We had a good long weekend at the cabin. The dogs had a lot of fun. We experimented more with letting Willow off the leash and she sort of listened most of the time. She's getting better though. River continued her journey as a water dog. She doesn't want to get wet initially, but once she's wet then it's game on and she'll just keep going in. Both dogs are totally warn out.

I will be at Carroll County Art in the Park this Saturday June 3 and the Belle Aire Market next Sunday June 11.

We took our annual trip up to Chaumont during the winter this weekend. At first I thought we weren't going to get any snow because it had been so warm there last week, but they got a little bit of snow on Friday so we were able to see just a bit.

There were a ton of geese on the water, more than we've ever seen. They were up and down the river as far as we could see.


The gazebo is holding up through the winter. We took a chance not taking the screens down, but all is well. There was a dusting of snow inside that the puppies were eating for a quick drink.




The wind must have blown over the canoe at some point. It was too heavy for us to flip back over. It didn't seem like the ice was breaking the hull so hopefully it survives until spring.




When we came back on Sunday there were 4 swans on the river. We've never seen swans up there before! Of course the geese proceeded to be jerks and scared them away after a couple of minutes.




After much running and chasing the pups passed out at the hotel.

I will be at the Lyme Community Days Craft Fair this Saturday July 30th in Chaumont, NY. Not taking everything up this weekend, but will have the Chaumont mugs and bowls that I made a few weeks ago as well as some other mugs, plates, spoon rests, sponge holders, etc. If you're in the area stop on by!

​Last year I decided we needed a gazebo in Chaumont. We went to the gazebo place and the guys said- you don't want a gazebo right now. They are currently twice the price with a half year wait time. But the time you get it prices will probably be down you should wait. 

So I waited. Yesterday we went back to the gazebo place and the same guy said I have an old one at 2019 prices that's sitting there want to see it? And so we did and I was all set to buy it, but it did not have screens or a screen floor. He said I have some bigger ones so we went and looked. We went inside it and I said to Craig it's huge! We should get it. It's bigger than I intended, but has anyone ever said - you know I wish we had less space in this gazebo. 

The will come and do site prep in a week or two before delivering it. Today we spent widening the road so they can get it down here (also it needed it). Still have more to do, but my arms needed a rest. 

I am so excited for this gazebo. I already have plans for a fire pit and a pizza oven. Now we just need the house to go with it. 

Willow is growing up this week. We don't have to keep her on the leash 100% of the time. She's figuring out that if she comes back when we call, she gets more freedom. If she doesn't listen, she gets leashed. 

Craig finally got the window in. It's been sitting on the floor for nearly 2 years. It has immediate cooling effects. Making me rethink needing to replace the existing windows. I think one more window above the bed and we will get enough airflow. 

When we were in Chaumont over Memorial Day I collected a lot of leaves to press into clay. I keep them in my refrigerator. The delicate leaves from ferns still wilt and turn brown within a few days. The maple and oaks, however, are still as green as when I picked them. I'm finally getting around to making something with the maple leaves now that I've worked my way through the other leaves.


My thinking is that I'll wipe back something that will enhance the tecture like an underglaze then either do a clear coat or just leave it as bare clay on the outside.




I'm not sure that this print inside will end up coming through or if the liner glaze will obscure it too much, we'll see. On the other bowl I made I put it on the bottom like I normally do.

I signed up for the annual Chaumont Craft Fair coming up at the end of July. As I've been to the various shops I haven't seen any Chaumont mugs or bowls - so I decided to make some! I actually really want to call the mugs "Chaumugs", but multiple people (including my husband) have told me - no, just no. This is the first time I've used my new alphabet stamps from De La Designs and I really liked them. This font is "salty."


I didn't make quite as many bowls as I did mugs, but I thought a coffee mug and cereal/ice cream bowl would be fun. I went with a fishing/woodsy theme for all of them.




As I was planning the design for these I realized how diverse the waterways are in the area. Lake Ontario is right there, but there is also the Chaumont Bay and of course the Chaumont River. Our property is along the river so I always think about it as river, but that's just a small part of the overall water area. I got this new stamp "lake life" that I really thought was cute with the fish. I want a river life one too!






More mugs drying.

Before we left Chaumont last weekend I went on a nature walk and collected various leaves and flowers. The ferns that I brought home were already starting to wilt on the second day (my fault for not treating them better) so I started with those first.
When I bring back leaves and flowers from Chaumont (or other faraway places), I usually use the gallong zip lock bags. I carefully place them in flat and put them into the cooler to come home then the refrigerator at home. This time becuase I wasn't thinking straight I just left it all in a plastic shopping bag and just put that right into the fridge.
The ferns that I found were mostly large so I knew I'd be making larger platters and plates. I rolled out a bunch of slabs and got to work.


