DIY yarn storage.

June 10, 2013March 16, 20186 Comments

A year ago I scrounged up these old drawers.

And while the old door in that post long ago became this headboard, the drawers were just waiting. For inspiration. Yes, I've used them for shelves and bins here and there, but nothing overly inspiring.

Until this weekend.

I was finishing up the craft room overhaul that I started last weekend and realized I needed a new yarn storage solution.

Because piles, heaps, and baskets of wool only get you so far.

So I shot from the hip and grabbed a couple of those old drawers, cut some branches from our brush pile with a handsaw, and enlisted a volunteer to cut some scrap lumber to size for shelves (thanks, Pete!).

And, frankly, I'm stoked. My yarn has really never looked so good.

The best part is, you can rock this out in an afternoon.

Here's how:

1. Scrounge up some old wooden drawers. Mine are shallow but slightly deeper drawers would also work brilliantly.

2. Determine which way you'd like your drawers to hang. I arranged mine so that the vintage drawer pulls faced the entrance to the room. Find your right arrangement.

3. Measure the drawer depth and width. Determine how many shelves you would like to add to each drawer. (I added one to one and two to the other.)

4. Cut dimensional lumber to the sizes you determined above.

5. Place your shelves where you want them. Using a tiny drill bit, drill for your nails. (Rad crafty tip: No drill bit? No worries! Cut the head off of a long, thin nail with pliers. Insert the nail as though it were a drill bit. Drill!)

6. Nail shelves into place.

7. Cut tree branches 2-3" longer than your drawer is wide. Determine placement (hint: lower is better so that you can get the yarn out easily), then drill with your nifty handmade drill bit, and nail or screw into place.

8. Drill holes through the back of the drawer for hanging, and hang, using a level to insure they are straight.

9. Stuff with yarn and stand back to admire your awesomeness.

And one last thing. A note on perfectionism: At one point Olive made off with one of my branches, gnawing up one end. Lupine noted, "It's okay, Mama. That'll just make it more rustic."

See? Perfection is overrated.

Happy making!

A little dress.

May 16, 2013March 16, 201810 Comments

First and foremost, wow.

And hello! Thank you for all of the love on the two parenting posts I shared this week. And welcome many new faces to this space. I'm honored to have you here.

It has been an unprecedented few days over here and I'm tickled to see how many of you are sticking around.

Now then. Back to business!

: : :

Our last hard frost of the season was just two days ago. But yesterday it was in the 80's, so I think Longest Winter I've Ever Imagined is over (goodbye, Narnia!). Therefore I'm making the transition to some seasonally appropriate projects in my sewing room and my knitting basket.

Yes, I am knitting myself a thick cowl neck sweater that I won't wear until January (I hope), but I also cast on and quickly cast off a sweet little summer dress for Lupine.

The yarn came from a thrift store for 69 cents a skein (there were two, which I held double), and the fabric was part a new purchase and part from my stash.

She's crazy about it.

And so am I. There is just something about seeing my kids wearing clothes that I have made for them. Yum. And when she wears the hat with the dress? Squeal! (This she did while we were foraging ramps this week. I'm not sure I could have been happier. Seriously. Mostly because of the foraging, but the mama-made clothes didn't hurt.)

My Ravelry details are over here if you need the pattern for your own quick little dress!

What is your favorite summer-friendly knitting project?

Keeping the sweater promise.

March 7, 2013March 16, 201817 Comments

So many babies! I'm keeping busy knitting (and sewing) for them all. This lucky lady scored not only an In Threes Cardigan, but also a pair of reversible Quick Change Trousers. Because I couldn't resist.

As you can see, I'm not a knit-in-pink-for-girls-and-blue-for-boys kind of mama. In fact, while I love pink (and blue) I'm not a fan of the color-coding we do with our little ones. I think babies are babies. Not girlie babies or boyish babies.

But I digress.

Regardless of the color palate, I'm loving all this baby knitting. One sweater per baby. It was an ambitious plan, but so far I'm rockin' it.

My project is here if you'd like a closer look!

Love,
Rachel

These are not peg dolls.

February 14, 2013March 16, 201818 Comments

This is quite the dilemma.

I know that I can not possibly post any more cute little painted wooden people because that would be out of control. And then I'd be keeping a craft blog. And I'm not a craft blogger. I am a blogger who – on occasion – does crafty things and writes about them.

But three peg people posts in one week? Well that would be simply too much. I'd scare half of you away I am sure.

Oh… but wait! What are these? Well, these aren't peg dolls! Oh, no they're not. Not one bit peg or doll to be seen. These are clearly something completely different that surely belongs on my blog. Right? (No, no. Don't answer. That was rhetorical.)

But really. They're crazy cute. And they're zipper pulls! Or better yet… necklaces. (Gah!)

