Give the Gift of Learning to Knit

Give Inner Peace                  Give Life Skills

                             

Give the Gift of Learning to Knit

Gift Certificates available (or treat yourself)

$65 for four knitting lessons (1 ½ hours each)

$25 for one Quick Knit mini class (2 hours)

Cashmere and Wool and Silk, Oh My!

A cashmere sweater for $20? I've just unloaded a bounty of oh, so soft and cozy sweaters, hats and holiday goodies and there's more to come!

~ Warm handknit hats for blustery days
~ Yummy, soft vintage and current cashmere and merino wool sweaters
~ Sweet silk camisoles to layer under sweaters
~ Handknit Christmas ornaments
~ Vintage holiday decor
~ Retro knitting needles
~ Yarn and spinning fiber

Home for Wayward Wildlife

Aparently I am now running a wild animal refuge center.

On Wednesday morning, I glanced in the compost bin to see two tiny trembling rats completely covered in mud. It has been quite dry in recent weeks and I have seen a rat climbing out of there at night. Not a bad place for a nest really; it's warm and full of food.

Mama Rat was clearly not anticipating the deluge of rain we had late Tuesday night that left her nest soaked and her babies in a swamp land. 



Drowned Rats

 I scooped the little ratties up on a big shovel and deposited them in a new nest of fresh pine shavings. They just sat and shivered for quite a while, but eventually took a few nibbles of the moistened cat / dog / chicken food mixture I offered them (we were fresh out of rat food I'm afraid). 

Almost dry.

By afternoon they had dried out and fluffed up and are actually pretty cute. I now fully understand the reference to looking like a "drowned rat."

Much better now.

On Thursdsay morning, I checked the compost bin to be sure I'd found all the rats. No rats. There was a baby possum in there! This one I was not so eager to scoop up. Even at its small size, it still hissed at me. I left it there. 

In the evening, I offered it the same cat / dog / chicken food mixture (fresh out of possum food too) which it happily accepted. I left some branches propped against the inside of the bin and said goodnight. 

Friday morning there were no baby animals in the compost. Little possum must have found its way out by climbing the branches. The rats are happy in their temporary home until they are big enough to be let out.

I fully expect to to find a litter of kittens, skunks or racoons one of these days! 
  

O, The Chickens Have Been Busy!

O no, it is not a typo. Olivia, Olive and Odette have joined the urban flock and o do they have stories to tell. The blog has been silent for a while and there is much to say. I will take it in pieces. Today, the chickens.



Clementine on the set


The middle of March was full of adventure, good and bad. There was fame, fortune and demise. My beloved Clementine made her film debut in a fab commercial for North Haven Gardens.  She even got to sample some of the props.

Shortly before this, we had brought two new friends home to the coop, Olive and Olivia. They brought with them a nasty upper respiratory infection. Sadly, new Olive and dear Clementine were both lost to this ickiness. We took Olivia to the chicken vet for a proper diagnosis and were sent home with a prescription for ten days of chicken antibiotics (carefully measured and delivered by beak twice a day to 4 chickens). Olivia got well and the others (Celine, Sylvie and Coco) never showed signs of illness.

Once this saga had passed, we ventured out again to find new flock mates. We had a lovely trip to Burnet, TX to Mobile Chicken Coops and came home with Olive Deux and Odette. Both Olives are Welsumers who lay dark chocolate brown eggs. Olivia is a Japanese Bantam with long wings and very short legs. Odette is a sweet little Buff Orpington chicklette who promises to live out Clementine's film legacy and become a star herself.



Original Olive, with us only briefly.



Olivia



Olive 2, carrying on the name.



Little Odette who peeps and chirps all the time.















Open for Business!

Knits and Knick Knacks has things on the shelves - not very many, but we are off to a good start and more is on its way! Thanks so much to my dear, sweet contibutors - Laurie, Mary, Janie, Andrea, Cindy - your consignments and donations look fabulous!

Those empty spots will be filled up soon!

Cozy knitting area next to our space.

Coming soon!

