Dawn Brocco's Life and Design Blog

Have been busy writing in to the Knit Design list many times today, but, am still making progress on the Ladies version of the Kimono Jacket. Have the body to the underarms done, and am working up the right front and right sleeve front (all one piece). Should have that and the left front and left sleeve front done by tonight.

Tomorrow, I need to get to Amazing Threads to get myself a 40", or maybe longer, Addi Turbo in size 11. I only have the 32" length which is fine for each front and front sleeve, but the entire back and 2 sleeves needs to be on one ckn, necessitating a longer ndl. A few more days and the first sample should be done.

I also have a bunch of other errands to get done - a gift for a nephew, birthday card for one of my 3 brothers, a new pillow, a stop at Adam's - a great farmer's market, for some more tomatoes and a chunk of Locatelli Romano. At least with hubby home from the surgery, we can do these things during the day and avoid the weekend craziness in Kingston.

Maybe I'll do the autumn-weight version in one color with contrasting color borders.... The striped version is graphic and striking, but a one-color jacket would be nice, as well. We'll see.

Aside - hubby's hand surgery went well yesterday!

I started one of the adult versions of the "Kids' Striped Kimono Jacket" design, last night. Couldn't help myself! Been itching to get to it.

This first version is in doubled Alpaca Boucle on US 11's. The waist will be nipped in - I'm getting tired of boxy shapes, esp. as I still have a waist. I don't know why I'm spent so many years hiding is boxy clothes. But, even as a size 8, my pear-shape frustrated me and it was just easier to hide it that to find the right shape and length clothes to make the best of what I have.

So, the jacket will be on the shorter side, but can be easily lengthened. As a semi-short person (5' 4"), longer tops and jackets shorten me even more. Keeping the length to the hip bone or a little longer (but *not* ending at the fullest part of my derriere!) allows for a better line. 5' 4" is an odd height. The regular misses usually say 5' 5" and above and the petites say under 5' 4", or 5' 3" and under, making my height fall in the middle of 2 sizing groups!

I will later do a lighter-weight, autumn version with 1 strand boucle and about size 9 or 10 ndls.

I still have another pair of mittens and a jacket to do for the "Love Alpaca Collection" - there! I named it. Hadn't named it until I wrote it now. The X's and O's cabling, that unifies the group, made me think of love, as in kisses and hugs, but I love alpaca as well, so it seems an ideal name.

I should have the collection and the kimono jacket designs long before autumn, which is good, as there's still an aran cardigan to finish up in the wool and reknit in my dyed cashmere, more scarves to do and a book of mitten designs, I hope, we'll see.

Got the cloche finished last night and washed all the samples made so far. Am trying to get the housework done before hubby gets back from his surgery, then I can work on designs and patterns and tend to him.

Tried on some stretch cords I bought a couple years ago, that have been feeling snug for awhile and they fit much better now. I lost a lb or so recently, not a huge amount, I know. I'd really like to lose 4 or 5 lbs more, but at least I can wear these pants and get some use out of them. I don't have a large wardrobe, by any stretch of the imagination, so to have 2 pairs of pants be unwearable makes a large dent in my clothing options. Cords *would* ordinarily be unwearable by the end of June, but it's cool enough in the house that they are quite comfortable to wear.

I'd love to find affordable wool slacks that aren't lined. Seems that whenever I do see wool slacks, they're always lined. Not only does that feel cold against the skin, but woven linings *do not* stretch or move with the body. Just simple, flat front, side zip, slightly wide-leg, or at least straight leg, wool slacks - doesn't sound like a lot to ask!

But then our shopping options here are limited to say the least - Penny's, Sears, Filene's, and the Gap, H&M and the other usual small shops in the mall. I usually can find shoes in Filene's to fit my flat feet comfortably enough at a decent price, and they have a better selection of underthings than the other stores, but I went through the entire mall twice, recently, and found only one shop that had pants that fit my shape.

Tops are easy - can get them anywhere. But jeans, slacks and skirts are pure torture to find! And I haven't seen a dress in ages that I like. I don't like this asymmetrical hem bit! The only other mall that has many more shops is about an hour away. Too far for our limited free time, as shopping, well, not shopping, but *trying on* everything takes forever! Especially when some places only let you take 5 or 6 things in at a time. Geez - I'd like to fill up a rack and get everything tried on, without having to redress all the time and go get more things to try. And some of the dressing rooms are so small, you can overheat in 2 minutes. Now, *that* takes the fun out of shopping very quickly!

