A Virtual Tour of Charleston Farmhouse in the UK

A heads-up that there is a great opportunity to support Charleston Farmhouse, the Sussex, England UK home of Bloomsbury Group Painters Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell. On Thursday, October 1st at 2 pm EASTERN TIME (7 pm BST), a Virtual Tour is being hosted by Artist/Decorative Painter Annie Sloan and Curator Dr. Darren Clarke. 

The Bloomsbury Group began in the early 1900's and encompassed a large number of artists, authors, and intellectuals including Grant, Bell, Virginia Woolf (Vanessa's sister), Lytton Strachey, Maynard Keynes, Roger Fry and more. Charleston Farmhouse became a mecca for their large group of friends (read about them here). Over the years, the rooms were hand painted with innovative treatments which have inspired textile and other artists for years. In the 1980's after the death of Duncan Grant, the home began to be restored. For years, it has inspired visitors with its beauty and quirkiness and has been featured in many, many books and publications. 

I had the good fortune to visit Charleston along with Virginia Woolf's home Monk's House which is now owned by the National Trust over 20 years ago. I look forward to seeing it again - if only virtually - on Thursday. 

The talk has a sliding scale of 20, 30 or 40 British pounds and a video of the talk will be available for a week after with your paid ticket. Purchase tickets here. Hope to see you at Charleston. 

What to do in this time of uncertainty? OMG - Knit a Farmer...

Hello all you fine folks! What a few weeks it has been and more to come. I don't have any sound advice to give you all in the wake of the coronavirus hitting our shores. No one knows how it will affect their families and friends and communities. It's all a bit crazy and out of the ordinary. I wish you and yours all the best as we struggle our way through the unknown. 

When all else fails, I say knit! I have been knitting a lot this winter. A few weeks ago, I wrote this hilarious post and then followed it up with this post. If you haven't read this blog in a while there is a lot to catch up on. I've been introducing the 15 patterns from World Knits Collection. I've been giving back-story to the different patterns and designs. All of the patterns are available by PDF Download on my website or over on Ravelry. 

These designs were all made almost 25 years ago over the span of 4 years. Unfortunately I have very few of the original designs. I've been going over the patterns and knitting some up. I'll post a few this week. Right now, I'm knitting a Farmer from The Ethnic Gift Collection. I found the original Farmwoman but could not find her mate. Here she is.....

She was a bit moth ravaged but I patched her up. Her apron lifts up to reveal a pocket and she can be used as a small purse or carrying bag. 

I looked high and low for her mate and could not find him anywhere. Here he is in progress. Sorry about some of the poorly lit photos. 

Two legs ready to be joined

Legs joined and hips knit

Belt knit

Chest begun

Neck shaped and head and hat begun. He has to be stuffed as you go because the knitting closes in on the pieces. I added some French knot buttons before doing the neck. 

The head is finished here and has been stuffed

The purl ridge is picked up and a brim is knitted for the hat

The arms are finished and ready to attach. A few ends to weave in. 

Here is my Farmer with facial features, laces, hair that needs to be trimmed. 

I took him down into my studio to my steamer to give him a little plump up and a hair trim. Guess what! He has disappeared. I cannot find him anywhere! Once again - I have looked high and low and he is in the miss. I'm wondering if one of the cats took him away. That is all I can think of. 

And so I began again. I knit another farmer. Here's what I have so far.......

The second one went much quicker than the first. I'm in a groove now. I'm going to keep knitting the Farm. 

To Be Continued........

Purchase the Eclectic Gift Collection on my website here or on Ravelry here. 

More tomorrow! 

True Confessions of a Former Knitwear Designer

I haven't knit in a very long time. My knitting needles in their zippered bag have sat next to my chair in our library/tv room for several years unused. I don't think I have knit anything since 2014 when I finished this Easy Aran for Kids. 

I was done with it. Done. Totally done. Complete. Nothing else to say. No desire to make anything on knitting needles. I have crocheted a few afghans. I have embroidered and sewed. I have made ceramics. I have written a couple books on crafting for interiors. But knitting - No - I haven't done that in years. That's my true confession. 

Two weeks ago, I relaunched my World Knits Collection in PDF Downloadable Format. I have been thinking about doing this for literally years and years. When CEY went OOB, I thought I might have an opportunity to purchase the rights to my patterns. I loved these patterns with all my heart. I loved how they made knitters think and design on their own. I loved seeing what they made and hearing what fun they had. This all was before social media and the internet and Ravelry. What if I got these patterns out there again? Would anyone like them? Would they catch on? With some luck, I got my rights back and in January, I had the patterns  scanned. I formatted them in Indesign into PDF documents that you can buy to knit yourself. 

