Giveaway - Knit Vest with Hand Spun Yarn from Springtree Road

This was lots of fun!

I came upon this lovely blog and left a comment when Maya was offering a free skein of her beautiful handspun and hand dyed yarn to someone who would knit something from it from a free pattern found online and then blog about it. I have decided to take the giving one step further and offer the finished work to one of my blog readers.

First, let me introduce you to Maya, of Springtree Road, in her words ~

Springtree Road is about family and feeling connected to both the past and present. The actual Springtree Road is where I grew up: my grandparents’ house in Athens, Georgia, where I stayed after school and on most summer days. My grandparents were simple folks who gardened and built things, cooked and crafted. Before retiring, they both worked at the same textile mill together. My grandfather tended to the machines and my grandmother worked them to spin the fabric for the little bandages on Band-Aids.

So it feels like a lovely coincidence, a happy accident, a full-circle, good karma kind of thing that I would happen onto spinning yarn. I was looking for a way to ensure that I could stay home with my daughter and it fell right into my lap. Before that, spinning was always on my list of things I wanted to learn someday. Of course someday almost never comes, so I’m thankful for the unforeseen push that led me to pursue fiber as both an art and a business.

The best part is that I love it. I do it all myself – the yarn that you see in my shop usually starts as either commercial wool top or fresh off the sheep. I dye it here at home in very small batches (usually 4-6 at a time), spin it in my living room, photograph it in my backyard, and mail it out to you in yummy little yarn cakes that I wind up on the ball winder I keep in my fiber room. My 4-year-old personally hugs each package before we send it on its way. There’s a lot of love in what I do.

Next, let me show you which skein of yarn I chose from her beautiful shop - this was not easy.

~the yarn I chose, so amazingly soft and beautiful~

I knew that I would use one of my favorite patterns. This so simple baby vest found at the Thrifty Knitter. It was such a joy to knit with this yarn.

Here is the finished vest. It will fit an infant about 3 months - 12 months. Our family made the natural birch buttons.

To win the vest and a the leftover yarn that would be enough to knit a little gnome or baby hat, just leave a comment and to be entered twice, blog about the giveaway and leave another comment after you do.

The drawing will be Friday morning, July 16 at 7:00 am EST.

Many thanks to Maya for offering me the opportunity to knit with her beautiful yarn and The Thrifty Knitter for sharing the pattern.

From Garden to Table

We had purchased some organic bulghar wheat at the natural food store and I had Tabouli on my mind on this very hot day.

Skimming through my favorite cookbooks I came across a great recipe in the Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen.

So I took a stroll through our gardens to see what else I could find to include in the tabouli.

Here is what I found after a brief walk. I had already pulled, washed and grated some carrots earlier in the day to include in the salad.

~pepper, parsley and chives for the salad, the lavender and egg I put aside for other uses~

Here is the recipe I used for the Tabouli :

You should begin to soak the bulghar at least 3 hours before serving time. It needs to thoroughly marinate and chill.

1 cup dry bulghar wheat

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 heaping tsp. crushed, fresh garlic

1/2 cup chopped scallions (I used chives)

1/2 t. dried mint (I used finely chopped fresh mint, about 2 Tablespoons)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 medium tomatoes , diced (we didn't have these yet, so no tomatoes but soon)

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup grated carrots

1/2 cup chopped cucumbers (didn't have these ready yet either)

1 chopped green pepper

1) Combine bulghar, boiling water and salt in a bowl. Cover and let stand 15 - 20 minutes.

2) Add lemon juice, garlic, oil and mint and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate 2 -3 hours.

3) Just before serving add the vegetables and mix gently.

Warm wishes, Tonya

Branch Suns

Inspired by this at Wabi Sabi Wanderings ~

We embarked on our own creative process. I encouraged the children to paint their own circles. We used birch slices.

As they painted their branches, my brain was swirling with the possibilities. The very tips of birch branches are these lovely multi-branch pieces. With holes drilled closely together around the slice, maybe a fuller branch wreath might take shape.

Here are the children's finished painted pieces. Today they are going to finish them up and we will screw them on the top of our rustic branch fence that borders a small portion of the pond.

Here is my piece that I left unpainted and applied our homemade beeswax oil finish to the faces.

