This is the moment of embarking.
All auspicious signs are in place.
In the beginning, all things are hopeful.  We prepare ourselves to start anew.  Though we may be intent on the magnificent journey ahead, all things are contained in this first moment; our optimism, our faith, our resolution, our innocence.
 Deng Ming~Dao

I was fortunate to have a few days off, so I am spending a little time with you today.

This year has been a whirlwind learning how to balance my work at the Vet Hospital with my work here at The Woolen Rabbit, but I have finally found a rhythm that seems to work.

Today I had the luxury of sleeping in a little later than usual and with no real schedule to hurry to on this day, I was able to enjoy the quiet of the day with no interruptions.  I spent the morning listening to some classical music on my Echo (another post), knitting on my Peace Project cowl and baking some banana bread to share with my parents tomorrow when they come to care for my dogs while I am at work. 

As this year winds down, it was nice to have some time to contemplate the upcoming year.  I have a new word for the new year that I will share with you soon.  This word will be a ginormous challenge for me, but I am up for the task…I think I need a new challenge to keep life interesting..ha!
One part of my word will have me here with you more often, so check back soon. 😉

Last month Ken and I took a trip to the Cape and then spent some time with our friends, Dale and Carole .  It was so nice to get out of the Valley for a few days.  It truly is beautiful up here, but sometimes it is nice just to get away, right?

Carole had started a new knitting project, "The Peace Project Cowl", which is a big knit along that has been happening over the last 21 days to help inspire finding ways to bring Peace into our lives and our world.  Today is the last day and it will finish up with A World-wide Knit-in for Peace Day. 

I was intrigued when Carole told me about this, but having just finished a large cowl project that was not the most enjoyable knit for me, I was hesitant to start another.  Now this other large cowl is lovely and I will share it with you soon, once it's recipient is home, so don't get me wrong…I just didn't love knitting it.

As I watched Carole knitting along, I liked the gentle flow to the pattern….a soothing hum as she knit along while we watched football.  Having just finished something that was a bit challenging to finish, I thought that I would take a look at this pattern and Christine's blog.  Carole had mentioned that she was enjoying the prompts on the blog, so yesterday I had a free hour and spent it really enjoying what Christine had to share about her desire to inspire Peace, while I was knitting along on this sweet little knit.  I love this enough to most likely knit another one!
Go take a look….it's a nice way to spend some time knitting and thinking about our lives and the world around us.

Today, while I have to head to work, I will be bringing this sweet eternity cowl with me to knit during lunch.
Thank you Christine and Carole!

 

 

 

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One of the best parts of working in the business that I do, is working with amazingly talented designers.  Designers who I respect, admire and love their designs.

Alicia Plummer is one of these designers.  We worked together in one of my yarn clubs a few years ago where she created one of my most popular club designs based around the fairy tale, "The Ugly Duckling". 

Pattern:  Featherdown  (there is a matching hat pattern here )
Yarn:  Frolic
Colorway:  Beechnut

Alicia's new pattern is called Pasture and Woods, and I love it!  She used my Frolic yarn again paired with the lovely yarns of Nice and Knit.  The dark blue yarn is my "Forever In Blue Jeans" colorway.

Alicia wrote this about the design…
"Green-grey moss clings to granite stonewalls loosely lining the pasture. It is a break in the middle of the trails, an expanse of sky between the forest. The land rolls and dips, the color of faded straw and hay. A well worn footpath weaves through it, leading back into the woods. Planked boardwalks rest at the fringe of the treeline, where shadows are evergreen and secret trails lay hidden."

I love this design!  Colorwork is on my list of things to learn how to do better this winter and I think this will be the perfect project!  The hat pattern is available now here and the mitt pattern will follow soon.
Perfect small knits for Christmas, don't you think?

Thank you Alicia for your lovely designs!

Today's post was going to be about the fun Thanksgiving that we all shared, but I decided to leave that for another post as I was excited to receive a group of photos today and wanted to share them with you.

Remember that new knitter that I talked about in this post? 
Well she has been a diligent student it appears.  I haven't taught many people how to knit and truly if you want to know it has been exactly 3.  Hannah when she was super young and she never stuck with it.  McKayla, my granddaughter who wanted to make a scarf, and my daughter Ashley, who really wants to learn.

With Ashley I changed my tactic as knitting a scarf can be super boring, especially when you are learning because you want some gratification that you are actually doing something.  This time around I gave her small challenges. 
Swatches!   Genius..rignt?  Never to early to explain how important a swatch is.
A swatch is not too big to be overwhelming or boring but just big enough to learn skills.

So, with Ashley I was a task master.  I showed her how to cast on (I cast on the first one) and had her knit, knit, knit.  She had to rip it back a few times, but I gave her the website, knittinghelp.com, which has some wonderful reference videos to study and they helped to reinforce her casting on skills.  I can't say enough good things about this website.  I have used it many times myself as an experienced knitter.

