Pumpkin Sunrise

  I've got three projects going on at the same time and they each fill a niche in my life. First off is the Grandson's Christmas sweater that is almost done. I love how this is turning out and those sleeves are speedy knitting. I am thrilled to be working on December gifts so early in the year.  Next up is this seashell shawl that is my tv knitting or talking knitting. I can do both at the same time and not make a mistake. I love picking this us and knitting on it, it feels so very soft. Last but not least is this blue pullover sweater for me that is using up some gift yarn from my sister. One of her clients was decluttering her stash and so I inherited this yarn. This project is also a multitasking project. The yarn is a bit rough compared to the above shawl. I also do not know if I have enough yarn for the sweater - you know I love a bit of mystery while knitting. I figure once I use up one entire skein, I will have a sense of whether I have enough yarn or not. Also I can...

  How was your weekend? I enjoyed a super quiet 'no workers drilling out bricks on my house' weekend. Today they are coming to take down the scaffolding. Next up are the roofers. I don't know when they are coming here, end of this week? Besides being deliciously quiet, I enjoyed doing a little bit of everything. Writing, journaling, knitting and reading. Sure I did some chores as well. My kitchen floor is squeaky clean!  Today I'm writing out the mighty to do list and sketch out a menu plan. If you haven't already, please read Bonny's menu plan post and especially the comments section. I found it helpful! I am nearing the end of knitting my grandson's Christmas sweater, what a fast knit!!  How was your weekend?

  Good morning! How has your week been? Can you believe it's the last week of June? After some brutally hot temperatures we were graced yesterday with a beautiful day of low humidity - truly refreshing.  My backyard is quiet now that we stopped feeding the birds (raccoon raiding during the day, ugh). I will put the feeder out again in the fall and hope that Ms. Raccoon has forgotten all about the free ride.  We are knee deep in home improvements. Last week the insulators finished doing the attic, this week we have chimney/brick pointers removing bricks that are 'spalled'. What a NOISY day yesterday! Frodo, bless him, slept through the chaos, but Holly didn't know where to hide. She usually is under our bed but the jackhammering was on an outside wall to our bedroom. Poor Holly.  She is amazing though, once they leave she is out and about - resilient! Wish us luck! Next week or the week after is a  new roof and gutter installation.  While home improvements o...

  I finished this shawl last Friday and then forgot to soak and block it because of family visiting. However on Sunday I remembered. This is the second time I knit this shawl , it's a fun pattern and I recommend it.  Ravelry notes What are you working on this week?

  Yikes! Our weekend was full on busy fun.  My daughter and son in law are leaving sometime this morning and later on I am getting my second shingles shot. I am fully prepared for a horrible reaction and have nothing pressing on my schedule for three days. Wish me luck! We had such a nice visit. On Saturday, we were at the strip district . We walked about and breezed in and out of shops. We also had lunch but had to wait an hour for our food - I'm assuming someone didn't show up for work or they have a shortage of workers just like every other business these days. Yesterday we went to the Andy Warhol museum which I have never seen. We thoroughly enjoyed that experience. After the museum, we walked across the bridge to have a 'look see' up a street and then walked back over the same bridge to where the car was parked and drove home to the suburbs. I had fun in the city but now I am ready to hibernated in the suburbs for an entire week. I enjoyed our visit with our famil...

  After two noisy days at the beginning of the week created by the insulating company, I basked in the silence of Wednesday and Thursday. Even the pets breathed a sigh of relief. Frodo did well and mostly ignored them. Holly hid under our bed for most of the first day but on the second day she put on her big girl pants and ran downstairs to be under the sofa that my husband (her beloved) was sitting. Of course that was the time the workers were propping open the front door for the blown in insulation.  Luckily, she has no desire to ever be outside and we fenced off the area just in case.  All of that strategizing exhausted me. (for those of you who are new here, we rescued Holly in the winter off the side of the road - she was close to death at 8 weeks old being abandoned by a not nice person). Around here, there was a heat wave that I skillfully ignored for two whole days. I walked as early as I could and briefly so Frodo and I didn't get too hot. My inflammatory arthri...

