Pumpkin Sunrise

  Good morning! How are all of you? Like my computer, I am slow this morning. I haven't been sleeping well (probably from waking up in the middle of the night thinking of everything I need to do even though it's written down...). Maybe tonight will be a good night, eventually some night will be. Our weekend was busy, I have been chipping away with the 'to do' list that I have written on pages and pages before all of my company arrives on Wednesday. The list is LONG.  Saturday, I thoroughly enjoyed working on a cowl and probably shouldn't have been knitting. Sunday was a no knit day for my hands to recover again. I am impatient! I have every intention on being here Wednesday, then I will take a break from this space to enjoy my company. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in case I am not here on Wednesday. 

  Good morning! I have finished the gnomes !  Of course, this achievement came with great sufferings. My hands and wrists are painful and I'm waiting out the healing process. I am knitting limitedly and trying to be patient with myself. I have shelved all other holiday knitting and probably will not do it. I have always listened to my body and when it screams rest, I rest. I'm confident that this wrist/hand pain is autoimmune related and so it will go away eventually. In the mean time, I casted on a little 1x1 rib hat for myself to keep me busy. Aren't these little gnomes adorable? This time around I used double knitting and sport weight left over wools to create these little wonders. 

  Good morning! How was your weekend? Mine was quite nice and full of socializing. On Saturday, I went out shopping with my sister at some craft stores and two yarn stores. Oh my, the yarn stores were heavenly and yes, I did buy some yarn but I need to take a group photo of what I bought. Hopefully I will remember. Saturday night my sister and brother in law came over for dinner and game board night. Super fun and I didn't have to cook because my husband did (score!). Sunday was 'recovery' mode since I abused my hands with all those gnomes. I took it easy and started a hat for myself (photo below). I am rethinking what I want to knit from here on out until Christmas. My hands and wrists have given me a stern warning. I am positive it is my autoimmune disorder that is flaring from overuse. I am thankful that circular knitting with wool doesn't affect my hands. (don't worry my hands feel fine right now as I type this) How was your weekend?

  I am on the last gnome! This alone brings me joy and happiness. I hope I can finish number seven today but if not today definitely tomorrow.  How are you? I've been great, my aches and pains from over knitting seem to have eased up (like they always do thank goodness).  The weather has been nice enough for daily walks with Frodo. Sometimes I wish for colder weather and sometimes I am happy with the weather I have. Not too cold, not too hot, just right. While I finish this last gnome, I am thinking of little ornaments I would like to quickly knit up. My goal is to make at least four but I might make one for myself.  I was in Hobby Lobby yesterday and came across this sign which sums up my attitude about cooking. My sister loves to tease me about anytime I rejoice at not cooking dinner. Such a silly thing I love to eat. What makes my happy list:  Frodo looking cute and cuddly - Frodo's deafness and all of his fears are gone because he cannot hear the thunder or flies - Holly do

  Good morning! How are you? I am tired from the time change even though the time change was to my benefit. Sadly I am waking up at strange times and then having trouble going back to sleep. Also one of the many smoke alarms decided to chirp at 3:30 a.m. (grrr) I have FIVE gnomes completed and would like to make two more. I had to take a knitting break yesterday due to hand and wrist pain as well as neck pain. Too much of a good thing ends up being a problem. I feel a lot better. What are you working on this week?

This past week my creativity has rebounded. Phew! I tend to go in waves on what exactly inspires me to knit, read and/or sketch. I've learned through the years to just chill and see what inspires me and when inspiration strikes, run with it. Currently, I'm knitting gnomes and the gnome knitting obsession initially was slow and somewhat of a chore. Yesterday, after I completed the fourth one, I was officially in the gnome zen of knitting. What helps my creativity is being out in nature. My daily walk is good for me physically and mentally. I see color combinations that would be great in a hat or a mitten. May there always be days where I have more ideas to knit and the projects are overflowing in my notebook. I have been thoroughly enjoying the dip in the temperatures and wearing wool on my walks. Frodo would disagree, since he is 14 (!!) he will be outside for a little walk if it is above freezing, he just cannot take cold weather like when he was a younger pup.   Of course, th

  Good morning!! For a few weeks now, I've been working on my gnomes for this year. My plan is to make eight of them, all of them gifts for Christmas except for one to keep at my home. I'm using up scrap yarns in sport weight and in DK weight wools. I do love pairing colors and eeking out as much yardage as possible from the scrap yarn bag.  What are you working on this week?

  My weekend was nice and a beautiful change from the chaos of getting new appliances. The chaos was worth every single minute. The temperature has been dropping, finally. I am all in for some chilly weather. Those little ones on Halloween will be freezing!  I've been working on gnomes, making steady progress but slow process. So far I have two completed. I have found my rhythm though and that makes the knitting feel fast.  Can you believe it'll be three weeks until Thanksgiving? I will have a full house and I am hosting dinner this year. My lists are detailed - the more I write down the less overwhelmed I feel about the time together with family. How was your weekend?

  Good morning! How are you?  I've had a full week with classes and yesterday our fridge and dishwasher arrived. Of course it was stressful, beginning with the fridge not fitting through the kitchen door. The team really wanted to call it quits but we pleaded that they try the back door which goes through the family room which doesn't have a doorway. Thankfully one of the men said yes and my husband was scrambling to remove the back door and unhook the screen door. Bless sweet Frodo, he cannot hear anything and just sleeps through it all. So the fridge was installed but then there was a water leak (of course), we have a plumber today coming to fix that. Apparently it's our end of the plumbing and not the fridge. Every single fridge we have bought and installed we have had waterline leaks for the water dispenser hookup, it must be a rite of passage. I am grateful that I saw it early and no permanent damage was done. The dishwasher installation needed a new shut off valve bec

  Good morning! I am so happy to share with you my granddaughter's little cardigan ! I loved working on this and enjoyed how speedy the knitting was. I decided to make the six month old size knowing that the garment would grow with soaking and blocking because the wool is super-wash. 