Located in Old Town Village Antiques and Uniques

307 S. Rogers St, Waxahachie, TX

To my fellow Yarnies and Little Red Barn groupies:

 (and everyone else too)

I recently learned that there is no yarn shop in Waxahachie (horrors) so I am going to open one in a downtown antique mall. If all goes well (and with a little help from my friends), the shop will open in early February! The shop will be starting out on a shoestring budget so I am looking for beautiful hand spun / hand dyed yarns to feature on consignment. Let me know if you’d like to feature your wares in the shop and we’ll work out a fair system.

I also would like to nominate the shop as a recipient of the JRF Yarn Storming. I know there are some unique and wonderful yarns in your stashes that other knitters would love to have (especially those who are far away from larger yarn shops). Let Cindy know if you’d like part of your de-stash to be contributed to the shop. Of particular interest are natural fibers, organic and specialty yarns (in other words, it won't be found at the Waxahachie Walmart)!

If anyone is interested in teaching a class, I would love to know about it. I can teach basic knitting skills to get people started, but I’d like to offer some advanced and specialty techniques, spinning and so on. There is a cozy space in the antique mall with chairs and a couch where we can have classes.

If you have odds and ends of needles, notions, books, patterns, etc that you’d like to be free of, let me know. I can purchase things at a reasonable cost and donations are appreciated. If you happen to see interesting vintage knitting or sheep related items at estate sales or thrift stores, would you let me know? If they are a good bargain, I’d love it if you’d pick them up and I’ll buy them from you.

Save your yarn ends, scraps, feathers, lint, etc for Scraps for the Birds. A while back I received a large box of these from Cindy with the promise to donate initial proceeds to Ruthie’s Rags fund (and now also to the puppy transport fund). This will be the first charitable effort of the shop. 

The shop will feature:

☼ Locally made specialty yarns: hand spun and hand dyed from the fiber of locally raised animals

☼ The Stash Basket: re-purposed yarns donated by area knitters. The selection will vary, but will always contain unique and unusual finds.

☼ New and vintage knitting needles, notions, books, patterns and other supplies
☼ Hand Knit accessories for you and your home.
☼ Scraps for the Birds: colorful bits of recycled yarn, fiber, fur and feathers in a mesh bag to hang in your trees for the birds to include in their nests.
☼ Charity knitting collection - we will offer suggestions of projects for you to knit and return to us to be donated to area charitable organizations.
☼ Knitting classes, groups and workshops: held at the shop or at our relaxing country property (with overnight accommodations available).
☼ Knick knacks: you never know what else may be available in the shop - often with a knitting, fashion, country or farm feeling - we are always on the lookout for special things.

2010 Harvest

This lovely, frosty, wet, cold morning seems the perfect time to reflect on my garden harvest for the past year and plan for a bigger one in the coming year.
I had success with bell peppers of different varieties - standard and mini. They kept on going through the hot summer and into the fall (the last stragglers are out there under a sheet right now). The Basil did well; it has dried in the cupboard and is ready for winter use. 

The big winner of course was eggs! Oddly enough, the "crop" that required the biggest initial outlay of both time and money ended up producing effortlessly with minimal further intervention on my part.
The monthly egg tally:
May (the 1st month of laying): 4
June: 25
July: 43
August: 51
September: 53
October: 50
November: 45
December: 37
Grand Total: 308 eggs
Just like fruits, vegetables and herbs, chickens and eggs come in many varieties. This spring, a few new chickens will join the flock to bring variety to the harvest.  

In planning the food crops, I am enjoying the catalog from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. The descriptions and photos are lovely and they offer a great variety of rare and heritage seeds. I will order some from them as well as shopping locally for seeds and starter plants. In December, I layed the foundation of a new garden, "lasagna" style with layers of leaves / newspaper / compost / newspaper / leaves / newspaper / leaves / hay, shavings, poop mixture from the chicken house. This will sit for a few months until I add several inches of soil and more compost before planting the spring garden. This should be an especially fertile garden which I hope will lead to much better yields than in past years. 

Here are some more garden photos from 2010.

Best wishes to all the gardeners for a bountiful 2011!

Find Inner Peace - Learn to Knit

Ask me about individual or small group basic knitting lessons for adults and children.

Learn to knit for the first time or brush up on skills learned long ago.

