Lately...

It's been ages, hasn't it? Here's what's been going on with me lately:

My first attempts at counted cross-stitch. I'm using a kit from Alicia Paulson over at Posie Gets Cozy; this is her "Winterwoods" sampler with over-dyed cotton embroidery floss from the family owned Weeks Dye Works in North Carolina. My roommate, Howie, has been looking at me like I have a third eye. In his opinion, you'd have to be crazy to attempt something as tedious as cross-stitch for "fun," but there's something about the slowness and preciseness of each stitch that I find relaxing; drawing the thread through, in and out, to form tiny little minuscule x's and watching the different images come to life. It's a nice change of pace from knitting, my usual go-to remedy for fidgety hands.

A snapshot of my Sunday a few weeks back. It was a perfect snowy afternoon. And just between us...I totally ate half a dozen of those cookies before the evening's end. Life's too short not to indulge in snowy-day peanut butter cookie binges. Just sayin'.

"C'est Si Bon," and "Just In Time,"

Tonight is an Eartha Kitt/ Nina Simone kinda night.



"Just In Time," in honor of the premiere (well not really, several weeks too late) of "Before Midnight." If you haven't seen the first two in this trilogy ("Before Sunrise," and "Before Sunset"), and you have even the smallest smidgin of a sentimental/romantic heart, I suggest you watch them. Young Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy = Hard to beat. And don't we all have a "one that got away"?



And Eartha Kitt's "C'est Si Bon," just cause she's a fucking powerhouse of a sexy lady.

August TBR (To Be Read)

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Back in high school, I remember this book seeming for all the world to me like a story about a bunch of rich people with too much money on their hands whining, having affairs and affecting existential crises to pass the time....but it's been awhile. And further, whether or not fifteen-year-old me actually finished this book is, um, debatable. My older, worldlier self is prepared to give it another go.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Daij Sijie

Found while stumbling around the beautiful Crow Bookshop. I have heard good things.

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro

There is also a film of the same name. I've seen it. It is horrifically, wonderfully depressing if you're ever in the need of a good sob (I love a good cry, personally). Also: Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley. 'Nuff said?

The Freedom Writer's Diary, by The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell

Another book with a movie counterpart. Someone recently told me that I reminded her of Erin Gruwell. Reading this partially to devise whether or not this should be taken as a compliment, and partially because I have a serious soft spot for stories about adolescents finding empowerment through writing. Dead Poet's Society, anyone? I'm a total cheeseball.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman

Neil's first adult novel in a good long while. Confession: I kind of completely adore Mr. Gaiman. The Sandman series? His Doctor Who episodes? Flawless, people, flawless. So naturally I snatched this up at the local B&N as soon as I heard it'd come out.

Looking for Alaska, by John Green

Because in the wake of the Twilight series well-written YA is a precious, precious thing, and I'm still not over Augustus and Hazel.

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Borrowed from the fierce and fabulous Jen

A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin.

Self-explanatory. Shits cray.

Will I finish all of these in August? Inevitably, no.

Blueberry Pie & Dorset Buttons

Today my mom and I made a blueberry pie from the berries we picked down at Adam's Berry Farm in the Intervale. I, of course, was so eager to get a piece that I cut into it without remembering to get a picture first, or that pies generally need some time to set and cool before you eat them. Hence, you're seeing the butchered pie, rather than the pretty little masterpiece that it was before.

I picked some flowers from our garden that got blown over in a thunderstorm/hail storm last night... black-eyed susans, white and pink yarrow, and some comfrey flowers.

Lastly, I made some dorset buttons to sew onto a sweater I recently finished... Dorset buttons were popular in the 18th century and were originally made from the horns of Dorset sheep. They were often made and sold by families as a kind of cottage industry until a button-making machine largely made them obsolete.

Today you make them with what craft stores call "plastic bone rings" (think curtain rings) or metal ring from the hardware store. You can use embroidery floss, pearl cotton or yarn - anything you want, really! If you'd like to make your own this is the tutorial that I used. They're simpler than they look I promise! The outside ring is covered in blanket stitches, than the thread is wrapped to create the spokes, and lastly you use a simple "weaving stitch" that anyone who has made a God's Eye before will find familiar. This picture is rather blurry, but I promise to add some better ones once I sew them onto my cardigan (it's being blocked as we speak).

Have you finished any projects recently? How have you been enjoying all of the lovely summer fruit?

Adirondack Pack Baskets

Yesterday I drove up to Craftsbury to learn how to make an Adirondack-style pack basket from Jody Stoddard, one of the very talented teachers at the college where I used to study sustainable agriculture, called Sterling College. She is the fiber and farmstead arts teacher there and has done a lot of workshops on pack basket making over the years. I contacted her a week or two ago to see if she had any upcoming workshops - she didn't, but instead she offered to give me an individual lesson at her house. So kind of her!

Adirondack pack baskets were originally made of black ash and used for hunting, hiking, trapping and anything else you can think of! They're quite sturdy. I plan to use mine as a sort of all-purpose backpack and maybe for some wildcrafting (morels, anyone?) It's made from a reed called rattan (a type of palm) that comes from the Philippines - rattan is both more flexible and cheaper than black ash, because it's a super common plant that grows in abundance in tropical places.

It was such fun to make - I've never made a basket before and I didn't know anything, but I found the actual weaving quite intuitive and meditative. I really hope to make more, and who knows, maybe I'll end up selling a few myself or teaching others how to make them.