Pumpkin Sunrise

Autumn feels like she is truly here to stay.  While out and about on my daily walk yesterday, I wore a fleece jacket and dare I say some thin gloves?!  These are the days I've been dreaming about.  The daily changes I see in nature are welcome and cozy.  Leaves falling, squirrels acting insane with their darting about, same with the chipmunks but they seem more dignified about their scurrying. This week more red leaves were falling joining the yellow ones that have been around for a week or so.  Autumn is glorious! I'm still adjusting to an empty house, even though my house has been empty of children for quite some time.  Motherhood lasts forever, and evolves, never staying the same.  But like the seasons, motherhood gives way to changes.  Overall, I love having adult children and take comfort knowing they are own their own. It seems like yesterday I was their age, being my own newly minted adult.  I remember the feelings and uncertainty of what was to be or going t

I know, I know, you're thinking that I'm reading the same books as last week and you are correct.  I seem to have fallen off the daytime reading goal I set for myself last week.  In my defense, I am reading at night and have a mere four pages left of Ordinary Life .  This short story collection is fun to read but many characters are unhappy.  How sad because I believe most people are happy! The Once and Future King  is slow going.  This is the daytime read, I can't pay attention at night since this book is outside my regular reading tastes.  I am enjoying the story and frequently compare this plot to what I know and what the tv show Merlin  decided to create.  All fun and engaging. My knitting has made steady progress.  The red scarf which will be converted to a cowl is fun to knit.  I have the pattern memorized but still need to pay attention to make sure I'm doing the right row at the right time.  All good. My cowl is super squishy and has some lanolin in t

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comments section of the blog. my cowl pattern - balancing act cowl Hello!  How are you?  This weekend has been the weather weekend I've been dreaming about all summer long.  Finally FINALLY the humidity is down, there's a chill in the air.  The morning and nights are brisk.  Hopefully it's here to stay but I'm okay for a fickle beginning to the cold weather. I wore a jacket on my walk.  That is my big news and only in a few more weeks I'll be wearing some wool, baby steps and all in good time.  I will be patient.   there was a butterfly on the flower but I scared it away.... How was your weekend?  My Friday night started slippery, after my "big windows update" that led to a big internal mental meltdown in the morning.  Once I start with an upset state of mind, I lead with it for quite

This morning when I sat down to write this blog post a massive windows update took over and I was held hostage by technology for almost two hours.  Honestly, my impatience and anger almost got the better of me.  I did have a temper tantrum or two while waiting.  My negative thoughts crowded in as I wondered if this is the end of my PC?  Will this crash my computer??  Obviously all is well (I think). Guess what?  The weather is changing over the weekend and once again my creative thoughts have flowed once more.  Even though the days are still hot, the heat doesn't feel the same.  We walk after dinner down our dirt road and the trees surround us and shade the pathway.  Sometimes I feel chilly! A soft breeze carries the scent of the evergreens. Oh, autumn you are simply the best. I dug around my studio for some wool yarns two days ago and have some ideas of what I'll be knitting.  Since we are approaching holiday season, I cannot say exactly what specifically.  But I wil

Good morning!! I am back to knitting a forever on my needles knit, the dandelion daze shawl .  I'm thrilled to once again be knitting with wool instead of cotton.  Today I'll be casting on some new projects (I hope).  But for now, I'm content to be knitting away with an almost done lace shawl.  As you know, the blocking process will show off those yarn overs. Oh I posted about my silver leaf shawl yesterday . I finished The Lake House  two days ago and thoroughly enjoyed the read.  I read some reviews reporting a tidy ending.  This is true and I am one of those crazy people that like bittersweet endings or open ended endings, you know, the ones that make you think.  I still recommend the novel, she writes a compelling story! I continue to read The Once and Future King  and started the second book in the novel.  I'm making slow, steady progress and am enjoying the Camelot Kingdom. I picked a THIN book off the shelf yesterday, and it's Ordinary Life  by E

I finished this shawl last week and finally (finally!) did a proper photo shoot today.  The weather has been cloudy but I did my best.  Really the shawl is beautiful in person, but with multi-colored yarns it's difficult to capture the best photo without a close up. I love the "leaves" the best.  The pattern calls for sport weight yarn and I used what was in stash - fingering weight!  I wish I had just 100 more yards then I would have done the exact same repeats of the garter stitch section. However, I had to skimp and skip the final repeat. I had a hard time getting into the groove of the pattern, but once I did, the knitting was fast! Ravelry notes are here

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comments section of the blog. Fall blooms are the best!  Every year the wild asters bloom and every year I think about how I should plant some for my garden.  I love them so.  How was your weekend?  Busy?  Slow?  I can't wait to hear about yours.  Mine was slow and easy.  Truly, I am so so lucky I am anxiety free these days.  Makes for a happy life.  I work hard at being "present" and noticing small joys in my daily life.  Writing a gratitude list DAILY helps immensely.  I've noticed there is something to be grateful for every single day. Friday night was dinner out at a local favorite restaurant with my husband's colleague and friend.  I'd like to believe she's my friend as well.  We had a great time together talking, laughing and eating.  We extended our evening back at home with coffee a

