The cranberry harvest is just about done in my little corner of the world but there are still some bogs being harvested. And they are still beautiful.

Have a great weekend!

There’s a passage in the book Julie and Julia that really got me thinking about blogging and friendship. It goes like this:

It is a comfort to have friends, maybe especially friends you will never meet.  Think about it this way: as I awaited a ferry amid thousands of other disheveled Queens secretaries, a woman named Chris in Minnesota was thinking not, “Oh, poor New Yorkers!” but, “Oh, poor Julie!” As I cooked chicken livers with a flashlight under my chin, some guy down in Shreveport was trying to remember if Julie had a gas or electric stove.  Around the country, a small scattering of people who had never been to the city, who had never met me, who had never cooked French food in their life, heard about the blackout and thought about me.  That’s sort of incredible, isn’t it?  Aside from its being an ego-boost, I mean.  Because people who would have looked at this as a disaster happening to other people were suddenly looking at it as a disaster happening to one of their own, to a friend.  I don’t mean this to be arrogance; in fact, I don’t think it has a whole lot to do with me one way or the other.  I think what it means is, people want to care about people.  People look after one another, given the chance.

To put it in context, I think . . .

It means that when Cheryl has her baby, we think about her and send good thoughts her way.

It means that when Carrie’s husband unexpectedly passes away, we rally around her and her kids.

It means when I’m trying to choose pictures for Hannah’s year book I can count on all of you to help me out.

And it means that when my dear friend Margene faces open heart surgery I knit her a shawl.

The pattern is the Celtic Hearts Shawl and I specifically chose it because of the hearts along the border.

I wanted hearts to not only remind Margene of her heart surgery (not that she’ll ever forget) but to also remind her that I love her very much.

And the yarn is Sleeping Dragons Laceweight that I actually bought the last time I visited Margene. I couldn’t think of a better use for this yarn.

The color reminds me of Margene’s blue skies and my blue ocean – the perfect combination of both of our worlds.

Margene is such a dear friend to me and I just wanted to be able to reach across the miles and give her a big giant hug.

My arms aren’t quite that long, though, so this shawl will have to do.

A few weeks back Hannah and I went to a local park to do her senior photo shoot.  I was really hoping we could get to the beach to do another set but the deadline for choosing the photo is fast approaching and I think we’ll just be going forward with what we have.

We have four good ones and we both have our favorites.  We’d like input from all of you, too.

This is #1.

This is #2.

This is #3.

And this is #4.

Do you have a favorite? Tell us what you think!

I’m doing my own thing for this week’s topic again, attempting to keep things positive, rather than talk about things that make me feel old, which is the official topic this week.  And so, Hillary and I have our own spin (that’s a hint) this week, in honor of the upcoming New York Sheep & Wool Festival.  Affectionately known as Rhinebeck, of course.

10 Things You Love About Fiber Festivals

1. Yummy fiber in awesome colors.  I’ve found that I often have a “color of the day” at fiber festivals and wind up with lots of the same combos in my bag.  I’ll be attempting to keep things varied this weekend and buy lots of colors.

2. Great vendors.  I really look forward to seeing my vendor friends.

3. Delicious food.  Rhinebeck, in particular, has great things like artichokes french and truffle buds.  Oh, and beer!

4. Sheep.  I wouldn’t be much of a knitter and spinner if I didn’t love me some sheep.

5. Showing off the hand knits.  Nobody gets the beauty of a new shawl or sweater like another knitter.

6. Beautiful scenery.  New Hampshire Sheep & Wool is in the spring and everything is green.  New York Sheep & Wool is in the fall and everything is yellow and red and orange.  Both have their benefits.

7. Fleece to shawl competition.  So much fun to watch, especially when your very own friends are competing.

8. Fleece Judging.  I’ve learned a lot about what to look for in a good fleece just from listening to the judges comments.

9. Workshops.  Not that I’ve ever taken one!

10. Last but most definitely not least, hanging out with my friends.  It’s a girls weekend away with fiber.  It doesn’t get any better than that.

3 more sleeps!

Mason found a great sunny spot by the bay window this weekend.  The addition of the pumpkin sets the perfect autumn mood, I think.

Hope you found some autumn beauty this weekend, too!

Fall mums, with bokeh.  Just in time for the long weekend.  And let me just say . . . HOORAY for long weekends!

Make it a good one, y’all.