Just picked more snow peas and lettuce, transplanted some zucchini plants that had germinated well in one hill but not so many in the other hills. There's still 8 plants, which is plenty for 2 people, watered them, then hauled 4 buckets of mulch to the tomato bed (13 plants). I use an empty 5 gal. spackle bucket to do my mulch hauling with. Same mantra as yesterday - maybe in the next house, I can afford one of those ergonomic garden haulers!

Weeded some of the gravel paths, despite it having that weed-stop layer beneath the gravel, and hauled 5 or is it 6? sections of hosing back across the lawn, so hubby can mow after he returns from grocery shopping.

All in an hour - not terrible.

Will unpack the groceries, as soon as he gets in, then a shower, then to that cloche, which *didn't* get finished last night!

I have photos somewhere of the wild turkeys I gotta dig out, when I get a chance and post it. Last year, or maybe it was the year before, there were 2 families of turkeys that, nearly every day, wandered through the lawns and into the woods - 1 mama and a dozen babes each. One group of young was slightly older than the other. Maybe the moms were sisters? This year there's just one mom and about 5 young. Yesterday the deer came out into the open 3x - that's a record. You don't often see them in the lawns that often in one day.

So much for painting and seam repair today. Scaffolding is cumbersome and heavy! I'm pooped. And I was a good helpmate, remaining as fearless as I could be, while up on the scaffolding up on the porch roof, helping hubby hang the gutter sections. I'll be happy if I can get this 2nd hat for the collection done today.

Tomorrow hubby has all the mowing and edging to get done, as he won't be able to do it for awhile, as his surgery is early Monday morning. There's also the porch roof to clean up and get all his supplies in off of.

Still Sweater Weather
It's been oddly cool here lately. It warms up some during the day, but mornings and evenings still need wool socks and sweaters. I keep thinking that with each hand washing of them, I can finally put them away until autumn, but no. Not that I mind terribly. It's better than the usual hot and humid, which is unbearable to work in, without AC.

It's the perfect temperature for getting these attics started on their clean-out, but I'm still waiting on my sinus infection to clear up. No point in risking it.

A hammock sure would be lovely - if only we had 2 non-pine trees to rig it up between. Nothing like sap and pine needles to take the joy out of a relaxing nap! Well, we *do* have some maples up front, but we give the drivers-by enough to gape at, with our work around here, without our lolling about in public view! Next house, next house, it's becoming a mantra - maybe in the next house we'll have (fill in the blank), but mainly - time to enjoy our home more, time to have fun, time to go places, and extra money that doesn't have kids, mortgages, bills or house repairs written all over it!) Sounds like the typical middle-aged gripe, except I'm not middle aged! Nope, not me, no way, unh, unh. I'm a baby boomer - we're never aging!

I felt better last night, thank goodness! Nothing a couple hours of peace and quiet can't fix. Got the mitten reknit, and worked on the patterns. Hubby got pizza for dinner, so I didn't have to cook, and I started the larger-sized cloche for the collection.

It poured overnight, so I needn't water the garden, so more wallpaper seam repair is on today's list, and maybe that 2nd coat of paint on the parlor mantel, as well as finishing that hat and helping hubby take apart and off the roof those 7 sections of scaffolding. Of course, the one-piece gutter guy never called back, never came, even though he said he'd be here sometime this week. So, now hubby has to go buy gutter sections, which are less than ideal, as they *always* leak at the seams, and the rest of the redone gutters are one-piece. I wish people would stick to what they *say* they're going to do.

Our Wildlife and Pickles



This is a photo of 2 goose families from last spring. Note the watermeal in the background just starting to take over the pond! It's with us until November when it dies off.

All the years we've been here, we've enjoyed sharing the lawns and pond with a variety of wildlife - deer, turkeys, geese, groundhogs, chipmunks, the usual squirrels, the occasional red fox, and a plethora of bird species, including owls and woodpeckers, and those little surprise-guys, the hummingbirds. We've even seen a bear once and found the remnants in the back lawn of his/her digging up of an underground beehive. And, boy, we have those! And doesn't hubby always find them!

This year, so far, we've seen many more of *our* animals, more often than usual, and much closer to the house than usual. Maybe they're bidding us to stay, as they know we love having them about, or maybe they're saying goodbye, I don't know.