Since I'm hoping to sell these patterns that have been buried in people's closets and libraries for years, I thought I had better break out my knitting needles. I desperately need a new hat so I began with the Moroccan Fedora pattern. Years ago, I had made myself one of these and I loved it. 

I grabbed some circular needles and cast on. I knit a solid section of rib and stockinette and then moved onto the Fair Isle colorwork. I didn't measure any gauge - I just got to it and knit and knit and knit. It felt pretty good to be experimenting again with the colors and the patterning and the shaping. 

I was whipping along and the over a few days I finished the hat. Off the needles it came and i went to try it on. OMG - it was a disaster. The base of the hat was so large that the hat fell down completely over my face. I wish I had a photo but it was dark and I didn't take one. I couldn't stop laughing to and at myself. There goes those hours - gone! Oh well. 

The next day I got out my needle gauge. I had used size 6 needles and my gauge was totally off. I had thought while I was knitting it seemed a bit loose but I just powered on. The thing was like a giant sack. 

I am not usually one to be defeated when it comes to my knitting. The next day, I decided to do a little hat surgery. I wish I had a video set up for this next part because it is really fun to do. I will try to explain it here. 

I turned the hat inside out. Using a circular needle, I picked up the loops on the reverse stockinette stitch round. Below, you can see that. 

Then I pulled on the tail of the maroon yarn tightly. You can see that thread making the  gathering of the stitches on the needles below. 

Next, I cut the maroon yarn and pulled it out of the stitches. Below you can see the pink stitches that are still on the needle and the maroon piece pulling away from the hat. 

I kept going all the way around the hat. Cutting and ripping, cutting and ripping. 

Soon my hat was in 2 pieces. Here is the top part still attached to the needles.

Here you can see the two pieces. The bottom part of the hat measured 28" around - large enough to fit a child! Way too big for my head!

I slipped the stitches to 2 circular needles and tried the hat on. It looked like I could save it. The next day, I went to buy some circular needles in the right size - 3's and 4's. 

I determined that I only needed a little bit of a rib on this hat to make it wearable. I worked a 2 color Corrugated Rib down from the pink stripe. I finished with a couple rounds of purl in chartreuse. Here it is. 

Here's what the top looks like. I am going to add some embroidery to it and then I am going to wear this hat the rest of the winter. 

Stay tuned for the finished project. We'll see how it goes. 

The Moroccan Fedora Hat Pattern is available on my website here and on Ravelry here. Don't do what I did - measure your gauge. 

Wrap-Up - 5th Holiday Open House

We had a fantastic Holiday Open House a couple weeks ago. I'm just getting time to process and upload the photos here to share with those of you who are interested in it and too far from here to visit. If you did come to the Open House THANK YOU! We had an incredible crowd and it was so much fun to meet many new folks and see old friends. This event is a huge amount of work in all ways - physically making things to sell, decorating the house, strategizing with the friends I invite to do the event, cooking treats to share and more..... I find it so worthwhile though to share our colorful farmhouse to folks who are curious and share my love of color and pattern. 

I was so busy that I didn't have any time to take any photos. Plus, my phone was being used to process sales. I really wish I had photos of the house filled with wonderful people. Over the last two weeks I have been reviewing the conversations in my head, trying to remember names and faces. 

If you are a creative artist and you have an interesting home or studio, throwing an Open House is a great way to get your message out there. It takes nerve to put yourself out there for people to judge you - because face it - you invite judgement when you invite strangers into your space. It is a great way to meet new folks in your community - whether virtual or local. I had so many lovely folks come who followed my 100 Days of Vases Project on Instagram this past year. It was so fantastic to meet the folks who commented and cheered me on. 

Another highlight of the weekend was meeting Eva who has been a loyal blog reader,  Facebook commenter and longtime follower. Eva's daughter Lisa brought her mom to the Open House as an 80th birthday gift! It was the actual day too! How special. I wish I had a photo of the two of us together. I was late getting set up (no surprise if you know me!) and Lisa and Eva arrived right on time. Eva sat in the wing chair and watched me scurry around getting things more organized. She was delightful and I'm so happy her daughter brought her to meet us. Eva had the best time exploring the handmade and handpainted decoration of our home. I'm glad we could be part of her 80th birthday - what a plus to a great weekend. 

