Greetings from Normandy, France where it’s D-Day.

Our family is here visiting Bill’s sister and her family. When Bill asked what I wanted to see in Normandy, I immediately responded, “The Beaches.” As the grand-daughter and step-grand-daughter of two admirals in the Navy who fought against Japan in WWII, I wanted to see where those thousands of brave soldiers landed and how they made history.

In the preceding weeks I showed our young daughter pictures, maps and diagrams of why WWII started and what the Normandy invasion was all about. We went to the First Division Museum in Cantigny, Illinois and I told her, “We’ll have lots of fun in France, but I want you to take 10 minutes out of your happy life and think about what those soldiers did in the name of freedom.”

We knew that we’d be going to the cemetery as well so we bought small American flags for each member of the two families. When we got there I offered one to everyone in the group suggesting that if they wanted they could find a tombstone against which they could put their flags. I gave no directives, just a suggestion that we think about who we would want to honor with our flags.We commented as we walked at the diversity of the names on those tombstones.

I chose the unknown soldier above. Another chose a nurse, while others chose soldiers with names that matched theirs or ones that had no particular significance but just felt right.

In the guest book I wrote, “With admiration and gratitude.” Others wrote simply, “Humbling.” It seems like so long ago and yet when you’re here, it’s hallowed ground. It was a glorious day without a cloud in the sky. We stood in the bunkers and thought about all of the bravery, leadership and vision that it took to turn the tides of that sad war.

So here’s my plan: I’m starting to knit a superwash wool neck gaitor for a soldier fighting in Afghanistan which I will finish by the end of the summer to get it there in time for winter. I’m also going to make a quilt for Quilts of Valor. I hope you too will do something to honor those who serve our country.

On this auspicious day I’ll be thinking about the inspiring words I read on the entry to the Omaha Beach Memorial:

‘You can manufacture weapons and you can purchase ammunition but you can’t buy valor and you can’t pull heroes off an assembly line.” – Sgt. John B. Ellery of the US 1st Infantry Division

While living in Japan in the late ’80s I contracted the chicken pox on vacation in China. I was 28 and it hit me hard. For an entire month I was confined to my lovely apartment in Tokyo with little to do but sleep and wait it out. I didn’t even have the energy to make anything.

During my long hours lounging under the kotatsu (it’s a heavenly piece of Japanese furniture  that looks like a coffee table with a blanket sandwiched between the legs and top but underneath there’s a heating device that keeps your lower body toasty) I began watching Japanese daytime TV. There would be segments on talk shows about the skills one should have to be a good housewife. These segments were very informative and I learned a lot from them.

One that was particularly interesting was the segment on the proper way to hand wash wool sweaters. Up to that point I had always filled up the sink with cold water and some Woolite or Ivory or something and dumped the sweaters in. I swished them around a bit, kneaded them and then rinsed them out. I would roll them in towels to gently extract the extra water and lay them out to dry on a flat surface.

According to the Japanese lady with the lacy apron, all fibers are at their most delicate when they are wet so you should always keep the desired shape of the sweater, even under water. Then she took the sweater folded up as it would have been in the drawer and plunged it underwater without unfolding it.

This made a lot of sense to me because I had on occasion had sweaters that seemed to have longer arms after a washing or sometimes more narrow sleeves than they had before the washing. The lady said that long thin parts of the sweater are especially prone to losing shape during washing.

I took her advice and began to apply those principles to blocking handknit pieces as well. Scarves in particular can be hard to shape if you just dump them in the water. Below is the step-by-step process I use for blocking scarves. It may seem like a lot of extra steps but think of all of the time you put into that scarf. One of these days I might buy those fancy interlocking blocking pieces but for now, it’s a beach towel on the dining room table.

Fold the scarf like an accordion making sure to  straighten out the rolled edges, if you have any.

Gently place the scarf under water.

While it’s under water, gently unroll the rolled edges so they lie flat.

Keeping the accordion shape in tact, drain the water and rinse the scarf. Then carefully roll it out on a large towel.

Starting at one end of the scarf, roll up the towel and scarf together like a jelly roll.

Place your hands on the roll and squeeze out the excess water.

