Pumpkin Sunrise

  Finally I'm seeing some fall foliage around the new neighborhood. Phew! I thought I'd be missing the colors this year but thankfully I'm witnessing some beautiful maple trees doing their thing. I miss my old walk down my old dirt road that has a multitude of trees turning colors, mostly oaks, maples and walnut trees. I think this move will take an entire year of firsts to get acclimated to the relocation and the newness. Right now on walks, I'm enjoying the neighbor's trees and landscaping. We haven't been to the local park for a few weeks so maybe my husband and I need to squeeze one visit to walk with Frodo and see those fall colors as well. The above photo was taken super early in the morning, since then the awning has been taken down by the awning people for storage and repairs. My husband is sad that summer is over, I am not, I am ready for cold weather. Since we live in a house with a neighborhood, for the first time in sixteen years I will be having tri...

  I finished this sweet little baby sweater for the grandbaby-to-be a few days ago. The duck buttons just amuse me every single time I look at the wee sweater. This was sweater was #12 of this pattern by Elizabeth Zimmermann. I am sure I will be making more after the holidays are over in other colors.  What are you working on this week?

  How was your weekend? I helped my sister at her craft show both Friday and Saturday and in return for my help I received the above beautiful project bag! (she does not have a website currently but maybe someday she will). I started a sweater for her for her January birthday and you can see a tiny peek in the bag. I haven't made a Ravelry project page yet for the sweater. The craft show was outdoors and I was cold down to my spine, it was fantastic! I haven't been that cold in such a long time. I'd rather be cold than hot, but you already know that. Being in the fall elements I had a chance to wear my wool sweaters, hats and mitts. A knitter's dream come true. Also many family members that I haven't seen in years popped in and it was a fun family reunion of sorts for me. Over the weekend, I ventured into making a gluten free pie crust (sister has celiac disease) and after scouring the internet I chose this recipe . My only substitutions for the crust were to use ve...

  My husband and I went to McConnells Mill State Park  along with my sister and brother in law for some mild hiking and sightseeing earlier this week. Oh to be in nature and to feel at peace among the trees and water. I was hoping for some fall foliage photos but it's still to early (kind of late this year). I didn't feel disappointed though, we all enjoyed the day trip.  As I adjust to living outside of the Pittsburgh area, I sometimes miss the country rural life. Sometimes. I continue to acclimate to the relocation and we are glad we did this move. There are a multitude of positives that outweigh a heart tug to the rural life. Adjusting is adjusting, I am just being with it and I know I'll get used to the change eventually. I did lug around the BIG Nikon camera at the state park and took some great photos but I've yet to look at them on the computer. I'm so used to using my iPhone for snapping photos. Technology changes and so do photographing habits. Before I for...

  Good morning! I finished the baby blanket - I must say that my knitting needles are on fire these days and I am grateful that my knitting ennui is a thing of the past. I knew it was a phase and a result from the stress of the move. I also believe the change of seasons has helped me immensely. There is nothing like fall foliage to view, warm knitting in your lap while you drink a cup of hot tea. This blanket is the smallest size and was a breeze to knit up. The cotton yarn is nice to knit with for baby projects. This blanket is for the grand-baby to be.

  Oh boy did I have a jammed packed weekend.  On Saturday morning, we went with my aunt, cousins and their adult kids and friends on a Pittsburgh Party Pedaler tour. It was freezing cold and it was glorious to be chilled down to the bones. The two hour outdoor elements took me four hours to recover once I was back in my house.  The chill felt like fall and I was so excited to be that cold. No I did not party, and I didn't pedal either - I left that to the younger generation and the adventurous people in our group. We had a nice time and I was grateful to be included in a family gathering. That is why we moved here. I also got to see a lot of Pittsburgh! Sunday was cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning. I also worked on the green cowl that is a holiday gift. My to do knitting list is still long but I feel hopeful every day that I will get most of what I want to knit finished by my arbitrary deadlines. How was your weekend?

