June | 2013 | Love Is All You Knit

Jun 27 2013

Antics, designing, Dogs, Family, knitting, Texas, wool

Insta June

And just like that, June has come to a close. Any spare moment I had these past few weeks was spent seeking sun and fun or a bit of relaxation and conversation with good friends. I was inspired by a message to ‘walk in beauty,’ and so I took the time to savor the sounds of beautiful music made by people I love and adore, the splendor of heart stopping sunrises, the wonderful feel of squishy soft American-made wool in my hands and on my knitting needles, and the unexpected delight from discovering a tiny little cactus blossom sprouting from a cutting I planted at the end of last summer.

Walk in beauty, indeed.

Jun 24 2013

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Antics, designing, Dogs, Hats, knitting, Texas, Yarn

On Summer, Swatching & Unconventional Yarn Holders

What was it I said at the end of May– something about looking forward to summertime? Oh yes, summer is in full effect here in Texas. So much that there has been an insanely negligible amount of knitting to show. I knitted a small swatch for a colorwork hat idea I’m working on, but the stranded method I had originally planned didn’t look very good as the floats were way too long, and duplicate stitching the color sections made it way too bulky, so I’m trying a different approach.

Have you ever tried intarsia in the round? I watched a video of someone doing it the other day and it blew my mind. I had no idea it was done with wraps and turns and knitting back and forth while the rest of the piece is worked circularly. Hopefully I will have more success with this method of adding some color to my knitting, because as of right now this hat is looking like a total snooze-fest.

Also, who needs a yarn bowl when you have a sleepy old basset? Five minutes after I took this picture he was wagging his tail and barking in his sleep. Oh Henry, you melt my heart with your sweetness.

Jun 17 2013

A Day at the Beach

We have some friends in town, Johan and Anna who are visiting from Sweden. Johan is here to record an album at Redwood and Anna is here visiting the states for the very first time. While the boys spend their days making some really beautiful music in the studio, my friend Felicia and I are doing our best to make sure Anna gets a good glimpse of Texas while she’s here. This weekend, we found ourselves sitting on the beach of a lake that felt like an ocean.

We packed ourselves into the car; I squeezed in alongside Anna, Felicia, and our friend Shayla and her two littles and we started making our way north towards the lake. It was a classic Texas summer day—bright blue skies with gorgeous white clouds and the feel of the hot hot sun on your skin. Anna had her camera out during most of the drive, snapping shots of the horses and cows that were grazing the pastures that lined the small farm roads.

We arrived at the swimming beach and made a quick dash to the water which was the perfect temperature for cooling off in the heat. Tons of bright umbrellas were staked in the sand and lots of excited swimmers were having a blast and splashing around on colorful inflatables. Kids were laughing, dogs were barking and families were grilling food and enjoying the sunshine.

Our day was full of so many fun memories: we swam out to the buoys, we caught a rogue dolphin inflatable and we grossed out when our toes touched the mossy rocks on the lake bottom. We made up silly water games and laughed really, really hard. And at the end of the day, we drove home sandy-footed and waterlogged and with that sleepy-happy feeling that comes from a day well spent with good friends.

PS- if you have some time, be sure to check out Johan and Anna’s websites linked above. Johan has an amazing voice and writes beautiful songs and Anna is a very talented painter who recently had her work on exhibition at the Louvre.

Jun 01 2013