Fall Fun!

Leaves!

Pumpkins!
And most likely, the last cut flowers from our garden for the year.
Hope Fall Fun finds you to!
Jess

Good 'ole October

I should have had more faith in the unpredictability of October weather.
We are expecting 65 degrees today! and even better, we are expecting to have a pleasant night for trick-or-treating tomorrow!
Whew,
Jess

Here we go

Well, I don't know if you all out there in the internet know, but it snowed today.

I am going to pretend it didn't happen.

Look at the weather yesterday:

Yes, that is the Elder Hug-a-Bug wearing short sleeves. Have a good night,

Don't forget your booties, 'cause it's cold out there...

Jess

Baking

Banana Muffins

Need I say more?

Bless me Blogger, for I have sinned

I have a confession to make.

It has to do with criminal activity in my past.

When I was in my early teens, I would visit my friend down the street and we would watch 'R' rated movies.

She had the cable.

I was powerless.

Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Creepshow, Dirty Dancing.

I watched them all.

I hereby formally make my apologies to my parents.

It is to that last movie that I want to continue my discussion.

I just downloaded the soundtrack from Dirty Dancing.

It rocks so hard.

I clearly couldn't listen to this soundtrack at the time, as I was supposed not to have seen it.

I am listening to it right now, and it is the perfect mix of fun '60s pop and super wank '80s pop.

Is there a piece of music that embodies the musical spirit of 1987 more than "I've Had the Time of My Life?" or "She's Like the Wind?"

Continuing down memory lane, I realized today that the Elder Hug-a-Bug is finally big enough to wear my favorite dress of all time, the Curtain Dress.

My mom made me the Curtain Dress when I was about 4 or 5 and I wore that thing all of the time. I wore it for years.

I loved this dress.

It is assembled from two cafe-length curtains, one printed and one sheer and a sheer valance.

It is a masterpiece of my mom's technical sewing prowess.

When she isn't spinning, I hope to share a better photo.

Well, the weather is getting colder here, but we were able to have a lunch-time picnic earlier this week.

So I leave this post with these warmish happy memories.

Have a great Wednesday,

Jess

I won't be a cliche

So there's that saying that shoemaker's children have no shoes.

I realized the other day that my children had no mittens for the winter.

Well I will not be the knitting teacher whose children go without warm things for winter.

These are for the Elder Hug-a-Bug.

The mittens are NHM #5 from Selbuvotter by Terri Shea. The pattern is written for a toddler-sized mitten at 8 stitches to the inch, but I made them at 6 stitches to the inch and they fit a 4-nearly-5 year-old hand.

This book is an examination of a style of knitting begun in the middle of the 19th century and which became the basis for what everyone considers traditional Norwegian mittens and gloves.

Terri Shea took photos of original mittens and charted them for modern use.

This is a fascinating collection and I am very tempted to make each and every pair in here.

The hat is the Norwegian Star from Hats On! by Charlene Schurch. I ran out of white yarn after the design as you see it, so I omitted the lice stitch on the crown.

I begin a Norwegian Mittens class this afternoon and I plan to make a pair for the Younger Hug-a-Bug as my demonstration mittens.

I have domestic responsibilities to which I must tend (doesn't that sound nicer than I have to take out the garbage?)

Enjoy your Sunday!

Jess

Mmmm

When the weather starts getting a little chillier it just feels right to make a butter delivery system, I mean bake some bread...

What are your fall rituals?

Jess

Give-away results

Well I had four people choose four different give-awayables, so you each get the one you chose.
Email me at bandjontheriver(at)msn(dot)com with your addresses and you should expect some fun mail within the week.
Thanks again for reading,
Jess.

One Yard Wonders!

I received the nicest news the other day.

There it was in my email inbox:

Congrats from One Yard Wonders!

One Yard Wonders is a book being put together by two of the women at Crafty Planet in Minneapolis and published by the same company as One Skein Wonders.

They asked for submissions in August, I submitted my pattern for this Rocket toy and they accepted!

I did a big silly dance of joy in front of my computer.

Now the pressure is on, because I need to assemble my final packet including clear instructions and a model using the fabric that they have chosen for me to use.

I have until November 15th.

At least I can drive it over to Crafty Planet, so I don't have to figure in shipping time.

They asked if I could modify the pattern slightly to use up about a yard of fabric, so I am making a couple of mock-ups first.

I am having such a good time planning and picking out fabrics.

All the pink stuff here came from my stash,

and I got this remnant for $3.50 at Treadle, plus 3 felt squares and an eighth of a yard of trim, this one cost about $7.00.

It's really late at night, so I am going to try to go back to sleep.

Have a great Sunday, if you're in the Twin Cities, the Mason-Dixon Knitters are going to be at the William Mitchell College of Law Auditorium at 1:00 and there are free tickets still available at the Yarnery.

Should be a hoot!

Jess

OMG

You all must take a trip over here to Vintage Ric Rac.
Jodie has done something most wondrous.

What a year!

