Pumpkin Sunrise

We had a very busy weekend.  Our company arrived on Friday and left on Monday morning.  So naturally, my husband and I decided to go out for lunch and do a bit of shopping.  One of the things we bought was this: I am hoping that my fruit decays a lot slower now that there is air circulation.  The bananas are not looking that great right now. Oh well.  On the knitting front, I managed to start and complete two scarves for Christmas gifts during the weekend.  I only have two more gifts to make and I am ready for my visit to Pittsburgh during Thanksgiving vacation.  That is when my side of the family exchanges gifts.  After that holiday, maybe I can start some gifts for my husband or kids.  (Or maybe I will be selfish and knit just for me.)

I thought I would squeeze in a tiny posting today.  Tomorrow we have weekend company arriving and I am sure come Monday I will be in a massive clean the house state of mind.  I really am caught up on what needed to be finished for the company.  I like to do a little bit each day rather than everything all in one day.  So I made a list about a week or so ago and I have been crossing each task off.  I feel quite accomplished at the moment :) Anyways, I have finished two Christmas presents!!  I decided to make two hats for an uncle and a dear "adopted" father-in-law.  The pattern is called Seaman's Cap . It is a wonderful pattern that knits up very quickly.  I decided to use an acrylic/wool blend from the bottom of the stash.  The yarn is ancient.....20 years old?  What is sad is that I bought it so that definitely ages me. Thankfully tweed yarn seems to stay in style. I also started on a scarf for another adopted family member.  I wanted a skinny worsted weight sca

Well it has been a while, hasn't it?  I have had a nasty little virus that was not that bad but it kept me from doing everything I wanted to do.  Like blogging or up-dating my Ravelry project page.  Today is the first day that I feel almost like myself. I also have finally finished the Tweed Cardigan .  I completed this sweater on Thursday night.  I then had to search for nine buttons!  I live in a very little college town and I knew that it would be a challenge.  My LYS does have some interesting buttons but I really wanted plain, understated buttons for this cardigan. After two more stores I found some buttons.  Overall I am quite happy with the results of the sweater.  The pattern is well written and of course you cannot go wrong with a top down construction.  I think I am addicted to top down sweaters.

Wow it has been raining a ton around here.  Everyday it is rain and even though I am very grateful for the cooler weather, I wouldn't mind a break from the rain.  Yesterday during the afternoon there was a tiny break from the drizzle.  The sun popped out briefly, less than two minutes.  I ran outside a took this photo of the mist coming off the pool cover.  What a temperature difference! As you might have guessed, the rain came back and the sun hid behind the clouds for the rest of the day. I finished a Christmas present yesterday.  I guess this officially starts the holiday season for me.  I have not decided who will receive the scarf.  I will be making two more then I will decide who gets which one.  The scarf pattern is as follows: Worsted weight wool Size 10 needles Cast on 28 stitches  Row 1:  *K2, P2* repeat across all stitches Row 2 and 4:  Knit the knit stitches, purl the purl stitches Row 3: *P2, K2* repeat across all stitches. Repeat thes

Yesterday after an early dinner, the electricity went out due to a severe rain and wind storm.  Apparently some trees were down on some power lines.  We did not have power until 1:15 a.m.  How do I know this?  Well the TV downstairs was blaring away when the power came back on. Our life was restored to normalcy once more.  It is funny that a couple of days ago, I announced that I wanted to finish a book by September 30th.  Who would have thought a power outage could have helped me almost make my goal!  I finished the book this morning.  I also have a warm appreciation for my electricity and everything I can do with it  My coffee this morning tasted better than ever..  I am sure my thankfulness will wear off soon and will return with the next power outage. I have made some progress on my sweater this week.  I have completed one sleeve and I am half way done with the other sleeve.  Here are some pictures: Last but not least, here is a photo of our dog, Frodo.  He's a

What can I say?  I love the scarf now that it is off the needles.  I am very happy to have used up a considerable amount of leftover sock yarn.  Using eight different colors of sock yarn creates a beautiful woven stitch design.  Even though I grumbled about the project about how long it was taking to complete it, I will definitely make this scarf again.  I have tons of sock yarn scraps!  I think I might use size 5 needles next time instead of size 4 needles.  I hope it will feel like I am knitting faster than the speed of light. No matter how fast the knitting goes, I am quite sure I will grumble about the second scarf in between the beginning and the end.

