Fruit Display

We had a very busy weekend.  Our company arrived on Friday and left on Monday morning.  So naturally, my husband and I decided to go out for lunch and do a bit of shopping.  One of the things we bought was this:

I am hoping that my fruit decays a lot slower now that there is air circulation.  The bananas are not looking that great right now. Oh well.  On the knitting front, I managed to start and complete two scarves for Christmas gifts during the weekend.  I only have two more gifts to make and I am ready for my visit to Pittsburgh during Thanksgiving vacation.  That is when my side of the family exchanges gifts.  After that holiday, maybe I can start some gifts for my husband or kids.  (Or maybe I will be selfish and knit just for me.)

Ancient yarns

I thought I would squeeze in a tiny posting today.  Tomorrow we have weekend company arriving and I am sure come Monday I will be in a massive clean the house state of mind.  I really am caught up on what needed to be finished for the company.  I like to do a little bit each day rather than everything all in one day.  So I made a list about a week or so ago and I have been crossing each task off.  I feel quite accomplished at the moment :)

Anyways, I have finished two Christmas presents!!  I decided to make two hats for an uncle and a dear "adopted" father-in-law.  The pattern is called Seaman's Cap. It is a wonderful pattern that knits up very quickly.  I decided to use an acrylic/wool blend from the bottom of the stash.  The yarn is ancient.....20 years old?  What is sad is that I bought it so that definitely ages me. Thankfully tweed yarn seems to stay in style.

I also started on a scarf for another adopted family member.  I wanted a skinny worsted weight scarf and ended up creating my own pattern.  I have used the waffle stitch patten with seed stitch borders.  I am liking it so far.  Originally I was going to do a lace pattern with garter stitch and I just did not liked the way it looked so I ripped it out.  

Buttons

Well it has been a while, hasn't it?  I have had a nasty little virus that was not that bad but it kept me from doing everything I wanted to do.  Like blogging or up-dating my Ravelry project page.  Today is the first day that I feel almost like myself.

I also have finally finished the Tweed Cardigan.  I completed this sweater on Thursday night.  I then had to search for nine buttons!  I live in a very little college town and I knew that it would be a challenge.  My LYS does have some interesting buttons but I really wanted plain, understated buttons for this cardigan. After two more stores I found some buttons.  Overall I am quite happy with the results of the sweater.  The pattern is well written and of course you cannot go wrong with a top down construction.  I think I am addicted to top down sweaters.

Rain Rain Go Away

Wow it has been raining a ton around here.  Everyday it is rain and even though I am very grateful for the cooler weather, I wouldn't mind a break from the rain.  Yesterday during the afternoon there was a tiny break from the drizzle.  The sun popped out briefly, less than two minutes.  I ran outside a took this photo of the mist coming off the pool cover.  What a temperature difference!

As you might have guessed, the rain came back and the sun hid behind the clouds for the rest of the day.

I finished a Christmas present yesterday.  I guess this officially starts the holiday season for me.  I have not decided who will receive the scarf.  I will be making two more then I will decide who gets which one.  The scarf pattern is as follows:

Worsted weight wool

Size 10 needles

Cast on 28 stitches 

Row 1:  *K2, P2* repeat across all stitches

Row 2 and 4:  Knit the knit stitches, purl the purl stitches

Row 3: *P2, K2* repeat across all stitches.

Repeat these four rows until desired length then bind off in pattern.  Super easy and fun!

Electric Blues

Yesterday after an early dinner, the electricity went out due to a severe rain and wind storm.  Apparently some trees were down on some power lines.  We did not have power until 1:15 a.m.  How do I know this?  Well the TV downstairs was blaring away when the power came back on. Our life was restored to normalcy once more.  It is funny that a couple of days ago, I announced that I wanted to finish a book by September 30th.  Who would have thought a power outage could have helped me almost make my goal!  I finished the book this morning.  I also have a warm appreciation for my electricity and everything I can do with it  My coffee this morning tasted better than ever..  I am sure my thankfulness will wear off soon and will return with the next power outage.

I have made some progress on my sweater this week.  I have completed one sleeve and I am half way done with the other sleeve.  Here are some pictures:

Last but not least, here is a photo of our dog, Frodo.  He's a miniature schnauzer and will be one year old this month!  I don't think he likes having his photo taken because he runs away and acts offended.