Crisp mornings, Warm afternoons

We are having such a lovely fall weather right now. Crisp mornings with temperatures in the 30s and warm afternoons in the upper 70s and low 80s. This is the perfect time of year to my way of thinking and I wish it could stay like this.  The photo below is where I’m sitting right now, as I just finished writing a few letters at the table outside. Chloe enjoys laying in the sunshine on her blanket too.

I forgot to show you this picture when I was showing you our fall decorations last week. This hangs just inside the front door.

I finished the “Monkey Socks” last night at almost midnight. A quick wash and they’re hanging to dry in the sunshine. The yarn is from Knit Picks. It is Stroll tweed fingering weight in the Persimmon Heather colorway.

Piper’s sweater arrived on Monday and as you can see it fits almost perfectly. I have the yarn to make her a lavender one, a red one, and a pink one too. One of them will be cast on today.

She turned eight years old yesterday! I can hardly believe it! When did that happen? As you can see she’s pretty thrilled with being eight.

There isn’t much else new since I posted a couple of days ago. We have ordered skirting for the trailer for winter and the installer was supposed to be here last week to put it on the trailer but he postponed it. Then he was supposed to be here yesterday and it was postponed till today. I just called and now it’s tomorrow. He has not come out once when he told us he would. I sure hope he does a better job on the actual skirting.  I’m trying to remain optimistic, but he has to get it installed soon. It’s getting cold at night and we don’t want our pipes to freeze.

I keep forgetting to give you an update on the mittens. I have 115 pair made and fellow blogger Sherri in Las Vegas is going to send me some that she has made. I will call the school in October and see if I can deliver them. I’m not sure what days anyone is there or if they’re letting outsiders into the schools right now.

I also have a huge bag full of baby hats and blankets to go to the hospital, but right now they are not accepting outside items either. Nita has graciously said I can store them at her house since I have no room in the trailer. Every time I finish a hat or blanket I just give it to her!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day and enjoying fall, (spring), where ever you may be.

Blessings,

Betsy

Busy Days

I sure don’t know where the time goes but the days are flying by. Last Friday I made shears for the windows. I can’t believe the difference it makes. It’s so much more homey and cozy now.  We have had to turn the furnace on a few times overnight. This morning we woke up to 34°F. Brrrrr!

Please excuse some of the clutter, but we do live in here and it’s a very small space. I try to keep it picked up but a few piles here and there are bound to happen.

In the dining area we have taken the chairs out and put them in storage, except for the two folding chairs. We tend to eat sitting in our recliner’s and use the space more as storage. On the left is the little freezer we bought from Amazon with our printer on top of it. On the table is the toaster oven that works amazingly well. It’s a convection/air fryer/toaster/oven and a few other things. In the bowl is candy for the neighborhood kids. Grandma’s have to keep candy available, don’t we? On the right side is Chloe‘s dog food and on top of that is our file cabinet and my laptop.  The cart with all of my craft things sits in front of it right next to my chair. There is a lot in the small space, but we make it work. My mom embroidered the tablecloth over 80 years ago. It’s one of my prized possessions.

The dresser area in the bedroom

This is my new portable sewing machine that Dennis bought me for our anniversary. I got it on Amazon for $210. He told me to get whatever kind of machine I wanted but I didn’t want to spend much money and this one works amazingly well. I wasn’t sure how it would do on the thin fabric of the sheers, but the tension was perfect and it didn’t drop any stitches.

It poured down rain all day Friday and was very chilly. I had the electric fireplace on and my little lights and it was so warm and cozy in the trailer and a perfect day to make the curtains. We needed the rain so badly and I’m very grateful for it.

This was a sweater that I made for Piper a few years ago. I finished a white one just like, it only bigger and mailed it off to her last week without taking a picture! So I dug this photo up from the archives. Maybe I can get Mandy to take a picture of her wearing the new one once it arrives. I also have the yarn to make her a pink one, a lavender one, and a red one, at her request. She wears these sweaters all of the time.  Tomorrow she is going to be eight years old! Can you believe it?  I sure can’t. It seems like only yesterday Mandy and I were walking around their neighborhood in Portland trying to get Piper to decide to come out and meet the world.

