Knitted Pumpkin for Halloween

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I am so excited to share with you my knitted pink pumpkin for Halloween this year. I decided to change it up this year and I love this color. I realize it is more close to a beige color or a dusty rose color. I used the Knitted Halloween Pumpkin pattern by Vicki Coombe on her blog Tippy Tupps. I originally found the pattern on Ravelry. It was worked on straight needles size US 9 5.5 mm. The yarn I used was "Canyon Sunset" and the yarn is Lion Brand Wool Ease. The pattern is quick and easy and great for beginner knitters and good if you want to knit up a bunch of pumpkins or a pumpkin just in time for Halloween.

I have made some progress on the Amelia Slouch Beanie by Elisa McLaughlin. I found the pattern on Ravelry. I love the colors for Fall and hope to wear it soon and into the Winter. It feels like it will be so warm and comfy to wear in the cold months approaching.

 

I am also continuing to work on knitting the Men's Rib Ridge scarf pattern by Purl Avenue. It will be a Christmas gift for Liam. It is a great knit and I am enjoying knitting it for him. 

I am continuing to read In Five Years by Rebecca Serle. It is very good so far and I am enjoying reading more of it. I am also reading The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I really would like to read more of this book and will be reading in more in the next week to finish it. 

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday. You can visit her blog to see what others are knitting and reading this week!

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today! This week has been so busy at work and it is always nice to unwind and write these posts mid-week to catch up with you. I will be going to reading what you are up to now on your blogs. 

Have a great day!

Weekend Purging and Packing, Knitting, and Reading

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I have been off work since last Tuesday. It has been so nice to have this time off to get ready to move and just relax. I don't realize that I need the time off until I am off and relaxing and enjoying some time away from work. This past weekend I went to Niagara on the lake with my family,  and we really enjoyed spending the day at Peller Estates Winery and then going shopping and spending time by the lake. Then the rest of the week I went through things to give away and we brought some clothes, CDs, and DVDs to donate to Salvation army. It always feels so good to donate things I don't need anymore and to make room for things I want instead. We will be going back with some more clothes and books soon for one or two more trips to declutter before we move. Today I was going through some documents and some sentimental items and deciding what I really wanted to keep. It helps to do this to minimize things we don't really want to keep and just at the time we kept it thought we wanted it. I like to thank each item as I throw it out so I feel like I am saying goodbye and thank you for the memories.

Enjoying Merlot on the patio

I had to frog my Amelia slouch beanie today. I had knitted quite a bit then realized it was very snug fitting and I wanted a looser fit for the beanie. I instead cast on 48 stitches when it calls for 36 that had been a one size fits all. It is sometimes frustrating realizing too late that a hat or garment doesn't fit as it was intended to. But I have realized over the years, it is sometimes best to take it apart and start over because I will not wear it anyways if its not the right fit.

I have been reading In Five Years by Rebecca Serle. It is good so far, I am a point in the book where I am so curious what happens next because it is dragging on a bit. I hope that this changes as I read on. I have started reading The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. So far it seems like it will be a great read. I have heard a lot about this book so I am hoping that I enjoy it. I ordered a couple of books yesterday on Indigo. I am looking forward to getting them soon. It is always fun to get books in the mail!

Photo source

I hope you are all having a good weekend too. It has been a weird year during this Covid-19 pandemic and we keep hanging in there and trying to keep motivated. I think our community does such a good job at inspiring each other to attain our goals and keep learning and growing. I really appreciate your support and following my blog. I have also enjoyed visiting your blogs during this time, it has really made this year so much easier and enjoyable. I hope that you have a good week ahead and talk to you again on Wednesday for more updates!

Have a great day!

Postponing the Wedding, Knitting and Reading Updates

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I have felt more busy than usual lately. For weeks approaching the wedding we were getting ready and getting some last details settled. Then there were some restrictions set in Toronto that no more than 10 guests indoors. We were worried about those restrictions happening in York Region where we are getting married so we made the difficult decision to postpone. Then the restrictions were put in place last week. We have postponed our wedding again to next year. We have the month of March in mind now and hoping the Covid-19 situation is better then and less restrictions so we can have a fun wedding, that is closer to what we have imagined.

