bees. 'nuff said.

if you caught my post on [tend] this week, you got a sneak peek of my exciting news already, but in case you missed it...probably the most exciting backyard development of the year is the addition of two bee hives.  that's right.  two. bee. hives.  with approximately 20,000 bees or so (at least, that's what i think 6 lbs. of bees adds up to) buzzing around.  

it's pretty awesome.  it all started a little over a year ago, when i wrote this post.  chris, who i only barely knew through molly and the now-fizzled out homesteading blog (in fact, the only time we'd met was at our foray into cheesemaking) responded, offering some assistance.  in a nutshell, chris wanted to keep bees but had no space, and i had the space but not the time to learn how to keep bees.  a match made in heaven.  or something like that.  by the time we got it all together last year, it was too late in the season and it didn't work out.  but this year, it all came together and i'm a happy landlady to my bee tenants.  

chris came over a couple of weeks ago and we set up the hive boxes and about a week and a half ago the bees arrived and chris and her friend joe successfully transferred them into the hive while jared and i watched in awe.  to say we're excited about this would be an understatement.  our yard isn't that big, so these little ones are practically right out our backdoor and almost every morning we go out and just watch them crawl in and out of the little holes in the front of the hives.  we checked on them earlier this week to confirm that both queens were alive (they are!) and we found that they've already begun drawing out the comb (making wax) and collecting pollen.  if we look closely as they return to the hive, we can see the yellow/orange spots on their legs, which is the pollen they've collected.  

i'm so excited to learn more about this, and feel so lucky to have such a capable teacher/beekeeper to take this on (and i know how grateful chris is for our yard, so i feel like this is such a perfect exchange).  i hope you all are ready for a summer full of bee-talk!

and yes, in case any of you are wondering, this is legal in minneapolis.  at the moment, it's legal to keep chickens and bees in the city, and i know there are folks working on getting permits available for hoofed animals (particularly goats), which are allowed in st. paul.  i recently read that there are currently only 6 permits for beekeeping, which we're one of! (though i have a feeling most city beekeepers don't have permits...)

The world's cleanest dishtowel.

 

I'm afraid to use it.  I know, how ridiculous is that?  It's just, well, it's so pretty.  I don't want it to get stained.  Though, part of me really wants it to get worn and soft and maybe have some stains.  Maybe I just need to make more, so I'm not too attached to this one.  That's it.  I need more.

I knew as soon as I started this first project of mine from the Alabama Stitch Book, that I would be addicted.  And, I was.  I really enjoyed the reverse applique technique--which involves creating a stencil, transferring the stencil to the fabric, hand-stitching around the stenciled images and then cutting out the top layer of fabric inside the stenciled image.  I really loved all the steps that this project involved.  There was something about this project that was so calming, and even though this was new for me, I immediately felt that I could take this technique and make it my own. 

herbal teas:: quite possibly a new obsession

Sometime last year, I became mildly obsessed with herbalism. Maybe it began when I was visiting a dear friend in Oakland who has become something of an herbalist herself, but I asked her what kinds of medicinal plants I should plant in my garden. I started small...some lavender, calendula, chamomile, peppermint and spearmint, along with some other herbs that definitely have medicinal properties (rosemary, thyme, sage). By the end of the summer, I had grown a mini-arsenal that I dried and have finally picked off the stems and stored in jars.

In addition to the herbs that I grew myself, I've been stocking up my pantry with more from a great local natural foods store. At the recommendation of my friend, I purchased two books that have so far proven to be excellent. The first, Growing 101 Herbs that Heal, is mostly for gardening and was really helpful when I was deciding which herbs I wanted to grow myself. It does include some recipes for how to use the herbs too, but I found it most helpful for information on growing herbs.

The second book, Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health, well, it's just amazing. This book is all recipes on how to make everything from cough syrup to face cream. I haven't yet tried out any of the body care recipes, but I certainly hope to soon. And I just finished off a small jar of "Rosemary's Perfect Cream" that my friend gifted me and I think I need to make myself some more. I have signed up for a winter skin remedies class at my local co-op in a couple of weeks, so that might be the answer! These are two books I would highly recommend, but what I would also recommend is checking some out of your local library to see what you like, then go buy the ones that seem worth keeping around!

The main herbalist thing I've gotten into so far, though, is tea. I've concocted a fairly standard tea that I think is good for daily drinking. It includes burdock root, red clover, peppermint (from my garden!), nettle leaf, and lemon balm. {This is the mixture in these photos}. I've been trying to brew a pot of these every other day or so and just have it on hand to drink a little cup each day.

