resurrection fern

my photography studio

The light is amazing especially in the morning and late in the day. It is completely solar powered. The backdrops are ever so beautiful. It doesn't cost me a penny, it is always open and I only need share it with the local wild things. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every so often I crochet up another covered tea saucer I have found at the thrift store. I almost have enough for a satisfactory wall display. It has been quite the week and I am glad it is drawing to a close. Hope those of you that are have the flu recover quickly and that the rest of you stay well. I leave you with the sun rise on my way to work this morning. There are some wonderful things you see if you must get up early to trod off to the office. I think that sole bird in the tallest tree was singing a good morning song just for me.

this day was for the squirrels

I was going to title this post "going nuts" but thought it a little harsh. Where I live we are in the midst of a very rapid increase in the number of H1N1 cases while at the same time the vaccine to prevent this illness has just started to be distributed. I have been a family physician for over two decades and have never before had to deal with a situation like this. So again my word of the day was "composure". Keeping it together to calm fear, maintain balance and get through it all one day at a time.

I took these pictures last week and they are so bright, colorful and smile inducing. Maybe they will work on you too. Here let me guide you into the forest with my little lantern leading the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really wonder what gossip those sporophytes are sharing with the liberty mushroom. Don't you love the cotton candy slime molds. They were new arrivals in the forest last week. Stay well my friends.

nahanni : a hand knit hat

 

 

 

This is really quick and easy to make. You can finish it in a few hours. 

Materials:

 about 100 yards of bulky , preferably hand spun yarn. This was yarn I spun last winter. I was so pleased with how it looks knitted up in such a textural pattern.

a 16 inch size 10 mm circular knitting needle or a set of four double pointed needles

a large holed yarn needle for finishing.

Instructions: 

Cast on 40 stitches and join to form a circle. 

Knit one, purl one ribbing for 10 rows. 

The next round knit in the front and back of each stitch thus doubling the number of stitches in a round to 80.

Place a stitch marker at the beginning of the round.

*Wrap the yarn twice (w x 2)  around the needle in your right hand and then knit the next two stitches together ( k2tog) . Continue pattern until you have completed a round. 

Next round knit plain.* Knit the double wrapped stitch as one stitch. This will allow you to maintain the same number of stitches in each row.

Continue these *two rows*  for 4 more sets. ( 8 rows total)

Now **wrap the yarn twice around the right hand needle and then knit the next three stitches together. Continue pattern until you have completed a round.

Knit the next row plain as before.**

Repeat these **two rows** two more times .

Now cut your yarn so you have an 8 inch tail and thread it on yarn needle. 

Thread all your remaining stitches on the thread and pull to gather them together. Sew the remaining threads in firmly.

There you have it your own warm mushroom hat. I am going to make another one , a little longer to give it a more slouchy look. 

Here is a picture I took with the partially knit hat and wool on the page with images from Nahanni National Park. Don't they look great together.

 

 

 

How to Make a Fabric Covered Button Badge

A few of you asked for a tutorial on how to make a covered button badge of your own. It doesn't take much persuasion to get me to do a little tutorial. I see my little blog as a little spring board. Giving some of you that extra little lift to get your crafting life off the ground. Before I start I am going to apologize for the poor photography. I had to use the flash, something I dread. No light when I get home from work these days. The apology out of the way I think the pictures are self explanatory but I will add very brief descriptions of the steps.

1. Gather up your materials. I like to gather up more than I need because once I get into that making mode I hate to get up and look for things. The basic things you need are fabric, a small piece of felt,  covered button kit size 60, one inch wide ribbon or trim, a ruler, needle and thread, scissors and safety pins or brooch fasteners. 

 

2. I cut out vintage fabrics and a lovely moose from fabric Lara Cameron. I decided to use the moose for this little tutorial. Make a covered button using the instructions with your kit.

 

3.  Cut a length of ribbon 12 inches long. 

 

4.  Thread a needle and gather the ribbon. You could use a sewing machine here but I like to sew by hand. Pull the gathering until the length measures 5 inches which is the circumference of the button. Tie a knot to secure the length.

5.  Now sew together the ends of the ribbon to form a gathered circle. 

 

6.  Center this on the back side of the covered button.

 

7.  Now thread the needle again and sew this onto the edge of the fabric covered button. You could probably glue it instead but I rarely use glue so I prefer to hand sew.

 

8.  Now cut a piece of felt into a circle 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Make two little openings and poke a safety pin through. Sew the pin down into place with a few small stitches. 

 

9.  Now center this felt backing on the undersurface of your badge and sew it into place. 

 

10.  Add any detail you would like with a needle and embroidery thread. I added a tiny patch of moose moss to munch. 

 

I attempted to take a picture of it on a top of mine but it is late at night and again I apologize for the poor quality photographs. 

 

That is my closet door:)

 

I hope to have my hat pattern posted tomorrow. It is so quick and easy to knit up. 

 

By the way you will find a little post about me on Whip up and you can purchase my plush you 2009 items here. I think they would make wonderful gifts this holiday season and it would be like the gift that keeps giving since I am donating my portion of the sale to Greenpeace. Both the turtle and Halvard include crochet covered sea stones. 

knitting is golden

 

Nature and its continuously changing display always inspires me. This weekend it was mostly shades of golden yellow with accents of brown, orange and purple. I really needed to knit to give my crocheting tired fingers a rest. I grabbed some wool I spun last winter, my largest knitting needles and made a scarfette using my very own pattern. Instead of vintage buttons I made a fabric covered button from the little purple owl embroidered on liberty tana lawn. I added a trim of velvet ribbon dyed with sumac. 

