Low Vision Accessible...and more

 Big news!  There are now 24 of my patterns uploaded to payhip right over here:

https://payhip.com/joanneseiff

I did this so that all my Low Vision Accessible patterns would be available for sale on another platform...for those who cannot manage Ravelry's new look.  All of these have this note:

Accessibility Note: This pattern offers an additional Low Vision pdf option, with Arial 24 point font and photo captions, for those who need large print.

 I'm still learning this new platform, and I hope to get my other designs up there in the future, as time allows. 

Deir Hart (yes, I'm the model) is one of the patterns that's already live. 

In other news, The Jewish Independent ran this piece-about the value of fences, neighbours, and community- on Friday:

Fences, and walls, can be good

Disclaimer: I'm not for border walls between countries, or anything big-scale. No!  This is strictly about why a fence around my yard keeps my kids and dog from falling into a construction site...or by extension, how a carefully constructed boundary, like an eruv or, say, a mask or social distancing, can offer us, as individuals, both protection and community as we navigate challenging times.

Last but not least:  Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!  I hope all is well, wherever you live, and even if you don't celebrate this- and that we all continue to find things for which to be thankful and grateful, given our current difficult (pandemic) circumstances.  Take care and eat a lot!

Following the pattern...

I took sewing lessons as a kid.  The rigidity of how patterns were introduced to me, possibly reinforced by the punishment when I (ahem) cut up some of my mom’s expensive fabrics in her stash without asking permission, has made me very worried about using sewing patterns as an adult.  So worried, in fact, that over the years, I decided to just wing it and made myself and my kids a few things just by having some knitwear design shaping ideas and ummm, winging it.  And this worked out ok, but...

I've been needing some new clothes...I wear my clothes hard and various twins spill on me and well, there is only so much mending and cleaning you can do before things do not look presentable...The options in the stores seemed: too expensive, too flimsy, wrong colours, wrong styles, too small, too large, and did not fit (pick all or pick one).

A friend convinced me I could follow a pattern, guided me into picking one, and I went from there.  This is 100 Acts of Sewing’s dress no. 1 in a Robert Kaufman linen/cotton blend.  I finished it Friday afternoon and wore it Saturday evening to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with my Strippy McStrippit cardigan.

Today, my piece about slow fashion came out on the CBC-Manitoba webpage, too:
Mend, craft or make do with less

Our Thanksgiving weekend has been slightly different than envisioned due to our big snowstorm here.  Lots of time inside...and it has been full of “making” time.  I have turned out two pairs kid mitts from old felted sweaters, three pies (apple, raspberry apple, and peach) a sweater renovation—I am knitting cuff and body extensions for a skinny but growing kid—and more.  It has been productive, if indoor, time.

Tonight is the start of Sukkot, and I am sad to say we have not put up a sukkah. (An outdoor hut for spending time outdoors.) The place we usually built it on the deck is wet, slushy, and alternately, still covered with 20 cm (8”) of snow.  The weather brings me back to another of my articles that ran this week: A dose of humility, gratitude (Cause, you know, we really cannot control the weather!)

Making as a way of giving Thanks

As a dual citizen (US/Canada), I'm often feeling betwixt and between this time of year.  We celebrated Thanksgiving in October in Winnipeg, but right now, everyone --my family and friends--in the US is running around, getting ready for Thanksgiving.  We will be having school and work as usual tomorrow... but I can be thankful anyhow...

1)So, I'm throwing my own party here on the blog.  First, if you've been wanting to buy any of my Rav Patterns , including my brand new pattern, Woolly, you can save 25% off any of these patterns on Ravelry from now until November 27th at midnight (Central Time, US & Canada) with the coupon code:
Thanks

2) Second, if you are the kind of person who wants to say thank you by knitting for others, well, that is awesome.  Yarncanada.ca wants to help you by giving yarn for you to knit for your good cause.
They are offering free yarn (with a contest) to knitters in both the US and Canada who like to knit for good causes.  So, if you knit for charity, hop on over there and enter their competition; the deadline is December 15th.