You can see the marks where I lightly marked the edges of the GR Pottery form that I was going to use for this platter.




Sometimes I use just one frond (is that the right word?) of the fern and other times I'll use several. Occassionally I'll use a pair of tweezers to get the leaves to lay flat. I don't have to do this with most leaves, but ferns can be tricky.




Once I have the whole thing mapped out I will go over it well with my rolling pin to get a really nice impression and then I'll cut out the form.




I have been wanting to make more plates like one of my favorites from last year for a while, but didn't have the ferns to do it. While wet I paint on a mixture of 50/50 gerstley borate and red iron oxide that has is about the consistency of cream. I let it dry until the sheen is gone before putting the form on and flipping it over and adding a foot.




I leave it on the form overnight and then flip it out.




Then I very carefully find the end of the fern and start to pull up. If I hadn't put the slip on then I could have left the leaf on for the bisque firing where it would burn away. But I painted the slip over the whole piece - including over the leaf. If I left the leaf on then it wouldn't leave a clean spot where the leaf is.




It doesn't look too pretty right now, but after the glaze firing with some Oribe on top it will look amazing.




I decided that this rounded tray needed handles. The handles were done with a sprig and then just slipped and scored on. The white dust is cornstarch. I wanted to test the theory if I added some would I get less slip on my forms. The answer is no. It didn't hurt anything, but it also didn't help. I'm wondering if at some point I'm going to need separate forms for dark clay and slips vs my bmix. We'll see next time I use them on bmix if the red rubs off, no more comes off on the sponge.




What was interesting is that the slip acts as sort of a preserver for the leaves. I was able to use them a second time and make some smaller things like these spoon rests.

Memorial Day weekend was our first weekend at the cabin in Chaumont! It was so amazing to be back there again, I really miss it in the winter. It was also Willow's first trip up. She absolutely loved it, she loved it so much that when it came down to get in the car to go home - she laid down in protest.

While we were up there I had brought with me a 1000 yard set from Cat Mountain Fiber Arts. This was a yarn set of the same color varient, but in 10 different yarns. Each yarn is approximately 100 yards long for a total of 1000 yards. The yarns are all roughly the same weight. This particular color is called Wood Nymph.


I knew that I wanted to make a poncho out of this yarn, but having not made one before I was reading various patterns to get an idea of what to do. This pattern from Spoons and Hooks helped me with the aha! moment to get me going. What this made me see is - start with a circle and then you're going to grow on each corner by 2 each round - that's it!




I realized recently that half double crochet is my favorite stitch. I find that my hands can do patterns with it really fast and I just really get in a groove. Knowing that I had 100 yards of each and that this was a circular poncho, I made the decision that I would use all of one yarn and then just switch - and not worry about only switching on a new row. With the finished poncho you can't tell the difference and I was able to make it as large as possible by not worrying about it.




This pattern uses a 6mm hook.
Abbreviations:
hdc = half double crochet
hdcblo = half double crochet back loop only
sc = single crochet
ch = chain
sk st = skip stitch
bobble = yarn over, pull up, yarn over, pull up, yarn over, pull up, pull through all the stitches (7), chain
v stitch = two hdc in the same stich, skip a stitch
tr = treble crochet
granny corner = 2 stiches (whatever you did in that round - sc, hdc, or tr) in the first chain stitch, ch 2, 2 stitches (whatever you're doing in that round) in the second chain stitch.

I used a foundation hdc to start this poncho. Why? Because I just learned how to do it and I think it's really cool plus practice! I cast on 55 stitches because that's what felt good with this yarn around my neck. Cast on an odd number of stitches whatever makes sense for your head (it should be able to easily fit over without catching ears) with whatever yarn you use.
For each row that you do you're going to increase by 4 stitches - 2 on each side. It's like the corner of a granny square. You're going to do 2 of the stitch in the first chain, chain 2 then do 2 of the stich in the second chain stitch.
Once you have your chain - join it back to the beginning making sure that you have no kinks in the chain. Now mark the spot on the opposite side of where you joined. For me with 55 stitches this was the stitch that was 28 away.