It's been really exciting to experiment and learn about the different properties of the different herbs. I've tried a headache tea with feverfew, and a throat coating tea with marsh mallow root. I'm also brewing a headache tincture with feverfew and lavender (imagine my surprise to discover that there just happened to be feverfew growing in the yard at our old apartment!). In fact, I need to strain that tincture, it's been a little bit too long brewing....

Even though it's January (and freaking freezing outside, literally) I am starting to dream about my garden this year. I do hope to plant more medicinal plants. I'm also hoping to find some places where I can wildcraft some of the herbs I use the most. I know there's a ton of nettle growing around here that most people probably wouldn't miss...

canning tomatoes, a few months ago

Even though this is about two months behind schedule, I still wanted to share with you about my tomato sauce. In keeping with my effort this summer to preserve food that we would actually eat, as opposed to just jams that served primarily for gift-giving, I was determined to preserve tomatoes. The fact that canning tomatoes don't require a pressure canner also helped this determination (man, I need to get a pressure canner for next year). Back in mid-September, I bought a bushel of "canning tomatoes" from one of my favorite vendors at our local farmers market.

I had read a lot of mixed writings about whether or not it was safe to add any vegetables (even garlic) to tomato sauce that was to be canned in a boiling water bath (and not using a pressure canner). Not feeling confident, I decided to just go with totally plain tomato sauce, with just a little bit of lemon juice and salt added (to add acidity and then balance it out, respectively). I figured that I would be warming up the tomato sauce anyways when I take it out and prepare it, so it wouldn't be too big of a deal to add some browned garlic and other herbs or vegetables.

For next year, I'll have to look into more canning recipes. And if any of you have any knowledge or suggestions on this, please do share it in the comments section! I used the food mill that I inherited from my grandma to puree the sauce and just poured it into the sterilized jars as is. I ended up with about six and a half quarts of sauce.

In addition to the sauce, I also canned five quarts of plain crushed tomatoes. I figure I will use these for soups or stews or other recipes. Or, I could always make some tomato sauce with this as well. To be honest, I'm blanking a little bit on my process for this. But I'm pretty sure that I followed the instructions for "Cut Up Plain Tomatoes" from Putting Food By. The instructions are just to wash and peel the tomatoes, cut into quarters, bring to a boil in a pot and then simmer for about five minutes before packing into sterilized jars.

I'm really excited about having these tomatoes in my little pantry in the basement (I have a pantry!). And I even used one quart of tomato sauce this past weekend to make lasagne! It was so exciting to use this, along with one of the bags of spinach that I'd frozen earlier in the summer, in my cooking. To be honest, I'm already worried that what I've preserved won't last me a year, but hey, that's okay. This is all a learning process for me, right?

and now...back to regularly scheduled programming

Hi Everyone!

I know I promised to get back to this space last week, but the truth is, I'm still settling into everything. Also, we don't have our own internet set up at the house yet (we're "borrowing" from our neighbors). The telephone system is a mess and Jared is working on sorting it out. I do really miss being here and I think in this time of chaos and craziness, I've been longing to be here with you all. So, I'm going to start carving out some time to post here as much as I can. Promise.

Sooooo. I finally finished my first pair of socks! I know, somewhere in the midst of buying a house and all that craziness, I found some time to knit. Actually, I stole some time to knit. But whatever. And, I wore them today. They're a teeny bit baggier than I would have liked, but I'd say that for my very first pair of socks, I did a pretty damn good job. So there.

For my birthday, my mom bought me a book, some yarn, and fancy needles, for another pair of socks. I have few projects ahead of that in the queue, but there will definitely be some more socks in my future....

--------------------------------------------------
Pattern: Basic Ribbed Socks
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine
Needles: Size 2, double pointed.
Modifications: None! This pattern was great for a beginner like me.

{on Ravelry, here}

gleaning

First of all, thank you all so much for you sweet comments about our calendar and my birthday yesterday. It was so fun to check into my email and find all your sweet wishes from around the world! And I'm so over the moon with our calendar, I truly hope you like it too. I've put it on my sidebar here, so you can continue to download it throughout the fall.