My husband surprised me with a bouquet of red roses for our anniversary. That was more than a week ago.  I now have four left that are still looking beautiful.  I moved them into a bright red vase and placed them in the family room.  Because I cut the stems again, they might just last another week. My tweed cardigan is coming along nicely.  I just finished the 2x2 ribbing of the body of the sweater.  I did not change needle sizes because I do not like tight ribbing.  I also started one sleeve.  I have really been liking the yarn and the project.                                      The linen stitch scarf is just taking to long for me.  It does not help that I have not worked on it much in the past week.  I decided yesterday to dedicate more time to this project so I can be done with it!  I do like how I am using up all of my odd ends of sock yarn.                                           It does look pretty though!  That will definitely make me crea

I just had to post a picture of these little acorns I bought at the fiber festival.  Aren't they cute?  I will keep one for myself and the other will be for my sister.  She gets to pick which color she wants because I am the best sister ever! I cannot believe that I have actually started to write out a Christmas List.  I always have great expectations of what I would like to knit for family members.  But then, sometimes I end up not liking the project, or the yarn or just the pressure of getting it done.  There is nothing like getting a notebook out to make the list full of promising ideas. I did start a scarf for a gift yesterday but I do not know who it is for yet.  I just decided a simple double moss stitch would do.  I did not want the scarf to curl on the edges and I wanted both sides to look the same. I am enjoying this scarf project so far because the pattern is quite simple. I have been working on the Tweed cardigan and have just started the ribbing of the

On Saturday, my daughter and I went to the PA Endless Mountain Fiber Festival .  It was a day filled with lots of beautiful yarns and fibers.  Here are some photos of the day: The weather was absolutely perfect.  I even wore a wool scarf as evidence that I am a fellow knitter without being overly hot.  Many of the people there were wearing their handmade knitted garments.  This year's festival was definitely bigger than last year and hopefully it will just continue to grow with more vendors participating. One can only hope!

Fall is here or nearly here. I have noticed that the leaves have started to change and are dropping from the trees.  I have a fair amount of acorns on the driveway. The nights are cooler and it is getting dark a little earlier every night.  Today it is very cool outside and overcast.  I have a wool sweater on and I am not hot. I would be totally agreeable to keeping the cool temperatures with maybe a frost.  I look forward to wearing scarves and mittens. I think in the next week I will be baking a Pumpkin Spice Cake.  That always reminds me of fall. I have started another project this week.  I am making the Cerus Scarf  with eight different left over sock yarns.  The linen stitch does a wonderful job showcasing the many colors.  I am using greens, browns, blues, grays and a bit of purple. Here is an updated picture of my tweed cardigan.  I finished the body shaping decreasing and have just started the increasing.  This is I think my third or fourth top down construction of a sweat

My husband just returned from a trip to Shanghai.  He brought back some fabulous yarn and some souvenirs. It appears that the wool is fingering weight and it is extremely soft.  I am thinking, of course, it will be a cardigan. I have been working on my Tweed Cardigan, the pattern is Gooseberry   from Interweave Knits, Weekend 2009 issue.  So far the pattern has been easy to follow.  I really like how the alpaca yarn is showcased by the simplicity of the sweater design. The alpaca yarn I bought at PA Endless Mountain Fiber Festival , the vendor's name is Times Remembered.  She has such beautiful natural alpaca hanks in sport weight and in worsted weight.  Next weekend will be my third year attending and I will be buying more alpaca if they are still there.