Sheep in Late November and Yarn Stuff

All of our adult sheep have been grazing our far off neighbor's pastures since the big Sheep Move in late October. They have almost finished eating what grass there is and will soon be moving back to their winter quarters which is a greenhouse barn adapted for livestock. Lots of them are looking slightly pregnant so we may have some early lambs this year (early would be Christmas or just after). The move back to the barn will allow The Farmer to better their nutrition as the lambs grow inside them.

We've spent some money on professional installation of 5 strands of electrically charged fencing down at the winter digs. The Farmer has been so distressed about losing so many lambs lately (that he was growing out to sell but really just feeding for the coyotes) that he had to do something. We're almost finished - just waiting for some long gates and then hopefully the ewes, the growing lambs and the upcoming new lambs will be safe from the wildlife. The fences should also keep Jeremy (the llama) in and not wandering down the road and across the way. At least that is the intention.

I can't thank you all enough for the response to the Virtual Book Launch and Yarn Giveaway. What I didn't realize is how many readers I had who knit. Most of the time here I talk about other things - my farm life, my garden, my family and not knitting. The numbers are climbing on the Giveaway which is fabulous. I've even gotten some very nice notes along with the entries which for me is so heart-warming. Sitting here in my little basement studio working away, I don't often hear from knitters to know what they are thinking about my work. So thank you to all of you who have taken the time to write me a nice note along with your entry. I doubt I'm going to be able to answer them all, but I do appreciate the thoughts. You've made my week a very happy one.

You're probably wondering why I care about the sheer number of knitters entering the giveaway. I didn't think about it when I dreamt up the idea but one of the advantages of having more and more knitters in the entry pool is that I can tell the powers that be at Westminster and their sales reps that yes, - there are "this many knitters" clamouring for my Julia Yarn. Thank you for entering and to so many of you for posting about the Giveaway on your blogs!

Another interesting thing I've found out is that many of you are having trouble finding my Julia Yarn in your local yarn store. I'm going to compile a list of your comments and send them to Westminster/Nashua so they can see what you all are looking for and liking. You see, the more information I can give them, the more they will be able to pass on to their sales representative force. Simple fact of the matter is, if the sales representative doesn't show the yarn to the store owner, they won't buy it. The Westminster reps must have in excess of 70 different winter yarns to try to sell a store owner and if they don't think the yarn is important for the shopowner to have, they won't try to sell it to them. (Note that "Fall" yarn sales happened in May to August and now the reps are selling Spring 2008 yarns.)

So, where does that leave me and my beautiful Julia Yarn? At the mercy of the sales reps and the shopowners. So, here's what you can do for me (and my family) --- Keep asking at your local yarn store for the Julia yarn. The more they hear about it, the higher the possibility there is that they may stock it. And when the shopowner says to you, "No, we don't stock it but here's an equally good substitution that is half the price" tell them that you aren't interested (if that is the case). Tell them that you would rather have the real thing because it is much nicer, softer, has more sheen, and the colors are much better. And yes, you want the exact colors because you want to be able to make the projects as shown or as inspired by my new book Kristin Knits.

I am curious if I/we (you, my blog readers) can start a ground-swell. Feel free to send a note with the name of your local yarnstore which isn't stocking the Julia. I will forward it to Westminster and they will forward it to the sales rep in your LYS's territory. I'll keep you posted and of course, I will continue to value each and every comment you make.

Have a great weekend!

p.s. Check out the great review of Kristin Knits on Susan B. Anderson's blog! You'd think I paid her for it but I don't even know her. Thanks Susie!

Looking for Color

At this time of year, I am craving a bit of color in the landscape. Every once in a while it pops out at me. But mostly, things look rather taupe and beige and grey like this scene at a farm nearby.



It's hard to believe that there still can be green grass out there but this field next door looks nice and healthy. The hillside behind it is a lovely taupe shade and one of my favorite places to look for wildlife.


Looking down can sometimes yield a colorful surprise.


This hillside is covered with wild roses. At this time of year, the hips add bits of color to the landscape.


Further up the hill there are some lovely gold leaves that haven't blown off the trees yet.


Who would think barbed wire could look so pretty.


Invasive as it is, bittersweet vines sure do make me happy in November.

