Week 32

 

Hey there!  Are any of you watching the Olympics?  How about Super Bowl?  I have been trying to catch all the ice skating and a few of the other Olympic events.  We will be tuning into the Super Bowl this evening.  Love the commercials LOL.

I am proud to say, I have a couple of finishes this week.

The RCR are finally finished!  Phew!  It took me so long to make these.  I started them in November!  Daughter has another yarn picked out for a second pair.  I am thinking I will take a little break before casting the next pair on.

After that loooong knit, I felt I needed a palette cleanser.  Sooooooooooooo

Another dishcloth to put in the grab box.  Now that all the grands have moved into their own places, it seems dishcloths from Mimi are the best thing ever.  I am happy to comply.

The Lego blanket got a bit of love this week.  Ok, it was only 2 rows, but it was something.  The lap throw got 4 more rows done on it.  They are never ending projects!

This past week kind of got away from me.  We had something on the calendar everyday this week.  I was a chauffer for family members 4 days out of 7.  I met up with 2 cousins for lunch this week too.  Had such a good time with them.  I only see the one cousin once a year.  The other cousin lives here, so we see each often.  But, it is always nice to get together with family.

Now, I am going to brag a bit.  This past week I managed to cook 6 days out of 7!  This is unusual for us. I have been in a mood to be creative in the kitchen.  Hubby has been quite happy about all the homecooked meals.  

The other thing that I have been doing over the past 3 weeks............My grocery shopping is being done via online pick up.  This lady has not stepped into a grocery store in 3 weeks!  I am lucky that my Kroger store makes it so easy to order what I need online and then I just go and pick it up.  This has cut down on my grocery bill A LOT!  It saves me quite a bit of time too.  

Time for me to go and start watching some Olympic ice skating.  I woke up at 4 this morning and was thrilled.  Why?  Because, I was able to make a loaf of bread (in the bread machine), hard boil a dozen eggs (In the egg cooker), cook 2 pounds of bacon (on my Blackstone) and washed dishes (in the dishwasher).  Now I can kick back until it is time for me to cook lunch (TGIFriday's Potato Skins) and then dinner (smoked wings).  Hey........this is standard football cuisine!  Right? 

Yummy bacon for our BLT sandwiches tomorrow and then I am making a huge Cobb salad later in the week when the rest of the bacon will be used.  

The Lego blanket is sitting next to me asking me to work on it again.  I have a Lego build that needs to be completed too.  Maybe this week will be a bit calmer?  It could happen.  

I will leave you with a bit of chuckle...............

Until Next Time................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WEEK 31

 

Hello and welcome.  I hope everyone is staying warm and well.  We are having spring like weather at the moment and my plants can't decide if they should be putting on blossoms or shedding their leaves.  For the next week we are going to be in the 80's!  It is waaay to early for this to happen.   But, most of you are not here to hear about my weather.  Let's see what happened this week.

There was progress on a couple of projects.

DD's socks got a heel this week.  Only 89 more rows and I can do the toe.  I am so glad she is not in a hurry for these.

One skein of yarn has been completed on the lap throw.  I did decide to add a brighter color in the center of this to help break up all that BROWN!.

I thought this was a tan base until I started working with it last night and realized it has a lavender cast to it.  I still like it and am going to continue on with it.  There are brown specks in it so it goes quite well with the main color.  This throw takes 3 skeins of yarn to make it the length needed.  The person I got the pattern from (Josie's Grammie) said it is a quick and easy pattern.  NOPE!  I disagree.  This has been on my needles since November.  I need to be very careful at the start of each row to make sure I am doing the correct stitch to create this pattern.  Yes, it is good for TV watching once I start each right side row, but..........still not a quick project.  At least, not for me.

There was a little bit of shopping this week.  I just happened to stumble into my LYS on Thursday.  They had totally rearranged the entire set up of the store.  I went in to find out if they had any open knit/crochet sessions to just sit and knit/crochet.  Yes, they do!  They have open sessions from open to close 3 days a week.  I am so happy to hear that.  The deserts of Arizona are not exactly hot spots for people working with yarn all the time.  I really wanted to meet people, like me, who wake each morning looking forward to picking up their projects and giving them some love.

