I have to say that the weather this summer up here in the mountains hasn't been the best.  So much more humidity then we are used to and a lot of murky days.  Our first few days on the Cape were pretty much the same.  Cloudy, hot and humid, but we decided to make the best of it and visit places we had never seen.

We started out in Chatham and visited this beautiful lighthouse and walked along the beach…but not too close, there could be some sharks in those waters!

Ken spotted this little pie shop that he wanted to visit, so we stopped in on the way home and when I tell you it is little, I mean postage stamp little.  Oh my though when you walk in all you see are wonderful, delicious pies!  Sweet pies, meat pies, seafood pies.  We took home a small chocolate cream pie and a small blueberry pie…YUM!

If you are bringing your children into this tiny little shop though…..beware! Haha!

The next day we headed to the Ferry in Falmouth and over to Martha's Vineyard.  It's the first year that we have visited the Vineyard alone.  While I enjoyed visiting with my daughters one year and my granddaughter another year, it was nice to wander around at a slower pace.  I remembered loving Edgartown when we visited with the girls one year, so we visited again this year and instead of spending time shopping, we walked along the beautiful streets and homes.  I could SO live in this place!

All that walking definitely made for 2 thirsty adults so we headed back to the shopping and restaurants and found a great place right on the water…the Seafood Shanty.

It was a delightful place with delicious seafood…and with a view like this…I know we will be back again someday!

 

I have been trying to find my blog voice again, so to ease back into it, I thought I would follow Carole's lead and share snippets of our summer vacation on Cape Cod.  We have been so fortunate to enjoy 7 amazing summers on the Cape both with our children and some alone. 
We have loved every single vacation!
Many of these postcards will be clipped from videos because I am also trying to better about doing my 1 second video as a way of sharing our life with my grandchildren….so here we go!

 Our yearly trek to the cape this year was filled with crazy frustrating traffic around Boston, but when we saw this duck boat we both smiled thinking of our favorite sport teams who have graced these boats in celebration! 

The traffic though…yah, it sucked! To keep it positive, it was definitely uphill from here. We love our time on Cape Cod!

It was pretty late by the time we got to our little house in Mashpee, so we opted to eat and sip some cocktails on the sweet little screened in porch that we get to enjoy for a week. 
I guess we were both exhausted because we slept until 9am Sunday morning and if you know my husband at all you know that NEVER happens..ha!  It was so nice not to to have to jump up and have to get something done.  I took the free time to get some knitting done.

More about this sweater next week…..it is finished!!

Peacock iridescence in veridical shadows,
Violet blooms spread to noonday sun.
The world's beauty is a swirl of color,
But in the flower's center is bright stillness.
Deng Ming~Dao

It's been a while hasn't it?  When I took this picture yesterday, I was looking for this very quote from my favorite little book, but just couldn't find it even though I searched for a long spell.
Yet, when I was feeling a bit sad tonight about a few things and opened my little book for some words of wisdom, this was the very page I opened.  

I have been finding social media a bit overwhelming at times lately, so you will probably see me here more as the days go on.  I have always found my blog a comforting place to share things that are important to me with things that I love…kind of like going home. 

The words of Deng Ming~Dao as you know if you have visited me here over the years are words that I find inspiring, encouraging and frequently challenging, so it makes me smile to come back here to write starting again with one of my favorite Deng Ming~Dao quotes.
 

 

Honeybees depend not only on physical contact with the colony, but also require its social companionship and support.  Isolate a honeybee from her sisters and she will soon die.
 ~ The Queen Must Die and Other Affairs of Bees and Men

It's been awhile since I have visited, but this always feels like home after all of these years and I am always happy to be here because I always draw inspiration from my sister bees! 🙂

Some of you may have seen that I ran a sale for Memorial Day and I had a very strange run on my Emma yarn, which made me know that someone had designed a pattern using this yarn base.  After a quick google search I found that the pattern design is a challenging 4 day sweater knit called the Beekeeper's Cardigan.

Did you just read this?  Do you know me?  If you do you know how very much I love our little bee sisters who work so hard to pollinate the food that we frequently eat with no real knowledge of just how they helped to put that food on our table.  Bzzzz!

