Weekends

This weekend contained:

-SNOW!  I love it and I sat most of Saturday knitting and watching it fall :)
-a dinner out with my husband at a new local favorite restaurant, their french fries are fantastic.
-a movie night watching Frankenstein (1931) I was not scared one little bit and could not stop smiling because I kept thinking of Young Frankenstein.
-last night we watched a new show from NatGeo titled: The Incredible Dr. Pol. Now this show I watched through my fingers (I am very squeamish when it comes to blood) and it is not a show for little kiddies, however his love of animals and his vocation shines through.
-guess what-----I found the lost mitts!!  They were in the hall closet that I searched twice before in a place I already checked.....I am apparently blind these days.  
-lots of thinking of what I have to get knitted up for the holidays....they are looming closer each day and I need to get to it.  I think I need two more gifts made in November, then three in December.  I can do it, right???

Joining Amanda at the habit of being.

Shades of Autumn Challenge: Red

 

Today and yesterday were days of rain.  I have been keeping my eye out for the shades of autumn challenge during the week just in case.  This challenge has made my favorite season so much more enjoyable.  I think I am really "seeing" nature around me through the eyes of my camera.  It is fun and beautiful capturing nature.

This Moment

Joining Amanda at Soulemama

Substitute

Here is a photo of the fetching mitts I whipped up in the car on our way to London Ontario.  I must say when you work with worsted weight yarn after days and days of fingering and lace weight yarn, the project is super fast and instantaneous.

I did four repeats of the simple cable for the cuff and three repeats of the cable for the palm.  So now my mitts are extra long and bigger.....maybe I'll see them if and when I drop them.  I still love my first pair where ever they may be.

Yarn Along

Drum roll please.........I am on the collar of my featherweight cardigan! I know most people do not like to knit sleeves but for some reason I fly through them.  I think it is because I know the end is near.  You know, the project is near completion.  I made the sleeves three quarter length and now that itty bitty bit of yarn left over is for the collar.  I do have another skein of Madelinetosh lace in the same color but I really do not want to wind up 1000 yards.  So I might fudge the collar with another green from this project.  If  I do not like the way it looks together then I guess I will be winding lots of lace yarn this week.

This week I am reading How to Knit a Love Song by Rachael Herron.  It is very lighthearted and entertaining so far.  I have to admit I do love all the knitting that is being sprinkled in the story line.  Love and yarn paired together?  Sure, why not!

I finished The Distant Hours and I have to say the ending was spectacular!!  If you have not read the book, it is a must read.  So keep an eye out for it when you are at the library or the bookstore.  You will love it.

I still have not found my lost mitts.  I guess they are lost.  I tore apart the hall closet once, doing it again will probably not make them appear.  I have made a resolution of sorts.  I will not sit in the car and take off my mitts and keep them on my lap!  That is the only way I lost them.

Joining Ginny at Small Things

To London

My husband and I were back in Canada, this time in London Ontario to visit his parents.  It was a quick weekend trip and it was the first time without the kids.  I have realized we get to places faster when it is just the two of us.  We also decide where to stop to eat faster too.  But I still missed having them with us.

His parents have recently downsized their house and over the summer they were in between moving from one to another and it just wasn't possible to visit.  So my husband and I did the trip, saw their little house and we had an outing to the Covent Garden Market in downtown London.  No where near as big as the Ottawa market but we still had fun walking about and window shopping.

The weather this past weekend was beautiful!  I love when it is chilly enough to wear a wool sweater but not freezing cold for heavy winter coats.  I saw lots of women wearing cowls.  I think they are definitely in style.

I originally thought this sign said "the little red rooster" and I was wondering what that had to do with coffee.....Hmmm.....I think I need to brush up on my reading skills.

I had to have a photo of these metal trees!  I bet they look fantastic when there is a ton of snow all about.

Weekends

This weekend contained:

-lots of time in the car to visit family
-lots of time knitting in the car
-a discovery that I am missing my fetching mitts
-frantically knitting another pair to replace my missing mitts
-fun with family and enjoying the brisk autumn air
-knitting a sleeve and working on the second sleeve of my featherweight cardigan
-appreciating the changing fall colors and feeling relaxed and serene

How was your weekend?  Joining Amanda at habit of being

Shades of Autumn Challenge: Orange

I have woods that surround our property and yet orange this year was not abundant.  A big gust of wind came through last week and blew a ton of leaves off most of the trees.  I guess I will blame it on that.

The above photo is a sassafras tree and it looks so pretty with its leaves changing.

The autumn colors are mostly gone and the air is crisp when I venture outside with Frodo, my miniature schnauzer and partner in crime.  I truly love fall and winter the best.  I know I am extremely rare but I would rather be cold than hot.  Don't forget that I can wear all of the knitted accessories I create during these seasons which is a big bonus!

