I actually had some free time this weekend…..yay!  I used that time to play with fabric, which I have really wanted to do for quite some time now, but just could not find the free hours. 

I have been planning to make a larger knitting bag, so I got out the scissors, fabric and sewing machine and started playing.  So much fun!

What you see above is a prototype that I would like to increase to a size large enough to hold a sweater in process.  This bag is larger than my wee bunny sock bags, but a bit smaller than needed to hold a sweater.

What things do you like most in a knitting bag?

Hmm….so this Ten on Tuesday is a bit of a cruel joke for those of us who live in the Northern New England.  This week's Topic is Ten Reasons To Be Happy It's Spring…and the picture that you see is what greeted me this morning when I put the dogs out. 
Another 6 inches of wet snow……Big sigh!

Anyways……here goes my ten reasons….

1.  The birds come home….I love listening to their frantic Spring chatter.
2.  If it snows in March and April….it melts fairly fast
3.  The tourists all go home 
4.  I love getting out in the garden before the black flies arrive
5.  Going for walks and not freezing
6.  Opening the windows and letting the warm air in
7.  The geese come back to the pond across the street.  I love listening to their gentle night time honking.
8.  Baby robins….we have a nest of them every year
9.  Sitting in the late afternoon sun with a glass of wine and reading a book
10.  Packing all of the heavy clothes away for another season

Now if the snow would just stay away until next year I would be extra happy for Spring. 😉

Rain scatters plum petals;
Weeping stains the earth.
One can only take shelter
And wait for clearing. 

The greatest sorrow of life is witnessing.  Experiencing our own sufferings is not as difficult as watching others held in fate's mighty grip.  Bearing our own problems is easier because we are always aware that we can exercise other options.  However, it hurts when we can do nothing for others.  The greatest sorrow is to see those we love suffer helplessly.
Deng Ming~Dao

You may wonder why this quote is under this picture as they are totally unrelated…and they are.  This was a hard week for myself and my children.  We lost a young member of our family in a tragic way….and while we gathered together to support each other and enjoy those that we have not seen for some time, it was hard to witness the pain and heartbreak that this young man's Mom and Dad were feeling….it is indeed a helpless feeling, but I think we all helped by being there if in just a small way, which is good.

Ok….back to the little wallets.  Remember last week I mentioned that I was taking an all day sewing class?  Well, this is what we made.  Many many years ago I used to sew a lot of not only my own clothes, but my children's as well.  Mother of necessity as it would be during those day.  Setting a zipper in a pair of pants was not something that I thought much about, but 20 years later, I was scratching my head about putting zippers in things….yikes!  I figured it would be a good thing to take a class to learn the correct way instead of my usual guessing. 😉
(it's nice to have the time for classes now)

 
Of course it came right back to me quickly…and I probably didn't need to take that class, but it was fun!  It was fun to sit and enjoy the company of new aquaintences…..something I have missed over the years. 🙂

Ashley and Courtney quickly snagged those little wallets….and one is on the horizon for Hannah.  It makes me smile that the girls enjoy the fruits of my labor. 🙂

I have lots of new fabrics and lots of new ideas kicking around in my head….now I just have to find the time to help those ideas come to fruition. 🙂

(picture is from allposters.com)
This week's Ten on Tuesday topic is Pies in celebration of Pi day (3/14).  I don't eat pie that often because I have a wonderful baker friend who makes pie much better than I, so when I need a pie I just give him a call. ;0)

I do love to eat pie though, so here are my top ten favorite pies

1.  My all time favorite pie is Blueberry with a little vanilla ice cream and lemon sauce…mmmmm.
2.  Coconut Cream (this one is Ken's favorite)
3.  Mince pie, but only at Thanksgiving with a dollop of whipped cream
4.  Boston Cream Pie, even though it really is a cake. :0)
5.  Pumpkin or Squash pie, topped with ice cream
6.  Key Lime Pie
7.  Pizza Pie….especially bacon
8.  Strawberry Rhubarb
9.  Banana Cream Pie
10.  American Pie…not a pie at all but one of my most favorite songs and movie.

