The other night while I worked my way slowly through gallons of green beans that needed to be stemmed, blanched, cooled, and frozen I said to Pete (who was also in the kitchen, tying flies for fishing), "I have a new hobby. It's food." And really, it's 90% of what I am thinking about, planning for, researching, reading about, and doing lately. I haven't been finding much time to craft this summer between all those jars of jam and pickles. I think this is what happens when you take food preservation up to the next level. This summer I am not writing (except here), I haven't picked up my knitting in months, and I'm finding time to sew only quick projects now and again.
But this morning I work up... cold. There was a cool breeze weaving its way throgh my house, whispering about September being just a few weeks away and the first thought I had was: knitting! I need want very much to make everyone a sweater this year. Have I lost it? The garden is brimming with food to put by, we're in the process of moving our business, and working on buying a farm and selling our house, and more immediately Sage's birthday is just three weeks away. And I am going to cast on four sweaters? (As an aside, I asked Sage last week if there was anything he'd like me to knit him for his birthday and he said, yes, a four-wheeler. Nice.)
In truth, I won't be casting on four sweaters. Just two. I already have sweaters on the needles for Pete and I (above). I started them last winter but somehow by February I needed to put aside both brown and grey and find something with a little more spunk to work on. So they have been hibernating for a while.
Sage chose his sweater, this pattern, which I love. This week we'll gather some sumac berries and black walnuts to dye some upcycled wool (from a sweater we unraveled) brown and grey. Lupine has chosen a Tiny Tea Leaves Cardigan (in black) to be her sweater for this winter. I'm not sure I can find a natural dye to give us a true black, so I might use some leftover Greener Shades dyes that I used on my grey sweater above.
To add to the knitting mania, I pulled out my purchased wool slippers this morning and the toes are blown out. Something I had conveniently forgotten when it was warm out and I didn't need slippers. So we'll add that to the list as well. I think a pair like those I made for Sage, above.
Oh, wait. There are also the mittens... we all need new mittens for this year, so that's a decent stash-buster I can start up just as soon as the garden is under control. I could go on, but I won't. I look forward to a long and restful winter, curled up with my knitting by the fire. Until then, I'll be in the kitchen with bushels of tomatoes!
For those of you who are on Ravelry you can find me here if you're interested. What's on your needles these days?
