Happy Day comments: 225

My big, beautiful, bouncing, brilliant baby girl turned one whole year old yesterday. The three of us strolled through the neighborhood for hours, stopping for lunch and to get groceries to make lasagna and a chocolate cake. We talked and talked about everything, and crunched through the streets while the red leaves swirled overhead. It's hard to find words to describe my joy that she is in the world.

This morning she sleeps with her head on my lap; I type this one letter at a time with my left index finger while my right hand holds her little foot. It was a big weekend, with a big birthday party, and lots and lots of people, and grandparents visiting, and an apple festival, and a fancy lunch downtown, and lots of beautiful new things to play with. Today we're laying low; maybe a walk later to go get some rosemary-mint shampoo, and to take a ride on the swings. It's a gorgeous day here, with squirrels romping, and the smell of woodsmoke lingering, and this rosy, gorgeous, glowing October light filling the windows, which seems like the perfect present for my darling's first ever day of being one.

Wild and Wooly comments: 87

Hello, dear friends. How are you? It's a lovely fall morning here in Portland, Oregon. I'm drinking an apple cider. We've already been up to the store for more flour and more sugar, more apples, and some teensy little pumpkins. The packages for the day have already been picked up. My trusty helper girls are taking a very well-deserved day away from here. And Mimi and I are going to go to the party store later to pick out some balloons. It's a good October Tuesday.

* T H A N K   Y O U * to everyone who purchased an ornament kit, or supplies, or a pattern, or anything at all from us over the last week and weekend. I am truly astonished, and my heart's in my throat with gratitude at the response. Thank you. Almost every single one of order is already out the door (except for a few that had size #12 needles or fabric markers in them; we are waiting for another shipment of those that was supposed to be here yesterday, but it apparently got mistakenly sent to San Francisco instead — go figure — so it's on its way back [it originated in Portland, by the way]). But we expect that everything will be on its way out of here tomorrow or Thursday, depending on when that package arrives. It's been seriously intense here! In addition to Greta, I had Shila and Lauren (and of course Andy, and my mom) helping out, and if we could've bottled the energy flying around this place it would've probably blown the lid off the bottle. Lots of people, lots of work, lots of stress, lots of laughs, lots of everything. I love these girls. They are so special to me, and I could not do any of this without them. I owe every single person who helped me this week an enormous thank you. Being a working mama is no joke, man. Neither is being a working papa. I am exhausted! Thank goodness for take-out dinner, helpers, grandmas, mechanics who drop your car off at your house after they fix it (that was awesome), neighbors who have cans of tomatoes when you need them, groceries within walking distance, and playgrounds around the corner. Yeah!

I'm so sorry that not everyone who wanted a kit got one. That is the worst part for me, and I truly apologize that there is only so many that we can make. More of the new kits sold out in one day this year than we sold during the entire season last year, so it's just so hard to know how it will go. The PDF patterns for each ornament collection are available for immediate download if you missed out on the kits. And all of the older kits are all still available. If we wind up with any Night Before Christmas kits left over after everything has shipped I will definitely let you know.

The weather here has been classic fall, with probably one of the most beautiful weekends this past weekend that I have ever seen. It was sunny and crunchy and cool. At the end of each day, we took long walks up to get coffee, or go to the park, or get burritos, or spaghetti. I got to read some of my new Kinfolk cookbook, which came in the mail and is so, so, so pretty and makes me want to get my pantry in order (I haven't had time yet — bah!). Amelia wore a lot of things made out of yarn, I noticed. It's kind of awesome that she is now fitting into a lot of things I made so long ago, like her Springtime in Hollis sweater (which I honestly think is pretty much the perfect pattern) and her blue Mina dress (I didn't get a good picture of the skirt, but I was pretty psyched because that thing fit perfectly). Her adorable scarf and boots (not that I can keep ANYTHING on her feet, seriously) I got on sale last winter from Misha * Puff. Her Sunshine Day blanket is everpresent in our stroller three-quarters of the year. I finished that border on the Latte Baby Coat and one sleeve. My hands hurt so bad after I finished the border. I love the way it looks but agh, that was tricky to pull off for me. I used size 11 needles, too. But it is super cute and I am anxious to finish the other sleeve over the next few nights and get it lined with flannel. I've never lined a knitted thing before, I don't think. Any advice?

