Posted by: Mare F | May 31, 2015

The week of scattered projects

Every once in a while I can’t seem to settle into any of the current projects I have going. I normally have at least 3 and those are split between crochet, knit, and complexity. There are days when anything more challenging than a lap robe (crochet) or a dish cloth (knit) are beyond my tired mind so there are usually one of each of those two items on the hook/needles. Then we get into the times when something new is needed just to spice crafting time up a bit and this is where the trouble starts. Yesterday afternoon, after hours of yard work in the warm, humid air, I thought that making some hair scrunchies would be just the thing. Simple, or fairly so, and quickly finished. I gathered up some colored cottons, some beads, and a packet of hair bands that I’d purchased over a year ago for just this reason and headed to the couch. Here is the result.

 

blog 003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I realized when I picked up the ball of cotton that it was just about full so the thrifty side of me said, “make a doily or two and then move on the hair scrunchies with the leftover bits.” How can I argue with my thrifty side?

 

 

blog 002

 

 

This keyhole scarf I started at the beginning of the week when I realized that I hadn’t been keeping up with my stock replenishing plan. The plan was to add a certain number of items that sell well to the stock each month so when the big shows got closer it wasn’t a crazy rush to bulk up my booth. These don’t take long, but I’ve made so many that at times it’s much like watching the grass grow. I shall finish this one today!

blog 001

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here we have the lap/carriage robe. I love this pattern and it’s a great one for using up the odd skein of yarn plus I try to send a few to the VA every December because they will sit nicely over a lap in a wheel chair. I had to dig around a bit to find more pastel baby colors because these also work really well as shower gifts and will stay with the child for a few years. Now, I also started a crocheted sweater for myself, I have a pair of 2-at-a-time mittens on the 40″ circular needle, I finished another baby gown yesterday, approximately 5 hours were managed on the spinning wheel this week, another pointed shawlette is on the needles upstairs (I work on this one while I’m reading in bed), and I’ve a two-toned dish cloth in my work bag that I pick away at during my lunch at school. It was a bit scattered, wasn’t it? Do you have wandering weeks too?

 

2 Comments

Posted in Crocheting, General, Knitting, Organizing, Spinning, yarns | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: Mare F | May 24, 2015

Memorial Day weekend

The list was deceptively short for the things I wanted to accomplish this weekend, but a good number of them have been done. My two main concerns were working spaces outside and getting the garden planted. Actually I’d hoped to get the plants in before this weekend, but for one reason or another it didn’t work out that way. I can only assume that there is a reason I know nothing about.

 

Sat morning 004

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This should be lovely on breezy, but not windy days. Of course, it’s always windy up here, but some days are worse than others and yesterday tested the umbrella stands to the utmost. Still, this will probably be the primary spot for the summer as my loom fits nicely near the table, but not in the travel path.

 

 

Sat morning 002

 

This is where I sat yesterday when I finally got cleaned up and pulled out my knitting. It’s certainly a bonus that our neighbor has a beautifully landscaped yard and doesn’t mind sharing her view. The lush green plants to the right are horseradish plants and they share a bed with milkweed and raspberry canes. There is a row of marigolds in front of the stone wall just waiting to be harvested for dyeing. This year I will do it all summer long and dry the heads as I remove them. Then I will have plenty come fall dyeing time.

 

Sat morning 001

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is for late afternoon and evenings…or chilly mornings. It’s on the east side of the house and is screened from the road by a monster morning glory on the arbor. A nice, quiet place to settle for some peace and quiet after work and before dinner. Now I have my choice of places to sit tomorrow and remember some of the people who have passed from my physical life, but are still with me in so many ways. I hope that your Memorial Day will bring some happiness, peace, and good memories home to you.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Gardening, General, Harvesting, Holidays, Knitting, Plants | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: Mare F | May 17, 2015

Damp shows and garden work

This past week has been full of ups and downs. I’ve all of my garden plants on the deck, some of them under chairs and tables in anticipation of stormy weather which never materialized, and some of them actually planted. A lovely woman with whom I knit offered me some of her lovely compost for the vegetable garden so last Monday we were collecting 5 gallon buckets of compost and visiting all of her animals. I give her credit for ever leaving home. Once that was spread, Doug tilled it again doing a wonderful job in light of his right arm being in a sling, and then we put the fence back up on  Wednesday. Thursday came the first of the bales for our bale garden experiment. On Friday came a load of wood chips (desperate times call for desperate measures) to cover over the flower seeds that I planted in the front bed with the false Indigo from another wonderful friend and 2 more bales of hay. I think that the foundation is set.

 

garden blgo 003

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Working at a school with a working greenhouse has its ups and downs. One of the things I love about it is that I can get some goat therapy in good weather just by walking out to the enclosure and saying hi. It’s mutually beneficial scratching at it’s best. The down side is that it’s very easy for me to over do the plant/flower shopping because it’s right there!