Carefully unroll the scarf onto a dry towel on a flat surface. I like to use striped beach towels for scarves because I can align the edge of the scarf with the stripe to the scarf dries straight. Place the scarf right side up to force any curls on the underside to flatten as the scarf dries.

Leave the scarf flat on the towel while it dries.

Starting this blog was one of my favorite parts of 2009. I’ve so enjoyed reading your comments and finding out what’s of interest to you. I have a lot of tutorials and free patterns on deck for 2010 and would love to hear about which topics you’d like me to write about.

For all you bloggers out there, for Christmas my husband Bill thoughtfully used Blurb to compile my first year of posts on craft nectar and have it printed into the printed book shown above. It’s kind of fun to see a year’s worth of posts all in one place.

I bid a very fond farewell and give thanks to Warm Woolies, which ceased operations last week. Warm Woolies delivered hand-knitted wool clothing to orphanages around the world and I was delighted to have knit for the children they served. I’m saddened not to be able to get more orphaned children the warm clothing they need but understand that the logistics of distributing clothing around the world is complex indeed. My next sweater will go to a child in Afghanistan and will be distributed through Afghans for Afghans, another wonderful organization that distributes clothing to needy families. I’ll also be making some wool neck gaiters for US ground troops serving in Afghanistan that will be distributed by theshipsproject.com. Small acts with great love is how we change the world right?

Several of you have requested a tutorial of our one-step machine binding method featured in the Modern Quilt Workshop and that is on deck for 2010. One reader requested that I post the list of ways to troubleshoot tension problems on a long-arm quilting machine. I’ve found a link to a list that is similar to the one we had.

At the end of each year I always try to set aside a little time for daydreaming about the upcoming year. It’s not so much resolutions as planning for me. I dream about things I want to accomplish professionally and things I want to work on to be a better person but I also think about what I can do to keep myself inspired. In the coming weeks you’ll see posts about how I organize my lifestyle and my time so I can be as creative in my work as possible. I invite you to share your ideas for how to be creative and productive when all of the details of life sometimes distract you from what you really want to be doing. My favorite book on this subject is called The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp and if you’re looking for a book to give you ideas on how to be more creative in 2010, look no further.

I’m ready for a new start. A new decade. New adventures. Come on 2010! I can’t wait!

When you live in a cold climate it’s all about layering. Until last winter I had thought that legwarmers, however, needed to remain in dance studios or revivals of the movie Flashdance. It was our daughter’s second grade classroom that changed my mind. For some reason her classroom was unbearably hot in the winter, which meant that she was constantly going back and forth between a 75-degree classroom and a 20-degree or colder playground and bus stop. As an experiment I bought a cheap pair of legwarmers off the sale cart at Target to see if having an removable layer on her legs would help her acclimate back and forth between the temperature extremes. The legwarmers also became helpful under her choir robe when dress shoes wouldn’t accommodate thick socks. I was sold.

For Christmas this year, I decided to knit some nicer legwarmers. Knowing how much use they’d get I ordered superwash wool yarn so they would be able to go in the laundry with everything else. I got Cascade 220 which works well with #7 for the ribbing and #8 needles for the base. I’ve sized these to fit a tall 8-year old but they could fit a wide range of legs and ages is my guess.

Pattern for Lickety Split Legwarmers

One ball of Cascade 220 in color A

One ball of Cascade 220 in color B

#7 dpns for ribbing

#8 dpns for base

Cast on 44 stitches with color A yarn and divide stitches among three #7 dpns.

Making sure that the stitches are not twisted, join together and begin k2p2 ribbing. Continue ribbing for 2″.

Switch to #8 dpns and begin knitting with color B. Continue to knit in the round for 6 rows.

Switch to color A and knit for 3 rows.

Repeat the stripes until there are 8 stripes of color A and 9 stripes of color B. At this point the piece should be about 16″ long.

Switch to #7 dpns and color A. Resume k2p2 ribbing for 2″ and bind off.

Repeat for other legwarmer.

