STC Craft sent me a copy of their newly released title, Knit Men Want, The 10 Rules Every Woman Should Know Before Knitting for a Man by Bruce Weinstein.  I admit, I was intrigued.  I have knit Fatty a total of three sweaters in the 16 years that I have known him.  I have knit myself the same number in the last year. I'd like to even that out a bit, but it's hard to find patterns for men that appeal to both me, the knitter, and him, the wearer.  This book is my answer.

Bruce does an excellent job explaining how to go about choosing knits for the men in your life.  His approach is intelligent, practical and witty.  The book includes 10 patterns.  It doesn't sound like a lot, but the real value here is that Bruce gives you instructions and yardage requirements for six sizes and six gauges.  You choose your yarn, knit your gauge swatch, measure it and then follow the instructions for that gauge.  Brilliant!  He also gives you guidelines for figuring out what style sweater will appeal to the man you are knitting for along with what fibers to use and how to choose a color.Color is tricky, in my opinion.  It's no secret that I tend to favor green and would probably knit green garments for everyone that surrounds me.  Fatty likes green enough, but when he buys clothes, he tends to choose blue first.  I asked Bruce some questions about color and here is what he said:

Erin:  In your book, youaddress the reasons men often don't wear the sweaters women knit forthem.  One of the reasons is bad color choices by the women knitting. Why is choosing the right color so important? 

Bruce:  Nature is funny. I just came back from a local organic farm, picking upsome duck eggs for dinner and the turkeys chased me from my car to thebarn. Not the females. Those plain, drab, and quiet birds stood backwhile their guys, loud, aggressive, and highly decorated withmutlicolored feathers came towards us. Us being my partner Mark, myself,and Jeff, the farmer. The three human males each dressed in eitherblack or navy shirts and sweaters with no fuss or decoration. While inthe wild, males tend to pack on the color—reds, greens, purples,yellows, and pinks, civilization has trained men to tone it down. Thebasic black suit, perhaps a navy pinstripe, or khaki. Sure, there aresome men who'll wear pink hats and orange scarves but they are few andfar between. Most men just won't put it one if it's not dark and subtle.And if I had a dollar for every time I've heard a gal say that shewon't be caught dead knitting with drab dull yarn, I'd be rich. It'salso amazing how many brightly colored hand knit men's garments I'veseen over the years at goodwill shops and garage sales.  You do themath.

Erin:  What should aknitter consider when making their color choice?

Bruce:  The only thing to consider is the wearer. If it's for a man in yourlife, and you're not sure, then go to his closet. Take inventory. Whatsthere? Are there half a dozen navy sweaters and sweatshirts? Great.make it seven. If all the blues are dark, you can consider anothershade, like brown or green, but keep it in the same hue. If he likesnavy, he might like deep cedar green.

Erin:  There is not asingle bright color used in your book.  Do men really lack a sense ofadventure when it comes to the color of their clothes?

Bruce:  Here's where the difference between men's and women's perspectivecomes into play. I actually think the dark yellow scarf and green socksare quite colorful. Maybe some women would say they are only starting tolean towards bright, but from this man's point of view, they are as farmost men are willing to go. It's not that we're not adventurous, I justthing that in general, men don't like to call attention to themselves.The like to blend in. And it's in socks and scarves, which are justaccents not the main event, that we're willing to go out on a limb interms of color.

I highly recommend this book.  I had Fatty take a look through it andhe asked for the baseball sweater, in you guessed it, blue.  I'm happyto oblige.

. . . . .

STC Craft|Melanine Falick books is conducting a Knits Men Want sweepstakes.  For more information of the contest and to view the great prizes, go to this post.  You can learn more about this fantastic book by following Bruce's blog tour.  Details on his stops can be found here.

That is a whole pile of happy, if you ask me.

I had planned on updating the shop on Thursday, but a quick consult of the calendar alerted me that I can't be home in front of the computer.  So Friday it will be.  Friday, April 16 at 12:00 noon EST to be exact.  Expect at least three colorways of camera straps and, if I really get my act together, scrap bags.

Now I need to figure out how I am going to keep the critters out of my raised beds.  I didn't have that problem last summer, but something(s) had fun digging in there last night.  I don't think I lost anything, but I don't want to either! Time for chicken wire, I think.

Hope Monday is treating you fine.

Fatty and I built two more raised beds this morning.  Have any of your wishes been granted recently?

