Ordering Chickens

Those of you who have followed my work, know I have a thing about chickens. In my latest book Colorful Stitchery I even designed an egg cosy for a soft-boiled egg. That’s the picture here – more about that later.

It is springtime and that means, it is time to visit the local feed store to order my chicks. Every year I replenish our henhouse – over the year, things happen – old girls pass on during a heatwave or extreme cold or “wild things” ravage the population late at night while we’re in dreamland. I ordered 12 chickens Friday – 7 araucanas (the famous “Martha” chickens that lay colored eggs – no she didn’t invent them but she certainly did let the world know about them) and 5 Buff Orpintons (docile butterscotch colored big girls who lay brown eggs). They arrive May 15th! I can’t wait.

I have raised chickens since 1988 when I lived in my little pink house in Pepperell. I love chickens – their feathers, the colors of their plummage, their funny strut, the way they peck around the garden looking for something interesting to eat. I even keep a couple roosters – their antics are humorous – there is always some kind of hullabaloo going on and some mighty masculine crowing. When the windows are open, they truly are a great alarm clock although 4:30 a.m. is a bit early. And you know that term “pecking order” – it really is true! There is definitely a top girl and boy in our henhouse.

To learn more about raising chickens, click here.
To order by mail, I have luck with the Murray McMurray Hatchery.

David Hockney Portrait Show at Boston's MFA


When I teach classes on designing knitwear, frequently students ask how I get my ideas. As with most artists and designers, I am continually looking at other artist's works along with magazines, fabrics, nature, art books, and more. Once in awhile, I will even adventure somewhere to "become inspired." A few weeks ago that was the case. I was lucky enough to go with my sister and brother-in-law Laurie and Bruce to the David Hockney Portrait Exhibit at the MFA in Boston. The MFA exhibit shows over 100 of Hockney's portraits. What I really enjoyed was seeing that he began his work as an artist when he was very young. There are several self-portraits he did as a teenager (before he went to any art school). The exhibit is really large, diverse (there's lots of collage, photography, watercolor, oils - big and small, things you have seen before and things you haven't).


All I can say is - "boy can this guy paint!" Look at this link to see some of the images if you can't get to Boston. The show will also be in LA at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (June 11 – September 4, 2006) and then in London at the National Portrait Gallery, London (October 12, 2006 – January 21, 2007) if you are lucky enough to be in either of those places.

Can Spring be Far off?

One of the surest way to know spring isn’t far off in New England is when all the local farmers start collecting sap from maple trees to make maple syrup. It is a reassuring sight to know that spring really isn’t too far off. For the sap to “run good”, there has got to be nights that are below freezing and days that warm up. As the sap in the trees thaws out and becomes liquid, it starts running down the inside of the tree. Holes are drilled into the tree and a spigot inserted. And then - if nature cooperates (and you really never know, do you?) - there is about 3 weeks of sap harvest.

Some farmers “boil” their own sap. Others – who either don’t have the facilities or lack the time to commit to boiling - take the clear sap to a “sugar house” and sell it to them. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup!

The picture here shows two ways to collect sap - the old-fashioned way my friend Mike does it - and the new-fangled modern way our neighbors the Herron’s do it. In the old way, metal buckets with lids (so the snow and rain doesn’t dilute the sap) are attached to the tree and the sap drips into the bucket – making a lovely ping, ping, ping sound. The buckets need to be emptied once a day when it is running good.

The new-fangled – but more efficient way - is called pipeline - shown on the right of the photo. A hole is still made in the tree. Plastic tubing is run from tree to tree down a hill (that’s the green and blue lines in the picture) and the sap is collected in GIANT plastic square containers. Then a pump is used to remove the sap to a giant tank on the back of a truck. The pipeline can stay up from year to year.

There’s nothing that compares to the sweet rich taste of maple syrup. I mix it with mustard and other spices for a marinade for ham and barbequed pork. This is the time of year, so if you can get out to a sugarhouse – go now and enjoy the rich history of boiling sap and harvesting from the land.

