YOP LIST 2023-2024

Thursday, December 27, 2007

After Christmas

Howdy everyone. It is a couple of days after Christmas and I am still in the Spirit of the season. Although this will be a short post as I am doing it at the office. My computer at home has a busted processor and we had to order one and it will be 2 weeks before we get it. I really miss my computer too!

I did manage to get all the items done before Christmas that I wanted completed. All the hats and scarves were finished and sent to Chicago with time to spare. I finished my sweater for ME, all the chapel veils have been sewn and handed out to those that I had promised them to. So now I am in between projects and I am looking over my yarn stash deciding what I want to tackle next. I have so many things I want to make but I want to make sure I do something that is "warm" on my lap because in about 4 months I will not do anything that has to lay on my lap.

If any of you have a suggestion as to what to make next let me know. I am thinking of working on the afghan that is on my loom that I started 2 years ago. I still love the colors but it seems to take a lot of time to get anywhere on it. So What do you like to make during the winter months? Let me know and maybe I will take up one of the suggestions and run with it.

I hope all of you had a wonderful and blessed Christmas and hopefully my computer will be fixed the first of next year so I can put up some pictures and a really good posting!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Update

This is just a mini update for you all.

My Father in Law went to his Dr yesterday to get some of his results. The lung biopsy showed the irregular shaped tumor on his lung was not malignant. He does however have a "regular" shaped one in the other lobe of the same lung that was not biopsied yet. He is still scheduled for a PET scan the 21st of this month and they still want him to keep that appointment. He is also scheduled for the removal of the squamous cell on the side of his face the 19th of this month. The squamous cell is quite large so we are thinking they are going to have to do a Mohs procedure on it to get it all.

We are giving thanks though for the "good" report on the biopsy and we continue to pray that all the other reports will return in like manner.

One thing about this type of stress................It makes me bury my hands in yarn. I have completed my Daughter in Law's hat and scarf and hats for my two grandsons. I should complete the scarves today and off in the mail they will go on Wednesday. Then I can complete the sweater that I started for ME back in August. YEAH. Gosh after that the possiblities are endless as to what I will do next.

I must tell you about our weather though. I know this will sound trite to those of you living in the north or the east but here goes anyways. Life here in the desert is interesting. Our average rainfall per year is 7 inches. We have fallen short of that for the past 5 years so we are in a terrible drought. Our summer temperatures stayed above 100 degrees for over 100 days this year. For the past two weekend we have had rain and lots of it. I think where I live I have measureds 4 inches in the past two weekends. I know this does not sound like a big deal but it is to us. You have to understand that our ground is "baked" in the summer so any rain we get runs off pretty much. So when we get this much rain in that short of a time we get some wonderful flooding and streets that wash away. Also our temperatures have really dropped quickly here. I hate to say this because some of you will think we are wimpy but our highs are only in the 50's this week. But compared to 115 degrees that is quite a drop. Our blood thins out here so anything belowe 70 is pretty cold to us. I know when we lived in PA, KS, TX I thought that 50 sounded wonderful when we were having windchills of minus 20 degrees in those places. Then when I moved here I understood why 50 is bone chilling.

Here is the funny part. We are a BIG area for retired people to spend their winters in. We can tell the winter visitors apart from the "regulars" easily. The WV are the ones running around in bermuda shorts and sandals when it is 50 outside while the rest of us are in wool coats, gloves, hats and scarves. But you really would have to see the WV's to appreciate it. The men wear the bermuda shorts, long dark dress socks and birkenstock sandals with some crazy saying on their tee shirts. The ladies wear their "walking shorts" with tennis shoes and usually a nice shirt. All of their legs are stark white since they come from places that usually the summers are short and the UV index is around 3 all year round. Maybe someday I will get a picture of this "happening" that we see all winter an post it on here. Then you could chuckle along with all of us "zonies".

I will keep you updated on my father in law as we learn more. Please continue to pray for his health. And have yourself a wonderful day crafting and enjoying the life God has given you!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

I'm Here!

Hello there. Bet you wondered if I was ever going to update my blog. Well, here I am and I am updating now.

It has been a strange couple of months since the last time I blogged. Lets see if I can get all of this down in the right order. (Don't bet on that one!)

