Sew Red is here!

One of the great benefits of working at Jimmy Beans Wool is that I am constantly being offered challenges. For me, this is a good thing. After years of not feeling challenged enough in my daily work life, this is a breath of fresh air, and each new challenge is viewed as a welcomed opportunity. Designing something for Sew Red (the follow up to Knit Red which I also had a design in) was exactly that for me.

My mother is a phenomenal seamstress. She knows garment fit like the back of her hand and can take any paper bag shaped mess and make it look good on you. She’s been sewing since she was little and hasn’t stopped since. She actually used to participate in beauty pageants and she would make all of her own dresses by hand. I used to covet this beautiful white gown that sits in her closet untouched for years. It is made up of three different sewing patterns. She couldn’t just find one to suit so she took elements from each one and cobbled together her own masterpiece. That gown paid for almost an entire year of her college education.

She also used to sew many of my brother’s and my clothes growing up, including our halloween costumes. I’ve worn many elaborate costumes in my day, Snow White, Pocahontas, but the most impressive was the year I was Rainbow Bright. My mom tells me that costume about ended her sewing career. It had something like 108 pattern pieces to it, at least seven or eight different colors of fabric, and plenty of polyfil stuffing all over the thing. My brother was a Ninja Turtle a few years later which was something like 115 pieces. My mom was fearless. She would take on each new request and rise to the occasion. We were definitely the best dressed trick o’ treaters on the block for sure. The year I wanted to be a ghost crushed her a little bit I think….

I have no idea how old I am here, 2 or 3 maybe. This was my “Little Bo Peep” outfit.

The famous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume.

Tigger and Rainbow Brite.

Even now she still sews almost daily (and she’s not even retired yet!) She has coordinated a group of quilters make quilts for children who get picked up by highway patrolman in their area. Each CHP officer in their county carries three of these blankets in their cars at all times in case they need to give one out. The also donate a good number of quilts to the Ronald McDonald house and other charities that need them. Her group sews a huge number of these each year. In fact, here is an article that her local newspaper wrote about her efforts. She is definitely a force of nature.

Picture of my mother in the Lodi News Sentinel

So, you can imagine that when I was asked to be in Sew Red, I was a bit nervous. I’ve sewn since I was young under the tutelage of my mother, but straight lines are about the extent of my experience. I understand a lot of advanced techniques and have watched many of them being executed, but have not one most of them myself. I have pretty severe cutting anxiety when it comes to cutting out patterns. I think it comes from my reverence to fiber of all types which began with knitting. But knitting is easier to rip out or reverse. Once you cut a beautiful piece of fabric, that’s it.

Knitting has always been my thing. It’s like second nature to me now. Sewing is something I do when I have to hem pants, sew on a patch, or need some curtains. I still have so much to learn. Could I really design a sewing pattern? I decided to start simple and design something I would want to wear. That is the philosophy behind each of my knitwear patterns, why not translate it over to sewing as well?

The resulting Mobuis Cowl Wrap is something that I can say I am proud to have contributed to the book. It is by no means the most complicated or polished design of the bunch, but I think a lot of beginning sewists will love the simplicity of it combined with the versatility of how it can be worn. I used Valori Well’s Wrenly Collection in a light and airy cotton voile. It helped to create a garment that has wonderful drape and softness.

Photo by Rose Callahan for Soho Publishing

It was also a HUGE honor to have my first sewing pattern published in a book alongside Kaffe Fassett, Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Linda Lee, Nancy Zieman, Kay Whitt, Valori Wells, Tula Pink, Denyse Schmidt, and so many more wonderful designers.

I hope you’ll pick up a copy of Sew Red. Ultimately, it’s for a cause that is so near and dear to our hearts. Literally.

Happy sewing,

Kristen

PS. A shameless plug, but if you order yours from Jimmy Beans Wool, my boss, the author, Laura Zander is signing all of the copies. I’ll sign it too if you ask me.

Resolution #1- Wardrobe Simplified.

So, I’m not big on New Years resolutions. Proclamations of good intent are often forgotten by February. This year though, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to short term goals, and I made a few “resolutions” or changes that I thought were more attainable more immediately so-as not to loose track too early in the year. The first of those goals was to simplify my wardrobe starting with a big closet clean-out.

Easily 60% of the clothing hanging in my closet since we moved into our house hasn’t been worn since I hung it there. Bad, I know. Also, much of it is ill-fitting store-bought stuff that I never loved much in the first place. Being as tall as I am, everything needs to be longer to fit properly, and honestly, I’ve never made the investment in tall-girl clothes beyond the occasional pair of jeans.

This past year, I’ve been working more on my sewing skills and really trying to learn how to make my own clothes that actually fit my body. I’ve had some real successes with this and plan to continue to experiment with sewing this year. I absolutely LOVE the idea of the Seam Allowance Club at A Verb For Keeping Warm in Oakland, CA. Even though I live too far away to attend meetings, I am planning to implement some of the philosophy into my current and ongoing wardrobe.

