snow

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We had our first snow of the year yesterday! It looks like it caught this seagull off guard (the gray dots are snowflakes). Brrrr... but at least it didn't stick here in the valley. My husband asked, "What happened to fall?" Hm, I think that was last Tuesday. Furnace is up and running. Knitting is on full throttle now! It is just such a warm and cozy pass-time. I should have some knitting content soon.

farewell summer

I took this picture in my front yard about a month ago.

I always find it a little sad to say goodbye to the summer. This year it is bittersweet. It was a hard summer, but also a good one. I put down my needles for a few months but I picked up a trowel instead. Well, I picked up the trowel for a while until it mysteriously disappeared (I had a few suspects, one with four legs and a couple with two) at that point my trowel became a large kitchen spoon (or rather my big kitchen spoon became a trowel). I planted many new perennials and some annuals for color. A good friend built me window boxes (she claims it was her own therapy). I happily watered my hanging baskets, boxes, flower beds and lawn each morning while I waited for my tea to cool. After all of my plants had been given a drink, I would take my tea in the backyard while I spent fifteen or twenty minutes having some Bible time.

But now it is cold. Mornings have become a bit crazy around here. I need to find a new routine. I look forward to next summer with more flowers and more tea on the patio.

sling

I mentioned before that my sister just had a baby. What I didn't say was that she called me while in labor and asked me to come and be with her and her husband for the birth of their child. I was so excited! It was all I could do to wait until a little later in the afternoon when I had child care for my own little darlings & head down to the hospital. Her son is the first birth I've attended where I wasn't the one in the bed begging for drugs, or for someone to shave my head (I was hot! And I totally would have done it too, but for some reason nobody took me seriously - huh, go figure).

Anyhow Monday my sis and I were talking about how sometimes people don't have the same personal space boundaries we are used to or they think the boundaries do not apply to newborns. I mentioned how I had always wanted a sling but never had one. I didn't know much about them, like where to get one or even that they could be made but I had noticed that people tend to stay further back from an infant in a sling. Of course my "baby" is four years old. Since my daughter's birth I learned to crochet (a little). About 9 months ago a woman at church briefly showed me a sling she had crocheted using a free pattern online. So I thought I should try to make one of those for my sister and her little babe. I found a few interesting looking slings online, but I had one problem - I don't know how to read crochet patterns. Oh well. I thought I'd try to make one anyway, without a pattern.

A couple of weeks ago my craft store had cotton on special 30% off, so I bought two cones of a very natural looking cotton with dull flecks of color. I think it's called potpourri. I had in mind to crochet an afghan with it, but that didn't exactly work out like I planned. I decided that would be good yarn to use and gave it a go on my new bamboo hook (I think it's a G, or an H, or an I - can you tell I'm not a real crocheter?). Pictured above is what I came up with. I don't really know how I did it but I think I am going to attempt to recreate it (or something similar) for my sister in law.

copy cat

Ok so I'm a total copy cat. I saw this dishcloth over on Sandi's blog and knew I had to make it. I have seen this type of knitting before but was never really interested in giving it a try ... of course until I saw it in dishcloth form. I'm a sucker for dishcloths ( Jen, you should try this one! It's lots of fun!).

Well, that's it for today. Nothing much, just a dishcloth. I think I'll give this one to my sister who just had a baby. It's quite big (10x10) as I knit it on size 8 needles. It may be more of a washcloth.

Macro

Over the past several months the bottom kind of fell out of my life. And I stopped knitting. I think things could be getting back on track now. I've picked up my needles again! Pictured above is the project I've been working on. It is a Christmas gift.

Every year my girls take photographs for the state fair. This year they entered a couple in the macro category. Since then I've been thinking how very much I like super close pictures, so that is what you are getting here. A macro of my knitting.

A small update on me: My mom is still hanging in there. This fall we left the ranks of the home schoolers and enrolled the three big girls in our local elementary. They love school and it's been very quiet around here. My small daughter (4 y/o) is starting to feel lonely though. She's becoming good friends with the dog.

Anyway, I'm happy to be knitting again.