DAY 20

Another day of posting.  I see other bloggers posting daily all year long.  Not thinking I would be able to do that.  I do enjoy doing it for a month but sheesh............365 days in a row?  Nope, not happening.

Yesterday, I wanted to get the heel on my other sock completed.  Here is what happened:

Mission accomplished!  Now on to the foot.  Thank goodness I have made these socks before and can look at the other ones to see how many repeats of the pattern I need before the toe starts.  I should probably mark that down on the pattern this time, huh.

This morning I was looking at the Advent scarf ribbing I had completed last weekend.  I just was not happy with it.  It seemed too loose.  Even though it measured the proper width, it still seemed a bit sloppy.  Pulling out my US size 5 needles, I decided to work it again.  The original size I used was US size 6.  There is only .25mm difference between the two sizes but take a look at the difference in the ribbing.

The bottom fabric has much better stitch definition, right?  The thought of going down to a US size 4 has crossed my mind but, that would make the width quite a bit smaller.  I will stay with the US size 5 (3.75 mm) for now.

The rest of today will see me going to the grocery store to get some breakfast food for the Grand Daughter as she has several sleep overs coming up in the next few weeks.  There is food to be vacuum sealed, a dishwasher to unload and dinner to be cooked.  There will be some down time in there for knitting and puzzle working too.  There still has not been any decluttering done.  That may have to wait until the start of December.

Hubby is out trimming our bushes in the front yard so we can get our Christmas lights out this weekend.  I plan on getting the tree up as well as the Nativity sets.  It will be nice to return from our trip and walk into a decorated home.

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

Day 19

November is over half gone.  This week is Thanksgiving in the USA which means........Christmas is slowly creeping up on us.  This year,  I am not killing myself making gifts.  Nope, we are doing an exchange with the local family and for the out of towners, they put their wish lists on Amazon.  It will be so much easier this year.  Hubby and I do not exchange gifts.  After 43 years of marriage, we feel each day is a gift and enjoy our time with family and friends.

Today is catch up day.  Other than making dinner last night, I did nothing around the house.  So, today, I am doing a couple of loads of laundry and starting a bit of decluttering in my craft room.  Sam does a 15 minute a day declutter and I believe that is something I can actually do each day.  

Yesterday I did work on my socks.  Well actually I worked on 1 sock.  Last time I showed it, this is where I was.

As of this morning, this is my progress:

The heel is completed!  Fingers crossed I can complete the other sock's heel today.  Then I just have the foot to do.  I would love to have these off the needles by the weekend.  They would be perfect for me to take on our trip next week.  Not that I don't have other lovely handmade socks I could take.  But I could cast on another pair to do while traveling.

Hubby is contacting our plumber today to see when he can come out and look at our pool and let us know if he can do it or if we need to call a pool company.  It's always something, huh.

I will be heading out this afternoon to watch the local Grand Daughter's softball game.  She plays all 4 sports at her school and loves it.  Basketball starts after the first of the year and there is soccer in the mix too.  

Dinner is ready to go into the slow cooker.  This is the time of year I love my slow cooker.  Chili's, stews, and soups are so yummy during the colder months.  Plus, with the busy schedule we have for the next few weeks, it is a great way to make sure there is a nutritious meal waiting for us when we get hungry.

Off to change the laundry around.

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

WEEK 21 & DAY 18

It is week 21 of the 8th year of projects.  It has been a busy and productive crafting week.  I finally finished my Rising Tide scarf.

It only took me a month to complete it.  For a scarf, that is about average for me.  

It is the perfect width at 5.5 inches.  Now I wait for me to go somewhere in the early morning hours so I can wear it.  Hmmmm.......guess I need to take my walks earlier in the day.

Since that was off the needles, I picked up my Snoqualmie socks again.

The left one is ready for the heel and the right one is about 15 rows behind it.  I may go ahead and do the heel from the pattern.............jury is still out.  I prefer the FLK yet, don't know if it will work well with this pattern.  Any thoughts on this?

While reading other YOPer's blogs, KAL's (knit alongs) and CAL's (crochet alongs) keep getting talked about.  Never have I participated in one of them.  That has all changed as of yesterday.  I joined the Advent Scarf 2018 KAL.  I am so excited.  The scarf will be based on Japanese knitting stitches.  Something totally new to me.  The ribbing pattern has already been posted and the first part of the pattern will be posted on November 24th.  The designer lives in New Zealand, so actually those of us in the Northern Hemisphere will be able to get the clue on the 23rd.  I started the ribbing yesterday afternoon and completed it in just a couple of hours.

It took me two times to get the first row correct.  After that it was a matter of repeating the row pattern out loud as I knit it.  I have no clue what yarn this is.  I am assuming it is a cotton blend of some sort.  It was clear in the back of my DK stash.  I loved the color of it and thought it would give me the better stitch definition.  The yarn is super easy to work with and not at all split inclined.  I am thinking this might be Cascade Ultra Pima.  It is the main DK yarn I use.  There is no ball band and it was already caked up and there are 4 cakes of it.  Could have been in my stash for several years.  The pattern is both charted and written.  So far, I have enjoyed the 13 rows I did.......even the Knit 3 together. 

There is another KAL that I will probably join in.  It is with one of our YOPers, Domic.  She is going to make a star pillow.  It starts on December 1.

Isn't this just too cute?  I already have the pattern printed out and the yarn is in my stash.  How much fun the KAL's are.  I wish I had done this before.

It is also Day 18 of my daily posting.  Last time we talked, I was getting ready to go to Mass.  We went and delivered the food to the Church's food bank and then went to Mass.  Afterwards we had dinner with family and friends and had such a good time we went to the friend's house and sat around a nice fire outside and enjoyed the rest of the evening.