This Moment

linking with Amanda at Soulemama

Lincoln Sweater Increasing

I am in love with this color of yarn.  My husband's favorite color is green and I know he is going to love wearing this sweater.  I have been working on the raglan increases and am more than half way done.  I did more number crunching, which is not my strong suit, and I am pretty sure I am on the right track to having this sweater fit.  For now I am very happy with the mindless stockinette and the increasing that is completed every other row.  Makes for easy tv knitting.

I have been thinking about Christmas knitting as well.  I have at least two more projects to knit before Thanksgiving and I do not know what the projects are yet!  I just know who is receiving them.  So as I sit doing my boring plain sweater, my mind it firing off ideas of what I could do for gifts.  I also have three men on my Christmas list and am not feeling motivated to knit anything this year.  Last year, I did two hats and a pair of socks. Any ideas?

Have you been knitting gifts?  Who is lucky to receive them??

Yarn Along

My knitting has not changed that much from week to week but I am going to blame it on big knitting projects, I can do that right?  On the far left is my featherweight cardigan which I just blogged about here yesterday.  I am on sleeve one and it is zipping along compared to the body.  On the far right is a top down vee neck sweater for my husband that I have named Lincoln Green sweater.  It too is making a little progress week by week.  I am still doing the raglan shaping.  Now since I am swimming in a sea of green yarn I decided to cast on a pair of leg warmers for my daughter for Christmas.  Some of you know that I am a die hard fan of double pointed needles (dpns).  However since the leg warmers are straight knitting with no heel flap I thought I would try an itty bitty circular needle........I will let you know how it goes.  I am definitely not knitting as fast as usual, but I assume there is a learning curve for my hands to adjust to the size of the needle (they are size 2 by the way).

My reading is the same, surprise surprise.  The only way I can read a book fast is if I read during the day and obviously I find many other things of interest to do.  So I only read right before bed time and I usually fall asleep within the hour.  The Distant Hours is an excellent book and I am already giving it a five star review before finishing.  It is so good I think any ending would be a good one!  I am nearly done and I love the characters and the description of the scenery--can I live in a castle, please?

On a side note, I am interested to see if and when my daughter reads this blog and discovers her Christmas present... heh, heh, heh......

Joining Ginny at Small Things

Featherweight Continues

Remember this old thing?  Yep, it is my featherweight cardigan and I just finished the ribbing yesterday.  This project is very slow going with size four needles and lace weight yarn.  I also am making the smaller size than my first featherweight sweater.  I love the blue sweater but when I soaked and blocked it the size changed dramatically towards large.  It is still too large in the armhole shaping and the chest size.

So as I was photoing this sweater I am wondering will blocking make it bigger?  I can only hope.  At least it is not huge on me.  In the end I chose a simple 2 x 2 ribbing for the edging.

Weekends

This weekend contained:

-long spans of time with my dog, Frodo, walking about taking photos of the fall season
-long spans of time rearranging my yarn collection
-a realization that I own a lot of yarn (I am not complaining)
-a realization I have so many projects I want to knit but only have two hands
-eating leftovers from the frig which freed up time to do the above items
-a wish that my allergies would go away (which will happen when there is a frost)
-watching The Holiday and kind of liking it....sort of....

joining Amanda at the habit of being

Shades of Autumn: Yellow

I live on a wooded property so finding some yellow during this season was easy.  Thanks to Little Macaroon and her lovely photos last week and this week, I grabbed my camera and snapped away this afternoon.

This Moment

Joining Amanda at Soulemama.

Lincoln Green Sweater

Remember this post about making my husband a sweater?  Well I have started one!  It is a top down vee neck raglan design with Ella Rae Classic Heather in this fantastic green.  I am designing it based on this pattern .

I measured one of his favorite sweaters and am using those measurements for the design of this raglan.  I am figuring that since he can try it on as I knit, I can be very accurate in the fit.  So far my plan is stockinette for the body but I might change my mind.  Once the raglan increases are done and I join the body I can think of what I want to do with stitch designs.

For some reason I am loving heathered yarns this season.  Have you been attracted to a specific yarn quality since fall has started?

Yarn Aong

Today is supposed to be a very rainy dreary day which makes it so perfect for knitting.  As promised by our meteorologist we had seven days straight of sunny weather.  After all of the flooding at the beginning of September the bright warm days were wonderful.  Now let's get back to changing into fall and having a cool breeze, okay?

My knitting this week sort of stays the same, I am still making cowls but I have finished two our of four that I plan to knit up.  These are for gift giving during the holidays.  I have the pattern completely memorized so I am not even thinking about what I am doing....an extra bonus!  The project page can be seen here:  seed stitch cowl.

I am over half way through The Distant Hours for my reading this week.  I love this book!  I am savoring each chapter I read because the story line is that good.  Kate Morton is quite talented in writing a mystery novel.  She strategically reveals snippets of information though out the book  so you are compelled to keep reading.  I know I will be a little sad when this book is done.

Joining Ginny at Small Things 

Cranberry Goodness

Fall is the best time for making cranberry nut bread, at least it is for me.  I love when I walk into the grocery store and see the cranberries in the produce section.  I always snatch one up and bake some bread right when I get home.

