Happy Pumpkin Day to All

For the past four weeks, every day around here has been pumpkin day. Since the sunflowers have been done, we have been concentrating on lifting pumpkins from the field, transferring them to a cart, rolling the cart up the farm lane and setting them up for sale on our wobbly haywagon. It sure is a good work-out and is better to be outside doing something constructive rather than a morning walk or an exercise class at the local gym.

Yesterday, The Farmer transported the hay wagon back up the hill and our farming in Greenfield is over for the season. The birds, squirrels, mice, moles, voles, deer and coyotes still have plenty to harvest and they will all be well fed.

We had a modicum of success with the pumpkins this year. Unfortunately, The Farmer took charge of purchasing the seeds at the local “Farmer’s Exchange” and he’s not too good at reading the sides of the packages. He put in lots of hills of something called Jack Be Little thinking they were New England Pie Pumpkins. Well they weren’t – they are basically ornamental miniature gourds that look like pumpkins. We literally had thousands and thousands of them. They make nice table decorations (that's them in the bowl in the photo above) and our customers seemed to like them. But to say we had a few left is an understatement. I gave all the kids at school one each and I could have probably given every child in the school district one and still had lots left.

He did also put in a couple of true pie pumpkins which did really well. I baked a few last week and the flesh was nice and dense and there wasn't a lot of water soaking out all over the place. I made this pumpkin bread recipe via Alicia's blog, and it is totally tasty. I added a cup of walnuts, a cup of raisins and 2 tablespoons cinnamon though.

The jack o’lantern pumpkins didn’t fare as well. Lots of the seeds and fruit rotted in the field which was a disappointment. But then that’s farming…..

Here’s a pretty cabled sweater I designed a few years ago for Vogue Knitting (Winter 2003) out of Julia in the French Pumpkin color. My friend Linda Pratt always refers to it as the “Pumpkin Sweater” so it is a fitting inclusion today on this Hallow’s Eve post. It features a cable I designed and would look equally nice in any of the other Julia colors.

Single Sock Syndrome

The single sock syndrome is an odd one. It still amazes me how singles multiply. I keep all of ours in a basket in the bedroom and about every six months do a "go-through" to match them up and then toss out the singles. Just recently though, I have been using them to stuff little handmade toys - I cut them up in small pieces and they make the nicest, softest stuffing - better than polyfill because they make a more solid animal.


Here's Julia with some teddy bears from "Colorful Stitchery" and they're stuffed with orphan socks. They would be great holiday gifts and take no time at all. They're all made of felted recycled blankets and sweaters I bought at the thrift store. I dyed them with acid dyes to get the bright colors. These dyes are easy to use and yield bright colors. I give instructions for the entire project (bears and dyeing) in my book. You could also use your old handknit sweaters after you felt them.

My clever friend Kay, co-owner of 7 South Bakery made a scarecrow she calls "Sole-Mate." She shamelessly begged customers for single socks and to noone's surpise, she was inundated. I donated several for her scarecrow cause.

I think this is the best idea of a use for a single sock, don't you agree?.

Fall color is almost over in Massachusetts

The farmer found this piece of rotted wood which reminded him of a bird. We constructed this prehistoric bird scarecrow from it, sumac, and beech leaves. I love the natural feeling and the colors of the leaves. (Yes, you have to use your imagination a bit...)


My "partner in swine" Mike made these wacky creatures from bread dough and flour sacks. Aren't they great? Julia thinks so.

The Beatles visit Bernardston.

The beech leaves are about the last to turn here. You can see all the green ones left in woods in the distance. By next week, there won't be much left to photograph so enjoy it now. (I know - enough with the leaves!)

A drop dead sunset in our front yard.
Stripes of green, red sumac, and tan goldenrod. Sock, anyone?

Come to Fiber Twist this Saturday - October 28th

This coming Saturday October 28th, come to Franklin County, Massachusetts to have some fiber fun at Fiber Twist. I'll be at the Marketplace with a few things. The big draw is the great farms you actually get to visit. They are all in beautiful places surrounding Greenfield and run by wonderful, dedicated shepherds.

See you there.