Excuse me, I digress.  I was going to tell you about my shopping.  I walked around the store, touching and caressing many skeins of yarn.  There was some nonwool yarn there that was so soft and lofty, I was dreaming of projects for it.  But, no, I did not purchase any of it.  I have way too much yarn in my stash now.  Once it gets down to a respectable size I will grab some of that lush and plush yarn.  So, I continued walking around the shop, admiring all the accessories they had.  I was about to walk out of the store, empty handed, when I spied this gem.............

OH MY STARS!!!!!!!  A gnome project bag from Twice Sheared Sheep!  I had seen this on her website but told myself there were plenty of project bags in my craft area now.  Yet, when I saw this in person, I knew I needed to buy it.  This is the medium size bag and is now the home of the brown lap throw.  This would easily hold a sweater project. I wish she had a gnome bag in her new mini size.  It is sock project size and if she had one I would grab it in a heart beat.  Hmmm, maybe I need to send her a little love note!

BTW, Can anyone tell me what a respectable size for a yarn stash is?  Asking for a friend.

I did finish one item this past week.

The Japanese Maple Bonsai Lego tree.  The colors on this make me smile.  I did start another Lego after this but have run into some difficulty with it holding together.  I have built it twice now and it still falls apart half way through. I got so disgusted with it, I actually tossed it across my craft table and there is sits now..........pieces strewn all over the table and I am not the least bit interested in picking them up and trying again............at this time.

There were 2 presents for me in the mail this week.

The 5th book in the series I have been reading.  I have had this on hold in my Libby account for several months and it was going to be several more months before I would receive it.  So, I went to my Thriftbooks account and found it for a really nice price.  After this one, there are 8 more in the series.  I will get them through my Kindle app when the time comes.

The other present I received was my new passport!  Good for another 10 years.  Hubby is still waiting for his to arrive.  There are no plans, at the moment to go someplace where I will need it.  It is just nice to have in case the opportunity would show up.

Hubby and I had a little fun night out on Friday.

We took Stacie to Bingo that night, to celebrate her big 5 0 birthday!  She and hubby both won a game.  I was just there to add humor to the night.

That covers all the excitement here.  I do have a little humor for you to carry you through the week.

Until Next Time........................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!

WEEK 30

 

Hello there.  I was going to post yesterday, but the day got away from me.  So, here I am on Monday morning, waiting for my first load of laundry to finish washing so I can commence with drying it and getting the other 3 loads completed before dinner time.

My yarn projects remain the same.  The Lego blanket is now up to row 101.  Someone has asked me several time in my comments where to find the pattern.  Since it is from an anonymous sender, I have no idea who is asking for it.  I did put the link for it on last weeks update.  Here is the link again, in case this person is not a weekly reader of blogs.

There are just a few more rows on DD RCR socks before I do the heel.  This is my morning knit now while I am listening to my morning devotions.  Makes for a lovely serene start to my day and sets the mood for the remainder of my day.

The big brown lap blanket is still only getting a few rows each week during adoration.  The first skein of yarn is nearing the end, finally!  I am contemplating using a contrasting color for the second skein, just to break up the dullness of it.  Might make me want to pick it up more often.

There were some other projects that got completed though.................

From left to right, Pixar lamp and ball, lucky bamboo, and orchid.  All Lego builds that were completed on Saturday.  The Pixar ball had been completed several days ago.  I finally decided to get the lamp done so I could clean up my crafting table.  Well, once that was done, I was hooked on Lego building.  So, I grabbed the 2 smallest builds I had in stock and got those completed too.  I am now down to 4 more unopened sets as well as Notre Dame that is begging to be completed.

Yesterday, we had a surprise 50th birthday party for Stacie.  There were several of her closest friends as well as family there to celebrate her 50th rotation around the sun.  Her actual birthday is this Friday.  Hubby and I are going to take her to Bingo and make sure she has an awesome time there too.

An item on my bucket list got marked off this week!

