YOP LIST 2023-2024

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Week 18 YoP Update

 Hello everyone.

It has been a jammed packed week again.  I have gotten things done and feel accomplished.

I finally felt good and back to normal around Tuesday last week.  By Wednesday I had all my menus planned and grocery shopping was the top of my priorities for the day.  After that was done and everything was put away I took inventory of what I needed to do next.

The pedicure sock!  Last time I posted it was still about 2 inches from the heel turn.  By last night, it looked like this:


Done and ready to be gifted to it's owner on Christmas.  I was amazed at how much I could accomplish in just a few hours a night.  Yesterday morning, I looked at the sock and realized I only had 2 inches left before bind off.  I turned on a movie and completed it.  Felt really good to have another gift completed.  See the Ziploc baggie back there? That is how I make my project bags.  That way there is no doubt as to what that yarn is to be used for.  I can grab and go.

Now I need to get busy and complete the Azel.  I still have the yarn for 2 more Azels but am considering not doing them.  Nothing wrong with them, just don't thing the other two will wear them as they live here in the Arizona Desert and we just don't get that cold in the winter.  After all, we are still in the high 90's this week and might get down to the high 80's next week.  Do you know how hard it is to go Trick or Treating in a costume when it is 90 F outside?  Try it sometime................put on your Halloween costume in the middle of your heatwaves and try wearing it outside for about 4 hours.  Not fun.  Not to mention your chocolate candy turning into soup.

Oops, I digress.

Friday was Special Person's day at our local Grand Daughters School.  We got to spend a few hours with her that day and got to go to lunch with her before she had to be back at school for her play practise.  


This was taken just as we were leaving for lunch with her.  Now you can see why I am in Weight Watchers.  I seldom allow photos to be taken of me.

Speaking of Weight Watchers......................I am doing well.  I am still attending weekly meetings and my weight continues to decline.  In fact, yesterday, I was able to put on (comfortably) my smallest jeans that are in my closet!  I was pretty stoked about that.  I have been away from the gym for 2 weeks because of illness, but am heading back Monday morning.

I told my hubby that he had better pray for some cold weather in the next couple of weeks as I don't have any smaller jeans/pants in my closet.  If the weather turns cool enough, I have 8 pairs of LuLaRoe leggings in there that will work just fine until it gets too hot again for them.

Also this past week......................Our daughter and her husband headed to Tombstone for a wedding.  Yes, that is Tombstone as in the movies with Doc Holiday, Wyatt Earp etc.  It is kind of a cool place to go and just hang out for a couple of days.  

Oops, once again I digress.

While they are gone, we agreed to take care of their two fur babies.

Meet Celeste.  The sweetest little dog other than my female dog.  You hardly even know she is around  She doesn't bark, whine, chew, or bother you for anything.  She is 8 pounds of pure Shih-Tzu sweetness.

Mr Guinness.................17 pounds of holy terror.  (I am laughing as I type this too)  He is still a puppy.  He will probably always be a puppy since he has some Jack Russell Terrier in him. He is very needy and insecure.  Wants to be close to a human at all times.  Loves to play, rough house, eat and go in and out of the doggie door 100 times a day.  He whined for about 30 minutes after his parents dropped him off and hasn't left my side since.

This is my little 8 pound Chi-Weenie Enrique.  Shortly after this shot was taken, Enrique decided he didn't want Guinness around the house anymore and a fight broke out.  I stopped that crap real quick.  Both dogs are in time out right now.  Bad Bad puppies.

Last but not least by a long shot.  Here is my sweet heart, Luna.  Luna is short for Lunatic.  She was named when we got her.  She is such a mild mannered dog.  She is Chihuahua and Miniature Pincer mix.  She is my old lady at almost 10 and weighs in at a whopping 12 pounds.

We will have our guest dogs until Monday.  Then the owners will be here to pick them up.  I have found out, the guest dogs like when I knit.  The clicking of the needles puts them right to sleep.  Guess I need to knit more for them.

Next week is once again jammed packed.  I have something scheduled EVERYDAY next week.  Some days I have 3-5 items scheduled.  I will be busy but I have something new that I am going to start next week.  Something crafty.  I will tell you all about it next weekend in that update.

Until then....................Happy Crafting!

Monday, October 24, 2016

YoP Week 17 plus more!




Monday evening and I am finally getting around to updated my blog.  I wish I could have done it yesterday but..........................the flu decided it would be fun to come visit on Friday and it didn't leave until today.  I am all better now and back in action for my updated my blog.

