Hello October

A soaking rain ushers in October. I am glad to see both. The last day of September was a windy hot 90 degrees. Our yard and garden beds were quite dry. Besides, crisp autumn weather pairs well with a cup of ginger tea and a book or knitting. Today I happily pulled on a pair of wool socks after coming home from an errand. What about you? How is the weather in your neck of the woods?

Last week I went for one last walk through The Sunken Gardens. I wrote about the Garden last year in a post. This year's theme was "Moon River." The plantings included a lot of white, lavender, and purple flowers and foliage. The day was warm and the interesting flowers were full of bees and butterflies. These plants sported very vivid purple foliage.

This plant's foliage was such a dark color it looked almost black. The berries were deep purple.

Beautiful lavender flowers (a water lily?) floated in the ponds.

I have no idea of the names of these plants. The plantings are not labeled and the available brochure listed names of plants but no locations in the garden.

I am enjoying knitting the sweater in the photo. Last week I unraveled some rows and changed the rate of increases to lengthen the raglan line. Since I was going to rip back anyway, I also changed the cable twist. The pattern provides two options and it would have been a good idea to swatch the two. In this version the cable twists pull toward instead of away from the center. Given the weight of this yarn, this option doesn't leave a big hole in the center of the cable. The sweater is heavy and pushing the stitches along makes my right arm ache a bit. I am pacing my knitting time on it. I have been working on Kate's sock. I may cast on a shawl for some lighter weight knitting on a different needle size. The good news is the sweater fits and the tonal variations in the yarn are spreading themselves among the knitting.

I listened to Louise Penny's latest book A Better Man and throughly enjoyed the trip to Three Pines. Wouldn't we all love to visit Merna's used bookstore, drink cafe au lait at the Bistro, stroll around the square, and even meet Ruth? Penny's characters are old literary friends and she keeps this latest novel contemporary with the Spring flooding, social media, and developments in the lives of the characters. I am still reading Arctic Dreams. I am also reading a birthday gift from my sister. She gave me Late Migrations, a thoughtful collection of essays by Margaret Renkl. You may have read Renkl's writing in the New York Times. The book blends her observations of nature around her home in Tennessee with stories of family and growing up in Alabama. It is beautifully illustrated by Renkl's brother. This nonfiction work is a treasure.

I'm linking with Kat and the Unravelers as we knit and read our way into October. Happy Autumn.