Autumn is subtle in Santa Fe but it’s finally arriving. Mornings are pleasantly chilly but afternoons are still warm. The leaves are just barely starting to turn, but they mix with lingering late summer flowers and berries to make the season quite colorful.

I finished a sweater just in time for the cooler weather.

This is the Mother Moon pullover by Helen Diaz Hilton. I modified the sleeves a bit but otherwise followed the pattern pretty closely. The triple moon took a couple tries but the rest of the sweater was easy and quick to crochet. I see a lot of crochet patterns lately with ribbing and faux cables and other features usually reserved for knitting, and I’m finding them a lot of fun to try out. Don’t get me wrong, I love knitting as well, but it’s fun to learn new techniques and experiment with combining the best of both arts. The same designer recently released the Dainty Bones pattern that uses crochet to imitate knitted colorwork and I’m excited to try that out soon, but first I’m planning on doing some actual knitting.

I’ve also been reading, as usual. It’s finally gotten cold enough to switch on the gas fireplace some mornings and read by the fire over breakfast. I’m making my way through Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s “Paul Clifford” right now. You might not know the book, but most people know the famous first line, “It was a dark and stormy night . . .” It’s been a joke for so long it took me a while to realize it was the real beginning to a real book. The line is often held up as a prime example of overdone purple prose, mostly because the whole sentence is actually as follows: “It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents–except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London where our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.” It’s . . . a lot.

Honestly, the first few pages were a bit hard to get used to and left me wondering what I was getting myself into. As I got used to the writing and the story picked up, though, I found myself really enjoying it. I’m about twenty-six chapters in and it’s quite an adventure with a lot of humor to it. Once I’m finished I’ll give you a proper review, but for now I’ll say I have no regrets about going down this rabbit hole.

I mentioned finally getting cozy by the fire, and that reminds me of tea. Tea and warm toes, the ultimate in autumn comfort. I just barely put in an order to Alchemy of Avalon; I ordered a couple new ones to try–S’mores and Hearthside both sound smoky and delicious–but really I was running out of Earl Grey Creme and Love Spell. Love Spell is probably not supposed to smell like Christmas to me, but it does. I want to be sure I have enough to last well into winter.

A few weeks ago I also tried a different tea company, Valhalla Tea.

You can see the packaging is pretty exciting. I’ve enjoyed the flavors, too. The All Father herbal tastes a whole lot like that mix of fennel seeds and sugar candy they have at Indian restaurants as a digestive treat. I somehow didn’t realize the Black Ceasar had nuts until it arrived–I thought I’d checked thoroughly but I guess I hadn’t–so I can’t try it. Allergic. I’ll send it to one of my tea-loving siblings to sample. ( I think they’d get a kick out of the cool packaging, too, so maybe their holiday gifts will include some more Valhalla samples.) Loki and Protector are lovely, though, especially with just a touch of milk or half and half. I do enjoy a bit of cinnamon in my tea. In fact, I think I’ll leave this here and go make myself some. Until next time, have a beautiful autumn. –Corvus