Winter Gardening and An Unexpected Sweater

With winter temperatures hitting before many of the trees had lost most of their leaves, cold weather measures had to be implemented in a hurry.
The front porch now houses what is left of the surviving summer garden:

Mints, aloe, calendula, geraniums, a few avocado seedlings, and some of the heavier vegetable greens.
I pulled the squirrel planted peanuts:

We actually got a solid handful of full grown peanuts! Once fully dried, a few will be set aside for planting next year.
The winter window sill garden got started and is already starting to make a showing:

Most of what I planted are from the container section of Urban Farmer.  The rest of the small army of pots lining my craft room windows are random, slightly less common (or even rare) herbs like Toothache Plant.  Terroir Seeds has a good selection of pretty much everything really, but I really like their stock of currently less well known herbs.

In the midst of all this dirt flinging, husband announced that a burlesque troupe we were both interested in seeing was going to be in town at the beginning of November, should he get tickets?
I said yes, then immediately wondered out loud what I should wear.  Husband laughed, pointed out that it was why he had been looking at shows in that time frame and said he figured a month would be long enough for me to figure it out, but I could wear "those boots".
The outfit started with "those boots,"  a pair of boots I don't wear near as often as I would like (high heels don't figure largely into my daily wardrobe) in an oxblood red.  I had been figuring on wearing my Ripple Crop Top, but the yarn I was making it in didn't match the boots.
So, I bought the Ripple Crop Top Worsted pattern, found yarn in the right gauge and color to match the boots, ordered the sweater quantity and got to work.

That gold thing?  That is The Dragon's Tale I started....in 2014? Early 2015?  Guess what I decided I had to finish because it would look amazing with the outfit?

The Ripple Crop Top Worsted?  The colorway is KnitPicks Merlot Heather, I lengthened the body (just a smidge) as well as the sleeves (it's Idaho in November):

Yes, it looks under-sized.  It has been tried on.  Husband was properly impressed.  At some point, well styled photos will be taken as proof.  Once the skirt I plan on wearing is suitably hemmed, (it's currently still a pair of pants), the outfit will be complete!

Back to the other three dozen projects in progress!

So, September Happened

September involved an amazing amount of house cleaning (resulting in an unintentional digital hiatus).  Every closet, every cupboard, even the garage, got cleaned out and put in order.  Yes, even the craft room got sorted.

The drawers are currently holding sewing notions, random household stationary stuff, beading supplies, and an assortment of scented candles.  There is more yarn stash, still in less than photogenic bins, on the opposite side of the room and in the room's closet.  All the "knit soonest" projects are in the cubes, affectionately dubbed, "tribble corrals".

All this cleaning was part of the run-up for family coming to visit a few days in late September.  They brought germs.  We spent the last week of September, plus a little bit, fighting off a cold that didn't seem so awful at first.  This was an incorrect assumption, as I spent two and a half days with no voice at all.  The coughing still lingers.

There has, of course, been knitting.  Not many projects have been finished.
My Love Note:  Not the best photo, the light has been down right awful lately.

As well as my first (of soooo many) Ripple Bralettes:

The yarn is Cat Sandwich Fibers on the Skinnie base, How to Mix Black colorway. ::swoons::

The recent dramatic temperature drop, paired with all the fabulous new patterns(have you seen this one yet?!?!), has made it difficult to not buy all the yarn to build a wool fort to hide in till Spring.

Leeloo from the Women of Sci-Fi collection may have hopped on the needles, but with colors like these, how could I not?  Nerd Girl Bounce and Stomp in Girl on Fire and Twirl for Me.

Belladonna from Andi Satterlund's Spooky Collection is also on the short list for cast on, in multiple colors...as soon as I free up some needles, likely in some Northampton I have in stash.  Ichabod is probably not far behind.  Maybe in something tweed?

I also feel I need a Diaphanous Raglan, though I haven't quite found the yarn for it yet.  Maybe something black and sparkly to counter-point the soft, fluffy sleeves?

Yes, there are seven other sweaters on the needles.  Why do you ask?

Since the stash got organized, the yarn for two more projects came readily to hand;  Scoops Ahoy socks and The Hen Wife shawl.

Random KnitPicks sock yarn pillaged from stash.  Two are sparkle base, one is un-dyed.

I found so much Northampton in their Dark Olive Heather colorway in the stash, there should be enough to make a sweater after the completion of a giant shawl.

Sewing got put on hold, though I have plans to get back to it...and actually start finishing things, this weekend.  After the grocery shopping and food prep that needs doing.

There was an awful lot of time also spent on gathering and drying herbs and hot peppers, as well as just the tending of the plants so they would make more things to gather.
The pots for the planned winter window sill garden arrived today, so the tending of the food plants will continue.

I learned a new term: echoism.

I found a new author.  I've only read their blog posts so far, but The Witches of Portland series in now on my to read list.

Mostly, I am just trying to get back into a productive groove.  Get all the piles of festive lights scattered about the house actually put up, along with more glow in the dark bats. (Note to self: make more glow in the dark bats!)  I might even pull out all the (old and new) bits and pieces for my Dr. Isley costume to (hopefully) fuel a little more excitement for Halloween on my part; apparently all that cleaning wore me out!