Pumpkin Sunrise

Our daughter's birthday was this week and because we couldn't see her in person we sent flowers and presents.  As soon as we get together, I'm having a big fat piece of birthday cake with them after singing Happy Birthday!  How are you?  I've been busy keeping myself busy.  I'm scheduling out my days doing my best to push myself to relax and pursue my crafts and interests.  Most of the time I'm successful but as you know sometimes it's a challenge.  I've been upping my exercise and tweaking my diet all for a healthier 'me'.  My kidney doctor adjusted my meds for a better blood pressure reading and so I'm digging deep into my lifestyle to see what I can do as well.  As my dad says 'there's always room for improvement'.  I think it's genetics, but more yoga and lots of fruits and vegetables won't kill me! I'm sure living in this crazy stressful time isn't helping at all. This week has been a cloudy o

I am focusing on two knitting projects this week.  First up are a pair of socks that are from my own memorized pattern design.  I bought this yarn with my sister last fall during the Thanksgiving weekend, who knew I would be pining for LYS experiences now! This glorious blob of knitting is a lace weight citron shawl .  Sadly the photos do not do it justice, because it's beautiful to behold in real life, honest!  I'm thrilled with the gradient wool that has some silk content.  But the silk content makes the knitting ALL eyes on deck or else you lose a slippery stitch.  Who would want that to happen?? What are you working on this week?

How was your weekend? Spring has sprung around here and it's been glorious to witness.  This weekend's weather was pretty nice.  The sun was out for the majority of the day yesterday.  On our daily walk, I enjoyed wearing a light jacket and wearing sunglasses.  Based on the weather forecast for the upcoming week, I won't be wearing sunglasses any time soon.  But never say never. Our lilac bushes are sprouting.  Last year they didn't blossom because of a severe pruning (much needed) I hope this year there will be some flowers.  Lilacs remind me of my dad's mom.  She loved spring and had all sorts of spring blossoms in her gardens.  The scent was intoxicating! I finished a little cross stitch project (if you see a mistake, do NOT tell me....).  This wasn't the easiest of projects because of the colors being so close together, but I did enjoy the stitching.  Yesterday I dug up all of my cross stitch supplies and strolled down memory lane looking at b

Thank you so much for you kind words about my orange pullover .  I was tempted to wear it yesterday while a snow squall breezed through, however, my mind is on springtime and no matter how cold it is outside and no matter the snowflakes in the air, I'm moving forward to wearing lighter clothing.  The birds are singing and bushes and trees are sprouting! How are you? We are doing well here.  My husband is doing his best to keep on top of his work while working from home.  It seems that the work is more than usual and it's hard to turn off the day.  Weather permitting we take an afternoon walk which is the highlight of the day.  We rarely see humans as we are out and about.  I am getting used to my days and I'm successful at making Monday through Friday feel different than Saturday and Sunday.  We talk to the kids often and we try to look forward to the day when we can get together with them once again. Do you see the second deer to the right of the standing

Ta da!  I finished the orange sweater with some ultra crafty problem solving when I ran out of orange yarn and didn't want to buy more. I made the 42 inch chest because I wanted a roomy sweater and it's a little too roomy but I bet I'll like it when winter returns.  I find tight fitting wool sweaters not as warm as loose fitting ones.  It's the same for mittens and socks for me. I do like how I striped the ribbings of the body and the sleeves to get my length and to save as much orange wool as possible. Ravelry notes

Holly says 'hi' How was your weekend? Mine was low keyed (isn't everybody's these days?) and filled with relaxing activities.  We walked both days and I'm thoroughly enjoying the greening up of the trees and bushes in our area.  What a welcomed sight to behold.  I worked on some sock knitting and lace weight knitting.  I also pulled out some cross stitch!  I know!  So much time on my hands, why not revisit past pursuits. Yesterday we had a zoom meeting with family and I loved seeing everybody.  Hurrah for technology.  Speaking of technology, this morning my electricity went out for two hours and it felt like 12 hours.  I couldn't blog even trying with a personal hotspot, I guess it's not fast enough?  Instead I did some yoga and read some of my book while waiting for modern conveniences to return.  As you can guess I am connected once again. All of our new plantings made it through the winter and truly are deer resistant.  I'm excit

We walked every day this week except yesterday because of the winds and crazy intermittent rainy weather.  Today as I type this there are tiny snowflakes - what?  I remember one Easter when there was about six inches of snow and my spring dress with short sleeves was very lacking as we headed off to church.  Let's hope there isn't a snowfall this weekend. I believe this is the first Easter I will not be with my family.  The first Easter I will not be physically attending Mass.  I will be watching virtual Mass on Youtube though, and it counts!  I'll be missing my family but you know what?  We will have other Easters and we will gather soon before you know it.  I am grateful everyone is healthy and safe.  I am hugely grateful for technology! I have an Easter meal planned and of course we have some much needed Easter candy for the two of us. I have phone calls, texting and zoom meetings to be with my family.  This will go down in my journal as a learning experie

What's that?  Are you wondering why my orange pullover is in disarray?  Well, you see, I ran out of orange yarn and wasn't able to get the sleeves down to the cuffs.  So I undid the ribbing of the body of the sweater to steal some much desired orange yarn to finish both of the sleeves to the cuff.  All of the ribbing will be striped colors of the yoke detail.  I am happy that I have enough yarns to accomplish this goal (or so I think).  As of this morning both sleeves are finished and now I'm reworking the ribbing of the body. Phew!  If you remember, I do love a good game of yarn chicken but that's mostly because I win.  When I lose I like to problem solve and it does take my mind off of the state of the world.  So not knowing if I have enough yarn is a win-win situation in my brain space. I love working on the citron shawl but I cannot read while doing this because the yarn has some silk content and so it's a bit slippery on the needles.  I can't ri

How was your weekend?  Mine was mostly cloudy but I managed to only document the blue skies.  Focusing on the positive is my mantra these days.  That innocent face of Frodo is a deceptive face, he killed a baby garter snake yesterday.  This was a first and we didn't see him do it...  Usually he barks at them to tell us they're in the yard.  We walked Saturday and Sunday getting our daily fresh air and enjoying the signs of spring.  On Saturday afternoon I painted Easter cards for  my family and had fun creating at the kitchen table. Of course we pulled out the grill for some hamburgers and french fries.  Look at that green sheen in the background! Sadly, I am running out of burnt orange yarn for my yoke sweater that is NOT photographed.  Just imagine me being a little disgruntled.  I will probably steal yarn from the ribbing of the body of the sweater to get the sleeves as long as they should be and I'm guessing all the ribbing of the sleeves and body