Poppies and Milk

january :: love stitches

{After much thought, I have decided to keep up my blog for knitting purposes.  Yes, I enjoy posting about knitting projects and sharing in Ginny's wednesday thing, so... once a week?  I think I can handle that!}

I found this sweet little pattern which was given as a handout long ago from my friend Julie at her previous knitting shop.  Dusted it off just in time to make up a few for the upcoming heart holiday.  I'm posting it here for anyone who wants to knit some love.  (also made a ravelry link for it)

The Formula:

Cast on 9 stitches

ROWS 1-3:  K1, YO, K1 to center stitch.  KFBF* of center stitch. K to last stitch.  YO, K1.

ROWS 4-15:  K to center stitch, KFBF of center stitch, K to end.

ROWS 16-18:  K2TOG, K to center stitch, KFBF of center stitch, K2TOG.

ROWS 19-21:  K2TOG 2 times, K to center stitch, KFBF of center stitch, K to last 4 sts, K2TOG 2 times.

Weave in ends. 

 

*KFBF = Knit into front, back and front again 

 

You could knit a bunch of these to make a sweet garland, knit a bit looser of a gauge and felt, knit two and stitch together for a tiny pillow, or add a crochet edge for a little more of a fancy look.

make one and give it away to someone you love... 

 

october :: felted flute case & other fancy fibers...

Finally!  I am posting photos of this great little felted flute bag!  a modification of shelley's felted flute/recorder bag. 

i doubled the width to accommodate her pentatonic & soprano combination recorder.  

i love how it came out!  it is a perfect fit and the colors look so much better together than i had expected!  thanks again, shelley! 

yarn :: malabrigo merino worsted in velvet grapes and amoroso

ravelry link 

joining in the yarn along with ginny today, i could not stop knitting this weekend!  i completed about half of this sweater for my boy and am waiting on the rest of the yarn (under-ordered again...) to finish it up.  i am making another placket neck pullover  with raglan sleeves from last minute knitted gifts for elijah but in a much larger size than his first.  it may actually be too big for him to wear for a while as i played with gauge again and think i over-estimated some modifications... oh well, he will be doing nothing but growing, right?  I am doing the body in this charcoal color and the sleeves will be plum and light grey striped.  cross fingers on the striping... 

and this book!  wow.  makes me grateful, sad and thoughtful all at once.  i cant explain the feeling of reading a book written in the voice of a hopeful, matter-of-fact child who is living through a life of grit and hardcore day to day reality.  it makes my heart ache and i keep almost needing to stop reading it, but i cant seem to.  i just take breaks.  i think i am particularly sensitive to anything related to children being affected by their parent's dysfunctionality (if that is even a word).  i am about halfway through.  let's see if i make it all the way...

 some soft goodness arrived in the mail this week.  i love this osprey yarn, but these heathers colors are SO nice!  here are kumlien's gull & sabine.

 and iceland.  i think i like it more because Pam at Quince & Co. is just SO sweet! (and of course the fact that it comes all the way from Maine.  sigh...) 

 trying out some Hemp for Knitting AllHemp6 100% hemp yarn in charcoal and deep sea.  planning on making some dishcloths that are resistant to mildew (unlike the cotton ones that i have knit in the past).  wonder if anyone out there has tried this yarn for this purpose before? cant wait to see if it works... 

 more malabrigo rasta in zarzamora... 

 some malabrigo merino worsted in saphire green.  eden plans to be medusa for halloween so we are going to finger knit and felt some snakes for her hair... wish us luck! 

 and one of the better discoveries of this month:  madelinetosh chunky.  this color is tern. 

september :: like a wave...

