Life aquires meaning
When we face the conflict
Between our desires
And Reality.
Deng Ming ~Dao

Wow….May totally kicked my butt!  I have had a few people email me to make sure I was ok due to the lack of blog posts and I want to assure everyone that I am ok.

It has been a challenging month however….see that dandelion almost overwhelmed by it's surrounding greenery?  That has been me this month….overwhelmed.

Many of you know that I have really struggled with some significant back pain over the last year and a half and it was particularly bad this past month….and then there was the rain…..the.endless.rain.

I have often thought I might like to live in Seattle…um…..NO.  Even if the humidity which I hate is less, the continuous rain/cloudy days is worse.  I think I will stick with our Northern New England weather. 🙂

There have also been some wonderful things tucked in amongst the doctor visits and painful procedures.  Stacey graduated Nursing School this month….YAY! (blog post coming).  There has also been finished knitted items and a shop that is really starting to take shape.  (more about those coming soon too.)

I am back and feeling better and stronger, so you can anticpate a bunch of new blog posts from me. 🙂

Thank you all for your caring and support!!!  I love you guys!
xoxo
Kim

It's so amazing to me how different each Spring can be.  Last year at this time the garden beds were all cleaned out and supplemented with new compost and natural fertilizer.  The greens had been planted and were growing strong….all before black fly season.

This year has been completely different.  It's been cold…and rainy…and cold.  Too nasty to really enjoy working in the garden very much…and…the black flies have already arrived….sigh.

What was amazing however this year is my herb bed.  I was very good about pruning my herbs last summer and fall, but I never really dismantled the bed, other than to plant some garlic and cover those garlic bulbs with shredded fall leaves.

So imagine my surprise when I took a stroll out to the garden last week and saw this.  Yes, that is my sage growing strong and green…yikes!!

…and my beloved tarragon…yes, green.  Whee!!!  Now mind you, I always have thyme and Oregano coming back season after season, but never my Sage or Tarragon plants.  I was blown away to see how healthy they looked.

 
Even the lavender looks like it is going to make a comeback.  You can see the little green sprouts under the dried brown plant.  Amazing! 

I have a sneaking suspicion that these garlic plants may have a little something to do with it.  Last October, I planted a number of garlic bulbs in the herb bed and then covered them with a few inches of shredded autumn leaves.  I only covered the half that the bulbs were living in, but I wonder if that was enough to insulate the bed enough to protect the rest of the herbs….that and the snow that we had.  It was a very cold, snowy winter, so I can't think of any other reason why these herbs would have survived the winter, but I am beyond thrilled that they did!

I am looking forward to spending the weekend cleaning out the beds and getting them ready for planting. 🙂

 
To celebrate the arrival of Spring, I wanted to knit with green.  I actually cranked out this sock in 2 days which is an all time record for me.  I am going to try to finish the second one over the weekend, which will be a first for me.  A pair of socks in less than a week?  Who knew?  Certainly not me…LOL.

Enjoy your Spring weekend!!

Pattern:  Fallberry Mitts
Designer:  Anne Hanson on Knitty
Yarn:  Woolen Rabbit Pixie
Colorway:  Henny Penny
Needles:  US 2/2.75mm

What a fun knit these were!  Remember when I showed you my little Grey Goose shawl that you see tucked under Ashley's jacket?  Well, we shot the pictures for these lovely mitts that day as well.

It was a very cold and raw day…certainly not feeling very spring~like at all, so I slipped these mitts on as I took pictures while we traipsed thru the beautiful wilderness that surrounds Ashley's home.   I was very thankful to have them with me…..this yarn is VERY warm!  It is an 8 ply sport weight yarn that shows off the texture of this pattern so nicely, while keeping my hands toasty.

As always, it has the wonderful flow that Anne's patterns always have and the thumb construction is brilliant…love it!

This pattern is free from Knitty.com, so go take a trip over and snag a copy.  You won't be disappointed!

Well, I missed the Easter post (along with a few others), so I thought I would take the time to share my girls with you instead.

I am so fortunate to have 4 daughters who are so completely different from each other, but each so special to me in their own way.  Thinking of them has always reminded me of a favorite book…"Little Women". 

