Pumpkin Sunrise

  Frodo wants you to know it is too cold outside! How are you guys? Life around here has been nice. After weeks and weeks, I finally started to feel better over the weekend. (YAY) On Saturday I made dinner for my sister and brother in law. What was supposed to be nine people attending, dwindled down to just the four of us. This is what happens with winter gatherings and viruses. We had a great time and did play a board game as well. I've been knitting up a storm, still! I am just going with it until the knitting fever ends sort of like Forrest Gump and his running.  Sunday morning was lots of snow, crazy winds and the roads were a mess, so we stayed home and stayed warm inside. I did my Sunday chores and relaxed. How was your weekend?

 I'm enjoying the colors evolving slowly on the new shawl I cast on.  I add stitch by stitch, row by row loving the greens and purples.  This is my meditative morning knitting at the toddler's house while I wait for her to wake up.  I love how knitting this starts my day to be awesome. Speaking of awesome, my week has been pretty good, even though I was under the weather at the beginning of the week.  However, a quick doctor visit for a minor infection has me feeling better and grateful for my health providers and for modern medicine.  I tell you, if I'd live during the pioneer days, I would have been dead by the age of eight without the invention of antibiotics... Thank you Alexander Fleming for finding penicillin. trying to capture the nest all week I managed to fit in a gym visit and a training session.  All good for me and my RA joints.  I don't like to exercise, but I do love how exercising makes me feel strong and healthy....

This week felt, really truly felt, like summer was here and chilly, cold days are behind us.  I worked twice this week and I usually take her on a stroller walk before lunchtime.  Thursday we walked before 10:30 a.m. and it was hot!  I enjoy walking around the town, seeing flower gardens and listening to her chatter about everything and nothing.  Oh to be little!  She carried a bag of wooden play cookies and in her other hand some phlox I picked for her.  By the time we ended up home, her sweaty death grip made all the flowers wilt.  So sweet!  Seeing the world through her eyes and the newness of it all makes me appreciate the little things all over again.  Like wilted flowers - and pretend cookies in a bag. I found a new-to-me podcast The fruity knitting podcast , what a delight to watch!  They interviewed the inventors and owners of Ravelry.  Speaking of knitting, I am four rows away from finishing up my purple shawl ...

Good morning! My photo today is a bit deceiving... I threw in the Hamilton book but barely read two pages this week.  I'll blame the company that was in my house.  Having both my family here visiting and then my sister and her family visiting gobbled up all of my free time. The citron shawl has made great progress due to its ease in knitting.  This project can be executed while talking and multitasking on most of the rows.  I like that.  My sister and I sat in the front room knitting away (and talking). I'm participating in a yarn along with Girls in Sheep Clothing blog .  They chose Anisos shawl and while this photo above is pristine and beautiful and shows great progress, I stupidly dropped a stitch in a yarn over area and was unable to fix it last night. (I'll blame watching Doctor Who, Series Five with Amy Pond...)  So I ripped all of it out and started over. This knit is NOT for multitasking...Ha! Joining Ginny and Frontier Dreams...

Last fall my husband requested a thin purple scarf while we were exploring a fiber festival.  You know me, I was thrilled to have a quest and a project to plan.  I found some lace weight yarn ( jaggerspun ) and already knew I would create a simple block pattern, alternating purls and knits. While knitting with two strands held together on size three needles, I found the project "rustic".  I kept hoping that blocking would soften the fabric and make the stitches even.  Well my oh my!!  The blocking did wonders! Doesn't it always?? I love the way the stitches pop and how the scarf turned out exactly as I imagined.  Ravelry notes are here .

Each day I knit at least 12 rows and sometimes I knit 24 rows.  I've hit my groove now that I've done the main chart three times, only four more to go :) Ravelry notes here