Pumpkin Sunrise

Guess what?  I had enough yarn-phew!  Dodged that little bullet but of course I now face another challenge.  While I was blocking this beauty yesterday, I came across a dropped stitch!  I quickly put a blocking pin in it and now I'm waiting for it to be dry and when I have all my wits about me to tackle that problem. My stitch count never wavered so I'm wondering when I was rinsing and wringing-yes wringing-I might have broken the fiber.  Who knows, I'll see when I do knitting surgery.  Either way I can fix it. My week has been quiet, unusually quiet and eerily quiet.  I find it funny that when the house is bursting with noise and commotion I dream of quiet and then when I actually do get what I want I'm at a loss at what to do with myself.  Don't you worry, I have made lists a mile long in times like these and I refer to them. I believe I made the worst dinner ever the other night.  I followed a recipe, sort of, and then became creative and it was just not g

I'm loving every single minute of my shawl.  The pattern is laminaria , many knitters have made it and now I can be included in the many.  I'm on the last chart and have about six rows to knit, they take forever now over 20 minutes.  And yes, I am still wondering if I'll have enough yarn or will I have to improvise the ending?  Stay tuned...I'm sure I'll think of something if there's a need. Still reading Sing You Home  by Jodi Picoult and it's okay.  It's predictable and it seems the author threw in every controversial topic into the plot.  Yesterday I picked up another Anne Lamott book who I simply adore reading.  She never disappoints and this book I'm sure will entertain me and move me spiritually. What are you knitting and reading this week? Joining Ginny

This morning I am greeted with silence, the good kind.  There's the hum of the refrigerator, me striking the keyboard and I'm slowly getting ready for what I want to accomplish today.  Boring stuff like paying bills.  Soon there will be phone calls from my sister and my daughter.  Maybe even one from my son. This morning even though it is still humid the air feels different, you know fall like. Whispers of seasonal change-I am more than ready for another season.  I want to be cold, see my breath outside and wear a jacket with a scarf and mitts. On one of our walks down the dirt road we spied this massive wasp nest.  It's quite impressive!  My husband took that photo, I was busy staring with my jaw dropped. Every few weeks I take a puddle reflection photo for no reason. This is the shawl that with every single stitch I am savoring.  Each row is taking over 15 minutes so I know it's going to be a while before it's off the needles.

My weekend: -I have a clean house-clutter is managed, laundry is caught up -said goodbye to our son, who made the clutter free house possible -homemade pizzas with mushroom red pepper and black olives -many walks with THE perfect balance of humidity -starting the lace edging on my mammoth lace shawl -teeny tiny voice questioning if there is enough yarn-ssh don't ruin the knitting moment -Frodo after a beauty session with the groomer-so handsome! how was your weekend? joining Amanda

When we moved into this house in 2005, the landscaping was absent of flowers.  We've slowly added color over the years.  I will on occasion buy a plant and my husband picks where to plant it.  We are perennial plant lovers.  Walking around and seeing my garden through the camera lens gave me a sense of peace and calmness, time was suspended. I wish I had a jar that could bottle up that peace and I could release it's powerful effect when I am borrowing worries and troubles.  Since that is impossible, I find when I am calm, happy and stressfree, I will document those days through my camera or in my journal.  They are treasured days in my mind. I was also contemplating how whenever I am rushing off to get errands completed or chores done, I miss the everyday beauty in nature.  Why is it with a camera and a few minutes, I am refocused and I see what is there every single day but in a different light and angle?  I walk by these plants daily taking them for granted.

I've started yet another project.  My justifications are simple, while my daughter was home I went through my extensive shawl, scarf and cowl collection and gave her the ones that I wear infrequently.  We both agree that one way to add life to a wardrobe is with accessories.  Some I gave freely and some I said "you are borrowing this one".  Whether she owns them on not, I declared that I will tend to their washing. Anyways, this shawl is the Pendulum Shawl  and the pattern is quite easy, as in TV watching easy.  Well TV watching that talks a lot.  If you are watching an action movie you're better off not knitting at all. For wool, I chose Malabrigo Sock -so decadent to handle :)  My ravelry notes are here . Yesterday I posted about my finished hat  which I cannot wait to wear.  In our front yard the maple leaves are starting to drop, so I know hat wearing weather is just around the corner. My favorite aunt lent me the book I'm reading quite a bit ago.  I

