Pumpkin Sunrise

  There is something about January days that are delightful. The Christmas gift giving, planning, knitting and wrapping is completed. The house is undecorated from the holidays and clean spaces are everywhere where I look. The days are getting a little more daylight each day, do you notice that?  I continue to love watching the birds at my back yard feeder. Winter is glorious. After nearly a week, I am recovered from our trip to Cambridge MA. We have another winter storm brewing this weekend but I do not have to be anywhere important through most of it. While up in Cambridge I started a pair of socks for my husband who was the only knit-worthy person who did not receive a Christmas hand knit. Better late than never, right? I am just making a plain pair that requires no thinking on my part. I am knitting on auto pilot. I have been reading the Sister of Auschwitz during the day when my mind is fresh, it's really good. The other book Amaryllis in Blueberry is a really weird book, can

  Good morning!  Boy oh boy did I have a time with my computer just now, what a bother. Anyways, all systems are up and running and I am ready to talk about knitting. In the midst of decluttering I still find time in my evenings to knit. I started a new shawl  project a few days ago. The left over fingering weight wool is a bit of a mystery since I didn't keep the tag with the yarn. I am enjoying this simple knitting project.  I finished the last Christmas stocking and the name has been duplicate stitched as well. I guess I'm getting better at duplicate stitch but I still despise doing it. This time I did not make any spelling errors, I felt quite proud about that. Last up is the second birch leaf shawl on the needles, I'm enjoying this soothing project and the repetitiveness of the pattern. I believe it has fantastic stitch definition this time around. What have you been working on this week?

  Good morning! How are you? It's been busy around here and yet in the evening I am relieved to sit and knit and gather my thoughts. The past few days I have not worked on the second birch leaf shawl  (which is in the above photo) because I have been focusing on finishing the third and final Christmas stocking . I am so pleased to tell you that I completed the stocking knitting and now I am faced with the dreaded duplicate stitching of a name. Sigh. I am terrible at duplicate stitch!  I am romantically thinking of what will be my next knitting project. A pair of socks is always easy for me if they are plain, or maybe a fingering weight shawl... stay tuned. I need easy and light in these coming days.   What are you working on this week?

  Good morning! My knitting this week is the same as last week and the week before that. However I've finished two Christmas stockings out of three total. On Mother's Day, I duplicate stitched the names on and -oh boy- did I have a time with that. Apparently I forgot how to duplicate stitch and even though I had the names charted out in front of me I continued to misspell names.  Gracious! I have big plans to make another birch leaf shawl as soon as this pink shawl is finished. I love how the pattern is memorized and I just pick up and go go go. Since I'm busy with other 'life' stuff (who isn't) I need simplicity in my knitting. What have you been working on this week?

  Hello! How are you?  I'd love to tell you about how much I am knitting but that just isn't happening this week. My husband and I have been overly busy and as you know, some things get set aside for the busy. However, yesterday afternoon I had a blissful 2 1/2 hours of uninterruptedness and I knitted away on the second Christmas stocking while listening to some audio knitting podcasts. What bliss! So today no matter how busy I am I will be returning to this project and giving myself permission to ignore the 'busy' and give myself a much needed break. What are you working on?

  This past week I've been working on the same projects. As you can see in the above photo, I finished the first Christmas stocking and have started the second stocking. This is my zoom knitting because I do not have to think for most of it, just stockinette stitch around and around. The second project is the triangle shawl . I work on this mostly in the evenings, overall I love the pattern but the hand dyed wool tends to pool once in a while, I'm hoping that the pooling looks like a design feature. Unfortunately I was mid-row when I snapped the photo so you cannot see the triangle shape, trust me it is a triangle. What are you working on this week?

  How was your weekend? My Saturday was wonderful and my Sunday was 'okay'. Saturday I spent the afternoon reading The Outsider by Stephen King (it is really good).  Whenever I have an afternoon reading it reminds me of my childhood and teenage years when I would marathon read. I highly recommend. I finished the first Christmas stocking out of three to be made and cast on the second one. I'm pleased with my progress and now I know exactly how much red yarn I need. I will write some notes to my future self. Sunday is my chore day and I was delayed to do any of them because my husband has been doing some drywall mudding and painting in the laundry room and the master bathroom. I cleaned up all of that 'drywall mud dust' in the laundry room and that set off an allergic reaction. I wasn't wearing a mask and I should have known better. Being a human that can learn, I wore a mask in the master bathroom and thus avoided an allergic reaction. I was super grumpy over the

  Good morning! Even though I have the mildest case of ennui with my knitting, I have been knitting faithfully on two projects and enjoying them both AND I am mulling over a third cast on in the near future just haven't decided on a pattern as of yet.  First up is the pink shawl in the above photo. This pattern is super easy to memorize (for me) and I just truck along row after row after row. There are two ways to knit the shawl - bottom up triangle (the one I chose) or an edge to edge construction.  Now about the Christmas stocking below, I wish the Past Me would have made better notes when I made these 5 years ago for my daughter and her husband and documented how much yarn I used. Sadly, the Past Me wasn't diligent. The Current Me is just hoping this takes one skein of red.  It's not a big deal at all, just something I am mulling about. I have two skeins of this red and would be pleased to get two stockings out of it. Somehow the unknown is thrilling and gives life a b

