Just a bit earlier than expected

These were taken today, a month before we normally get our first dusting. I have been attempting to convince my children that trick or treating in this weather, especially if it continues, will be far less fun, with a decidedly shorter round trip. I would prefer to stay in, eat cheese fondue with homemade bread and a side dish of Halloween goodies.
Most of my plants have croaked, with only the spinach and kale enjoying the sudden drop in temperature, but since they thrive, I continue to garden.
Wool has become a necessity. Maybe I should actually finish a project that isn't lace?

Very Happy Yarn

Finally broke down and bought some Malabrigo the other day. My downfall was actually getting to touch some of this amazing yarn in person. I could resist the gorgeous colors on the screen. I could forget all the lovely descriptions given by other people. And then, I got to pet a skein. It was yarn my darling husband wanted to sleep on, not a standard response to yarn from him. On the same day The Loopy Ewe sent me an e-mail announcing their latest shipment of Malabrigo. I had hubby pick a color he liked, which took awhile as the list of colors he didn't like was much shorter. After much deliberation, he picked Azul Bolita 80, a rather electric blue with purple tones to it. I personally decided on Stonechat 173(deep reds/olive greens/browns) for a little vintage look cardigan that I have wanted to make for ages, but kept putting off the yarn purchase.
The yarn itself really is just beautiful and soft as can be. It's been lovely to work with, because of course I cast on the first of Hubby's two hats almost immediately. My reasoning being two-fold: first, it means there will be no actual addition to the yarn stash as it is immediately being worked up into something, and secondly, with the way the temperatures have dropped recently he could use a couple of warm, wool hats.

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Finally getting some Fall things done

The picture is of the wreath I finally managed to finish and hang this morning. Very rustic and simple, a little expected and boring really, until you realize that I doused the whole thing in glow in the dark spray paint. I can't wait for this evening! In a few days it will also be draped with spider webs and fake spiders. I'm still trying to figure out how long I might be able to get away with leaving the webs and spiders on the wreath.

I also have to point out that Sense Sensibility and Sea Monsters was authored by Ben H. Winters. I got that wrong last post in my hurried enthusiasm to talk about my new books.

There has been a mass amount of feverish knitting, along with some yarn acquisition brought on by the rather sudden drop in local temperature. Pretty lace shawls have been temporarily put aside, (yes, all of them), in favor of wool hats, sweaters that cover as much as possible, and thick knit socks. Thusly attired I can return to knitting beautiful wisps of elegance that will be perfect once the forecast is a little less frosty.

I do love my books!

I found two books I had been hoping to get my hands on and one that, while an impulse purchase, is a very handy tome to have around. I was squealing in the store as I picked up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as well as Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters both by Seth Grahame-Smith. The impulse purchase was Alton Brown's Good Eats The Early Years which contains lovely recipes and fantastic tips from the first six seasons of the show Good Eats, much beloved viewing around my house.
Those were just the literary finds on our outing today. We also got our hands on a couple of boxes of maple leaf cookies, an almost perfect pumpkin and a deep red mini hybrid rose with Halloween inspired decorations in it. I also managed to acquire the bits to make my fall wreath whose inspiration came from The Haunted Mansion.
Why yes, this is my favorite time of year! How did you possibly guess?

Fall is in the air

So why is my garden of summer things finally growing? The picture is of a squash. I have no idea exactly what kind it is, as it's from a mixed packet of heirloom seeds. I also have cucumbers, a melon (again no clue as to kind for the same reason as the squash) and tomato plants that are suddenly and unexpectedly downright prolific.
It also is a time of major housekeeping for me. The summer always is rather free form, with warm weather making you think of the beach and picnics, not about what is in your pantry or making mass amounts of stew. Let's also not forget the holidays right around the corner. Menus must be planned, windows washed, painting finished, plus all the standard fall house things of cleaning up the yards and stocking of the pantry and freezer before it gets too cold. All the while trying to finish my woolen winter wear before the temperature drops much more. Did I also mention the much anticipated company that will be arriving in another month or so? I'm really hoping they don't mind the rather informal accommodations!

