She Knits, She Sews, She Gardens, She Grows
Today’s prompt is “Animal, ghost, or imaginary plant friend… Who’s always nearby when you create?”
Well that’s a no brainer. It’s JoJo! No matter what I’m doing, JoJo must be involved. But a familiar? Aren’t familiars supposed to help? So, that term is debatable. Unless what I really need to be doing is scritching the JoJo.
How is my weaving coming along? Very well. One or two more sessions and I will have some fabric to sew into towels.
This is an Instagram prompt. I love it so much, I’m posting mine here, because I no longer have a personal Instagram account.
I think they mean “sowing” the seeds? But maybe not? I missed Day 1, so I’ll do both 1 and 2 today!
Day 1: Meet the Maker
I’m Alissa. I knit, sew, weave (rigid heddle loom), felt, spin badly, and think about rug hooking occasionally. I don’t feel like trying to take a new selfie, so here’s a recent pic of me of which I approve. It reminds me of my Grandmother when she would get up to mischief.
What’s blooming in my creative life? For Me Made May, I’ve decided to focus on repairing, refashioning, and remaking favorites to get more wear from my garments. I will be posting about these projects this month as I work on them.
Day 2: WIP in the Wild
I am remaking my favorite Free Range Slacks in black linen. I am waiting on a delivery of waistband elastic. I’m going to have to get organized around ordering sewing supplies, or shipping is going to eat up my budget. RIP Joann Fabrics.
Are you participating in Halfway to Haunts? I’m trying to figure out how to make my posts more on theme. I tried to capture these trousers on a creepy old Apple tree in the woods where I hung our Mason Bee house. Is it haunting enough?
✅ Bob and I went to Cleveland to see Bill Callahan. I have wanted to see him perform live for decades, but I always missed him when he played in Columbus. I jumped on the tickets for Cleveland when I got the notification on Bandcamp.
The show was so good. My heart is full. Bob will often buy me a Bill Callahan album, book, or vinyl for an anniversary present. Our anniversary is in October, but the anniversary of our first date is in April. He bought me a ball cap at the concert as a souvenir.
If you’re in my neighborhood and you hear singing and poorly-played fiddle, that will be me in the barn accompanying the digital Bill Callahan in my phone.
✅ Today is the traditional day to make dandelion wine, according to Anna Franklin’s blog. I’ve always wanted to try it (probably since reading the Ray Bradbury novel in my youth.) I’m using her recipe but a much smaller portion. It should be ready in two years, so check back in April 2027.
✅ The greenhouse base is ready! We build the structure this Saturday.
This girl shovels gravel.
Wednesday WIP update:
🧶 I’m decreasing the shoulders and neckline for my Wearing Cardigan. I got a lot of knitting done on the drive to Cleveland. Almost done!
🌱 My native ephemerals are returning! I planted them two years ago, and I was worried they wouldn’t make it.
Virginia Bluebells
Red Trillium
Shooting Star
Something is nibbling on the Shooting Star and White Trillium (not pictured). We have deer and other critters, so this was one of my concerns. My hope is they will survive long enough to reproduce.
🪡 I have joined Threadloop! It’s an app for tracking sewing projects. I have been slowly adding patterns and fabric to my sewing queue.
🧶 I finished knitting a cowl from the black alpaca to match my hat. I like the raw, cast on edge to show, but I don’t like the stockinette roll. I blocked it hoping to flatten it out. It lays a little better. I’ve started some fingerless mitts with the scraps!
Today is “gravel day”, which means the gravel will be delivered for our greenhouse base. We will be building this weekend! And probably next, too.
Gets shared on my blog.
This past weekend, I went to the Fiber Witch Festival in Salem, Massachusetts with friends. We stayed at the cutest AirBNB, and had such a good time!
The vendor market was at the Old Town Hall, which is where the Halloween party took place in the film Hocus Pocus.
We took a ghost walking tour and a trolley tour, and saw a few of the sites, like The House of Seven Gables, The Witch House, and The Ropes Mansion.
My favorite was the Salem Witch Trials Memorial in honor of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials. It was very moving. I would love to go back to Salem in the summer and tour the historic homes and museums.
We did quite a bit of shopping. At the vendor market, I was reserved with my purchases, sticking to my budget.
I had difficulty deciding what to get at the Cape May booth. I finally decided to reknit the Broom Riding Cowl. I was never happy with my first version, and I knew it would look better in her yarn, for which it was designed.
I fell in love with the soft and lofty yarn from Subito Farms. I purchased two patterns and kits for accessories, but I can tell I will want a sweater quantity of their yarn at some point.
It was wonderful to spend the weekend knitting with friends and haunting Salem!
We had a great weekend. We drove to Cleveland on Saturday, and I knit the entire time for the Knit for Food Knitathon. We drove straight to Lake Erie, because I needed a little time by the water. It was cold and windy, and my hands were too cold to be knitting without gloves.
On the way to dinner, we drove through the Hands Off protest in Ohio City. We still managed to park and get a table, even though the protest was wrapping up.
I wanted to participate in the protest, but I didn’t learn about it until I already had other things planned.
