We had a great weekend with College Guy and his friend Illinois Guy. As you might imagine, he was “oh so happy” to pose for this picture “for the blog”. But I said, “I have to take a photo – otherwise they won’t believe you actually came home!” Ok, that’s not true. I just like getting at least one photo of him when he’s home. (Well it IS true that I told him I needed photo-evidence for the blog. But mostly, I just wanted a picture for me.) He grew up with a scrapbooking mom – he’s pretty tired of photos, I think. (But boy does he have great albums of his life. Someday he’ll appreciate that, right? Or maybe someday his future wife will appreciate it.)
I did a little shopping today. Never mind that I have waaaay too many emails in my in-box to answer. I paid bills AND scheduled a dentist appointment today, and if you know anything about me, you know that those are two of my least favorite things to do. Susan (The Awesome Assistant) told me I deserved to go shopping. And who am I to argue? So slowly, I’m starting to turn the house over to fall. 
Fall is my absolute favorite season of all and I love doing up the house with all things autumn. It would be smart for me to decorate with what I have first, and then see if there are any holes that need filling. But what fun is that? So today I bought this great gourd, and candle. Tonight I’ll get the rest of the stuff out that I already have (after dealing with all of my emails – I promise). Maybe later in the week I’ll go shopping again to fill in the holes. Don’t tell WH. (Who, by the way, really really appreciated all of your birthday wishes last week! And who, by the way, really really hated that I put a picture of him on the blog in an apron. I got in trouble over that one.) š
Just so you don’t think it was all about fall today, I also got this beautiful pottery mug in the mail today from my new favorite pottery place. The pie plate was a gift from a friend, and I immediately hopped right over to the website to see if he had any mugs. (Actually, my friend was going to buy me mugs, but knew of my “mug problem“. Obviously that didn’t stop me. Obviously that is why I have a mug problem.) John does amazing work and is featured in several museums. I’m happy to have these two pieces from him.
I also found this fun bag today. (Did I mention that I have a bag problem, too? I’m addicted to great bags. sigh. Surely there are some of you out there who share this affliction??) I love the way this gal tied on a bunch of fun ribbons. I tried to get her to make them for us at Loopy, but she is having a hard time keeping enough in stock at the shop where she works. She kept my card, so maybe in the future.
I’m thinking we won’t have an official Sneak Up this week. Only because Susan felt the need to take off to San Diego for the rest of the week. (She needs a vacation from the yarn. Go figure.) And while the other Loopy Elves and I could probably handle a Sneak Up without her, it just wouldn’t be as much fun! So we’ll take a little breather and be back next week with more fun stuff. (“What stuff?”, you ask? Well, we have Yarn Pirate, Yarntini, more Fiesta, more from Schafer, and the new Classic Elite Alpaca Sox yarn, for a start. Plus more of Wendy’s Patterns. And oh BOY, wait until you see our two newest indie dyers! They won’t be here next week – but they’ll be here in October.) Also, we are heading out of town on Friday morning to visit College Guy for Parent’s Weekend at his college. (I know – I’m spoiled, aren’t I?) So orders placed Thursday night and into the weekend, will start shipping on Monday morning.
And now, the September Loopy Loot contest. Since Fall is my favorite season, I’d love to know something that you like about the Fall. Do you have certain family traditions for the season? Special recipes that you make? Decorations that you love? A favorite Fall memory from your childhood? What makes the Fall special for you and your familiy? Leave your answer in the blog comments and we’ll randomly pick one winner. This month, the winner will receive two skeins of highly coveted yarn – a skein of Wollmeise in Raku-Regenbogen (I kept one of these for myself!) PLUS a skein of the beautiful Pumpkin Spice from Yarntini. Woohoo!
Sheri whatbetterwaytocelebrateFallthanwithnewyarnfortheseason?
I love fall for 2 reasons. One, You get to pull out all your wool socks and put them on without people looking at you funny, like they do when I wear mine in the summer š (I love my socks!!)
And Two, Fall reminds me of my Uncle David. It was his favorite time. Especially Halloween. We would have a Halloween party every year and make apple cider and go trick-or-treating. His birthday is in October too…Man how I miss him!
By the way love the bag and the mug…it’s always nice to treat yourself to some goodies!