My DH and I celebrated 32 years of marriage on the 18th of October. The time has really flown by and as we get older it goes oh so much quicker. In October my DH went to Las Vegas to visit his parents and to meet up with a few of his 6 siblings. While there they convinced Dad to go to a Dr as he has a growth on his face that does not look too good. The Dr did some x-rays and biopsied the growth. Now it looks like we might be dealing with lung cancer. (we are still waiting on more test results to find out for sure)

In NOvember DH went back to Las Vegas to accompany his dad to his specialist appointment and try and help get the pending tests set up ASAP. Then while he was gone our son who has lived in WA for the past 15 years decided to move here and look for a job. Of course during this we had a retreat at our church we were involved in coordinating, had a football party to co host, not to mention Thanksgiving meal to help prepare. Then we also had our Grand Daughter for the whole Thankgiving weekend into that Monday as her parents went to Las Vegas for their 5th wedding anniversary. So during her stay my mom and I and DGD baked cookies, went shopping and just had a great time. DH and DS put up the Christmas lights for us too.

So December has started and I have not even started my Christmas shopping. I have the gift cards purchased for our out of state family and that is it! I wonder when I will find the time to get on that? This weekend we have a Party at Church so that kind of shoots Saturday but I am hoping to sneak out on Sunday and do a little shopping with my Mom. I think I also have a couple of days next week that have nothing scheduled.

That is my story and I am sticking to it too. As soon as we get any reports back on my Father in Law I will let you all know what is happening. He has 3-4 appointments this month and hopefully by the beginning of the year we will have some answers.

Now, on the crafting front. I don't know why I never take pictures of my finished projects. I have completed a lovely hat and scarf for my DIL (crochet) and am working on a hat for the oldest GS and then just have to loom the youngest GS hat and then use my knitting machine to make their scarves. Then I can get back to my sweater that I put on hold to complete this project.

Hope you all are doing well and have had a great couple of months.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Home from Nashville





Here are a few pictures from our trip to Nashville. I had a conference there and my DH got to go along with me so in our down time we did a little sight seeing. Now, I just want you all to know that I am not a country music fan so this was not a trip that I would have picked out for myself. But since my company was paying for it I decided that I had to make the most of it. I did have a good time and there are lot of stories I could tell you but I would never be able to fit them all on this blog. So I will just tell you about the pictures.

The first one is a no brainer for all of you over the age of 40. Of course that is Minnie Pearl. (Well a statue of her anyway) I tried so hard to buy a Minnie Pearl hat while I was there. I saw one and did not buy it thinking I would find another one later on and never did. Oh Well, I am not sure that my office would have understood the humor behind it since most of the people I work with are kind of young.

The next picture is taken at the Ryman Auditorium. It is where the Grand Old Opry that I watched on TV as a youth was filmed. It has since moved to a fancy dancy place called Gaylord Opryland. I really liked this place better and it still as the original seating in it and lots of history to go with it. It is still used today and some big names have played there recently, like Toby Keith! (I was told he is THE one to see)

The last picture is the Country Music Hall of Fame. And yes I did go thru it. I was amazed at how many "stars" I knew and had heard sing. But then my parents listened to all that kind of music when I grew up. I remember the Tennesee Ernie Ford hour, The Jimmy Dean show, Andy Griffith, etc.

We spent a week there and really enjoyed every minute of it. It is very friendly and the weather was fantastic. I don't think I would go there in the middle of summer though. I little to humid for this desert rat.

On the crafting front...........I am crocheting a sweater for ME!!!!! I have the back, front and 1/2 of one sleeve finished and I have only been working on it for about 4 days. I was going to work on that tonight instead of updating my blog but I left the pattern at my friend's house and don't want to continue on without it. She is bringing the pattern back tomorrow so I will be good to go then. Other than that I really am not doing much crafting. Oh!!! I was working on the baby blanket last time I wrote. Well I got the body of it done and was on the 4th row of edging when I found out I had miscounted on row one of the edging. So I am in the process of ripping out all the edging and starting that over. Now you know why I am working on the sweater.

Have a great week and let me know what is going on in your crafting life. (no one ever comments but some day I may get one!)

TTYL

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Lots of Pictures







I finally got my camera downloaded and here are some pictures of our grands.

Here is Josie our 2yr old DGD spinning in the computer chair. She has more fun with that then with any of her other toys. But then after a hard morning of playing she must get her beauty sleep in her tinkerbell room.

Then we have our grands in Chicago. This is the day we decided to go to the Navy Pier in Downtown Chicago. We raced to the train station only to watch the train leaving as we arrived. So we had a family conference and decided to drive to the Pier. We had a wonderful time and the younger ones went to the Children's Museum there. If the pictures are any indication, I would say they enjoyed themselves. If you don't know who is who in the pictures of the Chicago family here is a list.
Jay our son
Jamie his wife (Our lovely DIL!)
Skyler (19)
Neiko (14)
Jaden (7)
Bryson (4)

We sure do miss them. The nice thing about the trip is my Mother got to go with us and it was the first time she had ever met Bryson and only the second time she had seen Jaden. So it was good to all be together again.

