Pumpkin Sunrise

  Our sweet little granddaughter, Esther, was born over the weekend and so I need to stitch her name and her birthdate on the sampler as well as looking into framing it. We cannot wait to meet her in person and see our grandson! We are lucky that her parents are sharing lots of photos with us until that day comes. How was your weekend? I started striping in my 'other' yarn to finish off my sweater. So far I like how it's looking and hope I have enough with these two colors, I have a plan if I do not but let's hope adding the off white is all I need to do!! While knitting, I've been thinking about all that I want to knit for the holidays and realize that I need to start knitting soon if I want to knit all that I want to knit.

  This is the third weekend in a row that we have family plans. This weekend, our daughter and son in law are visiting us from Massachusetts, we haven't seen them since last September. I've been busy planning a family gathering on Saturday night and meals to make while trying to keep it simple.  Finally! I snapped a photo of the birth sampler project for grand baby girl number two. I work on this an hour a day and really love how easy it is. First of all I can see it (big win) and second of all there's little to no backstitching. 

  True to my word, I've been knitting the baby sweater and even started the baby hat. I do love knitting baby things because they are a fast instantaneous knit for me. How have you been this week? I've been pretty good. Every morning, I right three items that I want to accomplish. Three seems like a magical number and a doable goal. I used to write down many tasks but the day isn't long enough. I am energized by three items being crossed off.  Our weather has been glorious! We had a bit of a cool down that felt really nice. The weather is ramping up for another heat wave. Our flowers are looking so lovely in the garden. My husband works so hard on maintaining the beds and the work he put in last year is showing off this season. I will not speak about the deer and their nibbles of young green shoots that were potential flowers. Grr. I am grateful it's just deer and not the dreaded bear! I started an Agatha Christie book just on a library borrowing impulse. I read all of ...

  Good morning! How was your weekend? Mine was wonderful and ordinary. On Saturday we drove up to visit my dad and step mom and had lunch with them. He is doing really well and is thrilled to be discharged from all specialists. Now he is busy with his garden and living life. On Saturday night, my sister and brother in law came over for dinner and game board night. We had lots of fun together. On Sunday we attended Mass then I did all the laundry and cleaning that I usually do in the afternoon. My yarn arrived on Friday afternoon and I had a chance on Sunday afternoon to start the baby sweater in the lavender worsted weight wool. My son and daughter in law and my grandson will be visiting in less than three weeks and I want to have the sweater, hat and little blanket completed and wrapped up. Wish me luck! (I really think this is doable because of how tiny each project is...) My daughter and son in law pleasantly surprised me with a bouquet of flowers for Mother's day. The are cheer...

  Miracle of miracles! I finished the baby blanket yesterday afternoon. I am so pleased with how the blanket turned out. However, knitting with cotton yarn is problematic for my arthritic hands. I have to pace my knitting and not do too much at one sitting. My hands prefer wool.  I wrote a long list of what I'd like to knit for the granddaughter-to-be and the grandson from now until the end of the year. I need to focus and knit! I ordered more yarn that should be here by the end of the week to make a baby sweater and hat. Also I want to make a smaller blanket that is perfect for the baby carrier in the car.  What are you working on this week?

  This past week I've been working on the baby blanket and am so very close to the last repeat section then of course I will be doing the edging. Maybe I'll finish this within a week but then again maybe not. We have company arriving today and staying with us until Sunday.  What are you working on this week? 

  Don't you love the candid photos of Holly, she always looks like she's feeling guilty of something. This photo was taken around 5:30 in the morning and I have never seen her sleep on that chair. Amazing! How are you? How was your weekend? My weekend was wet. I feel like we are in the rainy season. Today I have all the lights on to make me feel like there is brightness somewhere in my world. Friday night we went over to my sister and brother in law's house for dinner and game night. Our game nights have been on hiatus due to my dad doing his ICU thing. (he's doing well at home!!). So we are easing back into our regular habits. Saturday I didn't do much except read or knit. I kind of wallowed in rainy day despair. Sunday is different, I'm completely ignoring the weather to the best of my ability and making my on sunny day. I painted a bit and did the laundry.  I'm getting excited about the baby blanket progress. I dug through deep deep stash and unearthed so...

Yesterday we went to the the Carnegie Museum of Art and Natural History and had a great time. One of the better decisions we made earlier in the springtime was to purchase memberships that gives us admission to four museums in the Pittsburgh area.  After the museum, we went out to lunch then headed off to the local yarn store so I could buy some wool for our grandson's SECOND Christmas sweater. The first sweater he is already wearing at 8 months old even though I knit the 18 month old size. I cast on last night for a 2 year old size, let's hope he grows slowly and it fits for the holidays! Oh and that purple Malabrigo sock yarn is for a future pair of socks for my husband. Even though I am not sketching daily, I am trying my best to sketch when I remember. For some reason I'm in the mood for graphite sketching. Yesterday morning before sunrise, I spied the moon spying on me!  I loved our outing in the city but I loved more coming home, starting a knitting project and drinki...

  Two weekends ago, yet it feels like last weekend, I went on a crazy knitting frenzy and whipped up TWO hats and TWO pairs of mitts. The bear hat  and mitts are for our grandson for Christmas. I never get tired of knitting this pattern, I've made it many times. For my grandnephew I made a car hat and mitts . He is going to be two years old in January and he loves everything that is cars and trucks. Let's see if he will wear a 'car' themed hat even though he hates hats! You never know with toddlers. What are you knitting this week?

