Sunflower Immersion Weekend at Leyden Glen Farm

The Sunflower Knitting Stitching Immersion is over. It was a great success in my eyes. I was able to merge the students' ideas from the first class in August to improve the experience. And now I have another whole bunch of students' comments to make next years' weekends even better. Here are some scenes of what we did.

We started out the day with a tour of the farm and farmhouse and a slide presentation called "The Joy of Color." After the slide show, I handed everyone some clippers and we all went outside to find a natural object of beauty to translate into a colorway. It was a beautiful day - quite warm and the leaves were just beginning to turn. My garden and the fields around our house have begun turning the lovely autumn shades that I love so much. The students walked around - really looking at the plants that are around our house and trying to find a few they found colorfully stimulating. This was a great success. As the sheep and donkey grazed and the guinea hens raced around after bugs, the knitters clipped away. We came back in on the porch and got to work making several colorways of yarn for future projects inspired by the natural object they found outside. I don't think they would have had quite as much success or fun if they weren't in our farm setting.

Here are just a few of the colorways they came up with......
In the afternoon, after a wonderful lunch prepared by my friends Linda and Alice, we steeked, fringed, and stitched the day away. Here are the little samplers they made.

There was no rest. The Farmer brought his tractor with a haywagon attached to it and we left on a hayride. I supplied everyone with a wooly blanket and we were off. Here's the gang enjoying the view to the south and west from the top of the hill near our house.
On the way back, we stopped to check on the sheep who were grazing a nearby field. The dogs did a little herding demonstration.


We dined on leg of lamb from our Leyden Glen Farm in our painted dining room and spent the evening sharing knitting stories.


Early on Sunday morning, we met at the sunflower field and picked sunflowers for the students to take home. It really is fun to walk through the field of blooming flowers - especially this field which is full of so many different varieties.


Sunday, everyone worked the day away on their Sunflower Pillow Project. They all had learned a lot on Saturday and I know that they left with the skills to finish their project when they return home.

Thank you Nancy, Karen, Bonnie and Faith for making the trip to the farm. We all had a great time sharing our place with all of you.

Cambridge, MIT, and a Lamb Meat-Up

Last Friday, I snuck Julia out of school a bit early. You see, I had to get to Cambridge to do a talk for the Common Cod Fiber Guild. I didn’t tell the people at Julia’s school that – I told them I was speaking at MIT in Cambridge. Which I was…..

First off, and most important in our journey. We had to “Meat-Up” with two women who ordered lambs (frozen, not live) from us. I chose the location – the Dunkin Donuts parking lot at the Fresh Pond Rotary, just across from “Whole Foods.” We had to be there for a 4 p.m. meat-up. It was a rush and we were 10 minutes late (a trend there, I know). When we arrived, Carol and her kids were waiting for us. We knew about their car so knew who to look for. Carol has purchased a whole lamb from us before although I had never met her. (She and her family met The Farmer at the side of Route 91 in May for their first purchase.) This was a re-order – and you know how much that means if you are selling anything. Re-order means success. We love repeat customers!

Katherine, Lamb Meat-Up #2, somehow found out about our Leyden Glen Lamb and I brought her a half lamb. Poor Katherine was standing across the parking lot from us. I saw a lonely woman with a cup of coffee and I kept looking at her while chatting with Carol. I didn’t know what Katherine looked like, nor what kind of car she drove (mistake there, must remember for next time!). But finally we all hooked up and talked about lamb and healthy food and kids and on and on. After a quick transfer to their coolers, our “meat-up” was over and Julia and I were on our way.


Next we drove on over to MIT-land and Julia and I met Guido (my contact at the “Common Cod Fiber Guild”) on the corner of Mass Ave and Vassar. He quickly hopped into our truck and told us what we were in for. We found a parking spot, parked, and then walked on over to meet up with other guild organizers at Bertucci’s. After a dinner of pizza, we went to the Stata Center at MIT, found the room, hooked up my computer to the “projector” which worked like a charm (we were at MIT, would I expect less….. no…)

And then we waited and hoped people would come. And they did. Every seat was full and it was a nice big lecture hall. It was a lovely, supportive crowd. Julia looked around and asked me why everyone was knitting. I said to her, “they are knitters, They knit…. ” “Oh……,” she said. Guido let her draw the door prizes and she loved delivering the goodies we brought.

I was introduced and then it was my turn. Everyone kept knitting and listening – that’s what knitters do. I know, I am one of them. But speaking to an entire packed room of a bunch of knitters…. You wonder if anyone of them cares what you are saying.

I started and they kept knitting…… I kept talking….. they kept knitting. I showed them image after image of farm, sheep, home, etc…. They kept knitting. I kept going. I had spent the better part of two days organizing this presentation and I was hoping someone would actually pay attention to it. You know…. Adults on their off time. They can do whatever they want. I know… I am one of them.

