Tag Archives: everything else

Dear Amy,

Thank you for being such an amazing friend. You are so smart and so funny and you always have my back. I am so lucky to have you in my life.

I hope this is your best birthday ever!

XO,

Susan

Today I have the bittersweet job of passing on the news that Zac and Caroline are leaving Juniper Moon Farm.

I am super sad to see them go, for all kinds of reasons. First, because they are two of the hardest working, smartest people who have ever worked for me. I bet you could spend your whole life looking and never find two nicer, more responsible kids.

I can honestly say that Zac & Caroline’s tenure at JMF has seen more growth, more innovation and more fun than any other era. I am incredibly grateful to have had a small part in Caroline’s evolution from serious knitter to serious designer.

I’m also sad because we have essentially been roommates for a very long time. I will miss all the fun we had together, the elaborate meals Zac spent entire days preparing, and the all-night giggle fests in the barn while waiting for a ewe to give birth.

On the other hand, I do believe that it is probably time for Zac & Caroline to move on, to find their next challenge. This job tends to have a fairly fast burn out rate: living where you work is incredibly difficult and it’s very hard to know when the work day is finally over. Animals need care 7 days a week and there is always some project that demands care and attention. It’s not an easy job, and the fact that Caroline and Zac were here for 18 months was really an unexpected gift.

I expect great things from Zac and Caroline, whatever they end up doing and I wish them nothing but blue skies and happiness. Whether you ever had the pleasure of meeting these amazing people in person or not, you are welcome to leave your good wishes and goodbyes here.

P.S. You can keep up with Caroline’s knitting on her blog.

Churchill sends you the best wishes of the season!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are spending today doing something besides laboring. I am laboring away on the finishing up the magazine. Today I’ll be squeezing in one last-minute photo shoot of a project for BY HAND, and filling in the blanks in the layout. So much to do but I am right on track, time-wise.

I do have all kinds of news to share with you this week, starting with the big reveal of our three pattern collections and yarns for Fall/Winter 2012. We’ll get started tomorrow with the Findley collection.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this day off and do something outside to celebrate the end of Summer.

Since my sister Carrie is in town for a few days I decided to take a day off working and enjoy my first Sewing Sunday in ages. It was a great day.

 Caroline was hard at work on her own sewing project, but I’ll let her share that when it’s finished.

My sister and I each made a pair of short pj bottoms. I love this crazy vegetables-at-night fabric and have been trying to figure out just what to use it for for years.

The nice thing about making pj pants is that it only takes a couple of hours but it gives you a big feeling of accomplishment. I had to stop myself from immediately cutting out another pair.

Since we all had projects we wanted to focus on and no one wanted to take a break to cook, we picked up tons of Chinese food for lunch. I did invest a little time in dessert, though. This blueberry crumble is dead easy to make and well worth the three minutes it took for me to throw the ingredients together and stir.

All in all, it was a perfectly wonderful Sunday. Hoping yours was every bit as lovely.

Hey! Guess what? We’re launching a magazine! I know you already know, but the fact that BY HAND is about to become an actual, physical reality is still pretty amazing to me.

Which isn’t to say it’s been easy. If you plotted my  learning curve on a graph you would have a nearly accurate picture of Mount Kilimanjaro. So many things to figure out. So many decisions to make, both monumental and minute. Frankly, it has been, by turns, exhausting, thrilling, exasperating, and challenging. Luckily, I’ve started enough new ventures to know that the first time is always the hardest; by this time next year we will have this down.

We did have to make a few compromises, primarily because we don’t want to put anything out under the BY HAND name that isn’t perfect, but also in an effort to keep my sanity in tact. The premier issue will be a combined Fall/Winter magazine and it will be available online October 1. (At least that’s the plan; I’m trying to tell myself that it’s more important for it to be something I’m proud of than finished exactly on time, but I have a very strong deadline ethic, so it will almost certainly be both.)

The print edition will be available at our Launch Party on October 13 here at the farm. We’re combining the launch with our Fall Shearing Celebration and it’s going to be AWESOME! Carrie is the head of the party planning committee and she has some wonderful things in the works.

Our t-shirts are just back from the printer! They are fabulous and will be shipped as soon as the temporary tattoos arrive, which should be any time now. I’ll let you know when they are packed up and in the mail.

I will have another bit of news to share with you, hopefully later this week. It’s pretty exciting! Stay tuned.

The bravest girl I know turned five today. This kid is going to grab life by the collar and kick it’s backside, y’all. You heard it here first.

Hi all! I am just stopping by to say hi. It’s been awfully strange not to be blogging every day, although Caroline and Zac have done such a kick-ass job at it that you may not have even noticed my absence.

(Yes, they are amazing. And, yes, I am very, very lucky to have them.)

I am working hard to get the first issue of BY HAND organized and ready for the art director to lay out. I’m also working on another little something that I hope to be able to share with you tomorrow. And Zac and I have a third project in the works, to be announced very soon. Lots and lots going on.

Every time I do a post like this, I get dozens of comments and emails from readers asking how I get so much done/keep all my activities straight/manage my time. I can tell you that in the past it’s been pretty much a train wreck of lists, notebooks and calendars but things have recently changed very much for the better.

A good friend, knowing how much I have to get done between now and the end of the year, introduced me to The Pomodoro Technique. Have your heard of it? I hadn’t, and I am generally skeptical of all things codified when it comes to productivity. But the friend who told me about it one of the most accomplished people I know. He is just always at the top of his game in a very competitive and high profile field, so I figured, if it worked for him, I should at least keep an open mind.

This method has transformed my work schedule! It’s based on deceptively simple principles and the information is free. You can print the book and the forms and stuff right off your computer. Crazy.

Anyway, if you have trouble staying focused while you work, you should give The Pomodoro Technique a read.

We’ve gotten lots and lots of requests from readers who missed our Kickstarter campaign for a chance to order a t-shirt or poster (or to get an extra or two). We’re finalizing our order with the printer next week (YAY) so now is your chance!

The posters come in 7 designs, as do the t-shirts- knit, crochet, cook, grow, sew, build and make.

 We’ll be shipping all the BY HAND goodies as soon as they come in from the printers, but we must have your order by Monday at noon.

** Caroline here: We’ve had a little trouble getting our dropdown menus in the shop to work, but the problem’s been fixed, so all’s well. Also, some people have had questions about the t-shirt fabric. Susan’ll be posting more information about that later on this evening, so be on the lookout!**

Several people have emailed asking us for more information on the cut and style of the t-shirt. Here’s the info we received from the printer. NOTE: 3XLs are no longer available, so disregard that info.

I’m in Texas this week, trying to get some serious writing done. It’s great to see my family but, as always, I’m lonesome for the farm. Here are some pics I took the morning I left.

Gnocchi

Churchill, being cool.

The tiny chicks are tiny no more.

Our sunflowers are blooming like crazy.

There are whole worlds on each bloom.

How you had a wonderful weekend!