Pumpkin Sunrise

Joining Amanda at Soulemama .

To me Autumn usually means brown but I was surprised to find evidence of it very close to this week's challenge.  After all of the bright colors from the previous challenges I found brown to be comforting.  Of course, I have loads of brown on my property since I am surrounded by woods.      I would not mind one little bit if fall would linger on.  It is one of my favorite seasons (besides winter).  I enjoy the crisp air and the dark nights.  More time for knitting. Only the oak tress are holding onto their last bit of leaves.  Just like that the colors are finished! I have blogged about this tree stump before and it never stops to fascinate me with all of the fungi that is growing on it.  When we first had to cut the tree down because of severe damage, I thought the stump was an eyesore.  Now....I just think it is such a great example of nature's beauty.

This is the centerpiece on my coffee table.  My mother made the pumpkins so many years ago and I love when September arrives and I display them.  I keep them out until I decorate the house for Christmas.  Yes do you see a tv remote tucked in that basket.  I thought it would be a good place to keep it. The kids will be coming home for Thanksgiving break and we will be celebrating Christmas (!) with my side of the family during the break.  I feel like I have too much to do to prepare and yet when I write my list it really isn't that much to do.  So maybe it is the excitement that has me feeling a little edgy. One of the things I most enjoy about the holiday season is that we have for years spaced out our Christmas gift exchanging.  In October we exchange gifts with my husband's parents.  It is difficult to get into the holiday season in October but because of commercialism the stores have some holiday items out for setting the mood. November is when we exchange for my f

This week I have been focusing on the legwarmers that I started a couple of weeks ago.  I usually knit with double pointed needles and I decided to try out the itty bitty circular needles for a change.  Especially since there is straight tube knitting.  So far they are okay.  I am not madly in love with them but I do not hate them.  What I like is that I am on circular needles.  What I do not like is that they are wood and I always prefer metal-I think stitches slide around better.  What makes my evaluation confusing is that the yarn I am using  reynolds-wash-day-wool  is very splitty to knit with.  I love this yarn because of its softness and its durability.  Wash Day wool wears like iron!! For reading this week I am still on the same book, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane  and so far I am liking it a lot.  At the very beginning, on the first page, the author was talking about a character cooking lentils then eating the cooked peas (this stuck in my mind).....I thought peas

Well maybe this isn't really a simple pleasure to most of you, but it is to me.  Over the weekend I was thinking about my two projects left on the needles and how both of them are not for me.  I also know that I have at least three more knitting gifts to make before Christmas if I feel up to it.  So what do I do?  I dream of something for me!  I wanted a super easy cowl that is in worsted weight which would knit up quickly in case I do get motivated to knit for others.   Ahem. The yarn is Ultra Alpaca by Berroco  that I picked up in Pittsburgh around two years ago.  I was going to make flip mittens out of it but I changed my mind.  The pattern that I am following loosely is the Purl Ridge  scarf by Stephen West.  My ravelry page is here .

This weekend contained: -watching the movie Iron Man  and finding out I like superheros! -sharing a dinner with good friends while laughing and talking about our kids and our animals. -enjoying the time change Sunday morning and leisurely getting ready for church. -being a little sad that in a few weeks the after dinner walk with Frodo will have to be before dinner or not at all because of the darkness. -savoring a meal made by my husband-it feels like a vacation for me every time he cooks! -chatting with both kids and looking forward to Thanksgiving vacation. -only having two knitting projects and daydreaming about what should be my next project. -a walk around the property with Frodo, snapping photos of all the fallen leaves and bare trees.  Only our oaks are holding on to their leaves. -just being happy being. Joining Amanda at the habit of being .

I managed to uncover some purple in my yard but it required me to think a little.  Autumn usually means to me yellow, orange and red.  Imagine my surprise to find that purple is a fall color-honest!! This photo above is one of my wild dogwood trees.   We planted this weigela bush in our front garden for its beautiful pink flowers in the spring.  Little did I know that I would discover purple leaves in the fall, thank you little shrub of mine. This is a shawl that I knitted this summer and has been my "go to" shawl to wear during the chilly mornings.  It is wool and it is warm.  It is wonderful. Looking forward to seeing everyone else's purple themed photos.

Joining Amanda at Soulemama

Remember this old thing?  This is the Lincoln Green Sweater  I am knitting for my husband.  I am a couple of rows away from finishing the raglan shaping.  The very best way to make sure a sweater fits someone is to measure their favorite sweater.  Which I did.  However this pattern required measuring a favorite raglan sweater or sweatshirt and get the raglan length.  The sweater that I measured was a set in sleeve design.  So I am missing a crucial number. To guess the number (accuracy is my forte!)  I did two things.  I number crunched how many stitches I needed for the sleeve width and body width and knew what number of stitches I wanted. Then the other thing I did was lengthen my circular knitpick nickel plated needles with the knitting needle cable connectors so that my husband could try the sweater on........Ah, a live body!!  Now I know I am on the right tract.  So clever! I love top down construction......don't you?

My knitting this week has been quite productive.  I finished a mystery knit which I cannot post a photo as of yet. However, in the above photo is the very LAST cowl for a Christmas gift to my extended family.  So the only people I have left to knit for (if I want) is my husband and two children......easy peasy!!  The above cowl is the same pattern as the others .  I only casted on 120 stitches instead of the 200 stitches since I only have one skein of yarn. I finished my featherweight cardigan and posted about it here  and my ravelry page has the details.  I am thrilled that it is off the needles :)  I love tiny needle knitting but a much needed break is in my future. For reading I picked up this book at the bookstore about a month ago.  I chose it because of the cover....I hope the story it holds is as good as the cover art.  I just started reading last night so I have no opinions at this time.  The title is The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane.   All the snow that fell ov

For how long it took to knit this sweater, it was worth every teeny tiny stitch.  I love how light weight it is and the drape is fantastic!!  I am very pleased with the fit this time around.  Going down a needle size did the trick. The ravelry project page is here . This only took one skein of Madeline Tosh Lace .  I barely made it with the yarn though....I would have liked to have had one more inch to the collar.  I have another skein in the same colorway but just was too lazy to ball it up on the winder.  My idea to use a different leftover green madelinetosh yarn was not very nice looking.  In other words, it was a bad idea.  I cannot wait to wear this!!!