And they're tiny! And tiny is so cute it will cast a spell over you to make you forget how crafty my blog has become this week. (What can I say. It's February. And it's Wisconsin. Crafting keeps me sane. And in the spirit of full disclosure I have nothing to say about peaceful parenting this week, my friends. No-thing. But I digress.)

I know, I know. I need help.

But just in case you love these as much as I do, feel free to steal away with my idea and make some of your own. Or if you prefer I have these plus Tuesday's yummy peg babies for sale in my Etsy shop.

Somebody stop me!

(I promise to return to proper blogging next week.)

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day!

The cutest peg dolls ever. (Eeek!)

February 12, 2013March 16, 201832 Comments

The weekend wasn't all heartbreak and misery. No ma'am, no sir!

There was also… crafting. And crafting – as you know – often means peg dolls. These little friends might be my favorite peg dolls ever. In fact, I'm certain they are.

So induldge me just one more time in a Parade of Small Wooden People across your moniter.

Would you do me that? Thank you kindly. You're ever so polite.

They are tiny – about an inch tall. I bought the blank bodies here and painted them with watercolor paint. (Normally I use acrylics but something about the woodgrain showing through in Margaret's dolls has me inspired.)

I'll give each one a rub with a beeswax and oil wood polish before they are done.

My intention was to turn them into zipper pulls and put them in my Etsy shop but I'm not sure I have it in me to take a drill bit to their cute little heads anymore.

Plus we've found they make the perfect little game pieces for our favorite board game. Way cuter than a plastic pawn, don't you think? We might have to use them for all of our games from now on.

Edited to say: I decided to put a few in my Etsy shop. If you'd like some for your own family pop over and I'll custom paint them for you!

Oh. And then there were the butterflies. (I know. I need help.)

With felt wings and watercolor painted bodies, these three critters became part of our Valentine mobile. The kids and I made it in less than an hour using watercolor paper hearts, an embroidery hoop, and some ribbon.

Sweetness overload.

And by hanging them from the ceiling they are safe from the rising flood waters! Such a bonus. (Let's hope the roof doesn't leak.)

Okay. I'm done now. Thanks for bearing with me and the peg people madness!

Love,
Rachel

Man-knitting.

February 6, 2013March 16, 201818 Comments

Pete has seen the size of my knitting "works in progress" stash.

He knows that I am currently working on a baby sweater, a stuffed mouse, two pairs of socks and one vest – and that I'm about to cast on some long-overdue gloves for my dad.

He also knows that the sweater I cast on for him in North Carolina (yes, that was in 2010) is off the needles but still not wearable. (There will be sharp scissors, a nervous expression, and a huge leap of faith by me before that day comes.)

And in his words he didn't want his new hat to get lost in my que.

So he knit it himself.

Pete has been knitting as much as me in the past few weeks. Perhaps more. And unlike my slow, methodical progress over many years from hat (to hat, to hat) to mittens (to mittens, to mittens) and up in complexity, he chose a moderately complicated pattern for a beginner and dug right in. (The pattern is here.)

He's fearless I tell you.

I didn't even know how to do the cast on the pattern suggested, so we learned it together. (Old Norwegian in case you were wondering. Thank you, YouTube.)

Pete has his own knitting personality.

He doesn't make a gauge swatch. he makes a "Montessori swatch". (Yes, he made it up.) Basically he knits his gauge in the round, expecting that maybe it will become something functional in its own right. (Get it, education geeks? Montessori swatch? Heh.)

He swears and fake swears at his yarn. A lot.

And he's a wicked fast learner.

After his cowl and hat were off the needles he moved on to fingerless gloves and is talking about how he would like to make them again but modify the pattern so that the fit is customized. I'm guessing he will.

As for me, I'm just stoked to have such a bad-ass knitting partner. We have a guy friend who calls texting or otherwise messing around on his phone "man-knitting".

But this version of "man knitting" – oh, yes – I so much prefer.

P.S. Here is a post I wrote about Pete a few years ago. He's so much more than a knitter, you see.

Love you, babe. x

Knitting for my girl.

January 11, 2013March 16, 20188 Comments

Remember those Winter Solstice gifts I scrapped in exchange for a simple, sane, happy holiday? I got back to them this month and cast Lupine's off this week.

She's crazy about it.

The purple is a silky amazing yarn from my local yarn shop and the blue is a handspun that's all my own! (Remember this?)

The vest is my first sizable project from my own yarn. How satisfying!

The pattern is loosely based on Carina Spencer's Handspun Pinafore. But since I am unable to follow any recipe or pattern as it is written (Improvise! Modify! Adapt!) I changed it. A lot. I am utterly unable to silence my inner designer.

And I love how it turned out.

Instead of an open-front style pinafore I turned it into a pullover vest. I thought it would be a little more rough-and-tumble for farm days. And when she came in from chicken chores yesterday morning, caked with straw I decided that was true.

My project is here if you want more details, and the rest of my projects are here.

(For the record, all of Carina's patterns are stunning. Do check them out if you are looking for a new project this season.)

