Almost Autumn

Today a strong breeze blows in cooler air. Thank goodness. Rain is also in the forecast. Fingers crossed that it materializes. Here, summer has more stories to tell. Monday and Tuesday the high temperatures were 96 and 101 degrees. Yesterday I made my favorite summer lunch of warm pasta with fresh chopped tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil topped with freshly grated Parmesan. I harvested parsley to freeze and made a little bouquet of zinnias and lavender. Last evening at 7:00 p.m., the temperature hovered at 97 degrees. Feeling cooped up, I walked around a short block. Monarchs flitted among several patches of flowers, including a tall stand of sunflowers. I have noticed quite a few and wonder if we are on a migration path.  

On this last Wednesday of summer, I link with Kat and the Unravelers. My knitting news this week is short and sweet. Saturday evening I finished what I titled "Summer Socks" on my Ravelry project page. I cast them on in July as we headed home from days in Minnesota so its appropriate that I finish them before autumn. 

I'd like to cast on some autumn themed socks but instead have begun my holiday gift knitting. I'm knitting a hat for my daughter-in-law. For inspiration, I put it in a holiday themed project bag. Once upon a pandemic, I sewed some project bags and this set was one that I kept. My DIL likes stocking hats in certain colors and prefers not to roll up the brim. Just for fun, I tried some new-to-me patterns but my gauge was off and they were all too big. Not that I knit a gauge swatch for a hat. How hard can it be for an experienced knitter to knit a hat from DK yarn? After three cast-ons, I went back to the Bankhead Hat, one I have knit several times. As the old saw goes, "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is a definition of insanity."

I also finished the fall embroidery piece. I plan to make a table topper. We have a square coffee table in the living room and I usually have a small quilt on it. You may have noticed I take many photographs using the table as the background. I don't have an autumn-themed table topper so this will become one. Yesterday I got out some quilting stash fabric for inspiration. I think it needs a small amount of an accent color. I don't have much yellow fabric so it might be a deep blue or green. The finished piece will be something fairly simple to frame the embroidery. Every photo I take of this piece becomes blurry in the blogpost. I'm not sure why as the photo itself is sharp in Preview. 

While working on tomatoes and spinning, I listened to The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell. This spooky Gothic tale is set in the 1890's in London. The beginning is a little gruesome and I wished for a little more resolution regarding the magic but I enjoyed the story. The interplay and dialogue between the curmudgeonly Inspector Cutter and sidekick Gideon Bliss is entertaining. The women characters are also well written. 

Today is Norah's fourth birthday. I love that she wore comfortable shorts, her favorite Minnie Mouse shirt, and carried a Minnie Mouse backpack on her first day of preschool. Cheers to Norah Jane, a fun year at preschool, and cooler weather. Hope all is well with you. 

Ravelry Links

Summer Socks

Bankhead Hat