Upcycled Longies and a Sale




I hope you've all had a good week.  We've had a string of unusually full days and are looking forward to a nice long cozy weekend at home.  Finishing some projects, starting some projects and what I'm most excited about... working on the design plans for our house.

I also wanted to share some shop news.  The Upcycled Felt Journals are now 40% off.  I can't begin to tell you how much I love these tiny little notebooks.  I use them for jotting down knitting notes, gratitude lists, gardening notes, making mini books with the boys, sketching, grocery lists.  They're so much prettier than a scratch piece of paper, don't you think?

I've also added several pairs of Upcycled Longies, in a variety of colors and sizes.  If you see something you'd like in another size, just let me know and we can set up a custom listing.

Now which project to tackle first?  How about a go around with some bare yarn and the dye pot?

~Wishing you a wonderful weekend~



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A Finished Sweater




I'm slowly working at testing a few sizes for the Harvest Sweater pattern I designed last year.  I think it's finally ready to go to the editor!  You can find the other samples here, here, and here.

The pattern is written to be worked back and forth, but I hate to purl, so I knit this one in the round and steeked it when it was finished.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Some of you asked how to finish the steek once it's cut, so I thought I'd share that with you today.

As far as I know, steeking can be done in two ways.

1. Sewing a reinforcement line of stitches and then cutting, as I did here.  In my opinion, this way is the easiest to work.  However, it leaves a messy frayed edge that can be hard to get looking neat without a lot of bulky folds and hand sewing.

2. Crocheted steek, as I worked in the sweater above, is my favorite steek.  This is the tutorial I use.  The crochet stitches hide the frayed ends leaving a finished edge that doesn't need {hardly} any sewing at all.  When you pick up stitches for the front button bands, the edge will naturally fold over on it's own.  {I did tack down a couple stitches at the lower edge to keep it from peeking out the bottom of the sweater.}

If you have any other questions or know of any other steeking methods, please share!  I always love to learn new techniques and tips, and hope to help a little along the way too.






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Steeking


Steeking.  It's one of my favorite parts of knitting.  Turning a pullover into a cardigan.  Even the boys were in awe at the prospect of putting scissors to wool.  They circled around, holding their breath, until the first snip, then the second.  Only when I'd made if safely through, did they remember to breathe.  Steeking still makes me a little nervous too, but it's so much better than the alternative.... purling.  

Now, for the button bands, neck shaping and a sleeve.

What projects are you planning for the weekend?



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Mud Puddles to Snow Piles


Yesterday, 40 degrees and muddy puddles.



Today, giant, puffy flakes of snow.

It never stops being magical.

Even the robins don't seem to mind.  They're still busy picking left over berries from the crabapple trees.


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Shifting Seasons





Have you felt it?  

A slight shift.

A smell.

Catching the morning sun that streams in through the corner of the east window.  (If you tilt your head just right.)

The lingering daylight around dinner time.

It happens every single year, yet it always catches me by surprise.

The longing for Spring.  


To keep our spirits up, we ordered seeds.

To plan our first homestead garden.

To dream big dreams.

To keep from going crazy with anticipation, because tomorrow... a blizzard.






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Love


 I love.... well, you know.

Happy Valentine's Day.

(new yarn from Quince and Co.)




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Knitting and Tea


Knitting and tea.  Trusted healers through all of life's difficulties. 


(joining Ginny)






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This Week




This week, we've been:




:: playing 



What have you been up to this week?





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