 looks like last august was a pretty slow month. as it should be, in my opinion! it precedes what is always my (everyone’s?) busiest season, september through december. so i tend to slow down, not schedule any classes, enjoy the outdoors and prepare for the coming months. august also means county fair time, and i spun with my guild in the Sheep to Shawl competition.
 the cucumbers kept on coming… this year we have big plans for pickling.
 
i began two sweaters in late august; one knit and one crochet version of the legendary EPS sweater formula. they were intended to be my Rhinebeck sweaters, but only one got finished in time. note to self: this year start the Rhinebeck sweaters earlier! or perhaps, only try to do ONE.
 
 
more silly photo shoots took place, with the chickens and gertie always game to jump in. ah, how i wish i could do this all year round! i just don’t like indoor photos nearly as much…
 have i mentioned that i’ll be teaching patternmaking next weekend (that’d be sunday, january 29) at the lovely A Verb for Keeping Warm in Oakland, California? look at that gorgeous space! i could NOT be more excited about it. i haven’t been to the Bay area for around 12 years, and this is my first time teaching pattern drafting anywhere west of NY. you can find all of the deets about the class right here. and as far as i know, there’s still room for you to join us!
oh, and i finally updated my classes page with my 2012 workshops and retreats. there are some fun new surprises, so take a peek before they fill up!
 
what happened last july? well, for starters, mr. smith built the ladies a NEW COOP! this was inspired by several incidents with a marauding, chicken-eating bear in the neighborhood. we knew our old coop was no defense against a bear, since it wasn’t even attached to the ground. plus it was pretty small for our long winters, when the girls spend a lot of time inside. as you can see, they took to it quite well and love laying in their new nesting boxes!
 
 the garden did pretty well this year, though it did get a bit overgrown since i traveled so much. we had more cucumbers than we knew what to do with, and tomatoes, peppers, kale, chard, peas, melons, beans, zucchini and sweet dumpling squash.
and we finally found our way down to the swimming hole on our neighbors’ property. it was pure bliss to have our own private natural pool right in our backyard!
i taught my longest workshop ever, 40 hours of pattern-drafting and clothes-making at Peters Valley in NJ.
 
we ate most of our meals on the porch, including egg salad sandwiches (from our own eggs of course) and lots of tomatoes. and fresh mint sun tea!
wait a minute, who’s that strolling through the living room???
 i began this l-o-n-g and s-l-o-w project…
 and i attended my first flash mob, at the mind-bogglingly awesome Sock Summit. wow, that was quite a month!
 
 ok, these weren’t meant to drag on for so long! i’ll try to wrap them up quick. june looks like it was a glorious month here at hodge podge farm! it started off with Squam, of course, which was funner than ever because Jill was there too!
 then came my all-too-brief obsession with these wee fuzzies… it went so quick!
 
 
 
 
 lots of yard and garden time in june, and blooms and berries. it was such a busy summer, i know i was very lax on the garden update posts. i’ll try to be better this year!
 
 
looking at these photos from last may is making me eager to start planning my 2012 garden, and ordering seeds. i love seeds… and i look forward to the annual seedling sale at my neighbor down the road, Back to Basics farm. most of her plants are grown from Hudson Valley Seed Library‘s seeds.
 in 2011 we began exploring (with permission) our next-door neighbor’s extensive property, and discovered that we essentially have our own private State Park, literally right in our backyard. up at the top of the hill you can see the mountains all around us. i’ll show you our other favorite spot in the next post.
 
jill and i did a mini photo shoot before Squam, and i’m so glad we did. these were two dresses i really loved, both of which were sold at the Squam Art Fair.
 i try to take advantage of what’s in bloom at any given moment, and bring cut flowers inside to enjoy. in may, it’s all about the purple! i especially love the wild violets that are scattered all over our yard.
 photo by Jen Gray  photo by Jen Gray  photo by Jen Gray 
i’m interrupting my 2011 retrospective posts to make sure you know that registration opens MONDAY for all 4 (!) of the 2012 Squam Art Workshops sessions. yes, that’s right, FOUR. the newest addition to the SAW family is SquamItalia! so cool.
this year i’ll be teaching at both the Spring and Fall sessions again, with new classes to get your creative juices flowing. in Pattern Play we’ll draft two useful patterns and then re-style them to make them your own. and i’ve been asked many times when i’m there for a beginner sewing class, so this time i’m offering Dream Skirt at both sessions, in which newbies can get to know the sewing machine, and intermediate stitchers can tackle some new skills on their skirt, or test-drive their own self-drafted pattern. and in september i’m doing an all-day version of my Unconventional Embroidery class, where we can play with some mixed media stitchery!
so you might just want to hop over and visit the gorgeous new site, check out all of the amazing teachers and classes, read the moving stories, get Double Dog Dared to take some action and join us on the docks!
 april is when the snow finally melts around here; we are in the foothills of the Catskill mountains and the white stuff sticks around up here long after it’s melted just a few miles away. so finally our yard reveals itself again, and the animals are happy to have grass under their feet!
 and new life starts peeking out… i love these alien red peony shoots.
 we had an amazing array of birds last year… one day there were so many goldfinches we couldn’t keep count. i think this red one was a grosbeak.
 
