YOP LIST 2023-2024

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Crafting first, than personal news


As promised I am updating my blog to reflect the past year of projects.  This is the third year we have had this group and I am proud to say I have been in it since the beginning.  I am not the best blogger in the group.  There are some that blog 2-3 times a week.  I am lucky if I blog 2-3 times a month.  But I have totally enjoyed this group.  I have made some fantastic blogging buddies.  I have learned so much from these people.  I have overcome fears of 'trying something different".  It has been a learning experience that I don't think I could have gotten from 100 lessons at my LYS.

So let's look at a couple of pictures of items that have been completed that never got posted to my blog.



First up is the baby blanket I crocheted for my boss' upcoming great grandchild.  I had not picked up a hook in a long time.  It was fun to go back to my first yarn craft that I learned.  It really didn't take too long to complete.  The putting of it together is always the hardest part but I persevered and love it.  The Grandma and Great Grandma were so happy with the finished project.  Of course there was the "how much do I owe you" question.  How can you put a price on something that could become an heirloom?  They paid for the yarn and my only request for payment was a photo of the new baby in/on the blanket to put in my photos.  


Next up is the Raglan Yoke sweater.  This is the second one that I made and I love the outcome.  The pattern calls for decreasing around the middle area to make a nice fit, but this lady (me) does not have 'middle area' that wants to be fitted.  So I skipped that part and just made it straight down.  It fits lovely and it made from a linen/cotton blend.  Perfect for the 115 degree temps here in the deserts of Arizona.

So how did I do this year?  Lets take a look at my list and see where I stand.

Doll Clothes for AG doll (uses up lots of 'scrap' yarn)
Didn't even make one item out for dolls.  Sorry Josie!

Lots of socks.  Hopefully at least 6 pairs made
Completed 4.5 pair.  Am working on the other half right now.

Fingerless Mitts for me (one is done but needs a partner)
The partner got finished and have started another pair of mitts.  One is done and the partner will be done before Christmas.  (it is a gift)

Scarf for me to match the hat and mitts I am making
Not even started.

2-3 sweaters for adults
Got one done and have patterns for the others.  Just not on the top of my list anymore.  The sweater weather here is very short.

1-2 sweaters for children
Made one sweater for a child.  It is too big for her but she will grow.

Complete GB afghan
Completed this about 3 hours before it was to be given for a gift.

dishcloths for gifts again this year
Got that done for Christmas and also made and gave more away during the year.

So now the hard part begins..................coming up with a list for year 4.  I always seem to have such great plans and in my mind they all work out so nicely.  In reality things don't happen that way.  One thing I did this year and absolutely loved, was doing test knits.  So plan on seeing that on my list for next year.  So that about sums up my crafting news for today.  Now onto my personal news about family and my life.

Mom is now settled in her assisted living facility.  She is doing 'ok' but still not totally accepting of the situation.  This may take some time but we are all trying to be patient with her.  She has had some health issues in the past couple of weeks and it has really zapped her strength to the point she can no long stand up much or help in transferring herself from one place to another.  We are blessed that the place she is in, is set up for all kinds of care from assisted care to total care to end of life care.  So this is where she will be until the Lord calls her home to Him.

I have made the decision to retire from working outside the home.  I have not picked a date for that as of yet.  It will either be the end of this year or the end of June next year.  It will all depend on the way taxes will hit us if I work the first half of next year.  My hubby is going to meet with a tax consultant friend this month to determine when the best time for me to leave my employment would be.  My boss knows of my decision to do this.  She was not the happiest person to hear it but totally understood my reasoning behind it.  I have determined that life is too short to sit behind a desk all day everyday.  I am still young enough that I want to enjoy life before my health issues get to the point where I no longer can.  Each year sees my arthritis getting worse and worse.  After all..................I have a lot of yarn in my stash that needs to be used up.  LOL

I have been blessed beyond measure with loving family and friends.  While we were in Las Vegas last month, the flooring in our hallway and guest bedroom was laid and furniture was placed.  How nice it wa to come home to an almost totally remodeled home.  We still have the kitchen area to do (and it is a HUGE area).  We have the tile for it but just need the time to do it.

These past two weeks hubby and I have been doing a deep cleaning of the house.  After it took everything I had to clean out my mother's apartment, we decided to take it upon ourselves to start on our own home.  Just to give you an idea of what it is like...................yesterday we did 3/4 of the kitchen and got 15 storage boxes of 'stuff' out of there.  It is amazing how much junk you accumulated over 25 years of living in the same place.  I am hoping to finish the kitchen today.  That will leave only one area of the house to be done and that is our 'back room'.  It has been a catch all for many years and I am not looking forward to diving in there.  But dive in we must.  Once this is done, we have made a pledge that we will not purchase anything that will not be used at least once a week.

That is about all for now.  I appreciate all the comments I get and look forward to the next week when I put up my list for year 4 of YoP

Happy Crafting!












