Monthly Archives: February 2016

Pink Tulips In Water …

Posted on February 10, 2016 by | Comments Off on Pink Tulips In Water …

 

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Pattern Release: Flidais Stole

Posted on February 10, 2016 by | Comments Off on Pattern Release: Flidais Stole

flidais (17)I’m so excited to have the Flidais Stole in the Knit Picks Celtic Journeys Collection.

I really love stoles like this;  they’re so easy to cuddle up in.  I also love how the stitch patterns look in the soft heathered yarn.

By the way the entire collection is absolutely stunning — gorgeous projects, gorgeous photography.  Here’s the link to buy it on Knit Picks.

Finished Measurements
15″ wide x 78″ long

Yarn
Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Worsted (100% Peruvian Highland Wool; 110 yards/50g): Briar Heather 25982, 10 balls.

Needles
US 4 (3.5mm) straight or circular needles, or size to obtain gauge

Notions
Yarn Needle
Stitch Markers as desired
Cable Needle

Gauge
24 sts and 28.25 rows = 4” over Flidais Chart pattern, blocked.

Notes: This stole is worked in one piece from the bottom up.

 

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Pattern Releases: Owl Rock, Celadonite, and Micaceous Cowls

Posted on February 8, 2016 by | Comments Off on Pattern Releases: Owl Rock, Celadonite, and Micaceous Cowls

owl rock and celadoniteThe Owl Rock, Celadonite, and Micaceous Cowls were all designed specially for Anzula with their DK wool/silk blend, Croquet.

They all use the biasing inherent in the chevron stitch pattern to create interesting patterns in the alternating sets of rounds.

Owl Rock (shown in Watermelon and Natural) is the simplest, with seed stitch bands biased by the chevron pattern.  Owl Rock is the DK, two-color version of the Chinle Cowl.

Celadonite (shown in Avocado and Natural), biases the triangle pattern of the Mica Cowl.

Micaceous (shown in Avocado and Watermelon), features a simple alternating stockinette/reverse stockinette band that is biased into a nearly 3-D cube-like pattern.

Each cowl is offered in three sizes, uses two colors (though certainly you could work them in single colors), and is worked in US6 needles.  They work up quickly and are fantastic gifts!

Owl Rock Cowl

Sizes
S (M, L)

Finished Measurements
Height: 11½ (11½, 14¾) in / 29.5 (29.5, 37.5) cm
Circumference: 22¼ (27¼, 52) in / 56.5 (69.5, 132) cm

Yarn
Anzula Croquet, 50% merino, 50% Tussah Silk (230 yds / 210 m per 4.06 oz /115g); 1 (1, 2) skein(s) C1; 1 skein C2; 73 (125, 297) yds / 67 (114, 272) m C1; 59 (73, 187) yds / 54 (67, 171) m C2.
Shown in Watermelon (C1) and Au Natural (C2) in Size M.

Needles
US6 / 4mm, or size to obtain gauge

Gauge
18 sts and 36 rounds = 4in / 10 cm in pattern stitches (blocked)

Notions
minimum (1) stitch marker for beginning of round, yarn needle

Skills
working in the round, increases, decreases, changing colors at beginning / end of rounds

Celadonite Cowl

Sizes
S (M, L)

Finished Measurements
Height: 8.25 (8.25, 11.25) in / 20.5 (20.5, 28.5) cm
Circumference: 21¾ (27, 59½) in / 55 (68.5, 151) cm

Yarn
Anzula Croquet, 50% merino, 50% Tussah Silk (230 yds / 210 m per 4.06 oz /115g); 1 (1, 2) skein(s) C1; 1 skein C2; 90 (112, 326) yds / 82 (102, 298) m C1; 40 (48, 161) yds / 37 (44, 147) m C2.
Shown in Avocado (C1) and Au Natural (C2) in Size M.

Needles
US6 / 4mm, or size to obtain gauge

Gauge
18 sts and 28 rounds = 4in / 10 cm in pattern stitches (blocked)

Notions
minimum (1) stitch marker for beginning of round, yarn needle

Skills
working in the round, increases, decreases, changing colors at beginning / end of rounds

Micaceous Cowl

Sizes
S (M, L)

Finished Measurements
Height: 8 (8, 11¼) in / 20.5 (20.5, 28.5) cm
Circumference: 21¾ (27, 59½) in / 55 (68.5, 151) cm

Yarn
Anzula Croquet, 50% merino, 50% Tussah Silk (230 yds / 210 m per 4.06 oz /115g); 1 (1, 2) skein(s) C1; 1 skein C2; 92 (114, 332) yds / 84 (104, 304) m C1; 40 (51, 167) yds / 37 (47, 153) m C2.
Shown in Watermelon (C1) and Avocado (C2) in Size M.