We went to Florida for a long weekend. The weather was glorious and it was nice to spend time with family.  I read two books and took naps.  All good stuff.

When we arrived home, I began inspecting all that had happened while we were gone.  The peas have sprouted and so has the chard.  I'm still waiting on the potatoes.  And construction wise, the floor is keyed in and some drywall was finished among other things.  Progress all around.

I may have found my sewing mojo.  I'm not sure if spring's arrival or the time away that did it and it doesn't matter as long as it stays around for a while.  I spent some time working on a little project yesterday and am so charmed with the results.  It's been a long while since I have felt that way.  Too long.  I felt energized and I felt creative.  Do you know that feeling?  That creative spark that just makes you want to keep going, keep doing, keep making?  I'm rolling with it.  It'll be exciting to see what develops.

And I am going to restock the shop next Thursday, April 15th.  More details on that next week.

Thanks for stopping by.  I don't say it often enough, but I really do appreciate your visits and thoughtful comments.

Back here soon.

Hi. Long time no see.

Construction is moving along.  And with the chaos that ensues around here, I have been somewhat paralyzed.  No cooking, no sewing, no knitting, very little cleaning.  I really can't stand to be in the house so I have been away or outside as much as possible.  The only thing I am working on is the garden and that is a steady work in progress.

I don't wear gloves when I garden - I like feeling the soil on my hands.  Having my hands in the dirt for hours makes them filthy which I don't mind until it's time to wash off that dirt.  I read about a hand scrub in Garden Anywhere by Alys Fowler and decided to mix up a batch for myself.  I really like how it turned out so I thought I would share it with you.  Most likely you already have everything you need to make this gardener's hand scrub: a jar or container with alid, sugar, liquid dish soap and a spoon.

I used a 16 oz. canning jar and filled it 3/4 full of sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups.

Then add the liquid dish soap until it almost reaches the top.  Stir to mix the soap and sugar.  You want a paste - not too runny or too solid - so you may need to add more sugar.  I added another 1/2 cup to get the consistency correct.

To wash the dirt off your hands, use a small amount and rub it all over your hands.  The sugar is a great exfoliant that removes the dirt while the soap washes it all away.  You could add a cute label to the jar if you were so inclined.  Pair it with a similar, moisturizing scrub made with olive oil and sugar and it'd make a fantastic gift.

*  *  *  *  *

Hopefully, I will be back here sooner rather than later.  I'm planning on updating the shop around April 15th and I'll announce that as soon as I have the particulars figured out.  Until then, you'll likely find me outside.

Take care.

We got this year's garden started on Saturday.  I started by working all the soil and adding a bunch of mushroom compost.  Then Jane, Fatty and I planted seeds for peas, swiss chard, spinach, arugula and mesclun.  We also planted six broccoli seedlings on a whim.  Sunday we had a soft, drizzly rain most of the afternoon - perfect!  I'll be forming some kind of trellis for the peas later this week.  We're getting an earlier start this year and I am hopeful it will work out well.  We are planning on building another raised bed for the tomatoes and herbs.  I have seed potatoes and once I find the right size container, those will be planted, too.  We also joined the CSA for the third year so what we don't grow ourselves will be supplemented with local produce.

Books that I have found useful are Garden Anywhere by Alys Fowler and Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail. 

I just watched the pilot of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  If you haven't seen it, you might want to check it out.  I am setting it up to record the series on our dvr so I can watch it with the girls.  I think there will be many good talking points as the series continues.

I made the girls some pajama pants - two pairs of pants and one pair of shorts each.  This happened about three weeks ago and I just haven't found the time to blog about it.  And they want me to blog about it.  So I am.

They wear the same size clothes despite being two years apart in age which helped make this a fairly easy project.  I didn't use a commercial pattern.  Instead, I took a pair of p.j. pants that fits them both well and used that to make a paper pattern.  The hardest part of that was adding the seam allowances.  Seriously.  I cut all 6 pairs out and then sewed them together assembly line style.  Fast and a great stash buster to boot.  I'm working on some embellished tank tops to go with them and then I plan on making a nightgown or two to round out their night time wardrobe.

I wish I had a better photo, but I don't. Our kitchen remodel has started and it's pretty hectic around here. I'm hoping to hole up in the studio for a good chunk of time tomorrow.  Cross your fingers for me.

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