Fall

I very much enjoy fall. Yesterday I went to the post office downtown and got to drive through some of the neighborhoods near downtown. I like those neighborhoods. There are places where the houses are not so nice, but for the most part (at least where I was yesterday), the houses are well-maintained. And they're not in a subdevelopment, so they have individual characters and it makes them more interesting to look at. There are lots of trees that have been there for a long time, and they're all changing colors and are gorgeous to look at. The wind and the rain yesterday caused a lot of the leaves to fall off, so the trees are getting more and more bare. But the colorful carpets of leaves that cover the lawns and sidewalks make me smile. I also like that once I finish a knitting project, I can wear it immediately. The weather is now appropriate for knitwear. I've been wearing my wool socks, now that I have a few pairs that I can wear frequently. I forgot to post a picture of the socks that I finished most recently. I like them. They're the perfect fall socks.


The pattern is Monkey by Cookie A, and I've lost the band, so I don't remember the brand or colorway of the yarn. I love the socks, though. I finished them last week, and wore them the next day. I also wore them again yesterday. They're even better after a washing.

I finished my flip-top mittens, too. They didn't take very long. I wore them today for the first time. It was chillier this morning than yesterday, so I thought it was perfect for a trial run. They kept my fingers nice and toasty, and I had the benefit of being able to flip back the top to use my fingers as necessary. They only issue I have with them is when I picked up stitches across the back of the hand to knit the flip-top part, I didn't go all the way to the outside edge on either one. It's not a huge deal, and if it really bothers me I can tack the edge down with a darning needle and extra yarn. But, for making them up on the fly, and the first pair of flip-top mittens I've ever made, I think they're pretty good.



I've also been making yummy things. Yesterday I baked pumpkin bread. I found a lower calorie recipe on allrecipes.com. I ended up using a whole cup of buttermilk (well, sour milk, actually) by accident. I soured a whole cup of milk and intended to only use half (and save the other half for the next time I make it). But, without thinking, I dumped the whole thing in. It turned out fine, though. I didn't even have to extend the baking time. It's very moist, and tastes great. I had two pieces last night and three so far today. I'm currently making apple butter. It's done in the slow cooker, so it takes quite a while. Slicing and peeling a 5 lb. bag of apples takes a while. The apples have to cook for about 12 hours total, so it'll be done around 10:00 tonight. Hopefully it's worth all the effort! I have a few more recipes to try in the next couple of days. We'll see how those turn out, too.