On My Needles (October)

This morning I was knitting in gray.

My morning knitting began with a few rows of my Boardwalk pullover by Heidi Kirrmaier in the "Sweatshirt" colorway of Brooklyn Tweed Loft.

I set that down, and I worked a couple rows of my latest Baa-ble Hat, designed by Donna Smith, in Berocco Ultra Alpaca. The hat ribbing is in the (now discontinued) "Gneiss" colorway.

I set that down, and considered how hard it is to knit only in gray in the middle of winter.

I will be knitting in full color by February. 
  

Fall Flowers & Fall Knitting

If you have read my blog for any length of time, you would know that I am not a fan of winter to the extent that I also have mixed feelings about fall.  (In all honesty, I will admit that early fall can be quite lovely.)

My flowers are not looking like themselves these days.

 

OK.  I confess that since I came back from my beach vacation in mid-August, I have not been out to water them as often as I should.

I took this upward-looking shot of some blossoms on my "Snowball Bush" on the same day that I shot that first photo.  (In early fall, I do try to "look on the bright side".)

Fall is a favorite time for many, if not, most, knitters.  I have notice a small uptick in my online pattern sales at Ravelry.  There are only three patterns for sale there, but if all goes well, that number will be doubling very soon.

My yet to be released designs are still in my cupboard, but I am done with them now.  I have finished selecting what I think are my best photos.  I even think that I now have a finished "cover" image.

Edited to add:  I just set up my ebook page.

 Stay tuned for more to come..

 

Yesterday Was...

Rhinebeck.

Officially called the New York Sheep and Wool Festival.

It happens every October at the Duchess County Fairgrounds

in Rhinebeck, New York.

My purchases.

My knitting for the day.

A wonderful way to spend a Sunday with many of my knitting friends
 and many thousands of like minded individuals.
How was your weekend?

Late September

I am not one to go all happy about fall and its (short term) beauty.  While I do enjoy the first part of fall, somewhere in the middle of it, there is that unmistakable feeling that we are loosing all of our daylight as well as all of our leaves and flowers.

Quite honestly, the foliage gets very gorgeous here in Pennsylvania right around my father's birthday (October 9).  For at least a couple days around then, there will surely be blue skies.  And in this part of the country, the blues skies of fall are so very crisp and fresh and clean.  I do enjoy all that brightness.

Early this week, as I was walking my dog, I thought that the beginning little splashes of yellow leaves against the evergreens and blue skies looked lovely.  After I returned to my home, I grabbed my camera and went back out to catch that loveliness.

In just minutes, some thin high clouds had moved in, and the image I wanted was lost.  Just not quite the same.

It rained here last night.  As I walked with my dog this morning the sky was mostly white.  It had been rather foggy earlier.  But even against the white sky the raindrops on the leaves were sparkling.  Once again, I went back out with my camera.  This is my best shot, but not quite what I wanted.

Weak sun was streaming through the windows late in the afternoon.  I decided to take some photos of my current WIP's.  "Helene" is in the finishing stages.  I have a lot of seaming.  (Using three needle bind-off to join the top sleeve edges did not work for me.  So now I am seaming them.)

 My "New Shell" is coming along.  The bottom edge is sturdy (I cast-on with a smooth black yarn.) and the texture feels just right.  I am glad that it will not have side seams.

I have begun my husband's annual Christmas-unless-they-are-done-in-time-for-your-November-birthday-socks.  He does love his hand-knit socks.

That is my own "Fingering Weight TATU Sock Pattern" on my iPad.  (How cool is that?)  I do love my iPad.  (Which was my Christmas present last year.)

As I cope with the wistfulness that I feel this time of year, I am focusing on a change...

In between all of my current WIP's, I have also been doing a lot of swatching and planning...

Now I am ready.  In October, I will be working on a new design...

This will be big for me...
  

Rare Weather Indeed

I live in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and yesterday we had an unheard of amount of snow for October.

 

 

Yes, it is pretty.  But the winters are far too long here, and I was not happy about it.  Thankfully, today is sunny and it will all be gone soon!

Photos Not from Rhinebeck

While at Rhinebeck, I made only two purchases.  (I have a very large stash.  In fact, it is SO large that, lately, I rarely forget that it is SO VERY large.)  I bought a hat kit in a jar from Hope Spinnery.

I have seen this yarn before, and I love its quality of purity.  It was great to get a lovely sampling of colors and the "Tree Line Hat" pattern all in a neat package!

Purity shines in the additional skein of yarn I purchased with the kit.  This is Hope Spinnery's Wind Spun Yarn blend (75% ME wool, 25% ME alpaca) in a color called "SNOW".

It is pictured with my second purchase, a skein of OPAL sock-weight yarn, dyed like faded denim, called "INDIGO".  A yarn search at Ravelry, and a general googling, have returned nothing.

Cool!  I will think of it as a limited edition yarn that was waiting for me.  "in Handarbeit kunstvoll coloriert" on the label, translates to "in hand-crafted artistically colored."

"jeder Strang ist ein Unikat und somit einzigartig in seiner Schonheit und Brilliannz" on the label, translates to "each strand is unique and therefore is unique in it's beauty and brilliance."  (So much for online translation.)

The above photos were shot on my deck.  This photo was shot from my deck.

Not from my deck, but nearby...