While we're on the subject of collaborations (and taking a break from the food blogging- though don't you worry, I've got a few more of those up my sleeve), I thought I'd tell you about another project that I was so fortunate to play a small role in recently. Over the summer, my friend Martha was sweet enough to ask me if I'd model her clothing for her upcoming collection, gleaning, which was also to be the launch of Uniform Natural. I've been a fan of Martha's clothing ever since I discovered it a few years ago. And with Sarah as the photographer, my nervousness about not actually being a model was at least a little bit calmed down.

This was the first time any of us participated in any kind of photoshoot like this, and it was really fun to figure it all out together. We learned a lot about what works and what doesn't (i.e. a five and a half hour shoot is just a little too long) and I think we now understand why people get paid the big bucks to do this work. But seriously, these two ladies are both incredibly talented and I am so honored to call them my friends, and to have been a part of this.

Martha's new website, Uniform Natural, is now up! So go check it out! The collection will be available in her shop next week (October 8) and after having played dress-up in all of these clothes, I can tell you that they are really really lovely. I'm so inspired by Martha's mindfulness in her work- every single aspect of these clothes have been considered for how sustainable they are. From the design process, to the materials and procedures used to create them, to how they are made to last and not go out of style, to how she worked with other local peeps (including Jen, who built the new website) to make this all happen, it's all there.

Also, Sarah will be offering a polaroid print in her shop later today. It's one of my favorites, so be sure to check that out too!


PS: these are the only four photos that I shot that entire day, but I think they are a good representation of my experience!

pickles

I know, I know, my post titles are getting increasingly creative. I guess when the posts feel so straightforward, I'm just not sure what else to call them. You know, other than "pickles". And then, of course, there won't be any confusion regarding the topic of my post.

So, yeah, I made some pickles. I have always LOVED pickles. Seriously....loved. When I was in high school, and my friends and I would end up at some all night diner at two in the morning, I would generally order a side of pickles. For real. But I only like the real sour ones. The ones that make you cringe. In fact, at the State Fair last summer, one of the exciting new foods was pickle juice popsicles (I like to refer to them as picklesickles). Sadly, I never found them at the fair, but I'm still thinking about them!

This year, with all my preserving, I really wanted to try making some good kosher dill pickles. The first thing I needed to learn was what the heck the difference between dill and kosher dill was. I learned that kosher dill has garlic, while regular dill, well, doesn't have garlic. The first batch I made was using the recipe from the old Joy of Cooking. I bought a new copy of the Joy a few years ago, thinking that any self-respecting cook/baker absolutely needed a copy. Then, after my grandma passed away and I moved to Minneapolis, I received no less than seven boxes full of kitchen supplies (I could seriously bake 5 angel food cakes, 3 bundt cakes, 3 dozen muffins, and maybe eight other cakes without washing a single pan). And one whole box was full of her old cookbooks, including a 1964 version of the Joy. I soon discovered that the older Joy had way more recipes for things like preserves and skinning squirrels. You know, the important stuff. So anyways, the newer Joy has no pickle recipes, the older one does.

The recipe for kosher dill pickles from the 1964 Joy of Cooking tells you to add to the cucumbers and brine: peeled and sliced garlic cloves (which do not go in the jars, just in the brine) dill seeds and peppercorns. I made two quarts of this type of pickle. Then my boss started talking about spicy polish dill pickles that she used make when she was a kid. This sounded intriguing, so I got to searching for a recipe, and found this one. And then proceeded to make eight pint jars of this type. The only adjustment to the recipe was that in a few jars I used fresh whole hot red peppers (the recipe calls for either dried whole or flakes) and in the rest I used flakes.

This was back in July. I have since tasted both types and the verdict is definitely in favor of the spicy polish dills. The kosher dills were still a bit sweet when we cracked open the jar last week. They might need some more time to get more sour, so I'm not opening the second jar for a few more months. Also, they were totally mushy. Ick! I did read in Putting Food By (after the fact) that putting a whole grape leaf or cherry leaves (which might be easier, since I have access to a cherry tree!) in the jar with the pickles helps to keep them crisper. The spicy polish dills were definitely spicy, but not burn your mouth off spicy. They were not as crisp as I would have liked, but were way crisper than the kosher dills. And, as a plus, you get to chomp on a spicy pickled pepper! The other thing I liked better about the spicy vs. kosher is that you use fresh dill, and leave the garlic cloves in the jars. I might try that next year in the kosher dills, making them essentially the same as the spicy polish minus the hot pepper, for the lighthearted folks out there. We'll see.

I was really hoping to pickle some other veggies, like string beans, after discovering recently that I like other pickled things! I'm hoping to get the book, Wild Fermentation, from the library soon, and try making sauerkraut! (Though actually, the author does have a basic recipe on the website...).

