Pumpkin Sunrise

I am savoring each stitch of my cardigan each afternoon and I'm thrilled to report that I've finished the body ribbing.  I wish you could feel the squish factor, seriously, unbelievable!  I'm on the first sleeve and I'll go as far as I can on 16 inch circular needles until I have to switch to either two circulars or double pointed needles. In the evenings, I work on my shawl that is slowly changing from dark purple to light purple.  I'm making the largest size and can't wait until I can wear this knit. Oh and I feel the need to cast something else new on the needles....so far resisting but still! Have you seen Andrea's new cowl ?  She released yet another new pattern! Also I read an interesting article about being super healthy and avoiding breast cancer in the New York Times.  It is definitely worth a read.

I finished my husband's cowl that I started during the March snowstorm .  He is thrilled to have his very own cowl after envying the one I made for my son in law over the holidays. While in NYC  the week before the snowstorm of doom, we visited a yarn store and he picked out the wool for his cowl.  I directed him to a big ole pile of Madelinetosh and said 'you choose out of these two shelves' (yes! two shelved of Madtosh!) I love when a hand knit gift is personalized and meaningful.  He will think of me, NYC and a crazy snowstorm whenever he wears his cowl. Ravelry notes are here

Another weekend almost finished, doesn't it seem like they come slowly and end too quickly?  My weekend was wonderful even though the rain was prevalent and the sunshine was mostly absent. Yesterday morning, I woke up and saw the sun briefly and thought 'this is going to be a great day'.  I dressed in capris and we went out to some garage sales.  After returning home and having a bite to eat, Frodo and I went out for daily walk.  By the time I came home and rested a bit, I changed those capris into jeans.  The temperature dropped nearly nine degrees since waking. My husband and I attended Saturday night Mass then picked up a pizza for dinner (delicious!).  Later in the evening we watched a few more episodes of Parenthood .  Family drama is entertaining when it isn't your own. Today, I spent the better part of the day doing my continuing education which I started on Thursday.  I passed all five on-line tests.  Phew.  I'm thrilled to check that task off my

always a black pen For many years I've established and kept a writing practice that I thought I'd share with you.  I wake up quite early, by choice around 5:15 a.m.  That is my time where I sit quietly in my kitchen with a fresh cup of coffee in my favorite mug and I write before the day begins.  I am a morning person and have been one since I was a child.  My best thinking is before 2 p.m., after that I'm toast. I keep a hard cover Moleskine journal without lines as my daily account of what has transpired the day before (since it's early!).  I write about what happened, the weather, what I was thinking or worrying about and maybe what I wished I was doing instead of wasting time. At the end of each daily entry, I write a gratitude list and focus on positive thoughts.  I see good around me in minute detail.  Writing a gratitude list is a saving grace for me and has served me well in my overall attitude on life. The red paperback moleskine is a writing prom

I've been feverishly knitting this shawl and love the gradient color changes.  So subtle and yet striking.  The pattern is memorized and I seamlessly pick up and knit away and get lost in the rhythm of the knit.  Knitting is meditative and soothing. I finished that cowl I've had on the needles since the unexpected snow storm, right now it's upstairs drying after a soak and a block.  Oh yeah, I'm nearing the body ribbing of my cardigan .  You know what that means -- sleeve knitting! I started this book, A curious Tale of the In-Between  which has been mildly entertaining.  I think it's a middle schoolish book but some of the vocabulary is meaty.  I picked this novel up at a used book sale last week.  If you know me well, you know I chose the book because of the cover art! What are you up to these days?

