October Sunflowers, Frieda's Birthday and Giveaway #4

Where has October gone? For that fact, where has 2010 gone? In a few short weeks it will be Thanksgiving. Whoa - slow down. Please..... I doubt it will. Yikes!

Back in the beginning of August, I still hadn't finished planting my garden! I decided to take a chance and throw in some sunflower seeds along the garden shed. If they didn't bloom, I hadn't expended much energy. It's been a rather mild fall here and although we have had several frosts, my late planted sunflowers are putting on a bit of a show. The other morning, the fog was rising, the mountainside was gloriously colored and the flowers were just shining their little hearts out.


They aren't quite as profuse as the sunflowers that grow in our field but they sure do look gorgeous and make me smile.


We don't have full-blown sunsets in our yard. What we do have is the sun reflecting itself on the mountain beyond our house. As the sun gets lower in the sky, it climbs up the hill.

Quickly it becomes a sliver and then disappears and it gets dark.


I love that time of day and I frequently sit out in a chair and watch the sun climb up the mountain.


Today is my grandma Frieda's birthday. She was born in 1901 in Germany and came to America in 1911. She would be 109 today. Gram was a huge part of my sisters and my life. She lived only across town and we saw her multiple times a week. Gram was always making something - whether it be kuchen, cookies, dinner, growing a garden, arranging dried flowers, sewing, crocheting, or embroidering. She taught me to crochet when I was 9 years old. Gram is one of the reasons I became interested in textiles and handwork of all kinds. She passed on her love of busywork with the hands to me and I am so thankful for that gift she shared. I can still remember her saying to me "Oh, Kristin, you are so clever." It was that encouragement that spurred me on! Every once in a while, I will stumble on her beautiful handwritten letters that I have saved since I was in college. She had elegant handwriting and she wrote me once a week for the two years I was at graduate school in Colorado. As she got older and began to fade, her letters became shorter and confused. But I cherish each and every one. So Happy Birthday Gram - wherever you are. I love you! And thank you!


And now it is on to this week's October Giveaway #4. Here's what I have for you.....

1. A signed copy of my book "Kids Embroidery" (a great present for a little friend!)
2. A copy of Alison Stewart-Guinee's Fairy Tale Knits (courtesy of Alison)
3. A signed copy of my book "Kristin Knits"
4. Two sets of my postcards - "Olympia in her Floral Felted Lei" and "Sheep in Coats"
and lastly.......
5. FIVE different colored balls of my self-striping sock yarn Best Foot Forward (courtesy of Nashua Handknits). That will make a lot of socks!


Here's how you enter..... Answer the following question in the comments section of this post:

Today it is about knitting patterns..... Do you feel a free pattern is as accurate as a purchased knitting pattern? Do you look to yarn companies and yarn stores for knitting patterns? Or knitting magazines? Or do you look to independent designers for patterns on the web? Feel free to add whatever thoughts you have on the subject! Thanks so much!

Contest closes Tuesday, November 2nd at midnight. Please make sure you leave an easy way to get a hold of you (e-mail addy is best!) Good luck! I have one more fabulous giveaway planned for the end of next week so check back!

Life Cycles

Everything on a farm involves a cycle of life or the cycle of a year and the changing lengths of days and temperatures, the rhythms of the flora and the fauna, the sun and the moon. But then everyone’s life, wherever you live – in the city or the country – is a cycle – a school year, a summer vacation, a work year. As a child, I never realized the cycle we were living even though I was living my way through it. Now, into my fifth decade, the seasons, the holidays, the rhythm of life has become familiar. I see in Julia how she loves the rhythms of the year – her Dad’s birthday, her birthday, summer vacation, my birthday, and then the wonderful family and harvest oriented holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Which all leads me to…… Oh my goodness, is it autumn again? Must mean the leaves will be changing colors, the air will be crisp and lovely, the harvest festivals will abound. I love this time of year when the sun is low in the sky and the colors around me positively glow... when it is cold enough to put on a sweater.,, when we can look forward to lighting the woodstove and keeping warm in one little room in our house while the rest of the house shivers. But we’re not quite there yet. The sunflowers are still blooming and I am still picking them and stuffing them into the buckets on the old haywagon. That is until the frost comes and ends it all.

On Saturday evening, just before sunset, I was madly picking sunflowers to fill up the buckets for Sunday. It had been a busy day at the sunflower field - I think everyone around here is anticipating cold days ahead and they all needed a little cheer in their lives in the form of a happy bouquet. I had been at Fibertwist trying to sell my books and postcards. It was hot there and barely conducive to warm and wooly things. Very odd for a late day in September.