Talk to your friends about joining you.

We will arrange a time and place that works well for all.

▪ Session consists of 4 lessons (1 ½ hours each) over 2 - 3 weeks.

▪ $75 per person, per session, paid in full at first lesson.

▪ Follow up sessions consist of 3 lessons for $50.

▪ Beginning materials and resource list are provided.

Consider this:

Knitting teaches patience and can be a mindful meditation practice.

Neurological research confirms that mobility and dexterity in the fine motor muscles, especially in the hand, stimulates cellular development in the brain, and strengthens the physical foundation of thinking.

Knitting and gardening reduce the risk of dementia in later life.

Knitting teaches children success through persistence, concentration, control, follow-through and mastery and improves fine-motor skills, hand-eye coordination and brain development.

A Whole New Family

A few days ago I learned that I have a whole family that I've never met. What a wonderful surprise! As an only child raising an only child, our family is small and I've often missed having the boisterous holiday gatherings that larger families have. Growing up, we had large gatherings of relatives from my Mother's side of the family (which is rooted in TX)  that were always organized by my Grandmother. Granny passed away in the '90's and that bunch hasn't gotten together since. Another branch of my Mother's family used to have a family reunion every year, but that too has fallen by the wayside. We do still see several of them throughout the year and that is nice. We are making more efforts recently to stay in touch.

My Father's side of the family had all been in New York and we used to visit when I was younger. When my Father's twin sister and two brothers passed away, he lost touch with their families. Recently he heard from his niece, my cousin, in California. It turns out that she has three sons around my age with scads of grandchildren around Claire's age! Poof, instant family! Thanks to Facebook, we have been able to instantly connect, see pictures of each other's children and learn all about our lives.


My Father and his young niece in the 40's.

 I've never doubted that I'd stay connected to my Mother's family, but my Father's family was a mystery. It is such a great feeling to know that my Father still has a large family after all and they will be around to be Claire's family too as she grows up; what a blessing.

So to all my family: I am grateful to have you in my life and I vow to stay in touch in the years to come. I hope you will all do the same and that our children will grow up knowing a larger extended family than we did!

Poinsettias for the holidays

The holidays will soon be here and it's time to consider your decorating. Poinsettias are both traditional and beautiful. This is your opportunity to order in advance and be prepared. Claire is selling Poinsettias in 6" pots in red, pink or white to raise money for her participation in the The Children's Chorus of Greater Dallas. The Chorus is planning a major tour (possibly international) in 2012 which will cost as much as $3000 per child (yikes)! Proceeds from Poinsettia sales go directly into Claire's account to help offset the tour cost. Each plant is $12 (of which $5 will go to Claire's account). That's a lot of pretty Poinsettias! Please order for your home and workplace. Ask around to friends, shops, offices and so on. Orders are due by November 1st and will be received on December 4th. Post here or email me with your order. Thanks for your support! Let's send Claire on tour!

Chassé Shrug

This is a simple, quick knit for adults or children. When my eleven year old daughter was ready for something a little more than simple knitting, but nothing too complicated, we came up with the Chassé Shrug. This shrug is made in one piece with no seaming. It includes the new skills of using double pointed needles, ribbing and a simple cable. The sizing is custom, based on the size of the person and can be used with any yarn. It is written with the beginning or child knitter in mind.


Claire is an accomplished young ballerina who is going en pointe this year so she is upgrading her dance wardrobe. This simple shrug will be a nice addition.


Abbreviations:
sts - stitches
in - inch
CO - cast on
# - number
/ - per
x - times
dpns - double pointed needles
K- knit
P - purl
cbl ndl - cable needle (you can also use an extra dpn)
sl - slip
rep - repeat
beg - beginning
BO - bind off


Notes:
You can use any yarn for this pattern. Depending on size of yarn and length of sleeves, you will need 1 - 3 skeins (balls).


You will start at the bottom edge of the right sleeve, work across the back and down the left sleeve all in one piece, no seams.


Determine how many stitches to cast on by using this formula: # sts / in x desired length = # CO sts (to do this, knit a small test swatch and using a ruler, count how many stitches are lined up within an inch). To determine CO length, measure around the largest part of your arm.


