Last Sunday, I pressed my good friend Aneesha into service to help me get pics of all the socks for my pattern ebook.

Both of us felt we hadn’t seen much of fall, and the spot where I wanted to take pictures is along the Bruce trail where we hiked last year.  We were hoping to see a wonderful autumn bounty, but once we got there…

We’ve finally had that hard frost and a big wind storm and there wasn’t much colour left! (And we’ve had a good dumping of snow since this picture was taken)

There were a bunch of wild pears left on a tree. I’m going to have to remember that for next year… we can harvest a little free fruit!

Looks like those wind storms did some damage and knocked this tree across the path.

We didn’t hike as far as last year, but we explored the immediate area a little more and came across a little creek.

This is where it flows under the train tracks…

And then continues on it’s long journey to Lake Ontario. If you look closely, you can see a little ice around the edges. It was quite chilly out.

Our final destination was the rail line the runs through just before the hiking trail starts climbing the escarpment. I’m saving the sock pictures for the pattern release…

But here’s a little sneak peak of all 12 beauties together!

I know I said the other week that that would be the last for the garden… but I wasn’t quite right. Though we have had some pretty freezing temps the last week or so, the last of the Toad Lilies still managed to bloom.

I may order more come spring because I just love these little guys!

And despite the frost, these little guys were still trying to bloom. Clockwise from top left: Dianthan, Snapdragon, Beard Tongue and Stonecrop.

And you may remember how beautiful the last of my Chicago Peace roses were…

Well before the frost hit, I cut the last few budded stems and brought them to bloom inside.

What a difference! You’d never know they were from the same bush!

Any surprises outside your house?

We wondered if Burton’s interest in playing fetch would wane as he outgrew kittenhood. But here we are a year and a half in…

… and the game just never stops!

Sometimes he even plays by himself, by sitting at the top of the stairs, dropping the ball, then chasing it to the bottom, picking it up, running back up the stairs and doing it all again.

 

 

As mentioned yesterday, with the Blue Tit socks off the needles, I’m onto the next pair.

This pair is for Dad – the colourway is Bullfinch. I love that pop of red with the greys. This one is almost ready for the heel, and if I can keep at it, I’ll have the pair done by the end of the weekend.

I really want to get these out of the way, so I can get to the hats, which are much more fun to work on!

 

I love heavy socks!

They knit up so fast! Nothing fancy for these ones – just a simple 3-1 rib throughout to give them a nice fit. It’s the yarn that really does the work.

This yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Blue-Faced Leicester Prints. The colourway is Blue Tit… and I think they nailed the colours pretty well.

These will be tucked away for my brother’s December birthday… and I’m onto the next present on the list… check in tomorrow.

I did it! Instead of starting something new, I finished the last quilt top I had in my boxes to complete.

It’s mostly because I’m not sure what I want to start next… but whatever, I’ll take it as a win.

So here’s the Scrappage Patch quilt top all wrapped up. There’s just something wonderfully classic about a simple sashed nine-patch quilt. The very first quilt Mom made me when I was about six or seven was a nine-patch sashed with pale yellow. I literally loved that blanket to death.

For this one, I chose a pale blue sashing (and I’m happy to say I have more than enough leftover to border the Rainbow quilt). I didn’t want to go with white sashing because a few of the squares have white backgrounds – same with black. Light blue seemed like a good compromise that wouldn’t clash with any of the other fabrics.

This one is intended as a Christmas present for Dave’s Mom … but for Christmas NEXT year! (Yes, I’m seriously working on presents for next year.) I already have some knitted things for her this year, and Mom’s got enough on her plate without having to whip out another of my quilts by Christmas.

So now… I guess I better decided on some new patterns to start…

Another quilt, and another Christmas present off the list!

I used the Moda Love pattern for the centre. It’s a great pattern that you can make with a Layer Cake, Charm Pack, or Mini Charm Pack. This one was made with a charm pack, then rounded out with a few boorders to bring it up to about 50″ square. It’s a perfect little  lap quilt.

As usually, I let Mom make the decisions on the quilt, and she went wild with this one.. there are flowers, and swirls and circles and piano keys… a little of everything!

I got lucky, and there was enough of the black floral backing leftover from the Superstar quilt for this one. There was also enough leftover of one of the border fabrics to use as binding.

I’m really pleased how this one turned out, and a little sad that I’m not keeping it. But it’s okay, it was a fun pattern, and I’m sure I’ll do it again!