Home Treasure Friday

 Today's home treasure was owned by my father. I inherited it when he died about four years ago. I also inherited his roll-top desk that was his grandfather's. I have no idea where or when he got this monkey, but it has always been in my memory. Growing up, it sat on a shelf in the living room. Today, he sits on a shelf in the bookshelf portion of the roll-top along with some of my father's books. He looks pensive as he smokes his pipe. Much like I remember my father, a former academic who smoke a pipe up until the late 70's. He died at the age of 92, and had an amazing life. I mostly miss his dry humor and the way he would always end our phone conversations with, "Ok, kid". 

He was a much more distinguished primate than his little keepsake.

Thursday

I went somewhere yesterday with a friend in my "Covid pod". In other words, she's someone who I trust lives as I do and is not a risk. We get together now and then. So yesterday, we went to our local yarn store.

We were the only customers. Their rules are only 4 customers in the store at one time (not a problem in this case) and you have to make a bee-line to back of the store and wash your hands as soon as you arrive. And of course, you must wear a mask.

I bought some Malibrigo Rios worsted weight to make a cowl. It felt so foreign to go into a yarn store and buy yarn, yet it felt wonderful! It's been way too long.

It's a bit darker in real life, but you get the idea.

Here's the cowl that I'm going to knit with it...

It's mosaic, of course. My go to technique these days.

Tonight, I made the best meal that I've made in a long time. I found a recipe for roasted veggies and chicken thighs. I cook and eat a lot of chicken breasts. This was such a nice break from the norm. The recipe was amazing. It had bacon and apples and sage and thyme and rosemary...So good!! All the veggies caramelized and were out of this world. Here it is...

Autumn Chicken Dinner

Hope you have a good evening. Tomorrow is Home Treasure Friday!

Wednesday

 It's late Wednesday, but I thought I'd check in. Thank you all for your kind comments regarding my sweater and the cowl. 

The Dissent cowl is finished The flared front looks a little like a ruffle, but should straighten out after blocking. I also wish that the color change went beyond yellow, but that's the breaks. I have plenty of both colors to make something else. 

A buck posed for me yesterday.

He stuck around for quite a while before scampering off.

I bought a book and it came today. It's just out and has some amazing photos and some really amazing tips and recipes.

Lastly, I brought in my turmeric plant for the season. I bought this in April from an online plant supplier. It came as a tuber and I planted it with little hope that it would do anything. My climate zone is a little too cool for it, but I thought I'd give it a try. It started to grow in late Spring, but didn't do much but sprout big wide leaves. But when I went over to bring it inside, I found that it was blooming!

Isn't it gorgeous? I hope that I can keep it going this winter. 

Yesterday, I went somewhere that I haven't gone in months and months.  More on that later!

Monday

 I picked up some evidence of the season on our Reggie walk and around our yard this morning. There is no doubt. Fall is here.

I finished the Big Crush sweater. It has soaked and now is gently spinning in my washer. I'm hoping that the main color hasn't bled into the contrasting color too much. The water kind of looked like diluted red wine when I took it out of the basin. Here it is pre-soak..

I'll give it a light blocking after the water spins out of it.

I started the Dissent Cowl. I really am hooked on mosaic knitting. This is so fun to knit and keeps my attention. The yarn was from stash. I had bought these two skeins from a yarn store in Annapolis for a brioche knitting class that I took. I used it in class, but pulled it out and rewound when I got home. 

I think that this will be a Christmas present to a friend who will appreciate it. Have a good day! Hope you have a sunnier sky than we do here.

Home Treasure Friday

 This Friday's home treasure isn't mine. It's actually my daughter's. When she was at college, she had a very good friend (and still is her good friend) named Andy. He was a film maker, a photographer, a pianist, and an artist. He went on to work for the Discovery Channel, I believe. 

Anyhoo...He always gave my daughter thoughtful birthday gifts that he made himself. This is an origami koi fish that he made over weeks. It's made from a one dollar bill. I think that it's amazing. It resides in my house currently, because my daughter moved to England after college and left many things behind for me to keep for a while. After five years (and a husband and 2 kids and the dog) she moved to Southern California. BUT..in November they are all driving back here and will live close to me again! So Mr. koi will probably go to its rightful owner. 