Pattern:
CO appropriate # of sts divided evenly on 3 dpns (video here), place a stitch marker near beg of round.
K1, P1 rib for 4 rounds


Begin cable pattern (determine where your cable should be by finding the center of your round and counting 3 sts on either side. Place 2 stitch markers to separate these 6 sts when you come to them). This way your cable goes up the center of the sleeve and across the center of the back.


Right Sleeve:
Round 1: K to where 1st marker goes (place 1st marker), P1, sl 2 sts onto cbl ndl and hold in front, K 2 sts from left ndl, P1, (place 2nd marker), K to end of round (video here)
Rounds 2-6: K to marker, P1, K4, P1, K to end of round
Rep rounds 1 - 6 until sleeve is desired length (we made 3/4 length sleeves, you may prefer wrist length)


Back:
At beg of next round, transfer sts to straight ndls in order to knit back of shrug flat.
Continue as follows:
Row 1: P2, K to marker, P1, sl 2 sts onto cbl ndl and hold in front, K2 from left ndl, K2 sts on cbl ndl, P1, K to last 2 sts, P2
Rows 2, 4, & 6: K2, P to marker, K1, P4, K1, P to last 2 sts, K2
Rows 3 & 5: P2, K to marker, P1, K4, P1, K to last 2 sts, P2
Continue until flat portion covers back between shoulders (get someone to hold it up for you)


Left Sleeve:
At beg of next round, transfer sts to dpns (divided evenly as before).
Continue cable pattern as for 1st sleeve until 2nd sleeve is same length as 1st, ending with round 1 of pattern.
K1, P1 rib for 4 rounds
BO all sts
Weave in yarn ends.


We will add photographs as we go along and also will note any corrections.

I Hate to Cook

Well, not really, it's not my first choice for leisure time activity but I enjoy it sometimes. Claire is a budding pastry chef and keeps our kitchen humming. On vacation, I was reading a humorous article about one woman's kitchen adventures. She mentioned the I Hate to Cook Book by Peg Bracken, published in 1960 (the only cookbook her mother had owned). I didn't think much of it at the time, but while perusing the shelves of The Book Nook in Rockport, I saw this charming little book (of course I will always find both the yarn shop and the used book store wherever I travel). It was meant to be.

 The book's illustrations are by Hilary Knight, who also illustrated the delightful Eloise. This alone was reason to own it. Reading about the 1960's housewife who had better things to do than cook is the real charm. The chapter titles include The Leftover - or Every Family Needs a Dog, Potluck Suppers - or How to Bring the Water for the Lemonade, and Desserts - or People are too Fat Anyway. There's even a helpful Household Hints section - "If your veils or lace collars get that tired look, you can crisp them by ironing them between two sheets of waxed paper."

This morning I happened upon this article in the New York Times. It appears that the author's daughter has revised and reprinted the book for its 50th anniversary. What great timing that I discovered this book this summer; I am so glad that I have the original on my kitchen shelf! So, I'm trying something new - after much wasted time trying to understand it, I think I've set up an account with Amazon so that if you are inclined to purchase The I Hate to Cook Book: 50th Anniversary Editionfrom them, I will earn a small commission. If this works and I make a little money, I will invite you over for dinner and Claire and I will cook an authentic meal from the original book!

To Market

As planned I went to White Rock Market last Saturday to look at bicycles. I didn't find the right one, but am planning to see more that they keep in storage. More tales of The Knitted Bicycle to come. Other than a bicycle, I expected to purchase some nice fruits and vegetables. Like these:

What I did not expect to come home with was a kitten. Jill (who drove in from Paradise - west of Denton) found a kitten on the side of the road as she was driving through Boyd on Highway 114. There amongst her beautiful fresh baked breads and homemade jams was a sign that said "free kitten." He took one look, saw the sucker that I am and began loudly yowling to get out of his box and be on his way. I pretended to give the situation some serious thought, but I think we both knew from the beginning what the outcome would be. In all the excitement, I didn't get a picture of Jill's wares, nor did I come home with any. I will have to visit her again at the next market.