this is how inspiration comes to me.  overtaking my being.  i have no control. no other choice but to create.  in any small or large way possible.  i have been looking and looking and looking and looking (you think i could size that one up to fit me? no, really!) for the perfect sweater pattern to knit for myself, for the perfect yarn (thanks julie!!) to create some other good things, for the perfect... and the list goes on.  shouldn't i know by now that ideas are not born from perfection?  all of that looking finally got to me today and i had to shut it all down and just get to making.  anything.  first i just started drawing, then got some stamping and printmaking ideas... with the fog rolling in and all today... with eden and i riding my bike tires through big piles of crunchy leaves with glee on our way to school this morning...  the needles, which have been consistently in use all summer, but a slower pace (i am making a man sized sweater.  with rows upon rows of stockinette... zzzzzz....) could be heard clicking in their jar, like excited little tap dancers, just waiting for me to choose a pair and put them to work!  i was reminded about decision fatigue by kyrie this morning.  wow. so, no more choices.  only forward motion and damned if i make something not quite "perfect." at least it will be made with love. 

september :: traveling woman shawl

catching up on some knitting project sharing... this is the fanciest thing i have ever knit up and it was really fun!  i have been doing a lot of sweaters and felted things that require rows and rows (and endless rows...) of stockinette in the round and this pattern was such a joyful break from all of those knit stitches!  this was made as a gift for my daughter's class teacher at the end of last school year (yes, friends, before the summer...) and i am really happy with the results.  

 

i also should note that though i have knitted many, many things... this is the first item that i have actually blocked correctly!  (the others were just sort of ironed with steam and sent on their way...) I may have to block correctly from now on because i have to admit that it shaped well and held it's form beautifully after correct blocking! 

details:

pattern : traveling woman

yarn: madelinetosh sock :: baltic

ravelry link

as far as the reading has been going for me, though i dont have any photos of the lovely library books i have been into, i have really been enjoying Sarah Addison Allen's books lately.  I started with The Girl Who Chased the Moon, took a brief hiatus to read The Orchard (a sweet, well written novel by Jeffrey Stepakoff), then read Garden Spells and am currently starting The Sugar Queen.  I still have The Peach Keeper to go and might need to savor that one as it is her last so far.  Her writing is light and mixes life, a little bit of magic and of course some love.  I also read Falling Home at the start of the summer after reading The Help and both were good (The Help was really good!).  I am just glad that after 3 years of not really reading fiction, I am into that groove of picking up a novel at the end of the day rather than turning to the computer (as much!) for movies, shows or other online distractions... Dont get me wrong, i still like to watch good things, but reading is much more calming for me these days when i can savor the silence and soak in some storytime of my own... 

september :: felted water bottle carriers!

i am finally getting up to speed with this as i made these a while ago, but have yet to post them anywhere!  we have been really enjoying using them, especially elijah as he thinks it is very "big boy" to carry his own water bottle for immediate use whenever he wants it.  i have actually made 3 more besides these two as gifts and find that it is really the perfect little pattern!  thanks again, shelley, for yet another winner! 

details are in ravelry (and the second one)...

p.s. i am ignoring the fact that i have not posted in a million days.  i am just going to post when i can and when i cant, know that i am likely doing something super fun like knitting, playing in the sun or making jam.  :)

 

may :: spring garden and a little fiber...

spending so much time in the garden with this amazing spring weather... i love sprinkling our garden full of little treasures also... 

this one was very into planting seeds this year.  hoping the chickens wont eat them all... 

if you notice the wire at the base of this photo, you can picture what my vegetable garden looks like now.  lots of chicken proofing in hopes of some good veggies for us this year rather than them!  

in bloom again... 

found this in the shed... 

one of my favorite perennials... yarrow.

my growing boy got his very own tool this year. 

put in new english lavender since the spanish lavender got really woody underneath... 

always running. 

finally reattached the slide! 

and joining ginny this week with a WIP of a felted water bottle carrier for eden.  no more toting around the kleen kanteen.  now her hands can be free to play! i plan to make the long strap version.  

and this book!  well, i just got it so i will let you know how it goes!  so far, it is great!  really puts into perspective all of the warnings our society has placed on SO MANY THINGS!  I know there are dangerous things out there, but if our kids never get to realize and learn how things work and how to control and operate and experience these dangerous things, they will be far less empowered.  at least in my humble opinion... more on this later.  

