Monthly Archives: February 2016

Sunny Leap Day

Happy Leap Day!

It’s too bad Leap Day didn’t translate into a three-day weekend. The weather’s been warm and dry, and perfect for farm projects.

Unfortunately, my laptop is FULL and won’t let me upload any more pictures for blogging until I dump like 30,000 photos, or something insane like that.  In the meantime, crappy iPad pictures it is!

For a while this weekend I played around with some sock yarn and the dye pot. Specifically, I was interested in seeing how well I could manage multiple colors in one pot. It was a blast, I have to say. Every skein came out a bit different depending on where in the pot it sat,many where the colors were added. It’s definitely more efficient (and less messy) than hand painting each skein, but with less control over the finished product.

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With these colors  I was going for an “Easter Eggs” feel. Even within that theme, and the same colors with each pot, the results varied wildly.

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I may, in the future, open an etsy shop to have an outlet for my fun.

After playing with wool and color, I took advantage of the sun and painted two beehive boxes that hadn’t gotten done last year.  And, having seen a slogan for a cosmetic company that essentially said “Happy Bees Live in Beautiful Houses”, I decided a beautiful color was in order.

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When I was done, I painted the front garden gate the same color. Now we just need new bees and for spring to arrive!


Tagged: Farm, Knitting

Weekly Challenge: State of Mind …

The prompt this week is to share an image where you see a particularly strong connection between what we see and what you felt as you pressed that shutter button on your camera.   I thought about this for a few days and decided that instead of showing photos that depicted my state of mind I would share where my mind goes when it needs to be elsewhere.  When I need to relax, day dream, recollect memories or just pretend I’m there… that place is Martha’s Vineyard and if you read my other blog www.mvobsession.com  you’ll know that it is where my heart and soul reside.

This collage pretty much describes my almost constant state of mind :)

pizap.com14567053934051I had to add these two pictures from a visit to the Grounds For Sculpture in New Jersey that I thought were whimsical.

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https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/state-of-mind/


Mission: Tidy & Organize

When we moved into our house a little over two ears ago, we thought we were going to have to much open space. We were moving from a 900 sq ft apartment to a 1900 sq ft house. There was no way our stuff would fill it up, and I was worried about the house feeling empty.

dinning room before
our dining room the first morning we had the keys

We were so dead wrong.

Turns out, we had our apartment so jam packed that we should not have worried.

dinningroom after
our dining room on our first weekend in the house

One mistake I made when moving in was to not take any time off work to get the house unpacked and put away. I wanted to, but I was pregnant. Any days I took off would count against my paid maternity leave, so I hoarded those days. That means I put our stuff away here and there, not really finding a permanent spot for anything, because I was cutting in to my usual clean up and maintenance time, but we were making it work.

new studio wide
my studio the first month we lived here

Fast forward two years, a few holidays, and one toddler later, and our place is a never ending mess. The clutter has taken over. Between toys, coats, bags, books, hobbies, etc, I feel like I will never get the place under control. I never feel like my house is clean, because I have to organize and tidy before I can clean.

I don’t mind cleaning. I loathe tidying. I like everything to have a place, or to get the hell out of my way. I have better things to do than constantly be spit shining my home. I would like to live, thank you very much.

Sometime a year or more ago, I found Mari KondoThe Life Changing Art of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. I bought it and didn’t read it because I wanted an excuse to not put in the work. Then I kept seeing it pop on various blogs, and the little bits I saw about it reminded me why I bought it. So I cracked it open, finally. The book is all about getting rid of all the things that clutter your house and your life and finding places for all of he things that matter most.

Kondo encourages the reader to recognize when an object has fulfilled its purpose in their life, even if that purpose was to only give joy when they bought it. Then thank it for that joy, and get rid of it. I love the idea of acknowledging the emotions inanimate objects invoke in us. Emotion and potential are why I hold on to things I am never going to use, and saying it aloud is an affirmation of those feelings that lead me to hang on.