Fall is not my favorite season I hate to say. I love Spring and Summer with all the flowers and green everywhere. I live in western New York and our Winter season lasts about seven months and everything is grey, grey, grey for so long. Fall is just a precursor to Winter. I try, though, to enjoy the beautiful leaves and how they crunch under my feet when I walk in the woods. I do enjoy pumpkin pie (got to love those pumkin spice lattes at Starbucks!!!!!) so I guess I’d say that was my favorite thing about fall! I do get to wear my new knitted socks now, too!
fall for me is all about thanksgiving, after spending my first thanksgiving away from my family in the fall of 2001 in new york city (you may remember what happened in nyc in sept of that year) my best friend started a tradition where she visited me wherever i was in the world and we made a huge amount of food. we have carried on the tradition every year since and have celebrated friendship in nyc, paris, berlin, and california over the years. i guess thanksgiving is more than just a meal for me, it’s a way to create memories with her each year.
I love the fall also. Every September my sister and I have a big party to celebrate all the birthdays and anniversaries. My sister, my brother-in-law and my husband all have September birthdays. Both of our wedding anniversaries are in September. After taking the kids apple picking (7 between the 2 of us) we head back to her house for BBQ and apple pie baking. I peel and slice, she rolls the crust and bakes, the husbands (and us) eat! It’s great fun.
Oh, words fail me. Autumn has always always always been my favorite season, even as a tomboy who practically lived outdoors during the summer. Something about the intense intense blue of skies here in West Virginia, paticularly in October, just grab me. Even the harsh, icy winds that other people hate? I open my jacket and run into them. Our winters are somewhat disappointing, normally, not much snow, so it’s cold and grey. Fall is a riot of wind, blue, and leaves. Hmm. Need to write poem.
Oops, and I forgot to mention one of my favorite fall memories, which is very simply. My older sister bought some colored construction paper, and sent us younger ones out to collect leaves. I remember practically fighting over some leaves! Then, we glued the leaves to the paper, and she took a picture. Childish, but I still remember the excitement. And another ‘glue related!” memory; which is of a freakishly beautiful Thanksgiving Day, when we had the doors wide open for the spicy breeze, and my older sister and I cut out pictures of jewelry from a catalog and named them, before pasting them onto paper. I still remember the perfect weather.
Autumn is my favorite season as well. I love the colors and the cooler days. It means taking out the wool yarn and knitting cozy things. It also means that I can use my oven again without dying… and I LOVE to use my oven. I try to eat what’s in season, so we are starting to eat more squash, pears, and apples. I have a great recipe for pumpkin muffins up on my blog. They were SO good!
Have fun visiting College Guy.
For me, the biggest fall tradition is school supply shopping!!!! I’ve always loved, LOVED school supplies so I guess it was inevitable that I become a teacher. This way, I’m guaranteed school supplies for the next 25 years or so! I don’t really have a favorite fall recipe per se, but I do see it as a return of “soup” weather. I try to expand my soup recipes each year.
My favorite thing about fall is my daughter’s comment – fall makes my heart open up. I know exactly what she means.
Fall to me means apples and burrs. Going to an apple orchard, seeing/tasting all the different varieties of local apples, and coming home with WAY more apples than I should.
And burrs? I know the end of summer is near when my dog comes out of a meadow with a few little burrs on her coat. And it’s definitely fall when she carries burrs and those little stickies that look like wood ticks. Fortunately, she’s a lab so her coat doesn’t hold on to the burrs; they either fall off or are easily combed out. But it’s such a joy to see her leaping through the dried grass of a prairie – I swear she’s smiling!
Fall is all about the apples for our family. Nothing beats a trip to the orchard for a bag full of apples and a gallon of cider. While I don’t like the fact that the days are getting shorter, the longer, cool nights offer plenty of opportunity to snuggle on the couch with a quilt and a project to work on.
Fall is a big season in our house. DH’s birthday, both of my sister’s birthday, and a cousin’s birthday are all in October, so we go over to mom’s house and have a Fall birthday party for everyone. Lots of wine, lots of food, and really funny gifts.
It’s also the season of leaf jumping for the kids (which is one of my favorite memories as a child as well). We don’t have many trees around our house, but mom and dad do – so we take the kids over there, rake up the leaves, and jump! I love getting pictures of the kids with leaves in their hair.
Finally, it’s the season of pumpkins and Halloween. This year Master G and HRH are going to be Thing 1 and Thing 2. I”m going to knit them blue fun fur caps for their hair. Master G is old enough to really get into the pumpkin carving. HRH loves her “Mr. Halloween Potato Head” pieces that she can use to make her pumpkin face.