It's funny but I barely ever meet any of our sunflower customers. I must be picking at odd hours when noone is buying. It's actually nice that way - I don't have to chat with anyone and I can have the beauty of the field to myself. I'm not alone though. There are so many birds hanging upside down from ripe seed heads picking out the seeds. And there are bugs, honeybees, bumble bees, grasshoppers and as I found out the other evening - lots of moths!

I was deep in the field Saturday evening and I heard a voice. I went out to the road and met a woman who wanted to know about the flowers. She told me she had never stopped or bought anything before. I told her a bit about the field and then went back into the rows. I heard her calling me again. I met her halfway down a row and she had a green glass vase with her. She told me her 92 year old friend had died and she wanted some sunflowers for her friend's family. She said they wouldn't be into flowers from a florist and our flowers would be perfect. I told her I would set her up and picked away. In a few minutes, I had a beautiful bunch of flowers and arranged them in the vase. She was really happy, handed me 10 bucks and she was off.

I still had more flowers to pick for Sunday. It was getting really dark and I worked fast. As the sun went down, I couldn't help thinking about this woman, about the older woman who had just passed away and about the cycle of life. It is an amazing cycle. Every year, as we plan the field, plant, till, weed, and harvest the sunflowers, I think about the cycle of everything's life. Some creatures grow old over a century, some grow old over a decade, and some grow old over just a few short months. It is reassuring to see the natural cycle of life and rather profound. It also is just darn cool that I can see this happening right before my eyes.

I have patched together a little photo essay of our sunflower field for you all.

Seeds emerging... Little leaves just beginning to grow up tall and strong....


A few months later, a sunflower blossom is getting ready to pop.....


A single bloom... with a bit of subtle coloration. This one is a hardy variety called Autumn Beauty. Seed this year was in short supply.


Sun shining down bright on a golden yellow Autumn Beauty bloom. You can see the very flat disk and the little protrusions all the way around the outside of the disk.


This striped bloom is starting to have some pollen on the outside of the disk. The bees will not be far behind.


I love all the wild abandon in the multi-colored rows of the Autumn Beauty Sunflowers. It really is a mass party of bloom and happy faces.

As the blooms age, they become rounder and fuller. The seed heads begin to grow and everything, except the petals, becomes round and robust. The petals shrivel away. This could be a poem if I was any good at writing them.


As the blossoms age, they take on another kind of beauty. They remind me of the ending hours of a late party. Everyone of them is a bit pooped - looking like they could use a good night's sleep.

As the seeds develop in the blossoms, the heads become heavy with seed. The plants can no longer support them and they start to fall over. They look so graceful to me - the light catching the different shapes that are developing from the spent blossoms.


Each plant continues to set more blooms, even though they are smaller and not as beautiful as the first blooms. They seem to be saying to me, "there's still time to produce, to make more beauty, to set more seed for the next year."

Finally the seeds are mature. The seed heads are brown or black, full of ripe, mature seeds that the birds come and pick out and enjoy.


And then they become picked over. They are done.


The plants then stand tall, decaying, soon to return to the soil. The earth will rest and next year it will all begin again.


It is earthy, raw, real, and lovely in its very own way and I am fortunate to witness it all so intimately. I am happy to share it with you all.

Around the Farm

Pokeweed is a nasty weed which I am constantly fighting. At this time of year it is so unbelievably beautiful. You can read all about the many uses for it here. I never knew it was so toxic. The sheep know because they never eat it. Me, I just want to knit this photo! And I will one day.


The ewes have been grazing up the road most of the summer. Can you see how brown the pasture is? You've probably heard about the lack of rain here on the east coast. I have been so nervous we are going to run out of water. It is just one of those things and you put up with it having a well. My brother-in-law David (the Other Farmer - he makes milk) ran out of water last week. Dairy cattle need a lot of water daily so he is driving to a pond at a neighbor's house that is spring fed and pumping water a few times a day to give to his cows. Today and tomorrow it is supposed to rain but we are so behind on the water that two days will help a little but not much. My Farmer is filling up his water tank and delivering the water from a local pond that still has water to the ewes out in the field.


The lambs have been in the pasture right outside our house for most of the summer. They really are growing, aren't they? Tonight we have to separate the largest ram lambs to take to the processor on Wednesday morning. Should be fun in the rain. The dogs will have a good time because they will be doing some real work. Rain or not, they live to work. And by the way, if you want a lamb for your freezer, I am taking orders now. Information is over here on our Leyden Glen Lamb website. I will most likely be coming to the Boston area sometime before Christmas so I can arrange a "lamb meat-up." You can also take a drive and pick it up here at the farm. Lamb meat is always available in our "lamb shack."

