mash two bananas

Weekend baking: Banana Pancakes. For some reason my husband is always getting worried about the amount of bananas I have piling up in the freezer. Their quantity reaches a certain level and he starts telling me that I shouldn't buy any more bananas until I deal with the ones I have. (As if I could ever do that on a physical or a psychological level.) But I do try baking with them sometimes. This recipe is lovely. I found it here.

What's become of the hollyhocks . . .

Outside, inside. Testing out my new socks this weekend. (I wore them both days.)

Set up the loom again. This time I'm using multiple yarns in the warp. The gray is yarn from our farm, and you've all seen the multi-colored double ply before. I used it my previous project, but as I hope you can see I'm getting entirely different results now. This is what I was hoping weaving would provide for me. A way to experiment with fiber and color. I intend to weave with a darker gray yarn and anticipate that I'm going to get some nice stripes - but we'll have to see how it goes.

Watercolor color study.

These aren't new books, but they're good books. They'll be keeping me company through these snowy February days.

fingers in the frosting

My first woven object is complete and in the hands of its new owner. I gave it to my sister as part of her birthday present. So that means I'm free to start another project without worrying that the old one is getting dusty (at my house anyway). I gave away a lot of knitted objects today. My sister also got the sweater, booties and hat that I'd made for the new baby. I guess it's time to make more of those as well.

The party for my niece was a nice break from the usual Monday through Friday grind that we've been experiencing around here. It was good to see family and overeat. My grandparents were there and my grandma looked well, so there's a lot to be thankful for.

I couldn't help snapping some pictures and stealing some books while I was at my sister's house. She's a quilter, so amongst the books and toddler toys there were tiny piles of fabric and spools of thread.

Ashley has made a knitted softie for our niece every year. This one is a handspun bunny, knit entirely in one piece, which sounds very convenient.

Here's the little pillow I finished for Hannah. She was sitting on it this afternoon, so at least I know that she'll get some use out of it - and that's the most important thing, right?

The afternoon ended with cake which one little person couldn't keep her fingers out of.

A sweet day indeed.

winter days + warm fiber

Midweek finds me looking at my fiber stash and all of my projects with at sigh because I really don't have the energy tonight to knit more than a few rows or pick up a hank of yarn and smell it. (It smells so good!)

My weaving project is coming along nicely. I finished it and took it off the loom the other night and then blocked it in cold water with a drop of mild soap and hung it up to dry. I don't know if you're supposed to do this with a finished woven object, but Chewy slept on it the night before that when I had it draped artistically over the sofa, so something had to be done with the wrinkles from her furry self.

I've been looking at seeds and imaging my summer garden. One of my co-workers had a seed catalog on her desk at work and, well, as soon as I saw that I was a goner. Time to start dreaming about tomato plants and blossoming chives. Soon Garrett and I will be crowded off the kitchen table because that's the perfect (and only place) where I can start my seeds.

Hope you have some fiber (or seed catalogs) to keep you busy.

il(LOOM)inating

I took a weekend class at the Minnesota Weaver's Guild on rigid heddle weaving and I'm ready to announce that I'm in love with weaving - especially with handspun yarn. And that's a very good thing, because handspun seems to pile up around my house.

My first handspun weaving project and I'm using a yarn combo of multi-color variegated yarn for the weaving yarn and a more subtle monotone colorway for the warping yarn. (For those of you who are better versed in weaving you'll have to bear with me as I describe this, because I'm still sorting through my understanding of warps and wefts.)

Roses are lovely in the winter. I got these as a birthday present from my sister. She had them delivered to my office and I got to enjoy them through the end of the week, then I brought them home. They're starting to fade a bit now, but they make a nice addition to my workspace.

It makes me feel very spoiled indeed to see my houseplants blooming inside while the snow gathers on the rooftops outside.

It was dark outside when I snapped this photo on Friday night, but the glow of the streetlamps and the low looming clouds and falling snow made the sky glow.

Upcoming Events We're looking forward to shearing the sheep at Crosby Hill Farm in a few weeks. I'm excited to see the array of natural-colored fleeces that will come off of our covered sheep. I'll be sure to share the process here and our fleeces will be on sale in our shop - just as soon as my mother can get them skirted.

Happy February everyone.

birthday girls

The note in the book above reads: 

Jill, here is the some mace so that you have it if you need it. (heart) Jen

Do you have someone in your life who leaves you notes like this embossed with strawberries? I do. My twin sister. I found this note the other day when I was sorting through my box of old letters. Now it's tucked within the Jane Austen novel I'm reading. (Sense and Sensibility - in case you were wondering.) Every time l look at it, I smile. That's quite a combo, mace and strawberries, and only my sister would come up with it.

I took some time this weekend to tend to some of the quilts that she has given me over the years. This quilt is a decade old - a traveling gift to take with me when I spent the school year in England.

The work continues on my knitted blanket. At one point I was going to finish it off with a four by four square placement of the blocks, it's a baby blanket after all, but I decided that it wouldn't be big enough so I'm adding a row of squares to two sides, plus another square where the corners meet, so I won't be finishing this project up anytime soon.

That's okay though, I like to knit the pieces. I can usually get one done over the course of a movie or one episode of Downton Abbey.

Happy Birthday, Jennifer! I can't wait to celebrate our birthday together. (heart) Jill

remembering and gifting

My great-grandmother Leona made my sister and I pillows like these when we were little girls. I remember mine had an embroidered kitty on blue checked gingham with my name embroidered in bright red floss and my sister's pillow was made out of pink gingham. I can remember the lace around the edge and the way the embroidered stitches felt against my check when I snuggled into bed at night.

There's nothing left of those original pillows. I continued to sleep with mine until is disappeared sometime in junior high, but by that time all the stitches had worn off and you could only see the pale outline of the pattern my grandmother had followed.

It was fun for me to dip into all of those great memories as I worked on this winter project.

It doesn't take Chewy long to sense that there might be a photo opportunity. She's usually curled into a ball of black fur on the fleece in the foreground of this picture. Smart cat. Wish I could lay there all day.

Here's some handspun I started working on last night and finished up this afternoon. It's probably going to turn into another baby sweater. I have about 220 yards here. This is the 60% CVM romeldale wool and 40% kid mohair from my mother's sheep.

I walked down to the Mississippi River last night after work. We've been in a deep freeze here, so it seems to be completely frozen over, but I couldn't help but imagine the water moving beneath the gray ice and I kept well away from the edge.

for little feet

These are the perfect, sweetest things to knit. When they're finished you can't help but hold them in your hands like little pieces of art and imagine the tiny, perfect feet that are going to fill them.

Picking out the buttons is one of my favorite parts of making this particular pattern. I ended up choosing some real shell buttons with a opalescent sheen that picks up all of the colors in the yarn.

Finding time for my projects often finds me in my studio just before bedtime playing around with this and that and "tucking my projects into bed" so to speak. It's been a long work week and I'm looking forward to the weekend.

Garrett picked me up from work tonight and he dropped me off at the library and drove around the block while I dashed inside to checkout my books. I got a few books on knitting and sewing the a couple of novels.  Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery and The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. I hope to get the chance to curl up in a warm place this weekend with a cup of tea and just read.

Tomorrow's Friday, everyone. Hang in there!