Rhubarb Moon Snugs

We always had a garden when I was a kid. I can remember running through the rows of green beans, and tiptoeing through the asparagus beds looking for where the cat was hiding. The rhubarb patch always drew my eye. The plants, with their magenta stockings, always seemed to be plotting something more exciting than the dog days of summer. (A wild party down by the creek bed? A secret meeting in the strawberry patch?) 

Today the garden is an even more magical place for me. Last year for the first time I planted and really watched what I sowed. (Part of this experiment was inspired by Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle a wonderful memoir I read in the dead of winter 08.) The other part was because something just seemed missing from my summers. What was I supposed to be doing with my time, anyway? Trust me, a manageable garden is a far more exciting way to spend a summer evening than anything the networks have hatching on tv. 

So these snugs (based on Pick Up Sticks Big Snugs Pattern) grew out of my desire to be in my garden in the dead of this past winter. We really got walloped this year, with temperatures and wind chills way below zero. Using my own hand spun yarn, a rich chocolate brown and a creamy off white from my mother's CVM romeldale sheep, I followed the pattern as written. But after their spin/shrink through the washing machine I let my imagination take over. 

Using more of my cream-colored hand spun yarn, I needle-felted in vegetable, flower and insect shapes from my garden. Next, I filled the shapes with more pot dyed fiber of various colors and hues. I worked until my fingers cramped and my eyes were blurry. I added the summer moon, and friendly blue-black beetles. I just couldn't put them down. Finally, I sewed a soft leather pad on the bottom of each sole. 

And you can bet I wore the heck out the them these past few months--lucky for them I have my real garden to warm me now.