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Sweetness and Light

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Poor Light.  Sweetness’s gotten a new bike, and she’s really thrilled about it.

To tell the truth, I’m pretty thrilled about her biking too, because Sweetness has been getting rather heavy over the winter (she’s five now!  FIVE) and hauling the two of them around meant I was pulling an awful lot of weight.

So we’ve been going on a bunch of bike rides as Sweetness has gotten more and more confident with her bike, an I’ve gotten more and more sure that she’s able to stay in control of her bike, which dictates where I’m willing to take her.

This means Light’s taken to riding in the back of the trailer all by herself, which she has mixed feelings about.  On one hand, she’s pretty thrilled about all the extra room she has, on the other hand, she misses having her sister to play with and read books with as I haul them around.  She also doesn’t appreciate all the attention Sweetness has been getting.

Still, Light did pretty well the other day, drawing and taking “notes” in her notebook as we went along a trail.  She still will pipe up when I’m going slow and up a hill, telling me “You can do it, Jen!  You can do it!”

Well, we were going up a hill, and it was rather hard, and she said something too me about paper and her helmet.  Not really understanding, but getting the gist that it was about preventing them from blowing away, I just made the noises any adult makes when they’re only half listening, because we’re concentrating on something else.  I put the conversation out of my mind after that until we got home.

When I got home, I went to take of Light’s helmet and lo and behold, I find nearly two dozzen “notes” in her helmet wadded up.  I go and ask her, “What’s this?”

Very solemnly Light replies, “I was keeping them from blowing away.”

To this I have to say, good job light, I would have never thought of that myself.

Inspiration

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 I’ve been thinking lately about inspiration, and color.  It’s sometimes hard as a designer because I’m already supposed to be thinking about winter designs.  Such is the turn around process for publishing that it takes that long from design to actualization.  This can be hard, as the weather is warming right now, the air spring-like.

For instance, I broke out my sandals this evening for a run to pick up what is god-help-me-please the second-to-last piece of furniture we’ll be taking up to our eighth-floor apartment.  There’s cherry buds on trees, not yet bloomed.  The daffodils are out full force, Bradford pears are on the cusp of blooming, and the tree I’ve always thought of as the tulip tree (I’ll post a picture in a couple of weeks) is also out.

It means I have to be creative when trying to get myself in the mood, and the mindset of winter.  I have to think warm things, cool or cold nights, and heavy knitting on my lap.  Practically the opposite of what I’m thinking of now.

One of the ways I try to get myself in the mindset is visual images, and color.

Michael was transferring and organizing all the spices this afternoon.  He’s taken the week off before his vacation days end, and is taking the opportunity to get most of the packing we haven’t done yet.

I glimpsed a look at the spices he had put out on our (brand-new-to-us!) dish-hutch, and snapped some pictures.  I liked them because most of the spices are ones I normally think of as warm – the browns, the reds of curries and nutmeg, turmeric and other things.

These are the perfect things for me to draw me into the thought of winter, combating my growing certainty that it’s spring.  Spring spring spring!

On a side note, to prove that i’m right, and it is spring, Michael’s celebration dinner for us moving and settling into this new place was all about light flavors that move us away from winter.  We did have beef… you can see it poking out of the soup, but it wasn’t in a beef stock, rather a thinner stock, full of the last of the root vegetables.  Our salad was full of spring-ish things too… the mushrooms we’re growing in our closet (courtesy of my future mother-in-law – white buttons and Portobello).  There were cranberries, invoking the color we’re seeing in the fours, and lots of other delicious things.


And still, I must try to think, Winter.

