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My mother can be kind of difficult to buy gifts for. Not because she’s fussy but because she has everything she needs and doesn’t particularly value material things.

But I few years ago I sort of stumbled on a gift that she loved and that still engages her all this time later. I made a $100 donation in her name to Kiva, a non-profit that facilitates micro-loans from regular people to entrepreneurs around the world. Kiva has found that by loaning individuals as little as $25, they can start a business that will lift themselves and their families out of poverty. Think about that– $25 can lift people out of poverty. Mind blowing.

But the interesting thing about Kiva is that theses are loans. The recipients are required to pay the money back and they do: Kiva’s repayment rate is 98.99%, higher than almost any bank in the world. Kiva is offering a hand up, not hand outs.

The coolest thing about Kiva is that the lender gets to pick the projects that they fund, using any kind of criteria that they want. So, if you are most interested in funding woman-owned agricultural businesses, you can do that. And each potential borrowers profile includes information about themselves and their business, a snapshot of the economy in their country, and information about the field partner who will be administering the loan. You can also see the repayment schedule and when the payments are received. There is complete and utter transparency at every step of the process.

My original gift to my mama was a $100 Kiva credit. Kiva minimizes risk to any single lender by capping each loan at $25. Mama has used that $100 to make a total of 15 loans totaling $375.  She has loaned money to people in 11 countries including the Ukraine, Uganda, Peru and Tajikistan. My mom says she originally looked for businesses that were textile and sheep related but now she funds all kinds of projects.

My mama has really enjoyed administering her Kiva account and she takes great pride in watching the individuals she funds succeed. She’s always telling me about her latest loans and how so-and-so repaid her loan ahead of schedule.

If you are stumped for a Mother’s Day gift (or a gift for any other day) please consider making the gift of a Kiva card. They are doing so really incredible things and you can be a part of it.

EDITED TO ADD: If you buy your gift card using one of these this link or this one, Kiva will match your donation up to $25 for more loans!

In case you didn’t know it, today is Susie’s birthday. Right now she’s in the car and rolling to her next temporary destination with the Virginia farm empty of all creatures, great and small. I can only imagine that she’s probably feeling dirty and tired and a bit sad to say goodbye to the house and farm she’s called home for four years.

So how about some birthday wishes to cheer her up and cheer her along her journey? I’ll start.

Dear Susie,

Happy birthday, friend.  I know that what you’ve left behind

will leave you sad. Not just the Virginia farm and countryside, but the friends

and memories.

But this birthday it’s time for new beginnings and new adventures. You have another year to find another place to call home, and to start building more memories and finding more happiness.

There will be more shearings, and more photoshoots, and more shares to dye and ship.

So happy birthday. I hope you stop for a treat.

And I hope that you look back on this day in one year, in four years, as the start of a grand adventure!

With Love,
Lauria

My whole life I have been resistant to change. And by “resistant” I mean dead set against it. Even when the change was for the better. I have stayed in relationships that were, by any measure, bad and unhealthy because staying and keeping things normal seemed better than the unknown. The same goes for bad jobs, bad friendships, bad apartments. All because I didn’t want to deal with the discomfort of dealing with change.

This is something I’ve been working on for a while now. Embracing change. And something happened last year that really helped me out on this front. I got very sick, and went undiagnosed for quite a while. Getting sick changed everything, whether I liked it or not. For a while, it changed what I capable of physically. I wasn’t able to climb over fences or catch sheep for a long time.

The physical changes necessitated other changes. I had to learn to ask for help. Not my best thing. Still not my best thing, but I am a world champion at it compared to Susan circa 2011.

Getting sick also changed the way I thought about the future. Suddenly my life, which was perfect for me in every way, might not be possible in the long term. I had to come up with a lot of contingency plans just in case I never recovered 100%. I had to think about what a life would look like in which I wasn’t a shepherd, wasn’t the creative director of a yarn company.

I am not going to lie to you. It was a terrifying time. Everything I cared about was potentially disappearing. And I felt so bad that there were days when I couldn’t even bring myself to care. Pain will do that to you.

The good news is that I am getting better and stronger every day and never had to deal with any of the worst case scenarios. And, as a bonus, change has lost some of it’s sting on me. I won’t go so far as to say that I embrace change now, but I see it as an inevitable part of living.

