Monthly Archives: December 2016

2017…

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Here Comes 2017…

I really enjoy making my own calendars.  This year I incorporated some of my colorings in with my photographs.

Wall calendar…

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Desk calendar…

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So there it is, 2017 all shiny, bright with expectations and days yet to be experienced.  I wonder what this new year will bring.  Maybe at the end of the year I should do a post about that🙂

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Thoughts At the End of the Year

1. All of the blog people are talking about their new year goals.
2. I don’t usually play by the blogging people rules. I rebel against most of the “blog this way to build an audience” schtick, but I kind of like this.
3. I especially like this one since my day to day life will be drastically altered at the change of the year.
4. Having a plan going in seems like the smart thing to do.
5. I will have to coordinate life with the kiddos, kicking off a couple of businesses, and the evening job.
6. Good news is that I should have more opportunity to tackle that stuff.
7. Bad news is, I haven’t had much time to think about it yet.
8. But Christmas is over. I have two days left at the day job. I am giving myself next week to rest. To adjust the kiddos to the new schedule before I settle on my plan of attack. (Any advice from work at home mom would be greatly appreciated.)
9. I turn 32 next Thursday.
10. I’ve always liked having my birthday at the beginning of the year, because my need to grow introspective about myself when I turn another year older fits in with the seasonal zeitgeist.
11. I also tend to have too many goals for one person to reasonably accomplish during any one time frame.
12. That probably means I’m ambitious, but I have yet to be convinced that ambition is a bad thing.
13. How do you get anything done without a desire to do it?
14. I’m spending the next week asking myself what’s most important to me to do this year, and what’s best for my family, and finding where those things overlap and where they don’t.
15. The overlap is still probably too much to get done in one year, but that’s not going to stop me from trying.

2016 in Review

Holy cow. 26 patterns saw the light of day in 2016. Many of those had been written and prepped in 2015, but still!

I published two sweaters: Fluvial (in Fibre Company Knightsbridge) and the Santa Cruz Cami (in in Anzula Breeze and Vera).

Knit Picks accepted proposals for the Flidais stole, Deco Hat, Isabeau shawl, Leanan Hat, and Winter Blooms mitts.

The Barley Wine Hat (available on Ravelry as well), in luscious Skeinny Dipping Polwarth DK, was part of a yarn club through Indie Untangled.

I published a bunch of other hats: the Brewery Hats collection, including BBA, Sour, Session, and Hops, all in Anzula For Better or Worsted; Wawona in Stitch Sprouts Crater Lake; and Ahwanhee, in YOTH Little Brother.

Cowls included three for Anzula in Croquet (Celadonite, Micaceous, and Owl Rock) and the Merced Cowl in The Fibre Co Cumbria.

2016 was great for shawls! Isn’t it Romantic, in Lorna’s Laces String Quintet, debuted at the winter TNNA show.  Beneath the Moon, in Mrs Crosby Reticule, is the big sister shawl to that one.

Caridwen, in Cloudborn Fibers Wool Worsted Twist, offered in both stole and shawl versions, is available as a kit on Craftsy as well as the single pattern.

Cayucos, in Anzula For Better or WorstedAnzula Wash My Lace or Anzula Croquet; and Morro, in The Fibre Co. Meadow or The Fibre Co. Knightsbridge, saw me exploring sideways knit shawls in different yarn weights, with a big emphasis on the lace borders and texture.

Estuarine, in The Fibre Co. Cumbria Fingering, is a glorious mix of two colored cabled and textures, in a top-down Faroese-style shawl.

Sand Ripples, in Anzula Cloud, is one of my favorite shawls, and features a delicate two colored cable border with a bit of lace.

All individual pattern rights to Hitch were returned to the individual designers, including my own patterns: Thornhill Cowl, Stolen Jewels Mitts, and the Exakta Hat. I still have a handful of hard copies of Hitch available for sale via Amazon; if you’d like it signed, please be sure to message or email me when you place the order.

Craftsy Class

This was a big deal for me! My Craftsy class, Custom Colorwork Techniques: Mitts, debuted in May 2016. Filming was in April.  I loved the experience.

Here’s a link for 50% off my class (or just click on the above photo), if you’ve not yet checked it out. Remember Craftsy has a guarantee, so if you find it’s just not for you, they’ll refund you. (Fine print: Get this Craftsy class from Stephannie Tallent for 50% off. Cannot be combined with any other offers. Expires March 8, 2017.)

