Pumpkin Sunrise

Good morning!! This week my knitting has been minimal but I keep trying every day to add a few rows.  As I mentioned in this post  my RA flare up is STILL hanging around.  I am off prednisone (yay) and am now managing with Tylenol, icing my right hand and wrist and wearing the wrist splint religiously. I am improving every single day while waiting for long term med adjustments to kick in.  Call me an optimist but I think any day now that will happen!  It must. So while I'm taking care of myself, I have added a few rows to the baby blanket each night and I add a repeat to the lace shawl  ever so slowly.  I'm celebrating what I can do and know this is all temporary. My reading has been fun.  I'm still reading The Tavern on Maple Street  as my night time reading.  I'm enjoying the story and the cast of characters.  At the library, I picked up a bunch of creativity books.  I've read  Big Magic  in a few days, I'm glad the library had this book and the wri

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comment section with a link to your blog. Hello!  As I type this post, it's tipping down buckets of rain.  My husband is whipping together a home made pizza with mushrooms and black olives.  This rainy day makes for an excellent excuse to stay home and do nothing :)  How was your weekend? I hope it was filled with family and friends and good times. Mine started off strong with walks around the neighborhood with Frodo - more dinners at home instead of eating out (I am on an inspirational roll!) - loving the summer-like days.  My husband and I sat in the back yard, listening to the birds, reading books and talking.  It was nice. Yesterday I celebrated my first day in 32 days of not being on Prednisone.  Unfortunately today, I'm in a lot of pain in my right hand and wrist, so I'll be calling the RA doc (

Every single morning this week I did my yoga routine while babying my gimpy wrist (which is overall much much much better).  It feels good to be back into my daily practice.  Of course I've modified a few poses but that isn't a big deal for me.  I am enjoying knowing that I am doing exercises that are good for my body and for my mind. The wild roses are blooming this week and they seem to be abundant!  On my daily walks there are many dead trees (some kind of tree borer) and yet the roses have climbed and decorated and revitalized the end of a tree's life - beautiful! I also spied the first daisy bloom - a personal favorite . The beginning of June is so fresh with promise especially the start of summer.  This summer I want to really be in a "summer frame of mind".  My childhood summers were full of: -fire fly catching -endless book reading on the front porch swing with iced tea (no lemon) -pick up games of soft ball with the neighborhood kids -fre

I'm excited to share with you the latest project on the needles, another baby blanket !  A co-worker at my husband's department is expecting a little girl in the fall.  So I dug deep into the stash and unearthed more pink yarn and cast on. Check out my finished Reyna Shawl , if you missed the post! I finished reading The Nightingale on my Kindle and enjoyed the story over all.  I loved the World War II period and the plot, although predictable at times, had some twists and turns that I was not expecting.  So you should give it a read! My new novel I'm reading, The Tavern on Maple Street,  was sitting on my shelf forever, well it felt like forever.  I've read her two previous novels and enjoyed the "happy" overall story line.  Happy stories feel good and cozy and oh so easy to pick up and put down during the summer months. What are you knitting and reading this week? Joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams

I've been itching to share this shawl with you all.  If only you could see this in person, what a delightful sweet easy to knit shawl.  Definitely give Reyna Shawl pattern a look see.  The pattern is quite easy to memorize and execute if you are familiar with lace knitting. Amanda  decided to dip her toes (hands?) into hand dyeing yarn and this lovely skein is the result of her masterful talent in pairing colors together.  I loved the yarn base she chose and of course the sweet tonal colors of pinks and purples.  A delight to knit with!! I decided to block the shawl aggressively to gain as much growth as possible.  Ordinarily I do not block garter stitch, but with only 400 yards of yarn I had a wee shawlette.  Blocking did its magic and now the shawl can be worn on the shoulders. As you know I wear shawls around my neck like a cowl.  So pretty in pink! My Ravelry project page The Life and Times of Julian and Amanda Amanda Makes Yarn Etsy Shop

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comment section with a link to your blog. gah!  I love this pattern! Another fabulous weekend for me, yet again.  They just keep stacking themselves neat and tidy-like, one after the other.  I am letting out a contented sigh.  My tea is brewing and I'm ready for the recap. Through out the weekend I've been sneaking time to knit my surf shawl  enjoying every single blessed stitch.  I'm already planning another one, maybe some holiday knitting? The inspiration is flowing and feeling so good! my husband is on the left Friday was slow and "resting" for me.  I hate resting and I am itching to go full speed ahead, but I'm smart and I'm not (NOT) doing prednisone a third time so I am resting resting resting.  While I scratch down all the stuff I'm going to do when I'm done resting. My

