Pumpkin Sunrise

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comment section with a link to your blog. Oh what a weekend - it was perfectly dull and calm, just the way I like them.   My husband and I toyed with going out shopping on Saturday but in the end just talking and thinking about it was enough, we stayed home.  Today was church, laundry (as always) and knitting with my friends at my house!  Hence the photo of me standing on a chair getting a photo of our creative mess. Also my weekend contained: :: homemade pizza :: walking with Frodo and the Mister :: puzzle solving on paper :: reading :: cookies! :: phone calls with the kids :: arithmetic thinking for knitting :: lots of hot tea :: rearranging skeins and contemplating future knitting projects :: How was your weekend?

Let me tell you a story.  When we moved to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the early 90's, we lived in an old farmhouse that was located eight miles from the main road.  The drive to the farmhouse was beautiful, bald eagles soared above and the road twisted here and there through the woods. I was a stay at home mom with a little two year old girl.  We only had one car which my husband used to get to work and back.  I was isolated and alone in a pretty farmhouse with three sets of neighbors who liked to keep to themselves and definitely were not my age. As you can imagine, I grew lonely, anxious and incredibly sad during those brief nine months.  I doubted my decision to stay at home, I missed having a community and friends.  In the spring time, we moved to town where my husband's job was located.  I attended story time at the local county library and it was there I met some friends.  Three lovely women who opened the doors of friendsh...

Ha!  New book and not so new knitting this week.  I started Blue Asylum  a couple days ago and I'm enjoying the story.  It is "gothic" and I do love that angst that is captured in a gothic novel.  I also started reading The Song of the Lark  by Willa Cather on my Kindle, also a great novel that I'm enjoying. I have made more progress on my sweater .  I've separated the sleeves off and I'm working on the body.  Underneath the book is my scarf that I'm knitting for my husband.  That project is slow going but I've placed a marker whenever I pick it up so I can see the few inches I've had to motivate me more. What are you knitting and reading this week? Joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comment section with a link to your blog. Guess what?  I have snow, a lot of snow.  You know, the snow blowing kind of snow.  All day long yesterday I sat and watched the snowfall.  The very best part was having my electricity the whole time.  Oh, sometimes everything works out just fine. I shoveled the front walk, to participate in some fashion,  while he took care of the long long driveway.  He is a summer lover and I think he enjoys the snow blowing as long as he is warm enough.  He only came in once to switch out gloves for mitts.  I enjoyed the snow day and staying inside. Today, the plow did not clear our road this morning, so we didn't attend church.  I found it hard to guess what the roads were like and decided I didn't want to know.  I think...

I've been thinking a lot about productivity and how it fills me with happiness.  I've been thinking also of how I waste my time.  Yesterday, for instance, I was quite productive.  I worked on my continuing ed packets and diligently focused on reading the content.  I find it challenging to get into that mind set since I'm mostly in creative thinking mode.  I prefer creative thinking mode!! The current knitting projects have been worked on and I see daily progress and get a thrill knowing when one is close to being finished.  Soon I have to start some baby knitting since my dog groomer is having her first baby (girl!!).  I'm excited to be knitting for a girl, it seems I've been knitting for boys or unisex.  I'm looking forward to digging into some pink yarn stash and going at it. So one of the ways I've been wasteful with my time and I do it frequently is focusing on a snafu that is unsolvable.  On Wednesday, my printer would NOT comm...

Hello! I've been knitting fast and furious this past week.  All good, and all fun.  First off is the top down cardigan that is speeding along.  I've separated the sleeves off a day ago and now I'm onto the body.  So much knitting fun.  On the left is a cowl that I cast on a few days ago.  The yarn was a gift from my sister.  I hope to have this finished by the weekend. I'm still reading Life as We Knew It, and I'm nearly half way through.  It's okay, the novel is written in diary format and the narrator is 15-16 years old.  I have a feeling nothing is going to get better with the moon closer to the earth, but you never know!! What are you knitting and reading this week? Joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams

I received this book to review and thought I would share my thoughts with you.   Kids' Knitting Workshop  by Susan B. Anderson is a comprehensive book on how to teach children to knit. "Knitting is for everyone! It really is a craft that boys, girls, kids, teens, and adults of all ages can enjoy.  Most kids naturally love making things, so knitting often resonates with them in a big way.  Anyone and everyone can learn to knit--all you need are a few simple skills, knitting needles, and yarn, and away you go!"                                                                                                         -Susan B. Anderson I love this quote, I am a firm believer in everyone knitting and I'm sure y...

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comment section with a link to your blog. Hello you!  How was your weekend?  I hope it was lovely.  Mine is slowly winding down.  We had family visiting from London, Ontario and we had so much fun, here's some of the highlights: -dinner out Friday night at our favorite restaurant, yum! -talking, laughing, catching up on family, kids, life -a bit of local shopping and finding some deals, even though the Canadian dollar is a little weak -reminiscing of days gone by, seems like yesterday -early mornings in the quiet while everyone slept (that's me up early, love that time of day) -squeezing in some knitting here and there -watching the pretty snow on the ground melt away Tonight, as you probably guess, I'll fire up a cup of tea and knit some more.  The laundry is almost finished. ...

