life with a chronic disease and a really big yarn stash
Hello Autumn: Leaves, Pumpkins and Knitting
This is my favorite time of the year. What’s not to like? The trees are strutting their stuff, the heat is finally letting up, and it is time to fire up the crock pot for some long overdue comfort food. Oh, yeah. The first snowfall is right around the corner. Knitting weather for sure!!
It has been just stinking hot even though we are past the middle of October, but the trees are right on track. Check out the maple leaves in my back yard.
The leaves are all off the tree now, but I did get a great shot of the color last week before they dropped.
I’ve been just longing for fall. As soon as the pumpkin farms opened I went with my grandson and DIL for some pumpkin fun. We went on rides, chased each other on tricycles, fed goats, watched pumpkins getting fired from a cannon (!!), and of course took a wagon ride out into the fields to get our pumpkins.
Aiden and I at the pumpkin patch. There are about 30 different types of pumpkins planted in the fields; we had 15 minutes to run around to pick and drag out the ones that we wanted. Good thing there was a time limit… there were an awful lot of cute pumpkins!!The pumpkins are now hanging out in my living room adding some fall color. Don’t you love the warty one? I’m told it will make good pie, but I don’t have the heart to cook it yet.Doesn’t this just scream fall?
The pumpkins and leaves are making me feel so happy and longing for the cooler weather. I pulled out the yarn and patterns to start a couple of quick little projects in fall colors. I knitted like crazy all last week, and here they are:
I liked this yarn so much that I actually bought this fig colored sweater to go with it. This pattern is the Riverbed Shawlette by Grace Akhren. The shawl is knit by making a large garter stitch triangle with the lace edge along one side. I was getting a little worried about running out of yarn when the knitting suddenly turns the point at the bottom of the shawl and then the other side of lace was added to the live stitches as you worked up the other side. Plenty of yarn! The ruffle is knit last by picking up stitches on the other edge of the lace trim. I love the different directions of the color in the final shawl. Ravelry notes here.I started these Akiko MItts by Sivia Harding on the same day that I cast on the shawl. I couldn’t resist; Akiko is a Japanese word that stands for “Autumn” according to the pattern notes. Besides, everyone needs more than one project going at a time, right? The shawl was easy knitting to take with me, and these charted and beaded mitts were for at home knitting time. Check out the detail in these mitts! They fit just perfect and while following the chart was a little tedious, the twisted stitches were really pretty easy to do as the pattern included directions on how to knit them without using a cable needle. I’m making two more pairs of these for Christmas presents. Ravelry notes are here.
Suddenly I finished the little projects within a day of each other. Ugh. Knitting lapses are downright depressing. Resisting the urge to cast on several more little projects I pulled out the sweater I had started a few weeks ago that had been languishing during the heat (OK, it’s only in the 80’s, but that is hot for October!). Surely eventually it will be cold enough to wear this baby. I believe! I started knitting on it in earnest over the weekend.
This is the Guernsey Pullover by Norah Gaughan that was in the last Vogue Knitting Magazine. The construction is pretty unusual; decreases in the middle of the front form the shaping for raglan sleeves. I think that the variation in the yarn is adding interest to the knitting, but at one point I was knitting from two skeins to keep the colors from pooling too badly. Ravelry notes here.You know who moved in to help during the photo shoot…and the usual yarn war with MacKenzie began. I won. Barely. He was pretty determined to have some fun this time, and he has those sharp pointy bits on his paws…
How does he know I’m out taking pictures of knitted items? He was upstairs asleep. It’s a mystery.
It’s snowing in the mountains of Colorado today, but was quite warm again today. I knit on the sweater all afternoon anyway. Someday soon the snow will come down here and I’ll be glad for the sweater.
I weave, knit and read in Aurora, Colorado where my garden lives. I have 2 sons, a knitting daughter-in-law, a grandson and two exceptionally spoiled kittens. In 2014 I was diagnosed with a serious rare autoimmune disease called systemic sclerosis along with Sjogren's Disease and fibromyalgia.
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15 thoughts on “Hello Autumn: Leaves, Pumpkins and Knitting”
Great all! The pumkins! The cat and your works!!! I loved!
How do they know to wake up? It’s like they have special inbuilt yarn alerts.
That yarn was in my stash; the colorway is called Jupiter and it does look like the planet, huh! I’m so happy that I founf the right project to match the yarn; the different directions and textures are making the most of the variation.
Aw, I miss the pumpkin patch days. What a fun time for you. And you have great progress on your WIP’s. I love your jumper! The detailing is extraordinary.
It was a lot of fun. My grandson also went on a pony ride and ran wild in a playground with a huge wooden train to climb on. Made me a little jealous. 🙂
Yarn, Books & Roses 
Great all! The pumkins! The cat and your works!!! I loved!
Thank you!
Love the detail in the gloves. Can’t wait to see!
MacKenzie you’re such a camhog!
The gloves are really cool. My cousin placed a Christmas request as soon as she saw them. 🙂 I may need your help matching colors to beads.
MacKenzie: What do you mean? >^..^<
I’m yearning for fall also, I have sweater fever but the temps are just not cooperating! Lovely projects!
It’s crazy, huh. Here we are deep into football season (prime knitting, in my opinion) and it is too warm to knit worsted weight yarn. Want sweaters!
We have had a warm fall, here, too. Just reached peak color this weekend.
Love your projects! All so beautiful.
Lovely photos
Thanks.
I have photo assistants who sense, from a dead sleep, when I’m taking project picture also. I love the yarn you chose for the Norah Gaughan sweater!
How do they know to wake up? It’s like they have special inbuilt yarn alerts.
That yarn was in my stash; the colorway is called Jupiter and it does look like the planet, huh! I’m so happy that I founf the right project to match the yarn; the different directions and textures are making the most of the variation.
Aw, I miss the pumpkin patch days. What a fun time for you. And you have great progress on your WIP’s. I love your jumper! The detailing is extraordinary.
It was a lot of fun. My grandson also went on a pony ride and ran wild in a playground with a huge wooden train to climb on. Made me a little jealous. 🙂
Lovely work! I have just recently discovered your site and I am already happy to make this a part of my morning routine. Happy knitting. 🙂
Thank you.