Tomorrow I am attending an all day sewing class….I share more about that soon. 🙂

Arctic breath coils the mountain,
Rattling the forests' bones.
Raindrops cling to branches
Jewelled adornment flung to earth.

Trees in winter lose their leaves.  Some trees may even fall during storms, but most stand patiently and bear their fortune.

They endure rain, snow, wind and cold.  They bear the adornment of glycerin raindrops, glimmering icicles, or crowns of snow without care.  They stand, and they wait, the power of their growth apparently dormant.  But inside, a burgeoning is building imperceptibly.

Theirs is the forbearance of being true to their inner natures.  It is with this power that they withstand both the vicissitudes and adornment of life, for neither bad fortune nor good fortune will alter what they are.  We should be the same way.

We may have great fortune or bad, but we should patiently bear both.  No matter what, we must always be true to our inner selves.
Deng Ming ~Dao

This post was going to be a rant on how tired I am of winter, especially after the 6 inch snow fall we received today on top of the foot still on the ground…. but as I thumbed through my favorite little book for a quote and read the above passage, I decided that ranting really wasn't appropriate, so I will let the following picture say the rest….

Hopefully Spring is coming soon…….

One of the things I told myself that I would do once I was working at one job instead of two was to blog more often.  I have less verbal contact with people now that I am not having to answer the phone all day, so it's important to me to not only be surrounded by a community of like minded friends, but to also exercise my brain. 🙂

So in saying this,I am going to join Carole with her Ten on Tueday posts.  This week the topic is Ten Favorite Smells.  She mentions the smell of Spring in her post, but there is no such smell here in the mountains yet.  We still have a lot of snow on the ground as you can see peeking out in the above picture. So here I go….

1.  The smell of rain just before it starts in the summer……
2.  Fresh coffee brewing while I am still in bed
3.  Puppy breath
4.  Freshly picked basil…I love the licorice smell
5.  Roses growing outside on the bush
6.  Freshly mowed grass
7.  Dried fall leaves crunching underfoot in October
8.  My honeysuckle tree
9.  Downy fabric softener…reminds me of my kids when they were babies
10. Beautiful perfume.  My kids will tell you I have worn it forever! LOL

Whew…that wasn't too hard. 🙂

Pattern:  Eliza
Yarn:  Woolen Rabbit Lucent
Colorway:  Lady Slipper
Needles: 2.25mm

I haven't talked much about knitting lately, have I? 

That would probably be because there has not been a lot of knitting happening around here.  What little knitting I have been doing has been fingerless mitts.  Whereas I am horrible about getting that second sock finished, I am pretty darn good at knitting a pair of mitts….go figure..LOL.

The above pair of mitts was knit using Anne's Eliza pattern.  She and I were paired to do a non-sock club project for yarn4socks.  Anne's theme was "My Fair Lady" and I love her interpretation of Eliza Doolittle.  The pretty little pleats and lace were just perfect!

  
Next on tap….

Pattern:  Curling
Yarn:  Woolen Rabbit Lucent
Colorway:  Birch Beer (knit before photographed…whoops)
Needles:  2.25mm

I LOVE these mitts.  Even though I knit them as a show display, these ones will be mine.  I will knit another pair for show. 😉

….and yet another mitt I am working on….yikes! 

I do have a few larger projects slated for this spring and summer, so I am enjoying the fast knits while I can. 🙂

This mitt is Fallberry from Knitty.  It's a free pattern and quite enjoy enjoyable to knit.  The yarn I am using is a new yarn that I am bringing in.  It's an 8 ply superwash sport weight yarn.

Anne and I were talking last week about yarns and we both agreed that there needs to be some nice artisan washable yarns for children and adults who don't want to be bothered with hand washing.  This week I have listed a sportweight called Pixie and a dk/worsted weight yarn called Frolic.  I will be adding new colors next week for both yarns.

I will admit that I am not a huge fan of superwash yarn, but I have a grandson who keeps begging his grammy to knit him a sweater and I know his mother is not careful enough not to toss that sweater into the wash, so it is for him that I am adding a few new superwash yarns into the mix.  He deserves a beautiful handknit sweater. 🙂
Thanks Aidan!

