Projects in Progress!

 I made a youtube video about the various knitting projects I'm currently working on, so there's a photo up there of the projects -- a large bag with a brown sweater in it, a medium bag with a gray bobble scarf, and a small bag with a new pair of socks. All in process. Also, a pair of fingerless gloves and the last socks.

The new pair of socks are being knitted simultaneously on one circular needle. I've never tried this before! A bit complicated at first, but I hope I'm getting the hang of it.

The new baby doll blanket is well underway, but my sewing machine bobbin winder decided to be rebellious. Adam is looking at it now. I hope to have the blanket mailed off to the littlest granddaughter on Monday.

The farmers market has been rather slow the last 2 weeks. Lots of rain and "wind tide" has driven water into the road near the market. But we vendors still show up and have fun.

The kitties are doing their hard work of resting on the bed most of the day.

Leo, the Bookends

 This post is bookended by photos of Leo, our male tabby cat. He's such a sweet boy! Can you tell?

I've been working with that brown wool and finally got it washed, spun, plied, and balled up prepared to knit. Finally!

The fabric is from the thrift store, but such a pretty, delicate, and soft flannel. I plan to sew a sweet baby doll quilted blanket with it, for my granddaughter for her upcoming birthday. We're buying her a baby doll bed, and the blankie should be just right.

Last week I made a new batch of shampoo bars because I was totally out. They'll need to cure for a few weeks with a fan blowing on them. They make my studio smell quite nice.

Gretchen Joanna mentioned to me that she'd like to know what writers I enjoy. Josephine Tey is certainly one. This was an excellent story. If you've not tried Tey, think about reading one of her mysteries. My favorite of hers is called Miss Pym Disposes.

The flowers up there are called Chinese Chives. We saw it blooming across the street from the farmers market and assumed it was Queen Anne's Lace. But one vendor looked it up on her phone, and discovered it was Chinese Chives, which we'd not heard of before.

We're enjoying cooler weather and especially in the morning, there's a cool breeze in the air. It's officially autumn!

September

 Hello, friends! At last our weather seems to have broken. We had storms and high winds, and now the sun is out again ... and our highs are in the upper 70s, which is lovely. I'm lighting candles, setting out autumn decor, and generally snuggling into my favorite time of year.

I'm also messing about with lots of fiber -- cleaning, carding and spinning brown wool for (hopefully) finishing a knitted sweater before winter. I wanted to finish it last year, but it's such a long process! I'm knitting socks too -- that pair is the 4th pair of socks I've ever knitted, and the 2nd pair of decent, long-wearing socks made from the correct kind of sock yarn (75% wool, 25% nylon). It's taken me years to get to this simple stage of sock-knitting.

I found a Wool Winder at the thrift store, a little hand-cranked device that turns your yarn from a tangle-prone skein into a lovely center-pull cake. Quite handy.

Adam brought me flowers yesterday, just because he loves me. It is possible to be very much in love, very romantic, very happy together, at 35 years. It takes years of hard work too! But the rewards are quite fine.

I'm back at the farmers market for the fall with my soaps, balms, and watercolor cards. Seeing fellow vendors and faithful customers on Saturday morning was very fun.

Enjoy your September!

Cool!

 At last, it's cool! Well, cooler. We've enjoyed the mornings especially. Adam's been digging in his sweaters.

Leo has become a very snoozy old fellow. He spends a lot of the day like this, and a bit of the day running away from Lucy.

For me, it's time to light the candles, turn on the twinkle lights, listen to George Winston and Narada Christmas Collection, and basically breathe a deep sigh of relief that I survived another hot summer. Now I want time to slow, for the weeks between now and Christmas to drift along at snail's pace so I can squeeze every moment of joy and peace out of it -- autumn!

Did you notice that hummingbird in the photo with the lantana? Yes! My first hummer!

And the last two are a couple of the autumn watercolor cards I've been painting to sell at the market.

Happy Autumn, all!

the phone

 I'm a grandma now, but I remember being 19 years old, in college. One pay phone serviced our  residence hall of about 30 girls. Most calls were made in the evenings -- calls to and from home, to and from boyfriends, scheduling appointments. There were no computers per se, no email, no internet, no cell phones. If there was communication between me and my parents hundreds of miles away, it happened with snail mail letters (which I never wrote) or paying for a phone call in the hallway with girls squealing around me. That didn't happen often either. 

This was normal, and we thought nothing of it. Somehow we still knew if major events or trips happened. Otherwise, we got on with our lives apart from each other. I traveled in Europe for 6 months after college and barely corresponded with my folks at home.

Now, our grown children are assailed with phone calls, emails, text messages, Facebook messages, video chats, Instagram reels, and who knows what other subtle means of messaging from us. There's hardly any privacy for the average 30 year old being scolded by society for not being independent enough.

I've pondered lately about parent and grown-child relationships. They seem fraught for many of my friends these days. Is it in part because they can't seem to get away from us. I sometimes worry that I'm an emotional slave to my grown children, desperate for contact, panicked if I don't hear from them every week. My parents didn't do that! They were content, as far as I knew, to send me off into the blue yonder and hear from me a few months later, if that. On a postcard, that probably said, "Yes, I'm alive." Did they worry? Maybe. Did they let me know? No. When did we become so dependent?

Any thoughts, you ladies (or gentlemen) of my generation? 

Home

 I returned on Friday evening from a trip to West Virginia to visit my mother and other family. It was a quick trip, with too much driving, but it was a good visit with everyone I saw. 

I drove to my brother's apple orchard, deep in the mountains and quite remote, for an overnight visit. It was wonderful! It is a quiet, beautiful place -- no internet, no cell reception. A real escape. Adam couldn't even follow me on Google Maps for that 24 hours!

I had a good, but brief, time with Mother, and an absolutely wonderful dinner out with 7 of us extended family at my favorite restaurant in Lewisburg. That was a great evening.

Now I'm back home, knitting a pair of socks, gathering marigold blooms for dyeing wool ... later. Watching the cats play. And oh-so thankful that it's September at last.