Pucker up
August 29, 2012
It’s almost time. I’ve been waiting all summer for the run to the farm stand to pick up my cucumbers and make a batch of crock dills. I had never made pickles before last summer when I got hold of a recipe that a family friend uses and everyone raves about. I commandeered a 3 gallon stoneware crock, gathered my ingredients and in no time…literally 4 days…I had quarts of fresh dills that were second to none. It’s always gratifying when a plan comes together but when the jars started disappearing and friends were asking for pickles or the recipe well into the winter, well, that recipe is a keeper.
“The journey of a thousand miles…
August 23, 2012
begins with a single step” in the words of Chinese philosopher Lao-tsu. Or in this case,a single cast on stitch. Finally, California Dreamin II has been cast on…300 stitches to start…180K to go. Phew…that’s a lot of knitting. Elizabeth Zimmerman knew the benefit of a project like this when she said “Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit,and it doesn’t hurt the untroubled spirit either.”
Naturally,
August 6, 2012
I wasn’t at my local hardware store looking for inspiration, but indeed, inspiration struck. Who knew that a $2 ball of gardening twine could become a handsome vase “wrap”? Softer than I had imagined, the resulting fabric presented the great color of jute linen and the simple garter stitch…a beautiful textural contrast to a simple glass cylinder. Secured with an additional length of the jute itself ( or maybe some tan leather lacing for fall ) you have a great seasonal receptacle for a bound hand full of blown garden roses or even an assortment of grasses and foliage. I’m thinking this could be a simplequietmodern answer to your next event or holiday centerpiece. Did someone say they were getting hitched?
Skipping Stones
July 17, 2012
Up North…Up State…The Shore. Where ever you find yourself week-ending this summer you are bound to come back to the house with a pocket full of beach finds. You can take those smooth beach pebbles or wave sanded bits of glass…add a bit of Habu Silk wrapped stainless and black linen…knit them all together while relaxing with a tall cool beverage on the porch listening to the softly lapping waves. In less than an hour you have created ” Skipping Stones”, a great summer necklace that you will wear well into the fall. Beats the gimp lanyard of your youth, doesn’t it?
All swatched up…
June 26, 2012
and waiting to cast on. I liked the result of the yarn and fiber combination of my California Dreamin blanket so much I’m moving on to California Dreamin 2. While the palette on the first was reminiscent of the sandy beaches or the desert, this combination brings to mind a nighttime drive in the hills around Mulholland Drive… hundreds of points of colored light scattered in the charcoal darkness above Los Angeles and the Valley. Berocco Boboli is responsible for the color and two neutral colorways of Remix add to the dry hand with their recycled blend of fiber. Combined with an assortment of espresso browns, charcoals and black…in yarns of linen, merino, silk, cotton and cashmere, this new blanket will possess same the woven appeal of first. 
https://simplequietmodern.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/and-the-skies-are-gray/
96 degrees?
June 20, 2012
Boy, that’s H O T. Sounds like perfect weather for a simple solution…an outdoor shower. What could be more refreshing on a hot summer day than that? More cost-effective and less complicated than a pool, yet plenty of people have those. So, am I the only one who really sees the value in a relaxing shower, in the fresh air…outside? After an afternoon in the yard planting, after a workout or just a long day at work…strip down, go outside, adjust the temperature and….Ahhhhhhhhhhh.
Nesting Instinct
April 30, 2012
Whether it’s a Cardinal locking his sights on a large shrub in your yard or a friend scoping out the perfect tree on a bluff overlooking Lake Huron…everyone is looking up this spring for the ideal location. Built of gathered grasses,twigs and bark or construction cast offs and recycled product, each of these tree houses possess a simplicity and modernity that can’t be denied…both the result of design instinct and hard work. If you’re feathering your nest to welcome a new family or looking for a place of quietude from the family you have, start with an inspired plan and you too can enjoy rewards such as these. 
April showers…
April 26, 2012
make everything wet…like tree bark. Mother Nature doing it again, providing the perfect inspiration for this all season blanket I call Bark. Berroco’s Remix is my yarn of choice for this…I love it’s rich ” wet bark” color as well as the recycled mix of fibers. While you’re waiting for May’s flowers, this might be a project to wind you down after a day of spreading mulch.
Rocky start, breezy finish
March 19, 2012
Once I got used to the idea of knitting an eyelash with dental floss my GRAPHITE scarf was like “knitting yoga”…an almost Zen experience. Using HABU silk wrapped stainless steel knit together with their root sizing silk ( http://habutextiles.com/N-6B) and a triangular scarf pattern for inspiration ( http://www.pickles.no/simple-luxury-scarf/ ) I was deep into it…and more than once. The result was as interesting as I had imagined…light, airy and sophisticated. Over a turtleneck, with a white shirt or to fill in the neckline of a blazer or jacket…Graphite is an accessory scarf to transition to the warmer months ahead. And, as always…the best in simple, quiet and modern.
When all is said and done…
February 19, 2012
tulips have got to be my hands down favorite. Parrots, fringed, Dutch or French…there is nothing that compares in the floral world. The range of colors is unbelieveable, white being my absolute first choice if given one. The blast of the coming season they provide is always welcome ( readily available and easily affordable). It is no wonder they were more valuable than property or gold and prized by earlier Asian and European nobility.
Pull out your glass cylinder,add water, a quick fresh cut and literally drop in a bunch or two. Simple. 
simplequietmodern 