Pumpkin Sunrise

I'm excited to share with you labels and tags for your 'oh so special' knits that you give to people.  If you are like me, I usually write out the care instructions on a tag and attach it to the gift.  Most of the time I'm writing over and over again 'hand wash cold water, lay flat to dry'.  I remember wishing I had a label for that. Well, my wish came true when the  Dutch Label Shop  asked me to review their various labels and tags.   I created a custom care label on their website easily and now I can stitch one to the inside of all those 100% wool projects. I feel liberated and having a care label gives a finished project a polished look. I also ordered woven labels and hang tags with my blog's name on them.  Their website is simple to use and they processed my order quickly.  There were abundant design choices in fonts and colors to give your labels and tags a personal touch. Dutch Label shop will be offering a discount code to my reade

sunrise Saturday  Hello!  I'm sitting here with my laptop and feeling giddy about all the chores I've completed today.  A much needed vacuum and a successful one where the pets were managed as they ran away but not one chasing the other.  I'm getting pretty good at navigating the zoo.  Sometimes.  I lost the plant eating stand off - the shamrock plants are in my bathroom away from the cat.  I decided to pick my battles and shooing her away wasn't a battle I wanted to engage in.  Did she win or did I? Yesterday, we met up with our daughter and son in law at a half-way driving point for lunch and a bit of shopping.  Did I take ANY photos?  Of course not, I was 'in the moment' since our time together was an afternoon then we said goodbyes and headed home.  Today, we took a walk with Frodo down the 'dirt' road that is paved.  For years we've called it the dirt road when it was a dirt road, so that's the name.  Look at all the brownness in

I finished the tiny tea leaves cardigan only to find a mistake in one sleeve which I've already ripped out and started over.  Golly!  On one hand, I'm thrilled I found the mistake but gosh, I do wish I would have seen it before an entire sleeve was knit up.  At least, it's a tiny sleeve.  Do you rip out?  Or do you assume no one will find the mistake?  If I find a knitting mistake, I cannot let it exist..   I was thrilled to find Beartown  in paperback at the bookstore.  I'm not sure when I will start reading it, but it will be soonish.  I'm hosting Easter for the first time in about six - seven years.  I've slowly started to decide what to make for dinner.  So far I'm leaning towards a turkey breast and potatoes au gratin, and either green beans or asparagus.  After that I'm at a loss!  What are your go to dishes that you cook? Miss Holly has been 'graciously' trimming my shamrock plants that used to be on the kitchen window sill

Andrea from  This Knitted Life  has been dyeing up some beautiful yarns for her new shop called  Tributary Yarns .  I've known Andrea for quite some time and have test knitted for her in the past.  She is a thoughtful, thorough and dedicated knitter and now indie dyer.  How cool is that? Her shop had a grand opening a week or so ago and Andrea has been busy filling orders and dyeing more yarn to restock. From the looks of it, Andrea is off to a successful business.   Her story about Tributary Yarns can be found here , here and here . I've had the pleasure to be testing out two of her yarn bases, am I not a lucky knitter? The  river silk merino  blend that is a single ply that is 70% superwash merino wool and 30% silk in the lovely colorway  'Dusk at Elk River'.  This decadent wool silk blend is shimmery and the depth of color is simply stunning.  The stitch definition is soft and defined  - I'm currently knitting a shawl for me. T

This weekend my knitting needles have been ultra busy as I crank out a sweet cardigan .  I've been enjoying the familiarity of knitting the same pattern, but a different size.  I love to knit the same patterns over and over again, do you?  I didn't used to be like that.  In my youth, I was searching for the next 'great' pattern.  Now I just want to pick up and knit, knowing my gauge is good and the yarn is reliable.  This pop of lavender is cheerful - Hello spring! Our son left yesterday, his spring break is over and done.  He started looking for a sublet in Cambridge for his externship at Harvard this summer and I get too stressed out about the whole thing.  So I kept internally chanting 'this is not your problem'.  Now that he's back at his apartment my worries are over (out of sight, out of mind). One of the reasons I love my babysitting job so much is because the problems are small.  Does she want an apple?  cheese?  Her talking is mostly int

I ordered two skeins of Anchor Bay yarn from Webs  for the toddler cardigan, I was delighted to cast on  Wednesday night and have solely knit on this project.  I'd love to finish this cardigan within a week or so.  Easy! How was your week?  Our son has been here for his spring break, so my mornings have been either working or going to the gym and my afternoons have been doing something with him while he is here.  We've had lunch out one day, gone shopping locally and then there is just sitting and talking.  I'm not sure when he leaves, either Saturday or Sunday.  My intention this week has been to 'be in the moment'.  I've been successful most of the time.  Part of the success is to have no expectations whatsoever.  I'm keeping up with the kitchen dishes and am valiantly ignoring the coffee table mess.  (dare I say the mess isn't so bad?).  Okay, I have a confession.  I am yearning for spring - there I said it.  I have been on two walks and

Another project is off the needles and around my neck, just in time too.  The weather is gearing up to be possibly snowy.  However, right now the snowflakes are intermittent.  We are supposed to get 3-6 inches but I'm skeptical. I bought this skein of wool from the  Gurdy run farm vendor at a fiber festival last year while my sister was visiting.  I knew when I bought the yarn I was going to make this cowl .  My knitting process is buy a yarn or skeins of yarn, then find a pattern to go with that purchase.  Rarely do I find a pattern then shop for the yarn.  If I'm shopping, it's through my built up stash. During the soaking and gentle blocking, this wool blend blooms and softens.  Sometimes, the blocking process is my favorite part of the knitting project. I have many many projects on the needles and cannot wait to share them with you in the coming days. Ravelry notes are here What are you knitting or crafting these days?

How was your weekend?  Splendid, I hope.  Mine was quite fun, our son arrived Friday evening without any problems since the weather was questionable.  Earlier in the day, we lost our electricity for six hours, it's been since the beginning of October since the last outage.  So while I was inconvenienced the five month full on electricity days were wonderful.  I pray I get another five month stint. Saturday morning I baked a birthday cake for my husband.  We had lunch and dinner out, unheard of!  My body is begging for regular home meals and yet I resist writing out that pesky menu plan....  Why do restaurants want to use tons of salt in their seasoning.  Ugh.  Anyways, the day was wonderful having the family here.  I appreciate them coming in and traveling and I'm grateful they live where they do so they can drive here and I in turn can drive and visit them.  Yesterday, I started some knitting projects, honestly it was a huge cast on frenzy.  I loved it.  I started a

sock love Earlier this week, the weather was picture perfect - warm air, blue skies and that feeling of spring whispering in my ear as I walked the neighborhood.  So far no signs of early blossoms - I could not find snowdrops or crocuses but then maybe next week they'll appear.  That's if I can find them through the snow we might be getting.  You read that correctly, snow.  There's a slim chance the snow will be a wintry mix.  future sister sweater Thanks for all the sweet comments you left about the shawl I posted about on Wednesday .  My knitting has been fantastic these days.  I've been browsing Ravelry for the next shawl to cast on.   There are so many options and I'm feeling fickle about committing.  The toddler girl I babysit will be 2 years old in a few weeks and of course Easter is fast approaching so I'd love to knit her a cardigan but need to find and purchase some yarn.  I'm looking for less wool more cotton in worsted weight and mini