I went to the Barrett Jackson car show and auction!  I have wanted to do this for several years.  Jay and TIff got free tickets from our BMW dealer and invited me and hubby to go with them.  Hubby was unable to make it but really encouraged me to go.  I am so glad I did.  It was a horrendous amount of walking and I paid for it the next day but, oh so worth it.

 I fell in love with this 1951 Jaguar Roadster.  Hubby said no.  Darn it.  But it was so cool looking and I think I would have looked smashing driving it around town.

There were not just cars there either.  This grand piano was so stunning.  I played for YEARS but no longer as able to thanks to the RA in my hands.  I will say it was tempting to go over and embrace this item of beauty though.

 A purchase was made this week to help in my kitchen.

Say hello to my acacia wood noodle board and my magnetic stove top shelf!  I do not use my stove top other than to meal prep on it.  I have induction burners I use as well as an Oster french door oven.  This is so much easier to clean if I have a little spill during prep work.  The stove top shelf is holding all our oils and vinegars.  Yes, we do use all of them.  So many flavors that add to our meals.

And finally, a new adventure for me.  Well, actually for me and my son, Jay.  We decided we wanted to make our own vanilla extract.  We ordered bottles and beans from Amazon.  I was impressed with the quality of the beans we received.  Then, we needed to decide what alcohol we were going to use to make the extract.  After much research, I choose to make three different types to determine which I preferred.

From left to right; Titos Vodka, Buffalo Trace bourbon, Captain Morgan White rum.  All made with Madagascar bourbon vanilla beans. This is going to be a long term project.  They need to 'ferment' for 6 months to a year.  The vodka we can check out in 8 weeks to see if it is where we like it.  We can also top them off as we use them for the next year.  I am excited to see how they turn out.  Now, I just need to remember to shake them once a week to keep everything evened out inside.  Jay wants to try Ugandan beans too.  Once we see how these do, we will venture into more exotic beans.

That my friends is all for this week.  Load 2 of laundry is in the washer!  There are plenty of leftovers for dinner tonight so no need to cook.  Sounds like I will have time to work on one of my many projects today then.

If you were in the path of this weekends horrendous winter storm, I hope you are all safe and warm.  I know many of you live in the Midwest to east coast.  Prayers for you!

Here is your chuckle for the week.

Until Next Time................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!

WEEK 29

 

Hey there.  Another week has passed and I still do not have a finished yarn project to show.  I did finish this:

The Lego San Francisco skyline.  This was my 50th anniversary gift from our daughter.  She had asked what I wanted for our 50th and I told her a trip to San Francisco.  Since she could 't afford that she got me this instead.  I love it!  It was a fairly easy build.  Completed in one day.

As for yarn projects................it is the same 3.

The lap blanket is so slow going.  The marker was placed there 2 months ago!  I only work on this on Thursday nights during Adoration hour.  That gives it about 4 rows a week.  This is the reason I do not knit bigger projects.  Especially when I need to keep track of a patterned stitch.  I get bored way to easily with them.

Daughter's second sock has been started and the cuff is almost done.  This is my project for when my wrists hurt from crocheting on the Lego blanket.

And, here is the Lego blanket, tucked into a basket with the skeins on top.  I had to hide it this week as the intended receiver kept stopping over for little visits.  Otherwise, it is normally out, right beside my chair so I can easily pick it up and work on it.  I am on row 95 of 218 (not including the border).  I have been asked where the pattern can be found.  It is on Ravelry at this site.    It is not a free pattern but worth the price.  It is so well written and the color chart is all I needed to print out.

That is all for this week's update.  I spent quite a bit of my week transporting people around to appointments. 

Josie's car had to go to the shop so I was her chauffer for a couple of days.  

Our daughter had to have some oral surgery done so I chauffeured her to and from plus I had her at our house for a couple of days to recoup.  

I did my groceries online for pick up this week.  I did not have the gumption to go to the store and deal with everything.  

I spent a day with Stacie helping her declutter her craftroom.  I even brought her sewing machine to my house to see why she said it was broken.  Worked fine when I used it.  Maybe operator error?  

I renewed our passports online.  How nice that you can get your passport photo taken at the local CVS store.  And, it can be done digitally which makes it super easy to do your renewal online.  