 

Some of this was knitted on the porch while staying warm drinking butternut squash soup. I am coming to terms with the fact that there are very few porch afternoons left before winter comes.

 

 

 

This project can be completed in only a few hours and only requires one skein of bulky yarn. It is super easy to knit.

 

A few other golden images ( lisa congdon's birch painting and rummage sale finds on the line)  from the weekend and of course since it is monday a very pumpkin filled bench monday shot. Even the hand knit socks ( thanks Bekki) match the post. 

 

  

looking down

Looking down is the way to see all the color of my world this week. Soon everything will turn to shades of brown and grey and then of course the cold white crystals will fall from the sky. I have a feeling we are in for another early winter this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The amazing thing is that all these pictures were taken from the floor of the same little forest that my secret installation is in. Such diversity of color, texture and species of trees in a very small area within a very urban community. I am so fortunate to have this area so close to were I live.

The other exciting thing that autumn brings in these parts are rummage sales. My daughter and I went to one today and brought home a few treasures. 

 

I just love that vintage copy of The Little House book. It is one of my favorite stories and It still has its library card inside with all the adorable signatures of the children that took it out before it was taken out of circulation. I am sure most of you know by now that I have a great appreciation for vintage children's books especially if they have wonderful covers and or beautiful illustrations. 

The real find I think was the very soft and old patchwork baby quilt that I purchased for 25 cents!!!!

I will take some better pictures of it when the sun comes out again.

turning a little accident into a thing of warmth and beauty

If you have ever seen one of my crochet covered stones you would see that the cover is crocheted very tightly to the stone. So tight that it is not removable. I almost only use thrift store purchased vintage crochet or tatting threads and sometimes these are not the strongest threads in the world. I had just finished making a beautiful, very fine thread cover for a stone and was pulling very hard on the threads to make them as snug as possible and for the first time in my stone covering career the material tore, leaving a very large hole in the pattern. Rather than toss it into the compost, I decided to wet felt a cover on the stone and then open it up ever so slightly to reveal the lace pattern, hopefully in the none ripped area, beneath. This is very similar to how I made my matryoshka stones last year. 

 

 

I love these blues and off whites.

Quite the contrast to the continued explosion of color in the forest. 

 

The fields are very muted, golden and beautiful on my drives to and from work. Although I wish I could walk or use public transit to get to my office there is definitely some wonderful scenery to enjoy every day.

 

I do so hope your weekend glows.

micro moments

During my extra long day at the office I read something in a magazine that is delivered to my office every month. There was a quote in from Barbara Fredrickson , a professor of psychology and author of the book Positivity. It said " even in tough times pay attention to those micro moments that trigger good feelings---- whether it's the beauty outside the window or the kind things that others do."  I think I practice this principle in my life without even knowing it had special terminology and I really do think it works.

Here are a few of my micro moments in picture today. Proof that no matter how busy you might be it is possible to find humour and beauty somewhere in your day. Seek it out and make it happen. 

First off Oliver joined me in the office. I am sure you have all heard of bats in your belfry but have you heard of owls in you occiput.

 

Or here is a beautiful picture of tinea pedis , better known as athlete's foot, a fungal infection of the skin of the foot.

 

Fern is training to be a physician assistant and here he is practicing by getting a mallard duck to say awwwww.

I have warned him against this method and convinced him to order some very small tongue depressors from the medical supply shop. 

All kidding aside it was a warm wet day today, perfect for a quick walk at about 4 pm where much to my delight I discovered the sleeping local snails had woken up. I managed to snap a few really beautiful images before heading back to the office for the evening session. These few brief "micro moments" really cleared my head, rejuvenated me and helped the evening pass in a more positive way.

 

 

 

 

 

I felt a little like a water drop caught between two bright beautiful berries.

 

Did you experience any "micro moments" today??

owls and acorns and liberty, oh my

Last night I was watching a few episodes of madmen ( a current favorite) online and I made a windfall of crocheted acorns, started a little embroidery project and a new little covered stone character , an owl with liberty wings. A quick little photo shoot on my way to work this morning and voila!!

 

 

 

 

I think my favorite is the one in the top picture, made from cashmere yarn from my stash.

 

I think this little purple owl on woodsy liberty fabric will turn into a very large button for a new scarfette I plan to knit up with some hand spun wool. I think it would make a sweet gift for someone.

 

 

 

He was really trying very hard to fly over those hills and far away but having a stone belly makes it very difficult to gain any altitude. Better to just to sit for a while with a complementary acorn.

 

A few more pictures of some really beautiful seed pods, off to bed and then to the office for a very long day at work. I might have to bring Oliver ( the stone Owl) to keep me smiling.

 

homage to cruciferous veggies

Not only are cruciferous veggies some of the healthiest veggies on earth. They are plentiful and really inexpensive this time of year where I live but the thing I love most about them is there rich colors and textures. Who needs expensive props for photography when you can tear off a few cabbage leaves. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't they make the sweetest stone bowls? These are some new stones I am working on for a VERY SPECIAL, VERY BIG project. More about that at a later date. Which brings me to my next question. Do any of you know where I might get my hands on some large ( at least 10 cm in diameter) smooth, not too tall sea or river stones? I need at least 25. I would be willing to arrange payment for shipping because after all they are stones and thus very heavy. If you think you might be able to help leave me a comment of send me an email. You wonderful people have proven time and time again that you are the greatest.