Pumpkin Sunrise

  On Monday while the workers were here in my house installing insulation in the attic and sealing the air leaks in the basement, I decided to start my grandson's Christmas sweater. Well due to the noise and disruption of the busyness of the past two days, I made numerous errors and was unknitting rows.  The good news is that I love the yarn and the re-knitting makes me happy. I bought the yarn and the pattern at a local yarn store. If you know me well, I am drawn to top-down seamless sweaters. What are you working on this week?

  Well I finished yet another baby cardigan this week. This one is another gift for a friend's baby-to-be. I believe I'm done with the baby gift knitting for now! The yarn is greener in real life and I'm pleased with the way this cardigan turned out. What have you been working on this week?

  Good morning! Today is going to be a beautiful day and hopefully I will be sitting outside this afternoon on the back patio making the most of it before the rain returns once more. Sigh.  I finished the baby sweater ! It's the same pattern I knit over and over again. I am starting another one for another friend's baby to be. After that I will be taking a break from baby making things until mid to late summer when I start knitting for my grandson. What are you working on this week?

  Hello! Believe it or not  I have started a new project this past week. I have a few friends that in their family they are expecting some babies.  As you know I like to knit new babies a simple cardigan. (According to Ravelry this sweater is number thirteen!) I've knit this pattern so much it's sort of memorized and my print out is tattered.  What are you working on this week?

  I finished my sister's birthday sweater last week before we headed up to visit our daughter and son in law in Cambridge MA. I have to admit I was so eager and glad to cast off the second sleeve, soak and block this project. My sister asked me if I was going to start a sweater for myself and I just need a bit of time to recover from this project. I want a sweater for me but I need to mull over my stash collection and which pattern to pair with the yarns. For now, I'm working on short simple projects until I decide. I will be giving her sweater tomorrow and I hope it fits perfectly :)  I've knit this pattern three times and honestly this one I could knit again and again. The yoke is fun to knit and by the time I'm doing the body of the sweater it's mostly done. The sleeves are speedy too.  What are you working on this week?

  How was your New Year? How was your weekend? I had a long time off from this space and it was relaxing and fun but then again I miss my regular posting three times a week. For New Year's Eve, we went to my sister and brother in law's house for dinner and board games. We had great great fun! I'm sharing with you the progress on the baby sampler but I haven't worked on it for a few days now. I am nearly finished with what I can stitch, once the baby arrives in early February I can stitch his or her name and the date. It's been a fun stitching project (no backstitching!!). I have been knitting like a demon to finish my sister's sweater and hopefully I will have some photos to share with you soon. It's drying right now as I type this post. The weekend was relaxing and calm. I knit a lot, read a lot, and I put away all the holiday decorations because clean spaces is what I crave when the new year begins. What have you been up to this past weekend?

  Good morning! How are you? I'm excited to share with you that the first sleeve of my sister's sweater is almost done. Last night I arrived a within a row or two of the cuff. I have romantic visions of finishing this sweater by New Year's Day but that might be a knitter's pipe dream. Still, it's exciting to know that the end is very near and I can get this large project out of my knitting bag and make room for 'me me me' knitting! What are you working on this week?

  I haven't talked about my sister's sweater in a few weeks, so here is a photo update. I'm on the body of the sweater and love the mindless stockinette stitching at night while watching a tv program.

  Every single morning I write in my journal about the day before and anything else I'm pondering about. I've been doing this daily journal writing for years and love the ritual of picking up my Lamy fountain pen and Moleskine notebook and beginning my day in the very best possible way. I pour myself a cup of coffee into a 'current' favorite mug and sip away while writing. Sadly one of my favorite favorite mugs sprung a leak. So sad. However, that lets me shop to find new favorite mugs along the way. The sprung leak mug was over 30 years old so it served me well. art journal In my daily planner (not the writing journal), I write what I'd like to accomplish in that particular day. Sometimes I am really good at meeting these loose goals and sometimes I am not. I just move them onto the next day or the next week.  While sitting in darkness and silence sipping coffee, I play fetch with Holly. This particular fetch game really isn't a true fetch game. I throw a mouse

  Finally I'm seeing some fall foliage around the new neighborhood. Phew! I thought I'd be missing the colors this year but thankfully I'm witnessing some beautiful maple trees doing their thing. I miss my old walk down my old dirt road that has a multitude of trees turning colors, mostly oaks, maples and walnut trees. I think this move will take an entire year of firsts to get acclimated to the relocation and the newness. Right now on walks, I'm enjoying the neighbor's trees and landscaping. We haven't been to the local park for a few weeks so maybe my husband and I need to squeeze one visit to walk with Frodo and see those fall colors as well. The above photo was taken super early in the morning, since then the awning has been taken down by the awning people for storage and repairs. My husband is sad that summer is over, I am not, I am ready for cold weather. Since we live in a house with a neighborhood, for the first time in sixteen years I will be having tri

  I finished this sweet little baby sweater for the grandbaby-to-be a few days ago. The duck buttons just amuse me every single time I look at the wee sweater. This was sweater was #12 of this pattern by Elizabeth Zimmermann. I am sure I will be making more after the holidays are over in other colors.  What are you working on this week?

Good morning! I finished the baby sweater ! Somehow finishing a project and sewing the buttons on feels like such an accomplishment since we moved. I continually feel like I'm not getting much knitting done and then boom I have a lovely sweater off the needles for a dear friend's daughter who is expecting at the end of December. The yarn is from the baby blanket stash that I over bought. The pattern is my tried and true Elizabeth Zimmermann two needle baby sweater . You know very well that I'll be casting on another baby sweater for the new grandbaby-to-be shortly. What are you working on?

