Getting Stitched on the Farm

2012 Kristin Nicholas Leyden Glen Farm Calendars - Something Free For All of You!

2012-01-25T08:25:00.002-05:00

I've spent a bit of time over the past month and a half looking through my 2011 photos. I think it is always a good idea to look back on past projects because then you know how much your style has improved, changed, or stayed the same. I think of this blog as one big project - a visual diary of our lives here on the farm and my knitting and designing life and work. In 2011, I took over 10,000 photos - most of them not good enough to share here but part of the process of improving my skills. Thank goodness for digital photography! I also acquired a couple new lenses for my Canon DSLR which really helped improve my photos and to get me headed where I want to go for this blog and you all. I now use the following lenses for my still life product and animal photos - this 50 mm lens and this 85 mm "portrait" lens.

In 2011, I worked a lot of my still life photography, mostly taking product photos of my knitting and some of my lamb recipes for our Leyden Glen Farm Lamb business and also for Real Pickles (a local pickle company). (BTW, Real Pickles just won their second "Good Food" award. Congrats Dan and Addie! You can check out my photos on their website here.) I decided to offer TWO 2012 CALENDARS FOR FREE to you all, my blog readers. If you want to leave a donation for my time and help me to cover my different costs associated with photography and keeping this blog running, feel free to. There's a DONATE link below. But please don't feel obligated.

I hope you all enjoy the two different versions of this year's Kristin Nicholas/Leyden Glen Farm calendars. Both are formated at 8 1/2 x 11" and feature a color photo on each page along with the month's days. Download away. Print out the pages and enjoy. To fasten the pages together you have several options -

1) Take the pages to a copy shop and have them spiral bound.

2) Punch 2 holes at the top of the pages and thread some pretty yarn through the pages for hanging.

3) Attach a bulldog clip which has a hole on the top of it and hang it on a nail.

For THE ANIMALS OF LEYDEN GLEN FARM, click here. This calendar features sheep, lambs, dogs and kittens.

For THE COLORS OF LEYDEN GLEN FARM, click here. This calendar features still lives and interior shots.

The file will download automatically to your computer in PDF format. Each calendar is 14 pages long. I suggest printing them out on heavy card stock or on a glossy photo paper. If you don't have a color printer, put the file on a flash drive and take it to your local copy shop. They can print the calendars for you. Or ask a tech savvy friend with a printer to help you out.

If you want to donate, click on the button below

Enjoy everyone -- spread the word so your friends can enjoy the seasons, the animals and the colors of Leyden Glen Farm. Hang the calendars in your office, your knitting room, your barn, or your kitchen.

All our best for 2012,

Kristin, Mark and Julia

Our Day at the Barn

2012-01-24T17:20:00.001-05:00

Lambing has slowed down quite a bit - thank goodness. Instead of 20 lambs being born in a day they are dribbling out at 1 to 4 a day. There are still ewes waiting to lamb but it isn't quite as frenetic as it has been the past couple weeks.

Today The Farmer had to make a delivery for his real business and so left me in charge of all the sheep. Yikes, I like to be in charge of things but not in charge of the sheep during lambing season! Luckily, our friend Terri said she would help me. We got chores done in record time and without incident. We were just getting ready to leave when I noticed a ewe who looked to be in labor.

Sure enough, a yearling ewe was straining up on the hill. When we got there, I could see that the nose was poking out but no legs. That isn't what you want to see because it means the ewe will need help. Lucky for me, Terri's real job is as a maternity nurse at the local hospital. I knew what to do but I wasn't too keen about sticking my arm up into the ewe. Terri was enthusiastically smiling though. I knew she could do it! As a nurse, I knew that she would relish the chance to deliver a mal-presented lamb. Real official lambing vs. feeding and watering and walking around in cruddy muck. Sure would make a good story at the hospital too! Terri fished around inside and found one leg but couldn't find the other. I have watched this many times and knew that if she pushed the head back in, she'd be able to find both legs. I held the ewe as she was straining which made it more difficult for Terri to pull.

And then she pulled and there it was!

And here's Terri with the brand new ram lamb and a giant smile on her face. Thank you Terri! We are so lucky to have friends like you.

Sweet Lamb of the Day

2012-01-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

Things are still busy. Up to 204 lambs. Here's another not even a day old lamb.... Love those airplane ears.

Sweet Lamb of the Day

2012-01-20T19:35:00.000-05:00

Could not resist this sweet little face. Good weekend everyone......

Back from Vogue Knitting Live in NY

2012-01-19T18:26:00.001-05:00

Someone asked me in the comments yesterday about my trip to NYC to the Second VK Live held at the Hilton on 53rd and Sixth Ave. It's funny but it seems like a lifetime ago that I was there, so much has happened here on the lamb front. I didn't take too many photos, nor was I there very long but my time was fulfilling. To get to NYC, I took a bus from Northampton. It's an easy ride and doesn't take long to get to NYC. The best thing was I didn't have to drive and I knit the entire trip. Pure heaven. I never get 3 hours in a row to knit - never. I arrived in time to have dinner with a bunch of very good friends who I don't get the chance to see very often anymore. After a dinner of Indian food and lots of story-telling and catching up, I found my way to the Hilton.

I taught 2 classes on Saturday - one on edgings and the second on embroidery on knits. The students were so eager and ready to learn. That's what happens when you get them when they are fresh! Here's a photo of all the samplers the students made in my embroidery class. Didn't they do a fabulous job?

The classrooms were much better this year - more spacious classes, decent light. It's a learning curve throwing one of these big conferences and the staff at Soho/VK really did throw one heck of a party. Thank you Soho, for inviting me to share my passions with so many other passionate knitters.

On Saturday evening, I attended the Banquet held in the Trianon Ballroom. The room was painted a lovely shade of turquoise and it was covered with all kinds of fancy white fluorishes on the walls and ceilings. Add to it tables crammed with excited knitters and it was such a fun time. There were about 30 tables and each table had a teacher sitting with them - a fun concept. The only thing is the tables were so huge and round that I could only speak with the knitters directly around me. I was sorry I couldn't chat with those across the table. There were goodie bags loaded with great stuff although I didn't get one because someone took mine (bummer - I wanted those Addi needles!). The highlight of the evening was an inspirational talk by Alice Starmore who came expressly for VK Live. How do you like that fuzzy photo below? It is from Alice's slide show taken on my iPhone but what I like about it is the colors and the feeling you get from the landscape and the model in the sweater.

Alice did a colorful slide presentation about her work and her life on the Isle of Lewis and Harris (the Outer Hebrides of Scotland) where she lives and designs. It was quite wonderful hearing her Scottish accent and seeing what inspires her. I didn't realize that besides knitwear design Alice also paints and weaves. I wasn't surprised to hear it but I was because I had never seen samples of her other work before. What a treat the talk was. Check out her amazing website here. She sells her gorgeous yarn, knitting packs, and books. Funny story too - my friend Linda and I were chatting after the event and Linda who is a pretty big deal in the yarn world decided we should say hi to Alice. We waited in a little line and then introduced ourselves. I told Alice that I took a class with her back in the 1980's - at a TKGA meeting. She said that yes, she remembered me and that the meeting was in New Orleans. What a memory! I asked her how the heck she could remember that and she said it was because I knit funny. And she is correct - I do knit funny (I knit the same way Annie Modesitt does). The class was on charting lace and as she watched me, she noticed that I was doing the opposite of what she would do - or something like that. I explained it was because I knit my purls backwards and that on the right side I had to do the opposite. I was shocked she remembered. Like really shocked. I can barely remember what I ate for breakfast!

Here's some good news..... Many of Alice Starmore's out-of-print titles are now back in print. If you are a knitter who missed the first wave of Alice books in the 1980's, I highly recommend anything she has written. My favorites are "Alice Starmore's Charts for Color Knitting" and "Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting" because they are what I called books for designers as opposed to pattern books. Check them out. And here's some other good gossip - Alice and her daughter Jade are leading a fabulous Vogue Knitting Trip through Scotland and Iceland. Check that out here .

After Alice's fabulous speech, we were all treated to a fabulous fashion show LIVE from the pages of Vogue Knitting. Gorgeous sweaters on gorgeous tall leggy runway models. It was a great evening.

Early on Sunday morning I got back on the bus and headed back home to go back to our farm, join my family who I left in the depths of lambing. I was greeted by this little lamb who was feeling very poorly and getting warm at Julia's feet in the car.

Luckily the lamb (No. 55) made a complete recovery and is now running around the kitchen being terrorized by Kate the Border Collie puppy. We certainly are living in a funny farm. Looking forward to it warming up so the 3 bottle lambs in the kitchen now can go back to the barn. During lambing season, I have learned not to plan any social occasions at our farmhouse!

Little Video of Mama and Lamb and Olympia's First Lambs

2012-01-18T08:04:00.001-05:00

A little Cheviot cross-bred lamb

Yesterday I was at the barn for the large part of the day. There were new lambs arriving left and right. I caught this lamb's arrival just as the Mama was cleaning her off. Thought some of you might like to share it with your children so that they can see how animals take care of their young.

Most of our mamas deliver their lambs without any help at all. We only intervene if the mama is in labor for an extra long time or if there seems to be a problem with how the lamb is coming out. Our experience has told us that it is best to let nature take over and not interfere with the bonding process of mama and baby. (I used to help clean off the lambs with a towel but have since decided that is a bad idea.) The only thing we do is clear the sack from the lamb's mouth and then let the mama clean the baby off. Then we move them into a bonding pen if it seems necessary. Usually sets of twins get moved and put into a pen - because it is harder for a mama to keep track of them although they do.

Big news. Remember Olympia?

She is the bottle lamb who modeled and had "Olympia's Knit and Crochet Flowers" named after her. You can see and buy the flower pattern here or on Ravelry here. Olympia is two now and she had her first set of twins. She did good although it was a cold day and we put the twin girls under some heat lamps. It's always fun when a bottle lamb has a baby and when they turn out to be great mamas.

Got an email from a photographer friend who spent 10 months at Hallmark Photography School in nearby Turners Falls. She photographed sheep at our farm last year. Check out all her gorgeous photos of lambs taken last spring and summer here. Thanks Sarah for posting them. All that green grass! Seems so far away.

Just Born

2012-01-17T11:21:00.001-05:00

Up to 162 lambs. This baby was just born. Trying mobile blogging. We will se how this goes.

New Lambs and Kate Meets The Snow, The Chickens and The Boys

2012-01-12T23:24:00.001-05:00

Lambing continues - 19 lambs born yesterday - 9 sets of twins and 1 single. Good day but a busy one for The Farmer.

I have not been much help since I have been trying to tie up lots of loose ends before I leave for VKLive in NYC Friday afternoon. I'll be back on Sunday but you know how it goes - get odds and ends done before a trip because even three days sets you back.

