Paper, Scissors, a Shot Glass and a Hole Punch

Dear Mom,

After 23 years of love and use and sunshine and abuse, our kitchen cabinets are in desperate need of freshening up. These also being the years of paying for college tuition, new cabinets are not an option. Plus, I reallyreallyreally like my tiled countertops and I've been told that they cannot be saved if/when we replace the cabinets. Soooo, My Hero and I have been sanding (him), staining (me) and polyurethane-ing (me).  We are working in small manageable sections which means we can get each bite digested every weekend, but it also means a regularly disheveled kitchen and cleaning up sawdust over and over and over again. And not having things in their place makes me a little edgy. Keeping my eye on the prize. It'll be worth it in the end. And, I have to say, the refreshed cabinets look better than I even imagined would be possible. That helps. A lot.
The first weekend we tackled the worst appearing cabinets on the island. They were very faded by the sunshine. And last weekend we started working our way around the upper cabinets. While waiting for the last coat of polyurethane to dry I put my mind to considering shelf lining paper. I'd used that self sticking liner and did not want to use that again. I wanted something prettier than plain and googled "lace edged shelf paper" or something like that and in my fall down the internet rabbit hole, found a site that had a quote from one of the Little House books and instructions for cutting pretty shelf paper. (I guess Ma Ingalls had Mary and Laura making pretty shelf paper in one of the books. Frankly, they had me at Little House.) Such was my inspiration that I cannot find that website to share it with you. I pretty much immediately stopped googling and gathered my supplies.
I used scissors, brown craft paper (you could use newspaper or white butcher paper or whatever you think would be nice for lining shelves), a hole punch (I am pretty sure Mary and Laura did not have a hole punch.) and a shot glass. (I know for certain that Ma Ingalls would not allow a shot glass in her house, so Mary and Laura did not use one of these either.) I used the shot glass to draw a round edge. You could make pointy edges. Mary and Laura probably made pointy edges.

I folded the craft paper in half and half and half, again and again and again, until it was about 2 inches wide and then started cutting and hole punching the end- like making snow flakes or paper dolls.

So when it was unfolded, I had a lacy looking edge. I did not want to drive myself crazy by trying to make them all the same. It was more fun to try different things for each one. Also, I don't have one of those fancy crafty scrap-bookin' shaped punch things, but if I did, I would have tried using it.
I then trimmed the depth and width of the paper to fit my shelves.
Here is a photo with the paper on the shelves, and the shelves loaded, but before the cabinet doors went back on:

And here is a photo with the doors on the cabinets:

We have a ways to go before we are finished, but so far so good!
Love,
Kim

Give Away

Dear Mom,
Everything offered except for the mitten kit that looks like shamrocks has (have?) found new homes.  The Blue Sky Alpaca yarns had 2 nice people ask for it, so I had My Hero reach into a North Porch hat and pick one of those names. Congratulations, "Anonymous",  you win!

I've emailed all the winners and as soon as I have their mailing addresses, the goods will be on their way.
Thanks and Congratulations to Elaine, who will soon have the Carrots and Beets mitten kit and the Suri Silk. I'd like to know what brain storm inspired Elaine to ask for the Suri Silk. I love Brain Storms.
And Thanks and Congrats to Reneelynn, to whom I will happily dispatch the Cupcakes mittens kit.
This was a fun way to give good homes to neglected yarn and projects.

Love,
Kim

Three Bags Full

Dear Mom,
With your help, the yarn stash went through an Epic Purge a couple of weeks ago.
All those partial skeins of yarn that I thought could some day be….. something…… and all those yarns for projects I started and did not like, supplies for project ideas that IwillNeverInMyLifetimeIfILiveToBe103HaveTimeToDo- all of that- went in to Three- yes. THREE! Contractor- sized garbage bags, into the back of my car, and donated to Goodwill.
EDITING is my new mindset. Edit out those projects that I do not Love. Life is too short and free time is too precious to do anything but the Really Good Stuff. And just because I Have An Idea, doesn't mean I have to act on it. (Until I find a way to stop the clock, or function on 45 minutes of sleep.)
I have to say that some parts of the purge were painful, but not many, and mostly it was liberating to rid myself of the burden of those "this could be ….. something…." projects and to have all that under-the-bed and closet space cleared out.