Which is good, because I have a big change coming up very soon.  Juniper Moon Farm is moving! Long story short, the beautiful home and property that I have been lucky enough to inhabit for four magical years is on the market, and I have elected not to take the owners (who have been amazing friends to me– Hi Kenny and Diane!) up on their incredibly generous offer to sell it to me. The truth is, I need a farm with more land and less house. This place is enormous for one person!

So, next week, Jack and me and the entire flock are moving to a temporary place for a few months while I look for the absolute perfect farm. Our short-term digs are not going to be conducive to the kind of open farm days and camps that we’ve done in the past, so this year we won’t be hosting Camp JMF. Actually, my summer is fairly packed with medical stuff, business travel and a trip to Scotland with my friend Kris in July, so it makes sense to dial back the schedule a bit this year anyway.

Since I spent the entire month of April traveling and being sick with a hell-virus, I am now scrambling to get everything packed and sorted. It’s only just now starting to sink in that we are leaving here in just a few days. I am sad to be leaving this beautiful place. I have grown so much in the last four year and have created so many amazing memories here.

This farm was exactly the right place for us during this period of Juniper Moon Farm’s existence. It was so healing, so full of magic. I’m going to miss living here very much. But I am also excited about finding our next (final?) magical, perfect home. I’m embracing the change.

One of my favorite parts of finishing a knitted garment is picking out the buttons. And it’s a good thing I enjoy it, because I get to pick out buttons for about 100 garments every year.

I actually used to find this task incredibly tedious and overwhelming because I would wait until the last minute and then rush to the nearest fabric store and then spend 30 minutes lamenting the terrible button selection before settling on the best of a handful of bad options.

Then I got smart and started a button stash. Buttons are such a fun thing to collect because they are relatively inexpensive and  there are so many styles and colors. You just have to know where to find the good ones.

Windsor Buttons was, of course, the gold standard in button stores, but it was also kind of pricey. I’ve had the best luck buying vintage buttons at antique/thrift stores and online. At antique stores, I rarely pay more than $5 for a pack of buttons. I bought these three giant jam-colored buttons for $1 and I love them to bits.

My absolute favorite online button shop is Add Vintage on etsy. The best buttons in my collection are from there. Add Vintage carries what’s known as “new old stock” and their prices are super reasonable.

 Orit Dotan is another great etsy find.

My friend Erin recently turned my on to Treasure Cast. They make absolutely gorgeous pewter statement buttons.

You should also keep your eyes peeled for cool buttons on coats or other garments at thrift stores.

Do you have any favorite button sources? You can share your links in the comments.

Lovely readers, I had written this post before I learned about the tragedy in Boston yesterday. Obviously, my virus pales in comparison to the suffering that is undoubtedly just beginning for the families that are affected by yesterday’s bombings. My heart is just too broken to come up with any words that would be remotely meaningful at such a time. If I come up with anything, I will let you know. 

Greetings from Day 8 of the Virus that Won’t Give Up!

Ladies and gentlemen, I have had full-blown cases of the flu that weren’t half as bad as this whatever-it-is has been. High fevers, a non-stop  cough, congestion, aches and pains. This virus is pulling out all the stops.

I don’t know if this is just a particularly virulent virus or if the immune suppressing drugs I take are making it more difficult for me to fight it off, but either way, it has been a miserable week and there is no end in sight. As I type my temperature is 102 degrees.

Instead of suffering for naught, I thought I would share with you the things that have made this hellish time a bit more bearable for me.

I am going to have to give full props to my ex-husband’s family for this one. When you are blowing your nose every five minutes it is going to get red and painful very quickly. A little diaper rash cream around the area will sooth and start to heal right away, and will make it possible for you to keep blowing your nose! [INSERT YOUR OWN JOKE ABOUT BUTTS AND FACES HERE.] Steve always bought Balmex Diaper Rash Cream so that’s what I buy.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Puffs Plus Lotion with Vicks are the greatest invention of the 21st Century. I am so afraid that they are going to take these of the market that I may or may not be hoarding them.

Some of you may remember that I have a bit of a thing about lip balm. I have tried them all, but I always come back to good old Rosebud Salve. This stuff has been around for eons and the packaging hasn’t changed since the 1950s.

