Experiencing Autumn

There are certain things we come to look forward to every Autumn and the minions, hubby, and I have been enjoying every single one as we experience them.  Aside from the trees' changing colors, we get to watch the woolly caterpillars scoot across the road, all of the spiders and box elder bugs try to get into the house (we haven't hit lady bug season yet so we have that to look forward to), the hubby gets to spend his spare time trying to terrorize the annoying squirrels as they come right up to our deck door in search of food, and we get to play the how-many-leaves-will-make-it-into-the-garage/house-in-a-day game.  But, with the temps dropping into the 30's Fahrenheit it also means that WOOL SEASON IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been busy getting the woolens washed and ready to go, handknit socks are into full rotation, and I even finished a pair!  I have mentioned it before that I always seem to have a Stockinette sock on the needles; since I don't have to think about what I'm doing, it is perfect to have them as a travel project.

 

I called these my "Der Socks" on Ravelry because when I cast them on earlier this year (in January mind) I was having one of those days where I really didn't want to have to think about anything.  I was headed for Knitting and all of my WiP's at the time were involved and I needed something mentally-soothing so I stood there staring at my stash and remembered that this sock yarn had been caked and sitting in the stash for years so I grabbed it and my needles and threw them in a bag and headed out the door.  Since the socks were for me, they sat untouched for months at a time while I worked on other projects, but that was fine as the warmer weather had arrived.  When school began, these socks turned into my walking-to-get-the-minions project and a few rows here and a few rows there manifested into a finished second sock just in time for cooler temperatures!

Nothing exciting, just a plain Stockinette sock with a little bit of shaping and my normal heel.

They are lovely and warm and have been worn several times since they were finished. 

I took those pictures last weekend when the Dreams in Fiber household headed to the in-laws to shovel gravel and move bricks around.  I did manage to find time to meander around with my camera though.  Here are some shots of the weekend.

Little miss caught her first grasshopper!  Grasshopper season is coming to a close and I love how she caught her first in a girly fashion - she didn't want to have to touch it so she used a leaf as a barrier ;)

Did you notice the front teeth?  She is asking Santa for her teeth this year for Christmas...  

We have started our lap project at the school again this Fall - for every 10 laps (translates to just over a mile) the students get a toe token.  Little man has ran the most laps out of anyone in the school - more than 11 miles now - and has several more tokens now, but this was his haul after 4 days of running.

Little man was occupied with the gravel pile and projectiles, little miss was working on a puzzle, so I headed around to see what I could find.

I was taking pictures of these fall colors when a new friend landed.

I watched him give himself a spit bath and then moved on.

I had made my way up to the garden area and was bending down to take a picture of the green peppers when I felt eyes on me.  Turns out several eyes were on me...

I thought he was rather cute.  Hairy, but cute.

Shortly thereafter we all went for a walk.  Little man pulled little miss the entire way.

The minions went back to the house and I went back up to the corn field that is close to their house. 

I brought them back a bit of stalk/husk and was met with "Where'd you get that?"  Corn field.  "I want to go!".  Alrighty then.  The minions and I headed up to the field so they could explore.

It was a decent-sized field and I let them get pretty far out there before I called them back.

Soon after it was time for the last boat ride of the year, more spiders, and a fire.

Back at home, there is no rest for the weary.  These are everywhere and the trees haven't really even dropped half of their leaves yet.

That fact didn't stop the minions from raking up a little pile yesterday though ;)

I am really focusing on trying to be present because when I start thinking about what I have left to dye and Holiday Knitting and everything else my eye starts to twitch.  One day at a time, right?  The jobs are going well, really wish I could drop the hospital job (but we'll see how that goes), and knitting has been happening.  I am designing my own cardi for little miss and have both fronts finished and am about a third of the way through the back.  Here's hoping I have enough yarn...  I have a few other projects nearing completion so hopefully I will find time to snap pictures of those!  Until then, we will be staying warm and cozy with woolens and tea :)  Maybe I'll find time to finish and photograph my latest project - Geeky Cross Stitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  If I'm going to cross stitch, it has to be with a Geeky/SciFi flair :)