My recipe is from my sister and I do not know where she obtained it.  I altered it to my tastes and habits (like doubling it so I use up the entire cranberry package)

Cranberry Nut Bread

preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Makes two loaves.

3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt                            mix these ingredients in a large bowl.

To the dry ingredients cut with pastry cutter 6 tbsp of  softened butter (or margarine).

In separate bowl,  mix:  1 1/8 cup  orange juice
                                    2 eggs.

Add orange juice/eggs into flour-butter mixture.

fold in one entire bag of cranberries (2+ cups?) chopped through food processor and 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I use almonds or walnuts).

divide batter evenly between two loaf pans and bake for 50 minutes to an hour.  bread is done when a knife inserted into center comes out clean.

Weekends

This weekend contained:

-a lovely dinner evening out with my husband at a local new restaurant.  We had been dragging our feet to try it and now I wonder why because it was fantastic!

-attending a local craft fair that had entirely too many people for my comfort level.  I could not see any of the items for sale due to people being in my way.  The above photo was a clear shot of the apples for the cider stand.  No one was in my way for this photo ;)

-eating funnel cake and enjoying every single bite while knowing it is void of any nutritional value.

-a realization that a hike through the state park would have been much more relaxing for me. My husband was right and I was wrong....shhhh.....do not tell him I said that!!

-going to church then having lunch at home.  I met a friend for knitting and shooting the breeze with while my husband cooked dinner (I love not cooking!).  He made a curry that was just spicy enough for my bland tastes.

-walking on our dirt road with Frodo taking in the sights and sounds of autumn.  

Joining Amanda at the habit of being

-

This Moment

Joining Amanda at Soulemama.

Purple Passion Shawl Complete

This is one shawl that I am going to have a hard time giving away.  But it is for my favorite aunt who I know will love it and wear it.  This purple is such a saturated color I cannot help but be cheerful when I look at it.  The ravelry page is here.  (my arms look kind of big because I took the photo......)

I felt extremely confident that I had tons of yarn so I did two repeats of chart A instead of one.  I wanted this to be as big as possible.  Then I started chart B and realized that there was a very good chance that I would not have enough yarn.

So I eliminated four rows in the middle of chart B.  When I was closer to the bind off I decided to omit the last two rows of chart B and did the stretchy bind off that I just love to do on all of my lace shawls.  So because of my modifications the edging is not as scallopy as it is in the magazine photo.  Maybe if I knit this up again, I will have an extra 100 yards to be able to complete chart B as intended.

Yarn Along

I have been a busy person on the knitting front.  I did finish the shawl for my aunt-still need to update my Ravelry page so hopefully today or tomorrow.  When I was at the cabin getaway I worked on my feather weight cardigan and am nearly done with the ribbing of the body.  I know when this cardigan is done I will wear it all the time but gosh it does take forever on size four needles.   I also have kicked off the knitting Christmas gift frenzy with the above cowl.  I have a few ladies in my family that I think would love to receive this as a gift.  So, this is the first cowl of the three.  The yarn is from my stash and I am thrilled to be using up skeins that have been sitting around without a purpose.

My book is The Distant Hours which I am enjoying immensely.  She is a very good writer and can build up suspense at just the right speed.  I love a mystery and each chapter I read makes me want to keep reading the book.  I think books like those are hard to come by.  Well at least for me.  I also enjoy her writing style when she jumps from different decades giving you a snippet of information to the puzzle.  Quite enjoyable!

Joining Ginny at Small Things

Cabin in the Woods

I do not think I can begin to summarize what a fantastic weekend we had together.  The idea sprouted in the spring.  I knew that I would have an empty nest for the very first time.  I really wanted my weeks ahead without the kids to be filled with activities that I would look forward to attending.

Now I must say that my husband and I are beach people.  We make an annual pilgrimage to the shore so that we can breathe in the salt air and enjoy the sandy beaches.  We have never tried a cabin getaway.

So as my sister and I had one of our daily chats on the phone, we came up with a brilliant idea.  We picked Cook Forest State Park so that the driving would be manageable for all involved.  Three hours for us, and two hours for them.

Cabin picking was easy.  We picked a cabin that our dad and his wife stayed at many years ago.  Also my sister and her husband stayed at the lodge which currently runs the cabin check ins.

Thank goodness we went for a walk the day we checked in because it rained the entire weekend!  We still had lots of fun and I was quite prepared.  I packed winter boots and coat, just in case.

 We were not able to sit on the back porch either due to the weather.  Maybe next year?  Yeah, maybe!  Everyone knows you can knit inside and outside.  The day we checked in, we were discussing next year's trip :)

So far my empty nest has been okay.  I have a few more ideas brewing in my mind of what my husband and I can do.  They are mainly day trips.  Every time I think of one, I write it down so I do not forget.  Some ideas are quite easy.

 I loved last year with our son's busy band season and tennis season.  I also love just being a couple again and having a whole wide gaping weekend to plan whatever we want.  Just like it was twenty four years ago.