Burt’s Bees Honey and Pomegranate Cough Drops. The best cough drops in the land.

I would imagine being sick for more than a week would be less awful  if one had access to cable television or reliable internet. Since I have neither, I’ve done a lot of reading in between naps. When I’m sick I tend to read old favorites, books that are comforting and not too challenging. The Harry Potter books are the best sick bed reading of all time ever. Back issue of the New Yorker are also good too, so long as you skip the agitating political stuff.  You are meant to be resting after all.

I Capture the Castle

I think it is tragic that American kids grow up without reading Tintin books. These graphic novels are fun and smart and you will return to them again and again. Cigars of the Pharaoh is the first of what are generally referred to as the “good” Tintin books, but you can start anywhere.

What are you must-haves when you are sick?

P.S. If you have emailed me and haven’t gotten a response, please understand that we are in a triage situation here. I am only doing the things I absolutely have to do right now. Since there is no end in sight to this virus, I probably won’t be answering emails till next week. Sorry about that.

Dragan wrote a post about the digital knit nights that she started amongst the Juniper Moon Farm Ravelry group. I don’t get to them nearly as frequently as I’d like to, but when I do, they’re always lots of fun! – Lauria

I will be honest with you, I started thinking about starting a digital knit night for entirely selfish reasons: I wanted to be able to knit in my pajamas while also being able to get to know more of the Juniper Moon Farm Ravelry group members near and far. What could I do? Create an online knitting group! As we come up on the one year anniversary (May 1!) I wanted to let you what we’ve been up to and invite you to join in.

We meet weekly, with a few themed nights like the Queen’s Jubilee, Ravellenics Opening Ceremony night, Presidential Debates/Elections and my birthday knit night. We’ve also found that sometimes our usual meetups turn into impromptu cooking shows, house tours or book discussions. Some weeks we’re very chatty and have something to say on everything. Other nights the conversation is punctuated with stitch counting breaks, with all heads bowed down in concentration.

We have a great group of usuals and semi-usuals, which is just how I thought it’d be. It’s a very casual drop-in kind of program (I mean, honestly, I’m encouraging pjs and wine, how structured could it be?). But one thing I’ve wanted to do, but haven’t had a chance to really develop further would be a rolling knit night so that more people can join in at more convenient times for their time zones and lives.

Lorna and several JMF Ravelry members. Screencap by Sheeri

We use Google+ hangouts to meet up, and as long as one person is still in the hangout, the party continues! If we had members across time zones sign in a staggered way, we could keep the hangout rolling across the continent and include more people!

But we need more people to join us! We start at 7:30pm (Eastern Time) on Tuesdays.

1) Create a Google+ profile and add me to a circle

If you find yourself having trouble with Google+, check out the Google+ videos or help pages.

2) You’ll also need a microphone and headphones. You may want a webcam, many of us have them, however, you can still see us and join in the fun without one! Check your computer before you buy anything to join in. Most laptops and some desktops/monitors have a webcam and microphone built in.

Several suggestions from our initial set up are:

• This article about cheap webcams
• Kinobo B6 USB Webcam for Laptop
• Logitech Webcam C200
• Logitech HD Webcam C310
• Plantronics 72517-50 MX500i 3-in-1 VoIP Headset

That’s it! When the hangout starts you’ll get an invitation via email (or gchat if you’re in gmail/Google+). Click the join button and you’ll be there! The first time you join us you may need to add the Google+ hangout plugin, but that’s easy and fast.

If you’re interested in keeping the hangout going in other timezones, contact me on Ravelry (I’m draganfly) or in Google+ once you’ve connected with me there.

Hi – Lisa here, aka lasdcm for all you Ravelry people!  I am fortunate to work in the Conservation Department at the Philadelphia Museum of Art which is a contributing institution to the Integrated Pest Management Working Group  created to develop resources on Integrated Pest Management for museums, and other collection holding institutions.  I get tons of questions about m*ths, and I see a lot of mis-information about dealing with and repelling moths, carpet beetles, so Susie asked if I would post some good pest information or, rather, good information on bad pests!

So, you open your closet and out flies a moth, or six, what do you do?

The industry standard, a system known as Integrated Pest Management, is actually a great way to deal with bugs in your home as it does not rely on pesticides but combines, preventative and chemical measures along with close monitoring to control pests.