We made syrup for a few years. It’s a great way to get rid of lots of branches and trees that fall down in the woods and the yard and it gets you outside thinking of spring and enjoying the warmth of the sun that is higher in the sky and the wood fire burning. But now that our daughter Julia is diabetic – it’s not quite the same so we are taking a break.

Boston on St. Patrick's Day!

Julia and I went to Boston over the weekend to visit my good friend and Julia’s un-official aunt Cathy Payson (we both worked at Classic Elite Yarns together for many years). The goal of the weekend was to watch the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and see all Cathy’s wonderful Irish-American relatives. Cathy surprised me by entertaining Julia in So. Boston Saturday to give me the chance to visit my favorite stores in downtown Boston and to try to become inspired! Three really nice hours at Anthropologie (I love their creative approach to retailing), Paper Source (it’s a good thing I haven’t tried scrapbooking yet – I could go broke buying up all the incredible papers), Sephora (so many cosmetics, so little time), and the giant Barnes and Noble in the Prudential Mall.

I was really excited to find the new publication Embellish. I knew there was going to be a spread about my book Colorful Stitchery and a little profile on me coming out soon. Well, there it was stacked in the magazine section - it was so exciting! I’ve shown the cover above so you can look for it too! Maybe the stitchery thing will catch on yet!

The folks at Embellish excerpted 7 projects from Colorful Stitchery. So if you don’t want to spring for the whole book at $19.95 (here's the link to buy it from me on my website), buy “Embellish” at the grocery store at $5.99. On sale at newstands til June 6th (or until they run out).

Julia in Interweave Knits Spring 2006 issue

In the latest issue of Interweave Knits, my daughter Julia is modeling a zippered cardigan with embroidered polka dots. I hear people are loving the sweater. I love it because it is introducing knitters to embroidery.

On the Interweave website there is an article I wrote about embroidering on knits if you are curious. Here’s the link to the page – it is a pdf document that you can download and then print out:
Kristin's Interweave Knits embroidery article

Embroidery on knitwear is really easy – it only looks hard! Try it and see what you think. I'll be teaching a class at the Wool Connection in Avon, CT on April 1st, 2006 if you are really curious.

Interweave Knits photo by Chris Hartlove

My New Book - Colorful Stitchery

The Reviews are Appearing!

I spent a year and a half on my latest book Colorful Stitchery (Storey, 2005). It was published in mid-November. I am really proud of it. I think I packed it with lots of fun and not too hard projects – 65 of them – for beginning and intermediate stitchers. It is colorful (hence the title), modern and old-fashioned at the same time. Debbie Stoller, editor of Bust Magazine and author of 3 Stitch ‘n Bitch Books says of Colorful Stitchery “Both homey and hip, Kristin Nicholas’ embroidery projects will have you itchin’ to get stitchin’.

Colorful Stitchery was photographed in my house (more on that another day). My vision for the book was to present the hand-stitched projects amongst the hand-painted walls I have done myself. I also wanted to nestle the pillows amongst all the wacky colorful furniture and textiles I have collected over the years.

Finally, it is getting some reviews. Let me say, it isn’t easy to get the press to notice a stitching book when all they want to talk about is knitting! (Not that I don't love to knit!) These papers and magazines have been generous with their kudos – and to them I am very thankful: The Seattle Times, Kansas City Star, NY Newsday, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bradenton (FL) Herald. Colorful Stitchery has also been reviewed in Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, Vogue Patterns, and House and Garden featured it as an editor’s pick on their website.

So pick it up today – from Amazon if you must. But if you want to help me get the lambs out of the bathroom, order it from me on my website. Here’s the link: Kristin Nicholas Order Form. I will autograph it to you or anyone else you like. (I’ll make a little extra money too – which will help me to keep bringing you lots more knitting and stitching projects! After all, I am trying to make a living doing this!)

New Digs for the Bottle Lambs

“The farmer” has moved the lambs out to a fiberglass calf hutch he borrowed from his brother, the cow farmer. Thank goodness. It will take me weeks to remove all the wall decorations the lambs left – not to mention the multiple scrubbings of the floor. We really need a proper barn here – so buy a book or two! (From my website if you want it signed and want to help me reap some profit - here's the link to the order form - Kristin Nicholas Book Order Form).


