Unraveled Wednesday 9/24/25

 Good Morning My Friends!

And Happy mid-week.  Also, Happy Birthday to my favorite guy.  Yup, it's Fletcher's birthday today.  I will be caring for Iris (the last day of my marathon session is today), but Colin is going to cook dinner for us.  And...if the weather holds (who knows?) we may have a fire outside.  After a forecast that showed rain each and every day, we had none on Monday and none on Tuesday until later last night.  Nothing measurable in the rain gauge, but it sounded lovely and the scent of rain in the air was divine!

Wednesday means it's time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to chat about making and reading.  Two wonderful things!

The socks for Iris are finished!!  Woo-Hoo!  I was able to finish them up yesterday while she had lunch with Colin outside.

The yarn is Static from KnitPicks and the color way is Taos.  Using #2 needles, I cast on 44 stitches.  The cuff is a 1x1 twisted rib and the sock itself is plain vanilla.

It was really too warm for socks yesterday, but she let me put them on her feet and they fit!  I need/want to pick out more yarn for socks.  I'm thinking I may make matching socks for C&M and Iris!

The excellent reading continues!  Last week I read Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy.  I know that many of you have already read this book.  And WOW!  it really packs a punch, doesn't it?  I finished it around 10:30 Saturday night and then had trouble getting to sleep - my mind kept going over all that happened in the book (and so much happens).  A book I absolutely loved and I highly recommend it.

I picked up something a little easier for my next read...not as intense.  I'm about a third of the way through Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe.  This is a multi-generational novel that takes place in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.  I'm finding it ok, nothing spectacular, but easy to read (also easy to put down and go do something else!).

Emails from my library came in again and I have more books to pick up!  Not a bad problem to have.

Time for me to get going.  I have a bunch of things to do before heading over to Colin's.  Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Weekending 9/22/25

 Hello My Friends

And Happy Autumnal Equinox (2:19 p.m. today).  After a gorgeous weekend, I woke to gloomy skies outside.  We may have rain all week!  We never got much of any rain last week, so who knows?  Certainly not the weather people.

Anyway, how was your weekend?  Mine was filled with catching up on chores.  A lot of laundry was done.  Two bathrooms were cleaned and floors scrubbed.  The kitchen floor was (finally) scrubbed.  Initially I had visions of doing some knitting (finishing Iris' sock maybe?), stitching (finishing the angry cloud?) and reading.  Reading was accomplished, but no knitting or stitching.  Grocery shopping was completed.  The chores took so long!  But...I was able to cross everything off my list except for a trip to the library.  A book is waiting for me to pick it up, but I decided to hold off because I could see that a book that Fletch had requested should be in today or tomorrow...I'll just pick up both at the same time.

This morning I had the luxury of sleeping in a little bit.  I will be going over to care for Iris today, but I have a late arrival (just like school - lol).  Iris has a pediatrician appointment this morning (9 month), so I don't need to be at C&M's until around 11.  And, Bonnie comes back from China (I think tomorrow) and will be taking over Iris duty as of Thursday.  So, a short week.  My back is very, very thankful.

The kids took Iris camping this past weekend!  They were at Hawk Mountain which is such a beautiful place (though there are Copperheads and Timber Rattlesnakes which makes me nervous).  Hopefully they did not see (or hear in the case of a rattlesnake) any of them.  Colin texted that they did see a porcupine when they went for a walk Sunday morning!  They stayed in a shelter (Adirondack style - 3 sided).  I'm anxious to hear more about their adventure.

Yesterday afternoon I walked out to the garden.  A couple of green tomatoes and a couple of green peppers (hoping they turn red).  The figs are still very small and don't appear to be ripening at all.  But, the Hibiscus is still blooming!

Both the yellow and green beans that remain are drying on the plants.  Fletch will save some of the seeds for next year.

Even though I didn't get to any "making" this weekend, it felt like a good one and I'm happy to have gotten all my chores done.  How was your weekend?

Unraveled Wednesday 9/17/25

 Good Morning My Friends,

I hope this day finds you feeling well and having some fun.  We are forecast for rain which we really, really need.  And, I honestly enjoy a rainy day now and then.  It can be calming and soothing.

Mid-week and mid-month.  It's time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to chat about making and reading.  Iris' second sock is underway.  I managed to get to the heel flap yesterday while she was busy having lunch with Colin.

Luckily I am not a match-matchy person because there is no way her two socks will match.  This one has an entire leg in the blue color.  The first one had almost no blue in the leg.  You can see the first one here.

Recently I've had a large number of wonderful books come in for me.  Over the weekend I finished reading Heartwood by Amity Gaige and I loved it.  A woman goes missing while thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail.  After finishing that book, I started in on Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy and was immediately sucked into the story.  I'm roughly 100 pages in, so about a third of the way and it is wonderful.

There are still two other library books on my nightstand and I received an email that yet another book in my queue has come in for me!  Nothing wrong with an abundance of books.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Tiny Needle Tuesday 9/16/25

 Good Morning All,

It appears I am having a little trouble waking up this morning.  I first typed "Unraveled Tuesday" for the title of today's post.  LOL

Saturday afternoon provided a little bit of time for stitching, so I eagerly grabbed it and got down to work.  I want to finish that 3rd cloud (angry) on the right side of the piece, but I'm a little tired of it.  So instead, I started outlining the stars that are underneath said cloud.