After a wonderful dinner, dessert, and coffee, we headed to the main event: Church of Chills! We watched the uncut version of Puppetmaster, and enjoyed some celebrity hijinks. Although there was a meet and greet with celebrities, the line was long and the space was packed. We decided to leave that to those with collectibles they wanted signed.
This was a great way to celebrate the 15th anniversary of our first date! We stayed the night with kids, and took them to brunch Sunday morning. I finished knitting my alpaca beanie on the drive home.
I have another skein to make the cowl with, and will probably have enough left over for a pair of fingerless mitts!
Now I have to go plant my rhubarb. Hope you have a great week!
Today, from 10AM to 10PM, is the Knit for Food Knit-A-Thon. I will be knitting for 12 hours! I’m going to start a little earlier, as I have an event tonight, and I would like to be done by then.
I will be knitting a simple beanie and cowl from this gorgeous, naturally black alpaca I picked up at the Rust Belt Fibershed Symposium.
Knit for Food Knit-a-thon is a 12 hour knitting marathon to raise funds and awareness for food insecurity. 100% of funds raised will be equally divided between Feeding America, World Central Kitchen, No Kid Hungry, and Meals on Wheels.
In 2021 we, the knitters, raised $265,810!
In 2022 we raised $271,761!!
In 2023 we raised $340,000!!!
In 2024 we raised $379,010!!!
That means knitters have raised over $1,250,000 with our knitting needles!! Can you even believe that?!
There are two ways to support the Knit-a-thon: You can sign up to knit/craft for 12 hours OR you can donate!
If you would like to donate to my campaign, you can do so at this link.
March is a busy month for us. We have six family birthdays plus one in late February. There are taxes to sort out. It’s time to start planting seeds and planning the garden. I still found time for some crafting.
Sewing
I assembled my Last Drive In t-shirt throw. I didn’t want to waste the backs of the shirts, but if I use them for the back of the throw, it will create an alignment headache. Most of the tees are mediums, but there is a small and a large in the mix. I think I managed to square the top ok. I’ll use the backs as fabric to sew some PJ pants with the seams on the outside. Remember that style in the oughts? Surely it will come back around. Not that it matters.
Speaking of PJ pants, I finally had to cut a new pattern for myself in a smaller size. I’ve been putting it off, using the old one and scrunching up the elastic waistband to fit. I’m going to sew some summer PJ shorts in fabric from my stash.
Knitting
I have joined the sleeves and yoke for my Wearing Cardigan. I am also working on the sleeve modifications for the Lodge sweater.
Weaving
Still working on the dish towels.
Gardening
I planted peas, and they are coming up! I really like eating raw peas from the garden. No one else likes them very much, so I can be selfish about it.
Most of my seeds are germinating. It’s still too early to plant much. I did plant some greens in the garden that looked unhappy struggling in the shed over winter.
This has been a Year of Projects (YOP) Update. The group is in its 14th year, but I have only been doing it for a few years. This is a Ravelry based group. You can learn more here.
I deactivated my BlueSky account, and deleted Instagram and Facebook. I’m trying life without social media.
My spring hand knits don’t fit like they used to. I had to decide if I should donate or reclaim. Since I already donated three hand knits this year (at the Rust Belt Fibershed Symposium, so I know they went to good homes) I decided to reclaim these knits.
This Lodge sweater was a no brainer. The sleeves are comically too long. I’m going to rip them back, decrease them into balloon sleeves, and add rib.
My Super Simple Summer Sweater is too full and too short. I’m going to rip it back to the waist, decrease gradually, and then add rib. I will extend the sleeves as well, since they are bracelet length.
Today is the last day of False Spring, which is funny since the Spring Equinox is tomorrow. It sounds like a good day for the last fire of the season.
I was looking up inexpensive ways to make my own seed starting pots, and found this idea to reuse plastic food clamshells as germinating boxes. What a great idea! The lid keeps them warm and moist. Take it off once the seeds sprout!
Because not everyone eats meat in our household, we go through a lot of these boxes. It feels good to save and reuse them instead of recycling them.
What I did not find was a way to make my own compostable starting pots, so I purchased peat pots this year. However, I got an idea!
Toilet paper rolls! Cut them in half, stuff them with moist germinating soil, and plant away! Once the plant’s roots start growing, they will fill in the dirt and hold it in.
I haven’t tried this yet, but I’m pretty sure it will work. This year I will save up my “derders” (because you hold it up to your mouth and sing “der der DER!”) and use them for planting next year.
My Grandmother (who lived through the Great Depression and saved used foil to make garland for her Christmas tree) would be so proud of me.
ScrapHappy is a group of bloggers (links below) who post monthly about using up scraps! All genuine scraps are allowed, and any material. Blog posts are published on the 15th of the month. If you think you’d like to join the group, contact Kate who devised it with a Swedish friend – her blog is the first link below:
Kate, Eva, Sue,Lynda,
Birthe,Turid,Tracy,Jan,
Moira,Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny,Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Ann,Dawn 2,Carol,Preeti,
Viv, Karrin, Alissa,
Tierney, Hannah and Maggie
AlissaMakes 