Pumpkin Sunrise

Over the long weekend, I caved in and started a new knitting project with one of the gradient yarns I purchased last week.  Ah, the decadence of sitting and preparing a new project.  It's like cracking open the first page of a new novel. So far this knit is a breeze and I'm seeing the color change as of last night (not in the photo).  My reading has been various this past week, here is the current list: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman Murder is a Motive by Francis Duncan Almost Everything by Anne Lamott Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr The Neil Gaiman book is on my Kindle and I read that one on the treadmill.  The others are 'real' books and I read them whenever.  Having this many to read I find I'm always in the mood for one of them! What are you working on this week? Joining Ginny

How was your weekend?  Mine is still going strong since it's Labor Day weekend.  Today, I'm sitting in my family room listening to the rain outside.  It's been steady, soothing and lulling me into a relaxed state of mind. The past few days as I drove home, the resident heron who lives around here has been sunning himself/herself near the pond's edge at the bottom of my road.  I took that photo from my car with my iphone.  Not too bad!  The best camera is the one in your hand.  All the signs of fall are around me, thank goodness, I was weary of the heat and humidity.  Give me drizzly rain and degrees under eighty for now.  I've been wearing jeans and sometimes a long sleeve cardigan and reveling in the comfort of autumn arriving soon.  Our daughter and son in law visited over the weekend.  We spent the afternoon in a neighboring town, walking, sight seeing, shopping and of course eating dinner out.  Yesterday we had simple cookout at home of burgers and h

My heart is overflowing with gratitudes.  Yesterday was our 32nd wedding anniversary - I cannot believe we've been together for so long and yet it feels like yesterday we were hanging out together for the first time laughing at each other's quippy jokes.  Of course it's all blurry when the kids came and we muddled through parenting without family around to help.  My wish for my kids is to have someone like I have someone and for much laughter in their relationship. I had my annual mammogram last Wednesday and managed to not have extreme anxiety!  I calmly went and did the deed.  It was only a mere 24 hours later that I received the passing letter.  Those 24 hours were LONG and testing.  I am not a patient person at all and last year I had to have a biopsy because I switched from 2d to 3d technology.  I'm weird in that I believe I have an entire year of freedom until the next mammogram.  I'm thankful. So far it seems that summer's clutch has let go

I finished the baby sweater for my niece last Friday night then quickly scurried Ravelry to find a bonnet.  The sweater came out perfectly. As I said, I managed to knit the sleeves in the round on double pointed needles, then when I went to knit the body I picked up the sleeve edges so I didn't have to seam.  Sadly I didn't take any pictures or notes. I could knit this sweater in my sleep! The bonnet is from Purl Soho .  I enjoyed the interesting construction of the hat especially the short row shaping.  I find that this hat could be worn either way.  I really don't think it looks like there is a true 'crown' of the hat.  I took photos so you could judge. Maybe it depends on the baby's head? the hat the way it's supposed to be worn  Here's the sweater project page and here is the bonnet project page the hat the way I think it should be worn.....

Good morning!  My weekend was glorious and I hope yours was as well.  We had our son for a long weekend because he had a one month Lasik recheck (all is well).  After a dinner at home on Friday night of burgers, home made fries and corn on the cob, we took a walk down the dirt road because the weather was picture perfect. If I could bottle up this low humidity and cool breezes I would, I was loving the chill in the air in the mornings and wearing a sweatshirt. my friend's golden doodles Friday morning we had house well water woes, however a plumber quickly came and repaired a water tank switch.  So far we think the water is fixed after a brief hiccup on Saturday morning.  I am speeding through my showers just in case. Saturday morning we headed off to our friend's lake house for a family picnic.  What fun!  There was good company, perfect weather, fun music and delicious food all day long. Sunday our son left after lunch and I buzzed through the house doing a

mood Hello!  Today is THE day where cool breezes prevail.  Finally a break in the weather, I'm wearing jeans, the back door is opened and I'm loving every single second.  Knowing that summer is winding down and seeing some leaves fall to the ground gives me hope.  This post is a mish mash of what's on my mind. My reentry into work was fantastic.  She was inquisitive, funny and delightful to spend the day with.  She kept asking me 'what's your name?'.  I was off ten weeks and I saw her once during those ten weeks, how can you forget my name??  We talked a lot, well maybe I rambled and she chimed in.  I went on and on about the fall and how great it is, I asked her what she liked best about fall and she said 'wearing boots'.  Gah, it was a fun discussion. There's a new cat (kitten) at work who was friendly and affectionate, he was dumped on their property (humans are evil).  Thinking back about when I rescued Holly from death on the si

