happy campers

I am a bit overwhelmed by the positive reaction to Cris. Who knew so many other people would find a mole with nose tentacles as cute as I do?? Anyway, thank you all for your sweet comments, and rest assured, I will be writing up & posting the pattern soon!

More good news: Les has chosen the next critter to be knitted & felted... but I'm going to let him tell you what it is. So stay tuned for a guest post + exciting announcement... um, some time. Soon. Very soon.

So, speaking of happy, here's me, at 8 am on Labor Day:



As you can see, I am wearing a jacket and knitting a sock in front of a roaring campfire. Well, you have to imagine the fire. It's right there on the other side of the pile of wood on the ground.

Over Labor Day weekend we went camping at one of our favorite places, Rocky Knob, on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. The weather was just gorgeous - the overnight temperatures were in the 50's! It was so beautiful! I can't tell you how happy it made me to knit in front of a fire after weeks and weeks of evil, sweltering weather. We stopped and bought apples and a pumpkin - a pumpkin! - at a roadside stand on the way home.

Of course, it's back in the 90's again here in central North Carolina, but I know for sure now that fall really is on the way. And if fall is on the way, that means fall leaves, fall colors, sweaters, scarves, nippy air, lettuce in the garden, bike riding without streaming sweat... I can't wait!

I love spending the night outside and waking up to birdsong. Camping is so relaxing, though it used to make me anxious to plan everything properly. Tomorrow I'll be doing a blog post at Sew Green about tools for simpler camping - some of the things that have made it more relaxing for me. Til then... think of pumpkins!