Julia Child Portrait

Mike’s Maze is in Sunderland, MA – about 25 minutes from our farm. For about six years they have been growing corn mazes. Although we have yet to visit it (good intentions don't always pan out), this year I am especially interested in it. Last spring they announced that one of my favorite cookbook authors would be immortalized in corn - none other than Julia Child. Julia had a local connection to this area. She was a graduate of Smith College and frequently came back to visit the area. She was also very generous to her alma mater.

I've been wanting to see how the maze has been growing and from the photo here which I got off the Mike's Maze website, Julia is looking pretty great - spatulas, knives and all. You can listen to interview which was on Weekend Edition on NPR here. If you are planning on coming to the FiberTwist next Saturday October 28th, you may want to add this to your itinerary.

Earlier this summer I really enjoyed reading the new book "My Life in France" by Julia and her nephew Alec Prud'homme. What a good quick read. Biographies are my favorite genre of books - they always make me feel better about my work. I find Julia's life so inspiring - her late start in cooking, her desire to learn, and her dedication to PBS and its teaching philosophies, and most of all - her joie de vivre. She has had such a huge influence on so many chefs and cooks, including me. One of my favorite cookbooks is "The Way to Cook." I can always find great directions and ideas for a meal or transforming leftovers into another meal. Thank you Julia for all you did.

I'm positive Julia would be truly flattered to be portrayed in corn. Don't you agree?

If you don't care for Cats, skip this post

I just couldn't resist. Is this cat too much? Julia snuggled Zoe Sophia in with a blanket last night and he was like this for two hours.

Pinch me - I can't believe the beauty

Fall is such an incredible time of year around here. Sometimes I drive around in my car just marvelling at all the color and natural beauty. Last week Julia and I took the back roads to Brattleboro to run some errands. Luckily I had my camera with me.

Just north of The Franklin Farm, and just over the Vermont state line, is Weatherhead Hollow. It is a man-made reservoir for boating and fishing and I can honestly say it is one of the most beautiful places in the world. I snapped these photos and did no fancy Photoshop enhancement.

I can just imagine a Fair Isle Sock knit in colors inspired by this scene. Can't you?

Every fall, I make sure I make a trip to look at it. I wanted to share it with the world via my blog because very few people get to see this incredible site. Enjoy! This weekend, the leaves are all gone and it is a much more somber looking place.

Working Dogs

Today we had a fortunate event. After Julia went to school, The Farmer and I discovered we both could make a bit of free time to take a walk. As I said yesterday, I just love Fall. When I wasn’t sleeping last night, I thought about the luxury of a long walk but never thought it would happen. At first we were going to the top of the hill but then we decided to go further. The dogs, Phoebe and Ness, just love a day like this.


Right now, the sheep are split into three distinct groups. This is so that they will all have enough to eat - we don't have one big spot of land that can feed them all. Up until the end of November, they will still be grazing grass. One group is close to our house – grazing on our neighbors pasture. Pretty incredible sight, isn't it with the color?


One group is down at the home farm where Mark grew up – they are being chaperoned by the infamous Jeremy (the guard llama).


And the third group is at another local farm where The Farmer hays and cares for their land. This spot is amongst the woods – a virutal oasis of grass in the middle of nowhere. I mentioned that I hadn’t been there in awhile (about a half a year to be precise – and it’s only about two miles from our house). So we lengthened our walk much to the delight of Phoebe and Ness.

Now if Paisley had been with us, she would have been “with the sheep” a half hour before us. But Ness and Phoebe didn’t know where we were heading. Then they caught on. We decided to give them a go to see what they would do.


The Farmer has been dropping subtle hints for about a half a year now. Phoebe is “my dog”. Border Collies tend to have one person they focus on and I am it as far as Phoebe is concernend. (Ness is his dog...) When Paisley was alive, Phoebe was terrified of the sheep. But now that Paisley is gone, she seems more interested. A fascinating development to say the least. She is seven years old – a bit old to start learning…… but maybe we'll start taking some lessons.

Phoebe and Ness seem to be working as a team together. It’s interesting. They’re not very talented or polished but today it was quite amazing. We felt like we were in Scotland – we were far away and we sent the dogs out. Here ‘s what they did.


I still can’t get over the power of a Border Collie amongst a bunch of sheep.

Phoebe is slightly overweight. Oh well, aren’t we all? Here she is trying to recuperate in front of the fireplace tonight.