Circles

A few months ago I wrote about receiving a wonderful book from an anonymous person. The book called Golden Fleece by Hughie Call is an account of a city woman marrying a rancher in Montana and all she learned living on the ranch. The story, written about life in the 1920's and 1930's, still resonates with me – because caring for sheep in the general scheme of things doesn’t change too much. There is better medicine but all in all, it’s basic animal husbandry and getting along with nature.


As I read the book, I kept wondering who sent me such a gem and after posting about it near my birthday in October, the mysterious woman identified herself. It was my old friend Julie (Hoff) Weisenberger. I met Julia when I was working for TYC – she designed many sweaters for our collections. I loved her sense of style and proportion and fit and she always included some lovely details on her designs. We became telephone friends and then we were both featured in Melanie Falick’s Knitting in America (now called America Knits in its paperback incarnation). Julie is pictured with her older daughter Hanna in a pumpkin patch. The sweater she designed for Melanie’s book is now on the cover of the new paperback edition.

It’s funny how knitting friends’ paths keep crossing over the years. Julie and I both have daughters who are about the same age – mine you all know is Julia and hers is Emma. And both our daughters have learning disabilities and challenges that we deal with every day. Julie relocated to California with her husband and two daughters and stopped designing for awhile. She has been working with Emma to do all she can to help her grow and develop and live with her challenges, as I do with Julia. Mostly, I've kept up with her through her yearly Christmas card. Every once in a while we would catch up with each other by e-mail, mostly talk about our daughters and the trials and tribulations of being a parent of a child with a disability and then a bit about knitting. But it is through this blog that we have really caught up with each other again.

Recently, Julie has been able to devote a bit more energy to her knitting projects and she has started designing again. That’s great news for the knitting world! She’s also teaching in a few knitting shops in California – lucky students they are! She has a great website called Cocoknits and is selling some wonderful new products on it – like her Knitter's Blocks – a clever and very useful tool for blocking. There are some wonderful tutorials on it also and a nice selection of cute patterns for sale too. Julie has such great style! She sends out a once in a while newsletter that is informative and fun. I may even get to see her in person at next year’s Stitches East if we both make it. We’re all lucky she is back!


I just got a complimentary copy of America Knits on CD. I’ve got to take it in the car on my next road trip so I can remember all the wonderful stories of other knitters throughout the country. Knitting in America was a wonderful book – I was very fortunate to be profiled in it. I also got to meet so many wonderful people including Melanie and the photographer Chris Hartlove and the designers profiled through its pages. It’s how I became friends with Melanie and went on to work on two other books with her – Kids Knitting (I did the illustrations and designed a few projects) and Knitting for Baby which we co-wrote.

Circles – knitting circles, book circles, parenting circles – all intertwining as the world goes round.

Festivities of Thanks

Thanksgiving is one of my most favorite holidays of the year. Mostly because it involves food and cooking and sharing time with people I love. I also treasure the lack of commercialism involved - besides purchasing or growing and cooking the food, there's not a lot of stress to spend money on stuff we don't really need. In year's past, we have raised our own turkeys. Unfortunately they always got too big before we did them in. Honestly, it is very difficult to fit a 35 lb. turkey into a normal sized oven. I have since resorted to purchasing farm raised Vermont turkeys from the Brattleboro Food Coop.

Almost every year since we have lived here in our farmhouse, The Farmer and I have hosted Thanksgiving for the Nicholas Family. My sisters and their families and my Mom and Dad (when he was here) drove in from far and wide. This year is no exception. Tomorrow, we'll all share a meal in the country. Our house seems plenty big when it's only we three but on Thanksgiving it seems mighty small.

The first Thanksgiving we shared here, The Farmer mentioned we should take a hayride. Sounded like fun to me. Ever since, we've all been piling onto the back of my brother-in-law David's fancy haywagon which The Farmer has stacked with square bales of hay he purchases from a farmer friend. (Our round hay bales are too large to sit on.) The Farmer drives and sometimes the kids take a turn. We bring lots of blankets and then enjoy the ride and the scenery while the turkey cooks itself. Considering the Thanksgivings I grew up with in NJ going to the local football game, this sure is a switch. One year it was snowing like crazy and we barely got the tractor back. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

At any rate, we'll all be enjoying our Thanksgiving meal in our dining room that is decorated with my hand-painted vines, birds, leaves, and flowers. Here's a postcard I have just had reproduced of this summer's sunflowers in that same room arranged in my collection of cloisonne vases. Doesn't September seem so far away?


I wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy the day, whatever it brings.

Bird Talk

There is a flock of wild turkeys that has been grazing in our fields for several months now. In the summer, there were lots of little ones and it has been fun to watch them grow. As the American Thanksgiving Holiday approaches, I can't help but write and think about birds - wild and domesticated.

I've been raising chickens since 1988 when we bought our first home in Pepperell, Massachusetts. (The Farmer began his career in livestock rearing with a flock of egg-laying chickens when he was four years old! I'm the newbie in this family.) At our little pink house in Pepperell, there was a sheddish building which was perfect for chickens. The first spring there, I ordered in 25 exotic chicks. I have raised chickens continually since then, moving my hens from Pepperell to western Massachusetts in 1999. Yes, most people worry about moving their furniture. Me, I worried about my chickens.
At this time of year, egg production is at an all time low. The daylight is so short, the hens' egg laying mechanism slows down. For the past few weeks, I have collected one egg a day. Mind you, I'm feeding over thirty chickens. To say this is a labor of love is to be kind. But I do so love fresh-laid eggs. In about a month, my new chicks should start laying (the egg laying starts in just around the Winter Solstice - December 21st). And the old girls will start revving up again.

In the meanwhile, I'll have to exist on the memories of bright orange yolks. If all else fails, I can look at this photo I took on location last spring during the photography for my new book. There was a lovely collection of ceramic egg cups which were just screaming out for some fresh cooked eggs. I plopped in some yarn eggs instead. This image, along with several others, are now available as postcards. See my website here.


I know lots of you will be spending time with relatives or friends you barely ever see. Needless to say, conversation could slow down. I feel it is my duty to give you some ideas for "bird conversation" during your traditional Thanksgiving meal.

A couple years ago, a vet came to our house to take care of Jeremy, our guard llama. I had been told by “people” that I shouldn’t have a male llama around a young child. So we paid the cow vet to come to our place and “fix” Jeremy. He also cut off his “fighting” teeth. I figured I should learn as much as I could from the vet - in other words - pick his brain.... I asked question after question. This was two years ago or so and “bird flu” was all the rage. It was all over the media – bird flu was going to kill all of us. Naturally I asked the vet what he thought. He told me not to worry – if I had a sick chicken, I should call him. He also told me that there was no need for all the uproar in the media about bird flu.

I barely spent another second worrying about bird flu. Friends were worried I was raising chickens. I told my friends the media was nuts. They didn’t agree. The local feed store told me they probably wouldn’t be selling chicks the next year due to bird flu. As a writer, I am always thinking up new ideas for books. I was playing with an idea for a book proposal about raising chickens, illustrated with my whimsical gouache chicken paintings. I approached a publisher. Sorry, not interested. We won’t be doing any chicken books anymore. This bird flu thing is going to kill the market.

So now, I have sat back for a few years. I’ve looked for bird flu to enter the world discussion again. Every once in a while I hear something. But, you know, we’re still all here, aren’t we? Tell me, what was all the worry about?

A few months ago in the NYTimes there was a large article about raising backyard chickens in cities. I thought back to my discussion with the publisher who wasn't going to publish another chicken book due to the pandemic that would soon be occuring. Bet that same publisher is selling lots of “chicken” books now. Hen fever, to say the least. And tell me, where did the bird flu go? Conveniently, we’re on to other topics of destruction. Must be why I stopped listening to the news.

Back to your regularly scheduled stitching soon, I promise.


Enjoy your Thanksgiving in whatever form it takes. We're hoping the hunters can't find our wild turkey friends. It's quite amazing but now that turkey hunting season is upon us, the turkeys have disappeared. And who says they are dumb?

Fences

In the old days in New England, there were small, stone walled square enclosures found in every town. They were called "animal pounds" or "town pounds." Not far from our farm, there still is one. Julia and I went up to look at it the other day and we met the landowner who now cares for it and is restoring it. (Coincidentally, he and his wife live in what was the local tavern – supposedly complete with a dance hall which I have never seen – but would love to - one day.) He thinks his “town pound” was built in 1764 when according to town records in Bernardston, some men were sent to build the walled structure. Isn’t it amazing that this walled enclosure still exists?


