Archive for April, 2011

The 15-minute May Basket

April 28, 2011 · Filed under I knit. (and crochet), I'll show you how!

A clever, if not timely variation on my Fabric Crochet Workshop – In the Round pattern.  15-minutes is a rough estimate of how long it would take a normal person to crochet one of these little sweeties.  I say rough because I rounded up.  Surely you could whip out a whole barrel of these in no time.  For my part, I hope to make said barrel and round up my little accomplices to distribute them secretly on Sunday as part of our family May Day celebration.  Well, as secretly as one with a blog, whose friends also read said blog can do.  Ahem.

Perfectly sized to hang on an unsuspecting friend's doorknob!

Perfectly sized to hang on an unsuspecting friend's doorknob!

Some minor details are found on my Ravelry project page here.

So this is really the *before* shot.  I hope to have lots of *after* and *in-progress-sneakiness* shots to share next week.  (insert impish wink here)

Edit: Yep!  Here’s the *after.*

Comments (2) »

The Daffodil Girl

April 28, 2011 · Filed under I'm Momma; this is my family.

There is a Girl in these parts who distributes daffodils.

Ever vigilant, she spies the ready volunteers from the generous bed, picks them with great care, and finds thoughtful new homes for them.

Along the porch steps…

…at the edge of the sandbox…

…wherever they are most needed, really.

Sometimes they’re simply strewn about for good measure.

We are wealthy with yellow-petaled sunshine; our table is never without them.

Comments (2) »

Lambs in the chicken coop – shoo, shoo, shoo.

April 26, 2011 · Filed under We have chickens., We have sheep.

Or was it “flies in the sugar bowl” that made us all skip to my lou?

Clarisse

You young punks are cramping our style. Squaaaaaaaawk!

Can you blame the wee woolies?  It’s raining that gentle, relentless rain of Spring right now, the kind that soaks straight through a junior suit of wool in the flick of a tail.  It’s forecasted to do so all day and through the next. And have these chickens have got it made!  I overheard the lambs bleat to each other. “Did you see this grain feeder hanging in here?  It’s always full!”

The twins (Violet and The Pharaoh) are often snuggled in tight.

Last week’s explorations into the coop left the lambs stranded and scared, and called on one Girl to be on full alert to rescue the foolish lambs who could easily make their way in but not out.  They’ve got it mastered now though, ambling in and out at will.

We’re still waiting for Irene, our straggler, to drop her lamb(s).  We estimate she’ll have them 3 days ago, so there’s no telling when.  Our best guesses turn out to be junk.  Sam the Sham has been trailing her like a shadow the past two days – a sure sign, we think, that she’s very close to birthing.  I’m not sure what kind of support he’s lending her, if it’s of the Grounding-Rock-With-Which-to-Direct-Laboring-Focus variety or more of the kind that makes a compelling case for the old custom of banning the husband from the delivery room.  Whatever the case, I’m also becoming quite an annoyance, I think, checking in a dozen times a day, hovering, and lifting her tail to check her lady bits.  This midwife has some polishing to do on her bedside manor.

Leave a comment »

Bees: Live Coverage

April 25, 2011 · Filed under We have bees.

This just in -

Comments (1) »

Bringing Home the Bees

April 25, 2011 · Filed under We have bees.

Captain Daddio brought home the bees on Saturday.  With that, we sewed a new badge on his vest – that of Beeman,  and I added new category to the blog.  Seems we are beekeepers now.

Still don't need a TV.

The Junior Apprentice is bestowed the box of bees.

She carried them well, but not without a healthy dose of cautiousness.

Welcome, bees.  We hope you will be very happy and prosperous here.

Comments (1) »

The Rumpelstiltskin Challenge Report, Week Something-or-Other

April 22, 2011 · Filed under I sew., The Rumpelstiltskin Challenge

I’m not sure of the scope of this week’s bone-chilling, morale-depleting, much-better-suited-to-March mid-week snow.  Was it just Wisconsin that was pummeled with the bizarre mix of snow, hail, thunderstorms, and cruel ice pellets?  Or was it a regional attack?  Whatever the case, I’d like anyone out there who found themselves similarly scowling at the white blight to accept my sincere apology.  I’m pretty sure it was all my fault.

