12 years and counting

Anniversary Alert:  My blog is now 12 years old.

In November, 2005, I started this blog with a few test shots.  There was yarn:

There was Sally:

And I am so grateful that these two aspects of my writing life are still with me.  Sally and I are definitely a bit older and grayer in the muzzle.  Harry the dog (RIP) is no longer with us.  But the professor and I keep on keeping on, and while things have changed a great deal, that part is the same.  We now live in a different country (Canada) and have twins, but, well, I am grateful for all that's gone by.

It's been a challenging week...what with twins having the stomach bug.  They got better, while I had several strange work set backs, one after another.  Things felt a bit...umm...black.  I've definitely had a few missteps.  My books took a ride to a book fair--but did not sell a single copy.  My new pattern hasn't really taken off.  (at all.)  It was one downer after another.

I even was prompted to consider whether I should be writing patterns at all anymore...has my career shifted?  Am I doing other things now?  I've been writing about fiber arts and designing knitwear for about 15 years now, and this seemed like a bleak, big choice.

Then something funny happened.  I predominantly sell patterns these days on Ravelry.  I checked out another place where I sell designs...and it turns out things were selling just fine over there.  OK then.  That is good news...

And the Professor had a paper come out.  (I'm linking to an article about his paper...not all of us do genomics & evolution and development...)  So, things are improving.

I'm planning on taking some time to sit on the couch, drink tea, and knit this afternoon.  I've got a roast chicken and roasted root veggies ready to go for supper, and I'm making applesauce in the slow cooker.

Some anniversaries are quiet ones...but if you've been reading the blog for a while (or are brand new!)--I'd love to celebrate with you.  Please leave a comment and say hello and tell me how long you've been reading?

Snow time and stash

It's here!  Snow time!  On Wednesday night, my twins were up half the night...which is not all that unusual, actually (yes, we still don't have good sleep, I am one tired Mommy) but the main excitement was the SNOW.  Yep.  We now have snow on the ground, and barring weird melting events, it is likely to stay there until April or so.  

This correlated with another exciting moment.  I have finished the first twin sweater of the season.  Each boy gets a new handknit sweater (from me or from their Didi --grandma--) each year, at minimum, and luckily, we are still fitting into most of our sweaters from last year.  However, this one was absolutely knit to order.  I used Rowan Felted Tweed dk, which I am not in love with, but all the "best" colors were on sale at the yarn shop this summer, so there you have it.  75% natural fibers (wool and alpaca) AND much softer than last year's Lett Lopi Icelandic wool, which I love, but which was pronounced too fuzzy and furry.  (they still wear it willingly on cold days, just with a long sleeve shirt with a collar underneath.)  I used a variation on this pullover because I have the pattern book and I did not want to design a whole new sweater from scratch!

Here are two photos of the sweater.  Due to the gray, windy, snowy day, I had to adjust the light in the images, even when I took them outside on the porch.  True color replications are nowhere to be found on a day like that!

When I announced that sweater #1 was finished, the other twin burst into tears because his sweater isn't ready yet.  He has ordered a chocolate brown with blue edging sweater, and depending on the moment, it will be a lightweight, heavyweight, henley, cardigan, pullover, with or without stripes. :)  Anyway, based on the gauge swatch, it will likely end up being something fairly similar to the one I just knit.

There are some special touches worth noting.  I've been spinning some chocolate brown wool while the boys play in the basement, and it is a great color, but the yarn is a bit too bulky for what I think this twin might need.  (He already has his fair share of heavyweight sweaters, regardless of style.)

So, I dug into the stash, and found this.  It's a brown handspun Shetland 2-ply, roughly 600-700 yards, that I spun on my Canadian Production Wheel.  I kind of knew where it was in the stash, and I used my blog search function to find out the yardage...cause I wrote about it in 2009.  Bingo.   I got the gauge wrong back then, or at least, I am going to knit it at a looser gauge now, on a #5 (3.75mm) needle...but when I found it, I found the perfect blue yarn to go with it.

Yup, I wrote a post that featured the perfect blue merino/silk contrast color in 2005.  There is something to be said for a deep stash!  I have sold or given away loads of yarn in the last 10 years, but these handspun skeins were saved and moved to Canada because who knew?  One day I would have a twin four year old who asked for this...

He stopped crying when I gave him his very own gauge swatch to race with...around the house.  (At first there was confusion over whether this was a watch, which both boys clearly wanted more than a gauge swatch, but whatever...)

I don't list my yarn stash on Ravelry (hey now, this is big.  It is nobody's business!), but I do have this blog.  This ten year old blog, where I've been talking yarn, and wool, and knitting, and spinning, and stories---for a good long time.  That is worth celebrating this month, as the blog turns ten.

Meanwhile, while I cherish these things I tucked away, I am also getting ready to give away a lot of woollies for our newcomers.  Manitoba is hosting 2,000 refugees, and they are coming soon!  I feel lucky to live among people who are opening their hearts and communities to those in need.  This article says it best....or maybe we could just open with We were strangers once, in the land of Egypt...?