What are your favorite pickles/sauerkraut/other fermented foods to make??

the first sock

Hey Everyone! Sorry to have disappeared for so long again. Things here have been busy busy busy. I'm hoping to pick up some film today that will have lots of photos to share with you all. So if all goes according to plan, it won't be quiet around here any more.

But, we're here to talk about socks today. You wouldn't know it since it's been in the mid-80s here for the past week or so, but fall is fast approaching (despite today's warm temps, I did just hear that we might have some frost next week!). This summer with all my travels, I decided that I needed a small, portable knitting project. Looking back at my crafty goals for the year, it was clear that it was finally time to start a pair of socks.

I picked up a skein of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in a beautiful deep purple color. Initially I had my heart set on the Marlene pattern that I had found in Knit.1 (Fall/Winter 2008 issue). I actually cast those one and stuck with it for a while, but the pattern was a little complicated for me (I'm not a huge fan of charts) and frankly the dark color that I had chosen was really not optimal for something with such a subtle pattern. So I frogged that (not that I had gotten very far) and searched around for a more basic pattern. I came to the "Basic Ribbed Socks" pattern, which was way more my speed.

And the other night, while watching a few episodes of Mad Men, I finished the first sock! I'm so impressed with myself. So far, the only mistake I've made is that I made the leg part a little longer than it called for (not really a problem). It seems to fit pretty well, but I am worried that over time (even over a day of wearing them) it will slouch down a little. My mom suggested sewing some elastic thread around the top- so I might try that. And now, I'm forcing myself to cast on the second sock right away before I get distracted by another project. I want to have me a pair of handknit socks for this winter!

ps: and just in case I don't finish my second sock in time, Melissa tempted me into ordering some new knee socks for fall, and they're quite dreamy...

quilt progress

It is coming along. I'm still nervous about the recipients' decision to not actually buy a comforter, since they are confident in my abilities to complete this thing by the time it's cold enough in Maine to require a quilt. But I'm moving along as fast as I can today. The top is completed (and I'm pretty proud of myself).

A few notes about the pattern that I've come up with so far, just in case any of you are considering this quilt. This pattern is NOT for a queen sized quilt. The size is not specified at all in the pattern, and I totally should have figured that math out before I started making it. So, since I followed the directions as they were, only then to find out that it was not big enough for a queen sized bed, I'll tell you what I did. I just added panels around the edges (I think this is often called sashing, in quilting language? Am I right? I'm calling them panels) that were 10" wide each, adding 20" in length and 20" in width to the entire piece. This worked fine, and was honestly the easiest solution. Despite the fact that every single fabric store in the metro area appeared to be sold out of Kona Cotton in Chocolate (the background fabric, and what I had wanted to use for the panels), so I used Espresso (which was actually what I initially wanted to use for the background fabric, but they were sold out of that one before). I'm hoping nobody cares. I don't.

The other option for adapting this one, if you're planning ahead, is to just add more strips to the pattern, and make the strips longer. The finished size of the top, if it's made exactly as the pattern states, is about 75"x86". A queen sized quilt top should be about 95"x108" (mine is 95"x105", but whatever). So there you have it.

I also have the fabric for the back purchased, washed and ironed (I chose one of the solid Kona Cotton green colors that I had used in the top) so all I have to do is cut that in two and sew it together. Then, I can pin it all up, and start the quilting. Again, it's a good thing I've gotten our netflix restarted. Speaking of which, any good movie recommendations? Since we restarted netflix, we've watched the first disc of Mad Men season 1 (which I liked, Jared seemed indifferent), Munich, the Breakfast Club (Jared had never seen it, and come on! We had to!), and Bottle Rocket. So yeah, any suggestions would be much appreciated, since I'm going to have to majorly park myself on the couch to get this one done.

printing

After seeing Martha's post about the Free Ink Days at the Highpoint Center for Printmaking, I knew I had to check it out. Somehow, I had never been there--like so many cool places in my city that I've yet to discover!-- and I'm so glad that I looked it up when I did and was able to attend their last Free Ink Day in their current location. My friend Karen and I headed over there last Saturday and had tons of fun playing around in their studios.

