Winner!

Dear Mom,
Cross "Never Winning Anything From A Blog Contest" off my list. Because last week I won a button give- away!
The charming hand-crafted buttons from Fastenation Studio arrived and I am delighted with them. Actually, I could not choose between two sets, so chose one set as my prize and purchased the second set.

It was difficult to get a photo of these sweet yellow buttons. They are perfectly named "Sunshine Girls". Look closely and you will see a happy girl on the buttons. These would be adorable on a little girls sweater, but they are so cute that it might break my heart to give them away. I may just have to put them on a sweater for me.....and smile every time I look at them.
These buttons should get some credit for waking up the designing knitter in me. I've been distressingly uninterested in /uninspired by my knitting. (Part of the responsibility for this may be the current project on my needles- eleventy-two miles of striped garter stitch - a Dr. Who scarf for the Young Lady. All I can say is, Thank heaven for the stripes. Stripes are the only thing marking my progress.  I suppose eleventy-two miles of garter stitch is good for cleansing the pallet. ) Anyway, I woke up over the weekend with an Idea percolating...

Oh. I have lots more to say! But little time to say it and do a halfway decent job keeping up with everything else. And the grass is waving at me in the refreshing cool breeze this morning. Off to take a ride on John, Dear.
More later.

Love,
Kim

All dressed up

Dear Mom,
Donna Reed (my Baby Wolf loom) is dressed up. It took me a few days to get from winding the warp to weaving. I am such a rookie at this, that this time I derailed myself when I ran out of 8/2 cotton while winding the warp. Detour to Tabby Tree Weaver for more cotton. I haven't the skills (yet) to judge whether that cone of fiber is enough to do what I expect it to do. But I am learning. And this time I am taking careful notes and writing my own recipe for kitchen towels. I am so in love with the few inches of weaving on the loom right now, that I may only weave towels just like this but in different colors for the rest of my weaving days.

The inspiration for these towels came from the book Sixty Scarves for Sixty Years. I figured I could double the 11 inch wide scarf and turn it into a towel.

I moved Donna Reed into our family room about a month ago, in an attempt to reclaim the dining room as a (mostly) dining room. ( My sewing machine and a corner for knitting still reside there.) Now when I walk past and see this it is hard not to stop everything and sit down to weave another pattern repeat or two. Or just stand and stare at it, marveling at the magic that is weaving. Seriously, when I started weaving this, I stopped My Hero and the Young Man as they passed through the room and had them take a look. I was like a 5 year old riding her bike the first time.... watch me!!!!! See this? Look at what I can do!!!!

I am also thinking that this pattern would be nice napkins. From Day 1, My Hero and I have used cloth napkins- with our only exceptions being huge cookouts and lunch boxes. (But modest cookouts? Cloth napkins) Some of our cloth napkins are looking a bit exhausted and until now I really hadn't considered weaving their replacements, but yes! I think I will!

There is no logical explanation to the contentment I've felt the past several weeks. I should be crazy with school out, but I am not. There is a quiet to my days. My garden is growing well, the days have been sunny, mild, with just enough rain. Laundry dries on the clothesline most days and our windows are open. We've enjoyed good, simple, healthy meals at home, and while the house is never spotlessly clean (we do live here, after all, and with a big black dog) I feel like I am maintaining my daily chores and keeping time for my creative pursuits. I have given myself the freedom of not assigning imaginary deadlines to my knitting, spinning and weaving projects, which may be the biggest factor in this inner calm I feel. This feeling may not last long, but I am enjoying every bit of it and I'll hang on to it as long as I can!

Love,
Kim

One Year Ago

Dear Mom,
One year ago today, in the midst of heavy grief and under a cloud of worry, a very happy thing happened to this house at the end of the cul-de-sac.

Olive came home.

She met Bumper.

Bumper was  happy.

We didn't know it when she came here, but Olive turned out to be the easiest puppy I've ever had the pleasure (or misfortune, depending on the day and the dog) to raise.  (For the record, Bumper was the naughtiest and, as we all know, Patsy was off the charts.) Olive was exactly what this house needed. Something happy in the midst of our sorrow and worry. Our reward for all the hard, horrible stuff that happened with Patsy.