In the crafting world.....I just finished another purse and am working on a baby blanket. (No one in the family is pregnant but it was too pretty not to make) When I finish it I have another baby blanket I am going to make that my DIL Stacie has asked me to do just in case a little would appear.

Have a wonderful day. We are heading out to Nashville tomorrow for a week. I have a seminar there and my DH is going along to "play". I will take picture there too and promise I will get them downloaded faster and post some here.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

I know!!!

I can not believe that I have let this blog go for this long! Yes I can. LOL

I am still getting over what ever crud I picked up on the airplane when coming home form Chicago. I have been on 2 rounds of antibiotics and now am in the middle of a 20 day regimine of Prednisone. I am hoping this will be the end of it.

I have been doing some crafting though. My problem is, when a project gets done it seems to disappear from my house before the camera can find it! I finished a small purse for my DIL that she had asked for. It was so cute but maybe I can convince her to bring it back for a photo shoot.

I am working on another purse right now and it is my own design. I am crocheting it and at first I didn't care for the colors in it but it is starting to grow on my now. That one I will take a picture of as it is not promised to anyone yet. LOL

I had to put my socks away for a while as I need to frog quite a bit out of the one with the heel and I just don't have the patience to do that right now.

I have a baby blanket that I want to get started on as soon as the purse is finished. No..............There are no babies in our future right now (that we know of) but you never know when someone will call and ask us to be Godparents again. So I like to keep a baptismal blanket handy at all times. Then when the call comes all I have to do is thread pink or blue ribbon thru it.

My goal by the end of the year is to have all the "started" projects that I have going done before 2008 begins. I don't think it will be a problem unless I forgot where I put all of them.

My Mom and I had a garage sale over Labor day weekend and all the stuff for the sale had been stored in my craft room. Now that it is all out of there I need to get in there and put things where I want them so I can find them! But alas, it will not be this weekend. My DH and I are taking classes every Saturday from 8-4 in Downtown Phoenix. (20-30 minute drive) Then this Sunday we have a football party at a neighbors for the day. So until the end of September when our classes end we will be busy for the whole weekend!

I can hear ya'll now saying............."well, there's October". Yup but we are leaving the 7th for Nashville for a week. I have another conference to attend and DH is once again invited. But after that I hope things settle down until the holidays come upon us. I love Thanksgiving and Christmas but I like to really decorate up for that time of year and I will leave everything else go just to do that. Not to mention we are hoping to have our flooring put in before Christmas this year which means we need to get to painting the walls and we might even decide to pick out the flooring soon. LOL

I still need to download my camera so I can post pictures of our trip to Chicago on here. I promise to work on that this week or next as I want to get those off the camera so I can fill it up with other "stuff".

Have a great day and let me know what you are doing in your crafting.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Oops

Ok, ok..................I know it has been a while since I last posted and my family and friends have been calling me on it. But it has been so BUSY!

Our grand daughter turned 2 on the 1st of this month and there was a great party for her on the 4th at Peter Piper pizza. I am such a good Mimi..........I left my camera at home. (Hopefully her Grammy will send me some pics so I can post them on here.) She had a blast and enjoyed the attention.

We left on the 7th for Chicago to visit our son's family. He is in the Navy and a training instructor at Great Lakes Training Station. Right now he is teaching firearms and seems to like it. It was nice during our week there and we had a wonderful visit with all of them. I did take pictures and as soon as I get a few hours free will download them off the camera and onto the computer and upload a few here. The 4 grand sons were a blast to be around and our DIL is so much fun too. My Mom went with us as she had never met the youngest.

We got back from Illinois on the 14th and by that weekend I was feeling a little under the weather. But that did not stop me from going the the Casino with our Son and his wife (the ones that live in AZ). By Monday morning I knew something was wrong and sure enough...............strep throat. So got on the antibiotics and today is my last day of medicine and I feel so much better. If I could get rid of the cough I would be happier. But that will take a while longer.

This weekend we have a Marian Conference to go to for 3 days. We will not stay at the resort (because of the doggie). We go to this everytime it is put on. They only hold it every other year. It is spiritually uplifting and really gives us a boost in our lives.

