My Sardinia Sweater

I don't want to take it off. The temperatures being what they are, however, I will be taking it off. While this is definitely a perfect Summer sweater, I wouldn't call it a perfect Summer in Tennessee sweater (not sure there is such a thing) until perhaps the evening hours or indoors only. But this is going to be a perfect year-round layer. Happy. Happy.


I made the medium size (pattern and yarn details here) and I feel like I could have made the small- though I wear a medium to a large (8-10) in most clothing items. I am pretty sure the linen yarn gives more, and therefore the overall is a bit stretchier and hitting longer than shown on the model in the book. But thankfully the open drop style and sleeve style lends itself to being really cool whether the fit is generous or abbreviated.



One sweater for me.
Check.
Now for those baby pants.
Amanda is currently setting me straight there.

xo, Anna

Sam & Sally said that you're, like, totally invited to my birthday party

And they know everything because they live on Eleni's thumbs.

About my birthday party: This Saturday July 31st, from 2:30-4:30, Textile Fabrics is hosting a book signing for my new book, Handmade Beginnings. When working with them to schedule the event, I scanned July, day after day, weekend after weekend, and realized that of course, there was nothing scheduled on the 31st. Why would there be? It's only my BIRTHDAY. (internal sigh.) But HEY. That's perfect. What better way to feel like a birthday girl than spend the day telling lots of people its my birthday. Now I know that you might already have your own plans of how you spend Anna Maria Horner Day, but if you could spare a few minutes, do come say hello. Let me sign your book. Let me give you cake. Let me kiss your babies. Let me sign your babies. Let me let you sing Happy Birthday to me. I am not excited. This is just part of my job. I do not like cake, but don't want my friends at Textile to feel bad, so I will probably eat most of it.

About Sam & Sally: Eleni sucks her thumb. Which I am cool with. She is not as cool with it as she used to be. I told her that her Aunt Eleni (my sis) used to suck her thumb when she was little too. And that at some point Aunt Eleni wanted to stop. It was at this point that my mom made her little thumb friends to wear to sleep. Aunt Eleni soon stopped sucking her thumb in her sleep. My little Eleni was very excited about the notion getting a pair of thumbsters to sleep with. And Saturday that little dream came true after cutting the thumbs off of some mismatched gloves and bringing Sam and Sally to life with a little embroidery thread. She said the boy should be kind of like a monster, and the girl should not really be like a monster, but a little bit monster-y with pretty hair. The wisdom of a six year old is astounding.

xo, Anna

Isabela's Argyle Block

This is the sewn up version of the Argyle Block that Isabela designed for our Rainbow project. Planning out colors carefully to make that cool overlap of color so often found in argyle patterns would make for a really amazing quilt- I might just have to make a whole quilt with this block and see that happen. So as promised to you and the kidos, here is the second installment of free downloadable block instructions to inspire your own patchwork-Isabela's Argyle Block Template. Have fun! I love this one, because its only one same triangle for the whole block. Some days that is all my brain can handle. Like today for instance. And yesterday. And, I'm just guessing tomorrow too. Anyway. Both this one and Joseph's Block are linked at the Rainbow page too. More soon!



And somewhere under the Rainbow we have a great writeup over at the Etsy blog. It is such a good, good article- my friend Linzee McCray (she blogs here) wrote it, and she is just a really talented writer. You often are interested in articles due to the subject matter, but that aside, she just makes the read informative, smart, real, thoughtful and such a pleasure to read. Take note editors- she is a gem! Thank you Linzee! Also woven into the story is another quilting effort headed up by Victoria Findlay Wolfe. There is just no shortage of kindness. Its always about connecting the dots. Connecting the generosity with the need. A beautiful thing! And I will keep saying thank you to those of you who have participated so far and who will be participating, or sharing the news or donating, or whatever, thank you. I am only connecting dots. That was always my favorite.

kisses, Anna

So, Roman is still just wearing diapers

Does that make me a bad mother? Its just that I got this book, and I got this yarn, and I can't put either of them down for anything lately. Just look how pretty that sweater is! I could really get used to this following-a-crochet-pattern-business, now that I found one that I actually like! Maybe I don't look hard enough, but I rarely find a book of patterns for crochet that I love- it's always shawls and granny squares (which I love, but don't want to wear), and not basic enough- there is so much more out there for knitting, and somehow that still hasn't gotten me knitting. This is why I normally make things up as I go along, and almost never make fitted items, because I am too impatient to sit down a make a plan before I begin. (Insert your crochet book recommendations here.)



