Happy Sunday to my blog readers. It is a wonderful day and I am so happy to have things to talk about again.
I have been busy this week. It has not all been craftiness, but busy none the less. I updated my blog on Wednesday, since then I have been trying to get this house in tip top shape. Hubby and I are leaving this week and heading to Texas to be with our son and his family. Hubby has not met the new grand daughter yet and he is very excited about that. I will be there for a week and he will stay an extra 5 days. Our son and his wife both have to go to our of town for military stuff and won't be home for a few days and needed someone to help out with the 'children'. Since I was there in March doing this, I volunteered hubby for the job. He will love it and the kids will have a great time with him.
Anyway, I digress..................We have been working hard on getting the house in shape. Don't get me wrong, our house is not a disaster area by any means. It is the room we remodeled that needed tons of work to make it presentable to fifteen 11 year old girls. My Arizona Grand Daughter is having her 11th birthday party at our house because we have the swimming pool. We have about 2 more hours or working on the remodeled room and it will be fantastic. There has been copious amounts of 33 gallon garbage bags making their way out of our house. It feels so good to finally get that room D.O.N.E. Well, as done as it is going to be until we get our inspection and the A-OK on the work that is done on it.
Today, I worked on our Grand Daughter's room.............also known as the Tinkerbell room. She and I had started on it just before she left for her summer vacation in Seattle with her other Grand Parents. I finished it up today, and must say...................it looks marvelous.
As you can tell, I took this picture last night. You can actually walk around the bed and get to her dresser and everything. This is also our guest room. We don't get many guests, so this is basically her place for when she spends the night with us.
Anyway..............let's get to the crafty stuff.
First.................answers to questions that have been posed for me.
Azel...................it goes from size 2T to adult XXL
Arthur.....................He has not shown up this week at all. I think he moved to another state for the rest of this month. Thanks for caring, though.
Ok, so now, let me show you what I have been up to.
You all were so impressed that I was allocating time each day to each project I had going. Ahem, that didn't last this week. I was getting no where fast, it seemed. So I sat down and prioritized my projects with dates they needed to be completed by. Here is how it stands now.
I am in a test knit, so this is all I can show you at the moment. In fact, this is all you will get to see until the pattern is posted for sale. It is a shawl and the fiber is a mohair blend. It needs to be completed by August 18th, so this is #1 on my list of items to be worked on.
Next up:
The man's prayer shawl. I have only worked on this for about 3 hours total and already have it about half done. It really does not have a deadline, but they are in desperate need of them so it will be worked on when I get tired of knitting.
On the back burner:
The C2C blanket. The baby is due around the 18th of August BUT............We will not be going up there until the first part of September. So, I have 4 rows of border done and need to do 7 more rows and it will be completed. I am in love with this blanket and hopefully the mama will be too. Once the other two are completed, I will work monogamously on this.
The 4 Azels will be the next things to be worked on and completed. I need 2 done by the first of December for mailing and 2 done by the 20th of December for an early Christmas.
Hubby's socks are wasting away in the bottom of my WIP basket. They will get completed, but I am not rushing at the present time to do them. Still a bit ticked off with them.
I have my work cut out for me for the next few months and I love it!
Acquisitions:
These are the beads and yarn I ordered for my Fodhla shawl. I am very excited to start it, but it will wait until my other knitting/crocheting is completed for the deadlines I have.
So there you have it...............my life in a nut shell.
I am not sure I will be able to post next Sunday, but.................I come home on the 1st, so can do an update then or the next day. That way I can have pictures for you too.
Until next time.....................Happy Crafting!
The past couple of days have been busy. Hubby and I are trying to get the room we remodeled arranged so our Grand Daughter can have her birthday pool party at our house. We can not do too much to it as it still needs to be inspected and that won't happen for a few more weeks.
Monday was spent throwing out and moving stuff around in the remodeled room. I just love throwing stuff away. It makes my feel so free and light. If it was my choice, there would have been much more tossed out the door.