My handmade butterfly dress. I love this pattern. I’ve already made a second dress from it. Many more to come.

Basically, the idea is that you try to make 25% of your own clothes. Whether you knit, sew, crochet them, etc., 25% of your wardrobe is hand-made. I love this concept and hope that someday I could even reach 50%! How awesome would that be? Realistically, I don’t think I would get higher than that because so much of my clothing consists of leggings and basic layering tees and tanks that I build onto with other pieces. I think I could be content with 50%.

I am also trying to simplify. If I only actually wear 3 pairs of shoes, 90% of the time, why own 30 or 40 pairs? It doesn’t make sense. I’m sure the fashionistas of the world would have a heart attack hearing me say that, but I am more interested in building a wardrobe of a few items that I love and feel amazing in rather than a wardrobe full of tons of items that I’ll hate to wear in a year. Plus, we live in an old house. Our closet, though well organized, is super tiny. I don’t have space to waste on stuff I don’t wear.

So to kick this off, I filled a plastic tub full of stuff that I wanted to keep for warmer weather and set it aside to go through in 6 months and possibly add back into my wardrobe this summer when I take out the winter items. I filled a second tub for stuff that didn’t fit anymore, I no longer love, or haven’t worn in years and am taking it to the Goodwill. Then I took a deep breath and let it all out. Ahhh! So much better! There are only about 40 pieces of clothing in my closet right now compared to the 100 or so from before. I haven’t dealt with the shoes yet but that will definitely come next.

The bin of “keepers.”

 

I call this work of art “Unhanged”

The final result.

 

I also cleaned out my t-shirt drawer and got rid of everything that didn’t fit right. I’ve been hanging onto these horrible “long sleeved” cotton shirts for way too long that the bodies were too short and a little too wide and the sleeves were ridiculously short. Gone. All of them. New tall-girl long sleeved tees purchased from The Gap Online. Done.

Now, I generally hate buying from big-name stores like the Gap and I haven’t set foot in one of their stores in years. However, I can’t often find tall-girl things from smaller boutique companies, and even though I would prefer to buy organic or sustainable clothing from places like Patagonia, their stuff just doesn’t fit me well. To me, it’s more wasteful to spend any amount of money on clothing that doesn’t fit well and that I’ll only wear a few times before I realize I don’t love it, than to buy a few things that do fit from a big box store, but that I can actually wear and feel good in. Either way, I suppose it’s better and less wasteful to buy fewer items, regardless of where it comes from.

So that’s where I stand with the wardrobe. I am so thrilled to be working with less items. I no longer stand and look at my closet each morning and have to wrestle items out of it or feel guilty about the sweater I haven’t worn in two seasons. It’s a huge relief.

Next up on the to-make list, a couple more dresses and tunics, like this dress in this fabric, this tunic in this fabric, and a Vitamin D Sweater in this yarn, which I cast on for last night. I think I will get a lot of wear out of this one and am really hoping I can find time to work on it between all of my design projects. Here’s to hoping!

Happy belated New Year everyone!

Kristen

Truckee Shawlette and a Holiday Party

Good morning everyone! It’s been such a fun week! We had our yearly Holiday Party for Jimmy Beans Wool last night and as usual is was loads of fun! Doug and Laura took us to the Charlie Palmer Steakhouse at the Grand Sierra resort which was delicious. They have the best French Onion Soup I’ve ever had. Hands down.

Two things that were particularly amazing about last night:

1) Our party was in the same place two years ago and we were in this little back room and there were just under 50 of us. That’s all 25 employees and a guest. This year, they opened that room up and doubled the size and there were about 100 of us. Crazy! It was so cool to see how much we’ve grown!

2) Last time our party was at Charlie Palmer, Allie, who is one of the resident spinners at JBW and has worked there for a number of years in some capacity or another, gifted me two skeins of her handspun yarn in our yearly gift exchange. It’s a gorgeous camel and silk blend and simply stunning. I was so thrilled and touched to be given the gift of hand spun. Such a special gift. This year, I drew Allie and I sewed her a new gardening apron and gave her some seeds saved from my garden as well as some gardeners soap and hand salve from Lusa Organics. She got all teary eyed and gave me the biggest hug. It felt so good to be able to reciprocate her lovely gift.

Overall it was a good evening spent with good people. And today, I am so excited to be able to tell you all about my latest pattern release–The Truckee Shawlette!

The Truckee Shawlette is now available from Jimmy Beans Wool as a Free Download. It uses the new Malabrigo Lace Superwash and I am really happy with how it turned out! I think you’ll like the simplicity of the construction and the way the colors blend. Such gorgeous yarn! You can find the Truckee Shawette on the Jimmy Beans Wool Free Patterns page!