Little kitten is home now, named Nikolas (Nick or Niko for short), he has settled in quickly and gets along well with the rest of the crew. He even has his own facebook page which Claire is kindly helping him update.

Fresh from the farm in a tomato box.

The Knitted Bicycle - Part One

Taking inspiration from Magda Sayeg (Knitta Please), knitting street artist, I am beginning to clothe non traditional things with knitting. Bicycles travel and are highly visible so what better place for some mobile stitches. Claire has the most groovy '70's bicycle, it all ready has great rainbow stripes on the frame and seat, so I added some to the handle bars.  

At the next White Rock Local Market I will be shopping for one of Fred DeMetrovich's fabulous restored vintage bicycles for ME, so my next project is a helmet cover. I am starting with my horse helmet, which I will wear in lieu of a bike helmet (must be different). I am essentially making a giant hat for the helmet (photos in the next installment). A bike helmet is an odd shape and requires further study for design and shaping of a helmet cover.

My last non traditional knitted object was a steering wheel cover. It has held up well to daily use, although constant sun exposure has faded it.

More Knitted Bicycle accessories coming soon!

Berry Pickin'

We went to gather blueberries from East Tx yesterday.

No,not here.

Here.

The blueberries came all the way from Blueberry Hill Farms in Edom, TX, but we only had to drive to Richardson. It was all a bit clandestine - people coming and going from a non-descript office building under the DART tracks to get their berry fix. Well worth it though, we got to savor the results of a trip to the berry farm with no bending and reaching in the hot sun, no extra miles on the car and no delivery charges. Only $20 for a huge gallon bag of hand picked the same day, fresh, organic, juicy, wonderful berries. They said they'll be back with more (let me know if you want some - I can hook you up).

Bluberries growing on the city sidewalk!

Picked fresh!

We have gone to pick our own blueberries for a few summers now, but it didn't look like we were going to make it this year. I was so excited when I received the email that the berries would be coming to us instead.  

Claire made us a pie for breakfast!

Pet Food Crisis

This morning we were out of dog food. And chicken food. And now cat food. The humans are in big trouble. A trip to the pet store and feed store is in our very near future, but in the meantime, I had to get creative with the snacks. The dogs had salad which was accepted eagerly, although some was put on the floor to be sorted through.

The chickens also had salad; they were very happy at this news. These used to be the ends of a watermelon. Chickens like watermelon.

The cats got lucky and polished off the last pouch of moist food in the cupboard (it was actually puppy food, but don't tell anyone).

I'd best be off to stock up before there's a mutiny at dinner time!

STORM

There's nothing like a hurricane to put some excitment into a trip to the beach. A week or so before we planned to head down to the South Texas coast to Rockport, a large mass of clouds appeared in the weather forecast. Pretty soon these clouds were named Alex. One of the storm tracking models put landfall right on top of us. We weren't going to let that discourage us so off we went. The first few days of vacation included plenty of time watching the Weather Channel. The day before the storm hit, things got wild.

This is the bay coming over the sea wall. Note the electrical transformer in the foreground. We'll discuss it later.

Being the adventurous types, we found it necessary to go out for a drive during all of this. When we came home, the garage door didn't open. (This was the first clue). Perhaps it was stuck. The quiet house, lacking the hum of the air conditioner and refrigerator confirmed the real story - the power was out. It was still light so we were not concerned, surely it will come back on soon. At dusk we decided to look for flashlights. No. Back to the HEB. After a lovely candlelight dinner off the grill (aha, not electric) we called it a night.

I opened one eye in the morning to search for small red lights on various plugged in things. No. House still quiet. Coffee maker requires electricity - not good. Maybe it will be back on when we return from the restaurant. No. Whoever decided that it was a good idea to install a transformer five feet from the bay was not planning ahead. This is a coastal town where there might be some expectation of high waves. The guys who were out all night working on it agreed that it was not such great planning. Thanks to their hard work, the power finally came on. 24 hours after going off.   

Alex ended up as a category 1 hurricane that hit about 250 miles south of us. The outer bands of the storm were quite large and covered a huge area. The high water and flooding was extensive.

These are fishing piers:

These folks didn't need a pier, they fished in the street:

The deck actually ends past the pilings: