Pumpkin Sunrise

How was your weekend?  My weekend was stuffed with walking!  We went to NYC for the day on a bus.  I'm not sure I'd do a bus again, but hey we got to NYC and back so there is that! We arrived in the city near Macy's Department store around 9:30 am and left around 8 pm.  We focused on walking the High Line, Chelsea and Greenwich Village.  It was bitterly windy and cold for most of the morning but that didn't stop us.  We had great fun until around 5 pm when our bodies betrayed us from all the walking.  We walked 10 miles yesterday (crazy!!).  I'm sore from head to toe today.  Sadly, whenever I over do it my joints go wacko---it's a RA thing.  After today's rest, I will be back to normal. I've linked websites the best I could to what we saw or did with the photos below.   highline Eduardo Kobra mural Dorothy Iannone mural Another Eduardo Kobra mural chelsea market Osgemeos hip hop mural E.A.K. Ramen  (high

Golly is it dreary outside as I type this blog post.  March is such a fickle month, it's not quite winter and it's not truly spring.  I am ready for slightly warmer sunnier weather.  Everyone I talk to is whining about the weather (maybe I start the whining?).  Everyone is itching for spring, for coatless freedom. The preschooler (well almost preschooler!) is super sassy and makes for a babysitting day a challenging day for me.  I know every month she is growing and this is a phase that won't last forever but I wonder how I did it with my two children.  We both know that the terrible twos is coined that phrase for a reason.  At the end of a babysitting day, I am beat! My son used to lay down and scream his head off in public all the time.  I must have been battle weary, right?  The thing about aging is that memories are softened around the edges and well, I don't remember my frustration or my annoyance.  Time erases facts and replaces fond feelings. I'

I'm getting close to the last short row shaping section then I'm off to setting the sleeves aside on my sweater .  Honestly, this has been my main knitting project the past week.  I haven't had much brain space for much else.  I wish I could put my finger on exactly what is taking up all of my time.  I'm happy and feel good so I'm not going to get too caught up on the whys.  The knitting is there waiting for me. How do you like the condition of that skein of yarn?  As you probably have guessed, this is a skein that Holly got ahold of and went wild with the tossing and turning.  Even though she loves yarn she rarely eats it or break it up into pieces, usually I find a knotty mess for me to untangle. Anyways, this skein was a previous knitting project that failed miserably so I ripped it out, balled it up and set it aside for another day.  Today I was thinking about this skein and so I'll be mulling over what exactly I want to make.  The noro sock

Knotions knitting magazine asked me if I would review their ebook, ShawlStar, which is being re-released with an additional three more shawl shapes at the end of this week.  I was thrilled with this opportunity since I knit a lot of shawls and I do love to help out our knitting community. The original ebook was published with 40 shawl shapes in 2018 and comprehensive is THE word to describe this ebook on shawls.  The author, Elizabeth Felgate, goes into detail about the various shawl shapes, discusses the pros and cons of each one and gives a 'recipe' to create each shawl shape.  Guidelines are given to create each shape and includes variations as well.  The amount of information is impressive and will have you itching to design and create a shawl.  The instructions are clearly written with many photos and examples of the shapes as well as schematics indicating the direction of the knitting.  The table of contents makes it easy to scroll to the specific shawl shape or

jaycee cardigan progress! Hello!  This is going to be an overly chatty post because, well, I have a ton of stuff to tell you.  My Friday afternoon was kicking off into a brilliant weekend.  We had our dinner planned out (a steak for him, salmon for me) on the grill and maybe a walk after dinner.   My husband was cutting mushrooms and we were 'bickering' which is the polite way to say we were arguing over the freshness of the mushrooms.  Honestly, they were rotten but he insisted they were fine (they were not).  I had the onion ready for him to chop and he used the newly sharpened knife and we continued to argue over the mushrooms. Well you know where this is going, he cut the tippy tip of his thumb.  If you know me well, I cannot triage anything with blood.  Just stomach viruses.  So I am asking him from a far if he needed stitches.  He wouldn't answer so that meant yes. I called urgent care (as opposed to ER and a $200 copay), they asked a few question

