A yellow knitted shawl lies on a large grey stone. The shawls has randomly placed pools of pink like scattered flower petals.

Happily Knitting My Way Through The Beautiful Days Of Autumn.

/ Knitting / By

I recently realised that my favourite months of the year are those ones that end in ‘ber. The long, quiet dark and the comforting chill are soothing to my soul after the bright light of summer.

So Many Changes

Mother Nature has been visiting us with her Autumn magic. We went to bed in Summer and woke up one morning to a forest of delicately painted leaves in every warm colour you could imagine. Each morning we find the trees displaying their leaves in more golden magnificence. But it isn’t just gold – you don’t have to go far to find every shade between pale yellow and the darkest burgundy. The afternoon sun gilds the leaves as it sinks towards the horizon. Patches of our surroundings glow as if the waning energy of the trees has caught on fire for a few seconds, displaying the leaves in glowing splendour.

The wind has picked up now and we are entranced by the ballet the leaves perform as they swirl and dance in the breeze, finding the best spot to settle. The ground’s new carpet, in shades of red, orange and amber, is the perfect place to find new friends as they look for a cosy place to nest for the winter. Although raking leaves and pine needles was a hitherto unknown chore around here, jumping in the leaf piles at the end of the day has been a very welcome and popular reward. Or maybe it’s the hot chocolate afterwards…?

My soul wants to be warm and cosy. We have the heat on in the house, but that’s not the same as being warmed by a blanket or a nice snuggly sweater, is it? It’s not the same at all. So our house is a little on the chilly side and I’m enjoying digging out all of our blankets and sweaters. (I won’t let us freeze though – I’ll turn the heat up as winter approaches. Promise.) We have many items that have grown too small while we were in the balmy Texas weather, so I have filled up my knitting to-do list with patterns and ideas. And the colours peeking in through the windows are an inspiration; I see yarn pairings everywhere and am forever diving into my stash to put together skeins and leftovers for new projects.

Knitting News

A white woman and child smile at the camera. The woman is wearing a knitted scarf in navy blue wool with randomly spaced rainbow sections. The child is holding one end of the scarf across her face.

October has seen the release of a new pattern (the first in a long time!). If you haven’t found the Turn It To The Max Shawl yet, it is listed here on my patterns page. I will post about it properly very soon.

Four balls of yarn in shades of blue, grey and beige sit on a wooden surface. There is a small piece of knitting in the middle of the photograph. Knitting needles have been pushed through the fabric. There are a pair of gold scissors at the bottom left of the frame, the handles of which are in the shape of a stork. A bunch of dried lavender fills the bottom right corner of the photograph.

Snuggly Stash Blanket

I have been swatching for a baby blanket for a beautiful new boy who arrived at the end of September. I wanted to use something new-mum-friendly from my stash. Heartland by Lion Brand Yarn has all of the soft snuggles that a new baby deserves from a blanket and is still easy to wash. Seriously, this yarn feels like butter and is a dream to knit with. This blanket will be super simple with some stripes, and probably a little texture to keep his fingers busy. I do enjoy knitting blankets but they can get a little tedious sometimes (maybe it’s just me?). I want to make sure knitters are still interested enough in the project by the second half to actually complete it! And just so you know, I’m posting about this here to keep me accountable so I get this one finished. I don’t want the poor boy to be out of school before he receives his blanket!

4 balls of yarn in different sizes are on a dark grey wooden surface. One ball is turquoise, one is beige, the third is pale pink and the fourth is maroon. There are autumnal coloured leaves scattered on the wooden surface.

Respira Infinity Scarf

Another project heading for my needles is the Respira Infinity Scarf by Louis Boria of Brooklyn Boy Knits. This pattern was written as part of the first #endaidskal hosted by Gary Boston (@gary_knits_gary_rides) over on Instagram.

Gary is fundraising a total of $200,000 by 2029 for the charity AIDS/ LifeCycle. This nonprofit corporation raises money towards HIV/AIDS services provided by San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The next ride is in June 2022 and Gary has arranged four knitalongs to raise money before then. Each KAL will feature patterns from different designers and kits from indie yarn dyers. This is a great way to help raise money for a very important cause and to meet some new designers and dyers at the same time! Geraldine Yang, the Chief of Everything Officer at The Wandering Flock has some fantastic yarn kits available for this round of the KAL, go and check her out!!
These beauties are also from my stash. The turquoise is Cascade Yarns Superwash 128, pink and beige are Drops Andes and the maroon is Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick. Yarn placement will be so much fun with this one!

And Now What?

Each day we are getting more accustomed to our surroundings here in Nova Scotia and are becoming more settled in our new home. We have been exploring the treasures in the garden as it starts to slow down and hiking in the forest around us. Next weekend is Halloween and then Samhain so we have pumpkins to carve and ancestors and loved ones to remember.
What do you do to celebrate at this time of year? Do you have any Autumnal family traditions? I’d love to hear all about them in the comments below.

If you need me, I’ll be over here, happily knitting Autumn vibes into all my new projects!
Keep knitting, my friends, and stay safe. We’ll talk again soon.

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