However.
Some of those projects and yarns were just too good to donate to the Goodwill, even though they are things I don't want to knit anymore, or yarns I can't decide what they should be, and I've decided to offer them here for any blog readers who are interested. Free. I'll even cover the shipping ( US, please). Such is my desire to see this stuff in good homes and not in the bottom of a craft bin at the Goodwill.

First thing up for grabs:

 A Spillyjane Cupcakes Mitten pattern and the KnitPicks Pallette yarn to knit them.

Next:

Spillyjane's Heather's Mittens pattern and KnitPicks Pallette yarn to knit them- FYI- I swapped out white for the brown thinking  I would make a Shamrock Mitten for St Patrick's day.

And then there's:

Spillyjane's Carrots and Beets Mitten pattern (why, yes, I did lose my mind one day and went Spillyjane crazy) and the KnitPicks Pallette yarn for knitting them.

And there's this too:

6 skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca's Alpaca Silk. (50 grams, 146 yards per skein) 2 skeins of Blueberry,  color #140; 2 skeins of Slate, color #100; 1 skein of Iron, color #134 and one skein of a light lime green color, tag missing.

And finally:

2 skeins of Misti Alpaca Handpainted Baby Suri Silk  (80% baby Suri Alpaca 20% silk Color #21/ 100 g, 218 yards per skein) AND this handy Circular Solution Port-a-Pocket.

IF anyone out there is interested in any of these. please leave a comment and tell me which thing you want. IF there are more than one interested knitter, I'll draw a name out of one of the Young Lady's North Porch hats. Is a week long enough for any/every one to get their dibs in? Let's see how things look next Thursday. Tell your friends -unless they might want what you want and then we'll just keep it a secret, okay?

Love,
Kim

Rosi's Lunch

Dear Mom,
Rosi was one of the first two ladies to take a knitting class from me at the Village Yarn Shop. When the class ended we continued to knit fairly regularly and eventually she became the crochet teacher for the shop. In a few weeks Rosi is moving back to Minnesota. I couldn't let her leave without acknowledging it somehow, and decided a simple lunch in her honor would be nice.

Hosting events like this
a.) gets the house real clean, and,
b.) justifies many of the frivolous purchases I've made over the years.

Setting up for this was fun, even though there were times during the prep when family life and Ladies Who Lunch life made me wonder what I was thinking when I thought of hosting a Farewell Lunch. But it was worth it. And that pain that was radiating from my clenched jaw into my right ear has mostly stopped now.

I served quiche and fresh fruit on Grandma's milk glass place settings.

We had cinnamon spiced tea and lemonade.

As napkins, I used some pretty hankies.

These individual bud vases are meant to be used as place card holders, but I stuck Forget-Me-Not seed packets in the name card slot and filled the vases with cranesbill flowers. Because I only have 6 of those, at each end of the table I used a different bud vase with a peony flower.

My most kind, sweet, gentle (I am so blessed!) cousin baked her delicious, pretty cookies for our dessert. I used them as our centerpiece.

I prepared all the ingredients for the quiche yesterday and then assembled and started baking them about an hour before I expected we would sit down to eat. This made things much easier (and me a whole lot calmer) today.

The easiest of the two quiche recipes was, in my opinion, the tastiest. I found the recipe in the "Summer in the Country" Gooseberry Patch cookbook. I didn't do exactly what the recipe says to do, though. Here is what I did:

Farmhouse Quiche

serves 6

1 frozen 9-inch pie crust (I made mine the day before and popped in the freezer overnight)

2 T olive oil

1/2 red pepper, diced

1/2 green pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced (I used the kind you find in the jar in the produce department)

1/4 c. zucchini, diced

2 T fresh basil, chopped

4 eggs, beaten

1 c. half-and-half

1 t salt

1/2 t pepper

8 oz shredded Colby Jack cheese*

1/3 c shredded Parmesan cheese

3 Plum tomatoes, sliced

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat and sauté the peppers, garlic, zucchini and basil until tender.