He even lined up the design on the dollar to look like eyes! And look at those scales!

So that's it. Do you have a Friday home treasure?

Thursday

Today was a good day. Well, it started out a little rough. My shingles and flu vaccines yesterday were making me a bit achy, but it was nothing that a little ibuprofen didn't take care of.

So in the afternoon, the husband and I went to the store. I have been reading that flour may be hard to find again soon, so I picked up a bag. Just on a whim, I went down the cleaning aisle and lo and behold, they had disinfectant wipes! I picked up 3 tubs of them. 

While we were in line, I told my husband to go ahead and pay and I'd meet him at the car. I went back and got 3 some more wipes, and then delivered them to 3  different friends who have immunity issues due to cancer and other ailments. It felt good to drop them off on their porches. These wipes are such a rare thing to see these days!

On to knitting...

I received a package today. I bought some yarn during NY State Sheep and Wool Festival (Rhinebeck) during their virtual event last weekend. I've been to the actual festival once with friends. It wasn't the same, but I did find some nice yarn.

This is why I love getting yarn from independent dyers/spinners. The receipt had this fabric bat button pinned to it with a big handwritten thank-you! And the tissue was beautiful, too.

This yarn is from Starcroft Fibers in Maine. They raise the sheep on an island off the coast, and have done so for over 100 years. If you want to read about it, go HERE

The yarn is so rustic and beautiful. They had a deal that they would give you the sweater pattern for free if you buy enough yarn to make it. The pattern was what drew me to the yarn. It's Muriel, and here's a picture off of Ravelry:

The main color that I'm using is the pumpkin color, and the navy is the yoke design. This may be my next project!

Tomorrow is Home Treasure Friday! I'll be posting a picture of something that I have in my house. Join me if you would like!

Wednesday

 Today is kind of drizzly here in Maryland. We managed to get a walk in with Reggie, though. Later today, I'm going to my doctor's for the flu shot and a second shingles shot. I may not feel so great later. We'll see..

Yesterday, I managed to get a shot of a butterfly (Cloudless Sulphur) on the Lion's Ear. The larger butterflies are few and far between now.

Knitting progress:

I'm coming down to the wire with yarn now. I have one ball left. I stopped the 2 inch ribbing on the bottom of the sweater at a little over 1 inch, and started the sleeves. That way, if I don't have enough for the ribbing at the bottom after 2 sleeves, I'll add a band of the contrasting color. Stay tuned.

The sleeves are supposed to be a bit short (thank goodness). Here's a picture of the finished sweater from the pattern. 

The husband likes to take a ride on his motorcycle on sunny afternoons. Reggie goes on alert and waits for him to return. This was yesterday.

I have no idea how he got that black smudge on the back of his neck. Must have walked under something. It will disappear today when he gets a bath.

Such a vigilant boy. Have a good day!

Monday

 This morning was grocery day. I masked up, took my Clorox wipe to wipe down the cart handle and forged ahead. $200.00 later, everything is put away and done. I used to like going to the grocery store. Time to think and meander down the aisles....now, not so much.

Yesterday morning from about 1:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. we had visitors in the yard. The security camera went off 7 times. 

I HAD five or six roses left on this bush. Not any more.

Later on, the whole family showed up. 

On to knitting:

I have about four more inches before I start short rows, and then the ribbed band at the bottom. Then the sleeves. 

I took this picture while on our walk the other day. I thought that the cloud looked kind of like an extension of the tree.  

Hope you all have a good day.

Saturday

 It's Saturday, or as we like to call it in this house, "Svengoolie Night". Svengoolie is a really campy movie host out of Chicago that shows really campy (and sometimes classic) horror movies. His puns and corny jokes make you moan, but for some reason, it has become a tradition for us to watch him every Saturday night. I think it gives me warm fuzzies because it reminds me of being in college and watching bad Saturday night movies in the dorm lounge with a bunch of friends. Back then, the hosts were out of Cleveland. Big Chuck and Little John. Back East, we had Count Gore De Vol out of Washington D.C. I think that every city had a B movie host back in the day. Everyone remembers Elvira! Svengoolie is a hold-out from that era. 

On to knitting...

I had eight balls of this Tahki Tweed (now discontinued) in the stash in Aran weight. I had one skein of the lovely blue/green/white Shetland tweed that was given to me by a friend who went to Shetland Wool Week last year and brought it back for me. 