In a pinch, I had pulled the snowman-themed dinner napkins out of the cupboard and set them out for us to use.  We did, of course.  Dinner was messy.  I also, in a pinch, pulled out Isadora’s snowflake flannel bed sheets and put them on her bed.  So stupid, I know, and I’m sorry, but she was feverish and I thought the comfy warm flannel would do her good.  Little did I guess that the storm clouds, busy brewing the upcoming weather forecast, would take these seemingly innocuous actions as an implicit approval for more snow.  I meant nothing of the sort!

So I hope you can accept my apology, especially given that I’ve banished the offending napkins back to the cupboard, by way of the laundry stream, and have sewn up some more seasonally-appropriate replacements.  As for the sheets, I’m off to strip that bed immediately after wrapping up this post.  I might just burn them to be on the safe side.

Comments (1) »

PDF Pattern. Fabric Crochet Workshop: In the Round

April 18, 2011 · Filed under I knit. (and crochet), I'll show you how!

Pattern available on both Ravelry and Etsy.

This is so much more than a pattern – it’s a technique, deconstructed. Once you’ve made the basket from the workshop pattern, you’ll have mastered all of the components necessary to design your own round shaped object – be it a basket of any size, storage bins, a chair pad, potholder, pillow, or rug.

Baby (sold separately) not shown to scale. Currently, he's 2.

Yes, I said rug.  Like this one, if you like.  Same principles involved, and a detailed explanation is included inside.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In this Workshop Pattern:
The Pattern: Simple Basket with Handles
Step by Step Detailed Instructions, complete with photos
The Method: Breakdown of the crochet components
Cutting continuous fabric strips: detailed instructions

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Crochet is exceedingly fast.  Use fat strips of fabric and a giant hook and you can whip out a basket in an hour or two.  There’s still time for an Easter basket or two!

Crocheting fabric instead of yarn opens up all kinds of design possibilities not found with traditional yarn.  Like polka dots. It’s also an especially good use for otherwise flawed fabric. It’s a skill every Maker should have.

This is so easy. You need not know how to crochet to follow these simple instructions. That said, if you’ve never crocheted before, you may need to supplement this pattern with a quick video tutorial of how to hold the yarn, use the hook, and do Single Crochet.  Don’t let that stop you – great video tutorials of these basics abound! All other techniques are spelled out fairly well within the following detailed instructions.  If you DO already have the basics down, you’ll still find the pattern of great use.

Find the PDF  here, on Ravelry.  It’s downloaded immediately after purchase.

Or buy it through Etsy, found here.  The PDF is emailed to you just as soon as possible.

I’m also putting together some vintage rag ball + pattern kits.

As always, email support is provided with any Five Green Acres pattern.  I’ve scoured it for coherency and tried to eliminate any errors, but I’m at the ready to assist and correct if anything’s slipped through the cracks.  Don’t be shy!

And don’t forget to show us what you’ve made!  Post your pics to the Five Green Acres flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/fivegreenacres/

Thanks for supporting this small business!  It’s so satisfying to put together a robust tutorial like this, one that I hope will empower you to design exactly what you want.

Comments (3) »

It’s Friday AND it’s GREEN.

April 15, 2011 · Filed under I knit. (and crochet), I'll show you how!, The Rumpelstiltskin Challenge

Mostly green, that is, with some polka dots thrown in for good measure.

Welcome to the “Yes-I-Actually-Am-Still-Abiding-By-The-Rules-Of-That-Challenge-I-Created-Even-If-I-Can’t-Be-Counted-Upon-To-Report-On-It-All-Faithfully” edition of The Rumpelstiltskin Challenge Report.  April’s challenge theme, as I mentioned earlier, is Green, and not by coincidence either.  For months and months I’ve been working diligently and not so diligently on putting together a pattern for the basket I’ve repeatedly crocheted from strips of fabric, or rag balls.  (seems I never did show you the one I made for The Boy – there it is below, grey and yellow in the background)

It is timely to put out such a pattern, as the baskets happen to serve as our Easter baskets, but the pattern is actually much more robust than that, breaking down the components of the round crocheted form so that you can tailor the pattern to your own needs – flat, like a rug or chair pad, or vessel, like the basket.