On the crafting front...............While in Chicago area we went to Hobby Lobby (the one here is a day trip away) and I was able to get the #18 nylon cord to make purses with. I had made one some time back and really enjoyed it. SO my DIL came over and asked if I would make her a "Gambling" bag. Something just big enough for her wallet, chapstick and smokes. So I have started on the handle for that. I will definately post pics of it when I am done. I worked on my socks while on vacation and got it all done up thru the gusset and had one heel done when I realized they were: a) too short, b) heel to narrow so will be frogging that back to the end of the gusset. I still have a prayer shawl partially done but think I will take it with me this weekend and see how much I can do at the conference. What better place to work on it then in a spiritual place. I have several other things I really want to get started on but refuse to start anything else before I finish what I already have started. I haven't even mentioned the other two projects I have going but that is because they are for gifts for people that read this blog. Oh I did start another purse (my own design) just before my DIL asked for one for her. So that is on hold too.

That is about all from the wonderful sunny and extremely hot state of Arizona. Just so you know we have had over 26 days of 110 plus weather this summer.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

long week(s)

I think the last 2 weeks have been the longest weeks of my life.

My friends husband had to go in for heart surgery last week. He had a defibulator put in as his heart was not pumping and beating the way it should and it was very scary as his type of heart condition could have ended his life at any moment. Well, he came thru the surgery fine and is feeling much better. We are all relieved that things went well for him and his family.

My DIL informed us the first of July that she was pregnant. We were all so happy as they have really wanted another child for over a year now. Then 2 weeks ago she had an ultrasound and they told her they could not find the baby. Well, she was a bit early on in pregnancy so we waited for another week and then had another ultrasound. She had an ectopic pregnancy and had to have surgery last Friday to remove the baby from the tube. She was so upset and we are all feeling for her right now. She was going to announce her pregnancy this Saturday at her Daughter's birthday party. (she turns 2 today!)

So my DH and I have been spending a lot time at my DS and DIL house trying to help them out with housework, dinners, laundry, etc.

Another good friend of our with the Downs Syndrome baby has him back in the hospital with pneumonia and other problems. He just turned 2 months today. Please say a prayer for Noah and his family. He is such a loving child and for all these medical problems to be coming on him........it just breaks my heart!

Needless to say I have not been doing much crafting the past 2 weeks. I think the only thing I have been doing is working a bit here and there on my Crazy Toes & Heels magic loop socks. Oh! I also made a small bag to carry my knitting around town in. I fashioned it after the "GoKnit Pouch" I saw on another website.

We leave Tuesday for Chicago to visit our DH and family. He is a training instructor at Great Lakes Naval Station. We have not seen them for over a year and really miss those 4 grandsons.

So my blog will be very quiet for the next couple of weeks. After I get back I should have lots of pictures to share with you.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Lost Wages/Las Vegas

We just returned last night from a nice 4 day three night stay in Las Vegas. My DH and I went and took my Mom along with us. We had an absolutely wonderful time. Mom and I played a lot of penny slots and my DH did some black jack at the tables.

We saw my in laws while there and really enjoyed a good visit with them. Our son, Daugher in law and Grand Daughter were there the same time too so we got to really have a good time with everyone.

We saw the Fremont experience light show Sunday night and actually drove all the way down the Strip to show my Mom how much it had changed in over 20 years. She loved all of it. We are truly blessed that at 79.5 yrs she is still in good enough health that she can travel with us and her mind is as sharp as can be. (Especally at those slots!)

I finally got my Crazy Toes & Heels book and spent the entire 4.5 hour drive up there reading and comprehending this fantastic way to knit socks. I spent the 5.5 hours on the way home knitting two pair of toe up socks using the magic loop method. I almost got the toe done.

Now I know you are all wondering why it took us an hour longer to get home than to get there. (NO! My DH did not have his foot thru the floor!) We hit some wicked rain about 1.5 hours away from home and it really slowed us down as the roads here in Arizona get really slick when it rains. You see, we have to keep our roads oiled because of our extreme tempuratures in the summer so when it rains it is like driving on ice. Then there was that rush hour traffice we hit when we got to town!

Anyway...........I am so excited about the sock. After working on them for that length of time I can now understand why everyone is raving about knitting socks. I can see where this will become an addiction for me. I have enough sock yarn to do about 9 pairs of socks so I am really going to be having some fun.

But alas, I still have to finish the crocheted chair cover for my mom so will put the socks away for a few days until that is finished and then I can work on the socks without too much guilt.

Oh!!!!!!!!!!! I did manage to come home with more money than I went up with too! YEA ME!!!!!!