In too short a time, she became our Only Dog. She has helped my broken heart to (mostly) heal. 

Olive had her moments. She is the first dog in this family that needed the Cone of Shame.

She grew up quickly,

June 2012

June 2013

 and learned to play tetherball...

 

She likes to chase squirrels, and checks the trees frequently.

Tennis balls are her favorite toy.

Our happy dog.

We love her.

Love,

Kim

The Shawl

Dear Mom,
When it comes to lace knitting, blocking is magic. Fresh off the needles, lace looks like a hole-y rag. One could look at it and wonder why she fussed over it for so long. But when it is blocked and off the pins....oh my.
I am unable to take any photos that do this shawl justice. And photos cannot let you feel how whispery soft and light this shawl is.

I used one of my favorite yarns- Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool. The pattern is Claire's Shawl.

This shawl is intended for a most knit-worthy soul sister-in-law. I cannot wait to put it into her hands.

Love,
Kim

Sharing the Love

Dear Mom,
Button Love.

I offered a Shrinky Dink button class at the yarn shop on Monday. Only one person signed up, but she made some very cute buttons for her Alpine Tweed sweater.

Outlander Love,
For a cherished sister-in-law and fellow Outlander fan.
Claire's Shawl (inspired by the books)- off the needles and on the blocking wires as I write this.

The shawl measures @ 62 inches, square. I had to clear floor space in the Young Lady's bedroom to block this. I needed a spot behind a closed door. I could just imagine Olive deciding to nap right in the middle of it. A large fan is blowing to speed up the drying process. This pitiful photo was taken with me standing on the bed. I'll take much nicer, detailed photos when the shawl is dry.

Labor of Love.
The Young Lady wants a Dr Who Scarf. The yarn has been purchased. The scarf is started. Eleventy two miles of striped garter stitch. The only thing worse would be eleventy two miles of plain garter stitch. Thank heavens there is no deadline on this one. I've fallen asleep twice while working on it and I've only managed about 8 inches. Not even photo worthy at this point.

Gardening Love.
Not Rabbit love.
Apparently, the peas, spinach and lettuce I planted were for the rabbits. grrrrrrr.
Yes. Those beautiful, healthy, 18 inches high pea plants are nothing but naked stubs. The spinach? Gone. I don't know how those varmints got in, but they were rewarded for their efforts.

Love,
Kim

Why I Cried When I Cut The Grass on Thursday

Dear Mom,
After two summers of drought, and the extreme heat we had last year, it has been a pleasure to mow healthy, green grass this spring. With all the rainfall, keeping up has been a bit of a challenge.
But that is not what made me cry.

After Daddy died, his John Deere tractor (I like to think of it as John, Dear) came to live at my house. Mowing has fallen under my half (?) of the division of labor in this household since the late 80's. Obviously, I didn't mow during my pregnancies and I somewhat reluctantly turned over the responsibility to the Young Man during his high school years (the deal- we pay for gas for the car, you mow the lawn), but now he has full time summer employment and I am back on the tractor.
John, Dear gets his annual check up every winter and is always ready to rev up in the spring. Paying for the annual maintenance gives me a little insurance should anything go wrong during the mowing season. I've never needed to bother the service department at Reynold's Farm Equipment until Thursday.
But that is not what made me cry.

At 4:45 pm, in the middle of a relatively straight patch of mowing, the mower blades stopped turning. I stopped the tractor dead, turned off the blade switch and tried re-engaging them. Nothing. Noting the time, and worried I might not get reach anyone in the service department before they closed down for the day, I drove John, Dear up near the house, jumped off, ran in and put my hands on my service invoice, locating the phone number. I was relieved when the call was answered. I was immediately transferred to the service department.
Jessie quickly diagnosed the problem and I ran back outside (with the phone) to confirm that "Yes, now that I look, I see a loose belt. Is this something I can fix? Can you talk me through it?" Jessie did believe that it was something I could manage and gave me some verbal instructions, took my email address, and sent me a page with photos of how the belt should be attached. Very nice. Very patient. He even told me he would be in the office until 6 and to call if I ran into difficulty. (I think we spoke three times before it was all through.)
Now, I've been known to cry when people do nice things for me, but this was not one of those times.

