MEET ALTHEA CROME's small world!

 knitting in miniature

Becoming a "blogger" has made me brave... NO BOLD! When I stumbled upon Althea's work I was absolutely captivated. I had never heard of her nor met her. There was, however, a phone number at the bottom of her web page page. I CALLED IT.

"Hi, you don't know me from the man in the moon, but..."

That would be the BOLD part! She was gracious and very interesting to talk to!

Knitting is Althea's passion and has been since college. She finds comfort and joy in the process, but this kind of minuscule knitting requires a special touch. She reflects, 

Most of her sweaters sell for $8,000.00 and up.

"The texture of the yarn, the smooth rhythm of the needles and the emergence of a pattern in my hands as I work has always been quite magical to me. Adding the challenge of creating an object for a physical world that is so small as to be almost beyond our grasp, is to add a new thrill to an already beloved art form."

Althea started knitting tiny objects to give herself a challenge. She was bored with the usual knitter's fare of sweaters and scarves. 

"Things kept getting smaller and smaller. I liked socks and gloves and baby booties, and little baby things. Before I knew it I was really off the deep end, going very small."

Sitting with her project and magnifying glasses, she will sometimes knit for eight to ten hours at a stretch. When I asked her where she got her patience. (she has used needles the size of hairs)  She laughed and said, "Actually I am a very impatient person and that is the reason I can do this."  She wants the result so badly that her impatience propels her to finsh the project.

Althea was the knitting brains behind the tiny, amazing star sweater worn by the little girl in the movie CORALINE. The costume department contacted her after they found her website www.bugknits.com. They were thrilled to find someone who could knit on such a small scale...70 stitched to 1 inch.

She is a respiratory therapist, often working 10 to 11 hours a day and the single mother of a 19 year old musician and triplets that will soon be turning 16. This puts a whole new perspective on a busy life. Even though there is not a lot of time for knitting right now (each sweater takes about four months) her passion is still very much alive.

                                        

Her DREAM is to one day live in a cottage by the ocean, where she can knit full time and breath the salt air!  

Althea, a truly remarkable woman of a certain age!

www.strunagalleries.com   Cape Cod

Here is some work from her online gallery...   www.bugknits.com

TASHA TUDOR... 

illustrator, author, remarkable woman

1915 - 2006

Tasha Tudor, the beloved children's book illustrator, was born Starling Burgess in 1915. For her, that was almost 100 years too late. Living in New York City until she was nine, she moved to her aunts in rural Pennsylvania after her parents divorced. The freedom of country life agreed with her and her desire to live an 1830s lifestyle began to grow.

While in Redding, she met and married Thomas McCready. He helped her to fulfill her dream when they purchased a 17 room house on 450 acres without running water or electricity. There, her four children were born and Tasha's creativity blossomed as she began to write and illustrate her own stories.

She often drew pictures of her children, dressed in period clothing. Her daughter Bethany recalls feeling like they were living some of the wonderful fairy tales and stories their mother read to them. She also enveloped them into her world of fantasy, passing on her love of acting and playing with dolls. They devised many activities for the dolls, holding fairs and parties and making miniature Christmas presents. 

They even sent letters and parcels through their own special mail service called the "Sparrow Post" All of this served as inspirations for Tasha's drawings.

During this time, her husband encouraged her to publish her first book... 

PUMPKIN MOONSHINE. 

Fifty years later it was still in print.

Because of the success of her books, Tasha was able to realize her dream of living in Vermont. In the 1970s her son Seth built her a home modeled after a nineteenth century farmhouse, using only hand tools in the construction.  With her beloved Corgis for company she tended her beautiful garden, continued to draw and lived happily in a time and space of her own making. She was legendary for her pies.                                            
                                                                                         According to Richard Brown, an editor at Biblio, "It was a magical place, east of Vermont and west of New Hampshire, caught in the year 1830. A handful of floppy eared goats grazed in the barnyard, doves strutted and preened along the roof ridge and a brightly colored flock of chickens wandered about."

Watch the video below and enjoy her amazing garden. The narration is in Japanese (the only copy I could find) but you will get to hear Tasha speak.

Tasha Tudor wrote and illustrated over 100 children's books, leaving a legacy in art of a much, much gentler time. I sat with her one afternoon when she came to speak to a group of women. She was not only delightful but very funny and a savvy business women. She told us that when she finds small birds and animals that are dead she puts them in her freezer. Thawing them a little, they make excellent models. She laughed when she recalled her refrigerator repair man's shock as he opened her deep freeze.

Later we sat in the garden and I watched her sketch.  She drew two adorable rabbits lying on their tummy's with their noses touching. She sold it to my friend for $250.00 I will always treasure that afternoon, it was "magic." 

Tasha passed away in 2006 at the age of 92. Here are some of my favorite pieces of her work...

MEET TONYA....  

Master Gardener and owner of Perennial Gardens

I have been blessed, in this life, to know some pretty remarkable women... Tonya is one of them. When I started this series "Women of a Certain Age" she immediately came to mind. We have known each other for more than 20 years but as I visited with her I was shocked at all I didn't know. I can more clearly see, not only, how she became a master gardener but how she has connected with the earth in such a way that everything she touches blooms.

With Tonya's permission I will tell her story...

Tonya's Guest House

At a very, very young age, Tonya's mother abandoned the family. Her father, overwhelmed by his circumstances put her and her two brothers into the foster care system. It fully lived up to its reputation. They remained in that situation until Tonya was four years old. Then one day she and her brothers were whisked away and placed for adoption.

She recalls being shown her room for the very first time. Not only was there a bed just for her, but a beautiful dresser filled with clothes she could call her own. To this day she loves the smell of the wood and cedar in a dresser drawer.

Then... her adopted parents divorced and once again her life turned upside down. She remained with her father but life was extremely difficult and harsh. She recalls wishing for "normal"

Tonya's one soft place to land was her Grandma Irene. This good woman taught her to garden and to love the earth and Tonya found peace and solace digging in the dirt. She even mowed lawns with a push lawnmover for 25 cents just so she could smell the grass. Gardening saved her soul and became her passion.
                                                                                                                    Tonya's Herb Barn

Moving to the country, Tonya has transformed her backyard, quite literally, into a botanical utopia. Around the Guest Cottage, the Herb Barn, and of course her Shop there are masses of blooms. As a master gardener, she knows every flower, herb, tree and weed under her care.

Guests come to dine under the arbor and many a lucky bride and groom have celebrated their special day in her "little piece of heaven"

She teaches gardening and herb classes, raises chickens and has just acquired some darling goats. Well known for her "tussie mussies" and her flavored oils she is "famous" for her Lemon Thyme cookies.

                         

All that Tonya missed as a child she created as a adult. Encouraged by a loving husband and six lucky children she has transformed harshness into tranquility, loneliness into beauty and neglect into a gentle, forgiving nature.

"Standing in her garden feels
like coming home"

Join us Thursday and I will tell you about Tonya's adventures in raising chickens and share her famous recipe for...

Lemon Thyme Cookies