Pumpkin Sunrise

glorious sunrise!  How was your weekend?  I hope pretty good, mine was wonderful.  First off, the weather has cooled off (finally).  I wore a jacket yesterday and today.  Autumn is trying its best to arrive, I welcome it!  The kids were here this weekend.  Our son arrived Friday night and we had a lovely meal together and for dessert apple pie.  buzz buzz  Saturday morning we took Frodo for a walk since the weather was cool.  The leaves are dropping and the quietness of the woods soothed me.  Our daughter and son in law arrived Saturday afternoon and shortly after their arrival we went to the local fair.  We took in the sights and sounds.  We ate fair food which sadly made me feel unwell last night.  I told you the older I get the less I can tolerate.  sheep!  baa baa Everyone left in stages today and my house is mostly put back together again.  I'm currently knitting my third cowl and hope to finish it soon. How was your weekend? 

Life is slowly returning to normal around here.  Well, a new normal around here.  After a flurry of high self imposed stress from worrying and my father in law passing away, I'm back to plain old normal days.  My gratitude journal is a crazy mix of thankfulness.  I'm all over the place with being grateful for good health, having electricity, the working AC and my routine in the mornings of utter silence while I sip my coffee as I plan the day. My longer commute to work twice a week has been a delight.  I listen to a podcast while driving and the time flies by.  I am still adjusting to working 5-7 hours a day twice a week.  The first three hours are good, but as we approach the lunch time hour - EEP - the terrible two-ness rears it's ugly head.  The poor Toddler Girl is feeling all the feels. I'm trying to be a step ahead, averting a tantrum, being savvy and sly.  I take pride that I can do this until there's a tantrum over something I am not anticipa

I'll confess that I love that I can knit as much as I want without a back spasm.  I'm taking advantageous of this blessing and knitting all the knits while also taking responsible breaks to stretch and rest.  I don't want to be too crazy. Okay, let's talk knitting!  The above photo is a new knit, and yes, another purl ridge scarf  by Stephen West.  This is the third cowl for the holiday season and I have the pattern memorized so it's easy breezy happy knitting. Because of all the easy breezy knitting, I started a shawl, Sprite's Fen Shawl , by Helen Stewart.  I highly recommend her shawls if you are beginning to start some lace knitting and are afraid of charts (but you should NOT be afraid of charts).  She writes her instructions, line by line, with a stitch tally at the end of each row.  Also she gives you a percentage done along the way.  I am between 5 and 10% done...it's a long knit! Here is a photo of the first cowl and the ravelry

Holly!! When the weekend started on Friday, I was excited for a 'boring' weekend.  I thrive when nothing happens and after the past three weeks, well, it was necessary.  Guess what?  Friday night I was hot, so much so that I went downstairs to check the thermostat and found out quickly that the AC compressor wasn't working.  The air blowing was not cold air.  Ugh! It's not a big deal but for me it was a big deal.  We have a fabulous company that helps us out when the furnace or AC goes wacko.  I called Saturday  morning and was thrilled that they sent a person out and my AC was fixed by 11 a.m.  What service!  Our heat pump system is 16 years old and maybe we need to replace it.  My husband and I would rather replace it on our terms than on the whim of Murphy's Law.  You and I both know that my system will die during a heat wave or a cold snap.  Saturday night we attended Mass and picked up the pizza.  When we first started getting our pizzas near

Hello!  Goodness was this week a busy  week.  I'm trying to get used to my seven hour babysitting days.  I work Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  In a few weeks the hours might be less, fingers crossed.  The Toddler is amusing, we play 'muddy puddles' which is a Peppa Pig themed story of jumping in muddy puddles.  We just have shallow un-muddy puddles but they are coined 'muddy puddles' and she delights in repeating it over and over while running from one to the other. Her dad asked her why her shoes were wet.  She said "Miss Karen told me to run in muddy puddles".  Um....no....Peppa was the one with the original idea, I just thought it was a fun idea. I delight in her happiness in the simplest of things. golden retriever at work who LOVES me So my anxiety is resolved and now I'm ready to give you the story:  Three weeks ago, I was called back for another mammogram and after that magnified mammogram they found micro calcifications and recommende

