In which I surface after not blogging

I've been living life off the computer (or at least off the blog) and when I went looking for a photo of a project to use, realized that perhaps I should surface, upload some photos, and then dive back down into life. 

The garden is saying farewell -- at least, the tomatoes and cucumbers are.  I really should pick some jalapenos and figure out what to do with them. 

Mittens!

Some friends took a photo of my State Fair entries, and I had a suprise viewing of Summer Nights, by Arenda Holladay. So did she.  She had no clue that anyone else had, or would ever, knit the sweater.  I'm curious to know if the knitter followed the directions and worked the stranding back and forth, without steeks, like Arenda did.  

My State Fair entries came back, and the next day was BEAUTIFUL weather for wearing a wool tunic, so on it went.

Tunic

The yarn for my clogs came in, and they are now finished.  Except for a bit more felting. 

I finished a pair of legwarmers, too.  (Are you noticing a winter theme here?  Unfortunately, those legwarmers need to be at a photographers in November.  On the plus side, they match, in color, a sweater which is at another photographers, so I will be all toasty warm AND coordinated when they're back at my house.) 

I have a new refrigerator, whose door closes.  My heart is happy every time I hear it not running.  And I'm also happy to think of all the new organizational possibilities.  We lost 2 cu ft, a shelf, and a drawer (and somehow, the dimensions are almost identical -- an inch taller, and a half-inch narrower.  What did they do with fridge design in the past 21 years to make that possible?)  Now I get to hunt for nifty wire shelves to make good use of the vertical space just LURKING in there. 

And did I mention, the door closes?

After

Before

Filia and I are perfecting a 'Chocolate Pudding for Two' recipe, which is lovely to whip up after supper.  It's hard to have a bad evening when you are playing cribbage and nibbling your way through a personal pot of pudding, fresh from the stove, enjoying the quiet at the end of the day.

Especially if the lunch of that day was punctuated by the sounds of a mouse gnawing on something.  In the house.  Under the piano.  A few feet from the dining room table.

I've a pair of socks on the needles, which will be finished in a day or two.  I finished a swatch for an all-linen Hitofude yesterday.  Happily, more yarn will be in the mail to me this afternoon, so my needles will not languish.  I so dislike languishing needles.  They're bad for the waistline.  

Swatching

Gratuitous photo of an afghan Mater finished since the last blog entry