  Over the weekend I finished the LAST pair of socks for the kids. I knit each adult child and spouse a pair of socks.  I am thrilled that I met my knitting goal before the end of November. The above photo is a pair of socks for my future daughter in law. What are you working on this week? Joining Ginny

  Good morning! How are you and how are your knitting projects or other works in progress?  I've been in a knitting frenzy this week. I started a new project, a top down sweater that is the last photo. It would have been the first photo if Blogger would upload my photos in the correct order. This sweater has been such a delight to cast on! I get excited each afternoon when I pick up and knit a few rows.  I'm using yarn from my stash which permits me to buy more yarn right? The above photo is a hat a started earlier this month and haven't spent much time working on it. I decided to photo the project and add it to my Raverly notes so I remember that I should be working on this beautiful hat. Lastly, I will be finishing the last sock of the last pair of holiday gift knitting. I estimate that I will be done in three days. I'm so excited to reach my knitting Christmas goal! What are you working on this week?

  Lately it seems that each day that comes and goes is just like the previous one. How have you been? Have you been able to make the days feel different? Today I am planning on wrapping some Christmas gifts and I'm toying with decorating the house this weekend which would be a week early, just because I can. I hope to have a walk after dinner and take advantage of the milder weather. The local radio station said they will start playing holiday tunes, that was a bright beacon of delight to hear! When I was in high school, I loved Christmas and the days leading up to it. I would wear jingle bells tied to my shoes and I'm amazed that the teachers and Sisters at my Catholic high school allowed this. Maybe they liked the 'jingle jangle' or maybe they had great restraint at being annoyed.  I upgraded my phone after waiting since March to do so. Unfortunately I lost October and November photos due to a rookie mistake. I was so consumed with making sure my husband's photos

  I finished the third pair of socks for holiday gift giving out of four pairs! Of course it's the same pattern memorized in my head that is somewhat soothing during these trying times. My only slight problem was when I pulled from the center out to begin the socks I must have messed it up and I had to knit almost one sock before the massive tangle was undone.   Ravelry notes What are you working on this week?

  Good morning to all of you! How have you been? I've been focusing on my knitting and my relaxation techniques which includes daily meditations. I am also trying my best to NOT multitask. This is quite the challenge since I love to be doing two things at the same time. Apparently multitasking increases stress levels, who knew! I have two projects on the needles, another pair of holiday knitting socks (number 3 out of 4) and a hat for me that is of my own design.  I haven't made a project page for the hat as of yet. I'm enjoying both projects immensely and while working on them I think about a knit for me. In other news we woke up to a 'bear' incident yesterday morning. The little stinker got into our garbage and threw that around as well as broke into the fenced in area and tried to walk on the pool cover.  We think it's a cub based on the footprints below. This is one huge disadvantage of being surrounded by woods in a rural area.

  I finished two projects since I last posted my knitting news update. Sadly I have to guess when I finished these socks ! So let's say sometime last week? I have no idea. But they are finished and they turned out great. I'm knitting a pair of socks for each of the kids and their partners. I am half way done! The baby blanket turned out so nice and because it's all cotton, it's soft and has a cosy feel to it. I'll be wrapping this up for the nephew's baby to be within the next week or so. I have a wee cardigan to go with it, more about that next week. What are you working on this week? Joining Ginny

  How's your week been?  Mine was somewhat busy and a little bit stressful. I decided to bundle a lot of my errands and tasks on Wednesday just so I could cross off a huge list, instead of every single day having a dribbling effect of going somewhere or doing something. So my Wednesday was full but I was quite productive. We've been going on daily walks, where I soak up the autumnal changes, I'm afraid I'll blink and the colors will be completely over. The maple trees are in peak colors right now and the oak trees are starting to drop leaves. There's a mini warm up predicted for the weekend and then hopefully we are back to light jacket wearing. I've got some plans in my head for some aimless car rides on back roads in the next few weeks.  Frodo continues to act like himself and chases Holly whenever he gets a chance. It's nice to not be worrying about him as much as I was over last weekend. My husband and I have been watching all the Marvel movies in the or

  First and foremost, Frodo is acting more like himself now that he is on some medicines to help him get better. Thank you for all of the well wishes for his speedy recovery, I am grateful.   I started knitting a baby blanket  yesterday for my nephew's baby-to-be that is due in mid-January. This yarn has been in my stash for over twenty years...I love when I use something that has hung around forever. Using stash yarn justifies the collecting of stash yarn. I am on the second sock for my son in law for his hand made Christmas present. I had grand plans of finishing it over the weekend but I didn't.  Maybe by this weekend??  What are you working on this week?

  How was your weekend? Mine was a mixed bag of sorts. Just so you know, Blogger insists on uploading my photos in the wrong order and I've given up fixing them.  Does it matter? I'm not sure! I've contacted them numerous times and I don't think they care or it isn't a high priority for them. Also free is free, you get what you pay for. Anyways, Saturday was a beautiful day, we drove to a neighboring town via back roads and drank in the fall foliage that is slowly emerging. I don't want to miss it!  We had the best bagel sandwiches ever for lunch outside while the weather permits. I think hunger makes everything taste good these days. We walked around the town and then headed home. Yesterday was stressful. Frodo started a cough Saturday night and coughed the whole night through. I just don't know how I did babies-toddlers-preschoolers back in the day. I was extremely exhausted yesterday morning! Anyways we took him the a 24/7 emergency vet hospital who said