Pumpkin Sunrise

Over the weekend, I cast off the last stitch of this mammoth forever knit.  I have to tell you, this shawl is huge.  Because of the alpaca-silk content, I will be warm no matter the weather whatever the weather may be this winter. While I was knitting this shawl, I kept wondering how it would turn into a triangle since it was knit tip to tip.  The designer is a magician and after a gentle blocking - boom -  a triangle! The past few summers, I've had a lace weight knit on the needles.  I find the massive amount of knitting soothing and the lightness of the project bag perfect for car or travel knitting.  Even though I ripped out this shawl and restarted with smaller needles and no mistakes, I enjoyed the project. The pattern is well written and includes charts for the lace sections.  I recommend this pattern for an intermediate or advanced knitter.  Knitting with an alpaca-silk blend is tricky because of the slickness of the yar...

Hello again, how's your weekend?  Over here in PA we are having some stellar weather.  The humidity is low enough that my hair mostly looks good and the temps are perfect.  Not too cold and not too hot.  Perfection!  I'll confess that I've worn jeans, yes jeans, two days in a row.  I love it. My weekend was a balanced busy.  On Friday, I did some window shopping and had a lovely lunch out with my husband at a chopped salad restaurant.  I adore their salads but my husband thought they over chopped his salad, I don't think there is such a thing.  I even left the cosy familiarity of balsamic vinaigrette for carrot ginger dressing -  have you tried it?  delicious! Yesterday, we moseyed around our town, popping into a few stores and did some people watching.  Once home and after lunch, I worked feverishly on the shawl to finish it before the weekend was over.  I cast off during an episode of Fargo (husband loves it)....

I'm yearning and aching for fall.  I gave summer-loving my best effort by not complaining too much about the humidity. I witnessed the beauty on my walks and paid attention to the sights and sounds of the season. Mother nature cooperated with me because the summer was overall mild.  Everyday that comes and goes, more leaves are dropping and I'm thinking 'yes'!  Finally.  This is the weather change that knitters want most.  I'm inspired with color combinations on my daily walks and the fair isle knitting I could do. I've crafted my holiday knitting to do list and it's massive.  I'm not including the two sweater projects.  Ordinarily, I would have amassed many knitted projects for gifts by August.  But the constantly changing news feeds and my inability to ignore them completely has made my knitting productivity suffer. dromedary by juniper moon and ella rae sport A few days ago, I shopped at a yarn store and picked up some lovely yarns ...

I am totally thrilled by my steady progress of the white out shawl .  I have only 34 rows until the bind off.  And that lace section is gorgeous!! I've been digging through my yarns finding possible skeins for some holiday knitting that I will start by mid September.  I'll be looking for accessory patterns to match up with the yarn I already have in stash.  The planning stage is satisfying for me. I ordered yarn from Webs for my son in law and my sister's sweaters. Thanks for the suggestions last week with pattern ideas, that helps me hone in on some possibilities.  I'm messaging my son in law with photos of designs and gaining more ideas of what he is interested in. My sister will get this sweater  in the blue Madelinetosh sock . What are you knitting this week?

How was your weekend?  I hope it was filled with lots of fun and happiness.  Mine was pretty good until today.  But first let's start at the beginning. Friday we went out for dinner and after that we maxed out on the staycation no cooking week.  I was more than ready to resume some cooking duties.  The daily salad will continue no matter what.  As long as I use a different dressing each time, I do not hit the salad ennui. After dinner, we did a bit of shopping.  I was in a bookstore browsing and left without buying a book. Ever since I've organized my 'to be read' pile earlier this year and I cannot justify buying any book.  The book has to be a 'must read now or I'll burst' kind of book.  If you're a book reader, you know what I'm talking about. Yesterday, I toodled about at home doing not much of anything.  I knit (a lot actually), read some and even dipped into the pool with my husband.  Mid-afternoon we were thrilled...

Yesterday I was talking to my dad on the phone while sitting on the backyard swing.  I was soaking up the morning sun beams before the heat of the day, when Canadian geese flew above me in their V formation.  Oh my, if that isn't a sight for sore eyes for this cool weather lover. August for me is a reflective month.  I dislike the heat and humidity (this year so far very manageable).  However, August loves to show soft signs of autumnal changes.  A single maple leaf placed in a sea of green grass.  Black walnut leaves littering the back roads and yes, walnuts falling as well.  My driveway is sporting a few fallen acorns from my mighty oak tree.  All good, all welcome, beautiful. So while the humidity climbs today, I'm keeping copious notes of the seasonal changes I witness in a notebook.  Each entry makes me a little giddy.  I've endured the summer, I enjoyed the summer but it's time to move to the next season. Since my hu...

Well, well, well.  I'm past the lace chart and right back to the garter stitch shaping.  Somehow I feel like I'm half way through this project but because it's knit from tip to tip I'm having a hard time judging the half way point.  I loved knitting the lace section and cannot wait for the next one! I've knit a tiny bit on my sweater , nearing the end of the body shaping decreasing.  This knit is perfectly paired with watching TV or talking with others.  Comfort knitting at its finest. In other news, I'm planning on knitting my son in law a sweater and am mulling over some pattern ideas.  Of course, I could design my own and that will be my fall back pattern from Ann Budd's top down sweater designs.  However, do you have a favorite men's sweater pattern that you love in worsted weight wool?  I'd love to know! I'm also planning on knitting my sister a cardigan exactly like the one I'm knitting now.  I cannot wait to see what are her ...

Now that is one clean coffee table!  I just reclaimed it after a busy weekend and 'stuff' all over it.  Today my knitting friends came over in the afternoon, so I did a fast tidy.  Call me crazy but I like to clean (not the bathrooms!). I'll confess that I hate cleaning the bathroom tub surround so much so that I procrastinate and that makes the job worse when I do.  So I've been diligently cleaning weekly, apparently this seems to decrease the amount of time in there cleaning.  Who knew?! Oh and scrubbing bubbles in a can is arthritis friendly - I don't have to squeeze any triggers repeatedly. For all you summer lovers, please skip this paragraph.  Okay.  I've been seeing signs of autumn on my walk, so subtle but there.  The black walnut trees are starting to drop leaves, they are always first.  I noticed a few fallen acorns on my walk today.  The light has been shifting ever so slightly and my mornings are in the dark once mo...

I've been sitting on a secret that I've been dying to tell you for about two weeks.  My daughter and son in law will be relocating from Santa Barbara, CA to somewhere in Delaware (exact location unknown) by the beginning of October!  Yes!  I am still in disbelief. They will live approximately three hours away - by car.  This is my first gratitude.  As for the rest, they are: -getting to the second section of the chart of the white out shawl .  For me it seems like it took forever, maybe because I ripped out the entire first section.  Sadly, the lace chart has stitch manipulation on both right and wrong side rows, I love when the purl side is a free ride of not-thinking and I'm missing that component. -I've been killing the puzzles lately these days.  We switched to an online local paper in January and I print out the Sunday puzzles which are doable for me compared to the NYT's crossword puzzle.  I like feeling smart. -than...

Ta da!  I am finished with this blanket that I started way back in May 2014.  I have reclaimed a set of knitting needles that have been unavailable to me. In case you were wondering, I did not mind burying all those ends, they took less than an hour.  The blanket is everything I imagined and boy, is it warm because of the 100% wool content. I have fond memories of curling up under the blanket and adding a few rows here and there.  I remember starting the blanket and quickly eating up all those bits of wool.  Will I make another blanket?  yes.  Will it be fingering weight?  maybe.  This was a labor of love. Ravelry notes are here