Mid-September

Hello friends on this mid-September day. Thankfully a little rain fell on Saturday. Sunday gave us a glorious autumn day with a clear crisp morning and warm afternoon. As of yesterday, we are back to 90 degree temperatures. I'm yearning for October but making the most of September. The tomato plants are still producing fruit. I've got to grocery shop today because we need to eat something besides tomatoes, olive oil, basil, and parmesan cheese. I love the combination but I'm thinking more greens and healthy protein would be a good idea. 

My making is a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Most days I worked a little on this piece of embroidery. The design comes from the book in the photo, Patchwork Loves Embroidery Too by Gail Pan. I like the whimsy in the designs. I enlarged the one I'm working on by 10% in order to gain a little more room to stitch. The directions are to stitch it in one color but I am using various colors. I haven't decided what I'll do with it when I'm finished. 

I knit a little more of the second summer sock, knitting the heel flap and turning the heel. Right now I'm decreasing the gusset. I hope to finish soon because I have a couple of Christmas gifts to knit. I've also been spinning some Falkland Fiber. According to the Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook, Falkland wool comes from a mix of sheep breeds from the Falkland Islands but is not itself a breed.  

As I spin, I try to learn something new about spinning. I found a nice used copy of Maggie Casey's book, Start Spinning. It's too bad books published by Interweave Press are harder and harder to find or when one finds them new, they sell at a ridiculous price. I may have written this before but I think there are as many opinions and ways to spin as there are spinners. In that way spinning and knitting are similar. I enjoy the eclectic approach. When I was learning to quilt, the "rules" or methods felt a little restrictive or I was younger and less likely to strike out on my own. I haven't kept up with quilting so perhaps that has changed. 

I (mostly) read Life in the Garden by Penelope Lively. I enjoyed the majority of the nonfiction essays but skimmed a few sections. Lively touches on the garden as a metaphor, how the garden influenced artists like Monet and VanGogh, and has played a part in literature. She covers a wide swath of time including the garden of her childhood in Cairo. The most intriguing essay was about gardeners and time. Lively is English and so the English cottage and estate gardens are part of this book. I had to smile when she wrote about the inhospitable climate in Connecticut. When I visit coastal Connecticut, I notice the ample precipitation and lush vegetation. Lively must not have experienced the dry winds and extremes on the Great Plains. It's all in one's perspective. 

As always, on this Wednesday, I link with Kat and the Unravelers. I'll leave you with this photo of a planter outside my LYS, Knit Paper Scissors. The coleus has been beautiful all summer long. That's me reflected in the corner of the window and wishing you a Happy September.