Pumpkin Sunrise

This weekend brought snow and some very very chilly weather.  Like wear your wool socks and wool scarves in the house kind of weather.  I snapped some photos and enjoyed the freezing cold air. Because of my husband's affinity to sports, there was once again lots of football games to watch.  I barely listened and I sat and knitted away on my projects.  He'll ask me who I think will win, I'll ask who is the underdog (I always go with underdog).  Then we have a discussion about whether the underdog has a chance.  We have fun that way :) Today I played hide and seek with Frodo.  I sneak up on him around corners of the kitchen and family room, he loves it and runs around and goes crazy.  A game that I can rely on to tire him out as he tends to have high energy. Today was also a mashed potato-gravy-baked chicken-and yorkshire pudding day. There was corn served too and that is what made it healthy (besides not peeling the red potatoes).  I am serving up my son's favo

Joining Amanda at Soulemama

Yesterday I did some cleaning on the main floor.  I dusted the family room, living room and then the dining room.  Then I was sidetracked.  I saw on the floor a big basket of sea shells that we have collected  over the years from going to the beach as a family.  I picked up the basket and started going through the collection, picking out the tiny shells and the pretty stones.  I do not know how much time I spent doing this.  Does it matter?  I was on a mission! My idea was to display them where I could see them.  My kitchen window sill is the perfect place-I tend to stand there a lot during the day (I wonder why?).  So now I have a beautiful reminder of family vacations where we would pick up one or two shells or stones and place in a pocket.  I also have memories of big beach pails held by little hands, and shovels and digging for treasures.

Okay, so I have been casting on a lot of projects.  I just can't resist.  I have been really knitting up a storm on the periwinkle frost shawl  and I am still on chart A.  I am more than half way done with the first chart and I can see my progress-I love this shawl!  My Hawthorne Cardigan  has only had one or two rows added since last week.  My Sprouts Shawl  is working up nicely!  I cannot stop singing the praises for Malabrigo Sock yarn -it is soft and squishy and has excellent stitch definition.  I think it is a treat to knit with for socks or for a shawl.  I also have in mind making a sweater one day out of it. My reading this week is still Rilla of Ingleside.   It might be the best book in the series.  I am so glad that I am finally reading it. What a pleasure to observe the main character maturing during the events of World War I through her experiences.  Amazingly she is taking care of a newborn infant at fifteen years of age.  I remember babysitting a three month old w

I don't know about you, but it seems to be a little bit lighter than usual around 4:30 p.m.  I was doing dishes and I thought "we should walk before it gets dark!" If you utter the word "walk" anywhere near Frodo you are committed to walking.  He looks so eager and happy, he prances all around doing twirls-he should have been in the circus. We haven't walked the dirt road for many many weeks.  Mainly because of deer season and I am afraid I might be mistaken for a deer.  My dad insists that it would not happen but I do not believe him.  So from Thanksgiving until one to two weeks after deer season I steer clear of the dirt road.  Only paved residential roads. It was so nice to be out and about in the woods.  There might be one car that passes by.  This walk there was a car and a neighbor's golden retriever walking down the road.  He loves to greet Frodo.  Frodo wishes he was as big as a golden retriever. I might complain there is n

This photo would be perfect if there was some SNOW in it....Sorry, I really am hoping for some snow and so far it exists only in my imagination.  I am fondly remembering last year's winter when we had some decent snowfall and some beautiful quiet frozen mornings. My weekend was a little bittersweet.  I am seeing all of my coffee table (without piles of books) which I am thrilled to bits about, but I am seeing it because my daughter went back to her apartment on Friday. Oh well March break will be here before I know it (and so will the clutter!). My weekend has been filled with reading and relaxing.  More football games because of the playoffs.  I am not a sport fanatic but I married one and sometimes I listen to what he says...sometimes. We also polished off all of the lingering left overs from the crazy holidays. This morning at Mass I was a little sad that the Christmas carols are over.  It seems that Advent and Christmas fly by for me.  I also am loving the new mass