Whisk together eggs, half-and-half, salt and pepper in a large bowl. 

Stir in veggies and cheeses.  Refrigerate until ready to use. 

Pour into frozen pie crust and top with sliced tomatoes. (confession: I forgot the top with sliced tomatoes part. The quiche was still good.)

Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing.

*The recipe calls for 8 oz of shredded Pepper Jack cheese, but I am a total hot pepper wimp, so I substituted the Colby Jack.

I think the luncheon was a success. After everyone left (with their Forget-Me-Not packets and an extra cookie- which they claim was for sharing when they got home but I am suspicious) I ate 2 more cookies and took a nap. The house is clean. Laundry is a little backed up but what the heck. I'll tackle that tomorrow.

Love,

Kim

Trimming Corners and Clipping Curves

Dear Mom,
Something about warm weather makes me want to sew. I've noticed that every spring I catch a sewing bug. Mostly the result is discouraging, but apparently not so discouraging that I am immune the next year.
So, a few weeks ago when we were visiting The French Seam, it should have been no surprise that I would walk out with fabric and a book. I was clearly under the influence of a potent strain of the Sewing Bug Virus this year. The book I purchased is this one: Simple Modern Sewing. I didn't need to turn more than a few pages before I was HOOKED. I was excited. I was ready to sew a whole new wardrobe.

And then I got home and started looking at things a little more closely and realistically. I quickly realized that my ***ahem*** American Figure was not necessarily compatible with the Japanese women for whom the patterns were clearly designed. I could feel that cloud of discouragement blowing in. And then I got tough. I made a decision. NoWayNoHow was this Simple Modern Sewing going to defeat me! By golly, I took 2 years of tailoring classes in high school. Okay. So that was 35 years ago, but SO WHAT. I could surely figure out how to make this simple modern jumper, designed for a Japanese woman, fit my American Breasts. Mrs. Goodwin and Mrs. Roos were gonna be proud.

I made adjustments in width to the pattern, based on the finished measurements and suggested ease provided in the instructions. I honestly measured myself and immediately shook off the shock of that. I made Muslin #1 with an old twin size bed sheet. WAY too big. (this made me happy) I took out the adjustments and sewing Muslin #2 using the original pattern. It fit okay, but the armholes and bust darts were too high. I stood before the mirror and studied that muslin and figured out where to cut the pattern and how much length to add for the gravity induced location of the mammas (or should that be ma'ams?). I channelled that tailoring instruction Mrs Roos taught me all those years ago and I sewed Muslin #3. I did it.
And now that all the pattern alterations are finished, this is a very simple dress and the sewing of it is a breeze. I used tailor's tacking to mark the pattern. I clipped the curves and trimmed the corners. I under stitched the facings. I was In. The. Zone.

My original goal was to sew sleeveless summer jumpers that I could either where over a tee-shirt, or under a cardigan. Now that I've made 3 of them, I am also considering other pattern alterations for pin tucks, or pockets, or that apron style dress I see on Pinterest but cannot find the pattern for. I also think I will make some winter jumpers in wool to wear over turtlenecks and under cardigans, with tights and boots or leggings and funky shoes.  Like I said, when I left the fabric store I was ready to sew a whole new wardrobe.

Here is what I've done so far:
This is the first one, in a linen-like fabric. I admit this is a bad photo of both the dress and the knitted thing. That shawly cardigan thing is my most recently finished knitting. It is this pattern from the Spring 2014 issue of Interweave Knits. I used some Classic Elite Firefly yarn that I had in my stash. The fabric for this dress is not linen, but behaves like linen in every way except the wrinkly part.

The shape and size of this cardigan is not compatible with Elle. It was just about impossible to get anything even close to a decent photo.
The cardigan will serve its purpose (of covering my upper arms and dressing up the jumper) but I will NOT be making another one. It felt like I was knitting this thing for ev er.

Next up, a sunny summery combo:

I knit this sweater a while back and almost got rid of it. I am so glad I didn't! It is perfect with this dress. The cardigan details are on my ravelry page.

