Pumpkin Sunrise

Joining Amanda at Soulemama  for This Moment.

Why is it I always want to take a photo when it is early in the morning or late in the afternoon?  Both times are not the greatest times for lighting.  So anyways, this is the scarf I am making for my father in law's birthday.  My in-laws live in Ontario, Canada and we will be visiting them sometime this fall.   They used to visit us every fall but now that they are getting older they have decided the drive is just too long for them.  I agree!  It is a very very long drive for me :)  So when we do make the trip we will be bringing with us their birthday presents, their anniversary gift and of course their Christmas gifts. My plans are to knit this scarf and to make my mother in law a shawl for her birthday.  I believe I have plenty of time which will make the knitting enjoyable.  I really dislike knitting under pressure or a close deadline.  Knitting is relaxing for me and I like to savor the process.  Are yo...

I was hoping to have finished the Anne of Avonlea  book yesterday but it just did not happen.  So today I will finish it and since I am in a Green Gable mood I will be starting Anne of the Island .  I just love how easy it is to pick up and read a chapter and get caught up in the story.  Love it!!  I think I own all of them except the last one. I have to check the bookshelves.  Anyways, I am loving the series and it is perfect summer reading. I am making progress on my wren cardigan .  I am almost to the sleeve division!!  Then it is mindless stockinette knitting.  I also casted on a scarf for my father in law's birthday.  The yarn is some alpaca that I bought at a fiber festival.  This is the sweater I made and I am not quite sure how much yardage I have left over.  So I am just going to knit until the yarn runs out.  I hope I have enough to go around his neck!!  Here is the project page (no current photos.... yet...

The only thing that would make this shrug better is to have a 6 month old baby to model it!  Seriously, this pattern  was quick and fun to knit.  The pattern's description indicated  that the shrug is difficult for the baby/toddler to take off which to me is an added benefit. I decided to use cotton and overall I am pleased with the results.  I found the yardage in the pattern to be extremely generous and I did not use nearly as much as they indicated. So if you have a baby girl or know of someone who is going to have a baby girl, give this pattern a whirl (pun intended, of course!).

This weekend was so very relaxing.  I am nearly done with shopping for our daughter's apartment and our son's dorm room.  I am glad that I started in June and have done a little bit every time we went out.  I guess I spread out the damages.  Now my guest bedroom looks like a little bomb went off with all the purchases. But come August that should not be a problem. Sunday morning before church our Frodo escaped the compound.  Who would have thought that getting a tiny dog would result in a dog going under the fence????  Every time he escapes (this is the second time) we board up the escape route.  Yesterday's adventure only lasted 5-7 minutes but it felt like an hour.  I am a worrier by nature so I always think the worst.  The good news is he was about 20 yards outside the fence. The other good news is he shows us EXACTLY where the escape route is located.  I am pretty sure he is tracking the wild rabbits that come in and out of the f...

I am sure everyone knows that the eastern part of the US is having a heatwave.  It is very hot outside, too hot to do much of anything except swim.  I am grateful we have a pool and we have central air conditioning.   So as I experience this heat wave I have a list in my head of what I would like to accomplish before fall arrives.  Here it goes: -Get the Christmas making list started (this is knitting for others) -Crank out one or two more sweaters to wear when the weather is chilly -Clean out the pantry and "stuff"  (my pantry is a catch all of various things!) -Go through all kid's clothes and donate (this requires the kids participation) Do you have anything you want to accomplish before the summer is over?

For the record, my window is not dirty it is the steam from morning fog......at least that is what I believe;)  The buttercup yellow scarf is complete!  I used every single inch of that yarn.  Blocking it was a little wonky I think because it is cotton and just doesn't have the springiness of wool.  I really look forward to cooler temperatures so I can wear it!  I think it will go great with my wardrobe.

