Hello! Just popping in with a little post to show off my grandson modeling a new hat that will be a gift this Christmas. He spent the night last night and this morning I asked him to model a hat for me. He initially will say no to a modeling gig and then I offer a bribe, usually a cookie, but this time I gave him two delicate starfish to play with and he was thrilled with the responsibility. The hat is Tincture by Andrea Mowry. It uses the mosaic colorwork technique and is a super fun project. I used leftover stash yarn and that info is on my Ravelry project page. You need about 100 yards of each color so it's a great pattern for leftover bits.

Our summer has been mild and lovely and we've been so busy in the garden. Towards mid-August my California vegetable garden, that has been hard at work since very early spring, is now getting throughly pooped out. Today I tore out half of the cucumber plants, and think that next week I'll say goodbye to some squash plants. The tomatoes are starting to slow way down but I did manage to pick a several buckets last week and roast 5 pans for tomato sauce. I'l have some smaller harvests, one tomorrow actually, but the big one last week will be my last big tomato harvest. It made 11 quarts so my freezer is getting nice and full and we are having tomato soup tonight.  We are having a very small BLT party this Friday and I'm eyeing all my plants to see which ones will be giving us the best slicers. We have a new dahlia patch this year and I'm hoping to get some decent pictures and show you the gorgeous variety of flowers that a dahlia tuber makes. My arrangements have been kind of amazing this summer. :) 

Several readers sent me book recommendations and I appreciate that so much! I'm now reading The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. I'm halfway through it and I love it but it's killing me--the dust bowl during the depression, what a hard life. A reader, thank you PJ, recommended Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger. I have it on wait-list but was able to borrow another by the author called This Tender Land. Loved it and highly recommend it (orphans raised in an Indian school during the depression). I've also got The Personal Librarian on wait-list. Any book or author recommendations are always welcome.