A friend came by a few days ago to instruct us on the ancient art of psanky, or Ukranian Egg Dyeing. In just a couple of hours, we covered the basics and got down to designing our own eggs. Psanky is basically egg batik. Beeswax is used as a resist, applied in a fine line with a kistka, the reservoir
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At last, a cowl. It is with great pleasure that I announce the release of this knitting pattern, so carefully designed to complement the unique hand of First Harvest yarn. Winterlit, it is called and indeed, the saturated hues shine like a beacon through the grey. Winterlit is knit in Herringbone stitch, an elegant but easy to learn stitch pattern
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Something wonderful is waiting to be born. A skein of yarn has yielded a magnificent antidote to late Winter. Woolen loops and knots, made with sticks, have been arranged just so, the choreography has been recorded, the results tested and loved. I am now fashioning it all into a virtual paper airplane, giving it wings to reach you all, wherever
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Using the Felt Slippers pattern on the Martha Stewart Living website, I paid a debt long overdue. How can these girl-toes I jokingly munched on not so long ago have grown to such size, past even the confines of last year’s slippers? I asked myself this in November, I reckon, and then fell into the belly of a giant whale,
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Sweet, vital, enveloping beeswax – it is the defining aroma of the Solstice and the days leading up to it, when big blocks of golden light incarnate are melted down on the woodstove and poured into votive molds to await summoning on Solstice night. We celebrated our first family Yule by illuminating the night with candles and sharing a meal
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Grampa had a big birthday this Thanksgiving, one that could only be properly rung in with a piñata. It was all things a piñata fashioned by little hands should be – slightly awkward but bearing much charm, boasting a roomy interior, and surprisingly concrete in only one or two spots. The nose on this guy, for example, could withstand the
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With no further ado, I’d like to introduce you to the long-awaited first harvest of Five Green Acres wool. I couldn’t be more thrilled. Being the first harvest, it’s also the official launch of the Five Green Acres line of yarn, known henceforth as This is wool. You’ll find this first vintage of yarn, noted for its playful handspun vitality,
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I can’t wait to tell you all about this project – from its crazy inception (over a particularly strong cup of coffee) to how the design features seemed to evolve organically, on their own. I will report on the process of making a muslin – how useful a tool it was and how it came together surprisingly quick, without seeming
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I’ve shied away from the mention of heat waves and drought here in this space. I suspected that, given the slightest opportunity, the whining and self pity and utter sluggishness resulting from this drought would take over the podium, that even the mere mention of it here would feed the monster and make it multiply, like the yeasty proliferation of
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