The Crofting Life

I have this moving to Scotland

Outer Hebrides or Shetland Islands

Living on a croft dream

Where I raise sheep and Highland Cattle

Live off the land with the wind and the sea
Outside and a warm fire inside.

It's a distant and unlikely dream but a dream nonetheless.

In the meantime I'll make my own village out of rustic bits of wool

While sitting by my electric fireplace heater next to the Christmas tree
Hoping for snow

Here is my basic Croft recipe
It's a great way to use up bits of yarn

Cast on between 18-25 stitches with worsted weight yarn on size 7 US needles, stockinette for as tall as you want your croft to be, switch to the roof color, stockinette for 1/3 - 1/2 the height of the front wall, do one knit across a purl row to make the peak, then stockinette to make the back wall match the front.  Another row of knit a purl row to turn the edge for the bottom then about 1"-2" of stockinette for the floor depending on how tall you made your croft.  Pick up stitches on the left and right "floor" edges to make the sides stockinette stitch until they're just a bit longer than the height of the house.  Stitch all of the seams, the chimneys are wrapped around the edges of the roof as they're stitched, this is all four layers of chimney and roof with the chimney wrapped around the roof like a taco.  The windows and doors are duplicate stitch.  Some of my crofts have more detailed stitching, that's because my duplicate stitch has become increasingly tidy so I can now add detail.  Next round I think I will add more embroidery, perhaps some flower boxes. Enjoy and stay cozy!  

Longing.

Another Outlander inspired piece...

My original sketch

My intention was to make an embroidered piece. Until I went through my fabric stash and found this beautiful scrap that looks like a sunset.  The fabric is dyed this way and looked like a stunning and somewhat foreboding sunset.

Tea and planning and more planning.

All the fabrics are scraps from sewing projects, in particular here a cloak (the plaid) a shirt (the pink linen) a bag (the yellow and green) and last but not least an old sheet.  The challenge was making the pieces fit into a landscape with the sizes and odd shaped.  

Placement decided and placed in an embroidery hoop.

The fabric is all held with embroidery stitches to look somewhat like flora and inspired by many pictures of Scotland on Pinterest.  The figure is felt applique, mostly because I was at a loss of how to effectively trace out the shape and embroider over the appliqued fabric.  The skirt and the bodice/head are two separate pieces.  I embroidered the stitches for the tartan and the shawl before appliqueing the pieces to the background...and the hair...I'm pleased with how it came out for a first attempt, just don't look at the back.  The stitches for the hair are just under then wrapped over the flat piece so that non of the felt shows through and to give it dimension.

I decided to leave the stones and the house out of the finished piece because the sunset fabric captures that feeling of being alone, longing, and looking toward uncertainty much better than the rather literal representation of the standing stones and the warmth of the house.

For the full feeling hum the Skye Boat Song.

If the Mitts Fitz

Chunky mitts for winter walks in the Scottish Highlands
Or your own backyard wherever it may be.

Needle
US 13 - 9.0 mm

Yarn
Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunky
Colorway
402 Wheat



C/O 30 stitches
(long tail, doesn’t seem to have a problem with rolling over)
R 1 knit
R 2 purl
R 3 knit
R. 4 purl
R 5 kn.st 1-17, decrease 1 (knit two together) knit rest of row
R 6 purl
On knit (odd rows) decrease 1 with center stitches
(even rows purl straight across)
Until there are 19 stitches left.
Three rows of stockinette
On the 3rd row (purl side) knit first 3 and last 3 stitches..
Garter stitch first and last 3 stiches on each row for seven rows
(For thumbs)
Stockinette for last 5 rows
BO on purl row.
(Seems to eliminate rolling)
Seam up sides. Leaving space for the thumb at the garter stitch section. You don’t have to do the garter stitch but it keeps the thumb opening lying flat and nicely defined, especially if you use a yarn that doesn’t block well.
I usually leave a long enough tail when I bind off and cast on to stitch up the seams.

I wear a US size 16….if you are small you may want to go down a needle size, or start with fewer stitches…..to compensate and preserve the length just knit more rows of stockinette before the thumbs.

