Lot's of folks are beginning to work on Christmas gifts already and we're a part of 2 handmade holiday directories.

Wee Folk Art has a great directory of sellers that make handmade things and my patterns are included.

Plain and Joyful Living is documenting holiday preparations and has a list of blogs that will be also writing about crafting their holiday gifts.

So check them out for some handmade holiday inspiration- I need to get moving on my list! (Or at least MAKE a list!)

The obscure craft book today is a great one. Cross-Stitch Patterns in Color by Gerda Bengtsson is a book I found at a thrift shop for $1.50. Unlike some of the books we've been writing about, it's not too obscure, this one is available on Amazon for just a couple bucks (or .24 cents!) It was published through the Danish Handcraft Guild in 1974. It has full-color images of close to 40 cross stitch country scenes, wild roses and house plants. I wasn't sure I would buy it because I am not a big cross stitcher, and I don't want to start too many new projects, but this image sold it- People on bikes! and a kid-carrying bike at that! Maybe I can customize and make my Madsen cargo bike. The book opens with information about cross stitch and helpfully, talks about working with linen and how to gauge the size of the finished piece based on the type of linen you're using. If I do take up cross stitch, I'd like to work on linen, so that was great to read about.

The book recommends using Danish Flower Thread, something I did not know about or knew if it still existed. It does! the Flower Thread Company has a great rundown of this material and even will mail you a free sample of the thread. According to the book, it's a fine, matte cotton floss that is dyed to match the colors of natural dyes. It's about equal to the width of two strands of regular embroidery floss. Interesting. I feel a desire for new craft supplies coming on....

Author Gerda Bengtsson was an accomplished designer, weaver and dyer and I am glad to have stumbled onto this piece of her work. For this book, she follows the seasons, the biking summer scene is followed by one of a farmer harvesting hay and these folks in an Autumn storm.

I love the way she made the pieces so expressive, they are small but really transmit the key ideas about each scene. She also has a series of houseplants in windows.

She designed and wrote lots of other books of botanical cross stitch and in this section you can really tell that she was careful to be accurate in portraying the plants.

OK, one more- the book has a big section of rose portraits, here's a Rugosa rose, they're my favorite kind of rose-

Lovely! What a gem of a book.

Also, this pattern is kicking off a 6-week series I am doing. I will be putting up a new free knitting pattern for a toy or decoration every Wednesday. Click the link in the top of the sidebar to subscribe to our blog so you don't miss a thing! 

But back to the Little Birds- make one for your kiddos,

Or make two, they will keep each other company! 

They are happy to perch just about anywhere.

I hope you have fun making Little Birds, please let me know if you have any questions about the pattern and leave a comment when you do make one, I'd love to see it if you blog about them! 

The colors are lovely. It is fun to watch them change. 

It looks like I will use every last bit of yarn (I hope I have enough!) and the last color will be dark yellow/orange, so the shawl will start and end with about the same color. I feel confident about the pattern now, it's not quite mindless knitting but close, with just enough of a pattern to be interesting. 

I am also working on writing out a free pattern that I hope to publish here tomorrow- Little Birds. We love watching the birds at the feeder in the fall and winter at our house, so I thought it would be fun to have some birds inside too.

It's the first toy pattern I've designed that is not felted. They are just a bit smaller than life size, perfect for play or decorating. I made them in bright colors but it would also be nice to make them in true-to-life colors like dove gray and tawny tan. Avery really likes the red one.

They are knit in the round and are seamless. I am pleased with their little twig feet and beady black eyes. I am excited to share the pattern with everyone, so stop by here tomorrow and make a Little Bird of your own! 

I charged in on Sunday morning, but just a few rows in was met with a knot in the yarn that was not a subtle transition- orange to green! I set up my yarn winder on the porch so I could really see the color changes and began winding. 

I decided to wind out the whole ball, to check for more knots. There were none. Luckily, the colors work out just right, the color that the yarn ends with matches where the join was. Soon I had the yarn all wound and I was ready to knit again. 

I abandoned all motherly and wifely duties and sat on the couch and knitted and knitted all day Sunday. I am new to lace and lace charts, but the helpful info in the group's message boards and my undivided stitch-counting attention kept me knitting. Here's my progress: 

Isn't it cool?! I am excited to see the finished shawl, but my rows are getting longer and longer, I think my progress will slow down. It is so fun to see the color changes and the yarn is lovely to work with, kind of sticky and sturdy. I am a sucker for Noro and other yarn that have long bands of color, so this yarn is a natural fit into my "aesthetic," if you can call it that. I know my family will be relieved when I finish the shawl and rejoin our family life, but for know, I am still knitting. 

