Crafter-noon 11/13

We dubbed a new term yesterday. We're calling it "flint": the time between fall and winter. The leaves have fallen, dusk is at 4:30 pm, and it's getting a little nippier. I hesitantly admit that it's getting me excited for winter--I don't mind an excuse to stay indoors to craft. Dylan has been transitioning into some indoor sports as well, including vermicompost in the basement, but thats another post.

Here are a few of the projects I'm enjoying this November:

I'm telling you, if I have to watch football I really do admire the Packers--I like the citywide excitement and the generosity of the team to the community. However, sitting through an entire 3 hour football game is less exciting to me. My friend Martha introduced me to geography embroidery which has turned out to be the perfect packer game activity--after a girls night and 3 football games I have embroidered the counties of WI. Unfortunately, I made a mistake on Brown county and Dane county, and a lot of others but it's been a nice packer game project.

Disclaimer, I did not make the embroidery on the left, I found that at St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store on the East side of Green Bay--an amazing thrift store (if you haven't been and are into retro goodies). I did knit the sweater on the right off a pattern from the amazing Goodnight Day, a Canadian knitter who makes beautiful 1 piece knitting patterns (that you don't need to sew together at the end). I used a digital copy of volume II of her pattern series.

What caught my eye when I saw first saw her sweaters (on instagram) was the texture--she uses thin and thick yarn (I had never heard of this before)! I finally found some in town--I used a brand called buttercup that I found at Jo-ann Fabrics but it didn't turn out exactly as I expected. I later learned that the original pattern was made with a yarn called  Malabrigo aquaralla , which is a wool company in Uraguay--cool!

Thin thick yarn!

Another flint favorite this year: the carnival squash (it's is a hybrid between a sweet dumpling squash and an acorn squash)--it is sweeter than an acorn squash. Dylan and I like to slice it up and roast it at 400 for ~25 mins (coated with olive oils and whatever spices we have), we've also recently started baking the seeds, yum!!!

Hope you're enjoying a cozy start to your weekend.