After stitching the outline of one star I went back to the "angry" portion of the cloud and filled in a little more black.  Then on to the second star, back to the cloud, etc., etc.  The final bottom band of that cloud will be the darker blue.  And the stars will be filled in with gold.  It's coming along.  There is another leaf and flower to the left of the stars.  And, of course, the moon (I can't wait) underneath the stars.

Here is an overall shot of how things look right now.

Progress is being made and it feels good!  However, there are still miles and miles of stitching to be done.  I'm happy to be enjoying the journey.

Yesterday mid-day got pretty warm.  Colin turned the air back on.  But, by the time I was home, it felt much, much cooler.  There was a pretty strong breeze and I turned fans off in the house!  I think today should still be nice, though rain is in the forecast for Wednesday and Thursday.

Time to get more coffee and attempt to wake up.  I'm looking forward to seeing some of you for tonight's Zoom RWU book discussion.  See you then!

Weekending 9/15/25

 Hello and Good Morning My Friends!

It feels as though we are back to summerish weather.  It feels a bit closer out - maybe increased humidity, I don't know.

How was your weekend?  Mine was lovely.  And I have no pictures to share.  Colin and Iris came over yesterday for lunch (Mailing was away for the day).  Even though it was pretty warm, I had made vegetable beef soup earlier in the week and I baked corn muffins to go along with that.  Iris ate a lot!!  We spent some time sitting on a blanket in the yard enjoying the sun.

There was time for reading, knitting and stitching as well as grocery shopping, letter writing and some cooking.  A good, balanced weekend.

The other day my in-box contained a letter from Helen Stewart (Curious Handmade) and I loved this:

I learned something very beautiful today. In French, 'bibliothèque intérieure' means your 'inner library', the invisible shelf you carry inside, filled with every story that's ever shaped you.

The books you've loved, the heartbreaks you've survived, the random quotes that stuck, the memories that built you. They all live there. Quietly reminding you of who you are and how far you've come.The 'bibliothèque intérieure' is a place of quiet reflection, where the stories of our lives reside and inform who we are.

We are already at mid-September which does not seem possible!  I hope this Monday finds you at the beginning of a wonderful week.

Merci 9/11/25

 Good Morning!

Just dropping in very briefly to say Thank You for all the wonderful birthday wishes.  My day was perfect (despite the less than stellar weather).  Iris was a little doll all day (and I still say there is no better feeling than having a baby fall asleep in your arms).  She demonstrated her ability to stand (and even take a step or two) all day.  Fletch was very impressed to see that.

The dinner Colin made was fabulous!  Salmon bowls with wild caught salmon, rice, avocado, spinach, cucumbers, seaweed wrappers.  And dessert!  Oh My!

This is a Plum Torte from the NYT.  Fabulous doesn't even begin to describe it.  There was whipped cream  to put on top and enough left that we brought a generous helping of Torte home with us.

Thanks again for all the kind words and wishes.  I hope your week is winding down nicely.

Unraveled Wednesday 9/10/25 (and...#72!!)

 Hello My Friends,

It is a rainy Wednesday morning here.  Perfect for staying in bed a little longer (which I did for about 15 minutes).

Happy Unraveled Wednesday and Happy Birthday to moi!!  As my friend Leslie says, we only look "old" on the outside...inside we are still silly and young.  She and I can't figure out how we got to be 72 years old, but we are celebrating.

I'm looking forward to a dinner prepared by Colin and Mailing which I know will be delicious.  I know we are having salmon bowls and some kind of baked dessert - I will report back on that.

Meanwhile, let's link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to see what everyone is making and reading.

Happily I have one finished Iris sock to share with you.

I managed to finish this last night so I will try it on Iris later this morning.  I started the second Iris sock last night, but about 7 rows into the 1x1 twisted ribbing I saw a gaping hole!  So, yes, there was a bit of unraveling.  I put everything away and will cast on again for Sock #2.

Reading was quite good.  Last week I mentioned (I think) that I had started When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzen.  Oh my!  What a fabulous book!  There were parts that made me laugh, there were parts that brought tears to my eyes.  A meditation on life and death and everything in-between.  I thought this was simply a beautiful book.

Next up I read Hunter's Heart Ridge by Sarah Stewart Taylor.  This is a second book in a series featuring Franklin Warren, a police detective in Southern Vermont.  I would not call this a "cozy" mystery, but close.  It's an easy mystery - nothing to keep you up at night or make you turn on all the lights.  What I like is the location:  Southern Vermont.  Both of my parents were born in Vermont (my Dad in Stratton and my Mom in Brandon) and I have spent a considerable amount of time traipsing around Southern Vermont over the years.  Even though the town in the book (Bethany) is fictional, real places are mentioned and it's fun to know exactly where they are talking about.  Even though I found the end of this book bordering on "sappy" I do hope that the author continues the series.

Books I'm in queue for keep arriving at the library!  I am now about 50 pages into Heartwood by Amity Gaige and am finding it to be a very good read.  And yesterday afternoon I received an email letting me know that Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy is waiting for me at the library (I've been in the queue for this book for what seems like forever!).

Please join everyone over at Kat's and let us know what you are making and reading!