Winter arrived this week and this winter lover is quite happy!  I watched the snowfall from the inside of my warm and cozy home.  I went out with the big camera and Frodo, but we both gave up in fifteen minutes because....well...we were cold! Funny how last year was bitterly cold and that 20 degrees would've felt warm.  This year, I'm not acclimated to the deep chill. My body was spoiled with spring like temps for too long.  Barely an inch of snow fell when the storm blew through but that's okay.  It's beautiful and it's snow!  I'm wearing wool sweaters, wool cowls or scarves or shawls.  I sift through mitts and pick a pair - this has been heavenly. The quiet days of January continue, I love that after holiday lull.  We are back to the two of us.  Simple meals are planned, the Christmas cookies are almost (almost!) gone and with each sweet treat disappearing we are welcoming in fresh fruits and vegetable.  Yum.  I am enj...

Last week, I started a sweater for myself.  I loved this cardigan so much I'm knitting another one !  I love Quince and Co yarn and I'm delighted to be knitting with it once again.  Santa was nice enough to give me some during the Christmas season :) Are you surprised I'm not reading Station Eleven ? Well I finished it and over all I liked the book.  The ending was sort of "meh" for me but I still recommend the book.  So in the spirit of reading out of my comfort zone, I started Life as We Knew It .  My son read it over the holidays and recommended it.  Instead of an epidemic wiping out most of the civilization, the moon has been hit by an asteroid and has shifted closer to Earth.  For some reason an epidemic is more believable than the moon shifting but I'm enjoying the chaos and the panic. Who knew I would enjoy apocalypse stuff!! What are you knitting and reading this week? Joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comment section with a link to your blog. This weekend was a dark weekend, sure there were pockets of sun but my the dark skies just kept winning.  I'm lucky that I can hibernate inside and knit away.  How's your weekend been so far?  I bet you have snow if you're not in the northeast (grr).  My weekend was pretty good, we had a slow Saturday morning doing our own thing.  I started gathering papers together for taxes and filed a bunch as well.  Of course I knit!!  What's a day in my life without knitting?  Not a fun day indeed. Today I gathered with friends and knit some more, quite nice.  My laundry is nearly finished and I'm sipping my daily cup of green tea. My weekend contained: chocolate chip muffins -  chocolate chip cookies -  risotto - ...

I am finished with the fair isle hat and it's currently soaking as I type this post.  Ah, finishing knits is quite rewarding and soothing.  I have in mind starting another sweater.  Details will be revealed when I know the details! On Wednesday, my son returned to Boston for another semester and I cleaned like a possessed woman.  Bathrooms, dusting and vacuuming.  A slurry of activity that was overdue and much needed.  Now I'm sitting in a relatively clean home and ready for what January has to bring to me. Everyday has been a salad day.  Yum!  I've been on Pinterest pinning away some new recipes and getting fresh ideas for simple dinners.  My health intentions for the new year are going strong.  I am practicing yoga every morning diligently.  As a knitter, I notice and feel those shoulder stretches and appreciate them. The best aspect of January is the way the light shifts.  The days are a tiny bit longer and my...

I am nearly finished with Station Eleven and I've been enjoying the novel.  My reading time has been slim since my son has still been around since last Wednesday.  However, he is heading to the train station as I write this and I know I'll finish this book today.  Promise.  I know a few of you out there enjoyed this book, do you have other books similar to this one that you would recommend?  Just wondering. My knitting has been all about hats.  I finished two and posted yesterday .  I quickly started another fair isle hat  using the left over red for the blue as the main color.  I boldly thought that I had plenty of the white and during the afternoon of knitting I came to the realization that I was delusional in that bold thought process. So as any knitter would do, I went to my LYS and bought another skein (the ONLY one left....).  I said it was an emergency yarn purchase.  The knitting group there chuckled and the owner sai...

There is nothing like a quick portable knitting project tucked in your purse or bag for whenever you have the urge to knit.  I loved how fast these hats knit up in the midst of family visiting and the busyness of the holiday season.  I'll be doing hats next season as well. The fair isle hat was lovely to knit.  I am making another one but went up a needle size since the blue hat is a little snug.  I blocked the daylights out of the blue one and it fits my head perfectly.  If you want to dip your toes into knitting with two colors in one row this is the hat pattern for you. The father cables hat  was fun to knit and looks lovely on a head (or not!!).  The cables are many and keeping track of which row I was on was a challenge.  I tend to not write anything down...for some reason it works for me to look at my knit and look at the chart and proceed. So there you go, two hats.  I've cast on another fair isle with red being the main c...

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comment section with a link to your blog. Hello! Have you recovered from the holidays?  Getting there?  Oh my, I sure am.  We had the slowest weekend ever.  As promised on Friday, I put away the Christmas tree and all of my decorations.  That photo above is where the tree twinkled and glowed.   I love the wide opened spaces I'm seeing now in my home.  It's good.  It's refreshing.  Our son is still here and he has the "cold" that his sister brought.  This weekend had him on the couch while my husband and I prayed to not catch it and steered clear of his sneezing and coughing.  He's feeling much better.  He leaves on Wednesday to returned to Boston to start up another semester This weekend I... -took a daily walk and was chilled by the winter...

Good morning and Happy New Year's day to all of you.  Don't you love the newness of this day.  It's shiny and bright, unblemished and the whole entire year is rolled out in front of us.  I love January 1st.  Along with the beginning of a new year, I see a chance for improvement and growth. New intentions, old intentions, both resurrected.  I've been in list making mode the past few days.  Writing thoughts down to paper makes the goals real and justified.  So here it goes, my ideas and focuses. Health: -I received from Santa a great new cookbook and I've been reading the chapters here and there and want to incorporate more whole food cooking in our diet.  This cookbook is good, I love the recipes and the photos and how "doable" they are as I read them.  I also think we will both like eating them. -Yoga every single day.  That about sums it up. -Eating less sugar (who me??) State of Mind: -practice living in the "no...