February 2021 Newsletter

From the Farm

Hello Colorful Friends!

It’s hard to believe it is already February 2021, isn’t it? Life is chugging along here at Leyden Glen Farm. And when I say life, I literally mean it. We are in the midst of lambing season.

We have had over 100 lambs from 68 mamas. Not the greatest lambing percentage. Every year is different. We’ve only had one lamb in the kitchen which I consider a huge success and there are currently only two bottle lambs. (Two other orphan lambs went to live at Hannah’s farm.) Sometimes a mama will reject her lamb. This happens for a multitude of reasons. The most common are either the mother doesn’t have enough milk to feed multiple lambs or the mother senses there is something wrong with the lamb and she won’t care for her baby. That’s when The Farmer steps in and becomes surrogate mother. It doesn’t always end in success. It’s amazing to me that a ewe can tell there is something wrong with her baby but it will take a human hours and hours of care and feeding and worrying to end up losing the lamb in the end. Nature is amazing.

Life and death is very front and center when you live on a farm. I grew up in the suburbs of NJ. My husband Mark (who I sometimes refer to as The Farmer) was born on a dairy farm and livestock farming has always been a huge part of his life. His matter-of-fact attitude towards life and death was much more realistic than mine was when we began farming over 35 years ago. Over our life on this farm, I have become accustomed to all that there is in raising livestock and have a much more common sense attitude on life. One of our daughter Julia’s most memorable, repeated lines is “It’s not dead yet Daddy.” And that is so true. Lambs can take fast turns for the worse which sometimes leads to loss of life. And then sometimes they will rally with our care and survive to live out their lives on our farm to a ripe old age. There is always that possibility and that’s what is so interesting about livestock farming.

Enough sheep and lamb chat……

For long time Newsletter Readers, you may have noticed a change in this newsletter. It has been ongoing since 2012. I am experimenting with a new platform called Substack. It was developed in 2017 for independent writers. I discovered it through food blogger David Lebovitz who I have followed for eons (here’s David’s Substack). I researched a bit, watched some videos, and just last month merged my Mailchimp mailing list with Substack. There are many options for me as a writer on the platform. For now, I’m using it just as I did in my previous format but I may add paid features as time goes on. Substack also features the option to have “threads” that give readers a chance to chime in on a post. For you brave readers, you can comment at the end of this newsletter and all readers will be able to see your comment. Maybe we can start a dialogue? Substack is kind of like a blog but different. If you are a newletter writer and want to learn more about Substack, check out Abby Glassenberg’s informative article on Craft Industry Alliance here.

January is over……

Here’s what is happening in my creative making life. I’m not sure about you but I always find January to be a bit of a slog. The holidays (as odd as they were this year due to the Pandemic) are over and it is always a bit of a let-down. I tend to hibernate, feel guilty that I’m not amounting to much, think about why the heck I’m not feeling the creativity mojo, wonder if I will ever make anything again…… I’ve talked to many of my creative friends and they too have felt the same way about this January. Now it is February and I’m feeling a bit more of a positive vibe coming on. I’ve even started making things again. Here is a pillow I just finished. It has been languishing for several years in a basket next to the woodstove. Yes —- I said several years!

This pillow is the square version in my Inspired Interiors PDF Download Pattern. You can find my notes on customization and the knitting chart I used on my blog here. You can purchase the Inspired Interiors Pattern here on my website or on Ravelry here.

Add embroidery to your knits

If you have followed my knitwear designs, you probably know that I love to add embroidery to my knitted fabrics. For this pillow, I made puffy centers using Spider Web Stitch. Each Spider Web was edged in various colors of French Knots. Want to learn more about how to do these embroidery techniques on your knitted fabric? You can watch my Creativebug Class called Embroidered Knit Pillow. There is a free 7 day trial offer available.

You can purchase the Inspired Interiors Patternhere on my website or on Ravelry here.

Links I’m Loving……

There’s more making and creating news to come soon. For now, I’ll leave you with some good links to explore, listen to and watch.

• Julia and I watched a moving Netflix documentary called Crip Camp.

• The 100 Day Project has begun. Not too late to try it yourself. I’ve done two 100 Day Projects and they have been fantastic for accountability, production, and exploration. The “project” began January 31st but I have never coincided my projects with proper dates. Pick a date to start and then try to be consistent.

• I love a good trend forecast. Here’s what designers are saying about interior design for 2021. Hello comfy, good-bye mid-century modern.

• This podcast interview with Kathy Elkins, co-owner of Webs/America’s Yarn Store was interesting. Kathy and her husband Steve just sold their business to LoveCrafts so I will be interested in seeing where they take it.

• Watch Mrs. Rogers’ TedX Interview.

• Colorful Painting in Circles

• Roz Chast on embroidery.

• I need to make this Indian-ish recipe for Matar Paneer. We love Indian food and once I collected the spices, it wasn’t hard to make warm, rich dishes full of incredible flavor. You can order Indian spices easily from Kalustyan’s.

• I’ve just finished a second crocheted Hexagon Blanket. There’s a photo below. I’m working on a third with all the zillions of hexies I’ve got stashed away. You can get the free pattern on my blog here.

That’s it for this first “new” Substack Newsletter. I hope you all are well. If you have the time and desire, I’d love to hear how you are faring this winter and what you are doing as the Pandemic rolls on. Use the Comments response section below.

Yours in color and creativity,

P.S. If you want to follow along with lots of lambing photos, follow me on Instagram here.