Pumpkin Sunrise

After last weekend of driving around seeing the kids and family, this weekend was filled with nothing eventful.  We went out to dinner on Friday and caught up on each other's days.  The weather has steadily warmed up and it's a little shall I say "humid"? out there!  I'm not a big fan of humidity-remember, my hair looks horrible.  The brilliant sun shining makes it all worth while. Yesterday I made some significant progress on my knitting.  I hopefully will be blocking a sweater some time tomorrow.  Yay for me!  My husband spent almost the whole afternoon and early evening fixing his riding lawn tractor.  He was successful in the end, but it was no easy task.  So for now we are not buying a new one.... I walked, breathed in the fresh air, enjoyed the ducks (not mine, a neighbor's), and snapped some photos.  I did not stress, worry or fret- that to me is the "bestest" weekend. Joining Amanda

(resuming my walks) Joining Amanda

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I went to a university used book sale.  It was very overcrowded with many people and not enough room to squeeze through the packed aisles. I was able to shop anyways.  I lasted longer than my husband, he hates crowds (and possibly humans).  How does one push anyone out of the way politely?  Also if I see a group hovering over a section, I need to see what the fuss is about. The grass is always greener on the other side.  Every one knows that :) My number one area to scan is the classics (not many people there!).  Once I'm finished, I go to fiction which has the crowds.  After that, I leisurely browse everything and anything.  I paid $2 for hardback covers and $1 for large paperback covers.  Please do not be impressed with the math book.  My son is a math major and it's for him.  I'm lucky I can add and subtract. Did you see the top book by Tennyson?  No copyright printed in book but my snooping around the internet is saying 1900ish

Do all of you get a thrill turning a heel like I do?  I bet the answer is 'Yes!'.  I believe that's the best part of sock knitting besides casting on and casting off.  I am thoroughly enjoying the colorway of this yarn as well even though the socks are for my daughter.  It's a good thing that this project is fun because my hawthorne sweater  is going ever so slow in my mind.  I managed to finish both sleeves last week and started on the collar.  Then, poof, my motivation dwindled and it sits in my basket mocking me.  I decided to leave it out of the photo. I also finished my personally designed  hat  which is free on my patterns page  or as a ravelry download . The cowl is also available as a ravelry download too! My reading has been abundant!  I finished my Mr. Pettigrew's Last Stand  book and it was very very good.  I recommend it!  I loved the way it was written and the story line and the sub plots.  A sweet love story.  I also finished Operating Instruc

I have completed another project and it's a simple hat pattern that I designed.  This pattern uses up those pesky odds and ends of yarn that you just don't know what to do with. I had a little bit of left over Ultra Alpaca and Ella Rae Classic .  That was the inspiration for this hat. Potpourri Fusion hat  is a simple stockinette beanie design that knits up quickly.  Unless you're like me and are working on lots of projects, then it takes just a little bit longer. The photos are with the ribbing folded up but you could wear it slouchy and unfold the ribbing.  Below is a very talented self portrait :)  I think I am getting pretty good at this!  Pattern is available here .

Filled to the brim.  That is what this weekend was for me.  My husband and I left Friday afternoon to first pick up our daughter, then we drove to pick up our son, and finally arrived at my sister's house to start off the Easter weekend. I knew for quite some time that I wanted to spend Easter with my kids.  It was just a matter of how to execute the wish.  To spend Easter at our house would have meant even more driving time and less celebrating time.  So being sisters I asked "can we celebrate at your house?"  Being sisters she said "yes". My sister is a fabulous cook and hostess.  We had a whirlwind of seeing relatives, eating, talking, eating, shopping, eating.  I think I'm done with food for now.  Driving home yesterday (and dropping each kid off at their campus), my husband and I have sworn we are eating salads for at least 48 hours to detox from the sugar.  Yep. On Saturday night, we celebrated the Easter vigil at the "mother house".

Joining Amanda

My find this week is the lovely blue and brown vase.  I love it!!  I paid a whopping .99 cents and it was worth every single penny.  Love finding thrifty finds?  Then check out Lady Cordelia  and see what others have unearthed. I had to show you the most GLORIOUS sunrise this very morning.  Yep.  I grabbed the camera when I took Frodo outside to get the paper.  Let me tell you, photographing, holding the paper and the leash is getting to be a skill I have honed. I was thinking about why I love mornings so much.  To me they are full of a day's hope.  I have the many hours ahead of me to accomplish what I want to get done.  I am quite scheduled in my life, always have been.  I need a plan, I want a plan.  So every morning I grab a cup of coffee and write my list for the day.  With the kids away at universities my list is quite short and simple.  I'm enjoying that immensely! I've always been a morning person. As a kid, I remember getting up around five a.m. w

I want to so desperately start a new project, but if I don't finish these current projects they will just haunt me all summer long.  So I am doing forced knitting, not my favorite kind of knitting.  Above is a hat I started a couple of weeks ago.  I am using two different yarns and creating the pattern as I go.  I have no idea who it's for.  Could be me, or anyone!  Here is the project page .  In the background is my sweater  that I posted about yesterday .  I have the first sleeve nearly done!  My socks from last week are at the heel flap stage. I'm still reading Major Pettigrew's Last Stand .  It's a pretty entertaining book.  I really like the main character and his aside remarks to the town's people.  He has a dry sense of humor that makes me smile. I also started Operating Instructions  by Anne Lamott.  I'm not too far into the book.  I tend to read one book at a time. Joining Ginny

I have been diligently working on my hawthorne cardigan  this past week.  My goal is to empty out my knitting bag of all the wintry items.  This is the last project to finish.  I consider it a winter garment because it is 100% alpaca.  Who doesn't love alpaca when they're freezing? I'm on the first sleeve but really when you do top down construction, sleeves go lickety split-at least for me.  I also place clip-on stitch markers for every decrease row so I don't have to count over and over again.  They are purposefully color coded as well. Green for every 10 rows, peach for every six rows.  There's a system to my madness!  This also aids me in making my sleeves identical.  I am into symmetry and guessing is not my forte.  I've mentioned this before that I do not keep track of my rows on paper.  It just doesn't work for me. When I was a teenager knitting an afternoon away,  I would always second guess myself.  "did I write that row dow

My weekend contained: -a visit to the local library -mailing this  sweater , yep got the address from my husband this week! -watching two star trek episodes with my favorite trekkie.  (He knows every episode and he gives a pretty good synopsis of each-quite humorous!) -getting ready for next weekend's festivities -the possibility of decreasing my medicines for my rheumatoid arthritis (dr. approved) -facing unwanted symptoms after only ONE day of decreasing meds......SIGH. -eating CHOCOLATE (can anyone eat too much?) -oh and the evil donuts..... -chatting with both kids and enjoying their slice of life where they are -sleeping really really good last night!  That hardly ever happens :) How was your weekend? Joining Amanda