Yesterday was picture perfect beautiful.  The humidity was low and the cold front arrived dropping the temperatures a wee bit more.  Ah.  Lovely!  The days are shorter and shorter but I'm one of those few people in the world that love that shift in the season.  I sat on the swing in a beam of sunlight reading my book.  I cannot remember the last time I purposefully sat in the sun. I'm becoming more comfortable in manual mode on my camera.  So simple and yet daunting when you are not familiar with photography.  I still have a lot to learn, but my building blocks are a solid foundation.  My self taught course is going well.  I'm the best student, ha ha.  All of these photos were in manual mode. I started a baby sweater in cotton and the cotton is not being kind to my hands.  So as you know, I will be knitting like a demon to finish the project and move back to wool.  What was I thinking?  Give me three days or four, I'll be finished. Oh, by the way, my heal

I started another baby sweater using the same pattern that I always use, Elizabeth Zimmermann's February Baby Sweater.  I love this pattern and yet I flub up the beginning every single time.  I guess I am a little challenged at times.  This lovely photo of my sweater beginnings was ripped out and started all over again last night. I need to read the directions carefully! My reading is the same and I knew the books would be photographed a third week in a row, so I decided to show you the new Taproot magazine.  This magazine gets better as each issue is printed.  If you have a chance, you should give it a flip through. So, my books not in the photo continue along splendidly - The Lake House  by Kate Morton and The Once and Future King by T. H. White.  I'm enjoying both of them and my progress has been minimal this week.  I need to step it up! What are you knitting and reading this week? Joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams

If you're looking for a quick knitting project for some holiday gift giving, this cowl could easily fit your needs.  I loved how fast this knit up and it only used one skein of my yarn, that is less than 192 yards of DK weight! As you may remember, I love wool/silk blends and this one is ultra soft!  I also love how silk give a tweedy look to the wool.  Delicious! Ravelry notes are here

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comments section of the blog. Saturday morning my husband and I headed off early in the morning for the Endless Mountains Fiber Festival .  The ride is long and lovely.  After we drive through two cities we are surrounded by mountains.  Pennsylvania is quite beautiful. I enjoyed browsing the lovely yarns and this year there were quite a few pottery stalls!  I don't know how you shop these kind of events, but I have to go through once and then go back and buy.  I wish I could just buy on the spot but I question if that is what I really really want. However going through more than once is double the fun. I did buy a skein of red wool for a soon-to-be scarf for my son.  I'm not sure what pattern, but I do know he requested dark red.  Mission accomplished! I love the warning sign and there is nary a horse to be

Remember this blanket?  Well, I've unearthed the project, dusted the blanket off and resumed knitting while watching TV in the evenings.  The heat wave is still going full blast outside but inside, I am blissfully in an "autumn" state of mind.  Each day comes and goes and daylight is lost a tiny bit, the angle of the sun makes the heat bearable and I know cozy days are ahead of me. This week I started a self guided photography course that I've been meaning to start for ages.  I was delighted to take notes but more importantly to learn something new!  My grandfather (Mom's dad) was a huge proponent of self education. He claimed that anything could be learned with a book.  I have to agree, I learned to knit through self education.  I am partial to a "real" book as well.  Being able to flip through pages, jump from chapter to chapter is much easier with a physical book than a digital book.  My main mode of learning is by reading.  If you tell

Good morning! Once again it's time to share what I am knitting this past week. My shawl (brown) is coming along nicely - I have two more repeats until I get to the juicy leaf knitting.  I hope I have enough yarn - I think I'll be okay.  I think... My yellow shawl ( dandelion daze shawl ) is making steady significant progress.  I'm trying to do a repeat a day, sometimes two repeats.  I'm over half way with the knitting and I'm going until the skein is nearly done. Even though it's hot outside, inside my house is fall. I pulled out the fall decorations and when I look out the window the leaves are changing.  One more week of hot temperatures and maybe Mother Nature will get on board with me.  I can hope. Onto my reading : I'm reading two books, first off is The Lake House, I am thoroughly enjoying this book.  I have to confess, I've liked everything she has written, so I'm biased.  This book is my evening book to read.  During the day

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comments section of the blog. This weekend has been glorious and we have an extra day.  Bliss!  Friday night was dinner out even though we ate out for our anniversary earlier in the week. It felt a little extravagant.  Since the weather cooled down we went for an evening walk to check out the oil and chipped dirt road which isn't much of a dirt road now but that's its name. I am ready (ready!!!) for fall but I will miss after dinner walks. Yesterday our son arrived mid morning to spend a few nights here.  I'm thrilled his commute is short compared to Boston.  We jam packed our day - lots of talking in the afternoon then after dinner we did a bit of shopping. Afterwards we headed to our town park. I grabbed the camera and went around shooting and enjoying the scenery.  I grew up in the city (Pittsburgh) and