I didn't cry because my arms were black and my fingernails were even blacker when I was through.
I didn't cry at the bruises or scratches on my forearms from pushing my arms into hard metal places.
I didn't cry because the belt was stuck under a pulley and I couldn't pull it out. (That just made me MAD. Incredible Hulk mad. I may have even said 'dammit'.  But Mad enough to pull on it real hard- so hard, in fact, that I un-stuck it!)
I didn't cry because I was sweaty. Or that it took me over an hour to finally get it fixed.
Nope, I cried because when I took the cover off the mower deck, I saw this:

Daddy had drawn the belt attachment configuration right there on the mower deck. I thanked him right out loud. Right there, with dirt and grass and grease and sweat and tears in my eyes. His diagram was much easier to follow than the emailed photo and I didn't need to look away from the mower deck to refer to it.  I finished attaching the belt, with help at the end from My Hero - I needed his muscles to get the belt over and around that last pulley. While I was mowing the rest of the yard, I realized, once again, that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. I thought it was just me- but now know where it came from. Because, strategically located on the walls in the garage are the following:

furnace filter reminder

above the water softener pipes

above the water softener tank

And on my new skein winder-

Why go to the trouble of looking in a manual or for an instruction sheet or taking the risk of not remembering when the info can be right there, where you need it?

Thanks, Daddy!

Love,
Kim

The Gardens

Dear Mom,
After working hard in the 85 degree sunshine to get my garden planted last weekend, with my feet dirty in garden clogs, knees muddy, and shirt soaked in sweat, the seeds and plants are probably shivering in their lovingly made dirt beds today. Temps got down into the 40's last night and our forecast is for a cool weekend with highs barely into the 70's, if they even get there.  The Weather Forecast is a Big Deal in Indianapolis on Memorial Day weekend, so anything less than a perfect race day forecast is cause to take note. Despite admitting it may be "chilly" on Sunday, they will never come out with anything less than "a slight chance for rain". A big, bright, yellow and green blob could be swallowing up central Indiana on the radar and they will still tell us there is a "window in Terre Haute".  Still, I do hope it is a nice day. Our race tradition is to sit on the screened porch and listen on the radio. I must hear Florence Henderson warble her way through "God Bless America" and listen to The National Anthem, to Jim Nabors sing "Back Home Again in Indiana", to the prayer and finally the call for the drivers to Start Their Engines. We run outside like children sighting Santa's Sleigh on Christmas Eve when we hear the Air Force pilots fly over the house, excited to see them every year. We leave the race on as our soundtrack to the day, but we go about our business as we listen occasionally.

Ok. Back to the garden, because this started out to be about my gardens.
Everything is planted. Hopefully still alive and/or germinating. Despite my failed Potato Tower from last year, or maybe because of it, I have planted potatoes in three different contrivances, as an experiment of sorts. The first is the way potatoes are meant to be grown: in the ground. (imagine). Second, I used my compost bin (which is a metal can with holes all around) to plant them much like I did my potato tower, but just in a single layer. And third, in a big flower pot. The flower pot is already a damaged experiment as Olive decided to unearth the plants on Wednesday evening. She has not shown remorse nor given me an explanation as to why. I found no buried dog treasures in the muddy mix. Just a happy dog who, it seems, has added digging to tetherball on the list of her hobbies. I replanted what was salvageable of those potatoes. My purpose in conducting this loose experiment is to see if there is a marked difference in potato yield and to compare ease of harvest between the three methods. Already (and yes, it has been a very wet spring and much, much cooler than last year, and I started earlier) the plants themselves look 1000 times better than  the Potato Tower plants ever did.