Special thanks goes to my friends Alicia, Deborah, Gail and Juliana who added to the celebration by bringing their beautiful wares and helping to host the event. I couldn't do it without them. And thanks to Laurie B who did all the tallying of sales and wrapping. And to Cathy and Cynthia who came from Boston to help out. And lastly, thanks to Julia and Mark who put up with the incredible chaos of preparation, making pottery, figuring out the logistics, and me being in a frantic mood. This year we had the added drama of a massive snowstorm. Mark spent most of the day between selling our farm raised lamb keeping the walkway sanded and salted. Our neighbor Sid plowed the snow from the field where cars park - what a fantastic guy. I called the Road Crew to alert them of the event and Dave was here with the town truck sanding the road so people didn't get stuck. Many of the folks who came from far away had not had experience with a gravel road in the snow - that definitely added to the drama of the visit and the weekend! Many wondered how the heck we live here through the winter. The snow definitely made for an unforgettable weekend. 

Here are the photos - sorry there aren't any of the farmhouse with people in it. Maybe next year.  Thanks again to all who came.

 

Garlic and Arts Festival Wrap Up + Announcement

Oh my gosh - it has been a flurry of activity since I last wrote here on the blog. I made it through the Garlic and Arts Festival the last weekend of September. It was a fun time - but a whole bunch of work organizing my booth, making the sign and getting all the pottery made and finished. You would think this would be easy for me since in my past life I did trade shows for over a decade. Truth is, I always had a great team I was working with and we helped each other. Now I am on my own to think of it all and no one to bounce anything off of.

I started making my pottery back in June working towards this festival. I've made lots and lots of pots. Some of them aren't even finished yet but I will begin decorating again soon for Holiday sales. I started an Instagram 100 day challenge which helped me to focus and really pump out the ceramics. It is called #100daysofvases. You can continue to follow it on my Instagram page @kristinnicholas. I am on Day 63/100 so still have a bit of time to go.

For the festival, I was incredibly fortunate to have some help. My sisters Laurie and Nancy came to visit on Thursday to help price and wrap everything which was awesome.  I can't imagine how long it would have taken me by myself. My good friend Kay volunteered to help out in the booth for the 2 days. Mark and I went to set up the tent and bring the furniture the Friday before the event. We weren't sure what we were walking into because the Festival is on a field and so I had to be prepared for all kinds of uneven and muddy ground. Since we live only about 35 minutes away, I brought some furniture bookcases for display. I used the tables we use at the farmers markets. To keep the bookcases steady, we used leftover fence posts from our portable electric fencing and tied everything up with some jute twine. Clever huh? Good thing farmers don't throw anything away. I still wasn't sure about the wind and possible rain and all my breakable ceramics..... so I brought some incredibly heavy antique brass ecclesiastical vases and filled them with water and sunflowers to help steady everything. It worked!

Kay and I arrived early Saturday morning to bring all the ceramics and set up the display. Kay and I unwrapped it all and tried to make it look as good as it could. I had harvested lots of zinnias and sunflowers from my garden to add to the color and vases.

Here are some photos of the display. You can see the sign I painted a couple days before in the first photo on this post. The booth looked cheerful and the sign and my homegrown flowers added a lot of color and joy to the display. Kay suggested I make some little bowls for succulents and she contributed the plants and potted them up. They sold quite well. 

Generally it was a good couple days and so much fun meeting all kinds of folks. I wish I had made more sales but I really think I had unrealistic expectations of the event. The people were incredibly nice and interested but most were there for the food, music, and education that the festival provided.

The bottom line was this event helped me to work towards my goal of producing more of my handpainted ceramics - ultimately to have for holiday sales on my website.

Thanks so much for being on this journey with me. The #100daysofvases continues over on Instagram. (I'm on Day 63!) I've got more ceramics in the works as I have been making some larger bowls and vases and pitchers thinking towards holiday sales. I realize many of my readers are not at all interested in what I am doing now. I keep this blog going to record what I am doing and so I can check back in on my progress. 

Now for the awesome news - my sister Jenn is hosting a POP-UP POTTERY SALE at her home in Randolph NJ next Monday October 14th (Columbus Day). I'll post the specifics in a second post tomorrow but wanted to let you all know tonight if you are up for an adventure on Monday.