For the early settlers of America, their livestock was perhaps their most important asset. From a cow, they could live on the milk and the on the beef offspring. From a pig, they could live off every bit of it – fresh pork, preserved (smoked and salted) hams and bacon, and rendered to make lard for pies. When you think about it this way, it’s amazing they all survived the cold, rugged, brutal New England winters, isn’t it?

Back then animals did sometimes escape their official enclosure and wandered away. The town pound was where stray animals were kept until the owner could claim them. The owners were fined for having a loose animal and if they couldn’t afford the fine, the animal was auctioned off.

Throughout New England, stone walls are found throughout the woods and forest and around fields. I don’t know much about them, but find them fascinating to say the least. I’ve done my share of wall building over the years and can’t imagine how those miles and miles of walls that run through our property were ever built. It was a different time, that’s all I can think. Most of the walls seem to follow the property lines or enclose different pastures. I can’t imagine that any of them would keep our sheep in. Maybe sheep back then had shorter legs and they couldn’t jump so high.

It seems like around here, we spend a large amount of time and energy and money trying to keep our animals in and other critters out. We’ve got hog fencing for the pigs – it is made of galvinized steel rigid, rather thick wire soldered together. The panels are rather long and unwieldy but not too heavy -- I can lift a 20 foot section myself. We attach it to metal posts that are pounded into the ground with bendable wire.



In the fall of every year, my pigs seems to go crazy with the smells the earth is putting off. I think it must be some kind of inbred survival mechanism. The pigs inevitably break out of the fences and start rooting around, looking for whatever is under the earth to sustain them through the winter.


This happened last week – three pigs were running loose all over our farm and of course, visiting our neighbors. I let it go on for about a week because we just didn’t have the time to deal with it. Every night, they headed back to their pig shack, rested up and began the process the next morning. Finally, last Sunday, after my neighbor’s yard got pig-plowed, we managed to round them into their paddock and the fences got fixed once again. They have been contained for a few days now. I know they aren’t having quite as much fun as when they were running free.

When they get this large, pigs eat with great abandon. I have been told that for every pound of food I feed them, they gain an equal amount of weight. The Farmer thinks this is a great wive's tale - otherwise, why wouldn't everyone raise pigs. At any rate, it’s about time to make the pig's annual appointment. I’ll miss the daily ritual of “good morning piggies” but at least I know that I can re-experience the same pig process next year with new piglets. When it’s snowing and icy and I could be slip-sliding away in ooky, gooky manure on my way to the pigpen, instead, I’ll be happy they’re in our freezer.

Besides, there’s really nothing better than freshly smoked, home-grown bacon or a roasted pork loin in the midst of winter. Since I first tasted my first home-grown pork, grown by my friend Kevin Gray, I have never bought a bit of commercially raised pork. It doesn’t compare by a long-shot. It's all something to be thankful for during this week of traditional American Thanksgiving.

Book Business

Things have been a bit busy here this week - I'm not sure what I accomplished but blogging hasn't been one of them. I have managed to get every book order out the door so if you ordered from me:
a) Thanks so much! I appreciate selling the books myself - it helps us out.
b) Your book is on its way to you so keep checking your mailbox.

Next week, we are hosting a rather large Thanksgiving party. For the first time in at least 20 years, all of my sisters and me and my mom will be together for the holiday. With them comes, a new boyfriend with his three children, a new husband, and all the regulars (two sisters and spouses with 5 children plus us). Okay - this is forcing me to count - twenty people in that tiny little dining room. Time for some creativity. Needless to say, it's about time to change the "book shipping room" back into a dining room for a few days.

Today I had a meeting at a Barnes and Noble store in the middle of Massachusetts. I was totally overjoyed to see that my book was finally in the store. It was on a top shelf and there were four copies. You're probably wondering why this should matter but to an author it does. It means that B&N bought a lot of books and liked it enough to actually buy more than one per store. It also means that they asked the publisher if they would pay for a top shelf promotion (yes, you heard it, pay!) and they had enough faith in the book to say yes.

