Christmas sweater

Mom was happy with the sweater I made for her. She wore it on Christmas day and my brother snapped this pic for me. They live in CA and it was very sunny as you can tell! 


I'm just glad it fit, and she actually is wearing it. 

Merry Christmas to all ...

We're about as prepared as we are going to be for Christmas this year! We'll be sharing the time with family - plenty of eating will take place -sweets being my favorite!

Wishing you all the merriest!

Warmest wishes, Liz

Winter Solstice

It’s a dark day in northern Indiana which somehow seems appropriate for today, December 21^st, also known as the Winter Solstice marking the first day of winter.  

According to Wikipedia, “The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days.” Yeah! I have always liked the thought of the lengthening of day. Even though we’ve got plenty of winter ahead of us, for some reason I feel much more optimistic knowing that each day will be a bit brighter. The light (and certainly the sunlight!) makes the cold so much easier to bear.

Today is my brother-in-law’s birthday too. Happy birthday Ken! Check out their bike & ski shop, ProForm, located in South Bend. http://proformbike.com/

Stay warm & cozy, Liz

Here's a frosty photo from a few years back after an ice storm. I came across it while searching for a few pics and thought I'd share! It makes me shiver just looking at it! 


Stay warm ... Liz

Chicken attack!

 

A funny story ... Lee, having worked in the RV industry for 30-some years tends to build things “just big enough” to fit through. Our chicken coop being one of those things. Each morning I bring fresh water for the chickens and have to bend over to unplug the warmer and remove the waterer before I can fit inside the coop with my heavy jacket and overalls. (I sometimes feel like I’m ready for a space mission with the heavy boots and all!).

Well, this morning a few of the chickens were perched on top of the laying boxes and when I bent over, one of them jumped onto my hooded head. I couldn’t stand upright for fear that the chicken would be smashed into the ceiling, so I attempted to pry it’s claws from my hood and remove it to safe ground. Once I had her up in the air, she started flapping her wings like crazy which knocked out the warming lamp smashing the bulb. As if I needed something else to clean up … Anyway, I laugh every time I think of the picture of me bent over in my Carhartts with a chicken attached firmly to my hood!

Ain’t life a hoot?  

I love my Carhartt overalls!

After 8 winters on the farm, last winter I broke down and bought a heavy-duty Carhartt jacket. I’ve held off buying one because they are so darn heavy but Lee kept telling me they are worth their weight in gold! He was right, the thing IS warm. For the past 8 years I have been wearing flannel lined jeans along with my (scratchy) wool long-johns but still, my upper legs and knees would be so cold and achy by the time I was done with chores.

Well, its winter #9 on the farm and I broke down and bought some Carhartt overalls this year. OMG, they are wonderful! So far I’ve been out in single digit weather and my legs are nice and warm the entire time. I have not had the chronic aches and pains like the past few years either. I’m thinking of being buried in these overalls. LOL! Kidding. 

I finally finished the Christmas sweater I knit for my mom. It’s not actually a “Christmas sweater” but rather a sweater for Christmas. J I had it finished (the first time) back in early November. It’s one of those knit-in-one-piece patterns – knit from one arm through the body and ending with the opposite arm. Apparently I missed a few inches of knitting about 1/3rd into the pattern and didn’t notice it until I had completely finished it, ends tucked in an all. Needless to say, it was a bit off! I had to rip back 2/3rds of the sweater and start again.

Mom is nearing 86 years old and has shrunk down to a petite small (and just barely) so to rip it back and remake such a tiny garment only took a few evenings. It does not fall into the usual type of clothing she wears, but I think she’ll like it. In case you're wondering, that's not her in the photo!

The pattern is from the spring issue of Interweave Knits. I loved making it (twice!) and may make another for the shop.

Stay warm & happy knitting!

Liz

Vintage buttons

*Vintage Buttons*

2 lovely words, aren’t they? 

My passion for buttons started early on when my grandmother gave me a box of buttons she’d saved through the years. She wasn’t much for sewing but always clipped buttons from worn-out clothing. Unfortunately I lost those buttons during a move from Florida to Indiana. :(

While recently visiting my parents, my mom pulled out her sewing kit and dug out all the buttons she had saved over the years. And this past summer my Lee’s mom gave me a bag of buttons she had collected over the years. These buttons will eventually find a place in one of my many projects—a little decorative touch to a sweater or poncho, perhaps the cuff of a glove, and many buttons are used for eyes and noses on my critter hats – each one different!

Cheddar Head!

This little "cheddar head" is our vet's little boy. He's wearing one of my critter hat creations. Looks like he'll have room to grow! :D

Stay warm, Liz

Thankful for our life

I grew up thinking the stork dropped me into the wrong family. I’m sure I was meant to be raised on a farm, out of doors, with animals surrounding me. The fact is I resemble my dad quite a bit and have inherited his endless need to have several projects on the work bench.

Having spent the majority of my life in the city, this farmgirl-at-heart felt like she’d finally come home the day we moved to the country to inhabit our “new” log home. Nearing our 11^th year, I can’t help but reminisce how our small piece of paradise has transformed over the years. Covered porches, flowering shrubs and trees, gardens with giant vegetables, treed pastures, and colorful alpacas dotting the landscape.

Our lives have been defined and enriched by our surroundings. We have so much to be thankful for all started with a thoughtful comment from Lee on a warm June afternoon, “we should put something out there …”