Wishing everyone a wonderful Day, may your homes be filled with laughter and dear ones!

(This is our youngest grandbaby, picture courtesy of her talented Aunt who does professional photos. Aunt A. does magical things with her camera! Of course she had a magical subject as well!)

Still working on the infamous sweater, and since it's a gift, I can't show you....T. would peek!
And...still guessing at how long her arms are! But then it's knit from top down, so sleeves can be unraveled back to right length, or added to if needed.
The hiking scarf is finished...it was fun, not as challenging as it looks, except dancing with that cable needle. Now I'm puzzling what the next projects will be. I'd like to work with crochet for a while too. I have crocheted since I can remember, but have odd problems understanding the directions on patterns. Knit directions are simple. Whatever I am going to do involves the next stitch on the needle....not "skip 2, double treble 9 times in 3rd stitch from next sc under the back cable" which tends to stall my brain while I translate that to something in my hands. I made up that direction, but it's quite likely to exist. Crochet patterns are awful. They do lead to sudden bursts of creativity, often accidental ones. I love items that combine both knit and crochet. The crafts should not be exclusive of each other, in my opinion. Both create equisite laces, a crochet stitch is a more 3 dimensional form, whereas knitting may not be as reversable generally and has wonderful texture opportunities.
My mother used to be able to crochet the loveliest, finest thread counterpanes and tableclothes, apparently made of spidersilk and crocheted with a mouse whisker. The antique patterns flowed from her without written instructions. If she ever saw it, she could make it. So between her and my beloved grandmother who crocheted and tatted such incredibly fine handwork, learning to read instructions blew my mind entirely.
Neither of them knitted as much....so I proudly walk my own path among my talented mothers. Maybe I had to carve my own little niche, however humble. But then great-aunt Ada knitted the most fragile laces that seemed to spring from that never-ending well of talent....as did my great-grandmother...
*sigh*...I'm so doomed in comparison. But I'm AM the only painter! (Except for grandmother's handpainted china she did..) And I love memories of all that ability, talent and humor that has followed me thru my life, bestowed by the ladies before me. I think of them often and with gladness while I knit on. I miss them very much.

• For many years we have kept these words in our home. Many of you know them well. They remain as cherished as ever.
  
  DESIDERATA
  Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others; even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
  Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
  Keep interested in your own career however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism
  Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.
  Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
  You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
  Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul
  With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy
  MAX EHRMANN 1927

Look, Mom! I'm knitting!

"I have 20 tiny needles of my own and I'm helping!"

Before and after! Well, not entirely finished, but what a change!

My favorite Martian!

I wonder where this is going....

Pardon the early morning haze.
While taking a short break from the irish hiking scarf (lately if I sit down long, I fall asleep!) I had a sudden urge to make a something. So far,this is the result. I plan a longer...thing...(what is it??) somewhat like a poncho only shorter.
Nope...don't have a pattern...didn't scribble down what I was doing or how many I did. The theory was to just do it, and if it was awful, well...skeins can be stored in many forms. Or just rewound.
So far it drapes over the shoulders with a ribbed neck. I plan it to go down perhaps to the elbow. Just a warmer while at the computer or in place of a sweater. Possibly something to experiment with pretty edgings.
Any ideas for a stitch pattern to finish the length of it would be nice, since my brain seems to have stuttered to a halt. (I so need a clue....!)
Whatever this turns into, it did give me some wonderful ideas for fluffy, ruffly bedjackets and such. Help me out here...
Meantime, we'll be painting our house and deck for two days. Yes..that painting that didn't get done in September, but two months behind plan is normal.

It was lovely day to sit back and knit! My two scarves are fun and I've learned to cable reliably and do a bit more modular knit. This is the modular scarf, growing along nicely, or at least it was until I ran out of yarn for it. I'll find another skein somewhere and finish, that's the new Strata yarn. And the Irish Hiking Scarf, my first real cabling project. They're both fun to do!

Boo!

.. "trick or treat, smell my feet! Give me something good to eat!"