  Hello! How are you doing?  This past week I've been pondering about a mindfulness prompt in a book I'm reading throughout the year, A Year of Living Mindfully by Anna Black. It's a really nice book and I've enjoyed the prompts throughout this year. Anyways the prompt this week was to consider what you believe to be nourishing or draining. I've thought about this all week long. My obvious nourishing events are knitting and reading. But over the course of the week I've added some surprising concepts to the nourishing list and challenged my draining list. I had the opportunity to help my cousin at her house with her preparing for company this past week. I found helping her nourishing to me, an added bonus was making her very happy. I also initially considered walking 150 minutes draining because of the amount of time it takes to get that done and I'm not doing other 'things' but then I changed my mind because I am nourishing my physical health which i...

  Well, well, well, will you look at that, I finished that never ending shawl ! I started this mid-May before the big move and then I worked on it off and on through the move and then adjusting to the move. I am thrilled with the blocking and the size of this simple lace design. I'm still learning where to take photos in this new house of mine and at what time of the day. I am getting better at it but sometimes it's a challenge.  Ravelry notes

  Good morning! How was your weekend? I have been bit by the knitting bug and have been working feverishly on the little baby blanket all weekend. On Sunday, my sister, aunt, cousin and goddaughter came over for a dinner on the back patio (my sister did all the cooking!) and we did a little bit of stitching. Of course I forgot to take a photo... Yesterday I tidied up the house and did the laundry. I'm ready for another week! In some fantastic news this warm weather is supposed to end by Friday. Fingers are crossed that this becomes reality.  Someone asked me in the comments on my last post about what podcasts I listen to, here are a few that are audio: 2knit lit chicks, knitmore girls, what should I read next, literary disco (salty language!), yarniacs, cogknitive and caithness craft collective.  Do you all have any podcasts to recommend? How was your weekend?

  Around here it looks like fall but it feels like summer. Those days are numbered and I'm patiently waiting for cool breezes and seeing my breath in the early morning moments and being cold, hopefully sooner than later. How are you?  I've been busy with....knitting! Yes I finally feel like my pre-moved self and have been sitting and knitting while listening to old podcasts (I am 1-2 months behind). When I am not knitting, I am reading also playing catchup to made my reading goals I set before I even knew I was going to move. I just might make the goal but it's okay if I do not make it. Some time this month the awning guy will arrive and take down and store my shaded patio area. My husband and I love to sit out here and eat lunch. Frodo loves to sit and watch the dog walkers on the road (and bark at them) or be dazzled by the family of chipmunks that pop up in one hole run right in front of him to disappear in another hole. I can't tell what he is thinking - he watches,...

  I started two new projects this weekend. First off is a smaller baby blanket for the grandbaby-to-be in a soft gray cotton yarn. I'm not sure I have enough yarn but I think I can rejigger the pattern to accommodate my 10 yards missing, wish me luck! My other new project is a cowl for a Christmas gift, let's hope I finish this by Thanksgiving because that is when I am gifting it, ha. The yarn is from stash and the pattern has a simple cable design that I thought looked nice. What are you working on this week?

  Good morning! How was your weekend? You know you are officially moved in when you hang your cuckoo clock. My husband's brother and sister in law gave us this clock from their time in Germany in the 1980's and it still runs perfectly. I love it! However, I'm afraid of Holly the cat being interested in it as well, so at night I stop the tick tocking, my husband thinks I'm ridiculous. Honestly, I'm thinking like a cat. After months of thinking about finding new salad dressings to make at home I ventured with a new tahini recipe, it was 'okay'. The garlic was a bit much and it was too thick to pour. So I'll be going back to the drawing board for some new ideas. I spent the majority of my weekend --- KNITTING. I started two new projects while still getting so close to the end of that never-ending shawl. I'm positive I'm on the last repeat but I've thought that many repeats ago. I snapped this photo of Holly looking at the world below from our be...

  Finally, it is October! Are you celebrating? Are you excited? All through end of July, all of August and half way through September I've been pining for October. This is the secret sauce month of Autumn and we are finally finally here. In my planner I have set up some monthly pages, one of which is 'October Ideas'. This page will be the catchall brain dump of what I'd like to do, or investigate during the month. Usually I write each week what I want to do but I have to carry it over to another week (sometimes repeatedly). Maybe a monthly catchall place will work for me. Near where I live there are plenty of farmer's markets and there is one in particular that is a compound of buildings. They have a few animals for children to say 'hi' to and chat with, you can feed them some food as well. I snapped the photo of this sweet pig (hog??). I'll be missing the big fair that was close to my old home. I find it weird that the last time at the big fair I didn...