Fall is here

 It's been a minute since I last wrote.  September has been a bit of a rough month. Over the course of the first part of the month I've thought how I was going to write this blog post.  Events at the national and world level got me such that I shared this on my book of faces ...

and disappeared in to the woods. So to speak.  

A wonderful place to be when you want to get away from the noise of the world. 

Hunting season started on Sept. 13 and I've spent a fair amount of time out in the back 20, disconnected from social media, by choice, and thinking, knitting, listening to audiobooks and staring out at the trees. 

A little bit of the knitting while I was out there. 

Not a lot of fall colors out there yet. 

Just a lot of brown. 

I am happy to share that I have filled one of my tags.  I also had a hunting buddy one of the days I was sitting out there. 

It's hard to tell, but that is a tree frog hiding in my blind. Oh, and he was loud when he croaked. 

Then I saw this meme. I have no idea where, and decided I liked it. Seriously. There really isn't anything good on social media anymore. 

When I wasn't out in the woods I was re-watching Fr. Brown Mysteries, and even started a few books. 

Crafting slowed down.  I've barely touched my cross stitch.  I've done some knitting and crochet. 

Look at this sweet little Octopus. 

I made it for a little girl who keeps trying to sneak away her baby sister’s Octopus. The mom told me they “fight” over the one I made for her baby girl, because both daughters love it so much.

Started: Sept. 24, 2025
Completed: Sept. 25, 2025
Yarn: I love this yarn
Colorway: Sugarplum stripe
Hook size: 3.5 mm

I have a few other things I'll share on my next video. 

Soooooo ... if anyone was wondering, that's where I've been. Offline for the most part. I'm slowly dipping my toes back online.

I have been keeping an eye on the number of views/hits on my last blog post. I'm at more than 2,500 views. My friend Becky said it's probably bots. Which, is another reason to dislike what's going on with social media and the Internet. 

Anywho ... I've never written on this blog for hits. It was to hopefully meet other crafters and let family know what's going on. Unfortunately, I doubt family reads the blog, because it's not just a quick post on a social media site, and crafters are mostly on social media sites that are now too busy to make real connections.  

Fortunately, the connections I've been making with other cross stitchers and crafters has been through Youtube. Or I've already known them for 100 years. 

So this blog post ends on a more light note, here's a photo of bee in one of the garden hollyhocks. 

Oh, I almost forgot. If you want to receive notifications of when I write blog posts, there's a sign up on the right side of the blog. Thank you for reading! 

Well, now that September is here ...

 August started slow. It ended fast. 

Crazy how that keeps happening. 

I will have to take a look at my phone camera roll and see if I took photos of anything interesting the last few weeks. It's starting to feel like a broken record around here: It's quiet and not a whole lot is going on.

So let's see ... 

About mid-month I was listening to Yarn Over With Us and they were chatting about some really affordable interchangeable knitting needles. 

I was enabled and bought a set. 

 I'm just now using them for the first time, while knitting, ripping, and then reknitting dishcloths. 

So far so good. I really like the cables.  The needle tips themselves are light weight and they have a little bit of grip on them. They aren't as smooth and as slick as my chiao goos, but that's okay. 

Our weather is still all over the place. The forecasters still can't nail it. This day we were supposed to have sun and nice temps. Instead we got clouds that were foreboding and no sun. 

We are still doing picnic lunches by the lake, after biking there. 

The bike rides may be winding down now, for a few reasons.

One, I decided to upgrade my e-bike. 

My sweet little Seabiscuit is off to a new home.  Down in Texas, if you can believe it. South Padre Island. 

The new e-bike has been ordered and it won't be delivered until October. 

The other big reason is that hunting season is just around the corner. Yup. Bow opener is Sept. 13. 

I don't know what's going on with the deer this year. They've decided my front yard is the perfect place to hang out and tussle. I shot a video last week and shared it to Youtube. 

They are fun to watch. 

Back on Aug. 19 I swung by Aldi after a doctor appointment. 

The season of the pumpkin pie spice is here. 

I'm not a fan. I'll take a good apple cider, however. 

I'm slowly working on a few fly ties. It's a lot of fun picking color combinations. 

About mid-month I've started feeling better, physically.  Most of my free time has been dedicated to playing catch up on a few things and cleaning.  I wanted to get a good deep clean in before winter set it.  Well, ideally before hunting and canning seasons started.  It's something to strive for. 

We've been pulling plenty of cucumbers out of the garden.  I think I'll wind up with a late bumper harvest of tomatos. 

When I was looking through my camera roll I was confused with this one.  Then I remembered it was a photo I took and sent to my cousin. She was asking if the fall colors had started yet. 

I have been crafting a bit. Not as much as I probably could. 

Red Panda, part of the Endangered Species club, 2024 Started: July, 5, 2025 Finished: Designer: Lindy Stitches Fabric: Hobby Lobby Aida Color: Ivory Fabric Count: 16 count DMC: B5200, 355, 310, 3825, 3776, 951, 3836,03, 436, Weeks Dye Works: 1236 (Mocha), 4111 (Lucky), 1267 (Kris' Bon Bon) Needle size: 26

I've been bitten by the crochet bug. On this past Friday I grabbed some dishcloth yarn and a crochet hook and started stitching.  Then I grabbed those new knitting needles and started a knit dishcloth.  Only I didn't pay much attention to the directions and messed up.  So I ripped it out and crocheted another dishcloth. 

I think I've made five dishcloths in total. 

The weather has been the main reason I haven't recorded a new flosstube or garden video.  I'm crossing my fingers that I'll have one lunch hour this week that is sunny and not overcast. 

Something ... odd has been going on the last couple of weeks. I noticed the number of views on my blog has spiked significantly. I'm wondering if I was linked somewhere? 

I guess that's all the news from Lake Woebegone. ... Until the next time ... Laters!