The colors here in New England are turning gold and red at an alarming rate. Color usually peaks around Columbus Day but it looks like this year we will be at full color this weekend. My guests for the last "Getting Stitched on the Farm" Class of 2010 are very lucky considering many are coming from parts of the country where there isn't as much color.


The sunflowers are still doing their thing. The hot weather has made for an amazing crop. I will really miss the daily picking of the field and filling the buckets for neighbors to buy and take home for their kitchen tables. I'm also going to miss having vases around the house overstuffed with sunflowers. But I must admit, I am really looking forward to a little downtime, nesting in our cosy house, knitting, getting my studio up and going, and possibly getting my feet clean again. It has been months since I have been able to get them squeaky clean.

Here Come the Sunflowers

Your job today:

Step 1: Open a new browser window and click on this link....

Step 2: Return to this blog post and enjoy my photos while the music is playing. This can't help but make you smile today.







Sorry about all the clicking - I just couldn't figure out how to embed the song into the post!

If you have ever wanted to come to our Sunflower Field, this weekend is a perfect weekend for it. The address is 562 Leyden Road, Greenfield, MA 01301. We don't live at the field but I will be around some this weekend filling up the buckets.

It is also the 162nd Annual Franklin County Fair which is always fun for everyone.

Sunflower Harvest Season Has Begun....

Our sunflower field has suffered this year..... for lack of time to devote to it. Between The Farmer and I, we are now doing 5 Farmers Markets. The time we usually devoted to the Sunflower Field (late afternoons and early evening) has now been slurped away by the markets. The field is on a heavily traveled road which we are on at least 8 or 10 times a day. All summer long, I drove by both embarrassed by the shambles it looked and with the angst of the pressure to weed. Who says farming is low stress and lots of fun? Don't believe it!

But you know, the plants and flowers have not anxiety at all. We were able to weed quite a few of the rows and once the plants got big enough, we just forgot about the weeds. As sunflowers always do, they grow quickly and pretty soon they just put a smile on everyone's face. Last weekend, after a quick end of the summer trip to Lake Champlain, I started my annual harvest. All week long, I've been cutting the flowers in the morning and evening and they are traveling away to neighbors' kitchen tables, I assume.


This year I found a new variety to plant. It is called The Giant. It is a single stem (that means you only get one bloom per plant). It is stunning but sadly, they are all done. I got the seeds from this website Outside Pride.com.


Johnny's Selected Seeds is where I usually get most of my sunflower seeds. They have cut out some of my favorite varieties much to my chagrin. I especially liked a flower called "The Joker" but it is gone now sadly.

Every year, we talk about not planting the sunflower field because of the extra work. And then harvest time comes and I start picking. And I remember how much fun it is to walk through the rows thick with multi-headed blooms, full of bees and butterflies, ladybugs, and all kinds of little critters. We'll see about next year. Gotta take it one day at a time and these days it is all about picking and spreading the sunflower love... Good week everyone!

Waiting for Spring and Anticipating Summer

Subliminally, I must be tiring of winter. It's almost over here. We still have a fair bit of snow in our fields but every day it is warm, a little bit seeps into the earth. The sap is running and maple farmers are harvesting sap. The sugar houses that dot the countryside were all boiling sap this weekend and we took the ubiquitous trip to one this weekend where we all enjoyed a bit of the super sweet. Pancakes have never done it much for me and the syrup wreaks havoc with Julia's diabetes. But it's once a year that we go and then it is over until the next year. No matter how hard I try, I usually guess wrong with the amount of carbs to plug into the insulin pump.

For the past few weeks I've been playing with Lesley Stansfield's 100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet. Man, is this a lot of fun. This book is so well done - lovely straight forward, simple photos where you can really see what you are knitting or crocheting. The instructions are fine and there is a lovely selection of all kinds of flowers. I have tried a few of them. I can't get real excited about knitting the flowers. The crocheted ones go so much faster and I think crochet naturally is a better medium for making flowers. I'm trying to stay open about knitted flowers but they just take longer! I'm an impatient person, I must say.

Here's a crocheted (sort-of) sunflower.


Makes me pine for these.


With the days getting longer, it's not going to be long before we have more than we can handle doing outside. I know in some parts of the northern hemisphere, things are growing like nuts but we're still a couple months off.