I love a good men’s shirt to woman’s shirt refashioning

diy network video clip of knitting a backgammon board for the player in your life

I will freely admit that I was raised in a family that felt it was important to be well-mannered. Manners, I was told at a young age, are the grease that turns the wheels of polite society. Miss Manners’ columns in the paper were frequently read aloud so all would know the rulings on various socially awkward situations. While I’m not a formal person, I do think manners are a sign of respect toward others and I try my best to be polite to everyone from my husband to the mail carrier.

In some ways this has hindered me socially because I take offense at behavior that other people find acceptable. Had I not been brainwashed about social graces, life would be easier for me and I wouldn’t get so grumpy at people who don’t RSVP for parties, for example. When only 6 out of 20 parents respond to a party invitation I get frustrated. Then there’s my favorite, “I think we’ll be able to make it…” to which I always want to respond, “then I might decide to cook enough food for you too.” Make a commitment. It’s two days away, I’ve got food to prepare–yes or no. I had to work hard to be polite to the mom who called to RSVP 15 minutes before the Easter Egg Hunt was to start. What’s with that? I envy people who can be easy-going about this.

So I was really astonished to read in my favorite advice column “Ask Amy” written by Amy Dickinson that some people really take offense at people who knit in public. Wow, that was never on the very long list of social offenses that I was given. Chewing gum, smoking, wearing a hat indoors if you’re male, talking with your mouth full, I thought I knew them all, but KNITTING?

A reader wrote to Amy about a woman who was at his weekend home. The guests and hosts were all sitting around chatting throughout the day. One guest had brought her knitting and was knitting while also participating in the conversation. The host found this really offensive and a sign that the guest was bored. In ensuing columns Amy has received lots of mail, mostly divided along gender lines, with men saying that they take offense if someone is knitting while they’re trying to talk. The female writers claim that the men don’t knit so they don’t realize that you can knit and pay attention to the conversation at the same time.

This kind of reminded me of the conversation with a friend whose husband had installed a home theater system and wanted to watch a movie with the lights off. His wife, a mother of three, said to me, “Who watches a movie without folding laundry?” If I can’t knit when I’m visiting with friends, when would be the time to knit? Am I supposed to knit in private so no one takes offense? I can’t even count the number of people I must have offended over the years over this one. At most family gatherings that I remember at least one person was working on a needlepoint canvas or maybe knitting. Frequently there would be several people at once working on various projects. I think it’s lovely to watch people do handwork and see their progress over the course of the visit. And frankly there’s no way I’m not working on needlework if there’s a football game on the TV that everyone else is watching.

So here’s where I wouldn’t knit: no knitting at religious services –no weddings, funerals or garden-variety worship services. I couldn’t believe it when on two different occasions I was teaching a quilting workshop and there were people knitting the whole time. There were things that they were supposed to be looking at and they were looking at their knitting. That seemed distracting to the other students too. I would never knit in a class of any sort or if there were a very serious conversation going on that required my undivided attention and eye contact. Any formal event, like a special dinner or cocktail party at someone’s house would be off-limits because I think I should be offering to help or mingle (a skill I will never, ever master). Friends in Japan teased me for doing needlework on the train, which I didn’t think was rude but was unconventional there. One knitting friend has the rule that you need two projects at a time to work on: one that is challenging and requires concentration like lacework or a complicated pattern that requires counting. Then she says that you also need a project that is brainless for when you’re chatting with a group and want to be able to look up and be a part of the conversation.

So what’s your take? Where is it OK to knit or do any other type of handwork and which situations are inappropriate? And if there’s a man in your household, what’s his take? I can’t wait to read your responses.

When we traveled to China to meet our daughter in 2002, we were also permitted to travel to the orphanage that had overseen her care from the time she was three days old until we adopted her at 10 months. The American interpreter who had been to many orphanages throughout China, said of this particular orphanage, “I’ve been better and I’ve seen worse.” To me the children appeared well-cared for but seven years later I still wish I had been able to do something more personal and direct-to-the-children than writing a check to the orphanage. We have sent them boxes of art supplies, made donations to various charities that work to improve the conditions in Chinese orphanages and an employee at Mrs. Grossman’s Sticker Company factory store once tearfully and generously gave me her annual allotment of free stickers when I explained to her why I was buying so many stickers, so I could send a huge box of stickers to the orphanage. But for the past few years I haven’t known what else I could do.