I'm sitting here with a cup of hot green tea in my favorite mug savoring this weekend.  The past two days was fabulous.  The weather was beautiful and even though the humidity was more than I like and my RA flared a wee bit, I still loved every minute. On Saturday we went to some town festivals.  One was an arts festival where all sorts of artists sold their wares.  I was inspired to branch out of my knitting and dabble in drawing and painting.  I am envious of their skills!  My favorite is pottery....gah.  I didn't buy anything this year but I do drool over the bowls and mugs and more mugs.  My cupboard is busting from the amount of mugs I own.. I can never pass up a good bathroom tile floor :)  My husband and I shared a portobello mushroom wrap and some fries.  Sharing lets you eat lots of flavors for half the calories.  I've made the wrap at home a few times but it tastes much better when someone else makes it.  I wonder why? Today I babied myself to r

The dogwoods are in full bloom this week.  I'm lucky to have many trees growing wildly on my property.  Once the dogwoods bloom, I can safely believe spring is here.  Yesterday, Frodo and I took our daily walk in sunshine and warm breezes.  No jackets required. As I look out my windows, I see green everywhere!  Last night, a neighbor was mowing for the first time and the hum of the tractor reminded me of summer time.  Hopefully today, my husband and I will get the swing outside put up and ready decadent idleness.  Before you know it, the pool will be opened! This week had me struggling again with technology.  I keep thinking I'm winning the war, but those battles are wearing me thin.  Honestly.  I sometimes feel like I'm missing something.  However, here I am with imported photos and typing away so I do know enough to get by. Always learning is a key to growing.  I like that I have that stubborn streak that doesn't quit no matter what.  I have been like tha

I never tire of the excitement when I finish a shawl.  The casting off is a reward that most knitter's get excited about.  There is the fun of casting on, then the steady momentum of the middle part, you know picking up a project and just toodling along. Then there is the cast off, soaking and blocking.  The dessert of a fabulous meal. This is my second Pebble Beach Shawl and I repeated the edge lace a bit more than was written in the directions.  I find that the crescent shaped shawl to be THE shawl that wears nicely around the neck.  Also the narrow depth distributes the weight of the shawl better. I think I have a delicate neck and I don't like weight around it... Ravelry notes are here !

This weekend was nearly a 'do nothing' weekend.  The very best kind of weekend, if you ask me.  I love when nothing particular is on the schedule.  Friday night, we went to a banquet for my husband's work and I dusted off the "dress clothes".  I rarely ever wear skirts, so it's a big deal!  I live in jeans all year round. Saturday, we had a slow morning of reading newspapers and doing some puzzles.  We headed off for a lunch out then a bit of shopping.  I recently broke my brand new coffee carafe.  I remember within of week of purchasing the coffee maker, I slammed the carafe against the sink and nothing (!) happened.  A few weeks later, I poured coffee and a big piece of glass fell out of the side.  Luckily, I had a back up carafe and as far as I know, I didn't drink glass parts. So yeah, slamming into hard surfaces will weaken glass... Sunday morning was 7:30 Mass and the laundry chores.  The weather this weekend was perfect and I will ne

Ah, the never ending scrap sock blanket that I wanted to be finished by spring.  Well, that didn't happen but you know what?  I'm okay with that.  I've placed this work in progress on the loveseat and I have to move it to sit down.  That will remind me to do a few rows! One day I will show a photo of this cardigan with the sleeves on needles.  For now I'm working on increasing the body of the sweater, after those decreases to give it a finished fit.  I'm working on this while I read a book (yes, at the same time!). My husband's cowl is about half way done.  The knitting is super simple and a nice project to pick up and put down.  Easy peasy. Last but not least, I cast on another surf shawl with my gradient skein kit that I received for Christmas.  I love this pattern and this time around I'm making the large size. Have you started a new project lately?  What are your spring knitting plans?

I finally can reveal my secret knitting from last week.  I created three bunny dresses, one for me and two for my sister.  She picked the brown and and the blue one and I got to keep the purple one (yay!).  My sister was delighted to have some new clothes for her rabbit and I cannot wait to change out the brown sweater my rabbit is currently wearing to a spring-like purple one. I used up all the scraps I had in my stash of plymouth dk superwash merino .  I love the hand of this wool and the way it blocks.  So very soft, yet beautiful stitch definition. Since my stash is nearly gone of this wool, maybe I need to restock. Phew, unloading the secret knitting to all of you has made my burden a little lighter.  For now on, I'm going to knit transparently!