Beautiful Fall Day

After a gloomy, rainy, cool week we weren't sure what to expect when we drove to Norfolk yesterday to visit son, DIL and granddaughters. We had a little rain when we first got there and went out to the boats our son now is assigned to but by the time we left the sun was popping out and it turned out to be a beautiful day. We came home to rain again last night, but that was okay. Here are a couple of pictures of the L-CAC's our son is assigned to. They carry tanks, trucks, equipment and marines from ship to shore when out at sea.

One of our reasons for going was to take B a flute. She is a new 6th grader and playing flute in band and one of my co-workers (thanks Peggy) has twin girls who played flute and just happened to have a flute to sell. We couldn't forget N - she got a new trike! I got this at the etoys sale last week and planned for it to be a birthday or Christmas present, but decided this time of year was much better for a riding toy. Her feet don't quite reach the pedals yet, but she can scoot it, push it, or her favorite, open the seat and put toys in and out of the storage area underneath. She loved that part.

B demonstrating her new flute for us.

After our trip to the Navy base, we drove to Virginia Beach and ate a great barbecue lunch at Beach Bully's (apparently a local favorite). Now, what should I order today?

Then we went to the VA Beach Farmer's Market and visited the pumpkin patch.

You can see here the clouds are still hanging around.

If you could guess a pumpkin's weight within 1/4 lb. you got it free. One of the ones we bought was 17.5 lbs and son had guessed it at 17.8. How close!

We ended the day with ice cream at a local dairy which has a store at the farmer's market and declicious hand made ice cream. Miss N just plopped herself in the middle of the table and was fed by everybody. A great day!

Friday Night

I love Friday night. I certainly don't hate my life during the week, but sometimes I feel I am wishing my life away from weekend to weekend. Ever feel that way? It wasn't a very exciting week. Went to work, came home, went to work, came home. Throw in meals, dishes, laundry and that seems to be it. Wait...that's always my life!

Monday night knitting was a highlight. We had a big group of 12 and there were some beautiful FO's and WIP's.

Work is somewhat stressful right now. Adding to that my husband's place of work (because of hurricanes and gas prices) is planning to shut down 5-6 weeks sporadically from now till Christmas to use up some inventory. Uggh!

On a brighter note - the weather is beautiful - 70's and blue skies. Fall is really in the air. I make an effort to get out each afternoon if nothing but to walk around the yard!

I have managed to knit some on granddaughter's sweater this week, but a row or two at a time doesn't make much progress - maybe this weekend I can speed it up a bit. I'm also still practicing my continental knitting so I'm not quite up to speed there either.

Tomorrow I'm getting up bright and early to go with a neighbor to a big sale at our local E-Toys shipping warehouse. It is supposed to have great prices so I'm hoping to find some birthday and Christmas presents. It opens at 7:00 and we are going at 6:30 - and I'm not a morning person, especially on weekends so this will be a challenge!

Finished Sock

One finished sock - one to go. The yarn is Jojoland Melody, the pattern - Lacy Mock Cable Socks. I made the top a little shorter than the pattern just because I like a short top. This was my first sock using the magic loop method and now probably won't ever go back!

Quilts

I don't quilt and haven't ever had the desire, but my grandmother and my husband's grandmother were quilters so I have a lot of quilts and they are treasures. Most of the quilts are patchwork, using scraps of fabric, but a few were "planned patterns" like Sunbonnet Sue below.

These were not just for exhibit, but were well used so some of these are worn as you can see.






The boy version of Sunbonnet Sue - whatever it is called.

This is one of the well-worn quilts. I remember this on my bed when I was a little girl.

My mother quilted years ago, but later only made baby quilts that she could hold in her lap and quilt. This is her last quilt and you can see is not finished. It is not a pieced quilt, but a printed quilt top. I would like to try to finish it one of these days! We'll see.

Someone had written my grandmother's name on this quilt and it says, made by Nezzie Travis in the early 30'th (I think they meant 30's)

One of my favorites - Wedding Ring

What Part of Fall are You?

You Are Changing Leaves

Pretty, but soon dead.

What Part of Fall Are You?

I'm not sure I like the way mine turned out! Couldn't they have thought of a better ending? See what you are.

Time For A Change

Although still hot and summer-like, there is a touch of fall in the air, so it was time to change a few things on the front porch.


From this:



To this:

And this:

To this:

It was time anyway - the summer ones were really getting faded.

I can't believe Autumn is almost here - where did summer go? This is my favorite season though, so I'm looking forward to the leaves changing, the festivals, the smells in the air, and cool air.

Portuguese Knitting

While I was researching continental knitting videos last weekend I came across this video for Portuguese knitting. That caught my attention because I have a good friend who lives in Portugal. I mentioned this to her and she was surprised that there was a Portuguese style of knitting. When she looked at the link she said she thought that was how everyone knitted, and didn't know it was unique to their country. Her mother and grandmother were knitters and she had learned with the yarn around her neck and wrapped around her middle finger just like this video. The actual technique is different too as they knit and purl from the front and use their thumbs to move the yarn. Also notice the needles have hooks like crochet hooks.


She did some research and sent me these links that explain and show it much better than the one I had found. They are mostly in English, although one is in Portuguese, but you can still see the technique. This person uses regular needles though, not ones with hooks and my friend said her area (the north part of Portugal) has always used the hooks, but other areas may not, or at least may not exclusively.

Check out these links. Very interesting. I want to try, but right now am still learning continental and don't want to confuse my poor brain too much, but that will be my next project!


"Portuguese Knitting" Lesson 1 (In English)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xswHlgb1i_E&feature=related


"Tricotar à Portuguesa" - 3ª aula (In Portuguese)how it begins=the first line:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO5_tzkQKZk&feature=related


"Portuguese Knittng" Lesson - How to Knit (In English)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBhq4VusU5Y&feature=related


"Portuguese Knitting" Lesson - How to Purl (In English)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK5hYxupNcM&feature=related


"Portuguese Knitting" Lesson - Ribbing 1/1 (In English)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5q-Eqc4vcc&feature=related


Her youtube page with all her videos:

.chuanavit videos page:http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=chuanavit


and her blog link: http://www.chuanatricot.blogspot.com/

Learning New Things

I learned to knit when I was in high school. A LYS owner came to the Youth Center which was across the street from my high school and gave lessons. While taking the classes I knitted up a storm, but after the classes were over I quit knitting although I kept my knitting bag, needles and yarn for years and took it with me on move after move, always thinking I would someday knit again. She taught us the English knitting method, so I have always been a thrower.

A few years later I worked with two women who were big crocheters so I learned to crochet from them and for years I was strictly a crocheter. About 6 years or so ago I decided I wanted to knit again so I bought a "how to knit" book, needles and yarn and started a huge afghan. Probably not my best choice as it had loooong rows and took me forever, plus it had a complicated border with lots of yarn overs, but it was a good learning experience.

Just recently I decided I wanted to learn continental knitting. I'm working on the sweater pictured above, which is from the fall issue of knitsimple, and designed for tweens. It's for my granddaughter and she picked out the yarn because she wanted it to be "fuzzy and cozy". That girl has definite ideas of what she wants! Since it has long rows of stockinette I decided it would be a good project to learn to knit continental and so this weekend that has been my project.

I searched out several youtube videos and tried a few different styles, but then found this video, which I found the most helpful. It's still a little awkward but I think I'm getting it and I tell myself since I am using new brain cells it may delay me losing my mind a few years!