Knit My Dog

Living in Maine, the seasons are a big part of our life. There's such a huge change in the weather between each season, and each brings its own bonuses and drawbacks. For me, autumn has only one drawback: the loss of daylight (alright, I don't like raking leaves either). I love everything else about it. The cool nights and warm days, the clear sky, the trees that explode with color. I even enjoy the ritual of stacking firewood because it means that I'll be toasty warm this winter. I love apple picking with my family, a tradition of many years. I love the change of seasons and can't imagine living somewhere that has relatively unchanging weather.
Here's a few photos of my recent activities:

These:

Became This:

Two and a half cords of wood, stacked and ready:

Moebius enjoying a favorite autumn activity of chewing on sticks:

I've also received some mail. I won Sarah's blogiversary contest. I always enjoy reading her blog, she's so insightful and thoughtful. She's practically a neighbor (VT) and she's enjoying the autumn too.

The package arrived:

Wrapped so beautifully with yarn bows. In an Earth Shoe box!

And there was yarn inside:

Yummy yarn. Two skeins of Green Mountain Spinnery Sylvan Spirit in a wonderful soft reddish color. What would you call that color? I can't find a picture like it on their website, but it sure is beautiful. And one skein of handspun (HANDSPUN!) from Vermont. They do make beautiful yarn in Vermont, don't they?

Her note said to enjoy the yarn (and the box). I was so excited about the package that I didn't really look at the box.
See what she did?

She created a farm scene (I'm sure it's a Vermont dairy farm) on one side of the box. The other side is of a (Vermont) village in autumn, with church, farm, beautiful trees, rolling hills, etc.

I love winning things on blogs! Thanks, Sarah ;-)

Posted by Brenda at 07:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

What have I been working on? Well, for one, the work that I get paid for has been busy. I'm working two jobs and find that I rarely have as much time as I used to for myself. That means my knitting suffers. And the spinning wheel has seen no action in weeks. We've also had guests and lots of activities, so last weekend consisted of cleaning (before anyone arrived), driving to Boston for an amazing jazz concert, coming home to my parents already asleep in our house, apple picking, preparing meals, and having other friends over after my family left. I was exhausted!

I do have some knitting to show you:

Simple cable sweater knit for my nephew's 13th birthday (it was in August, but he didn't need it before now). It's made from leftover Cascade 220 from my Perfect Sweater. It's blocking now, and hopefully I'll have a shot of him modelling it in the near future. He wears a sweater every day in the winter so I know it will get some use.

I've also been working on these:

Yes, they're monkeys. Since I took this picture, I've turned the heel and completed the gusset decreases (thank you Grey's Anatomy!). They're made from the Tess' Designer Yarns that I posted about last week. I love this yarn! The colors are amazing, they're knitting up great and the fabric feels sturdy.

I'm contemplating my next big project now that the other sweater is done. I've got a cardigan for me in the queue and I'd love to start something lace, Oh, and that sweater I promised Howie. I think I have some time this weekend to sit down and figure out my next move.

Yesterday at work, I received a delivery early in the morning. It was a wonderful bouquet of sunflowers from Howie wishing me a happy PA Day. This year they actually changed it to PA Week so we have a whole week to celebrate. The nurses in the office thought that my boss (the doctor) had bought me the flowers. Of course, he walked into the room and one of them announced that PA day was Saturday. He didn't skip a beat, and said that his flowers would be coming tomorrow. The florist showed up this morning with another bouquet!

Howie's on the right, the doc's on the left.
I NEVER get flowers and it's kind of strange having two beautiful arrangements in the house at the same time.
Happy PA week!

Posted by Brenda at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)