As I kept talking, I looked at the audience. They stopped knitting. Oh, joy…. They were interested. They wanted to hear what I was saying. I went on and on, showing many photos and explained how I use colors together. I showed them photos from my new book and hoped they would like them. At the end, we opened it up to questions and there were some good ones. After, we all adjourned to the lobby and I set out my samples from Color by Kristin. I talked and talked and met old friends and made new ones. It was a lovely night.

When I am asked to do one of these presentations, I do not take my work lightly. I know that I will not reach everyone. Not everyone will understand what I am talking about. They won’t be able to grasp the cues I give them on each photo, on each color description. My hope for these kind of talks is that each person walks away with just one “aha moments.” If they do, I will have succeeded. If they don’t, I will have tried my best. I always hope that each knitter/stitcher will look at color differently the next day… That when they walk out their door, they will open their eyes and see things anew… That when they go to a yarn store, they will be less confused and intimidated by all the beautiful shades and colors and textures of yarns and fabrics…… That they will jump into their next colorwork project with a little less fear.

If you are local to Boston-ish and want to find out what The Common Cod Fiber Guild is all about, I would highly suggest checking it out. Everyone was very nice, interesting, supportive and anxious to share their fiber and knitting knowledge. Members came from afar – Rhode Island, Maine, west of Boston…. The Guild seemed to have a whole lot of good programs cooked up for members this year. Wish I lived closer so I could get there for every meeting…

If ever I am coming your way to teach a class and you want some lamb meat, know I love to deliver our delicious lamb to places far and wide. I'm going to look into shipping it this winter so that will be a new option.

Thanks to all the folks at The Common Cod for giving Julia and I such a warm welcome!

And It Begins Again....

Life is back to normal here at our farm. It's hard to believe that summer is drawing to a close. School has started for Julia and for me that means days are hectic. The rush to get out the door in the morning is the biggest challenge of every day. Trying to cram all my projects into the school hours isn't really long enough. At least I'm not working on a book right now to make me extra crazy.


After school, three days a week, Julia and I are still selling our lamb at Farmer's Markets in local towns near us. If you are interested, here's our schedule:
Tuesday - Bernardston
Wednesday - Turner's Falls (we don't always make this one)
Thursday - Northfield
Thursday - The Farmer does South Hadley

Have you all seen the movie Julie/Julia yet? I loved it. Although critics panned the "Julie" part of the movie, I loved it. I think that the comparison between both women and their environments were fabulous. Brooklyn in 2002 vs. Paris in the 1940's. Of course, Paris wins. But the way that cooking and learning about cooking threaded its way through both Julie and Julia's lives was wonderful.

A couple weeks ago we were riding in the car. I was trying to give Julia one of my little talks about how she really does need to start learning some life skills so that she can get a job when she gets older. Julia is totally set on the fact that she is going to be a famous movie producer, having Miley Cyrus starring in all her films. I told her that it is always good to have a fall-back job, just in case the dream job doesn't work out. I asked her what she thought she would like to start learning about for an alternative. She surprised the heck out of me by telling me she wanted to learn to cook. Me, sitting in the front of the car, driving along, nearly swerved off the road. "Okay, Julia, I can help you with that."

So we began with Julia's Reine de Saba. We made it right after the first day of school so that we could have a special dessert.

It was fabulous and now I think will be our go-to Chocolate Cake recipe.

I've got my Sunflower/Knitting/Stitching Immersion Weekend coming up on Saturday and Sunday. Posting here will probably be a bit spotty because I have lots to prepare for the guests. Still working on my "to do" list from the last weekend in August, truth be told.

Jenn's Shower Gift from Me

My sister Jenn is 10 years younger than I am. We are all very excited that she has found a great guy to spend the rest of her life with. Jenn's been working for almost twenty years and has had her own house for years. There's not a lot she needs as she already has a full kitchen. I thought that it would be appropriate if I made her a gift for her shower. I turned to my book "Colorful Stitchery" to see what might inspire me. I decided to do a variation on these handmade pillowcases.


Jenn is marrying a guy named Patrick who goes by Pat. I wanted to include both their names on their pillowcases. Lucky for me I could shorten Patrick to Pat and Jenn is short - only 7 letters to stitch. I found some lovely lightweight linen fabric at my favorite fabric store in Brattleboro, Delectable Mountain. Pillowcases are very easy to make - just a giant rectangle with a few seams. Linen pillowcases are hard to find but they are so easy to make.

For the embroidery pattern, I wrote out both their names and then drew a little heart on a piece of paper. Using the directions in my book, I transferred the script and the hearts to the fabric using fabric transfer paper. Then I traced over the design with a blue water soluble marker. I used 3 strands of cotton embroidery floss in an aqua shade for the letters and worked them in a tiny chain stitch.