Yesterday afternoon I got to take the most delicious nap with Amelia on the sofa bed in the living room after we got home from the park. The window was open to the cool air and the sunlight was golden. The girls were working in the back of the house and Andy was out, so it was just us two, snuggled under the quilt together, Clover at our feet. It had been several days since we'd gotten to do that and oh, oh. Pure bliss for me. Pure bliss. When she wakes and her hair is all crazy and she is still warm and shy and sleepy and confused and [I'm right here, baby] buries her face in my neck, oh. Girl. Thank you.

This and That comments: 56

Thank you so much for all of your kind words about the new ornament collection. Thank you, thank you! I'm very excited that you like them. I will put them on sale tomorrow morning, Thursday, October 3. Just come here to the blog and I'll have all of the photos and links and information right here.

I've been tucked in the office for the past few days, really digging into this project that, up until now, Greta has spearheaded. It feels really good to be back in the office with the girls (we have backup this week, too!), listening to Pandora, soaking up the occasional sunshine coming in through the skylights, getting soaked by the almost-constant rain when we take the recycling out, getting frequent visits from Amelia as her dad or her grandma bring her in to say hello, eating breakfast at my desk, singing every word to "Wagon Wheel," Andy pulling late nights listening to old Willie Nelson concerts assembling Ice Skating Afternoon kits and texting me (upstairs in bed knitting) frequently about how much fun he was having (not kidding — hilarious), and also texting me a long list of ways we could improve the ergonomic correctness and general efficiency of our system. Ha! Kinda reminded me of the old days, when he and I did everything ourselves. I don't think things have changed that much, really. We just do different things now, and we have Amelia here, who makes everything wonderful. I had to re-photograph all of the kit photos for each collection yesterday, and spent a little bit of time with each ornament, remembering how each of them came about over the years. I really love them. They have been a pretty big part of our lives these past six years, actually.

Over the weekend, it seriously poured. Wind, rain, wind, rain. We had a great, sopping-wet time despite it at the flock and fiber festival with Amelia's birthgrandparents. Ten minutes after we got back home the power went out because of the storm, and was out most of Saturday afternoon, until early evening. It was kind of nice not to be able to work, especially because Andy was home, too. I took a long candlelit bath, and Meems came in with me at the end. The girl loves water and I love playing in the water with her. I got to sit on the sofa-bed and read Vanity Fair (the magazine, not the book) while she napped beside me. When the power came back on on Sunday, Andy went to work and Amelia and I cooked. Butternut squash macaroni and cheese (I kinda made it up), black bean soup, no-knead bread. Our friend Sarah came for lunch on Monday. I bought a reproduction of a painting by Edward Hicks called David Leedom Farm, 1849. I love it. It's over my dresser. At night I've been working on the little sweater coat I've started for Amelia. I'm planning to line it with flannel. The pantry is installed and finished and I literally haven't had any time to stock it. Big preparations are underway for Amelia's birthday party. I really just can't believe it's been a year. Sweetest love, a whole year.

***To those that have asked about the book with the lamby pattern, it is I Love Patchwork by Rashida Coleman-Hale. I'll tell you more about my lamb after I give it to Miss Mimilove.

It's Pie Time comments: 104

The weather here has been so glorious: rainy mornings, sunny afternoons, cool breezes, an occasional thunderstorm to nap through (or, if you're the dog, to tremble through :( poor thing). We made our most beloved sour cream apple pie with only two and a half apples instead of five — it was raining, and we didn't feel like walking up to the store. Still so good. That pie. It's such a great pie. IT IS A GREAT PIE.

