Daylight, Maple Syrup, + Fedoras Mishap
Hello Colorful Friends!
Good news everyone. I read this week that every day in February we gain 3 minutes of daylight. That means that in February we will gain almost 1 1/2 hours of daylight. That makes me really happy. Although I don't mind the dark hours of winter, by February I am really beginning to crave the sun and getting outside again.
In our small town in western Massachusetts there are signs that sugaring will begin soon. Maple sugaring is such a rite of coming spring and a reminder of days gone by. It's amazing how many little sugar houses there are throughout the hill towns around here. Although most maple producers use plastic pipelines, there are still the old fashioned buckets to be seen. Our friends at Justamere Farm have a nice mail order business. Check it out here.
This week on the blog, I wrote about a knitting fiasco I had with my first knitting project in quite some time - a Mushroom Cap from the Moroccan Fedora PDF Pattern. You can read about it here. This is how the finished cap turned out after I "saved" it. You can purchase the Moroccan Fedora pattern on my website here or on Ravelry here.
The World Knits Collection continues to roll out. This week I introduced:
Vivaciously Vibrant Vests Whimsical Tea Cozies
Brilliant Bags Warm Wooly Wraps
All are available on my website and in my Ravelry store
Photos follow.
Brilliant Bags blog post here
Order on my website here
or on Ravelry here
Warm Wooly Wraps blog post here
Order on my website here
or on Ravelry here
Vivaciously Vibrant Vests
Order on my website here
or on Ravelry here
Whimsical Tea Cozies
Order on my website here
or on Ravelry here
Ten more lambs arrived this week. The barn is starting to look more like a nursery.
Here are some good links I have discovered.
• I love this story about a knitter/weaver from the Peruvian highlands over on the Thrums blog.
• Do your cats like to watch TV? I found this cool Youtube channel with videos just for cats - some that are 8 hours long like this one.
• I grew up in Dover, NJ just down the hill from Jeff Shiffrin. His Mom Betty drove me to school for several years - she was a school nurse. My Dad grew up with his Dad Al. Jeff is the father of World Cup Ski Racer Mikaela Shiffrin. Sadly Jeff passed away this past week. Here is a nice essay about him in the NY TImes and a nice video from NBC Sports. He was a wonderful man - so proud of his beautiful and talented family. We are so sad for this loss.
• Amy Butler is leading trips to India. I have been enjoying her Instagram feed this week. Such beautiful cloth.
• Over on the Mason-Dixon website, Ann, Kay and Kaffe have gotten into stranded knitting and steeking. Nice to see.
Thanks so much for all your support of The World Knits Collection. It is so gratifying to have these patterns back out in the world again. I hope you are finding some good hours to do some adventurous knitting. Spread the word and I can't wait to see what you knit.
Yours in color and creativity,
Kristin Nicholas
Magnificent Mittens Blog Post here
Purchase from my website here
or from Ravelry here
Magical Mocassins blog post here
Order on my website here
or on Ravely here
Marvelous Mukluks blog post here
Purchase on my website here
or on Ravelry here
Moroccan Fedoras blog post here
Order from my website here
or from Ravelry here
Here is a video of my Talk at Google. I went to Cambridge, Massachusetts and spoke at their offices there in late June.
A fun video of our farm, our farmhouse, and my family. Our farm is located 2 hours from Boston and 3 1/2 hours from NYC. We are at the northern most part of western Massachusetts bordering Vermont. Our farm is 15 minutes off of Route 91, the north/south highway connecting Montreal to NYC.