I want to purge this house of all of our clutter and find a place for everything before this baby gets here. Since we’ll be moving bedrooms around in preparation, the KonMari method feels like it makes sense for us and our house.

current state of my studio work table
current state of my studio work table

I’ve already started on the clothes, and am mentally preparing myself for the books. I probably spend more money on books than anything else. These days they are mostly eBooks, but I still collect my fair share of paper books, and they have accumulated.

The other side of my studio, filled with badly stacked boxes, leaving just enough room for my bike and indoor trainer.
The other side of my studio, filled with badly stacked boxes, leaving just enough room for my bike and indoor trainer.

I’ll be sharing my progress every Monday to help keep myself accountable. Wish me luck!

Review: New Directions in Sock Knitting

Review: New Directions in Sock Knitting post image

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First, the facts:

Title: New Directions in Sock Knitting: 18 Innovative Designs Knitted From Every Which Way

Author: Ann Budd

Published by: Interweave Press, 2015

Pages: 167

Type: Socks!

Chapters:

1. Top-Down Construction
2. Two-Up Construction
3. Other Types of Construction

KS: New Directions in Sock Knitting

The In-Depth Look:

Oh, Ann Budd, never change. You and your crack team of designer friends/accomplices never cease to amaze.

Love knitting socks, but getting bored with traditional structure? Ever wonder if there is another way to construct a sock so that it fits the foot and ankle but isn’t just a standard tube with a right angle knitted into the heel?

Do you ever wonder if there’s a better way? Or, if not better, something different, just this once?

Well, Ann Budd obviously does, and she got a group of designers together to come up with a new way of looking at socks. When she says they are “knitted from every which way,” she means it.

She writes, “When I set out to acquire the socks for this book, I wanted to assemble a collection that differed from every other sock book on the market–hence the title New Directions in Sock Knitting. In this book, you’ll find an array of socks that deviate a little to a lot from the traditional top-down or toe-up construction. From the imaginative ways that heels, gussets, and toes are formed to the ingenious directions of the knitting, this book will change the way you think about knitting socks. The eighteen designs herein represent the efforts of seventeen designers who have puzzled out new ways to knit socks. The designs range from quite simple socks that are appropriate for first-time sock knitters to quite challenging socks that may require a leap of faith for those accustomed to traditional sock constructions.”

The book lives up to that promise–lots of creative ways of turning heels, or starting toes. Methods that construct the sole on its own, or do a u-turn around the heel. Lots and lots of creativity here, and tons of visual interest.

The designers? In order of appearance: Kate Atherley, Cat Bordhi, Carissa Browning (2 designs), Rachel Coopey, Hunter Hammersen, Jennifer Leigh, Heidi Nick, Kathryn Alexander, Anne Berk, Marjan Hammink, General Hogbuffer, Anne Campbell, Louise Robert, Betty Salpekar, Jeny Staiman, Nicola Susen, Natalia Vasilieva.

This great book can be found at Amazon or in your favorite shop.
Want to see bigger pictures? Click here.

This review copy was kindly donated by . Thank you!

My Gush:

Other posts for this author:

I read some books in 2015

I've been meaning to note via Goodreads the dozen or so volumes I completed in the last calendar year. Not that the record there will go away, but this is sort of a more accessible archive. (In some cases I have longer mini-reviews there, but I'm not going to cut and paste.) I love novels and see that almost no non-fiction made the list. I do consume a lot of long-form pieces online; I'll have to look into a way to track that as well. And I read books along with my girls, either before them or at their recommendation.

I'm going to post these chronologically, with a comment or two.

Payingguests
Payingguests
Payingguests

I read this at the audio urging of NPR's Barrie Hardymon on my fave podcast, Pop Culture Happy Hour. Set about the same time as Downton Abbey, this book shows working-class life in London, quite the contrast. I sped through its thrilling ride during the Christmas-to-New Year's holidays, and I loved it.  

  • Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant by Roz Chast

I received this graphic memoir for Christmas (I think), and as an adult who's lost both her parents, I was especially moved. Of course I've always been a Chast fan, given the family New Yorker subscription that kept me from missing a cartoon. 