Kate, our new Border Collie pup, has settled in nicely. Julia thinks she is a terror and is a bit jealous of all the attention she is getting. It's a lot of work having a puppy in the winter - all the in and out but we're falling in love with her spunky personality. All signs point to her being a great sheep dog. Every day, she goes outside with Phoebe, Ness, and I to feed the chickens. It's the highlight of their day when there isn't any official sheep work going on, like most of the time in the winter.

Today in the snow, it was especially pretty. All the brown dirt was covered with fresh fallen snow.

Today Kate ventured into the pen when the chickens were feeding. She has figured out that if she chases, they will run. And she likes to see them move.

After the little chicken adventure, I decided to take her to see The Boys. She has been to see them a couple times but on a leash. Today I felt like it was time to see how they would get along.

The Boys are really interested in the little ball of fire.

First a little intro through the fence. That went well.

Then on in to the sheep pasture. All the normal doggy meet doggy stuff.

And then Kate started running circles around them.

She's a tough one....

And man is she fast!

I think we are all friends now.

Snowy Day

2012-01-12T23:23:00.000-05:00

A surprise snowstorm arrived today during lambing season. I've got so much to do to get ready to leave for NYC but I couldn't pass up the opportunity for photos in the snow. It doesn't happen often and it is so gorgeous. These three guinea fowl had escaped the coop.

Nessie brought the sheep in.

The snow kept coming down, unexpectedly. The kids had a late school opening but it should have been called off, it was so treacherous.

Winston and Archie looked over all of them.

Cute Moment at the Sheep Barn

2012-01-11T08:32:00.000-05:00

Sheep Cycles

2012-01-10T07:45:00.001-05:00

Lambing always starts out slow. Usually a couple of ewes will drop lambs within two days of each other. (Julia's bottle lamb Cora is always one of the first. She is a fabulous mama and this year we got a ewe lamb out of her - yippee!) These are Cora's new twins - haven't they grown?

Then a few days later - another and another ewe will deliver. After the first initial slow batch, about two to three weeks after the first, the ewes begin lambing in droves. This has to do with how the sheep "cycle." Sheep come into estrus (meaning they become fertile) in mid to late summer when the days are starting to get noticably shorter. They cycle every 16 or 17 days meaning that if they don't get pregnant with the first breeding, they have a second chance in another 16 or 17 days from the first cycle - and then again. This year our first lamb arrived December 27. That is 13 days ago from today.

Now for all you women out there and I am assuming most of you are women reading this, remember how you and your sisters all got your period at the same time? Or all your girlfriends on your college dorm floor all were synchronized. That is the power of nature, even though humans kind of forget that we humans are nature too. Our ewes synchronize themselves and the boys get busy.

Sheep are pregnant for 5 months. The only way we can tell if a ewe is fertile is if the ram is following around a ewe and then mounting her. That's it - the only outward sign of fertility. This year we used four different rams. I'll try to catch photos of each of the boys over the next couple of days. The rams are still in with the ewes now. They walk around like most men do at a party or after a family holiday dinner - wandering around, not knowing exactly what to do because their job is done - they can't care for the young - they don't have the equipment. They just lie around, take naps, and snack on hay. Sound familiar? Sorry - couldn't resist. I must say, as I have spent time with sheep over the years, I constantly find similarities to humans. It's kind of funny and not - all at the same time.

On Sunday, we began experiencing the results of the synchronized estrus I just wrote about. Lambs, lambs, lambs. I think we have already lost count. Not good - oh well. Maybe we can catch up.

A new set of twins born outside

The Farmer bringing a set of twins and mama into the barn

We are trying to get them all to survive but it just isn't possible. Some are not viable, some mamas can't deliver. Stuff happens. We do our best but we do not call the vet in. There is not enough money in this sheep business to pay a vet. If a sheep can't do her job, we have a 22. It's always a bit sad but I have gotten over it. Stuff happens. Life goes on. Lambs will be born and lambs and ewes will not make it. Life on a farm is not pretty a vast majority of the time. It is just the way it is. We do our best.

Off to the barn to feed the bottle lambs and see what else awaits.

Lambing is in Full Gear

2012-01-09T14:00:00.000-05:00

It started slowly and now we are up to speed. Thirty four lambs as of last count. No time to write but here is a photo of a new lamb in The Farmer's arms. His hair is too long to be in a picture! I promised him I would shoot around him.

I've had to cut my trip to VKLive in NYC to two nights because I am needed here. More later if time allows.

Using PDF Patterns on Evernote and a Giveaway!

2012-01-07T07:56:00.000-05:00

I had a reader/customer of my patterns write to me over the holidays that she was having trouble seeing the photo images on my PDF patterns on her new iPad. Although I am not the most technically savvy of knitters, I have figured out how to see all my patterns on our mobile devices. I use a free software program called Evernote. I discovered this app before I even had an iPhone via the NYTimes Tech Column. I ripped the article out and saved it until the day when Verizon would have the iPhone. In the meantime, I downloaded Evernote to my MacBookPro immediately to learn more about it. Mostly I use Evernote to save recipes I might like to try, to save pretty pictures and websites and articles that I like. I really find it useful for my style of disorganization. Here's another article about it.

My patterns on my iPhone and iPad via Evernote

Then last June I got my iPhone when Verizon finally was able to sell them and downloaded the Evernote App. Now I use Evernote to view all of my PDF knitting patterns on my iPhone and The Farmer's iPad which he uses daily to check the weather and read his "Sheep Forum." My account is synced over all of the devices. It is so convenient to be able to see my patterns on my phone when I am sitting waiting for an appointment if I forgot to bring along the printed pattern.

Here's how to do it. Open Evernote and make a new notebook called PDF Patterns. Drag your PDF's from your desktop directly to Evernote. They will take a while to download but be patient - they will be there. Evernote will then hold them somewhere (goodness knows where?) and then you'll be able to access your pattern PDF's without a "pdf reader." FYI - larger files may not show images although all my patterns do show images. Great huh? No wonder printed knitting book publishers are worried?

Evernote just keeps getting better and better. You can now add voice messages to it. Take photos and save them to Evernote. I can't wait to see how it develops. Thanks to Kim Werker who tipped me off on the PDF use of Evernote on her blog here. She has a bunch of good ideas on her post. Check it out.

Is this the way of the future for your knitting? Have you ever purchased a PDF Pattern or are you scared to death to do it. Do you even know what a PDF is? Or are you an exclusive print person? I will be curious to hear your thoughts about instantly Downloadable Patterns vs. books. In fact I am so curious, I'm running a contest! Tell me what you think about PDF Patterns vs. printed books. Three lucky winners will get their pick of three of my PDF designs!

Please leave your thoughts in my comments section. And as always, leave an easy way to get a hold of you - either your blog address, your email, or your Ravelry or Facebook name. Contest closes at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday January 10th.

NOTE: If you are a LYS store-owner I would love to hear your comments also. BTW, all of my PDF Patterns are available to stores who are signed up as Ravelry ShopKeepers. (As of this writing, there are only 126 LYS signed up as Ravelry Shopkeepers.) Local Yarn Stores can sell my PDF's direct to your customer and keep a nice slice of the money to help keep your store running. Any questions - shops? E-mail me.

The Farmer is THE Cover Farmer on Country Folks New England

2012-01-05T18:06:00.000-05:00

Our sheep farm Leyden Glen Farm is featured in the newest issue of Country Folks New England with an article written by Anne Buchanan. Here's the cover shot....

We are rather excited. It's the first big article about our sheep farm which reaches a larger market than just little old Greenfield. Here is a link to the article!

Where I'll Be Teaching Soon and Knit Chat

2012-01-05T08:00:00.004-05:00

Hard to believe in less than 2 weeks, I'll be in NYC teaching 2 classes at the second VK Live/NYC Show. Looking forward to The Big Apple and meeting so many new faces. If you haven't signed up for classes yet, it may be too late but there is a great market. Nice day out for sure if you can get to NYC. My classes are sold out - sorry.

If you are localish to western Massachusetts, you still have a chance to take a class with me very soon - at Webs in Northampton. I'm taking a day off from the Amherst Winter Farmers Market January 28th to teach two classes at Webs.
1. Embroidering on Knits and Crochet
2. The Edge of Color.
Check out all the classes here now on the Webs Winter Class Roster. Wouldn't it be great to learn something new that you can practice for the rest of the winter season? And this is fun stuff. All skill levels welcome.

I was honored that Carol Sulcoski included the end to my Julia Yarn in her year-end wrap-up of yarn on her blog "Go Knit in Your Hat." You can read the post here. And then lo and behold, I was listening to the Webs Podcast last night and Kathy Elkins and Carol spoke about the loss of my Julia Yarn as a sad highlight for 2011. If you get a chance, listen to their Year-End Wrap-Up which gives the highlights of the yarn world. Here is the link to the year-end chat. Listen and knit. What could be better. Thanks Carol and Kathy.

It is so nice to be appreciated by members of the warm and friendly knitting community. It has been a rough year for me yarn-wise but I continue to go forth, trying to keep the momentum going and coming up with new ideas for you all to knit. Change is good, as they say. It helps to shake things up and try new things. I've got some pretty nice news I'll be sharing in a couple weeks so keep checking in.

Here's a photo of one of the Christmas gifts I made my neighbor Debbie who helps me out with the cooking for my Knitting Retreats. I used my Julia Yarn and my "Sunflowers and Zinnias Pattern." I felted the flowers and added some french knots. Then I cut two circles of washed and felted wool fabric and handsewed a flower on one of the pieces using sewing thread. I used my sewing machine to sew the two pieces of wool together, enclosing a small tab for hanging. I hope she uses them, not thinking they are too pretty (like my Mom who doesn't want to ruin the potholders I made her).

You can order the PDF Pattern for the Sunflowers and Zinnia here for $6. Or on Ravelry here. They are a great project for pick up and carry around knitting. Check out all the specifics here.

Farming Never Stops

2012-01-03T21:50:00.002-05:00

I am back to the www after a week or so of family, visiting friends, feasting and total lack of normalcy in my family's life. Julia is back to school and The Farmer and I can get back to what feels like our normal. Beginning with our morning walk with the four dogs - the two Border Collies Phoebe and Nessie and the two Great Pyrenees Guard Dogs Archie and Winston.

Going away from our farm is pretty difficult. I find ways to leave - basically that would be "Julia and I are going to visit such and such.... We'll be back such and such....." But The Farmer is always here, tending to the animals. For Christmas, he snuck away for two nights to spend Christmas Day with my extended family. A neighbor took care of Archie and Winston, the Border Collies went with us, and the sheep - well, they survived by being stocked up on hay, water, and adequate fencing. It is dicey to leave 300 sheep in three different locations on their own, to say the least. But sometimes, you just have to hope for the best and hope the sheep gods will look over them. Of course, we prepare the facilities and fencing like crazy, and Neighbor Tom looked in on them all to make sure noone was tipped over.

