It's Definitely Autumn!

John was almost lamenting the fact that, at the college, there were almost no leaves on the ground. No leaves on the ground and being almost caught up with other tasks would mean a possible shortage of things to keep him busy. The lack of wind was keeping them from falling. Well, I have a feeling that's just changed.

The car in the picture below parked there early last night, around 8:00. (Incidentally, I won't say a single word about the paint job on that car.) This morning, as you can see, it's almost buried in leaves. It's been raining and I'm sure that's helped the trees to shed their stubborn leaves. This morning is a moist one, with clouds hanging low on the surrounding hills, almost obscuring them. Though wet, it's quite warm, 10C or about 50F. Even though it's gray, I really don't mind a day like today; in a way, I find it comforting. It's fresh, but not cold, warm but not cloying; the air feels clean. You could curl up on the couch with a book (or your knitting) or you could go out for a nice walk. It's that kind of comforting.

As for knitting, I have been doing a few rows on my gloves every day and now I'm at the point of starting the pinky. I should have this glove done this weekend, barring any unforeseen circumstances. The little mittens for little hands are coming along, too. The pink ones, as you know are done and the purple ones are nearly done, too. I had intended to work on them during my lunch breaks at work, but that didn't happen. I'm almost at the shaping for the top on the second mitten, leaving only the thumb to do. Then I'll cast on one more pair in a boyish shade, for Teagan. Incidentally, I found out on Thursday, after a conversation with the grandkids on Skype, that Oceanna's mittens are the pink ones and the purple ones are Trinity's, to match their new jackets. It was good to "see" them!

Kristen is one tired mom right now; all four kids have, or are getting over, nasty colds. There's no confirmation that they've got H1N1, but it is definitely going around their town. Earlier this week, a 26 year old woman in their town died from the disease, apparently with no underlying medical condition. Scary stuff!

On to happier things... last time I was in the yarn shop, in addition to picking up some yarn for my gloves, I bought this yarn:

It's Marks & Kattens Fame Trend. I've heard of Marks & Kattens before, but I've never worked with any of their yarns. This is a fingering weight yarn, single ply, 75% superwash wool and 25% polyamid, 100 grams/420 metres. It feels almost like the Noro sock yarn, but softer. I'm thinking of making a shawl with it, but I'm not positive yet. I might do some experimentation with it. As you can see, it has a lovely variety of colour in it, ranging from an almost black navy blue, to a pale gray/blue.

On Ravelry, I've seen some lovely shawls done with yarn similar to this (think Zauberball, for those of you on Rav), the gradations in the yarn giving an extra "texture" to the finished shawl. I was thinking of that when I bought the yarn, but now I'm thinking other things as well. We'll see. It's something to play with, right? Play is good!