The deer mom and her young were here again this morning. Mom under the hemlock not 20 feet from the house and her teenagers dancing, leaping, frolicking wildly through the back lawn - boing, boinging everywhere - maybe they like the feel of the sopping wet grass?!

But, as soon as I say "oh, babies", our dog, Pickles comes running into the kitchen from his cozy spot on the couch and woofs at me - as he knows when I say that, that I'm looking out at the animals in *his* yard!

He doesn't mind the turkeys - he watches them and gives slow, deep woofs, but her does mind the geese. Funny, as they're both birds and near the same size. The deer though, he's wild about - it's their size and that they walk, not fly. But it's their leaping and flicking of the white tails really does him in and he wants to chase them.

But, we're responsible dog owners and he never leaves our leash or the dog run line, unlike some of our neighbors, no matter *where* we live, who let their dogs wander the streets or leave them outside all day while they're at work. Pickles is my side-kick and if I'm inside, and I usually am, he much prefers to be near me. If I'm in the garden or working outside and hubby is inside, there's no consoling the dog. Hubby's presence is OK, but it's me that he wants to be with!

He was a *Pound Puppy*. We got him at one of the local shelters one March day in '95. Hubby just had the feeling to go there that day, when we hadn't been there for many months. We've been looking, for many years, for a dog that wasn't a shedder and horse-sized or a pit bull. Just this one day, he wanted to go to the shelter and I said ok, though I knew how these visits usually went.

And there he was, the only dog not barking, pressed up against the cage door. It was like he was saying "I don't belong in here, and especially not with these noisy guys." He was about 6 months old and a terrier mix, not shedding, about 25 lbs, black and white fluff. He went directly to the vet, from the shelter, to get neutered and we brought him home. He didn't bark or woof or anything for 3 days.





Here's 2 photos of him, shortly after we got him, one on the old kitchen floor, before we gutted that room, and the other on one of our wide-board pine floors. He hadn't has his bath and haircut yet. He gets those about 3-4x a year or his hair blocks his eyes and it makes it harder for him to walk or run without slipping. He ends up looking like a mini-sheepdog, and then after his haircut, which is always really short, he looks like an entirely-different dog, as in the photo below, with him sitting on one of the kitchen chairs.

Finished the 2nd mitten, and the thumb, was about to do the sc edging along the cuff and "then" discovered I started the thumb gusset in the wrong place! Well, at least I know that the yarn rips out easily! It's not been easy to focus lately, and it's only gonna get worse next week, as hubby is having carpal tunnel surgery on his other hand (had one hand done a year ago), so he'll be home (and under my feet) for months. The hardest part is the first week or so, as I'll need to help him do stuff all day long, so talk about having fractured time and mental processes! I "really" have to get a bunch of designs done, though, as once we get into the middle of house showing, selling and moving,it's gonna be nearly impossible to get anything related to my business done or taken care of. I dread these transitions. I "need" to work all the time, as that's how it is when you're self-employed and building a business up from literally nothing, so there really is no time for all this extraneous stuff that life causes. grumble, grumble, grumble.

Elbow
Well, not only did the digging yesterday give me new blisters, but the old elbow is acting up again. Never had a problem til we moved here and I had to rake for (seemingly) endless weeks, every autumn and spring, thanks to all the lawns and trees that dump their branches and leaves every time a breeze blows!

Last year we managed to get a cleanup team in to handle the spring cleanup, and it was hardly any surprise that they filled a huge truck to overflowing with the organic debris, as we have raked and hauled and chipped all this every year ourselves. But this spring, they were booked solid and couldn't squeeze us in - "not" what I wanted to hear.

More Seams
So, today, it'll be more wallpaper seam repair - this "should" be the last day of that. That room is really 2 rooms, one, 9'x9' and an attached 5'x7' room, and nearly every seam had to be redone. But it's working well. Next is to bleach the ceiling. Last spring (well, spring, summer, autumn) it was very wet - way more rain than we're used to, which made mildew on some ceilings, not all, just a few and particularly in the shaded rooms that get no direct sun, like the dining room, front hall and this bedroom. I bleached the hall and dining room ceilings months ago, but as it's, yet another, workout for my right elbow, it'll have to wait at least a few more days.