 

garden blgo 002

 

 

On Saturday I was scheduled to do my first craft fair of the year, but I bowed out, erring on the side of caution, because showers and storms were forecasted for the morning and evening hours. A few years ago I got caught at a show in a field when two rather vigorous storms passed through dropping a total of 5″ of rain that day. I had cotton and wool items draped all over my house for over a week and I’ve forgotten the experience. I’ve been lucky since, and in 7 years this is only the second show I’ve not attended because of weather. The first was a good call, this one was not. However some good did come of it. I have begun formulating a plan to make up enough machine wash and dry items to fill my booth so if this situation should arise again, I can still go, meet new people, and have a good time without the worry of mouldering goods in my stock. If anyone has any tips for this problem I would welcome the advise with open arms! How do you safe guard your stock from the elements?

 

garden blgo 001

 

Leave a Comment

Posted in Craft fairs/shows, Gardening, General, Organizing, Plants | Tags: , , , , ,

Posted by: Mare F | May 10, 2015

Mother’s Day in the yard

The garden plants were purchased on Friday at the Regional 7 Mother’s Day Plant Sale held by the Ag dept. and what a lovely group of plants I’ve gotten. They looked very happy and lush in the boxes on the deck this morning. It’s a bit earlier than I would normally get some of the plants, but last year I waited until the following week and the selection was severely thinned out. It’s a wonderful sale and the turnout is fantastic. I vowed not to make that mistake again!

 

gardening blog 002

 

 

 

 

 

 

The temp this morning was 64F when I got up at 5:50am so I think that with the possible exception of one or two days of chilly weather we might just have shed the unseasonably cool temps for a bit. I hope to get the lettuce into the window boxes and the some seeds planted in the front flower bed today. I still have to get my hay bales and a load of manure for the vegetable garden before the serious planting begins, but I hope to be finished before Memorial Day weekend this year so that I can truly enjoy that time with friends. The lilacs are just starting to pop and I occasionally get a whiff of their amazing aroma .

 

gardening blog 001

It’s a bit confusing to me that the maple trees are fully leafed and half of my tulips haven’t yet bloomed. My peonies are almost as tall as my tulips and one has buds on it already. There are tiny white flowers that come up in this flower bed that I haven’t the heart to remove until they are dead which slows down the mulching process, but all in all I’m very glad that it’s warm and that the yard is flourishing.

 

gardening blog 003

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would sincerely like to wish all a very Happy Mother’s Day and I hope that you get to spend at least a portion of the day doing what you enjoy most.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Gardening, General, Plants, Spinning, Weaving | Tags: , , , , , ,

Posted by: Mare F | May 7, 2015

Reading Corner Thursday

Today I’d like to give a shout out to Nicky Epstein’s Knitting on the Edge. In addition to patterns for some very lovely items, Ms. Epstein gives us a delightful variety of edgings to knit on to everyday projects. I’ve knitted up a couple of very simple triangle scarves and jazzed them up with some of these wonderful embellishments. It is a joy to look at and a great way to inspire yourself to starting a new project for either yourself or a gift. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to step outside of their comfort zone in a manageable way and make their own unique pieces.

 

knitting

Leave a Comment

Posted in Book reviews, General, Knitting, Patterns, yarns | Tags: , , , , , ,

Posted by: Mare F | May 3, 2015

Spring is finally here

And I know this because my allergies are just waking up after a long winter’s nap. The lilacs are leafing as are the Maple trees (a big allergy for me) and I’ve loads of old weeds to remove from the gardens yet. This is the time of year that I enjoy misty days because it makes yard work less dusty and pollen laden, but the plan this morning is to sally forth while the dew is still on the grass. The snow defeated my garden fence so I think that will be the first task. We’ll see just how well I installed the posts – well the posts that are still upright, that is – and stretch our abilities attempting to roll up the fencing before attaching it to the upright posts. I see ibuprofen in my future.

 

garden 002

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will also take my dyed wool back outside because that didn’t dry quite so nicely overnight after being spritzed on by on solitary, and unruly, rain cloud yesterday afternoon. The sun is shining now, so I have high hopes that it will be dried by this evening and ready to become needle felted air fresheners.

 

dye and plants 001

And last, but certainly not least, I want to get my Brussel sprouts and kale into the garden. For this I need to get the fence situated because the woodchuck and I have already established a relationship that is solely based on me keeping him out of my garden. There is nothing quite the same as walking through the garden on a fine summer morning and seeing the stumps of your Brussel sprout plans with little teeth marks in them.

 

dye and plants 002

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, this is my plan for this glorious Sunday. Are you playing out side today?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a Comment

Posted in Dyes, Gardening, General, winter | Tags: , , , , , , ,

Posted by: Mare F | April 30, 2015

Reading Corner Thursday

Approaching Reading Corner Thursday from a slightly different direction, I would like to ask you what are some of your go-to books or websites for patterns and/or tutorials. I admit that I have trouble staying focused on videos, but YouTube has bailed me out of a couple of sticky situations when I’ve managed to find short videos…see  above statement about attention issues.

 

photos 413

 

Honestly, I would love to hear what you have in your crafting libraries or where you go to find inspiration. Thanks in advance for sharing…I fear that I have been doing the same thing for so long I’ve forgotten how to really think outside of my comfort zone and that is a very boring place to be!

