toast/toasty

I have mentioned before how much I love Toast.  And this latest catalog was fantastic.  Of course, there were a couple of photos that really caught my eye.
Ahhh...I love this photo.  And what cool knit is she wearing on her arms?
And then there was this photo.  And look at her gloves.  I loved those, too.  But why buy them, when we can all whip them up ourselves?!
So, I grabbed the nearest yarn. (Ahem, yarn to be used for boys vests.) And some needles.  Cast on, and knit.
And remember I said that I had a little photo shoot while in Carmel?
My two sisters.  Modeling my knits.  No, not the sweaters.  The gloves!  (Although, Michelle, on the right is wearing my mother's slouchy cardigan.  Like mine, but without the hood.  Lisa, on the left is wearing this sweater.)
So here they are.  Toasty on the left.  And toast on the right.
These are my personal favorites.  If you aren't a fingerless glove person, these are perfect.  Worn with a sweater with 3/4 sleeves, or poking out of a sleeve of a jacket.  They provide the extra warmth needed.  They can be pushed up if you need to use your whole hand.  Or pulled down to cover cold fingers.  I love them.
Toast
Toast here.
Toasty
Toasty here

Al-righty then.  Time for you to pick a pair and get started.  
Have a fabulous day.

drops

Can you feel it? Oh, I can, and I am so happy. Happy to have the crisp air. The extra blankets on beds. The pumpkins at the markets. The treasures from nature.
I found these little gumdrops placed on a table by one of my children.  Definitely not Charlie. Maybe Andrew.  Probably Libby.  Those made me happy too.
And recipes that call for apples.  Or pumpkin.  Cinnamon.  Spice.  I want to bake it all.
I opted for pumpkin cookies for our cookie of the week.  Made yesterday.  With five left today. Just five.  The ones with nuts.  The ones I like.  I promised everyone I would make more today. They were that good.  
Pumpkin Drop Cookies:
1 cup pumpkin :: 1 cup butter :: 1 cup sugar :: 1/2 tsp salt :: 1 tsp vanilla :: 1 egg :: 2 cups flour :: 1 tsp baking soda :: 1 tsp baking powder :: 1 tsp cinnamon 
Blend together pumpkin, butter, sugar.  Add dry ingredients.  Mix well.  Drop by rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.
I made 2 cookie sheets without nuts.  With the remaining dough, I added walnuts.  Pecans would be delicious, also.  

progress

Geez. You all are the best. Thank you so much for Charlie's birthday wishes. We appreciate each and every one of them. So much. Thirteen really does seem big. I am still trying to digest the fact that I have a thirteen year old.
I have made some progress on Libby's sweater.  Keep in mind this is being modeled on my adult dress form that oddly enough has the same shoulder width as my ten year old.  I sure hope you all didn't think that I was going to add all of the cables like the mini Boden sweater.  Nope. Way too much thought would have had to go into that.  But I think that I accomplished the swing design that I was going for.  I think.
I have fiddled with the sleeves so much.  Hopefully I am on track now.
Off to moisturize my hands.
Have yourself a wonderful day.

thirteen

Thirteen balloons,
thirteen candles,
with thirteen stripes (completely coincidental),
placed on a chocolate cake,
for a very special boy, who turned 13 yesterday. 
Wow.  Thirteen.

magical

Hi there. I'm back.
                                flowers courtesy of noreen
Back from a weekend I never wanted to see end.  From a fantastic night in San Francisco, spent with very special friends that I haven't seen in a very long time.  [hi pauline! xo, hi noreen! xo] Back from Carmel, Ca, where a surprise anniversary party for my parents took place.  Where the surprised look on their faces will be forever etched into my mind.  Where tears were shed, and laughs were abundant.  Where I snuck a little photo shoot in for my knitting blog.  (More on that later.)  Where the time spent with family was so special I almost burst when I think about it.  Seriously.
I will be back soon....after I finish wallowing in the post party blues.  I just hate post party blues. 

sheet pants

So yesterday it was all about the linens.  Organizing and folding them.  I was so happy to see a sheet that we don't use.  With a cute top.  Well you know, that sort of put me back on the sidetrack trail
Next thing you know, I was gathering the necessary materials to make another pair of lounge pants.   Because everyone needs a new pair for the fall. 
I couldn't wait to put them on.  And did so as we were getting the kids to bed.  And breezing by my husband in the hallway, he mumbled, "nice sheet pants".   I laughed so hard it hurt.
I couldn't believe he knew these were sheets.  However, considering these were his sheets from when he was single, I guess it would have been hard to forget.

I won't be back in this space until sometime next week.
Be good, friends.

those mitts


This is my "go to" mitt pattern.  This pattern is totally unisex so feel free to make them for your man and let him know you are going to borrow them!  I have made them for my sisters and made them for friends. I sometimes put a stripe of a contrasting color in the ribbing.  But a super easy pattern that requires little brain power.  I like that.  Sometimes that is exactly the project I need.

Pattern can be found here.

getting sidetracked

I'm having trouble staying focused lately. Maybe it is because I don't have a plan to my day. And my lists are so long I just seem to hop from one thing to another. Like yesterday, for instance. I had a huge list. With a lot of things that needed to be done. So, there I was moving right along. I had a package I needed to mail, but needed the address. So I hopped onto the computer to get it. Next thing I knew, I was reading blogs. Hopped onto Parikha's blog. To wish her a Happy Birthday. (It was Theresa's Birthday, too!) Saw the peanut butter cups she made.
Next thing I knew I was in the kitchen.  Measuring the ingredients.  You know.  Because, making cookies for cookie of the week was on the list, too.  This could be considered a cookie, right?
Then I was getting the twine.  To wrap Libby's for school.  I knew she would like this.  The boys, not so much.  Put theirs in a plastic bag.  
Darn recipe only makes twelve.  Two for each of the children for after school.  One for each of the children to pack in the lunch boxes.  That leaves three.  Um, yeah.  They are delicious.  Note to self......double recipe next time.
Also on the list.  Knit another pair of these gloves.  Writing down exactly what I do as I go along.  And on the list for Monday......post the pattern.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.

the combination

Yep. It is that time of year again. When I start thinking about the sweaters to make for my kids for the Christmas card photo. Last year was perhaps the last year.  My mother gives me that look like....are you sure you want to put Charlie (who is soon to be thirteen....yikes) in a sweater handmade by his mommy...look.  And maybe last year should have been the last year. But I can't seem to let it go. I have been doing it for eleven years....it is just sort of part of us now.  The problem is, patterns for that age group are just so hard to find.   
I found the yarn I want to use.  And it is so lovely!  All tweedy, and cool, yes?  I plan on using the light grey for Andrew.  The charcoal grey for Charlie.  And I am thinking vests.  Tweedy, cool vests.  Yes?
I couldn't find a pattern for Libby either.  So I pulled a couple combinations together.
I sure hope this will come together the way I have envisioned.
Oh....and happy September.  I may be one of the few to say this, but I am so excited it is here.  Bring on the sweater weather.