This YA novel was younger daughter's Christmas gift, at the recommendation of the NYTimes Book Review. We both loved its Superstorm-Sandy-influenced story, and its autistic protagonist.

  • The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Read this because both girls were into the Percy Jackson series. For me, one was enough, but I enjoyed revisiting the mythology and seeing Riordan's contemporary update.

Payingguests

Payingguests


Payingguests

  • Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher

OMG, this book cracked me up ~ and I think it would've done so even had I not spent four post-grad years in an English department!

Pop Culture Happy Hour strikes again, with a read-along of this light and entertaining novel. Even though it's set in the 1960s, for some reason I kept picturing Adele. Maybe she can star in the film adaptation!

  • Splinters of Light by Rachael Herron

This author is a personal friend, thanks to this here blogging world: we both started knitting blogs way back in the aughts before Ravelry. I've enjoyed watching her publishing success, first with her Cypress Hollow romance series, and now with a pair of seriously moving novels (the first is Pack Up the Moon). This is a gorgeous familial love story, interestingly worked around early-onset Alzheimer's.

I was getting ahead of the movie version on this one, having done the same for The Fault in Our Stars. Good YA read; Green's a master. 

Payingguests

Payingguests

  • The Last Flight of Poxl West by Daniel Torday

Like a lot of my reads, this came from the New Releases shelf at my local library branch, and did not disappoint. But it's complex to explain, because there is a memoir within the novel. 

  • Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina

This YA novel is on my older daughter's shelf and I think I read it before she did. Author Meg is local to Richmond and I enjoyed her window into another world.

  • All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I've heard a variety of opinions on this award-winner, and I get the comments that it's a bit facile, but I truly enjoyed Doerr's tiny chapters full of luscious language.

  • Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Plucked this off the shelf at Target when I needed a paperback vacation read. I liked it; I lived those 1970s as a teen. I valued the insights into life as a Chinese-American.


Payingguests
Payingguests

  • Twisted: My Dreadlock Chronicles by Bert Ashe

Another book by a friend; Bert and I attended grad school together two decades ago. This is a remarkable hybrid of memoir, social history and cultural commentary. I learned so much!  

  • Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash

This library find made someone's "Best of 2015" list, but I cannot recall whose. I loved it because I have spent a lot of time in those North Carolina mountains, and the novel successfully incorporates one character's poetic musings.  

I've finished two books so far this year, and am currently working on the first of Ferrante's Neapolitan novels, Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me, and the new Elizabeth Strout! 

February Afternoon At The Lake …

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Review: Pen to Thread

Review: Pen to Thread post image

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First, the facts:

Title: Pen to Thread

Author: Sarah Watson

Published by: Interweave Press, 2015

Pages: 159, plus a CD

Type: Embroidery

Chapters:

Introduction
Getting Started: The Essentials
Embroidery Basics
Basic Stitches
Creative Ideas
The Patterns
Resources
About the CD

KS: Pen to Thread

The In-Depth Look:

Another non-knitting book to help you wile away your long, winter hours.

Now, it’s been years since I’ve done any embroidery, but I often wonder why. The fact that the sharp-needle crafts tailed off when I got a puppy probably has something to do with it, but still. There’s something so satisfying about drawing pictures with thread. And while I’ve enjoyed counted cross-stitch, my favorite embroidery has always been using a variety of different stitches and techniques to fill in a space with texture as well as color.

It’s all too easy, though, to get stuck … there are only so many pictures you can sew to hang on your wall, right? What else can you do?

Well, who says you’re limited to picture frames and pillow cases?

The author writes, “For this book, I have selected my absolute favorite motifs from the many I have drawn. As I hope you’ll agree, they are imaginative and full of personality and range from tiny, superquick embroideries to large, intricate designs that may take a day or so to embroider.”

This book gives detail about how to embroider–basic stuff, like how to choose fabrics and the kind of embroidery thread that suits it best. There are basic techniques explored, basic stitches explained, all very useful.

The bulk of the book, though, are the author’s hand-drawn motifs, waiting for you to fill in. There are tips for transferring a hand-drawn design to your fabric, and then lots and lots (over 750) designs to pick from.

