Pumpkin Sunrise

My beautiful mustard seed cardigan has been to the frog pond this morning!!  I had some reservations on the fit especially in the yoke area.  But it took having most of the body knitted for me to make a firm decision to rip it all out.  I knew that I would not be happy with how roomy it was.  I also was cutting it close on my yarn supply. First of all, my gauge which was perfect in the beginning became a little too relaxed.  Second of all, I am in between a 36 inch and 40 inch size.  So initially I thought the 40 inch would work.  But the yoke is so wide that now I am thinking the 36 inch would be better and I could always block it out to gain an inch.   Today I will cast on (again) one size smaller (36 inch) and down a needle size as well.  A whole month of knitting was ripped out in less than 45 minutes!  Amazing! For some reason, I am never sad about ripping out.  It is a fact of life in the knitting process. I did sleep on my decision.  Going to bed knowing that I

So yesterday I decided to make a mushroom quiche .  Keep in mind that every time my husband walked by I had to hear a clip of "Sweet Lorraine" by Uriah Heep......only he was singing "Quiche Lorraine"....such simple pleasures.  I looked about the internet and the audio clips were just too darn long so I am not linking.  I heard the song clip enough from him. For the quiche recipe I added asparagus and green pepper.  I omitted the onion.  I also used canola oil instead of butter to saute the vegetables. Anyways,  I needed some pastry dough.  I have to admit that I am that kind of a person that buys my pie crust premade and prewrapped in the refrigerator aisle by the eggs.  Would you believe that I did not have any in the house and I kept forgetting to buy it?  I know....I am slacking off around here. So I decided to make it from scratch from a recipe that I have used for the past 23 years.  I know you are supposed to use shortening or butter but I dis

Our weekend was fantastic but a little different, it was hard to find a rhythm without the kids.  We do like our new quiet life overall.  It's just.....different!  We spent Saturday morning chatting with the kids and just relaxing about.  I knitted some and read some.  My husband played guitar. In the afternoon, we decided to drive to Barnes and Nobles and browse about the store.  After that, we dropped in the grocery store and stocked up on some items that are unavailable in our town.  "What could you possibly not be able to get in your town?" You may ask.....well red lentils, of course!  My husband can make a fantastic daal that goes with his curry and the regular lentils do not taste as good.   That evening we made a great stir fry with mushrooms, asparagus and some turkey.  Yum!  Once the dishes were done, we watched Dodgeball .  It was pretty bad, but we were laughing through it so was it really that awful? Today we attended Mass, which was weird wit

Joining Amanda at Soulemama

This is my knitting bag. Don't you just love the grumpy upside down smile?  It is the Zuma bag made by Namaste.  Boy oh boy, can this bag hold a lot of stuff.  I can carry at least two projects and more "stuff".  Here's a photo with all the projects in side. This is with the sweaters out of the bag and you can see the rest of the yarn and supplies that are inside.  I usually print out my patterns from ravelry and fold them in half.  For awhile I was using my ipod but my eyes are failing me and I cannot see the charts....I have an appointment in September and I am sure that the optician will once again do wonders to by seeing ability.  A miracle! This is the inside of the grumpy zipper.  It does hold a lot.  The little bags inside were made by dear sister and they contain stitch markers, stitch holders, stitch clips and needles. How do you carry your knitting around?  Do you have a favorite bag?

I finished Anne's House of Dreams  which I thoroughly enjoyed.  This book flowed easily and the subplots were very interesting.  Anne loves to help people find their happiness.  There is also an event that shadows Anne's happiness.  She truly is a wonderful character who has an upbeat way of tackling the sadness of life and embracing wholeheartedly the goodness of life.  And so I begin number six in the series. For knitting, I am on the body of the mustard seed cardigan  and the body of my wren cardigan .  One is worsted weight and is going very quickly.  The other, sadly, is on size four needles and is pokey pokey slow going.  Oh well, I believe it is all my fault....right?  I know I will love both sweaters when they are complete.  I am certain that everyone should try a top down construction of a sweater-I guarantee you will convert from the sweaters that you have to sew the pieces together. I am thoroughly loving the cold mornings!  Seems to me that fall is arou

Over the weekend, I finished the shawl for my mother in law.  I am quite pleased with it.  I would definitely make the Holden Shawlette  pattern again.  It was very easy to follow and I was able to memorize most of the pattern, which means I could knit and talk at the same time.  Can't beat that! I did make some minor modifications.  I repeated the chart three times instead of two and a half.  I also decided not to do the picot edging.  I felt it would have been a little to busy visually with the yarn being multicolored and I was afraid I might not have enough yarn.  I did do the stretchy purl bind off.   This is the second time I have knit with Ella Rae Lace Merino  and I just love it.  It is very springy and the dyeing technique never leads to pooling of the colors.  The yarn also blocks beautifully!!