I'm in a rush today so I'm talking fast and loud. We are having our mudroom turned into a an honest-to-goodness pantry, with shelves and cabinets and drawers and doors and those kinds of things. I'm so thrilled. There will even be room to hang coats. EXCITING. Storage. It makes me so happy. Today Andy is going to clear out the room as it is right now, filled to bursting with an enormous rack of metal shelves, canned goods, dustbuster, paper towels, dog food, turkey-cooking pan, popcorn maker, cake decorating tackle box, bags of pasta, various Tupperware that doesn't belong to us, oh ugh. Just, disorganized stuff that will now, hopefully, have a nicer home. The cabinets will be white MDF with Shaker doors like our nicer built-ins but not as nice (and not as expensive). We need to repaint the room to match the kitchen, I guess (and by the way the name of the paint color in there is Terrazo Gray), even though they are not physically connected. This is my inspiration photo.

My little bird has so many pretty little teeth now. Four, with a fifth, and a whole bunch of others just poised for erruption. This girl. Oh my sparkling stars how she lights my world. I just love her so much. She now gives kisses, which are kind of like face smooshes, to everything — us, her animals, her books, her toys, her blanket, her pillow. It's all I can do not to sob every single time.

P.S. I got Clover to smile for you, too :) Sweet darlings.

Summer Wanes comments: 99

Some days dawn chilly and cloudy and cold, only to heat up; by mid-afternoon the sun blares and glares, glinting and golden at its low, desperate-seeming angle. On the river, where we lounged with neighbors and kids all Sunday afternoon, it blazed straight along the path the river took, no shade, no blue. All the blues are greens. Even water feels shallow and warm and cloudy, rocks dry and dull. There's a promise in it, somehow; our picnic is lazy. There's nowhere else to be right now. School is starting, leaves are falling. Eagles and hawks circle high above, and I close my eyes and make this memory for later, when it's raining: Tall trees rising up the side of the ravine; a tiny house high on the hill; the shade flickering, flashing; our babies babbling in the sand, and our great luck, to have our neighbors as friends.

The day before had been our annual neighborhood block party. Our other neighbor Barbara took that darling picture of Amelia, head in her plum bits. Isn't that the cutest picture??? Holding her chin. Be still, heart. After I put her to bed, I went back out and sat talking until late with the ladies. I never go out at night; that night I didn't want to go in. It got dark so early I was surprised. Above us, oak trees towered, starting to drop their acorns in the dark. Around us, our houses sat, starting to glow with evening lamps and flickering shapes of the husbands at home, watching the game, the kids. I talked and talked, saying my things. These ladies are so nice. How kind they've been to me, all these thirteen years we've lived here. How generous with themselves, and their hopes for us, and their love, now given so joyfully to Mimi. So blessed I am.

Yesterday Amelia and I walked all over the place, then down to the cafe for some gelato. She sat on my lap, pressed her cheek to my face, placed with my necklace, touched her nose and forehead to mine, watched the trucks and dogs go by outside, ate mango gelato, pointed at every light on the ceiling (there were many), and snuggled shyly on my chest whenever anyone spoke to her. At home, Greta (dear Greta) assembled Christmas ornament kits in preparation for the Big Release, a date for which we haven't yet set (but I'm really hoping we'll be ready to put them on sale by the end of September). This year — oh lawd — we're going big. Three thousand kits — five hundred of each one we've done for the past five years, and a new one for this year — are in progress. We had the felt cut by National Nonwovens. Over thirty thousand individual pieces of felt. I just broke out in hives, writing that. Piles and piles and piles of felt are taking up every possible inch of space in our offices. We had to do those quantities if we wanted them to cut the felt, and we did. Please buy our kits or I'll probably have a nervous breakdown. That's my sales pitch.

More on them later!

I very, very much like to make chicken stew with sweet-potato biscuits when in need of reliable, terribly yummy stuff.