Tilly the Turtle (hoping it's a girl)  Hello!  Another Friday upon us and this weekend looks like it's going to be a hot one.  The month of May seems to be fickle with temperatures.  It starts out mild or chilly and then -boom- we get a heat wave.  The temperatures here have been flirting with near 90 degrees.  Not quite making the 90 but the humidity, oh my.  I wilt! Our walks have shifted to after 6:30 p.m. to avoid the full sun, I love this time of day because the birds are singing to each other and traffic on our little roads is minimal.  The walk is quiet and calm, my husband and I talk about our day and plan out what we would like to accomplish this weekend. I believe there will be a garden planted!  We skipped last year because of the wedding and laziness.  I regretted that decision all summer long.  We had volunteer tomatoes and basil but it's not the same as tending purposeful plantings. phlox!!  So yeah, a garden.  He has to do all of the labor, I g

I've been reviving my menu plan and what better way than to flip through a magazine :)  Since we ate out every single day while on vacation in Santa Barbara , I felt the need to eat at home, clean eating and not "restaurant" eating.  Oh, does it feel good to do this for our bodies. I am reading The Nightingale  on my Kindle and enjoying the period writing of World War II.  This novel took a couple of chapters for me to be engrossed.  Also, I prefer real print books and have trouble reading my Kindle in bed, so I might be starting another book for the late night readings. My knitting has something new!  I started this shawl over the weekend and while at first the pattern was baffling, the pattern ended up being "potato chip" knitting.  I cannot stop and love doing a repeat and seeing the shawl grow. In the evenings, I'm knitting my dandelion daze shawl , slowly but surely.  Unfortunately I had to rip out an entire repeat last night so I lost some w

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comment section with a link to your blog. Hello!  Another weekend here and I had a great one! Friday found me sitting in a bicycle shop while my husband test drove (rode?) various bikes in stock.  I said each one was nice if asked.  I behaved since I had a book to read in my lap, you know, everyone should have a novel and some knitting in their tote, just saying, it helps pass the time when you are not interested in bike shopping.  However, I have learned a lot about bikes passively.  I wonder how much he has learned passively about knitting? my santa barbara yarn buy !  Saturday found me sitting in another bike shop reading the same book...honestly I think I know how he feels when he is sitting outside a yarn shop.  Let's be honest, knitting stores are WAY more exciting than bike stores. Seriously though, it was ni

Get ready, there will be a LOT of photos on this blog post edition.   On May 11th my husband and I flew from Newark to LAX airport while my son flew from Boston to LAX airport to meet up and drive up to Santa Barbara to visit our daughter and son in law.  They are there for a few years while our son in law completes a post doc at UCSB. We've been planning this trip since they moved there last September and I was hesitant to be traveling so very far away from my home (which you know I love).  Luckily I was pumped up with prednisone which made the time change negligible and my comfort levels tip top. I was lucky enough to get to visit one LYS while there (  Loop and Leaf  ).  So friendly and so full of yarn :)  I did buy one skein but that will be for different post. My husband is quite patient while waiting outside the store, I wish I was as patient with him while he is in a used record vinyl store (I'm not...). They should pair the two together! my son in l

Good morning!  How are all of you this fine Wednesday?  My knitting has been the same since last week. I am almost done with the Hey Now Shawl .  I love the super simple pattern and how easy it is to memorize.  I can pick it up and put it down at random.  This made the perfect travel project.  I will be writing up where I was and who I was with in a few days. Let's just say I have jet lag.... Now the book.  I am thoroughly enjoying The Border of Paradise by Esme Weijun Wang, what a compelling read! The characters are complex and I empathize with each and every one.  The Gothic tones also excite me. I am over a third of a way through the book and I'm wanting more.  (I love that wanting feeling while I read!) The other book I am reading The Nightingale    is on my Kindle.  I'm enjoying this one as well, I know many of you have read this one and it's been on my to read list. What are you knitting and reading? Joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams *I hope to c