This Neckline

Do you know about Mati Ventrillon? She’s the French-Venezuelan architect turned knitwear designer who made the news a couple of years ago when Chanel featured some of her designs without attributing them to her. She lives on Fair Isle (along with only 54 other people) and spends the year caring for a flock …

Tea with Jam and Bread

We finally had a sunny day last week, and I was able to take some pictures of Paul’s Tea with Jam and Bread sweater! This is a terrific basic pullover pattern. The only thing that’s a little unusual in the design is that Heidi Kirrmaier adds some short-row shaping at the back of the neck …

Yarn Along

I’m racing a storm to get this posted before the power goes out, so I’ll just leave this with no additional commentary other than that I highly recommend both the pattern, Inlet, and the book, Michael Pollan’s Second Nature!     P.S. Doh! I’m a day early!!!! I’ll update tomorrow with …

Help A Knitter Out

A couple of weeks ago I went to a class on small fruit trees hosted by our local Master Gardener group. I brought my knitting, of course, and this attracted the attention of a fellow class member. Turns out, this gentleman (my new friend David) had been looking for a knitter. …

Meet Franklin!

Meet Franklin! A few Saturdays ago, destiny happened. Paul and I came across a local adoption event and met the orange kitty of our dreams. We’d been open to getting a second cat for a couple of years, ever since Augie showed up on our back porch as a baby and taught …

Yarn Along: Sweater and Coates

Here I am posting just under the wire for the Wednesday Yarn Along! This week I’m knitting the Tea with Jam and Bread sweater for Paul and reading Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Both are substantial and important in a million million ways.   Be sure to stop …

Checks & Balances

Talking sweaters today, not government.* Paul’s Checks & Balances sweater is off the needles! I wrote about the Good Fibrations yarn I used for this in an earlier post, and I simply cannot praise it enough. Knitting with it made me think back to one of the first sweaters I ever made. That sweater …

Fall Is In The Air

Are you feeling the fall where you are? We spent the weekend running around here and there and loving the nip in the air. I bound off the sleeves for Paul’s sweater (finally!) as we drove. On Saturday, we got to visit this year’s goat babies at Good Fibrations. Their pals gave …

Instructions for living a life . . . *

I’m trying to live deliberately these days. There’s so much to be swept up in. I know you know what I mean. World things, family things, living life things . . .  It can be overwhelming. I’m looking for solid ground. Knitting is solid ground. I’m slowly making progress on the sleeves of …

Casting On

What better way to kick off the 4th of July weekend than by casting on for a heavy wool sweater?! Woohoo! Seriously, I’m pretty excited. I started Checks and Balances for Paul. I’m using one of my absolute favorite yarns. It’s a mohair/merino blend from Good Fibrations. The mohair is the magic ingredient. It …