The first couple chapters talk about purchasing fabric and materials, how to cut out pattern pieces (refers to measurements by the "nail" of fabric, which is 1/16 of a yard)  and important tools and supplies. 

It has patterns for clothes and hats, housewares and linens, bags and cases, recipes for housegoods, knitting patterns and (my favorite part) directions for straw braiding and bonnet making. The 300 page book is jam-packed with projects and patterns. 

 There are many illustration plates that are packed with images of finished projects. There are tons of bonnets:

And sewing cases, boxes and totes.

 This plate has illustrations of knitting projects.

The knitting projects refer to knitting with "pins" and the directions sure are different from the pattern writing style we use today! 

It also means my weekend looked  like this:

Challenging and fun, it is going to be an intense 16 weeks!

Just out of sight to the right of the driveway is a shade tent with chairs and a table, then a rocky creek bed. The creek has been mostly dry, but it does still have pools to play in. The boys and I love this environment. I pack a picnic and a stitching project and we are content for hours:

(More on this project soon.)

 On our most recent trip, we spotted this guy:

Thanks to What's That Bug, I identified it as a spicebush swallowtail caterpillar. (I love What's That Bug, and consult it at least once a week....) Pretty appropriate that we found him on the creek bank since there is plenty of spicebush  for it to eat along there. Anyway, these caterpillars are usually green, but turn orange or brown before building their chrysalis. I think those false eyes are really something, they make it look so cute, don't they? You hear those are to scare predators off, but maybe the eyes cause the predator to think twice because of the cuteness.

 Japanese Spoons and Ladles is a Japanese book that was released in the US in 1979. It is just pages and pages (58 of them) of different Japanese spoons. They are more spare than the Swedish spoons I have been trying to emulate, a different look for sure, but lovely in their own right. The introduction to the book outlines the importance of celebrating the well-made, well-loved everyday object- a timely message still! 

There are all different types of spoons. Huge ladles- 

Tiny bamboo spoons and scoops- 

Many sizes of rice paddles-  

And myriad well-worn kitchen spoons, darkened with age. 

The book is rich with images- that's all it is with an appendix in the back noting sources and describing spoon types and measurements. Many of the spoons in the book are crafted from bamboo, a different medium than the wood spoons I am carving. 

I appreciate this book because it showcases totally different types of spoons and also because it has so many great images. Some of the photographs are so striking they could be framed and used as artwork, and altogether, the book makes me want to sharpen my carving knife and get to work.

What books have been inspiring you lately? 

I bought these as little started plants from my local nursery. The owner Michelle is a curious plantswoman and always has unusual stuff, just to try out. I knew that cotton needed full sun, so I planted the three little plants in the sunniest garden bed I have. The soil is pretty much solid clay, they probably would have been more productive if I had amended the soil with some compost. 

They didn't get very tall, about 2 1/2 feet, and they branch out in a shrubby way. They have lovely short-lived flowers- 

-that turn pinkish when they are fading or blooming- I haven't paid enough attention to tell which one.

-which then turn into large green pods-

-which mature and turn into cotton bolls.  

They remind me of milkweed. There are four segments with cotton fiber inside. I took this photo after removing one of the segments, and one of the segments of this boll was not fully developed. 

When you harvest the bolls, the cotton fluff can be teased out, but there are large black seeds inside. It was very labor intensive to separate the fiber from the seed before the invention of the cotton gin. We are getting ready to study Eli Whitney  in our homeschool studies, I feel tricky that we have this hands-on example of the importance of his invention! Here's one boll's worth of fiber. 

You can buy the seeds online here, and I bet you would start them indoors like peppers or tomatoes. I am planning on growing some more plants next year just for fun. Since the fiber I usually get is already prepared for me as yarn, it is fun to see the process from the start. I am also going to try flax next year and since I already had goats, I just need to try raising some silkworms and sheep and maybe angora rabbits! (Just kidding!)

If anyone would like to grow a few plants, I would be happy to send a few seeds to our lovely blog readers. I have a limited supply, so email me quick- use the contact form above- and you can grow cotton in your garden next year!