What a great day for us all. A five mile walk and we saw two bow and arrow hunters (deer season opened yesterday) and one car with a friend of ours and her son. We are so lucky. This wouldn't happen in NJ where I grew up. I count my lucky stars every day.

Duplicate Stitch Tutorial

For years, I have designed lots of colorful knitwear patterns. But since I'm the kind of knitter who likes to knit in the round, I can honestly say I have never knit anything but a swatch in the intarsia technique. Although I prefer colorful knitwear, I only like knitting with two colors at a time. I keep one in my right hand, one in my left and happily knit along following a chart. I even like to make my swatches on double points in the round with a steek and then cut them. That's what I did with this swatch which was how yesterday's cardigan began. I knit the swatch, cut it and then added the striped trim so that the woman who was going to actually knit the sweater (one of my fabulous knitting pals - the famous Jeanne Moran) knew what the heck she was supposed to do.


When the sweater came back to me, I added a bunch of duplicate stitch embroidery and a bit of traditional embroidery to pull the whole design together. Here's how I do it step by step:

On the back, directly behind where my duplicate stitch is to begin, I take 2 small stitches into a small bit of the yarn (I usually split the yarn - this is a 3 ply so I stitched into just one of the plies). By doing this, nothing shows through on the right side. I use a blunt pointed tapestry needle - a sharp pointed needle doesn't work for me - it splits the yarn and slows me down.


Next, I come up to the front of the stitch through the bottom opening of the stitch I want to cover.


Then using my tapestry needle, I follow the legs of the stitch where they loop through the stitch above it.


Then I go back down where I came up in the bottom part of the stitch. At the same time I poke the needle into the next stitch opening I am going to cover.


I keep stitching, always working from the right side of the fabric until all the stitches are covered. On this fabric, I decorated the inside of the diamond with chartreuse to add a new color to the fabric and create some more visual excitement. I stitch loosely so that the fabric isn't distorted. I don't worry if the stitches aren't covered perfectly - to me it makes the fabric more interesting if a little of the original knitted color shows through.


I bring the needle to the backside and then I weave the needle through the back of the stitches to end off. I clip the thread leaving about 3/4 to 1". I prefer leaving a longer tail so that it won't pop through to the right side - even after several years.


Here's what the finished fabric looks like after working all the large diamonds with Lady's Mantle and then adding some simple cross shaped stitches at the smaller diamonds in Blue Thyme Julia.


And here's what the finished sweater looks like. I think that for the relatively small amount of time duplicate stitch takes, it really adds a lot of punch to a finished design. And I really enjoy doing it - it has a feeling similar to the rhythm of needlepoint.

Scarecrow Season

This coming weekend is the big "Scarecrow Festival" at Cushman Park in Bernardston. My "partner in swine" Michael, Co-Owner with his lovely, hard-working wife Kay of 7 South Bakery, is one of the organizers of the event along with his co-organizers in the local Kiwanis Club. I must admit, I'm not much of a joiner - I can never quite get it together. But I feel a great loyalty to all that Michael and Kay do because they work so hard and are so much fun.

For the second year, I decided I would build a scarecrow. I had visions in my head of a "knitting sheep" - what could be better for me to build - sheep owner and knitwear designer.

Well, things have gone awry to say the least......

Our good friends George and Yola, from NYC, came to visit this weekend. They are both incredibly talented artists and George is also especially handy and always helps me out with a project or two. (The Farmer prefers me to hire people in order to avoid a divorce...)

I cooked up a plan to entice George to help me. He agreed and off we went on Sunday, George, Julia and I and a pile of junk to build my "knitting sheep." Well, things didn't fair well. It certainly wasn't George's fault - he tried his best. It just didn't come off as I had hoped.


That there is a felted fleece (I washed one of our sheep's fleeces in the machine on hot w/ a cold rinse and some soap - an amazing transformation, if I do say myself), a sheep's skull I found in the field (after being eaten by coyotes - don't worry, I bleached it), a half of a wool sweater from the Salvation Army, two pairs of size 1 circular needles, and a pair of Julia's too small tights. I don't think I got my point across.

Today Kay said that people were walking around it, as far away as possible. There are plenty of other sane, pretty normal, what you would expect scarecrows - Willie Wonka, a Bride and her Bridesmaids, The Beatles on Abbey Road. And then there's ours.....