Let's take a look and see if I did accomplish anything last week.


This is the second pedicure sock.  It is striping when I was hoping for twisted pooling.  Oh well, she doesn't like her socks to match and this one doesn't look anything like the other one.

And other than adding several rows to the Azel...................that is the extent of my crafting for the week. 

You're asking why?  Let me tell you why.........................

Monday's are always my day to go and visit my mom.  So the morning is used to do menial tasks around the house like laundry, cooking, cleaning etc.  Hubby had the evening off from school so we spent the evening together watching movies while I worked on the Azel.

Tuesday, I got my 11 yr old grand for the day.  She was on fall break and it was her dad's day to go into the office.  She and I went shopping for the clothes for her costume as the Cheshire cat in her school play next month.  After the shopping spree that took us to 3 stores we joined my hubby for lunch at the restaurant of her choice.  During lunch we got a phone call asking if she wanted to go to her best friends house for a play date for the rest of the day.  Off she went, of course.

After dropping her off, I went into my craft room and decided it was time to do a total clean out of all my yarn, patterns, crafting supplies, sewing supplies etc.  I had actually started a bit of it on Monday morning and was itching to get back to it.

Tuesday was also our 41st wedding anniversary and we went to a movie that evening and had a very nice time out of the house and away from phones and TV.  

Wednesday, I spent the whole day in the craft room again cleaning as well as Thursday morning.  That is the day I finished up.  I ended up with 2.5 13 gallon bags stuffed with yarn that is going to our prayer shawl ministry at church.  I got rid of all my knitting looms.  I found stuff in there to take to my mom that she is now enjoying looking at.  I found books that had been read and needed to be recycled.  I got rid of a metal cubical thingy and have informed the other person that lives in this house................that room is not the dumping room for when you don't know where to put something.  Right now, our new Christmas tree is in there waiting for it's plastic box to arrive so it can be put into our backroom without fear of bugs getting into it.  There are also Christmas gifts in there, but that is where we always store them.  Once Christmas is over..............the room is all mine again.

Friday afternoon I cam down with severe chills and a fever of 101 spiking to 103.  My body hurt everywhere and all I wanted to do was sleep and drink water.  And that is what I did until Sunday evening, when I finally felt like watching the last football game of the day with the hubby and he even cooked dinner for me.  Sometime in the night, the fever finally broke and I feel like a whole new person today.

Unfortunately, I am not able to take the flu shot because of my compromised immune system and the meds I am taking.  It can make me very sick.  I KNOW it is a dead virus, but I am just following Dr's orders.  So I rely on everyone else to get the shot.  Normally the flu season in Arizona isn't until January or February.  So this was a bit of shock to come down with this in October.  Hopefully, I am now done with that for the rest of my life.  It has been at least 20 years since I had the flu.

I am off to go and work on some knitting while the house is quiet.  Hubby is at school tonight and the doggies are sleeping.

Until next time........................Happy Crafting!

Sunday, October 16, 2016

YOP Week 16



Hello again to all my blog followers.  I have had a productive craft week and am excited to show you what is going on at the Casa De Un Zurdo.  (House of a Lefty)

Last week I told you I was teaching myself how to knit Portuguese style.  If you want, you may go to this website to see a teaching video on how to work this style.  You do the knitting with the yarn either around your neck or through a knitting pin.  I have tried the around the neck method and while, this is not too bad, when using some yarns, it is a bit scratchy for me.  I was interested in the knitting pin method but.......................I hate putting holes in my clothes.  I went on a search in Ravelry for a Portuguese knitting group and found one. There I found that many of the people on there had decided to try their hands at making magnetic pins and have had great success.  I looked at their photos and decided I could do the same thing myself.  Out came my beading supplies and here is one of the 4 hooks I made.


It is much easier for me to work with the yarn this way.  As for the tension.......

This dishcloth was 90% made with that style.  It is both knit and purl.  I think the tension is more equal using the Portuguese style.  My purl is a bit tighter and my knit is a bit looser.  Also, the other reason I made a dishcloth is........................I was frustrated with my other projects for taking so long to complete anything.

Making the cloth was the best thing I could have done.  It inspired me to get crackin' on my other two projects.  So here is a look at one of them.

Azel is growing.  I am halfway finished with my last skein of yarn for the front.  I only work on this on the weekends as it is pretty warm still here and I am able to run the A/C at lower temps on the weekend and not pay mucho dinero (a lot of money) for the electricity it takes.