Outlander's Need a Hug Shrug

Outlander’s Need a Hug

Shrug

Lion Brand WoolEase Chunky – Redwood

US 11 (8mm) needles
Cable Needle
Tape Measure
Gauge 10 Stitches, 8 Rows = 4”x 4”
Cast on 60 stitches with long tail cast on (or preferred)

Row 1 K2, P2 across

Row 2 P2, K2 across
Row 3 K across
Row 4 P across
Continue Stockinette stitch for 6”
On purl row, purl 16, place marker, purl 28, place marker, purl 16
Knit row starts the Cable pattern on the edges of the shrug, this will become the neck and waistline..
Continue Cable pattern for 25” (9 repeats of cable pattern)
Stockinette Stitch for 6”
K2, P2 Rib for last two rows

Bind off.

 Cable Pattern

Row 1. K3, P2, K9, P2, Knit to the next marker (28 stitches),  P2, K9, P2, K3
Row 2.K5, P9, K2, Purl to next marker, K2, P9, K5
Row 3 (Right side of row) K3, P2, slip three to cable needle, hold to back, K3, K3 from cable needle, K3, P2
 Knit 28
 (Left side of row) P2,slip 3 to cable needle, hold to back, K3, K3 from cable needle, K3, P2, K5
Row 4. K5, P9, K2, P28, K2, P9, K5
Row 5. K3, P2, K9, P2, K28, P2, K9, P2, K3
Row 6. K5, P9, K2, P28, K2, P9, K5
Row 7. K3, P2, K3, slip three to cable needle, hold in front, K3, K3 from cable needle P2,
 K28,
P2, K3, slip three to cable needle, hold in front, K3, K3 from cable needle P2, K3
Row 8. K5, P9, K2, P28, K2, P9, K5
                  


                                                                                            

I am more Mrs. Fitz than Mrs. Fraser in size….

I wear a US 16 and this is very loose on me,  my friend tried it on, she is a size 20 and it fit her snugly and still looked nice,  if you are smaller or would like a more snug fit it would be easy to cast on fewer stitches in the center section…..

                                    

The View From the Cave

Still all about Outlander

Or Voyager

One of the most haunting images from this book, one that always sticks with me

is that of Jamie's time alone in the cave.

Here is my ode to outlaws and rebels and loneliness

A shawl the color of sunlight through bracken and fading leaves

Simple garter stitch in chunky yarn

Trimmed with bits of fabric salvaged from trips home

Old and worn but still filled with the warmth of home and hearth

Like the arms of a loved one wrapped around your shoulders

Hoping for the day their touch will be real and not imagined

Longed for

What unimaginable loneliness and sorrow

Clinging to life and hope and memory

the Faire

I had to give up knitting for a bit and do some sewing,

Very important sewing...

Joe's first Ren Faire experience,

And Nellie's first time back since she was tiny

Cloudy provides quality control and measuring assistance to all sewing projects

Joe and Hershey liked their new cloaks so much they put them on straightaway

And fell asleep in them.  Sewing success!

(Cloaks are half circle construction...found on google,

Half circle Hobbit Cloak)

How do you put a cloak on over your fairy wings?

This was my big challenge

Solved by making a hole to slip the wings through,

We'll patch it up with some pretty fabric later....

It will go from "hole to accommodate wings" to "design choice"

And so........

 After several days of manically sewing cloaks

It was finally Faire day.

One and a half hours of driving through beautiful

fall filled scenery we arrived

Myself , my two youngest, and honorary auntie, Tammy.

That's Tammy with Nellie

And me with my not so little little ones....

There was chili in boules, pizza

And enormous turkey legs

(And warm honey mead for me)

And fire juggling, jousting, hand cranked carnival swings,

Pirate boats, rope ladders,

And more jousting.

Too much fun for picture taking

Fun, lots of fun and cozy warm cloaks to keep us warm

because fall was being very fallish

So let your freak flag fly and hit your local 

Renaissance Faire.

You'll be glad you did....

We were!