Thursday, June 26, 2014

Stay Tuned

Please don't give up on me and my blog.  I have not forgotten it at all.  I love my blog and the fact it lets me vent and talk about my life, feelings, crafting and anything else I want to put here. No one can tell me what I can and can not write about.

So here is the deal.

This weekend, I will doing an entire blog post about.................Crafting and things happening in my life over the past month.  There will be pictures also.  (I dusted off the camera, put in new batteries and have already started the photo ops)

I will also be posting my Year of Projects list from year 3 (2013-2014) marking off what I have completed during that time.  There will be a NEW Year of Projects list for year 4 (2014-2015) that I am still mulling over in my mind.  But I will have it cemented down by this weekend and will post it here.  I think, each year I am smarter in the list I make and yet................I still fall waaaaaaay short of my goals that I set for myself.  One of these years I will get it right.  But the true joy of the YoP is this...................meeting other bloggers/knitters/crocheters from all over the world that help to inspire and boost you up.  I have met some of the most amazingly talented people over the past three years.  Their crafting skills leave me speechless.  I always thought I was pretty advanced in my skills but........................I have never designed anything or looked at something and just 'made' it without a pattern.

The people I have 'met' come from all walks of life, all economic brackets, married, single, dog owners, cat owners, large families, tiny families, retired, working full time, stay at home moms (that is a 100% full time job), etc.  So you get the idea.  

As for the people that read my blog.....................I am sure I have no clue who most of them are, since they don't leave comments.  But the ones that do........................What a wonderful group they are.

Yup, I love my blog and my YoP group. 

Stay tuned for a new blog post this weekend.  And until then...................................................

Happy Crafting!

Monday, June 2, 2014

YoP kind of

It has been a crazy, whirlwind, twist your bloomers in a knot kind of month of May.  I am so glad June has arrived and hopefully some semblance of normal will be coming back into my life.  Where do I begin........Lets start with my crafting.

I have been working solely on the baby afghan.  I have all the little flowers done and now am adding the outside of them.  I read the instructions as to how they are all attached and have decided I am not going to follow that (mainly because after 40 years of crocheting, it makes no sense to me).  So I am going to just make all the squares and do my own thing to put them together.  

I have not worked on anything else craft wise, which kind of makes me sad.  I usually switch off projects but with the upcoming birth of this child, I decided that this is the time I will be true to one project only.  I will have lots of time this week to do that too.................road trip coming up which I will talk about in the next few paragraphs.

I got Mom all settled in her assisted living place.  It has taken her a bit of an adjustment but seems that she is slowly getting used to the way things are going to be from now on.

My brother came down the week of the 19th and we got her apartment cleaned out (that is another looooong story) and managed to have a sale on the 24th.  We did very well at the sale and what was left over went to GoodWill for donations.  For having done all of that I seem to have an awful lot of boxes at my house that came from her house.  I realize that I have all of her finance information and that takes two boxes alone.  Then I have all of her winter clothes in my extra closets and all the family pictures that were on her wall.  That is one whole box in of itself.  She had over 20 pictures of family on the wall of her bedroom.  After doing all of that for the past 3 weeks, I have decided that it is time to start going through my own home and weeding out all the 'stuff' that we have not used in years and getting it out of there.  I don't want my kids to hate me.  LOL

This weekend, we managed to get our hallway and extra bedroom painted.  That had been on the 'to do' list for about 3 years.  We finally just said 'let's do it' and we had lots of help with it too.  This week will be another upheaval to our 'normal'.  I have a conference for work in Las Vegas and need to head up there on Wednesday and won't be back until Sunday.  I have heard rumors that there will be flooring party at my house while I am gone.  How exciting is that?  If that happens, our house will be 90% completed with the interior remodel.  We will still have our kitchen to decide as to what to do with and also our bedroom to paint and put in new carpeting. (that is the only room that will have carpet when we are done)

I have a birthday yesterday and it was a great day for me.  Went to Mass in the morning, got to present the last session to our adult religious education class, had a nice relaxing lunch with my hubby, went to see my mom for alittle while, went shopping for some pants to take on my trip (casinos are very cold all year round), had a wonderful dinner out with my hubby at the Outback, spoke to numerous family members throughout the day and ended my evening by talking for over an hour with my Texas family.  I am truly too blessed to be stressed.

This morning was another one of those days when you realize that you are not in control.  I got ready for work and was actually on time for what I needed to do.  Got to my car and went to start it and NOTHING!  Hubby was on the other side of town with his car at the shop so he was of no use to me.  I quickly called my son (who has Mondays off) and he came over and jumped the car for me.  Went to Auto Zone for a new battery and found out they were only accepting cash that day so had to drive to a different Auto Zone to get the new battery.  That got completed in record time and I was only 45 minutes late to the office!  Had this happened on any other day of the week, I would have been done for.  Like I said...............I'm too blessed to be stressed.

That is all for now

Happy crafting!