Ride. Knit. Read.

Snow Day!

Little C

 

Love my horse!

Self-Made

My dad is turning 75 this year and I have been trying to put together a family tree for his birthday in December. I am easily sentimental and this project has made me think a lot about how much we are inventions. The scattered pile of leaves that all came from somewhere.

Father: 1935 Orphan NY, Foundling Hospital. 1st generation Irish-American. Valhalla foster home. Airforce-Korean War. Printer. Salesman. Entrepreuner.

Mother: Left Cuba as a teenager. U.S.A. via Spain. Immigrant. Fluent in many languages. Great at math. Sales. Secretary. Family Business. Green Thumb.

Our family joke is that I am what you get when two vacuum cleaner salespeople fall in love.

Unlike my younger brother who seems cut from their mold, it's sometimes hard for me to relate to my parents. I am bookish, progressive, feminist, creative. They are fun-loving, extroverted, great dancers, home owners, schemers. My parents have no more than high school educations but plenty of street smarts and ambition. They like living in Florida because of the warm weather. When I had to leave college, I chose to move to Cambridge because it has the 2nd biggest library in the country.

I've always thought I didn't get their "entrepreneur" gene but maybe it's the same dreamer-spirit that leads them to want to build businesses and me to create social change and work every day to get more women elected.

My grandparents were all gone (or never known) before I finished middle school but I wonder how they would have felt knowing that scrawny, shy, kid has met three U.S. Presidents, a dozen Governors and Senators.

The self-made daughter of self-made mother and father of self-made mothers and fathers.

Call on Me

Friday was the happiest day of my life--I bought my first horse! Call on Me (Colin) is a 14 year old Oldenburg cross and now my very own dressage pony. He's super sweet and is settling in well at his new home in Harvard. He whinnies amazing loudly and is determined to be the official greeter of Elysium Farm.  I rode him for the first time in 2 months today and he was a champ. Guess I should have taken photos before my lesson because by the time I remembered my camera we were both sweaty and not at our most photogenic. 

 

 

 
 
 

Summer Holiday

 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 Thanks for a great long weekend, H & J!

Lunchtime in the Secret Garden

Radioactive

Cormo, Loki
Loki, Cormo

Handspun

I have a tradition of "learning something new" as a way to mark my birthdays. I love learning and it somehow seems like the most appropriate way of marking another season of being. I'm a little late to the party but now I can spin! It just blows me away that I can make yarn. 

My first effort on my new Schacht Ladybug is a sw merino/cashmere/nylon roving that was dyed by Pigeonroofknits Studio in the color dolma. I turned ~4.5 oz of fiber into ~125 yards of 2-ply bulky yarn. Then I knit it into a Dolores Park Cowl. Amazingly soft and squishy!

 

 

 
 
 
 

FO: Audrey in Unst

 

  

Pattern: Audrey in Unst by Gudrun Johnston

Yarn: Sundara Sport Merino in "Pursuits of Pleasure" (3.35 skeins)

Modifications: Accidentally knit 25 rows for sleeve cuffs (rather than 35) and made buttonholes on wrong side. Otherwise knit pattern as written. Very clever construction. A+ design, Gudrun!