(Marie Greene image) 

The above picture is from Marie Greene's images on Ravelry and once I saw her pictures I knew immediately that this was one challenge I would commit to this summer…and I am hoping to do it in a week.  I know that the design is a 4 day sweater, but she gives a little more time to those of us who are not tiny and I am giving myself an extra day or two for working 2 jobs, one of which has been dyeing yarn for others to knit this honey sweet sweater!

When I was knitting my swatch I was torn between which side of the fabric I would use and to admit I am not completely sure yet which side I will use.  In the swatch above and in Marie's picture you can see the bees if you use your imagination and on the flip side as you may see in my first picture you see the soft honeycombs.  Both are so beautiful!  The beauty of this pattern is you do not have to decide right away as there are no button bands.

The yarn that I used in these pictures is not Emma.  Because I sold out of this yarn so quickly, I decided to use a new dk weight yarn blend of soft merino, baby alpaca and silk that I have recently brought in and I really like it a lot.  Enough so that I will be adding it to my line and calling it "Piper" and will be listing it later this month.  Such a soft yarn against sensitive skin, which I definitely have.  The color of course is Tupelo Honey which is one of my most favorites, showing the beautiful shades of golden orange and soft greens of the pollen our little bee sisters collect on their journeys.

As a side note after talking to my mill, I will have more Emma here on Monday in limited quantities, so I opened up orders again for a little while as I know his supply is limited until late August.

I can't wait to knit my sweater and I look forward to seeing yours!!

 

 

It's been a little while since I have been able to spend time at my favorite place…with you!
My life probably mirrors so many of you out there.  Trying to find the right balance between family, work, creative endeavors and social media.  It can be a challenging for sure as we all know.

I have been busy though and have a lot to share with you, hopefully over the next few days, which may turn into weeks because of the above challenges. 😉

So…I have been dabbling with pottery over the last year or so, taking classes at our local NH League of Craftsman.  I LOVE going to class even if it is at the end of a 9 hour workday and a quick gulp down dinner.  
I have learned SO much about playing with mud and how much fun it can be…and how very frustrating it can be at the same time.  Clay can have a mind of it's own it seems until you learn how to quietly master it.  
I'm not there yet, but I will keep working towards that goal.

Over the year I have had some successes along with many failures, but this is how we learn, right?  Each step of the process is a new challenge from throwing the vessel, trimming it, glazing it and finally keeping your fingers crossed when it goes into the final firing.
I have to say I was very happy with this small grouping of tea mugs and bowl.  I can't wait to pick up my bigger bowl in the same glaze combo tomorrow that someone accidentally took home .

 

The interesting part about pottery is that you can put one of the glazes that you love over another bottom glaze and get a completely different look. Trial and error for sure. These pieces had the same top dip that I used on the pieces above but over a different base glaze and you can see what a difference just one little glaze choice can make.  I like these, but I don't love them the same way I love the others.

…and even though these were dipped with the same glaze but in a different order, you can see how different they can be.
Goodness, this should keep my ADD brain busy for the rest of my years…ha!!

 

I have reached the point now where I will work at home.  I was able to find a pottery wheel in Vermont a year ago for a very reasonable price and the bonus is it's the same wheel we use in class, so I am familiar with it.

I also found this older kiln in Maine for next to nothing.  It's in pristine condition and even though it's an older manual kiln, our electrician has wired the studio and it works!  
New adventures and challenges to keep life interesting.

 

The first installment of this year's yarn club mailed out yesterday.  Such a fun design!!

One of the things I love best about the yarn club is working with such incredibly talented designers.  I give them free reign to choose the design and colors that inspire them based on the theme for the year.  This year's theme is "Woman in History".
Our first designer, Christina Campbell of The Healthy Knitter chose Eleanor Roosevelt as the woman she wanted to create a design around.

Christina is well known for her "Peace Projects" and pattern designs, which is why she chose Eleanor, a woman who worked hard for peace during a time of war.

This lovely cowl is made using our Sporty Grace.  Christina chose the olive drab color on the first half to represent the heavy handed presence of war.  In the second half the pink becomes the focal point to represent that with determination and hard work, peace can prevail.

Thank you SO much Christina!

