summer is about half done for me

In summer, the song sings itself.  ~William Carlos Williams


Williams is by far, one of my favorite modernist poets. And so often, he has just the right words, for just the right moment. It is no surprise that he can then sum up this season for me.


The air is warm, clothes are few, feet are bare. We spend endless hours outside, inhaling it all, and you need not force the beauty of the day. It just....is. Yet, it has been a loooooooong  time since I was a child, and this song of summer seems a song of youth. During the endless hot days of adulthood summers, one finds ways to both entertain the children and entertain oneself. While they are engrossed in the beauty and heat of it all, I sit sweating with a bottle of water and some knitting (probably why I'm sweating....). Yet, I do love it. And kind of hate, but try to remember why I loved it.

As I get older, I begin to appreciate more, the art of handmade, the beauty of home, the process of creation, and the joy in doing. So, instead of spending another idle summer at the park, letting the children play, I've decided to create for me (and if the rest of the family finds happiness in my creations, so be it.)


So, remember the ugly old weeded front yard? Remember seeing my sweaty chest? The hottest day of the year. (I'm a genius. Really.)

Well, that hard work paid off. One blister, one knife cut and one busted cuticle later...







My front yard is done!!!!!! I love it! We love it. It is so purty.




I also found a local restaurant that had thrown this beauty in the trash. I put it on my covered side porch and Voila! A garden cart!



I finally got the curtains done. (Okay...I got two out of three done. It is kind of like second sock syndrome. You knitters know what i mean. I see the fabric. It is measured out. Ready to iron and sew and BAM! No motivation to finish. The kids may or may not have given up hope. I stopped asking.)



I've also started getting my feet wet dyeing again, despite my haitus.




And lastly...I've got a hoodie pattern in the works. But shhh...this is top secret. You can't tell anyone....

oh..there is more.

and any of you that follow me know, when i finally do get around to posting. i can't just post once. i end up being so far behind, that i have like twelve updates and one post is simply to overwhelming.

here is part two.

i've been busy knitting. this, is not a surprise. i might just die if i didn't knit. (not really...knock on wood.) but i would feel oddly...odd. (despite being an english teacher, i often lack for words.)

but i'm off topic again.

so, here are some of my knitting creations.

a wonderful skirted overall for a dear customer. she is just the bee's knees. Custom Comfort Wool colorway.


this was semi-custom knit with Dashing Dachs Granny Smith.


more on this hat coming in part three. (stop complaining. i told you i go hard when i finally post. this means, i post three times now and then not again for a very long time.)

great news! and newborn love. not related.

I can't believe i never posted this here! This has been an exciting journey to make this congo a reality! And I'm lucky to be part of the MOST amazing congo to ever exist. (okay, okay, i'm biased. can you blame me?)

Have you seen Knit Night yet?

Like really? These are all my besties and then some. Amazeballs (word courtesy of Kate Bentley.) Well, we have had two stockings thus far and many more to come. Check us out.

This is a preview of one of the things I will be stocking on March 24th.

♥ newborn love ♥

these are my own Jungle Gym overalls pattern. They are knit with Mosaic Moon single ply merino in the ever popular and gender neutral "winter pear" colorway. they are half linen ridge throughout.

I will be offering custom cuffs if you want to girly them up. I also have enough yarn to possibly make a small sweater/shrug or booties and a hat.

wow...it has been so long

i really haven't been posting much lately. why is that you think? three kids? working full time? holidays? birthdays?

ALL OF THE ABOVE.

But, I'm sure you may or may not be able to sympathize. I assure you, though, I haven't been sitting idle in this time. I've been very very busy.

So, below will be a snap shot into what I've been busy doing...with Comfort Wool at least.

Hats for the kids:
Hat and Mitten set for an auction winner at my kids' school.

YYMN sleep sack for a customer
sweater for my daughter. I HEAVILY modified the Daffodil pattern from Rav.
A Hootie Who romper for a YYMN. Newborn size.

Custom Yarns...
A little experimental dyeing..."the road less traveled."
A custom dye and knit...My colorway "Birch Blossom" and my romper design.

Another Hootie Who romper YYMN. Size 3mo.

A Jungle Gym overalls for a newborn. YYMN. (This pattern was just released. More info coming in separate blog post.)

Some updates

Blogging is hard.

Summer is harder

Three kids always under the feet, trips to keep them engaged. A newborn. You get the idea.

I do have some updates, so hang on to your seat!

Where to begin...

First some custom updates.

Working on a romper in Nurturing Threads Wizard colorway. This project is touch and go. I'm down to just 2.5 ounces and need to complete 8" of leg and two short sleeves. Pray for me, will ya?



Then there was some knitting for a neice on the way. This is knit in Western Sky Knits Iris colorway



And I can't not knit for myself. This is madelinetosh sock in ginger. I'm knitting up a simple things for myself for the fall.



And I also finished a Goodale in MM Copper Patina







And I've been working on a new pattern, because little boys need cute things, too.



And some dyeing.

school's (almost) out for summer!

as most of you know, i am a teacher by day. by night is, of course, another story.

i went back to work, from maternity leave on May 10th, hence the reason, I've not been posting much at all since then. But never fear, I've been busy...busy busy busy.

Since I don't want to bore you with the details of all the knitting, dyeing, schooling that has been going on. I'll just show you pretty pictures. Everyone loves pretty pictures.

Skirted Overalls in my Birch Blossom colorway. I never did get a finished pictures WITH the buttons.

A Springtime in Hollis sweater and longies set in Comfort Wool Breezy colorway (dyed by Lauren)

I also reverse engineered a sweater tank for my daughter, Elliot. Dyed by me on superwash in my Ichiban colorway.

Dyed some yarn as well...

This will be part of a set. The colorway is still drying

This was a "fortunate" mistake

So, yeah. That is about it. I know. Not much for 5 weeks. But work slows me down. Alot. Look for much more regular updates now that summer is a mere 4 days away! Woot Woot!

I've been waiting to share this....

but had to wait for the customer to get her package. the buttons were a surprise!
she sent some action shots from her cell for now. How Cute!

Beginnings and Endings

Ahhh, that title could mean something so much deeper then it does. I swear I'm not waxing poetic folks.

It is quiet literal.

The end of this is near. I'm waiting on my buttons to arrive and they are off to their new owner, who so kindly let me "play" with designing overalls. I am very happy with the final product, but there will be some minor tweaking.

My kids have been sick the last two days. Stomach bug. So, the newbie and I have been staying FAR away from all the stuff coming out of my children, and by extension....my children. Very very far away. At least one wall between us.

Last night, as I watched a movie with my son (I know, I said far away. We were on opposite sides of the couch.), I got the spin bug once again. I wanted to try to spin some singles. If, by chance, they suck, I'll call it "art yarn" and pretend it was intentional. Or ply it to try to hide some of it.

And today, I started a Springtime in Hollis for Cheryl in Lauren's colorway...Breezy.

springtime in hollis...

this is a new sweater pattern i'm testing.

perfect for the spring and named for my sweet bean.