Yes, you read that correctly - tipped over. When ewes are late in pregnancy, if they trip and fall over on their side, they cannot right themselves. In not too long, they begin to bloat and they die. Sheep are ruminants. They have 4 stomaches and excess gases build up. It's not a pretty picture. If you have ever been pregnant, you may be able to relate to such a situation although hopefully if you fell, some kind person helped you off the ground.

So today, we were back to normal. Julia went back to school and The Farmer and His Wife took their morning walk with the four dogs. Here's how big Archie and Winston are now. They are on their way to being between 100 and 150 pounds....

On Monday, we had our latest appointment for lambs at the processor. Talk about a comedy of errors. On Sunday, it had monsooned so the ground was very wet and not frozen because it had been so strangely warm. The Farmer backed the truck with the trailer into the field where the lambs have been grazing. He had the mobile sheep handling unit all set up and ready to go. I arrived after a cup of coffee, leaving Julia in bed to enjoy her last day of vacation and a good teenage sleep.

Nessie helped us gather the lambs into the corral. We didn't bother to use the scale and sorted the better looking female lambs out of corral to hold on as replacement breeding ewes. Yes, sad to say, but if you were a good looking sheep, as opposed to a not so good looking sheep, you would be living here on our farm as opposed to the fate of most of the lambs. I digress, sorry. Then we started picking the lambs who were going to be loaded into the trailer. One by one, The Farmer wrangled them, I opened the gate, and the chosen lamb went into a temporary fenced chute. We had just sorted 17 lambs, way on our way to our goal of 20, and then did a bit of reorganization with the fencing and the corral. I didn't see that one part of the fence had fallen open but the sheep did. Off went the group of 17 to join those that were staying.

Oops. We began again. What could have been an hour job took about three. The truck got stuck in the wet and sloppy soil and it wouldn't pull the trailer. Luckily we realized this before the trailer was full of sheep. We had to use the old spare truck with more powerful 4 wheel drive which upon getting it started after much key turning and sputtering was almost out of gas. Off to the gas station, back home to the sheep. More corralling, catching of sheep, and then coercing them to get into the trailer. I didn't think they would go on but finally the piles of sweet grain got to them. Then looking for the truck registration and sticker that expired on the last day of 2011. Finally, off went The Farmer with the 20 lambs. I took Julia out to The Wagon Wheel for her last lunch before school began again. I bet you never thought about how the animals you eat get to the processor, did you?

Everytime a batch of lambs leaves for the slaughter house, I feel a twinge of sadness. But then I shake myself out of it. I know that our animals have lived very good lives here at our farm and that they were put on earth to feed our customers. It is hard to feel too sad when you know you are on the verge of a busy lambing season. Here are the first two lambs of the 2012 season.

These beautiful white twins are Cora's babies. The green number on the side of them - #1 - means that they belong to sheep No. 1 (Cora, Julia's bottle lamb from a few years ago). The green color means that they are twins. Lambing is plodding along. It starts out slowly and then - approximately 3 weeks after the first lambs are born, chaos will reign and babies will be arriving in droves. It is supposed to be 5 below zero tonight so let's hope those ewes keep their backends closed up tight so their babies stay warm inside.

So that's it for our new year. No time for resolutions and thoughts of the past. Immediacy beckons. I thank you all for showing up here day after day, post after post. Here's to a great 2012 for us all.

(For these photos, I was fooling around in Photoshop. It was a very gray day and there was barely any color in any of them. I tweaked the levels and then adjusted the vibrancy to make them even more somber and gray to match the cold day here.)

Checking In Before 2012

2011-12-30T22:39:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-24T08:18:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-23T09:39:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-22T22:30:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-21T10:07:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-19T11:50:00.003-05:00

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

2011-12-17T07:25:00.001-05:00

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

2011-12-16T00:11:00.001-05:00

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

2011-12-13T12:55:00.001-05:00

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!

2011-12-09T10:30:00.012-05:00

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

2011-12-06T08:33:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-12-05T11:00:00.003-05:00

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

2011-12-05T09:39:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-02T10:06:00.002-05:00

Check this out. So darn cute!

This Morning at Our Farm

2011-12-02T09:32:00.000-05:00

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.

Knitting Themed Holiday Cards from Kristin Nicholas

2011-12-01T08:25:00.005-05:00

Just a heads up for all of you looking for knitterly themed Christmas cards or gifts for knitter-friends, I've added 3 new folded cards to my web shop. All of them are blank inside so you can use the lamb cards for any ocassion. Check them out on the Shop Page.

There is the white lamb in her pink sweater with flowers....

There is the black lamb in his red striped coat......

And there is my hand-painted gouache design featuring sheepy accents and handknit stockings called Merry Knitmas......

$12.50 for 10 cards. Printed on glossy card stock. Cards are blank inside so you can write your own holiday (or just a note) message. I can get them right out to you... Hop on over to the shop page here. And as always, we thank you for your support of our farm and knitterly enterprises!

Bleak November Days and Heading Towards Even Shorter Days....

2011-11-30T10:40:00.003-05:00

We're almost done with November and the colors have gone from those beautiful autumn tones to just plain old gray. Yesterday was the grayest day that even I who am pretty upbeat most of the time just got weighed down by the dreariness of it all. Every day gets shorter and it makes it harder and harder to get much done outside. This time of year really gets to The Farmer just because of that. It seems we have barely taken the dogs on their morning walks around the fencelines before the sun has even poked over the mountain....

....than we turn around and the sun is setting in the west. I don't have those seasonal problems with lack of light but I live with someone who does. Mostly I think it is is his frustration with the lack of time to get things done. His days are filled with moving hay from various fields up to the winter barns, picking up portable fencing that is spread all over the town, and trying to get the barns ready for lambing. I actually can't wait until the lambs start coming because it will give him something to focus on!

Seems like forever ago I have had any photos on here of sheep. They are still grazing what's left of the grass on various hayfields. Here are the adult ewes - all starting to show signs of pregnant bellies. Looks like a lot of sheep, doesn't it? There are about 230 ewes and 4 rams within that flock. That is going to be a lot of birthing!

And here is Eeyore being friendly to all the onlookers on the Thanksgiving hayride.

I feel fortunate that I have my knitting to occupy my evenings. I actually get rather charged up this time of year trying to fit everything in. Project ideas start flowing and it is impossible to get them all knit. But I try. I feel a bit burned out on cooking now and just want to eat soup that I can let simmer so I can knit instead of prepping meals.

I heard from Debi, one of my regular readers who is crazily making flowers. She was having trouble with the seaming of the flowers so I snapped her a photo of before and after seaming. I'll share them with you here in case anyone else had the same concern. Her concern was that the centers didn't look round enough. You can see that mine don't either (photo on left). Photo on right shows after seaming when the funny looking piece turns into a center. Hope this helps!

You can buy the pattern on my Shop Page Here or on Ravelry here. (Sorry for the broken record but I know that lots of readers don't scroll down to older posts.)

I'll leave you with a photo of our house with the two Great Pyrenees puppies out front. The sheep had moved into the pastures yesterday morning and these guys took up their posts within the fences. These dogs are working dogs and will be living with the sheep their entire lives. They have very thick coats and should do fine. They have shelter in the form of a calf hutch with a hay bed but I haven't seen them in there for weeks. Every night they bark and bark and bark - good thing we don't have close neighbors. Their breed goes back thousands of years and they were bred to protect flocks of sheep in Asia and then moved to Europe. You can read more about Great Pyrenees dogs on this website if you are interested. I really think they are going to help our coyote predation problem. They have enormous barks that I think would scare anyone away.

Good day everyone!

Craft Day after Thanksgiving chez Nancy + A Puppy Update

2011-11-29T11:15:00.008-05:00

Hope you all are recovering from your Thanksgiving festivities. It seems so long ago already considering how much we have packed in. Julia is back at school, Mom left for home yesterday, and I'm trying to figure out my new computer. Now I remember why I don't update programs and eek out to the very last day a computer. I hate those changes because I find them so frustrating because things never work the same! I will get through it....

My sister Nancy is the Queen of birch bark. This year's craft project was wrapping candles in the bark she collected in the woods near her home. This is super simple to do.... Wrap the bark around the candle giving a decent size overlap (at least 1"). Then glue gun the bark pieces together so they form a cylinder that the candle sits in. Trim the bark so it is even at the top and bottom with heavy scissors. You can add odd bits of funky shaped bark for interest. It takes all of about 15 minutes - the hardest part is finding the bark.

They do look pretty burning, don't they?

After we finished the candle project, out came my new knitting pattern for Zinnias and Sunflowers. Most of my sisters and nieces know how to knit which is pretty cool. They don't have a lot of time in their lives so their knitting hobby comes and goes with the cycles of their lives. They were inspired to make the flowers for gifts for teachers and friends.

I had such a fun time teaching them all how to make them. This is Laurie and her daughter Olivia who has just begun university in Pennsylvania.

This is my wonderful Mom Nancy smiling, sister Nancy concentrating hard and her daughter Lillian who began a garter stitch scarf.

Here's the happy cousins minus one who ran off to a basketball game. What a nice day!

I got an email this morning from a reader who was just beginning her Zinnia Flowers from my new PDF pattern. She wanted to know how I made the flowers I featured on my Thanksgiving napkin rings.

I thought more of you might be curious too. I followed the basic instructions for the Small Zinnia with Short Petals making six petals each. I did a combination of small and large centers depending on the mood I was in. Some of the flowers had the Bobbled Edge. The ones that didn't have the bobbles were decorated with alternating colors of French Knots (the instructions for the French Knots are in the Sunflower section of the pattern). I made all of these in 3 nights and felted them twice in my front-loading washer. The petals for both the Sunflowers and Zinnias are done by working "short rows." If you have never done "short rows" I suggest in the pattern that you mark where your short rows originate.

If I were teaching this as a class, I would have my students make one of each flower size. Then I would suggest they make up their own variations by changing the number of stitches in the short row sections. That's what my sisters and Mom are doing. And it is okay if you just want to follow the exact instructions. Just know that there is lots of room for creativity if you can find it in your holiday hectic life! You can buy the pattern on my Shop Page Here or on Ravelry Here.

And now for a puppy update! Man oh man, are Archie and Winston growing like weeds. When they arrived, they were half the size of the Border Collies. Now they are the same size. And the growing hasn't stopped yet. They will most likely be twice as big as the Collies! They have lovely tempermants and giant barks!

I'm loving watching their personalities develop. Their demeanor is incredibly different than the Border Collies we have had for years and years. There's nothing like the joy in a puppy!