Leave a Comment

Posted in Book reviews, General, Patterns | Tags: , ,

Posted by: Mare F | April 26, 2015

A visit to the CT Sheep Breeder’s Sheep and Wool Festival

The sky was a breath-taking blue, the few clouds were softly white and wispy, and the sun was shining brightly on Saturday morning as we set out on our trip to Rockville, CT to the sheep and wool festival. The wind was traveling right along with us at a brisk clip just to make the day a bit more interesting so I was very glad that I’d worn my vest over my sweater. It was the perfect weather for a day spent inside of barns and outside at booths.

 

ct wool fest raffle prize 001ct wool fest raffle prize 002

 

Now I have to admit right here that the timing of my cleaning frenzy week before last was very good. I only had to tell myself once or twice that I didn’t need any roving or yarn, but the fleece sale was a bit of a hazard. I really don’t need any fleece right now either, but after attending the Connecticut Wool Blanket Workshop to see if I was skirting my fleeces properly was tough. The workshop was very informative and holding it just feet away from the fleece sale was a great temptation. I did find out that I wasn’t doing that badly on my processing, not that I’ve done a lot of it, but I was definitely not as graceful about it as I might be. I’m itching to build my skirting table and hopefully this time next year I will be coming home with a  fleece from this festival! The best part is that I believe that all of the necessary items for my skirting table are already out in the barn!

 

ct wool fest raffle prize 003ct wool fest raffle prize 005

 

Now, I did come home with a set of felting needles, not only do I  need them, but the container that they are in is perfect and has room for the needles that I already have as well, 2 prints – I love this gentleman’s work and knew that his booth would be a challenge – some very inexpensive roving for my needle felted air fresheners – and some tiny pottery items from East Knoll Pottery for the fairy garden I want to make to place near the Hawthorn tree I planted last year. Oh, and I finally joined this wonderful association so that I will not have to rely on my memory for any upcoming events. I almost missed the festival this year with everything that’s been going on here and that would have been a real shame. My goal it so to volunteer next year to help out in some capacity so knowing when they need help is rather important, don’t you think?

 

ct wool fest raffle prize 004

 

And I almost for got to mention that I received my prize from the raffle that Calicofarmchick held on her Etsy site to raise money to send some 4H children to horse camp this summer. It was a very generous raffle and I understand that they raised enough to send all of the children, horses, and accompanying adults so life it good! The colors in these batts are amazing and I can’t wait to play with the bling…now to get enough time to finish up the roving that has been languishing at my wheel for far too long. Oh, for just another hour in the day to do just as I please to do. What did you do over the weekend?

 

ct wool fest raffle prize 006

 

 

Leave a Comment

Posted in Craft fairs/shows, Festivals, Fiber trips., General | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: Mare F | April 19, 2015

Spring Break

I  didn’t get a lot of crafting done this past week, but I did get some organizing and spring cleaning done. A few more days and the cleaning part should be all set and then I’ll turn my mind back to my studio stock. The local farmer’s market won’t be an option for me this year due to some unexpected  financial hiccups, but since I really haven’t made a habit of making year round or summer items I’m viewing it as another year to prepare. I can only go so far with dryer balls, dish clothes, and dish towels. There is now an official “summer show” list of ideas and we’ll see which ones work out and which one do not.

scrubbies 001

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of winter projects did get finished up. I’m very excited about them and it’s a bit hard to turn my mind to warm weather creating when these items worked up as expected. It shouldn’t be such a treat, but really, I’m always surprised when an idea works the way it’s meant to do. This picture has also reminded me that I have to fix the mannequin’s eyelash! Who knew that this would be an issue?

 

button hood 001

And then the baby woobies/lap robes have resurfaced. I got an order for 2 from an old friend who ordered one 10 years ago, remembered me, and ordered not only another baby  woobie, but an afghan for the first little girl. So I’ve begun to make some of those up for stock as well.

 

crayon afghan 001

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now to bring out the cottons and lace-weight to begin my summer items….what do you like to work on in the warmer months?

2 Comments

Posted in Craft fairs/shows, Crocheting, General, Knitting, Organizing, yarns | Tags: , , , , , , ,

Posted by: Mare F | April 17, 2015

Reading Corner Thursday…oops

Mea culpa, mea culpa. I had the book chosen, read, and ready to go, but since I’m on Spring Break I lost track of the days. And a lovely break it has been. I’ve gotten to finish up several books that I’d been reading for what seemed a very long time, through no fault of the authors – I’ve just been very busy and scattered. The book I want to mention this week is Plagued by Quilt by Molly MacRae. This is the fourth book in the Haunted Yarn Shop series and I enjoyed it as much as the earlier three.

 

plagued

Kat and the posse in Blue Plum, Tennessee are at it again, but this time they have two cases…a current and a cold case. Each time I read one of the books in this series it’s like visiting old friends and the stories just pull me in right from the start. If you haven’t already tried this collection of books I highly recommend that you do if you like a charming way to while away a few hours with some humor and friendship….oh, and wool….lots of wool!

Leave a Comment

Posted in 2015 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge, Book reviews, Dyes, General, Knitting, Spinning, Weaving | Tags: , , , , ,

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »

Categories