And last (so far) is this one:

I really like this one even though my reason for making it is a sad one. I needed a dress for a funeral but didn't want to wear my usual black dress. This looked just right with a black cardigan and my little black patent leather flats.

As I said, this jumper is super simple- no buttons, buttonholes or zippers. Just an easy pullover with a flattering boat neck. Here is a close-up of the shoulders.

With the success of these dresses and my alterations, I've caught myself considering other patterns from the book. I would feel so absolutely liberated to be able to sew and wear clothes that I like, that fit me, in fabrics and colors of my choosing, without being held hostage by the fashions and fit available in the shops. Like I said. Potent Strain of the Sewing Bug.
Love,
Kim

Spinning

Dear Mom,
I'd have to check through the blog archives to see exactly how long I've been spinning, but without doubt it is only a fraction of the time I've been a knitter. And yet my spinning stash rivals my knitting stash- and frankly may even be larger. oooops. Definitely larger when I think of what is currently off to Ohio Valley getting blended and processed.
And then there is this:

When CarolWhoseHouseGotStruckByLightning visited her parents in Minnesota recently, she took a field trip to Northern Woolen Mill. She told me about the field trip a few days ahead and I asked her if it wasn't too much trouble, could she bring $50 worth of a bison/wool blend roving back next time she was in town? When I asked, I imagined that $50 would buy me a ball of roving slightly bigger than my fist. What I got was not one, not two, but THREE bigger-than-my-head balls of 50/50 North Dakota Bison and South Dakota Merino!  It spins up beautifully.

I don't know what I will do with the yarn once it has all been spun and plyed, but with this much roving, I should have plenty of options.

The first Sunday of each month, Tabby Tree Weaver hosts an Open Spin. I don't miss too many of those afternoons. A very nice group of ladies gathers to talk spinning and weaving, share some laughs, and ooh and ahh over Show-n-Tell. Last month MelissaWhoSpinsButDoesNotKnit shared this rug hooked masterpiece. This is truly a Work Of Art.

 Being the thoughtful, generous person I am, my first words (once I regained the ability to speak) were: "I want this when you die. Leave it to me in your Will." (Good thing that Melissa 'gets' me. She laughed and said okay. I think…..)

Okay, I don't want her to die. But I do admit to daydreaming about where I would hang this if it were in my house.
Love,
Kim

Favorite Things Friday

Dear Mom,
A definite Favorite Thing on my Friday mornings is my knitting class. This group of ladies met in my This is That Sweater class back in January. The group has bonded together and we just finished the Zephirine cardigan I showed you in my last post. In April, we took a field trip to the Greencastle Fiber Event. And in May we had a tea party during class.

(Our tea party probably could have been timed a little bit better- some of the ladies were starting on the lace portion of their sweaters and it was a lot to take in.)

Carol brought freshly baked scones,

Kitty brought pretty china tea cups,

Sheila brought Irish tea, Lisa brought an electric kettle, sweetener and milk, and I brought some tea pots and my favorite Orange Cinnamon Spice tea.  We vowed to do it again- maybe as a celebration at the end of each class session. As Irene has enthusiastically pointed out more than once, "This could go on for Years!" These are kind, generous women and watching friendships blossom is a priceless blessing.
Love,
Kim

About that not-so-brief intermission...

Dear Mom,
Those who are keeping up with your Holton House blog will have guessed at some of the reason for the lack of blogging here. You've happily sold your house and the packing, storing, transplanting and relocating may have given us lots to talk about, but little time to actually post anything here. And that wasn't all that has been happening.
Now that I have time to sit and have a "chat", I don't even know where to begin, or if I should even try telling it all in one great big catch up session or try cutting things down into smaller bites. I think I will start where we left off back in March(!) and see how far I get.

As part of YOUR move, a few things have come to live new lives here, and other things are just living here until they can live with you again- like your computer and some plants. One of the things I get to keep is the workbench from the garage. Our garage is bursting at the seams, but this workbench is now a coveted potting bench on my back patio. It nestles perfectly under the window and I can see it doing double duty as an outside buffet for all that entertaining I do. as if. I have a rich fantasy life.