This year for Easter we were fortunate to have them all home with us to share the Holiday.

Stacey is my oldest and reminds me very much of Meg.  A well mannered girl who appreciates the finer things in life, but who also looks out for her younger sisters.  Stacey has been hard at work, taking care of her 2 children while earning her degree in Nursing and working at a very busy local restaurant. She will graduate in just a few weeks.

McKayla, her daughter is a little carbon copy of her Mum and we love her to pieces!

Ashley is next and you have seen her many times here on my blog as my go to model for my knits.  Ashley is somewhat like Jo as she was a tomboy growing up and loves to read.  Ashley, too, is working very hard on finishing her Master's Degree in teaching with a focus on English Literature.  Like Jo, you never quite know what is going to come out of her mouth when she speaks….she can be quite surprising at times….LOL

 
 
Courtney here with her friend Tom fits this description of Jo very much….
"tall, thin, and brown, and reminded one of a colt, for she never seemed to know what to do with her long limbs, which were very much in her way. She had a decided mouth, a comical nose, and sharp, green eyes, which appeared to see everything, and were by turns fierce, funny, or thoughtful."
Courtney, like Ashley has been more of a tomboy…very athletic, talkative and has the kindest of hearts.  She is the tallest of my girls…which isn't hard as we are not a tall group. 🙂

…and then there is Hannah…she is such a combination of both Beth and Amy.  The quiet, shyness and musicality of Beth along with some of the baby of the family traits owned by Amy.  Amy who as a youngster was prone to temper tantrums, but as she grew inhibited a gentle, kindly spirit….that is our Hannah.

I am so blessed to share my life with 4 amazing women and a very special granddaughter and so proud to share them with you!

Pattern:  And So Are You
Pattern Designer:  Rose Beck
Yarn:  Woolen Rabbit Opal
Colorway:  Grey Goose
Needles:  US 4

Quite a few people emailed me to find out what the name of the pattern to this lovely shawl was.  I don't usually post a finished picture of an item without the particulars, but I wanted to wait until I had some more pictures to show off how pretty it is.

This was such an enjoyable knit.  They yarn complimented the pattern and the silky softness made it a treat to work on.  I am very happy with the performance of this yarn. 🙂

Ashley usually makes the trek up to visit us, so Hannah and I decided to make the trip down to Plymouth to visit Ashley this time. 

  Ashley and Brian moved a few months back to a small little carriage house apartment on a beautiful piece of land and today we took some time to explore the grounds while we snapped off some pictures.  Amazingly pretty!  I will be posting those pictures tomorrow as I wanted to give this lovely little shawl it's own time in the spotlight first.

This is my favorite picture…it's so Ashley…..you can see how much she enjoys being in her element….the woods.  I have often told her she must have been a wood faerie in another time. 🙂

Just one more picture because I love this little shawl so! 

If you have stayed with me this long, I will reward you with a little treat.  Ashley has been hard at work attending school working on her master's degree and has had little time for music.  A few of us have urged her to give us a little ditty and she sent me this tonight…..enjoy!

 

 

….and Friday means Nachos and Wine night. 🙂
(or maybe Salad and Wine night this week)

When you work at home, you don't get out nearly as much as you should, so I always look forward to Friday night.  It's the night that I put away my dye frocks, put on some grown up cloths and pull on some boots.  Do you not LOVE these boots?  They may not be every-ones cup of tea, but this grrl LOVES them!

I had hoped to finish this little shawl last weekend, but those rows got awfully long towards the end, so I plugged away on it during my morning coffee time this week.
It's finished and I really love it.  I don't usually plug my yarns too heavily on my blog, but I have to say that I really, really love this new yarn Opal.  Amazingly soft with lots of shine and a nice weight.  I see a sweater in my near future with this yarn.

I am going to see my favorite models tomorrow as we are going to be wedding dress shopping (yay!), so I will beg one of the girls for a photo shoot. 🙂

 

This weekend I hope to finish up these pretty mitts.  Of course they should have been finished ages ago, but I managed to get distracted.  It is SO hard not to want to knit all of the lovely things that one sees on Ravelry, isn't it?

Have a great weekend in your corner of the world!!

