5 on Friday-Fall is here!

1. Fall seems to really be here, time for some comfort foods!  I made a tomato and goat cheese cobbler last night for dinner and it was pretty good.  I didn't really care for the biscuits, and next time I make this I'll make traditional biscuits instead.  The biscuit dough in this recipe used flour and cornmeal.  Other than that it was yummy, and the thyme made it feel/taste very fall-esque.

2. Ready for football this weekend, especially since the Falcons are doing pretty good compared to other teams.  Feeling the team spirit and wearing my Falcons shirt (long sleeves!) at work today.

3.  Weekend plans for an outdoor bike ride and a church dinner on the grounds-always fun.

4. Thinking about the upcoming holidays, and then NOT wanting to think about the upcoming holidays.

5. Looking forward to knitting on my sleeveless sommer top, and casting on aperture.

WIP Wednesday-Startitis

I am still making progress on my 2 socks, sommer sleevless top, and parabola.  I had really hoped to be further along that what I am, but that's totally okay.  I am getting excited about my next project-Aperture, I've done the one swatch in stockinette, and need to do another swatch using the modified fisherman rib.  The yarn is pretty dark so I need the right light for this project.  I'm hoping to start this project this week.  My next big project is frogging a few sweaters and repurposing the yarn for other fall/winter knitting.  Fall is definitely in the air so this cardigan is going to be a great addition.

WIP-Wednesday-Still moving along.

I'm still making progress on my Parabola and Sommer Sleevless Top (SST). Saturday's road trip allowed me to make good progress on the inner layer of the Parabola, and all the knitting is completed, and it needs to be blocked. The photo shows my second swatch-I went up a needle size and after reading the instructions again [which I'm glad I did] I need to get 18 sts over 4 inches instead of 16.  So far this swatch is real close.  I'm going to work some more rows then block it to be sure.  However, I'm thinking, I'll probably stick with the size 7 needles used in this swatch as I like the fabric, and I don't want the outer piece to be scraggly looking.  I think the fact that it's made out of silk cloud and will be very billowy I could get away with this needle size provided I don't hold the yarn too tight.  I'm really pleased with the way the inner piece-Shibui staccato=true love.

My SST is coming along-I've done 4 of the 7 decreases and you can start to see the chevron pattern.  It's a pretty intuitive pattern, and is good for social knitting provided you can count to 8, which I thought I could do, but sometimes I get only to 7!   I do have to give my hands a break with this project as the yarn doesn't have a lot of give, but I am still loving it.

I have a lot of things to catch up to on over the next few days, so I don't know how much knitting I'll get done.  I will be working on the Falcons socks tomorrow night at the game, and I wouldn't be surprised if I get a sock completed-we'll see.  Right now I'm thinking about fall/winter and baby knits.  In my mind I want to be in a certain place with my knitting and quilting projects before the holidays arrive, so I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself.  I'd love to work on hats and other small projects during November and December.  It's predicted that we'll have another winter similar to last year, and if that's the case I'd love to have some new things ready to go on the needles when I'm "stuck" inside.  What's got you "moving" along?

WIP Wednesday-Socks

Here are the other 2 things I'm currently working on:

My Falcon's Football socks.  I take socks to the games to keep me busy during those arduous TV commercials. I tend towards just a plain vanilla sock so that there's not tons of thought required.  This year I wanted something in the team colors.  I had hoped to get some yarn from Fab Funky Fibers, but she was not taking any custom orders.  She referred me to Loopy Ewe and that had just what I was looking for.  These socks are being knit out of the Biscotte & Cie Felix Self-stripping yarn in the colorway Eragon.  This yarn has been lovely to work with, and I enjoy watching the stripes come around.  I had cast on the cuff during a pre-season game we watched on TV, and then worked the leg, heel flap, and began to turn the heel during Sunday's rather thrilling game against the NO Saints.  The goal is to have them finished by the end of the season, but if I keep up this pace I may have to cast on another pair.

My other pair of socks are again-just vanilla. This is my 3rd attempt at socks using this yarn.  Note to self avoid dark colored yarn for socks.  This is Miss Babs Windsor Monochrome in the colorway lilacs.  I don't even think she uses this base anymore, and honestly this yarn has just been okay to knit with, perhaps I'm just tired of it.  I purchased this at the Southeaster Animal and Fiber Festival (SAFF) in 2010, and really wanted to get it out of my stash-I have completed one sock, including the toe grafting! And am now on the heel flap of sock #2.  I'm looking forward to adding 2 pairs to my sock drawer, and hopefully a few others before the spring.  My feet get cold, so I get  a lot of use out of my wool socks.

I continue to make great progress on my Sommer Sleevless Top and Parabola.  I plan to swatch for the outer layer of Parabola this weekend.  Once these are off the needles I plan to start Apeture, but still need to swatch for that project.  What's on your needles or in your queue?

WIP Wednesday

 Being inspired by Mary [as always] I'm going to post some knitting progress.  Aside from 2 pairs of socks on the needles, my current WIPs are

Parabola, part of the Shibui-Geometry series, and I'm loving this so far.  The pattern is pretty straight forward and I'm already at the neck and armhole shaping.  This tank has two layers the bottom layer has a razor back which provides some interesting shaping, and the top layer has a standard tank construction.  The design of this top is such that you can use the top layer as a cowl, but I plan to make a separate cowl following the suggestion of a knitter of Ravelry.  I'm knitting this out of Shibui Staccato-colorway Tar for the razorback piece, and for the top layer I'm using Shibui Silk Cloud-colorway fog.  I'm planning to pair it with some skinny black jeans as my holiday outfit. 

 My final summer piece is the Sommer Sleeveless Top by Mari Chiba and featured by Juniper Moon Farm.  As suggested, I'm knitting this out of JMF's new yarn- Zooey-Colorway 03-White Pepper which I am loving!  I fully plan to knit something else out of this yarn; I really love the neutral colors it comes in too.  However, I don't understand why the model featured in the pattern looks so irritated.  Really that's my own complaint.

I will be going to a quilt show next Saturday with my quilt club.  I'll be taking one of these to work on while in the car, so hopefully there will be a FO from this post very soon.

A review of August

is it just me or did August just zoom by?  Honestly, I'm doing much better with a photo a day which please me tremendously.  Definitely looking forward to capturing some fall color soon.

dogs-definitely dominated this month-4 with Sophie, 2 which Harley, and 1 of potential newbies that didn't pan out :-(

knitting-am glad to see more of that-reminds me to update my Ravelry project page more often.

food-made frequent appearances including an empty plate cause sometimes I'm slow on the uptake.

I think I looked around a lot more this month.  Many of the things I enjoy in general are represented in some way-love that.  Maybe I should do a full month of either looking up or down, or some combination.