Author: fairfaxhill

a tree in bloom

delicious lemon cake perfect for spring

At times I feel like I’m solar powered. That’s why I love it so much when spring finally arrives in Marin. The sunshine makes me feel happy and energized. Last Saturday, it looked like we were finally going to enjoy a little sunlight and warmth after what has been the rainiest winter I can remember — and just in time for Easter! On my Saturday “to-do” list was making dessert for the family potluck on Sunday. Sarah suggested making lemon bars from Tartine’s cookbook — one of her favorite desserts. Sarah has always made the lemon bars, but I thought it was about time I tried making them myself. Making the lemon bars turned out to be pretty easy; the last step was to place the tray in the fridge to allow the bars to set and cool overnight. I was proud of myself for getting everything everything ready a day early. Time to relax! The next morning, the lemon bars were ready, but Sarah was sick, so we thought it would be best for …

designing a hat in five days

About a week ago, I got an email from Clare from Sister Mountain announcing her new workshop: “Design a Hat in 5 Days”. I’ve been curious about knitwear design for a long time and signed up for Clare’s sweater design workshop introduction a few years ago, but decided not to go ahead with the full course, since I didn’t feel like I had enough time to design a whole sweater. But a small project like this one could be the perfect introduction I was looking for, so I signed up! Because we would only have five days to complete the project, our homework before Day 1 was to draw a quick sketch of the hat we intended to make and to knit, wash, and dry our swatch sample. My first idea had been to use a sport-weight yarn and to try to incorporate some pretty cables, but when I realized how long it was taking me to knit my small swatch, I changed plans and opted for a bulky yarn instead. I also picked a …