Happy knitting!

Kristen

Home for the Holidays and a Mystery KAL!

Hi all!

So, things have been crazy at work! Like super crazy! Holiday collections, Downton Abbey yarn, flood warnings…you name it, we’ve had it! Most of the stuff is good of course (except for maybe the flood warnings) but it’s been nuts!

The Downton Abbey yarn is probably my favorite part of the whole mess. One of my lovely co-workers, Gina, created the color months ago as a possible Lorna’s Limited Edition color and we’ve been saving it for the holidays. Last month, another co-worker Rachel, and I decided it would be fun to call the color “Christmas at Downton” which is one of our favorite shows (it’s on PBS Masterpiece Theatre). Then, I had the bright idea to do a Mystery KAL with the color when season 3 starts in January. Voila, now we have the best selling Lorna’s Limited Edition color EVER! Take that Twilight! Downton Abbey in the house!

So now, I am leading a KAL with the “Christmas at Downton” yarn.  All details will be revealed on Dec. 31st and the knitting will begin on Jan. 6th. You can get all of the details on the Ravelry page. Feel free to “favorite” it while you are there or add it to your queue. I am #4 on the Hot Right Now list and it’s my first time in the top 5. So exciting!

In other news, we’ve been decorating the house for Christmas. Nick and I aren’t particularly religious, but our families all celebrate the holidays and for us it’s the tradition part that keeps us going. His parents cut us a tree when they went out to get theirs so we decorated it and put up a few other festive decorations we had, most of which were wedding gifs we haven’t had a chance to use yet. Here is what our house is looking like these days. I kind of love it.

So much to say, let’s start with Aloha.

Wow. It’s been a whirlwind few months. Since my last post, I took my hubby on a surprise vacation to Hawaii. It was awesome. I also went to Hartford, CT for STITCHES East and then to Chicago for VK Live. I’ve also published two new designs with Jimmy Beans Wool and been published in a magazine. I’m thinking to really catch you up on all of this, it’s going to take a few posts. Let’s start with Hawaii.

Nick and I never took a honeymoon when we got married two years ago. We went away for a long weekend just after the wedding and planned to take a real trip when we had more time and money the following year. Then I went and broke my wrist last year and needed surgery. So that pretty much fouled up our plans for a trip because I had to use all of my accrued vacation time for my recovery since I couldn’t really work for two weeks (my job is 90% computer work). We talked about doing a trip this summer, but we had so many weddings to go to and it just didn’t work out. Also, Nick had just finished school and was trying to get hired by the school district as a teacher. We had no idea if he’d get hired in time for school to start and we were waiting and waiting for them to call him in to interview.

So, August rolled around and I was getting restless. We had no vacation on the horizon and every time I tried talking to Nick about it, he was non-commital about it. It’s not that he didn’t want to go, he just didn’t want to plan anything until we knew more about his job situation, and really I think he just didn’t have an opinion about where to go or what to do. Planning kind of stresses him out. And then the stress gives him migraines. So he tries not to do things that stress him out. Like plan, or think about babies, or 401Ks. So you know…it’s a fun learning curve for me. I’m probably being a bit dramatic but it’s at least half-true.

Anyway, so I just decided to do it. I planned the whole shebang. A bunch of things sort of fell into place around this time too. Alaskan Airlines was having a fare sale and flights to Hawaii were dirt cheap. My parents were able to trade a week at their timeshare in Mexico for a week in Hawaii for us (their wedding gift to us that we finally used!) I had a ton of vacation time to use so that was all good. Plus, our two-year wedding anniversary was coming up at the end of September. Done. Perfect. We were all set.

And then I decided it would be even more fun for me if I didn’t tell him. Yup, I managed to plan an entire 10 day vacation without my husband finding out. I even managed to get his boss involved. She gave him the time off and then played along by putting him on the schedule so that he’d actually think he was working. Everything fell perfectly into place. Everyone knew except for him. Muahhhhhahhah! (Evil laugh, rubs hands together.)

So, the night before we were supposed to leave, I decided to finally tell him. I handed him a box with a new sun hat, a Hawaii guide book, and a packing list and told him to open it. He barely knew what to think when he opened the package. He was so stunned. He just kept looking at me like, “How the hell did you pull this off? Wait, we are really leaving tomorrow?” It was a priceless moment. I wish I’d thought to take a picture.

So that was it. We left the next morning and spent 10 fabulous days on the Big Island of Hawaii. We swam in the ocean, snorkeled (Nick saw sea turtles for the first time!), swam with manta rays, saw an active volcano and hiked across a volcano crater, hiked into (and out of) one of the most beautiful valleys ever (Waipi’o Valley- probably the toughest two miles of my life!), ate amazing food, especially sushi, swam in a volcanic heated warm pond, saw some amazing waterfalls, hiked to the top of the 8th tallest mountain in the US and the tallest mountain formation in the world from sea floor to peak, and in general had an amazing time! Here are some of my favorite moments from our trip:

The view from our timeshare lanai (patio)

 

Waipio Valley, just before we hiked down into it.