On the day that we went, they were offering monotype as well as the usual printing with pre-made woodcuts. They had some images printed out on cardstock that you could cut out and use for your print, but we opted to make our own designs. The monotype process is really fun and simple, though I think it takes a little bit of thinking to wrap your brain around the layering of the colors. The first one I made is the one on the left (gee, does that bird look familiar?!), and the second one I made is for Jared. I knew he'd get all nitpicky if the bass image was inaccurate, so I was all set to cut out four thin strips for the strings...Of course there was no room for all four strings. So I'm calling it a rare, two string bass. He also mentioned that it's missing the tuning pegs. Oh well.

I've recently been wanting to get back into some kind of printing again--it was a medium that I really enjoyed when I was younger. I think it was mostly the color combinations that I loved (which would probably explain why I enjoy sewing- all that mixing and matching of fabrics). This project was definitely a good inspiration to get moving on my next project that I've got up my sleeve...(I also have a bunch of film shots of the studio that I'll share as soon as I get them back!)

Don't forget to leave a comment on my last post by Thursday at midnight for a chance to win a big pile of fabric!

a little belated, but that's okay.

Back in December, I was feeling a little overwhelmed with all the making that was going on. Between the big craft fair weekend, and all those freaking cookies, it was a little much. I was pretty happy that I had made about fifteen thousand jars of jam back in the summer, because everyone loves jam for the holidays!

I did make a few presents, and one of them was these two little hats for Jared's nephews. I had bought this super soft fleece to back some of my patchwork scarves and I thought it would be perfect for some easy peasy (and cute!) hats for the little ones. It was. Unfortunately, the hats were way too small. And the design I made up was way too wonky. What I originally did was take two flat pieces of the fleece (shaped in half circles essentially) and sew them together, with either the bear ears or the dinosaur spikes sandwiched in on the top. Then I added a contrasting band around the bottom with earflaps and ties. Unfortunately, this fleece is not very stretchy and using just two pieces was way too flat (on top of being just plain too small).

So I finally got around to re-doing these hats over the weekend. I realized that I needed to make the design a little more, um, three dimensional. So I copied a fleece hat that I have and made the top portion of the hat have four triangles that got sewn together to make it more round. The contrasting band with the earflaps and ties became a little bigger and the hats are way better. This was a super easy project that (once I got the pattern figured out) seriously took less than an hour per hat (maybe even less, I wasn't exactly timing myself). Since I don't have kids of my own, it's always really hard for me to gauge sizing for kids. After the first hats were too small, I had Jared's sister-in-law measure their heads, and it turns out that they're about the same size as mine (they are two and three and a half). This surprised me. The hats might be too big now, but I'd rather let them grow into them than make them again.

The best part about fleece is that you can leave the edges raw since it won't fray. Actually, after finishing the dinosaur one, I realized that I thought it came down too far, so I just trimmed the front a little, so sweet. I love the contrast of the yellow stitching against the light grey and charcoal here too. I also like that the bear ears and dino spikes make this very kid-like, but they're not too cutesy (the color choices probably have something to do with that too!) I didn't really make up pattern pieces for this (which I should so that I don't forget it), just some sketches and notes in my sketchbook. I've been wanting to post a tutorial or free pattern here, so I'd be more than happy to share this one here if anyone is interested.

i made a pizza (or two)

I still find it hard to believe that this is the first time (that I can remember at least) that I've made pizza. And I am seriously wondering why in the world I've never done it before. At the suggestion of Chelsea, I used this recipe for the dough. I have plenty of recipes, but they all required many many more hours of rising, and given how busy I've been, it worked pretty well to come home from work a wee bit early and have a pizza coming out of the oven by 7:30pm last night.

We topped it with some simple tomato sauce, mushrooms, green peppers, artichoke hearts, spinach, and just a touch of onion (we're not big onion people here). I used some deliciously fresh mozzarella on mine, and Jared's, of course was sans-cheese. I don't think I'll ever grow to like cheese-less pizza, but that's fine. It actually worked out perfectly to make two separate ones and they both fit on the baking stone that I have. I baked the pizzas for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees. I really liked the dough, it was the perfect thickness, but I think I'd like it if it was a little less dense. Maybe I'll have to try a longer rising dough recipe next time. In any case, I can tell that pizzas are about to become a regular meal here, I'd like to freeze some dough so I don't have to worry about rising and kneading, just defrosting. I'm also excited to do more pizzas over the summer when we have more fresh veggies and herbs from the garden (I know I had resolved to do that last summer, but it just never happened) What's your favorite kind of pizza?

speaking of dresses...