Adventures in Quilting (because all my hobbies eventually turn into careers)

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Most of you who have been reading for a while know about my fiancé,
Michael, who loves trains. 
Seriously.  When we first started
talking about the wedding, we entertained (for about oh, ten minutes) the idea
of getting married on a train.
Whenever we get the opportunity, we take the train instead
of flying.  We have two different train
board games (TWO!) that Michael loves playing. 
When we went to his parents house for Christmas, he spent a lot of time
in the garage with his father playing with their train layout.
Now, I might not be as excited about trains as Michael, but
I appreciate them for other reasons.  You
can access the internet when on the train instead of on a plane or a car.  If you are on a train, you don’t have to
drive.  Trains are far more comfortable
than cars anyway.  Plus, it appeals to
the part of me that loves old-timey things, that likes the steampunk stuff
(before it was popular) and that loves how people used to get dressed up for
train rides.  We have even been known to
get dressed up for train rides (summer 381).
So a while back I decided to make Michael a train quilt, but
I wanted to make something that was… well, not childish.  That might be able to carry into
adulthood.  I had come across some
vintage train fabric, and it gave me the idea. 
Just to note:  There are
remarkably FEW train fabrics that are not Tomas the Tank Engine/Dinosaur Train themed.  This makes me sad.  But after much perseverance, I made a train
quilt.
Like the story of my very first quilt (which I’ll share with
you sometime), this one had a lot of help. 
I also learned a rotary cutter is my friend.  Really good friend.

This last weekend, I mitered the edges of my quilt.  I had this really great train track fabric,
and I wanted it to run around the edge of my quilt like a border.  But I couldn’t just have the train tracks
running into the distance, I NEEDED to have them line up.
So I did the edge, and was VERY proud of myself.  I showed Michael.  Michael looks at it, and says, I kid you not,
“That’s really cool, but I wish they also made a switches fabric, so I could
run my train around the edges and have it switch tracks.”
So, anyone want to take on not only designing a train track
fabric, but also one that has switches that go between the two?

The Ongoing Adventures of Knitting with Wee Ones

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It’s about time I give you an update on Sweetness and Light, since we haven’t visited them in a while.

It’s been a rather rough winter for all of us.  There’s been very little snow, which makes it hard for us to go out and play outside… snow is much more fun to play in when it’s cold than going to playgrounds.  As a result I’ve been having to scrape the bottom of the barrel finding ways to keep them entertained.  There’s only so many days we can go into the city to see the Smithsonian or even go the the Airplane Museum, which is closer to home.

(On a side note, Mrs. D, as she’s known at the College Park Library, is amazing)

Hence, Sweetness and I have been working on our knitting.  She’s coming along nicely.  We still haven’t learned purling, but she’s developed on her own a style of knitting that’s a little Picking and a little Throwing, and a lot her own.

Light has decided she wants to learn.  Now, I’m all for teaching kids early, but Light is 2 1/2 (the half is important!) and not quite there yet.  She’s sit in my lap for ten minutes and work with both our hands on the needles, but that’s about it.  Which is actually quite impressive that she lasts for ten minutes.  Then she’ll take up her own needles, and “pretend” to knit.

Well, I couldn’t help snapping this picture the other day, when I realized the picture we made.

Photographs from the farm, and the rare bit of snow we’ve gotten this year:

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My darling fiancee Michael’s family owns a farm in rural VA that they use as a retrat.  Being within a few hours drive from DC, we are sometimes get to use the farm as a getaway from our own busy lives in the city.  It’s refreshing for Michael and I, for different reasons.  While I am pretty much happy living wherever, Darling Michael is a country boy at heart, and happiest in a place where you can’t see your next door neighbor, and it takes a car to get anywhere.

We went to the farm with a couple of friends, and it managed to snow that afternoon.
Naturally we had to play in the snow.

Because Ellie and Rob were with us, we had to make a snowasaurous. (pictured in the back).  Rob decided to make his own dinosaur (pictured in the mid-ground).  I was having so much fun rolling snowballs (which were being used for the two dinnosaurs) that after they said they didn’t need any more snowballs, I continued to roll balls for my own amusement.

I got rather tired.

But I had a lot of snowballs.

Last count I rolled upwards of 22 snowballs.  Some with a little help.

One of the more interesting aspects of the farm is the old equipment dragged into the woods to die.

It is affectionately known as farm art.