Shows

I attended both Winter and Summer TNNA last year. I didn’t have a booth at either last year; it just doesn’t make economic sense to do so. I did go to Vogue Knitting Live in Pasadena for an hour or two at the Anzula booth.

Indie Design Gift-a-long

2016 saw me participating in the Indie Design GAL again. I was thrilled to offer a series of blog interviews with other designers in November and December 2016 — if you’ve not read the interviews, please do!  

I feel it’s really important to try to highlight great work by other designers, and I also included a series of posts of designs I fell in love with from other designers in the GAL.

Weekly Challenge: Path…

The prompt this week is path.  This is a picture of my daughter and her dog walking on one of their favorite paths in the woods. I like how they are silhouetted here.

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https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/path-2016/


Silent Night, Holy Night…

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Merry Christmas 2016


Happy Holidays!

Wishing everyone a happy holiday weekend from the flock!

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Tagged: Farm, Seasons

Christmas Lighthouse…

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Edgartown lighthouse – Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard


Interview: Jane Richmond

One of the things I love most about the Indie GAL (Gift-A-Long) is the chance to discover and/or promote other designers’ work. Over the course of the GAL I’ll be publishing gift-knitting related interviews with designers whose work I admire.

 
Jane Richmond publishes fantastic sweater designs as well as fabulous accessories. Check out her Ravelry page here.

Steph: What’s your favorite part of the GAL?
Jane: My favourite part of the GAL has to be the enthusiasm from knitters to join in and knit along together! Ravelry is such a vibrant community and I feel the GAL brings us all together in the spirit of giving and the holiday season.

Have you participated before this year?
This is actually my first year participating in the GAL! I’ve really enjoyed being involved in such a high spirited event!

Are you participating as a knitter? if yes, what are you planning on knitting? if no, what would you, had you the time?
Originally I had planned on participating in the GAL as a knitter — I wanted to make a few pairs of the Toba Slippers as gifts, but I completely dropped the ball and wasn’t able to make it happen this year.

I think those slippers would make an awesome gift. Which of your patterns do you think make the best gifts?
I think mittens and hats always make really great hand knit gifts! My Autumn hat and Lodge toque are particualrly quick knits, perfect for last minute gifts if you only have a few hours! My Woodstack mitts from our new book Within are super squishy and fun — and everyone loves fingerless mittens like Rathtrevor and Spate!

Those are all awesome. Thank you so much Jane!

Photos © Jane Richmond

Don’t forget to check out the Indie Design Gift-A-Long group on Ravelry to join in the fun!

Solstice

“And so the Shortest Day came and the year died

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world

Came people singing, dancing,

To drive the dark away.

They lighted candles in the winter trees;

They hung their homes with evergreen;

They burned beseeching fires all night long

To keep the year alive.

And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake

They shouted, reveling.

Through all the frosty ages you can hear them

Echoing behind us – listen!

All the long echoes, sing the same delight,

This Shortest Day,

As promise wakens in the sleeping land:

They carol, feast, give thanks,

And dearly love their friends,

And hope for peace.

And now so do we, here, now.

This year and every year.”

 

Susan Cooper

 

It’s the Winter Solstice, once again. Slowly but surely the light will come back now, as we round the year and tilt toward summer again.  But first, winter is upon us (though it remains relatively warm here, and aggravatingly snow-free). It felt fitting to spend the day baking cookies and enjoying each other’s company. In the late afternoon I took my usual walk around the pastures and found my center among the natural world.  This is my favorite time of year for walking in the woods and bringing treats to the sheep. Though low, the stream is full of tiny minnows. The dried-up weeds and vines and fallen trees become like hedgerows, teeming with birds. You’d be forgiven for thinking there was a huge animal crashing about out there, the birds are so plentiful and noisy. It’s hard to get pictures of them; I haven’t got a zoom lens and they fly off in huge clouds of winds and chirping if I get too close.

I can see now that the small, wild holly trees are thriving, and I’m hoping I can transplant them at some point to a better location. I also found the remains of a skunk in the back pasture, who I assume was killed by one of the many hawks we see out there every day. We’d been smelling the pervasive scent rather strongly back in October, but never found the source.

After dinner the girls and I bundled into the car and we set off for our yearly viewing of Christmas lights. It seemed fitting on the night of the Solstice to celebrate the colorful lights people have on their homes.

Happy Solstice, all. May your days be long and bright, and your nights warm and cheerful.

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Tagged: Farm, food, Pets, Seasons