Scenes from our Thanksgiving Holiday + Felted Flower Napkin Ring/Pin Favors

2011-11-28T16:00:00.004-05:00

Thanksgiving has come and gone. What a wonderful day we had here at our farmhouse. It was full of family, good food and drink, and laughter. It sure is a lot of work getting this house in shape. Mom came on Tuesday and helped out (Thank you Mom!). Here is our dining room the morning of the day. Normally this room is my shipping room and the spot we keep all our farmers market supplies. The table is never clear. But that morning it was.

After the turkeys went into the ovens, we started working on the table. I know - all of this is supposed to be done the day before. But not in my lifetime. I piled on my Indian block printed tablecloths/bedspreads (like these) and then collected some ethnic fabrics from my stash. Since Thanksgiving is "my" holiday, I put few little turkeys ......

amongst some moss and added an obligatory farmer and his sheep statue. After all, this is a sheep farm....

We collected some bittersweet from the orchard - love the color this time of year even if it is invasive as all get-out! and plopped it into some old green glass bottles with some faded sunflower heads....

Candles lit.....

Ready to go!

I'm not much for lots of planning of parties. In fact, this is almost the only party I throw all year with the exception of Julia's b-day and my Getting Stitched on the Farm Retreat Dinners. My sisters are great at planning and throwing parties but since I am the most disorganized person on the planet, it's not in my DNA. But this year, I did do a bit in advance. Since I have been in the Knitted Flower Mood, I decided to knit all the sisters, moms, and cousins a flower. It took me three nights and I made extras but it was a fun project. Here they are before felting....

I sewed pin backs from the craft store onto the back of each flower after felting. Then I made napkin rings out of green wool fabric that I had hanging around.

Thanksgiving morning I set them all up with their napkins on the table for their beauty shot.

There was a flurry of excitement as everyone chose their favorite flower color.

And now they all have a pretty little pin to wear on their winter coats to remember the day by! I sent the extra napkin rings and flowers off to family members who couldn't make the trip and a good friend/knitter who is in rehab after a stroke (get well soon Peggy!).

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Now onto the next!

If you want to do the same kind of project for your Christmas festivities, you can order the Sunflower and Zinnia to Knit and Felt new pattern available on the Shop Page of my website here or on Ravelry.

Happy Crafty Friday After Thanksgiving + Sunflowers and Zinnias to Knit and Felt - A New PDF Download Pattern

2011-11-25T08:00:00.011-05:00

It's Crafty Friday for our family - a perfect way to spend the day after Thanksgiving. Julia and I are off to my sister Nancy's to spend it with cousins, sisters and Mom. We'll be working on getting rid of all that turkey, stuffing, and the leftover desserts. I'm hoping that a nice little walk on their country road will also happen.

It's also launch day is here for my new Sunflowers and Zinnias to Knit and Felt! And just in time for Christmas knitting! Read all about the pattern here on my website.

Grab some wool yarn that felts and some #9 needles. (I used my Julia Yarn which is still available at Webs here. There are still some beautiful flower colors left.) Buy the PDF Instant Download Pattern on my online store or over on Ravelry.

That's it - all you need for gazillions of Christmas Gifts. The pattern is 22 pages long and full of ideas for how to use the flowers and 50 photos and costs $6.00. They are easy to knit in garter stitch. The shaping happens with short rows. Seriously addicting fun gift knitting!

I'll leave you with a photo collage of Celia wearing the flowers. The hat is my Quarters Cap sized for babies and adults also available in my shop or on Ravelry for $4.50 (another seriously addicting pattern). Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving + Felted Flower Launch Tomorrow...

2011-11-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

May all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day full of friends, family, and good food. May your table be colorful....

and your couch nice and cosy for that after the meal nap.

Thank you all for all the support you give us here at the farm. From my family to yours.....

Happy Thanksgiving.

Felted Flower Countdown - 3 Days to Go... + a Crafty Friday after Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T10:15:00.002-05:00

When we first started our Thanksgiving Family Tradition here on the farm, my sisters, Mom and I planned a two day holiday - Thanksgiving and "The Day after Thanksgiving." We jointly decided that we would spend one day here at our house and the second Thanksgiving Day at my sister Nancy's house who lives about an hour from here in Jaffrey, NH. No "black Friday" shopping - just eating, laughing, telling stories and crafting of some kind. What began as a fluky, one time day has developed into a family tradition. We call it "Craft Day After Thanksgiving." We all drive to Nancy's and spend the day gathered around her dining room table making some kind of craft in between eating turkey sandwiches and soup. The first year we made wreaths, gathering the greens outside. The projects have varied over the years. One year we made Holiday Birch Houses. You can see my Tutorial for them here.....

The last two years we did needle felting and I discovered that there was something that had to do with wool that I didn't enjoy! Everyone was making fun of me but that was okay. Here's the photo of the little elves that the girls made.

Last year's Friday After Thanksgiving Craft Day Gnomes

I came home and knit up my own little elves and felted them in the washing machine. I much prefer knitting needles to felting needles. Here's that project FREE on Ravelry.

Knitted Felted Gnomes

I'm not sure what craft Nancy has planned for us but we will have a great day laughing and seeing how every project turns out. We'll be missing two sisters and two nephews but they will be in our thoughts and conversations. I can't wait to catch up with everyone.

I urge you all to take time to enjoy the day after Thanksgiving by making something - anything - with friends or family if possible. Or plan a special afternoon in December with friends making ornaments before Christmas. Like you all know, there's nothing better than doing things with your hands - much better than battling crowds and spending money just because the media and advertising agencies tell us we should. And sharing time with friends and family at the same time is a bonus.

Now onto the Countdown.... Here's niece Celia modeling a Felted Brooch that is part of the Sunflowers + Zinnias To Knit and Felt PDF pattern that is launching on Friday. Love the colors in the photo....

Niece Celia with a Felted Zinnia Brooch

Here is a Felted Sunflower on a cosy I made for The Farmer's iPad. I handsewed the sunflower over the closure area. Now his iPad is dressed and warm!

Come back tomorrow for Thanksgiving wishes and another preview of the new pattern which will launch on Friday. If you want to be ready to knit, grab some worsted weight yarn (I used my Julia) and size 9 needles. Come back and download the pattern on Friday and you'll have your own knitting afternoon!

Felted Flower Countdown - 4 Days to Go... + Kitchen Chat

2011-11-22T07:30:00.002-05:00

I spend most of my time in my kitchen these days. Good thing I just love our kitchen. I work on my laptop in a comfy wing chair. When we moved here, the original kitchen was in the basement. I am told basement kitchens are called "summer kitchens." Our house was renovated in the late 1940's by an architect and he added the ell off the original 1751 house. Not sure about his reasonings for a kitchen in the basement but he and his family only lived here during the summers and perhaps it was cooler. When we moved here we converted 3 rooms on the first floor ell into our present day kitchen. It was a mess of a lot of work and money but I am so glad we did it then. I turned the old kitchen into my studio and worked there. I still use that space but because I changed my computer from a standard desktop to a laptop, my work tends to travel around the house.

Having the kitchen upstairs makes this house so much more livable. The kitchen is full of lots of my colorful pottery and antique china. It is the nerve center of our house - like most homes. The kitchen table is usually covered with stuff - magazines, The Farmer's iPad, old cups of coffee, a vase of flowers and usually a cat or two is sleeping on a chair. The light pours in nicely and I take many photos on the kitchen table - especially the food shots I have been taking lately.

The photo above shows you one of my favorite spots in the kitchen. It is the little window beside the stove and next to the trash can. Do you see the different colored glass in the windows? All of the old windows in the house have tinted glass in shades of lavender, green, and clear with bubbles and lines through them. Love that! The windows are not efficient but I will have a hard time replacing them. Our friend Bob and I built the shelves one weekend and I store all my tea on the little shelves. If you look closely, I have added a Sunflower Garland above one of the shelves made out of the upcoming Sunflower and Zinnia Pattern. This shot was tricky to get with all the backlight pouring in. I've been working hard on trying to master my camera and figure out how to actually get a photo like this to work. I've been enjoying the Photography Section on The Pioneer Woman's website. There are all kinds of fun tips and trick. Check it out here.

Our kitchen will be having quite a work-out this week beginning today. Mom arrives for Thanksgiving tonight. The turkeys have been purchased and the cooking will begin and pies will be baked. Mom makes a gorgeous pie. I can't wait - Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday because it is all about the food and friendship and there is no gift pressure. I love sharing our house with our family and friends, whether it is a small dinner or big over the top holiday shindig.

Like I wrote about yesterday, I use handmade wool potholders exclusively. And now I have two new ones shown above! I made them out of two of the Felted Sunflower and Zinnias. I am including the instructions on how to make the potholders in the pattern that launches on Friday. Here's another view.

Which photo do you like best? The hanging potholders or the potholders on the black background?

Felted Flower Countdown - 5 Days to Go + Mom's B-Day Gift

2011-11-21T15:00:00.002-05:00

My friend and tech editor Lori and I have been working like crazy on the upcoming Sunflowers and Zinnia pattern. It should launch by noon on Friday. Had a bit of a snafu with my over 4 year old Mac Book Pro on Sunday - just when I was closing in on the finishing of the pattern. All of a sudden the screen went black. I couldn't revive it. To say panic ensued would be mild. Off I went to Brown Computer Solutions in Brattleboro this morning and somehow it was revived miraculously (at no charge - that place is really wonderful). They told me not to trust it though and it looks like I'm going to be in the market for a new Mac Book Pro shortly. Oh, how I hate to spend the money on it but my computer has become my life - crazy as that seems..... I've got a good back-up and will religiously back it up every day now, knowing this old thing's days are numbered. I hope I can make it to the new year on this one.

Lori and I were talking about the PDF Download Pattern Collection that has been developing here on the blog and website. It has grown organically, depending on what I wanted to knit and design at any particular time. I didn't realize it but at least half the patterns are felted. Guess I like felting. Wondering about all of you. Do you still like to felt your knitting? Someone - don't remember who - told me felting was over. I'm not inclined to agree with that though. I just love the fabric that is produced when I felt wool - it is so thick and textural and gorgeous. I love it for home decorating and home products. I just finished a set of potholders for my Mom's birthday. I'll be giving them to her at Thanksgiving (late, as usual - her birthday is in October).

These are potholders from my Swirly Twirly Pattern which is available on my website here and on Ravelry here. They are a really fun knit. Here they are before felting.

Mom's birthday present before felting

I lined Mom's potholders with a pretty colorful check. It isn't necessary to line them though but I know my mom and I think she would like them lined. They actually would be more fire-proof if they weren't lined. Here they are in different views via PicFrame app on my iPhone...