Dragonfly in Amber - fabric bracelet how to

For this bracelet I used a piece of light brown linen

A brown/green/blue piece of flannel from an old shirt

A piece of blue/green cordouroy

A broken dragonfly barrette

And assorted beads and yarn remnants

First I sewed the linen to the piece of flannel

Added the dragonfly and beads and yarn

I have no particular method for this

I put everything in a pile and just add as I go

I use button/craft thread and stitch through the beads twice

Fold the flannel edges in, and fold in the edges of the bottom layer,

Wrong sides together, edges rolled over and pinned

I added braided yarn after the edges were folded

These are for the ties

Tie together....all done

All the fabric is remnants,  either from old clothes or sewing projects

The most important thing to remember is too use very strong thread

I use a #9 sharp needle for the sewing....the head is small enough to slip through the beads,  and wide enough to accommodate the heavy thread.

I don't really measure, but my wrist is about 7 1/2" so I cut the bottom fabric to about 9" so I can roll it over twice for the hem.

If I use a knit fabric or felt I don't usually hem, sometimes I leave the edges raw to get a shabby chic effect.  

By sewing all the trim on the top two layers first all of those stitches get hidden by the bottom layer.

Fabric bracelets can be carefully hand washed and dried flat.

Last but not least

Wear it with pride.-

Lallybroch

Have you ever fallen in love with a place that doesn't exist?

If you have ever read the Outlander series you'll be familiar with a place called Lallybroch.

My Lallybroch looks something like this.....

A perfect balance between the wild and the tame,

With my own flock of sheep which produce the warmest, softest wool known to man.

Plus all the plants needed to dye the riotous colors that I love.

It is nothing like the rather ordinary corner of my living room.

There is no television, no telephone, no stack of bills waiting to be paid.

The cats are there though, still curled up at my feet.

My children are running around the yard, chores finished.

Our dog magically restored to life barking at their heels.

It is not my tiny apartment on a busy street,

The sound of car engines and the smell of exhaust are replaced by the smell of honeysuckle, roses, and heather.

I go there every time I pick up my needles.

The television may be blaring, kids running up and down the hall,

the telephone ringing....

But the cat is curled up at my feet while I sit on my corner of the couch.

And

 I am three thousand miles away knitting the perfect stitches of a perfect place.

Outlander - a literary love affair

Just over seventeen years ago I took a trip to Paris with my then boyfriend and another couple. Faced with my first trans-Atlantic flight I picked out the thickest book I could find in the airport bookstore, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.  I wasn't expecting much but I fell in love with it.  I read it over the Atlantic, in cafes, sitting on the edge of the reflecting pool in front of the Louvre, sitting along the Sienne on a glorious spring day.  

On our first night in Paris the four of us went on a jet lag fueled walk at two a.m. on what happened to be recycling night.  We were staying in St. Germaine des Pres, surrounded by design houses. Out on every curb in front of every shop was barrel after barrel of beautiful fabric samples. I gathered up as many as I could, making my companions scoop them up with me. It was like Christmas, in the spring, in Paris!

That first book became a series now on it's eighth volume. Over the years these books have stayed with me, the characters like a secret family. My mom has also come to love them. I have laughed, cried, been bored, been worried, and happy over these books for almost two decades.

This vest is my tribute to book number eight, Written In My Own Hearts Blood.

This time the story ends with a family happily reunited in the home they have made in a place called Fraser's Ridge. Happy, teary, joyful ending.

The yarn is yarn I had bought on a whim, on sale. It is brown with green tones throughout. The fabric is the last of that long ago Parisian hoard. Serendipity.

For even more serendipitous, I began making cropped, appliqued vests inspired by the work of a woman named Flora Kennedy, who sells her designs under the name Innerwild.  She is also the person who created the knitwear worn by the main character in the upcoming series of, you guessed it, Outlander.

The show airs this summer, I can't wait. In the meantime I will keep on knitting,

Some mitts and maybe a cowl to match my vest.

Oh, and for some more serendipity, that top that goes so well with the vest, thrifted for three dollars while I was at the local charity shop hoping to find a replacement for my long lost copy of that very first book.

No luck with the book but you can't have everything.