Knitting is generally a seasonal activity for me, and when the weather turns cold and nighttime comes early, I regularly knit obsessively, staying up too late and ignoring lots of dirty dishes. Other times, like now- in Kentucky in July, when even wearing clothes feels insulting and unbearable, I can't imagine holding some wool on my lap, and I don't touch my needles or yarn for weeks at a time. 

My last completed knitting project was finished in May. It was Laura's and my 30th birthday and I knit a sweater for her using Peace Fleece. I love it and was very proud to give it to her. I have been knitting for several years, but this was the first sweater that I knit that I was very pleased with. I can't rest on my laurels though, gotta keep knitting, and while I have dallied with some socks and felting projects this summer, a friend's new baby is spurring me into serious knitting action. I am dying up the yarn to use, so I can't start knitting today, so I wanted to share some knitting inspiration.

Earlier this summer I found two knitted objects in a bin at a church rummage sale. Here are some knit mittens that I paid one dollar for:

At first, I thought they were for a little girl, but they fit my somewhat mannish hands. They have personalized tags; apparently they belonged to "Molly Belt." They are from Best and Co., Fifth Avenue, New York. Here's a shot of the tags:

Until today I thought the mittens had not been worn or used, they're in great shape and the colors are incredible. But when I was photographing them I noticed they had been darned, oh so carefully and precisely:

Considering that these are knit at 11(!) stitches per inch, I feel like a slacker for thinking about changing the gauge and yarn on my next project so it could be whipped up on size 4 or 6's for some faster knitting. My knitting often brings to mind long-distance travel or running: planning the journey, starting, stopping, hating the journey, mental "trip math," etc. These mittens are the equivalent to driving cross country with no AC, and I can't even imagine knitting something like this at this stage in my knitting journey. And I know it is inevitable, but I have to consider Molly Belt and who she was, how she got these mittens and the story behind how these were made. I've done some research about Best and Co, and this type of mitten, but haven't had much luck, and am on the look out for more information about mittens like these.

As if one old knitted artifact wasn't cool enough, check out these socks.They were pricier- $2.00:

I have not read any of the books about folk socks, but these incredible socks make me want to do some reading. Their construction is so crazy and cool, I cannot figure them out. You can actually see some stitching that looks like whip stitches attaching the cuff to the sock body, and I am very curious about the twisted, twining gold thread embellishment, it looks like it was sewn on after the knitting and construction. Here's a shot of one sock, that I stuffed:

They have no tags or identifying marks. They reeked of moth-balls when I bought them and the bottoms were quite dirty. I washed them and line dried them, and while they don't smell bad anymore, the bottoms still look worn. They are too small for my size 8.5's, they look like they might fit a women's size 6.5. The gauge on these puppies is about 10.5 stitches per inch and they are so tightly knit, it's almost like the stitches were twisted or something. They have almost no stretch or give, they are very firm.

Whew. I can't imagine knitting anything like either of these pieces, and I think it's cool that both of them were well-used and appreciated, much like I aspire my knitting to be- aesthetically pleasing, but also useful, sturdy, warm and classic. A tall order for a baby hat, but I will get knitting and we'll see if I get there.

One recent morning my son Eli bounced out of bed, having dreamed of flying kites, asking me couldn't we make a kite, this morning, right now? Strider was available to hang with Isaac, and I had nothing else going on so we got down my kitemaking book, looked at all the amazing kites in its pages, and got hooked by the fish windsock. OK, it's not actually a kite, but it suited Eli's needs. There were not directions on how to create this lovely fellow, but the book mentioned tyveck as a sturdy kite making material, and that got my wheels a turnin'.  Luckily we have an entire roll of tyveck in the form of house wrap for the house addition project Strider is working on. We were able to use the white portions between the Lowe's logo. I also had a box of cool old permanent markers I got recently at a yard sale that I've been itching to find a use for.
 
I sketched out a fish shape and sewed the two long side seams on my machine, leaving the mouth and tail open. I turned it inside out, and we got to work decorating. I used the picture in the book for inspiration, and put scales down his side and Eli and I colored them in. I know that by the finished product it looks like I must have been prescriptive in my working with Eli, but he happily worked slowly and methodically on a few scales and a polka dotted tail while I did the rest.

We used hot glue to fasten the wooden ring in the photo inside the fish's mouth. I folded the extra material down inside and glued it too. A couple lengths of waxed linen later, and our windsock was ready to adorn our herb garden.

What a great way to start my day! The fish has been outside for a few weeks now and the red marker is fading a bit, but other than that it is holding up really well. I thought this project might be a good one for my first try at a tutorial. Any takers?

One little project I have been wanting to share is from my  vegetable garden. We are in the midst of a drought and I always tend to loose interest in my garden this time of year anyway. When I went out to clean up the spent pea vines, I noticed a bunch of partially dried pods. Having just read Seed to Seed I realized these contained next years (free!!) pea seeds. So, Eli and I moved the armfuls of dried vines to a tarp, rolled it up like a giant jelly roll, and stomped like crazy.