2nd mitten
I almost finished mitten #2 last night - so many interruptions. But I should get them both buttoned up today and washed with the hat. (I always wash my newly knitted samples.) I "would" like to get the jacket started today, but we'll see. My grandmother's back in the hospital again. She's 87 and has been in and out several times lately, and it's not looking good, her heart is just wearing out.
Dawn

More Rose Bed Renovation
Well, I tackled another 45 sq. ft of the 225 sq. ft rose beds, and have the new blisters to show for it! So, that's it for digging and ripping up roots today. Picked some more snow peas and a small asparagus stalk for the dog - wacky dog likes raw asparagus and snow peas! So, back to more knitting and pattern writing.


Breeze Yarn
I ordered a few balls each of 4 colors of Heirloom Breeze yarn from my favorite online retailer for the Breeze yarn, Ozeyarn. They are for a design for the Gazette, either the Fall or Winter issue. Breeze is a stretchy yarn, like Fixation, but has less lycra, which makes it feel less harsh-feeling and has wool, as well as cotton, for easier knitting and trans-seasonal use.


Gutters - continuation
Hubby has been working on rebuilding the last of the original built-in gutters this week and today had to haul 5 loads of shingles through the house and out various windows upstairs onto the front porch roof, leaving a trail of gritty bits *everywhere". I just now finished vacuuming 2 large halls, up the stairs, one of the upstairs baths and 2 of the bedrooms - ufda! Then promptly took a shower. He has more to haul up tomorrow, which means repeating this exercise once more, but the grit couldn't remain overnight to be walked on.




Bits about my life - the beginning
Born in Queens, NY, April 12th, 1959 during a snowstorm. My hubby's parents were married the very same day, in the very same year - he's 11 months younger than I am.

I am the eldest of 4 kids, and have 3 younger brothers. We lived in Brooklyn until I was 16, then moved to Staten island as I went to Notre Dame Girls' Academy, my brothers all went to St. Peter's Boy's School. Both high schools were in SI and my Dad then worked in SI. This eliminated traipsing across the bridge by bus at 1 hour each way, but lost me 2 hours a day with my best friend (well, my only real friend), who later became Valedictorian and is now a doctor, though she could have been absolutely anything, as she was blessed with a multitude of talents, and attended a music college (Mannes - sp?) on weekends in Manhattan, while still in high school.

I was the sensitive, poetic type, both attributes having long evolved into other characteristics! As we grew up (in Bklyn) 2 flights up over a store on a very busy street, playing outsidce was limited to summer and even then, mostly meant getting to the park, many blocks away.

So, my entire youth was spent helping my mom out, getting good grades and going to the public library ever Saturday morning to take out 2 or 3 books, which I would then devour over the weekend. Being lost in words all the time inclined me towards writing poetry, keeping a diary, though that's long gone, and writing letters (remember those!) to distant family members.

High school was full of all the usual tumult that teenagers are faced with. Even though I *did* attend an all-girls' school, that doesn't save one from life getting to you. That school, though, was the best part of my youth. A sanctuary of kind and encouraging nuns who wore regular clothes and crosses around their necks, on a campus that spoke to me, like no place ever before.

Lots of old buildings scattered about wth walks connecting them, with lawns and a greenhouse here and there and an elementary school wing whose swings my best friend and I would swing on after lunch almost every day - long swings surrounded by trees, so that when you got a good swing going, you ended up in the trees, amongst the leaves. I fell in love with Nature then and with old buildings.

When I was in grammar school, one had to apply to 4 high schools hoping for acceptance to the one you wanted to attend. You went to the open houses, listened to the principals speak and toured the buildings. I *knew* I would go there, that I'd be accepted and could get to go there. My mom didn't want me to get hurt by setting my heart on it, in case I didn't get in. But there was nothing iffy, or hopeful or setting-of-heart-on about the whole thing. I *knew* I was going to go there! It felt like home. So, I nodded and waited. And was accepted to all 4 schools.
Dawn

OK - I scanned the mitten and cloche. The mitten still needs its thumb done and the lower edge single crocheted (as the hat has), which evens out the cable flare nicely, while giving it an edge.

Mitten front and back:





and the cloche:


(Naturally, these photos and designs are my copyrighted property. Don't want to have to mention it, but these days, one must.)

The mitten photo doesn't show it as well as when worn, but the cabled edge flares just enough to act like a gauntlet, while the wrist are takes in enough to be more fitted, without being tight.