I am so surprised that no one, not even my good friend Manise knew what my little stamp is used for.  Manise grew up in Greece and while that is not Italy, she is usually pretty good with all things European.

Please excuse the quality of the pictures.  I hate using a flash, so I didn't…but dinner time here comes at a time when it is getting dark, so the pictures reflect that. 😦

The little stamp is used in making Corzetti…..little pasta coins.  One end of the stamp works similar to a cookie cutter, then you press the cut out coin between the 2 stamped ends and get these lovely stamped pasta coins.  I discovered this tool when reading this blog a few weeks ago.

I absolutely love making pasta, so when I read this post and then saw these beautiful wooden stamps I was completely intrigued.  I skipped over to the Artisanal Pasta Tool page and was immediately hooked.  Terry clearly shares the same love for finely crafted wooden tools as I….his work is beautiful!

So, after I ordered a Corzetti stamp I wasted spent a lot of time watching the pasta videos from the Fine Cooking Culinary School.  What a great way to learn new pasta making techniques.  I came away inspired to try new things. 🙂

Last night I christened the corzetti stamp with this recipe.  Of course the lighting in my picture sucks, so scroll down and see the Front Burner's Brown Butter recipe and picture…..it was a fabulous meal!

I can see a few more wooden pasta tools in my very near future. Mangia!

I am a "wood ho"

A few of my friends like to tease me because I am forever purchasing drop spindles that they know I will never really use for more than a few minutes here and there.

I hate to admit it, but it is true.  There is something so inviting to me however when I see freshly carved wooden objects.  The smell of turps and stain, the patina of newly applied Danish oil…..I just LOVE it!

Years ago I used to restore antiques and it was for the very same reason…the feeling of a beautiful old patina under my hand that let me know that the item was once well loved and used….and the smell of those turps again. 

It gave me enormous pleasure to take an old dirty piece and restore it back to it's glorious self.  Now that I have a little more free time, I may use that time to restore a few old pieces that we have here. 🙂

So it goes without saying that I would carry my love for well crafted wood items over to my current life with fiber.  The bowls above are yarn bowls made by Yellow Dog Farm.  The bowl on the top is made with Cherry wood and the other I don't quite remember what the wood is, but I just love the grain. I can still smell the oil while I knit and it makes me smile.

…I have a particular fondness for curly, birdseye, spalted or quilted maple.  This niddy noddy made from quilted maple matches the special Robin wheel that she came with. There are only 2 of these wheels made from this wood and I am very thankful that I own one of them.  I love the soft light maple surrounded by the darker bands and the grey quilted veins through out.

…and then there is my double pointed needle holder used when I am knitting socks.  Not only is it beautiful, it is functional, keeping my needles together and all of the stitches on said needles. 

This holder is made by Knitzi and is made again with Cherry.  I love the little carvings on the ends.

 
Soooo…I guess it won't surprise you that my love for wood spills over into my everyday life as well.  Last week this little beauty made in cherry arrived on my doorstep and I immediately loved it!

Can you guess what it is called?  I will show you tomorrow. 🙂

Yes….Kelly, I am an addict and I freely admit it. 😉

 
I hope you had an enjoyable Valentine's Day!  Did you do anything special?

It was a relatively quiet Valentine's Day here, so I thought I would try my hand at baking some cookies in between packing up dog club paperwork. 

Now every year for some strange reason I get an urge to bake for this holiday…I'm not quite sure why, but I do.  Some of my creations have been successful and some…well….SO not.  My kids would be happy to tell you about the epic failures…LOL.    (I am no Martha…just sayin')

 

This year I gave this recipe a try.  The recipe says that the dough will be dry and crumbly and the author wasn't lying.  Making these cookies was a workout for sure, but the flavor of the cookie is nice and mine would have been much better had I not over baked them…..mine are little heart hockey pucks…LOL.
(I should stick to dyeing)

Oh well, maybe next year I will Carole's cream puffs a try.  At least I know those are yummy…at least that's the word on the street. 😉