The MOST EFFECTIVE way to control insect infestation is good housekeeping - good housekeeping will eliminate sources of food and shelter for many pests.   Consider the dust bunny: a 24/7 bed and breakfast with an all you can eat buffet!  Vacuum under furniture, put all woolens away CLEAN -  “Dry cleaning or thoroughly laundering items in hot water (temperature above 120°F for 20 to 30 minutes) kills all stages of insects. This is the most common and effective method for controlling clothes moths in clothing, blankets, and other washable articles.” (from UCIPM on-line)  Keep yarn and sweaters in sealed plastic bags or tubs with a good tight seal.  Not all plastic tubs have good seals, check the seal before purchasing.

Chemicals and pesticides should be used sparingly if at all - these chemicals are toxic, smelly, and over time bugs develop resistance.  “Moth balls, flakes, or crystals containing naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene are … available for protecting clothes in storage. These materials are toxic and must be kept away from children and pets. They also leave an unpleasant odor on clothes and other cloth objects. If placed in contact with plastic buttons, hangers, or garment bags, they may cause the plastic to soften and melt into the fabric. As these chemicals evaporate, they produce vapors that, in sufficient concentration, will slowly kill insects. The vapors build up to the required concentration only in an airtight container. If the container is not airtight, the chemicals only weakly repel adults and any larvae already on clothes continue to feed.” Again from UCIMP on-line.  Lavender and other herbal sachets are said to deter insects but a hungry bug will ignore the stench, and there is little if any affect on the larvae (I have found m*th larvae happily ensconced on herbal sachets – grrrr).  Cedar is an effective deterrent, however most cedar chests and closets are not well sealed, thus the vapor in the cedar oils cannot build up to a lethal level.  Remember, if you have not removed the sources of food and shelter, as soon as the effects of the chemicals wear off and a moth comes in on someone’s wool coat you are right back to where you started.

Got bugs already and need to kill them?  First – isolate the infestation by sealing the yarn/sweater in a plastic bag and remove it!  If the item is not ruined, you can kill the moths, eggs and larvae by freezing.  Use a chest freezer, not frost-free* so the internal temperature remains steadily below zero F.  You need to keep the bugs in an environment below -20 to -25 C or -4 to -13 F for  a full week. Don’t stuff a bunch of stuff to be frozen in a big bag – keep it in several smaller/thinner packages so the entire object cools quickly.  Once the infested items have been removed, take everything else out of the closet/shelves/area and clean it. Vacuum the crap out of it – paying special attention to floor baseboards, corners and other cracks where dust accumulates then seal and throw away the vacuum bag, you don’t want those eggs back in your house!

Keep an eye on your woolens!  Inspect them regularly.  Not only will you catch an infestation before it eats its way through your collection of hand spun, or hand knit treasures but the act of opening the closet, letting in light, moving the balls of yarn around is disruptive – moths like a dark quiet corner to eat in.  I keep sweaters in individual zip-loc bags, and yarn in big zip locs. Keep your woolens clean, sealed, and keep the area clean.  Vacuum often, disturb the area often by cleaning, moving, and inspecting.

*frost free freezers periodically cycle above 32 degrees in order to melt tiny ice crystals that form on various surface from the humidity trapped in the freezer.

Useful Links:

Colorado State University Extension – excellent fact sheet on clothes moths with pictures!

Cornell University’s Insect Diagnostic Lab has an excellent list of pdf’s with information on all kinds of pests

University of California – Integrated Pest Management – household pests page

National Pesticide Information Center

Museum Pests

Gorgeous fabric from a recent shopping trip.

I’ve heard good things about both Elijah’s Mermaid and The Somnambulist by Essie Fox, but the cover designs are so charming that they are bringing me joy just sitting on my bedside table.

I bought this handmade, beaded turtle at a pueblo on my trip to New Mexico a couple of year’s ago, although I can’t remember which one. I do remember spending a half an hour talking with the woman who made it though.

Is there any shape more satisfying than the egg? I am endlessly fascinated by the sizes and colors that my flock lays so casually on a daily basis.

These are some of the things inspiring me as I work on our Spring/Summer 2014 yarn and pattern collections today. What’s inspiring you these days?