That evening, the C2C blanket was my main item to work on. I also worked on the man shawl and got another several inches completed on that.
Tuesday we worked a bit more on the room but I could not work too long on it as that is one of my days to go and visit my mom in the early afternoon. After I departed from my mom's, I headed to Hobby Lobby to pick up yarn for the edging of my C2C. After dinner that evening, I completed the main body of the C2C and started on the edging. I am so excited to complete it.
Today, I went into some of my Ravelry groups, just to catch up on what everyone was up to. I noticed that Celtic Knits had a new pattern out to test. I've seen snippits of it on her blog and have been fascinated with it the whole time. I went stash diving and found several skeins of the proper weight yarn. The issue was, I was going to be few yards shy of what was called for in the test knit.
So..................................I had a hair appointment this morning and while sitting there getting my head massaged and hair cut, I started thinking. No problem, I will just head out to the LYS in my area and pick up some of the required materials. I went to 2 LYS, Michael's, Joann's and Hobby Lobby with no luck. No one had non-wool lace weight yarn. Ok, I will take that back. One of the LYS had 2 skeins of silk lace weight yarn to the tune of $60 each and I would have needed both skeins. (that yarn is still there) I could have ordered some, but the chances of it getting to me before hubby and I took off for vacation were slim to none. After 3 hours of scouring the valley, I gave up, went home, private messaged the designer and informed her of the problem. Seems, that will not be as big of a problem as I thought it would be. So I am in the test knit. WOOHOO!
It has been a couple of years since I have done a test knit. I love doing them. I admire anyone that can visualize something in their head and make it happen with their needles or hooks.
While I was going in and out of all these stores, I noticed one thing..............all of the 'craft stores' have the yarn in the VERY back of the store. I know knitting and crocheting is considered a sedentary craft, but please.......................so is jewelry making, flower arranging, scrap booking and all of those are towards the front of the store. Just a little thing to look at the next time you go to a craft store. That is one of the reasons I love my LYS.......yarn from front to back!
So, hubby is off this evening to help out at church tonight. I have a few hours to myself and in that time, I will be working on the C2C border. I would like to be done with it by Friday. I am on row 3 of 11 so there is a good chance that will happen.
Right now, I am off to empty the dishwasher and put our dinner into our magic cooker. Then back to the C2C edging.
Until next time......................Happy Crafting
This has been a busy week for me. And that is a good thing, as it has been busy in the fact, I have actually had time to do some knitting and crocheting. If you follow my blog, you will know that there were a couple of days I could not do any crafting, thanks to my arthritis. My family affectionately calls it 'Arthur', since he comes to visit, once in a while, and stays for a few days.
I know this is week three, and normally by this time there are finished objects on my blog. Not today. I have devised a plan to be able to work on each of my main projects each day. Each one is given at least 30 minutes per day and more if time allows. That means, I have 1.5 hours of crafting time daily. Normally I have more time than that, but this is a minimum so I can start to see some progress.
I have photos of this weeks progress. First up:
Azel.................You may be saying to yourself................that's where you were last week, Leftycrafter. No, it's not, blogging buddies. I measured this against "small blonde child's" clothes, that are in her closet here. This was WAY too short to even cover the tails of her blouses. So frogging I did go. I went back to just before the neck opening and continued until I had used up the skein of yarn I had at that time. It actually added about 4-5 inches more to it. So, now I am well past the neck opening and it is pretty straight forward knitting from here out. I try to do at least 5 rows a day on it. The big needles (size 13 US) hurt my hands.
Next up:
Hubby's socks. I know, it doesn't look like much, but trust me, these have been worked on each day. I told you, TAAT slows me down quite a bit. I actually have thought about putting them on DPNs to finish, but my tension is very different on DPNs then on magic loop. So I will continue on. Wonder if hubby would like a pair of no show socks for his sneakers. LOL
The most progress was on:
The C2C blanket. I have started the decrease and can see where, the main body of the blanket will be completed shortly. Then on to the border. When it is completed, it should be about 36" square. I think that is a nice size for a baby.
