october trail ride

My husband had some training over the weekend so the kids and I went up to my parent's farm and spent Friday and Saturday night.

We went for a trail ride on the four wheelers on Saturday on some trails that I hadn't been on for over five years. The trees were beautiful. My parents' have a lot of yellow maples on their property, so there comes a point every autumn where the woods are paved with golden leaves.

I finished the socks for my nieces, now I think I'll start on another pair for my son.

We are moving out of our home at the end of October to a different house outside the city and a bit closer to family. Lots of changes around here!

little hands

It's been a colorful week around here. I snapped those pictures of the sunset last night. The prettiest one we've had in a while.

I'm working on a new project called Inspira Cowl. It's a free download on Ravelry. I'm using an assortment of Lion Brand Amazing yarn. It shifts colors like Noro yarn, but it doesn't cost as much. I got each skein for around four dollars with a coupon at JoAnn Fabric. It's fun to start an inexpensive project and get good results. If you're on Ravelry there are a ton of projects using this yarn, so it's got a good track record. I made mittens with it last winter. They've gotten a bit knobby, but I still like them.

If I have extra yarn I'm going to make a hat for my son based on this same pattern. I think the hat pattern actually came before the cowl pattern.

Have a good rest of the week.

Jill

valentines

The weekend before Valentine's Day. My husband had to work so the little guy and I stayed home and played with our blocks - his were plastic, mine were cotton. :) :)

We made some valentines too!

I read a good book on Saturday: "The Girl Before" by J.P. Delaney.

Hope your Valentine's day was sweet.

Jill

P.S. Linking up with Nicole at Frontier Dreams!

hockey boy

We went out to the lake on Sunday to watch my husband and his buddies slip around on the ice playing boot hockey. Logan liked being pulled around on the sled and holding a hockey stick.

He's been really keen on putting his boots on in the house and tromping around. He can finally keep his balance and thinks he's a big boy.

Not sure if we're going to have a hockey kid here, but it sure is fun watching him grow up!

xo Jill

P.S. those are the sweet little hand spun mittens I knit him this fall.

quilting weekend

Last weekend I went up north for a quilting weekend with my sister. My mom watched our kids so that we could spend the day together with no interruptions - just a hot iron, beautiful fabric and some taco chips.

I'm working on a quilt that will be a gift for my sister-in-laws wedding this September. It's made from Anna Maria Horner's fabric - my first time working with her designs. I ordered the entire quilt kit from Craftsy - it's called Mod Corsage.

It's Monday tomorrow - Happy work week!

xo Jill

new year revival

Try as you may to pose them and sit them just right, it's always the candid shots that are the most appealing.

We have been knitting, baking and living away here. I've just not been posting a lot because first I lost the do-dad that transfers photos to my computer and then I lost the photo card to my my camera. Then I just got lazy, or was it tired chasing after a one year old? Both!

Logan turned one this past Thanksgiving day. It was a good day. He's walking and running now and saying "dada" and sometimes "mama."

Happy belated New Year to everyone!

Jill

apple orchard

We went out today to an apple orchard with my brother and his family. It was a beautiful October day. The blog has been quiet lately, but I've still been doing a lot of projects behind the scenes.

I just finished a baby blanket for my husband's cousin and made a cute pouch for my wallet and cell phone. I got the pattern for the pouch from the book Beyond Cotton.

It's cooling down around here so we've been pulling out the wool sweaters. I wore my Bloomsbury sweater for the first time today - and baby wore his Sunnyside cardigan. I'm making another Linnie sweater for my friend's first baby.

I hope you are all having a good fall.

:) :) Jill

nap time

During his nap time I hurry to pick up whatever project is utmost on my mind. This morning it was my bloomsbury sweater and I finished a sleeve. Then after he woke up I took him upstairs and he played in his suitcase while I sewed together the four large blocks that make up my single girl quilt top.

We zipped around town after lunch, from Minneapolis to St. Paul to look at potential rental houses for my brother and his family when they move back to Minnesota this September. Fingers crossed that I might have found something in one of the historic neighborhoods of Minneapolis with a wood burning fireplace and a park across the street for their little one. Hope that all pans out. (And we find the gold nugget.) Is that where the phrase "pans out" comes from?

Let's go with that :) :)

It's nap time again, that's why I'm blogging. When he wakes up my arms and heart will be full with one energetic nine month old.

Hope you have a great weekend.

xo Jill

bloomsbury sweater

It has been a very busy and full week.

Last Sunday night Logan had a fever - probably because he's teething - but that meant that my husband and I had to keep him out of daycare for twenty-four hours past the time that the fever broke. We both ended up taking time off. My schedule got hit the hardest and to make up for it I had to go into the office today and work a full day.

I'm home now - yay!

Part of the time that I was home with the baby I was knitting on this Bloomsbury sweater that I just started. I have been admiring this sweater for a long long time and I finally cast on. It's been an addicting knit so far. The pattern is well written and the lace and cable repeats are easy to understand - even intuitive. I've been trying this on as I go, really crafting it to fit my body. So, I'm super excited to get it complete and wear it this fall when the weather cools down. This knit is a part of the 2016 sweater challenge that I'm doing with my cousin, Ashley. Basically, we challenged each other to knit one sweater for ourselves this year on top of everything else that we have going on in our lives. We got together for a weekend this spring and dyed the yarn for our prospective projects together. 

Hopefully, we can each add one more hand-knit sweater to our wardrobes.

(Inspiration for my Bloomsbury sweater comes from Froebelina and GreenCamijo on Ravelry.)

:) :) Jill