We will be leaving again in a couple of weeks for a nice vacation to Chicago to visit our son, his wife and the 4 grand sons. My mom is going with us there too and she has never met the youngest one and he just turned 4 last week. So she is really excited about and so are the grands.

I hope you all are having a wonderful day and enjoying your crafting!

OOPS!!!!!!!! Forgot to tell you that my Mom was knitting in the car with me! She is making a blanket and she has not knitted for YEARS!!!!! So it was kind of fun to be doing that together.

Ok, I am going now...........you all be good!

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Stuff to show you


I told all of you that we had been to South Carolina last month. This is a picture of one of the plantations we visited. This is Magnolia Plantation and the grounds and house were absolutely gorgeous. I think I could have spent an entire day there, but we only got a couple of hours since we had seminars to attend. My DH and I have decided that this is a place we will come back to for vacation sometime. The people were so friendly and it was one of the cleanest towns we had ever been to.


This is the cover for my Mom's recliner I have been working on. I also made arm covers to match but did not get a picture of them. She was thrilled with them and got a good laugh from the message also. When I was growing up my Grandmother had a recliner. ( I think she got one of the first ones ever made. LOL) When any of us 26 grankids saw her coming we would yell "here comes Grandma, get out of her throne". So my mom remembered well this event and she laughed when she saw that she now had a "throne" too.


Here is a prayer shawl I just completed and gave to a dear friend of mine. She had a baby on June 1st (my birthday) and he is a sweety. Unfortunately we have since found out he has Down's Syndrome. Well, if any of you know me that does not make any difference to me as this is still a child of God. The hard part is, he is in the hospital right now with severe breathing problems. So I thought his Mama could use a little something for comfort right now and presented this to her today. I had started this when I first found out she was pregnant but never finished it. When I heard baby Noah was in the hospital I finished it up in one evening. Please keep Noah and his family in your prayers.


Finally I leave you with one reason you do not let a 23 month old child dress themselves! This is our Grand daughter who will be 2 on August 1st. My DH watches during the day while her parents are at work. He has a blast with her and she loves to "dress up". So this is what she came out of her room wearing the other day. She is a delight to be around but boy can she wear us "old" people out by the end of a day.

So you are all caught up to date on my life now. As for crafting......I have ordered a book to learn how to make 2 socks at one time on one or two circular needles. I am going to learn this method when we drive to Las Vegas this month. I figure that gives me about 6 hours each way and I should learn something in that lenght of time.

Oh yes.............I forgot to tell you.............I had to take a test when I was in South Carolina for my medical coding certification. Well, I passed it with flying colors! Yea me!

That is it for now. Have a great weekend.

Monday, June 25, 2007

A true friend

I have this friend that I usually see at least twice a month and talk to on the phone at least once a week. Well with my hectice schedule over the past 4-6 weeks we have not gotten together much. So this past Friday I went to see her. Now here is how good a friend she is......................I told her everything that had been happening in our lives since the last time I had seen her. I must have talked for up to 30 minutes non stop. Then when I was done she smiles at me and says "That's really great. But I just want you to know that everything you just told me had have read on your blog". And then busts out laughing.

Seems she reads my blog quite often. That makes me feel good to know that at least one person does. Don't get many comments on the blog so I never know.

So to my dear friend, Bev, I would like to send a big HELLO!

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Goodness

My oh my, where has the time gone. It has been almost a month since I last posted here! So let me catch you all up to date on the goings on in my life. (not that you may care)lol

I have not been doing a lot of crafting in the past month but I have gotten a few things done while other projects are still in the "work in progress" mode. I made 4 pair of flip flops for people in my family. Those are so easy to crochet up! I was going to take pictures of them but they walked out of the house before I got a chance. I am still working on the coverings for my Mom's chairs and also the magic loop sock. I have several prayer shawls in progress as well. Some day I will just sit and do nothing but CRAFT!

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago, my brother's was a week later, and my DH had his this weekend not to mention Father's day as well. Our Godson turned three today as well as one of my closests friends. So we have been in the birthday mode.

My DH and I went to Charleston SC last week as I had a seminar there and a certification test for my job. We were with my boss and her DH as well. The seminar was really informative and I gained a lot of knowledge from it. The city of Charleston is probably one of the friendliest cities I have even been in. I wish we could have stayed a few more days as the history there is fantastic also. Not to mention the scenery was breathtaking. We were able to get a bit of sightseeing done between seminar sessions and we are still in awe of what we saw and learned. If you have never been there, you may want to consider this as a vacation spot sometime. I would suggest you do it some other time than the summer. The humidity was a little overwhelming and we were there during a "cool" snap. I will try and get a couple of pictures posted on here as soon as we get everything downloaded off the camera.