I've been focusing on two projects this past week.  First off is the ever so addicting to knit baby sweater in a deep forest green.  Baby sweaters are delightful and fast!  I should be done with this sweater in a day or so.  It's amazing that human beings start off so adorably tiny. I've tweaked this pattern so that I do not have to seam anything.  I knit the sleeves in the round and then pick up stitches at the sleeve edge while creating the body.  The last of the scrappy cowls (I've made two here and here ).  This scrappy cowl will be extra scrappy because I really don't have enough yarn to make the cowl in three colors.  I like the challenge and it stretches my creativity in a good way. What have you been working on this past week?

Another weekend!  I don't know how your weather is where you are, but here it's hot and humid.  I quit summer yesterday - well, as best as I could quit summer.  I'm hibernating in the AC, and I put one  fall tablecloth out in defiance.  Whenever my son calls to chat, we both commiserate about our lack of love for summer.  We talk about wearing jeans (comfortably) and dare we wish for a breeze and jacket?  Most people love summer, my husband especially.  I try to keep my grumblings to myself.  He bemoans the leaves falling into the pool, I'm squealing inside with joy. Onto the weekend: On Friday, I received a delightful fortune message - It made me smile all day. So how was your weekend?  Mine was pretty good.  I did paint for an hour, I knit manically on a baby sweater.  So much so my wrist was hurting last night when I went to bed.  So today, I'm trying not to be a maniac.  My grocery shopping is out of sync and I went on a Saturday morning, which m

I have to be honest with you, I've been on a knitting creativity surge.  For many months my knitting has been sparse, I'll blame it on the summer season.  In the summer I knit the least amount.  Maybe because I'm busy being outside, or maybe because knitting with wool isn't as much fun when I'm hot.  Or maybe there is no reason.  I'm learning that my creativity ebbs and flows.  I am floating at the edge of a wave enjoying where ever the wave takes me.  Right now, the knitting urge is rampant.  'Strike while the iron is hot' is my mentality. I've never been one to be upset when I start a bunch of projects.  How lovely to see an array of project choices when I sit down to knit.  My maximum amount of projects on the needles is five.  Over five and then the fun seems to end in my mind. I saw a lovely mitt pattern trending on Ravelry and quickly dug through my minimally processed, hand spun wools to make ME a pair of fingerless mitts.  The ea

I wanted to finish this blanket by Wednesday and so I did a mini-marathon of knitting.  I have to balance knitting with stretching and moving or else bad things happen to my body.  I'm here to report that I was successful in finishing the blanket AND my body is happy. When I started this blanket, I wanted to use what was already in my stash and have some creative wiggle room.  I started with the green, then realized that I didn't have enough yardage so added the white then again realized I didn't have enough yardage so I added the blue and purple striping in the middle section. I love how all the colors play together and how I was able to design as I knitted the blanket. Ravelry notes Now to knit a baby cardigan!

Okay, to me a staycation includes spending the night at our daughter and son-in-law's townhouse in Delaware.  Saturday morning we got into the car and drove to their place, picked them up and spent the day at the Franklyn Institute . They had a fantastic exhibit on Marvel Comics.  What fun! We walked around and dropped in on the Reading Terminal Market .  Sorry I have no photos, but I did eat some great food before we went out to dinner.  (and we picked up donuts!). After we spent the night at their townhouse, my husband and I drove back to Philadelphia on Sunday to spend the morning and early afternoon at the Philadelphia Museum of Art . I haven't been there before and the museum was great.  My only wish was for clear and obvious signs for parking in the garage.  We drove in circles looking for it.  And we were using two different GPS (including apple maps).  The garage doesn't exist in that dimension.  Being an old lady, I told the ticket desk people all