This is my favorite time of the year – leaves changing colors, cool mornings, sunny days and the Montpelier Fiber Festival (which, by the way, you should do some year!)
Fall is my absolute favorite season of the year for many reasons. First, I love cool but not cold weather. I love the changing color of the leaves, and the appearance of pumpkins on the porches of my neighbors. I love to go to a nearby farm with my kids for a hayride to the pumpkin patch. I love the faces of my kids when they find pumpkins almost as big as them. But most of all, I love the newness that fall seems to bring….new clothes, new shoes and new pocketbook…just to mention a few.
I love it when winter squashes start appearing in the stores. My husband is a big fan of roasted butternut squash soup and has half a dozen recipes in his repertoire. It’s fun, because I am not allowed to make the soup. It’s his soup, it’s the only soup he makes, and by golly he’s going to make it and I’d better not. I always know it’s fall when he starts making squash soup!
What in the world is the Thanksgiving Squirrel??????
Fall is a really hard time of the year for me. I live in Phoenix which means we really never experience fall. I grew up in New England (the heart of the fall season if you ask me) in Connecticut. Crawling with large oak trees, sugar maples and covered bridges…huge pumpkin patches, scarecrow stuffing places and well, REAL apple cider. I try each year to go back to visit my sisters. This year I can’t go back which makes me sad and I wish I was there to celebrate the season with them. Fall tops Christmas for me. The smell of the burning leaves, the taste of pumpkin chocolate chip bread, jumping in a pile of freshly raked leaves….ah, fall…..may we meet again someday.
School clothes! It was always hard work going through my closet to get rid of things that didn’t fit — I certainly didn’t enjoy trying on everything I had. But the reward was a clothes-shopping trip with my mother, which was terrific — we’d get a big pile of clothes on our arms and as I was trying them on, my mom would be running back and forth between racks and the dressing room with other outfits and other sizes for me to try. It was certainly a labor of love for her, and I always had some spiffy new outfits for school each year!
What’s not to love about Fall? The weather cools down from stifling hot to cool comfort, rain comes to relieve the parched plants, and Mother Nature decorates in my favorite color – orange!
Fall also brings Halloween ( my mom’s birthday) and our local sci-fi club’s annual Halloween party. My first date ever was to one of those parties my freshman year in college (1985). I wore a pair of elf ears and the dress from my high school graduation; my date went as Cronos, Father Time from Piers Anthony’s “Bearing an Hourglass”. Turns out his costume was more appropriate than either of us knew – twenty-two years later we’re still together, married for eleven years, and bringing our three boys to this year’s party.
When we moved to Minnesota four years ago we started a tradition of playing in the leaves every year. One day after school we rake the leaves up and just play in them. I usually take some pictures and send them to the family. I also look forward to hot chocolate, chili and pumpkin pie.
We decorate our yard with ghosts, trick-or-treat with the neighborhood kids, and eat lots of chocoate!
oh that wollmeise is pretty! (although i had to google to find a pic) in fall i like to drive up into the canyon and admire the beautiful colours.
Fall means nice warm sweaters and lots of yummy smelling candles for the house.
Dawn
As soon as that first crisp breeze hits my nose, I start thinking of big pots of soup. My favorite first fall soup is an Italian Minestrone that uses all the fresh vegetables that are still in the farmer’s market. And then, baking. Apples, plum, pears, things with nuts. Speaking of which, fall makes me go kind of nuts!
Fall in Hawaii means the days are shorter….the weather starts to cool. It’s the start of the “cold” season for us…..we start wearing covered shoes, light sweaters….and drinking more coffee and tea!
Of course…since our tradewinds are getting stronger…we have more indoor hobbies such as knitting!!!!
Yippee! You really know when Fall is here when you can smell the pumpkin…Starbucks pumpkin flavors, pumpkin pie, pumpkin candles…..yummy!
I grew up in the desert southwest- fall was still hot. Most years we could sunbathe in December. No leaves, pumpkin patches, etc.
As an adult, I lived a few years in northern New Mexico. Fall was great- hillsides of golden aspen, dusting of snow on the peaks, and best of all, the smell of roasting green chile. Heaven. I was a wilderness manager at that time and fall also meant cold fingers and stiff leather- saddling horses for horseback patrols during hunting season, saying farewell to seasonal employees, and putting things to bed for the winter.
