The newest feature of "love local" is Snow Pond Studios.  My husband and I first met Katie years ago in a craft studio sharing a love of pottery.  Katie and my husband are much better potters than I ever turned out to be, but I am so glad for the friendships that were found amongst the clay, pottery wheels, slab rollers, and glaze buckets!


Flash forward to now and we still live in the same community and are both raising families.  Katie recently has been making these fantastic ceramic houses and when she posted some for sale recently that were little plant holders, I jumped at the chance to support her and add this sweetness to my work desk at home.

Check out her Etsy shop if you are interested- you won't be disappointed!

Wishing you all a peaceful Sunday during your time at home.  Be well and stay safe-Chris

This past weekend I celebrated my son's 15th birthday during the pandemic.  In fact mine was a few days prior and it will certainly be a year to remember for us Aries.  We found ways to celebrate while sheltering in place and remembering this place in time.  I was also able to finish my full moon shawl knitting which actually ended up being knitting on more than during the full moons.  Particularly here during the pandemic shut down I had some more quiet non-running time to dedicate to it.




I really loved this pattern and yarn for this shawl and highly recommend.  As a reminder this is the Betula shawl and I used the recommended yarn Retrosaria Beiroa that I found purchased from Tolt.





I will hopefully be able to curl up in it for a few cool spring evenings before packing it away for the winter.  Be well and stay safe my friends-Chris

Hi all, I wanted to do a first feature of love local; a way to share some local makers and businesses that I am supporting during this time.  With my mama's b-day coming up soon I usually start to look for a birthday card for her.  Often I find myself getting a 1canoe2 card from local shop Poppy.  The owner of 1canoe2 has launched a really unique line of bandanas in her company Hemlock Goods.




These are beautiful and thoughtfully designed and created bandanas.  My husband uses a bandana everyday as a hankie, but there are so many great sustainable uses for bandanas.  I like to use them in my hair but they also make great place settings, napkins, tie bags, etc . . .

I have also seen some quick tutorials to make a face mask with a bandana in a pinch as well that we may need during this time of the pandemic.



I wanted to support this local business and was able to order online and they arrived today.  They are beautiful and if you want to see some video, check out a quick share I did this afternoon here.



I am torn on which one will go to my mama; the peachy rust floral or the navy blue.  Which is your favorite?

I look forward to supporting Hemlock Goods more in the future; it also would make a lovely and sustainable gift wrap too!  I hope you enjoy this local love that I wanted to feature.  Stay well- Chris

As I shared in the chat the other day I was going to go back in the archives from the mamaroots days of old when I created tutorials for ideas of things to make for use on a story table.  It was called "Once Upon a Table"  I thought now would be a good time to share the a little something that you can make for spring/Easter with items you might already have on hand.

Have you been going on walks, are there some twigs or down tree limbs in your yard or neighborhood from spring storms?  Here is a quick little branch bunny that you can make.  I tracked down the old PDF and refreshened it a bit; click here to download the PDF.  Check your local library to see you if they have on-line options for checking out books.

I hope you enjoy this oldie tutorial and it provides you some creative joy during this time of home time.

Be safe and be well- Chris

New video chat is up; sharing how we are doing during the SIP (Shelter In Place) a rainbow of natural dye, and a photo challenge.  Will you join me in posting a photo of yourself at home with your knitting?  I was inspired by sharing a favorite book from my stash People Knitting by Barbara Levine.



Wish I had thought of it on the first day of being home; but here is my Day 10 photo to start.  Join me and feel free to share a photo of you and your knitting.  Be well, be safe-Chris

We are at the end of the first week of this new normal.  As I shared earlier I am writing in my paper journal every day.  At first I was writing at night but actually found more of a routine of writing in the morning with my toast and coffee before I start my work day.  I thought I would start writing and sharing here weekly highlighting bits from the past week.

I was able to get my remote work station set up at home which worked pretty well, but I found with a couple live zoom sessions that I think I need to move to a spot not quite so center in the house (right off the kitchen) and the rest of my crew can move about without being on the camera and get their snacks more freely.  I will be setting up a spot in our dining room that I think will work better.  I feel very fortunate to be able to work from home and work with such a great team.  Like everyone we are figuring it all out and uneasy about the future.

My sons were eased into online learning this week; most of the teachers were communicating their plans throughout the week and there were just a couple assignments for both of them.  For reference I have a freshman and senior in high school.  This next week they are on spring break; but then they dive in full online after that.  I tried to mirror my youngest's days at school a bit and he continue the medium they have been working on in art (stencils) and he stenciled up two pairs of jeans and a t-shirt.  He is actually quite good at it!  He watched a documentary on the 1918 Flu thanks to Amazon and made sure to do some physical activity each day.

My senior is more self sufficient and should be able to follow along pretty well but the sad reality is that he most likely will not have his senior prom or graduation ceremony.  In the bigger picture it is not a priority over the health of others but that also does not mean that he can't have feelings about that potential loss.

My state has had big increases in numbers the past couple days; I am guessing that is due to more testing being done.  As of this morning my state had about 73 positive cases and 3 deaths; the first of which was in my town for our state.  I am reading the news each day but I try not to spend too much time on my phone though and still try to be present.  It is so heartbreaking and unknown right now.

A couple thoughts/highlights to share:

• take a walk everyday (even some of those cold rainy days like we had this week) my co-worker (aka Ursa the dog) makes sure I honor this
• call, zoom, FaceTime family often.  A funny story, I was texting someone to check on them and obviously had the wrong number but had this sweet exchange with them- thanks stranger for this moment!

• physically my stomach has been upset since Tuesday and I find my hands shaking on and off.  I am thinking this is anxiety and am working on techniques to help
• being mindful of our budget and meal planning; at least once a week we will have rice and beans or other simple protein.  The grocery did not have much in the produce section, but they had some avocados so it was a nice addition and allowed me to do some dyeing with pits today
• my husband and youngest took a bike ride and we swapped some of our backyard chicken eggs for a puzzle from a friend; porch pick ups and drop offs are great!

Like many of you I am processing and preparing for what may become the new normal for an uncertain time.  I am in the Midwest and our public elementary, middle, and high schools have not announced closure at this time.  We anticipate an announcement will be made tomorrow.  The university where I work has moved to online classes for the remainder of the semester for the students.



As we await more information and work to see how all of this will affect our family, community, country, world; I am wading through all of the opinions and news and know that it is not black and white; it is gray.  Decisions have to be made but that does not mean it won't have a rippling affect and I feel it is important to honor that as well.


My family is watching, listening, and preparing.  I did some slightly extra food shopping this weekend, honored some social distancing, talked with our sons, took walks, helped a family with food, did some extra cleaning and kept my needles moving.  One thing I also did was decide to pick up a blank journal and write each day during this experience.  I want to write it on paper.

Right now I hope that all of the precautions and cancellations will help.  I was struck with the thought that my oldest entered this world two days after 911 happened and now the last semester of his senior year in high school could be uniquely defined by this pandemic.  I wondered how this will continue to shape him.

I have put the shop on vacation mode; this was needed by me personally even before the pandemic but even more I feel a responsibility to not be out getting  supplies and then making trips to the post office during this time.

Envisioning health, safety, and healing during this uncertain time. Love-Chris