Illustration Friday - Fast

I still can't believe how fast time flies that the holidays are nearly here!
this is one of my entries for the Community College of Vermont's holiday card-

Illustration Friday - Frozen

even in a frozen wasteland, warmth will show its face...

handknit baby hats

nothing makes me happier than making something from hand, and giving it away. when my dear mother in law told me she was knitting for a charity shop, i asked to help. these baby hats were all a quick knit or crochet, a days work for the set of four - they will be going to some very sweet and special babies out there come winter time, i'm certain!

knit with hand spun super bulky three-ply merino wool yarn- i'm in love with million colored plied yarns right now, spinning it takes eons on my mazurka wheel- and i completely don't mind when it ends up looking like this.

double stranded white acrylic and a pastel blend acrylic with a simple 2x2 rib border; hand knit.

this one is chunky bouclé acrylic filled with soft cool blues and purples knit with a lace rib border; hand knit.

double stranded yellow wool blend and a hand-dyed wool skein; hand crocheted party hat design

Cranberry Chocolate Chip cookie recipe

This recipe makes a crisp, crunchy cookie with a slightly softer inside. These just so happen to be the ingredients I'm using today... I like replacing pretty much everything in my baking at any point in time, so switch it up! Add in coconut and flax seeds vs cranberry and hemp seeds, use eggs instead of egg substitute, other sweeteners instead of cane sugar..try it out, believe me, they will still taste amazing, I am sure of it!


pre-heat oven: 375*

2 sticks butter, unsalted or similar (soften to room temp, try not to microwave if you can avoid it)
1 tsp vanilla extract (I make my own, it is very easy to do!)
1 1/2 cups sugar (I keep a vanilla bean in this too)
2 eggs or egg substitute

*Beat the ingredients above until creamy. like below.

now take another smaller bowl, add 2 1/4 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, stir or hand whisk up a bit, and add slowly to your main batter. should look something like the image below, once all the flour is incorporated.

Now, my favorite part! add ins. With this particular recipe I added a bag (or half) of chocolate chips, 1/4 cup of hemp seeds, 1/4 cup of dried cranberries. hand stir these into your batter. now you are ready to bake!!

Teaspoon batter onto cookie sheets, bake from 13-15 minutes, depending on how you like your cookies done....keep on cookie sheet to cool for a couple minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack, then on to the cookie jar...Voila!

seedlings!

In the midst of the very snowy past few days, I took it upon myself to start up some seedlings. Just a little wheatgrass and some snap peas(thanks to Jenna on the snap pea idea!) to give me something to tend until I can go whole hog in another month or so with the cold frame and garden sowing...or maybe it is just to spite the seemingly infinite winter we're having up here.

The snap peas are soaked and planted, but will take a while to see them pop.
I started & kept the wheatgrass on paper towel under cloches for a few days until they started getting a bit too big for their britches - they have been in these little pots for two days, isnt it amazing how fast they grow up? I can't wait to see a full bed of it soon enough.

Lavender is up next ...what a finicky seed they are, but the flowers soon make me forget all the trials!

Bees ordered!

2009's bees are ordered!

Two hives in this case equals six pounds of bees - 25,000 honeybees and two Italian Queen Bees.
One hive for me, one for my Dad - bees are a great christmas gift, what can I say.
my Dad really is very excited for his first hive ever - on the farm there are tons of berry brambles, hay fields to preside over, along with the orchard of pears, apples and grapes - oh and the vegetable garden too! We can't pick the bees up until May, it needs to be warm enough and have stable weather over a period of time for the bees to travel this far North from Georgia.

a new day!

I've been in a "designer cage" the past few weeks with my trusty laptop not able to handle all the design I've been throwing its way. Love my powerbook, but it is just not enough power for my needs. As any designer or artist knows, nothing is more frustrating than having ideas, but not being able to flesh them out to your desires! SO I bit the bullet last week and ordered a new laptop - the macbook pro - which is better able to handle the processing needed for photoshop, illustrator and indesign.
It arrived late Tuesday - the computer switch took a few days. A few more glitches than expected in the transfer and cloning(isnt it always?), but I am now fully back up and running - at a whole new level of speed. Indesign flies!
I can design again at my own speed again,
I'm a very happy camper, dear friends.

