ice cream sundae

Ice Cream Sundae designed by Dani Sunshine.
This sweet shrug was pure fun to knit. I can't say enough good things about this pattern. The design is beautiful, the instructions were easy to follow and the sizing was spot on. I knit size 6 so there is room for S to grow with it for a few years and she says she loves it. The fact that it can be worn with a long sleeved top underneath and in all kinds of weather makes it a year round knit. The yarn is The Uncommon Thread hand dyed merino dk and came to me as a kit with the pattern. The little confetti dots in the pale pink are the sprinkles on top of course!
I want to knit a dozen of these.

audrey in unst

Audrey in Unst by Gudrun Johnston in Madelinetosh sport, color Fathom Blue. This cardigan was started in mid-August and finished at the end of last week. I didn't make any alterations to the pattern other then lengthening it a bit. I like this design a lot. It has a nice mix of elements- the ribbing and lace which make it interesting. Simple yet not boring to knit. I love the twisted ribbing at the cuffs and hem though I can't say all that ribbing was fun to knit, definitely a bit tedious. The set in sleeves was a nice feature here. I love the shade of blue and the little bits of tonal variegation in Madelinetosh's yarn always are nice. Here showing bits of black in the deep blue. I was looking to stay within the color scheme of the yarn with the buttons and these ones really popped out at me. My only regret is that I didn't size down. I did do a swatch and I was between sizes. It's not too big of a deal but, I would have liked it to me more fitted.

Fete Paradiso

We had so much fun at Fete Paradiso - a traveling festival of vintage carnival rides and carousels on Sunday. More images on my flickr. Everything about this was amazing!

apple orchard

On Saturday we drove out to an apple orchard as we do every year. We went to Battleview Orchards. My love for apple picking is well documented. I love looking back on these photos seeing the kids over the years. The varieties that were ripe were Jonamac, Macintosh, Cortland and Red Delicious and we got some of each. I know we will eat and bake through these quickly so we plan to go again in October for some other varieties.

I find apple trees so romantic and lush. I have one in my yard but, if I had the property I would plant my own orchard. Someday maybe.


Apple Orchard 2007,2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012

To Autumn by John Keats



Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

#10 — Valentine
by Elinor Wylie

Too high, too high to pluck
My heart shall swing.
A fruit no bee shall suck,
No wasp shall sting.

If on some night of cold
It falls to ground
In apple-leaves of gold
I’ll wrap it round.

And I shall seal it up
With spice and salt,
In a carven silver cup,
In a deep vault.

Before my eyes are blind
And my lips mute,
I must eat core and rind
Of that same fruit.

Before my heart is dust
At the end of all,
Eat it I must, I must
Were it bitter gall.
But I shall keep it sweet
By some strange art;
Wild honey I shall eat
When I eat my heart.

O honey cool and chaste
As clover’s breath!
Sweet Heaven I shall taste
Before my death.

nadinoo play by numbers

photography by jenny & lee, modeled by hannah keussner, hair & make up by natsumi watanabe, and styling by nadia izruna.


I am so happy to see a new collection by Nadinoo. I have enjoyed every one of her collections and am lucky to own some of her lovely dresses. This Autumn/Winter collection is just as beautiful as always. The four below are my favorites. I am most tempted by the last one called Colour me in Dress. I love the shoes she pairs with the dresses.

summer fun

Dyeing wool with myroblean

Some of the crafts I have been doing this summer include tie dyeing, friendship bracelets, jewelry making, embroidery, lots of knitting (sweaters for me) and I am now starting to dye yarn with natural dyes. Perhaps I will get around to showing some of these. Then there is the garden- I can never tend it as much as I want but still it always gives and lately with lots of tomatoes, cosmos, nasturtium, cucumber, chard, kale, arugula, apples, herbs, beans and the last of the blackberries.

excited about making some jewelry with these pretty beads

Other then a french press sleeve there has not been much sewing the past few weeks. I hope to get the machine in good shape soon and I am also working on a major overhaul of the craft room which is in dire need of some organization. I need a more efficient space where everything really is in it's place and a lot of editing needs to happen in there.

August which usually is not my favorite month wound up being pretty good with family adventures and not too hot days. School starts Monday and we are all ready and excited.

greenwood gardens

Greenwood Gardens in NJ has been on my list of places to visit for years. It is so unbelievably close to home but, up until recently has not been open to the public. Though I had seen photos and heard the background story at Garden Club last year what awaited me there was so beyond my expectations. On arrival there is a beautiful wrought iron gate and stately red brick Georgian home flanked by lion statues. What lies beyond is a 28 acre magical garden and property that left me feeling dizzy as if I had fallen down Alice's rabbit hole. Terraced gardens, meadows, woodlands, grottos and teahouses dotted along the landscape… everywhere you turn there is another surprise waiting.


A Gilded Past

Two very different American families have left their marks on Greenwood Gardens. In the early decades of the last century, the self-made multi-millionaire Joseph P. Day established the gardens as a private pleasure ground for his large family. The garden beds were full of lush annuals and perennials, and the landscape was punctuated by stone teahouses, pergolas, reflecting pools, grottoes, and terraces. Rookwood and Fulper tiles from the Arts & Crafts era provide colorful ornamentation throughout the gardens. After the Days sold the property, and following some years of decline, in the 1950s Peter P. Blanchard, Jr., a lawyer and gentleman farmer, and his wife Adelaide Childs Frick, a pediatrician, added to the Days’ landscape an overlay of evergreen formality and whimsical sculptural ornamentation.

In 2000, following his father’s wishes, Peter P. Blanchard III, Blanchard’s son, and his wife Sofia Blanchard began the process of establishing Greenwood Gardens as a nonprofit conservation organization, reaching out for guidance to the Garden Conservancy, a national organization based in Cold Spring, New York. Greenwood Gardens is now one of 16 exceptional gardens in the country endorsed by the Garden Conservancy.


Summerhouse and Teahouse
Footpaths and gardens to the south and east of these main terraces lead to a pair of round perches inspired by the Belvederes built during the Arts and Craft period in Britain. The Summerhouse and Teahouse are constructed of local sandstone with copper coursings around cone-shaped roofs. Their interiors feature walls and ceilings studded with blue, green and brown seashell-shaped Rookwood tiles and floors paved with pastel-hued Fulper tiles manufactured nearby in New Jersey.

Three-foot-tall limestone chess pieces—knight, pawn, queen, and king—line the horseshoe steps leading to the upper level of the Teahouse and the South Axis garden. Here dwarf iris (Iris lacustris), pink dianthus (Dianthus caryophyllus), Siberian iris (Iris sibirica) and small ornamental onion (Allium aflatunense) may be found nestled near four huge stone frogs. Granite Foo dogs are placed at opposite steps to the Teahouse, while an Oriental paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha) with little yellow flowers serves as a centerpiece connecting the walkway and the two stone follies.

I took a lot of photos as you can see and I plan to come back to do more. I also plan to go this month for a yoga class or two and in October to take photos of Greenwood in Autumn. How gorgeous that will be. We found tucked away a barn and pasture with goats and farm birds that delighted the children especially my daughter the biggest animal lover of us all.