I'm beyond ready to be finished with the yoke of my Chanterelle sweater. I have four more little sections to go and then I'll scream with glee. Taking too much of my already-sucky concentration. I'm teaching Andy how to crochet today. He wants to make an acorn rattle for Mimi for her birthday. He seems to be better at crochet than at embroidery. So it could all work out just fine.

That Color comments: 135

It's weird that a woman with no time and a baby that is crawling all over the free world pretty much every minute of the waking day would do something like hand-pleat a big piece of fabric and then smock it by hand and then block it and then baste it and then cut it and then sew it into a tiny dress that needed a ton of hand finishing (linings sewn in, a giant hem). Weird but true, people.

Meems goes to bed at 7 p.m., and I swear, the minute I turn on that monitor and click that nursery door closed my basket explodes, and out bursts the yarn, the floss, the needles, the thread, the fabric. The flying fingers. A flurry of quiet industry ensues, until . . . I pass out around ten. . . . I like it. I like to sit and think about her, about the day, about the year. It's especially nice to do it with my feet up, and my face washed, and my nightgown on, and a breeze blowing through the evening window, and a puppers or a kitters on the bed. Nothing else to do. A deep, deep sigh. Slowly the fingers find their rhythm. One of my favorite parts of the day.

I bought vintage McCalls pattern 2447, intending to use the smocking iron-on transfer that was included, only to find that forty-some-odd-years later the transfer didn't work. So, plan B: hand gathering, using this tutorial. That went fine. I made up my own smocking design and colors. Random. Don't overthink these things or you'll never get anything done. I followed the directions on the pattern for finishing the rest of the dress. It was a handful, but I was in too deep to turn back. Need a hook and eye for the back. Boom. Can't wait to see it on her. The color is just dreamy to me. I must really like this color. It's a dusty pink but warm. I must think of it as Amelia's color because I keep using it for her.

My Lilla koftan? Meh. It's okay. Came out sort of oddly proportioned. Didn't like how the placket didn't overlap. I've seen other peoples' versions of this sweater and they are much cuter. I think I would use a plied yarn and larger needles next time. Make it drapey. The Milk Glass Pink came out quite pretty, though it's still on the blocking board. Too hot lately to put these on the poor child. We had an enormous thunderstorm the other night, however, and that was just awesome. Cool and cloudy today and I am beyond delighted.

Now on my needles is Ravi Junior. Isn't that the most gorgeous pattern? I look at patterns all the time but I only just ran into this one. I'm using Quince and Co. Chickadee in the color Chanterelle. It really is such a lovely color. Or kind of a non-color. Sort of brown, sort of pink, like the underside of a mushroom, or a very old ballet skirt, or an antique book about flowers, or the wallpaper from the back bedroom in your grandmother's house in Iowa. That kind of a color. One that's just right for summer's slide into fragrant, cloudy, rose-hipped early autumn.

On Staycation comments: 86

Andy has been on vacation for the past week and it is pretty darn awesome in every possible way. Time, time. Time to do things together that we don't always get to do for days in a row. Our schedule is pretty great during the rest of the year — at least, it works for us. He works three twelve-hour days, with about an hour or so on the bus on each end of the day. So my days at home without him are loooooong, from about 5 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. But then we get him home for four entire days of every week (and that's when I try to work). He used to work four twelves, before Amelia was born, but now he just does three. And this is pretty awesome. We've been living with this non-Monday-through-Friday schedule for so long — ten years — and we are so used to it. We rarely do any errands or shopping or chores or things like that on the weekend, when everyone else is out, and the rare times that I have had to go grocery shopping on Saturday, say, along with the rest of the world, I am totally freaked out by how much more crowded it the streets and the stores are, how much longer it takes to do anything, how hectic and an intense the energy is (to get finished, so the relaxing can begin). I love going out on the weekend just to hang out, though. I love leisurely brunches at French bakeries. Walks in the woods. Playing at the fountain. Being downtown. Shopping for silly things (not necessary things). Buying flowers. Three o'clock lunches on the sidewalk at Piazza Italia. Strolling along the city streets without a schedule. Nowhere we have to be. Nothing we have to do. Aren't those days just the best??? Wander wander. Meander, stop. I think so.