Pretty scary, I guess. But isn't that what it's all about?

So today, I attempted a "sunflower scarecrow" in the rain. I'm soaked, wet, and probably catching a cold. But I think she's quite nice - sort of a decaying sculptural statement.


It's okay - you can't think I'm nuts. But it was fun.


See all you locals Saturday at the big Scarecrow Festival at Cushman Parkman in Bernardston. Does anyone local read this thing? I think not........

Autumn Inspired Colorful Cardigan for Nashua Handknits

Fall is my absolute favorite season of the year. I love the crisp, cold air and the opportunity to walk with our dogs on our country road bundled in a wool sweater, scarf and mittens. Best of all is the fabulous show of color I see around me. Here's a maple tree on our road as it looked last week. A little further along, the sumacs were putting on an absolutely breath-taking show (picture below).

Quite a few years ago, there was a color trend that was popular in knitting stores - doing customer's colors and selecting the season that they should wear. I can't remember what it was called - maybe someone else does. People were crazy over it - they wouldn't knit anything unless it was one of their colors. I was an "autumn" which was no surprise to me. Brown hair with reddish highlights, freckles, fair skin, and an October birthday. Although I didn't totally buy into this thing, these are the colors I naturally turn to to when I'm not wearing some dark, dreary, black or khaki shade (can't help that either - easy and doesn't show dirt considering my lifestyle).

Jackie Katzenstein, the longtime owner of the famous and fabulous "Wild and Woolly Studio" in Lexington, Massachusetts has been a good friend of mine for years. At trade shows, I always look forward to her "words of wisdom" that she is never short to offer (love you Jackie!). When I was at Classic Elite, she frequently called me to speak her mind. When I was younger (in my late 20's and totally obsessed by my career and striving for perfection), I used to shudder when she called - knowing somehow "we" had screwed up and I would have to fix "it" - the problem. I don't have to do that anymore (thank goodness). Jackie also accused me frequently of using too many autumn colors in my designs. Well, she was correct - I couldn't help it - I was just attracted to those shades. Now, when I am developing a large project - like a book, I make sure I remember Jackie and her "winter" complexion (not that she is the only "winter" in the world...). I try to show shades to fit everyone's taste (although right now, I really can't go anywhere near pastels - please don't ask me to do that).

I designed this Fair Isle Cardigan for this Fall's Nashua Handknits Pattern Collection. You can find the pattern in the Fall 2006 "Designer Book" at your local yarn store. Knit in my Julia Mohair, Wool, and Alpaca, the body is knit in two color fair isle using Harvest Spice NHJ0178 for the background and Deep Blue Sea NHJ6396 for the diamonds. The edges are worked in Reverse Stockinette Stitch in contrasting shades of Lady’s Mantle NHJ 3961, Magenta NHJ2083, and Blue Thyme NHJ4936. The buttons are really fun - they are handknit. After it was all put together, I added some duplicate stitch and embroidery to pull the trim colors into the main body of the cardigan. I think it is my favorite sweater design this season.

Tomorrow I'll be posting a Duplicate Stitch Tutorial so that you can see how easy it is to transform plain Fair Isle into something more special.

Cosmos in a Turquoise Jug

The cosmos in my garden made a remarkable recovery after being ravaged by the sheep and goats. This bouquet is a last ditch effort at making summer last. Everything outside has turned frosted and shrivel-ly (is that a word?). What I miss most about summer in the winter is walking around my garden at the end of a day, picking little bits of color, and bringing them inside to arrange haphazardly in my collection of jugs and vases. I very rarely buy flowers from the store. First of all, I'm too cheap and secondly - to me, they just don't have that oomph that I find in home-grown flowers. Next year will come soon enough. For now, I'll have to be happy with photos of the flowers.....

It happened last night

It happened last night - that night we dread every year - an official change in the seasons. Frost! It's over - sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, basil, tomatoes. Until next year.... We will miss you. I picked what I could from the garden and we'll enjoy them on tables until they wilt.

The sunflower picking season has been over for a couple weeks. Try as I may, I couldn't fill up the buckets. Although they aren't blooming, the birds sure are having a party. I find even as they are shriveling away, they have their own kind of beauty.



