Pumpkin Sunrise

Are you ready for the weekend if you celebrate Easter?  Maybe I am as ready as I'll ever be.  I'm getting more lax the older I get on what HAS to get done.  I have my menu planned and the ingredients (at least I think I have the ingredients...).  I've had a blissful day off work doing all the things I would do on a Saturday.  Knitting, reading and more knitting.  I finished a pair of socks for me and they are delightfully speckled.  I knit my memorized vanilla sock pattern that is burned forever into the deep recesses of my brain.  Those are the patterns that I love most, the automatic ones. Today, I'm sore from two gym sessions this past week, I'm feeling muscles I didn't know existed.  Five months have passed since I started this gym-going journey and it's been overall one of the best decisions I've made in my life.  My back still gives me some aches once in a while but it's nothing like what I was experiencing pre-gym days....

What a fun hat pattern to knit up quickly with some super squishy wool.  The wool is from Andrea's shop -   tributary yarns .  This wool has a lovely hand and the twist is perfect, I highly recommend this worsted weight wool. Tin Can Knits have an array of patterns that are great for beginners and intermediate knitters.  This pattern incorporates easy cabling and knitting in the round.  The pattern has written and charted instructions. Ravelry notes are here

How was your weekend?  I hope it was sunny like mine.  It's still chilly out there even with the sun.  When the sun is shining I'm happy and when it's cloudy I feel like there's a sense of doom.  I usually get like this around mid March.  March is a long month...really long.  However, there are signs of the seasons changing and I'm biding my time.  We've been busy this weekend doing chores for next weekend.  I cleaned the house today and hopefully it will be easier next weekend when the kids arrive.  I've finalized my menu for Easter Sunday (but haven't even thought of Monday thru Friday...).  Cooking for two is challenging and it's easy to eat something that is quickly made like a bagel or soup.  We attended Saturday evening Mass for Palm Sunday, the longest Mass known to man.  After Mass, we picked up a pizza.  That evening, I finished a hat and then worked on my socks.  I wrapped up my birthday gift and...

Good morning!  I cannot believe that Palm Sunday is this Sunday and that Easter is around the corner.  If only spring weather was around the corner as well.  I purposefully avoided photos of the snowfall and instead snapped some images of sunrises and clearer skies.  We had about four inches fall during the latest storm and that snow melted all day yesterday. Yesterday, was my mom's birthday, she would have been 78 years old!  She died when she was 58 years old and was considered a breast cancer survivor success since she lived five years post diagnosis.  As you can imagine, yearly mammograms are highly stressful.  Anyways, I cannot imagine her at 78, she is forever young in my mind and most of the time my memories of her are when she was healthy and fit.  I inherited her craftiness and her book loving smarts.  Sadly, I inherited her stubbornness and believing I'm always right and everyone else is wrong.  (seriously, I am corr...

Phew!  I finished the tiny tea leaves cardigan well within my self imposed deadline which was as soon as possible.  The toddler girl I babysit will be two years old in a week and I wanted to make her another tiny tea leaves cardi because her mom loved the Christmas one I made .  This time around, I scoured the internet for a DK weight wool/cotton blend that was wash and dry-able.  I wanted the cotton content for transitional spring weather.  I found on Webs Anchor Bay by Cascade Yarns and I loved knitting with this wool.  When I finished knitting, I did a quick soak and upon blocking the sweater, the super wash wool content made the wet garment droopy and stretched out.  I promptly popped this sweater in the dryer and my oh my, magic!  Truly wash and dry, what bliss.  Both mom and little toddler love Disney, hence the Minnie Mouse buttons. Ravelry notes are here THE WINNER for the $25 coupon code to Tributary yarns websit...

I'm excited to share with you labels and tags for your 'oh so special' knits that you give to people.  If you are like me, I usually write out the care instructions on a tag and attach it to the gift.  Most of the time I'm writing over and over again 'hand wash cold water, lay flat to dry'.  I remember wishing I had a label for that. Well, my wish came true when the  Dutch Label Shop  asked me to review their various labels and tags.   I created a custom care label on their website easily and now I can stitch one to the inside of all those 100% wool projects. I feel liberated and having a care label gives a finished project a polished look. I also ordered woven labels and hang tags with my blog's name on them.  Their website is simple to use and they processed my order quickly.  There were abundant design choices in fonts and colors to give your labels and tags a personal touch. Dutch Label shop will be offering a discount ...

sunrise Saturday  Hello!  I'm sitting here with my laptop and feeling giddy about all the chores I've completed today.  A much needed vacuum and a successful one where the pets were managed as they ran away but not one chasing the other.  I'm getting pretty good at navigating the zoo.  Sometimes.  I lost the plant eating stand off - the shamrock plants are in my bathroom away from the cat.  I decided to pick my battles and shooing her away wasn't a battle I wanted to engage in.  Did she win or did I? Yesterday, we met up with our daughter and son in law at a half-way driving point for lunch and a bit of shopping.  Did I take ANY photos?  Of course not, I was 'in the moment' since our time together was an afternoon then we said goodbyes and headed home.  Today, we took a walk with Frodo down the 'dirt' road that is paved.  For years we've called it the dirt road when it was a dirt road, so that's the name.  Look ...

I finished the tiny tea leaves cardigan only to find a mistake in one sleeve which I've already ripped out and started over.  Golly!  On one hand, I'm thrilled I found the mistake but gosh, I do wish I would have seen it before an entire sleeve was knit up.  At least, it's a tiny sleeve.  Do you rip out?  Or do you assume no one will find the mistake?  If I find a knitting mistake, I cannot let it exist..   I was thrilled to find Beartown  in paperback at the bookstore.  I'm not sure when I will start reading it, but it will be soonish.  I'm hosting Easter for the first time in about six - seven years.  I've slowly started to decide what to make for dinner.  So far I'm leaning towards a turkey breast and potatoes au gratin, and either green beans or asparagus.  After that I'm at a loss!  What are your go to dishes that you cook? Miss Holly has been 'graciously' trimming my shamrock plants that used to ...

Andrea from  This Knitted Life  has been dyeing up some beautiful yarns for her new shop called  Tributary Yarns .  I've known Andrea for quite some time and have test knitted for her in the past.  She is a thoughtful, thorough and dedicated knitter and now indie dyer.  How cool is that? Her shop had a grand opening a week or so ago and Andrea has been busy filling orders and dyeing more yarn to restock. From the looks of it, Andrea is off to a successful business.   Her story about Tributary Yarns can be found here , here and here . I've had the pleasure to be testing out two of her yarn bases, am I not a lucky knitter? The  river silk merino  blend that is a single ply that is 70% superwash merino wool and 30% silk in the lovely colorway  'Dusk at Elk River'.  This decadent wool silk blend is shimmery and the depth of color is simply stunning.  The stitch definition is soft and defined  - I'm current...

This weekend my knitting needles have been ultra busy as I crank out a sweet cardigan .  I've been enjoying the familiarity of knitting the same pattern, but a different size.  I love to knit the same patterns over and over again, do you?  I didn't used to be like that.  In my youth, I was searching for the next 'great' pattern.  Now I just want to pick up and knit, knowing my gauge is good and the yarn is reliable.  This pop of lavender is cheerful - Hello spring! Our son left yesterday, his spring break is over and done.  He started looking for a sublet in Cambridge for his externship at Harvard this summer and I get too stressed out about the whole thing.  So I kept internally chanting 'this is not your problem'.  Now that he's back at his apartment my worries are over (out of sight, out of mind). One of the reasons I love my babysitting job so much is because the problems are small.  Does she want an apple?  cheese?...