Checking In Before 2012

Having a busy Christmas/New Year week. Here's the new addition to our farm....

Meet Kate - BCIT - that would be Border Collie in Training. New puppy! Big challenge. Fingers crossed she is a worker. She comes from great stock - her mama is from The Gould Farm in Shelburne, MA. Edgar Gould was one of the great Border Collie Men in his day importing talented dogs from Scotland to the States. His family is carrying on his tradition. We are very lucky to have one of their pups.

Here's a photo of Julia's boots, puppy Kate and Phoebe to give you an idea of the scale. 

There are some noses out of joint, for sure.

Busy week..... Lots of traveling around, visiting, doing all we should over the Christmas holiday. Back to work tomorrow - Julia and I will be at the Amherst Farmers Market on Saturday (tomorrow the 31st). 

Happy 2012 everyone! I'll be back after the New Year. I'll leave you with some sparkling lights from our home to yours.....

Holiday Wishes for You

 May you and yours have a lovely holiday season. 

Peace to all in the New Year.

From Kristin, Mark and Julia

Cozy Glittery Houses for the Holidays

Every year, I think for the past 4 or 5, my friends Kay and Clara and I get together for an afternoon in December and drink tea and make little birch houses. I can't tell you how much I look forward to this day. No matter how busy we are, we always make it a priority to take time off and do it together. 

This is the kind of craft project that I really love. It is made almost completely recycled or found materials. Birch bark that we find on rotting logs in the woods or in the wood pile, make the sheathing. Then I collect little natural bits on my walks in the woods with the dogs. This year, we have a massive amount of this kind of fungus. No idea what it is - maybe someone can leave i.d. in the comments. It is white and ripply and the underside is grey. 

Unidentified Fungus

The only thing you need to purchase is glitter and glue. And the glue sticks for your glue gun. Everything else can be found outside if you are fortunate to live near woodland. This is a really fun family activity - spend one day with your friends gathering pine cones of all sizes, moss, lichen, fungus and bark. The next day, make the houses using recycled boxes. Small ones like those from toothpaste and various pharmacy products work really well because you don't need too much bark to cover them.

Houses before glitter

Just because the big day will be gone for another year, doesn't mean you can't make some of these with your children or kids during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day.

This year's crop before glitter

The glitter really adds a lot to the holiday feel. I glue a piece of paper on the bottom, write the date or a holiday message to the person I am giving them to.

The complete tutorial can be found here.

Happy Holiday Crafting Everyone.

Great Evening at Webs

We had a great evening at Webs selling our lamb meat at the "Meat-Up." Met all kinds of wonderful people who were going to be cooking family lamb recipes or some of the ones I brought along. For those of you who want to try cooking lamb but aren't close to our farm, give it a go. You can find my lamb recipes over on my Leyden Glen Farm Recipe Blog. The lamb tagine would make an awesome New Year's Eve Dinner. 

Thanks again to Kathy and Steve Elkins of Webs for supporting our sheep farm, to Sara Delaney (who works in customer service at Webs and who has been a supporter of my work since her days at B&N), to Melissa Morgan-Oakes of Two at a Time Sock Fame, and Gail Kallahan, The Kangaroo Dyer. Without all your cheerleading, I doubt so many people would have made the leap of faith to purchase our pasture raised lamb (even a vegetarian bought some for her dad!). If you to sign up for Leyden Glen Farm Newsletters, head on over to the recipe blog and sign up on the sidebar. I won't send many messages, just important updates.

Supporting the Family Farm and Red Berries for the Winter Solstice

Thank you all for the comments from my last post. Your support of the family farm, whether virtual with kind words and support or by purchasing family farm products in your area, or from our Leyden Glen Farm makes my heart swell. 

I've had a great response to the Lamb Meat-Up happening at Webs tomorrow evening in the parking lot. Still time to order. Check out this post here for prices and what is available.  The lamb meat is frozen and packed in cryovac so it travels well. Farm raised lamb meat makes a nice gift for those foodies who are hard to buy for. I'll be bringing recipes too if you need help and guidance on cooking it. Leg of lamb makes a very nice festive holiday dinner. Most of the legs are cut in half and weigh about 2 1/2 pounds. Someone yesterday emailed me and couldn't understand why the legs are so small. He is used to those big old enormous western lambs that are finished on feed lots. Our sheep are pasture raised and a smaller breed of sheep. They are more compact animals that thrive on the rocky hillsides here at our farm. Most of the breeds we have used over the years originated in Great Britain - Romney, Dorset, Border Leicester, Cheviot, and Shetland breeds.

