I took some time off from crafting when I quit my corporate job, I think for a couple reasons. One, I was feeling more fulfilled at work and didn’t need quite so many creative pursuits outside my job. And two, I was so darn busy trying to figure out the whole self-employment thing! I’m happy to report that I am back to knitting with a passion, and I also am working on my first quilt! I can’t wait to show it to you guys.

I have a couple finished knitting projects to show off, but I couldn’t wait any longer to tell you about my friend Kristin’s first published knitting pattern: the Whisky Cowl!

Whisky Cowl – an easy beginner’s infinity cowl pattern

The infinity scarf and cowl trend is still going strong, and tons of them are showing up on the street, in magazines, and of course on Ravelry in people’s finished projects! I have made a couple myself.

Kristin asked me to test-knit this pattern for her before she started selling it and I was happy to oblige!

The yarn Kristin picked for the pattern is Berroco Vintage Chunky, which is a wool/acrylic blend. I normally do not knit anything with acrylic, but I would have never known this yarn was a blend unless I’d read the label. It’s great to work with and the texture reminds me of Cascade 220 or a similar superwash worsted wool. The acrylic blend also makes it machine washable which is great for something that’s so close to your face and neck. If you’ve ever gotten makeup on a scarf, you know the situation can get funky quickly if you don’t wash it, haha.

The garter stitch makes a wonderful, nubby, bumpy texture and makes the cowl squishy and cozy. I think the length is perfect – I almost always wear v-neck or scoop-neck shirts and so it’s nice to have something to go between my jacket and my shirt to keep my neck and chest warm, but not have to wrap it or fiddle with the length.

This pattern is easy to knit – it’s garter stitch so it’s a cinch for a beginner, but it’s for the more adventurous beginners out there because you get to do fancier things like hold two strands of yarn together, work in the round, and learn grafting. The grafting makes a totally seamless cowl, which looks great as well. If you buy the pattern, there are videos included which show the techniques used in the pattern like the crochet chain cast-on, twisting the scarf, and how to graft your stitches. I helped Kristin make the videos and I think they are super helpful and a great addition to the pattern.

It’s a quick knit on size 13 needles, it took me probably 4 to 5 hours! A fun weekend project you can complete during a Downton Abbey marathon (or maybe that’s just me). Here’s my finished project page on Ravelry.

Buy this pattern

Try this one out, you’ll love it! You can buy the Whisky Cowl pattern for only $3.00 on either Ravelry or Craftsy!

Buy on Ravelry:  or buy on Craftsy:

Photos by Kristen Runberg

Jimmy and I had a wonderful vacation a few weeks ago. We went to southern California, Disneyland, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Red Rock Canyon. It was a total blast! The desert is gorgeous, but I definitely learned that I’m a girl who has to have trees around to feel at home! Check out all our pictures from the trip!

Death Valley highlights

Dante’s View: 7,000 feet up, get a super panoramic of the Badwater Basin (lowest point in the Western hemisphere)

Zabriskie Point: We watched the sunrise here and it was breathtaking. Wish I’d had a tripod, the photos would have been amazing.

Furnace Creek Ranch: Home of the 20 Mule Team borax miners, they have a date palm grove, a wonderful hotel and cabins, a saloon, the whole bit! Expensive, but we loved staying here.

Badwater Basin: Salt formations – it looked like we were walking on ice!

Dunes: 100 foot high sand dunes in the middle of nowhere

Mosaic Canyon: Smooth rock walls honed by water and wind, cool rock formations, and lots of wonderful towering walls of rock all around you.

Other stops along the way

Disneyland with mom for her birthday. Laguna Beach for a totally gorgeous sunset, and discovering an amazing hidden stairway that went down the beach under some cliffs. Pacific coast highway. Red Rock Canyon outside Las Vegas was totally breathtaking but VERY crowded. Vegas was Vegas! We love how over the top it is, and that there’s always something to do.

Glad to be home but what a fun vacation, and our first since the honeymoon in Belize! Next big trip: Ireland and the UK!!!

Check out all our pictures from the trip!

