stuff on the sticks (some literally!)

one of the bad things about living here in the mountains is that this time of year we are subject to frequent changes in the weather as cold fronts roll through

unfortunately, that also means that from time to time I must deal with a nasty sinus headache

yesterday was one of those days

so I didn't get as much done as I would have liked to, but I did work on this for a little while

this is the lovely fine silk yarn I bought while I was in California this summer, and now that I've finally gotten the hang of working with it (and having the right tools helps!), it's coming right along

the pattern instruction says I'm about half way done with it -- I may decide to make it longer (patterns just being a suggestion after all)

yesterday I had one of those "you are SUCH and idiot" moments and remembered that when you are knitting with a set of Denise needles, you can always take the tips off of one project and work on another

I did a swatch with the newly refreshed gold yarn and found out that my fussing about already having something on the size the pattern called for had been a gigantic waste of time and effort because that size worked up way too big for the guage anyway! (geesh!!)

so, here is the beginning of the sweater -- 2.5 inches of ribbed cuff (which the pattern does not call for, but the DH wants on his) and the first four rows of the patterning stitch (which is nice looking but there isn't enough of it to show up on the picture)

real progress!!

the quilting on the leave project is done and I'm working on the binding -- yesterday the DH suggested that I might want to use an actual piece of an aspen branch to create the hanger for this, and I think that's a cool idea -- he even went out and trimmed one off the tree for me -- he also suggested that I might want to use some of my brick stitched leaves and decor at the ends of the branch -- another great idea!

progress is being made on the album quilt too --- I only have 8 more blocks to quilt then I start the long border edges -- this really has gone much quicker than I thought it would