Guess who just got her first job? Yup, my girl is now working at Dunkin’ Donuts. Or Dunks, as it’s called around here.

Doesn’t she look cute? She’s not too happy with the uniform, of course. The pants come up too high, the visor makes her forehead itch, and the shirt is too big. I told her to plaster a smile on her face and act cute and then just wait for the tips to roll in.

When I drove her to work on Tuesday I was teasing her about the old Dunkin Donuts commercials and she had no idea what I was talking about. So I did a little You Tube sleuthing and I found them. No wonder she doesn’t remember them – they are from 1983!

Ahh yes, good ole Fred the Baker. This will be Dale when he drives Hannah to her Sunday shift at 5:30 am. Time to make the donuts.

This one was always my favorite.  It still cracks me up.  Are these donuts fresh today?

Speaking of favorites . . . Hannah is much cuter than Fred the Baker, don’t you think?

Socktoberfest is going well but it doesn’t lend itself to particularly exciting blog fodder.  So I’m stealing a page from Cookie and I’m doing my first Unconscious Mutterings exercise.

Yacht :: daydream
Paula :: Deen
Delete :: spam
Auto :: matic
Obsolete :: typewriter
Dedicated :: husband
Old :: time rock ‘n roll
Convince :: debate
Poster :: child
Erase :: blackboard

I hope you weren’t too bored.  I’ll try and be more exciting tomorrow.

This week’s theme for Ten on Tuesday is 10 Things You Want But Can’t Afford.  That’s sort of depressing to think about, isn’t it?  Plus, it doesn’t really promote the idea of being happy with what you have.  So last week Hillary and I had a chat about this and decide to change the theme.  We are doing 10 Things You Love About Fall.  Focus on the positive!

1.  Fall colors.  The leaves are just turning red and orange and yellow here and it’s gorgeous.

2. Apples.  I love local apples and Honey Crisp are my new favorite.

3. Pumpkins.  Carving pumpkins.  Pie pumpkins.  Pumpkin seeds.  Mmmm.

4. Fall decorations.  Leaves and corn stalks and mums and wreaths.   Everything really looks beautiful.

5. Cider and donuts.  This was a regular Sunday night supper when I was a kid.

6. Crisp air.  No humidity around here is a very good thing.

7. Starting up the woodstove.  We had our first (very small) fire Friday night.  It was mostly for ambiance but it felt (and smelled) wonderful.

8. Drives in the countryside.  I love nothing better than to go for a ride on a Sunday afternoon.  Dale and I chat and look at the beautiful colors and it’s just a really nice time.

9. Halloween.  I love to see the trick or treaters!  The left over candy isn’t too bad either.

10. Wool.  Knitting with wool, spinning wool, wearing wool sweaters and socks.  This really is our time of year.

On Friday I had lunch with Kathy and one of the things we discussed was the upcoming Rhinebeck trip.  I mentioned that I was hoping to finish my Flyingdales sweater and in doing so I really thought about how much I had left to go before finishing.  The back is almost done but that still leaves both fronts, both sleeves, the button bands and the collar.  The reality is that it probably can’t be done in 2 weeks time.

I was bummed for a moment but I decided to use this as an opportunity to truly embrace Socktoberfest.  I am committing myself to knitting nothing but socks for the entire month of October.  I really want to see how many pairs I can finish and I think challenging myself will be fun.

I am generally a one-sock-on-the needles knitter but I have thrown caution to the wind and have 3 different socks going and here they all are.  I think you need a closer look at each one, though.

This is Trekking in my favorite plain stockinette pattern.  This is for when I need mindless sock knitting.

And this is a Dragonfly Sock (ravelry link) reclining on one of my JessaLu box bags.  The yarn is Yarn Nerd in the color caramel stout and it’s the 3rd pattern I’ve tried with this yarn.  I first did a plain stockinette and I hated it.  So I switched to 2×2 rib and I wasn’t crazy about that either.  This Dragonfly pattern is just the ticket, though, and this will be good for when I need a little challenge.

SPOILER ALERT — Through the Loop Mystery Sock photo ahead

Finally, here are 2 cuffs of the Through the Loops Socktoberfest Mystery Sock ’09, again reclining on a JessaLu box bag.  The yarn is Claudia’s Handpaint in the color “cherries” and I love them so far.  I’ve finished clue #1 and will work each clue on both socks so that I have a finished pair at the end of the month.

So it’s all socks all the time over here at Carole Knits.  That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.