  I am so close to finishing my granddaughter's holiday sweater . I had every intention to finish it yesterday but I didn't knit at all. I have high hopes and pipe dreams that today I will finish that sweet tiny sleeve. Also, I was so busy that I forgot to take a photo in natural light, hence the above early morning photo. What are you working on this week?

  After being away last weekend, this whole week was kind of a catch-up week where I didn't quite catch-up but kept adding more to my to do list. I am behind in my holiday knitting but then does it matter? I don't think so, only I know of my arbitrary goals.  This week, I started my granddaughter's Christmas sweater and I have been thoroughly enjoying working on this little project in the evenings and even during the day. Maybe it's the wool maybe it's the pattern or maybe it's both at the same time. So far, I don't think I have any mistakes but then again you never know. My husband and I received our flu and covid shots on Wednesday late afternoon. Yesterday was a challenging day. Tylenol fixed everything, but golly,  I was dragging myself around.  I only have a sore arm this morning, I am grateful. Of course my husband had a minimal reaction, grr. Autumn is fully here, the leaves are changing and the mornings are quite cold. Frodo and I moved our early mo

  I finished our grandson's Christmas sweater last Thursday but only just photoed it yesterday. I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I made the 2-4T size and since he already is wearing 2T as I type this up. He's only going to grow! What are you working on this week?

  How has your creative pursuits been this week? I've been making great progress on my grandson's Christmas sweater. I was torn on what size to make. My choices were 1-2T or 2-4T. He already fits into 2T so I did the larger size and now wonder if this will be to big. My brain says better to be too big than too small and I continue to knit away. I finished the first sleeve last night and hope I finish the second sleeve tonight. What are you working on this week?

  How delightful to see the oak leaves falling. On my daily walks with Frodo, I've been soaking in the changes of the seasons. Entering into Autumn never disappoints and this time of year is when I think about new knitting projects and writing projects. All the books I want to read stare me down and I rethink my priorities of what I really want to focus on.  Surprisingly I picked up my paints yesterday and dabbled a tiny bit in my creative journal. Weeks have gone by since I created anything remotely related to art. Just like knitting, my interests hop around and one form of creativity over takes another form of creativity.  The older I get the more I allow grace and ease in my days. I have goals, but the goals are fluid and open-ended in a specific time frame. (I always do what I HAVE to do). My holiday knitting goals are lofty and maybe delusional but I know what I can do, what I might do and what can wait til next year.  My non-credit classes have been such fun. I enter them wit

  I finished this sweater last week and once I was finished blocking the sweater, it took forever to dry. Well, it felt like forever. Boy, did I eke out the yarn usage of this project. I only had five skeins of the main color which was wool bought by my husband when he was in Italy in 2018 (??). Why I thought five skeins would be enough yarn for a sweater is a big mystery because he called me from Italy while in a yarn store to make sure I had enough. I blame it on me! I used a skein of knitpicks palette to stripe in at the body of the sweater and for extra measure I used another 'mystery yarn' that is nearly an exact match to the main color. I have about 100 yards left over of the main color (phew!). Now all I need is some cold weather because this is a WARM sweater. What are you working on this week?

  Well lookie see, I finished the last hitchhiker shawl last night. This is the third hitchhiker shawl from my summer knitting series and it is the last one for quite some time to come. I enjoyed this knit as all the other shawl knits but I am looking forward to not knitting a shawl for quite some time. It's time to start knitting for the grands for Christmas. What are you working on this week?

  Good morning! How was your weekend?  Mine was relaxing. After we returned home on Thursday from seeing the grandchildren in Indiana, my Friday was a catch up day. Saturday and Sunday were completely relaxing.  Saturday I fiddled about with organizing my online photos for 2020, 2021 and 2022 (yes woefully behind but done!). I still have to save some photos on this computer to save to a flash drive yet. Isn't it silly to be virtually organizing? Remember when we had physical copies of everything and would place the photos in photo albums? Saturday afternoon, I read books and worked on the last hitchhiker shawl (still not done). Sunday after Mass, I did laundry and cleaned the house somewhat. I read some more and knitted some more. That last hitchhiker shawl is taking forever but I am so close to being finished. I'm sure we are still going to have hot weather but honestly it's been refreshing to be cold in the mornings and see the changes in the trees. Fall is rushing in and

  I whipped up a pair of mitts for my daughter in law, super quick. I used acrylic yarn and after I bought the yarn I discovered that it was aran weight instead of worsted weight, rookie mistake on my part. So I dropped down 2 needle sizes to make the size that I wanted. What are you working on this week?

  Good morning! Isn't Holly funny in that photo? She snuck into the 'dog' zone while Frodo was snoring away beside me in the afternoon. I looked up and there she was, surveying the room - she is always shocked he is sleeping right there beside me. Her adventurous spirit never ceases to amaze me. We have discovered that Holly hates thunderstorms and quietly hides somewhere in the house. Frodo, bless him, is deaf and cannot hear them anymore which is wonderful since he would tremble so! We close the blinds so that he cannot see flashing light from the lightning just in case that upsets him. We had a wonderful day of rain, thunder and tiny bits of lightning yesterday. Such a refreshing change of weather after the heat and humidity.  I've been enjoying my classes so far, especially Tai Chi (which is using different muscles than my yoga!). The instructor is fun and the class members all have a willing spirit.  I've been bitten by the knitting bug, in that I want to knit