Hard Freeze

The outdoor flowers are soon to be a memory.

21° this morning when I left for work.

Sunday Hike

We had a really fine hike in the Carleton Arboretum this afternoon.

Fall prairies and woods.

Cool and overcast, but that's OK.

Full moon stroll in the Arb

Friday we took a late night walk through the arboretum.

Admiring the amazing full moon, we required no additional lighting.

Quaternity - into clue #3

The mitten is growing.  

I've started clue #3 on the first mitten.  I probably won't get both mittens done before clue #4 is released on Monday.  It's a pretty slow knit on size 0 needles.

Peppers before frost

Paul has been going out and covering the deck garden on the nights that promise a frost.

We've finally given in.  Let 'em freeze.

We did pick all of the remaining peppers.  Now, what'll we do with all of these?

Overboxed

Why would they use this huge box for a shirt and a pair of socks?

Seriously...

Color Affection

While I really enjoyed knitting Color Affection, I'm just not sure how to wear it.

I love the colors.  I love the Sweet Georgia Silk Crush yarn.

But frankly, it's just a bit awkward.

Corinna Shawl

More modeling by Girl of the House.

Hitchhiker

I finished this in late September and finally got it blocked.

Girl of the House was kind enough to model.

This is an awesome pattern.  I knitted in the car, at soccer games, and at break during work.  I loved watching the colors gradually change.

I see more of these in my future.

Saturday Morning Sunshine

It was warm and very windy yesterday.

Sunshine coming into my kitchen this morning reveals that I should have had my windows closed.

Boulder 3S shawl

This one was blocked in early September, but I never got pictures.

Great mindless knitting.  I knit in the car, in class, at soccer games and while on break at work.

This is really cute with the self striping yarn.

The little picot edging added some pizazz, don't you think?

Quaternity

Let's see, now what was I saying about startitis?

Mitten pair number thirteen for the year:  Quaternity.  They are the mystery mitten of the month for October by Rose Hiver.  Pattern will be released in sections, beginning October 1.   It's a free pattern, and I think it's promising to be quite lovely.

I couldn't help myself...

Doctor Sleep

Best of both worlds really, reading and knitting.  At the same time.

I recently discovered that I could do easy knitting, garter stitch knitting, while I read on my Kindle.

(This is much healthier for me than eating sunflower seeds and drinking diet Mountain Dew, which is my usual method.)

Unfortunately, when I'm reading something as intense as Stephen King's Doctor Sleep, I don't pay attention to the yarn snaggles until it's too late.

By the way, it's a great book.  

I highly recommend it if you are looking for something to take your life over until you finish reading it.

Really, you just can't tear away for real life.

Thanks for the help

I'm just not convinced I needed quite this much assistance, thanks.

July Mystery Mittens

I finally finished the thumbs and blocked my July Mystery Mittens this past weekend.

I'm loving the weight and color of these mittens, and anticipate getting quite a bit of wear out of them this winter.

I've been doing quite a bit of posting from my phone, as I had a bit of a computer melt down, so the formatting has suffered.  

Now I'm back with a new MacBook, and all is well!

Many thanks to Paul, my in-house computer go-to-guy.

I'm a very spoiled girl...

Lilleput

Startitis strikes again.   

Lilleput.  

A baby sweater for a friends joyfully awaited grand daughter.  

Where's Wooldo?

The perfect sheepy t-shirt, on sale at Shirt.Woot today.

I've bought shirts for my kids here, but never one for myself.

Today may be the day.

We must be doing something to be happy

“To do any thing, to dig a hole in the ground, to plant a cabbage, to hit a mark, to move a shuttle, to work a pattern, –in a word, to attempt to produce any effect, and to succeed, has something in it that gratifies the love of power, and carries off the restless activity of the mind of man.  Indolence is a delightful but distressing state:  we must be doing something to be happy.”

–William Hazlitt, “On the Pleasure of Painting”

I've got some extended downtime, so I'm  very happily knitting!

Do your business here?

Why do I half expect to see a little pile of poop on this floor?

Duluth

College visit to Duluth today.  One of our most favorite cities.  

Alpaca

60 degrees out and it's a spin alpaca and watch hummingbirds kind of evening. 

Brick tree

What's going on here?

Pretty

Seriously.   

Isn't that one of the prettiest yarn cakes ever?

Senior night

Senior/parent night for soccer this evening.   

Can you see it?

Left mitten.  

Can you see it?  The star that's supposed to be there to match the left mitten?

Yeah, me neither.   

Time to frog.  Apparently I need to be more attentive.   It never works when I think I'll just quickly finish a long abandoned project.  

Sunday morning

Girl of the House and snuggle buddies.  

3S shawl

Pictures of the finished 3S shawl.

I really like the picot edging.

Hummingbirds

We've had tons of hummingbirds on our feeder lately.

Can't tell if they're all females, or just young.  The males should have ruby throats, and these don't.

Wake Me Up

First song I hear on my running/biking playlist this summer.

It's impossible to feel lazy when I hear it.

Late run

It was a beautiful evening for a sunset run. 

After Girl of the House's 5pm soccer game.  

Ironic?

Geocaching

Did some geocaching today.  One multi-stage cache started at the old Sciota township hall.

Then there was hiking at the Carleton College McKnight Prairie.  

There are still cacti growing in the Minnesota prairie. 

Who knew?

September Hot

A very hot day for September 7 in Minnesota.  92 degrees here.   Heat index of 104.

We sat on the deck while our supper of pork ribs and grilled sweet corn sizzled.  We had a chilled bottle of Dolgo Crabapple wine from my visit to Wisconsin's Maiden Rock winery earlier this summer.    It showed great promise to stand up to the strong flavors of the grilled meat.  

But it was cool and delicious, so I'm sorry to say it didn't last til mealtime.  

I'd highly recommend it for hot September evenings! 

Pink!

Tonight the Girl of the House baked cupcakes for the Lace for the Cure fundraiser that the soccer girls do each fall.  

 

The bright pink is an important part.   

Sale to take place during Northfield's famous Defeat of Jesse James days festival tomorrow. 

 

Soccer tonight

Let the game begin!

Hitchhiker

I started this scarf when we were driving back from camping in Colorado this summer.  It's become my carry around knitting.  It's mindless enough that I can knit while I read, too.

River's Edge Progressions merino sock yarn, purchased at Shepherd's Harvest festival back in May, knitted in the incredibly popular Hitchhiker pattern.  There are currently 11,253 projects with this pattern on Ravelry.  I can see why.  It's easy, yet mesmerizing.

Final First Day of School

Girl of the House was off bright and early for the first day of her senior year.

So I guess this would be the day to show her Senior Year blanket.

I adapted the Temperature scarf pattern to knit a blanket for her to take to college next year.  Cascade 220 Superwash yarn in colors chosen by GotH.

One row for each day, beginning July 1.  One color for each 10° temperature increment.

I'll have July and August of 2014 to finish knitting, if I need it.  

And we all know that I'll need it...