Over the weekend, I finished another quick project, the wurm hat .  This time around I decided to knit with a self striping yarn, Zitron  Unisono .  I love the effect that resulted with the striping and the wool has a lovely hand.  This hat is quite squishy and feels wonderful! First two photos were taken by me, I think I'm getting good at weird angles.  The last photo was taken by my son.  Sometimes an extra pair of hands just helps out. He patiently snapped and asked "how's this". I am not giving this hat away!  I am looking forward to some crisp fall air and a chance to wear this while out on a walk in the woods.  With all the stripey colors, I think the hat will go with many of my other knitted cowls, scarves and shawls. And you know, if it doesn't well then, I have a great excuse to knit some more accessories.

The weekend was not quiet or relaxing but it was jammed packed with fun.  I had a full house with both kids home.  At any given time the tv was on and they were watching movies or playing vintage video games.  The dishwasher was run daily and boy, I was knee deep in laundry.   However, I was excited to do laundry because I'm breaking in a new washer.  I wonder when the novelty will wear off? Today, my daughter returns to her apartment to start the third year of law school which is also the last year of law school, she is ready to move on.  One day the UPS truck appeared, everyone was quite excited-he's like Santa you know-and my daughter received a beautiful bouquet of lilies from her boyfriend.  How lovely and I've enjoyed looking at them every day.  Beside the bouquet is a photo of the greatest pup in the world, Zoe.  I loved her so and still think about her-when she died in 2009 we quickly set about picking out another dog who wouldn't look like her, that do

15 year young golden retriever named "shelby" blue heron on the shore, can you barely see it? This past Monday, we spent the day at our dear friend's lake house on the shore of Lake Wallenpaupack . We met when both of our daughters became friends and we've stayed friends for ten years. To our delight, they invited us for a visit and we immediately said "yes!'. We talked, we walked, we at lunch, we talked and pulled out some knitting-well-us girls did.  The kids (who are adults and teenagers) and the guys (middle aged kids!) water skied and water tubed.  That is too intense for me, knitting in the dappled shade is my speed for a fun time.  We ate dinner, we talked, we laughed.  In the early evening we went for a boat cruise on the lake and a bit up the river. We saw:  one blue heron, many hungry ducks, six-eight deer (I lost count) and one regal golden retriever who is in her bonus years-15!!

Since I finished a pair of mitts for my daughter, it's only fair that I start a pair of socks for my son. And yes you are seeing a set of wooden needles-I've noticed lately that when I knit with metal double pointed needles it causes forearm pain, so I thought needles with a bit of give would help.  So far, I think it does the trick.  Maybe I'm "easing up" on my grip in fear of snapping the needles in two, I think I'm an intense double pointed needle knitter.  The sock yarn is Paton's Kroy , it's not a super soft buttery yarn BUT it does have washing and drying instructions that I think a young man cannot felt :) I'm on the same book Here on Earth  by Alice Hoffman and not much of a fan of the plot.  I think I'm turning prudish, I dislike immensely when characters have affairs while married.  It just isn't right and I lose all sympathy and empathy for the character.  However I do like the story arc of the teenage daughter and I guess

I finished knitting these mitts for my daughter a few days ago.  Do you remember this sweater ?  Well I had one very lonely orphaned skein left over from that project.  When my daughter put in the request for mitts, I was already tripping up the stairs to my studio to dig down in my worsted weight basket, snapping a photo, texting her and asking "is this color okay?" Thankfully she said "yes" and the cast on begun.  The pattern is susie's reading mitts  and the ravelry project page is here .  As you know I love to knit with lace weight or fingering weight yarns, but I enjoyed immensely how quickly these mitts knit up because they are worsted weight.  Instant knitting gratification!!