I started knitting a hat using the pattern Amelia Slouch Beanie by Elsa McLaughlin on Ravelry. It is a pretty popular pattern, so I decided to give it a try. I bought this gorgeous yarn that I saw at Michaels and instantly thought of knitting a bulky slouchy hat for the Fall and add a pompom on the end.

I am still working on knitting a scarf for my Fiancé, Liam's as a Christmas gift. I am following the  Ridge Rib Men's scarf pattern by Purl Avenue. It is a good 4-row repeat pattern. I like knitting this easy to remember pattern, so I can watch TV shows and YouTube vlogs while knitting it.

I started reading In Five Years by Rebecca Serle. It is so good so far, and I can't wait to read more to find out what happens. I originally found this one on goodreads and thought the plot sounded so interesting. Woman has five year plan and has a life all planned out and things going on track, then wakes up to a whole other life with another man. 

I finished to the audiobook of  Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis. She gives so many good tips, I will probably end up listening to this one again just to jot down the different suggestions she shares. She has a lot of tips for achieving goals and also inspires you to make time for working towards those goals.

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today! I am happy to be posting again. I have today until Friday off from work, and I look forward to getting in some more knitting and reading time. We will also be moving to a condo townhouse soon in early November, so I will be busy packing up my things and planning for the move. 

Have a good day!

Saturday Stitch: Bud Stitch

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. It has been a busy week for me and so happy to be here today for a Saturday stitch post after not posting stitch posts for a couple of weeks. Today I knitted the bud stitch. It is a fun stitch and a 12 row repeat. A nice detail to any garment and easy pattern to follow along and knit to.

Pattern:

Cast on Multiples of 6 + 5

Row 1 (RS): p5, *k1, yo, p5; rep from * to end

Row 2: k5, *p2, k5; rep from * to end

Row 3: p5, * k2, p5; rep from * to end

Repeat the last two rows once more.

Row 6: k5, *p2tog, k5; rep from * to end

Row 7: p2, *k1, yo, p5; rep from * to last 3 sts, k1, yo, p2

Row 8: k2, * p2, k5; rep from * to last 4 sts, p2, k2

Row 9: p2, *k2, p5; rep from * to last 4 sts, k2, p2

Repeat the last two rows once more.

Row 12: k2, *p2tog, k5; rep from * to last 4 sts, p2tog, k2

12 rows make up pattern

Pattern is from Knitting Bee. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today! I hope that you like this stitch and give it a try yourself! I love doing these posts because it always challenges me to learn a new stitch and along with it, I learn new knitting techniques and hope to improve my skills as a knitter.

Have a great day and stay safe!

Virtual Bridal Shower, Knitting and Reading On

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I have been busy with wedding planning lately. It is now only 16 days away. Today we sent in the final details for the wedding to our venue. It is feeling more real and close now. This has been a process for us because we postponed in May to have October wedding due to the coronavirus and here we are in October finally. We were on the fence about postponing again, but we didn't want to risk moving it to next year in case it didn't get better. Also we just really want to get married. We got engaged in November 2018 and decided to have the wedding not the next year, but the year after to have time to plan. We have definitely had time to plan now. I had my bridal shower this past weekend. My mom and sister planned it, and we held it virtually over Zoom. I was at my sister's townhouse as we hosted the zoom event with family and friends. It was so nice to still celebrate and have the bridal shower at a distance. 

My sister and mom did such a wonderful job decorating and making me feel so special. My mom made the flowers hanging from the greenery out of paper. She is so talented and also made flowers for my sister's bridal shower and we took many photos in front of it.

This cake was delicious! from Fortinos

Then I stayed over night at my parent's, and on Sunday I spent the whole day with them and the cats. It was fun to see them and spend time at their condo. They just recently moved in September from their house, and are moving in and adjusting to the change. I really like their condo, it is very spacious and a nice layout.

