Passing of Time

The Fair Isle Flower Socks are finished and on my feet.

Thanks to Raveler Blackberryb for the inspiration. You can see her socks here. The pattern is Fair Isle Flower Socks by Candice DeWitt. The yarn is Lang Jawoll Aktion and Stroll Sock Yarn "White."

I couldn't resist casting on more socks, partly because my Stroll Dandelion was calling to me, and partly because...why not?

I wanted something semi-mindless to work on. Also, I was inspired by this great sunflower, here juxtaposed in front of the tar buckets DH is using to refinish our driveway before the snow comes.

Vintage Stitchers didn't meet this week, because so many people were out of town, but some of us showed up at Joanie's on Friday to keep her company and knit some, so I now have this:

The pattern is Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder, but with this bright color, I'm calling mine Hermione's Not-So-Everyday Socks. 

Sunny's diet has been paying off. She's about the right weight now, all thanks to smaller portion sizes, ladies. Here's a glamor shot of her:

The hiking is still good, but most of the hummingbirds have left and the leaves are starting to turn. With a week to go until the Autumnal Equinox, the sun has moved noticeably to the south and is making its appearance later each day. Here's what Sunday's sunrise looked like.

Enjoy the nice weather while you can. We will be!

Finally, Happy 50th anniversary to my adorable DH tomorrow, September 15th.

What's on my needles: Hermione's Not-So-Everyday Socks. Still hoping to CO the March of the Fiber Animals Cardigan for DH. Finished a few more hexagons for the Busy Bee Throw.

What's on my Featherweight: First Ladies Quilt. Still.

What's on my wheel: Languishing, but I have some yummy spinning fiber to inspire me.

What's on my loom: Multi-scrap scarf, no progress since before the trip.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Jodi Taylor's A Trail Through Time, on Audible, then L. A. Meyer's My Bonny Light Horseman from the library on the Overdrive app. Now listening to Lady Maybe by Julie Klassen on the Audible app. Good so far. Read Mistaken Kiss by Kathleen Baldwin on the Kindle app. Humorous and fun. Now reading Blood Red from the library, an actual book. I think it will be a good read without the narrator.

What's in my wine glass: Foxhorn Merlot. A good value if you like merlot, and we do.

What's my tip of the week: If you need to remove a label or sticker, the easiest way is to use your hair dryer to heat it up. Usually it will peel right off. (Just make sure you don't melt the item you want to keep nice if its plastic.) Any adhesive residue can usually be removed by using the sticker itself or some tape to stick and pull off repeatedly over the spot.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Close Calls

As always after a trip, there's lots of laundry and cleaning to do. I managed to make some progress on my appliqué project, though.

There was a lot of laundry to do when we got back, especially with the extra towels for the kids. Our ancient Maytag washer has taken to only liking to run one load within several hours. The motor heats up if I do the back-to-back, so I was doing laundry almost all week, one or two loads a day.

Wednesday, Ellen and I took Joanie to Salt Lake City to get her hair done and run some errands. Common Threads met at my house on Thursday. Joanie's making her third Mother Bear bear:

The one with the tutu "netted" her a personal note from Mother Bear. I was upset with her that she sent it off before I could get a photo of the finished bear. She promises not to do that again. I will get a photo of this one before she sends it off. Carol (from Vintage Stitchers) is also working on her second bear. She isn't really a knitter, but she's really enjoying it, and catching on to how to knit one.

Joanie also made a needle-felted bear as a present for a friend. Here's the front:

(The photo isn't blurry; the bear is just fuzzy.)

Here's a view of the bear from the back, showing off his tail:

Margareth is working on a petitpoint piece:

I think it might be a Grandma Moses work, but I'm not sure. It looks like her style.

I finished the "Fenway Pahk Sox." Now if my team can get into the World Series, I'll have something special to wear while I watch.

The yarn is Fortissima Socka 6-fach, color 2210, dye lot 35611. Pattern “Embossed Stitch” from Charlene Schurch’s More Sensational Knitted Socks. I picked the pattern because it looks like little diamonds. I used eye-of-partridge heel, my favorite.

Thinking about the World Series and seeing Margareth's petitpoint scene reminded me that it's getting close to the end of the summer. The leaves are starting to change, as usual toward the end of August up here at 7200', but the big surprise is how beautiful the rose hips look:

I may actually be able to make some rose hip jam this year!

We had several exciting events this week. The first one was the arrival of Soren's first tooth...then his second one. He may have a full set of choppers by next week! Another item of excitement was not so happy: our wildfire. Fortunately, it never got near us, but a number of very nice homes were destroyed. Then yesterday we discovered a leak in the drain pipe under our sink. It apparently has been leaking for some time, and could have damaged the subfloor. (We didn't do this on purpose to protect ourselves from wildfires.)

I also got a sneak peek at the projects from a new knitting book: Wrapped In Color: Stranded Knitting in the 21st Century by Deborah Tomasello. The projects look really interesting!

What's on my needles: Dogwood Blossoms, finishing up, and have been swatching for the Waffle sweater, now ready to CO.

What's on my loom: Haven't warped yet. I'm still trying to find out if we can move it to my fiber studio, but probably not. Look for Christmas gifts to be on it soon.

What's on my Featherweight: Still working on the second panel of hand appliqué, but my machine is waiting to finish the Delectable Mountains block panels. Also will be helping Joanie piece her pine tree quilt this week.

What's on my wheel: Full Circle "Fawn." Second bobbin, for a woven blanket.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Enjoyed Mercedes Lackey's Reserved for the Cat from Audible.com. I'm happy to have discovered this author. Still listening to The Mists of Avalon by Marion Bradley, Book Two. Also just finished Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear, from the library via the OverDrive app. Now I'm Listening to The Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer, another one from Audible.com.

What's my app of the week: At Bat Lite, for keeping track of my team's progress.

What's in my wine glass: Cocannon Cabernet Sauvignon. Unique in a good way.

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook, using the iPad for photo processing and the iPhone for a camera and some processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.