All of the testing, bug-eliminating, trial and error, photographing, and pattern creation has been done.  I just need to put it all together in a handy printable PDF, which will be for sale on both Etsy and Ravelry.  The ETA all depends on Witchard.  I’ve got my fingers crossed for smooth sailing and will keep you posted.

Comments (4) »

I got my Spring manicure yesterday.

April 7, 2011 · Filed under We grow things.

Go big or go home.  I might as well tattoo it to my forehead.  Seed starting this year has all but exploded:  I devised a new area to start flats in the house and am simultaneously maximizing the chilly nighttime temps of the Chick Greenhouse to start some cooler-loving seeds.  Even if the temps dip far below the desired mark, the heat lights and fuzzy warm bodies should keep the ambient temp in check – a lovely picture of symbiosis, don’t you think?  At the risk of exposing myself as a shallow, gimmick-prone flake, I might as well pin all of this season’s seed starting success on my new storage vessel. The trusty aluminum lunch pail with a smart red handle has helped tremendously in organizing the seeds by their planting date, to be sure, and given a home to packets that were previously floating all over the house.  Mostly, though, I find myself smiling whenever I use it – I love the way it looks and feels and its inherent quirkiness as a Holder of Seeds.

But at a much deeper level is this recurrent theme of Process.  It is what hooked me into Wool so deeply and it is what’s behind this frenzy of Spring activity.  Selecting the seeds – the exact seeds, (rare, special, heirloom, obscure) then starting them, transplanting them, growing to fruition, then harvesting, processing them – cooking, preserving, using them to dye or treat our health woes…..   Any one of these steps is fulfilling in and of itself, but taken together?  Satisfying beyond all words.  We’re almost there with our meat chickens; once we can breed our own chicks to start the chain we’re engaged in now, we will have reached the Pinnacle of Process for me.  This is vertical integration, Family Farm edition, and it’s intoxicating. This year, I’m all in, planning even to set up a small table of this and that at our local farmer’s market.  It’s hardly a secret anymore that adding “selling” to any of the points of the process (growing or wool) makes it virtually irresistible to me.

The garlic is up!

Bed in progress. Chicken coop mulch is being worked into the soil.

Same bed - done. By my estimation, this bed is perfect - not a speck of exposed soil for a weed to commandeer.

From this point on, I shall be wearing my Spring manicure, where the rich soil of the garden is stubbornly and firmly rooted under my trimmed fingernails, despite my fervent attempts to brush it out.  The creases of the skin on my hands will be stained brown from the daily contact with the soil, despite the increased frequency of washing.  Like Grandma’s hands, I hope.  You can tell with a quick glance at her earthy hands that she communes deeply and joyfully with the soil and that is precisely the look I’m going for.

I’ve given notice to my employer that I will not be taking any hand modeling jobs for a few months, but I hope to supplement the lost income by selling a seedling or two.

Comments (11) »

It’s time I come clean.

April 5, 2011 · Filed under We have sheep.

As much as it pains me to have to say this, to risk losing any and all credibility I may have mustered up with you all, I can’t live with this lie any longer.

Before we had children, we dabbled a tiny bit in animal husbandry.  We were young and foolish, and having no kids, had nothing but time on our hands.  Or at least it seems so from this vantage point.

I realize that the ‘novel’ part of our story is that we can dive head-first into “new” adventures, write about them, photograph them, and it’s as if you’re along for the exciting ride, minus the manure-caked shoes.  I understand this, I exploit this.  And I’m ashamed to say that this is not our first go-around with sheep.  Despite anything I’ve said thus far about “new” this and “first-time” that, it’s time to come clean and say that we’ve had sheep before, in 2003.  A pair of them.

10/27/2003

10/27/2003

10/27/2003

10/27/2003

There.  I’ve said it.  Can you forgive me for being less than honest?  Or am I now nothing short of a sham like Sam?

I hope to see you back here tomorrow, if you can overlook this omission.  If not, it was a good ride.

P.S.  April 5th my calendar says today.  Damn.  Four days late with this post.  Pardon the delay – got these lambs.  No, not these. (above)  The other ones. (below)

Comments (8) »

« Previous entries
Next Page »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 229 other followers