Once she mastered the knit stitch, I showed her how to cast off as she and her husband were getting ready to head home after Thanksgiving dinner.
Her next assignment was to cast on and purl a swatch after I demonstrated the purl stitch. Even though I told her it would look exactly the same, she called me the other day worried that she had done something wrong because it did look exactly the same.

When she called me, she asked me why she wasn't seeing the "v's" that she had seen mentioned in things she had read, so I explained to her that was referring to stockinette knitting, which is knit one row then purl one row. 
Today she sent me the above picture, with the comment, What is my next lesson. 🙂
I think she is ready to learn how to knit in the round and make that hat she really wants to knit.

As the Mom to 4 daughters….this makes my heart very happy!
I will have to use this method to help my granddaughter learn as I know she is eager to succeed as well.

Seeing those nice stockinette stitches done with my "Grace" yarn reminded me that I wanted to bring this yarn back in a limited quantity.  It's not an easy yarn to dye consistently in some colors, but in other colors it comes out lovely, so I will dye up a few colorways and list them after Christmas.
~
Knit on!

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In celebration of the wonderful Holiday Season to come, we are doing a Small Business Saturday Sale

15% off your entire order and we are extending it through Sunday.
(12 am Saturday through Sunday 11:30 EST)
Free shipping on orders over $150.00 ~ discount is taken off at checkout.

(Pattern~ Milkweed by Anne Podlesak  Yarn~ Pearl in Cornhusk)

All orders are custom dyed just for you!

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Ken was away last week for a few days visiting his family in Pennsylvania and New York.  It's always such a long stretch for me being home alone now that the kids are all grown and on their own, but someone has to stay behind and care for the dogs here.

A few weeks ago Ashley told me that she received a free organic turkey for Thanksgiving and thought it would be a good donation for our large Thanksgiving family dinner.  Um yes! 
I was very happy when she told me that she was going to come home this weekend to bring the turkey …… and……. she wanted me to teach her how to knit!!
Whaaat???  One of my 4 daughters who has full access to a yarn shop every day, actually wants to learn how to knit?
All of you knitters out there know just how I felt.  Remember the Grinch as his heart grew bigger and bigger?
Yes, this!  As a friend said this weekend.  "She is one of us!"

So for a few hours we sat together knitting.  God bless her, she was concentrating so hard learning how to knit with her right hand as a lefty.  She knows that all of the help videos online are demonstrated by right handed people and after learning to play the guitar left handed, she felt that as a new skill she could do this, and friends…she rocked it!

While she was knitting, I worked on a swatch with a new yarn that I am trying.  This is an organic wool worsted weight natural yarn and I am excited about it.  I was a joy to knit and blocked out beautifully!  Look for it in the next few months.

Happy Knitting!!!

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This is the end result of those pieces of rubber that I was playing with over the weekend and I am so happy with it! 
I wish I had added a stem to the pod at the top, but I can carve an individual stem or create a few different stems to add to the seed pod as I go along.
Ken is going to help me make some plexiglass bases to mount the stamps on to make it easier to apply to the fabric.

I'm not going to lie, it took me a number of tries to get a feeling for the carving tools that I am using.  Lot's of rubber scrap bits that had to be tossed, but it's all about the process, isn't it?  I really enjoyed mixing the paint colors to create a color that was pleasing against the natural linen as well.
I can tell I am going to have a lot of fun with this!

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…and delicious wooden carving tools…oh my!

A few years ago, I discovered the world of block printing and the ability to create your own fabric using different mediums such as rubber and linoleum.  In my excitement, I ordered a few books, watched numerous videos, but life got in the way and my enthusiasm kind of fell by the wayside.
You know how that goes.

Well… over the last few weeks I have finally managed to find some quiet time to play, and I love doing this!  I am creating stamps that I will be able to transfer to fabric and next weekend while Ken is away, I am going to do my best to create a respectable screen for screen printing.

I don't know about you, but I LOVE learning new things!
It keeps life interesting, don't you think?

Now that I am working full time along with running the studio my weekends are usually pretty full with taking care of things around the house that need attending to and working in the studio, but this last Saturday I took some time off to enjoy a lazy morning with numerous cups of coffee.

On one of those trips into the kitchen to fill up my cup, I heard an unexpected knock on my door.
It was my friend Tamara, who I have come to call her my friend through her friendship with my daughter, Ashley.
Tamara is a very talented potter and is one of the owners of The Community Clay Center in Plymouth NH.

A while back Tamara and Ashley came here for a visit and Tamara being a knitter as well wanted to see my yarns and my studio.  It was so fun to watch her reaction to all of the yarn and equipment here.  Because I am always surrounded by it, I never give it much thought, but it is fun to see it through someone else's eyes.  I sent Tamara home with some yarn to make her smile, so when she showed up at my door with these lovely hand thrown mugs for Ken and I, I smiled as well.

I love that my friends are kind people…and some of them are pretty darn talented!!
Thank you Tamara!!!
(PS….I would love to take some classes on your glazing techniques. 😉 )

 

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