I will gloss over the adventure that was getting this workbench and the one from your basement relocated. It wasn't pretty. But My Hero and I both live to forgive and forget. I have both feet still attached to my ankles and he was not found crushed dead at the bottom of your basement steps.

 We chose an exterior stain an My Hero set to work painting my soon-to-be potting bench.

This photo was taken shortly after we placed it under the window. We removed the aging flower box that once hung beneath that window. And just in time as the flower box fell apart and split in two as we lifted it off the supports. My new potting bench is now holding flats of vegetables, herbs and marigolds that are waiting to be planted in the garden. FYI- the garden was tilled yesterday, just in time for a nice rain. Once it dries up enough that I don't get mired in compost and mud, I will plant! I have 3 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, green bean seeds, red potatoes and cabbage. I'll surround it all with zinnias and marigolds.

I believe the beautiful display of crocus in my front yard this spring was a payback for our winter. Each autumn, for the past 3-4 years, I've added 100 crocus bulbs to the front lawn. I think the squirrels eat most of them. But this year, that heavy blanket of snow protected those bulbs and I had blooms much as I imagine each year when I plant. These photos were taken hurriedly, but maybe you can get the idea. I'd like to think the whole lawn will be filled with blooms one day. I'll keep adding more bulbs every fall. If anyone knows of a way to discourage the squirrels from digging them up, please let me know!

A bonus addition to my backyard came one afternoon when we were transplanting some of your perennials to the wooded area of your new lot that will be untouched by landscaping and construction. I am so happy you will be able to leave an area in its natural state, with wildflowers in abundance! Turning around to gaze over the portion that was soon to be cleared revealed Trillium, what I hope will be Dutchman's Breeches, and some Spring Beauty. I rescued some of those and transplanted them to the shady  places in my backyard. The Trillium seems very happy already and I've been rewarded with blooms.

The ice and snow permanently damaged some of our trees last winter and we've removed what we could manage. We are now waiting for the professionals to remove two big spruce and some stumps before we re-plant. I was grieving the loss of that landscaping and the privacy it offers, but am excited about freshening things up and the new things waiting to take their place. It really has been busy here. I thought we would NEVER get all those sticks and twigs cleared up! I believe that Olive thought the purpose of all that chopping was to provide her with a lifetime supply of sticks. She would select a stick, drag it out of the pile and chew on it awhile. While we were at it, we removed the tetherball pole since Olive's elbow is not allowed to jump and twist anymore and relocated our fire pit to the former tetherball site. The original fire pit was a family project years ago. When a nearby field was being cleared to make way for a new subdivision, we all put our boots on and filled the back of the station wagon with field stones. We picked a spot in the back yard and handed a shovel to the Young Man (I think he was about 11 years old at the time), thinking it would take him most of the afternoon to dig. Thank heavens we looked out a short time later to check his progress, because he dug the pit in no time flat! My Hero ran out to tell him to stop digging! We lined the hole with pea gravel and field stones and had a beautiful fire pit. When we discussed moving the fire pit, I couldn't bear to bury all those stones and do something different in the new spot. We dug up every rock, hosed them off and My Hero placed them into the new pit. I do think ours is a much prettier and natural looking fire pit than those made from landscape pavers.

Painting, moving and digging aren't all I've been up to. There is always knitting. Lots of it.
These next two sweaters were knit as class samples for my knitting classes at Village Yarn Shop.

Zephirine Cardigan

Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece

Buttons from Fastenation Studio

Mr, Greenjeans
Cascade Venezia Worsted yarn

And this next sweater ……evolved. I started spinning this yarn with the thought of knitting a shawl or sweater with an ombre sort of effect. Plying the yarn in hopes that I could create a subtle transition in color. I think I did okay at that part, but finding something I was happy with when it was knitted was a challenge. I started and stopped a few different projects- nothing was just right. Then I saw something on ravelry that was really far out (especially for me), but it made me rethink exactly how I was using the yarn. Thankfully my dearest knitting friends talked some sense into me before I started knitting the odd sweater that eventually acted as my inspiration. ( I'd even gone so far as to purchase the pattern!) I am intentionally not sharing the link to the sweater because I am not saying the most flattering things about it. My friends gave me the sort of quietly sympathetic look that I quickly interpreted as them trying to figure out how to talk me out of a Big Mistake without hurting my feelings or squashing my creativity. Can I tell you that I have some REALLY ESPECIALLY GOOD FRIENDS? 

