Pumpkin Sunrise

Over the weekend I finished this cowl and since then I've been wearing it.  A dear friend gave me this skein for Christmas and I knew I wanted to knit with a pop of color during January.  I shortened some of the sections of the cowl since I only had 300 yards out of the 500 yards required.  I love how the cowl turned out and it fits nicely. I am sure I will be knitting yet another one since this is only my second time.  The first cowl became a Christmas gift.  Someone asked if this would be a great knit for beginners.  If you know how to knit - purl - cast on and off - increase and decrease - and have skills for using youtube tutorials, I think this could be a great project for sampling different skills. Ravely notes

Good morning!  My weekend is still going strong but I thought I'd post this morning before the post gets away from me.  Even though today is a holiday, I'm still going to the gym.  Once I'm in the habit of doing something good, I continue to do so.  Saturday morning we had a snowstorm that was glorious.  Beautiful snowflakes fell slowly and I didn't have to go anywhere important. I read Grant all day.  Literally.  I started around 10 a.m. and finished around 9:30 p.m. Of course I took breaks for eating meals but I didn't even knit while reading.  I wanted that book done and out of my rotation. Phew!  The book was fantastic but Grant's death was a sad one.  He died of tongue and mouth cancer....boo.  Anyways, I feel light as a feather now that I finished reading.  I haven't started anything else new.  I'm reading   Dutch House and A Better Man .  I hope to make progress in both of those books. Saturday morning before the reading marathon

Many of you wanted to see the way I track my days.  So without further ado, here we go! My mornings are usually filled with chores and the gym.  As soon as I wake up I write in my journal about the day before and write a gratitude list.  Next comes the Catholic praying and reading.  Any errands that I have to run are in the morning as well.  I've been like this since the kids were little.  I would try my best to get every chore done so that I could have an hour or two in the afternoon before dinner preparations to knit. I've noticed that going to the gym takes up a lot of my time but I do read my Kindle while walking on the treadmill so I'm happy!  I meet my trainer two times a week instead of three times a week.  I'm doing lower body exercises on my own instead. Because all of my family are out of town, I spend considerable time on the phone.  Again, I was like this since I was a teen.  I LOVE to talk.  One of the best ways to read a 965 page book (I'

My chili pepper cowl is an hour or so away from being done.  I was graced with some pockets of time during babysitting to add some rows.  I'm excited to finish this and wear it! Truly I apologize for the terrible photos of my sweater .  I worked a long day yesterday (babysitting) then had an appointment after that.  Needless to say by the time I was free to photograph daylight hours were over. Imagine my sweater in purplely goodness! I am now at the part where you split the front and back hem of the body of the sweater.  I will not make the back longer than the front as per instructions.  They will be the same length. So so so excited to be ever so close to sleeve knitting!!

My weekend was a fun one.  On Saturday I woke up to unusual weather, too warm and too breezy!  However, we had a two hour drive to a wedding so I was completely fine with no snow in the forecast.  We witnessed the union of a lovely couple, the daughter of a friend.  Weddings are delightful and full of promises and new beginnings.  I love love. As I prepared for the wedding, I wrestled with nylons and various dresses in the closet etc.  Needless to say I need to find some new clothes to wear to another wedding later this year.  Nylons DO deteriorate after many years, trust me.  Ordinarily I do not wear them, but I didn't want to be cold. Also at the wedding we spent time with our daughter and son in law (yay!). Yesterday I started going through some cookbooks for some new recipes.  Every new year I am motivated to try new menu plans and then I set that goal aside.  It's January and once again I am eager to switch up the same old same old foods. Also yesterday

This week was my reentry into babysitting.  I had a lovely month off which went by way too quickly.  From now until June, I will be babysitting once a week without any holidays or breaks unless there is a snow day.  The preschooler and I have some great times, we try to get a walk in as long as it isn't too cold or too windy.  We bundle up and talk non stop about shiny rocks.  There's a lot to be said about shiny rocks and what constitutes as a 'good' shiny rock.  I have learned that she is the expert and I am the apprentice. I witnessed a beautiful yet unexpected snowfall mid-week.  Glorious!  I was happy to wake up to a few inches of snow and eager to wear my new snow boots (the above photo is not a photo of my snow boots!). I've been tracking my days in my daily planner diligently.  I'm surprised by a few things after only a mere ten days into 2020.  When I track what I'm doing, I want to write down something interesting.  Surfing the 'ne

Good morning and hello!  I'm sitting in my kitchen looking at a beautiful snowy scene outside my window.  I'm excited to share my progress on my current knitting projects. The chili pepper cowl is coming along nicely, I eliminated the bobbles in one section because I do not have enough yarn and I don't particularly like bobbles.  So I replaced the bobbles with a simple eyelet.  I took this project to babysitting and it was perfect for picking up and putting down without too much bother. Next up is my purple sweater .  I'm about an inch away from starting the edging and the miles of endless stockinette have been wonderful for reading the Grant biography on my Kindle.  Depending on how this sweater fits, I'll be casting on another one!  My last current project is a new cast on .  I chose the Aisling Shawl  pattern that has been in my queue forever.  I like how most of the knitting is garter stitch so I can work on this project while watching TV.  I hav