Unraveled Wednesday 7/24/24

 Good Morning My Friends,

We find ourselves on a Wednesday nearing the end of July which just does not seem possible.  Where did the month go?  Anyway, it IS Wednesday when we usually link up with  Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers to talk all about what we are making and what we are reading.  But, I just saw that Sherman crossed the Rainbow Bridge last night and Kat is taking a break.  Please keep her and Steve in your thoughts.

Despite Summer Ennui continuing, I did manage to finish the pair of Shortie Socks!!

These were made using the January Sock Squad yarn I received from The Farmer's Daughter.  You may recall this was the yarn I used to make a crescent moon sock and then it would not go over my foot.  Oh well.  No worries, I now have a lovely pair of shortie socks.  One thing:  shortie socks are FAST.

I mentioned a bit back seeing a pattern for Semplice and immediately being drawn to it.  I love how there are triangles, rectangles and squares within the pattern.  I didn't find the necessary yarn in my stash so I ordered some!  It has yet to arrive, but what I ordered is KnitPicks Gloss (70 wool, 30 silk) in the beautiful color way named Jacaranda which is a lovely lavender shade.  You sure can't beat the prices of KnitPicks yarn!  I successfully resisted temptation and did not order any other yarn.

Of course, I still need to get back to work on my Hitch on the Move which has seen no love for several months.  And the Shakerag Skirt!  I'm now at the point where all I need to do is knit the waistband.  Maybe I'll get to that while waiting for my yarn order to arrive.

Reading has been good (though Summer Ennui is creeping in there too).  Right now I'm in the middle of The God of the Woods which I am thoroughly enjoying.  I have roughly 150 pages to go.  I also picked up  James from the library on Monday.  I'll start that as soon as I finish The God of the Woods.

Our afternoon visitor has been Steve the Beav (our groundhog) who comes out daily to forage in the grass.  He is pretty skitterish and will book it back to under our shed if he hears our back door opening, so this picture was taken through the door.

You may need to click to enlarge.  We love his white cheeks!

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

Weekending 7/31/23

 Good Monday Morning!

It is a gorgeous morning here in Eastern PA.  Our heatwave has broken (currently 61 degrees at 6:48 am) and the humidity feels as though it has dropped.  I've been able to sleep with the AC off, ceiling fan on and windows open for the last two nights!  If work will not rear its ugly head, I may get out for a walk a little later.

How was your weekend?  Mine seems to have been the right combination of different things.  It started off Friday with some home made camponata for dinner.

(That's lavender from the garden behind the camponata)

We had the camponata on some crusty bread that I had brushed with EVOO and then warmed/heated/slightly toasted in the oven.  Delicious!!

And while we were having dinner, Steve the Beav came onto the patio!  I've never seen him this close to the house...first he came up to the fire pit by the picnic table and then just kept coming!  It was hysterical.

I was so surprised that I fumbled to get my phone to take a picture.  Not the greatest, but there he is right by our back sliding door to the patio!  A brazen fellow.

Saturday morning found me meeting up with Dee as usual for our check in to solve the world's problems and keep our sanity.  I had started my Allsorts Sock #1 (I was through the 15 rows of ribbing that I do), so started in on a pattern I had decided on which involved some slipped stitches.  After 6 rows I decided it was fugly and was just going to rip everything out, but (as usual) Dee saved the day and ripped it back to my ribbing and picked up my stitches.  I pretty much suck at doing that.  So thank you Dee!  And a bit of progress was made on that first sock!

No pattern, just plain vanilla.  The yarn has spoken!  This is KnitPicks Static yarn and it is striping up very evenly much to my surprise.  Caking it up, I was sure the colors would be all over the place, but I am loving how it is knitting up.

Sunday Fletch and I spent a little time pulling an invasive vine out of the bed where our lilac is.  That darned Virginia Creeper is everywhere!  And hard to pull out too.  In the afternoon we wandered over to Lansdale to Colin & Mailing's house.  I watered the house plants and Fletch repaired a latch on one of their cabinets that was not staying shut.  Next time he needs to do some trimming of plants that are trying to take over the sidewalk from the driveway to the front door.  The lawn looked good though - it is being cut every two weeks.

And today has already been a productive one!  Nuts have been roasted and a cake is out of the oven cooling...I will frost it later.  Cheers to the week ahead - let's make it a good one!