So, I put down the previous red yarn from two days ago, and I started this:

I'm hoping that it will grow when blocked. It seems a bit small. Oh yeah...I forgot to do a gauge swatch.  I was so excited about starting it, that I just jumped in. Duh. I will gift it to someone if it doesn't fit.

I almost forgot- Reggie had his one year birthday on Wednesday! He still acts like a knucklehead puppy, but he's now officially a big boy. He keeps us laughing and entertained.

 Hope you all have a good Saturday!

Friday

 It's Friday, and I decided to start a challenge. From now on, I'm going to have "Home Treasure Friday". As I look around my house, I realize that I have so many things to be thankful for, and so many treasures that either I have acquired or I have had passed down to me. 

So every Friday, I'm going to post pictures of a home treasure. It can be a special yarn that I like, an heirloom that I have from my family or anything from my home that brings me joy (as Ms. Kondo would say). 

Want to join in? Just post one of your own home treasures with a little story about it!

Here goes:

This little cupboard was my Mother's. She had 2 sisters, so they probably played with it too. Being the only granddaughter, It was passed down to me.  It was probably made by someone in the family out of old scrap wood. I would say it's from the mid-1920's. I remember playing with this at my Grandmother's when I was little. I am fortunate to have ended up owning it. 

Here's a teaspoon for scale.

It's just as it was when I was little. Packed up with treasures inside. I love the little glass jug with a tiny cork in it.

What's  one of your home treasures?

Tuesday

 Not much happening around these parts. It's getting cooler, and the plants on the patio are starting to lose their lively look. I cut the basil down to stalks and gave it to my friend when she was here Saturday. She has a dehydrator and will put it in a jar and get it back to me. I told her to keep some, but she has some of her own herbs already dried.

I finished the Desert Frost shawl, and it's blocking in the basement. What a pretty pattern. It'll be perfect for a cold November day.

I swear, this thing changes color with every picture that I take. 

The three sections go together well, and I enjoyed knitting all three. I would knit this pattern again. Although, I think that I'd do it in a merino and not alpaca. I like the alpaca, but the stitch definition would show up better in another fiber, I think. 

I'm now going through Ravelry to find a sweater pattern for this yarn. Not sure when or why I bought it, but I only have 4 skeins (880 yards). So I think it will have to be more like a tee. It's worsted weight merino. Super soft, and I like how the color hasn't saturated the yarn. The search goes on...

This old girl went to the vet yesterday. Bella is 13 now ( I thought she was 14 until we checked her chart. Whoops...) and still has a little pep to her. She gets around fine, and lets us know loud and clear when it's dinner time. I've had her since she was 15 weeks old. She puts up with a lot of Reggie's shenanigans, and for that she is a saint. She got a clean bill of health yesterday. They did do some bloodwork, for which I have not gotten the results. But all in all, she's a happy puglet. 

Saturday

 Rehoboth Beach, Delaware is probably my most favorite place to go. The last time that I was there was in November 2019 for a long weekend. It was cold and rainy for most of the trip, but one day the rain stopped, the temperature became warmer. The sun had a brief appearance. I snapped a quick picture of the boardwalk with my phone. 

To this day, it's one of my favorite pictures, and is my computer's screen saver. It brings me peace to look at it. So when I decided to put a picture on the wall in the newly remodeled bathroom, I had it put on canvas and framed. 

Now, I get a little feeling of peace every morning as I start my day.

On the knitting front, the shawl that I started has been ripped out. I just didn't like it! I was not enjoying knitting it at all. So I searched for a mosaic pattern on Ravelry, and found "Desert Frost". It's perfect, and I am so enjoying knitting it. There's texture in solid color, and mosaic color work. Just perfect.

I'm using the same yarn. It's amazing how the color seems to be different with every photo I take.

See the slipped stitch pattern in the solid part? Kind of a herringbone look. I highly recommend this pattern. 

I had two close friends over on the patio today to knit. It was such a mood lifter to see two friends in person and knit with them. We were distanced, yet we felt close and had a few laughs. And my one friend gave me some of her home made apple butter! 

Oh, and I made a pumpkin spice cake for the occasion. It was so good. 

I hope that you all had a good day! I know that I did!