Each morning this week I managed to sit with coffee and indulgent knitting or reading before the day started.  Every single morning should be indulgent-makes the day start off in a good direction.  I went out to dinner with my family on Friday and afterwards quickly picked out a new washing machine (4 year old one is going going almost gone) then browsed Staples even though I needed ink for the printer. Saturday was quiet, slow with grilled chicken, baked potato and green beans. I finished knitting up a pair of mitts for my daughter (photos soon) and then plotted out some more knits to cast on. I had a crummy sinus headache all weekend but I'm happy to say today is much much better!   I've been watching Dr. Who from the beginning, not the old beginning but the new beginning-reboot.  Neither my husband nor my son are fans, but I do love how when it's on the TV they watch :)  I don't know what it is about the show but I find it quite entertaining. So I

Yesterday I started a pair of fingerless mitts for my daughter upon request.  I don't know about you, but when my family asks for a hand knitted item, I get giddy deep down inside.  There's a quiet joy rummaging through skeins of wool and patterns, matching and creating.  One mitt is nearly finished and hopefully the pair will be gifted while she is here next week. I've been holding up bravely when I look at the coffee table.  It will get worse (messier) once my daughter arrives home.  For now it's not bothering me one bit.  Sometimes, I must confess, I have piles of stuff-that never bothers me.  Double standards. I'm back into the swing of planning out menus and buying enough food, keeping up with household chores. It's raining at the moment and all week it's been cloudy and humid.  I've noticed some early leaves changing yellow and falling.  My oak tree has begun to drop a few acorns, however summer is still here. My moleskine journal is f

I am currently working on two projects while I romantically dream of three yet to be other projects.  My sunshine yellow shawl  is heavenly to knit.  The yarn is beautiful in person, there's a slight halo but the silk and cashmere give it a softness that makes me want to keep knitting forever.  The pattern is complicated enough to keep me on my toes.  The hat  is my tv knitting project, I tend to make few errors while knitting round and round.  Oh and if you haven't seen my blog post from yesterday , I finished my wicked cardigan (finally). I started a new book this past week, Here on Earth  by Alice Hoffman, who I just love to read because I love her writing style.  However this story is a remake of Wuthering Heights  and I'm not sure how I feel about that.  To me the classic is a stand alone book, one of my favorites.  I am still in the beginning and I'm still thinking back to the classic.  I'm hoping that after a few more chapters I'll stop comparing a

The  Wicked Cardigan  is off the needles folded neatly on my dresser waiting for cooler days for me to wear.  I am quite pleased with how it turned out.  I was concerned about the  Madelinetosh tosh merino light  for my choice in wool, mainly because it's a single ply.  However I love the slight halo the sweater has, hinting at it's coziness. I have knit up this pattern  before  and I confess I would knit a third sweater as well.   Same same but different  is an excellent pattern, well written but is for a knitter who is familiar with sweater construction and top down construction.  I love how there's detail to the shaping of the body and the ruching at the shoulders. My modifications were few, I made the buttonholes 2 1/2 inches apart so there would be less of a gap when buttoned up.  I also added length in the body and sleeves since I am tallish.

This weekend was a non stop weekend and I must say it was enjoyable.  My husband and I decided to go exploring in other towns before we picked up our son.  Typing in addresses in the GPS and just following the directions blindly, not sure of where we were going.  When we first met one of the hobbies we enjoyed was "taking a drive".  There was more adventure back then because we had no idea where we were going unless we looked at a paper map....who would do that??   The photos this weekend are what I did while moving our son out of his apartment.  I stayed with the car, as you can see, I look good in my grief (grandma saying). All of our son's new friends helped out with the big move.  Goodbyes were said and then we were on the road again. Have you noticed the early morning darkness?  Slowly the daylight is shifting and changing-I've noticed and paused.  We sat on our swing, eating an appetizer kind of dinner, drinking iced tea, catching up on news and

I was thinking this week about how I like to eat the color green the most.  Salads, green beans, avocados, brussel sprouts, peas, kale-oh I could go on.  Once I started thinking, my green vegetable list grew and grew. Whenever I sit for a meal, vegetables are the first bite.  At the farmer's market this week, I bought locally grown green beans!  Those remind me of my teen years, I would be sent out to pick green beans in my father's garden, one for me-one for the bowl-one for me-one for the bowl. Believe me, it took a while to gather enough green beans. Mild temperatures have graced us this week, summer at its best.  Each day, I have the back door open to listen to mid summer songs of cicadas and birds and sometimes the rustling of a breeze.  August is a busy month for me.  Our son will be home three weeks-we pick him up from his summer research program tomorrow and our daughter will be home for a brief visit mid month.  The rhythm of my days currently are slow, pu