  Good morning, how are you this fine Wednesday morning?  My knitting has expanded a wee bit with a sweet little baby cardigan for a friend's first grandchild. I do love this yarn and I over-bought on the yellow, it's always better to have too much than too little. I like to make the February Baby sweater by Elizabeth Zimmermann - a true classic! I omit the gull stitch pattern for the body and just zip along in knitting bliss. Apparently this is the eleventh time I've knitted this sweater on Ravelry. What are you working on this week?

  Hello! How are you? I took a mini break from the blog posting and now I'm here to tell you all about the finished sweater. As you and I both predicted, the sweater is finished. Just in time for the  upcoming fall season. I love knowing that when that cool crisp air blows, I'll have a brand new sweater to wear. I really don't want to wear a heavy wool sweater right now. I'm pleased with how this turned out and how the color work makes the sweater's statement. Honestly I could knit this again for a third time, but after a break. I've got lots of other knitting projects that are swirling in the back of my mind. Now that the weather is warming up and spring is in the air, I'll be switching to shawl knitting and maybe more sock knitting. Ravelry notes   What are you working on this week?

  How was your weekend? It's beginning to look a lot like springtime around here. The grass is greening up and then poof the daffodils are blooming! One day I look out the window and there's nothing and then the next day there's brilliant yellow blossoms. Fantastic to behold and somewhat magical. My weekend was mostly the same as all the others. Saturday was kind of lazy with lots of afternoon reading - I love carving out a marathon reading session - it makes Saturday feel like Saturday. We took a walk with Frodo but couldn't do the dirt road because I could hear there was target shooting going on (not a fan of being accidentally shot). So we walked the road and not one car passed us. So the paved road felt like the dirt road walk. Do you see that yarn above? Wonder why there are two balls? Well....this was from deep stash and I thought I'd start some shawl knitting once my sweater is finished. I'm guessing the many many breaks in the wool was a gift from the P

  My knitting this week has been minimal, no excuses for me. It is what it is. I am finally on the ribbing of the body of my fair isle pullover  sweater. Just think I'll be whipping through some sleeves in no time. I guess it does take a lot of time to knit the body. As I mentioned before, I'm making two Christmas stockings for the newlyweds for their home and one for my daughter-in-law at my home. I found two skeins of red and I highly doubt all three stockings will be made, I wish I would have kept better notes when I made these for my daughter and son in law for their first Christmas.  Last but not least this hat ! I am so close to finishing it and yet it sits at the bottom of my knitting bag. I do remember now that the decreasing was all done in one color so that makes my knitting a bit easier.  What have you been working on this week?

  Right now I'm sitting on the couch with Frodo by my side as he snores while snuggled under a blanket. I love his haircut so much but he's sensitive to the slightest chill after his beauty treatment. How are you? How was your weekend? The sun is shining brilliantly and I'm loving the birdsong I hear each day. Spring is coming, I am ready. My weekend was nice and I finally found the blooming snowdrops on our walk. This patch is from a different road, the other patch on the other road either haven't come up yet or a fallen tree has smothered them. I'll keep looking. I did see some daffodil greens sprouting up as well. We walked both days and each time it was a bit colder than the last time. As long as the sun is shining the walks are enjoyable.  I'm making steady progress on my pullover and I'm within an inch of the ribbing of the body of the sweater. I do love miles of stockinette stitch.  Saturday afternoon I read all day long and loved being immersed in a

  I'm looking at my knitting for the past week and it doesn't seem like I've done much of anything. The photo above is the start of a Christmas stocking for the newlyweds for their home (yes, I am knitting for Christmas 2021....). I'll make two and stitch their names on each of them.  Then I'll make one for my house with my daughter in law's name on it for my collection.  I made these stockings for my daughter and son in law when they were married. My mother wrote out the pattern and so I cannot say where the original is from. I'm guessing from a long ago holiday issue of McCall's magazine. Maybe. My pullover sweater is coming along quite nicely. I'm half way to through the body of the sweater. I love this project so much and it's a comfort to knit and have on my lap while watching TV in the evenings. What are you working on this week?

  After my little knitting hiccup with following the wrong size when I did the short row shaping, then ripping out all of that hard earned knitting work, I am proud to report that I am back on track with my yoke pullover . I'm happy to be swimming in a sea of stockinette knitting. I do love simplicity and the rhythmic cadence I get into when knitting stockinette stitch. My hat is also making slow and steady progress - I need to measure it and see how many more inches of the fair isle knitting I want to do before I do the crown shaping. Also I have to figure out the crown shaping. I charted out the fair isle pattern on a grid paper but failed to write any notes for the rest of the hat.  What are you working on this week?

  On Friday I ripped back all of the short row shaping and stockinette knitting to the color work portion of the yoke sweater because I followed the wrong size (oops!). I'm happy to report I am back to where I was on Friday morning before the rip out session AND I am following the correct size this time, phew. I enjoy the humbling experiences knitting gives me. My weekend was just like all the other weekends - quiet and relaxing. We were itching to have an outing so we went to the hardware store on Saturday afternoon, you know, living up the high life. They have a large decorating section that is fun to browse while my husband looks at boring tools. We managed to get a walk in before the snow and rain arrived. I love winter but I am looking forward to getting outside more for walking and fresh air. So I guess....I'm ready for spring. There I said it! The February challenge of writing a haiku a day will continue through March until I fill up the homemade bound notebook my siste