This evening I am going to try to convince The Farmer to go down to Noho with Julia and me to meet the knitters at the "meat-up" who are buying our lamb. I think I have a chance at getting him to go, considering it is dark at 4:30 and he can't do much farming. We shall see.

Thanks again to Kathy and Steve Elkins and the Webs team for supporting our family farm.  Webs still has some of my Julia Yarn available in the back close-out room too!

The series of photos in this post were taken over a few weeks this fall. We have a rather large shrub-like tree right outside my studio door. I do not know what it is - maybe someone else does and can leave the name in the comments.

When we first moved here, I wanted to get rid of it because it is rather huge and spreads horizontally. I'm glad I lived with it and didn't take it out. It adds such visual interest all through the year. Next year I must document the flowers and the bees. These photos show the slowing of the season as winter rolls in. 

Today is the Winter Solstice and it seemed appropriate to share these photos here as we celebrate the dark of winter with all the winter holidays coming up over the next few weeks. It is also the day my Dad Arch passed away seven years ago. Still miss him and think about him every day. Now that we have "Archie", the Great Pyreness Livestock Guard Dog, living out in our field, I think about him even more. I've had a lot of friends lose parents and loved ones this year and my heart goes out to them (and perhaps some of you) as they celebrate the holidays this year without the special people in their lives.

Off to do a bit of Christmas shopping. Good day everyone! See you tomorrow at the "meat-up"!

Winter Days Ahead and Current Thoughts

Only a few more days until the Winter Solstice. Can't wait for it so the days will begin to get longer. It is frosty and freezy today - 7 degrees last night. 

The Farmer has been getting the lambing barn ready. It won't be long until there will be new babies. This cold weather is great for lambing because the ground is frozen (he calls it poor man's cement) and the lambs do better when there isn't much moisture in the ground. Snow is much better than rain. I'll keep you all posted.

We've been selling lots of our pasture raised lamb. It's nice to think that local folks will be enjoying the products of our farm as the centerpiece of their holiday meal. If you are local-ish, I've got two different "meat-ups" scheduled -

In Greenfield on Wednesday evening from 5:30 to 6:00.

In Northampton on Thursday evening in the Webs Parking Lot from 5:30 to 7:00. 

You must call or email to place an order. Cash, check or credit card payments accepted. See this post for more information. I will be bringing recipes or you can look at them on my lamb recipe blog.

There have been many interesting comments over on the Webs FaceBook Page about the "meat-up." I thank Kathy and Steve for helping me out with this and supporting local agriculture. They didn't have to. Kathy's comment to me was this - "We are all in this together and if I can help out your farm and family, then I am happy to." 

We are sheep farmers here and no matter what many knitters may want to believe, the major product of the majority of sheep farms is lamb meat, not wool. I went into this sheep farming thing as a knitter and fiber lover 31 years ago. For me, sheep were those cute litttle fluffy animals that grazed green pastures. I knit with their wool and spun their fiber. I understand where some of these people are coming from. I had those same rose colored glasses.

My partner in this farming life - The Farmer - grew up on a working dairy farm. His eyes were open to what living on a farm was all about because he grew up with life and death all around him as a small child. He learned to slaughter a chicken as a small boy. On a dairy farm, cows come and go and it is just part of it all. When we bought our first four sheep, he talked to me about what would happen with the ram lambs. I chose not to listen.

Kristin + Mark - early 1980's

I was in for a rude awakening - not a bad one, just a different kind of one. I grew up not really thinking about where my food came from. My parents were passionate gardeners but we did not live where livestock was common, nor even allowed. My dad was first generation German and he always purchased the meat we ate from "The German Butcher." As a kid, liverwurst, beet salad, herring salad, sauerkraurt, rolaten, sauerbraten - all traditional German foods were part of our family heritage and I loved it all. Daddy used to talk about the farm his grandparents had in Rockaway, NJ, where the current Morris Hills High School is now. He spent summers on the farm and had memories of the pigs his grandparents raised and ate. He used to tell about the day the traveling butcher would come to the farm and the pig would be slaughtered. Then his grandparents would smoke and preserve the meat for the winter ahead. I was not oblivious to the whole process of farm to table. But I was uneducated, as most kids were in the 1960's. 