On Friday, hubby and I went to a wedding. When we walked in, I noticed one of our Deacon's wife knitting. I knew she knit prayer shawls for our cancer ministry at our Parish and she has invited me to join several times. I decided we should sit next to her so we could chit chat before the wedding started. She informed me they were begging for men's shawls. They actually have a waiting list of men needing prayer shawls. She asked me again to join the group. I told her I was pretty booked until after the first week of August. Then she did the one thing I could not deny....................she asked if I could find some spare time in my day to work on shawls at home. Well....................ya................I could squeeze in some extra crafting time to do God's work.
After the wedding we came home and I went stash diving. My mind was whirling around thinking I would need to go and buy some yarn. The church has yarn there and they told me I could come and get some if I needed it. Stash diving proved fruitful...............I have quite a bit of 'male' colored yarn. So instead of having a FO, I have a new project on my hook:
This is all further I have gotten on it. But then I only worked on it for about 30 minutes Friday night. I didn't touch it at all yesterday as I was learning how to decrease my C2C and by the time I learned that, it was time to get ready for Mass. I love to crochet shawls, as my crochet is much faster than my knitting. I will be knitting shawls for myself and my mom this year, but when someone says they are in dire need of a shawl................out comes my hook. I am hoping to have this done in a couple of weeks. Hubby and I have a couple of trips coming up and this pattern is very easy to remember, so this will be my traveling project. Well, this and socks.
Did you notice anything different? The last project is NOT purple. I had many comments last week wondering if I had planned on all the purple projects. Not really. In fact, I have one more purple Azel to do and then a forest green one and a gray one. Of the socks I have planned, none are purple. So, the purple you see, is the last of the purple projects for this YOP.
On Friday evening, I also did a bit of ordering for a project I am so looking forward too. I have one of Ruth's patterns called Fodhla. I have had my eye on this pattern for some time and I now have it and have ordered the yarn and the beads for it. I have never put beads on an item before, so this will be my "learn something new" for this year's YOP. Once the new items come in, I will post pictures of what I purchased..............................No, it is not purple. Infact, it is black. But the beads will make it pop!
Ok, this is long enough. Now you all know why I post more than once a week. Do you know how long this would be if it was my only post of the week?
So, until next time..............Happy Crafting!
Hello family and friends. I hope your week is going well for you. I have been enjoying a bit of down time this week. I actually have it planned into my bullet journal. In the morning, I am getting all my household chores done and out of the way for the day while it is still 'cool' outside. That is, if you consider 94 degrees at 10 am cool.
That gives me my time after lunch to have free time to do what I want. Here is what has happened so far.
Monday this week, I spent the afternoon with my mom. We work on jigsaw puzzles and talk about mom daughter stuff. It is a nice time and we both enjoy this time we have together. This week, she handed me her Kindle and asked me to load more books on it for her. So after I got home from our visit, I loaded 14 books on it. Hopefully, that will keep her for a couple of weeks. She is a very avid reader and loves just about any kind of book she can get her hands on. So, it is pretty easy for me to load her kindle with books.
Tuesday morning, hubby and I made it to the grocery store. It was not a very pleasant day for me though. I didn't sleep well the night before and when I finally got up, my Rheumatoid Arthritis was in full on flare up mode. So, after the store, I parked my behind into my chair and knitted away for the rest of the afternoon. I know, you would think that knitting would be horrible for me, but in my case, knitting actually helps relieve the pain in my hands. That is why I try and knit or crochet daily. (note: I did not knit or crochet on Monday at all. OOPS)
Today, I had to finish a book I started yesterday.
I loved it. It was a bit different from her other books that she has written. Yes, there was still romance in it, but..........the story line never really revolved around the romance, but rather a woman rising out of ashes to make a wonderful life for herself and her daughter.
