farmer's market...

it's true. there is a farmers market on sundays just a short distance from my house. BUT...who needs a farmers market when i can just go to my folks'? i went over today to pick lots of blackberries and learn how to make jam. i'm not sure how i've avoided learned jamming until now, considering the susy homemaker in me, and the skills of my mom. but moving on, we made yummy blackberry jam, plus i returned home with a few more goodies - spaghetti squash, beans, apples, raspberry jam from an earlier batch she made, plus some frozen raspberries and fresh blackberries. yet more reasons why i love this time of year - fresh sunshine but a bit of crispness to the air, all of nature's harvest ripening and fresh to be eaten.

and lest you think i'm only reaping the fruits of others...here is a little collage of all the things growing in our own garden.

knitting? hope to have some FOs very soon - a few things are coming along well, but nothing interesting to show just yet.

something fishy...

first I would like to quote brooklyntweed and say: "It's right about this time in August when I start losing all my patience with summer." I am so with him on that one. I do love the summer, and the flowers and the veggies and the sunshine and the...well, you get the point. but I think more so I love the fleeting days of autumn, when the air has a fresh crispness to it, and so does the light, instead of the flat glare of summer. I know soon enough if will be wet and windy, but early fall delights with sunny days where I can break out my "back-to-school-clothes" (oh that was a while ago) and fresh scarves, hats and mitts. here in fact is a perfect example of my fall dreams, although the weather seems to have misinterpreted and instead served us a grey and vaguely chilly day.
I've been trying to think up a name for this hat, something fishy but not just "pomatomus hat". obviously, the pattern is based on cookie a.'s timeless pomatomus socks, which I have already enjoyed in the mermaid gloves. somehow, I have never made the socks, but that's for another post. anyway, I thought it would make a great toque, and set out to prove that theory.

through a little trial and error, I think I came up with a winner. I cast on 144 stitches, exactly double of the sock pattern. I then followed the instructions for the twisted rib cuff (10 rows), and followed the leg instructions on for two full repeats (working chart A 12 times instead of six). when starting on the third repeat, I followed the instructions again, but only did the yarnover increases on every second set of 12 stitches, effectively decreasing the hat by 12 stitches every row. this means that at halfway through this set of 22 rows, there are only six "scales" instead of the original 12. I then continued decreasing without doing any yarnovers until I was down to six stitches. then i broke the yarn and wove it through to secure. knit on 2.5mm dpns using fleece artist sea wool in jester. love, love, love this wool - it feels awesome!
so....still without a name. am thinking the colours remind of a parrotfish (i know, they come in many many colours - just like yarn?) yeah, if you're interested, try out the parrotfish topper. it could make your autumn.

new project...

well, kind of. meet the new pets at my parents' house - one llama and one alpaca, both about a year old. my parents already have a few sheep, with lambs each year, and now have decided to step it up a bit. how is this my new project? well, with the sheep my mother and i have always been too busy to be bothered with learning about the prepping of the wool; instead she gives it to a woman who cards it, and spins it, some of which we have received and is neat to knit with. however, my mother decided if they were getting these animals, we were going to have to step it up a bit. my mom and i both have a good idea of the fibre arts, and she already has a spinning wheel. pretty excited to learn the whole spiel when the time comes though. i think it will be great to learn the entire process from alpaca to sweater. for now though, please enjoy the funny looking boys with their pompom tails.