My answer came through the wonderful charity-knitting group I joined this year. One of the women in the group told me about Warm Woolies, an organization that sends hand-knitted wool garments to orphanages around the world. They have free patterns that you can use for the donations and because the patterns are knit with double strands on 10 ½ needles in the round, they knit up very quickly. Above is my very first Warm Woolies vest, made with Lion Brand 100% wool bought for $2.50/skein at Michael’s on sale. It took about three skeins to complete the vest. So given that this vest will probably be handed down from child to child, that $7.50 and my time feel really well-spent. Mostly it feels as though I’m fulfilling a small part of the silent promise I made to those children I met at that orphanage so many years ago. I promised that I would do what I could to make the lives of orphans better. It’s that great Mother Theresa quote I love: “In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.” I will never solve the Israel-Palestine land issue but I can knit a vest in the evenings for an orphan. Small things with great love I can do.

Now Warm Woolies is teaming up with Land’s End to make garments for homeless families on tribal reservations. Land’s End will donate 7-10 lbs of yarn to a group if they promise to knit and ship the garments by Dec. Our group found out about this project through the Warm Woolies July newsletter which does not appear on the website, so contact Warm Woolies for more information. The offer is limited to the first 150 groups to apply. Our group is anxiously awaiting our allotment of yarn next month. Between getting our daughter back to school, making quilts and finishing a book, I’m going to try to knit a few things to contribute to our group’s box of donations. By December, it will put all of my other holiday preparations into a really healthy perspective. Stay tuned and I’ll post my progress.

your source for vintage sewing patterns

does your Barbie need a knit mermaid tail?

I live in Oak Park, Illinois. It’s a wonderful place to live if you’re of a certain mindset. Most people know Oak Park because it’s the home of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio and the home of Ernest Hemingway. In recent years it’s become a community known for its diversity and acceptance. Bill and I always say that one of the things we love about Oak Park is that you can’t match up the kids with the parents at the public pool because there are so many mixed race and adoptive families and families with two mommies or daddies. There’s a lot of people with a lot of opinions in this village of 50,000, next to the City of Chicago. You’ve got to be open-minded to live here and that includes liking public art on the village trees.

In the neighborhood business district are trees with themed knit and crocheted sweaters. The sweaters are made and donated by residents and designed to reflect the nearby businesses. The sweaters stay up all year round. The Oak Park Women’s Exchange and the Art Council of Oak Park and Forest Park are the sponsors of the tree sweater project, which is formally known as Knit Knot Down the Block. Sponsors wisely sought and received approval from the village forester, which is important because there’s a vocal crowd who take the health of the trees seriously. What I particularly love about these tree sweaters are the details both in design and in the dedication of the crafter to  knit numerous branch sweaters as well as the main one that goes around the trunk.

Stroll with me down Oak Park Avenue, won’t you, and I’ll give you a tour of my favorite tree sweaters.

The Oak Park Bakery is one of those charming family-owned bakeries that gives out free tea cookies to kids and there’s a long line for coffee cakes and doughnuts on Saturday morning. Their gooey cakes appear at many birthday and block parties. In a recent Chicago guidebook, we noticed that Oak Park had two mentions: the twentysome Frank Lloyd Wright buildings and the Oak Park Bakery. The bakery beat out Hemingway. Hmm…

Across the street is the Parent Teacher Store, which sells educational games and supplies for teachers and parents.

Just beyond the train station is Pan’s, an independent grocery store. You can always get a ripe avocado at Pan’s.

Across the street is a 24-hr. childcare center so they got a big doll on their sweater.

Keep traveling north and you’ll find Lalo’s, a popular Mexican restaurant that has really good margaritas and live music on the weekends.

A few doors down is Nola’s, which serves Cajun food and boasts a fabulous Mardi Gras harlequin on its tree sweater.

If you’re in the area and want to see the Knit Knot Down the Block project yourself, take the Blue Line L to Oak Park. The project is on both the north and south sides of the station.

making bowls for doll houses

transforming the lowly plastic bag to an art form