I have decided that I prefer a lot of the crocheted flowers I make to be felted. It just makes them softer looking. I love how the stitches disappear into the mass of fibers that develop in the washing machine. To me, the process of felting is very similar to loading up a kiln full of ceramics, turning the heat on and then waiting to see what the finished pots look like. There is such anticipation in waiting for that buzzer on the washing machine to ring.

Here's what the above pseudo sunflower looks like felted.


I think it would be great with a little embroidery added to the brown colored disc.

Have you tried crocheting flowers yet? If you are a knitter, is this something you might like to learn crochet for? I'm just wondering because as I develop patterns for my website, I worry about turning people off with added crochet bits to the patterns. Any help you can give me in this market research is very appreciated.

Fall Sunflowers + Another Preview from Color by Kristin

The day I was leaving for Detroit, I stopped by the Sunflower Field to take a last look. The weather was said to be turning colder and I knew I had to take some photos since it would be a good nine months before I could enjoy the flowers again. The flowers were still blooming and there were hundreds that were fighting to hang on and bloom. We had planted several rows late in August hoping for a late frost.

The wind was whipping and it was difficult to take any focused photos. This flower looks cold against the changing leaves, naked trees, and grey sky.

The bees on this Mammoth Sunflower were fighting for the last bit of pollen.


While I was gone, the weather did indeed turn very cold, so cold that all the flowers died. Today, I stopped by to see them. Everything was shriveled, looking fragile and sad.


The large Mammoth Sunflowers never got real big this year due to the wet weather and really late start. Here is one bending towards the earth, ready to compost into the ground and enrich the soil for next year.


Which leads me to how you can enjoy sunflowers this winter.... on my "lazy daisy tea cosy" project from my new book Color by Kristin.


This tea cosy is one of the easiest projects in the book. It is knit in the round (only one color per round). It features a bobbled edge and a fun knitted knob. After it was knit, I decorated it with bobbles, French knots, lazy daisies and woven bar leaves. You can order a signed copy of my new book directly from my website here. But please, support your local book and yarn store if they are stocking Color by Kristin. Thank you.

Sunflowers at Sunset and a Colorful Hen Party

The other night Julia and I arrived at The Sunflower Field just before the sun was setting. This is one of the prettiest times of the day. As we were picking armfuls of the Giant Sungold blooms, the light got even prettier. The sunflowers began to glow almost magically as the light went lower in the sky. I ran for the camera and started snapping away.


This season's difficult weather has caused so many of the different sunflowers to blossom late. This variety, which I cannot remember the name of, usually is one of the most reliable bloomers, sending out multiple stalks of bright yellow flowers on rather short stalks. This year, they began so late but they sure looked beautiful the other night.


The sun began to disappear behind the mountains and the field went dark. I finished up my picking in almost dark, stocking the buckets for "sunflower fairies" to enjoy on their kitchen tables throughout the weekend. The season is sadly almost over. We've got a few more rows of plants that are about 2 feet high and we're not sure they will even bloom. They're trying hard and we'll see what the next couple weeks of weather brings.

To continue the previews of my new book Color by Kristin, here's a photo of the knit in the round yoke sweater I tentatively titled "The Duchess of Devonshire's Pullover."I think the colors of this sweater fit in nicely with the late season sunflowers. I wanted to include one of these traditional "knit in the round yoke sweaters" in this book because I think they are great for knitters just beginning to explore colorwork.


I'm kind of chicken crazy. I have raised egg laying chickens since the 1980's. I love all the different colors the birds come in. I thought it would be fun to include my brood in the photos we took at the farm. Here, my friend Shalee looks to be having quite the conversation with the birds.

Here's a close-up of the bottom sleeve and sweater edging showing the several color garter stitch.


So where did "The Duchess" come in? In my studio, I have a photo of The Duchess of Devonshire feeding her chickens in a fabulous silk ballgown at Chatsworth, her family's magnificent estate in England. My sister Laurie sent me the card several years ago and it makes me laugh everytime I look at it. (The photo was by Bruce Weber.) If only I could look so elegant feeding my chickens every morning. Instead, I slop around in Blundstones and old pants. But my chickens love me all the same. We wanted to use the postcard as spot art in the book but were advised not to for legal reasons. Here's a photo of The Duchess in a snappy coat that I found on the internet which has a similar feeling.


In the end, we titled the sweater "Hen Party Pullover" but I will always think of it as "The Duchess' Pullover." I love the how the Pumpkin and other fall-inspired colors turn the traditional "knit in the round" sweater on its ear.

Good Morning Sunshine!

My mom used to say this to us every morning! What did your mom say to you?