I also started a pair of socks on Saturday. This is the “Monkey socks” pattern and it is free on Ravelry. I’m using Knit Picks yarn, but I don’t have the label with me right now. I’ll let you know the color later. I plan to give these as a gift soon.

Saturday night I made homemade chicken and noodles at Dennis’s request. It’s so nice to have the space to actually roll out the noodles and leave them to dry. Our other trailer didn’t have any space for me to make these. They were delicious and I thought I had made way too many, but we had them as leftovers last night for dinner and they’re all gone! We also had cranberry sauce, green beans with bacon and cantaloupe. I’m sorry I forgot to take a photo of them after they were finished cooking. We ate them too quickly!  The pizza cutter is my secret weapon. It makes cutting up the noodles so much easier than trying to use a knife.

Thought I would show you a picture of Larry and Nita at Mt. Rushmore last week. They had gorgeous weather for their trip and had a wonderful time. They are back home now and Sophie has left us to be back with her mom and dad. I must admit I miss having her on my lap while I’m knitting.

I’m sorry this post got a little bit long. I just realized I hadn’t written anything since last Monday. The week just completely got away for me. Take care my friends and I’m trying to check your blogs daily.

Blessings,

Betsy

Blue skies, smiling at me!

Good morning to everyone. I hope your Monday morning is going well.

We had a bit of rain on Saturday night and it scoured out the skies. For the first time in almost 2 weeks, we woke up to this! Our air quality was finally in the “moderate” range. This morning it’s in the “good” range. Hallelujah! It feels so wonderful to be able to breathe while outside.

I am making Piper a sweater for her birthday next week. I have made these same sweaters for her since she was in a size 2–3T. This one is an 8-9. The last ones I made her, the sleeves now go up to her elbows and she still wears them!  She is definitely knit-worthy. She loves everything I make her. I also have the yarn to make her a pink one and a red one too.

Sorry about the lighting but I took this at 5:30 this morning. I have the back completed and the left front and I’m almost finished with the other front side. Just the sleeves and the neck/button band left to go on this one.  I started it on Friday so I think I’m making good progress.

While Dennis was in Omaha last week Piper decided he needed to visit the dentist. Although he doesn’t look thrilled, he said he was having a great time playing with her. Notice the crown on his head! I think everybody should get a crown at the dentist and a hug like this would be nice too, especially if the dentist was as cute as this one. She most definitely loves her Papa.

Alex flew from London to Tokyo last Tuesday and sent us this photo of the inside of his plane. Notice how empty it is. That would have never happened before Covid. Now it was a relief for me to see how far away he was from other people.

I thought I would show you some of my fall decorating around the trailer. This first one isn’t really for fall as it stays up all of the time, but I do like it. This is just inside the door.  I made the cross stitch about 35 years ago and it has hung in all of our various homes.

My beautiful fall angel hangs right outside the front door, well the only door, on the slide. I used a command hook that is designed for the shower to hang it. I thought that way it would be able to withstand rain.

Some autumn color in the old camping coffee pot we used to heat water in when we tent camped.



The view from closer to the road.

Having familiar items that we have had around us in our house and flowers definitely makes this place feel home here. So far I am very content in my little trailer and not missing the house at all.

Larry and Nita decided on the spur of the moment to leave yesterday to go to the Black Hills and see Mount Rushmore. In all their travels around the world they have never been to Mount Rushmore and it was on their bucket list. We have seen it dozens of times and gave them a list of other things fun to do in the area. So we have Sophie staying with us this week.  She is very familiar with the inside of the trailer because of the lake, but she can’t figure out why it’s not in the same spot! Every time we go outside she looks around like, where am I?

It’s 49° this morning and I haven’t turned the heat on so both Sophie and Chloe are snuggled up in the bed with me as I type this.   They love these fleece blankets and so I lay them down on the cold mornings because they seem to be warmer for them to cuddle in.  Happy and content girls.  A bit spoiled too.😍

Eventually though, I’m going to need to get up and out of the warm bed and start my day. I have a small grocery pick up this morning and I need to find another skein of white yarn for the sweater. I don’t think I’m going to have enough for both sleeves. It’s amazing how much more yarn the bigger sweaters take than the little bitty ones I used to make for her! I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Blessings and love,

Betsy