Pumpkin Sunrise

I've been quite pleased with finishing all of the Christmas knitting.  In fact, I even started to focus on some of my selfish knitting (for me, you know).  Then I remembered I wanted to knit a hat for my nephew to give to him over the New Year's weekend.  So technically this isn't "Christmas" knitting.  However, I love having another easy deadline to meet! I am using the wurm pattern once more,  I LOVE to knit this hat pattern up!! As you can see, I'm slogging through Alexander Hamilton, I love this book and thoroughly enjoy reading about this country's history through the eyes of one founding father.  I have high hopes of finishing the book before the end of the year.  I've picked up my reading, trying to read when I even have five minutes to spare.  I'll keep you posted if I finish or not. The Commonwealth novel is almost done!  I thought the beginning was a bit slow but the middle picked up some.  I'm interested to see if the aut

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 you can see my family room is slowly getting filled.  Now some of that is mine, but the gaming computer console and the pile of books under the table are not.  Our son arrived on Friday and I've been enjoying his company immensely. Yesterday after some crazy weather, we went to do some shopping and I crossed off another item on my list.  I am so close to being completely finished!  We had dinner out and then came home to watch Elf.  One of my favorite Christmas movies. Today,  I've been reading  Alexander Hamilton barely making a dent.  I want to finish this book by the end of the year.  I vacillate between 'yes I can' and 'nope, no way'.  Every sentence in the book is dripping with information and cannot be read quickly (Or I have a slow reading s

I had every intention of walking about outside and snapping some photos, but we are in the deep freeze.  Just the thought of choosing to be outside in ten degree weather with the winds whipping around had me chilled.  So I walked around the house instead and snapped some photos. Are you ready for the holidays?  I guess I'm almost ready.  I've been procrastinating on the baking something fierce.  My reasoning is that if I wait then I won't have to freeze them.  I love my excuse.   Today my son arrives (yay!) and so we begin phase one of the holiday visitors. Phase two begins when my daughter and son in law arrive December 27th (for a week!).  The days will be busy and my house will be crazy and messy in some ways.  I am determined to soak in all the goodness.  Each year I get better and ignoring the messy tables.   Phase three is when my sister, brother in law and nephew arrive on December 30th.  I am super excited!! Everyday when I prepare dinner, I play Ch

I'm on my last (or second to last) secret knitting project !  I feel like I'm making such great progress in my self imposed goals.  I'm getting giddy with seeing an end to knitting for others. My reading is so so so slow.  I am still on the same two books.  I am loving Hamilton but it's a dense read.  Commonwealth surprisingly got interesting last night.  I can't wait to read more tonight :) Oh I finished all the fair isles here . What are you knitting and reading this week? Joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams

I did it!  I achieved one of my many knitting present goals and these hats are such a delight to look at all together in a row.  I see the light at the end of my gift knitting tunnel.  It's bright and wonderful! All of the yarn is from knit picks palette and was left over from a fair isle project that was many years ago.  I still have yarn left over :)  Maybe some mitts will be  in my far far knitting future. I really don't have a favorite hat, I like them all.  Each one I was wondering if I would like the color combinations and while I was knitting them, I fell in love. I made some minor alterations.  I did all of the decreasing after the fourth chart and I chose a different color for the ribbing to give it more of a major color theme.  I like it that way. Ravelry notes: Red fair isle hat blue fair isle hat green fair isle hat post about the green fair isle hat

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. So excited that we have SNOW.  Just saying..  It's wonderful and quiet outside.  I saw six deer while driving up my road today and it was nice to see that they survived hunting season (phew).  I love them so.  My weekend was super relaxing yesterday and self imposed busy today! Yesterday we had a slow weekend, reading and knitting for me.  Working on my menu plan for when my family is here for many days in a row.  I've changed Christmas Dinner twice now.  I'm a fickle about how much time I want to be in the kitchen (uh, zero minutes so I can knit).  So each meal is getting easier and I think more. this hat is DONE Today was cleaning our main bathroom.  I must say one of the positives of being older is that the bathroom always looks clean when you don't have y

Yesterday I braved the chilly winds and walked around with my camera and of course Frodo.  The air smelled and felt like impending snow but nary a flake fell.  So sad.  However, I'm sure soon there will be snow.  Can you believe we are nearly a third of the way through December?  Oh, I wish I could slow down the days. I find during the holiday preparation, the stresses can get the best of me.  So I thought I'd share how I manage these stresses.  Keep in mind, this is how I've done my holidays for years and I'm sure you have a system that works for you. Tip One: Start early and prioritize exactly what you want done.  I am lucky because I exchange gifts with my husband's family in October and my side of the family in November.  This forces me to shop and wrap and be ready. This significantly lightens my stress of gift buying in December. When the kids were little, I started shopping in October, each weekend focusing on a family group or one of my kids