Have you ever used wool potholders? I can't tell you how super fantabulous they are! They don't catch on fire pretty much ever - you have to leave them on top of a pot for a long time in order for that to happen. I will not lie - I have scorched them but sometimes I am a careless cook! The Swirly Twirly Potholders are nice and thick and it's pretty impossible to burn yourself. I only use wool potholders - never cotton. If you have a Christmas gift to knit for someone who loves to cook, this is a great pattern.

Now onto the next preview of the Sunflower and Zinnia Pattern..... Here's gorgeous niece Celia modeling a tweed scarf.....

I hand-stitched two different color flowers to the bottom of a piece of wool tweed fabric from my fabric stash that I ripped into scarf size.

Close-up of the bottom edge of the scarf

I love how this photo came out. It was a cloudy, grey day and I used the sky as a backdrop for Celia. Pop back everyday this week for another preview - that is if my computer keeps working! The pattern will be live by noon on Friday.

My niece Celia modeling the tweed scarf

Felted Flower Countdown - 6 Days to Go... and Amherst Farmer's Market Ends for 2011

2011-11-20T11:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the last day of the Saturday Amherst Farmer's Market. It was cold and raw but great fun seeing our customers for the last time outside this year. We were very lucky to be included in this market for the 35 Saturdays it ran in 2011. Besides selling lots of our farm-raised lamb, we met so many new friends in the vendors including Julie and Deanna from Bread Euphoria in Haydenville (do you know about chocolate bouchons - Julia's favorite), Ann from Crystal Brook Farm (yummy goat cheese), Jeanette Fellows from Chase Hill Farm (fabulous organic cheese and veal), Roxanne and Maureen from Austin Brothers Farm (beef and pork and a corn maze!) and many more. Everyone needs a break and the winters here in New England are when farmers typically re-charge their batteries...... unless you are a sheep farmer and you lamb in the winter months of January, February and March like we do. Olympia, our paper mache mascot needs a bit of repair..... her ears have really had a hard time surviving the rides in the back of the truck.

Here's my little family staying warm in their Quarters Caps made by moi. This pattern is such a fun quick knit and is available on my webpage for PDF Download or on Ravelry. My Farmer is really picky about his hats. He doesn't like them too tight and this design is great because the garter stitch stretches really nice. It's a great choice for those of you just beginning your knitting career. $4.50 and sized for babies to adults and made with my (sadly discontinued but still available at Webs) Julia worsted weight yarn.

Here's Sneak Peek #2 of my new Sunflowers and Zinnias To Knit and Felt Pattern which is launching Friday, Novemer 25th. I couldn't stop knitting these things. And using them on all kinds of accessories including this new Harris Tweed bag I sewed last week.

And a detail shot.....

Have you seen what this French knitter/blogger is doing? She makes statements about politics by knitting up little figures depicting political figureheads and cleverly photographing them in miniature scenes. She began with the hotel scandal back in May and keeps going. You can read more about it here. Craft Political Activism for sure. You never know where knitting will go next, do you?

Felted Flower Countdown - 7 Days to Go + Lamb Curry with Old Friends Farm Turmeric

2011-11-19T07:50:00.001-05:00

Today is the last day of the Amherst Farmers Market. It is the day to stock up on all those beautiful farm-raised veggies from all our vendor friends. I'm going to be picking up a bit of fresh ginger from Old Friends Farm which I will keep in the freezer. Missy and Casey also grow a bit of turmeric. Crazy huh? Didn't you think it only came as powder from the spice aisle? Here's what the roots look like.

With it, I'll be making some lamb curry. I must admit, curried meat dishes are not something that The Farmer nor I were ever served as a child. It took our first visit to a visit to an Indian restaurant in Great Britain in 1980 to learn how lovely they are. The Brits are so lucky to have Indian fare on every street corner in every small town, aren’t they?

The closest Indian restaurant to our farm is 30 minutes away so I had to teach myself how to make my own lamb curry. And much to my amazement, it wasn’t hard - it just took a visit to the spice aisle at the food coop to stock up on some spices that weren’t in my American spice cabinet.

Grating fresh turmeric

There's nothing quite like a pot of curry simmering on the stove when you walk in the door. What a fabulous aroma! This is my basic curry recipe which will serve 4 people. Double it if want leftovers or something for the freezer. I have given dry spice measurements for the turmeric knowing that most of you won't be able to get fresh roots.

Lamb Curry

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 1/2 to 2 lbs. lamb shoulder roast or shoulder chops - bone-in or 1 pound stew meat

9 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

1 large knob fresh ginger - grated (2 Tablespoons grated)

1 Tablespoon ground cumin

1 small knob turmeric - grated or 1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 Tablespoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2 cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 pods green cardoman

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or more to taste (if you want it spicy)

1 small 14 oz. can tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt

Brown the onions and the lamb in the oil. Add the garlic, ginger, cumin, turmeric, paprika, nutmet, cloves, cinnamon, cardoman pods, coriander and optional cayenne pepper and brown for a couple of minutes, taking care not to burn. Add the tomatoes, salt and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and immediately then turn down to low. Simmer on the top of the stove over low heat for 2 to 3 hours or until the meat is falling apart and off the bone.

If you have time, let the curry sit to let the flavors develop. Serve over basmati rice or rice pilaf. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Flower Countdown - 7 Days til Launch!

Here's your first preview of the Felted Flowers Pattern which is launching in 7 days. I've really gone overboard with this pattern! It's been hard not to reveal all the fun things I've been knitting, felting and photographing. Here's my kitchen table with Sunflower Coasters. How fun!

Keep stopping back each day - I will show you a new project that will be featured in the Felted Flower Pattern which will be available next Friday November 25th - just in time for quick gift knitting.

November, Baking Wool (?) and Living Crafts

2011-11-18T12:45:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving is rolling in faster than I want. Bet there are a lot of you who feel the same way..... We are hosting my family here at the farm - a tradition that began on our first Thanksgiving here at Leyden Glen Farm back in 1999. We throw a really old-fashioned day in the country that everyone looks forward to each year including a hayride. This year, some of the cousins have gone away to college so it will be really exciting to hear how things are going for all of them.

We are getting to the end of grazing season for the sheep. There is still grass to be consumed and the ewe flock is making good use of it down towards their winter greenhouse barn. They look to be in good condition and many of them are beginning to look pregnant. Lambing will probably start around Christmas.

Most of last year's lambs are still grazing close to our farmhouse. I snapped this photo the other day while out on a walk with the hipstamatic app on my iphone. It sure turned out moody.

Phoebe, our older Border Collie, looks so sweet in this photo, doesn't she?

The other day I was frantically trying to finish some projects for a photo shoot my niece Celia was helping me out with. I've been working on that sunflower pattern for you all - knowing that it will make perfect quick knitting Christmas gifts. I like to wash all the things I knit. But darn it, it takes so long to dry anything here in this house when the heat isn't on. I finally gave up, knowing Celia wouldn't want to wear a wet Quarters Cap. In the oven it went, along with some other miscellaneous projects. I've done this before when I was desperate and it has worked out okay. I placed everything on a paper bag from the grocery store, turned up the heat to 225 f and kept checking. Wool has a relatively high burning temperature so I could get away with this. Have any of you done this? Sometimes the project ends up smelling like roast chicken or whatever got cooked the night before. Probably not recommended but sometimes I am desperate.

The project dried just in time for me to meet Celia for our shoot. The hat she is wearing is the Quarters Cap which is a really fun knit.

My Quarters Cap Handknitting Pattern is knit in all garter stitch with easy short row shaping. It's a perfect project to pump out for holiday gifts. I have made at least 20 of these hats over the couple of years the pattern has been out. It is sized for from babies to adults. If you are looking for a great Christmas gift, add this to your queue. The pattern is available for $4.50 by PDF Download on my website or on Ravelry. You can see many of the Quarters Caps that I have made by clicking here.

Here is the top of the hat.... I used 4 different shades of my Julia Yarn in shades of plums and pinks.

I love how it looks with Celia's gorgeous red hair. Celia and I had such a fun time shooting these photos. I've got to make some other projects so she can model them for all of you. She will be going off to college next year.

The flower on the side of the hat is part of my new PDF Downloadable Handknitting Pattern called Sunflowers and Zinnias which will be available next Friday. I'll be previewing the pattern over the next few days so stop back every day to see what I have in store for you all very soon.

I don't know how many of you get the great magazine called Living Crafts. The editor contacted me a month ago or so and I sent her answers to some questions and some photos. I promptly forgot about it. Until someone sent me an e-mail saying she read about me in the magazine. I checked out their website and there I was, on the cover. Wow! Just saw it at my local bookstore and they did a 2 page feature on me. How nice. I hope it will bring new readers to the blog and customers to my website! It is a very nice magazine and I thank Pardis for including me! I am honored.

Meet Deborah Newton, Author of Finishing School + A Giveaway

2011-11-15T07:30:00.003-05:00

Deborah Newton knitting and smiling!

Today I have a very special interview with Deborah Newton, a long-time knitting friend of mine..... Deborah is a legend in knitwear designer circles. Her work is meticulous and inspired, finished impeccably and so well thought out that it that each sweater she designs belongs in a class all its own.

I first met Deborah when I began my job as Creative Director at the yarn company back in the early 80's. I called her up (on the telephone - no email then - I still have her # memorized in my head - scary) and was struck by her strong Rhode Island accent. Deborah submitted a few design ideas to one of my first pattern collections and I commissioned one of them. She was a joy to work with, delivered her project on time, and wrote impeccable instructions.

Deborah and I then went on a long journey of collaborating on projects for each handknitting pattern collection I developed. Our friendship grew, through knitting. I moved on to my freelance career and we have kept in touch by telephone and email.

I am so excited that Deborah has authored a new book. It is with my great pleasure that I introduce it here on my blog and offer you a very personal glimpse into the very intelligent, talented and kind and generous designer and author Deborah Newton's life.

KN: You’ve just written a new book called Finishing School: A Master Class for Knitters, which I just heard is on Amazon's Top 10 Craft Books List! Wow - how exciting for you! I know for a fact that you are one of the most amazing finishers on the planet. Your attention to detail (in both your pattern writing and your actual garments) always impressed me beyond words when I would open one of your beautifully wrapped boxes when I was the Creative Director at The Yarn Company. Tell us how you learned to finish your knitwear so meticulously.

DN: FINISHING SCHOOL is a very personal book. It is the story of my own journey through finishing, the telling of what works for me.

I was never trained to finish knitting in a traditional way -- whatever that is! I might have read snippets about finishing in my early years, but I disagreed with a lot of it. I just figured things out for myself depending on the needs of the project in my hands. If I wanted things to look a certain way, and I experimented -- often on my initial swatches -- to get the effect I wanted.