The thumb isn't at the sides, but is palm-ward a few stitches, as that's more anatomical, and certainly more comfortable to wear than side thumb gussets.

The cloche is close fitting for my small-medium head with short, fine hair, so I'll be casting on a larger size, as well, for those with larger heads and/or heads full of hair!

I should be able to get the patterns written today and then I can cast on the jacket.

I am really eager to start another jacket design in the Alpaca Boucle, but isn't a part of this collection. It will, more than likely, be available as a separate pattern.

I did a design last year called Kids' Striped Kimono Jacket knit in Bartlettyarns Fisherman Bulky. It's a cute design, but not as popular as it should be, for its ease of knitting up, design appeal, and is a quick-to-knit project, which so many knitters desire!

Does the yarn used in a design keep knitters from considering it? Are knitters afraid of substituting yarns? I would hardly think so, from all the talk of yarn substitution that takes place on the email lists. I would appreciate some feedback about this, as it stumps me why such a cute design doesn't just fly off the shelves!

I've had inquiries about sizing the design for adults, which is what I'll be doing with the Alpaca Boucle. I think it's the perfect yarn for a bulky knit, but light-feeling jacket, that will be warm, as a winter jacket should be. I may well do 2 versions - an autumn weight version and a winter weight one, to satisfy those living in colder, as well as more temperate climes.

The mitten design has gone much more smoothly than the cloche hat! No ripping at all, got it right the first time out, how unusual!

I'll try and get to scanning and uploading some pics later today.

I never read of many knitters using this yarn, and I wonder why. It's light, it doesn't split, it's mostly a natural fiber (90% alpaca) and at a reasonable price, considering that it is both alpaca, which is more costly than wool, and a special spinning process to make the bouclé, which is found in some trendy yarns.

That's one of the things I love about this yarn - is that it's a *natural fiber* trendy yarn - how unusual is that!

It may not come in a huge range of colors, but that's never stopped knitters from using a yarn. It does come in several neutrals and some fascinating brights.

I am using 3 shades for the designs for this collection, #10, the natural white, #15, a light and dark grey mix, and #18, a luminous blend of a hott-ish pink (though I think its leaning towards purple) and orange. It sounds funky, but the colors are closely blended in the bouclé, so that, from a distance, it looks like a hot magenta - it really has entranced me!

There's one other color that is a fabulous blend - #20, a purple and turquoise mix.

#19 is a mix of 2 pinks, more subtle, and #17 is 2 oranges blended - subtle like the pink mix, as the colors in the mix are closer in hue.

Add to this a black and 7 other natural mixes.

At the bulky gauge (DO ignore tha ballband gauge - unless you want a gauzey fabric) fair isle or stranded colorwork isn't really an option, particularly as alpaca is so warm, unless you're designing a coat, which I think could be wonderful. But, intarsia, or color blocked garments or accessories would be great in this yarn, and yet I see so few designs available for it. Well, I am *working* on fixing that!

See the Alpaca Boucle and other Plymouth yarns here.
Dawn

Took a break from working on the mitten design to have lunch (yogurt) and pick some lettuce and snow peas from the garden, to have with dinner tonight. Gotta water the garden later, though. Must keep the new zucchini and tomato plants from drying out! I think the asparagus plants are almost done this year - there's just a few more sprouts coming up, and soon it will be too hot.

We have an acre-sized frog pond - not good for much, except watering the garden, as it's quite nutrient-rich. I never have to fertilize, thanks to the pond water, though every so many years I get manure for the beds, just to make sure. And every year, I add our 3-year old leaf compost to the beds. The only time the pond looks good is in winter, after the watermeal has died down for the year. But frogs, turtles and our yearly family or two of geese don't seem to mind.
Dawn

It's such a nice day, I should be outside working on the continued restoration of the front rose beds, but I have a sinus infection, again. There's something in the air. I was fine until it got cool again afew days ago.

Those beds line the front bluestone walk, 30' on each side of the walk, then they extend 15' along each side of the front of the main part of the house, so, 90' of brick-edged beds, about 2.5' wide that I put heirloom roses into soon after moving here, but they never did really well - too much shade, and so, I've been digging it all up, to prep the beds for something else - but, oh, my, they are completely root bound.

