{"id":2031,"date":"2014-11-11T22:56:55","date_gmt":"2014-11-11T22:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/annetarsia.com\/?p=2031"},"modified":"2014-11-11T22:56:55","modified_gmt":"2014-11-11T22:56:55","slug":"jane-austen-knits-and-the-molehill-farm-gang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/2014\/11\/jane-austen-knits-and-the-molehill-farm-gang\/","title":{"rendered":"Jane Austen Knits and the Molehill Farm Gang"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once there was a group of knitters that met on Sunday afternoons at Molehill Farm.\u00a0\u00a0 Owner Cheryl Huffman retired and closed the store several years ago, but we decided that we weren’t ready to stop getting together. Val Allen, Elaine Blatt and Jill Betts were knitting students of mine who became friends.\u00a0 Stephanie Fleming joined the group a few years later, after meeting Elaine at work.\u00a0 As knitting groups go, we are pretty typical.\u00a0 We all have very different lives and interests, except for knitting, which we all love passionately.\u00a0 This is one of the best things about the craft, how it will introduce people to each other who might never have met otherwise.<\/p>\n

\"Anne,<\/a>
Anne, Cheryl Huffman, Jill Betts, Elaine Blatt – Madrona 2014. It’s a Molehill Farm reunion!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

It happens, though, that we all have something in common besides knitting.\u00a0 Jane Austen.\u00a0 Big Time. Every book, every character – Val, Elaine, Stephanie and, to a lesser extent, Jill, can expound on them at length.\u00a0 I like Jane Austen and have enjoyed a few of the books.\u00a0 But honestly, most of what I know I’ve learned from them – talking endlessly and animatedly about the books, the movies, the conventions, the tea.\u00a0 So when I got an invitation to design something for the first Jane Austen special edition that Interweave produced in 2011, I asked the group if they wanted to submit something, together.\u00a0 The result was Elinor’s Tea Cozy<\/a>\u00a0 .<\/p>\n

\"Elinor_s_Tea_Cozy_small\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The next year, we submitted Mr. Knightley’s tea cozy<\/a>.\u00a0 By this time, Stephanie had joined the group and was eager to participate.\u00a0 Jill was too busy and bowed out of this one.\u00a0 The photos here are of Sholeen’s version, from her Ravelry page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"mr.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Sholeen's<\/a>
Sholeen’s version of Mr. Knightley’s tea cozy. Beautifully knit!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We loved the idea of doing a series of tea cozies, which were fun to design and knit.\u00a0 But the following year found me buried in writing “Annetarsia Knits”, and the rest of the women were also experiencing difficult work schedules and life changes.\u00a0 We decided not to submit anything. When the next JAK came out, Fall 2013,\u00a0 Joanna Johnson had done a super-cute tea cozy, the Cottage Tea Cozy. We were very happy that someone had picked up the slack.\u00a0 But suddenly, we wanted to get back in the game.<\/p>\n

So, this year we got together and brain-stormed about what we were inspired to think about what Jane Austen would knit.\u00a0 I was finished with “Annetarsia Knits” and ready to concentrate on a team project.\u00a0 Similarly, life had quieted for the rest of the group.\u00a0 So we worked together to create a tea cozy that would be fun to knit and have something that could be knit by a family or friends, with several parts.\u00a0 The body of the tea cozy was to look like a basket filled with flowers.\u00a0 We all participated in swatching and knitting.\u00a0 We divided up the yarn, and communicated by e-mail as we worked on patterns for the flowers.\u00a0 When we finally got together to assemble the project, it was amazing to see it come together.<\/p>\n

\"Val<\/a>
Val Allen arranging the flowers, as we select which ones to send in to Interweave for the Jane Austen Special issue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cassandra's<\/a>
Cassandra’s Tea Cozy, Jane Austen Knits 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Close-up<\/a>
Close-up of flowers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Maybe it is because we took a year off, and maybe it is because we have all been through so much together through the years.\u00a0 Maybe it is because we have known each other since I was just starting to teach knitting and they were just starting to knit.\u00a0 Maybe, for me, it is because the book was finally done and I could work on something that wasn’t Annetarsia!\u00a0 But designing and knitting this project was one of the most fulfilling and meaningful experiences I have ever had.\u00a0 I am very grateful to have good friends to knit, create and have Pride and Prejudice marathons with.\u00a0 Through all of the knitting fads, changing hairstyles, health issues and life challenges,\u00a0 we have been there for each other.\u00a0 I love you!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The time we all made Moebius scarves. Anne, Val, and Elaine, at Molehill Farm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Elaine<\/a>
Elaine picking out just the right beads for a project, at Madrona,<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"This<\/a>
This was a sock we were all knitting on for someone. I think it was for Elaine’s birthday? Look at how cute Jill is!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Jill,<\/a>
Jill, my daughter Deborah, Elaine and Val. We were playing a Pride and Prejudice board game…and knitting, of course!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Jill,<\/a>
Jill, Anne, Val and Elaine. Assembling our Christmas toys!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The year we made felted Christmas toys.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sara<\/a>
Sara Olson, Jill Betts, Anne Berk, at the Annetarsia Knits Launch party<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Stephanie<\/a>
Stephanie and Val at Sock Summit 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Elaine,<\/a>
Elaine, Anne and Val, knitting on the Madrona couch. 2012?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once there was a group of knitters that met on Sunday afternoons at Molehill Farm.\u00a0\u00a0 Owner Cheryl Huffman retired and closed the store several years ago, but we decided that we weren’t ready to stop getting together. Val Allen, Elaine Blatt and Jill Betts were knitting students of mine who became friends.\u00a0 Stephanie Fleming joined […]\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,10,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book","category-blog","category-classes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2031"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2086,"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031\/revisions\/2086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}