I always tell students that a knitter’s eye always goes automatically to a flaw in a garment. Think about it -- when you see a sweater, your eye scans the piece and –unfortunately!-- it is always an area of awkwardness that jumps out. That wiggly buttonband, the scrunched up seam, the neckline rib that is too tight… I never wanted glitches like that to be apparent in my garments. So I worked hard at refining the details at the end of a project.

I just love the moment of perfection when a sweater is DONE, and I know my yarn company and magazine clients appreciate that too!

KN: I know you are a fanatic about perfection when it comes to your books. Your first book “Designing Knitwear” is still in print after how many years? How long did it take to create your latest book? And are you thinking about Book No. 3?

DN: My book DESIGNING KNITWEAR has been in print for 21 years. I am amazed! It took a LONG time to write that book, a few years, and it would not have been except for the guidance of my editor Christine Timmons who encouraged me to get my process down on paper. It was so challenging, but I learned so much. I was an inexperienced writer, my mother was very ill at the time, and I found it to be an excruciatingly difficult project. But somehow it got done.

On the other hand I found FINISHING SCHOOL to be a much more enjoyable project, despite the many challenges! No book is easy to do: it is a juggling act to integrate projects with text and technique, but I am a little more experienced writer and designer these days. It took about a year, working at pretty much breakneck speed. Two unforeseen challenges were the fact that Paul and I moved during the process (after living in one place for over 30 years!) AND I broke my elbow.

I have also done a few pattern books for Leisure Arts Publishing that I am proud of: DEBORAH NEWTON’S CABLE COLLECTION, and WARM WEATHER KNITS. Leisure Arts will be publishing my book of baby knitwear in 2012 -- I am very excited about this! Cute stuff, I think....

I do have a strong idea for one more personal-style “reference-type” book. I am taking a little break now from books -- well-deserved, I think! -- but I am looking forward to stepping into that project in the future.

KN: Deborah, I’ve known you and your partner Paul for over 20 years now. I know he is a science fiction writer. How does he contribute to your books? Being an author myself, I know that you need the support of your family to help out.

Deborah and Paul at one of his Sci-Fi Book Events

DN: Paul and I started freelancing together at the same time, each in our own fields. Paul writes fiction (his short story collection STEAMPUNK TRILOGY pretty much kickstarted the steampunk movement) and he does a regular book review column for the Barnes and Noble website, called THE SPECULATOR. I would not do my design work if not for Paul: he is much more organized than I am, and holds our busy life together. Paul ‘s orderly and calm “yin” balances my rather scatterbrained and messy “yan”. Also, when you lead a busy freelance life, it is almost essential to share it with someone who understands the notion of DEADLINE..

Paul sees and reads everything I design and write and I read everything he composes: we comment and suggest to each other. We are both totally in sync with each other: we get our jobs done with the help of each other. Our life is very efficient, and those who know us can tell you we do not waste much time. We do enjoy our work, and the life together that makes it possible.

KN: I love all the beautifully photographed swatches in Finishing School. You, like I, live and breathe by the swatch. But I constantly hear from knitters, oh, I never swatch. What are your best “words of wisdom” for getting my readers to swatch?

DN: Since the moment I saw the completed book I said that Diane Lamphron, my art director, deserves more credit -- she made me look good! The design of the book is gorgeous!

I agree that the swatch is the essential element of my work, and your work too Kristin! Sure, I think you can get away without swatching if you don’t mind ripping and making errors, and if you are not concerned about time!

Some of the many swatches presented in Finishing School

But you and I have no time to make mistakes. As a professional, the swatch helps me to explore and solidify ideas, and test my finishing. And it allows my clients to see my work ahead of time -- and they trust the idea that I am presenting.

I think you will agree, Kristin: I always say that the swatch never lies! It tells the story of a project long before the project is begun! Then the knitting can proceed smoothly.

KN: Oh how I agree with you on the Diane Lamphron Art Director Love. She is fabulous! She did the Art Direction on my book Color By Kristin.

I love all the detail shots in Finishing School showing how to actually do finishing. Are those your hands? Were you there at the shoot for the how to?


One of the excellent how-to photos

DN: It was a lot of fun setting up those shots, and my editor Michelle Bredeson and my art director Diane Lamphron were very creative. Due to the nature of finishing, the photography for the book had to be done in two stages. Before I could complete the sweaters we shot the pieces and the “process” how-to shots in NYC. Those ARE my hands, and I was present for all of those shots.

Deborah's Knitting Studio in Providence

Then I went home to Providence and completed all the sweaters. Then I sent the completed sweaters back to Sixth and Spring and the model shots were taken. I did all the finishing on all the sweaters, except I remember my friend Barbara Khouri, who helped with the technical end of the book, helped me embroider the plaid lines on the collars and cuffs! I worked down to the wire…

KN: For years, you didn’t teach much on the road but recently I have seen your name popping up on teacher rosters. Where will you be teaching next and what is the subject of the classes?

DN: I am not able do much teaching because of my second less-visible life! I also work part time in my family’s map business: MAPS FOR THE CLASSROOM. We design and publish educational maps for kids. So I am there every morning/early afternoon, for several hours. These are our websites:

Maps For The Classroom

Cartocraze

But lately I have been finding time to do some teaching and enjoying it very much. I was at VK LIVE this year: January in NYC, and September in LA. It was a blast: I enjoyed it very much. I will be at VK LIVE as well as TNNA in January 2012 as well. It is hard for me to get away, but I have been able to do a little on-the-road stuff.

KN: Wow - Deborah - you are one very busy woman. I looked at the website for Maps for the Classroom and recognized your illustrations. It is so nice to see you having success in another area different than knitting.

But back to the knitting..... Do you have a favorite knitting book that you turn to again and again?

DN: I have all my dog-eared Barbara Walker PATTERN TREASURIES close at hand at all times. The spines are all broken and the pages littered with post-it notes and scribbles. I have been fortunate to get to know Barbara since I interviewed her by phone for an article I did about her for Interweave Knits. But finally I had the extreme pleasure of meeting The Goddess of Knitting herself face-to-face: I introduced her at the annual luncheon of the Greater Boston Knitting Guild last May. It was a huge moment for me—to meet with someone whose work I admired and who has been such an inspiration to me. AND she signed my broken-down copy of the First Treasury!

Deborah and Barbara Walker

KN: When you are not knitting, designing and writing, what else do you like to do? And how does knitting inform it?

DN: Paul and I are very involved with our families and family life: we have no children but lots of nieces and nephews, and many of our family members are here in RI where both Paul and I were born and have always lived.

I am a long-time Iyengar-style yoga practioner. I do yoga every evening while Paul reads many newspapers. We love music of all kinds and listen to a new CD every day at that time: we call it the Yoga/Music Hour. Yoga has helped me focus more effectively on my work and maintain the energy my active schedule requires. For someone who has to sit for long periods, yoga has helped me physically very much as well.

Deborah and Paul's Cocker Spaniel Brownie

I adore living in Providence, which is a very young colorful vital city. I also love to garden, both flowers and vegetables. Paul and I have been members of a Community Garden at the Urban Environmental Lab at Brown University for over 25 years. At our new digs, I recently became interested in growing roses.

Paul and I LOVE old movies and we watch one every night at 10 PM. I take inspiration from the clothes of the 1930s and ‘40s. We share our busy lives with our beloved chocolate cocker spaniel Brownie. We also keep company with a bad biting cat named Penny Century, whose name is a tribute to my favorite comics artists, the Hernandez Brothers, Jaime and Gilbert, of LOVE AND ROCKETS fame.

My life is very full, and as challenging as the freelance life can be, I have been privileged to do the work I love, as well as share vital work with my family at the map business. I have made many wonderful friends over the years thanks to my knitting and designing -- definitely one of the great perks of working in this field. My brother says I will never retire! Maybe he is right....

KN: Okay all - put this book on your Christmas list. You will not be disappointed. But lucky for one of you, Sixth and Spring Books has kindly donated a copy of Deborah’s new Finishing School: A Master Class for Knitters to one of my lucky readers. To enter, please leave the answer to the following question from Deborah Newton in the Comments section of this post.

This question is from Deborah to all of you….

"What is the book that is missing from your knitting library?-- perhaps one that has not been written yet...."

As always, please leave an easy way to get a hold of you. Contest ends Sunday evening November 20th at 11:59 p.m.

Beautiful Aimee's Wedding and Some Farm Pics

2011-11-14T09:21:00.001-05:00

Happy Monday everyone! Stop back tomorrow for a special treat - if you are a knitter that is!

My niece Aimee's August wedding at her parent's dairy farm was just featured on the wedding site "StyleMePretty." Check it out here. How very cool. It was a gorgeous day - so happy to have been involved.

Here's a new photo of Archie and Winston, the new guard dog puppies. Growing so fast! They do a lot of watching.

And some sheep just after sunrise.

Have a great day everyone.

Sunflower Field Yarn-Bombing + Craft Activism Book Giveaway

2011-11-09T07:00:00.023-05:00

Our sunflower field was a bit of a bust this year. The weather didn't cooperate too well and we just got too busy to make it look as good as it usually does. I did what I could and crossed my fingers. Lo and behold, we had lots and lots of blooms - not enough to sell at our our roadside stand - bit enough for me to make many gorgeous photos and bouquets for the house for my summer classes. I never even got a chance to put them on the blog. So here is a particularly beautiful shot of a single sunflower. By single, I mean that with each seed, you get one stem with a largish sunflower at the top. These are the kinds of sunflowers that are grown in greenhouses and that you find in the grocery store.

This is one of my favorite varieties. It is called The Joker and the seed is hard to find. Johnny's stopped carrying it and I have no idea where I ever found it.

I like it because each plant yields at least 20 flowers and they come in many different patterns. Some all yellow, some yellow and henna, some darker rust. Each of the flowers usually has a little frill around the center of the flower.

As the season was waning, I got a little sad about what could have been. That's the way it is with gardening and farming - you live for the possibilities of next year, what you are going to do better, what you are going to let go, and you think about how the heck you can fit it all in with only the daylight hours and all your other responsibilities in your life. We all know how that can change depending on the people in your life and what they need from you, never mind what you really do to make money to feed your family.

As Sunflower Season was winding down, I came up with one of those "brilliant ideas" - you know, you're driving around in the car, letting your mind wander, thinking of new things to make, bake, cook, visit, do better, or just plain stop doing. I thought about our sunflowers - I think about them a lot in the summer. But summer was turning to autumn and my mind always wanders towards knitting and designing in autumn - when things stop growing outside and I have to make things grow in the house. It's basically a move that I make creatively - from outdoors creativity to indoors creativity.

This was just about the time that I heard about Joan Tapper and Gale Zucker's new book CraftActivism. The thought of the knitters all over the world "yarn bombing" places in their communities was just so much fun. Fiberart and knitting reaching the masses is very cool. But then, where I live, there aren't that many people. But on my blog and website, I do reach the masses - like you all who are reading today. That's when it struck me. I will yarn-bomb our sunflower field - just as the blooms are dying away.