We have 3 rams who service our 250 breeding ewes. That's it - THREE. This January and February, we will probably have 400 plus lambs born. Most likely half of them will be boys. We don't need them because 

a. We only need our 3 big boys.

b. They are genetically related to the ewes and lambs that are on the farm. Inbreeding is not something you strive for on a farm. It happens sometimes but it isn't good most of the time. There's a reason you shouldn't marry your cousin.

The January boys will become our lamb crop of 2012 which we sell as meat to our meat-eating customers (many call themselves "recovering vegetarians"). And sometimes we also harvest the females, depending on their size.

Here's the thing now where I have a bone to pick with some of the "fiber farms" who are marketing and selling their wool to knitters who have dreams of Utopia. On those farms, babies are born and most likely, half of those babies are girls and half are boys. Unless these farmers want to castrate all of those boys and keep feeding them all their lives just to keep their wool, those boys will all go away and become part of the food chain. It is not financially feasible to keep every boy born on a sheep farm just for fun. I know Paul and Linda McCartney did but we aren't all rock stars. Most fiber farms do not talk about this, most likely so they will not offend their knitting and fiber customers. Talk about continuing the rose colored glasses phenomenom. I know many knitters do not want to think about this. They want to think of sheep as cute fluffy creatures living out their lives in some kind of Utopian Eden (just like I used to). But it just is not that way. Animals live and die - some of natural causes but most at slaughterhouses. 

I think it is time that knitters look at sheep for the animals they are - producers of meat and wool but also producers of bones, lanolin, sheepskins, leather, intestinal casings for violin strings, collagen (plastic surgery, anyone), gelatin, buttons from bones, pet food, and darn good manure machines for fertilizing fields and gardens. Sheep are amazingly useful and beautiful creatures who can turn an overgrown hillside into a lush green piece of pasture in a year's time with continual rotation. There is a reason that nomadic cultures still wander the world with their bands of sheep and that they still have a sacrificial lamb for celebrations. Did you know that lamb is the second most popular meat in the world, behind goat meat? 

As sheep farmers, we treat our animals as good as possible while they live on our farm. When they are grown and ready to go, we take them to a slaughterhouse where they are treated humanely until the end. I know this because I help load the truck and go with The Farmer when I have time. I have been on the killing floor and I know what happens. I know how the animal lives and how it dies. I needed to know this so that I can honestly sell our lamb to our customers.

I think there is such a disconnect with most people about the source of the meat they buy at the grocery store on a piece of styrofoam wrapped in plastic. Most Americans want to eat meat. In fact, I bet many American families have meat almost every evening at dinner and many probably eat meat for lunch too. I have no problem with people who chose to not eat meat. It is everyone's choice. I too was a vegetarian for a few years. That is perfectly fine. But please meat-eating people and knitters..... think about how the animal you are eating was raised and how it died so that you could consume their flesh before you say ewwww to the farm family who is doing things right. 

Things are getting better - books like Omnivore's Dilemma, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Righteous Porkchop, Compassionate Carnivore, Food Matters, Folks, This Ain't Normal, The Grass Fed Gourmet, The River Cottage Meat Book, are being published by major publishing houses. There is a major trend going on with people making their own charcuterie and cooking offal. The interesting thing is that the people who are cooking odd bits and into butchering and charcuterie are very similar people to those who are passionate knitters. They have chosen a different passion though - cooking meat and knowing all about it. I am sure there is a bit of cross-over (see friend Janice's blog, a former yarn shop owner). Food for thought for this day before the big holiday.

Quick Knitting Holiday Ideas

Julia told me it was less than 10 days to Christmas. Wow. Guess I better start thinking about it. I wait until the last minute and then drive myself nuts. One year I decided to begin ahead and I spent too much and lost the presents in the house because of forgetfulness. Now, I stick with my tried and true last minute. Way too much more fun!

