green baby green

Morning showers and rain earlier in the week has made our backyard match the shades of this sweater. I feel blessed because I know most of the Midwest is not experiencing plush green lawns (without running up the water bill.)

Next week could be another story . . . but for today I'm enjoying the green grass under my bare feet and finishing up this baby sweater.

This yarn is from Briar Rose Fibers "Grandma's Blessing" !00% superwash merino - something I got ages ago at a fiber festival and decided to work with when I was looting my yarn stash last week.

handspun

This is what came off the spinning wheel last weekend.

hoping for a blizzard

I'm a sucker for knitting socks in the summer. Maybe it's because the project is small and it can easily fit in my lap, or maybe its because my attention is distracted by the garden and other projects during the summer - that I like knitting simple socks.

Socks also inspire me to think about chilly mornings, hot cups of tea and crackling fires - all of the things that winter brings that I enjoy.

 This is the combed top that I used to spin these socks. I think I noted earlier that the colorway is "Morning Glory" from Crosby Hill Farm. After weeks and weeks of weather in the 90s I'm hoping for a blizzard here come December . . . a the very least some brisk flurries so that I can pull out these socks and prance around the house.

crosby hill farm's website launch

I'm happy to announce that we have finally launched a website for my parent's farm:

Crosby Hill Farm.

Please visit their website for details and connections to any of the projects you've seen posted here. Crosby Hill Farm is the wellspring for all of my creative endeavors and fiber projects. 

At the Crosby Hill Farm website you can purchase:

raw fleeces

a variety of combed top

our collection of painted combed top

our line of "Hetty Yarns"

CVM romeldale breeding stock

Angus beef

See you at the website!

summer sides from the garden

This week the carrots looked big enough to pull out of the garden here at tendril and twine. So I pulled some and we ate some.  (I never really follow the instructions on the side of seed packets that spell out the length of time from planting until harvest. When the beans look juicy I pick them, when I start tripping over carrot tops, I start thinning them out.)

This year I planted a type of carrot called "Carnival Blend." It produces a range of colors from indigo to white, with scarlet, orange and yellow in between.  (That's a turnip in the back of the photo below, not a carrot.) But I did get a purple carrot, it's just that when you clean them, you end up peeling off the layer of purple skin to reveal an orange core.

The great thing about these carrots is the range of flavors. The orange colored pieces have a more traditional "carrot" taste. But the yellow and white varieties taste more like a parsnip . . . which I love.

I simmered my carrots lightly and tossed them in butter and fresh chopped dill and chives. For the green beans, I steamed them and tossed them in bit of butter, brown sugar and chopped pecans. These sides were delicious. The dill and the chives came from the garden as well.

My mitered mitten project has been finished and given away. This project had a quick turn-around time which makes me want to pick up and finish other projects that have been lingering on the needles for months or maybe years.

We'll see how that goes . . .

mini holiday (girls only)

My husband and I are taking separate mini-holidays this weekend. He's off with the guys playing volleyball and camping, while I'm up home with my mother, sister and cousin knitting and crafting with fiber. He'll get his volleyball fix and I'll get my fiber fix.

And we'll both be happy to see each other come Sunday afternoon.

Here's a project I started today. Elizabeth Zimmermann's Mitered Mittens, a project that I've made a half dozen times before. A quick knit, perfect for a weekend getaway.  The yarn I'm using is MOCHI PLUS, a 80% merino and 20% nylon blend.

Soft and silky. The perfect yarn for this project since I indeed to give them away when they're finished.

Hope you're having a happy weekend . . . even if you're in mixed company!

beautiful blue wedding

Blue is a beautiful color for a June wedding, especially when the temperatures are soaring. At least the color blue makes one remember what it feels like to be cool, crisp and composed. Yes, blue at a summer wedding is a good color.

Here's the bride's bouquet, we added blue carnations and some trailing purple fountain grass. The fountain grass added a romantic touch to the arrangement . . . this is something my sister thought to bring to test out and it surprised us all.

Of course, you know I'm not happy if I can't post buckets of roses on this blog if I've come across some. So here you go.

The socks I've been working on are also going well. They have a touch of blue, so I'll go ahead and post them here. One more to go. I'll try to find a cool place to take cover this afternoon and get some knitting done.

Blue stripes mingling with knitted twists make this an entertaining and easy project to work on. Behind the sock in both images is the combed top that I spun to make the yarn for these socks.