I started knitting and knitting. I didn't stop - for fear of frost. I had to get this job done quickly.

Today, I would like to present to you all my own little bit of yarn-bombing country style. My version of The Joker.

A single handknit and felted Autumn Beauty.....

A branching sunflower full of knitted, felted, and embroidered blossoms.

Pattern for these coming soon.

BUT here's the good news. I have a giveaway for you today.... one copy of Gale Zucker and Joan Tapper's new book CraftActivism donated by their publisher Potter Craft. Their book's blog is here.

Here's how to enter......
Answer this question in the comments: Tell me what you think of yarn bombing.... Have you ever done it? Has it happened in your town? What kind of "craft activism" do you do? (Making things for charities counts). Or do you just think it is plain silly?

Contest ends at Sunday November 13th at 11:59 p.m. Please leave an easy way to get a hold of you!

p.s. Just found this bit of yarn-bombing in the form of handknit scarves left for anyone who wants or needs one in Easton, PA. Knit on all you "Chase the Chill" knitters!

Hooking in the Green Mountains of Vermont at the Shelburne Museum

2011-11-08T09:00:00.002-05:00

Nice trip to Shelburne, Vermont this past weekend. Julia and I drove up Friday evening to be there bright and early to set up for my slide presentation to the Annual Meeting of the Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild.

They were a great group of dedicated hookers who come from very long distances to attend their meetings. My talk was held at The Shelburne Museum in the cafeteria which is housed in the back part of this old General Store.

Julia and I had time to walk around the Museum which just closed for the season. It was a gorgeous day and so I took some photos of the different buildings that are historic and serve as exhibit spaces.

The Lighthouse

The Kalkin House

The Steamboat Ticonderoga

The Blacksmith

Besides the Annual Meeting, the members were bringing in their rugs which will be displayed in the Round House of the Shelburne Museum at Hooked in the Moutains XV - the annual show of work by guild members.....

It was quite a scene - very organized and official.

The rugs will be in the Roundhouse.

I wasn't allowed to look at any of the rugs because they were all neatly organized and rolled up. Many rugs came via mail from all over the country.

I wish I could have seen the show mounted. I doubt I will be able to get back up there - it is a long ride - but I hope some of you do! Let me know what you think.

Thank you so much to the Guild for inviting me to share my ideas on Color with all of you. What a lovely, inviting, talented group!

Dear Zinnias,

2011-11-07T07:37:00.019-05:00

Thank you for your beauty and color.

Oh how I will miss your sunny faces.

Until next August......

My Go-To Favorite Very Easy Braised Lamb Shank and Shoulder Recipe

2011-11-04T11:15:00.018-04:00

Puppy pic of the day taken last night at dusk. It's tough to tell these guys apart - don't you agree? Archie has an extra patch of color on one side. He's also a little more friendly and brave. Winston tends to stay back. They sure are handsome boys.

Read about some lawn-mowing sheep in the NYTimes Home section here. Hope to see some of you at the Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild Meeting on Saturday.

Here's my favorite way to treat lamb shanks and shoulders. Truth is, we barely ever get to eat shanks because they are so popular and we have to keep them for our customers. Lamb shoulders treated the same way are gorgeous, just not as photogenic. We eat lamb shoulder roasts braised just like this. I'm slowly turning on many customers to lamb shoulders too. In fact, last week I sold out of them at the market. Should have brought more with me. It is difficult to find lamb shoulders at the grocery store but you can use something they call blade chops or Steaks. That is the butcher's code name for shoulders (at least around here).

Braised Lamb Shanks or Shoulder

This is one of those slow cooking recipes that makes your kitchen smell so warm and inviting on a cold winter day or crisp fall afternoon. Plan on at least 1/2 lb of meat person (for bone-in shoulders) or one lamb one shank per person. When buying bone-in shoulders, a lot of the white you will see in the shoulder roast is connective tissue, not fat. It will cook down slowly and add texture and flavor to the sauce. You can also make this in a slow cooker. Do the lamb browning and onion cooking in a separate pan, then transfer all ingredients to the slow cooker.

NOTE: The sauce, if there is any leftover, makes an awesome pasta sauce. Add some tomatoes and red wine if you need more sauciness.

Lamb shoulder roast, bone-in – approximately 3 to 4 lbs. OR 4 to 6 lamb shanks
¼ cup olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
6 to 8 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 28 oz can of Italian tomatoes (or 2 lbs fresh if available)
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1 tablespoon oregano or Italian dried herbs
1½ cups red wine or chicken or lamb stock
2 bay leaves
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Heat oven to 250 degrees. Heat oil in dutch oven. Brown lamb on all sides. Remove lamb and add onions and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent. Drain off excessive fat. Add tomatoes, carrots, red wine, bay leaves and oregano. Break up tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Return lamb to dutch oven and bring to a boil on top of stove. Lamb should be at least half submerged. If not, add some water.

Immediately, place covered Dutch oven in oven. Bake in oven for 3 to 4 hours. Half way through, flip the lamb over so the opposite side is submerged. Lamb is done when it is falling off the bone and can be cut with a fork.

Serve over polenta (as shown), rice or noodles with green beans or kale and a green salad.

Print this Recipe

A Puppy Update

2011-11-03T18:57:00.001-04:00

Power is slowly being restored here in western Massachusetts. We were so fortunate to only be out for about a day. Julia finally went back to school today. And I had so much to do this week and not a lot got done.... This morning was gorgeously foggy and moody before the sun came up.

I ran right out with my camera hoping to capture the moment.

One thing nice about the school bus coming so early in the morning is that I am getting more opportunities at catching the morning light.

Here's Winston with some of the lambs. This gives you an idea of how big the puppies are now. Boy are they growing like crazy.

Each morning, either The Farmer or I get out to check on the sheep...

Feed the puppies and play with them a bit and then open the fences and let everyone out. The lambs come pouring through, jumping up in the air, so happy to be able to graze even if it is frosty and there is still snow on the ground.

They run into the orchard to eat the apples that have fallen overnight. Nessie, Phoebe, Archie, Winston and I went along today. The orchard is kind of spooky with all kinds of falling down apple trees. I think it would be a great place for a photo shoot of some bright colored sweaters someday.

At the top of the orchard, there's a giant series of moss covered rocks. "The boys" obliged me with some photos.

A bunch of you asked where the puppies were during the crazy sheep move I wrote about the other day. We've had 4 different flocks of sheep grazing different fields this summer. The big group, which took the adventure, have been being guarded by Jeremy and Eeyore. The puppies are right out in our front yard with a group of last winter's lambs. This way we can keep an eye on them, socialize them, and walk the fences with them. They are learning to bark and boy do they have "BIG" barks.

Unexpected Adventure

2011-11-02T10:00:00.003-04:00

On Sunday, my sister Lynn, Mom, Julia and I were playing cards in the living room in front of the fireplace - trying to keep warm and waiting for the roads to be cleared before they left for sister Laurie's house in eastern Massachusetts. My family isn't much of a game playing family. In fact we stink at it. We don't enjoy board games one bit. All those little pieces and complicated instructions. So what did we end up playing? Go Fish and Old Maid. I got up to make a pot of tea (thank goodness I have a gas stove), looked out at all the snow, and saw a line of sheep running down the road.

Then the phone rang. (Important to keep a corded land line here in the country when power is frequently out.) It was Jim P - one of our neighbors whose family usually helps us move our sheep the five miles down to their winter barns. He said he just saw the sheep and the donkey, running down the road without any human or dog with them. "Really? That's funny. Well, I have a bunch of sheep running by my house too."

I went back to the game, knowing that the phone would ring again, hoping it would be The Farmer saying all of this was well-planned. That wasn't the case. I got a harried phone call. "The sheep are out and they are all over the place. Can you come help?" A quick good-bye to the family, pushed them out the door to eastern Massachusetts and Julia and I hopped in my truck to see what we would find.

At our closest neighbor, I found 20 sheep. Up the road farther, 15 or so more. Two miles up the road, we found The Farmer with a little bunch of 5 lambs about 2 miles from our house. He thought there was a larger group ahead under the wise eye of Jeremy the guard llama. "But what about Eeyore and the others." He didn't know about Jim's phone call and that the large majority of the 300 breeding ewes and their lambs had already taken off with Eeyore. All he knew was that the electricity was gone, there was snow all over the fences, and the sheep had discovered they could escape. Bedlam.

The sheep have run these roads many times. Usually it is a semi-organized affair, complete with lead trucks, 4 wheelers, back up trucks and lots of little kids trailing along. (You can see other photos here and here.) All we could hope was that the sheep and Eeyore would remember where they were going. I have confidence in Eeyore. He might not always keep the coyotes away but he is smart and always looking out for his flock. And he is darn photogenic too.

To say that Sunday was unorganized and chaotic would be an understatement. Sheep were everywhere, no power was available for the fences, dark was coming, snow was deep (24 inches in spots), and I saw a coyote not far from the sheep. We had to move fast to try to get everyone contained somewhere safe before dark. It wasn't going to be easy or pretty. The power was not going to work but at least a fence might.

Julia and I drove ahead to look for Jeremy and his charges. (Boy, I wish she could drive already!) We found him. These photos are from our trip down the road, behind Jeremy and his sheep. As I drove my truck and chatted with Julia, I couldn't help but think about these odd circumstances. I realized I have learned to take things as they come, not worry about perfection whatsoever, and just try to do the best I can with the situation at hand. I think that is one thing farming teaches you. Dealing with animals is totally unpredictable. Multiply that by hundreds of animals and you can imagine the bedlam that can ensue. It's hard to explain to family and friends what we do here. I have given up because they just think we are nuts running after sheep, pricing frozen meat, selling at farmers markets, birthing lambs, buying guard puppies and herding dogs. It is what it is and it is our life. I go other places and I can't believe the quiet and relative peace of friends' lives. Where is the confusion? I know they all have their own little bits of drama - everyone does. It is just that our life is one that is different than the one I ever dreamed to be living when I was a little girl. Different but good. To be sharing it with Julia - with all the ups and downs it brings is really quite an amazing experience.

Back to the story at hand.... Julia and I drove down Eden Trail, hoping to find some sheep and a llama. There they were, traveling at a rather relaxed pace. Many of the sheep had late summer born lambs with them. We usually try to only move the grown ewes, not the lambs. But this wasn't a planned move. The sheep decided to do it themselves.

We met a neighbor and his truck with a plow on it who was coming home from a night of clearing October snow.

The sheep continued on down Eden Trail, slowly. I did a lot of "yah, yah, move on sheep" out the window of my truck. The smaller lambs lagged behind. This was a long walk for them.