I really love hiking

I really do! The mountains north of us are just amazing! Full of aspen, blue spruce, wild flowers and the obligatory poison oak. There are chipmunks, squirrels, woodpeckers, ravens, mule deer and black bears (we only saw the bear's tracks) to name just some of the local fauna we came across in our hike. The hike that my Darling Daughter had at the top of her birthday list for things to do. The lovely hike in very cool temperatures at eleven thousand feet. In boots that took the skin off both heels thanks to blisters, (I obviously don't wear shoes enough), while recovering from a seasonal cold, whose cough still lingers. The almost four mile hike, (which isn't really that much) that I may not have enjoyed as much as I normally would so I am thinking we need to do it again. With me in boot socks and band aids from the beginning for starters.

It's that time of year again...

When I am dubbed "cool" for letting my daughter pick a color, putting on a pair of gloves and making it so. She's even more tickled as it matches her favorite nail polish right now. My little fairy gothlette, who would be mortified to find I called her that.

Wine Made with Me in Mind

Yes, it was bought expressly for the label, but how could I pass it up? It's what happens when I wander Cost Plus with no particular purpose in mind. The wine itself was easily drinkable and not pricey, giving it some practical points to go along with the great label and name. You can find Mad Housewife Cellars here
I hope to get much knitting done over the next few days, as I sprained my ankle when I fell off the step stool I was on trying to put a hook on Darling Daughter's ceiling. It does give me an excuse to not run up and down the stairs all day.

The Evil Intergalactic Consortium of Angry Housewives Wants You!

Our goal is to accomplish any of the following (really just getting people to come bearing chocolate would make me happy):

Force husbands to clean through mind control
Make everyone behave in a civilized fashion at the dinner table
To garner respect for aprons in the kitchen
To insure that anyone stepping across the threshold of the kitchen bears chocolate (good chocolate) and understands that things may still get thrown at them
To make known that "What's for dinner?" is not an appropriate greeting
That "Don't put it down, put it away" is etched onto the brains of children (and people in general)
A place for everything and everything in it's place...as long as I don't have to put it away.

We offer exceptionally good homemade cookies as incentive for crossing over to the dark side.

I have been rather busy, with Halloween and Thanksgiving none to far off, but not so busy as to not come up with some very interesting distractions with friends! Join today! All genders welcome, angry girlfriends/boyfriends accepted as interns/sidekicks. ;-)

So very easily distracted

It's sad really. It's not like there aren't enough projects in progress around here, I had to start a dozen more. The handful of projects I had in progress are still slowly being accomplished. Six of the seven towels I've been embroidering are done, but I decided to embroider two half aprons as well due to the "oooh shiny!" factor at Sublime Stitches . The knitting would be under control if the need to design and re-design things hadn't suddenly and rather unexpectedly bit. Technicolor mesh thigh high stockings mysteriously appeared on the needles. A table runner pattern was really lovely, but not quite what I was looking for so I had to design a whole new one. The vintage stocking pattern was nice, but why not make them toe up with a different lace pattern up the front? Mild contemplation of yarn stash led to the mental designing of and immediate need to write down a pattern for slippers.
Top it off with an internal debate about whether to keep my hair decidedly red, go back to natural blonde, or split the difference and go for a strawberry blonde?
Did I mention we started painting as well?

Playing Dress-Up

It's still such a fun thing to do! Especially when it's not something you do very often, you can do it in something you made yourself, and you have a darling husband who likes to play dress up as much as you do. That is my goth Juney dress. I showed up at a friend's house just like that, only with a Tupperware container holding a homemade devil's food cake with real buttercream frosting, dusted with cocoa powder, decorated with fresh mint sprigs held in front of me. Yes. Really. Just like those '50's television shows. Of course it was done on purpose! Even better was the fact that my lovely friend Mara,(whose house we were actually going to for dinner) made me the adorably perfect flowered headband I have on in the picture. I was so tickled I may have squealed just a little. It's one of those things I think I may have to do more often, even if only to go to the grocery store.