cottage garden design process

Last fall I moved into a cottage on a historic turkey farm in western Massachusetts. The cottage is a Sears kit house from 1919 that was delivered on the local train. For the gardener in me, it was love at first sight, as I saw the rambling flowerbeds and beautiful wisteria vine trailing up the side of the cottage. Other bonuses included a beautiful kitchen garden and the resident pet pig next door named Pinky.



At the same time I was exploring the work of a group of New England artists from the 1950s called the Folly Cove Designers. Led by Virginia Lee Burton (who wrote and illustrated many childrens' books including Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel) this group made incredible designs that were hand-block-printed on fabric. Check them out - here and here.

I was drawn to the fact that many of their designs described daily life in New England. It got me thinking about a vintage-inspired colorwork sweater that would speak to my story of falling in love with a little cottage garden. I started sketching a yoke design that was bursting with joyful flowers.





Cottage Garden was originally submitted to the Summer issue and I was thrilled when Kate asked if we could add longer sleeves and move the deisgn to the Fall issue. I had a lot of fun exploring color options for Cottage Garden but settled on one of my favorite combinations: teal and chartreuse (swatch knit in Reynolds Whiskey)



The best part has been seeing how other knitters have made Cottage Garden their own. Look at these beautiful versions!

Kelly's Cottage Garden

Momo's Cottage Garden
Tanya's Cottage Garden

What stories can your knitting tell?

Many thanks to Kelly, Momo and Tanya for the photos.

waterlily socks

Just a quickie post as I am on my wondrous "staycation" puttering around and trying to stay offline - but wanted to let you all know I have a new sock patter available at Webs. Waterlily is knit out of Franklin sock yarn in the Jade colorway - handdyed by the lovely Kangaroo Dyer.





Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend all!

cottage garden sweater

Hey, I've got a design in the latest issue of the Twist Collective! The cottage garden pullover was inspired by my move to a small vintage cottage with a rambling garden.



Do check out the issue as there is a whole pile of stunning designs. It's hard to decide what to knit first!

knitting to show you - and a tomato!

It's been an odd summer this year, with the weather all strange wet and cold, and I've been working on so many secret projects (one which will be revealed in the Fall Twist Collective - hooray!) that I've not had much fodder for the blog. But finally this weekend I had some time to finish some non secretive knitwear.







Finally finished my eastlake, just in time for some fall wearing.

Details:
Pattern: Eastlake from Norah Gaughan Vol 3
Yarn: 8 skeins of Inca Gold in color 6418
Needles: 5's and 6's
Size: 34" Which I never would have picked but I tried on the 34" at the WEBS trunk show and I'm so glad I did. Normally I would have gone with the 37". I think this sweater does not want any ease to look good and I usually add a few inches.
Notes: Knit according to pattern (note the errata on the website) but not completely happy with the joining of the neck section in the back of the sweater. I may retinker this part if I can do it without ripping out the neckband...







My friend Lucy at A Black Pepper just published this pattern. She is a genius with the cables and I was happy to try it out for her. I wouldn't normally think this sort of hat would look good on me, but I'm really pleased with how it looks. Go make yourself one!

details:
pattern: Anemoon by Lucy Sweetland
yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL in color 020 slate grey - 3 skeins
needles: 5's and 6's



And as promised here is a photo of the first tomato. I've really been enjoying the chance to have a real garden this year and to take in all of the rhythms of the farm that we live on. Starting with crocus, daffodils, barn swallows and asparagus in the spring to the current buzz of cicadas and bushes full of blackberries its been satisfying to take in all of the quiet life here. Hope your days are incredibly enjoyable and full of little wonders as well.

hello blog - look at these!

Look at these georgeous potholders I got in the mail from the potholder swap. I feel completely spoiled! What amazing little jewels!

From left to right: Ardian, Reve, Maritza, Dawn, and Erin

Thanks ladies! And a special shout out to Adrian and Maritza for putting this wonderful swap together.

new sweater pattern and some potholders!

Hi blog, it's been far too long since we've spent some time together. I've been working on sneaky projects and gifts that I couldn't show on your lovely page and then there were pesky things like work and gardening and traveling that seemed to get in the way. I'm a fickle girl sometimes and have been having more mini updates on Flickr - come on down sometime!

New pattern - Hosta Leaf Cardigan







Pattern: Hosta Leaf Cardigan available at Webs / ravelry link here
Yarn: Northfield by Valley Yarns - which is a lovely squishy silk, merino and alpaca blend and is crazy-soft.

In other news I've really been enjoying gardening this spring. Our new cottage comes with some small beds and borders for planting fun and our lovely landlords offered me some space in their giant kitchen garden. I've also had access to the greenhouse and the manure pile, so I've had a lot of fun starting plants from seeds. At this point I have lettuces, spinach, kale, chard, beets, carrots, radishes, and onions up by the cottage. Dill, sage, marjoram, savory, lemon basil, sweet basil, thai basil, thyme and oregano in the herb garden. And tomatoes, tomatillos, husk cherries, eggplant, fennel, and soybeans in the big garden. That doesn't include all sorts of flowers in borders and containers. It's not the best planned garden, think rambling cottage garden and you get the picture. Speaking of pictures - I need to take an updated photo today with all the greenery.



I also did a potholder swap and sent in my potholders last week. These were lots of fun to make and I got to sharpen up on my crochet skills.

Happy Memorial Day everyone! I hope you are all having the same lovely weather that we are.

aspen yoke pullover

I finally took some photos of the aspen yoke pullover by Meg Swansen I knit as a sample last fall for a class I'm teaching at Webs. This was a quick and fun sample to knit and now it's even more fun to teach. We are almost halfway through the class, and everyone is working on their sleeves. In a few weeks we will join all the pieces for the yoke and be on the home stretch!

Knit out of various colors of Lopi Lite for the yoke and Valley Yarns Berkshire for the body. Details on Ravelry.

Not too much else to report. I got the gardening bug and ordered a mess of seeds from Fedco Seeds. I got basil, Amish paste tomatoes, sunflowers, soybeans, spinach, lettuces, zinnias, snapdragons, and so on. Ambitious? Maybe. We"ll see how I do starting the seeds, and maybe plan b will be buying plants from the nursery.