I went to do a bit of shopping yesterday and decided I had better get some buttons for the 2 Azels that will be going to their new home in a couple of months.  I looked at JoAnn's but could not find what I wanted without paying three times more than what the Sweater cost me.  I took a gander at WalMart and BEHOLD!!!!

I found exactly what I had in mind.  The wooden buttons will go on the green Azel and of course the purple ones will go on the Lavender Azel.  I am so happy about them.  I didn't want anything to fancy but something that would accent the item.

I did complete the pedicure sock


I decided not to close off an area for the big toe to go through.  I tried them on and they stay put just fine.  I do not expect them to be worn for a whole day.  Only for a few hours while waiting for the polish to dry.  At least, the foot will be warm, although, the toes may get a bit chilly.  But........................This was a requested item from someone I love.

Also, because that someone I love refuses to wear matching socks:


The second pedicure sock has been started. It is the same brand of yarn so I am hoping it too will do the twisting design the pink one did.  I am using my basic Car Socks pattern but with a Fish Kiss Lips heel and then stop when I am at the base of the little toe.  Lucky for me, The someone I love and I have the same size feet.  Makes it so much easier to measure.  Although, I do have a cardboard cut out of her foot.

That is all for my craftiness this week.  Today I will be finishing up our menus for the week, making a grocery list and probably hitting a couple of grocery stores.  Then it will be time to do a couple loads of laundry, empty the dishwasher, watch some football (American style) and knit my little heart out.

Until next time........................Happy Crafting!

Thursday, October 13, 2016

A lovely Thursday Morning

Good morning everyone.  I am having a wonderful day today.  I have already been to my Rheumatologist and was given cudos for joining Weight Watchers and getting back to the gym.  My weight is down from my last visit as is my blood pressure.  Sure does make it all worth it.

I completed my yearly online training for Safe Environment through our Diocese.  I was supposed to have done this July 1, but could not figure out why I kept being told I was up to date.  Got that figured out this week and now I truly am up to date.  Now I can volunteer anywhere in my Parish I want to.

Yesterday I went to the Neurologist with my BFF to see if we can get her a diagnosis after 5 years of floundering around.  We are 99% certain she has MS but because she has only done open MRI's (severely claustrophobic) they really can not get a great picture of her lesions on her brain and spine.  So now, she is going to have a closed MRI under anesthesia.  This Neuro doesn't want to fool around like that past 4 have.

This afternoon, I will be going to visit my mom.  She has asked me to bring out french wire earrings for her to look at.  She really likes jewelry but hasn't been wearing it much.  I have taken out her studs, but they are too hard for her to put in.  I have about 15 pair of earrings to take to her today.  Hopefully there will be a few pair she likes and will wear.  I also need to take a small screwdriver out with me.  One of her drawer pulls is coming loose.  I will fix that too.

I don't know if you all remember, I talked about Portuguese knitting in this weeks YOP update.  I have a website for you, if you are interested.  I hold my yarn over my middle finger and it works well there too.  I also do not use a pin.  I have tried putting it around my neck and I have also made a magnetic 'pin' to use.  I don't like putting holes in my clothes.  I have also heard from one woman, she uses a vest to hook her knitting pin to and then never has to put holes in her good clothes.  She just carries the vest around with her in her project bag.

That's about all for today.  I need to go and get my dinner prepped so when I get back from my mom's, I can just put it all together and stick it in the oven.  We are having weight watchers chimichangas tonight.  YUMMY!

Until next time................................Happy Crafting.



Sunday, October 9, 2016

Unproductive Week 15




Happy week 15.  I have been reading all my fellow YOP blogs and feel king of sad.  It's not that I didn't work on my 2 projects this week.  I did.  At least an hour a day all week long. But, alas, it was not enough to really show and major progress that you could see in a photo.

I figured I would have the one sock done by now, but, nope.  I still have another 2-3 inches to go before it is completed.

The Azel is coming along just fine.  I have started my 3rd skein of yarn and that will be the end of the yarn for the front of the thing.  I am hoping to be completed with the front by the end of this coming week.  I looked at my calendar and see I have several appointments this week that will take me away from the Azel, but.........the sock can travel with me to those appointments.