Today was spent with family as we celebrated Father's Day. The request from the Daddys this year was for my "famous" chili verde. (green chili) This was fine with me as it is so easy to make! So we made sure all the Daddys were comfortable infront of the TV watching the US open and all of us ladies took off to the back yard to do a little frolicing in the pool. A good time was had by all. I just got back from taking our DD to the airport (she flew in just for her Dad's b-day and Father's day). I am tired from the day but I know it was a day that will bring wonderful memories to us each year.

Goodness! Look how long I have been rambling on. I think I had better close this and get my tired body off the computer and into my comfy bed.

Happy Father's day to all you Dad's out there and all you Mom's that also fill the role of Dad!

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Photo's





Here is our grand daughter taken just before we left for Mass the other day. She finally let me do something wtih your hair.

I also have been promising you pictures of my projects that I have been working on. The pink filet crochet bunnies are for my Mom's arm chair. I will be making a matching head piece for it too. The first 2 photos are of me doing the magic loop technique for socks. It is so easy but then again I have not even begun to start the heels or toes so will let you know when I get to that part.

I am hoping to spend a lot of today crocheting and knitting and just relaxing after a LONG week at the office. My DH is so wonderful telling me he will do the laundry and get the house cleaned up so I can just sit and craft away.

Hope you are having a great crafty day!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Crafting away

I really must get some pictures taken and get them on here. I really have been working on some things but just have not had the time to take any photos since I am still helping my MOM get settled in her new apartment here.

I started on a 1/2 granny square shawl. They are so easy to make and go pretty quick. I decided I needed some gratification so I am almost done with that. I still have my knitted prayer shawl and my knitted baby blanket on needles but have put them aside for a little while.

My daughter asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day and I told her stitch markers and size 2 circular needles. I am bound and determined to learn to knit socks. I have an extra fine gauge loom that I have one sock on but have not even picked that up in about 4 months. I have a hard time working with it so thought if I could learn to needle knit them I might feel a little better about making socks and might give the loom a try again. My LYS here offers classes on how to make socks on 2 circular needles and I am thinking about taking the class. (Hopefully they will not make me change the way I "throw" my yarn) Of course I would have to buy another size 2 circular but that would not bother me at all. LOL

My DH asked what I wanted for Mother's Day too. I told him all I wanted was a day to do exactly what I wanted to do on my schedule. If I want to sit and watch "chick flic" movies all day and work on needle crafts so be it. I think he was a little surprised by that but I don't know why he would be. It is the same thing I have asked for in the past 4 years! I love having my own day. I do the same thing for my birthday which is only a few weeks away.

I hope all of you are having a wonderful crafty day!

Monday, April 30, 2007

I'm Back

I have returned from my cross country trip bringing my Mom back to Arizona to live. It was really a nice trip even though it was a LONG drive. We got to see some beautiful country (and I left my camera at home). Mom's apartment is still in the process of being unpacked and put away but I can already tell it is going to be a very nice place when it is all decorated up.

I have just been informed of what my next project will be. I am going to be making arm and head covers for my mom's new furniture. I have not decided whether to crochet them or to sew some up. I will know more after I see the new furniture tonight after I leave work. Once I finish them I will take pictures and post them here.

That is all for now.

Have a great day.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Rake Sale!





As promised here is the picture of the rake that is for sale. It is 16 inches long and the cotter pins are 3/8" from center to center with a total of 40 pins. The pins will have a small spread to them to access the loom tool. The base is poplar which is a hard wood. The edges have been slightly rounded for comforts sake. The price of this rake is normaly $17.50 plus shipping, but until the end of April the total cost will be $19.55 and that is with priority mailing. If you are interested in this rake please leave me a comment with an e-mail address so I can contact you. Payments that are accepted are cashiers check or money order only. Sorry, but we are not set up for paypal. We will mail the rake once payment is received. We will notify you by e-mail when the rake has been shipped. Thank you for your interest!
Oops, almost forgot. Please let me know if you are a lefty or a righty. It will make a difference in how the cotter pins are turned.



Thursday, April 12, 2007

Will it ever stop?