Earth Day: Every Day

Wednesday, April 22nd, was Earth Day...and I didn't remember to post.  Instead, we've been collecting recyclables to bring to preschool for art projects.  We've been using (and re-using) our cloth diapers... UPDATE: both boys are mostly toilet trained during the day.  Not at night though. Oh well.  It's a process.

Anyhow, we make an effort to think about the environment whenever we can.  It has to be manageable, but sometimes we find going the extra distance to choose the right thing, is worth it for us in the long run.

I wondered what sort of photo to post with this, because things are not green here yet.  Earth Day happens at a time when we don't even have grass or leafy trees...just the odd bud or two.  It was 14F (-10C) this AM.   So, I remembered last summer.  We just recently finished eating the bags of frozen strawberries from our basement freezer.  We still have lots of homemade jam left.  Here we are, on a windy, cool July day last summer, in a strawberry field relatively near Winnipeg.  We went picking twice.  We had great fun, including an impromptu ride on a farm "gator" tractor.

I was featured on a blog this week -- likely because of how Knit Green's ideas coincide with Earth Day.  Although my books were published by Wiley & Sons, this part of their publishing business was sold to Turner Publishing...and here's their blog!

Joanne Seiff links two loves: knitting and reading | Connect | Turner Publishing

To celebrate, I'd like to offer a discount to anybody who might like to download a knitting pattern (skipping the paper for the pdf?  An Earth Day move!) on Ravelry.

Until May 15, use the coupon code:
Celebrate!
to download any of my Ravelry patterns for 20% off.  Springtime - and thinking about the earth- are well worth celebrating.

The sleepy sweaters

Time is short...the boys have summer camp in the mornings in July, but it's all me and twin three year olds every afternoon.  In August, our mother's helper will be back to help  a bit(she's away this month), but there's no camp and no preschool in August...just me, filling up the play time as best I can.  That means there's very little time for blog posts, no time for, say, complicated cooking or vacuuming up the copious amounts of dog fluff (honestly, it could be a new breed of dog!) on the floors. 

When I do have spare moments, I am mostly trying to fill them up with things that keep the household afloat, are enjoyable for someone or give us pleasure in the long run.  More on that in another post, I think...but in this one, I present:

the sleepy sweaters

Yes.  Even in summer here, we wear sweaters to bed with some frequency.  With the windows open, it can get chilly at night, and both boys throw off their covers with some frequency.  In an effort to get more sleep by helping them sleep through the night occasionally, I came up with these. 

This starts with either felted wool sweaters (from the thrift store) or cashmere ones that I bought to make into wool soakers or longies.  (Wool is very absorbent and ideal for cloth diaper covers; it is what my boys have been wearing at night for most of their lives.)  My mom helped out by making the first soakers and wool pants when the boys were born.  Some of the soakers are handknits but most are made from felted, repurposed sweaters.  The wool pants, (also called longies) worn over their clothes, were great for winter time warmth when going outside and a lot easier than getting a couple of infants into snow suits.

Over time, I got a stock pile of beautiful sweaters felted or washed and ready to go.  The professor really likes the thrift store sweater hunt!  The sleepy sweaters in my house come in two styles:

1) a long sleeveless one, sort of like a sleeveless tunic.  This goes over a short or long sleeved tee-shirt and a pair of pajama pants at bedtime.  (and underneath those pjs, we are still wearing cloth diapers and wool soakers at night.)

2) When it is really cold, in the winter, we wear long sleeve sleepy sweaters.  I repurpose felted adult sweaters or cashmere ones by hemming up the bottoms and sleeves so they fit my (still pretty small) three year olds. 

Recently, the purple cashmere sleeveless sleepy sweater was deemed the "ballet sweater."  Leo, the older twin, is a great fan of dancing.  He particularly enjoys twirling and stomping in his sleepy sweater before bed.

I began to get worried because this particular sleepy sweater was looking a bit ragged. When would I fix it and where would I find another perfect purple (CASHMERE!|) sleepy sweater?

I had a very lucky helper.  My friend Rachel, who owns Wolseley Wardrobe, a local consignment shop, kept her eye out for the perfect sweater.  The stars aligned and we just landed a second, long sleeved cashmere purple BALLET sleepy sweater.  Hurray! 

I get enormous pleasure out of seeing my guys cozy and ready for sleep, outfitted in woollies made or repurposed just for them.  It is time well-spent because sometimes, just sometimes, I get to sleep 5-6 hours in a row when they both are warm and comfy enough to sleep through the night at the same time.

I took advantage of a sunny morning to air these out and I wanted to share it with you.  Hope you can imagine the twin ballet dancers twirling here. 

PS: I am wondering if the blog is something I should keep doing? If you are reading, why do you read?  Are you a longtime reader?  Would you like me to post something different?  I just read this article and wonder if I've missed the boat on blogging.  Should I have made mine into something money making?  Is it time to let it go completely, as I cannot update it weekly anymore?