Well I was pretty sure when I casted on that I needed to go down a needle size for my cardigan .  The six just seemed too loose.  How lucky I was to be wearing the first cardigan to compare gauge (without measuring) to notice that I needed to switch needles.  I only had a couple rows to rip out so it was not devastating. I know I have stated this before, but I love top down construction.  I do not like to sew seams and I like that the bulk of the knitting is done at the very beginning.  If you have not tried top down and you are familiar with sweater knitting, you should give it a try.  The only negative to top down construction is that there are no shoulder seams which leads to less structure at the top of the sweater. Today I will be transporting my daughter back to her campus.  She is packing as I type.  I can see my coffee table (over half) and my laundry duties will diminish somewhat.  While I am traveling this afternoon, my husband will be home cooking up a curry f

Don't you think that bowl and cowl should rhyme?  Well it was just a thought.  I finished my daughter's cowl last night while watching the very last Harry Potter movie with the family.  The drama had the stitches flying off the needles!  I only just soaked it early this morning and I am not sure if I will get a photo of it being worn.  I have my fingers crossed but just in case here are two photos of it drying in the guest bedroom. I always block my knits and I always use a wool wash.  I like knowing that I do not have to rinse the soap out of the knitwear.  I think soaking allows the fiber to "bloom", it also removes any chemicals and last bits of dye that are still in the wool after it has been processed.  It always feels softer to me. I fill up the sink (or tub) with very warm water and add a splash of wool wash then throw the knitted item in and submerge it.  I soak at least 20 minutes.......I have been known to soak for 7 hours because I forgot and that

For knitting this week I have been focusing on finishing the cowl  for my daughter before she goes back to her apartment on Friday.  I have about 7-9 rows to go.  I have great hopes that I will be casting off today and soaking in wool wash and blocking by tonight.  My other project that has gained my knitting attention is a new sweater that I blogged about yesterday .  I am winging it on the gauge......which means there is a good chance (50%) that I might be ripping it out.  I tend to knit whatever needle size is called for in a pattern so fingers crossed that this is true.  How I wish I would have documented the needles size on the first sweater. I finished Digging to America  and I really did not care for it as much as I had hoped.  There really was no conflict to be resolved.  More like a character exploration.  At the very very end there was some tiny minor conflict resolution that had me thinking "that's it?".  I am glad I finished the book.  So now I have start

Prepare the way for some new projects, of course!!  I am so excited to start a few new items and both are for me.  This lovely yarn is Prime Alpaca  in sport weight that I bought at the PA Endless Mountain Fiber Festival in 2010, unfortunately due to the heavy flooding this past fall they did not have their booth. I've decided to make the Gooseberry Cardigan , again.  I wear this cardigan a lot through the winter and I want another one!  Can you believe that I did not document what needle size I used on Ravelry?  Jeez.  So that means I have to do gauge.  Bleh. I thought you all would love to see my expensive swift, ha ha.  For some reason two chairs back to back works for me and my upper arms get a much needed workout.  Anyways, onto my other lovely bundle of yarn. This is a skein of Malabrigo Sock in the lettuce colorway.  I am not sure which shawl pattern I am going to start.  I am leaning towards one of the seven shawls by Romi Hill.  I love the decision maki

I was so lucky yesterday to wake up and see such a pretty sky when I took Frodo outside.  So once we were back in our house, I quickly grabbed my camera and headed out to capture the moment.  My first new day of the new year was spent going to Mass and then putting away the Christmas decorations.  I know they are supposed to stay up until the Epiphany but I just cannot last that long. I'm I little tired from the work.  However, I had many helpers carrying the full boxes back to where they are stored until next Christmas.  My living room looks so tidy and a bit empty.  I still have the mess on the coffee table.  That will be there until the kids go back to their campuses. Today I am going grocery shopping and picking up some new ingredients to start the yummy meal plans that I have created from my new cookbooks.  I am going to try one new recipe a week---at least!  Steering towards whole foods and way less sugar. I don't cook from prepackaged because they (food ma