October Post

I really am a fan of October. I love that it seems a wonderful mix of Indian summer, and crispy fall air.

It's spooky and fun.

It makes you want to ... make stuff.

It's the beginning of season of celebration, when it still feels inspiring and festive and not quite so obligatory, overwhelming and commercial.

I hope you're enjoying your October.

Whirlwind Recap

It's been busy here at Chez Ellen. The Wrath of Asia and The Colonel came for a visit. I made my sister send me a picture of them before they left their hotel. We were too busy having fun for me to capture it.

We did all kinds of things together. There was lots of squealing grandsons and 5 card poker games.

Some people forgot to do their homework ...

We had a baking day where we made hand pies. Apple hand pies (I used store bought crust, there was not enough time) and Meat pies (Sausage with spinach, onion and cheese, and Ground beef with onions, cabbage and smoked mozzarella.) The Kid had an evening soccer match, and I love feeding the parents on the sideline. This dough was made from scratch, but I really cut down the sugar in the dough from 1/4 cup to 2 Tablespoons.

I swear there was a prettier batch than this, but those were eaten!

We were always running about or cooking and laughing.

I did get a littl time to myself while the parents picked up nephew ...

An odd perspective, but I was a little embarrassed doing a "selfie" at the salon.

Shopping for Fall

I am almost ready for a new round of knitting.  I have a few finishing details I'm doing on some old projects that are having a slow birth, due to over-extending my extracurricular activity hours. Unfortunately knitting has become a low priority. My fun things are on the peripheral of knitting, but not actually knitting, i.e. visiting an LYS during my lunch errands for birthday presents and dry cleaning drops, or en route for weekend groceries.

However the inspiration of fall is felt.

Andi announced her next KAL

Click to go to Ravelry Group!

Fickle as a toddler on grandparent sugar, I gave up the pullover dream. I now want to knit a cardigan. I want to knit something that won't take me forever to knit. So I chose Common Ground, since it looks cozy. I remember liking the pattern when I saw it on the Nonmipareilcaso blog. I tried to be economical with my yarn choice, since I didn't have anything in the stash that would be enough. I also went for a dark color. I don't know how wise that was, but I feel like I am more likely to wear it if it's dark.


I did start a Cocoon in some leftover yarn for Knitspiring Odyssey's BALWM. This is the first time I've ever done a hidden increase. I'm not sure how it will turn out with this self-striping yarn, but that should add to the element of surprise with a new pattern.

Between the bakery and the bus stop is another one of my favorite craft stores.

I went to pick up the Downtown Abbey inspired knits magazine, but didn't feel like I would knit more than 1 pattern. The style is too specific for me, as lovely as I thought the patterns are. So, I opted for the Jane Austen.

And yarn ...and a hat pattern.

More reasons for me to freak out about the Norwegians

Knitting on t.v.

This was sent to me by a good friend under the header of, "Since Fox Soccer Channel is No More".

Ha!

Knit & Purl Mama directed me to Ylvis.

Anyhow, it's the beginning of October. It's chalking up to be a busy but excellent month. I'll post soon on projects and things to come.

What's raising your eyebrows these days?

Shake it off, Shakey!

My Dad didn't have any boys. My Dad is a competitive spirit, he's Midwest, old school, a little misunderstood at times (as we all are), and a good man. My Dad was a Little League Dad. He used to hit ground balls at us over and over again, till we weren't scared, and getting the glove down was a reflex. He'd nail a line drive at us, just to keep us on our toes, and like all Little League Dads, when we were bruised, beaten,benched, or dirty from falling down or getting knocked down ... again, he would say, "Shake it off!"

And we did.

We found our spine, our focus and not only did it, we wanted to do it, and do it well. He said, "The philosophies of baseball can be applied to many aspects of life." I truly believe this. Unlike a lot of my friends, I'm not necessarily thinking of the rules of the game, or the stats and averages, but the work and practice to get to the game.

So when I find myself feeling a little drawn to the darkside, either of my knitting or own human nature or just wearing the unjustified grumpy pants of life, I must say to myself, "Shake it off!"

It doesn't mean what I feel isn't valid, it just really isn't a feeling I should be defining my game by.

Thanks Dad.

*Sorry I didn't make The Kid play baseball. I blame bad parenting and his franco-american side. Soccer is the global sport ;)

Back to Knitting

Thank you everyone for your kind, kind words and wishes for my health. I laid off the Zumba yesterday and stayed home for dinner with a bunch of tween boys having a nerf battle (!!!)

I am taking your advice and even as I feel much better,  I am not pushing myself too hard, so I don't relapse. I saw the kid sneezing, again this morning ...

We are at the edge of September and I have a few finished object photos for you:

Remember this lace shawl? I finished the knitting a while ago, but I finally blocked it (hot spam I didn't think that would happen!) You guys weren't kidding when you said it would grow when I soaked it.

The Entrechat! (only one button, so I knew this one would get done, no hot spam or damn for anyone). Super cute and fun construction.

I have progress on my sock!! I was this far when I ripped it out, almost to the toe, I feel good about this. I do. It looks so much better than the first time around.

I'm hoping to shape the toe and finish off this sock tonight! Then we can see if my proportions worked out.

Happy Friday my friends.

Sick Days

I succumbed to the cold I nurtured my Petri Dish son to health from.

I came home from work on Monday at lunch. That morning, I thought, "I'm okay, I just need to get going." But in fact, I began to feel worse, my congestion instead of being relieved was worse. My ears hurt, the pressure was making my left eye water and I was dangerously close to honking my nose like an angry mom-goose. I went home, and tried to leave my co-workers with a few less germs.

Once I got over the denial, I gave into the calls of my couch. I stayed there, trying to nap, but my headache was just too bad, my nose and throat too angry, so I watched t.v.

My husband got Kon Tiki from Netflix. I really enjoyed it and have been pushing it on all my friends and coworkers (now it's your turn internet!) In fact I enjoyed it so much, I made The Kid watch it after homework time yesterday. He thought it was pretty good too. :) I now plan on reading the book. My husband wants to watch the actual documentary that was made during this epic adventure, it won the 1951 Academy Award.

I stayed home yesterday too, still not a complete wreck, but I lost my voice (much to the chagrin of my family) and really, I wanted to get better, not worse and not be the martyr that is chockful of cooties at the office.

So I thought, hey I'm going to be home resting, I should do ... stuff at the very least a load of laundry and some knitting.

But I really didn't have any energy for non supine couch things  until the afternoon. And then I thought, perhaps I should feed the family. I think because I hadn't really slept more than an hour or two at a time the 3 nights prior, I was just exhausted.

The knit will come.  But right now, I need some tea.