snow and Antifreeze

 Blue skies...

...before the "storm."

A nice dusting of snow that quickly melted (we got more snow later in the day but I was in bed with a headache and, like the snow, the brief window of time melted away before I had a chance to document it).  Temperatures are back up to 60 this week, which makes it the perfect time to finish up yard work.  The side garden has been an overgrown mess...

...but I managed to get it mostly cleared.  Having arthritis in my lower back makes it a lot more difficult to do this sort of work, but if I do a little bit at a time, the job gets done.

Sometimes I find things that remind me why I love having an overgrown garden, like this bird nest in my mint.  We have a rabbit, too, living in the above garden...or we do during the summer.  It's nice to make a safe place for them that we also enjoy.  

Todd made short work of the brush.  

"I have...made fire!" - Tom Hanks, Castaway

(pretty smoke!)

It's been a knitting week for sure.  First, I was gifted a box of Berroco Vintage yarn from someone on Ravelry...just enough to make a sweater!  I love this robin's egg blue color too.

Speaking of sweaters, I finished Carbeth.  It mostly fits, but it's a little bit more snug than I prefer.  I'm going to store it until I lose another 10 pounds.  At least it's washed, blocked, and ready to go!

I am trying to use up the odd skeins of yarn in my stash, and remembered how much I loved the balaclava that I knitted for Todd last year.  His was mostly ribbing, though, which I don't enjoy.  I found another pattern (Antifreeze) that was mostly straight stockinette knitting.  I used up what I consider a luxury yarn in my stash, a skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in Magnolia Leaf.  Soooo lovely to knit with but at $30/skein, too rich for my meager sweater budget.

I wasn't quite sure if I had enough yarn for the whole project.  What I *should* have done was use a provisional (temporary) cast-on for the head portion.  Then, if I had enough of the Madelinetosh left over after knitting the head, I could remove the temporary cast-on and knit the ribbing.  But I didn't think of it in the moment.  Instead, I used a very soft mystery yarn for the ribbing.  Sadly, by the end of the project, I did have enough of the good yarn for the section in question, but I was unwilling to do it over again.  Still, I'm really pleased with the result, and it's SO warm.

(too dark for a good photo but you get the idea!)

Cold weather is expected soon, so I'm enjoying the last of the leaf color...

...finishing up the last of the seasonal puzzles...

...and in general, taking a cue from the cats.

It feels good.  Have a great week!  

hot water plotter

It's almost October, and quilts are out!

Happily, it rained on our first "official" day of fall.  After a long, hot summer, there's really nothing that I love more than chilly fall days.

To commemorate, I baked pumpkin bread "acorns."

They were so delicious that I made a loaf, too.  The recipe I use is less ostentatious than its showy cousin, the one that uses 3 cups of sugar and 2 cups of oil for 2 small loaves.  My stripped-down version calls for just 2 tablespoons of oil and 1/2 cup honey, and as someone who loves pumpkin bread, I honestly don't miss it.  A simple frosting of cream cheese, vanilla, milk, and a bit of honey makes a perfect topping.

Although we have an apple tree, pumpkin is still king here in the fall.  I have two other pumpkin staples that I have to recommend:  spicy pumpkin scones and brown butter pumpkin oatmeal cookies.  It's not autumn around here without them!

Mornings have been delightfully brisk.  Todd dons his warm plaid shirts without comment, because he knows that I have to have the windows open, even if it's only 45 degrees.  It's fall, y'all!

We had our first fire this week!

Since I don't normally do them, most of my 500-piece puzzles got the axe during my Marie Kondo sweep.  However, this one made the cut...barely...because of the cheerful autumn theme!

This is the perfect weather for crafting.  I found and completed another knitting project, a hot water bottle cover.  

I've mentioned this here before, but I used to consider hot water bottles tools of the elderly in some sepia-toned past.  It wasn't until I was staying with a friend in Germany that I was introduced to their pleasures - they retain heat for around 8 hours, and there isn't anything more delightful than a fresh one slipped under a quilt.  I didn't get to use mine in South Carolina, but Indiana weather is pretty perfect for it!  

I've been continuing to work on embroidery practice.  I've always had trouble transferring patterns before, but I've discovered that coping the design on tracing paper with a permanent marker, and then tracing on the back with a charcoal pencil, works nicely.  With some pressure, the charcoal transfers tidily to your fabric surface.

I've mainly been practicing stem and chain stitches...

...but I think I'm ready to move on to my old nemesis, the satin stitch.  

photo courtesy of trishburr.com

Speaking of tools of the elderly, I bought a magnifying lamp with bright LEDs to help with this detail work.  I'm prone to migraines so wanted to limit my eye strain.  So far, so good!  

Because of persistent tendonitis, I've had to pause on quilting right now.  I've moved on to a different project: dried flower wreaths.  It's a lot harder than expected - my flowers are mostly larger, with no frilly "fillers" available.  I'm pretty clumsy with it.  At least I have a lot of material to work with!

Although I have a few other varieties, I'm mainly working with celosia.  I love the colors!

Looking back at this time last year, I can see that in the first week of October = first frost!

The trees around the pond were in full autumn mode.

It's quite the contrast to this year (glaring at our 85 degree forecast today).  Still, I know that it won't be long.  

Have a great week!

smoke on the water

Warmer weather means that we're slowly starting to hike again.  We recently tried out a new place that's only about 10 minutes from our house - Bean Blossom Bottoms.  As the name indicates, this is low, boggy ground...

...with a very nice elevated boardwalk over the water.  Rare orchids grow here, and wildlife proliferates.  It's still so early that there isn't much green growth, but spring peepers kept us company as we traversed the path.

There's the usual monochromatic cool weather sights...cattails and fungus...

...but I was delighted to see a pop of color, the very first sign of spring here...even if it is just a weed!

A tornado came through last year, and the damage remains in some parts.

It was more evident on a nearby road.

Back at home, temperatures in the upper 50s mean that windows are open.  I'm a fresh air fanatic, and it's not uncommon for me to leave windows open until the chill is too great, then close windows and immediately turn on the heat. The cats love the open windows, too. Tabitha is constantly scanning the front yard for activity.

Sometimes she gets lucky.  This little guy was out there last week!

I've spent the past couple of days working on the fence line.  Oddly, the current fence does not actually run along the property line, and it's basically falling down.  We're going to put up new fences, but before we do, we have to eradicate the old growth so that it can be mowed.  When we moved in last year, it was too late to deal with fence weeds - they were too firmly established.  But this year, I'm ready.  Here's the BEFORE - cockleburrs, old leaves, inch-thick dead weed trunks, and a few desultory blackberry vines:

It's slo-o-o-wly coming along.

We've got random piles of wood all around the back of the property, and Todd is burning them - and the brush I'm pulling up - so that everything can be mowed in a month or so.

We took a quick lunch break after several hours of work this week, only to notice a large amount of smoke coming from one of the piles...

We had a small, spreading fire back there.  Todd easily stopped it with the hose...

The excitement never ends around here!  :)  At least one drama is much anticipated every day...these skies over our property!  I never get tired of it.

Have a great week!