I finished this shawl last week for my mother in law's Christmas present.  She loves to receive hand knitted gifts, in fact she used to be an avid knitter before her eyesight started to fail.  I know she will love this bright pink shawl. I chose a pattern I've knit before because I wanted 'comfort' knitting.  You know what I mean, just easy to follow, easy to execute because you've knitted it again and again.  I repeated the first chart four times instead of twice,  then spent lots of time on the last chart wondering if I had enough yarn. Call me crazy, but I love when I'm not sure I have enough yarn (but think I do...). The wool, Ella Rae Lace Marino , was wonderful!  This skein was soft and squishy when I bought it and was a pleasure to knit up.  As you can see, the blocking did its magic and the wool blossomed. Ravelry notes are here

My weekend was a somber one.  My kids arrived on Wednesday night to join us on our trip on Thursday to see our family in London Ontario for my father in law's grave site private service on Friday afternoon.  Lots of schedules were juggled around and plans were made.  On Saturday afternoon, we were out with my mother in law for some shopping and for lunch.  We love to stop in at the Coventry Garden Market in downtown London, Ontario.  I wish I had something like this in my little wee town. daughter, me and mom-in-law Of course I managed to buy some yarn :) How was your weekend? PS:  It's going to take me a while to get caught up reading your blogs - I'll do my very best.

Sure it's been another hot week, sure summer is going strong.  But for me, I'm all eyes for the seasonal changes.  September is a hopeful month. I like my drive to the new location for my babysitting gig. They moved to a bigger house last month and I was feeling all the sadness over the changes.   I drive through corn fields and farmlands and the views are stunning.  Everywhere I look while I am there is endless hills and quiet.  I took the toddler girl for a walk and all I could hear were my feet crunching on the gravel road and cicadas in the distance. This week has been topsy turvy with stresses ebbing and receding.  However, life is settling down again.  Before I know it, we will be going to fall festivals and pumpkin festivals and fairs.  I'm ready! I'm anticipating:  soups, cinnamon everything, apples, cold breezes, wearing a touch of wool, hot beverages, more falling leaves, cozy evenings, sweatshirts, socks....oh I could go on.

Yet again another week of chatting about knitting.  I've been focusing on cowl knitting - yes, I'm crazy to be knitting with 100% wool during a heat wave.  My secret is simple, I have AC and I have decorated for fall in my house.  So in my mind, there is not a heat wave!  You can trick yourself into any season. Currently I'm reading The Bat by Jo Nesbo.  Someone recommended this author to me, but I have to start at the beginning of a series.  Have To.  So while this book isn't as good as further along books, I'm excited to be with a new detective. I am nearly finished the The Long Way Home by Louise Penny.  I'm a hard core lover of Three Pines and Chief Inspector Gamache.  As soon as this book is finished, I'll start another one. What are you knitting, crafting and reading this week? Joining Ginny

Look!  That is the most beautiful acorn ever seen by me - the promises of fall arriving are right there.  I'm giddy just thinking about it.  How was your weekend? Mine was quite emotional, my father in law passed away Saturday night after nearly a full week in a trauma unit after a fall down the stairs.  Thank you for your prayers and positive thoughts.  He lived a long full happy life. Today, my husband and I drove to State College to see our son for lunch, and the afternoon outing was a perfect diversion after a stressful week.  We ate at a ramen place and I slurped my messy soup with gusto.  I cannot manage my chopsticks like my husband or son, but I did my best and I was grateful for the ramen spoon to help me along.  They put fresh greens on my soup and I liked it!  Gave me some ideas for home cooking. In the knitting front, I am one to two rows away from finishing the searing pink shawl (yay!).  I love knitting shawls, they might be my favorite item to knit.