Row 1: ch 2 and hdc in the starting stitch. ch 2 then 2 more hdc in the same stitch. hdc in each stitch to your marker. 2 hdc in the marker stitch ch 2 then 2 hdc in the same stitch. hdc back to the begining. sl stitch to join

Row 2-4: ch 2, hdc all the way around with a granny corner in the two sides
Row 5-you run out of the first yarn: ch 1, sc, sk stitch, 2 sc, repeat to end




This next section is a repeating pattern until you get to the last row.
Row 1-2:ch 2, v stitch around, granny stitch in open spaces, sl stitch to join
Row 3: ch 2, hdc around, granny stitch in open spaces, sl stitch to join
Row 4: ch 2, bobble around, granny stitch with hdc in open spaces, sl stitch to join
Row 5: ch 2, hdc around, granny stitch in open spaces, sl stitch to join
Row 6-8: ch 2, hdcblo around, granny stitch in open spaces, sl stitch to join
I did this pattern 4 times. In the 3rd an 4th rounds I switched up the bobble row to do bobble, ch, sk stitch to save yarn. The bobble stitch takes up a lot of yarn and I was looking to save yarn as my poncho got larger. I also ended on a bobble stitch because I thought it would compliment the eddging in my head well.




The edging was pretty simple.
Row 1: ch 7 (4 for the tr, 3 ch), tr crochet, *sk stitch, tr, ch 3, tr * repeat *. This is the only row without a granny corner. In the open chain space just tr, chain 2, tr on the other side
Row 2: The goal of this row is to have a picot in the middle of the v of the treble. Sl stitch in the first chain, sl stitch in the second chain, ch 4, sl stitch into the same stitch (to create the picot), sc in the next stitch, sl stitch where the 2 tr meet.




I had a little bit of yarn leftover so I decided to create a bit more of a neck and use up all the yarn.
Row 1: sc all the way around (no granny)
Row 2: v stitch all the way around (no granny)
Row 3: sc all the way around (no granny)
I had JUST enough yarn to do this and weave in my end. Really happy with the finished result, but will have to wait until it gets chilly again to wear.




There is no "right" way to choose which yarns to use where. I knew I wanted something really soft by my neck so I used what I'm pretty sure was the mohair to start with. I also knew that the two boucle type yarns would be wasted in the bobble and that I wanted them to be apart from each other so I switched to them when I knew I was going into the hdcblo and v stitch sections. Have fun with it!
My crochet supervisors asleep on the job.

So last week we went up to Chaumont to visit the property in the snow. We ran into a few challenges. First, was a major snowstorm on the way up Thursday night. We ended up having to stop in Binghamton because of a winter storm. The rain was fine, but when we hit the ice it was getting a little dicey. It actually wasn't too far to the "snow line", but driving slow into the night so we stopped at a hotel.

Getting the dogs into the hotel was interesting. We took them for a walk, but they were both so excited about the new place and the snow neither would do their business. But on the walk we saw there was covered parking so Craig went to move the car while I went with the dogs up to the room. I get into the hotel and my glasses completely fog up so I can barely see. River and I get into the elevator and in a millisecond Willow backs out of her harness and starts running away. River and I barely get out of the elevator before it closes to go after Willow. They are both still so excited and start running around. Takes me a couple of minutes to catch Willow and get her back in her harness.

We go back to the elevator and Willow is petrified of it. I end up having to drag her in by the scruff of her neck. Later I realized that was literally her first encounter with an elevator. We get to the room and the two of them are in crazy mode just running around, and also looking for Craig. They calm down slightly when he comes but won't settle. River finally decides to go to bed under the covers and gets repeatedly attacked by Willow. Willow just won't settle and eventually she indicates she needs to go out. It's now nearly 1am. Craig gets out of bed gets dressed and takes her out. He has to bribe her in and out of the elevator with treats. Once he gets back River starts begging to go out.

Do the dogs sleep in? No. Of course not. They are up at 630 wanting to play. I had a call at 8 and right after I get on the dogs want to go out. I hear them leave and then 30 seconds later Willow is back. Craig was unable to bribe her into the elevator and manage River.




It was really cold and snowy up at the property. We weren't able to park and go down to check on the land because the shoulder hadn't been plowed yet so there was no place for us to park. We did take the dogs out on the Chaumont Bay and they had a blast.




Since it was so cold we spent a lot of time in the hotel room and I finished the sweater I was working on and started a new sweater. I got the back panel and one side panel done before I flew down to Atlanta for work on Sunday. This sweater really was a lot of emergent design. The yarn just told me what it wanted to be and I went with it.




The yarn is from Miss Babs - 2 skeins of Moss and 1 of Birthday Favors in Big Silk. I used a 6mm hook.

Here's the pattern....