I made one too! I mentioned earlier this summer, in my summer manifesto, that one of my goals for these past few months was to make a dress to wear to my dear friend Marieka's wedding. Well, as some of you may have noticed, this summer kind of got away from me a little bit. I had a bunch of other projects to work on, and the hot weather isn't really the best motivating factor for sewing. I did some research earlier in the summer and found a good pattern. But then I got stumped. I had no idea where to buy fancy fabric, and I didn't really love the idea of ordering it online. Time was running out, and I started to think that I wasn't going to have time to make this dress. I was sort of resolved to just wear something that I already had.

When my parents came to visit and we were taking a little driving tour of St. Paul, we drove right by this fabric store, Treadle Yard Goods on Grand Avenue. I had heard of it, but had never been there. Frankly, I had thought it was a hardware store with some industrial fabric ("yard goods" to me meant, like, yard work. My mom was kind enough to inform me that it's actually an old fashioned term that was commonly used for sewing stores. Duh!). We went in, and I discovered that this was the store I had been waiting for. They had an amazing selection of fabrics, from Japanese imports and Amy Butler, to silk, to organic cottons, and everything you would ever need for making garments. I decided to make the dress after all.

I picked out some silk dupioni, the pattern I had chosen is Simplicity 3867 (view B). I was super nervous about making this, since I really wanted it to actually look nice and not, well, homemade (in the bad sense of the word). I know I've made lots of clothes this past year, and I know that my skills have really improved since that very first skirt I made last spring. But sometimes I let the little details (like zippers) slide, and I'm normally okay with things not being perfect. But for this dress, I really wanted it to be perfect, and professional looking. Plus, I had never sewn with silk and didn't know what to expect. The women at the store were really helpful and reassuring that I would be able to do this. They even made me feel better when I had to go buy another yard after cutting half of the pattern pieces in the wrong direction on the fabric!

I took it slow, sewing the entire dress over three evenings last week. I only made one minor mistake, which is that the zipper doesn't go down as far as it should, but that's not a big deal, and is something I can fix later on if I want to (I can't deal with fixing anything on this dress right now). Otherwise, I think everything came out just perfectly, and I'm really really happy with it. The fit is a bit looser on the top than I would like, so I think if I make it again, I will take the bodice pieces in a little. I would like to make this again, probably just out of a light cotton for a nice sundress. It was very easy and the instructions were really straightforward.

The wedding is next weekend, so I finished in plenty of time. I had lots of visions of me sewing up until leaving for the airport (which I've done before) and I'm really pleased that I don't have to worry about that! I'm super excited to wear this dress, and now I'm scheming up other fancy parties that we'll have to throw or go to just so I can wear it! We're off to Oregon on Wednesday night, so I'll pop in here again before we take off. Happy Sunday, friends!

phew

This one was a serious doozy. When I was in New York back in April, my mom was kind enough to treat me to a couple of books at Kinokuniya. It was so overwhelming that I hardly knew what to pick (and of course the fact that I couldn't read any of the book titles didn't help). I finally settled on three books, two with seemingly simple clothing patterns, and one on sashiko (which is something I'd really love to tackle, but we're just not there yet).

After pouring through the two clothing books and slowly narrowing down what I would like to make, I finally chose a seemingly simple tank top as the first project (the word "seemingly" is key here). And then, I stared at the pattern for a while. And a little while longer. I finally decided that I needed (for the first time, ahem, ever) to make a muslin. The real motivation to do this was that the book (ISBN: 978-4-277-72252-0) only comes with one size of the pattern. Miraculously (seriously, I don't know how the heck this happened) the size pattern in the book fit me perfectly. I haven't tried any other patterns yet, but I'm guessing this means that every pattern in this book is custom made for me. Sweet!

So I made the muslin to make sure the size was right, because I had already picked fabric that I knew I wanted to use and I had just enough for this shirt and really didn't want to screw it up. I also made the muslin because the henley neckline was shockingly confusing. Seriously, I'm still baffled by these diagrams. I stared at them for literally weeks. I fudged my way through the muslin verison and decided I had kind of figured out a way to make it work, even if it wasn't what the pattern was saying (which I still haven't figured out, ideas?). Seriously, if any of you have ideas as to what this diagram is trying to tell me to do, feel free to share. Here's what I ended up doing: I cut a slit down the middle of the front neckline. At the bottom of the slit, I cut a short (about 1.5") horizontal slit. I topstitched the cotton tape around the edge of the fabric on either side of the vertical slit. Then I folded one of the sides on top of the other, and stitched two small rectangles of the cotton tape over the opening at the bottom of the slit (one on the inside and one on the outside). This worked just fine, but you end up with a small pleat at the bottom of your button band. Let me know if this doesn't make sense, or if anyone is interested in more detailed explanation of what I did, I can do a little tutorial or something. Or maybe you all know how to do this already and I just reinvented the wheel.