Now, I have to decide what to read next. This is what I have to choose from so far:
I am thinking of going for the second one down. I know you can hardly see the title. It is: "Anne Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral" by Kris Radish. It sounds like it might have a bit of humor in it and since I normally only read upon retiring for the night.............humor would be a plus.
I have also knitted AND crocheted today. I have worked on all three of my projects that have time lines wrapped around them. I did discover one thing that amazed me..........working with large knitting needles actually makes my hands very sore! I would have thought it would be relaxing for them. I know..............I'm weird.
Hubby is at church tonight so I am going to make some tuna salad so he can have a ncie sandwich when he comes home tonight. It is just too blasted hot to cook. Today is the first day under 110 in about a week. But it still got to 109. I will say though, the humidity has disappeared so it is a dry heat, but it is still brutally hot!
Off I go to make some tuna for me and hubs
Until next time........................Happy Crafting!
Hello blog readers. Happy Sunday to all of you. Today I will be showing you a few of the items I have been working on this week. It was a pretty productive week, I am happy to say. There are no finished items, but that is ok. It is only week 2 and none of the items on my list for this year are quick knits/crochets other than dishcloths. Let's take a look see:
On Thursday evening, Hubby's socks came out of time out and I started on the ribbing for the leg. I didn't get much done on them. For some reason, TAAT seems to slow me way down. I will finish these and then switch back to one at a time making notes on how many rows I do for each portion of the socks.
This is the C2C blanket I am making for my Great Niece. I have never done a C2C before and am really enjoying the process. I will be adding a very pretty border to it once it is the size I want. She is due in August, but don't think she will need this until around November. So I have plenty of time yet.
Azel found it's way onto my needles last Sunday afternoon. This is for one of the Grand Daughters. They are the same size so that makes it really nice. As you can see, the front is completed and I have the neck hole done and starting on the back portion. This is a super bulky yarn (6) and size 13 (US) needles. You can imagine how fast it is knitting up. I have learned something new in knitting while doing this too. I learned the cable cast on. It was very easy once I watched the you tube video about 5 times. This is my mindless knitting now. I am hoping to have it completed by the end of this week and start on another one right after that. I have 4 to do before Christmas. Shouldn't be a problem.
Today, Hubby and I are finishing up some long overdue housework. We did some deep cleaning this past week and that took away from regular housework. After that, we will sit back and relax for the day. I have lots of leftovers from the last couple of days and we will just do those for our meals today.
I will do our menu planning later today too and make out the grocery list. We very seldom shop on the weekends now. That is one of the joys of retirement. Mondays seems to be one of the best days here to shop, while everyone else is at work. it is even better once school starts back up again.
Time to go and make the bed with the nice clean sheets. I love slipping into a freshly made bed after a lovely day. Dreams will be sweet tonight.
Until next time..............Happy Crafting.
Half way through the week and I have done quite a bit of work in all sorts of areas.
On the home front, I am in the process of deep cleaning again. This time hubby's closet is being attacked as well as my Grand daughter's room. Once those two areas are done, I will feel so much better about my home. Then all that is left, is the room we modeled earlier this year and are still working with the city on.
I started knitting on one of the Azel's that needs to be done for Christmas this year. I am loving it since it is made with super bulky yarn. The garment grows rapidly. I started it on Sunday and am almost done with the front of it. I should be able to knock out one every 10-14 days. That's good for me since I have other items I want to work on too.
Hubby's socks are still in time out. I will probably grab them when I go to adoration tomorrow night as they aqe a mindless knit and actually allow me to clear my mind and focus on listening to God speak to me.
The other area I started working on just today is my fitness plan. It has been near to impossible for me to get to the gym the past couple of months. But hey, I have a pool in my back yard. So, today I started my water exercise program. It was heavenly but I can already feel some muscles that are not real happy with me. That makes me happy. Now I know I was doing enough of each exercise to make a difference. I still want to get back to the gym for strickly cardio reasons. Hopefully in the next week, that will happen.