Good Morning!  I am so excited that today is yarn along day.  Where else can you get some good knitting ideas and good book ideas?  So this week I am reading Anne of Avonlea. As I stated last week I was probably going to start the next book in the series.  I find Anne of Green Gables addictive.   I did finish Dark Places  and overall it was a really good creepy book with a good story line.  However---it was extremely violent (in gruesome detail) which I am NOT fond of at all and had way too much potty language.  So I have forewarned you all.  If any of you are brave to read it I would love to know what you think of it.  I had to read the book during the day and not at bedtime.   I unfortunately (or fortunately) am functioning at a PG-13 level of entertainment..... I am knitting the whirligig shrug  for a friend who is expecting a baby (of course).  The yarn is Paton's Grace and I had some skeins in my stash.  It is...

We drove 3 1/2 hours one way to visit my dad to celebrate his 70th birthday party.  And then drove back home the same day.  It was a long ride but luckily my husband did all of the driving.  I know, I am spoiled! It was really hot outside and we sat and talked and then we hit the limit of hotness and moved inside to air conditioning.  I think I read somewhere that it takes two weeks for your body to be used to extreme hot temperatures without air conditioning.  I will blame my cushy life with AC as to why I am intolerant to high heat!! My sister and I thought of how we could make this party a surprise party.  It was hard since we wanted our dad to cook the meat ;)  We brought side dishes and our step mom made the roasted potatoes and the birthday cake. The entertainment was fun and there were a couple of singalongs.  Most of the music is "their" music.....I am proud I knew two of them!!!  (one was by the ...

I have been seeing at least one of these fawns in the yard the past week or two, always without a camera!  Friday my family was in the pool and they were just at the edge of the property.  How exciting to have the camera on hand!!  I am pretty certain they live in our woods, aren't they beautiful? My weekend was quite busy, at least to me.  On Saturday I finally went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It seems like yesterday the first one was released to the theater and I was taking my second grade boy (now 18!!!) with his friend.  I was surprised that the theater was not filled.  I guess everyone went to the midnight show on Thursday night.  I am usually sleeping then :) So once the movie was over, we had a lovely dinner out while the kids had plans with their friends.  Once home I made a rice salad for Sunday's outing. Sunday we drove to my dad's to celebrate his 70th birthday. We had chick...

In four weeks we will be dropping our daughter off for the beginning of law school.  We still have so much to do to prepare for her moving into her apartment.  The lists are starting to be made.  It is such an exciting time but time is flying by for me! (my husband picked this watering can out at the hardware store, isn't it the "cheerful-est" one ever?) In six weeks we will be dropping off our son for his first year of university.  He is planning to study math and possibly adding physics.  Oh and just maybe some computer programming.  His to do lists are so much longer because he needs everything.  But we will have an extra two weeks between the two kids. In six weeks I will be cooking for two people instead of four people.  It seems like yesterday we had little children and the years just spanned ahead endlessly.  My husband and I are looking forward to doing so many things now that the high school schedule is no more.  Picnics...

So I am sure you remember my post about Frodo's frisbee here .  Well that frisbee was not a dog frisbee, it was a human one and somebody (I won't name names) was eating the plastic.  So the kids and I dropped into Petco to purchase a specially made frisbee for Frodo.... oh I meant specially made for dogs.  I do not know why, but one that floats was very very important feature, I had a premonition. Frodo has a terrible history of dropping tennis balls into the pool on purpose.  So I have banned the tennis balls from the backyard.  I thought I have out smarted him.  Can you guess what he has decided to do?  Yep the little stinker is dropping the frisbee into the pool......then waits.  So now the frisbee has to be in the house if he is out in the back yard by himself.  I just do not want to fish out a frisbee every time I blink and I do not want Mr. Smartypants getting the idea to jump in (I thinks he considers it and would jump IF he woul...

This week I have been knitting two projects and thinking about a third.  My first project is the buttercup yellow scarf .  I am nearly done with this knit.  I think once it is washed and blocked it is going to look great and that is what motivates me to finish it.  I am also enjoying working with 100% cotton yarn . It has a very nice feel. My second project is this cardigan .  I am following the featherweight cardigan pattern the second time around.  I enjoyed making it before that I knew I would make another sweater!  Here is the ravelry project page .   I finished Anne of Green Gables  and you know I loved it.  It is my third or forth time reading it.  There were so many events that I forgot happened and it was like revisiting a friend I haven't seen in years.  I am a sucker for romance and just love the end when Gilbert and Anne become friends and he won't let go of her hand during a handshake.....~sigh~  H...

