End of Summer

So traffic on the way to work keeps getting heavier as schools start the new year and I feel a need to just get away. I decided to take a couple of days off and enjoy the end of the summer season. I often walk the dogs through this "naturalized" area of a local park and I have really enjoyed watching it change over the course of the seasons. Today as I rounded the corner to the walking path mown through the area, I encountered thousands of beautiful sunflowers.

My companions intrigued by local wildlife as we take a break in the shade.

My tomato plants had a rough time this year. I was worried about the signs of early blight I saw on the plants when an early morning sight clarified where the real threat lay. Spanky, the puppy in the red harness above has developed a huge craving for tomatoes. 2 days ago I checked the plants and found about 2 dozen cherry tomatoes just starting to blush with red. Yesterday I walked outside and realized the slight ring of green I had seen around Spanky's neck earlier in the day could be directly attributed to the fact that I no longer had a single tomato on my plants. Thankfully one of my coworkers brought it some homegrown tomatoes and I was able to enjoy the beautiful dinner pictured below. The basil from my garden was amazing with the yummy home grown tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. I added a dash of balsamic vinaigrette and olive oil and broke up a piece of nan I had left over from my Indian Food Extravaganza last Sunday. Anyway, it makes a beautiful plate and a yummy dinner.

Don't know if I showed these before but what pretty socks! I really like this Mini Mochi sock yarn and while I had to be careful with the splitty nature at times; the color change is fabulous and the end result is really soft and cozy.

Lastly, some pretty pictures of what I'm calling My Poison. It's the pattern for "My So Called Scarf" and a yarn from 100 Pure Wool, color named "Poison." See, aren't I clever. :) Here's a close up of the stitch pattern. Really pretty.

Here it is soaking in the sink. Just kinda cool

I also spent some time making a big patch of Pesto with my basil plant that needed to be used, and I mean now. And lastly, Hummus and fresh chicken stock from scratch. I am feeling very domestic and honestly enjoying every minute!

A Gift From Down Under

I have a wonderful friend who recently returned from Australia and while she was there she actually took time to think about me (and trust me, much more exciting things were taking place) and she brought me back the following fabulousness:

I am a lucky girl.

Walking on Sunshine

"Meret" modeled at Design Expo 2010
St. Louis Design Expo 2010

Traveling Woman Shawlette w/ Malabrigo Sock

Multnomah w/ Hand Spun Sheep Day 2010 yarn for Mom

Upstairs Lace Shawl w/ Dyeabolical Hand Dyed Lace Weight

First sock of Laguna Beach Hand Dyed from Yarn Lady in Bandwagon Pattern

Lily Pads at Forest Park

Walking path

Punkin Snatchin' 09

We walked along the field on a brisk Autumnal day surveying the fallen. As far as the eyes could see, a testament to the battle so recently waged. In the distance, the warrior returns, triumphant, with the trophy held high....

But seriously, this weekend we went to the Pumpkin Patch and got ourselves some punkins. We made our way over to Eckerts, in Belleville, IL to find the perfect pumpkins for Halloween. Eckerts is really pretty fun since you get to ride on a trailer pulled by a tractor out to the patch and then walk among thousands of pumpkins and find the one that is just right for you. We had a really great time walking around a looking at all the options. Here's Franny with just a few to choose from.

And as you will see, everyone was victorious in the end in finding the right one.

The colors of the peach trees in the background were an amazing backdrop to a field of pumpkins. We spent some time in the Country Store after the ride back and I bought some Apple Butter, Pumpkin Butter, and an Apple Stollen we had for breakfast this morning. All-in-all it was a really great day.

So, what have I been knitting? Well, a variety of little things have been on my sticks lately. I've managed to end up with so many things in process that I'm now madly trying to work through several of them before I let myself start anything new. First is my current pair of socks. I only let myself knit one pair of socks at a time because I don't trust myself to finish the pair otherwise (the dreaded "second sock syndrome"). This pair is a plain jane toe up sock without much going on. I started it on the plane ride to see my mom and I didn't want to have to think while I was working on it. It's great travel knitting and I'm planning on taking it with me on the day trip I have tomorrow too. The really nice thing is I haven't had airport security even blink since the needles are so small. Kinda hard to be threatened by a glorified toothpick.

I have decided I really like toe up socks. I think I'm going to have to get Wendy Knits "Socks from the Toe Up" book and try out some of her patterns next.

I've also finally gotten back to my second full size sweater. I started this simple Raglan style cardigan but when I went to work on it a few weeks ago, I realized I had made a mistake about 12 rows back on one of the raglan increases. Well, it took me about a month to get up the nerve to pick it up and drop down 12 rows of raglan increase stitches and then figure out how to reconstruct them back up to the row I was on. This was less daunting to me than the idea of ripping out 12 full rows of stitches since each row is well over a hundred stitches. Once I actually got around to dropping those stitches it only took about an hour to get them all picked back up and get on my merry way. How cool?

I'm really enjoying the Cascade 200 yarn too. I haven't really used it a lot but I can see why it is a "workhorse" yarn for so many people. This particular color is Mallard and it is a really pretty heathered yarn. When you get up close you can see the pretty flecks of purple and it just has a nice depth. I can't wait to wear this sweater!

It's getting close to the holidays so I've been doing a bit of work for those too. I've decided I'm not really going to knit much for holiday gifts this year but there are a few special projects being planned. The first, and probably the most special, the a stocking for my niece. I don't know about you guys but when I was little, my grandma made me a Christmas Stocking that I still use to this day and it means more to me than most other things I own. Well, since Grandma is no longer with us and my mom is not really the "crafty" type, I decided I needed to make a stocking for Eva and carry on the tradition. I bought the yarn, Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, before I knew what pattern I might end up making with it. I figured at worst I would just to a random stripe pattern with it. However, while cruising the Webb's catalog, I came across the pattern for the Spotted Christmas Stocking and I decided to do that instead. It's been a good pattern so far because not only is it looking cute, but I'm learning new techniques. This is my first experience with an afterthought heel which is all I have left (it's going where you see the weird half stripe of green). I also learned how to do a knitted hem along the top of the stocking so that's pretty cool; two new techniques and a great present that I hope will be loved for a lot of years to come.