Not only that, there is a CD included, with PDF images of each design to make it easier for you to get exactly the design you want at exactly the size you need.

You can get this book at your local book store or buy it from Amazon.com.
Want to see bigger pictures? Click here.

This review copy was kindly donated by . Thank you!

My Gush: Creative and fun

Growth!

Hey, what do you know? Your knitted objects actually grow when you work on them!

Actually, this is feeling like a pretty quick knit. Maybe because the last knit I finished was my Shepherd Sweater, and with so much cabling it felt like it took forever? Chimney Fire seems to be sprouting at a rate I can actually see.

02.22.16a

It’s growing so well, I’m having trouble fitting it all in the frame with my current lens. And I’m also having trouble getting a picture of it without a cat investigating.

02.22.16b

Since it’s knit top-down, I’ve been able to try this on as I’ve worked on it, and I’m happy to report that so far, the fit is perfect. Honestly, the shoulders and arms fitting is probably the most important bit, so I’m looking forward to a finished sweater that is going to work very, very well on me.

02.22.16c

I’m already tempted to cast on another one in a different color the moment this one is finished. A nice, rich, green for Saint Patrick’s Day might be nice.

If not for the hundreds of beautiful patterns I want to try waiting for me in my Ravelry queue, I probably would.

02.22.16d

I’ve knitted  large portions of this sweater in the car, listening to Serial podcast, while the girls were at Girl Scouts on various Sundays. It’s become one of my favorite times of the week.

My only regret is how little cold weather we will have left once this is complete, and it will have to wait until fall for real wearing.

Tagged: Knitting

Growth!

Hey, what do you know? Your knitted objects actually grow when you work on them!

Actually, this is feeling like a pretty quick knit. Maybe because the last knit I finished was my Shepherd Sweater, and with so much cabling it felt like it took forever? Chimney Fire seems to be sprouting at a rate I can actually see.

02.22.16a

It’s growing so well, I’m having trouble fitting it all in the frame with my current lens. And I’m also having trouble getting a picture of it without a cat investigating.

02.22.16b

Since it’s knit top-down, I’ve been able to try this on as I’ve worked on it, and I’m happy to report that so far, the fit is perfect. Honestly, the shoulders and arms fitting is probably the most important bit, so I’m looking forward to a finished sweater that is going to work very, very well on me.

02.22.16c

I’m already tempted to cast on another one in a different color the moment this one is finished. A nice, rich, green for Saint Patrick’s Day might be nice.

If not for the hundreds of beautiful patterns I want to try waiting for me in my Ravelry queue, I probably would.

02.22.16d

I’ve knitted  large portions of this sweater in the car, listening to Serial podcast, while the girls were at Girl Scouts on various Sundays. It’s become one of my favorite times of the week.

My only regret is how little cold weather we will have left once this is complete, and it will have to wait until fall for real wearing.


Tagged: Knitting

G. Washington Slept Here …

In honor of George Washington’s birthday which is February 22nd I’m re-blogging this post from 2014. I read in the paper today that George Washington’s birthday was actually February 11, 1731 but when the calendar was changed to Gregorian his birthdate changed to the 22nd. Which means he was born an Aquarius but became a Pisces ! Wonder what that did to his astrological chart :)
Happy birthday to our first President, George Washington.

MV Obsession

In honor of Presidents Day I thought I’d write about our first president.

I don’t know if George Washington ever slept on Martha’s Vineyard but he certainly slept his way around New Jersey.

He arrived at Ford Mansion in Morristown, NJ in Dec of 1779 and stayed until June of 1780.  His troops of 10,000 men were encamped at nearby Jockey Hollow during the harshest winter of the war.

Morristown, New Jersey

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This description of the mansion is from Wikipedia:

‘The Ford Mansion has a Georgian style exterior, but the interior kitchen and framing shows evidence of Dutch influence. The mansion was made with palladian window above the door and a stylish cornice. The fancy architecture was not created to look appealing, but to showcase the wealth of the family who owned the building.’
My creation

Built between 1772 and 1774 it was the home of Jacob and Theodosia Ford.  The following…

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