Changing Season

I look out my window at a November day. The sky is gray with rain in the forecast. A few yellowy gold birch and ornamental pear leaves hang on to the branches. The yard across the street is covered in red maple leaves. The fall colors have been glorious. The season changes and with it the menu. I have four tomatoes and a sprig of basil. It's hard to let go of the fresh tomato/basil combination but a pan of roasted root vegetables also sounds good.

Today is Wednesday, the day to link with Kat and the other Unravelers and write about knitting and/or reading. I finished the toe on some scrappy socks. I used a clasped-weft join so I could clip off all the ends. I wove in only the beginning and ending pieces of yarn. They were fun to knit and make me smile when I look at them. Striping notes are on my Ravelery project page. Honestly there was a method to the madness.

I decided to finish a small nine-patch Christmas quilt that has been languishing for years. I can't remember when I began the piecing but I did embroider four spacer blocks last December and then sewed a few more nine patch squares to complete the blocks.

By January, a red and green project lost its appeal. Last summer I put the top together, marked it, and basted the layers. A few weeks ago, I was ready for a quilt on my lap. Most evenings, I quilt a few blocks. My hand-quilted stitches are not as short and even as in the past. However after a few evenings, I found a rhythm in scooping up stitches and pulling thread through the fabric. There is a bit of magic in evening lamp light reflected from the tiny quilting needle. Who knows what I'll do with it when it is finished. I'd just like to finish it. 

I finished Hamnet. The writing is beautiful and the portrayal of grief is poignant. I enjoyed the novel but wasn't as taken with it as I thought I might be. Maybe I read too much hype or maybe it's just the way the book struck me at this time in my life. Currently, I am reading Monument: Poems New and Selected by Natasha Trethewey, a two term U.S. Poet Laureate. Her poems tell such stories. I enjoy the way she her view of artwork inspires her poems. Her insight about women portrayed in art and photographs is thought provoking.  

The sky is turning autumn gun-metal gray. If I am going to walk, I should get going before the rain arrives. My sister has invited us for Thanksgiving and so I will be looking through recipes for a side-dish. I also need plan a few meals for the week and make a grocery list - the eternal grocery list. 

What's on your menu this week?

Ravelry Link

Scrappy Impossible Girl Socks

The Best of Both Seasons