little loomhouse

I visited the Little Loomhouse a couple weeks ago and have been dreaming of it ever since. It's three cabins tucked away in a wooded neighborhood in Louisville's South End where weavers, spinners, and dyers create some of the most beautiful things from yarn and fiber. According to the Little Loomhouse website, Frank Lloyd Wright visited and described the cabins as "three board and batten cabins set in the dignity of nature under the mighty oaks of Kenwood Hill." The cabins have dream catchers in the windows and looms lining the tables, ready to go. Oh, there's so much possibility there!

Have you ever been somewhere and just thought, "I have to find a way to be here more"? Well, that's the way I feel about the Little Loomhouse. It was started as a weaving workshop in 1939 sponsored by Eleanor Roosevelt and continues its goal of textile education today. I felt inspired by the surroundings, both nature and textiles, and I'm excited to learn from the people I met there.

I'm already planning my next visit.

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If you're local, be sure to check out the Little Loomhouse's workshop list. I want to try weaving and dyeing with indigo!

good things lately

 Despite the recent storms, life has been full of some really good things lately. I thought I'd share.

{African flower hexagons}

Crocheting African flower hexagons outside is one of my new favorite things. I love having an outdoor space of my own now (except when the neighbor dog is out; she thinks I'm in her space and lets me know it).

{Our garden before the storm}

K made this raised bed with plans from The Vegetable Gardener's Book of Building Projects. It was his first solo woodworking project, and he did a wonderful job. The seats on each side of the bed make planting and weeding much easier. 

Also, even though the garden doesn't look as pretty after the hail storm, the plants are recovering well. I'm impressed by their resilience. We should have plenty of lettuce, chard, spinach, and kale in a few weeks.

{A new biscuit recipe}

We are breakfast-making people. Most weekends we'll make eggs or French toast or pancakes or biscuits. I usually make my tried-and-true biscuit recipe, but I just had to try out this drop biscuit recipe. The dough comes together quickly (great for bleary-eyed mornings) and produces light, slightly sweet biscuits. These biscuits are too delicate for our usual breakfast sandwiches, so we drizzled them with honey. Mmm... 

{A new mug. And a new class!}

I bought this mug at an art fair last weekend and love it so much that I signed up for one-on-one classes with the maker. I haven't been in a ceramics studio in six years! I'm so excited to get my hands in some clay.

{Game nights}

We have game nights several times each week. Sometimes it's just my husband and me, and sometimes we get together to play games with friends. Scrabble night doesn't happen often--we usually stick with newer strategy games. Our favorites right now are Dominion and Notre Dame.

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Also, today is the Kentucky Derby, which means drinking, gambling, and spending time with family. All good things.

What good things are going on in your life lately?

*

well, hail.

Beautiful, destructive, awe-inspiring hail poured down last night. 

It pounded the house from all sides, roaring with a force I've never heard before. It sent gallons of water streaming through our kitchen ceiling and tore through our window screens. It ripped my little garden greens to shreds and pockmarked our car. I've heard the phrase "the sky opened up" before, but had never experienced it until last night when buckets and buckets of hail fell in a matter of minutes. 

After a restless, rainy night, we're headed out to survey our house and the neighborhood. We've got a lot of tasks ahead: taking stock, repairing, making insurance claims. We're thankful to be safe, though. And we're completely bewildered at the strength and power of nature.  

yarn along: a bunny-to-be and hometown pride

yarn along

This week I'm racing to finish a knitted Easter bunny. The pattern looked so cute that I couldn't resist! It's the Well-Dressed Bunny pattern. 

Sewing my knitted projects is a weakness of mine, though. Weaving in ends and stitching up seams is like punishment. I carefully hid almost all of the loose ends for this photo--there are actually around 16 that still need to be woven in. So I need to summon quite a bit motivation to finish this little guy. I'm hoping the holiday deadline will help.

* * *

Yesterday the first good mail in weeks arrived in the mailbox--a Martha Stewart Living magazine. As I flipped through it I was surprised to recognize a three-page spread of local places and foods. My hometown of Louisville, Kentucky is highlighted as a weekend getaway! Check it out. It's a cool city that I'm sure you'll want to come visit. 

* * * 

Are you yarning along this week? 

What are you making and reading?

21c

It has been so hard to get back into the work week after the weekend that we had. For K's birthday, I surprised him with an in-the-city getaway. We stayed downtown at the 21c Museum Hotel, which was voted the #1 hotel in the US and #6 in the world (that's right, big things are happening here in Kentucky). The 21c has fabulous 24/7 gallery space with a bevy of art exhibits. Their rooms are full of interior design inspiration, and they serve up delicious meals at their restaurant, Proof.

Downtown Louisville has (surprisingly) a lot going on at night. I curled up on the window seat for a while and watched people walking by. Later K and I had a board game marathon (it was his birthday, after all). K was surprised and loved having a low-key birthday getaway. 

 

 * * * 

I just had to show you guys my favorite interactive art installation. A camera projects live images onto a wall along with falling letters. You can actually catch the letters as they cascade down. The word nerd in me had a blast!

If you're in need of a getaway, I highly recommend the 21c!

weekend snippets: storm

power outage

smashed

uprooted

K and I returned from a day trip on Saturday to find the streets in Louisville dark. We had no idea what had happened, but found out that a wild storm with high winds had ripped through the city. Nearly 120,000 homes and businesses were without power, and public schools ended up being canceled for two days. 