I haven't been knitting much with how busy it has been lately. I took time out tonight to write this post and it was so nice sitting with a glass of wine and writing this. I will try to take some time to knit after I work on our seating chart later. There is always something to work on with the wedding being 16 days away. It still hasn't sunk in that it is only 16 days away. I have knitted a bit of the ridge rib men's scarf for Liam for Christmas. 

I have been reading Beach Read by Emily Henry. It is so good so far and I can tell it will get even more interesting as I read on. I am also still listening to Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis. It is so motivating and I am really enjoying it.

Photo source 

Joining along with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On and As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday. 

I hope that you are having a good week so far and are staying safe! The cases are still creeping up here and I have been thinking that now is the best time to keep away from shopping or unnecessary trips anywhere before the wedding. I hope that we can get this under control and get a vaccine soon. It has been a crazy year!

Have a great day!

Knitting Scarf, Yarn Haul, and Reading On

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I have a been a bit M.I.A. lately and I am so happy to be back today for a post. It was a busy end of the month of September. We were deciding if we wanted to proceed with the Wedding at the end of October. Happy October 1st by the way! I still can't believe we are here. We have been reaching out to people to attend the wedding, and vendors, and our job isn't done yet. We still have some decisions to make even 20 days before the wedding. This year has thrown a lot of us off guard and created different and new challenges with planning a wedding. I have a virtual Bridal shower planned for this weekend, so it will be nice to see people and open gifts and have a bit of normalcy. 

Last post I forgot to share my Michaels yarn haul. I did show my shopping basket but decided to share more of the yarn today. I bought Wool Ease yarn from Lion Brand in that pretty pink color in the colorway "canyon sunset", then the light blue yarn from Lion Brand in Heartland yarn and in the colorway of "carlsbad caverns". Last, is this fun fall multicolor yarn in Wool-Ease Thick & Quick by Lion Brand in the colorway of "harvest". I love all the names for these colorways they are so interesting. My plans for the yarn, are to knit some pink pumpkins with the pink yarn, a Christmas gift with the blue yarn for my mom. Then knit a big floppy hat for my self out of the harvest multicolor yarn. I might buy a pom-pom as well to put on the end and it will hang down. I don't have a pattern yet for any of these so they are still just ideas.

I have made a little bit of progress on the Ridge Rib Men's Scarf from Purl Avenue. It is a simple 4-row repeat that I am glad I have memorized now, so I can easily watch videos on YouTube or the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and don't have to count rows. I sometimes notice I mess up and have to frog back a bit. I will be working on this scarf more in the coming week in order to finish it, so I can start working on knitting more gifts soon. The end of the year this year is turning out to be a busy one for us.

I am continuing to read Beach Read by Emily Henry. It is good so far and I am still getting to know the protagonist. I am not hooked yet, but I think as I read on I will be. I am currently listening to Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis. It has been my go-to audiobook that I listen to on Saturday mornings as I go for my groceries pickup. One thing she was talking about on my last drive was the 10-10-1 rule for making goals of who you want to be in 10 years. She explained that you would write a description oh who you want to be in 10 years, then write a list of 10 things you can do to be the version of yourself you want to be in 10 years. Then you would re-write them out daily as a way to remember them and a reminder to work on them. Also focus on the 1 goal you should do especially that will get you closer to who you want to be and focus on that one. You can read more about it in this article by Success. I have started this by writing out who I would like to be, what I have, and about work goals. But I haven't been writing them everyday which I know is a large part of how it would be successful. I plan to write them out this morning to start the process. I love all of these goal setting tips she offers and learning more about reaching my goals. It is a motivating listen to her each week and it is a good reminder to stay focused on my goals.

Photo source

Photo source

Joining along with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On and As Kat Knits for Unwraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope that you enjoyed today's post. I hope that wherever you are, you are staying safe during this pandemic. Cases of Covid have unfortunately been going up here in Toronto, Canada, and it is a bit stressful. I heard the worst of the second wave will be this month. I am really hoping that it isn't and that we can avoid a large spike in cases this month or ever. I hope that we can get back on track to where were were in the Summer months and it wasn't as bad at around under 100 cases per day or lower in Ontario. Stay safe!

Have a great day!