For the heart, I used 3 strands of embroidery floss in zinnia pink, chartreuse and salmon. I used a tiny chain stitch for the heart lines and filled the inner heart with French knots.


Then I decided to stitch a line of salmon running stitch at the machine stitch hem for a little more decoration.


This whole project was pretty easy to do and made a very thoughtful handmade shower gift. The amount of time spent on it wasn't overwhelming -- I worked on it at a couple farmer's markets and one evening. You can find directions for the top project in my book Colorful Stitchery which is for sale in my shop.

Hey? What's All The Excitement About? A Pillow, Some Sunflowers?

The other night, after picking our first bouquet of sunflowers, I had Julia help me with a little photo shoot of the project the Sunflower/Knitting/Stitching Immersion students will be making on September 19th and 20th here at our farm. Although Julia thinks I am "the best photographer in the world" (gotta love a kid who thinks that, don't you?), it always takes me several tries to get a photo I like.

The light at the end of the day this time of year is quite spectacular. Julia, the little pillow, her bouquet, and I went outdoors to take advantage of the lovely light. I moved the pillow and bouquet around to several locations. The light kept changing and I kept trying to find a spot I liked. We were working on the little porch of the garden shed, when I heard Julia mumble something about the sheep. I turned and there they were.


We let them graze the lawn, knowing the dogs would get them back where they belonged.

There's been a big old haybale sitting next to the garden for mulch. I moved the pillow onto it. Look who thought it deserved some attention. Mr. Zoe Sophia, one of our tabby cats.


Further interest in the pillow came from Eeyore, the guard donkey.


Then they all figured out the pillow wasn't something they could eat so they lost interst. Me, I kept going - moving the pillow around. Finally, I think I settled on this photo on the porch, just as the light was starting to disappear for the day.


If you are coming to the class, you'll be learning all the techniques to finish this pillow. I still have room left, if you are up for an adventure.

p.s. Thanks to my students from the August "Get Stitched on the Farm Class." They suggested that everyone should actually make a project that would turn into something they could keep. I hope everyone likes this project.

Here Comes the Sun......flowers!

Here it is - the day you have all been waiting for. The sunflowers are blooming!!!! This is the first sunflower of the season. What a proud little sunflower it is!

After all the continuous rain, planting, replanting, and weeding, they have finally grown big enough to beat out the weeds and start showing off. The warm weather of this past weekend didn't hurt. The day after the first sunflower came out, we were able to make a little bouquet.

Julia and I have been checking the field daily. Although she continually chides me for being obsessed with the first bloom, I think that she too was pretty happy to have a bouquet in her hands.

This variety is called "The Joker" and I bought the seeds from Johnny's Selected Seeds in Maine. I just love this sunflower. It is a quick bloomer and has a branching growth pattern which means that I might get 10 blossoms off one plant. The extra fun thing is that within this one variety, the blooms are varied - multi-colored, plain yellow, some are fluffy, and some are not.

As you probably guessed, there are lots more to come!

Almost......

We are all patiently awaiting the bloom of the first sunflower this season.


The fact that we are going to have any flowers bloom is pretty spectacular considering the growing season this year. But we will and you can bet you'll get to enjoy some photos too.

I've still got room in the Sunflower/Knitting/Stitching immersion Weekend if anyone wants to join up late! The weekend is September 19th and 20th. Check out my "Get Stitched on the Farm" website here. I promise you lots of fun, food, and creativity.

Showers of Hearts

My youngest sister Jennifer is getting married in October. Weddings in our family have always been a big deal but since Jenn is the youngest, this one takes the cake for preparations.

Last weekend, Julia and I headed off for the shower that was supposed to be a surprise (but unfortunately wasn't much of one). It was a lovely day full of family, old friends and new friends. Julia's comment, while sitting right in front of Jenn while she opened every gift, was priceless. "Mommy, I want exactly this kind of wedding!" A girl can dream!

Jenn's friends were throwing the shower for her but Mom wanted to add that special touch. She decided that all the sisters and she should make little hearts stuffed full of lavender. We all said we would help. Mom ordered wool felt from Magic Cabin and stitched up the first heart. We all pitched in.


There were 70 guests expected. What a lot of stitching! If truth be told, I didn't have a lot of time to help (because of my big knitting weekend preparations). I did do a few of the hearts and contributed a hand-drawn hangtag. The night before the shower, we all sat around cutting and tying on the tags with leftover crewel wool.


Mom got the idea for the hearts from a project in my book Colorful Stitchery. Here's a photo of that project.


That project was quite a bit larger but the construction is the same. I originally used recycled wool blanket fabric for my XOX heart. You can find the instructions in my book Colorful Stitchery that is available in my shop.


The handmade hearts were the perfect touch for a lovely shower. Now onto all the wedding prep!