The lambs (there are only 4 of them now – something “wild” carried one of them off the other night) seem happy enough. Every time I open the kitchen door there is a chorus of “baa-I want something to eat.” After another month or so, we will take them to become "real sheep" with the rest of the lambs and mamas over the hill where we have a greenhouse that we use as a barn.

It must be March if there are lambs in the.....

If you have dreams of living on a farm, raising a few sheep and chickens, and living a completely romantic old-fashioned life, read on.

This morning I stumbled out of bed to take a shower. How could I forget there were 5 lambs in the bathroom? Do you know what 5 lambs can do to a 6’ x 6’ room in six hours? I think you get the picture – lamb poop and pee all over the place. Luckily I wasn’t yet awake and I stumbled into the shower. It was all I could do to keep them out of the shower. After tip-toeing out the door and trying to keep the lambs in the “bathroom” I decided I had had it. It was either me or the lambs who were leaving.

Why are there lambs in the bathroom? Well it is March at Cold Comfort Farm which means that lambing season is in full swing. During most of the year, we have about 120 ewes (mother sheep) which means that after every last one is finished – we will have in excess of 120 lambs. Lambing is precarious and busy to say the least. When I was pregnant with my daughter Julia, people told us about the joys of home birth. “The farmer” and I listened politely but we have been through too many “barn births” to succumb to the romance. With sheep, there are prolapses (the uterus comes out with the lamb), breech lambs, big heads that won’t emerge, and all kinds of things that can go wrong with lambing. “The Farmer” says “giving birth is the most dangerous thing a woman does – he knows – he has witnessed and assisted lots of sheep. Give us a trained medical staff pronto for my one and only birthing experience.

Sometimes a ewe dies while lambing. Sometimes she doesn’t want her babies. Sometimes she only has enough milk for one and she has three. And sometimes when it is 5 below 0 “the farmer” brings home a brand new soaking baby because there isn’t a prayer it will survive the cold.

That’s how you end up with 5 lambs in your bathroom. Here they are eating breakfast.

Getting Stitched Down on the Farm

I live with my husband Mark and daughter Julia on a farm in the hills of western Massachusetts. My husband is The Farmer – he grew up just across the hill from this place we bought 8 years ago. If you know any farmers, you know that genetically there must be something in their DNA to keep them farming forever. (Mark too has a real job.) Primarily, we raise sheep. But along with the sheep come fences, haying (so the sheep have something to eat in our long winters), lambing (in the midst of winter when no human in their right mind would “drop” a lamb in 0 degree weather), shearing (we hire a great guy named Kevin Ford who blade shears – that’s right – no power – just hand muscles and some sharp metal), border collies (to collect the sheep – we have two - Phoebe and Ness) and lots more.

We (me that is) also raise chickens (for their eggs, meat, and entertainment), pigs (with my partner in swine Mike, the baker), and we all grow an amazing patch of sunflowers which we sell by the side of the road when they bloom in August.

I’m Kristin Nicholas and I design “things” for a living – mostly textile and yarn related, write non-fiction books about making things, work with companies on new textile-related products, take care of the gardens, try to keep the dirt and clutter under control (I have pretty much given up) and entertain my precocious daughter Julia.

Julia is seven and she is a “cat-farmer.” She is crazy about all things “cat” She (we) has 7 cats right now – Vera, Charlie, Sebastian, Boo-Boo, Lily Pons, Cookie, and Ginger plus a barn cat named Ella who “arrived” last September and hasn’t left yet. It helps that we feed her. Julia likes to draw but mostly, if you ask her, she’s a social butterfly and will talk anyone’s ear off.

My goal with this blog is to bring you into the daily workings of farm life, living in the country, and to update you on what I am creating. As I travel (infrequently) around to promote my books and work, I often hear people say “boy, what I wouldn’t do for your life.” So hear it is – the good and the bad – the funny and the sad. And I promise I’ll throw in some creative tidbits from time to time.

I’d love to hear from you too!