Happy Thursday - I hope you Enjoy Your Day!

leftover spinach salad omelet

Any day I can make an omelet for breakfast is a good day. Any day I can recycle last night's salad into a omelet is even better!

This only works if you don't put dressing on your main salad, dressed salad gets icky too fast to reuse in the morning. The greens really need to be spinach, kale, collard- any green bit of goodness that is good cooked.

My salad leftovers were whole baby spinach leaves, chopped broccoli, slivered almonds, hemp and flax seeds. Tons of vitamins, minerals and protein for a busy day ahead.

I threw all that into a pan with a bit of olive oil on medium heat and got it all nice and wilty (i'm sure that is not a cooking term)

In the meantime, take two eggs, scramble with salt and pepper in a bowl with a whisk.
I use one yolk, two whites, you should use however much you need for your family, or for the amount of leftover salad you want to use.

Pour in the egg mixture once your salad is "wilty". Scrape your omelet into the center until it starts creating a solid mass - cook it up on both sides, toss on a bit of shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese if you wish, then fold up and let melt for a minute or so. flip it once more for good measure, and voila!

It always makes me happy to make the most of my food, waste not, want not!
What could you throw in to your omelet this morning?

the sunflower handspun beret

From the top down it resembles one, doesn't it? Some in part to the colors, but mainly got its name from the textural pattern of the staggered fishnet lace.



the top part of the hat is fine commercial wool, beautiful heathery browns, flecks of reds - the funky thick and thin green/amber/blue is hand dyed, hand spun yarn. the second it came off my wheel i started knitting with it...this yarn knew exactly what it wanted to be when it grew up...part of a gorgeous little beret!

thick and thin handspun yarn looks amazing used in simple lace patterns with big needles. cozy, funky, but also delicate and pretty. it begs to show off, so i let it!

Want to know more? Email me or visit my online shop, where you can view details sizing, see more pics, buy this exact hat, or custom order one of your own!

spring fever

i've got a fevah - for spring.

spun up unplanned goodness

a little over a week ago, I did a big fiber dyeing day....lots of boiling water, vinegar, colors blending and mixing away...me running from my stove, to kitchen sink, to drying rack - rinse and repeat. fiber dye day is hectic, hot, fast-paced and fun...like kickboxing...fun.

next up, make yarn.
if coloring the fiber is like kickboxing, then spinning yarn is like yoga or meditation. More hands on prepping of fiber - carding, blending and rolling, or pre-drafting to perfect little pencil rovings, ready to be spun up. Every step counts towards the end result. Pedal ready to go...the wheel starts a whirring, and we're off. the methodical sounds and pace really chill me out...focusing on the fiber flowing through both my hands, an attention span is lengthened to new degrees!

i often have ideas as to how the yarns will turn out - i have, after all, picked out the fibers, planned their colorways, drafted and carded the stuff to exactly my desires, and spun to exactly the right tension... but the fiber tells my fingers what to do with it. Thick becomes thin - smooth wants to be funky - the laughable attempt of planning my art births a totally different, more amazing product in the end, every time.

now what to knit?

hat from scratch - from the fiber to your head

This custom handspun lace rib hat was so much fun to make- and it was completely from scratch! Sweet, soft, snug and supercool! So much goes in to making a hand spun hat - I love every single part of the process, each offers me different ways to express my creativity.

Planning a hat from scratch:
I started with three wools - I hand dyed some white wool to teal, raw local unprocessed wool locks dyed to olive- the grey I left natural. I took the three and ran them through my drum carder to blend them up - sort of like making a paint color - the more you blend, the more even your color becomes. I carded(brushed) this batch at least 8 times - I wanted the grey and teal to be very combined, and did not add in the olive locks until the 6th carding or so - to offer some standout between the primary teal grey heathered blend. Once I got that where I wanted it - on to the wheel!

Most fibers that I run through my drum carder are formed into rolags(rolls of fiber) - fun to spin from directly, no other special prepping, which I love. I spun this up quick, I knew I wanted it to be funky - some super thick spots, super thin ones - some nips and noils from the olive wool locks - it needs to have character like its owner :)

Once I had it spun up, I set the yarn's twist in a bath of warm water and lavender, hang out the yarn and let it dry. Time to figure out what I'm knitting with this!