So I went ahead and cut the fabric, and made the whole thing in a few hours (maybe 5-6 hours). This is of course not including the weeks that I spent thinking about that dang neckline. But hey, I think it worked out pretty well. The fabric is a really really soft white/tan gingham that I picked up at that fabric sale back in April. I think it's some kind of linen or cotton/linen blend (this is the trouble with buying fabric second-hand, I have no idea what most of it is). There wasn't enough to do the bias binding out of the same fabric, which I think I would have liked. I also kind of like the contrasting binding, though. And the button band is some amazing tape that arrived just in time from Leslie (along with some other beautiful linen tape). I still need to work on my buttonholes (I think this is partly a limitation of my skills and partly a limitation of my machine), but I don't really see myself ever unbuttoning this so I'm not too concerned.

The only other drawbacks of this pattern is that the armholes are just a tad too big, and the same for the neck, so that the back of the neck kind of stands out a little. Again, nothing too serious, I'm definitely going to wear this, a lot. And it will look super cute with a long-sleeve shirt underneath in the fall and winter (how it's shown on the model). So yeah, this was a hard one. I'm pretty proud of myself for figuring it out and getting it done. And my Japanese skills haven't improved at all, by the way. I've got a couple of other patterns from this book, and even more from the other one that I'd love to try. Also, the photographs in these books are just amazing, I'll have to share those with you later.

Happy Monday everyone!

on being challenged

You may have noticed (unless you've been living under a rock) that I've gotten more focused on photography these last few months. I've really enjoyed this new project of mine, working with this old film camera. I have so much less control than I do with the digital camera. The first reason for this being that I don't really know how to use this old film camera. I'm slowly figuring it out, but I'm always expecting more than a couple overexposed/blurry/nonexistent prints each time I pick up my developed film.

I've been working on being a bit more focused and intentional when taking film photos because there's a sense of preciousness that just doesn't exist for me (or for most people, I think) with digital. And with polaroid, well, that's just the essence of precious in my opinion. In any case, when I first heard of The Photo Trade, organized by the amazing Jen of Nectar & Light, I was intrigued. I missed the sign up a few times and finally made it in time for the June trade: Into the Light.

It's been really helpful and fun to have a specific challenge for my photography, this theme to focus on. I spent some time really thinking about what I wanted my photograph to be and taking different versions. I had, of course, assumed that I would use my digital camera for this project. Mostly because I felt it gave me more control and I would be more likely to produce a photo I really wanted to use. However, as I've mentioned here, that ended up being impossible after that fateful slip on a wet hiking trail. So I was left with film. I shot photo after photo as the deadline approached and I was really worried that nothing good would come back from that roll of film.

I was quite thrilled to have four photos come back that I was really happy with. Even though the trade only requires one photo, it became immediately clear that I had two very fitting diptychs on my hands. I hemmed and hawed for a few days about which one I liked better and ultimately chose the outdoor shots. Like I said, it was really fun to have this challenge. After doing my photo a day project in April, I realized that it really is quite helpful to have a goal or specific project or theme when taking photos. At least for me, at this point in my photography, it provides a focal point that I really appreciate. I've learned a lot from these projects, from other bloggers and fellow flickrers. To be more thoughtful about my photographs, and about everything that I create.

one step closer.

Okay okay, I know I warned you all, but things have been exceptionally slow over here since I returned from San Francisco. I promise to pick it up. This week was all about getting settled into my photo a day project, so I've been spending an inordinate amount of time on flickr. I think I've settled into a routine with it though, so hopefully we'll be picking up the pace over here again (although it remains to be seen how well I do once I'm back at work- have I mentioned I had this whole week off? yeah.).

Speaking of having the week off with no real plans, I had made myself a long list of things to do. Errands, starting seeds for my garden, making some new bags for the shop and a craft fair coming up next month, etc. One thing that was not on my list was to design and make a new dress. Oops. I guess it should've been. Because then, I could have crossed it off the list. (Don't you just love crossing things off your list? Sometimes I add things to my list that I've already done, just so I can have something to cross off. Shh, don't tell.)