I also got a jump start in March by planting spinach, romaine lettuce and snow peas. We've already enjoyed spinach from the garden. In Sunday's heat, I sowed green beans and lined the garden with zinnia seeds. I've also planted some melons that I started from seed, indoors. The seeds came from melons CarolWho'sHouseGotStruckByLightening sent me from California. These are varieties of melons she had never seen (or eaten) here in Indiana. We shall see how those California varieties like the midwest.

My last experiment of sorts is the way I am growing my tomatoes this year. When I think about it, I get a tiny bit nervous, because if this fails and I have no home grown tomatoes....... well, perish the thought!

I am growing my tomatoes in bags of garden soil. There are two reasons why I am taking this risk:
1. Our Brother has done this and swears he gets a greater number of tomatoes. ( I do believe he keeps track of these things.)
2. This is a way of expanding my garden space without really expanding it.

I wrapped the bags in landscaping burlap and tied the burlap with ribbon to make it all look prettier than  it would if the bags were just setting there all plain and bright plastic-y. As an added bonus, when I am cleaning up the garden next fall I can just add the bags of dirt to the garden for next year.

On top of all that- the plants, the seeds, the lavender in my flower box and the pots on the front porch- I sprinkle my home made organic fertilizer mix. One thing I am not is a Fussy Gardener. I like things to be low maintenance and other than watering, I want my gardens to take care of themselves. I mix up this fertilizer in the spring, put it where it needs to go, and that is the end of that. It works. I don't need to worry about over fertilizing or burning out seedlings with it. I found this formula years ago in an organic gardening book and after working on the math and making pounds and pounds and pounds of the stuff over the years, I have boiled it down to this easy concoction. When I first started making this, one of the ingredients (greensand) was not easy to find. That is no longer the case with the push towards chemical-free gardening getting stronger. Here it is:

All Purpose Home Made Organic Fertilizer
10 lb. bag of Greensand
2.75 lb. bag of Blood Meal
4 lb. bag of Bone Meal

Combine ingredients and mix well. All ingredients can be found at a good nursery. Support your local garden shop!

Have a Happy Memorial Day weekend!
Love,
Kim

Fiber Optics

Dear Mom,
One of the attractions of The Fiber Event in Greencastle, for me, is Kimber Baldwin's Fiber Optic yarn.   This year I purchased some of her worsted weight Superwash Merino, in the "Whacky Khaki" color way to knit a shawl she had displayed in her booth. I finished knitting the shawl late last week and took advantage of the sunshine and blooming columbine on Sunday to take its picture.

The pattern is Fried and Green. Although the pattern required 2 skeins of the Superwash Merino, Kimber needed just a tad bit of a third skein to finish the edging on her sample. I went ahead and purchased that third skein, and knowing I had the extra yardage, decided to add some length to the shawl before I began the lace border. I am very glad I did.

This pattern was well written and the shawl was quick to knit. The yarn is springy with very good stitch definition.

I have another shawl in the home stretch- just knitting the lace edging on that one, but that may take as long to finish as it did to knit the body of the shawl. I've been watching episodes of Foyle's War on my iPad while I work on this one. I think I can get in 12 repeats of the border per episode, and if I can manage that many reps per evening I should have the shawl finished at the end of next week. Maybe.

Love,
Kim

Well, THAT went fast

May 14, 1983

Skein winder

Dear Mom,
I've neglected to introduce the newest member of my Fiber Equipment Family. This could be because I haven't been able to think of a good name for her/him/it.
I recently had a very full knitting class and decided to use some of the proceeds from that class to purchase a new yarn swift. The little umbrella swift that Wendy gave me 20+ Christmases ago has been    wearing out. The threads on the clamp that secure it to a table are stripped and I can only tighten it so far. I've been using some of that stuff you put under rugs to keep them from slipping as a wedge to fill in the gap between the thickness of my table and the tightest spot on the clamp. Winding yarn from skeins into center-pull balls was becoming wobbly adventure. There were occasions when the swift would wobble itself right off the table.
Knowing its days were numbered, I had started casually investigating the different swifts available.
When I saw the Strauch Skeinwinder, I knew I'd found what I wanted. I chose to purchase the combination floor and table model and ordered it from Sheep Street Fibers.