As a book lover, collector, and knitter, it's hard to think about how cut-throat the book business really is. But that is the honest truth - any book out on a table or in multiple copies on a shelf means that the publisher had to pay something for that space - like grocery store placement. As an author, it gives me a better chance of selling some books so that's nice.

I must admit that as an author, I have rearranged those shelves around once in a while. It must drive the staff crazy but you know, you've got to look out for number one. Who is going to dig through all those shelves to find one little eensy copy of Colorful Stitchery or Knitting for Baby? Probably noone - but if I stick it up top, maybe someone will buy it. I'm sure those books get moved back to the bottom shelves rather quickly but I think it is a game all authors play.

The indepedent yarnstore or bookstore is a different thing - those shopowners work so hard as do their employees. They handsell a lot of books. If I can get into a yarnstore for a signing, I can usually sell about 10 to 20 books and everyone is happy. More than 20 and everyone is ecstatic. It's not feasible for me logistically to do too many signings but last weekend's at Woolcott was lots of fun.


I saw lots of old friends. Here I am with Alice (new owner of Be Bop), Cynthia (former owner of Woolcott), and my friend Cathy Payson.


I met some new ones too - This is "Sean from Woolcott" with Linda Pratt from Westminster Fibers and me. By the way, Sean also stocks my Julia yarn for anyone looking for specific colors in eastern Massachusetts.


Penn lost the game but my enormous family descended on the store after the game. Here's my mom, Cathy Payson, Julia and I outside the store. We had a fun meal at the Border Cafe after, a true Harvard Square institution.

Thanks to Sean for putting on the signing. It was so much fun to meet so many nice, enthusiastic knitters. I can't wait to see what they do with the ideas they find in the book.

And so they go

At first there were 5 red striped kittens


And then there were 4 red striped kittens


Next there were 3 red striped kittens


And then there were 2 red striped kittens


Now there is one red striped kitten. His name is Otto and we think he will be living here.


Kitten No. 1 went to live in Easthampton with Deanna, a knitter and a spinner and his name is Charlie.
Kittens No. 2 and 3 are living in town and are named Mel and Nacho with a lovely family.
Here is Kitten No. 4 with his new mom Alice from Brookline who has named him Be-Bop. Knitters make such good kitten mama's.

Harvard Square Here I Come!

For over fifteen years, my Mom and Dad and our extended family would meet in Cambridge, MA for the semi-annual University of Pennsylvania vs. Harvard Football Game. My Dad, a son of German and English immigrants, went to Penn on a full athletic scholarship back in the late 40’s. Dad was a "southpaw" – a left-handed pitcher with a mean fastball. He never forgot the generosity the school paid him by giving him an Ivy League education. He chose to support his alma mater both financially and spiritually by rooting for the team no matter where they played. My mom, my sisters and I – “his girls” - were an accessory for his passion and we willingly went along.

All football season, we were dragged from school to school to cheer on Penn as they faced opponent after opponent. We were supplied with red and blue cheerleading pom poms and we learned all the university fight songs. We ate hot dogs with mustard and hot chocolate on the concrete bleachers to try to keep warm. We learned to love soft, hot pretzels with mustard - a Philadelphia tradition. If Penn won, we had a good ride home to NJ. It they lost, it was awful – Dad’s spirits completely dampened and his mood cranky and ornery. During these years, Penn wasn't very good and so we had a lot of tough rides home, cigar smoke swirling around the car making it hard to breathe easily. "Please Daddy, open the window!" we would all chime in. To this day, when I get a whiff of cigar smoke I can't help but think of my dad.

The trips to Philly went on and on our teen years and we began following our own local high school football team. Dad’s support for Penn never dwindled and after all the girls were off on their own, he and Mom religiously went to game after game cheering on the team and developing some fun friendships with many of the other crazy alumni.

When two of my sisters and I ended up in New England, Mom and Dad started to come to the Harvard games and a long family tradition began. As sister after sister married, husbands came along. Then grandchild after grandchild was born, and they started tagging along. One Penn weekend, my sister Nancy went into labor and we anxiously watched the game wondering how she was doing with the birthing and whether we would have a niece or a nephew.