So, it was another busy week for me and, of course, the crafting comes second to my family.

I am very excited...............tomorrow I am going to the Barrett Jackson car show with my son, his wife and their future son in law.  This has been on my bucket list for years.  My son, Jay, got free tickets from our car dealership for being a good customer!  The weather will be perfect with a high of 75F and partly cloudy.

Today, I will be kicking back and enjoying the day.  I have a pot roast in the crockpot.  There is another Lego build I started and would like to finish.  All my yarn projects would like to receive a bit of love.  There are NFL playoff games to watch too.  A perfect Sunday!

Let me leave you with a chuckle today.............

Until Next Time..........................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a Little Update

 

Hey guys.  I am still around.  Blogging has not been my #1 priority lately.  Life has been a bit crazy around here over the past 3 weeks.

Hubby caught the creeping crud and was pretty well down and out for 10 days.

  

I got a lovely sinus infection which is now cleared up. 

 

We had one of our kids end up in the hospital for 5 days

.

We finally got Christmas taken down last week and have gotten it all put away as of yesterday.

There was a day where hubby and I made tamales.

Knitting has been almost nonexistent on the second RCR sock

Crocheting is slow but steady on the lego blanket

The lapghan only gets about 4 rows a week while I am at adoration

I have read one book and am 50% through a second one

My house looks like a tornado hit it

I am working on deep cleaning individual rooms (again)  Craftroom is first.

Lego building is back

Diamond art is on pause

I am helping Stacie with her decluttering so she can sell her house and downsize

Hubby is teaching Bible class every week which requires many hours of prep so Sh-h-h-h-h

Other than all that, life is pretty routine and boring!

How are y'all doing?  I have been keeping up with everyone's blogs.  Just have not been commenting much.  Please forgive me for that.  I kept thinking, once 2026 began, things would become more settled.  Evidently, that is not going to happen for a little while yet.  We finally got some winter temperatures (for a week) and are now going back into the high 70's.  My outdoor plant's don't know whether to go dormant or to start blooming again.  It is about the time of year when I will be heading to my front porch to sit in my rocking chair and work on one of my yarn projects.  It needs to be around 80F for that to happen.  My front porch faces north and gets very little sunlight so it stays bit chilly until mid summer.

Hopefully I will be back to regular blogging in the next week or so.

Until Next Time..................happy crafting!!!!!!!!!

Week 26 Update

 

There is really nothing new to show you today.  I added another 12 rows on the Lego blanket and 10 rows on the sock.  There was a tiny bit of diamond art done but nothing spectacular.  The ends on the finished dishcloth, I showed last week, were weaved in and it is now in use.  So, with that being said, I wanted to take a bit of a look back over the past 26 weeks to see where I am at.

LEGEND

WIPs

COMPLETED

FROGGED

KNIT

MKAL Gnome 4/20/24

Dishcloth x 2 6/26/25 - 7/5/25

Dishcloth x 1 7/7/25 - 7/12/25

RCR 7/8/25 - 8/6/25

RCR 8/6/25 - 10/9/25

RCR 8/6/25 -10/10/25

Baby Hats X5 9/22/25 - 9/29/25

Grammies Blanket 9/13/25 - 10/19/25

Grammies Dishcloth 10/2/25 - 10/11/25

Dishcloth 11/1/25 - 11/3/25

Grammies Blanket 11/1/25 -

RCR 11/29/25 - 

Dishcloth 12/10/25 - 12/10/25

It makes me happy to see I have not frogged anything this year............so far.  The one thing I need to change up is to STOP making blankets in this category.  They take such a long time and I do get bored with them long before they are completed.

CROCHET

Shawl We Wear 6/2/25 - 7/7/25

To The Point Shawl 10/19/25 - 10/22/25

To The Point Shawl 10//22/25 - 10/26/25

To The Point Shawl 10/27/25 - 10/28/25

To The Point Shawl 10/29/25 - 10/31/25

Lego Blanket 11/1/25

As much as I love crochet, I am starting to get a bit burned out on making the same shawl pattern.  I have made a total of 48 of this pattern over the years. It is a quick project, which is why I continue to make it.  Our prayer shawl ministry is crying for more shawl and lap blankets.  We sent out over 1150 shawls and lap blankets in the past 6 months.  They do not just go to the US either.  We also sent them to Australia/Oceania, Asia, South America, Europe, Canada and Mexico.  OK, so I guess doing the same quick pattern is not such a bad thing.