Looking down river at Boiling Pots, Nick’s favorite spot on the island.

Almost at the top of Mauna Kea. So beautiful!

We are aliens!

On the Kilauea Iki Crater Trail down in the crater.

At the mouth of the Thurston Lava Tube. It’s like a huge cave!

Knitting on the rim of an active volcano. Don’t worry, it’s totally safe!

It gets SO cold at the volcano at night!

On our last evening there, we took a sunset cruise. SO much fun!

At the end of our Kilauea Iki Hike

So, that’s pretty much it for our trip. Well, I won’t bore you with every photo in the album, but it was a much needed vacation and a trip of memories for sure. It also inspired my October design for Jimmy Beans Wool called the Ohana Shawl. You can read more about it on the JBW website. 

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Aloha,

Kristen

Whirlwind Summer and De-Stash Time!

This summer has been flying by! I don’t even know what happened. I just blinked and it’s almost over. Sadly, this summer has not been as productive as I would like in the gardening and homesteading way that it usually is for me. However, it’s not over yet and I still have big plans for the hops and apples we’ll be harvesting from our yard shortly.

In other areas, mainly knitting, I’ve been especially productive! I’ve had a few more patterns debut with Jimmy Beans Wool and I’m working on more as we speak. Here are the most recent:

Shibui Linen Vest:

View this pattern on Ravelry.

Knit and Crochet Hats for the Whole Family:

View this pattern on Ravelry in both Knit and Crochet.

I’ve also been busy with sewing and other crafty projects as well and will share them here soon enough.

One thing my husband and I have been trying to do is get our house in order. While our yard may still need work, the house is coming together and getting organized. My sewing/crafting room is still a work in progress and may never fully be done, but it’s definitely getting closer to the awesome room I envision. I’ve decided to de-stash much of my yarn. I realized recently that I have more yarn than I can knit in at least 10 years so I must begin to part with things that I am probably not going to get around to knitting. I’ve listed all of them in my Etsy shop for very fair prices (well below what I paid, even with my shop discount.) I’m just trying to recoup some of my initial cost but mostly pass on some good deals to all of you.  Here is what you might find:

-Lorna’s Laces Green Line DK (Various colors)

-Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran

-Rowan Cocoon

-Debbie Bliss Stella

-Debbie Bliss Cathay

-Lamb’s Pride Bulky

-Cascade Pastaza

And tons more… It’s not all up yet, but I’ll be working hard over the next week to get all of it up there! Of course, let me know if you have questions about anything. You can e-mail me at: marinadedesigns(at)gmail.com. You can also view most of it over in the trade/sell section of my stash on Ravelry.

Hope all of your summers have been wonderful and fun! We are entering the dog days here. I hope you enjoy every last minute!

xoxo,

Kristen

Summer Pasta Salad

Many of you know I love to cook. I am always making something whether it be fresh bread, gnocchi, or canning and preserving stuff. I tend to love gardening so that I can enhance those recipes with the freshest veggies available.

About a month ago, not quite having a ton of fresh veggies yet, I was craving something that would make it feel like summer so I threw together a truly delicious Summer Pasta Salad in about 20 minutes. It’s simple, but super flavorful and delicious, and colorful! Oh my! I just love colorful food!

I’m about to dive in.

Here is what you need:

-1 package of Rotini or Penne pasta (I used whole wheat)

-1/2 a red onion

-1 red bell pepper

-1 yellow bell pepper

-1/3 cup of feta cheese

-flat leaf parsley

-black olives

-2 tbsp toasted pine nuts

-Extra virgin olive oil (about a 1/4 a cup)

-salt and pepper to taste

-the juice of 1 lemon (I like using some of the zest too)

-garlic powder or fresh garlic

Directions:

Cook pasta as directed on box. Rinse and drain. While pasta is cooking, chop peppers, onion, and parsley and set aside. Cut olives in half (optional). Place pasta in a bowl with veggies, and add in the oil, lemon juice, and garlic. Add in Feta and mix all ingredients together.  Salt and pepper to taste. Top with pine nuts.

It takes a pretty big bowl to make this salad…

Serves 4-8

I love that this salad keeps well for days. We usually have enough for two dinners plus 2-3 more lunches because it’s usually our main dish instead of a side. It would also be good with some blanched zucchini or tomatoes– or just about anything! You could mix it up and add in chicken or some kind of protein. Best of all, it’s super fast to throw together so it’s the perfect week-night meal with a little fresh fruit on the side, or to take to summer potlucks!

I hope you enjoy!

Happy summer,

Kristen