To Market, To Market

 

Ugh...it was hot yesterday. 90 degrees with stifling humidity. Nonetheless, we went out bright and early to the Farmer's Market. In spite of the heat, I was expecting a fall festival vibe but there was only a lovely bunch of apples and....

...a very few early pumpkins. No mums yet.

There was a beautiful display of wildflowers but by the time I realized I wanted a photo of them, all but this one bunch were gone. 

I came home with the usual fruits and veg and a bag of fresh figs that I will turn into jam. Dad had a fig tree in his yard that I planted when I first moved down here and it gave up plenty of figs every year. We always made jam. This little bit will be just enough for me for the week. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to eat it up in a few days especially since I have a freezer full of English muffins. 

I also treated myself to this pattern from Stone Knits. It's 30% off through tonight. If you haven't seen this designer's YouTube shorts I urge you to do so. She's got a lovely presence and a wonderful array of sock patterns for sale. She's in full autumn mode right now so if you need some inspiration, you'll find it there. 

Autumn Interrupted

 

In spite of a stiff breeze coming off the water, summer is making a last gasp effort to be as miserable as usual. Mid 80's with humidity to match and the AC is back on. Ugh. 

Yesterday was the September First Friday beach party. The historical car exhibition was VW's as far as the eye could see. Back in the day I had one in almost every color they made.  They were cheap and easy to work on. Motor out. Motor in. Back on the road in no time. 

It was also the Grand Opening of the newly renovated pier. We've been watching them inch their way down to the boardwalk for a few months now. That was a lot of wood to replace. I can't imagine the cost. 

The little corner shop that used to be the coffee shop has been a brewery in the works for months. We walk past it everyday in anticipation and voila....the doors were open yesterday.

The Mister who recently discovered, in spite of his Irish surname, is actually mostly German and Swiss so he had an Oktoberfest brew. It was good.

There is an interesting array of vendors. Three blocks worth. There are lots of crafty folk in the area it seems. I was disappointed the fiber ladies weren't there. After a few sips of that beer, I might have been tempted.

What I did bring home was kettle corn. We'll be back down here bright and early for today's Farmer's Market.  Next week is the Taste of the Beaches which is another big town to-do. Lots of food. Lots of stuff to look at and buy along with a night time showing of Jaws on the beach. There's never a dull moment. 

Friday Fluff: Vuelta Week 2

 

I'm still peddling along with the riders every morning but I still haven't come to the end of the Cormo. 

There's been a lot of drama in this year's event but it hasn't stopped me from getting some knitting done while I watch. Team squabbles, protesters and the usual pile ups keep it interesting. 

I've got some off winding to do. This time I'm going to use an actual bobbin. The toilet paper rolls I had been using were a nightmare to unwind the last time I did this. 

The cool mornings have seen Garter Squish back into play. I was going to bind it off but thought better of it. I need more purple and I need it to fade into something light to end with. I think. I may just rip out that entire dark bit at the end and fade out the yellow instead now that I'm looking at it. It's possible that I just may have knit myself into a corner with this thing. 

So It Begins

 

My soap friends probably think I've forgotten all about them. Over the summer I couldn't order my supplies because we were off baby sitting and I couldn't take the chance of having my precious oils go rancid in the hot summer sun if they were left on the porch. Then for the past few weeks I've been struggling to find what I need. Supply issues are real. High oil prices make comparison shopping a thing now so it's taken a lot of time to do all the ordering while trying to figure out a recipe that would work with what I can get. Stay tuned. Things are starting to arrive. Soap Week should be coming up soon. I hope. 

Wednesday WIPs

 

The Summer of Socks will officially continue until all of these are done. I'm aiming at the end of the month for sure. 

Since it's been unusually cool here, the colorwork projects have been getting more attention than usual. The Second Cozy Quilt Sock is in the works, the Ski Sweater has more lice (although it never looks like it) and I'm working on weaving all the ends in on that last Bon Ami sleeve. I'm not a very neat end weaver so I tried the Kaffe Fassett method of dealing with changing colors in the middle of the sleeve, didn't like it and switched back. Now I've got a real mess to sort out. A couple of good washings usually sorts out those ends so I'm not panicking. Not yet anyway.

TNT: Cheers and Tears

 

First the cheers. The Garden of Joy is now complete. I loved everything about this pattern if you don't count all those little flowers and dots in the border. 

Now for the tears. While I was ironing out The Garden I thought I might as well neaten up the four Jardin Prive Seasonal Patchwork samplers that I had finished a while back. Bad idea. 

I can't even tell you how I did this but I did it. It was an out of body moment. I couldn't believe my eyes. Then I was furious at myself. 

How furious you might ask? Furious enough to make myself re-stitch the whole thing. The problem was I didn't have the fabric or half the pattern. It seems I lost half of it somewhere along the way. I did have the leftover floss so I ordered the fabric from 123 Stitch but the pattern was out of stock. I did find it on another stitching website for a small fortune along with some hefty shipping charges. Grrr.....

I am well aware of how ridiculous all of this is because this is where my completed stitching goes to die. I roll them back up and stuff them into tubes or put them in a drawer knowing full well that one day my survivors will toss them. In my head I think that they will at least look through them first and I don't want them to see an unfinished Patchwork series. Ridiculous I know but my old lady brain just won't have it any other way.

Then the universe added even more insult to injury with the Patchwork of the Crosses quilt top. I went to sew on the third strip of fabric for the border and realized I didn't have enough of the white on white fabric I had been using. I had to order more and since I don't want a seam I had to order 2 whole yards more to get the length. Shipping charges at Connecting Threads have gone up to $7.99 so that whole order was ridiculously expensive and that was on top of all that stitching stuff I had to buy for something I had already stitched. Not a good day for the Tiny Needles. Not at all. 

September

 

We made it. The dog days of summer are officially over. The AC is off for now and the windows are open but instead of being invigorated by the cooler temps I spent yesterday exhausted. We had a big family to do on Saturday at Little Sister's house and it did me in. I'm by nature a quiet person but get me in a group of familiar faces and I can't shut up. 

I needed a diversion from the same old, same old so I spent some time in the downstairs craft room working on my paper quilt blocks by cutting and pasting all those faux fabric pieces I had watercolored and stamped a while ago. Other than that, it was a day for hot tea, audio books and not getting out of my pj's. I hope today is better.