Fall is our busy time

When I flipped the calendar from September to October I took a big sigh of relief. We had made it through our busy month with full weekends and evening events. There was nothing on our calendar for October, save Halloween. It was a clean slate. I imagined all the knitting I could get done, and all the progress I could make on my dissertation.

I mentioned this to DH after a few glasses of wine, not realizing that his head was FULL of things we s/could be doing as a family to enjoy the fall. Pumpkin picking, apple picking, library story time (there is a special one for Dads, complete with donuts and coffee), hayrides, a train ride, the Fall Art Tour, sauce making, pie baking, raking, gardening/yard work, stacking firewood, fires in the fireplace, costume making, and the list goes on I tell you! I had a few of those same things knocking around in my head too, but all of them? Yes, he insisted.

So, now that it is mid-October I've realized - and processed - the fact that fall is our busy time; a time of togetherness. I've been managing some work on the dissertation, but the knitting is neglected at the moment.

I did start and finish Calorimetry. It's a fantastically quick knit and a very cute fall wardrobe item; great for apple picking. And it's perfect for folks with long hair: no worries about static building up, or a hat smashing all the body out of your long locks. I picked out a cute pearl button, but have realized that it's too small. I'm now on the lookout for a bigger button to keep it snug around my head.

Socktoberfest '09 was all the motivation I needed to use another ball of delicious Noro yarn to knit up some socks. These striped beauties won't be finished for quite some time, but they are fun to knit. I'm also learning how to make travelling jogless stripes - very cool. Usually when you make stripes, while working in the round, it's very obvious where you changed colors. One stitch is color A and the next is color B. It looks sort of like a stair-step at the point you change colors. But this new-to-me technique eliminates that and with a few twists of yarn and the help of a stitch marker the steps disappear. You can read more about the technique here.

The '09 Mystery Sock KAL is coming along nicely too. Admittedly, I'm only knitting one sock, but I'm managing to stay caught up with the pattern. It's gorgeous so far. I wish I had selected a softer sock yarn, but instead these will be hearty winter socks. Think very thick, bright red wool. No pics yet, and there won't be until after the sock is finished. I don't want to spoil it for anyone else that's knitting along too.

And least my daughter thinks that I've forgotten about her purple sweater I haven't. It's still on the needles and I'm making some progress with it. I've promised her it will be done no later than Thanksgiving. Today we are headed out for a fall train ride. It's an hour in the car, one way. Maybe I'll get some knitting done...I can always hope, right?