But.... Pumpkin season is in full swing.


We built our yearly scarecrows to decorate our roadside stand. This year, there is The Farmer and His Daughter.


My computer is fixed - yes, it was a bad modem. Thank goodness for extended Apple Care - definitely a good investment. I have had Macs since the days of the good old Apple IIC (remember them?) and this is the first one I've had that had any trouble. But I am really happy it is back. I should be posting a bit more regularly now.....

FiberTwist

Sheep and Wool Festivals abound this time of year. In my local area, several Franklin County Wool Growers are putting on FiberTwist. Several area farmers will have their farms open to the public. Julia and I went last year and we had a great time.

I'll be having a booth at the fiber market in Deerfield at the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association - it's a giant brick building just off Routes 5 & 10. I'll be selling my books and kits and I would love to see you there! I haven't done a show in so long that I am actually looking forward to it. Now, where is that display table?

Computer Crisis

My 13 month old Imac is taking a trip to the hospital - I think the modem is broken. I am posting this from my local library. Please bear with me while I wait to get up to speed again. I can check my email on my old computer - so if you need help or info, click my email button at the right.

Separating Zipper Tutorial: Handsewing a zipper into a handknit sweater

I love a separating zipper in sweater to make it feel more like a jacket. They're also great in children's sweaters like the photo at left taken by Chris Hartlove for Interweave Knits. Once you have mastered putting one in once, you’ll turn again and again to this technique. A month or so ago, I promised a lesson so that when you finished this adult sweater from the Fall 2006 Issue and this child's sweater (shown left) from the pages of the spring 2006 issue of Interweave Knits, you wouldn’t be afraid to really finish it.

Unfortunately, separating zippers don’t come in as many colors as regular zippers. I always make a run to the fabric store before deciding on the color of the yarn I am going to use. I want my zipper to match the sweater (although you could do something completely fun and have a contrasting zipper). You can always feel pretty safe with navy, black, dark brown and red – these colors are normal outerwear colors and separating zippers sold in fabric stores are usually sold to replace broken ones store-bought outerwear. (….unless people don’t do that anymore – they just throw the coats away – I digress….)

Finish the entire sweater, including weaving in ends, washing and blocking. I REPEAT, INCLUDING WASHING AND BLOCKING! Measure the opening and purchase a zipper. Do not purchase a zipper any shorter than the opening – if anything 4 or 5 inches long is better.

Lay down the finished sweater on a flat surface. Lay the zipper between the two open edges. With straight sewing pins, pin the sweater at the top and the bottom of the zipper on both sides. The top of the zipper may extend beyond the sweater pieces – that’s okay. Do not stretch the knitted edge as you are pinning or the edge of the sweater will flare and be longer at the zipper insertion point than around the rest of the sweater – a totally unsightly problem - if I may say so. Pin along the sides of the zipper so that the edges are about 3/8” away from the center of the zipper teeth.


Using a sewing needle and a single strand of matching sewing thread (to the yarn, not the zipper if you are inserting a contrast color zipper), beginning at the bottom edge, sew the zipper by hand using backstitch. Many separating zippers begin with a plastic tab which is difficult to stitch through but not impossible. A thimble can be helpful. As you go, stitch over the individual yarn and stitches to anchor them in place. Remove the pins as you go. The backside of your sewing (the zipper side) will not look neat – don’t worry. The idea is to have your zipper securely attached to the knitted fabric. You’ll notice that the sewing stitches disappear into the knitted fabric. Keep stitching the zipper so the knitted opening is an even distance from the zipper teeth. Continue until you are at the top of the zipper but do not worry about the length of the zipper just yet.

Finish the other side the same. Now turn the sweater inside out.

Unzip the zipper until it is at the tippy top of the sweater opening (where it should end). Turn down the top of the zipper so that the zipper tails form a slight angle away from the pull. Pin in place.

Using a single strand of matching sewing thread, tack down each zipper tail neatly until you have attached about 1” of the zipper to the back of the sweater/zipper. Snip off the zipper leaving about it 1” long. Continue to tack around all edges of the zipper. This will keep the pull on the zipper track.

You did it. Eat your heart out Mr. Rodgers!

P.S. If you have found this tutorial helpful, please spread the word. I'd love some more traffic on this blog! Thanks - KN