Knitting a Turkey for Thanksgiving

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I have taken today off work and it feels so good to have time to myself. I decided to take a few days off work around my birthday this year to give myself time around one of my favorite times of the year, which is right around my birthday, Thanksgiving, and fall. My birthday is tomorrow, I will be 31 years old. Turning 31 makes me reflect on how fast time is going by. I think of how life is going to change a lot in my thirties with getting married next year,starting a family, and buying a house. There is so much to plan and do right now with the wedding coming up and the year coming to an end. I have also become very consumed with knitting and reading lately and this could take up most of my days easily. Today I met up with my fiancé Liam during his lunch near his work and I have done a workout, knitted, read, and chatted with my mom. I did a lot of knitting today on the new project I have started.

I am knitting another wine bottle topper, this time it is a turkey! I am knitting it as a gift for my future mother-in-law and will be giving it to her on Saturday for Thanksgiving  on top of a bottle of wine. I hope that she likes it as much as she liked the bunny wine bottle topper I made her for Easter this year. I have a couple of days left to finish it. So far I have the body done and am starting the head and the beak of the turkey.

I have knitted the body of the turkey in the seed stitch pattern to give the body of the turkey some texture to resemble the feathers they have on their bodies. As seen in the photo above, the head of the turkey is going to be simple knit stitch in the color red. The beige stitches are the start of the beak of the turkey. I will be knitting some wings also in the seed stitch to give them texture. I drew up a diagram of the turkey plans as this was something I did not find online. I find it fun to make my own patterns and I am using some of the design from the bunny topper to guide me with the body and the head decreases. I will share the pattern with you all when the turkey is complete in the next post.

I am still reading the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. It is so interesting to learn about habits and how they affect our lives and how we go about our days. Another book about habits that I will be reading next and might have taken a peak at already is called Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin. My sister read it and loved it, so I am so excited to read this one next.


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Knitted Pumpkins and Reading On

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I have been busy with work and wedding planning tasks. I can't believe my wedding is only seven months away now. There is still so much left to do, but we have a lot of it planned now and I am getting excited for the big day as it gets closer. I am also happy that it is Fall now and it is getting chillier. I love the cooler air when we can wear sweaters and dress cozier which is perfect for inspiration for knitting and knitting some projects like scarves, hats, mittens to keep us warm. I also feel inspired to knit pumpkins this time of the year for Fall and Halloween. I found a pattern for knitted pumpkins on Ravelry by Katrina McNerney. I knitted two pumpkins, one in orange and one in white and they were so fun to knit.

Pattern: Knit pumpkin by Katrina McNerney

The knitted pumpkin looks like the photo below as you are knitting a tube shape in the round to make the pumpkin. The photo below was taken last night before I filled it with polyester stuffing and closed up the top and bottom of the pumpkin.

This pattern was easy to follow and makes for a great quick knit to make something festive for this time of the year. I used orange and white yarns to knit the two pumpkins. The white pumpkin was larger because the Loops & Threads Select Wool in the white colorway was thicker than the  Loops & Threads Impeccable orange yarn. I love how they turned out and I also knitted up the i-cord stems in brown cotton Bernat yarn to top it off.

I have been reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. I think this book will help me to understand how habits that we form make our lives flow better and so far I learned that there is a part of our brain that actually works to help us to remember how to do things so that we can have more time and brain capacity for other thoughts and actions. I am trying to get into creating more positive habits in my life especially when it comes to getting ready for work so I am more organized and just do what I need to do to have a good work week instead of rushing around to get things done. This will allow me to take the guessing out of my schedule during the week and follow a schedule so I can be more receptive to new opportunities at work with less thought and just the use of habits helping be to be more successful.

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Finished Knitting Patons Spiral Socks and Reading On

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I finished knitting the Patons spiral socks using the spiral socks pattern by Patons found on Ravelry. I love the look of the socks and the Patons Kroy sock yarn in the colorway of coastal stripes. The self- striping yarn looks great and it is so fun to knit with to see what pattern emerges as I knit on.

 They do not have a heel in the pattern, but you can always add a heel if you prefer to have the heel. Without a heel, they look like my socks below straight swirly socks that you can pull on in any direction.

The two socks do not match exactly due to the self-striping yarn which makes them look so fun and unique.

The pattern creates zig-zag stripes up close that you can see them when you pull the socks tight. It also makes it easier to see if you are on track with the pattern and doing it correctly by checking to see that they have equal length of stitches until the next switch every 5 rows.

I will be knitting a turkey wine bottle topper soon as a gift for my fiance's mom. She received the bunny wine bottle topper last Easter from me, loved it, and wanted me to make another one for Thanksgiving. So I will be working on either finding a pattern or developing my own pattern for that soon and will be sharing the progress. I bought some small balls of Bernat cotton yarn on my last trip to Michaels and will be using them to knit the Turkey.

I have been reading the Miracle Equation by Hal Elrod, and so far it seems so much like reading The Secret. He talks about having unwavering faith and applying extraordinary effort in everything you do and these two combined will bring you success. My loan for this e-book is up at the library now so I will hopefully get it back soon. In the meantime I will be reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg which I borrowed from my sister. I am excited to read this book because lately I have been working on cultivating some positive daily habits to help me to be my best self and to accomplish my goals. I finished reading The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory. This book was so sweet and fun and I loved the characters. I really want to read more from Jasmine Guillory I love her writing style and her attention to the little things and creating characters that you are routing for. I am also currently listening to the audio book of Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis. It is so empowering and motivating to listen to. Rachel is very passionate about her work and really helps you want to be  your best and go for your dreams.

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

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