I am making the Sardinia sweater which just happens to be on the cover. This brochure is filled with gorgeous patterns, I would wear every one of them. Seriously. I could be slightly swayed due to all most of the pattern titles being named after Greek Isles. ('Cept I think one is called Sicily. Close enough.) But they are all just so wearable looking which is key. I have to keep double checking myself as I go because the book is written with all the UK denotations, so I have to translate dc to sc, etc., since we Yanks insist on having a different name for everything compared the European stitch names (units of measure, size charts, on and on), but once the pattern gets going, its very simple.

About the yarn, Rowan's Lenpur Linen, which is a viscose/linen blend: the weight is such a dream- it moves like water after just a little cloth is crocheted/knitted up. Not too heavy, not fuzzy, not stiff, its perfect. I had a hard time choosing a color, because any of them would be beautiful, but I already have enough gray/purple sweaters so I went with Lagoon. (If you're still reading you might want to skip down to the bullet point version of this post.) I think the book recommends using the Cotton Glace for most of the sweaters, so I had to have Amanda at Textile help me convert the thickness factor (?), etc. (I really don't know what I'm talking about- she does- I just want to do the crocheting part- I figure if I keep letting other people figure these things out for me that I'll eventually learn what they're doing. That's a lie. I don't care. I just want to crochet.) This essentially meant I went down a size from what I was planning to make, and still I think it might fit slightly larger than shown. Which will still be pretty. Really super pretty.

Okay.

Bullet point version of this post:

*More sweaters for Mom
*Less pants for Baby
*More Lenpur/Linen for mom
*No tuition money left for Juliana
*Some sort of blanket apology here

xo,Anna

Where the baby wears about as much as the dog

I'll admit its been awhile since we did laundry. But when I changed Roman out of pj's this morning there wasn't really anything to put on him. He has grown out of so much, leaving only winter clothes, a bathing suit, and a handful of Onesies that still fit. And with his adventures in feeding himself, we go through the summer outfits quite quickly. The laundry just doesn't happen quite as fast as Roman happens. I think its time for more Quick Change Trousers, as he's grown out of all his pairs. I am thinking however that I'll make some of the shorts variety. Jeff refers to all the pants I make Roman as fancy pants. And he gets a teasing look on his face and a teasing sound in his voice when he says fancy pants. And I don't care.



And I will dress my baby in fancy pants.



And I will dress my doggie in a fancy collar.



And they will both be fine with it because I also give them treats.

There. Weekend planned. Fancy Pants and Dog Treats.

have a good one. xoxo, Anna

We made a movie

And we had a really good time doing it. Rainbow Around the Block is set to get some wonderful press over at the Etsy blog soon (I'll keep you posted) and they requested a photo for the interview. So I started devising a photo shoot that would include the kids since they've been such a help to me. Juliana, Alexia, and I were all working in the studio today as I started discussing what we could do, and this sorta just happened. Nicolas (12) helped me with the imovie details since I'd never used it before (I need to show you his skate videos sometime soon-he stars, directs, shoots, edits, etc.). After just about 3 hours we had ourselves a mini movie that we all had a hand in. Roman's hands were allover everything too, but they weren't especially helpful in this case. But he sends his love.

enjoy~
xo, Anna

(Music: "folding chair" by Regina Spektor sold here)

Humidity + and Humidity -

Humidity -
This heat and humidity makes my camera lens fog up! So if I need accurate shots I have to let my camera rest outside for about 3o minutes before I begin shooting. However, as shown above, taking a shot through the foggy lens can have a sort of beautiful result too, especially in early evening sunlight.


Humidity +
A most definite plus to the humidity is watching the golden headed boy turn into a curly headed cherub once we're outside for more than a minute or two. As if I needed another reason to dote. And I sweep him up and kiss the sweaty nape of his blonde curly neck. He must wonder why he gets kissed in the dreadful heat like this over and over again.

Sorry I slipped away without a "hey I'm slipping away" note. If I could add tags to my last week or two with a few keywords they would be the following:

New York, TopShop, Balthazar, Purl, Brooklyn, Pratt, Williamsburg, Knoxville, fireworks, honey whiskey, family, cousins, swimming, sunburns, fireworks, needlework, slip-n-slides, gin & tonic, lime, lemon, yum,

Be back next week! put your feet up! xo,Anna