Month: October 2025

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Visiting Vermont

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Last weekend Ken and I decided to take a ride up to Vermont to visit with my littlest littles, although they are not so little any longer. Normally we would stay overnight at my daughter Ashley’s house, but with their guest room having been transformed into an office for my son in law’s new job, we decided to spend the night in Montpelier Vermont. How beautiful is their Capital Building! (more about Montpelier in a minute)

I was so excited to spend time with these 2 little cuties. Goodness they are both getting so darn big!! Ken spent a lot of time playing games with the kids in their play area and then we headed down to their back yard field to have Cullen show us his new soccer skills.

Go Cullen!!

It was such a nice day and so wonderful to spend with them all in this beautiful place that they call home.

After a good night’s sleep we headed over to downtown Montpelier. The architecture in this city is nothing short of stunning. I wish that I had snapped off a few pictures of the old grand homes with beautiful ornate corbels and colorful paint.
Sadly so many of the homes that we saw were looking very run down and faded, but the beauty of the homes still shone through.

Overall I absolutely LOVED the vibe in this city. Full of artisan shops, great little eateries and this bar that made me laugh out loud!

Of course I did wander into a little fabric/yarn shop called Notion Fabric and Craft and maybe a few small pieces of fabric came home with me, along with a little bottle of perfume that I picked up in another small shop.
All in all it was a very good weekend!

Knitting

Getting Ready for Winter

Kim Kaslow1 Comment
A cozy knitted set including a textured brown hat, a patterned shawl, and matching mittens arranged near a decorative star-cut lantern.

Patterns used
Hat: “Elisbeth” by Bonne Marie Burns
Yarn: WW Kashmir ~ Colorway: Cornhusk
Scarf/Shawl: “Spotlight” by Woolenberry
Yarn: Opal ~ Colorway: Cornhusk
Mittens: “Wood Hollow” by Kristen Kapur
Yarn: WW Kashmir ~ Cornhusk

Last spring after I tucked away my mismatched mittens and hat for the season and made it a mission to create a cozy winter set for the upcoming winter.

I started with the shawl which was a joy to knit! It is designed by a designer that I have worked with in the past for my “Fairy Tales” yarn club, Janina Kallio, who is the owner of Woolenberry designs. She creates some of the most beautiful yet simple to knit shawls and this one did not disappoint. I really enjoyed knitting this! I see more of her designs in my future.

Next on the needles was a hat/headband pattern that I have knit SO many times!!! Enough times that the designer, Bonne Marie Burns, used a picture of my daughter for her headband pattern. It’s called “Elisbeth” and I swear for someone who has so much trouble getting through a second sock or mitten, this pattern is like eating potato chips for me. I could just keep knitting them one after another and the best part is that I LOVE wearing this hat design. The hat itself is incredibly comfortable and knit with my WW Kashmir yarn, it is incredibly soft next to your skin.

Lastly are the “Wood Hollow” mittens designed by my friend Kristen Kapur. We both discovered the world of fiber, yarn and knitting designs around the same time before it exploded. I can’t believe it has been over 20 years already! As you may have figured out from my above comment, I am not a fan of knitting 2 of the same thing which makes knitting mittens a little bit of a challenge for me, however, I like having warm hands even more..ha!
This is a fun to knit pattern and a nice introduction to doing cable work on double pointed knitting needles.

Now I’m ready for winter….are you? What’s on your knitting needles?

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Weekending..

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A rocky jetty extending into the calm ocean water under a clear blue sky, with a few people walking in the distance.

Goodness, it was such a beautiful weekend here! The temperatures were comfortable, the sun was bright and the foliage stunning!

Saturday morning we walked to the center of town with friends and neighbors to support our right to protest against some of the decisions that our government is making for all of us. It was very peaceful and judging from the traffic that drove by, a good majority showed their support as well. I am not a political person by nature, but I have always said that you can’t complain if you are not willing to do something even as simple as voting to make your voice heard and count.

