We woke up to snow on the ground. That is highly unusual for Iowa in October. It got me worried about COVID and winter and spending time with people who aren’t in my bubble.

Luckily my cousin was coming over today to knit, so we were able to test out winter knitting. I pulled my car out of the garage. We set up lawn chairs over six feet apart. We closed the garage door partially, so there was still significant air flow. We turned on heaters. We crafted.

We decided it was a lot like tailgating. We were able to stay bundled up and warm. People do that before football games in January, so we know we can do it in the depths of winter. There has been some discussion about grilling or making a crockpot of chili to enjoy while we are crafting in the garage. I don’t know if anyone else will be up for outdoor crafting, but I sure hope I can get more people to join us. I want to be able to see my friends and family and do it safely.

_{*Yes, I can write a blog post without a made up word in the title, I just don’t want to do that.}

Oh, Blogville. I was so good about knitting down my stash for so long. I was knitting more than I was buying. It was such a productive time. Then there was a pandemic. Then I moved. Then my mom had a bad fall and had some fractures. Then I lost all restraint and started buying all the things.

The orchard alpaca is beautiful to work with. So I kept buying more. I’ve managed to go to the orchard once without buying yarn. That is a 20% success rate for not buying yarn.

Then my hero died, so I needed yarn to make a sweater to honor her. Of course it had to be Beaverslide Dry Goods, because you can’t beat that yarn.

Of course, there is a danger that I’ll knit through all of my sock yarn and run out of options for holiday socks, so I picked up some Bumblebee Acres yarn in Great Pumpkin and Candy Corn (I’m telling myself they work for Thanksgiving and Halloween). I also got some Ho Ho Ho from Two Sisters, because there is nothing like a pair of striped festive socks.

I wish I could say it ends there, but I’ve also purchased two advent sock skeins (one stripe a day). Did I need them? No. Did I also purchase a yarn advent calendar? Yup. I also have some yarn coming for the Dumpster Fire Ornament.

I need to take a break from yarn purchases for now. Of course, when you are friends with champion enablers it is hard to stop completely.

Have you been buying yarn lately? Tell me about it. Then send me a link so I can buy some, because I don’t have much faith in thi

We had a taste of fall today. We made some tea and headed outside to do some school and enjoy the afternoon. I was thrilled to try out our new Aldi mugs and break out the knitwear. I am hoping for four more months of fall.

This week is flying. I am actively working on two projects. I have a few more I’m going to cast on for International Cast On All The Things Month, but for now I love what I’m working on.

My Oxbow sweater is plugging along. I’ve now finished both sleeves and I’m working on the ribbing of the body of the sweater. It continues to move quickly when I pick it up.

I started my Hansel out of the alpaca from the orchard. It is a good mindless project that is easy to work on when I’m on the go. I think I’ll love the finished object.

I’m contemplating casting on a new hat, or another new hat, or another sweater. We shall see if I actually do it.

I used Kirsten visiting as an excuse to bake all of the things.

On Sunday morning we had knock off Hardee’s Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits. When I was in elementary school my Dad would take us to Hardee’s for biscuits if we got 100% on our spelling tests. I’m not a strong speller, so I rarely got to enjoy the delicious treat that is a cinnamon raisin biscuit. I still can’t spell, but I can read a recipe so I can eat these whenever I want.

On Saturday I made Starbucks Pumpkin Scones again. This time I made them half the size, which is much more reasonable. Elliot was a very good help when baking them.

I also made cornbread dinner rolls (I will be making them again), oatmeal sandwich bread (it was good, but doesn’t hold up well to toasting), and sourdough banana bread (I’m still buying bananas in the hope that they will go brown before we get to them).

Have you been baking this week?