This week I finally finished my Wool & Honey sweater (will be sharing early next week!).
This week I got a ton more practice with my new camera, and I am in love.
This week I tried really hard not to over-water my plants.
This week I was reminded that the more creativity you use, the more you have.
This week seven of my avocados turned ripe on the same day which meant I ate a lot of avocados on Wednesday and Thursday. And I looked up a lot of avocado recipes. This one and this one are at the top of my list.
This week I discovered that the Wiksten Shift is the perfect house dress and I want to make at least two more. (Maybe in double gauze? Dying to try this fabric.)
I am super excited to cast on some new projects this weekend now that my sweater is done, cook a big breakfast on Sunday, and deep clean our master bedroom. Hooray for the weekend.
A few weeks ago, my friend Mel surprised me by gifting me a tiny spider plant cutting from her “base” spider plant. To be honest, I had not ever thought to ask for it, or thought that I would have been into it, but y’all, it really sparked something in me. I would definitely not describe myself as an indoor house plants person before, oh, three weeks ago, preferring my plants to be productive and food focused, namely veggies and herbs. Maybe it’s the quarantine? Maybe it’s the daily activity looking out the window and looking for more green. Maybe it’s the desire for a puppy that’s manifesting in these little plants. Either way, I have fallen and fallen hard for my little plants!
My collection right now includes the aforementioned spider plant, which Nash has unfortunately tried to chew on three different times and is looking quite sad. I’m still holding out hope it will make a comeback but we’ll see. I also have a very sad aloe plant that with the right amount of water and some actual care is making a comeback! Pictured above are my three most recent additions: two varieties of elephant bush (those little tiny leaves with the thicker stems) and my beloved jade plant. I just think the jade is so pretty.
Because of the two cats and their intense interest on chewing on plants, these are all living in my office, but I’d love to find some hanging planters or window-mounted ledges to hang them off of for some additional light too, since the office is mostly northern facing and not the sunniest room all day long. I’m also trying the ice cube trick for watering them which I think is going pretty well. Will update later!
Today is the 50th celebration of Earth Day. It’s a reminder for all of us, every single one of us, that our job is to take care of the Earth, to keep it, conserve it, and steward it for future generations.
We only get one earth, and so many of the things I think about each day come back to it: Is this a sustainable action? Will this go on to stay in a landfill after I use it? What kind of world am I creating by purchasing this product, or choosing these materials to craft with, or picking this project? It’s all so important and complex and it can feel very overwhelming at times to think about being a maker, consumer, and person living on this earth and trying to keep it healthy.
One of my favorite things from the past few weeks of quarantine has been seeing how the earth is absolutely rebounding without the negative influence of human activity: smog is clearing in large cities, wildlife is returning to old habitats, waterways are no longer being actively polluted. This is all so good! While we need to be able to exist in the world, run businesses, interact with each other, and I, like so many, can’t wait for the world to continue to turn, there are lessons to be learned here, and I hope that many of us have the space here to reflect on those.
Fashion is a HUGE source of pollutants and carbon emissions globally, so when I take the time to knit a sweater or hat, sew a dress, or mend a pair of jeans, I am choosing sustainability, slow and mindful work, and to opt out of oppressive systems that affect people and the planet in ways we can’t begin to predict yet. There is so much hope in being able to make a choice for myself and for my family that is not only beneficial for us, but for our planet.
I have learned so much from other makers who are also working to make the world more beautiful with their creations and with the processes they use to create them. While choosing natural fibers over synthetics is a great way to make a more sustainable choice with crafting overall, here are a few of the companies and resources that I love who are doing wonderful work with crafts and sustainability.
Brooklyn Tweed’s American grown yarns, particularly their breed specific collections
Echoview Fiber Mill, who creates yarn and fiber from farms primarily in the Southeast and has the COOLEST recycled fiber yarn.
A Verb For Keeping Warm’s podcast, highlighting their process of creating yarns and working with designers rooted in sustainability. Their yarns are also absolutely incredible.
Mending resources by Katrina Rodabaugh to extend the life of our clothes and make our clothes into art
An oldie, but a goodie: the Woolful podcast. Also love the Local Wool podcast these days.
Gosh, this doesn’t even scratch the surface. I’m sure I will come back and add additional info here in the future, but for today, I invite you to peruse these awesome businesses, authors, and farms, and to take JOY in the earth! When we live in harmony with the earth, there is so much joy to be found.
When I knit a project, be it a sweater, hat, scarf, or blanket, I definitely do so with a little bit of motivation coming from the fact that I want it to be high quality, and last a long time. Not very often do I really think about my finished knits as heirlooms, though, which is why baby blankets are so incredibly special. My brother and sister-in-law are expecting their first, a baby boy, joining our family next month, and I sincerely hope that this will be a blanket he has forever. I hope he snuggles it, loves it, drools all over it, washes it a hundred times, falls asleep with it, and knows how much love went into it from his auntie. I want it to be an heirloom, yes, a “my aunt made this for me by hand” kind of special thing, but I am also so excited for it to be used by him and his parents until it maybe someday just falls apart.
The pattern is the Llyr Baby Blanket by Nat Raedwulf, knit in O-Wool O-Wash Worsted in the “Cuckoo Flower” colorway. The colors in the photos above are a bit wonky but I would say the top photo is actually most accurate. I knit the pattern exactly as written, only making it a little bit longer than intended, but no wider. I LOVE O-Wash for baby knits because it is soft, natural wool that has been made washable using an organic process, rather than conventional superwash chemicals, and it has a really nice bounciness to it that I think other superwash yarns can lack. It is really lovely and I can attest to its quality having used it for both of my niece’s baby blankets as well, one of which is now three years old and still looking and washing very lovely. (You can see those blankets here and here.) This pattern was chosen with my sister-in-law and was interesting but easy to memorize, and I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a classic baby blanket pattern.