The rest of the day was spent working around this old house. Ken and I would like to eventually sell our house as it has become much too large for us now that the kids are all out on their own. Ken painted the front of the barn/studio and I gave the car a good cleaning to get it ready for the winter (cleaning out the sand from beach trips..LOL)

A close-up view of a modern building featuring a slanted design, large windows, and surrounded by blooming flowers under a clear blue sky.

Sunday was a wonderful day! We pushed ourselves on Saturday (mostly Ken) so we could leave early for Rockport and Camden, Maine. It was our first visit in 33 years!

When we were dating, Ken had booked a weekend at the Samoset Hotel, and it was during that trip, I made up my mind that I was going to marry him. It was great fun to return, and see how the hotel has been transformed into a resort!

A scenic view of a waterfront park with colorful autumn foliage. People are walking along a path near the water, and benches are visible in the background.
Entrance of Camden Public Library featuring a stone archway and green doors with a sign displaying the library's name and establishment year.

After leaving the Samoset, we drove to Camden, where we walked around the shops and along the water, admiring the big sailboats covered for winter. We had a great lunch at the Camden Deli, which I highly recommend if you’re in the area!

This library! I LOVE it! The building on the top is the older portion of the library complete with a little gazebo to read in and the newer part was built into the ground underneath it. Incredible!!!

It was a good weekend. I hope you had a good weekend in your corner of the world.

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Mmmm….bread!

Kim Kaslow1 Comment
Two freshly baked loaves of sourdough bread with a golden crust and sprinkled with oats, resting on a wire cooling rack.

Who doesn’t love bread?
During Covid, like everyone else I decided to learn how to build a sourdough starter and make beautiful loaves of bread. Well, that was the thought anyways. I bought 50 pounds of bread flour, all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. I bought big bins to keep in my kitchen while I jumped in with both feet (and hands). There were SO many fails! Whaat? I used to make such beautiful yeasted breads, however this was not the case with sourdough at all.

Ey yi yi, no one ever told me about the HUGE learning curve there was to creating beautiful sourdough bread. Sourdough is a finicky girl until you get to know her…and it takes a LONG time to get to know her. The starter, the bulk fermentation, the proofing, the scoring, etc.,etc. I am 5 years in now and am finally getting to the point where I am getting good consistent results that I can count on.

Thankfully the internet with all of its flaws gives us so many opportunities to learn and I have learned from some wonderful bakers on Instagram and the links that they have shared. When my brain isn’t so tired, the next time I bake bread, I will share some of the links that really helped me along the way.

Why is my brain tired you may ask? I feel like I am on that same HUGE learning curve again learning how to use WordPress for blogging. I am so thankful that I was able to find a method to preserve the 20 plus years of blog posts from when I first started. Finding a program that I know is going to be so much easier in the long run with WordPress has helped me to become excited about sharing my small corner of the world again with you. I’m not going to lie though, the brain drain learning the ins and outs has been huge..LOL.

Thank you for hanging in there with me all these years and hopefully many more years to come!


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What’s on the Needles

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A close-up view of a hand-knit sock in progress, showcasing a textured pattern in a warm cinnamon color, placed on a white dish with knitting needles and a glass vase in the background.

Last August I did the one yearly yarn show that I still do these days. It’s called “Fiber Revival” and it’s held in Newbury, Massachusetts. In addition to the yarn sales, there is an old time baseball game, a beer truck and the beautiful fields of the Spence-Peirce-Little Farm. The weather is usually amazing and it’s a fun time to meet with old friends!

When I was dyeing up all of the yarn to bring with me, I tried a few new colors together…”playing in the depot”. It’s always a surprise because the colors do not always come out as I envisioned they would but a lot of times I end up loving them. This was the case with the color of the yarn on my needles. It made me think of the little cinnamon hearts that we used to eat when I was much younger, so I tucked a few skeins away for myself.

Recently the sweet Robin Red sock pattern came across my Instagram feed and I immediately thought of those Cinnamon Heart skeins of yarn I had set aside, cast the yarn on my needles and I am loving how it’s working up. The pattern is easy to follow along with and I can see a pair on my feet soon!