  On Monday while the workers were here in my house installing insulation in the attic and sealing the air leaks in the basement, I decided to start my grandson's Christmas sweater. Well due to the noise and disruption of the busyness of the past two days, I made numerous errors and was unknitting rows.  The good news is that I love the yarn and the re-knitting makes me happy. I bought the yarn and the pattern at a local yarn store. If you know me well, I am drawn to top-down seamless sweaters. What are you working on this week?

  How was your weekend? Friday night my husband and I had dinner on the patio, it was fantastic! The weather was perfect. Over the weekend, I've battled the bullying blue jays at the feeder who were over-eating, fighting with each other and not letting any other birds at the feeder. My feeder has a setting so that I can exclude by weight which is what I did on Saturday. Now I'm battling with my guilt that they cannot eat. But there was so much fighting going on! It's like recess at the playground, someone has to ruin it for everyone. I also have a multitude of red squirrels and chipmunks that stand at the bottom and pray for a seed to drop, their prayers are mostly answered. Oh and I saw the raccoon again this time at 8:30 p.m. so now the feeder comes inside the house at 6:30 p.m. The bird feeder is squirrel proof but not raccoon proof. The main point is that I am grateful there is NOT a bear like at our old home!! I wound up some lovely green yarn for our grandson's Ch...

How are you all doing? How's your June month unfolding?  I've been pondering about creativity and how it ebbs and flows. Honestly last week was spectacular, I was casting on new knitting projects and completing art journaling pages one after the other. I basked in my creative pursuits. However, I wondered about when there is NOT a drop of creativity to be found, what do you do?  The number one action I always take with a non-creative state of mind is to just let it be. I've been a creative for so long that I know that it is temporary. I know that eventually I will be doing something creative eventually. Sometimes, I move towards new creative ideas or projects or I marathon read a bunch of novels while waiting for that creative spark. I've found that it's okay to not want to knit, or draw, or write.  To be honest, I sometimes do not feel like writing my blog (what!!). I wonder if there is anything else to say in the space that I haven't already said before. I won...

  This week I'm sharing my impulsive cast ons that are both captivating. I enjoy working on both of them and the ease of the patterns. I can talk (well most of the time) during each knit and rarely make a mistake.  The above photo is the seashell shawl  that I saw trending on Ravelry a week or so ago. I promptly dug through my yarn stash, wound up some lace weight yarn and cast on. I confess it was exciting to be so spontaneous. Below is a photo of the confetti shawl . This is the second time I am knitting the Herald shawl with a variegated yarn from my deep stash. I'm loving the cheerful colors in this one! What are you working on this week?

  Yesterday my husband and I went to the Phipps Conservatory with my sister and brother in law. We are trying to visit every season. We had such a good time, the butterfly exhibit was open (yay).  This time around my favorite spaces were the children's garden and the Japanese garden, both outdoors.  We came home with some new ideas for what to do with our backyard and the abandoned in-ground filled with dirt pool which is the ultimate gardening challenge for us.  My weekend was calm, I did a lot of knitting and reading and avoiding the computer, tablet and phone. I dug deep into art journaling and watercoloring as well. I am perfecting my skills at frying tofu and the photo below is my first attempt. The texture turned out fantastically. Next up is seasoning the tofu without salt (such a sad state of affairs because I love salt.) How was your weekend?

  A few days ago my ONE peony blossomed. Our neighbor gave us three peony plants, one survived through the winter and gave us a pretty show. Peonies are one of my favorite flowers but really many many flowers are my favorites whenever they bloom. Can you believe it is June? I cannot.  This time last year I was packing up a house we lived in for sixteen years, donating many belongings to lighten the load. That weird mindset 'I'm never going to hoard stuff again' has waned. I do buy the occasional used book knowing that each one I purchase might lead to a slippery slope of accumulation.  While I knit from my stash I still buy more yarn, I hope that it's at a slower rate but it is not stopping me from visiting yarn stores and keeping them in business. It's what knitters gotta do. One year ago I was frantically checking a list making sure the selling of the old house was on track and the purchasing of the new house was on track. I romantically daydreamed of boring days...

  I'd say the bottom photo is the true color compared with the top photo, the lighting in this house is fickle and I'm still getting used to it. I finished another gift cowl to put in the present box for later this year. The wool was a left over skein for my sister's sweater . I had plenty of yardage to knit this cowl right up! I've knit this cowl before and enjoy the pattern immensely. Ravelry notes are here What are you working on this week?