~ I applied a bit of wood glue to the ends of the each branch before putting in the drilled hole. ~

Here it is finished and hung on the side of our home (the side you see as you drive up our driveway.

Warm wishes, Tonya

Hot, Hot, Hot

....but I am not complaining, no, we get very few days like these so no complaining is allowed.

So what do we do when it gets really hot?

Get motivated enough to make screens for the older french style windows that have heavy wooden storms without any screens.

Mike used some left over wood scraps and a roll of screen that was left here when we moved in.

Nothing fancy, but oh, to have more air flowing through our home.

Visit a craft and music fair and spend most of the time under the mist from the fountain.

Wash wool outside... the chicken is finding the wash tub handy for taking a drink from.

Play in our well's overflow water.

Stay comfortable and as cool as possible during these hot days but remember to enjoy the moments as well.

Warm wishes, Tonya

Handmade Holiday

Every Monday I will be posting some thoughts, plans, projects, and links to other blogs that are joining in on making this upcoming holiday season one that is simple, light on the earth, and as handmade as possible.

I think a good place to start is with organization. Identify what works best for you. For me, putting pen to paper, cutting and pasting, and sketching helps me to solidify ideas, keep them orderly and also to remember them better. In high school and college I would hand write facts over and over again to study for exams.

Even while making things, I plan to buy as little as possible and when I do buy I will choose eco friendly products. Our family lives on a very low budget (below poverty level for a family of eight - but I can tell you, we are doing just fine). However, we do keep spending to a minimum. In addition, by buying less we are also being mindful of the environment. So, I am going to use an empty sketch book that I have had for some time.

This week I will be making my master list in the sketch book of those I would like to give gifts to. Even neighbors that may receive a basket of baked goods.

I will leave three pages blank for each of our children so that I can jot down ideas, cut and paste patterns, etc....

Throughout the upcoming weeks, as a thought emerges about something I think someone might like, or I see the perfect idea in a magazine or online, I will write it down under their name in my notebook and the source of the idea and possibly cut and paste or draw a picture if possible.

That's it for this week - get organized and make your list. Use your notebook or computer or whatever works for you, but the key is - use it!

Please leave a comment if you would like me to add your blog to the Handmade Holiday Page.

Warm wishes,

Tonya

Spiritual Sunday

I am just loving, really really loving this book, "Strength to Love" by Martin Luther King, Jr. As I travel on my journey of being Quaker, I am in more and more awe of people like Martin Luther King Jr. who followed their leadings despite the incredible obstacles and dangers. Martin Luther King Jr., of course, was not a Quaker, but a baptist minister, however there are many parallels between his work for civil rights and the many Quakers that spoke out and actively opposed slavery.

The book I mentioned above, is filled with Martin Luther King Jr.'s sermons and I have been reading through them, absorbing them, and truly being filled with awe and admiration and I can feel the spirit moving in me that I must also listen and learn and act.

Here is an excerpt ~

The hope of a secure and livable world likes with disciplined nonconformists, who are dedicated to justice, peace, and brotherhood. The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific, and religious freedom have always been nonconformists. In any cause that concerns the progress of mankind, put your faith in the nonconformist!

In his essay Self- Reliance Emerson wrote, "Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist." The Apostle Paul reminds us that whoso would be a Christian must also be a nonconformist. Any Christian who blindly accepts the opinions of the majority and in fear and timidity follows a path of expediency and social approval is a mental and spiritual slave. Mark well these words from the pen of James Russell Lowell:

They are slaves who fear to speak

For the fallen and the weak;

They are slaves who will not choose

Hatred, scoffing, and abuse,

Rather than in silence shrink

From the truth they needs must think;

They are slaves who dare not be

In the right with two or three.

From Strength to Love, by Martin Luther King, Jr.1963

Summer Issue of Plain and Joyful Living

is done and copied...

so sorry for the delay.

This issue includes three guest writers - Elizabeth of Heartfelt Homemaking - writes about Oats; Suzanne of Blueberry Cottage - writes in her column, Over My Garden Gate; and my dear homesteading neighbor and friend, Pati, writes about poop:) Other articles include filling a hope chest and finding joy.

All new subscribers receive a little handmade goodness with their summer issue.

May it be a blessing to those that read it and please consider handwriting and mailing your thoughts and questions to share in the autumn issue.

Warm wishes, Tonya