That said, here are a few very quick projects to whip up if you have some extra time. 

From 2009, my Knit and Crochet Ornaments.

Download The FREE Snowflake Ornament Collection

Little Leo Tolstoys, Santas, elves, or whatever for you and yours! Cute little wine bottle toppers or ornaments. Available through Ravelry free here for members. For all of you who are not Ravelry members, click on the Download Now link below!

free download now

 

And of course, still pushing my Kristin's Creative Christmas Stocking Pattern and the sweet little Heart to Heart Mittens. Those little heart mittens work up in a flash. Check out the Shop Page for ordering these patterns. 

Good weekend everyone!

Kathy Elkins Rocks! Lamb Meat-Up Thursday Dec 22 at WEBS 5:30 to 7:00

People are planning their holiday meals now and we are stocked up and ready to sell some of our lovely pastured raised lamb. We'll be at the Amherst Winter Market on Saturday the 17th from 10 to 2. Come early for the best choice.

I love Kathy Elkins, co-owner of Webs! The other day I asked her if I might deliver lamb to folks in Northampton via her parking lot. Now she has created an event on Facebook for me! I'll be there with my truck full of whatever lamb you would like for your holiday dinner. Here are the particulars....

To order:

For further information or to place an order, please call 413.774.6514

Email: kristinnicholas AT gmail DOT com

I will NOT have much extra lamb with me so you must place specific orders with me by e-mail or telephone. We take cash, checks, and Credit Cards. All meat is sold by the pound. All lamb is frozen and packed in shrink-wrapped cryovac. It is packed at a USDA processor especially for Leyden Glen Farm.

Here's the price list:

Lamb Price List
Price per Pound

Extra Lean Ground Lamb                          $ 9.50
Lamb Stew Meat - Boneless                     $ 9.50
Lamb Sausage (Bulk Pack)                       $10.50
Whole Leg                                                 $10.00 (bone-in - limited number available)
Leg - Cut in Half Bone-In Shank End        $10.50 (many available - 2 to 2 1/2 lbs.)
Leg - Cut in Half Bone-In Sirloin End        $10.50 (many available - 2 to 2 1/2 lbs.)
Leg - Cut in Half Butterflied                      $12.00 (4 available - 2 to 3 lbs.)
Lamb Chops (RIb or Loin) (pack of 2)       $13.50
Shoulder Roast - Cut in Half - Bone In     $8.00
Shoulder Chops                                        $8.50
Lamb Liver                                                $4.00
Hearts and Kidneys                                   $4.00

Lamb bones for stock                               $4.00

Check out my lamb recipe blog here.
If you have never cooked a leg of lamb, never fear .... I will give you complete cooking directions.

Doggy News

Need a special gift for one of the canines in your life? Check out my "Dog in Sheep's Clothing" handknitting pattern over on my Shop Page or on Ravelry here. It is sized for dogs of all sizes - from eeny-weeny to ginormous. This is the same pattern I dressed the lambs in a couple of years ago and you can read more about the pattern on my Knitting Page here. The dog in the photo is good friend Junie B who is owned by our good friends Peggy and Clara. Isn't she sweet? She loves the sweater I made for her!

Now onto the topic of the day.... Our dogs play a huge part in our farmlife. Our two Border Collies, Phoebe and Ness, are indispensable. Never could we farm without their help moving the sheep from field to field. Before we had Paisley, our first Border Collie, The Farmer and I used to run after the sheep flapping our arms, trying to get them to move where we needed them. It was always such a comical operation. We could chase sheep for 3 hours and still fail in our attempts to move them. 

Nessie in action

Luckily, we got our first Border Collie back in 1991. Her name was Paisley and she was a stellar dog. You can read a little about her here. We were so incredibly lucky to have an incredibly talented collie for our first foray into sheep dog land. Since Paisley, we have had 3 Collies - Devon (who sadly was hit by a car and killed), Phoebe, and Nessie. Our dogs work hard and they are such great companions also. They are a bit spoiled, enjoying the farmhouse, the fires at night, and riding in the trucks.

Winston, the Great Pyrenees Pup - Livestock Guard Dog in training!