Needles
US6 / 4mm, or size to obtain gauge

Gauge
18 sts and 27 rounds = 4in / 10 cm in pattern stitches (blocked)

Notions
minimum (1) stitch marker for beginning of round, yarn needle

Skills
working in the round, increases, decreases, changing colors at beginning / end of rounds

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Vineyard Februaries …

Posted on February 8, 2016 by | Comments Off on Vineyard Februaries …

I’ve been to Martha’s Vineyard in February and I love it.  I love it any time but February is a different from summer on the Vineyard as you can possibly get.

There’s a  cold crispness in the air, the colors are more vivid, the Island is quiet and yet speaks volumes to those who take the time to look, listen and drink in the beauty and wonder that is the soul of Martha’s Vineyard.

February 1989…  a light dusting of snow made everything look like powdered sugar had fallen all over the Island.

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February 1995…  no snow that trip but bitter cold.  Did not stop me from visiting the Gay Head cliffs in Aquinnah on the western most tip of the Vineyard… or hiking through the woods of Christiantown to visit the tiny chapel there.

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I also  experimented a bit with black and white film. From top left… Edgartown harbor, Christiantown stone wall..Sengekontacket Pond and South Beach.

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February 2007… bitter cold, dusting of over night snow, icy ponds and harbors… and brilliant sunsets.

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My birthday is in February and sadly the only one I’ve ever spent on the Vineyard was in 1950 when my beloved godmother, Gertrude Norris passed away.  But I’m not anywhere near done having birthdays so who knows what the future will bring :)


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Weekly Challenge: Time …

Posted on February 6, 2016 by | Comments Off on Weekly Challenge: Time …

The prompt is to think about time and portray it photographically.  Perhaps you have a fascination with clocks. Or maybe contemplating time takes you somewhere else completely.

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This is my granfather Charles’s pocket watch.  He died in 1910 and I’m not sure how long he had this pocket watch but it’s safe to say it’s over 100 years old.

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A close up of the intricate pictures on the front and back.

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For many years the watch sat in my jewelry box untouched.  Recently I took it out and wound it and it began ticking… it was missing hands though.

IMG_1091New hands, new pocket watch chain, thorough cleaning and the watch is keeping time once again.  Actually that’s not entirely true, Charles the watch doesn’t always keep the correct time every day… seems Charles is having a bit of a good time teasing us.

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It’s okay that Charles the pocket watch is ticking to its own time… sort of goes along with this wall clock of mine that cares not what time it is :)

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https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/time/


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Multiples

Posted on February 5, 2016 by | Comments Off on Multiples

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Do you own multiple copies of any books? Why? Is it the format? Size? Just because you love it?


Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!


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Thoughts on Paying Yourself by the Day

Posted on February 3, 2016 by | Comments Off on Thoughts on Paying Yourself by the Day

This video showed up on my facebook feed last week, and I shared it on the TDS Facebook page, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind since.

How have I never heard this before? Do you know how long I’ve been doing this? Maybe if I’d gone to art school?

I love how simple he makes pricing work for sale. It’s got me rethinking the prices I’d been playing with for the upcoming Tiny Dino Soapworks. Especially since I’ve already been working on how I would batch my oils for soaps and body butters, etc. to save time spent measuring oil for each new product.

Let’s play with some theoretical numbers for a moment, shall we?

If I wanted to figure out how much to charge for a bar of soap, the first thing I do is figure my cost of materials. Say a 10-bar batch costs $15 to make, including packaging. That means cost of materials on each bar is $1.50. If I were paying myself by the day, and could theoretically make 30, 10-bar batches of soap in a 10 hour day, that means I could make 300 bars in a day. That means I would pay myself .$60 per bar, raising total price of the bar to $2.10.

This is far too low. Selling your soap for that little will run you out of business, especially if you’re making closer to 3 batches of soap a day. (If you’re at a point where you’re making all 300 bars, I hope you’ve scaled up from a 10-inch mold!)

If I were to figure the price hourly, still paying myself $50/hour, I still get the cost of $2.10/bar. However, if I figure the pricing model I proposed in Why You Need Wholesale Pricing First, this number would be my starting point, and not my end point. My wholesale price per bar would be (rounding up) $4.25, the retail price $8.50.

Those are numbers I am far more comfortable with for recouping expenses.

If I were still selling handspun yarn, I would never be able to sell it using this method. I could probably spin one, maybe two skeins of yarn in one day, unless I was doing super chunky stuff. That means 1 skein would cost roughly $275. Usually, I was lucky if I could sell the yarn I spun for twice the price of materials at around $50.

For soaping and spinning, I’m not sure this model works, even though I consider those artisan crafts. However, for woodworking, for sewing, I could see how it could work very well.

What do you think? Which pricing model works best for your handmade business?

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The Land of Aches and Sneezes

Posted on February 2, 2016 by | Comments Off on The Land of Aches and Sneezes

Greetings from cold virus central!