This weekend, my niece Celia is turning fourteen. My Dad has been gone almost three years. Fifteen of us are descending on Harvard Square, including my Mom who is traveling from NJ. We’re going to tailgate in a parking lot and then go to the game. I’m sure a few tears will be shed when the band plays the Penn fight song but we’ll all go, remembering all the fun we have had as a family cheering the team on.

Now, I know you are wondering where this all is going on a stitching blog….. I developed my own little tradition of going to the Penn/Harvard game. You see, quite close to the stadium, there is a wonderful yarn store named Woolcott on Mt. Auburn Street. I’m not much for football games in November – they can be cold, damp and rather snowy. So usually after the half-time festivities are over, I sneak on over to the warm and cozy yarnstore that is Woolcott. Over the years, I have known and loved the different owners. First the gracious and sensible “Cynthia from Woolcott.” Next, I so enjoyed the spirit and crazy style of the outrageous “Nicki from Woolcott.” This Saturday, I am meeting, for the first time, the new owner “Sean from Woolcott.” He is really excited about the event and I hope that some diehard knitters will come! I’ll be doing a booksigning from 2:30 to 3:30 and I’ll have lots of samples from my new book Kristin Knits. If you arrive towards the end of the signing, you'll get to meet The Farmer, Julia and my mom, sisters and everyone else. (Do you think I should tell Sean about this part?)

If you are local to Cambridge, I would really love to meet you! Stop by if you can.


So what the heck is this little baby doing on this post, you ask? You see, the sweater is called “The Harvard Square Cardigan.” I designed it for Knitting For Baby, a book I co-authored with Melanie Falick. I’ve heard there are lots of these little sweaters gracing little ones all over the USA. If you are a new knitter or know a new one, this book is a great starting point – it teaches you in a very friendly way how to knit, to purl. The projects begin simply and readably in normal language and then progress up to cables, colorwork, felting and knitting language. You can purchase it on my website.

Wildlife Woes

We’ve been having daily run-ins with the wildlife around here. I don’t often write about it because I know it probably is not of much interest to anyone else but us here on our little farm and our neighbors.

In late August, we started hearing the coyotes almost every night. Now it is up to an all out chorus every night, at least five times during the wee hours. You folks in the suburbs and cities can call the cops to complain about the neighbors and at least get a bit of satisfaction that way. We here can do nothing but send the dogs outside to bark at the wildlife and hopefully they will leave.

I know that the coyote pups that were born in the late spring are getting older and are starting to need to eat more than when they were just nursing from their mothers. I also assume that their mothers are teaching them some life skills before they throw them out of their nests. (Not much different than we humans treat our children, right?) Hunting and eating are the basic needs of any wild animal.

Last Wednesday, just after sunrise, I heard a coyote that I figured to be right outiside my chicken pen. I ran outside, bare feet and in my pajamas with dogs just ahead of me. There he was, just behind the chicken pen. I yelled at him and the dogs rushed him. He took a slow look and after a minute, with the dogs in hot pursuit, loped off down the field. Usually these guys tear off. Not this guy. I kept yelling, the dogs kept barking and he slowly walked down to the bottom of the pasture. He got to the lower part of the field and just gave me a long stare. I yelled again “go away” and he just kept staring at me. After a 2 minute stare-down, he turned and ran into the orchard.

I started to go in the house, a morning already a little too full of excitement for me without a bit of coffee in me. The dogs took off to the front of the house and lo and behold, there was another one there – watching my every move. They ran him off and I went in the house.

This past week, it’s been hard to sleep. The coyotes sound like they are under the bedroom window yipping, hooting, howling and all. The Farmer thinks they are having fun with our dogs teasing them. Almost everything is securely fenced in at our house right now. The pigs are in a fence that is (I think) too high for the coyotes to climb. The chickens are housed in a pen that coyotes shouldn’t able to get through. There are four rogue chickens who refuse to be cooped up. If they are so desperate for freedom, I just figure nature will take its course.


Our sheep are a couple miles from here so we don’t actively worry about them in the middle of the night. But we always have that under the radar worry, like waiting for a child to come home late at night, once they have gotten their driver's liscense.