Michael took a walk with me in the snow, a grand tradition we try to honor as much as possible.  There he is in his trenchcoat, and one of the myriad of farm hats to wear at the farm.  This is one of his many glares (sometime I’ll do a post about how Michael really only has three expressions, and all expressions are variations of those three).

This is a hurry up and stop taking my picture look, under-laid with an I’m amused but not trying to show it look.

I found a Whoville tree.

Updating Class List

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Hey Yarnies,

I was busy this morning updating my class list, which can be found HERE.  There’s going to be some great classes heading your way this spring, and in the next few weeks keep your eye on my teaching schedule as it starts to fill up.

Hope to see you at the classes.

Michael’s Super Power

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Michael has a super power, which I don’t talk about often, but is just shy of miraculous.  You see, Michael can find free food anywhere.  I kid you not.

For example: My senior year, Michael was a junior and studied abroad (well, technically on a ship, but that is another story) and came back home a month before the semester was over.  Rather than going home and bumming around, he persuaded his boss at work study to hire him as an intern for a month and a half.  Then, he arranged to crash at a friend’s place (and really, let’s be frank, he mostly crashed in my room) while he worked on campus.  The only problem?  He didn’t have a meal plan, or even a place he could really cook meals, since dorm rooms are short on anything other than a microwave.  Instead, he arranged to have various friends bring him sandwiches and wraps from the eating hall for brunch (our school had a rule that if it could fit in a coffee mug, you could take it out of the eating hall.   You’d be amazed what you can fit into a coffee mug) and then for dinner, he would find some club or other event that was offering free food (like pizza, pancakes, hamburgers, etc).  He managed to keep himself fed (and even gain a little weight) this way.

Nowadays, this manifests in Michael’s work network.  You see, he has people at work who owe him favors or want to ensure that their computers get taken care of quickly.  So they “bribe” Michael by inviting him to eat the leftovers from various luncheons, breakfasts, or other events.  Most days Michael ends up bringing his packed lunch home because he’s managed to fill up on free bagels, cookies, sandwiches, cupcakes, and other sundry items.

It truly is a super power.

Another Great Class

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This past weekend I had a great time teaching my Dress Forms and Sweater Design class at A Tangled Skein. Despite the snow we had a really great turnout.

Dress Forms and Sweater Design is one of my favorite classes to teach, for a variety of reasons.  First, it’s completely different than a lot of my other skill-based or project-based classes.  It runs completely different than them, and it’s a refreshing change of pace.

Second, and perhaps even more important to me, is the type of students that like to take the class.  While skill levels vary, most students take this class because they have a genuine curiosity about how knit, crochet, and even sewing work when put on a body.  They are interested in more than just following a pattern.  They are interested in WHY a pattern works the way it does, and want to be able to think critically about their knitting and crochet.  It’s a great attitude.

But my most favorite part about the class?  The way everyone looks halfway through.  About half superhero and half avant-guard runway model.  There’s no way not to laugh when everyone is in that state.

Thanks guys for heading out to Tangled Skein despite the snow.  I look forward to seeing ya’ll again.

Yellowfarm Cowl

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Hot off the press, a cowl design for Yellowfarm.

Yellowfarm is a small but vibrant farm and yarn business back from my hometown Guilderland, NY (technically, they’re from Altamont, but Guilderland and Altamont are practically the same place).  They grow Wensleydale and American Teeswater long wool sheep.  Both breeds are know for their beautiful silky lock structure, which simply can’t be ignored.

Yellowfarm will be featuring this cowl design when they head to Vogue Knitting in NY, NY, and I will be releasing the pattern sometime this spring.

This versatile cowl can be used as both a button-up scarflet or a cowl, and uses thrumming and entrelac.  But instead of thrumming to the inside of your piece (which creates some of the warmest mittens you have ever seen), the thrums go to the outside of the work, creating a distinctive pattern.

Working with Yellowfarm was truely a pleasure, and I hope to do it again in the future.  Thanks guys for letting me work with your beautiful wool!  Good luck at Vogue!

PS: Recognize the model?  It’s Ellie again, being a great trooper as I pushed her around on a cold winter day.

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