I did learn something new this week and have been working on perfecting it.  I learned how to do Portuguese knitting.  It is quite fascinating and I love using this method when I am purling on the Azel.  It is so much quicker and easier on my hands and wrists.  I am not very good at doing the knit stitch yet.  That will take practise and while I am on a deadline for some projects, I will not be working on that right now.  I would love to, eventually, be able to use this method whenever my hands decided my 'throwing' method is a bit much for them.  I am unable to do the 'picking' method, as the knuckle in my index finger of my left hand is shot.  I can not use it to hold my fiber as it will not be able to handle the angle.

Last night, my BFF and I went to another concert.  It was probably the absolute best concert we have been too in quite a while.

Take a look:


This is from left to right.......................Brandon Heath, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Mac Powell from Third Day.  They put on a 3 hour show of the most uplifting worship music.  It was a real treat.  It was held in a church so it was quite intimate and close.  That is probably the reason we enjoyed it so much.  We have been to large venues and small ones and the smaller ones have always been our favorites.

That is about all for this week.  I am off to pick up one of my projects and work on it for about an hour and then off to get some much needed sleep.

Until next time.........................Happy Crafting.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Mid-week

Good day every one.  Happy hump day to all of you too.

This week has been so nice and normal for a change.  I got my menus made out for the week and got all the groceries purchased on Sunday so I would have the week free to just cook and enjoy a low key week.

Monday was visit my Mom day and that went off without a hitch.  We have such a nice time together.  We visit and work on jigsaw puzzles together.  There is plenty of laughter and love too. 

In the evening I had a meeting with a couple of people to go over how we were going to do our presentation on Sunday at church.  I am still teaching our Catholic faith to those who are interested in finding out more about it.  Hubby and I have been doing this for the past 10 years.  Last year was the first year I decided to break away from him and start a teaching team of my own.  I think it has worked out well.  It has made me do more research in delve deeper into my faith too.  I have 2 new people wanting to teach shadowing me this year and I think they are going to be a fantastic asset to our teaching team.

Tuesday was a looooooong day.  Hubby has not been happy with his phone since he got it in June.  He switched from an iPhone to an Android and just could not grasp the change.  I had an upgrade available to me so we went to AT&T and traded my phone in, I took over his phone and he got a new iPhone SE.  He is so happy now.  And it only took FOUR flippin' hours to complete the transaction!!!!  The rest of the day was spent downloading all my apps back onto the phone and getting all my passwords set back up.  I finished it up this morning..Finally!

Today started out with us hauling LOTS of 'stuff' out of our house to the curb for a pick up by Big Brother, Big Sisters.  As we deep clean rooms, we make up bags of donations to go to a couple of different agencies.  That way, things that are still good and in working order don't just get dumped in the garbage.  That seems wasteful and I know of several folks that do that!  

I took off to the gym after eating a light breakfast.  Let me just do a little boasting......The gym has been my morning routine for 2 weeks now.  The weekends are the only 2 days I do not go.  The treadmill and I are becoming BFF's.  I am now up to over a mile in 30 minutes and am trying to get to the point where I can do 2-3 miles in 30 minutes.  The weight machines are still being used, but cardio is my main goal at this point.  It helps with weight loss and is lowering my blood pressure.  A win win situation, if you ask me.  You did ask, right?

The reason I know about my blood pressure lowering.........I had an appointment today with my PA for a blood pressure check.  I am well within normal range.  She is hoping that by January we can either lower or discontinue my blood pressure medicine.  It will depend on my continued working out and loosing weight.

While I was at the Dr's today, I also asked her to get rid of a wart that is on my middle finger. It has been there for the past couple of years and in the past week, has become very annoying.  In fact, I caught it on something the other day and it tore!  That hurt.  So she froze it..................Don't know why they call it freezing when it burned like crazy and is still burning.  Hopefully it will be all gone in the next couple of weeks.  If not................I get the joy of going back for another freezing session.  

Tonight is my weight watchers meeting.  I am looking forward to it.  I enjoy the instructor we have and the tips and ideas she gives each week.  This past week, we needed to keep track of our day and what we do each day and where we could have fit in "ME" time each day.  I am blessed that my hubby allows me to have "ME" time daily.  I have "ME" time each morning at the gym and then again each evening with my knitting while enjoying TV.

Tomorrow will be my visit with mom day again but Friday looks very free.  I know I said this week was normal and yet I was quite busy.  To me..............not having everyday booked up before the week begins means it is a normal week.  Things are always going to happen and I am able to go with the flow.........................most of the time.  

I think I will stop now and and go and work on my knitting for a while before my meeting tonight.

Until next time.....................happy crafting!


