Pumpkin Sunrise

My weekend is still going strong since our son is visiting until tomorrow morning.  However, I wanted to do a quick post about my weekend.  I had a fabulous time yesterday during a picnic with family and friends.  Lots of food, fun and laughter.  Those busy kind of days are memory-filled and I bottle them up, savor them until the next event. I surpassed the ripping out part of the shawl, speeding along to the second installment of the instructions.  I've had lots of knitting opportunities in the past few days. I hope to share with you soon some good news later on this week! How was your weekend?

The month of August brings changes in shadows and sunbeams in my family room.  Every year I marvel at the brief shadows and get a little bit giddy that Autumn is around the corner.  The cicadas and tree frogs are serenading in the woods.  Every time I go to the mailbox, I examine my oak tree and the budding acorns. I passed my annual mammogram this week.  I battle anxiety every time the test rolls around.  This year I was blessed with my 'favorite' technician who babbles away talking about everything and anything.  That takes the edge off of my internal faulty thoughts.  It's hard for me to focus on my worries when something is filling my ears with all sorts of chatter.  I'm grateful for her and for the medical electronic chart that was updated with my report within five hours.  FIVE hours :)  I remember waiting for a letter in the mail that would take up to two weeks. I wish I was different and wasn't a worrier.  I keep t...

I feel like a broken record with my current knits, same old same old.  While I sing the praises of lightweight knits as my favorites, the drawback is the length of time of those projects.  I am happy in my knitting and that is what makes life beautiful. White out Shawl Silverleaf Cardigan Granny Smith Wrap I finished the novel The Rosie Effect  and while mildly entertaining, I didn't really care much for it.  To cleanse my reading palette, I started The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.   A short novel with a heavy theme but seen through the eyes of an innocent child.  I have a stack (shall I admit STACKS) of books that are on my to be read list by my bed.  I'm looking forward to sifting through them and selecting the next book. I know I'm crazy but I've started thinking about Christmas knitting.  The thinking stage is fantastic because I'm making lists and checking out patterns to see what I might be interested in.  My holiday knitting...

Today my husband and I attended a work luncheon at one o'clock, which is a weird for me time to eat so right now I'm eating some cheesy toast as a 'dinner' while typing this post and trying my best not to get crumbs on the keyboard (I'm unsuccessful). At the luncheon there was a man who had quite the impressive camera.  I went up to him to ask all about it.  This camera was a professional Nikon and my oh my, I was pea green with envy!  Lovely camera and just like knitters, the photographer loved to talk about his craft.  He was friendly and gave me an idea of what to shop for next. The world is filled with kind people, I like when I meet them. How was your weekend?  I was in yet another bike store - I'm getting good at maximizing my time there, I finished a book, read my prayer book and chatted with a friend.  Phew.  I'm starting to like being in bike stores! This was the last weekend in a while where there is not much going on.  So,...

I have three projects on the needles not counting the never ending blanket, and all three are taking forever.  I know, two are lace weight and the sweater, well it's a sweater.  Sometimes I feel like a broken record (vinyl of course) repeating myself about my progress on each one.  However, isn't that what knitting is all about? Knitters have quick and easy projects that are knit up in a few days - the down and dirty instantly satisfying knits.  I love those for maximum holiday knitting or for that obscure skein of yarn that I wonder why on earth I bought only one! I'm attracted to lightweight knitting projects for many reasons.  Here are a few: Lightweight knitting projects make my hands extremely happy, the more tiny the needles the more ease I feel knitting. In the summer, having a wispy pile of lightweight wool on my lap makes me happy.  Summer is not the time for worsted weight wool in a large project. Sweaters in lightweight wool fit m...

While my sister visited me over the past weekend, my husband was busy conducting a workshop with a colleague in San Francisco and brought me back two lovely gifts.  A shawl (can a knitter ever ever have too many?) and a handmade notebook.  He knows me well. My table is finished!  I love the newness of the surface and I hope that this refinish lasts us another 30 years like the first one.  As always, the table still has personal flaws that make it lovable and unique.  Now if I can only get used to the slightest whiff of polyurethane in the air.  This is even after a week drying. As I mentioned on Sunday, I ripped out my entire shawl on Saturday after finding a mistake near the beginning.  I confess I'm a perfectionist and the deed had to be done.  I dropped down a needle size and love the way the shawl is knitting back up. Oh and hey, a valuable lesson I learned from this shawl that I want to share with all of you:  look and cr...

gifts from my sister What a fabulous weekend!  Before I get into all the fun I had, thank you so much for the support over 'rude' people.  I'm glad I'm not the only one out there feeling sensitive.  I sailed through my weekend without any incidents so I've recovered.  For now. My sister was here!  If you're a regular reader, you already know that.  However maybe you're visiting for the first time.  I love writing my weekend post because I get a chance to share my happenings. the sad sad frogging of a shawl because of a mistake at the beginning She arrived by lunchtime on Friday and we both pretended this was a vacation.  After a quick salad for lunch, we were in the pool talking and relaxing.  Friday was 95 degrees so the pool was wonderful.  In the afternoon, we drove to a neighboring town to an art store to shop around in.  She bought bullet journals and I bought a new set of drawing pencils to try out.  I'm slo...