Pumpkin Sunrise

this is NOT my cat  Hello!  How was your weekend?  Well mine was interesting.  I was asked to babysit on Friday afternoon spur of the moment and while I could not do the entire time, I did two hours of the request.  The preschooler was asking me where my carrots and raisins were.  I usually babysit from early morning to early afternoon and share my lunch with her, hence the carrot/raisin request.  Ah little ones, she is a cutie. She spent lots of time creating art and made a picture of me!  I do like the color red so I see the resemblance.  Sort of.  Not sure about the glitter though and where is my smile?? Saturday was a stay-at-home-until-evening-Mass day.  I got caught up on some much needed filing of papers and I assessed all of my knitting from the past year and made preliminary plans of who receives what for a Christmas present.  I'm scaling down on who I knit for, it was quite intense last year with my mani...

It's beginning to look like fall around here.  More leaves are turning colors but the weather is still holding onto summer temperatures.  This past week has overall been relaxing and calm.  I treasure the calm moments because who knows when and where the chaotic moments will occur. Sometimes the chaos is just in my thoughts. My daughter lent me a fantasy novel she really enjoyed in hopes to entice me into her genre of reading.  Initially when I started reading The Curse of Chalion,  I doubted my resolve to dig deep into a created world and a lengthy story (502 pages).  Like many people I will recite a mantra of 'I don't have time'. I've been treating this past week as a luxurious vacation since I didn't have to babysit on Tuesday.  I have a whole entire week to do whatever I want.  I've been digging deep in the freezer creating easy to heat meals.  Of course I've been knitting and then there is the reading. On Monday, I chos...

How exciting for me to tell you all that I finished the heather leaf shawl .  This has been quite the knit.  I chose this pattern for its simplicity and fantastic stitch definition.  Both are stunning and I wish you could see this shawl in person. To be honest, my most common shapes to wear as a shawl are rectangles, crescents and half circles.  I love to knit a triangular shawl but I seldom wear them.  Oh and I like assymmetrical shawls which isn't a shape or is it?? Anyways back to the banana leaf pattern , yes, it is easy and quick to memorize, well written BUT because of each and every right side row being different I could not read and knit at the same time.  I could listen to podcasts or listen and glance at a very talky TV show. Now could the weather get a bit cooler so I can wear my new shawl? Ravelry notes

This weekend was full of fun, my kids all came in and we attended a nearby fair.  Every year I look forward to going and every year my body gives out in some fashion.  Getting old is for the birds!  I prefer to go on a rainy day (less people) but the kids can only come on a Saturday.  Of course it was over 80 degrees! There is not much 'heathy food' at the fair but I managed to each food I didn't regret.  I always get some french fries and a slice of pizza.  Instead of the evil funnel cake, I opted for an apple dumpling.  There is apple in the apple dumpling so it's sort of healthy, right? Our son was agreeable for an impromptu photo shoot!  If he moves far away I'll be sad (but I will manage like I always do). Sunday morning the kids left after lunch in stages.  I cleaned the bathrooms, stripped the beds and did more laundry.  The house is back to being tidy until the next visit. We are still in the 80s but all too soo...

I've been content this week - I'd like to coin it as 'happiness' but happiness is a noisy word, one with overflowing joy or exuberance.  My contentment is quiet and still, it's drinking coffee in the same mug every morning while I write in my daily journal.  It's the same old same old, day in and day out boring stuff. Many times while I'm here writing to you on this blog, I'll tap upon something I'm worried about or something that is crowding out my inner joy.  Today I'm writing about nothing in particular and that is something. I'm a homebody, I love being home doing the same thing over and over especially after a trip.  I envy the travelers, the explorers and the wild abandon they experience while doing new things.  If I change eating my daily bowl of cheerios for breakfast that would be a crazy kind of adventure.  Don't get me wrong, I love to go away, see new places and do new things.  But coming home  is the bestest feeli...

On our way to Lake Placid I knit about fourteen rows of the banana leaf shawl that needed to be ripped out because of a foolish mistake.  So all of my car knitting didn't account for much progress.  However, despite the temporary setback, I'm ready to do the last section of this shawl. Maybe next week I will be done with this lace weight project? I love knitting the Jewel Box shawl  and watching the gradient colors slowly change from one to another.  This is a simple knit that is perfect for my babysitting day or for reading and knitting at the same time.  Part of me wants to savor the knitting time I spend adding rows, the yarn is that decadent. What are you working on this week?

On Thursday morning my husband and I left to drive up to Lake Placid, New York to spend a long weekend with his brother and sister in law.  We had so much fun!  It was nice to be together and explore the area that my husband and I visited seven years ago. The hotel made a hot mess of our reservations.  We were to have adjoining rooms for three nights but sadly my husband and I had to spend one night in a regular room then switch over to the adjoining room.  The problem was the pricing changes (repeated ones).  An attendant then adjusted our bill on Friday night for two nights instead of three but this morning at check out, I had another battle over the price.  Then another battle on the phone with the manager, every single time I had to explain the situation. Honestly, it was stressful but luckily that was the only problem. On Friday morning we headed over the High Falls Gorge .  Super super fun! Then we headed over the White Face Moun...

Last weekend my husband and I drove north to the Endless Mountain fiber festival for the day.  I was unable to attend last year due to his dad passing and our trip up to Canada for a gravesite service. I was excited to once again return to this small but exciting event. Two years ago when I attended my sister and brother in law were with us and we had so much fun.  This year, I focused on enhancing my stash with what was lacking.  I steered away from alpaca (for no particular reason, I have it in stash).  I was interested in natural unprocessed fibers or unusual fiber blends. This is what I bought: yakity-yak wool by Skirted Fleece Mill summer breeze by Gurdy Run Woolen Mill two skeins of mohair blends by Holly Road Fiber Farm I hope to have these entered into my Ravelry stash soon. Of course, I'm itching to start something new, but I need to finish a few projects already started.   We had a quick packed lunch on a bench (...