It’s Fall, Y’all!

Sunday, September 27, 2026

The equinox has passed so it’s officially fall in Maine! I am departing from my norm of posting a photo taken on the day that I post and am posting a photo from the evening a couple of days ago. It was the most spectacular sunset sky we’ve had in ages. It seems that it was all over the country, too. My kids saw pink skies in NYC. It just reminds me of how lucky we are to live here!

It’s been a busy week (again) and I have been working on a whole bunch of stuff, some old and some new, so I’ll try to share it all … if I can remember!

I cast on Gnettle of Gnumpkin and Gnettle by Sarah Schira in advance of the new KAL that she’s started called Sweater Weather Gnome. I have tons of little bits of fingering weight yarns and it’s the perfect place to find colors for gnomes. As an aside, last week when I cleaned up and cleaned out my atelier I pulled out a bunch of gnome colors for the fall. I plan to knit Gnumpkin, too, just not right away. I have finished Gnettle’s body and am working on her legs and feet one leg is partially done. These are so much fun to knit and my hat’s off to Sarah for designing these brilliant characters. One foot to go on the first leg. I love her already.

I have finished the body and I am so close to finishing my Make Mine a Double pullover sweater. I tried it on at work on Friday and I think I will like the fit (and I’m glad I went up a size). The sleeves are both partially done because I decided that I wanted to go back and forth with the last hank of yarn so the sleeves were almost the same and mostly in line with the body of the sweater color-wise. I am happy with the way they’re turning out and hope I get to some cream before they end. I may have to bypass some beigey brown to get there but I’m going to make it happen. I can even wear the sweater this coming weekend if I get it done.

I finished my striped socks and have cast on a pair of gray ones. I found an almost full ball of gray sock yarn in my stash and decided it needed to be knitted up. I may give this pair to my daughter who likes to have handknit socks. I am going back to the Reverie Sock pattern by Summer Lee because I liked knitting my pink pair and thought I’d repeat the joy. I’ve already caught myself missing one yarn over but I’m knitting on. Perfection is not my goal … joy is!

As I’m writing this morning we are waiting for the “huge” Nor’easter to hit Central Maine. It’s not done much for us as yet. I was hoping for a lot of rain at minimum to make us feel better about heading into winter with a full well. I guess tomorrow is the day we’re forecasted to get a lot of rain but I wouldn’t be surprised if we get some today, too. It’s dreary and cool enough to be wearing a sweatshirt. My hubby is entertaining his camp friend this weekend. Last night another camp friend joined us for dinner and the three hadn’t been together for 53 years. They enjoyed visiting while I was at work yesterday. The “boys” are upstairs watching a movie and I’m happily ensconced in my atelier! After working the last three days, I’m happy to be home and knitting today. I’ve paid to be a Shetland Wool Week virtual member and I’ll join the opening ceremony at 2pm EST. I’m working on getting an idea of what it’s like to be there with the thought that I may like to attend next year. I’m even considering casting on a SWW hat in honor of the occasion. I may choose to knit my sleeves instead.

Gone knitting.

Three Little Pumpkins

I have finished these adorable little pumpkins and I love them! I found a few skeins of Lion Brand Thick and Quick in my stash and, you all know, that I’ve been working hard to knit down my stash. Many of the yarns that I have are nearly antiques! (Some are legit antiques but that’s another story.)

Three Little Pumpkins

I have knitted this pattern before. It’s “Pumpkin” by Marnie Ann Joyce and it’s free on Ravelry. I’ve made these little pumpkins in super bulky and worsted weight yarns before. So when I found the leftovers of orange and green Lion Brand Yarns Thick and Quick, I knew what I needed to do – and the timing is so right on! Right?

I used US 10 1/2 DPNs for this project which made them a little smaller than previous versions but they’re perfect this way because none of the stuffing shows through and they’re pretty indestructible … and since they’re going west to my nieces and nephew, they’ll be bounced around a little bit (or a lot!)

These guys knit up in a flash. I was able to finish one in about two hours. I added the icord stem by knitting a 5-stitch icord for two or three rounds, and then decreasing to a 4-stitch icord for a couple of rounds and ended up with a 3-stitch icord until I thought it was the way I liked it. The green pumpkin has a special curved stem that has two stitches (one leg of each stitch) knitted together to stick them that way forever!

Gone knitting.