I can’t wait to meet you and snuggle you, baby boy!
Recently, B has been re-discovering his love of disc golf as a way to stay active and also safely get out of the house. I am terrible at the game, but absolutely love the long walks in the woods that 18 holes of throwing a frisbee can bring.
I’ve also been using the Picture This app so much to learn more about botany and identifying different species of flowers, trees, and mosses while I’m running in my neighborhood or walking anywhere. It is so simple to use and I am learning so much taking in the scenery around me and snapping a quick picture.
I’ve been blogging off and on since about 2012 on this website and others, and occasionally it’s fun for me to go back and re-read some of the posts I wrote when I was first getting really into knitting, spinning, and the world of fiber arts. I loved recently going through my old posts on Rhinebeck, which make me especially nostalgic since I have no real plans to travel much coming up this summer. You can read it too, by clicking here or searching “Rhinebeck” in the search bar to the right.
I hope wherever you are this Saturday you are taking it easy and connecting with those you love! Maybe, like me, you are also daydreaming about future travel and adventures, too.
This week was a pretty tough one on the motivation front, I felt a real slump in my mood and general feeling going into five weeks of quarantine. Various news sources (with varying reliability, I will admit) have predicted that here in NC we’ll hit our peak for the virus as early as two weeks from now, as late as mid-June, but either way, it is clear that this is not going to be a three or six week situation here. We are in this, and in it for the long haul.
Despite some panic and a decent amount of struggle, here’s what made this week good.
A friend is helping me to become a respectable plant mom and I can slowly see my aloe plant, long neglected, start to perk up.
I’m definitely going to finish my Wool & Honey sweater this weekend.
I looked through all of K & C’s wedding photos and there are some really fantastic ones in there.
We ate a crazy amount of 15 bean soup after Easter courtesy of trying to eat almost a whole ham by ourselves. It was awesome.
I am about eight years late to the washi tape craze but I am all in. Last night I got on Etsy and purchased this one, this one, and this one. So cute and can’t wait to bring some more creativity to my planner and some letters I’m writing during quarantine season.
I organized my desk drawers and it’s really nice to open them up looking for pencils or scissors now.
I went on a run/walk on Wednesday in the cool weather and it felt really good.
I finished The Nightingale. It was ok, some compelling story moments with some, in my opinion, clunky character development, but mostly I just felt happy about crossing that off my goal list to finish. I have heard that The Great Alone by the same author is really good so I may try her newest novel instead.
This weekend I’m looking forward to picking up pastries and a couple of weekly favorites from my favorite bake shop, sewing a few more masks (maybe), and going on a long walk with B while he plays disc golf, if the weather will hold. Happy Friday!
Since one of my biggest goals I set in January was to knit exclusively from my stash this year and to not purchase any new yarn, I thought it would be fun to share some special skeins that are currently patiently waiting to be knit. I am so lucky to have a really beautiful stash full of yarns that I genuinely cannot wait to work with, and most often I visit my yarn cabinet only when I’m ready to take on the next project or to find yarn for a specific project, because the more I visit the more simultaneous cast-ons I tend to have!
Before this year, I really didn’t do a ton of online yarn shopping. I definitely ordered the occasional indulgence from Purl Soho, or Woolberry Fiber, or from a particularly good IG destash sale, but I would say that most of my skeins are actually ones that I purchased in-person at a festival, event, or local yarn store. This makes my stash even more special because most of the time, I have really specific memories attached to purchasing them, which I love.
I picked out this beautiful handful of yarn today because I wanted to share about my AMAZING local yarn store, Freeman’s Creative. Amelia has been running the store for just over 2.5 years here in Durham and it has been such a privilege to watch her business grow. She stocks a wide and beautiful range fabric and yarn, is incredible at bringing in teachers to teach fun and modern patterns, engaging with community through weekly craft clubs, and is generally just a super cool gal. She just transitioned all of her yarn and notions to her online store in the wake of the pandemic so if you are able, please go check her out! I think she is still working on getting all of her fabrics online as well, but rest assured, if you email in need of something specific, she will hook you up. She’s a fabric pairing genius. One of my favorite memories in Amelia’s store is walking in with a smattering of prints I wanted to turn into...something - and walking out after she pulled 15 bolts of fabric to try out with them with a plan for a full quilt. So, so fun.
Anyways, I digress. This is Illimani Santi, which I purchased at Freeman’s Creative a few months ago. I wasn’t familiar with this company before purchasing this yarn, but one squish and I was in love. It is a luxurious blend of ultra fine merino, baby alpaca, yak, and mulberry silk. Swoon. And their label doodles are so sweet.
This colorway is called “Sunset” and I actually think the color is most accurate in the first photo. It is slightly more berry-hued than pure rust which I love. The project that keeps coming back to me over and over with these skeins is some sort of half-circle shawl, with a little bit of lace, lots of garter, maybe some eyelets...something I want to just completely wrap up in as the weather cools or during these spring mornings. The squish factor is just so good. Occasionally I’ll just leave some yarn out on top of my cabinet because I can’t bear to put them away yet, and so I may be casting on with this sooner than I had originally thought. No complaints here.