  On Monday afternoon we spontaneously decided to go to Indiana to help our son and daughter in law as a virus (not covid) was shared in a staggered fashion and surprisingly it was two different viruses. How is that possible? Our grandson was fully recovered and as happy as can be. Our son was well until we left on Friday when he started a fever. Our daughter in law had the worst of it the whole time we were there. I did tons and tons of laundry, cleaning and cooking. My husband trimmed hedges and installed five smoke alarms in their purchased home. Since we live near a BIG city we were unable to board Frodo at the kennel (I miss living in the country, I never had that problem) so we packed up Frodo and brought him with us. He did surprisingly well! He acted like he loved the adventure. He's not a fan of riding in a car but if he sits on my lap for SEVEN hours straight he manages his dismay. Let's just say I did not knit, draw, paint or do anything creative, unless you count co...

 I did it! I finished my grandson's Christmas stocking, well, almost finished. I have yet to duplicate stitch his name on the top which is always a challenge for me. My duplicate stitching skills are not that great. For some reason, this red skein of yarn ran very short of yarn so the white toe has more white than usual. What matters is that the socking can still be stuffed with many little presents. Ravelry notes What are you working on this week?

  Good morning! I hope you're having a wonderful day.  Knitting this week has been pretty good. I started a Christmas Stocking for my grandson over the weekend. I successfully found the hand-written pattern that my mom wrote (photo copied by me so as to preserve her original writings) I believe the stocking pattern is from a VERY old McCall's or Family Circle magazine from the 1970's...or around there. It's a treasure! I also found my hand-written notes where I changed things up, let's hope I understand what I wrote. My blue sweater is such a delight to knit! I zoom along in stockinette miles enjoying the simplicity of the design. I am over half way done with the body of the sweater. I also believe I have enough yarn but I'll know for sure when I get to the sleeves. I'm usually optimistic during this part of the knitting. Anxiety will build during the sleeves if there is any worries of yarn shortage. What are you working on this week?

  How was your weekend? Mine was pretty good overall! I started a new knitting project, my grandson's Christmas stocking. While knitting, I listened to a few podcasts OR I was reading The Stand on my Kindle (I'm 64% done!!). Emotionally I'm at the part where I wish I didn't start such a long book just like my regretful feelings of started an afghan... But as you know I will be rejoicing when the book is finished just like a finished afghan project and forget the length of time it took for either of them.  My meditation app loves to flash a deep thought-provoking quote and sometimes I remember to write them down. The above quote is one remembered! The weather over the weekend was quite humid and sticky. I will not go into how I'm daydreaming of fall today, but the struggle is real. How was your weekend?

  Hello! How are you and how has your projects been coming along this week? I cast on and then finished a sweet little pumpkin hat for our grandson in less than 48 hours.  I adored making this little hat speedily out of deep deep stash left over worsted weight wool. I straddled different sizes for him because he has a big head (!). So I cast on for the child size, but the length is a toddler size and I went down one size for the recommended needles. Kind of a slap dash guestimate size for our little guy. My hope is that this October he can wear the hat with the brim rolled up and next October he can still wear it with the brim down. No matter what, it will definitely be worn one season! What are you working on this week?

  Hello! Oh boy have I missed this space. I haven't taken a break from here for a week, ever. So the break was good. My husband and I went to a residential area of Virginia Beach with our son, daughter in law and our sweet grandson! Sadly, our daughter and son in law were unable to attend due to work schedules. It was HOT, too hot. I stayed in the air conditioning most of the time because I am sun sensitive due to Sjogren's Syndrome. However, mornings and evenings were fine for a walk on the beach. Also the added bonus of staying inside was baby duty! Our grandson is perfection and he is such a happy baby. How blessed am I to have had this opportunity! I am so glad we were invited. Of course, I did NOT knit a single stitch, painted a picture or journaled about anything. All I managed was reading The Stand whenever there were pockets of time. Each evening I was tired from the vacationing. I forgot how busy babies make a day. I need a vacation to recover from the vacation, ha ha....

  Good morning! Boy do I have a lot of catching up to do so grab your tea or coffee and let's begin! Last Wednesday our son, daughter in law and GRANDSON arrived for a three day visit! We haven't seen them since March and the visit was fantastic. Our little guy was friendly and full of smiles after a brief 'who the heck are you' look that was priceless. I fed him many bottles and changed very few diapers. (that is a great visit) They left on Saturday morning and I miss all of them already. I forgot how tiring babies can be and cannot remember where I had the energy to keep up with them. It took me 48 hours to recover from their stay. During their visit we went to the zoo and we had a family get together at our house. The other set of grandparents were able to attend and we had a grand time doting on the baby. Holly does NOT like babies. She hid under our bed until they were all asleep each day then came out begrudgingly.  Poor Holly!! Frodo thought the baby was here to ...

  Good morning! How are all of you and more importantly how is your crafting coming along?  My knitting needles have been busy clicking away. I finished our grandson's Christmas sweater (I know I am super early and on task with the gifts this year). I still have many things I want to make him before fall arrives. The hyphen cardigan pattern I picked up as a physical copy at a local yarn store. I loved the construction and the yoke detail. I'm thinking of making this sweater again for another baby-to-be (not a grand!). As always Malabrigo Rios is a stellar wool to knit with and a delight to have in my hands. If you haven't knitted with it, you should.  Ravelry notes are here. What are you working on this week?

  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...