CROSS STITCH

Madonna & Child 8/7/20

Madonna & Child 6/18/24

Someday I will want to pick these projects back up.  Just not today.

DIAMOND ART

Our Lady of Grace 6/13/25 - 7/7/25

Perpetual Calendar 7/2/25 - 7/2/25

Glass Cases X 5 7/11/25 - 7/12/25

Glass Case 7/14/25 - 7/14/25

Jesus Christ 7/17/25 - 7/25/25

Book Mark X2 7/24/25 - 7/24/25

Nativity Scene 7/26/25 - 9/11/25

Faith 8/15/25 - 8/23/25

English Cottage 9/3/25 - 10/8/25

Cross 10/9/25 -

Once I no longer was on Josh duty, this kind of fell to the wayside.  I started back on it again last night and remembered why I liked it.  In my craftroom storage, I have over 20 more of these to do.  Time to get busy on them again.  They are perfect to work on while Hubby is watching football.  I can be in the same room with him but do not need to watch the TV.

LEGO

Notre Dame 6/1/25

This poor project..........I may just need to sit down and really study it to find out where we went wrong on it.  I would love to get it completed, put the lights on it and get it in it's acrylic show case.  Life Goals!

PUZZLES

Barn Dance 8/13/25 - 10/14/25

Happy Halloween 10/15/25 - 10/23/25

General Store 10/28/25 - 11/2/25

Loading the Wagoneer 11/4/25 - 12/15/25

I love me some puzzles.  There will be a new one put out after the first of the year.

SEWING

Hemming Pants for Tiff 10/14/25 - 10/14/25

I have 2 more pairs of pants to hem for Tiffany as well as 3 dresses to hem for Jaxon.  I really do not enjoy hemming items for others.  But because I love my family, I do it for them.  I would rather be sewing items to wear or use, from start to finish.

BOOKS

Through a Glass, Deadly 6/22/25 - 7/6/25

The Watchmaker's Daughter 7/15/25 - 7/18/25

The Mapmaker's Apprentice 7/18/25 - 7/29/25

The Women 7/20/25 - 7/22/25

Crowned and Moldering 7/29/25 - 8/6/25

Home for Christmas in July 8/6/25 - 8/10/25

The Apothecary's Poison 8/10/25 - 8/15/25

Booked for  Christmas 8/15/25 - 8/17/25

Bones and Roses 8/19/25 - 8/24/25 

The Lies We Leave Behind 8/24/25 - 8/30/25

Snow on the Tulips 8/31/25 - 9/5/25

Hidden Blessings 9/6/25 - 9/9/25

The Secret War of Julia Child 9/9/25 - 9/19/25

How To Age Disgracefully 9/25/25 - 10/16/25

The Frozen River 10/7/25 - 10/12/25

Hooked on Murder  10/12/25 - 10/20/25

The Magicians Diary 10/22/25 - 10/31/25

Tom Lake 11/1/25 - 11/8/25

Dying to Read 11/11/25-/11/22/25

Home Front 11/22/25-/11/24/25

Inheritance 11/28/25 - 12/10/25

The Mirror 12/10/25 - 12/18/25

The Seven Rings 12/18/25 - 12/25/25

A Girl Like Janet 12/25/25 - 12/27/25

This was an excellent year for reading for me.  This is just the list of books since July 1.  I had also read another 14 books before this.  I find many of my books by reading others recommendations.  So, thank you fellow bloggers who write book reviews.

That sums up my past 6 months of crafts.

We had a wonderful Christmas.  Lot's of fun, food and family love to go around.  Hubby and I will be spending New Year's eve and New Year's at home with our lovely Enrique dog.  We leave the partying to the young people.

Until Next Time..................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!