The last thing I have this week is a neat knitting heirloom I was gifted. My mother-in-law brought over a knitting bag that was her grandmother's and gifted it to me. It's in amazing condition and I am truly appreciative and honored. I hope great grandma Eva (funnily the same name as my niece) would be happy to know this bag made it to me. I can promise it will be used with love and hopefully for many a project. I think the cardigan shown above will have the honor of being the first project to be housed in the new bag. I'm excited to start using this piece of knitting history.

Well, time to get back to knitting. I hope you are doing the same. :)

Stormy Weather

The mood has been a bit sad around our house this week because we lost our beloved puppy "Weather" last Saturday, 10/3. Weather had been with us since 1998 when she did an impressive job dodging the dog catcher and jumping a friends fence to try and blend in with her dogs in the back yard and avoid capture. She was a beautiful spirit and impressive in her abilities to get what she wanted. She could climb a fence, hop boulders at the bottom of a waterfall, and when we went backpacking, she carried her own pack with her food and led the way on the trail. Weather lived a very full life until just these last few weeks and she definitely made our lives more full than we ever could have expected.

This is how I will always remember "The Best Trail Dog EVER!!"

War Wounds & Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

What have I been up to, you ask? Well, less than usual I guess. First off, I will warn you this is an animal intensive post. So, why have I been up to less lately? Well, last Saturday morning as I was in the glow of just waking up when one of my dogs got spooked and started freaking out. Of course, this just got the other one started and next thing I know, I've got two dogs snarling at each other on the bed with me. I reached out blindly with sleep glazed eyes and managed to stick my hand directly into a mouth. Ouch! Those little teeth are sharp. Anyway, it all resulted in me with a giant finger for a few days, which makes knitting less than ideal. It didn't stop me though as you can see above. I was determined to get some wristers finished for my new step-daughter (that still sounds weird) and a little thing like a giant finger was not going to stop me. The good thing is I realized I really only use that finger for tensioning so it wasn't too bad.

On to the results. I based my wristers on the Leftover Mitts I found through Ravelry but I used the leftover Urchin yarn in combination with a solid corresponding black I had. Since I had the two colors, I just didn't start the cable until row 15 in the pattern and then I worked one extra twist in the cable pattern up the arm. I'm pleased with the results and so is Jess. (Try to hear Madonna's Vogue as you scroll through these photos)

I've also been working on some dishtowels I am trading for necklaces and earrings sets. I love bartering.

Other than those two things, I've made some progress on a pair of socks but I don't have any photos.

So what else has been going on? Well, my cat has been slightly traumatized. You see, he is very furry...

Or should I say "he was very furry..."

Or he could just be an alien...

Whatever he is, the other cats aren't sure what to think. Thank goodness this only temporary. He'll be back to normal before we know it. For now, he'll just have to deal with the furmiliation.

Who Woulda Thunk?

So, have you ever had a weekend where you know you're going to learn some amazing new things, but you really don't expect it to be about knitwear and yet when part of it is, it is so cool. OK, I know that was the run-on sentence from hell, but I've had one hell of a weekend. This weekend was spent meeting my step-daughter for the first time and she's 16 years old. Wow! Now I'm not going to get into my personal business on here so let's just say there were some circumstances that kept her out of the lives of my partner and me for the last 13 years but things have changed and she spent the entire Labor Day weekend with us.

Now, I can safely say I have a lot to learn about being a "mom" to a 16 year old. I did learn a few things this weekend though. I learned:

1. I really prefer music where someone plays instruments, not a computer
2. I didn't really like the fashion of the 80's in the 80's
3. Blue eyeshadow can actually look pretty cute on some kids
4. High school Algebra is a lot harder when you're 40

Well, I think you get the picture. But there was one thing that I was really surprised to learn and thus the reason I write this post. So let me take you back in time a bit...are you hearing Scooby Doo flashback noises? Good, we're almost there.

Seriously though, a number of months ago I decided to make the Urchin Hat by Ysolda. I love the look of it on the Ravelry project page and the construction looked interesting since short rows were pretty new to me so I decided to give it a go. I bought some Debbie Bliss yarn from my LYS and cast on. The hat went super quick and I loved it until I realized why it was going so quick; it was way too small.OK, time to try again. This time I want found some Rowan yarn called Spray from Webs and that was my next mistake. I loved knitting the hat but the yarn was way too bulky and the whole thing ended up much to stiff to be very wearable. Bummer.But alas, I am not one to be so easily deterred. As I said, I really enjoyed the knitting of the hat and I knew if I just found the right yarn, the hat would be great. So, back to Web's sale yarn to find some Rowan Chunky Print. I really like this yarn. The colors are pinks and charcoal greys and I just loved it. I got started right away on the hat and I think it was finished in maybe two nights. As I finished sewing in the last end, I placed it on my head and really...nope.

It sorta sucked. I loved the color and the look of it but it was just not working for me. I put it in a bag and really didn't think much more about it until this weekend.

This weekend Jessi asked me to see some of my knitting, and who am I to say no. I pulled out the bag of finished stuff I have in the corner and I came across the third knitted Urchin. I held it up to Jessi, she put it on her head and viola...something I never expected...it just looked darn cute on her. (ignore the 16 year old expression of near tolerance)
It really did look great on her and I really did learn something; sometimes you just have to find the right head for the hat.