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!

cold and bright

Today's highs were in the negatives here in Minnesota, like many of our past dangerously cold days the sky was clear and the sun was bright and it was just plain cold, cold, cold. I counted myself lucky to be behind the glass walls of my office and able to observe it all without having to participate . . . in the frostbite! (My husband dropped me off at work today, so I didn't have to walk from the train station to the office in the cold.)

My winter woolens have come in very handy this season, they're getting a bit fuzzy though. They need to have all of the nubbins picked off of them and then a nice soak in a tub of cold soapy water.

Dinner on Sunday night was really good. I made my sister's baked salmon recipe.

       

1/4 cup butter and 3/4 cup cream cheese (or sour cream) mixed together

2 cloves of minced garlic

three green onions minced (green tops included)

1/2 cup shredded parmesan

crushed seasoned salad croutons

Then you mix the parmesan, garlic and the green onions with the butter/cream cheese (or sour cream) mixture, spread it over the salmon, sprinkle the salad croutons on top and pinch the tinfoil over the top and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes (depending on how thick the fillet is) the salmon should flake when pressed - it's done. Very good. Works well on the grill too, when it's not forty below.  

Here's another project I started this weekend. (Another goodie for my sister's baby which is due in the beginning of March.) This is from some handspun that I made about four years ago.

I've been meaning to use it for something like this, but I always got distracted by the other yarn in my yarn basket. I love the garter stitches and the way the color switches with each row (almost as if I dyed and spun the yarn with that in mind) but I didn't - it's an accident. A happy one. Can you guess what this is going to be?

Something cute, that's for sure.

weekend spinning

"There was a magnificent sunset, and the snowy hills and the deep blue water of the St. Lawrence Gulf seemed to rim in the splendor like a huge bowl of pearl and sapphire brimmed with wine and fire. Tinkles of sleigh bells and distant laughter, that seemed like the mirth of wood elves, came from every quarter."

excerpt from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

My fan sweater from Japanese Inspired Knits. I'm going to get some work done on this over the weekend.

All things spiral seem to be appearing before my lens today. I managed to beat the sunset home last night and tripped out to the sidewalk with my camera to capture the colors that were quickly sinking behind the houses across the street. The tree branches in the rose-colored light captured my attention.

I've been reading Anne of Green Gables on the train. It being winter, I love the winter passages that describe the landscape of Prince Edward Island. Having grown up with both the books and the movies of Anne of Green Gables, I'd love to visit there one day. Maybe I can talk Garrett into it.

I've started to spin the beautiful fiber shown above. I'm going to take a weaving class from the Weavers Guild of Minnesota and I plan to use it on my first weaving project. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get this spinning done between now and when the class starts the first weekend of February, but things are working out.

Tonight we're planning dinner and a movie with family. Should be a fun time.