I've had this dress idea in my head for quite sometime. It was initially inspired by this one, by the ever talented Jenny Gordy of Wiksten-Made. Then I saw this one, whipped up by another talented lady, Meg McElwee of Montessori by Hand (hers was also inspired by Jenny's). Then finally, I spotted this one, that Andrea over at Scout had designed. There is also a jumper pattern (well, a few) in my One Day Sewing Japanese craft book that I've posted about before. So I used that pattern for a jumping off point as well. The stars were aligned. Jumpers were popping up everywhere. I've been talking, writing, and dreaming about designing my own patterns for months now. It was time.

Now, I fully understand that this is not by any means the most elaborate pattern ever created. It was so simple, in fact, that I didn't even cut out any pattern pieces. It's just a series of rectangles, two simple darts, one big gather, hems, and a nice vintage ribbon. (Seriously, what you see here is my entire pattern, that's really it). So, I'm not getting too proud of myself yet. But just a little bit. I feel like creating something without a pattern is one step closer to creating my own pattern. I've got lots of ideas for slightly more elaborate pieces of clothing that would definitely require actual pattern pieces. So I'm working my way there, slowly.

{I've added a new feature on the left sidebar called "right here: right now" that will be a rotating list of links to new discoveries that are inspiring me right now. These might be new blogs, shops, flickr pages, or anything else I come across somewhere across the internets. Hope you enjoy them!}

For the little ones

I mentioned last week that I was working on an exciting project. I hope I didn't build it up to much, because now that it's finished, it sorta doesn't seem like that big of a deal. But I guess it was. One of my crafty goals for 2008 was to make clothing for someone other than myself. I must admit, that I kind of had this project in mind when I set that goal, but I'm happy to report that it has been achieved.

This first piece of clothing was for Jared's nephew's third birthday present this past weekend. It was a challenge, and I think I did a pretty good job. It's certainly not perfect, but what is these days? Seriously, is this not the cutest hoodie you've ever seen? Look at those little pocket openings. I'm in love.

This was my first time working with knit jersey, my first time following a pattern from Ottobre, and it may have been the most detailed pattern that I've ever used with the least detailed instructions. Amanda first told me about Ottobre last summer when I asked her for suggestions for cute patterns for little boys. I know I've detailed the saga involved in actually getting this magazine before, so I won't repeat myself. What I will say is that I really love this magazine. The patterns are super cute and pretty easy to follow. Like the Japanese book I've been using, you have to sort of follow a combination of the instructions and your judgment of what the finished product is supposed to look like (although these instruction are in English, so it's not even comparable to the level of confusion experienced while trying to follow a pattern in another language). So I would say that you kind of need to have some sewing experience to be able to follow these instructions without tearing your hair out. But you definitely do not need to be an expert.

This second piece is for my cousin's baby who turns two this weekend. I slightly miscalculated the amount of fabric I needed, but I was only short a little and it still turned out great. Again, not perfect, but I think it's super cute! I just hope it fits her since it's been over a year since I last saw her.

I love all the patterns in this magazine and am now thinking of other children that I know who might need some handmade clothing....I'm still working on checking projects off the list, but I'm also thinking that a shop update may be in store sometime later this month. I've got some new ideas brewing and I think I may finally be over my holiday rush overload. I'll keep you all posted. Back tomorrow with another installment of green week.

Granola Head

I have been called a granola head more than once in my twenty-five years. I never really thought that I deserved it, although now I would take that name willingly. As much as I majorly love our local coop, the granola selection leaves much to be desired, and I found that I never eat cereal for breakfast anymore because I just couldn't find a good one. One that wasn't too sweet or too cardboard-y. I'd never made granola myself, but I kept seeing this recipe pop up all around blogland, so I figured I'd give it a try. And it was good. I think I baked it a little too long, but it was good.

And then, I was wanting to keep riding this granola wave. When I lived in Berkeley, my local grocery store had the best "ginger snap granola" and now I'm looking to see if I can replicate that- I loved the gingery spiciness of it. And I wanted to send a jar of homemade granola along with the oven mitts, so I was looking for another recipe to try out. Molly must have read my mind as she posted a recipe just a few days ago as I was searching. This is the winner so far my friends. Sweet, but not too sweet. Not too crumbly, but just the right balance of clumps and loose ingredients. Perfect, I would say. It's not ginger snap, mind you, I'm still on the lookout for that. But it's delicious. And mix it up with some of the best organic yogurt and a little pure maple syrup. mmm mmm mmm.

{By the by, that's Molly's on the left and Stephanie's on the right up there}