We spent our power-less night with the windows open and candles burning. On Sunday morning we walked around the neighborhood to survey the storm's damage. In our area there were some big trees down. We saw this smashed car, but no heavily damaged houses like in other parts of the city. Despite the loss of beautiful old trees, we're feeling pretty lucky. Hope you're having better weather where you are.

weekend snippets: kentucky in may

derby drink

I am having trouble getting back into the swing of blogging. I thought it would be no problem. School would end, and I'd immediately kick up my blogging frequency. Instead I've been dragging my feet. Of course blogging has been on my mind. Anyone who blogs can probably tell you that the question "Should I blog this?" crosses her mind like ten times a day. But my answer to that question lately has been, "No, too boring for the blog." All the things I've been doing have meaning to me--lunches, dinners, and teas with friends, derby parties, coffee dates, hours of knitting--but I'm having a hard time coming up with things to share here. I'm starting small. Scenes from my Kentucky Derby/Mother's Day weekend (a very good weekend indeed!):

my sister and my hat on derby day

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lettuce in mom's garden. we spent time on mother's day looking at all the new sprouts in her garden.

i found these prints in the mud. is that one near the top a raccoon?

glad to see my old wagon is being put to use carting firewood.

* * * * * 

I hope you all had a great weekend and are having a wonderful week. If you've got any tips for getting back my blogging pizazz, please let me know. 

How do you keep your blogging spirits up? And what would you like to see more of on Field Wonderful?

weekend snippets: over the river

old sign in new albany, indiana

Happy Valentine's Day!  Are you doing anything special? 

Valentine's Day on a Monday isn't too much fun if you ask me. I've got work, school, and a paper due tomorrow, so it's just a regular day around here. 

Today might not be special, but this weekend was lots of fun. We had a game night with my dad and sister, got to see a Kathleen Madigan show for free, and went for Mexican food at La Rosita.

I took some photos of our lunch trip. Mom, Jules, K, and I went for lunch across the river in New Albany. It's not far but it felt like a great little getaway.

old theaters make me so happy

monkeys in a tree

the muhammad ali center, louisville, ky

Do you see the faces made out of tiles? I love this building. As we passed it, Jules and I reminisced about meeting Muhammad Ali. i remember shaking his hand at the airport once when I was really young--maybe four or five years old--and then we met him at a restaurant when I was around ten. We both got his autograph then, and he did a magic trick for us. I kept his autograph locked in a small cedar box along with my Christmas money for safekeeping. Once our house was robbed, and the thieves broke the lock and stole my money. They didn't take my Muhammad Ali autograph, though. I was so relieved! I bet that scrap of paper with his name on it is still in that box at my mom's house, smelling of cedar. I'm going to have to find it again.

the start of something new

You guys, I haven't mentioned it around the blog for fear of jinxing it, but I've been knitting. As in, knitting actual things that people can wear. I'm so excited! I'll show you a finished object soon! 

weekly wanderings: joe ley antiques

this week k and i, along with his parents, spent some time meandering around a huge antique store downtown. joe ley antiques has four floors packed with old stuff. it was a pleasure to browse, and i know we'll return to scour the massive record collection in the basement. 

i really enjoy finding collections of things already put together, like these vintage tennis racquets. 

this is one of several staircases that were lined with books. it made my bibliophile heart race.

wooden shoe forms piled in a barrel. 

and finally, the feet that carried us through more than two acres of antiques. whew...

* * * * * 

where did you wander this week?

weekly wanderings: a little bit wild

[the rainbow house]*

i absolutely love my neighborhood. it's eclectic. it's fun and funky and is home to a great mix of people. there are many restaurants within walking distance--falafel, sushi, barbecue, tacos, indian, sandwiches, and pizza galore. we've got coffee shops, parks, bookstores, and a great library. it's a neighborhood where walking and biking are the best ways to get around and an afternoon's entertainment can be found sitting outside and people-watching. 

it's the kind of neighborhood where you never know what you're going to find around the next corner. 

like the rainbow house. 

the wild mix of colors always makes me happy, but i think the crepe myrtle blooms really add to the revelry. 

whenever i pass by the rainbow house, i can't help but try to imagine who lives here. i'd like to be friends with them. 

i also love the wildness of the tall grasses in front and the way the rough wooden siding contrasts with the colorful facade. 

nearby, i spotted this monkey hanging in a tree. he's even got all of his...um...monkey parts. it cracks me up.

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what's your neighborhood like? i'd love to hear what things are like where you live!

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*the rainbow house is what i call this place. i have no idea if it has an official name. 

weekly wanderings: i went down to the river to play

oh i just love holiday weekends! there's always so much to do and so many people to see. this past weekend was no exception. i took my camera along to a welcome back party for my aunt donna and uncle earl. they've lived away from louisville for 30 years but are now coming back home for good. the party was held at my uncle's brother's house down by the ohio river. it was a beautiful place to spend the day and catch up with family.

spotting boats by the river. i couldn't resist this goofy one of my sister julie acting like such a serious scout. that's my uncle denny on the right...he catches up on what i've been doing by reading my blog every friday. *hi uncle denny! thanks for reading!*

we played in this shady grove. well, i chatted. other people played cornhole, badminton, and jumped on the trampoline. k and my uncle denny were the undefeated cornhole champs. i'm so proud.

we were close to the sailing club, so i walked down to get a better look. 

apparently the club was having a meeting. lots of boats were in attendance. 

dinner was a shrimp boil with lots of vegetables and some mussels and clams, too. 

and we got to watch an apricot sunset over the river. after the sunset bonfires popped up along the riverbanks. it was such a beautiful, magical night.

i hope you had a lovely weekend, too!