Do you see the little peas in and amongst the...other stuff, and are you thinking how in the world would you pick them out?! Well, let me tell ya' you just toss up the handfuls of this mess and the heavy little peas gravitate towards the bottom of the pile and the light chaff can be pulled off and tossed in the compost. Then you are left with this: 

I tried to toss this from one basket to another hoping the wind would blow away that pesky chaff, but it was not windy enough. Apparently you can use a fan, but mine was in use. While fiddling with this, I figured out just by swirling this mess around the peas sunk to the bottom, and I could easily pick off the chaff. Final product:
Aren't they chalk-y and lovely? The final step was to test their driness by smashing one pea with a hammer. If it shattered, it was ready to store, mine need to dry a bit. This was super-fun, a very Laura Ingalls type activity, (or is it in Farmer Boy that they do threshing?) This whole project was spontaneous, getting something from my garden in an area where  I thought all I had going on was compost waiting to be collected. It is this kind of "behind the scenes" view of plants doing their thing that keeps me gardening.

Well, I have finally jumped on the rainbow order bandwagon, and boy is the view lovely  and colorful from up here! I roy g. biv-ed my studio bookshelf of art books.

I also recently compiled the "shelf scape" above my books of all the appealing, neutral colored storage containers I could wedge up there. I wish I had taken a before picture, because this is a great improvement!

We have four bookcases in our living room (BILLY from Ikea) groaning with books,
but unfortunately my one and only is colorblind, and thinks rainbow order is a nonsensical way to arrange books. (sigh, I guess from his point of view it is!)

Now, I know I have been slacking in the blog posting area, as in, not posting at all, and I don't want to bore you with my lame-o excuses. As a church near my my home advertises:

I'm counting on it.

(This church has been posting signs for the last several years, and I really enjoy most of them, they aren't usually your run of the mill fire and brimstone, or even scripture verses....the letters are individual, cut from plywood and they get rearranged every so often. I have even seen the guy who does it, standing on the bed of his pickup, rechargeable drill in hand, new message taking shape. A couple of my favorites I used in a series of art quilts; "make heaven", "fear not these giants". Amazingly there was not a big market for these, but they are my favorite art quilts I made. I am pretty sure this church is  not trying to be cryptic or ironic, just spreading the word.)

I finally succumbed to the stomach bug that just about everyone around us has had and our family had the landmark "everyone sick at once" day yesterday. No fun. But today, I am back on track and the boys and I had a restorative day at home. Not only is all our laundry, washed and line dryed (but not put away, that's where my laundry-doing comes to a screeching halt), but I got some more work done for our craft booth. I started these guys the other day, but haven't shown any progress:

I am hoping to learn a few PhotoShop basics soon because if I don't take photos in my photo studio (read: the porch during the day) they look rotten. The cats are actually a nice Raspberry sherbert pink, and are made from felted wool blanket. I was turned-on to this material by Simmy and what a find! I have only found a couple at thrift shops, but they are so big, they are not as precious as the lovely wool felt that Laura and I have been using, so I am not intimidated to try something new. I like them. I made the new ones a bit shorter and fatter than the prototype, and they just lack their bottoms and tails, then they will be done.

I couldn't resist messing with the blanket a bit more, so I cut it into 1" strips, and glued it to another color blanket- a light gray/aqua and fooled around with spirals.

There's a pen for scale. I just glued the little spirals together. I want to make 20 or 30 more small spirals of different sizes and make one big, amorphous table "runner" or decoration. The spirals are incredibly firm and sturdy, I am tempted to make a little rug to put in front of my kitchen sink. I wonder if 1/2" strips would have enough structural integrity, I don't want to use up all my nice blanket!!

I am trying to make things for this craft fair using only materials that I have at home, so I messed around with my new favorite basket pattern, Shaker Cheese, a hexagonal basket design. My parents live right down the road from The Country Seat, an awesome basket supply place. When we were visiting in June, I found the pattern for the Shaker Cheese and bought a bunch of reed in different widths. There is something so appealing about this pattern, and I had been searching the internet for a free pattern for ages. Sometimes, it's just easier to shell out your three bucks and get working, and I am glad I did! I made a few several weeks ago, but used plastic pallet strapping. They turned out ok, but the strapping is slick and hard to work with. Today, I used 1/2 and 7/8 reed and here's what I have so far:

That's 5 baskets, 4 big and one small. The big ones are about 15" wide. I still have to bend down the stakes and put the top rims on, but have to dig out my other basket making stuff first. Besides, the regular weaving is the fun part. I made the ones with the finer reed first, and while I really like how they are turning out, I prefer the sturdiness of the chunky 7/8" one. I  have really been wanting to make my own laundry baskets, and if it was bigger, this chunkier one has possibilities, if it's strong enough. Here's a photo of one of the bottoms, it reminds me of a beehive.

I don't really want to become a professional basket maker, but it is eminently satisfying to turn a pile of reed into a useful vessel using only my hands and a pair of scissors. I think they would be perfect for yarn storage.

Now. I am not going to end every blog post with a photo of my kids, but this was just too much today- here's what Avery and Julian were doing on the porch while I was hanging out laundry:

They're magicians.