Now we have added to our working dog family in the form of Great Pyrenees brothers Archie and Winston, our new Livestock Guardian Dogs. OMG - we are a 4 dog family! They are growing like crazy and seem to be fitting in with the farm. Every morning, The Farmer and I take them on a walk around the perimeter fences that one of the flocks of sheep graze during the day. It's a nice part of the day, I must say. 

"The Boys" sleep outside with the sheep. They have shelter in the form of a calf hutch with straw bedding but I don't think they ever use it. They have very thick coats and from afar, look a lot like a sheep. We will be keeping them here at the farmhouse all winter long with a group of growing lambs that were born last winter and spring. "The Boys" will also be going down to the winter barn to expose them to the lambs when they are born. But we will not leave them with little lambs until they are mature and can be trusted. They have done in some of my free-ranging chickens so we must be careful. "The Boys" are very friendly to us and look forward to seeing someone whenever they hear the door open. It is all I can do to not bring them in the house but from the start, I knew that their job was to live with the sheep and guard them. After sunset, they bark and bark and bark. I think that is what keeps the sheep safe from the coyotes. Who would want to bother facing such a big barking dog (even if they are still pups). 

Back to the Collies. Phoebe is 12 years old and at the end of her working life. She still helps out but she isn't as agile as she used to be. She loves a patch of sun, sleeping in the house and following me around. I hate to see her grow old but it is the cycle of life. Nessie is seven or eight (can't remember when we got her!) and lives to work. She won't be able to keep up forever so..... Big News! A few days after Christmas, we will be adding a new member to our dog family - a new Border Collie puppy! We met the litter a couple weeks ago and are anxiously awaiting our new pup. She is coming from the Gould Farm. 

 

Fingers crossed that she wants to be a worker! It will be a lot of work having a pup in the winter. We're working on names now. She is black and white and that's all we know. It takes about 3 years for a working Border Collie to get up to speed and we have to think ahead, be prepared for Nessie's eventual slowing down. We cannot wait to meet her!

It seems that 2011 has been all about the dogs here on the farm!

Tanis Gray's Knit Local Book + A Giveaway!

You all are so fabulous. I wish I could have given the giant prize to everyone - goodness knows you all deserve it. The winner of the grand prize has been chosen! It's JesseKnits on Ravelry.  I've notified her and I'll be shipping her excellent prize package out once she responds. I am overwhelmed with all the knitting everyone is doing. Just reading the list makes my fingers twitch (good twitches!). I think there are some great gift knitting ideas in the comments. If you get a chance, read through it. 

Now for today's subject. It is a great new book by my friend Tanis Gray called Knit Local.  Tanis is a former Yarn Editor at Soho Publishing and has been a friend for many years. The concept of Knit Local is to profile many of the smaller yarn companies that are popping up all over the USA. The owners of all the companies featured are passionate about their animals and fibers. Not all of the profiled companies raise sheep - there are some smaller companies that are the new "upstarts" in the biz (Pam Allen's Quince & Co and Jared Flood's Brooklyn Tweed). The focus seems to be on small, friendly and independently owned. Many of the yarns featured are only available directly from company websites. (I find that a downside to a book like this as it cuts out the local yarn store, but whatever.) That said, Brown Sheep Yarns of Nebraska is also profiled (as they so deserve to be). They aren't small by any means but they are family owned and independent (as are the majority of "big" yarn companies out there). Here are the end-papers. I love this display of all the different yarn labels set on brown kraft paper. It gives you a clue as to what you will find within the pages. Good end-papers are a very important part of a book for me! When I open a book and it just has white end-papers, I don't get a good feeling..... white just doesn't help to suck me into what is to come.

This is one of those books that has a lot to read in it if you are a knitter or fiber lover - profiles of all the companies and owners, lots of gorgeous photos of sheep, alpacas, buffaloes and other fiber producing animals. And there are 30 knitting patterns included for men, women, and children including full sweaters and lots of fun accessories. Here is a sneak peek inside.....

It is a well-edited collection, as I would expect from a former magazine editor. Congrats to Tanis on a job well done. This is one of my favorite photos from the book.... The design is called "Dreaming of Spring Mittens" and they were designed by Elli Stubenrauch and knit of Mountain Meadow Wool from Wyoming.

