Pumpkin Sunrise

While I was visiting my sister and being bombarded by delicious yarn at the knit and crochet show, I was on the look out for some DK weight wool.  I tried very hard to be open minded on color and dyeing technique.  I tend to be so specific of what I want in a yarn that I never find it.  Above is the yarn that I discovered and immediately when we got back to my sister's house I nagged her to help ball it up with her winder and swift.  I am making the wurm hat for me!  The yarn is wonderful and it is made by cosymakes .  It is quite soft and the color is beautiful! I also have on my needles the never ending periwinkle shawl  that should be done next week.  At least I hope it will be done.  My sweater  has been woefully neglected this whole week. Rebecca  continues to adorn my nightstand and has entertained me overall.  I do not think I am loving it as much as I did when I read it as a teenager.  I think because the husband, Maxim, can be quite insensitive at times.  Funny, I

We arrived at my sister's place around dinner time.  My sister graciously invited us for a weekend visit since we had a great time together at the cabin .  Also during this visit, there was the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Show .  We attended just on the Saturday to do some yarn shopping, and drooling at the expensive stuff.  Did you know sequins are big in knitting?  Not my style but it apparently is hot right now. These violets sit on her window sill.  Aren't they pretty?  I am not very gifted in the growing plants department.  Right now I am killing an amaryllis.  I just do not think it is going to bloom now.  Over watering is my downfall every single time. Whoop!  This is what I bought at the show.  Lovely lovely yarn.  As you can see I was in a gray/purple mood and a green/yellow mood.  I have no idea what I am going to knit yet.  The green on the far left is becoming a hat and that is as far as I thought about it. This is my sister's sewing/craft room

Oh boy was this weekend full of fun!  There was sister visiting (more on that tomorrow).  Yarn shopping. Dessert eating.  Pen and paper buying!!  Seeing my Favorite Aunt and Uncle. Tell me which is better, buying a new book and smelling the fresh ink?  Or.....buying a new notebook and pen and writing in it?  I think both are filled with bliss. The ride home today was filled with snow, wonky windshield wipers, low windshield wiper fluid and a visit to a gas station to solve that problem.  One lane driving on an interstate because of snowy roads.  A four and half hour drive took almost six hours....but I'm home and there is barely any snow here. Late this afternoon we picked up Frodo who was wiggly and happy to see us.  Unpacking, laundry sorting and scrounging around the freezer for a meal (I found curry!). I will post some photos of our visit tomorrow!! Joining Amanda

Joining Amanda

I took these photos right before daybreak.  I love how still and quiet they look.  Frodo and I always get the newspaper together every morning.  Most of the time I do not take my camera.  So in he goes and I grab my camera and go back outside.  I'm going to count that as exercise. The above photo is just unwanted growth (aka weeds) but it is so beautiful with the snow on top! This is our beloved white pine that is probably planted too close to the house.  I'm not worried until it reaches full height and that is many many years from now. I will be knitting this afternoon and hoping that the snow stays for a bit.  I will also be nestled inside where it is warm with a cup of hot tea in my hands.

I have made some progress on the baby sweater .  I am almost done with the first sleeve.  It's a top down construction by Elizabeth Zimmermann.  The yoke is first, sleeves, and then body.  Last week when I started it, I was eight rows in and forgot to do buttonholes.  Yep.  I started over.  I am so thankful that I thought of the buttonholes at eight rows!!!  My other knitting project in the photo is the forever Hawthorne Cardigan that I have barely barely touched.  I think I did one or two more waist shaping decreases, that's it. Not in the photo is my periwinkle shawl that I blogged about yesterday . Oh and I did finish the Sprouts shawl . I was very eager to get into Rebecca  last week.  So after starting the book I never realized how SLOW the beginning is/was.  Really, the first couple of chapters were not interesting and I seriously thought of shelfing the book.  I stuck with it and thankfully the plot thickened and our dear heroine is living at Manderley, and is prop

I am on chart C of the periwinkle frost shawl !  Why am I so excited to announce this?  Well it is because this is the last chart of the pattern.  Yep.  I am almost done with this shawl. That means that I can wear this shawl within the next two weeks.  Unless I get sidetracked by another project. (who me?  sidetracked?) I could knit this pattern again and again and again.  But not soon.  I have some other ideas swirling in my head of what to knit next.  Of course there are many shawl patterns just waiting to be casted on.  However for now I will keep diligently knitting on this one.

My weekend was kind of boring but in a very good way.  We went for a drive on Friday and really enjoyed seeing the countryside.  As always the llamas (yes llamas) were basking in the mild weather.  I'd own a llama but I think my neighborhood would not appreciate one.  Sometimes I think my husband and I would like buy a farm when he reaches retirement. Saturday was sitting and knitting.  We had a plain dinner-he had steak, I had left over millet patties.  The millet patties were better fresh, but still tasty.  Oh and ahem.....there were donuts again.  Could this be a weekend treat?  We watched two episodes of Star Trek.  We are almost half way through the first season. Today we went to church and instead of paying attention I was totally focused on a man and his daughter behind us.  They were sniffing and coughing-the sound drove my husband nuts.  I was freaked out that I would catch it.  Why oh why do people go to church sick?  It is mostly old people at church (older than m

Yesterday I finally got around to making the millet patties from the Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook .  I took some liberty and changed some of the ingredients.  Instead of green onions I used celery and I used lots of spices because it was a little bland for me.  I must say that they were tasty!  I also really like that I did not have to worry about an egg being completely cooked through because there was not an egg in the recipe.  Do check out their website- They has some delicious items listed on their recipe page. I also made a peanut sauce (from the same book) that my husband loved.  The sauce was supposed to be served with the steamed kale.  Well.......I over steamed it!  So that did not go over well.  Also my husband informed me that he does not like kale.....I did not know that and I am amazed that I missed the information at some point during other meals when I served it.  I think I need to put on my listening ears. Anyways back to the peanut sauce...he loved it!  I

Forgive me for putting up so many photos....I like each one for different reasons.  Well it is finished!  I managed to have a personal photo shoot with the shawl and myself.  Self portraits are difficult for me but it does get me thinking outside the box and that is good for my age, ha ha The ravelry notes are here .  I used Malabrigo sock yarn and it was wonderful to knit with.  I highly recommend the yarn for a lace project.  It's springy and the dye variations are beautiful! The pattern is Alcyone  by Romi Hill .  The directions are written out perfectly.  There is charted as well as written out directions.  I always go for the charted.  It is so much easier to "see" the pattern on a grid for me and I think I knit faster. It was my first time knitting a shawl from edge to edge and I did like that type of construction. Blocking the shawl really brought out the lace detail especially the border.  Although I never memorized the pattern, I did get into a

I've decided to start another baby cardigan like this one . The yarn is Cascade 220 and I think it is nearly a full skein.  My husband and I know two couples who are expecting babies and I cannot remember when they are due.  I have a feeling it is sometime in the spring so yesterday was a good day to cast on a quick easy project.  I finished the sprouts shawl  and it is still drying in the guest bedroom.  I think today will be its photo shoot and the post will be tomorrow. My other knitting projects, periwinkle frost shawl and the hawthorne cardigan  are still on the needles and have been progressing very slowly.  I apparently have a hard time dividing my attention equally. I finished The Kitchen House  this past week and it was a very good book and I would recommend it.  The whole storyline was sad and contained frank realities of pre civil war slavery.  I really enjoyed how the author did not go into graphic detail to any of the violent scenes (and there were many).  I a