1. red rock canyon, 2. red rock canyon, 3. jimmy in mosaic canyon, 4. laguna beach sunset, 5. red rock canyon, 6. mesquite trees near the dunes in death valley, 7. date palm grove at furnace creek, 8. at the griffith park observatory, 9. mosaic canyon, 10. on top of dante’s view, 11. on top of dante’s view, 12. on top of dante’s view, 13. mesquite trees near the dunes in death valley | View all pictures

Bad stuff happened

I referred out all my clients and I started a new job in October. It was with a marketing startup, and I thought it would be my dream job. Well it quickly unraveled. Things didn’t go as planned. I had to leave what was a completely untenable situation – financially and mentally/sanity-wise. It was a huge bummer, I really wanted it to work. It just was a bad fit. I was really, really disappointed and down.

Then our house got broken into and both our laptops were stolen. It was a bummer because yes, laptops cost money and also because it felt very violating to have our things rifled through (my clothes pulled out of drawers, our mattress flipped) but more of a bummer because I hadn’t backed up in over a month and lost tons of files (and hundreds of photos) that can’t be replaced.

Lessons learned, got an alarm system, on auto backup now. At least the dog was okay and I wasn’t home, right?

Then good stuff happened

The farmstead house

The back of the house with huge glassed-in basement and sun porch

Y’all know it is my dream to have a homestead with dairy goats and to live off the land as much as possible. Well, the same weekend that I was reeling from the fact that I had no work (and was scrambling to see if I could get a few of my clients back on board since I referred them out), my dream was literally handed to me. Anna, my yoga teacher training teacher, casually mentioned that her fiancee had a farm in northern Virginia, and he was looking for someone to live there to take care of the property. The farm was sitting there, unused, and he had to travel up frequently to check on things and maintain the land and the house.

Oh, and he wanted someone to live there and farm. And have dairy goats, to keep brambles chewed down and mow the lawn. Oh, and he wanted them to live there for free. Seriously? I got goosebumps all over.  I came home that night and talked it over with Jimmy and he agreed to go see the farm. It’s in the mountains outside of Winchester, Va., which also happens to be where my BFF Genevieve lives! So wait, I get to live my dream AND live in the same town as my best friend! Eeeek!

We went to see it on Saturday. We are moving there in the spring. I am so ecstatic.

The house is awesome – he built it himself 30 years ago – lots of it is from reclaimed wood, or else wood from the property that he cut on the sawmill there. It’s heated by firewood, there are tons of south facing glass windows, an open floor plan on the ground floor, a HUGE basement for projects of all kinds, a big root cellar, and tons more. Yes, the only way upstairs is via a pulldown ladder – building a new staircase at some point will probably be a fun project.

Here’s a tour of the house, minus the basement.

I didn’t get a ton of pictures, but the land is just beautiful. It’s 31 acres, much of it wooded, but with plenty of plantable and graze-able land. There’s a creek on the property right near the house (you can hear it from the porch). There are two decks that overlook the gorgeous mountains. His kitchen garden and herb garden are ready to be planted (cover crops now). There are dozens of raspberry bushes and several fruit trees.

There’s a huge barn full of tons of stuff, a sawmill on the property, farm equipment, tractors, a dump truck, a front loader. It’s a turnkey farm, basically. He made a living as an organic farmer there in the 80s – selling vegetables to restaurants and the farmers markets in DC. The property is totally amazing. We are so grateful for this opportunity – talk about a Godsend.

The plan is…

To fix a few things in our Norfolk house and rent it out, and move up there in March or early April, when the weather will be better and we can build fences and start working the ground. We’d like to get goats in the spring, but would not start milking them til the following spring. We’ll also have chickens and bees, likely. I think some of the woods would be perfect for hogs but that’s probably a few years down the road, yet.

Since we’ll be able to live so cheaply (and if my plan works out to pay off our debt before we go), Jimmy will be working on the farm full time, at least at first. I’ll still be doing my thing with clients online, and can hopefully cover expenses for both of us. Eventually, I’d love to have the farm be totally self-sufficient and pay for itself through a CSA, cheese and soap business, etc. We plan to live there for a year and see if that lifestyle is really what we want, try to save money, and hopefully buy the place.

We are so excited – check out the pictures and let me know what you think!

Why body positive?