april was also when i road-tripped up to Toronto to visit Alisa and teach some classes. we had a super fun time touring every yarn shop and bakery in town, and i loved teaching at the workroom and lettuce knit. i’ll be going again this spring, can’t wait!
 ok, i’ve combined february and march since apparently not a whole lot happened those months… or at least not much picture-taking! still lots of snow, and i’m reminded that it was our first winter relying on our woodstove for heat. burning wood requires lots of work! fortunately i have a live-in woodsman. we learned a lot last winter, and are still learning… things like: yes, there may be an endless supply of kindling in the backyard, but once it is buried under two feet of snow, it may as well not exist.
 i baked my first bread! i’ve only done it a few times since, but i made another loaf on Christmas day and was reminded that i should do it every week. i do it this way and can’t get over how amazing it is. breadmaking needs to become a ritual for 2012!
 i also went fabric shopping in Harlem and acquired my first African fabrics. i adore them all, and they’ve been a joy to work with. i’m trying to move toward working with only sustainable or fair-trade fabrics in the future, and these are a step in the right direction.
 one day in march, we were driving over a nearby mountain and came across these rainbow-hued ice formations. apparently they are caused by different minerals underneath. nature is always surprising us!
 march also marked the first time jill and i taught at a retreat together. we loved our pink room with twin beds at the Yarn Cupboard Winter Fiber Arts Retreat in Syracuse. which, by the way, is coming up again soon… maybe you can join us?
 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
it’s snowing outside, and i’m feeling reflective, so i decided to review my photos from 2011 and pick out some highlights for you. my intention was to cover the whole year in one post, but since i am the worst editor in the world, it’ll have to be one for each month instead. i know there are lots of pics that i never got around to sharing, so there will be some new mixed in with some favorites.
looking over images from january last year, i see we were buried deeply in snow. up until today, it’s been completely green and quite mild so far this winter (except for that one week in october!). i wonder if we are done with the green and heading for a white start to the new year?
it was a busy holiday/fall season, and i know i’ve neglected you all, so i plan to make up for it. lots of plans, adventures and ideas to tell you about this week, so stay tuned!
…that 2011 is really almost done? not to mention that i’ve only posted once thus far during the entire month of december? alas, both are true. the paradox that embracing “slow” seems to accelerate the passage of time is a constant surprise to me.
every year at this time, when the holiday chaos calms down, i like to remind myself of my hopes and plans when the year began, look over my accomplishments for the year and set goals for the new one (and i’ve got plenty of those!). i’m happy though that it’s easier to see my completed projects (at least the yarny ones) now that i’ve finally become an active Raveler. sure, i’ve been a member since 2007, but not until this year did i really become hooked, posting my WIP’s, stalking my friend activity feed, and getting involved in the forums. and i’m most proud that i’ve achieved a longtime goal to begin publishing my own crochet patterns. i only squeezed out two in ’11, but you can expect a bunch more in 2012 for sure. (if, for some inexplicable reason, you’re not a Ravelry user, you can also find the patterns in my Etsy shop.)
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about me my name is cal patch and i love making things and teaching people to make. i am working toward wearing mostly clothing made by myself, or other handmakers.
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looks like last august was a pretty slow month. as it should be, in my opinion! it precedes what is always my (everyone’s?) busiest season, september through december. so i tend to slow down, not schedule any classes, enjoy the outdoors and prepare for the coming months. august also means county fair time, and i spun with my guild in the Sheep to Shawl competition.
the cucumbers kept on coming… this year we have big plans for pickling.
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