All along the way, Jeremy was watching out for everyone. I feel so lucky to have been included in this bit of animal magic. Who was to know he was so paternal.

They couldn't resist a bit of diversion and green grass hiding under the snow.

I waited patiently, knowing that if one left, the others would follow. They did.

We traveled on down Eden Trail.

Kind of a strange look - golden leaves with snow on the ground.

Down past Mrs. Dyer's house - with Jeremy still watching about. Almost there.

I drove ahead and opened the farm lane gate. The sheep knew exactly where they were going. They turned into the farm road. Eeyore was waiting.

Along with the 200 sheep he had taken on his very own adventure. They were all happily munching on the snow-covered hay they are going to be eating this winter.

Who says sheep are dumb? I don't. They remember way more than anyone gives them credit for.

Life is returning to semi-normal although many of our neighbors still don't have power. School is still canceled. The snow seems to be melting - thank goodness. I just discovered there is a new edition of Michael Pollan's Food Rules illustrated by Maira Kalman. Must check it out.

October Snow?

2011-11-01T08:45:00.009-04:00

This was a Halloween Weekend to remember. Much to Julia's disappointment, Halloween didn't happen in western Massachusetts. Instead, it was a bit like Martin Luther King Day. Saturday's Farmers Market was quiet although many lamb shoulders were sold for stewing and my new Scotch Broth Soup recipe. My sister Lynn and Mom were here for the weekend to see my NH nieces play some sports. All plans went awry. Late in the afternoon, this arrived.

We were totally unprepared which I suppose is understandable since it was October 29th. Never do we expect a giant snowstorm in October before Halloween. Winter boots weren't even out of the closet. Snow shovels hadn't been thought of. And the sheep were supposed to out grazing the slow growing grass for another month.

After the Market, The Farmer scrambled to feed all the sheep in their different locations (right now there are sheep in four different fields spread over 5 miles). Everyone needed hay since the grass was going to be covered. The lambs in front of the house were the last to be fed. These lambs may or may not remember snow. They were born last winter. Sheep take everything in stride. Their internal clocks work with the sun and the moon. When it starts getting dark, they begin to come into their night pasture. It's a bit of a routine.

Saturday chores began a little earlier than dark. It was a white-out. My sister and I fed the "Livestock Guard Dog" puppies Archie and Winston and bedded down their calf hutch with some fresh hay. Then we gathered kindling and firewood. Chances are power would go out and we would lose heat. We had to get some wood into the house, find the oil lamps and flashlights all just in case.

The storm blew in - much harder than I ever thought was imaginable. Archie and Winston went with the flow. This was their first snowstorm.

The first group of lambs, waiting to come in for the evening.

Nessie watched and waited as more sheep came in.

She listened for The Farmer's next command.

They arrived in batches, then realized they were late to the party and began to run.

Archie and Winston were close on The Farmer's heels.

Buttoning everyone up for the storm, closing the fences.

I love how this photo looks so neutral except for the cream colored puppies and The Farmer's plaid winter coat.

We lost our power for a day and a half. We survived just fine. Although our power is back, there are still hundreds of thousands of people who are still without power. Schools are still closed and last night's Halloween didn't happen. What is going to happen with all that candy? It is supposed to be in the 50's today and hopefully some of the snow will melt so the sheep can graze again. If not, winter will be here and they will have to get used to the hay. We definitely aren't ready for winter yet.

Orange

2011-10-31T07:29:00.004-04:00

Orange is the color of the day here on Halloween in the States. I love the color orange - it is positively warm and beautiful. It inspires my knitting, my home, and our clothing.

So nice to be surrounded by it in nature, if only for a brief time in October. This photo was taken a couple weeks ago. There is barely a leaf left on the trees now.

This year's chicks are grown. I chose orange Buff Orpingtons and they are beginning to lay now.

The turning leaves from the hills behind the growing lamb looks like a painting, doesn't it?

For all you spinners out there, you can see what all the rain has done to this lamb's fleece. I'm wondering how other farmers wool has fared through this crazy weather.

Scotch Broth Soup

2011-10-29T07:45:00.009-04:00

They are predicting 8 to 12 inches of snow for Saturday night! Needless to say - we aren't exactly prepared for winter. That much snow in October? Crazy!

Saturday we are off to the Amherst Farmers Market. It is supposed to be a high of 40 and we'll be standing there shivering. I'll be dreaming of warm and cozy soup - one of my favorite winter lunch and dinner foods. Continuing on with the Scottish and British theme of the past few weeks, here's a new soup recipe for you to try. If you can't find lamb, you can use beef - but it won't be the same.

When I was a kid, I ate a lot of canned Campbell's soup. It was something I could make myself for lunch - heck all I had to do was use a can opener, pour it in a pan and light the stove. I loved soup, still do. When I moved out on my own, I learned to cook my own soup from scratch. My freezer is full of leftover chicken carcasses and lamb bones that I pull out and make stock with. One of my very favorite soups was Campbell's Scotch Broth Soup (immortalized by Andy Warhol and print available here). (Sadly, I hear Campbell's Scotch Broth Soup is no longer available in the States but it is still for sale in Canada.)

When we started with sheep way back when, I knew I had to find out how to make my own Scotch Broth from scratch. And so I did. I make this soup several times in the fall and winter. Boy is it yummy and comforting. Of course you could substitute beef but take it from me, it will not be the same.

Scotch Broth Soup

A fall and winter favorite here at our farm, Scotch Broth Soup is total comfort food. The smooth taste of the lamb stock mixed with winter root veggies can’t be beat. I use our shoulder chops for the meat and add a few extra bones if I have them to make a richer stock. Resist the temptation to increase the barley - you don’t need a lot and it will swell by the second day. In fact, when re-heating, you may find it necessary to add a little water. This soup also freezes well.

1 Tablespoon butter or olive oil

1 pound lamb stew meat or shoulder chops (the bones add extra flavor)

2 leeks – white part only sliced thin

1 onion

2 sticks celery

2 large potatoes or 4 small

2 small turnips or parsnips (or both!)

3 – 4 large carrots

1/ 2 cup pearl barley

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Brown the stew meat in a large soup pot. Dice the onion and add it to the meat in pan. Cut the leek into thin slices. Add to the meat and onions. Chop the celery and add to the browning meat mixture.

While meat mixture is browning, peel the turnips, carrots, and potatoes. Chop turnips, carrots and potatoes into pieces all the same size so they will cook at an equal rate.

Once the meat is thoroughly browned, cover with water. Bring to a boil, then lower immediately to a simmer. After five minutes, add the barley, root veggies, herbs and salt and pepper. Cover and cook until barley is tender - about 45 minutes. Remove bones from shoulder chops if necessary. (They may have fallen out so look in the pot - or warn your guests.)

Serve immediately. This soup, as with most, will taste better the second day. It will be necessary to add some water when re-heating as the barley will swell. This soup freezes nicely too.

Print this recipe.

Jane Brocket's Gentle Art of Knitting + a Giveaway

2011-10-28T06:30:00.006-04:00

Jane Brocket is an internet crush of mine. Her Yarnstorm was the first blog I stumbled upon many years ago. I didn't know what a blog was and I have no clue how I got there but I fell in love with her tulip photography and writing about all the domestic things she loves and does. Reading Jane's blog gave me the feeling that I had found a soul sister - someone else who shared my passions, love of color, handmade things, family, wine, chocolate, baked goods, and travel. I have never met Jane but we have written back and forth a few times. I admire her and what she does and how she writes about knitting, baking, and more and her colorful photographs.

From her little blog, Jane has moved onto other things. Her blog morphed into her first book The Gentle Art of Domesticity which was picked up by STC in the States. She got lots of press (mostly in the UK) - both good and bad - which had to have its ups and downs and highs and lows. When you put so much of yourself out there like Jane did in that book and the press and people have strong opinions about it..... well, let's just say, it had to be stressful. But ink is ink and the book sold. (BTW - that book is now OOP and crazily expensive on the web!)

Jane has written several more books including one on quilting (The Gentle Art of Quilting), some children's books, a baking book, a kids project and games book and now for all of us knitters - a knitting book called The Gentle Art of Knitting. It is lovely. Full of beautiful photos and colors and funky projects that are "vintage" looking even if when you knit them they are brand new.

Jane used my now sadly discontinued Julia Yarn in one of the great projects in her lovely new book - The School Colors Scarf and Blanket. How nice it is to see my colors knit up and shown in such a special project and book. For this blanket, Jane used double moss stitch and knit five "scarves" that were then sewn into one big blanket. I cannot imagine how beautiful this blanket would be to snuggle under. All that wool, alpaca, and mohair loveliness and drape and texture. Yum. (Check out the close-out on the Julia over on the Webs page.)

Other fun retro projects include the obligatory "hottie" or as we say in the states "hot water bottle cosy." "Hottie" sounds much more fun doesn't it?

I love the retro feeling "Wheel of Colour Cushions" which are made using a short row technique. My Aunt Boots used to have pillows like this on her sofa (she called it the settee). Are they not fab?

I've always had a penchant for luxurious handmade coverings for wooden hangers. How decadent to actually cover a hanger with handknit stitches. What a great way to treat your clothes. And what a nice shower present these would make.

It's pretty hard to resist the cuteness of Jane's knit "bunting." Although this isn't really an American kind of thing, it sure is cute. It would make great Christmas garland. Great photo - love all those plates on the shelves.

On Yarnstorm, Jane has written a lot about making crochet ripple afghans. Her book gives the basic pattern she uses (in crochet, not knit). The timing is absolutely perfect (as are the colors) with all the fever about Target and their Missoni Collection (which I never even saw!)

Each project is introduced with a page of text including her inspiration and back story to the pattern. These are my favorite parts of her book. Most publishers give an author a paragraph to wax on about the project. At least this publisher had the sense to let Jane do what she does beautifully - write about handmade things and the act of making them. This is not a sweater book although there is one easy to knit basic design. There are a few scarf, sock, hat and glove patterns but what this book really celebrates is the handknit object for the home. The projects are vintage-inspired and fun and would make great gifts for the holidays. Congratulations to Jane on her latest big project. May she have many more.

And now that you have gotten to the end of this post, I've got great news for you all. See, it pays to read to the end, doesn't it? Jane's British publisher is going to send a copy of The Gentle Art of Knitting to the winner of this Giveaway! Here's how you enter......

Answer this question in the comments section of this post: In keeping with the title of Jane's first book, What is your favorite "gentle art of domesticity" and why? Thanks for reading, as always.

~~PLEASE LEAVE AN EASY WAY TO GET A HOLD OF YOU.~~

~~Contest ends Wednesday November 2nd at 11:59 p.m.~~

Contest closed. The winner was Kristin Farrell. Congrats! Your book is coming from the UK.