Pumpkin Sunrise

What I'm grateful for this week: -mostly sunshine instead of cloudy days -starting a creativity tracker in my planner before the pandemic never knowing how much it would be a big help in my days and my motivation -hitting a fine rhythm with daily cooking and weekly menu planning -the start of sketching out our summer outings outdoors and many picnics to be -modern technology and how it weaves a thread of togetherness -all the knitting! -Air Conditioning(!) -a brand new frisbee for Frodo to put in the pool and then bark at it -the upcoming landscaping project around the pool and replacing a retaining wall -rediscovering our traveling county library and ALL the books I want and curbside pickup. (this is a game changer for many desired books) -clean kitchen floors for now -big salads  -new to me salad dressings -ideas of challenging myself in artwork, both sketching and watercoloring -you-tube and all the artists who post information regarding watercoloring and sketching -for all the ...

Good morning!  How are you doing?  Well, my knitting has been keeping me busy and sane.  I am languishing in the wonderfulness of endless stockinette stitching of my cotton cardigan while reading Middlemarch at the same time.  What is nice is sitting outside by the pool while doing it!  Yes, the pool is looking good but it's still too cold to swim in for me.  We did our first 'foot dangle' yesterday.  Brr. I'm also enjoying working on the shawl I started a while ago.  This is my TV knitting project because I can mostly watch TV and only occasionally need to do a lacework row every now and then. What are you working on this week?

How was your weekend?  If you're in the USA you are still weekending since it's Memorial Day.  My weekend was good overall and continuing. Our walk was the first walk in the morning because of how warm it gets during the day.  Isn't that a wonderful progression as we head towards summer?  The little bugs are so horrible this year so we spray our hat brims with deterrent and that seems to work. I sat and cross stitched all day on Saturday and finished the piece!  Sadly there was a big hiccup with the picture.  On Sunday morning, I gave it a quick swish in cold water then smoothed it out to dry and when I looked at in a mere three hours later, the red floss BLED into the white cloth (insert a very very sad face).  I will blame it all on this project being from a kit and an unknown floss brand. I went through all the emotions: sadness, grief and anger.  I woke up with acceptance.  Since I discovered the bleeding, I swilled it in laun...

Hello!  I hope you all are doing fine this Friday morning, I sure am.  I'm loving the green on my walks and the warmer weather.  Of course a heat wave is coming so I'm soaking up the temperate temperatures while I can.  Once it's 85 degrees, I'll be hiding in my house again.  On our walk this week we saw a turkey vulture (above photo).  I was pleased I could get a photo of him/her with my iphone, usually when I zoom in I lose the integrity of the composition. I mentioned on Wednesday that I wanted to finish a cross stitch project within a week.  I have over half of it done already so my goal is attainable if I work on it daily instead of knitting all the time.  I'll keep you up to date on the progress.  I spent way too much time shopping for frames online.  It's so much easier to pop into a craft store and zip through an aisle and choose.  I hope they ship the frame soon! Holly's first sneak by Yesterday Holly insi...

Ah, a pair of s ocks finished for when autumn leaves are falling.  I bought this yarn when I was visiting my sister last November.  I was attracted to that brilliant yellow and new I needed a pair of socks.  Who knew I would be treasuring that memory of browsing a store without a care in the world! The sock pattern is a memorized pattern with 64 stitches cast on on size 2 needles constructed from the cuff down.  The body of the leg consists of four rows of stockinette and two rows of 2x2 rib.  Easy peasy. What are you working on this week? I have high hopes of finishing a cross stitch project in less than a week.  It's a daring goal.

How was your weekend? Mine was pretty good over all.  Saturday was picture-perfect weather with blue skies and warm low humidity weather.  I had the back door opened all day long.  Even the birds sang louder than ever rejoicing in the day.  My husband opened the pool and has slowly been turning a dark green pool into a blue pool.  He is nearly done.  I doubt anyone will be swimming anytime soon since the pool is 57 degrees.  On Saturday I read all day while doing some knitting.  Saturday night started the knitting woes.  I had to rip out about 7-8 rows on the shawl I'm working on.  Apparently I cannot count!  So three hours were lost ripping out and knitting back up what was ripped out.  However, I am back on track. Sunday morning I repaired one of my husband's  hand-knitted socks.  That took 45 minutes undoing the bind off and figuring out where I was (which is easy since I knit the toe down to 16 st...

How has your week been?  Did you find joy?  I hope so.  Thank you all for the lovely comments on my shawl, this tiny blogging world is wonderful!  This week started out with winter coats and today it will be nearly 80 degrees.  On our daily walks we've seen an oriole, an indigo bunting and a woodpecker.  To be honest, my husband sees them first then I'm trying to follow where he is pointing lagging behind in my birdwatching skills. I'm finding joy in the every day.  Sure these days seem to run together blurring lines and becoming a bit of a blob.  But then, I schedule myself out with some blocked time of purposeful creativity and then 'poof' the day feels different.  As I mentioned in my Weekends post, I read all day Saturday and that made Saturday feel like Saturday. gift from my daughter and son in law I'm finding joy in rearranging all my art supplies, rotating out watercolor paint sets and flipping through art journals....

I finished my citron shawl !  On Saturday night I was casting off about a billion stitches and was concerned about the amount of yarn that was left.  I was left with about 18 inches of wool....that was a close one. Yesterday I had troubles photographing the shawl.  For one, it was a dismal dark day, so I have to go from room to room trying to find scraps of light.  Secondly, lace weight is hard to photograph because of how see through it is. I've tucked this shawl away for the fall weather since spring is trying it's very best to arrive and stay.  Ravelry notes  What are you working on this week?

This was the 'bestest' weekend yet.  I'm breaking grammar rules just because I can.  Yesterday we had brilliant sunshine and a nice enough day to sit outside.  Since sunny days seem to be scant this spring season, I'm bottling up all the memories of the days that defy rain. Saturday I sat and read half of a book and finished it.  Reading a book all day made Saturday feel like Saturday.  My daughter and I are reading Middlemarch together so I needed to tidy up my current reading list to make room for an 880 page book. I'm also reading a memoir,  A River in Darkness, about a man who escapes North Korea. Today is my catch up day on the computer and visit all of you who visit me who have a blog!! How was your weekend? PS:  Frodo's groomer has opened an online shop and I've added the link to my sidebar.  If you have a lovely canine pet, she sells the best toys and treats to be found!!

Usually I write about how the month May reminds me of my grandmother and her garden.  I've written about her many times during this month and decided to expand my memories and write about other memories. I grew up going to Catholic schools and May was THE month when we all knew the school year was ending.  On warm days during high school,  the teachers would open the windows and I would struggle to focus on the lessons because my eyes would wonder to the windows and my mind would follow willingly to wishful thinking of being outdoors. Ordinarily I disliked gym class but in May we would play softball (outside!) and I would eagerly get into my gym uniform quickly so I could be outside as much as possible.  Every single class we attended, we would beg our teachers to have our class outside.  They nearly always said 'no' but I remember once a teacher said 'yes' much to our amazement. In Biology High School class we were allowed to walk the grounds loo...