a little bit of silly

In the midst of knitting mittens for my children, I paused to knit up a little bit of silly.

Using Anna Hrachovec's Teeny Tiny Mochimochi book as a guide, I spent a couple of hours with teeny tiny needles, fine sock yarn, and lots of giggling to craft these teeny tiny magical folk.

Then I posed them on a miniature pumpkin and created an ocean scene with some hand knit socks and giggled some more.

One of my sisters wanted to know why I'd knit something so small and silly. Then she saw the mermaid and has now requested a few for her Solstice tree. 

There are few people who can resist the allure of teeny tiny things!

(Ahem, and that explains why, this afternoon, we'll be welcoming a miniature horse into our barnyard).

Empty Barn Seeks Pony

In the five years since we moved to our farm, this barn has sat empty. The yard in front of its doors has grown thick with burdock, nightshade, and elm saplings. It offers refuge from the wind on winter nights when our cats won't be called inside, but has mostly sat empty.

Over the weekend we worked to remove every last burr, cleared the hillocks of grass from the doors so that they would open easily, and talked about how to facilitate the deep-snow trips we'll make to it during the winter with buckets of water. 

Today our ponies are arriving. Velvet noses, braids in manes, the sweet huff of warm, grassy breath, and the sounds of hooves and whinnies in a barn...all a dream come true. The thought of  kids trotting up the lane way on strong backs and whispering secrets to equine friends who will never betray their confidence calls Alison Lester's book, My Farm to mind. 

These ponies will be the first mammals (besides the cats) that we will welcome to our farm. I know they won't be the last. 

a woman who spins

Sunlight, wood, wool, human hands.

Few things are as beautiful as these. 

My borrowed wheel has been oiled and fine-tuned, I have two giant bags of "practice fiber", and I find that as I approach forty, I am also equipped with a patience and perspective Imay have lacked at twenty, to enjoy the process of learning this skill. Add to that two friends who are happy to bring their wheels into the busy whirl of my country kitchen, and I'd say I'm all set.

After lots of play and practice on the drop spindle, I find my hands adopting the rhythms of spinning, communicating with one another and the wool in a way I can only describe as ancient; it is almost as if my hands remember this and only needed an opportunity to try it again. With the generous support and advice of a teacher who came along at just the right time, I'm taking the first steps towards becoming who I've always dreamed:

A woman who spins.

jelly jar embellishments

When we purchased our farm, we were thrilled to find mature Concord grape vines over an arbour near the pond. Some years we get to the grapes before the birds do. This was one of those years. 

I picked enough grapes to get 20 cups of juice, and turned some of it into jelly. The rest has gone into the freezer to become "jello" or more jelly over the winter.

This year I decided to embellish my jars with some sweet, micro-mini buttons that have been hanging out in my sewing basket, sewn on to wool felt. They're pretty irresistible, to be honest. I love fine work like this, and am so pleased with the results that I'll be making some "labels" for my apple jelly as well (using bigger red buttons, of course).

Please pop by Frontier Dreams to see what others are crafting this week!

if I were...

Joining in with Julie, Lisa, and Amanda today!

if i were a month i’d be May.

if i were a day i’d be Sunday.

if i were a time of day i’d be dawn.

if i were a font i’d be Comic Sans.

if i were a sea animal i’d be an urchin.

if i were a direction i’d be north.

if i were a piece of furniture i’d be a sleigh bed.

if i were a liquid i’d be kukui nut oil.

if i were a gemstone i’d be a tourmaline.

if i were a tree i’d be a tamarack.

if i were a tool i’d be a drop spindle.

if i were a flower i’d be a wild rose.

if i were an element of weather i’d be wind.

if i were a musical instrument i’d be a harp.

if i were a color i’d be amethyst.

if i were an emotion i’d be wonder.

if i were a fruit i’d be a peach.

if i were a sound i’d be a purr.

if i were an element i’d be air.

if i were a car i’d be a horse-drawn sleigh .

if i were a food i’d be bread dipped in balsamic vinegar and oil.

if i were a place i’d be a natural habitat.

if i were material i’d cotton.

if i were a taste i’d be sweet and salty.

if i were a scent i’d be tea rose.

if i were a body part i’d be hands.

if i were a song i’d be Tightrope by Janelle Monae.

if i were a bird i’d be a chickadee.

if i were a gift i’d be handmade.

if i were a city i’d be Paris.

if i were a door i’d be a barn door.

if i were a pair of shoes i’d be rubber boots.

if i were a poem i’d be Portrait By a Neighbour by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Woodlandish Romance

Autumn Wee Folk

If you catch a movement in the corner of your eye, it might just be the Autumn Wee Folk, enjoying the morning sunrise. They blend in with the changing hues around them, but they will let you see them if they feel that you are a kindred spirit.

Their sleepy eyes speak of a long nap through the winter. Their heads are kept cozy by acorn caps, and they've fashioned themselves some sweet oak and poplar leaf sleeping bags (as only those with a bit of magic in them can)!