I actually had to put on socks today! I'm sure only knitters get that excitement about footwear. The hardest thing was deciding which pair.

It's just such a relief to be cool. I have my steaming cuppa (Coconut Mango Wuyi Oolong from Stash Tea), my long pajama bottoms and got out my shawl to throw around my shoulders. I was glad to have that this morning I'll tell you.

Made some soup the other day (artichoke, leek and white bean from "The 4 Ingredient Vegan)..and a wonderful grilled "cheese" sandwich with tomato,onion and Daiya cheese. The BEST! I must say that it was the best fall lunch that I've had in some time. I definately will make it again. I'd forgotten how much I like grilled cheese sandwiches. Happy tummy. Went up to Yarns and Fabrications this morning because they are closing at the end of the month. All yarn was 60% off and it would have been rude not to go and grab some more.

The majority of the pile is Cascade 220, which is destined for cabled socks from "The Big Book of Socks". The Wisdom Poems will be a pair of fingerless gloves .
I'm not sure what this wants to be but all I know is it wanted to come home with me. It's so soft I just keep "petting" it.
I made a pair of flip-top fingerless gloves/mittens with my last Poems so maybe I'll make another pair. I like to have loads of fingerless mitts around so I can grab a pair practically in any room. My fingers and toes get cold so they are nice. And really work well. I also like cowls so maybe I'll make one of those.

Well, off for some stealth knitting. Enjoy your evening and see you all soon.

I am sick of hot weather!! It's 90* here and that is just ridiculous for this time of year. I am ready for cool days and cold nights, steaming bowls of homemade soup, making some bread, a lovely cup of cranberry-orange tea or some hot apple cider and woolen knit projects. That being said, I am tired of everything that is on my needles. I can't work on the shawl because it's half wool and so hot piled up on my lap that I just sweat thinking about it.

I'm working on a sweater and have finished the back and am now on the sleeve but it seems to be going nowhere. *sigh*

In honor of the eventual cooler weather, here is my lovely yarn for some fingerless mitts. Now to find the perfect pattern.
Last week when it was actually cooler I did a little baking. This are individual ramekins of pear crisps from "Vegan Comfort Cooking" and they are very good.

And these are my first attempt at making my own pie crust. Eh. I think next time I'll use unbleached white flour instead of wheat but pretty good. They are shaped like pumpkins but are filled with apples. The mold I got last year at William-Sonoma and it's just cute.
I really want some Star Wars pancake molds but since I've been eyeing a tofu press more that will be my next cooking purchase.

The press( www.tofuxpress.com) is actually very useful since piling up pots and cast iron skillets ontop of tofu to press it can be a very precarious situation. I can't tell you how many times I've looked up to see my tower of pans sliding right off. So that will be useful.

Okay. Off to work on the sweater.

I really like spinning! This is my best attempt to date. It's a worsted weight and I can't wait to make something from it.
I just bought a new,lighter spindle to make lace and fingering weight and have some beautiful Cherry Tree Hill roving to make some lovely yarn. I actually started spinning some today and it's fabulous. It's almost too nice to spin....so soft and silky. But the socks I will make from it will be lovely. Just finished these socks for mom. They are a sport weight yarn from Hobby Lobby and they will be nice and warm.

Actual knitting content! I haven't posted much about knitting because some of it is stealth knitting. The scarf I'm working on is in black and when it's photographed all you see is a lovely black blob. Which is fine but you can just close your eyes and voila, there is black. So you can imagine that.

These are felted bracelets that I made for mom out of Mags Kandis' new book...I think it's called Knitted Gifts but I'm not positive. These are extraordinarily simple to make and I just hand felted them because I don't think my front loader washer will do a good enough job. But they are fun and a good use of leftover yarn. Here are the final park pictures.

The "twig" rabbit sculpture was just so cute that I wanted to pick it up to take home.
You can't really see it in this photo but there looked like giant bean pods hanging off this tree. Cool but kinda creepy as well.

A pond full of lily pads with plenty of very large goldfish swimming around.

These were fun. All through the area were leaves imprinted into the concrete so they looked like fossils.

Nothing like walking along and tripping over things because you're so busy looking down!

This is a dinosaur of sorts and sort of tucked away so you stumble on it on your travels.

Went to the big farmers' market today since it was so lovely and cool this morning. The vegetables were just fabulous. The best they've been all season. I got quite a "haul". Some beautiful swiss chard and dinosaur kale, which I have not tried yet but have read that it's delicious, so I'm really looking forward to that. A few pattypan squash that I will stuff with grains and nuts and bake. A few serrano and ancho chilies for a couple of mexican-inspired dishes. Two small eggplants...I don't have any specific plans for those but they were cheap and so cute that I took them home. A pint of various heirloom tomatoes that we just wash and keep in a bowl on the table and snack on them as we are walking past them. (Those are already about half gone). I also bought some beets. Now I'm not fond of beets. Oh heck, I don't like them. But I'm going to be a big girl and attempt some kind of recipe with them and I will eat them. And probably only sneer alittle. I didn't really care for swiss chard at first either...to me it tasted like dirt. (Which is what beets taste like to me also). But I experimented and now I pretty much like it anyway. So we shall see.

I thought it was going to start cooling down this week but it turns out that it is still going to be in the 80*s. *sigh* I am ready for fall. I just bought some pumpkin spice coffee today and the other day I made my first pie crust from scratch and made mini apple pies that will be great with the coffee. I'm ready to curl up with some flannel jammies at night and a steaming cup of apple cider and some nice soup. Although I did make some tomato-rice soup the other day. Which was odd as I never liked tomato soup of any kind. I just kept craving it thinking that it sounded wonderful. And it's pretty good. Plus it was super easy as it came from a cookbook called "4-Ingredient Vegan" and you can't get much easier than that. Unless someone else makes it for you!

Alright...off to try and finish some knitting of some kind. I want to start something else but I am being firm and going to finish a few things first. :( See you soon.

New mug! It's lovely and nice and thick. It was finally cool enough to want to have an entire pot of tea so I celebrated by getting a new mug. The only drawback is the copper panel in the front makes it non-microwavable. But I really don't reheat tea and NEVER coffee so it shouldn't be a problem.Here is the sock that I am working on in the car.
About 1/2 finished with the second one. But I'm busy with other projects so it is rather slow going on this one right now.
Some more park pictures.
This is the station for the toy train that ran around overhead and you could go into a "station house" and start the train going.

These are pictures of the tree house that all the kids were playing on and climbing around.

It's too bad I was too big 'cause it really looked like fun!!


This is a walkway that was continually spraying water as you walked through. I didn't go through as I was wearing Birkenstocks and I didn't want to get them wet.

More soon.

Here's a few more shots of the garden from the other day. Cute bench. I'm not sure how comfortable it would be though. This was just outside the building.

Another shot of the walkway.

I will post some more pictures soon. I'm rather out of sorts so I think I'll go and knit for awhile.