Sun and moon divide the sky,
Frangrance blooms on pear wood bones,
Earth awakens with a sigh.
Wanderer revels on the path alone.

Let us go out and enjoy the day, revel in the coming of spring, rejoice in the warming of the earth.
Deng Ming~Dao

This is what the beginning of spring in the mountains looks like.  Winter still on top of our mountain and the waking trees down below.  Soon those trees will be covered in buds….I can't wait for green again…..soon, very soon. 🙂

New Wee Bunny Bags are in the house……

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

I have been so fortunate to meet so many wonderful people over the years thru blogging and the internet.  One of the nicest I have had the pleasure of meeting this past fall was Nathalie Fisher.  I met Nathalie and her sister in law this past fall during my annual trek to Rhinebeck.  They joined Anne, Beckie, Kim and I on our annual luncheon trip to the Culinary Institute of America  We had  so much fun laughing and just having a good time in general over a fabulous lunch.

Both Nathalie and her husband work at the CIA, so we were treated to a behind the scenes tour of the facility….fascinating!  It was fun to see all of the young students in their chef hats diligently listening to their instructors and quietly working.

A little while back, Anne did a review of this new cook book from the institute….and I was so impressed.  I mentioned that this would be my CIA purchase on my next trip as I have really taken a keen interest in Italian cooking lately.  Well…….a wonderful little surprise ended up on my doorstep last week and oh my!!  What an amazing treat this book is!!  Amazing!!!  Thank you Nathalie!!

Another really nice person I have met via blogging is Adri Barr Crocetti of the Front Burner Blog.

If you look at the picture of the cookbook, you will see my little Corzetti tool.  If you remember a little while back I posted about this purchase and the recipe that I discovered to go along with this beautiful stamp.

Adri's recipe is the one that I used for the sauce in that blog post.  Since then she and I have chatted back and forth a few times and she asked if she could use my picture on her blog.  I was very flattered, except that the picture was taken in such poor light, that I decided today to play with pasta again.

The recipe that I use for the pasta itself is rich, calling for 6 egg yolks, but it is the one fool proof recipe that I have used.  It never needs tweaking and it always comes out scrumptious.  I will definitely read more about pasta recipes however in the new cookbook for reliable recipes with a little less fat.

When I cooked up the corzetti this time, I opted for the Pesto recipe instead of the brown butter, so that I could use up some of the basil that I saved from last summer's garden.  Adri's recipe for Pesto is almost identical to mine except that I use toasted pine nuts instead of walnuts.  It always makes me smile to take that little bit of summer out of my freezer for dinner.

Mmmmmm…..doesn't that look good?  Corzetti is a bit time consuming to make, but the rewards are SOOOO worth it!  Mangia!

I had to laugh this morning when I saw Margene, Carole and Terry's posts on weekending, because I knew my post was going to be another" what did I do this weekend" post, as I have not posted since last Monday…LOL.  I think I may make this my weekly Monday post. 🙂

One of the nice things about working one job is the little extra free time that I now have, especially since I am not at the computer nearly as much.  Weekends have become more about relaxing and doing the things that I like to do, which is so nice!

I have been using some of that time to get reacquainted with my lonely sewing machines and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

I have to admit that once something gets stuck in my head, I obsess about it and coming up with a bigger bag is what is stuck in there now.  I'm not quite there yet, but pretty darn close.:-)

Of course the one downside to coming up with something means that some fabric is getting wasted and that does make me a wee bit crazy, but then I justify it to myself by saying I can just cut it up and use it again……at least that sounds good right?  LOL.

I did whip up a few of my smaller sock bags and will be working on more all week with a shop update on Friday. 🙂

There was also time for knitting.  I am currently working on a shawl designed by Rose Beck called "And So Are You" .  This pattern is part of a 5 pattern e-book and each pattern is so lovely….go take a peek.

I'm hoping to have this finished…maybe…next weekend. 🙂

The best part of my weekend however was spent shopping at Quilted Threads and having lunch with Terry. 

Of course with bag obsession comes fabric fever…and Quilted Threads is one of my favorite quilt shops.

Having the extra time to spend with friends and doing things that I enjoy instead of working 7 days a week has made my life a much happier place to be.

I hope you had a fun weekend too!