Tanis asked me to design something too. Here's what I came up with - a fun and quirky multi-color pair of gloves. 

The yarn is called Romney Wool and it is available from Solitude Yarns of Virginia. (Kind of fun I got to design with a yarn of that name considering the base stock of our sheep flock is the Romney breed). This is the first time in ages I have knit with a yarn other than my own. It was hand-dyed in a vibrant array of colors and I had fun mixing the colors all together to create my Farmhouse Gloves. Check out the Solitude Yarns website here.

The Art Direction of this book is lovely. It is printed on a matte finished paper which yields a earthy kind of feel to the book. There are many mood photos too which add to the homey character of Knit Local.  I love knitting books that are packed with lots of writing. I don't often knit anyone else's designs but still would love to get this book on Christmas Day. You all might want to add it to your Christmas wish list.

Now for the fun news.... Sixth and Spring Books has donated a copy of Knit Local to one of my lucky readers. Here's what you have to do to join the fun.....

Answer the following question???? Local - now there's a term that is a buzz word of current times. Tell me what you think is local? I can't wait to hear your answers.... as I have my own thoughts too that I will try to share with you next week. 

As always, please leave an easy way to get a hold of you..... Contest ends Monday, December 12th at 11:59 p.m.

Cathy's Big Day, Her New Bag + Knitting Contrissmas

My very good friend Cathy Payson is celebrating a really big birthday this week. Cathy is one of the most generous people on the planet and an amazing knitter and designer. She churns out gift after gift, barely ever making anything for herself to keep. This is what kind of friend Cathy is... When Julia was in the hospital in Boston many times in her first few years of life, Cathy stopped by our "hotel room" (as Julia called it) with fresh dark roast coffee and breakfast for me. Unless you have been stuck in a hospital for several days taking care of a sick child with compromised health, not knowing what is going to happen, you can never know what a nice gift that is. The friendly company, supportive smile and conversation, gossip mags to read and good coffee..... I will never forget that for the rest of my life.

I wanted to mark her big day with a really nice gift. And I knew I had to make it because Cathy would appreciate it. I hate making things for someone who doesn't know what goes into them. Cathy, like every true knitter, has a lot of bags for carrying various projects. She lives in Boston and travels on the "T" (Boston's Public Transport system of buses and subways) and she always has her knitting with her. I thought she might like a handmade bag to carry her knitting. Cathy loves the color orange and luckily I found some beautiful orange wool coating fabric. I found some pretty cotton fabrics for the lining fabric in my stash and started sewing.

I must say, I love to make bags - they are quick to make and not too hard. They don't have to fit anyone and they make a fun statement. Here's the bag I made Cathy. It has short fabric handles like a shopping bag. I also made a long strap that is tucked inside in the photo so she can sling it over her head and shoulder in that city kind of way.

Before I sewed the lining in, I hand-sewed some of my Felted Zinna Flowers from my new PDF Pattern onto the wool. The flowers remind me of the Mary Quant flowers from their 60's packaging - love their bright colors and smily feeling. Each flower was decorated with French knots. Here is the link to buy the pattern on my website or on Ravelry. The cost is $6.00 and they make great quick gifts to knit.

Cathy is off on a big trip to celebrate her birthday with her twin sister and the orange bag is going with her filled with her knitting. What a nice thought - my friend enjoying her birthday with her sister and exploring a new country. Happy Birthday Cathy!

Hop on over to the Knitting Contrissmas series done by Tina. I'm the featured interview today. The series interviews creative people the first 25 days of December. What a great thing Tina is doing for the creative community - energizing all of us by reading about creative people. Thank you Tina for inviting me.

Heart to Heart Mittens + The Biggest Get Stitched on the Farm Giveaway YET!

The holidays are creeping up, aren't they? Thanks to everyone who has ordered patterns and cards. I am having fun imagining all of you sitting in your comfy armchairs knitting flowers, bags, mittens, and more every evening. Me, I'm working on a new pattern for you all that I hope to introduce not too long after the new year. Fingers Crossed on that! 