this morning's sunrise! I'm finding the older I get the less able I am to handle stress especially when I'm stress free for days on end.  The frustrating part is my perceived stress is something that I'm not in control of at all.  Recognizing my lack of control albeit later than sooner, helps me manage my reaction to stress.  The other funny aspect of stress is how personalized it is.  My stresses might not be your stresses. I'm feeling great now, but I'm reflecting on what I could do to lessen my reactions and manage my thought processes. Holly handles stress by hiding I had very little time to knit or pursue my creative outlets the past two weeks and I believe my lack of creative time makes for a faster negative reaction to stress.  In other words, the more I create the better I am at managing stress. When I'm stressed for some bizarre reason I forget to pick up my knitting and get into my zen state of mind.  I know!  How completely sill

I finished this cowl yesterday afternoon and promptly dashed upstairs to soak and block it out on my bedroom floor.  I had such fun knitting this pattern.  My modifications are few, I used the same size needles throughout figuring the blocking magic would fix minor variations in gauge (and it did!). As I stated previously, I'm not a fan of bobbles and avoid them whenever I can.  So for bobbles I replaced a simple yarn over knit two together.  Because of this decision, I saved a ton of yarn and had enough to execute the entire pattern. This pattern would be great for an adventurous beginner to learn new techniques and explore different stitch patterns. The next time I knit this cowl (and I will be knitting this again), I'll be using a yarn with less color variations.  Some of the stitch design gets lost with the dark and varying colors of this particular wool. This cowl would make a great holiday gift if you feel like starting early and most knitters have a

My Weekend daytrip to visit my daughter and son in law in Newark DE lots of car riding and car knitting! driving through country towns passing Amish buggies homemade lunch gathered around a table shopping! talking, laughing, walking the impossible elusive selfie all the family together my husband is really happy, really (maybe not in the mood for a photo?) ramen noodle soup dinner slurpie good how was your weekend?

These days have been elusive and speedy, especially this past week.  Our son has been home on his spring break and I've been on the go every single day.  I'm either at the gym, at babysitting or out shopping with him.  The week has been bursting with activity. I'm happy to be doing lots of stuff with him, the years are numbered for when he graduates with his PhD and who knows where he will land when he gets his first job.  So I wake up, try to do my best with whatever pressing household chores that need to be done and then I'm off on adventures.  Next week will be quite dull and I can catch my breath and resume my creative pursuits.  Even though the snow is still here, doesn't it feel like spring?  Sort of?  Maybe?  I think it does.  The sunshine is at a different angle, the birds are starting to sing in the morning and we change the clocks this weekend!  My body has already started the time change with waking up at 4:30 am most of the week.  I&#

Can you believe this is Ash Wednesday?  I cannot.  Time is flying by! I finally decided on a fingering weight cardigan using more of my quince and co wool in my stash.  I fell in love with the delicate yoke detail and the simple edging for the body and the sleeve cuffs.  I cast on over the weekend and as you can see, I have a ways to go for some progress. I am thrilled to have another sweater on the needles! My socks are slow going but isn't the color way beautifully subtle?  I keep thinking that I can't see the colors change unless I knit awhile and then I see it.  Sitting and knitting in a well lit room helps see the colors as well.  I have three books going as the same time- The first one is   House Rules by Jodi Picoult, I'm having a hard time getting into the book.  I fear the problem is reading this book before I fall asleep so maybe I'll be reading during the day to see if this helps. The second book is A Quiet Life in the Country by T. E. Ki

My Weekend celebrating husband's birthday - all the kids arriving for the weekend awaiting an impending snowstorm - flurries off and on carrot cake - chocolate - yarn winding settling on a new sweater pattern (yay!) - tons of laundry tons of dishes - a wintry walk with Frodo and family hot tea in a favorite mug - planning the busy week ahead creating a snowstorm-back-up plan for the week How was your weekend?