Pumpkin Sunrise

Giving thanks for: -reading time and knitting time and when they coincide -the patience to rip out and redo a knitting pattern (third time is a charm) -family gathering to celebrate -special diets - lactose free, gluten free, vegan and vegetarian - I don't mind making two gravies. -dreary days where I can knit more -adult children who are not very far at all -chocolate anything -my husband and my children -my sister -pencils, pens and special notebooks -green beans -a clean kitchen Happy Thanksgiving to all of you celebrating!

I cannot believe this shawl is finished - I did over half of the knitting in a ten day period.  My motivation or dangling that proverbial carrot stick was to put a clipping marker every day I worked on it so I could see my daily progress.  I started this in July!  My knitting attention apparently was elsewhere. Being a nerd, I also crunched some estimated numbers once I had four days worth of 'data' to go on.  This gave me the motivation that I needed, that and a deadline looming. I usually knit while watching TV or reading a book with simpler knitting projects.  Because of the eyelet columns, this project was strictly for TV or podcast listening.  The pattern is great for beginner lace knitters if you are looking at branching out in knitting skills. I love how blocking makes every single wool project look finished and polished.  Soaking a lace project in wool wash for 20 minutes makes the wool bloom then blocking evens out uneven stitches and opens up those hard

How was your weekend?  Mine was packed full of 'busy'.  But the good kind, you know?  On Saturday, our son arrived by lunchtime and then we were off to find some red wool for the toddler baby girl.  I found it!  phew - I can mentally cross of that to do.  When I get something in my mind, I am unstoppable!  I can't start her sweater until I finish the last hat.  The last hat will be finished today or tomorrow, I promise.  Last night we started watching Stranger Things on Netflix and I'm hooked.  I love that it is PG 14 (my mental age for scary movies).  The show reminds me a bit of Dr. Who with the amount of suspense.  All good! These photos are showing how messy my studio gets when I am wrapping and in the midst of creating.  Just keeping it real around here.  There is no perfect - even in the blogging world. Today, I attended 7:30 a.m. Mass.  I really enjoy church in the early morning hours and the rest of the day is stretched out in front of me.  Onc

I'm thrilled to report that I'm finished (finished!) with the shawl.  Phew.  I was a little worried last week but then I hunkered down and focused.  It's amazing how much I can get done when I am trying my best.  I listened to a lot of podcasts and during the evening I exclusively knit on the shawl while watching TV.  Sadly, I cannot read a book while knitting this project.  Hopefully I'll be blocking over the weekend. My gym visits are getting more challenging and I'm sore in a good kind of way.  I haven't had any back spasms for a solid week and I haven't taken Tylenol either for the week.   This is serious progress that makes me happy.  My RA is behaving and so I just show up at the gym and try to do what he tells me to do. I love feeling proactive about my health.  Control freaks tend to be like that.  Frodo is extra fluffy and has lots of knots   Call me crazy, but I have an insane idea to knit a sweater for my babysitting toddler girl i

Boom!  Another hat done and I've cast on another one going up a needle size.  This is the project that I work on in the early morning while doing my daily Mass readings and prayers.  I'd like to knit two more of these hats before Thanksgiving.  Ah, the suspense of whether I will succeed or not! The shawl that I mentioned last week gets all my attention in the afternoons and evenings if my schedule permits.  I have high hopes of finishing this shawl by Friday. Placing markers every day before I pick it up to knit really helps me see the daily progress and I can keep measuring and doing my math.  Having concrete numbers takes away my panic and dread that I shamefully embraced last Wednesday.  I can do it! What are you knitting this week?  Making progress?

