Liberty!

For twelve years I've been wanting to make this Liberty Cap.  Twelve years ago I wasn't too sure about using double pointed needles and didn't know where to find red wool.  Twelve years, and all it took me when I finally tried was a week!

The pattern I used is popular among reenactors.  I'm not sure about its accuracy to French and American revolutions, but the association is still there: Fight the power!  The pattern is easy enough for a beginner, really, and it can easily be adapted to flat knitting on two needles.  Some use this pattern to make a Link costume, and I also think it would be good for a Night Before Christmas "...Mama in her kerchief and I in my cap...."

Oh, remember the fake Liberty Caps from last year's Bastille Day?

How To Catch A Rainbow

Wonderful Shannon is visiting for a few weeks.  Maybe she'll teach me how to catch a rainbow.

Fairy Mitts for a Best Friend

I have a dear friend in Seattle.  I do not live in Seattle.  We've been best friends for 18 years, the kind that might only be in touch once a year, and might be roommates.  But we're always friends.

Friend, mini friend, pride parasol!

She's very crafty.  This one time, she made a baby (some people are into cross stitch, some people are into babies).  Soon after, she made a gorgeous rainbow pride parasol, blowing a basic doily pattern out of the water.

Modeling on the bus.  Camera phone?

So I saw this fancy rainbow yarn and decided to make rainbow fairy mitts for her. A nice easy pattern that shows off the yarn, is small (and cheap!), and knits fast.  Love for a silly, nerdy woman. Wish I could be there in person.  <3

Growing a Broom, part 1

For seven years, I've fantasized about making a broom, and it looks like I might finally be doing it!

I sowed "Hungarian Black Seeded Broom Corn" seed from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in May.  I've mentioned SESE before.  The beautiful thing about planting heirloom variety plants is that you can save the seeds to start another generation next year.  Of course, this is the way nature usually does things, but with our modern hybrids, the seeds do not contain the genetic information of the parent.  You cannot, for instance, plant a typical apple from the grocery store and expect the fruits of its seed to resemble the apple you selected from the produce section.  But non-hybrid, non-GMO varieties reproduce again, year after year.  We have seed savers of the past to thank for not giving up and letting the old varieties die out.  Southern Exposure is a great collectively owned business that is keeping up this tradition today.

I had little idea what to expect of the seed, never having seen a broom corn plant before.  "Broom corn" is a little of a colloquial name.  The plant does resemble maize-corn in some ways, but it is actually a kind of sorghum.  A spray of pliable fibers carrying seeds crowns the mature plant, and these fibers emerged as our standard broom bristles around the turn of the nineteenth century.  This is a black seeded variety; Southern Exposure sells two other varieties, a red seeded and a rainbow seeded.

Weeds too!

I had access to a small plot of land that had already been tilled and harrowed.  Since I wasn't going to be driving any farm equipment between rows, I figured exact row spacing was not necessary, but I aimed for around three feet of spacing.  I sowed the seeds about 1/4 inch deep and four inches apart (May 30).  I made sure they got water.  And they came up!

I used a scuffle hoe between the rows to keep weeds down.  When the plants were a few inches high, I thinned them to a one foot spacing and started to hoe between plants as well.  Now look at them!  About three feet tall, they are bigger than I am when seated.  I've done some gardening before, but this is my first gardening attempt that is "all mine."  I am pleased with the progress!  Fingers crossed that these babies will continue doing well!

Quiet Solstice: Litha 2012

"Hey, it's solstice tomorrow.  We should do something."

"OK.  What?"

"Henna.  The pond.  Both."

I find the solstices (and to a lesser extent, the equinoxes) the most significant days in the entire year.  No matter your religion or philosophy, the solstices are always there, observable, real.  They remind us that life has ups and downs; that we experience dark and light in turn; that our lives may be short as we hurtle through the void, yet we stand together with our faces turned towards a star.

Blessed be.

phrase with a triple meaning

Sunday Afternoon Pizza

Besides making a really great Goddess-God couple, these two are fantastic chefs.

There must be a cheesy crust.

Mix the toppings.

Make it beautiful.

Make it delicious.

Hey friends, when will we be having this again?

Spinning Wheel, Trial One

Early last year a friend lent me her spinning wheel and gave me roving to try out.  I'd become pretty proficient in drop spindle and wanted to move on.  Wheel spinning is pretty popular at heritage festivals and craft fairs, not to mention a decent skill for a woman working at a historic site, so I wanted to learn.

Thanks for the help, Heather.

 I have a few neighbors with wheels and some roving too.  Maybe a handspun sweater is in my future.