So, I've been at it, a bit at atime, for many weeks, as it's just not do-able in a short span of time, not unless I want to spend many, many days with tightened up neck, shoulder and back muscles and the accompanying miserable headaches! No thanks! Have enough of that anyway, thank you!

It looks like the Annabelle Hydrangea will do well in this spot. They have white flower heads and variegated foliage which will look great against a newly-painted light camel-colored house with its white trim, red roof and front door, but it may well be too late to plant any new bushes this year, and I wanted the front of the house to look pristine for the selling, this autumn.....

Usually Greek Revivals are just painted all white, which is a pity, as there's such great architectural detail on this style of house that gets lost being all white. The photos I've seen of some 2-tone Greek Revivals settled me on the idea, as they do look so much better with the detail pointed out in a contrasting color.

Work awaits, but first I must feed the dog. 10:30 am, like clockwork, he sits and stares at me, wagging his tail, waiting for me to take notice, so I can go feed him! Then I'll go take a peek at the Stickley website and see how much that gorgeous chair in Architectural Digest is - but, I know, if I gotta ask....
Dawn

So, still no email this morning, so I called Cleartel (which *was* Biznessonline, after being Ulster.net!), wait forever but do find out that they've needed us to change some settings and voilá, finally could sign on! 159 emails waiting. I don't think of myself as being net-dependant, but I guess I am. It's also irksome when something works, then, in a flash, doesn't work, for no apparent reason - makes me nuts!

But, order has been restored, emails downloaded and trashed (so much spam), and now I can focus on work.

I finished that hat I've been working on. It's a cloche - close-fitting, no brim, but think I'll do a fold up brim version, as well. And casting on the matching mittens today.

Today is one of those days where I'm not getting a whole lot done!

I did get a 6.5 lb. box of yarn and sweater parts off to Elizabeth, for CIC knitting, and I am getting that hat finished. But my email has been acting up, so fussing with settigns is usurping time.

But then I hear something happened with Verizon up in Albany and that's where my internet access is located, so it looks their servers are having trouble...

Being a mother has meant I've often put myself on the back burner, as all good mothers tend to do! My kids are grown now and finally I can spend a few moments fussing with things I haven't spent time on since my college days, one of which is good skin care. I have oily skin, which is great for keeping any and all wrinkles at bay, even at 45!, and of course, I stay out of the sun (who has time to sunbathe!), but I've always tackled skin care in the usual ways - strip the skin with strong astringents, which only cause the skin to make more oil.

Well, my wonderful and thoughtful daughter gave me a gift kit of skin care products for Mother's Day - from Burt's Bees. Now, I've seen these products at my local health food store, when I go to get my horse chestnut root and vitamins, but never tried them. Not even a week after using the samples, I was and am hooked! She bought me a line for mature and sensitive skin (was she trying to tell me that I'm old!?), and I'm amazed at how good my skin feels and looks, and is hardly ever really oily any more! I can see I'm going to be buying Burt's Bees for a very long time.

I use their Rosewater and Glycerine toner (very mild) and their Marshmallow Vanishing Creme. Not marshmallow, like in S'Mores, but from the Marshmallow plant - Althea Officinalis. Burt's Bees can be found here: burtsbees and here: drugstore

I've bought twice from the drugstore.com site and each time bought enough things to get the free shipping (it's really easy to add up skin care, herbs and vitamins!). And, they deliver *very* quicklly. I am trying out 2 of their olive oil soaps - one made in Italy and the other made in Greece, by a company called Kiss My Face. What a surprise to see an 8 oz bar of soap, for $2.89! With a knife, I split the behemoth of a bar into 3, more easily useable bath size bars. So far, I like it alot, but want to try some goat's milk soap I saw on the drugtore.com site, as well.
Dawn

I'm not going to post any photo links of projects-in-the-works, at least not until I am satisfied with how they are looking.

I am working on a booklet of designs, mentioned yesterday, in the Alpaca Boucle, begun last year. I have the pullover and scarf done and patterns written, but have the hat, mittens and jacket to do yet.

I'm on the hat now and hope to get it done by tonight, as there's really alot more to do. But, I've ripped it out 3x already and so, who knows if it will ever be a hat, but I am ever hopeful.