Kristin Nicholas at Common Cod Fiber Guild

Big news! I'll be speaking at The Common Cod Fiber Guild in Cambridge, MA next Friday night - September 11th. The "show" starts at 7 p.m. and it is being held at The Stata Center at

MIT!

Now, you are probably wondering why I've got MITin giant letters here. Well, here's what I think - I can't believe that me -- little old knitwear/textile designer and color enthusiast -- will be allowed to speak at such an institution, much less walk in the door! Mind you, I'm not speaking to any of the students (at least not officially). I'm speaking to a fiber guild full of warm and enthusiastic knitters, stitchers, and crocheters - but still, something I could slip onto my resume (don't you think? that is if I ever have to do one of those again!). This just blows me away. I think I may have to name drop all next week while I'm dropping Julia off at school (just kidding!) I usually see MIT in the science pages of the NYTimes, on PBS on some smart, scientifically intense, computer (or whatever else intensely smart people study) special, you know... And now, I'm going there. How cool.

If you want to come to MIT to hear me speak, check out the link here. You can join and hear me speak or you can come for a small fee and think about joining the guild while I am rambling on about color. I'll have lots of samples with me including samples from the new book and my old.

On September 12th, I'm teaching a class for the Common Cod Guild at Windsor Button in Boston from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. We're calling it "Creative Embroidery on Knits." I'm not sure of how you sign up, etc. but if you check out this link, I think you can find some information. It will be 3 hours of fun and stitching so please come if you can!

Hope to see some of you at MIT! (Sorry about that, can't help myself.... MIT, MIT, MIT, wow!) Thanks to the Common Cod Guild for inviting me!

Little Worlds in Maine

Here are some microcosms from our Maine vacation a couple of weeks ago. I love what the camera lense captures. It's hard to see it all from 5 feet up but then when I look at my computer screen, it's all there. Enjoy.

A walk in the woods on an island in Maine is such an experience for the senses. The mosses and lichen that grow below all the lovely trees are little worlds into themselves.




Not far from these mosses, we walked along a rocky beach. I love how the texture of the seaweed echoes the shape of the lichen found in the woods.


We collected a lot of lovely round, ocean tumbled rocks. Julia went for pink tones. No surprise ther! She had to beg her Dad to help carry her load. He succumbed, of course.


I too love to look for beach rocks. Of course, I go for the greenish tinged rocks. No surprise there, either.


This pink shell looked lovely amongst the bracken colored seaweed.


Even the laundry looks nice hanging out on the line in Maine.


It's all such a fleeting memory but I can still smell the ocean in my mind, feel the wind whispering across my face, watch the curtains blowing in the breeze. Thank you so much to Sally for having us back again.

Our Island Sojourn

The summer flew by at warp speed this year. The beginning month of rain did not help, I must say. Besides making farming pretty impossible, it sure did make everyone around here feel pretty gypped of classic summer days. But enough moaning......

My family and I have been lucky to be invited to my friend Sally's house on Swan's Island off the coast of Maine since the late 1980's. A couple weeks ago, we loaded the dogs, all of us, and lots of farm fresh food into the car and went off on another island adventure. If you have never had the chance to visit an island in Maine, put it on your list of "must-see's." It is a very special experience, everytime we go.

It takes a lot for us to leave our farm as a complete family. We are fortunate to have neighbors who are farmers and comfortable with caring for large numbers of sheep. That is the only way we can get away as a family. The Farmer doesn't like to leave but he does every once in awhile. (Julia and I on the other hand, take off frequently!) He worries a lot for the week before we leave. There are fences to prepare and instructions to give. Then we all cross our fingers and head off.

Riding on the ferry gives the vacation just the right bit of adventure and exoticism. We left Bass Harbor on the "Henry Lee."



Julia has been to Swan's Island many times although she can't remember any trip but the one we took 2 years ago. She was really excited to just go away.

We had all kinds of island adventures - visiting the different beaches.....


visiting Burnt Coat Lighthouse ....

and drinking tea every afternoon....

and best of all, eating lobsters. Here is Sally's neighbor David rowing in our dinner freshly caught on his lobster boat.


We were there for Hurricane Bill. I've never been on the island for a hurricane and we all were glued to the weather on the t.v. wondering how hard the storm would hit. It sure did rain a lot and there were some cloudy days. The day after the storm, we drove around the island watching all the waves. It was amazing - incredibly blue skies and lots of folks out doing the same thing we were. We were careful to stay far away from the enormous waves but it was incredibly entertaining.

Julia delivering some peace and love on a walk above the rock beach.


This wave surprised the heck out of Nessie. She might be sheep savvy but she sure isn't ocean savvy.


Sadly, we had to leave Swan's and return to our regular lives. But we will keep it in our heart until we get to visit again.