Here I sit at the office updated my blog. The construction is finished (finally). But there is just one little glitch...............The desks we ordered are not coming. Seems the business we ordered from went out of business and it only took them 3 weeks to let us know. So there was a mad scramble to order other desks to fit our needs. So they got ordered on Monday and should be here in 7-14 business days. (I hope) So we are working on 60" desks when we are use to "L" shaped desks. We are feeling a little cramped right now but we know this is only temporary.

As for my crafting. I have not picked up a needle, hook, or loom in quite a while. I thought I would get back into it once Easter was over but have been so busy with getting things settled for my Mom to move here in 2 weeks. I keep looking at all the projects that I have started and feel a little guilty for not getting back to them so I can post some pictures on here for you all to see. I thought I could do some crafting this weekend but looks like we are going to be having our 20 month grand-daughter spending the night with us Saturday night and she doesn't go to bed until around 9-10. Maybe on Sunday I can get going again.

As for my Mom's moving here..............I am really excited about it. My DH and I are going to fly up to Kansas in a couple of weeks and pack up the moving truck and drive that and her car back to Arizona. We are hoping to make it in 2 days but will take our time as we aren't as young as we use to be. I know she will be glad when this is all over too. I have to brag that she did sell her house in 1.5 weeks! That is great. (Although my neice just sold hers in 1 day this week!)

Has anyone every used the magic loop method for making socks? I am interested in hearing from any of you that have and how easy you found it to be. Please leave me a comment and let me know about it. Thanks

Better get back to work (lunch time is over)

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Still Here



I just want all of you to know that I am still here! (can't get rid of me that easily). And the good news is......................There is a light at the end of the tunnel and it is NOT a train. I think our office will be completed in the next couple of days. Now for the interesting part of it all..............still no desks. We are working at desks that have been taken apart and put back together again. Seems that when we ordered the new work stations the store told us 3-5 days and when I called customer service to find out where they were they said it was 10-14 business days! We are on day 7 now so it may be the end of next week before we have our actual workstations. But in the meantime I have a "desk", computer, phone and a chair. I never thought such small things could make me so happy. I wandered around the office for 9 days with no place to work and it sure made the time go slowly.




On the crafting front.........................(hanging my head with shame). I think I have only knitted about 10 rows on the prayer shawl and 5 rows on the baby blanket. I so want to get into my craft room and get my looms out and work on something but will have to wait until after Easter. I am so busy between now and Easter Sunday I can't even imagine starting a new project. So once Easter is over I am going to grab my looms and start in on them. Don't have a clue as to what I am going to make. I really want to try and work on some socks as I have some really yummy sock yarn and an EFG wonderloom from DA Accents. I have kind of started a pair on it but have figured out that they are not going to fit me! So will frog that and make them a little bigger. The one nice thing about the loom is I don't have to worry about being a lefty when working with it. That is unless I am doing lettering and then I have to really stop and think about which way to wrap the loom. I have not been crocheting anything lately. Although crocheting is the fastest way for me to complete projects.



I have to show you the latest picture of my gran daughter. She just turned 20 months the first of April. What a joy she is for "old" people. We laugh at the pictures as she is a BIG Muppet show person and her favorite show is the one with Elton John. So we think this is where she got her fashion sense for these shots.

Have a great crafty day!

Monday, March 26, 2007

still a mess

Just to let all of you know.........(not that you may care) my office is still underconstruction. They have finished one room so far and we are hoping that room #2 will be done today with room #3 started. Our new furniture for the work stations is already here and we are having to store it at another office across the courtyard from us. The real down part of this is....................(drum roll).....................there are 10 of us here and we are down to 1 bathroom! Now some of you may not see this as a problem but it is an all female office. We are use to having 3 bathrooms to use. Now I know how my mom felt growing up in a house with 7 brothers and sisters and the 2 parents with only one bathroom. (I think it was an outhouse though)

On the crafting front. I managed to get into my craftroom this weekend and went thru a lot of my looms and yarn. I am really trying to organize all of it. I have a large bookcase in there that is being moved out into our family room and once it is gone I will be putting pegboard on the wall to hang all of my looms on. I can hardly wait. I have looms stuck EVERYWHERE! I now have ten 60 gallon storage boxes full of yarn too. They take up the entire closet so I guess I need to really get busy on all my projects. But now that I am working 5 days a week I think my projects will be going a little slower than they did before. (sigh)


Well, thanks for letting me "vent".

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

I'm home

We got back from Vegas minus a few $$. But we had such a great time. It was well worth it just to get away from everything for a few days. But of course it is always nice to get home again to your own bed.

