Monday, September 17, 2018

Good Start to the Week

I took a good chunk of this weekend just past "off" and spent it getting in some hand work time.  Felt good.


Papa Pea's third pair of socks is coming right along.  I'm just turning the heel on the second sock.  The yarn I'm using for this pair is so nice.  It's Cascade Yarns Heritage 150 Multis, 75% Superwash Merino Wool/25% Nylon and is a slightly heavier yarn although nothing like a boot sock would be.  So soft and a dream to work with.  A pair of socks for Chicken Mama is next on the agenda and she's picked out a skein of the same yarn but in a different colorway.


For fall house decorations, I've never had a definite fall-themed table runner for our coffee table so I've just finished this one.  (Well, almost finished.  I still have to complete sewing the binding.)  Simple, made up of three nine inch Flying Geese blocks with borders.

Seems I've mentioned before that our fall colors are being mighty pokey in arriving this year.  It's the middle of September, fer cryin' out loud, and I still have my summer decorations up because so much green, green, green is still in evidence outside.  The decorations I put up for the autumn season in and outside the house are my very favorite of the whole year (even compared to the Christmas ones) so I'm more than eager to get them displayed.  I think that just may happen this week whether the colors outside look like fall or not.  This means the still blooming impatiens in the window boxes will have to be yoinked out and the (artificial) fall leaves,  real pumpkins and gourds added.

Doing more cleaning up in the garden is still first and foremost in my mind, but I'm kinda at a standstill right now.  Can't do anything with the Brussels sprouts yet, the cabbages are better left in the ground until our root cellar is cooler, same with potatoes and carrots.  The onions are just about ready to be pulled and spread out to cure for a couple/few weeks.  The three raised beds they're in will probably be the next ones vacated.


The zinnia bed is so colorful I can't bear to pull them quite yet.

Chicken Mama wants me to leave the Scarlet Runner beans on the tepee trellis longer so the bean pods will have time to dry so she can harvest and save the seeds.

Somehow, I ended up with a few Swiss chard plants in two different beds and the chard stays wonderfully nutritious and delicious right up to (and sometimes through) a couple of frosts. 

Great news, we got windows washed inside and out today!  I really didn't think it was going to happen, but a wonderful, hard-working young man that Papa Pea had as a student in grade school years ago gave us the day to help out.  He's pleasant, polite, articulate, funny, and a delight to have around.  He did the outsides and I did the insides.  We even tried to coordinate our arm movements a couple of times, but weren't too good at it.  Now the windows are so clean we'll be able to actually see out of them enough to enjoy the first snowfall! 

And, lo and behold, the humidity has broken today, the temperature is dropping and the forecast for the rest of the week is more of the same.  Oh, it feels so good!

Have a wonderful week, y'all!

13 comments:

Lisa B said...

Goodness clean windows? I am jealous. Mine will have to wait till this heat breaks and winter approaches and I put storm windows down. I wash them all together. No extra climbs up the ladder for me. You seem to accomplish much more knitting then I do. Maybe I will get faster if I "practice" more.

Michelle said...

ALL our windows, inside AND out, have not been cleaned since we built this house in 2002! =:-O

Mama Pea said...

Lisa - I think I am a fast knitter. IF I'm not trying to watch something at the same time. My best time is when I'm listening to an audio book while knitting. That way I feel I'm not "wasting time" (oh, get over that, Mama Pea!) and yet can keep my eyes glued on what I'm doing with the needles!

We have combination storms and screens on most of our windows so they got taken apart and washed, too. Oh, how good that felt! (Now that it's done.)

Michelle - Don't feel bad, we have lots of projects with those kinds of dates on them! We didn't get to the ones on our entry porch . . . but the sun never hits them so you can't see how dirty they are. (Okay, okay, I'll do them when I can.) And you'll notice, we had help. Washing windows aren't that important to my dear husband so he was more than happy to be working on another project. The way it worked out he knew he was making his wife happy without having to do that particular project himself!

The Wykeham Observer said...

58F here today. Such a relief. Have you had a frost warning yet? Will be awhile yet here.

Goatldi said...

Love love love the table runner! I miss the outcome of quilting. However with that said I couldn't have a table runner out because I have 5 cats who are in / out cats. I think we all know what the table runner would become. I will just admire yours!