I wanted to let you in on a great holiday quick knit. It is my "Heart to Heart Mittens" that are sized for from toddlers to adults. Here's how this pattern came about. Last year during the Amherst Winter Farmers Market, I started knitting and designing a new pair of mittens for Julia. She has a tendency to lose mittens and it is always nice to have an extra pair in the wings. Every week, my fellow vendors stopped by to see how they were progressing. 

I didn't intend to make them into a pattern, they were just busy work for me when the customers weren't lining up. When they were done, I decided they were too pretty not to share. I set about writing the pattern, then doing the charts. I photographed them on Miss Julia (under much duress from her).

As I was editing the photos, I realized that although these mittens, with multiple hearts on them were maybe a bit difficult for a normal knitter who wasn't quite as colorwork obsessed as moi (yes, we have seen the new Muppets Movie, gotta love that Miss Piggie). So I started knitting again and this is what I came up with.....

Here she is throwing snowballs at me..... "Ahhh, Mom, are you done yet? PLEEEEEASE stop taking pictures."

Version Two - the One Heart Mittens are a simpler colorwork pattern still with the heart motif but not quite as colorwork crazy. They are sized in 4 sizes from toddlers to adults. Here's why you might want to try knitting up some of the "Single Heart to Heart Mittens" for Christmas gifts. 

1. The design begins with easy Reverse Stockinette Stitch Ridges

2. The colorwork happens in Fair Isle after the thumb shaping is completed. No worrying about increasing for the thumb and working in two colors.

3. They are worked on double pointed needles so they really rip along.

4. There are two great videos on my YouTube Channel to help you with the embroidery...

Chain Stitch

The Decorated Chain Stitch

Those are the two stitches that are worked around the heart to really dress it up and put the mittens over the top beautiful. Here's a view of them in front of our old bread oven that is in our living room. (Yes we do use it - we make awesome pizza in it - how cool is that?)

The PDF pattern includes both designs - The Many Heart Mittens and the One Heart Mittens. I find the heart design such a gorgeous knitting motif. It kind of speaks to how you feel about the person you are knitting for. We knitters make a lot to express our love for our family and friends. What a great way to visually show this with heart mittens. With the addition of the two embroidery stitches, it really make the heart design stand out.

Hop on over to my Shop Page to order the pattern or on Ravelry Here

Now on to the best giveaway yet. This is to celebrate my inclusion in Knitting Contrissmas, the wonderful series of interviews organized and generously posted by Tina Kim, the author of the blog Knitting Contessa. My interview will be December 6th tomorrow. Here's what I have for you all.

Courtesy of the fabulous Simplicity Creative Group, one lucky winner will receive their very own electric ball winder! Very cool, if I must say so myself. I don't even have one of these!

That same person will also receive The Crochet Dude's complete advanced set of crochet hooks and accessories AND a Boye Needle Master Interchangeable Circular Knitting Kit. (This is an incredibly pretty set - all the tips are color coordinated in brightly colored metal.)

From Westminster Fibers, the same very lucky winner will receive their very own stash of my Julia Wool/Mohair/Alpaca Yarn. (Now that it is being discontinued, this is a collector's item, for sure!)

Here's what you have to do to enter. Answer the following question in the comments section of this post....

Tell me if you are making any handmade gifts for the holidays and what they are! 

As always, please remember to leave an easy way to get a hold of you. Contest Ends Thursday December 8th at 11:59 p.m. Only one entry please and U.S. addresses only!

Follow-Up to Too Darn Cute

How they made the video that is "Too Darn Cute!"

Here is the link to watch on YouTube. Those lambs definitely had several baths! I wonder what farm they came from? Hope the farmers got paid lots. I don't think our sheep would participate. When I photographed my lambs in sweaters and Olympia with her flowered lei, I had one assistant! You can read about that here. Look at all those people.

So Darn Cute

Check this out. So darn cute!

This Morning at Our Farm

The Amherst Winter Market begins tomorrow at the Amherst Middle School. Stop by and stock your freezer if you are a lamb lover. Julia and l have some great recipes for you to try. Also, my holiday cards. Mark will be at the Northampton Winter Market in the basement of Thorne's Marketplace. We'd love to see any locals.

Chilly day - everything is covered with frost. Love crisp mornings like this. Here are some photos from our walk.