 

may :: february chamomile and other knits...

well, i planned and calculated for this february "girl" sweater in march,  started and finished it in april, and now get to share it with you in may! i love it so much.  lots of modification, all of which i took really good notes!  (this is good for me as i always do so much work with modification and sizing, but forget to write it down in time...) 

yarn :: madelinetosh vintage - chamomile

pattern :: modified baby sweater on two needles by elizabeth zimmermann (from knitter's almanac)

ravelry link

and up next is a trio of calorimetries for my niece.  

these are so fun to make and very "instant gratification-ish"

i made several modifications to this pattern as well for a child's size as well as changing the width of the actual bands.  i wanted to give her a choice of ear-warming or just fashion accessory... 

yarn :: various (see below) 

pattern :: Calorimetry by Kathryn Schoendorf

ravelry link

yarn :: malabrigo merino worsted - deja-vu

yarn :: malabrigo merino worsted - cactus flower and glazed carrot

yarn :: quince and co. osprey - egret (first time with this yarn and i am in LOVE with it!) 

leaving you with a little eye candy... more of the malabrigo merino in cactus flower.  we all agree it looks just exactly like bubble gum.

and now i can focus on my latest WIP, Shelley's new felted water bottle carrier pattern for the littles to use this summer! 

april :: simply ten good things

lately i have been thinking of how i am not spending enough time in this space, journalling life around me... whenever i get in this mindset, i get overwhelmed.  truth is, i have been spending much more time doing life than taking time to write about what i have been doing.  same with photographing.  i have not wanted to carry my camera around for some reason lately and have been just enjoying more time being in the mix rather than on the outside as photographing can sometimes make me feel.  that said, i really miss taking photos of everything i do and writing more.  it has only been a few weeks or even a month or so, but i notice the difference.  so, those are my mixed feelings on the lack of photographs and posts that have come out of my camera lately... 

this morning, i read amanda's blog as i do most mornings and her simply good things inspired me to post here.  i have lots to share about, so much goodness is going on... i think a short and simple list will fit me just fine today.

so.much.knitting.  and discovering of new yarns...

furniture painting and functional corners of the house

inspired sewing and big boy room-creating

reading up in anticipation of a diamond in the rough...

contemplating some new ink

chicken-proofing lots of veggie garden space

finally sewing on the buttons! 

greens and fresh eggs

misty spring weather

family movie night (where i wasnt multi-tasking, but actually watched)

and our new four-pawed addition :: zoey (a 4 year old calico from the humane society)

ok, that was 11.  guess im just an overachiever... ;) 

april :: a february sweater...

i am making my way through a modified february "girl"  sweater using many notes from ravelry as well as my own math skills.  i am modifying it for my soon to be 9 girl and also modifying the main pattern of the body to something a little more "vintage looking."  so, basically all i have been reading lately, besides some daily meditations, is elizabeth zimmermann.  she is as spunky and as great as everyone said she was.  what a truly dedicated spark of a woman she was.  it is a much different way of working than patterns where the instructions are totally spelled out line by line.  so, my goal is to have this finished in a week or two.  we shall see... 

april :: spring greens...

just made some new double-sided placemats out of reclaimed denim from my friend molly.  amazing how something this simple can make meals so much nicer.  (our old ones were getting a little, well, old...) the sheep are from a thrifted apron that i tore up and repurposed.  the denim is pretty stain-proof (so far as i think..) and if the sheep get dirty, well, they can just come off and we can put something else there.  (plate of greens courtesy of our great CSA)

and THIS is the first sweater that i have ever knit for tom.  yes, i am making a man-sweater. progress good so far, we shall see how the endless rows of stockinette go.  my first elizabeth zimmermann... 

pattern :: elizabeth zimmermann's seamless raglan

yarn :: madelinetosh dk in moss

ravelry

i also just casted on a february (girl) sweater for eden.  more on that later...

the weather here right now is AMAZING!  sun, light breeze, birds singing... lovely.