We didn't get home until after 10 and I had a couple of ticked off puppies.  They wanted to know why dinner was so late.  Trust me......neither of them are starving and under fed.  

To show me how hungry they were they tried eating this:

My needle case!  Luckily, they did not get any of the needles out of it.  That would have meant a trip to the ER vet.

They also decided this would be a tasty morsel:

My knitting notions box.  These items were on my end table.  To get to them, they needed to walk over my yarn bowl, laptop, portable phone and table top fan.  Yup, they were not happy campers.

Yesterday hubby got our water bill and it had increased by $20 for 1 month!  That means trouble.  He checked our pool automatic fill and it was running and completely full as was the pool!  He also found an area over by the pool pump that had standing water.  THAT could be some major trouble if we have a leak there.  All the plumbing is underground and under cool decking.  Fingers crossed it is just a leaky valve on top.  He shut off the water to the pool and will call someone to come and fix the automatic fill.  In the mean time......we pray for an easy solution for all of this.

Today will see me knitting on my socks.  Fingers crossed I can get the heels turned on both socks by the end of the day.  There will also be work done on the puzzle.  Hubby and I will be bagging up our donations for Big Brothers/Big Sisters as they are coming tomorrow for a pick up.

This week is going to be busy.  We have a sleep over planned, Thanksgiving planned for 18 people, DIL is having surgery (the day before Thanksgiving), dogs need to get nails done, and I need a haircut and manicure.  Follow my blog and see if it all happens according to plan.  (Not likely but it might)

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

Day 17

Phew......yesterday wore me out.  Hubby and I went grocery shopping for our weeks worth of food as well as for the Thanksgiving dinner we buy or our church's food bank.  I am so glad he was with me.  He did the church shopping while I did our home's shopping.  It still took us over 1.5 hours to complete it.  Who puts dinner rolls on an end cap of the coffee aisle?  It was stuff like that, that slowed us waaaay down.  Thankfully there were several employees going around asking if you needed help finding anything.  Otherwise, we might still be there lol.  We will drop off the food bank items today when we go to Mass.  We dropped off the family turkey and turkey gravy to our son's home yesterday. 

After our grocery trip, hubby went for a haircut and I started the crockpot for our taquito meat. (chicken)   Then it was time for me to head out to do a little clothes shopping.  I very much dislike clothes shopping!!!  All I really wanted was to get some jeans.  I have been wearing leggings for 2 years.  My jeans I have all shrunk while laying in the closet!  It's true!  I had heard of this happening to my friends and now it has happened to me.  Finally, I found 2 pair of jeans that felt good and were not super expensive.  Being on Weight Watchers, I knew I would not be in this size forever and didn't want to spend beau coup bucks on 'designer' jeans.  Just finding the jeans and 3 tops took me over 2 hours.  By the time I was done shopping I was pretty well done in.  But wait..................there's more.

After returning home and putting my feet up for an hour I got busy and made the taquitos for dinner.  They were sooooo yummy.  I get 99% of my recipes from Skinnytaste. Her recipes are all calculated for WW.  There have only been a couple we have tried that we will never do again.  Pretty good since I have been using her stuff for over 3 years.  I also have all 3 of her cookbooks.  Yup, I am hooked on her.

Shortly after dinner we headed out to our Church's school for the performance of Mary Poppins Jr.  It was so cute.  It was opening night and there were a few technical issues but the kids were so professional and just kept right on performing like nothing was wrong.  Here is a photo of our little actress.

There was some padding added to her to make her look 'plump'.  The roll of Miss Brill was perfect for her too.  It was a bit of comedic relief and she pulled it off fabulously!

By the time we got home it was after 9 and all I wanted to do was grab my knitting and relax for a few whiles.  So, that is exactly what I did!

Today, there is not much on my to do list.  This might just be a sit and do nothing day until it is time to go to Mass.  I have had a headache for 3 days now and would like it to go away.  Hopefully, with some 'down time' it will abate so I can enjoy my evening at Mass and then dinner out with friends and family.

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

Day 16

No photos today, just conversation.

Question; Do y'all use flannel sheets for your bed?  I had never even heard of flannel sheets until about 15 years ago.  They are nice.  It is one of the reasons we do not need our heater much here.  Snuggling under the flannel sheets and a down comforter is pure heaven.  I even leave a window cracked in the bedroom as I can not stand not having air movement.  Yup, just a bit claustrophobic.  Y'all are probably thinking "so what, it never gets THAT cold in Phoenix".  For those of you with snow and freezing temps you would find our winters pretty mild..BUT.. if you live 85% of your year at 105 and above, 45 degrees is pretty darn cold.  That would be like those that live in 80 degrees in the summer going to 20 degrees in the winter.  It is flat out COLD!  So again, I ask..........do y'all use flannel sheets for your bed in the winter time?  Mine went on this week.  LOVE IT!

The menus for the next week have been planned.  The grocery list is made.  Hubby and I will be venturing out to the grocery stores in the next hour or so.  We will be getting our turkey for the family gathering today too.  As well as supplying our cupboards with food for the next week, our church is asking for donations for Thanksgiving food for families who otherwise would not have any.  We will be doing that shopping today as well and dropping it off at Mass tomorrow.

Tonight, our local Grand Daughter is performing in the play, Mary Poppins Jr.  She has the role of Mrs Brill the housekeeper.  We are looking forward to seeing the play.  The kids have been practicing since the beginning of September.  It should be good.

Will be throwing some chicken tenders in the crockpot soon along with some salsa verde.  Tonight I am making Chicken Taquitos.  I needed something fairly easy to make since we have such an important date tonight.  Clean up from this is pretty easy too.  WOOHOO!  Gotta love crockpot liners.

That is all for now.

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