Saturday, May 25, 2013

Stay Away Frost!

This past week has been a wonderful and needed reprieve from my knitting and designing. The weather was sublime and perfect for working out in the yard under the budding branches of my wild and free rose bush and in the fresh spring dirt. The general rule of thumb here in the Midwest, is that, if you want to be on the safe side when planting flowers, you wait until after Mother's Day to avoid the risk of frost damage. I decided to abide by this rule this year and push most of my plantings off until this last week. Well I will tell you that after spending hours in the sun, finding muscles I never knew I had and breaking lots of glorious sweat,I still had to cover my precious new plantings for the frost that has hit us now 3 times. Boo to the frost! It is worth it though because I want these little darlings to stay alive and well! Here are some photos of my early spring garden. I love perennials, but also keep annuals on my front porch. Flowers and gardening can be a lot of work, for me, there is nothing as rewarding as sitting out on a warm summer day, be it morning, afternoon, or evening, surrounded by blooms.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Some New Things

I have been very hard at work these past few weeks/months wrapping up a few designs for spring/ summer and this upcoming fall.
During the summer months, I take time off from designing so that I can spend lots of time with my girls outside.  Every year I also make it a point to take up one new learning project.
This year I've decided to dabble in short film making with my brother.
Film making is much different than photography and has an entirely different set of tools, programs and equipment, so I have a lot to learn, but it's been so much fun so far and a really wonderful creative outlet for me!
Here is my first little short.  Again, very novice of course and I'm sure I'll look back on this in a few months with loads of embarrassment, but for now, it makes me smile.
In knitting news, I've released a few new patterns for spring!

Heathered is a new, classic cardigan design that I just love.  This sweater goes with almost everything!  I highly recommend Chickadee by Quince and Co (if not just for it's sweet name).  This yarn is so lightweight and springy, it holds it's shape incredibly well.
I added some fun detailing here and there to make it feel extra special!


The sweater also comes in a children's version, which I've called Cricket
I really wanted a very simplistic design that had just the right amount of detail in it to keep it very storybook.