Socks are loverly and look warm. I need to get back to the socks also. But right now I have a ton 'o carding to do on my drumcarder. excuses excuses.

The flowers are wonderful as are the clean windows you lucky girl. It is certainly a two person job and inside is my preference also. Enjoy the autumn weather heading your way Mama Pea.

Vera said...

It must be nice to see out of the windows, mine need urgently doing as well.

Our weather is cooling down as well, but still too hot during the middle of the day to do any outside work, but I am putting some veg seeds into the raised beds thinking I might be able to get a crop in before the real winter arrives.

I am not sure I could pull any plants up which are still in blossom or fruiting, and this is not a good thing as then I delay prepping the beds for their next task. But I do plant to be more organised next year, and am 'seeing' in my head what I need to do, some of this planning being inspired by your good self!

Mama Pea said...

Phil - Nothing even close to a frost warning yet which is unusual this time of year. But it seems the whole spring/summer/early fall this year has been unusual! Felt so wonderful yesterday when the humidity lifted! Had friends stop by from down around the Twin Cities and he said it's been hotter there than he can remember even in mid-summer. Ugh.

Goatldi - FIVE cats in and out? Oh, you are such a kind animal lover! Knitting, carding, cross-stitching, sewing, quilting . . . that's the problem when you want to do it all. I've always thought I wanted to learn how to make baskets but have, as of yet, kept myself from starting. Just think of all the new supplies I'd have to buy and store. Two people working inside and out on windows IS really the way to go. So much easier to see if you've left smudges that way. I am so hoping this cool, dry weather that blew in yesterday stays now. 'Bout time!

Vera - I do envy you putting in more veg seeds now and knowing you can probably get a harvest from them yet. Then again, I'm ready to take the winter break from the garden. (Can't have it both ways, I know!) Believe me, I didn't want to pull all those blooming impatiens out of my window boxes yesterday . . . but I am so eager to see them decked out in their autumnal finery! Next year will be so much better for you, I just know it! And planning certainly does give you a head start on it. You go, girl!

Rain said...

Hmmm...window cleaning...well, I have to say I am the biggest excuse maker when it comes to windows!!! My great excuse is...well, we're moving next year, so why bother lol? How awful is that!!! It's hard to care about big clean up jobs when you don't own the place I guess. :) (another excuse hee hee!)

I love your fall runner, it's very pretty and the socks! I've started knitting too a little bit, a new sweater for Jack for the fall. :)

wisps of words said...

Hooray for taking some time off, for your funnnnn stufffff!!!! :-)

I say, get out the Autumn things! Do it when it feels right, is my motto. Although I understand how it feels early, with so much green and heat and humidity. -pout-

With luck, our weather will get more seasonal, tomorrow. As yours has done. Not a minute too soon!!!! I am soooo tired of humidity!

Although, when winter's dry air is here, I will moan a bit, about the loss of my hair's curl-wave-tendency, which humidity brings. ,-O

Happy cooler days hugs,

🍁 🎃 🍁

Mama Pea said...

Rain - Since you do plan on moving next spring, you have the perfect excuse for avoiding ANYTHING you don't feel like doing in your present rental! (Although I cannot imagine you letting a single thing go to wrack and ruin.)

Thanks for the nice words on my latest handiwork. I should have guessed you'd be knitting something special for your little Jack!

wisps of words - The weatherman obviously flipped the switch over night as our day today was down right coooool! What a change. I wonder if this is really our autumn weather arriving. Sure hope so. No fall decorating done yet. Sigh. Maybe tomorrow? Funny the different textures of hair . . . humidity makes yours curl and wave, it makes mine fall absolutely flat!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Humidity hit us now too. I've avoided the garden like the plague. Nothing growing fast and it's a HUGE mess out there. Nothing to do but pull it all out and I'm not motivated due to lack of harvest.

Lynne said...

The socks look great. I'm still have mine in the works, but I'm getting there. My goodness you have had a great time this past week-end! Good for you , you deserve it after all the work in the garden this summer!! The quilt work is lovely. like to see it when it's completed. The flowers are pretty. I 've got a new great grandchild expected in March, so that's exciting. Take care!!

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