I'm also working on 2 designs for the next (Fall 2004) and/or maybe the Winter issue of the Gazette, as well as a wool aran cardigan, that I will also be knitting up in some of my hand-dyed cashmere. See http://www.dawnbrocco.com/Gardenyarns.html for the first hand-dyed Garden Yarns cashmere design - Double Knot Cable Scarves.

I can't wait to knit the cashmere aran. It will be pure heaven to work on and to wear, once Autumn hits. But, other projects need finishing first!
Dawn

I do love to garden, and wish I had more hours in each day to do it. I do plant from seed each year, including starting my tomatoes indoors in March or so, but it would be nice to have a greenhouse or at least cold frames, to extend the season, but, each year, wehn i think about it, my other seasons are filled with design work and sales. Summer is slow in the knitting business, so it's really the only season available to me, time-wise, for extraneous activities.

I have a smallish garden, consisting of 6 raised beds, about 4' wide and each about 12' long. In one bed lies the asparagus plants, now in their 5th year, I think, and another bed holds 2 new (planted last spring) blueberry bushes - how I love blueberries! The other beds get a different veggie each year - crop rotation. All my veggies are heirloom varieties and organically grown. Ronde de Nice zucchini, a variety of tomatoes, snow peas, a variety of lettuces and bush beans, but i haven't planted any beans ina few years, as the Romano beans I love haven't been available from my seed source - The Cook's Garden, in CT, I think: http://www.cooksgarden.com

There's a green wire fence around the garden, thanks to the deer, groundhogs, chipmunks, wild turkeys, geese, and heaven knows what else wanders the lawns at night!

I've been thinking that snow pea vines are like children. They are delicate and easily broken, so as they grow, one can only *suggest* them into weaving into the bamboo teepees I've made for them. Push too hard and they snap, but *guide* them, and they will more or less go where they should go, and thrive happily.
Dawn

Hello all,
Welcome to my new weblog!

I have put off doing a blog for a long time, as having enough time to devote to its upkeep and entries is no easy thing to do. As a self-publishing designer, I work much more than the ordinary 40-hour work week, then have a 13-room home and garden to maintain, as well as making time for my husband.

Up until a few years ago, I also had 2 children to rear and a bed & breakfast to run. The B&B was closed down 4 or so years ago, and the kids are finally both out of college and on their own.

Life is all about transition and change though, and now is no different. And that's why I thought maybe it's time to start a log - to talk about my design work, but also to talk about life, what is going on. I used to keep a diary as a little girt (who didn't!), and then I wrote poetry for many years after that. My creative life went onto a back burner, though, when I had my children, got divorced, had to support them on a legal proofreader's salary, then got remarried to my high school sweetheart, and finally moved out of Staten Island (one of NYC's boroughs) to a town in orange County, NY, called Warwick.

We stayed there 7 years and while there I began my journey into textiles, then we moved to Saugerties, in the Mid-Hudson Valley of NY State. We've been in Saugerties 10 years, slowly restoring a 3,200 sq. ft, 13-room circa 1800-1850 Greek Revival farmhouse on 6 acres.

We've made a good dent in the restoration, but as anyone who has ever owned an old house knows, you better have tons of money to pay workmen or tons of time to do the work yourself. The kids are gone though and this house is way too large for us and it has long ago decided to *own* us. We gladly let it, as we saw, and still see great virtue in restoring historic structures. It's not something, though, that we want to spend the rest of our lives spending every spare moment doing, particulary as the reason we bought this place was for the running of a B&B.

It was a brave idea, but we soon discovered it was not to be a financially viable idea in this particular town. Tourism here is quite seasonal, and without fireplaces and jacuzzis in the suites, we weren't going to have enough business to support ourselves. So, along with the B&B, I returned to freelance designing, while rearing teenagers and continuing the restoration, with hubby, who also worked fulltime elsewhere. Talk about a surefire way to be permanently exhausted!

So, as much as we love this old house and the peace and quiet we've *finally* found after growing up in noisy Brooklyn and Staten Island and then living in a noisy part of Warwick, I think it's time to let it go.

And hence, this blog. I'm not likely to start a longhand diary, not with all (ALL) the work ahead of me, but if I don't keep some kind of record of the transition, it will be gone in a flash, and my thoughts and feelings gone as well, into the past.

I'll try and cover bits of my past, my youth, my journey into textiles, as well as new designs, new dreams, new hopes and the day to day of cleaning out and prepping of this house for sale. We can't go forward until we close some doors behind us, or else we'll forever be looking back through those doors, through time, to all we've been, we've done and we've loved. The hard part is letting go of what we love, in hopes of finding something new to love.