I had thought we made it through with relative ease, but then either we had a second virus hit right away, or this cold had a nasty one-two punch. This second wind has been much, much worse. With Maddie nannying for a friend’s family, we seem to be passing our germs back and forth between the households (sorry, Lisa!).

Today I’m directing school activities from the couch, under a wool blanket.

Oona has finished most of her reading and is knitting. Emily will draw out her reading assignment for as long as possible while she cuddles various kitties. Neve is handling the home-ec portion by cleaning the kitchen and taking out the garbage (you know she’s desperate to escape another day of schoolwork when she volunteers for dish and garbage duty). They’re all feeling just a bit salty that they didn’t get a buttload of snow days like their public school counterparts did.

Hey, algebra waits for no man.

Also, Happy Groundhog Day!  We’ll be watching the Bill Murray movie after schoolwork has been completed and Oona has made us popcorn.

We’ve also been talking a lot about weather; it’s warmed up quite a bit, and we had rain yesterday. With the smell of fresh, green earth in the air we all felt ready for spring. It’s a cruel joke, of course. There’s still plenty of time left for winter to hit us with more snow or polar air. Still, a couch-bound girl can dream, and spend time looking at seed catalogs and planning out the 2016 gardens, right?

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about this year’s gardens, and farm work. We didn’t breed, so there won’t be any lambs or kids this spring, but that’s okay. We wanted to focus on getting our current flock healthy and fat, and repairing fences and outsmarting our escapee dogs and goats.

We ARE expecting a shipment of chicks sometime later in the spring, since our current hen situation is lacking; we have maybe 15 hens, and a few of them are getting on in years.

Not only will we be adding to our chicken flock then, but we will also be ordering more bees. My hive seems to have absconded sometime since Christmas. There’s a complete lack of any bee in there, not even dead ones. There is one potentially erupted queen cell, but it’s hard to tell.  I HAVE noticed honeybees flying around the last few days, however. They are going into the old hive and stealing honey from the stores that were there. I only ever see maybe 8 or 10, but I’m hoping that means that my absconded colony found a good home to overwinter.

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There’s also these lovelies that recently arrived. When I’m feeling better I’ll be in the kitchen whipping up some of her yummy recipes. The challenge is choosing one to start with! (well, actually, the challenge is not eating 10,000 calories worth of baked goods every day).

And, since I’m unable to manage much else, I’ve of course been working on my sweater.  I finally got to the point where I put my sleeve stitches on a holder and I’m working on the lower body. I’m really pleased with how it’s going.

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Now let’s all keep our fingers crossed that today is my last day of feeling like garbage; Emily gets her braces on tomorrow!

 

 


Tagged: Farm, food, Garden, Homeschooling, Knitting, Pets

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Color Variations …

Posted on February 2, 2016 by | Comments Off on Color Variations …

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Pattern Release: Ahwahnee Hat

Posted on February 1, 2016 by | Comments Off on Pattern Release: Ahwahnee Hat

ahwanhee hat 480Ahwahnee Hat

I love this hat! It’s one of those patterns that is simple but with a strong geometric motif that really lets the wonderful yarn (in this case, YOTH Little Brother from the Raw Palette in Hazelnut and Portobella) shine.

You can choose neutrals, like I did for the sample, or go wild with your color choice! Check out YOTH’s Juicy Palette for luscious warm colors, or their Fresh Palette for soft cool colors.

The Ahwahnee hat is worked from the brim up, with a [k1, p1] folded brim, the two-color stranded motif, then the crown decreases. It’s your choice to top it with a pom pom or not!

New to Fair Isle or stranding? This is a great pattern with which to get your feet wet, with nice short floats and only two colors.

Psst – you can make two hats with the two skeins of yarn.

From Wikipedia: The Ahwahnee Hotel is a grand hotel in Yosemite National Park, California, on the floor of Yosemite Valley, constructed from steel, stone, concrete, wood and glass, which opened in 1927. It is a premiere example of National Park Service rustic architecture, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

Sizes
S (M, L), to fit 20 (22, 24) in / 51 (56, 61) cm head circumference

Finished Measurements
Head circumference 20½ (22½, 24¼) in / 52 (57, 61.5) cm
Height including brim unfolded 9¾ (10¼, 11) in / 24.5 (26, 28) cm

Yarn
YOTH Yarns Little Brother, 80% superwash merino / 10% cashmere / 10% nylon (435 yds / 397 m per 3.53oz / 100g), 1 skein each Hazelnut (MC) and Portabella (CC)

Needles
US2 / 2.75mm needles or size to obtain gauge
US 1/ 2.25mm needles or two sizes smaller than used to obtain gauge

Gauge
28 sts and 36 rows = 4in / 10 cm in St st

Notions
yarn needle
(7) stitch markers, one unique for beginning of round

Skills
stranded knitting
Stitch pattern is both charted and written

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