August comments: 118

It's been incredibly dry here. I keep hoping for a nice storm, or even one single raindrop, but everywhere I look our plants are fried, our lawn (what little we have of it) is fried, my pots are fried, my garden is fried because I never watered it, our two stupid plum trees have dropped hundreds — and I seriously mean hundreds — of small, bitter plums in both front and back yard, causing a huge (and I seriously mean huge) mess outside and in. Too high to pick and not even good for eating, they smash on the ground and explode, splattering purple. Man, I am frustrated with those things. They just make being in both of our yards pretty miserable at this time of year (without a ton of clean-up work first, and sometimes you just want to sit down . . .). That photo is the cleaned-up version, too.

I have so much angst this time of year. I don't want summer to be over, but it's too hot, now, and too dry. Everything feels desperate and yellow. There's relief in the wind-down, but regret, too: Already the mornings are dark when we rise at 5:00 a.m., and we drink coffee in bed with tiny lamps on, just like in winter. I can't handle the heat, but oh, I do love the light! I miss the light! I've started counting pool days. How many more times will we get to go before they close it? We have gone a lot. I have loved every single minute of every day with Amelia at the pool. Loved it. So did Andy, and so did she. Already I'm thinking of a plan for swimming indoors, once the outdoor pool is drained in a few weeks. Just this morning as we walked up to the grocery store, leaves fell from the trees onto to Amelia in the stroller. I bought baby cereal, two avocados, and a sweet potato, and some tapioca pudding. Comfort foods.

On Sunday, I had such a nice day. Andy watched Amelia for the entire day and I got to do whatever I wanted. So I made the little dress on the right in the morning (which is Simplicity 6713; the one on the left is Simplicity 5293, and I made that one really fast on Saturday) and then took it to a cafe downtown to work on the hem and the buttons in the afternoon. All by myself! Then, after I got bored (bored! I'd forgotten the feeling!) at the first cafe, I went to another coffee shop and sat out on the deck, and people-watched, and sewed on the button loops, and drank an iced latte. And lingered. Until dinnertime. CRAZY. I never do this. I probably need to do it more. I keep thinking about it!!! "Man, that was so awesome, when I had that latte!!! And I was just sitting there!!! Listening to other peoples' conversations! And then I had another latte! That was so great!!!" Etc., etc. Pretty funny.

Thank you for the help with the big-collared sweater suggestions in the last post! Lots of good ideas there. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do but I'll keep you posted! I have to put the buttons on the Lilla Koftan. Next up in the sewing queue is some smocking on more dusky pink from another one of the vintage patterns (whose number I don't remember, and sweet Baby Mimi is sleeping partly on me right now so I can't get up and check). I've been working on the Milk Glass Pink sweater while watching ballet documentaries (huh???) at night after she goes to bed. I hit a MAJOR roadblock when I misunderstood the directions and put the first sleeve on ten stitches beyond where it should have gone. And then proceeded to graft the underarms (why??? did I do that?) and knit about twenty rows before I figured that out. Gah. I cut it all off with a pair of scissors, ripped back until I knew where I was, and began again. Wah. I had plenty of yarn so it was fine, just frustrating. I've never cut knitting with scissors before. It was a super weird feeling. The ballet must explain all this pink lately. I don't know.

comments: 90

Oh my stars how I love her. Beyond words.

This morning our walk to the bakery was glorious: chilly, gray, and threatening rain. The perfect summer day!!! (Not kidding.)

I got some cute little binders from Target, along with some page protectors and half-size notebook paper for my vintage patterns that I ordered. I was so satisfied with this project that once I had stuffed all the patterns in (some of the edges had to be folded, but most of them fit) I didn't feel the need to do anything else for the rest of the day. Which was kind of awesome in about forty thousand different ways.