3) I cannot really cope with this time of year without cooking stuff.  So, I'm making a roast and some potatoes and sweet potatoes and some squash and kale---and....my Professor bought me this cool set of things I had to tell you about.  Here in Winnipeg, we have lots of root crops.  We have an extended season vegetable share this year, so we're getting a lot of cabbage, carrots, etc and there's only so much slaw a person can eat, let me tell you.

As my friends know, my attention span for cooking is about 24 hours.  After that, I seem to forget things like sourdough starters or sauerkraut and, at least when I lived in the Southern US, they would grow strange pink or green colors and the Professor would come along and throw it out to protect us from keeling over.  (He took those university health and safety classes while I did Arts& Social Sciences. :)

But I still was curious about fermentation.  Small batch fermentation in a cooler climate seemed like more of a sure thing, so he bought me Pickle Pipes and glass Pickle Pebble glass weights to try this out with canning jars and rings.  (We already had loads of those) I'm making my first small batches of sauerkraut and pickled carrots now.  They sure look good sitting on the counter...and these silicon pickle pipes have a little valve at the top so the fermentation gets air without introducing anything else into the concoction.  I look forward to seeing how it comes out.

--Canadians, here are links to Amazon.ca for these things, I used the US links above first--
 Pickle Pipes and Pickle Pebbles

(I'm using a handmade book by my friend Janet as a way of keeping notes on my kitchen experiments.)

Have a wonderful holiday, or a great Thursday--wherever you live!

Happy American Thanksgiving!

I missed North American Thanksgiving this year.  Yup.  I'm a little sad about that.
I was in the US for Canadian Thanksgiving in October, and in I'm in Canada for US Thanksgiving... but I am still thankful, and want to pass along something to you.

Here it is.  You can save 25% off of any of my Ravelry Pattern downloads from November 23rd through November 28th.  (the sale ends at midnight, CT, US & Canada)

Please use the Coupon Code:
Thanksgiving2016

So, after all the turkey is cooked and you're ready to relax, sit back and get knitting, you'll have some new patterns, on sale, to enjoy.  Here's the link to my Ravelry patterns.  Knit On!

American Thanksgiving- a sale

Pumpkin colored Spire Smock from Knit Green-- available on Sale at Ravelry

As an American living in Canada (and a permanent resident here), today, Thursday, is just a regular day.  I mean, I know it's American Thanksgiving--happy Thanksgiving!  However, for us, we had Thanksgiving and a holiday in October....it was awesome, thanks, and we are having an ordinary work day.

Well, ordinary besides having a sale.

Until the end of November, I'm offering 30% off all my patterns for sale on Ravelry.  This includes my eBook, Three Ply.  If you were wanting to send a knitter a gift, you might want to consider a Yarn Spinner Story+Pattern.  However, for a real deal, you'd buy Three Ply, because if you purchase it at this discount....all the patterns are 50% off.

There's a coupon code: Thanksgiving

Please, Enjoy!  Use it!  :)

A funny story or two about this odd North American holiday disconnect.

Recently, an American relative asked my professor husband what he would be doing on Thanksgiving, meaning ....Thursday.  He explained that he would be at work, likely at his desk or in his laboratory.  "But," the relative replied, sounding confused, "you always call me then!"

"Yes," says the absent minded professor.  "I use the phone on my desk."

(Did you laugh?!  Understated humor, indeed....)

Second story:
I visited with an American friend this morning who has lived in Canada for a long time.  Probably she moved here when I was in grade school, or something like that.  She had tea and apple crumble ready, and we 'celebrated' the day for a couple of hours by getting together.  She told me her husband felt desperately deprived without his "All-American" pumpkin pie, but she was offering him a heart-healthy apple crumble.

I explained that nobody in our family is in love with pumpkin, but that apple desserts were definitely a thing with us.

At the end of the visit, she handed me a treat to take home, and it was a pumpkin bread.  We laughed.  I traded her one pumpkin bread for most of the apple crumble.  I bet her husband will enjoy it!   We sure will eat the crumble for dessert....