Quite a while ago I decided to make another featherweight cardigan after making this one  and casted on after we got home from Cape May.  I really liked the blue one I made but......I wanted it to be in a smaller gauge and a smaller size.  I used size five needles and now this one is down to size four needles.  I know, I was crazy to start another cardigan in a smaller gauge but I just love the look and drape of tiny tiny stitch gauges and I never learn my lesson   The yarn is Madelinetosh lace which is perfect for summertime knitting.  It is light weight and can be jammed into a knitting bag or purse.  The color in these photos taken at the crack of dawn (read that as poor lighting) it looks light brown.  Do not let it fool you, in certain lighting it looks greenish brown.  I like it either way because it will match about 90% of my clothing.  What could possibly be better than miles of stockinette stitch and mindless ...

Our weekend started off with saving this little frog from the pool, although how much saving he needed is questionable he seemed quite happy to stay in the shallow end and swim around.  My son and I tried to get a photo of him out of the pool in hands but the frog was very camera shy!   Saturday morning I was lucky to sit early in the morning on the patio and knit on my cardigan .  It was breezy and not hot.....yet. My husband and I then took a drive to the shops and I managed to purchase an anniversary present for my in-laws.  We also had a really delicious dinner at home!  Chicken on the grill with gnocchi and basil pesto (I will not go into details of picking basil and 'ahem' pepper leaves, I kinda got carried away out there).....yep, the basil was from the garden-----YUM! Sunday we went to church and later in the afternoon I went to Sit and Knit at a local coffee shop.  We meet two times a month, however summer is hit and miss with everyone's travel ...

Before I even rave about this pattern  (which is about perfect) I have to say I am so excited about the photos of the hat.  I did them myself......yes you got it right I was the model and the photographer.  I have managed to snap a few photos that show off the reverse stockinette knitting paired with the regular stockinette!  My skills abound!! Okay, back to the hat, my project page is here .  I did update the info on the stash yarn in cotton.  I really do not know if it is sold anymore.  And I cannot remember when I bought it.  That tells you that I bought it more than 7-10 years ago..... The only modifications I made to the hat was to add a picot edging instead of a purl ridge for the head band.  I used size four and five needles and I barely made it with the yarn I had.  (I always get a minor thrill wondering if I have enough yarn....simple pleasure) I hope everyone has a great relaxing weekend!  

We are all waiting patiently for tomatoes and cucumbers.  Really we are!  I know in a month I will be posting about what to do with tomatoes and cucumbers, but for now can we just have one? There are a couple of wild rabbits that are just loving the parsley that we planted......it also might be enjoyed by one or two groundhogs.  I am glad they are getting their fill but hope they leave a tiny bit for us gardeners! How is everyone else's garden growing?  

I am amazed that it is yet another yarn along.  This week I am reading two books.  The first one is an oldie but a goodie-- Anne of Green Gables .  I know a few others out there are reading it and it made me pick it up and revisit an old friend.  I simply adored this book as a pre-teen.  I have read it many times and it is such fun to re-read it again.  I think it has been over five years since I have read it.  To off set the happy care free Anne, I am also reading Dark Places.   As you can gather by the title, it is a thriller, which was highly recommended by my son.  We tend to have similar interests in books.  So let's see if that trend still holds.  He gave the book a "ten".......not much gets a "ten" on his scale, he is quite a harsh book critic. For knitting this week I have been focusing on two projects.  The first one is the buttercup yellow scarf  which has been around a couple of weeks now.  Still pluggin...

The project I started this past weekend is a hat.  The most difficult decision is to decide which pattern to pick.  I like so many!  What helped is that I did pick from my stash this lovely blue cotton yarn so I did narrow down my search to double knit weight yarn.   The pattern I chose is Wurm .  It is a lovely simple pattern and I really enjoy just knitting away while talking (a skill I continue to finesse). Here is my ravelry project page .  I chose cotton so it could be a summer into fall hat.  But this would be fabulous in wool.  I know I will be making this pattern again.