Then it was spring...

Springtime weather rolled around like it usually does, with some rain and a big greening.  My better half and I spent a beautiful long weekend with some good friends in North Carolina at John C. Campbell folk school.  It was a fun and relaxing experience for me, and an exciting introduction to a new found hobby for him.  I think he's taken to blacksmithing.

John C. Campbell Blacksmithing Shop

Noisy, hot and filled with enthusiasm

We came home to find flowers blooming and before we knew it easter was upon us and our girls gleefully engaged in more outdoor fun with their cousins.

Babe in the woods

Serious about egg hunting

Motoring along with a wagon load
of littles

Barn bones

Grape Hyacinths

Double Daffodils

Pink!

Japanese tree peony

The small fry attended her first father daughter dance. And the report after the fact was that she burned up the dance floor with those merry little feet.  No wall flower in this house... The thought of it now, months later fills me with teary pride and the bitter sweetness of how independent and confident she is and how fleeting these years are.  We're soaking up as much as we can around these parts.

Growing up before our very eyes...

The spring of 2017 also goes down as the best mushroom hunt of my life.  I think I've finally got the knack.  I think my dear dad and I scored probably 8 pounds of fresh morels.  So fun, and after a good washing, so delicious. Aren't they beautiful?

The spoils of our springtime hunt

Casting on

On the knitting front, I started the " Find your fade" shawl, written by Andrea Mowry.  I had every intention of using up my yarn stash in this project, and I won't ruin the end of the story, but I'll just say that my intentions, although true in the beginning, didn't hold to the end.  The end result is better for it.  More on that soon...

First Quarter 2017 Catch Up

I've been writing here with so much more regularity than you can tell.  I've wrote first about Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The nice long and relaxed break we took at the beginning of the new year, and then the preparation for a very special birthday.  In my head, these ideas for blog posts float around.  Just waiting for me to sit down and put them onto "paper."

Sous chef and royal taster

Amores cake... graham cracker cake,
chocolate filling and marshmallow-y frosting

Things are very good in these parts.  Our holidays were filled with wonderful visits from family and friends.  Good food.  Down time spent at home.  Good books.  And creativity.  Winter was a series of starts and stops.  The temperature rose and fells, and there was almost no snow to speak of... and thankfully, just one short lived ice storm (which I may or may not have been trapped on the interstate in).

There were a few hand made gifts.  Socks for both of my parents, and a little trousseau of doll clothes for the dolls that I made the girls a couple years ago.  They were wild about them... and have spent several long hours since, playing and changing the outfits of their "Kanga" and "Foxie".  They also have grown quite attached to the Wes Anderson movie (based on the Roald Dahl story) The Fantastic Mr. Fox.  It really is good, for both kiddos and grown ups.  The fox doll, which was an Alicia Paulson pattern bears a strong resemblance to the "puppet" that plays Mr. Fox in the movie.

Holiday Socks for my dear dad.

I've been spinning and knitting a bit.  I turned that handspun Merino Silk into a doubly long cowl.  I knit it in a really simple stockinette band so that the color shifts would be clear and distinct.  I am very happy with the result.

Nest fiber - Merino Silk "Amanar"

Handspun cowl

I spun up some blue and brown wool that was probably the finest that I had ever managed.  And the I tried to turn them into a pair of fingerless mitts.  I promptly frogged them because they were gigantic and I didn't love the striping that was going on.  But the spinning was really really fun.

"Emerald Pools" Roving from Nest Fiber

Pretty single ply

Navajo or chain plied finished product

And I started over knitting a sweater that I had started (literally) years ago.  It's a Rowan wool blend yarn that was too pretty to give up on.  I downloaded the Charlie cardigan from the Make.Wear.Love website and was pretty diligent about finishing the project.

It fits really well, maybe even on the big side.  And through the fantastic community that is Revelry, I was able to find enough extra yarn to keep it from being short sleeved.  (I'm not so good at calculating yardage, it seems.)

Sweater back in progress

Finished Cardigan... fits well.

I've got so much more to record... between then and now.  I've been gone longer than I intended and I'm missing the habit of capturing not only the projects that are always ongoing, but also the little details that fill our days here.  So hang with me if you'd like... I am going to take a run at reinstating the blogging habit.

Decorative Gourd Season...

It has taken me nearly three weeks to finish this post – phew.  Here we are in November and closing in on Thanksgiving.  October went by this year at a frenetic pace, and with some unseasonably warm days.  As I began to write this post on November 1st, it was 77-degrees out.  It was so nice to be able to wander without wearing multiple layers, or paying a heating bill.  On the other hand, Iwas ready to switch to the cold weather wardrobe and enjoy some comfort food.  It feels now, three weeks later that the weather is finally changed.

Sunrise on an impromptu camping
weekend

And it's compliment...