Kid and Adult sized Basketweave Hat--on Sale on Ravelry

See?  Not so ordinary a day after all.  Homebaked dessert on a weeknight!?  Wow.

Say Hi or Happy Thursday in the comments, ok? :) Joanne

The UNsale -reasons to be grateful

The last of the big fall holidays is finally over.  We had a blast, actually--I brought a couple of friends with us to services to help out (it is hard to keep up with two four year olds by myself!) and both of my boys loved the dancing and singing.  We nearly had a tidal wave in the clawfoot bathtub later that night as twins re-enacted their favorite songs of the day.

However, we are now finally back to a mostly "regular" schedule (thank goodness), which means back to preschool and work as usual.  My challahs are now no longer round --back to a regular braided one.  

We have one more holiday though, Thanksgiving.  (Canadian Thanksgiving is this weekend, in October.)  So, I have time during these holidays to think how lucky we were.  How even though the Canadian dollar has plummeted and food prices are rising here--we can still afford to eat well.  How even though it is getting cold here and winter is coming?  We can stay warm in our house, with our clothes, heat, electricity and hot water for those baths.

I am also in the midst of making new mitts for my guys, who grow pretty quickly, and again, I feel glad I can sit down and produce something to keep us warm...that I have the tools, the skills, and the chance to do this.  If I were on the run, my home destroyed, and our belongings on our back, I could not do these things.  (I am not posting any awful pictures of the world's war destruction and death--it's all in the news...)

So, I wanted to make a donation to help refugees.  The Canadian government is doing a matching donation, too.  If I donate to certain specific causes (the Red Cross, for instance), the government will match the donation.

At the same time, my pattern sales have decreased--perhaps because I haven't been so good at promoting them.  It seems when I run a sale (20% off, for instance...) more people purchase patterns, but that won't help me raise any money!

So, I am running the UNsale through the end of October...a chance to do what the UN suggests and help refugees.  If you buy any of my patterns or my e-book in October, I will donate 20% of what I make to charity.  There's no special discount or coupon for the patterns on the buyer's end--except that a portion of the purchase goes to help refugees when they need it most.  At the end of the month, I'll make that donation. Join me in knitting mitts for winter or choose a hat...whatever suits you.

Meanwhile, I hope to run a few giveaways, a review, and more.  Please join me--and if you don't need to download any patterns, that is fine...perhaps consider donating a different way, on your own.

With that?  I'll say--Thanks.

you never know...

So far, it's been a wonderful holiday weekend. I've gotten to sleep late (8:30 is the equivalent of sleeping til noon in my world!) and I've had time to knit and rest. My Thanksgiving meal on Thursday night was wonderful--good food and two good friends to share it with us. The best compliments happened then: One friend didn't feel well, but he came anyhow, explaining that eating a good meal with us was as good a medicine as he could imagine. My other friend told us it was the best Thanksgiving she'd had in many years. She even complimented Harry and Sally, the dogs, on their good behavior. (HAH! I think she had too much wine...)

The odd thing about my saffron O-wool knitting project is that I'm nearly addicted to it. My bottom has been pasted to the couch for longer than usual! This allowed for reflection...even as I polished my new Great Wheel with beeswax and orange oil, even as I cooked, I thought about it. Many of my projects don't feel this way. I focus on owning the sweater at the end, finishing the sample for a knitting design, sending off the knitted present. While I always like knitting, I don't always like the projects I knit!

I can't predict this ahead...I can't look at the yarn/concept/pattern and say "This one will be a joy." I just can't tell. Today, I happen to be blogging on an older computer, with older photos to cruise. A year ago, in November, I was knitting this. A Finn/crossed with something else wool sheep breed, very soft, that I spun up relatively lofty and bulky.

It took a while, but it became this shawl colored sweater. I've won the sweater once or twice this year. In retrospect, I remember I loved spinning this yarn. The slip stitch sweater pieces were pure joy. I struggled mightily on how to do the collar. And so far? The knitting itself gives me more pleasure than the sweater. The sweater? It's just not as compelling to wear as that spinning and knitting was!

