This post may be somewhat random. So many thoughts going through my head. I think the fall does that to me. Even though I hate the end of summer, and dread the cold, dark period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I do love fall. I love the cool that comes in the evening, the breeze with a hint of change, and the leaves rustling on the ground. Not that we have many of them out west (leaves, that is).
I bogged down somewhat in the garden. I think I am waiting for it to rain, and it doesn't, so I just forget about the garden. Every year, it feels like one of three things happens to everything in the garden: 1) it completely underperforms--this would describe my onions to a T this year; 2) I get the impression that if I had only helped it a little bit more then I would have had an awesome crop--I feel my squash fits into this grouping; or 3) I am overpowered by the shear awesomeness of its production--my tomatoes and blackberries fit this category. In the five years we've owned this house, my blackberry vines have never done as well. I'm not sure if it was the cool, wet spring, or the fact that they received windfall water from watering the yard, or if they were just excited to be near the sandbox, but I have picked for weeks. I wasn't even planning on making jam this year, but I am going to make some blackberry jam now!! And don't get me started on the tomatoes. I can't keep up with them--salsa and canning and fresh oh my!
But on the other hand,
cyclocross is ramping up! And we've been able to enjoy so many of
those lovely fall evenings (despite the dust and smoke from want of
rain)! I took these pictures on Wednesday night...the last one is my favorite!
Unlike most years, my knitting did not taper off this summer. I'm on my fourth sweater for myself, plus I've finished two sweaters for friends' babies, and have started one for my son.
So first, the sweaters for me...
I made two short-sleeved sweaters this year. Haven't done any short-sleeved sweaters before, but they knit up super quick and I think I'm in love.
I knit this sweater (Mud Season) in Cascade 220. It's perfect for those fall and spring days when it's still actually pretty chilly around here! My only complaint is that I wish I had shaped a little more around the waist.
Ok, this sweater (Rusted Root) has to be about my absolute favorite ever. I did shape at the waist, I love the yarn (Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool) and the leaf pattern is awesome! Perhaps this would have been better knitted in green but I had just done a green sweater and wanted some purple!!
This sweater (Dimple V-Neck) took me over a year to finish because I didn't like the original neckline (with no border).
The neckline just hung open a little too much without some support, so I added the border. I wish I had knitted in cotton, as it's not really a summer sweater, (my original intention), knitted in wool as it is. I also think the sleeves are too wide, but I'm just going to take them in with an additional seam. Wide sleeves are a chronic problem for me!
For the babies, I knit the Tiddlywinks Baby Set.
One baby, a girl, got the t-shirt, while a little boy got the hoodie. Which was no longer a hoodie after I got through with it, mainly because I was tired of knitting a sweater on size 2 needles. Whose idea was that anyway?
But I do love, love, love the pattern, and the sweaters both turned out great! I added a zipper instead of hooks and eyes for the cardi because who wants to fuss with hooks and eyes on a wee babe?
And now it's fall, so the knitting can really ramp up!! Yeah!!
As much as I love September, around here it does seem to be kind of a dirty time of year. We typically don't get much (any) rain in July and August, and until it rains in September it just seems to get dustier and dustier. Harvest dust and forest fire smoke contribute to the overall griminess. It's also about this time of year that I just kind of get tired of watering...and thus forget. So everything just seems dry, dry, dry.
But of course there is always the harvest! I've been getting a ton of tomatoes, and supplemented with some from the Farmer's Market to can. The blackberries this year are AMAZING, and I made a pie from them for a party on Saturday. The pie wasn't terribly photogenic, but when smothered with ice cream it disappeared fast!
Despite the dryness, and the dust, it's still a beautiful time of year here. Fall on the Palouse really is lovely, all things considered!
I had a really crappy week. Not crappy in sort of a life-altering bad way, but it was pretty sub-par nevertheless. Work was one crisis-management issue to the next, my preschooler wasn't sleeping, and one of my best friends moved to Australia. That's right, Australia. The country on the other side of the world. I spent most of the week feeling pretty sorry for myself. So in the words of my friend Rhonda, here's a dang tissue. Except given that I like to reuse, and I love antique linen, here's a dang hankie. Or several.
Fall was in the air this weekend! It makes me both a little happy, and a little sad!