Hey everyone!

It's my blogging anniversary today.

I have never kept a journal for more than a month or so.

Keeping this blog is a big step for me.

I am commemorating the occasion with a give-away.

I have some stuff that I have made but can't get rid of any other way than to pass it along to y'all.

Here are three aprons that I made for a craft show last December, and they have been sitting in my closet longing for a home
Let's call them-
Blossoms

Lemon
Tomato

I also have a tea cozy that wasn't quite acceptable to the customer for whom it was made.

Please leave a comment indicating which one you would like and I will pick a winner at random.

So many things have happened in the last year.

My children have grown so much.

The Elder Hug-a-Bug started going to School, and the Younger Hug-a-Bug is newly toilet trained.

Goodbye diapers!!!

Coming here every few days has helped keep me on task with my knitting and sewing projects too.

I have a habit of starting too many things and then forgetting what it was that I was working on, but now I have pretty pictures to look at to remind me.

The best thing about being here in blogland is the lovely community of bloggers.

I have made new friends and found old ones.

Such a joy.

Thanks everyone for coming and sharing this space with me.

Jess.

Update: the comments are closed. Winners chosen. Thanks,

Jess

One Year

Where is Coffee News?

Coffee News Cafe is on Grand Ave. in Saint Paul a block west of the Macalester College Campus.
Sometimes the parking is challenging but it is so worth it.
Sorry for leaving this off the last post...

Fry-day

So I'm picking up the Elder Hug-a-Bug from school and we're chatting and she says-


"Today is Friday? Does that mean that we get fries?"


Yup.


So we pack up the car and get ourselves over to Coffee News Cafe.

And we ordered the best fries in the city.

If one is a fan of potatoes, salt and fresh garlic (as I am) these will hit the spot.

So tasty.

So cruchy.

So perfect for a gloomy afternoon.

Mmmmm.

Hope you have a good Fry-day too!

Jess

Stay tuned for a give-away tomorrow.

Time for me

I have been lucky enough in the last two days to find an hour to myself.
Yesterday, I had a quick doctor appointment, and the kids were taken care of until I had to be at work about 2 hours later, so I went to the Mississippi and did some exploring.
Bear in mind that it had been about 14 years since I have been up and down these paths, and I was also wearing totally inappropriate shoes, but I had a terrific time.
I had so much fun that I went back today during my semi-weekly 50 minutes of personal time.



I'm glad that this time I wore my sensible shoes.

Have a great day!

Jess

ps thanks for the nice comments, ladies!

C is for Cat

I was going to cheat and buy a present for the neighbor girl whose birthday party was this afternoon.
I was going to cheat, until the Elder Hug-a-Bug said, "Let's make her a soft kitten to hug"
Well, luckily for us both, I got this great book at one of my favorite haunts, Sixth Chamber Books.

There is an animal pattern for each letter of the alphabet.
A for armadillo
B for bear
C for cat
D for dog
You get the idea, but beyond the usual suspects, there is also X for Xiphosura which is the scientific name for a horseshoe crab, and V for vole.
I am very tempted to make everything in this book.

The cat came together pretty easily.

I cut out the pieces last night and did the assembly this morning.


I had to adjust the shape of the head a little in the back, it was kinda poofy, but the rest was really well designed.

As with every birthday present that I have made in the last year, the Elder Hug-a-Bug insisted that she lead the way with the stuffing, and she loves to sew that last seam.

I am pretty happy with it, I did have a lot of trouble with the face, but I always do.

The best part is that I get to make the toy, but then it clutters up someone else's house.

I wish you all happy sweater-wearing,

It is officially fall 'round here,

Jess

Tree Period

When you take an art history class you often find that artists go through periods where everything is a variation on a theme.

I am definitely in my Tree Period.

Last year I began a mural on the wall in my children's room, which is still in progress, ahem, of a tree in the spring.

When I was in Germany, I became somewhat the butt of jokes for taking so many pictures of trees.
This one is a metal-plated fallen tree in the Insel Hombroich in Neuss, where we spent an afternoon.O.k. I obviously didn't take this one, since that is me there, but you get the idea.

This is only a sampling, I took a bunch more, and I may indeed have a problem.
I even had my friend Sofie pose on this stump.

Can you imagine how big this tree must have been?

When I taught my children using fiber class at the Yarnery we made needle felted pictures and here is my sample.


My new project is this:
I have wanted to do a collage-feel tree quilt for a while.
When I came across green scraps of fabric I set them aside and the other night I cut out a bunch of leaves.
Here it is all laid out, but I think I've made an error, because now I don't quite know how to attach them.
I probably should have ironed stitch witchery on the fabric before I cut out anything, but I just wanted to get going, famous last words...
I was going for an ordered chaos feel in the leaf placement and I hope that I can replicate when I finally attach them.

On another note, I have finished the scarf I was making out of the 13 Mile Organic Wool.
It is blocking right now, and I am excited to take it out for a test drive.

Have a terrific Friday!
Jess.