She is beautiful, sturdy, easy to use, versatile. In addition to using her as a yarn swift, I can wind hand spun yarn off the bobbin and into a skein. There are marks on the center post at 1, 1.5 and 2 yard increments to tell me how much yarn I've wound on the skein.  I am very happy with this purchase. She was worth every penny. Now, if only I could think of good name...
Love,
Kim

Getting a Grip

Dear Mom,
The Young Man is home. We moved him out of the dorm and back home last Thursday. So far, if you overlook the futon frame hanging from bike hooks in the garage, and the mini fridge and microwave underneath that, and the futon cushion on his top bunk, and the various back-to-the-dorm boxes next to that, the transition has gone pretty darn smoothly. It helps that he is employed full time thanks to Bonnie Jo's Mister.

Olive is making a transition of her own. I had her in to the vet to take a look at a lower incisor that was chipped while playing an aggressive round of tetherball. (Now there is something I never thought I'd say.... "My dog chipped a tooth playing tetherball.") After examining the tooth and telling me there was really nothing to be concerned about, the vet quickly and abruptly brought up Olive's weight. For a second there I thought maybe I had accidentally taken her with me to one of my Doctor visits. Olive is now making the slow switch to a lower calorie dog food. And producing a staggering amount of Gas.    Concerned, and worried the odor might keep me up all night, I did a quick internet search and read that a dollop of yogurt in her food might help. We slept well.  And no noxious clouds yet today.

In an effort to get a grip on my many, many projects, the dining room table was excavated, projects organized and I am taking a Deep Breath. Sometimes, many times, I get nervous about all the Things I Want To Do. Like there is a whirling cyclone of projects in my brain and that deep breath of fresh air and a step back is needed to let the dust settle and gain some focus. In the past, lists have helped. I started a short term knitting project goal list today, and I will need a long term goal list along with that. And probably a list of Other Projects I Want to Do..... I must remember There is Satisfaction in Finishing, and Serenity in a Well Ordered Life.

That is all well and good until a project is interrupted. Like when My Hero asks me "how long does it take to knit a baby sweater?" For the woman who just returned from her maternity leave. It seems the whole pregnancy and birth part just slipped his mind and it wasn't until the photos of the baby girl were in his hand that he thought of having a gift. When stuff like this happens I wonder why I don't just knit a bunch of stuff for emergency gifting. As if I have a shortage of knitting ideas and need to fill the time. Nope. It is usually the pressure of a deadline that motivates me to produce gifts.
Thankfully, I recently purchased the book 60 Quick Baby Knits. This book is FULL of the cutest baby things. And they aren't lying when they say Quick. After knitting the adorable cardigan (Project #7), I had enough yarn left over for the very cute little cloche style hat (Project #11).
The hat came off the needles last night and is wrapped and ready for gifting today.
Here they are:

I used 3 skeins of Classic Elite Seedling yarn for the Main Color and 1 skein for the Contrasting Color.

A BONUS to excavating that dining room table....

a place to admire and enjoy some freshly cut lilacs. The fragrance is heavenly! (When Olive is not in the room!)

Love,
Kim

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Dear Mom,
Because they are my favorite, I am very particular about Oatmeal Raisin cookies. They have to be plump, soft and chewy, sweet and spicy. To splurge on a bakery-made oatmeal raisin cookie and find it bland and/or crunchy is such a disappointment.
Thanks to Ina Garten, my search for the Perfect Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe is over.
The recipe is here, or in her Back to the Basics cookbook. (Or, the "green one" as my knitting friends and I refer to it.) In the book's margin notes, Ina suggests letting the cookies cool on the pan for a chewier cookie. I did and they are.
One other thing- I reduced the amount of granulated sugar from 1 cup to 3/4 cup. I read somewhere that you can reduce the amount of sugar in a recipe up to 25% without really affecting the outcome (other than calories.) In the calorie and sugar intake department, every little bit helps. Supposedly. But that is a subject for another blog post another day.
Love,
Kim

Pause

Dear Mom,
Before it all gets forgotten, or seems like Old News, I need to catch up here.
It's that blasted Catch 22. Busy, productive, and stuff to share....no time to share it.

