No frost on the pumpkins

 

There should have been frost on the pumpkins this morning but the pumpkins are still covered with snow. The trees were lightly frosted, the ice crystals just sparkled. Then they would sway in the breeze like a hundred little Italian lights that twinkle.  —Ann—

Reading list #5 2020

1. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson about the Chicago World’s Fair of 1892/1893 World’s Colombian Exposition celebrating 400 years since Columbus came to America and a serial killer.
2. Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear  more detective work with Maisie Dobbs book 4
3. The Baker’s Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan for book club WW2 German occupation of France just prior to D Day.
4. September by Rosamunde Pilcher takes place in Scotland about coming home. Very good
5. An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear book 5 of Maisie Dobbs series.
6. Knitting Yarns edited byAnn Hood various writers on knitting  I like to have a book of essays or short stories or even a cookbook on my kindle to read between books and especially when I read a real book so that I can keep my reading streak going.  119 weeks of reading 171 days of reading.
7. Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher another story that takes place in Scotland 
8. The Hard Way Home by Jean Grainger about a kinder transport Jewish girl to England then Ireland. After WW2 and schooling at Trinity college in Dublin, she travels to her birth place in Berlin for an international debate competition and is reunited with a childhood friend.
9. Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear book 6 of Maisie Dobbs series.
10. I’ll be Seeing You by Margaret Mayhew WW2 love story and search for birth father.
11. The Girl in the Glass by Susan Meissner another favorite author, about Florence, Italy, I want to go there again. 
12. The Faces of Change by Joan Ellison about the people in a small town in Minnesota and how they handled the new immigrants who work in the turkey prcessing plant.  For book club
    
    
    

I’ve travelled to England, France, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Italy, and Chicago all without leaving home. Those beautiful warm days I sat on the deck for hours I even sunburned my knees. I pretended I was sitting near the beach but instead of watching the waves I was watching the tree branches in the wind.  Sometimes the branches and leaves waved like a royal or beauty queen in a parade other times they would grab for their hats and crowns. The wind would pick up and the branches would flail like a toddler throwing a tantrum.  The leaves have mostly fallen and shifted from piles under the trees to little herds somersaulting, cartwheeling and stampeding down the street.  Then we got snow the first day it was like sifted sugar and was gone by noon, the next day it fell without making a sound but it stayed all day.   In fact it stayed a couple days then snowed some more.  It might be a long long winter. —Ann—

December in October

 

Is 2020 in a hurry to get the year over with December coming in October??  

It looks and feels like December here. It’s still snowing. Fortunately it’s not blowing. Hunkering down for the winter.

—Ann—

Something new, something blue

 

And all from the stash.  I saw this at One Sister Designs last summer.  Last summer doesn't that seem like a long time ago!?! Its just a 9 patch with some 4 patches cut 3 1/2 inches and 2 inches. Couldn't be easier then the row are off set so the 4 patches run in diagonal rows.  I cut, I sewed, I pressed, I crawled on the floor putting up the last two rows of squares why didn't I reach a little higher when I put the first squares on the design wall??  That's what I did on my snow day.  --Ann--

We’ve got snow

 This might be what I need to spend a day in the sewing room.  —Ann—

Off the needles

I went a little crazy at the yarn shop back in July and bought gobs of baby yarn for our much anticipated twins.  Those little side button cardigans were so much fun to knit but a little impractical for twins, it would take a lot of time to button 7 buttons on squirmy infants twice.  Zippers are the way to go for twins, zip and done.  I knit these little open front cardigans because skin to skin is what the baby experts are pushing now.

The baby experts are also stressing swaddling so I ripped the first little cardigans and used all of the yarn for the baby wraps.  I still have most of 2 balls of the white yarn but I can mix it with something gender specific when the babies are born.  Don't you love that about yarn you can rip and reknit until its right. We are hoping they make it into November for the birth but.................

--Ann--

Off the needles

A finish this weekend!  Darling daughter-in-law bought this yarn for me on their honeymoon in New Zealand.  It's their first anniversary today!!!  A large hank of 80/20 merino/nylon fingering yarn like 760 yards of the variegated orange (small ball in bottom pic). And that's all the yarn I have left.  After shopping local and no luck for a matching orange/rust colored yarn I ordered a couple skeins and found a great match. I knit 4 rows of the NZ yarn and 2 rows of the near match of Shiney Penny  by Yarn Love from Simply Sock Yarn company.  The sleeves are the shiney penny yarn.  The pattern is Autumn Square by Hinterm Stein. This is the second pattern I have knit of hers and love them. The bodice is garter stitch so all knitting, the only purling is the first few rows of shaping the neck and the shoulder insets where the front and back of the bodice are joined.  Her directions are so clear and easy to follow. I was happily knitting along and missed the square design feature oops. I like it without.  The sleeve is picked up and knit in the round with a few rows of purling before the cuff is split with more rows of knitting the garter stitch. I did a little more shaping in the midriff because I do not have narrow hips like the designer.  The bodice area would have looked sloppy big on me and I like things a little more fitted.  The neck, cuffs and hem are all finsihed with a mini I-cord.

Darling daughter was here for the weekend to help me celebrate my birthday.  We went shopping in Sioux Falls, I picked up my sewing machine after getting it serviced, I've been with out it for over 2 weeks maybe thats why I haven't done much recently, not really I have a spare, that excuse doesn't work. We did a little shopping, wore a mask in each of the stores and a squirt of hand sanitizer.  She bought lunch!! always a treat when your adult offspring pick up the tab!!! Then we stopped at the apple orchard and bought a couple bags of apples.  We had a great weekend. Hubby was off elk hunting and he shot one. Still celebrating  --Ann--

4th anniversary

 Its the 4th anniversary of my 16th birthday!  It must have been a warm autumn that year since I'm wearing short shorts.  These days lately have been changing season, jeans and a sweater in the morning then short pants and a t shirt after lunch and a sweater again in the evening.

Where have I been the last 2 weeks... not blogging?  At home accomplishing next to nothing.  It would be so nice to report on a lovely trip to somewhere, anywhere... but no. Just being a responsible citizen staying home and if I go anywhere wearing a mask, using hand sanitizer  and washing my hands.  This is the year we have put more alcohol on our hands than in our mouth.  I did get my flu shot have you? I wish I had some projects to show but nothing finished, a small project for church is on the table but in finding the right blues I made a huge mess  and until I sort that out I'm not making any progress.  Its a mess to the point of reorganizing the stash.  The unending creative time back in March was like a snow day I get to stay home, I can do something fun, I can do something that wasn't scheduled is how I have always thought of a snow day but every day??!?! I did have coffee with classmates last week in the park and book club met in the park and bible study met in the park.  Every social gathering I have been to this summer has been in the park. Time to stop whining about the last 7 months, I did do a lot of quilting, knitting and reading just no traveling. Time to change my attitude for the next year of my life, count my blessings, be grateful, be kind, be happy to have a home that is warm and cozy and get myself reorganized.  --Ann--