Two cowls.

January 7, 2013March 16, 201810 Comments

At any given time I have three to six projects on the needles.

I know people who knit one project start-to-finish without straying to something else. I am not that girl.

So last week I set down the two kid-sized vests I've been working on (the abandoned Solstice gifts) and cast on something for myself.

A quick cowl. (Though I'm loving the old-fashioned term "ascot" which makes me feel like I should be riding a horse when I go to town.)

It is a pattern I would not have cast on had a friend not knit this – I don't know – three or four times since fall. By the time she finished the last one she had worn me down. I officially loved it. I had to have one myself.

The yarn, a beautiful hand-spun I picked up for another project, had sat in my stash for long enough.

I cast it on on Tuesday and off on Thursday. So quick!

The buttons belonged to my mother's mother's mother which I think adds to the old-fashioned charm.

My project (details here) is a lighter, thinner variation on this pattern.

In other knitting news, guess who is my new knitting partner?

Yep.

Pete is casting on his own wrap scarf, similar to mine above but in a beginner's garter stitch. (Never before have I heard someone say, "What the @#*? How do I have 27 stitches again? Dude.")

It has been pretty hysterical to watch him navigate this project. He's rocking it.

(My friend Ginny's husband wrote this hysterical post about his knitting forays. It's laugh out loud funny.)

Go, man knitters!

Waldorf doll re-do.

January 3, 2013March 16, 201822 Comments

Doodad was the first doll I ever made.

At 2
1/2 Sage told me what he wanted in a doll (curly blonde hair and blue
eyes, like Sage at the time, and dark brown skin).

Before the doll was even done Sage carried him everywhere in his sling. It took me weeks to get that doll away from him to put on his crazy blonde hair.

I love Doodad.

When Sage had outgrown his doll he gave him to Lupine. But he never got much love from Lupine. Lupine loves fancy. And Doodad, quite simply, was not fancy.

He was even given away to a young friend and after some time came home again.

And then Lupine decided that Doodad was a girl. Named Rose.

And he started wearing dresses and coming to tea parties.

But the hair.

The hair really bothered Lupine. I thought it was fabulous and actually dreaded replacing it. (No pun intended, since those blond locks had long ago turned into dreads.)

Last week we were clearing out a few unloved playthings and I held up Doodad/Rose.

"Can we let her go?" I asked.

"NO! She needs new hair. Long, straight, black hair."

And so I went for it. Right then and there.

First we chose some soft llama yarn from my stash and I got to work. When I say soft, take the softest yarn you've ever felt. It's even softer.

First (and yes, with a heavy heart), I cut away Doodad's old hair.

Next I crocheted a little wig from black yarn.

I don't know how to crochet so my technique is terrible, but since the wig would be hidden beneath the longer hair it didn't matter.

(That was my plug for shaking off your inner perfectionist!)

Using a crochet hook I began looping hair latch-hook style through the foundational wig. Lupine kept making off with her during the process declaring that she was "already the most beautiful doll in the world" and that she couldn't bear to let me finish.

Every few hours I'd wrangle her away and put on a few more strands.

While I'd like to add a bit more hair, I'm calling her done.

Doodad (perhaps the world's first trans-gender Waldorf doll) is a completely different doll.

She is very much a girl, and renamed "Sapphire Rose". An elegant name for our most elegant doll.

As for Lupine she is completely smitten by this doll. She hasn't left my girl's side since I looped in the last strand of hair.

As for me, I'm rather smitten by her as well. To create something completely new out of something old? That's what it's all about.

Success!

A family art project.

December 31, 2012March 16, 201818 Comments

I really can't remember when I've had so much fun.

We spent yesterday with some dear friends – our first official farm visitors – sledding, drinking tea, and eating good food. They headed home as the sun went down and we decided that popcorn and almond butter apples were in order. For dinner. (Our answer to pizza or take-out night I suppose.)

With all that extra time we decided to make a disastrous mess out of our kitchen anyway. And make art! Together.

Inspired by Amanda's family art project, a similar piece done by a local friend, and also the projects I shared with you here on Friday, we gathered some supplies.

We wanted our piece to be part art and part manifestation board.

Acrylic paint, a big canvas (a board would do), some old calenders, books, and catalogs – and lots and lots of glitter and Mod Podge got us rolling. We worked for hours, laughing and cooperating side by side.

Our shared vision (aside for having fun and making something pretty) was to focus on our farm and the life we're setting out to create here.

A new year. A new home. An new era.

Lupine wanted lots of flowers, Pete was all about warmth, honey bees and lavender, I was seeking images of closeness, family, and community, and Sage focused on images of kids out in nature.

When it was finished we all just knew.

And this morning when we woke everyone gathered around it, beaming at what we made.

Family art. No rules. Just cooperation and creativity.

I highly recommend it.

Happy New Year to you and your families!

Love,

Rachel