I let the Idea of that weird sweater simmer, and realized I could use what attracted me to that sweater in a traditional sweater construction. And this is what happened:

An almost entirely short-rowed, round yoke constructed sweater, of entirely hand spun yarn. I couldn't be happier with the look or the fit of this sweater. I used the formula for the shaping of the round yoke sweater found in The Knitter's Handy Book of Top Down Sweaters by Ann Budd and then German Short Rowed my  way from top to bottom, switching colors at random. There will never be another sweater like it. It was actually a liberating experience/experiment- the closest I will ever come to free form knitting. 

Okay. Enough catching up for now. I still have lots of stuff I want to share with you, but should really save that for another blog post on another day. It feels good to be back here and I don't want to spill it all at once and have nothing left to say!

Love,

Kim

It's a sign, at least

Dear Mom,
Let's pretend there isn't a fresh dusting of snow on the ground right now and focus on this sign of spring I found in the backyard yesterday.

pussy willow

I brought some clippings inside and arranged them with some forsythia branches which I hope will be forced into bloom. It's something hopeful, right?

Love,
Kim, who is craving the feeling of warm sun on bare flesh, windows open to a fresh breeze, green grass, and a backyard that isn't mostly mud.

Well Armed

Dear Mom,
Judging from the date stamp on the first finished project photos, it has taken about 6 months to get this design test knit and published. Well Armed was worth the time and effort, and I really like this one. It is the fruition of one of those preoccupied obsessions of what if….can I….if I do….. and TADAH! It worked. After some tweaks and improvements the pattern has been finally, today, published.

 Well Armed is a triangular shaped shawl with sleeves.

 Worked in one piece, from the top down. With contiguous set in sleeves. NO SEWING!

 Well Armed is finished with a rich lace border. The pattern includes both charted and written instructions for the lace.

The pattern also includes instructions for customizing the fit, and has photo tutorials and links to video tutorials for some of the techniques used in the pattern. It is available for purchase HERE.
The version shown here is knit with Malabrigo Rios. And I've knit a second using Shepherd's Wool. A third is on my needles using Rowan Summer Tweed, because I think a silk and cotton version will be perfect worn over a sleeveless dress in an over-air conditioned theater or restaurant this summer.

Love,
Kim

And She's Off

Dear Mom,

Freshly off the needles and worn for the first time yesterday (no need for a winter coat!!!) -

This is THAT Sweater, with Nature Spun worsted, color Scarlet.
I am teaching this sweater as a class at the Village Yarn Shop, and started this as a demonstration model and as a way to confirm that what I've been asking the class to complete from week to week is not asking too much. I've spread the 6 sessions of this class over 9 weeks to give everyone plenty of time to get their homework done.

This sweater is constructed sideways, from cuff to cuff, in one piece. It's been interesting watching the knitters in my class wrap their heads around this. For many, the construction (especially of the pockets) requires a leap of faith- and quite a bit of reassurance.
My original blue This is THAT Sweater (now affectionately nicknamed TiTS- sorry about that) has been worn almost as a uniform all winter long. It now has a red team mate. I hope it won't get called into duty too many times before next winter, but for now, it is a refreshing addition to my exhausted, overused, sweater wardrobe.
Today is a grey, but balmy almost 60 degrees. I have a few windows cracked open for the fresh air. The birdsong and sounds of melting snow are music to my ears. I even have the back door opened a bit to allow Olive the freedom in and out through the porch. For the first time in what must be months, I can see patches of grass! It all sounds and smells and feels so promising. I hope the crocus and snowdrop bulbs I scattered throughout the front yard survived and soon give me a colorful display. If they have (and if they do) I will share photos here.

Love,
Kim