair weather: I have things drying out on the clothes line. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I am pretending to dry things out on the clothesline. There are a few items out there right now, probably wondering how long I'll leave them hanging, all cold and damp. It may have started sunny, but it is definitely grey out there now. And NOT getting warmer.
As much as I don't like the snow....the days ahead are the days that completely validate knitting and  wearing wool sweaters and socks and shawls, and knitting more and more wool sweaters and socks and shawls.
Love,
Kim