I’ve struggled with my weight and body image since my early teenage years. Growing up as a fat girl can take its toll. I have been on dozens of different diets, exercise regimes, and more trying to fit an ideal that was more about aesthetics and fitting in than actual health. The past few years have changed all that. I have (without really noticing) been on a journey toward health and self acceptance through making peace with my body, instead of fighting it all the time and trying to jam it into some mold that just doesn’t fit. Body positive is the best way I know to describe what my yoga is about.

I have used yoga to make peace with my body over the past several years. Yoga has taught me to actually be in my body, how to become mindful and aware of it on a daily (hourly, minute-ly) basis. Yoga has brought me to finally accepting some limitations, accepting the way I look, and deciding to work from there, instead of waiting for the ideal “thin” me to appear on the mat one day.

I have decided to be body positive instead of negative (or hurtful, mean, punishing, and rigid). I’ve decided to open to the possibilities of what might happen when I make the conscious choice not to hate my body so much. Decided to try moving it in ways that make me happy instead of ways I think I “should” or that will make it turn into a smaller body.

This new blog will chronicle those adventures. Won’t you join me?

Also, if you’re local, be sure to check out the classes (more to be added soon)!

It’s a craft room cleanout sale!

I’ve got yarn, fabric, patterns, and a ton of Burda World of Fashion magazines for sale right now in my Etsy shop! Go over and grab a deal. If you’re local, don’t pay shipping. Message me first and we can meet up!

View the sale!

Polyface Farms

In part 1 of this 5-part video interview series, we heard a short history of Polyface farms and its’ owner Joel Salatin.

In part 2, Joel talked about the issue of “real food” education and whether we should really try to convert everyone.

In part 3, we asked the big question – isn’t this whole sustainable food thing really just an elitist movement?

In part 4, we heard Joel talk about land ecology ethics, our role as caretakers of the land, and why a long term view is so important.

In this video: What’s the single policy change that Joel thinks would blow the food system right open? Listen to Joel talk about how getting in your kitchen and buying whole, unprocessed foods is the most culturally subversive thing you can do. Also, how to get started, some smaller family-scale versions of what Polyface Farms is doing, and why growing your own and getting local produce is so important.

What will you do?

How will you and your family live a more sustainable life, starting in the kitchen? What are some of your favorite “back in the kitchen” projects? Do you grow your own food? How did you get started? Tell us in the comments.

Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms

In part 1 of this 5-part video interview series, we heard a short history of Polyface farms and its’ owner Joel Salatin.

In part 2, Joel talked about the issue of “real food” education and whether we should really try to convert everyone.

In part 3, we asked the big question – isn’t this whole sustainable food thing really just an elitist movement?

In this video: Does a farm’s size or scale have anything to do with how sustainable or ethical it is? How does Polyface farms measure success? Listen to Joel talk about land ecology ethics, our role as caretakers of the land, and why a long term view is so important.

What do you think?

What is your role in all of this? Can a city dwelling, whole-foods-eating family make just as big of a difference as a farm like Polyface? How does the individual factor into land ecology ethics? Tell me in the comments.

Reflections

Pretty great, right?

You can download a printable version of all these reflections here. Are you interested in the next round of the body image book club? Sign up here.

pastured poultry at Polyface farms

In part 1 of this 5-part video interview series, we heard a short history of Polyface farms and its’ owner Joel Salatin.

In part 2, Joel talked about the issue of “real food” education and whether we should really try to convert everyone.

In this video: The big question – isn’t this whole sustainable food thing really just an elitist movement? Who can really afford it? Listen to Joel’s decidedly non-politically-correct answer.

What do you think?

Is the whole sustainable, organic, free-range agriculture thing just a bunch of elitist horse hockey? Or are people just making excuses? Tell me in the comments.

Pastured pigs at Polyface farms

In part 1 of this 5-part video interview series, we asked the question, who is Joel Salatin? We heard his thoughts on accidental activism, his personal history of farming (his family’s history in central America, how he got Polyface Farms started, and more). He also talked about new ideas for Polyface, and what may be in store for the farm’s future.

In this video: Joel talks about the issue of “real food” education. What will it take and whose responsibility is it to educate the American public on food and agriculture sustainability? Joel talks about “degrees of penetration” when it comes to education about sustainability. He also answers the question, should we really try to convert everyone?

How do you rate?

So, where are you on Joel’s scale of food independence? What could you do to move up a level? How could you educate a family member or a friend to help them “climb the ladder”? Tell me in the comments.