It is my favorite time of year.  I love the fall weather, the colors of the trees, and my FAVORITE holiday — Hallowe’en.

Fall is time to brew, knit, hike, and risotto is FINALLY back on the menu.    Its also very busy becuase I’m taking a class and teaching 2.

Even though it is early, I couldn’t resist buying a pomegranate when I was in the grocery store last.   I love these.  I love them even more that I can only get them in the fall. 

Of course, it was also great fun to introduce Emerson to them.  She enjoyed pulling them apart and taking out the seeds.

Red

I love this yarn; it is so awesome.  Soft and squishy, and not at all scratchy.  It comes from Juniper Moon Farm.  It is excellent to knit with.  It doesn’t slip around a lot, and it is super easy to work with.  The colors are beautiful!

ROY from Juniper Moon Farm

I wish I would have done a slip stitch on the ends to make a neater edge, but still, this will be really pretty.  My plan is to have it done by christmas for a gift for Emerson.

The left overs will be used to make skinny scarves  for the Nanny’s two youngest girls.  Skinny scarves are in, aparently.  I think the colors will be great…they won’t be as long as this one though.  Enough to wrap 2x I think will be long enough.

Stuff collects more stuff.  It has it’s own gravitational pull.  And getting rid of stuff is addictive!

Here are a few snaps

I read an article in the NYTimes on conspicious consumption and on how giving away all your stuff would make you feel more fulfilled. 

Allen and I discussed stuff we could get rid of…among them was my wedding china…I was married in 2005 and recieved the set as a gift…and we have never ever used it.  We’ve “saved” these plates for 5 years…

I thought we could give them away and someone else could use them…then it dawned on me.  WE should use them.  And why not?  What made these plates special?  Why are these plates better than us?  So we have packed up our everyday plates to be donated, and are now exclusively using my “fine china” as our every day plates.

There is no point in “saving” them for a special occasion…every day is a special occasion, and we should live that way!  The time is NOW!

Sliced up peach for Emerson

and on an unrelated note, I taught myself to juggle tonight.

I plan to work on this Super Easy Baby blanket for Emerson for christmas.  I am going to do it in the ROYGBIV colors, but insert a few more colors in the ROYGBIV family to make it a little bigger.  I plan on casting on a few more stitches too, to make it a bit bigger.

I’m using the yarn from Juniper Moon.  The colors are CRAZY awesome.

This project will be my on again, off again project.  I have several months to work on it.  I have the first 3 colors, so I’ll need to get more as I progress.

I’ve already blogged about the Corona project.  I also got some lovely blue and white 50/50 merino silk blend from my nanny for my birthday, and I want to knit a neck warmer for myself

I need to work on  Emeson’s fall sweater.  I got the yarn: an awesome silk/merino blend in the most awesome colors of blue.  I haven’t chosen the pattern yet, but I can’t start it anyway as I’m waiting for the trim skein to come in.  I should have enough for a cardi and matching hat.  I usually do pullovers as I dislike knitting flat.  But now that I learned the proper way to purl, I find I go alot faster.

I have some fiber too, that I want to try spinning with my drop spindle.  One bunch is for a gift, the other is for me to mess around with.

That is as far as I am willing to go in the knitting queue at this point.  I’m slow, and these will take a while.

In between these projects, I want to knit some pilot caps to sell in my etsy shop, which is currently empty.  I’ll have a few things ready for fall though.

This will be my first adult sweater…I never typically knit for me.  But this is just too cute to pass up.

1/2 c cooked quinoa

1 orange pepper diced

1 tomato diced

1 chicken breast sauted with some cunim

1 cuc diced

2 avocados sliced

handful of fresh cilantro diced

Cook quinoa; set aside to cool

cook chicken; set aside to cool

dice the veggies and assemble in a bowl

add chicken and quinoa

Toss with cilantro

dressing: juice of 1 lime, splash of red wine vinegar, and some olive oil wisked in a bowl and poured over.

let stand in fridge for about 15 minutes to blend.

Plate (or bowl) salad and top with slices of avocado. 

this is a VERY healthy dinner…and a toddler/pre-schooler favorite

you could add other things…or chilis for a nice bite!

pictures to come.