Tonight I got home late and The Farmer told me that he had hayed the “wheat field.” (It’s not actually a wheat field but a hay field – the name comes from 50 years ago when a crop of wheat was once grown on it.) He said there was a very large tan coyote in the field with him. The coyote kept circling him as he hayed. After a few times around, he ran off into the woods.

He suspects this is the guy who has been killing the lambs down at our greenhouse barn in Bernardston. (We've been keeping the lambs separate from the older ewes so we can feed them a bit better.) We lost three lambs one night about two weeks ago at dusk, just as The Farmer was arriving to put the lambs in the barn for the night. On Friday, after the sheep move, the kids and I went down to check on the lambs. There was a dead lamb there. The Farmer had found the coyote under a tractor with the lamb just after he had just killed the lamb at 2:30 in the afternoon.

Usually they aren’t so bold to kill in broad daylight. Maybe they are really hungry or just very aggressive. We’re looking into even better fences. Jeremy, the guard llama, isn’t keeping the coyotes away – ever since his tangle with the 2000 lbs. of metal in July. The coyotes must know he isn’t as strong anymore. Or else they figured out he wasn’t really a threat, just an overgrown funny looking sheep.

That’s life, living on the farm.

Arrivals and Departures

I’ve been waiting ever so patiently, as have many of you, for my new book Kristin Knits. Last night it did indeed arrive and today I’m going to be packing and shipping like a crazy woman. I’ve set up a temporary shipping room in my dining room and I’m hoping to turn all the orders in a day or two. If, you are waiting, your wait is almost over.

I’ve also been waiting and waiting for the new Winter issue of Interweave Knits. I had to go to Northampton yesterday with Julia for a doctor appointment. The plus of visiting the doctor in Noho is we treat ourselves after to really good coffee (for me) and a snack (for Julia) at our favorite stop Haymarket Café. Then we wander over to Northampton Wools to visit Linda Daniels if she is in.

Yesterday she wasn’t but the magazine was. I scooped up the second to last copy and paid my $6.99 and was too nervous to look at it until I got home. I shouldn’t have been so scared but it’s a bit frightening to read about yourself in print. I always hope I don’t sound too dingy. Marilyn did do a marvelous job and if I were a regular reader, I would have enjoyed the article. The profiles the different knitting magazines do of designers are always my favorite part of any magazine so it was very nice to be included. Thanks to Marilyn for proposing the article and to Eunny for accepting it.

I have a pair of kilim inspired gloves in the editorial section that looked nice. But tell me – what is a Kilm? Obviously, whoever proofed those pages doesn't have much interest in handmade textiles nor did they read about where many of my design influences come from. I usually get a PDF of my pages to check over but I think with all the changes they are going through at Interweave Knits, something just fell through the cracks.

The Nashua Handknits ad featured one of the designs I did for them this fall. I'll try to post the three new designs soon. I guess I can’t complain one bit about this new issue. My work is spattered throughout – something that rarely happens. I am a very lucky girl. I am also very happy it all came together along with the arrival of “the book." It's also nice that the Julia yarn is placed in local yarn stores throughout the country. Thanks to everyone who had a hand in the nice publicity (you know who you are!).

So sad to hear.....

Today I heard some very sad news. Noone died or was diagnosed with a terrible illness. It’s probably a little silly of me to be so sad about it but I am. That big old publishing giant Conde Nast has pulled the plug on one of my favorite shelter magazines House and Garden. I’ve been reading and subscribing to H & G since it came back to life in the 1990’s. Every month, I look forward to the houses and products the editors collect to inspire me with my home decorating, cooking, and life. I have loved the wonderful places the magazine has taken me – to homes I would never be invited to visit and to homes in countries too far away to travel to.

The most recent editor Dominique Browning, also an author of some of lovely books about gardening and homes, always strikes a chord for me in her editor’s letters. Several years back when I was still employed by the yarn company, her Letter from the Editor was about how she was learning to knit. I could tell, she was becoming obsessed about knitting and that it was filling a creative void in her life. Being a tastemaker and trendsetter, she must have felt something was in the air and groped for some needles and yarns. This was fuel for knitting obsessed fire that was soon to follow in the mainstream national press. I wrote her a little note, thanking her for the exposure she was giving knitting.

