purple socks

I honestly have to go look to see when it was that I last posted. I was thinking I had skipped July entirely. I didn't. but I did start working on a project that is now finished that I still can't tell you about... YET.

So I'll tell you what I can tell you.

First the jam/preserving update. I'm struggling this year to get peaches in enough quantity to can. The orchard that I use must have had a bad spring because they stopped cherry sales WAY early this year and I had to find another vendor. And they aren't promising peaches in quantity until MAYBE after labor day. Timing wise that's ok for me. Kids go back to school and I have time to sit and peel peaches. It's the maybe part that is frustrating me. If I wait until labor day, then I pass up other vendors, probably. If I don't, I might miss out on my very favorite orchard. In the meantime, I made one batch of peach vanilla jam with mostly peaches bought from another vendor. I'll be making regular peach jam as soon as the 1/2 peck on my counter ripens. I may can a pint or two too if they get to ripening faster than we are eating.

And knitting... after I finished the secret project, I cast on immediately for a pair of socks for me.

Knitting on the road. Ok the parking lot as I wait.

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on Aug 24, 2017 at 11:17am PDT

The yarn is "Purple Rain" by Modeknit yarn. This was a special colorway designed after the death of the Artist formerly known as Prince. I bought it then and have been admiring it on the shelf where I out it after I wound it (because it was so pretty!).

You can't tell in that picture, but I am knitting this in the car. This has been the week my girls started marching band and I've spent more time waiting for practice to be over this week than I care to admit. In addition, before band season started, I had my knitting time back! Every night we have been watching a little tv again, only instead of this being quiet adult time that it used to be after kids were in bed, it has become family time. We like reality shows like Face Off and Chopped, but are anxiously awaiting the second season of Designated Survivor. I'd also like to share project runway with my kids, so I'm looking forward to that. I think when school starts up again, that will slack off simply because of time. But car knitting will almost certainly continue. Also, I'll need to figure out if I can knit during high school football games. I don't know how cold it will get before I'll need mittens. But I could knit mittens and then I'd be prepared I guess. Heck, I have always wanted to learn to make Thrummed mittens.