Another weekend, phew!  I spent yesterday morning cheating at my tags with some stickers and new washi tape that has Christmas themes.  I also unearthed the hole puncher from my one of many junk drawers (I've got three!).  I was in Michael's when I spied those wee stickers and boy was I in a super festive mood.  I figured it out why... They were playing Christmas music and I smelled some of that cinnamon pinecone scent that just screams the holiday season.  Ah.  I love it!  I had a great weekend,  my husband and I walked each day in the freezing cold and chatted.  I sat and knit for long pockets of time chipping away at that shawl that is on my needles and I hope is off my needles by next weekend. Our internet is being really 's l o w' right now so I'm furiously typing thinking I can post this when the signal is back.  Just so you know, I would rather have spotty internet than no electricity so I'm not currently losing my mind. Today, I

All you summer lovers better close your eyes because this post has some serious snow photos.  Finally earlier this week we had our first snow event.  I sat inside in the afternoon and watched big fat flakes fall while chatting with my daughter on the phone.  Later while cooking dinner, I glanced outside again and saw the snow on the ground.  Unbelievable and so beautiful. The first snowfall reminds me of childhood and wishing for a snow day and staying home from school, the nearness of the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and the serene quiet that accompanies cold weather.  I am blessed in that I do not suffer from the darkness that descends with the time change.  I love the cozy feeling and the hibernating effect. All of this snow melted before I went to bed on the same day, but while it was there, ah - I was happy.  Thank you for you words of wisdom on self imposed deadlines.  I sometimes need an attitude check and your comments helped ease me away from the fretting.

I'm mentally crumbling under my own self-imposed deadlines.  Why do I do this to myself?  I set some arbitrary goals then panic.  So - today is about being realistic in my expectations and setting time aside daily to focus on making progress. I am one-third of the way through the gray hat  knitting that is a gift.  I can knit and read at the same time with this project so I'm sailing through the ribbing.  This is the project that is not stressing me out, hats are fun and fast. I finished four washcloths from one skein of scrubby cotton.  I'd like to knit four more from the other skein but it's okay that I don't knit them. This shawl is taking up mental space and somewhat stressful because I'd like to be finished and have it off the needles.  I'm going to keep knitting and keep hoping I finish this project.  Sadly, I cannot read and knit at the same time so this is the TV knitting project. You cannot see well, but there is some lovely eyel

new hat on the needles  Hello!  How was your weekend?  Are you enjoying your extra hour today?  I am.  Well it feels like this day is lasting forever, but since time goes so quickly anymore, I'm okay with the foreverness.  Yesterday we drove to Delaware to visit our daughter and son in law.  I had a lot of fun.  We had lunch at their place then shopped at the 'big' mall and later headed out for dinner. Driving home was tricky in the dark and the GPS gal was being a little bit difficult.  She likes to sometimes omit street names.  So there were two wrong turns.  Do you remember when we used paper maps???  Now that was tricky, especially if I was the one reading the map. I finished the third Gamache mystery last night ( Cruelest Month by Louise Penny) and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I'm chipping away at Alias Grace,  I do adore Atwood's writing style immensely. Today, I've done all the laundry and some of the house cleaning.  I ran out of energy because

I'm having fun with my new gel pens and creating Christmas tags.  I'm sure you're not surprised at all that I cannot pass by a stationary store without going in and buying something.  My confession is simply this- I own too many:  pens, pencils, notebooks (empty and filled), note cards and loose paper. I love to have options!  Imagine my delight when I discovered I needed, seriously needed white, silver and gold pens.  Gah.  Off to another art store, browsing all the goodies that I do not need. my sister-in-law made me washcloths so I had to copy her and make the same kind  A mini health update:  I continue to feel better every day (not fast enough but that's just me) and next week is the last week of physical therapy.  I'm ready to free up some time, you know, for knitting.  Well, some free time, I do have that gym thing going on as well.  Friday is my first for real session, wish me luck, I'm nervous.   Stepping outside my comfort zone is so difficu

Good morning!  November first, isn't it grand?  I finished my hat over the weekend.  I haven't even looked at what hat pattern to knit next, even though I said that was what I was going to do.  If only there were more hours in the day.  My past few weeks have been a slurry of physical therapy and babying my sore twitchy back.  However, I'm seeing some promising healthy weeks ahead as I ease out of physical therapy and into a new exercise program (yay). While I dither about on what hat pattern to cast on,  I've been knitting plain old garter stitch wash clothes for a knitting palate cleanser. What are you knitting up? Or crafting?