The last area I have worked on is my life plananer. Take a look:
It's similar to my journal, but this is more of a bullet journal than a diary. I am having a blast with it and work on it each day to make sure I am organized and know what the day holds for my and hubby. I am planning my meals with it, grocery lists, laundry tasks, house cleaning and just about anything else you can think of. I also have graph paper in the back of this and I am considering drawing out some patterns and see if I can actually design. I'm not holding my breath on that one.
Also, today, hubby installed our new desk top computer. There is a bit of a glitch of it transferring my files over from the old computer to the new one as for some reason my sign in name is different so it doesn't recognize me. So I am doing some cutting and pasting for my YOP6 year. I have managed to get everything moved that needed to be and now I am satisfied. But, hopefully, I can find all my documents that I had for Church work and get them copied and pasted too. Just a little bit of work.
That is all for now.................until next time
Happy Crafting
Welcome to my first post for YoP 6. Many of the lovely folks in this group have been fussing with their lists for the coming year. Each year I have done my list a different way and each year I have enjoyed the way I have done it. This year, I have combined the way I have done lists in the past. I have chosen definite patterns for definite yarn and yet, I have left myself open to some 'spur of the moment' knitting too.
I have made project backs for all of the patterns I have picked out. Each 'bag' has the yarn and the pattern tucked neatly into it so I can grab and go. It looks like this:
The name of the project is written on the outside of each bag too. I really wanted to be very organized this year in hopes of actually completing many items.
Here is a look at what I am planning on accomplishing over the next 52 weeks.
YOP 6
Baby Items:
Seamless Cable Booties
Corner to Corner blanket
Socks:
Celtic Denim Sock
Hermiones Everyday Socks
Snoqualmie Socks
Car Socks
Pedicure Socks
Spring Tulips Socks
Scatterby Socks
Shawls:
Stockinette Hug
WIPS:
Boxy Top
Hubby Socks
Dive In Shawl
Log Cabin Afghan
Corner 2 Corner baby blanket
Sweater/Jacket:
4 Azel (Matching sets for 2 mother/daughter teams)
Dishcloths:
6-12 of them, varying patterns
Other Items for the Year:
Test knits/crochet
Try something new for me in knitting
Photos of completed projects
Give myself the right to change (add/delete) this list as needed
So there you have it..........................Not sure how far I will get with this list. It is really not all that daunting yet, when I look at it I get a bit overwhelmed.
Ok, I do have a bit of a funny/sad note to tell you about. Hubby's Socks that I have been working on for almost 2 months now. Last time I told you, I had allowed him to pick out the pattern for the leg. He had picked out a parallelogram for me to do. It was a bugger of a pattern with lots of cross overs and changing directions of said cross overs. Last night, I decided I needed him to try on the sock to see how much farther I needed to knit. He could not get the sock over his heel/ankle area. The pattern he picked, gave no amount of stretch at all because of all the cross overs. It had taken the entire week for me to complete 41 of the 49 rows of the pattern. So last night at midnight, I sat and ripped out all of those rows and informed him, 'It is going to be a ribbed top, period no questions, no comments'. So once again, the socks are sitting in the WIP basket when they would have been a FO for the beginning of this year. DRAT!
I am also looking for a program for my computer to work with my photos. I have windows 10 and it seems the programs/software I had purchased in the past no longer is compatible with that edition of Windows. If any of you know of a great program/software, please let me know. I am not a world class photographer so the program/software doesn't need to be anything fancy or expensive. I want to be able to make slide shows, collages, upload videos etc.
I do have a lot more to talk about, but this is already long enough. So follow my blog as I will be updating and blogging throughout the week. I love blogging and don't see why I should only do a Sunday update. Life happens all week long and this way my Sunday updates won't be so long either. Win Win for all of us!
Until next time..................Happy Crafting!