Our dryer broke, but then it got fixed. I'm glad I took that picture of pretty laundry on the line, because the next round was boxer shorts, sweatpants, and black socks. Not quite as pretty.

Remember this picture of Martha? Guess what she was working on there, thirty years ago: The quilt that would become Amelia's baby quilt! I had no idea. She finished it just for Mimi and and gave it to her in person when she was here last month. Adorable and amazing. So special and dear. I absolutely love it and so does Mimi. Xoxo

Does anybody know if there's a pattern on Ravelry for a baby/toddler sweater with a big round collar like this that is in English (that one's in French)? Maybe with even more fullness in the collar, like a true bias ruffle? I wasn't sure how to search for that. I put in "collared sweater," I think, but I just got a lot of things with shawl collars and then ran out of time to keep looking. Just thought I'd ask, in case you knew. I'm kind of into the short-sleeved sweaters now. Cute over long sleeved vintage peasant dresses, and whatnot.

The Calming Technique comments: 87

After all the friends, family, picnics, and pool days of the past month, my girl and I spent a lovely, quiet past couple of days inside, in the air conditioning, doing not much. Not much at all. My very limbs were limp. I pushed the ottoman over to the chaise lounge and made a day bed. Why didn't I think of this before? We rolled around there for hours. She took her nap there. I watched this documentary (I think it was on Xfinity on-demand, maybe?) while she slept beside me and was moved to tears by it, remembering things. I knit this very pretty little sweater in the prettiest color (I think). I fretted about all the work stuff I have to do (fast-paced shallow breathing here). I decided instead to order many vintage toddler dress sewing patterns from the '70s on Etsy, because I have these ideas. My pickiness about the exact lines I want to see in a toddler peasant dress has reached epic proportions. It's weirdo. I've thought about it a lot. Which is weird. I was starting to panic a little bit. Over toddler dresses. Stress-shifting. Pant pant. I thought about designing something myself and laughed out loud. I thought about splurging on some French patterns (the cuts, oh the cuts!) but the French were on vacation and wouldn't ship soon enough. I looked through the contemporary-designer PDFs I've bought, and the big commercial pattern books, but no. My brain tightened around these certain shapes and wouldn't let go. Then I started browsing the vintage patterns (hundreds! hundreds!) and — you guys — things got all  f l o w y  and  r e l a x e d. Chillllllllllled. I swear I felt all those millions of blobby wrinkles on my very brain start to melt out. Yes, those were the dresses, and the shapes. There they were. Relieved sigh. Down, girl.

When I was a child I spent hours — a lot of hours — browsing pattern books at the fabric store with my mom. I always loved it. When I got older, in high school and college, I did it by myself. I always had a lot of ideas. I always needed time to think about them. I always wanted something that wasn't exactly in the book, or a fabric that wasn't exactly on the shelf. Much like now. What is that? Such a curious phenomenon. When I had a lot of other stuff I needed to do, I would still be making things up in my mind, working on a plan for something. I find it impossible to surrender the impulse, no matter how busy I am. If I don't have that little space — just a little space to dream of shapes, before I fall asleep at night I see them in my mind — I am unhappy. If I have it, I am happy. There isn't much else I really crave doing, when time is tight. I find the dreaming even more satisfying than the sewing (which I don't actually have much time to do). I thought of making a notebook with the line drawings of the dresses, and swatches of fabrics and trims, and color combos. Then, when I do have a few minutes, I'll be ready.

My pet peeve about contemporary indie patterns: Many don't include line drawings of the dress, and they are made is such bright, colorful fabrics that I seriously cannot seeeeeeee what is going on. I SO very much prefer the old patterns, with drawings instead of just photos. I really seem to need the cover drawings and the line drawings, myself.

(Her little pillowcase dress was a gift from my mom from Camp Hollyhock.)