You may be capable of great things,
But life consists of small things.
Deng Ming Dao

Sooo….how about that month of January that felt like it had 74 days??  It was an incredibly cold and gloomy month, but now that we have moved into February the sun is a little higher in the sky and the days are longer.  It's a beautiful, albeit very cold day up here today~

Many of you out there in blog land have met my middle daughter Ashley.  She frequently came to the NETA SPA gathering to help me in my booth back when I worked at SPA.  This February she is taking it a little easier than in past years because she is expecting her first BABY!!
None of us thought that Ashley was going to have a baby because she had always been on the fence about it so when we were all VERY surprised when she told us this summer.

Of course my mind immediately went to thoughts of more little sweaters to knit and little quilts to sew.
Ashley and Brian love the forest and being outdoors, so the colors in this little sweater will be perfect for Baby G.  We know it will be a little boy so I chose some of the colors of the forest for both his sweater and quilt.

Pinwheels was Ashley's most favorite show when she was little, so I am making a pinwheel quilt with these fabrics.
I'm looking forward to watching it grow while we wait for the new littlest little.

 

 

Pattern: Lineate
Designer:  Elizabeth Doherty of Blue Bee Studio
Yarn:  Woolen Rabbit Egret
Colorways:  Birchbeer, Natural and Poppy
Needles:  US size 2 and 3

Gone are my days for having a lovely model at my daily disposal, so you are stuck with me..ha!  
I am going to try and have my beautiful granddaughter come over this weekend and take a few pictures of her with this hat so you will be able to see just how cute this hat is, especially when the edging isn't partially rolled up..

This was a super easy and quick knit with enough interest that keeps your attention.  It only took me 4 days to knit and that was just in my limited spare time.  I could see this hat in SO many different color combinations and Egret is so incredibly soft against my skin.  Normally I am super sensitive to any teeny amount of itch that might be in yarn, but I had zero reaction to this yarn base!

Isn't the top of this hat super cute?  I just love it!!
I will post more pictures after I have McKayla model a few.

Now to finish my sweater that is almost done and then concentrate on some "wee" baby things!

 

To celebrate the new year, Elizabeth Doherty of Blue Bee Studio and I are each giving away a sweater kit for her new design, Archer, knit in The Woolen Rabbit Airy.  I love, love, love this sweater!!  Very similar in design to Brickyard which is what I am knitting now, but without the texture on the top and in a lighter weight yarn.

YOU WILL NEED TO HOP ON OVER TO INSTAGRAM TO ENTER

Here's all you need to do to enter to win the Woolen Rabbit kit:
• Follow both @woolenrabbit and @bluebeestudio on Instagram
• Like this post
• Take a look at the colorways on the Woolen Rabbit website (link in my profile), then comment on this post, and tell me what color or color(s) of Airy you’d like to knit Archer in
• Tag a friend who might also like to win an Archer kit

Entry closes Wednesday, January 10, at 8 pm (PST). One winner will be chosen at random to receive a digital copy of the Archer pattern, and a sweater’s quantity of Airy yarn to knit it with! 
Winners will be announced on Thursday, January 11. Check out @bluebeestudio's post to find out how to win her kit.

The winner may choose a striped or single-color Archer kit from any of my custom colors.

 

     

For a number of years now I have chosen a word to embrace or to challenge me along the year's journey.  Some years such as my "Sparkle" year were fun and easy.  Last year my goal of being more organized using the word "Harmony" was not so easy, but I learned a lot about myself and picked up some good habits along the way. (I'm saving that journey for another post.)

This year I have chosen the word "Gratitude".
To be honest, I hadn't really thought too much about a word, but when I saw this video last month it really had me to thinking about things I wanted to focus on in the New Year.
Take the 10 minutes to watch it when you have time.  You won't be disappointed!

I think that it is human nature to get bogged down in the negatives instead of instinctively looking for the positives, so to help me this year, I created this little book of "Gratitudes".  As much as I would love to be a creative journal writer, I have learned that I am just not, so to keep it simple, at the end of the day, or even during the day, I will write 4 or 5 things that I am grateful for.  Things that have made me smile during the day or something that may have made a positive impact on my day.  Or…maybe something that I did to help another person have a positive moment.

I'm looking forward to embracing this year of Gratitude!
Do you have a word that is meaningful to you for the New Year?