I didn't get alot of crafting done while I was gone. I managed to knit for about 45 minutes on the airplane and that was the extent of it. Now that I am back home I really need to attack my craft room and get it all organized so I can just go in there and get what I need (want) Right now I have to search, scrounge, move boxes and just generally stand in the middle of the room and look confused.

More exciting news (for me anyway). They are remodeling our office for the next week! Now this may not seem exciting to anyone else but if you were in my office you would get a big thrill. There are nine (soon to be 10) employees in the office. During the remodeling we are all in the office and the workers have to kind or work around us. Right now my office is being worked on so I have no phone, computer or desk. So I am kind of just taking up bits of space at other peoples work stations. There are 2 other girls with the same issue. The most interesting part will be when they tear up the part of the office that houses 3 girls soon to be 4 and all four of them will be wandering around looking for a place to be. Maybe I should bring my video camera in just so we can have a few chuckles at the Christmas party this year.

Until next time..................have a great day.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

this and that






Look, I have been knitting with needles. My mom collects rabbits and I thought it would be nice to make a few of them for her new home here in Arizona. I think I like the one on the bottom better as you can actually tell it is a rabbit. If you hold the top one upside down it looks like a molar!


Well, hubby and I are off to Las Vegas for the weekend for a slot tournament. Also my inlaws live there so we get to see family at the same time. We usually go up there about 3 times a year just to get away from home and relax.

I just had to add a picture of our 19 month grand daughter. This was taken this past sunday at her house. She is a real sweetie and is talking up a storm now.
Have a great weekend and I will let you all know if I win the "big one" in Vegas.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Rake Sale





As promised here is the picture of the rake that is for sale. It is 16 inches long and the cotter pins are 3/8" from center to center with a total of 40 pins. The pins will have a small spread to them to access the loom tool. The base is poplar which is a hard wood. The edges have been slightly rounded for comforts sake. The price of this rake is normaly $17.50 plus shipping, but until the end of April the total cost will be $19.55 and that is with priority mailing. If you are interested in this rake please leave me a comment with an e-mail address so I can contact you. Payments that are accepted are cashiers check or money order only. Sorry, but we are not set up for paypal. We will mail the rake once payment is received. We will notify you by e-mail when the rake has been shipped. Thank you for your interest!
Oops, almost forgot. Please let me know if you are a lefty or a righty. It will make a difference in how the cotter pins are turned.



Monday, March 5, 2007

Excited

I am so excited. My mom is coming to visit tomorrow and will be here for a week. This is quite an emotional time for me as my step-dad passed away just about a month ago and my mom is going to be moving down here to live. It will be nice to have mom close by but it will be strange to not have "dad" here too.

I have already located several places for her to look at this coming week so we will be quite busy taking tours. We also will be looking at furniture stores to find out if she should just sell everything and buy new or if she should hold on to a few things when she moves. My DH and I along with my son and daughter in law will be going to Kansas to move her down here after her house sells and she has her "living" estate sale.

With all this excitement I have not spent much time on any of my projects that I have going. Mostly I spend about an hour an evening needle knitting on the prayer shawl. ( I am using the circular needles that were my mom's when she was first married to my dad over 50 years ago!) I doubt that I will have much time in the next week to do much crafting either with all I have planned for us to do.

My, my, look at the time. I must get off to bed so I can get up really early (5am) to get the roast in the crock-pot and finish up some last minute cleaning.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

I have some good news for all you loomers out there. I will be posting a picture of a knitting rake this weekend. It will be for sale ASAP and I think you will really like it. More information will follow on this item. (price, size, gauge, payment method)

As for what is going on with me. I have so many projects going at the same time that I don't know which one to work on. I am still working on a hooded sweater that I started for my Daughter in Law before Christmas. All I need to do is complete the sleeves and sew it together and it will be done. But do I finish it? NO! I found myself needle knitting a prayer shawl instead. I also have an afghan on a loom, a sock on a loom, a baby blanket on needles not to mention all the dishclothes I have crocheted in the past month!

One of these days I will just have to take a week and do nothing but my yarn crafts and let the house go and the laundry go and forget to eat too!

Anyway, keep your eyes peeled for this new loom that will be advertised here this weekend.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007



You might as well get to know my family. This is all of us (taken a year ago) minus one grand daughter. I guess you can figure out that the two "old people" are myself and my wonderful hubby of 31 years. This was our youngest grand daughters baptism day. (PaPa is holding her). Since this is my first post in my first blog I had to know if I could upload pictures. I will be doing more uploading later of my crafts and other wonderful things I have for you.