Pumpkin Sunrise

  How was your weekend? Friday night my husband and I had dinner on the patio, it was fantastic! The weather was perfect. Over the weekend, I've battled the bullying blue jays at the feeder who were over-eating, fighting with each other and not letting any other birds at the feeder. My feeder has a setting so that I can exclude by weight which is what I did on Saturday. Now I'm battling with my guilt that they cannot eat. But there was so much fighting going on! It's like recess at the playground, someone has to ruin it for everyone. I also have a multitude of red squirrels and chipmunks that stand at the bottom and pray for a seed to drop, their prayers are mostly answered. Oh and I saw the raccoon again this time at 8:30 p.m. so now the feeder comes inside the house at 6:30 p.m. The bird feeder is squirrel proof but not raccoon proof. The main point is that I am grateful there is NOT a bear like at our old home!! I wound up some lovely green yarn for our grandson's Ch...

How are you all doing? How's your June month unfolding?  I've been pondering about creativity and how it ebbs and flows. Honestly last week was spectacular, I was casting on new knitting projects and completing art journaling pages one after the other. I basked in my creative pursuits. However, I wondered about when there is NOT a drop of creativity to be found, what do you do?  The number one action I always take with a non-creative state of mind is to just let it be. I've been a creative for so long that I know that it is temporary. I know that eventually I will be doing something creative eventually. Sometimes, I move towards new creative ideas or projects or I marathon read a bunch of novels while waiting for that creative spark. I've found that it's okay to not want to knit, or draw, or write.  To be honest, I sometimes do not feel like writing my blog (what!!). I wonder if there is anything else to say in the space that I haven't already said before. I won...

  This week I'm sharing my impulsive cast ons that are both captivating. I enjoy working on both of them and the ease of the patterns. I can talk (well most of the time) during each knit and rarely make a mistake.  The above photo is the seashell shawl  that I saw trending on Ravelry a week or so ago. I promptly dug through my yarn stash, wound up some lace weight yarn and cast on. I confess it was exciting to be so spontaneous. Below is a photo of the confetti shawl . This is the second time I am knitting the Herald shawl with a variegated yarn from my deep stash. I'm loving the cheerful colors in this one! What are you working on this week?

  Yesterday my husband and I went to the Phipps Conservatory with my sister and brother in law. We are trying to visit every season. We had such a good time, the butterfly exhibit was open (yay).  This time around my favorite spaces were the children's garden and the Japanese garden, both outdoors.  We came home with some new ideas for what to do with our backyard and the abandoned in-ground filled with dirt pool which is the ultimate gardening challenge for us.  My weekend was calm, I did a lot of knitting and reading and avoiding the computer, tablet and phone. I dug deep into art journaling and watercoloring as well. I am perfecting my skills at frying tofu and the photo below is my first attempt. The texture turned out fantastically. Next up is seasoning the tofu without salt (such a sad state of affairs because I love salt.) How was your weekend?

  A few days ago my ONE peony blossomed. Our neighbor gave us three peony plants, one survived through the winter and gave us a pretty show. Peonies are one of my favorite flowers but really many many flowers are my favorites whenever they bloom. Can you believe it is June? I cannot.  This time last year I was packing up a house we lived in for sixteen years, donating many belongings to lighten the load. That weird mindset 'I'm never going to hoard stuff again' has waned. I do buy the occasional used book knowing that each one I purchase might lead to a slippery slope of accumulation.  While I knit from my stash I still buy more yarn, I hope that it's at a slower rate but it is not stopping me from visiting yarn stores and keeping them in business. It's what knitters gotta do. One year ago I was frantically checking a list making sure the selling of the old house was on track and the purchasing of the new house was on track. I romantically daydreamed of boring days...

  I'd say the bottom photo is the true color compared with the top photo, the lighting in this house is fickle and I'm still getting used to it. I finished another gift cowl to put in the present box for later this year. The wool was a left over skein for my sister's sweater . I had plenty of yardage to knit this cowl right up! I've knit this cowl before and enjoy the pattern immensely. Ravelry notes are here What are you working on this week?

  Good morning! This week has been really nice. I was appointment-free all week long, a rarity. The weather is right back into the rainy season. Since I'm coming up to one year living here, I don't know if it always rains here or if this is unusually wet. Does it matter?  Since moving here, I've let my hair grow long and just let it be. Another freeing decision! Why fight humidity? Growing out my bangs was another-freeing decision made more than five years ago, I highly recommend it if you fight styling your hair and yet it does whatever it wants anyways. I love when Holly stuffs herself in the downstairs cat tower. She enjoys looking out the windows and watching the world go by. She's been playing with all of her stuffed mice and leaves them outside our bedroom meowing to us that she gave us a special gift in the middle of the night. Sweet! Yesterday while noodling around on Ravelry I came across a laceweight shawl  that inspired me to dig through my yarn stash, wind u...