In comparison, there are these two sweaters that I knit in graduate school. I wrote about this for The Inside Loop's first issue. The handspun began as odds and ends I dumped into a dyepot or two. I was freezing all the time in our drafty old house (we couldn't afford insulation or high heat bills) and these sweaters were knit up quickly in 2000. These-one a blue roll neck, the other a scarlet boat neck--are not masterpieces. Warm and bulky, with a sweatshirt shape, they are comforting... parts of my wardrobe that I pull out again and again. I don't remember knitting them to be enjoyable. I can't remember knitting the blue one at all! This happens to me. Hey, I knit a lot! The scarlet sweater was knit second. I remember knitting all too well, for sad reasons--I was knitting it when my mother-in-law, z"l, died. Yet, it's a sweater I gravitate towards even now.

The more I knit, (and you can substitute in here cooking/gardening/dyeing/spinning/anything with an end product as well as a process), the more I realize that it's a crap shoot. What we enjoy may be the process of creation, and it may be the product. It's like, say, Thanksgiving dinner. Good food is important, but so is the company, the weather, and myriad other things we can't control. We can throw seeds into a garden, tend it carefully--but you just can't control the weather. It's up to me (up to us?) to try hard. It might just come out ok. The process might be fun in itself. That might be good enough to focus on...cause you just never know.

In other news: I'm almost afraid to mention it, phew phew phew (I'm getting superstitious) my baby nephew is making slow improvements again.

My heart goes out to the people of Mumbai who've lost loved ones this week. The tragedy felt very close to home when I heard of a young rabbi and his wife who were killed. They worked hard to provide home hospitality to Jewish visitors to Mumbai...just two among many, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, who died. May their memory be a blessing.

harvest

On Sunday, my professor went out to the garden to do some therapeutic digging. (this time of the semester, anything other than work is therapeutic. Sleeping and eating are popular hobbies, too...)

He came back in grinning. His bucket was full to brimming with Jerusalem Artichokes. These are also called sunchokes--they're a root vegetable. They are a kind of sunflower and we're treated to enormous towering plants with little flowers up top in the fall. The glory is in the roots--roasted with potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips and carrots, they're a great addition to the fall and winter supper table. I make soup from them too. We've grown them for years.

They're very healthy because of the inulin, a source of fructose that diabetics can tolerate. Alas, it appears that for some reason, my body isn't tolerating them so well this fall! I will try eating them again and see if it was a one off, or whether I always get stomach cramps and other unpleasant stinky side effects... This little digestion issue, of course, coincides with the one year when we've got the best harvest of these roots that we've ever had! It figures. 20 lbs of a root veggie I can't eat?!

We're settling in for a few days of togetherness around here. To my surprise, for the first time this winter (after 3 full years together), my dogs Harry and Sally are not just sharing the couch, but edging closer and closer to sitting next to each other. This leaves more room for the humans on the couch--and the dog toys. :) I'm hoping that in future years, they will cuddle up so that there's actually room for the rest of us on the furniture!


I've been spending a lot of time knitting--it's amazing how some projects become both addictive and comforting...it's a good way to wile away the hours while I'm waiting to hear more about my new nephew in the hospital. I read with interest about all the colors that attract you to your knitting. Natural shades, blues, greens and purples...these all sounded like logical and tempting hues. They are, in fact, colors I've knit with often. I never would have thought that this saffron shade would get me so excited. In fact, if I'd been choosing colors for me to wear, or anything other than a sample for a book (which needs to be bright to photograph well, and contrast with the other colors in the book) I wouldn't likely have chosen this shade. However, I'm in love! I think it's a testament to how important exploration is in our knitting (and in life). We won't know what tickles us pink-hah- until we actually try it out for ourselves. Better yet, it looks just like butternut squash soup, pumpkin pie, and fall leaves. No wonder why I like it so much this time of year!

I'm not sure if I'll squeeze in another post before Thursday--or if you'll have time to read it--so if you're celebrating Thanksgiving this week, have a happy one! Enjoy! Partake of some orange food and think of knitting! Wishing you all good things... :) Joanne