Then a few of years later, an assistant editor from House and Garden called me about a knitting feature they were planning on running in a future magazine. They wanted to produce a story of beautiful handknit products especially for the home. I had sent them a press release about my home (which had handknit pillows on the sofas and chairs) when Knitting for Baby was released. Lo and behold, someone had read the press release and kept it. They wanted to feature my knitted pillows in the magazine. “You do have kits for them, don’t you?” “Oh, yes, I replied.” I was beside myself with delight.

But then reality struck. I had made the knitted pillows for myself. I hadn’t written any diretions for them. I had made them out of of my stash of yarn. Luckily, I was in the final stages of the Julia yarn development and yarn would be soon arriving at the new distributor’s. I quickly wrote up the pattern for the pillows. My friend Lori proofed and tweaked them. I washed the pillows and freshened them. You can imagine how much effort this took after being in our animal packed house on the cozy couches for years! I packed them up in a box, included some pretty wooden knitting needles and some odd balls of yarn. I ran to Fedex and they were off. I kept my fingers crossed that it would happen.



And it did. In the January 2003 issue of House and Garden, there they were! It was so exciting for me to be featured in one of my very favorite shelter mags. You can still buy the pillow patterns that were featured in that H & G on my website. There’s an automatic download.

They’re taking the H & G website down in December. Before that, you might like to read some of Dominique’s Letters from the Editors that are here. For the past umpteen years, it is the first page I turn to in her magazine. I hope all the people at H & G turn up somewhere else and find future success. And one never knows, we may see the magazine again in a few years when the demographics make it seem right and money isn’t quite so tight. I just looked at my subscription renewal and I’m all paid up until 2010. I wonder what Conde Nast will be sending me now.

Kids Craft Weekly

Thanks to Amber over at Kids Craft Weekly for featuring my blog "Getting Stitched on the Farm" as her featured subscriber blog this week. Amber does a lovely job at developing crafts for kids that are easy and fun to make and smack of homemade goodness. Check it out if you have young children!

The Colors are Slipping Away

Fall color is almost over here in northwestern Massachusetts. The other day I was out walking and all of a sudden the leaves were blowing off the trees at a furious rate. It doesn't take long and they are all gone, until next spring.


Being a color person, you can imagine how sad this makes me feel. I am now going to have to reach down into my inner depths and create all the color in my life totally by myself. Ugh, that's about all I have to say. So much work for me to do.


The beech leaves are still hanging on - they are about the last to turn here. Beech trees are native to our local forest and I am really crazy about them. In the spring, their leaves are a lovely chartreuse. As summer develops and fall begins, the chartreuse ages, then turns gold and finally a lovely toffee shade. On our "sheep trek" the other day, I passed this lovely forest full of beeches.


When the leaves start turning it is altogether overwhelming if you just start looking at each an every individual leaf. They are like little paintings that nature creates. It would be hard to paint them as beautiful as they naturally turn. I love this maple leaf - a study in contrasting colors of red and green.


All the tree varieties' leaves turn different colors and I feel so very fortunate to live where I do. No wonder fall is my favorite time of year - it's a color show every time I wallk out the door. Even the lowly weedy sumac turns a wonderful red shade. How pretty this sumac leaf is when inspected closely. The speckled texture of the rock beneath echoes the green speckles on the leaf.


Because fall is so fleeting, I wanted to document it so I could remember the colors come this winter when I am craving natural color and there is none in the landscape. I took quite a few photos the other day. Here's my first attempt at Julia Yarn Colors interspersed with autumn leaves.

As you can see, way too much contrast. It was late in the day and I didn't think the light would be so strong, but it was. So I walked the leaves and the yarn around to the front of the house and placed them on the lovely speckled rock that is the front stoop. Julia acted as a sunblock and everything looks nicer. Better color definition and much less glare.

Taking photos for this blog has really been a stretch for me. I have always snapped photos but for my large projects, there has always been a professional photographer with an assistant. I have learned some by watching them but I will never be a pro. It has been fun to capture little things and document the way I think about color for my work and this blog. But I really admire how real photographers can assess the light situation on the spot and move a subject to take advantage of the best light. I'm getting a little better at it but I still need to look at the photos on the digital screen to actually know what I am getting.

These are some of the results of a few minutes in the afternoon the other day before all the color went away.


Enjoy the leaves and the weekend.