A big part of the reason I started my blog "Getting Stitched on the Farm" was so that I could document how I come up with my ideas. Because I have my own yarn line (Julia) and design for magazines, and write books, I am constantly working with color. After over twenty years of professionally picking and combining colors, I thought it might be fun to present to my readers how I gather my color ideas and turn them into sweaters, interior design, and yarn lines. It has turned out to be more fun than I ever thought it would be. This blog has given me the chance to easily show the world my ideas in a free, easy to use fashion and for that I am grateful. It's a lot of added work - uploading pictures takes a long time and so many times fails. Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night and add them because I don't have luck during the day getting them successfully up on blogger. (Ideas, anyone? I have a very slow dial-up connection).
Most of all I am thankful to you, my readers, for coming to my little blog and looking and reading. I love to read all the comments you all leave everyday - it is one of the sunniest times in my day. I am always curious to see which post will receive the most. I am constantly trying to discover a trend as to what you all like hearing about most - animals, farming, nature, color, knitwear, stitching, raising a kid? Do you like the pictures or the words? I'm awful at responding in the comments section - I just don't have enough time to keep up the dialogue with this painfully slow connection - sorry. If you need a direct response from me, I do best at answering direct e-mail. You can find an e-mail link on my sidebar.
I think for now, I'll just keep mixing the subject matter up. Today's post are late fall photos of color that I have been observing on our road and in our yard. This spirea bush is right outside our mudroom. The light was hitting it just right and the gold, red, and brown shades looked so pretty - like glistening jewels fluttering in the wind.
Last week this striped maple sprout was turning a great shade of reddish maroon with rust colored veins. The lichen covered tree gives a great example of complimentary colors in nature.
I spied this funny looking berry on a bush on the side of the road. The whole thing is odd - white berries and red colored stems - but it sure does look great against the forest floor colors of chartreuse and brown. Does anyone know what it is?
These photos lead me to a design I did for the first Designer Pattern Collection (Fall 2005) produced by Nashua Handknits. They ran this sweater as an ad in Interweave Knits and I heard from a lot of people who wanted to find the pattern and my Julia Yarn. This fall, the Julia Yarn is much easier to find. It is in over 130 stores throughout the USA and Canada. If your LYS doesn't carry it, ask them to. In a couple weeks, I'll have a list of these stores on my website so that it will be easier to find a store near you.
This sweater combines my love of cables, color, and embroidery all into one. The stripes are made in reverse stockinette stitch. The yoke section is worked in an alternating open cable pattern. After it was finished, I added lazy daisy embroidered flowers in the open part of the cables to bring the magenta and geranium shades into the lady's mantle chartreuse section. The long turtleneck makes it cozy and warm.
18 comments:
Hi Kristin,
Maybe try switching it from blogger to your own (website's) server. I ftp the photos up to my server, then go into blogger just to enter the psot's text, but it all sits on my server, not blogger's. Could be faster and experience less downtime?
As for your content, I love reading about all parts of life, not just designing!
Kristin:
I love your blog for all of the things you post...your photos give me a peek into a different world than mine, one I live in vicariously. I am inspired by all you do and the fact that in your busy world, you take time to share so much of it with us. Many thanks.
We started stocking Julia a year or more ago...all the colors...and it makes me think of that box of crayons that meant so much as a child. I hardly know which one to start with! Recently I did Sandra Cushman's Mosaic Mitts using Julia (Interweave Knits "Holiday Knits") and they are beyond wonderful...both in colors and the hand of the fabric. We're big fans of yours!
I may not comment often but I am a faithful reader. Yours is at the very top of a short list of blogs I read everyday. I love the variety of topics and the great photos and was especially happy to read that you liked Julia Child's book My Life In France; I bought the audio version just before a trip to Paris and liked it so much I listened to it three times while commuting to work; then I borrowed the book from a friend and read it on the plane to catch the parts that have been left out of the abridged audio version. She was an amazing character, a veritable force of nature. I also love seeing photos of your sheep and your dogs and, of course. I love your designs and your masterful use of color. Thanks for sharing all this with us.
They aren't Poison Ivy berries, are they? When we lived in Boulder, Colorado, I once picked some sprigs of beautiful white berries and placed them around the house throughout the holidays as decorations. I didn't find out until later that they were the berries of poison ivy when I identified them in a book. Fortunately I never did develop a rash from them either!
I LOVE your blog- and have shared it with many others. It is one I read every day. Thanks for the work. Love your colors you use- I am inspired by the colors in nature, too- what a lovely world we have. Keep up the lovely work!
I love all the photos you share of your life on the farm. It is so different from my own life, and that makes it interesting to me. Also, your home is beautiful. I bought your embroidery book after reading your blog. Its all good to me!
I have a deep admiration for people who see the colors and then can turn them into something that reflects what they see. I can see them -- I just can't figure out exactly what to do aftwards!
I just took a trip through Arkansas, Tennesee, and part of North Carolina. Saw LOTs of fall color and had fun with the camera. Thought you would enjoy the color too:
http://susanknitting.blogspot.com/2006/11/leaves.html
Kristin,
Just wanted to say that I have your blog on my "favorites" of three blogs that I check every week. I really enjoy reading about knitting and the process almost as much as knitting itself. I have saved many of your tips and tidbits for future reference as well (sewing in a sweater zipper, adding embroidery, etc.). I love the photos and your style of writing and reading about life on your farm with its funny annecdotes and reflections. Thanks for making time in your life for this - I think we all really appreciate it!
Francie from Wisconsin
I too enjoy the varied snippets of life that you share with us. I've been surprised to learn that I enjoy the stories of others lives more than the knitting content. Knitting secures a lovely base to connect to. Thanks.
Some dogwoods have white berries like that. I love all of your autumn colors--November is the best month.
Hmm. The berries look something like those of a snowberry (also known as waxberry) bush, but not exactly like any I've seen before. Those red twigs are surprising. The genus of snowberry is Symphoricarpos, and there are at least a dozen species of snowberry.
I, too, include your blog on my very short list! I particularly love your use of color and texture -- in knitting, stitching, and photography. Your work inspires me! In fact, the sweater you're showing us today is the NEXT project I'm planning! I love it!
I, too, like the variety on your blog. I am drawn to color and so I love the photographs you include. Since I am not a blogger, just a reader, I have no idea how difficult it is to load photos. Thank you for taking the time to do it. I hope you find an easier route! It is fun reading your blog because you live an interesting life. As someone above stated, it is a treasure to be brought into the different aspects of your life which are foreign to me, but so inticing!
Pokeweed, I think.
It's so funny, I am knitting a sweater you designed and then found your blog a few weeks ago. I love seeing and hearing about your country life, and of course, the knitting.
I upload my photos to Flickr and then blog from there. They only let you blog one photo at a time, so I then combine them once I'm in Blogger. This might be more complicated than you want, but it could be a solution for times when you just want to post one photo. There is also the side benefit of the Flickr community, which sometimes crosses over into blogland, but not always. I think they would appreciate your photos.
As far as what to post, I would say, keep following your bliss. Content backed by pure enthusiasm is magical.
Thanks for already doing this.
Those berries are toxic and it's Poison Sumac you have found along side the road there.
Polk or Poke berries are a very dark purple, almost black, and are also toxic.
I love your work! It is amazing indeed. Will return to read again your blog. Your color combinations are so fabulous. Many greeting from Istanbul-Turkey.
D.
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