Back panel:

Chain your alternate color to desired length. I'm 5'3 and I wanted it to be to about mid thigh so I chained 92.
Row 1: SC into the 3rd chain from the hook. *ch 1. skip a stich. SC. * Repeat * to the end of the row
Row 2: Ch 2. SC into the chain space. ch 1. Repeat to the end of the row
Row 3: SC into the chain space. *Skip a stich. single crochet twice* Repeat * until the end of the row
Row 2-18: Ch 1. 2 SC into the space between the two stitches till the end of the row
Row 19: Switch to your alternating color. Ch 2. SC into the space between the two stiches ch 1. Repeat to the end of the row
Row 20-22: Ch 2. SC into the chain space. ch 1. Repeat to the end of the row
Repeat the alternating pattern of 16 rows of the main color and 4 rows of the alternate color until you reach your desired width. I had 4 sections. To know the width you're looking for measure from shoulder to shoulder across the back. You want it to be 1-2 inches larger than shoulder to shoulder.

For the last section only do 2 rows of the alternate color.






Side Panel - Make 2

Start with how many times you repeated the back panel. I did 4 so I knew that my side panels should be 2 of the pattern across. Since the edge in the alternate color is only 2 that means there will be 2 stitches in the center when I sew the panels together for where the neck will be. Since this has vertical stripes its important that the stripes from the back meet the stripes in the front. For my size with this yarn it worked out that a pattern of 16 of the main color with 4 of the alternating color worked - you can play it with it to determine the right pattern for you.
For the side panels - end in the main color. We'll add the alternating color as a collar later.

Sew the side panels to the back panel. The side panel with the alternating color should align to the alternating color of the back panel. Since you have 2 rows on each of the ends, sewing them together you end up with 4 rows together. When sewing the top together pay particular attention that your stripe from front to back lines up.

Now we can start making the collar. I decided I wanted a really wide collar so I did the alternating color for 12 rows. Once I finished the yarn decided it needed a ruffle edge.

Collar Row 1: Ch 2. SC into the space between the two stiches ch 1. Repeat to the end of the row
Collar Row 2-12:Ch 2. SC into the chain space. ch 1. Repeat to the end of the row
Collar Row 13: Ch 2. 2 HDC into the first stitch. * 3 HDC into the ch stich. 3 HDC into the next stich. * Repeat * until the end of the row

Sleeves

I like to start my sleeves on the bottom because it hides the join nicely - no one is ever looking in my armpit :) For my sweater I started with my main color. In retrospect, I probably should have started with 2 rows of the alternate color, but by the time I realized that I was done with both sleeves and it looked fine. Make your decision what you want to do.

Sleeve length is going to depend on the length of your arms. Measure from the top of your shoulder to the wrist. I have very short arms so I did the pattern 3 times and it worked perfect.

Row 1-16: SC into the 2nd stich from the hook twice. *Skip a stich. single crochet twice* Join with a slip stich. Repeat * until the end of the row Row 17-20: Switch to your alternating color. Ch 2. *SC into the space between the two stiches ch 1.* Join with a slip stitch. Repeat to the end of the row Repeat rows 1-20 twice.

Sleeve end

Row 1: Ch 2. SC into the space between the two stiches ch 1. Repeat to the end of the row
Row 2-4:Ch 2. SC into the chain space. ch 1. Repeat to the end of the row
Row 5: Ch 2. 2 HDC into the first stitch. * 3 HDC into the ch stich. 3 HDC into the next stich. * Repeat * until the end of the row

Pockets make 2

Chain 14 in the main color
Row 1: 2 SC into 2nd chain from the hook . *Skip a stich. single crochet twice* Repeat * until the end of the row
Row 2-8: Ch 1. 2 SC into the space between the two stitches till the end of the row
Row 9: Switch to your alternating color. Ch 2. SC into the space between the two stiches ch 1. Repeat to the end of the row
Row 10-12: Ch 2. SC into the chain space. ch 1. Repeat to the end of the row
Row 13-20: Ch 1. 2 SC into the space between the two stitches till the end of the row
Re-orient the pocket so you're going across the top now
Row 1: Ch 2. SC into the space between the two stiches ch 1. Repeat to the end of the row
Row 2-4:Ch 2. SC into the chain space. ch 1. Repeat to the end of the row
Row 5: Ch 2. 2 HDC into the first stitch. * 3 HDC into the ch stich. 3 HDC into the next stich. * Repeat * until the end of the row
The stripe for the pockets lines up with the last stripe before the collar on the panel. How high up it goes depends on the length of your arms. Mine are 5 inches from the bottom. Sew on the pockets - leave the ruffle free

Heart Hook Home had a new pattern that inspired me. The yarn is from the new yarn shop in Chaumont, NY the Chaumont Yarn House. Love how it came out.