SpiderWomanKnits

giveaway! this hat could be yours

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Comments are closed and the winner (according to random.org) is lucky #7 commenter and that would be Pari! So, Pari, email me your snail mail at spiderwomanknits at gmail dot com and I will send your hat right out to you!

It was so touching and wonderful to read through the comments. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts.

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A few weeks ago when tragedy struck Japan my first thought went to Olga, a knitwear design and Facebook friend that I knew was living in Japan along with her husband. What relief to see in real time that she was ok. Whew. Then next, of course, like many of you I started to wonder what to do, how I could help. Shortly after the Tsunami Olga announced that she would be donating a portion of her pattern sales over the next few weeks to relief efforts in Japan. That was a great launching point for me personally. I could put a wee bit of my money, my time and my physical actions to something instantly. The act of knitting is just so therapeutic. I whipped up this hat right away. I used red for Japan with their flag in mind.

In the spirit of giving and human connection, that I know we all feel so strongly at times like this, I would like to give away this hat to one of my readers. We're all in this together and it just would make me feel good to know that the time and well wishes I put into this hat will warm up one of you! It's a perfect spring hat. The design is nice and airy. Just enough warmth for the remaining chills spring has to offer. I knit the hat to fit an average adult but I am sure it will fit someone that you know if it doesn't end up fitting you.

So, leave a comment (comment only once please) between now and Wednesday night 9pm and I will randomly select a reader to mail this hat to. You don't have to be wordy, you can just say 'Japan' or share a link to another relief effort :)

If you are a knitter you can still go to Olga's blog to purchase a pattern for her relief efforts. She has so many great ones to choose from. Project details Raveled.

{a picture a day} spring!

{sugar snap peas}

Poor Simonne and Vaughn have a really nasty stomach bug that we've been tending too all weekend but I was able to sneak outside for an hour on this beautiful Equinox day to plant a 20 foot row of Sugar Snap Peas and a wee little patch of radishes. It felt so good. I hope you had a lovely day and that things are warming up in your neck of the woods too. Happy Spring!

xoxo

Spidey

{a picture a day} it looks promising

{And our garlic is starting to come up too! (not pictured)}

We hope to move lots of poop around this weekend. I know that sounds ridiculous but it's true. Indy and Hayden spent the winter in our backyard again (this will be the year we have a proper fence for them in the field, really) so there is lots of tidying up to do back there. Lucky for us Alpaca poop is wonderful for the garden so a good portion of it will head to our raised beds again. The rest is up for grabs. We have egg customers who bring me empty buckets which I fill up and return to them the next time they come for eggs.

This is the last weekend for the Spring Cleaning Sale in my Etsy Shop. There isn't much left but what's there is really good. I literally cleaned out 'the shop' too, or the room where I store my vintage goodies while they wait for their new homes, and I found so many exciting things to list starting next week.

But I just can't wait to get my hands in that dirt again. How about you?

{a picture a day} let the basket controversy begin!

Remember the story of the breezeway basket? It looks like one of our Amberlinks was the first to rediscover it today! I am so, so happy to say that my hens are back in business and while we aren't getting as many eggs as we used to because of all the winter drama we are adding at least two dozen to our breezeway fridge each day and selling out once again. It feels really, really good.

This week sort of got away with me. That blasted time change really messed with Vaughn's sleep schedule and, as a result, our family rhythm. I feel like I am in the Red Queen's Race, "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place..." but oh, what a wonderful race it is. That grass is getting greener, our raised beds are out from under their winter blanket, my boots are covered in mud and I am ready to start getting dirty again. Isn't it so exciting? I can hardly believe that spring is on it's way.

PS. In case you missed it, I added a link in my sidebar to my post all about starting your own backyard flock and brooding young chicks. Don't forget to check it out. It's getting to be that time!

PSS. Post updated to add a picture of the Amberlinks egg :)

 

time to clean out the coop!

