The sweetest things.

I love those moments checking in on my sleeping children and watching their faces — so peaceful and beautiful.

The past few weeks, my middle child has been extra adorable asking me if I need him to scratch my back before he goes to sleep. ( Let me think — yes! ) And so as he scratches away, he starts talking about whatever happens to be on his mind. It’s so fantastic and I never want him to stop. ( Talking, that is. ) Reluctantly, I tell him that he needs to get some sleep and then another hour goes by and I catch him with his light on reading. Not to single him out from his brothers, but I just want to remember and appreciate this about him, forever.

The blooms are leaving the garden. Summer is quickly coming to an end. We’ve had lots of rain lately and the hugest wild mushrooms you can imagine have been popping up over night.

We’re all getting very ready for Eric to come home. The radiologist replacing him arrives on the 23rd and he’s scheduled to leave Afghanistan on the 30th. With any luck he’ll be home by… my birthday.

White peppercorns.

The colors and seed stitch pattern in this scarf make me think of white peppercorns. I love this scarf for its simplicity and I’m going to love wrapping all six feet of it around me when the weather turns cooler.

I began this scarf in June and decided to finish it over the past few days. Once again, procrastinating the intarsia pillow project.

The pattern & yarn details can be found on my Ravelry page.

Extra long with fringe.

Rain fell all night giving my garden the drink it needs. I love cloudy summer days.

This scarf was a perfect escape from the intarsia pillow I’m currently working on. (It’s a test of my patience to have all those yarns hanging down wanting to tangle the minute the wind blows!)

So, I grabbed the beautiful skein of Malabrigo merino that Kim gave me (Merci, Kim!) and started winding my way in garter stitch. The pattern & yarn details can be found on my Ravelry page.

Tourist shop treasure hunt.

While accompanying my lovely sister-in-law Kim down 4th street in Anchorage (on her hunt for the perfect Alaskan-made hunting knife for her boys), I managed to find these treasures — all made by local artisans.

The Alaskan birch bowl was found at Cabin Fever. The ceramic bowls were found at Sevigny Studio. The blue and white bowl is made using the fascinating Japanese technique, Raku.

Because a girl can never have too many hand-made vessels.

All zipped up.

This past week has been full of focused project work, mostly due to my sister-in-law Kim here visiting from Seattle. When we weren’t going out to eat and getting stuffed, we were knitting. It was a fantastic week.

restaurant log:
Sunday brunch — Snow City Cafe
Monday dinner — Ginger
Wednesday dinner — Kinley’s
Thursday dinner — Bear Tooth Grill
Friday brunch — Snow City Cafe (because it’s that good)

A project I have been procrastinating to finish was these little accessory bags. They’re the perfect size for keeping little things neat and tidy and within easy reach when you need them. They make the perfect gift, if you can stand parting with them.

The pattern is out of Leigh Radford’s One More Skein & you can visit my Ravelry page for more info about the yarn used.