I knew the pattern I wanted to use for the detail edging - a sweet lace rib pattern - practically speaking, it offers give on the head, and if worn as a beret, it holds on. This pattern also offers a feminine detail of a lace pattern between the ribs.
Oh, and double bonus, that hat is completely reversible!

I used big needles to let the yarn show off - each part of the hat has interesting detail, lacy, delicate, but super soft and warm. I wasn't expecting the soft delicate edging that came about, but it is a very pleasant addition, something I plan to recreate very soon for my shop!

NEW snail toy design!

brand spankin new design and pattern! i've been wanting to knit more insect/bug toys, and I'm loving knitting up little worlds for my creatures(see mushroom post, coming soon!) so on that note, take a gander at my brand new knit toy snail!

shes a sweet little slimy one(not REALLY slimy, just softy) super fun, and her hand dyed pink shell can slide right off. There is a leetle hiding spot in her shell for all your treasures!

I'm hoping to create a few more shells, so then every snail can change depending on their mood - there we go, mood shells!

this sweet snaily is natural handspun grey wool, handknit and felted - her shell is hand dyed peruvian wool, handknit and felted.

Currently she is a one of a kind, but if you love her and want a snail of your own, or any toy of mine, email me!

blt

how lucky am I to be handed this for lunch? prepared from scratch, including the bread! had to take pictures. best husband, EVER. yes, I know I am biased on that :)

hope your Friday is full of fun and frippery!

spinning and snow

it is a lovely snowy day here in southern Vermont - spinning some green yarns to remind me of what is under that sweet white wonderland out there.

come to think of it, i think i'm going to spin up some winter white and sparkles in honor of the white magic.

in the meantime, enjoy the greens!

a photo with no camera

I've been mired in gorgeous spun up yarns from the fiber dye day last week - with no camera to show you! so instead of fuming, I made a few more knit toys! I can't wait to show you. There are fairies, a giraffe, a flower(planning for it to be a jeweled brooch!), a mushroom, a butterfly, and a snail with a removable shell(and a special hiding spot too).

Can't wait to show you. Once i get my camera back :)

In the meantime, this is my first fairy design that I worked on last year - it is the model for my new ones!

PS: I'm also working on a cotton/synthetic toy set, for my sweet friends that can't play with my regular dollies and toys....stay tuned.

a note to Punxsutawney Phil

Hey Phil - If I wish hard enough, will you please bring spring now? - Love trish

me and winter photography

sneak peak of a photoshoot I did recently- my models this time around were the Buskirks Bridge, and some very sweet, beautiful animals on a gorgeous farm.

These are for a focal wall in my clients' newly renovated barn home - focusing in on the Buskirks Bridge, which has a particular place in their hearts - as well as the animals, land and home that they love so much.

I have not shot much in winter, mostly b/c of my irrational fear of cold, and of course it was a VERY cold day here, as it has been the past few weeks in New England...but such beautiful light and shadows came about in the photos. PERFECT for black and white photography.

Guess who's been hanging out in the winter wonderland more often? <--------

the fruits of my labor...

5 hours, boiling water, dyed hands and whole lot of drying later.....I've got a whole new colorful stash of fiber to card, blend, and spin into yarns! in here we've got one skein of yarn hand painted, wool from two or three different sheep breeds and alpaca.

the double bonus to dyeing animal fibers/wool is that you can also dye SILK to get in on the action.

today it is fiber organization and a little bit of blending/spinning/knitting for j9's knit hat.

oh and finishing that knitting pattern.

thanks for wanting green j9!

fiber is to dye for!

the water is heating up, the gloves and dyes are out - I'm so excited to be in the dyepot again! it has been, well....months at least. I cringe to think it has been a year?

i'm avoiding finishing up a knitting pattern, so first up today I'll be dying up bunches of wool - all to spin up yarn to make into dolls and toys - we'll be dying a bit o' green to spin with local Grey Shetland wool and make one sweet heathery handmade hat for my dear j9's head!

I'm thinking spring so hard, I'm seeing all bright colors, and trying out an old South American dyeing method!