I took advantage of one of our very few dry, sunny days to take Elle out onto the porch for a photo shoot.

Off the needles:

This is Bermuda. I used about 1 1/2 balls of Noro Taiyo sock yarn. The combination of the pattern's short rows and the long color runs in the yarn make this look like I worked harder than I did.

The yarn is a combination of cotton, wool, nylon and silk. I think this will be a nice summer shawl. I may make another in shades of grey, white and cream. (I knit like I have the wardrobe and life and skinny arms and legs to support frothy, dressy things.)

And...
Judy Jetson, my vintage Singer sewing machine-( you can read about Judy here, and here)- worked on another Schoolhouse Tunic. I tweeked the pattern a little bit more- putting the centered inverted pleat on the skirt front and drafting a new pattern piece, with no pleats, for the skirt back.

I used a men's tuxedo top for my bodice fronts. I love it when an idea works!

And I also adjusted the length. This one is somewhere between the shirt and tunic lengths. For me, this is just right, and this latest version of the pattern is my favorite. Time to try something different.
I have This Pattern next in line.

Love,
Kim

The Past Week

Dear Mom,
Except for the mountain that was plowed from the cul-de-sac into the front yard, all of last weeks snow has melted.
Revealing this-

One of the hundreds of crocus bulbs I've planted in the front yard. Last summer's heat and drought took it's toll and I neglected to add more to the lawn last fall. Hopefully this summer will be different and there will be another 100 bulbs blooming next spring. I get a thrill every time I see these brave flowers in my winter-brown lawn.

Yesterday I wore my Alpine Tweed sweater and the boldly patterned dress I sewed to church.

This dress is a lengthened Schoolhouse Tunic minus the pleats in the skirt. I wore this with a grey camisole and grey tights.  I love this cardigan. The dress is okay. I am still on a search for the perfect tunic/dress pattern. I saw Lisette pattern 2245 on Pinterest, ordered it, and it arrived on Saturday. I need some time to work up a little sewing bravery- I will mentally sew it a few times and then have to wake up one day with all the stars lined up and say to myself "today is the day"- and then I can start sewing on that one. Stay tuned.

By far, the very nicest thing that happened last week was this:

My friend, YarnshopAnne, made this quilt. For ME!
 

This was a thank you for a sweater I made and gave to her. She is most definitely Knit worthy, the sweater is perfect on her and I wanted her to have it with no strings attached and no thanks needed..... But I very happily accepted the quilt!

I have taken about eleventy-two photos of this quilt, and I move it about, trying it on in different rooms.  Right now it is on the railing between the family room and kitchen- pretty much so I can admire it all day long.

Thank you Anne!

Love,
Kim

March Madness

Dear Mom,

My Hero shoveled about 8 inches of snow off the driveway this morning. Another inch or two is expected before it all ends this afternoon. This is reportedly a 100-year record breaking snowfall.
Buried under that snow, in the front yard, crocuses are blooming.....
Love,
Kim

Alpine Tweed

Dear Mom,
My Alpine Tweed sweater is finished and on display in the yarn shop. I knit this as a class sample AND for myself. I have the fabric to sew a dress to go with it, and the plan is to wear them to church on Easter.

Pattern: Alpine Tweed, designed by Jared Flood from this book.
Yarn: Berroco Vintage
Buttons: Shrinky Dinks, made by me! ( I traced portions of the flowers and leaves from my fabric onto my shrinky dinks for perfectly coordinated, unique buttons.)

I do believe the next sweater is gonna be another one for me(!) using some of my hand spun yarn. I do believe it will be a cardigan...... stay tuned.

Love,
Kim

Practically Perfect in a Whole New Way

Dear Mom,
By far, Olive has been the bestest, easiest puppy I've ever raised. And now my cup runneth over. Bless her, she goes out to the back yard and entertains herself by playing tetherball!

We may go through a bunch of balls this summer- this one is obviously already skinned and deflated- but a dog who wears herself out? Priceless. I love her.
Love,
Kim