Now in the Pacific Northwest, fall is a bit gloomier for me moodwise- seasonal depression. I notice the shorter days in August. I like how the quality of light changes- a little flatter, not so bright, but there’s just not enough of it. I’m on the east side of the Cascades, and there are plenty of fall colors and little rain. Other than the loss of light and the bit of melancholy and dread that accomany it, I like fall- that feeling of getting settled in for the winter, the colors, the quiet, the cat wanting to crawl under the covers…a cozy time.
I absolutely love the fall! Every year we all go apple picking and then spend the next few weeks (months?) baking wonderful apple things. Every time I smell an apple candle, or see an apple colored yarn I think of the wonderful memories of the season.
My favourite Autumn memory is from a few years back. My parents and I went out into the dead-leaves and hint-of-winter-winds smelling forest to pick mushrooms. Something we did all every autumn weekend through my growing up. It was amazing to wander the rustling leaf-beds in the still warm sun and feel my whole past concertina in and out. I was three – on my first self-propelled walk there, ten and happily skippety-hopping, a sulky teenager kicking leaves (pleased to be there but one just can’t admit that.. :-)) and a grown woman all rolled into one, but also very distinct and separate phases of me. The frequent finds of bright-yellow or comfortable brown treasure broke the kaleidoscope only briefly then set it off again. This is where one of my brothers fell into a nest of morelles, this is were we saw the bear.The four hours of mushroom cleaning and chopping was a good continuation, the three of us gossipping about family and trading adult-opinions. The taste of the soup we made just summed up the scents, colours and warmth of the day.
I had long moved away when I visited, not only from my parents but from the country as well, and it was grand to reconnect with my roots, my past selves and the two best parents in the world.
Fall is my favorite season. I love the filtered light, the cooler days and nights, and the back to school “new-ness” of it.
It also marks my return to cooking and baking. As soon as it’s cool enough to use the oven without overheating everyone in the house, I make apple pie. With McIntosh apples. And huge pots of chili. And pot roast.
My kids are already planning our Halloween decorations and costumes. My third grader is planning on putting up bats EVERYWHERE he can, while my 3-year-old twins pretend to be ghosts with their blankies over their heads.
I love fall because the days are warm and the nights are cool. I get all fired up to start baking cookies and bread. Nothing smells better than coming into the house with that smell.
Add me to the list of people who said “Fall is my favorite season”. My favorite things about fall are:
– The air is cooler and crisp.
– Apples and pumpkins (and the pies that they make!).
– The leaves changing.
– Halloween!
– And with Halloween comes lots of scary movies on TV. I love scary movies!!
– No guilt for not weeding the garden.
I love fall because the moment it shows up the hot-hot-muggy-hot weather in Baltimore ends, and it gets cool in the morning and warm in the afternoon. It’s no longer humid, either, so we can actually enjoy the sun and not melt into puddles. I also love it just before the leaves all turn, where just the edges are orange and red. Plus, the cooler it is in the morning, the better to drink hot tea and wear wool socks. I think autumn is my favourite of the four. I can sleep with blankets on and be cozy, but not wake up with frozen toes. Also, pie.
I live in Miami, so as far as Fall goes, it’s pretty much the same thing as Spring and Summer around here, but I do notice that the air gets a bit crisper, especially around Halloween, the night takes over quicker then it used to, and people seem to be just a little happier about life then if it was the usual 210 degree summer we have out here. It also makes it harder for mosquitoes to reproduce and drain all the blood out of me, so that’s always a nice perk about it getting just a bit cooler.
Something that I do absolutely love about the Fall season is that everywhere you go there is always this incredible smell of food in the air during the evenings. It’s as if in the Fall all the amateur chefs come out and start to cook, and it smells GREAT! And the best part……HALLOWEEN!!! I LOVE Halloween! I love being able to dress up like a freak without having people stare and point. I love watching the kids get all dolled up in cute little costumes and beg for candy. And what I used to absolutely love about Halloween were the marshmellow popcorn balls my grandmothers neighbor used to cook up for the kids before she passed. OMG, those things were like a slice of heaven on earth! I used to con my brother out of his as a kid, and eventually he caught on to it and that stopped, so I was down to one marshmellow popcorn ball for Halloween, but they were good while they lasted.
Pumpkin Bread! And buying waaay too many apples and baking things.
Also, that blue color that the sky only gets in fall.
Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. My birthday being in October might have something to do with it; but mostly it’s everything else about fall that I love. The leaves turning, the smell of fires in my neighbors’ fireplaces, apple cider, and my favorite things – apple and pumpkin pies! My tradition every fall is to make pies. My uncle has a pumpkin patch, so I get lovely pumpkins every year for baking. I also love to go pick apples with my family. Then, I spend a weekend making pies – big pies, little pies, tarts, and breads. The smells are amazing in my house! And of course fall means I’m that much closer to my favorite holiday – Christmas! The decorations,..the tree,…I could go on and on….
I have to agree with all that said school supplies!!! I have to buy them! (Even when I don’t need them.) I can’t pass buy a shelf with notebooks without stopping to look. I think I am possessed! My teenagers think I have cleanned out staples!
Also getting back to routines, knitting, cooking, knitting, baking, knitting more… you get the idea!
Fall is apple baking season: apple pies, apple crisp, apple dumplings, etc.–all from scratch.
Returning to the blessed coolness! When hot flashes occur one only has to step outside to cool down. (sorta giving away my age,eh?)
Oooh I forgot apple cider. And hot spiced apple cider. And the Caramel Apple Ciders from Starbucks!
I think I might be just a little hungry…
Fall means that it’s time to start baking bread again! Sunday afternoons are for bread-baking, and knitting is the perfect way to pass the time while I wait for the dough to rise. Mmmm… the smell of fresh-baked bread in the house is heavenly!
Fall for me means putting on my wonderful knit socks again with a sweatshirt. (Shorts,too!) I love being able to make desserts with the apples from the local orchards. Decorating with leaves, candles, and bittersweet is fun too.
I love fall. It all starts with apple picking. I make apple sauce, apple pie and apple cake. Then we rake the leaves. I jump in the piles of leaves. Yup…I am 40 and I still love to jump in them. I am a 5 year old at heart. I love cooking and after the hot summer it is fun to get into the kitchen and cook and cook.
It’s also fun to curl up and knit without sweating;-)
I love Fall. My family has always loved Fall. My mom would pack us up in her little blue escort when I was little and we would go to the North Georgia mountains. We would pan for gold, buy the best apples in Ellajay, go to a huge flea market outside of Helen, explore caves, and just glory in the middle time between Summer and Winter. My favoorite memory was when my little brother who was probably about three at the time fell into the cold creek behind a mill. He was wearing his favorite cowboy boots and a tshirt my mom and I had painted him. We told him to back away from the rocks, that they were slippery, but he wanted to splash.
And then, quick as anthing, he fell in all the way. It was just the funniest thing ever. He wasn’t hurt and our whole family laughed and laughed. Even he laughed after we fished him out of the cold running water. It just felt great to be a family that day. My parents divorced when I was fifteen, so things weren’t always this way. It’s still one of my favorite memories.
I have now managed to move far enough out of the Southern part of the state to see the leaves actually change. I’m only a few hours’ drive from the places we frequented when I was small.
Add me to the “fall is my favorite season too” club! I love the crisp, cooler air, the leaves changing, the shorter days, apple cider, pumpkin pie, and soup. And of course, being able to wear wool socks again!
And I just LOVE the colors of fall.
Oh, and I don’t have to mow the lawn every single week anymore š
I love because it gives me such a snuggly feeling. It is also my favorite time of year.
I love to bake & make lots of soups & stews. I love to decorate. I have these cute scarecrows & pumpkins. Also I put up these cute little wooden “kids” dressed in different costumes for Halloween. My friend painted them. I love the smell & making apple pies. Enjoy this time of year!!! whooo hooooo
I love the leaves changing š Just not raking them up.
My favorite thing each year is the first fire that we have in our fireplace. It’s so cozy–we can’t wait for the evenings to finally get cold enough.
Hands down, Halloween!
Fall is definitely my favorite season too!! I love the crispness in the air, the turning leaves and for my family and I a trip to the pumpkin patch was always such fun. Coming home with pumpkins and apples for pie and gourds!! I love to have a basket of gourds on the table. I enjoy choosing them… it’s almost like choosing yarn, picking colors and shapes and sizes that compliment each other.
Fall is my favorite time of year and all about baking, which leads to me gaining a little more weight around this time of year, but oh well š Halloween is also my favorite holiday, so I start to prep for that and try to think of some kind of interesting costume to wear. It’s also wonderful to just be cozy around a warm fire with a good cup of coffee and great reading material. I just love fall!
Apple picking, apple cider, and anything with pumpkins! Whole Foods’ website has a great pumpkin muffin recipe.