When I think September I think cool, crisp air, the first turning leaves, and back to school for my kiddos.

Well, it’s the first day of school, but my boys are both home sick with a fever. And it’s 90 degrees.

Can we get a do-over?

My birthday was yesterday. When my husband asked what I wanted a few weeks ago, I was prepared. I’d had New England Knits on my mental to-buy list since I first saw preview photos months ago. Practically every pattern in the book called to me, something that doesn’t happen often. How fitting that this Vermont born-and-raised girl should fall in love with a book titled New England Knits!

ashfield cardigan

As luck would have it, my book arrived yesterday. I was really excited to see what the pattern instructions looked like. I knew from Ravelry that many of the patterns were seamless, a major selling point for me. But I was still a bit nervous, as the patterns looked more complex than anything I have knit to date. But I knew if there was anything that would motivate me to stretch myself as a knitter, it would be this.

montague vest

Reading through the instructions, I was happy to see that everything looked very do-able. The instructions are straight-forward, and clearly written. Another thing that I really appreciate is that the instructions for the seamed garments include line-by line shaping for both left and right fronts. As a relatively inexperienced garment knitter, this makes the patterns so much less intimidating!

There is a good range of gauges in this book, from the Ashfield Cardigan made in sport weight, to the Montague Vest which calls for bulky yarn. I have some beautiful chocolate brown roving that might just become the yarn for this vest. Time will tell!

Of course, I have yet to attempt a project from this book, but I’m really excited to start!

My summers always seem to fly by and before I even realize it, it’s time for school shopping again. This summer is no different. It’s been a great season so far, with all of the usual summer things like swimming lessons, gardening and ice-cream making.

The purchase of our first home in May (yay!) threw in garden shed building:

And the huge established garden gave us asparagus, currants, raspberries, blueberries, many herbs and some flowers too. But of course, we had to plant our veggies.

We’ve had a bumper crop of bell peppers and grape tomatoes, which makes me very happy. We’ll be harvesting garlic, potatoes, pumpkins and onions soon!

On the crafting front, there’s been weaving:

And spinning:

And of course, lots of knitting:

I’ve also finally gotten my sewing area together. I’ve had the itch to sew again, big time. I’ve sewn some kitchen towels, a couple of bags, and I’m even doing a bit of quilting, photos of which will have to come in another post.

Something I have always wanted to learn was garment construction, and I may be doing that soon. Since moving, I’ve made a super new friend who just happens to be a knitter, and an experienced garment sewer. She has offered to help me learn and even has some patterns to get me started.

This is especially exciting for me, as a very pear-shaped woman of a mere five feet tall. Sometimes it feels like NOTHING is made to fit me. On the rare occasion that I find pants that actually fit me well, there usually isn’t a petite length available. Also, dresses that fit me on top are way too small on my hips. Seriously, don’t clothing manufacturers know we exist?

So, this morning, when I saw that Sew Mam Sew was having a contest to win a new Husqvarna Viking serger, I was really excited. They want to know how having a serger would change my life. Having a serger, combined with an immensely talented friend willing to teach me, would be a dream come true. Instead of feeling like I have an incredibly mal-formed body (I don’t - but to try to find clothes to fit it, you’d think I did) I would have the ability to make everything to my own dimensions, and stop caring that my kind isn’t wanted in the clothing stores.

I already have lots of experience sewing handbags, and have always paid very close attention to detail. Learning how to put a garment together to not just fit my outcast body, but to do so in a comfortable and flattering way sounds like a whole new adventure to me. A girl can dream, right?

Yes, I’m still alive.

The kids are home, which means daily swimming lessons and finding ways to keep them cool and entertained.

On top of wholesale orders and still getting settled into the new house, there isn’t time for much else.

I do have some weaving, spinning, and knitting to share- maybe on a rainy day!

The bunny, not the city. Meet the newest addition to the Hadley family:

Paris is a sweet, beautiful little French Angora rabbit. We ended up adopting a couple of baby guinea pigs when we went to pick her up. Don’t ask me how the kids got that one past their dad. I guess he was already softened up by the bunny.

Can’t wait to be spinning some yarn with my own bunny’s fiber!

Slowly but surely, we’re getting settled into our new house. I’ll have to borrow my son’s camera to get some inside shots- the lens on my camera has too long of a focal length to show much!

The little guy started at his new school Monday. To see him, you’d think he’d been going there since the first day of Kindergarten. Having a child so totally comfortable in his own skin is a true blessing.

Now, if I can just get the dye studio set up!

Today is supposed to be a beautiful, sunny day in the mid-to-upper 70’s. Pretty remarkable weather for May Day in Vermont, but even more remarkable when you consider that this is what was on my front lawn earlier this week:

That was when it started. We ended up with over 5 inches total, and some parts of VT got 12! Now that we’ve passed in to May, I’m hoping we’re finished with that.

We are scheduled to close on our house on Monday morning, in less than 48 hours! I’ll be taking plenty of photos to share here and on Flickr. Stay tuned!

I think that’s how you’d categorize what I’m experiencing right now. The good news is that we finally bought a house! It’s a cozy, fully modernized 1850’s cape in a nice neighborhood in the next town. It’s not the five or so acres we were hoping for (in fact, it’s about a third of an acre) but it has many wonderful qualities including a huge fenced-in back yard, gardens galore, and more than twice the square footage we are currently living in. The neighbors on the street include a former boss (who I like very much), several old schoolmates and their young families, as well as my high school history teacher and his wife next door. I can’t think of a better neighborhood for my kids to move into!

The bad news is that we’re in the throes of packing and cleaning. It’s been a whirlwind month-and-a-half of contracts, inspections, appraisals, endless phone calls back-and-forth with the loan officer, and closing and setting up utility accounts but the real work hasn’t even started yet. It’s a lot of work, but exciting work. We’ve been longing to own our own home for so long and it’s finally happening. Yay us!

I’ll resurface sometime in May with photos! Yay!! (Can I say *Yay!!* just one more time? We’re excited!!)

After a week and a half of school vacation, it’s almost time to come back to the world of real life. I wish I had something to share with you from the past week, but I really haven’t done anything craft related. Beyond hanging out with the kids, snowman building, snowball fights, going bowling and to the movies, my days have been consumed with taxes (done!) mortgage pre-qualification and house hunting.

Part of me is looking forward to getting back to the routine, but part of me will miss having everyone around. Luckily, summer vacation is coming up fast!