Sunday, October 2, 2016

Week 14 YoP update




Hello everyone.  So good to be back here talking to all of you about my week of crafting and life.  It is a rainy day here in the deserts of Arizona.  Something we don't see very often, so I am totally enjoying the gray gloomy day.  It is the perfect day to do menu planning, grocery shopping, laundry, throwing dinner in a crock pot and catching up on a few household chores I have been ignoring for a week or so.

Ok, let's see what I have accomplished this past week.


I am about half way through my second skein of yarn and have one more to use before I have to do the neck opening.  I have a horrible feeling this is not going to be as long as I would like it to be.  Therefore.................I will make the turtle neck shorter than is prescribed. I don't see a reason for it to be 11 inches long.  I know they want it to fold over, but I think it is plenty heavy without doubling it up.  So that will give me another 1/2 skein to work with.  I guess I should quit worrying about it and just get on with the knitting of it to see where it takes me when I have used up the allotted amount of yarn.  I have 4 sets of button holes made and have at least 2 more to do and if it is long enough will add another one to it too.

I also worked a bit on this:

The only saving factor on these socks is.............................I get to stop well before the toe shaping.  So actually, there is only about another 3 inches I need to do on this and then I can bind off and make the toe loop for it.  

That has been the extent of my knitting.  I have been so busy with going to the gym, visiting my mom, running errands for me and hubby, and keeping up with the laundry.  The last one is a biggie for me now.  I go through 2 outfits a day now.  One for the gym and one for public viewing.  The laundry fills up pretty quickly that way and I only have enough work out clothes for 4 days.  

This past week, I decided to download the new music I had purchased, onto my iPod.  It downloaded into my iTunes list on my PC just fine but would not sync with my iPod.  I ended up calling tech support and was politely told I had a 'vintage' iPod.  Good grief......it is only 8 years old.  It is no longer supported by Apple.  So, off to the Apple store goes hubby and I.  I am not the proud owner of an 8th generation nano iPod.  I have downloaded all my music onto it and have set up separate play lists for whatever makes me happy.  I am totally excited.............................I did it all by myself without any help from any techie family person!

While we were at the Apple store, we got a recommendation of where to have lunch.  We went to a nice little Mexican food restaurant and had a lovely lunch.  The best thing was.......they did not over fill your plate with beans and rice.  It was just enough to go with the tacos I ordered.  Hubby had fresh made guacamole and loved that too.

After lunch, we were walking to the car when we saw Total Wines and More, right next to the parking lot.  Well.......................Since I am on WW, wine is recommended more than beer.  I actually only had one bottle of wine in the house and we decided we should pick up a few more.  I purchased 5 bottles of wine, 2 bottles of scotch (for hubby) and one bottle of Irish Whiskey (for my evening coffee when I so choose).  We laughed all the way home.  You see.........Hubby had gone through our bar about 4 months ago and disposed of all the liquor there as we seldom drink hard liquor and also all the wine that was there had skunked.  It was stored in a non temperature controlled area of our house.  That room has since been enclosed and is now temperature controlled so I can keep my wine back there again.

I told you I went to a Christian concert on the 24th of last month.  What I didn't do was post a photo of what great seats we had.


This is Casting Crowns.  One of my all time favorite groups.  They were joined by Matt Maher ( a local musician who has made it big in Nashville) and Hannah Kerr, a sweet young lady who has a set of pipes that won't quit.  We (my BFF and myself) have been to all of the Casting Crown concerts except one, where the tickets were over $100 for a cheap seat.  We also try and make all of Matt Maher's concerts.  He is from the same faith background as I am and his songs truly speak to me.

Now for that aaaawwwwwe moment:

This is my male Chiweenie..............Enrique.  He cracks me up, his head is on a little sofa pillow and he has his paws under his blanket.  He is my love dog and also my brat dog.  He is so in tuned with my moods and feelings.  He is by my side almost constantly.  If I decide to go to the bathroom, he sits outside patiently waiting for me.  If I go from one room to the other, he is right by my side.  He is my best companion dog ever.  Don't get me wrong, my female is also a loving dog, but she is a bit more aloof than him.  I love both of my fur babies very much.  They bring pure joy to my life.

I don't look as busy this week as last.  Hopefully I will get more knitting accomplished.  

Until next time...............................Happy Crafting

PS:  I have also been reading again, so if you know of any really great books, leave the name of them in your comments.  Doesn't matter to me if they are ebooks or library books.