We're not quite ready to clean out the Red Comb Farm chicken coop yet but I am ready to make way for some new, old goodies in the shop. So, I am cleaning out the Red Comb Vintage coop! It's time for the annual Red Comb Vintage Spring Cleaning Sale! If you use the coupon code SPRING50 at checkout you will get 50% off any and all items in the shop! I have some great vintage sheets (perfect for springing up your bed or sewing projects), the sweetest vintage Easter Bunny you have ever seen and so many other lovelies in the shop waiting for their forever homes. I am very uncomfortable with self promotion but you can help me spread the word by sharing my Facebook page and the sale with your friends! There are some real treasures in the shop! You can find Red Comb Vintage on Facebook here. Thanks so much! xoxo Spidey

i'm back and feeling better than ever

{lots and lots of laughter, margaritas, great food, crafting, bananagram-ing, jelly beans, girl talk, sleeping, antiquing, strolling and even some goat cheese making}

Oh my gosh, my weekend was amazing! Really, I am still on Cloud 9. To say I needed this time would be an understatement and to say that the time I spent with my friends was just what I needed would also be an understatement. It was so much more than that. I just love these women so much, I feel blessed to call them friends and that my kids call their kids friends and that our husbands all made this trip possible.

The trip was months in the making and I honestly don't think a single one of us let out a breath until we were all in the car and on our way. The week before there was lots of sickness, some pretty crappy weather and anyone who has a family knows the 1,000,000 little things that could possible crop up that would keep a mama at home. So, even as the days approached and we started figuring out who was driving, who was bringing what food, what crafty projects we'd bring along and how long we'd actually let each other sleep it didn't really feel 'real' until we sunk into those bucket seats of my friends Alexa's and Michelle's cars and hit the road. (By the way, it turns out that none of us could really sleep in, years of motherhood have really re-programmed our bodies.)

But man, oh, man. I don't think there was even five minutes of 'decompression time'! As soon as we hit that road it was our road. And that made the weekend spectacular. My friend's are all blogless, so no linking, but they are all amazingly talented, sweet, funny, honest and stupendous mama's so I wish you could peek into their lives a bit.

The photos are all mine but that cheese in the making and margarita credit goes to Amy who made some goat cheese for us to snack on and served up margaritas (thank you!) during our games of Bananagrams, which I am now addicted to (the Bananagrams not the margaritas, don't worry).  Laura is responsible for that beautiful cupcake which I took over 35 pictures of. She is also a very talented quilter and a local bib maker extraordinaire. If your baby is wearing a handmade, quilted bib in our area (and even other areas) chances are she made it. I keep singing the praises of Etsy to Laura but honestly her bibs and quilts sell just about as fast as she can make them so the best place to check out her stuff is on her Facebook page. Alexa takes the credit for the fajitas in the making. Eventhough I can't take a picture of it Michelle has to take the credit (although I know she won't) for keeping us all grounded in a way that is immensely comforting, perhaps even more than she can know. And we are all collectively responsible for the unreasonable amount of jelly beans that were consumed over the course of two days.

These women all make me a better person and a better mom and it was a huge gift to get to spend this type of uninterrupted time together. We are already talking about doing it again.

On a totally different note, I am completely back-blogged (?) when it comes to my knitting posts! I am so excited to share them. I hope soon. In the meantime, it's starting to get spring-y around here and for me that means chicks! Over the next few months people start and add to their chicken flocks. If you are thinking about doing either make sure you check out the link in my sidebar (top right) which will take you to my Brooding 101 post that covers all the basics you need to know if you are thinking of keeping chickens. I hope you find it helpful!

{a picture a day} weekend getaway

I'm dusting off and packing up my Amelia Earhart. Oh, check out this ad I just found! Looks like the same case! I have a pretty decent collection of vintage luggage but this is my most treasured piece given to me by my mother-in-law a few years ago. I don't travel often but when I do I prefer old pieces like this. It just feels good to carry something beautiful and even when it's in use, or just laying around, it's pleasing to the eye. My knitting is all packed up in the Traveljoy.

I'm heading out for a ladies only weekend getaway with a few of my closest friends. I have been looking forward to this for months now! To say that I am excited is a gross understatement. I'll be back on Monday!

Have a lovely and relaxing weekend!

xoxo

Spidey

{a picture (every other) day} cruising along

 

Before I share my Eco project I figured I should share the Cruiser Mitts I finished a while back. You can catch a glimpse of them here. What a fun project! I really loved knitting these. All of my project details are on Ravelry and for a close up of my long gray hair that's coming in go here. What do I do? Start dyeing? Ack! There is really a lot on top.