I've already begun to clear out the closets, throwing out stuff. I also sent many boxes of magazines to recycling. Today I'm cleaning up where I've been, reorganizing the book shelves in the library, and continuing the reparing of the seams in the wallpaper in bedroom 1. It was inexpensive walllpaper (meaning *aged*) and the edges just began curling last winter, after being up a few years already. So, with some vinyl to vinyl paste, a brush, rags and that blue painter's tape, I'm getting the seams to lie flat again.

We have 4 bedrooms upstairs and several downstairs. One of the downstairs bedrooms is off the dining room (an odd place for it I know), and has been our bedroom, when we had guests, as well as being a temporary kitchen for several years, whilst the real kitchen was gutted and being slowly put back together. The other 2 downstaiirs bedrooms are adaptations of what used to be a large room, in the older (circa 1800) section of the house. This room had a life as a kitchen once, then the previous owners divied it up into 2, 7' x 11' bedrooms for their sons and a family room, 10' x 16'.

These 2 rooms became my childrens' rooms and the family room was where we all hung out, as the guests had the *good* end of the house (restored and decorated) to use. Now, these rooms are my office and wool/shipping rooms. The family room is still where hubby and I hang in the evenings and where I sit and knit up my designs.

The square footage of the house doesn't sound like it would allow for so many rooms, but in olden days, square footage wasn't wasted on hallways - there really is only 1 main hallway, by the front door. Rooms were directly off other rooms. So, when you walk in there's the parlor and library to the left, dining room, back bedroom and its bath to the right. Walk through one door to family room, 2 work' rooms, then around to the bath, kitchen, and then the pantry, which exits into the dining room. Upstairs are 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. Off the dining room and family room are doors that lead to the second stairwell up into the smaller attic, which then has stairs to the larger attic. There's also 2 basements, as the house was added onto in 1850, and 2 front doors.

The house's layout can suit any number of uses, from home business to in-law apartment, to B&B, though, if I was just starting the B&B today, I'd use a different section of the house for it, then I did then.

Today, I don't have to water the veggie garden as I did that yesterday and tomorrow, it is supposed to rain, so that saves some work.

I have some designs I'm *finally* getting back to that I started last October. Doing each Heels and Toes Gazette issue breaks up my other designing - many things languish, as there's just not enough time.... These designs are in a great Plymouth yarn, called Alpaca Boucle. It's light, it's quick-knititng, though the ballband gauge is horribly loose for it (but I never heed ballband gauges - only swatching will tell me, or YOU, what gauge the yarn *should* be to create an optimal fabric.)

I DO need to have lunch now, as it's an hour past my usual lunch time already, return to washing the library floor, and work on a few more wallpaper seams up in bedroom 1, and maybe get to do the 2nd oil paint coat on some of the steam radiators I began a week or so ago. The *smell* though of oil paint - ugh - even with the doors closed and the fans pulling the air out - still ugh. I also need to get a 2nd coat (not oil based, thank goodness) on the parlor mantel. Now *that's another story! What the previous owner did to that mantel! Actually what he did to much of this house in the 40 odd years he lived here is enough for a book unto itself!

This week, hubby has 7 sections of scaffolding up on the front porch roof, so he can take down the original, but not well-cared for, built-in gutter on the front of the large section of the house. He's been making joists to extend the roofline, in simulation of the orignal roofline with wood gutter, and will box it in, rooroof what he's riupped and hang a one-pice new gutter underneath. Idea is to keep the original line of the house but get it functional again.

Can't tell you how many layers of metal and roofing tar fills these old wood gutters, making them nearly useless! 2 years ago, he did the back of the main section of house, and last autumn, he did the front and back of the small section of the house and reroofed the entire small end. It takes forever to tackle these large projects. that's why our kitchen is about 8 years in the redoing. It's just about done - just painting, a little trim left to put up and some details added - just in time to sell. Maybe I can take my finally done kitchen with me?! 8 years with a semi-kitchen, and 2 years with a stove, sink and 1 small cupboard in a back room. I finally have a nice, country kitchen with a 1950's double-oven stove with refreshed nickel trim, that DH spent 5+ years rebuilding, and someone else will get to use it! Ah well.

So, until tomorrow...