Frost Pears

The girls and I have been reading up a storm lately.  We've just about worn the cover off of Wolfie the Bunny.  And we also were lent a copy of a Captain Underpants book.  And that was an even bigger hit.  And how could it not be... with characters called "Professor Poopypants" and a name conversion guide that designated my girls as Falafel and Oprah Bubblechunks.  So funny.  They giggled and giggled.  We are entering the era when any kind of bodily function association is wildly funny.  Beware the Halloween jokes... I won't burden you with them here.

Bookish

Halloween was fun.  Our inadvertent theme was "spots" this year.  We repurposed a jaguar costume for the peanut, and the small fry was a dalmatian.  They ran and ran and ran.  House to house, telling jokes and ogling the neighborhood Halloween decor.  We carved pumpkins that my parents grew from seed and made sugar cookies. It was a successful holiday.

On the making front, things have been a little slower.  I've been spinning a bit, and slowly chipping away on a couple knitting projects.  The big excitement is that I'm planning to attempt an Alabama Chanin-style project in a week or so with my dear Jen.  We've got several yards of jersey cotton, Natalie Chanin's book, and a load of ambition.  We'll see if we emerge with anything wearable...  I'll be sure to post back here, even if the end result is a large t-shirt-turned-potholder.  Cross your fingers for us.

Nest Fibers – Falkland Wool

Singles...

A Change in the Air

Fall is here.  Halloween decorations are coming out.  Costumes are being discussed.  School is in full swing.  The fast pace of my work in the summer months has slowed.  I feel like cooking again.

Simple and lovely self striping socks

This weekend, leaves started falling in earnest from the Ash tree.  Sweet gum balls are starting to litter the lawns in the neighborhood.  We made an early morning trip to Soulard Market for produce and came home and put together a delicious pot of butternut squash bisque.  (Recipe compliments of my friend Jen.)

Nest "Amanar" spun in a gradient

Three ply (Chain Ply)

Wool Silk blend

I've been spinning more, and knitting some new things, and another batch of wool arrived from Nest. I always feel like saying this is my favorite season... it might be.  But I say that every time the weather changes... it's probably better to say that I just like living where the seasons are marked by real changes in the weather.

Fall sweater plans for the Peanut.

The garden is nearly done... one lone eggplant remains because it bears a little eggplant that might grow a bit yet.  Raking leaves will soon be upon us, and my parents shared a car load of gourds and squash for our fall decor.

Cannot wait to greet their "Pop"

We drove home in the middle of the week to make sure the girls got to participate in harvest for at least a few hours.  I will forever love the smell of fall air filled with corn dust, and dry earth smells with a subtle undertone of diesel fuel.

To be spun next - 100% Finn wool - isn't it pretty?

I hope that your fall is off to a good start.

Birthday Adventures and Furniture Nostalgia

People are getting older around here.  And this fledgling girl gets so excited to be a year older... this year was one of transitions.  Gone are the crib and the toddler toys, and a new, old big-girl bed and some bigger kid toys have arrived.

Make a wish

There was a chocolate cake with chocolate mint ganache... we don't fool around with bland cakes.  They are so seldom baked around here that I like to make the fun ones for birthdays.  This recipe was from the Baked cookbook, of the namesake bakery in Redhook, Brooklyn.

Birthday friends

I had a chance to experiment with fondant molding too.  The peanut very specifically and consistently requested that her cake be adorned with a bunny, a turtle and a squirrel.  So thanks to a little surfing around pinterest for fondant animal inspiration, I came up with these.  They worked quite well, even if the bunny did try to lay down just before the candles were lit.

In progress

And the big gift this year was the big bed.  Her sister got the same on this birthday, and she was very excited to have a big bed of her own.  I am the fortunate new owner of this charming twin bed from the furniture left behind in my grandparents home.  I have the fondest memories of spending nights there as a little girl.  Noni loved yellow, and this was the cheerful bedstead in the smallest bedroom upstairs.  In the summer you were guaranteed to sleep on crispy clean cotton sheets, probably with a floral pattern.  And in the winter it would undoubtedly be flannel... that upstairs was chilly, which made the bed that much more cosy.  

I am so excited to have the opportunity to put this bed to good use in our own home and update it a little for our girl.  Lots of love then and now around this well used piece of furniture. 

Sanding and sunshine

Ready for a new coat of paint

Not too subtle to go with her cheery new quilt

Earlier this year I made a log cabin quilt for this anticipated birthday.  Most all the fabric for this project was remnant material from garment projects or other pieces here and there.  And the log cabin pattern is so easy to put together.  I'm not much of a quilter... but I really wanted her to have a quilt of her own.

Log cabin debut

It was a good birthday.  There was plenty of family, laughter, sugar and love.  She got lots of attention and spent the day at full tilt, until the car ride home when she promptly passed out.  Oh, to be three again.