YoP Week 25!

I can hardly believe it is only a few days before we celebrate one of the most wonderful days of the year.  CHRISTMAS!!!!!  I am so excited and really ready to be with all my friends and family and have all the love pouring out all around.

I am not completely done with all the Christmas stuff.  I still need to wrap gifts but that is all I need to do.  So it really isn't too bad.  I do use bags for a lot of things and that goes pretty quickly.  But this year we have added to our family with a future Son In Law so needed to try and come up with something unique for him.  I think we are going to be great friends as he is also a crafty person.  He loves to SEW!  How exciting is that?

I did work on my socks just enough to complete the gusset this week.  I did not touch the baby blanket and have had an offer from a family member to finish it for me as she needs something to do.  Get this...............................She is the one that designed the pattern.  You betcha, you can finish it for me.  So I will get that to her this week and she can finish it and send it off to operation baby shower for me.

I did crochet a lot this week and am sorry to say that I failed.  I did not take photos of what I completed.  I made 5 ruffled scarves for someone that wanted to gift them for Christmas.  So they were made and sold in a matter of 2 days.  So I guess I will mark that as a fail on my YoP list of things to accomplish this year.

I have started a prayer shawl in crochet.  I noticed my mom's prayer shawl had a huge hole in it and she has never said a word about it.  So I am making a new one for her. This shawl has a stitch in it that I have never done.  It is a triple treble stitch.  (That's US terms)  It is slow going right now.  I have developed a trigger finger on my left hand ring finger and also on my right pinky finger.  (Remember I am a lefty)  Knitting on small needles is very hard on my and so I can only knit for a very short period of time.  Crocheting is much easier on me as I don't grip my hooks in a way that affects the finger.  So knitting will be slow going for a while. 

In fact, today I had to go and have my wedding ring cut off my finger because of the arthritis and trigger finger.  The knuckle was so swollen and my ring was embedding itself into my finger.  When I FINALLY found a jeweler that would do it ( I went to 4 jewelry stores before I found one that would even attempt it) the jeweler was amazed at how swollen my knuckle was compared to where my wedding ring of 39 years had been.  I am so sad not to have my rings on anymore.  I was going to have them do an arthritis hinge on it but that was around $1000 and I just don't have that kind of $$$$ to do that right now.  So I will be ringless until hubby and I decide what to do about it.

I will say, my finger does feel better without the rings embedded in it.  LOL  It may take a while for it to fill in to the girth of the rest of the finger though.

As far as test knits/crochets go.......................I am searching the forums on Ravelry daily trying to find a test crochet since that is more comfy for me right now.  But I have yet to find one that would really challenge me.  I will continue to peruse the group until I find just what I want.  

If you don't want to read my list again, then I will wish all of you a Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it.  Happy Hanukkah to those who are celebrating and happy winter solstice to those who do neither.

So lets see how my list looks today:

YoP 4 List

New items to do

Sweater for me

Started 12/21/14

WORKED ON A BIT THIS WEEK

NEW PRAYER SHAWL FOR MOM

STARTED 12/19/14

WIP's to complete

Log Cabin Blanket

(This has been in my WIP pile for about 3 years now.  It needs to leave it)

DIDN'T TOUCH IT THIS WEEK

Yearly projects I do anyway

Socks

( I love doing them and can not say how many pairs I will complete but need to do some)

STARTED A NEW PAIR 10/7/14

WORKED ON THIS WEEK

Things to increase my skills

2-3 test knits/crochet

(I have done a few of these over the past year and loved doing them.  They totally test my skills as a crafter and help me branch out into areas I would never ever think of going)

I HAVE BEEN ASKED TO DO A COUPLE BUT UNTIL AFTER THE FIRST OF THE YEAR, I JUST DON'T SEE THAT HAPPENING.   

Personal Goal

Use only the yarn from my stash for all the above projects.

( I am truly going to try NOT to purchase any more yarn this year.  I have already gone 4 months without buying any yarn and I figure I can continue that trend for at least another 12 months.)

NO YARN BOUGHT AS OF 12/21/14

Take photos of ALL items when done.

(I have a habit of gifting items and never photographing them for my blog)

YUP, SO FAR AS OF 12/15/14

OOPS, DIDN'T TAKE PHOTOS OF THE SCARVES I MADE AND SOLD 12-19-14

COMPLETED ITEMS

Lapghan for my mom

(I started on this on July 1st since this is when the official YoP 4 started)

FINISHED 7/6/14

2-3 Doll Clothes

(I really want to get this done this year......I really do)

ALL FINISHED BY 7/22/14

1 fingerless mitt

( This is for a Christmas gift this year so it WILL be done soon)

FINISHED 8/12/14

One sock

(This also needs to be done for Christmas.  It's been lingering around for 6 months)

COMPLETED 9/27/14

Be Loving

Unplanned project but did it for love

COMPLETED 10/19/14

Slippers

(These make the best Christmas gifts and my entire family said they need new ones)

8 PAIR COMPLETED 11/09/14

12 dishcloths 

( These also make such nice Christmas gifts and are quick and fun to do)

THIRTEEN COMPLETED 11/16/14

5 RUFFLED SCARVES

12/19/14