OH MY GOODNESS!

 

Goodness gracious!  I have been absent for much longer than I planned on.  I thought I would only miss a couple of weeks but not over a month!  Well, I am here and I am doing quite well.  Before I get into what I have been up to, let me show you my projects I have been working on.

Knitting

Made another dishcloth for me!  Sometimes you just need a quick project to make you feel accomplished.

My daughter requested socks and picked out the yarn for them.  This is sock #1 of the first pair.  It gets a bit of love late in the evening when I do not need to think about what I am doing and can just knit.

Still working on the lapghan for the prayer shawl ministry.  The marker shows where I was back in November.  I only work on this one day a week for about an hour.  It is not my main focus at the moment.

Crochet

This is my main focus.  I need this completed before warm weather comes back to Arizona.  I am 1/3 of the way completed.  At the rate I am moving on it, it looks like it may be done by April!  Need to speed things up as by April we will be in the high 80's and sometimes 90's.  Heck, we are going to hit 81F today!  Crazy mother nature.

I had a puzzle out and it is now back in the box and given to my friend.  I never completed it as my brain just could not get into it.

Reading has been my jam lately.  I have finished 4 books in the past month.  Nora Roberts and Kristen Hannah are my best friends.

Personal Life

Thanksgiving came and went.  The family gathered at a restaurant for dinner and then came to our house for a little family time.  Another first gone for us.  There have been other activities I have participated in....................

Josie and Stacie have done a bit of traveling so I have had the privilege to go and sit with Thor for a few hours during the day while his dog sitter is at work.  He seems to be adjusting to no longer having Josh full time.  Now he is adjusting to just having Stacie there.  Josie moved out into her own apartment a couple of weeks ago!  She was so excited for this next adventure.  She has also been accepted into nursing college and starts on January 5th.  It is a 3 year program.  She will graduate with her BSN (Batchelor of science in nursing).  With that she can start her counseling career as she goes on to get her Masters.

Stacie and I went to one of our local Casinos and played Bingo.  It was a lot of fun.  I think Stacie had the most fun as she one a very large Bingo jackpot!  Me, not so much LOL

Joe got our front yarn decorated for Christmas.  He does such a great job each year.  My job is the inside of the house.  Well, I did manage to put decor on the tree and that is it.  Just having a hard time this year with really getting into the spirit of it.

I had a bit of issue with my blood pressure the first of this month.  My Cardiologist added a couple of new to me meds and I am now back into the normal range.  The meds do make me a bit tired so if I want to do anything it has to be in the morning hours as by 1pm, I am wiped out.  The Dr said it will pass in a couple of weeks.

Hubby and I had a date last Sunday.  We went to Queen Creek Olive Mill.  We took the tour of the olive oil factory they have.  Now I know why olive oil is so expensive!  We learned so much.  I want to go back again, if nothing else for the ability to taste the different olive oils they offer.  We did pick up several different oils as well as balsamic vinegars.  I wanted to pick up some of their skin care products but it was so busy as it was their harvest festival weekend.  I think half of the state was there!

Jay and Tiff are hosting Christmas this year.  We are really trying to do things differently than we have done in the past to help with the grief.  Speaking of grief......I am doing much much better.  I now can make it all the way through Mass without any tears.  I am back to making dinners every day for hubby and myself.  Baking has resumed again too.  I try to get out into the out of doors most days whether it is day or night.  Just need to breath fresh air.  Movies are about the only thing that can get my emotions rolling.  But darn it....I love all those sappy Christmas Movies.

This 'planner/journal' has been taking up a bit of my time this past week.  It is so different from the ones I have used in the past 3 years.  It has pages for goals in many areas of life.  There are monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals to fill in. There are month calendars for appointments, then weekly pages to keep track of daily goals and places to write your thoughts for the day. I am almost done with setting it up, which is a good thing since it starts a week from Monday!

And that my friends is what has kept me busy for the month.  All right, it has been 6 weeks. 

This little meme reminded me of Josie's newest kitten (meatloaf)

Until Next Time...............Happy Crafting and Merry Christmas (if you celebrate)!