Pumpkin Sunrise

  My house is a big old mess. There are boxes everywhere and I still have more to pack but I'm very close to the end of packing. I dream in brown cardboard boxes. The movers arrive early next week and our adventures begin.  I will be on a short blog break as I transition from this town to the new town. 

 I'm excited to share with you the contrasting color added on my  moon river shawl . I just love it! I'm hoping I have enough yarn to finish the shawl as it is written (I think so..). I'm managing about an hour of knitting each night while we finish packing up the house and it's a blissful one hour! What are you working on this week?

  Hello! How was your weekend? We (well, I) started packing the kitchen. Boxes are everywhere and I'm trying to decide what do I need for the next week or should I pack it. I've learned something about myself with this process. Whenever I start a room I feel hopeless and like it's never going to end. Then it ends and I rarely celebrate it's finished-ness. I move onto the next room and start the hopeless feeling all over again. Where is the positivity in that?? I think I might need to meditate MORE. (just an astute observation) The above photo is a clementine from my husband's briefcase that has been tucked inside for OVER a year! He last went to the office maybe end of February 2020 - then the pandemic shutdown and zoom working from home began. He retired in August 2020 - only this weekend (!) did he clean out the briefcase. I had to document that beautiful shriveled piece of forgotten fruit, an incredible artifact. As much as I'm going to miss this house, this ...

  I thought starting this post with flowers would be a great beginning. Aren't they just beautiful? My husband is sad that after years of working on the flower beds and getting them perfect, he's leaving them. Of course he'll have new flower beds to create at the new home. We are excited for our new adventures. Yesterday was the first day I felt like we were on target and getting all the things done in a timely manner. More rooms are completely boxed up and tomorrow I can officially begin the kitchen (ugh). Fingers are crossed we have enough boxes - however my husband knows where to procure more free ones if necessary. We have become skilled with this moving business. We've completed thus far: 12 SUV-filled donation runs 2 recycling runs 2 scrap metal runs 1 furniture truckload pick up by a non profit organization I'm sure there will be another donation run to go from the kitchen even though I went through it once, I'm being relentless in giving away what I do n...

  The title of this post should be the 'non-knitting news'. Ha. I'm working on the same two projects ( Gray Matter Shawl and Moon River Shawl ) and my free time to knit has been quite limited this week due to all the socializing we are doing before the move. If I'm not socializing, I'm packing boxes. I want to continue showing up in this space as long as possible even if I've only added one or two rows.  What have you been working on this week?

  How was your weekend? Mine was and still is going strong.  Of course, I could show you and talk about all the boxes I packed or have to pack but where's the fun in that? Instead, I'll talk about the teeny tiny bit of painting I did in my art journal. I bought another (!) watercolor pan paint set and had fun playing with them. Yesterday, our son and daughter in law arrived for a two day visit and we took them over to the covered bridges where my husband and I hung out while the current house was being shown by realtors. I have fond memories of being there with Frodo and a packed lunch in the pouring rain in 50 degree weather. I'll miss those bridges when I move. Today is more visiting before they leave and head back to Indiana. Once again I'll resume  packing boxes. We are ahead of schedule and going strong! Oh and we are on the eleventh SUV car donation load, could there be a twelfth? Perhaps. How was your weekend?

  I have a morning routine that starts the day the best way possible for me. After pouring a cup of coffee in a favorite mug (there are many) I sit down and journal for one page, this might be about the day before or it might be about what's on my mind, it doesn't matter - I just write. Before I end my journal entry, I write what I am grateful for, usually it's the coffee in the favorite mug, the morning silence (my husband is a music listener during the day) and then always family and good health and new opportunities. Next up comes the praying. There are lots of prayers and I have a running list of who I'm praying for on a sticky note. I continue to read Magnificat and this year I read a Saint a Day.  I write a list of what I want to accomplish or what needs to be done in the next day or so in my weekly planner. I also try my best to squeeze in a meditation from the insight timer app (I highly recommend), I do meditate daily but morning time is best. Neither of the ...

  I've got my priorities right, there is ALWAYS room for knitting no matter how chaotic it is to be packing up a house. I look gleefully to 6 pm when I can sit and knit. So, onto the knitting update- The moon river shawl  is growing and growing. I'm enjoying this pattern and am contemplating grabbing some more left over fingering weight wools to cast on another one. Maybe. I probably should check to see if I like the shawl blocked, but as you know, blocking makes everything better and what would I not like? My second birch leaf shawl  is also making steady progress, I'll be knitting this until I run out of yarn and the skein has 880 yards (approximately). This shawl is easy for me because there are four lace rows and the wrong side rows are purling only. This knit is a pure delight! What are you working on this week?

  My sister and brother in law were here this weekend to help us move furniture out to our garage for a donation pick up. They also helped with some packing. We had a nice visit and we were grateful for the much needed help.   During the visit, my sister and I headed out to some local greenhouses for an impromptu sister outing. It was even though it was the last sister outing in this area. I will miss living here. The weekend was HOT compared to the previous frigid weekend (I wore wool!). As you know, I prefer cold weather over hot weather any given day so I am pretending the summer humidity and high temps do not exist.  Frodo is loving life and just saved a mole swimming vigorously in the pool this morning.  Holly is enjoying how her environment changes with stacked boxes and new hiding places. How was your weekend?

  Good morning! How was your week? Can you tell I'm in a major teal color-loving mood based on that lovely photo above? It's been going strong for over a year now.  The weather has been kind of dreary and blah for a few days, so that makes being stuck inside boxing up belongings and decluttering that much easier. Dare I say we are done with decluttering? Maybe? I'm not sure, but the bulk of the madness is over. This week we dropped off the 8th and 9th carload of donations. I've been working on my studio room this week and am so close to be done. Rooms with closets take me four days on average. We started this process super early because I didn't want a mad dash near the moving date. My husband and I tend to work 3-5 hours a day sharing a pleasant lunch break. We are both exhausted by dinner time. Because I'm 'working', my creative pursuits have taken a back seat. I'm showing up for my art journaling pages whenever I get a chance (below photo). But th...

  Good morning!  Boy oh boy did I have a time with my computer just now, what a bother. Anyways, all systems are up and running and I am ready to talk about knitting. In the midst of decluttering I still find time in my evenings to knit. I started a new shawl  project a few days ago. The left over fingering weight wool is a bit of a mystery since I didn't keep the tag with the yarn. I am enjoying this simple knitting project.  I finished the last Christmas stocking and the name has been duplicate stitched as well. I guess I'm getting better at duplicate stitch but I still despise doing it. This time I did not make any spelling errors, I felt quite proud about that. Last up is the second birch leaf shawl on the needles, I'm enjoying this soothing project and the repetitiveness of the pattern. I believe it has fantastic stitch definition this time around. What have you been working on this week?