WEEK 5

So, if you didn't notice, July has 5 Sundays in it.  It also has 5 Mondays in it too.  The only reason I mention it is because this is week 5 in our Year 7 YOP and we are still in the same month as when we started.  OK, so maybe you did notice and it isn't something that sticks out to you like it does to me.  That's OK too.  But, if you didn't notice, I am happy to of assistance LOL.

Anyway, the reason we are here is to watch me be boring for the next several posts.  Here is what I am working on.

Sorry about it being bunched up, but those live stitches on each side needed to be on stitch holders or I would be so sad.  

Some of you wondered what was wrong with my previous squares.  Let's see if I can demonstrate.

These are the squares I had to rip out.

See how the outside orange goes all the way to the end the left side but not on the bottom?  That is a problem when doing a 4 square log cabin.

This is what needed to happen.

The orange needed to go completely to the edge on both sides in order to make the effect we are going for.  (Light in the middle and dark on the outside.)  Once completed, I will edge it in green to give it a bit of pop on the outer edges.

The other thing I am doing this time a bit different is, I am not tying knots in the yarn until I complete a section of color.  That way, if it needs to be pulled out for any reason, I am not taking the time to get those knots out.  I am weaving in ends as I go also. That will save me time at the end when I am sick of looking at the blanket.

The only other item I will be working on is.....................the Grainne Shawl.  That will be worked on during the Prayer Shawl meetings on Thursday mornings.  As I had mentioned before, I will always have a shawl on the needles or hook.

I have had a few other questions posed to me this week and I am going to take the time to answer them here.  

1.  My new laptop/tablet is Windows 10 based and Android 5.0 (I know that is an old android system, but there is not a 2 in 1 out there that has anything newer)  It is only 10 inches and I really love it.  (Although, I am using our PC for today's update)  Here is a photo of it.

Yesterday, hubby and I went out and I got a bluetooth mouse to go with it.  One of my son's is an IT guy and he is the one that told me about the bluetooth mouse thing.  How nice it is to not have anything plugged into my little computer, no matter how small the ANT is, it would still stick out a bit.  This is much better.  It also makes browsing the internet much easier too.

See the chewed up ruler?  It says "Lefties Rule!"  There is a lefthanded store in Seattle's Pike's market.  I picked up a few things there and this is one of them.  It was also a great teething toy for my boy dog when we first got him.  We were told he was 2 years old and yet he was still loosing baby teeth................want to try that age thing again? LOL

2.  Gluten free, GMO free change in lifestyle.  Our nutritionist did get back to me on Friday and said she would send me her bread recipe.  I am still waiting for that LOL.  I realize she has a husband and 3 young children and am sure her life outside of the office is not all sit down and watch TV time.  I will remind her on Monday about the recipe, if I do not have it yet.  If anyone on here has a GF bread recipe that does not use Xantham Gum please leave me the name or website in the comments.  I do have chia seeds I can use to help hold things together. This is the flour we were told to use for baking (per the nutritionist)

3.  Going out to eat is not hard at all.  Last night hubby ordered smoked wings because they are not breaded in any way.  We can always order salads with grilled chicken on them. There are always lettuce wraps, we can ask for instead of flour wraps.  Many restaurants offer gluten free buns for their sandwiches.  As for the GMO, that is not something we can control in a restaurant setting.  We just try and do our best with everything else.  Order fruit instead of fries or chips.  Or even ask for steamed veggies.  There are lots of ways to go about it.  

I have a girl dog that is not feeling well since Friday evening.  I finally made her some rice and an egg so she would eat.  I know she ate something outside, but have no idea what it was. She started throwing up Friday night and stopped eating and drinking then.  If she is not better by tomorrow, we will be making a vet visit again.  She did eat the rice/egg mixture and that is the first she has eaten since Friday morning. I will give her some more of that again this evening, if she manages to keep it down.  She started drinking water yesterday so I am hoping she is on the road to recovery.  This is the sweetest dog ever and I so hate to see her not feeling well.  She is 11 years old and I know that seems old to many of you but....her breed normally lives to be about 17 to 20.  So you see, she is just middle aged LOL.

That is my update for the week.  I am sure there will be more blogging during the week as I have lots of fun stuff going on this week and will want to tell you all about it.

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

New Tricks

So I got my new 2 in 1 laptop/tablet.  Learning to use it efficiently is my new trick I am trying to learn.  Seems I need to type slower than normal for the strokes to get to the screen.  That is hard as I pride myself on my 70 WPM I type normally.  This means my blogging will take longer.

I do like the convenience of being able to switch between the two without picking one up and putting one down.  I am still getting used to all the features, but have time to learn.

I am working solely on the log cabin blanket.  It is slow going as it increases 10 to 20 stitches with each  turn.  I am hoping to get the entire blanket done by one of two dates.......October 20th ( her bday) or December 25th (no explanation needed).  This would be a BIG chunk of yarn out of my house.  My next few blog posts will be boring, but that is how monogamous knitting goes.  I apologize upfront.

On the home front........We FINALLY got our A/C people to get in gear and had another air return installed yesterday.  We knew we needed one but they kept goofing around and running tests and FINALLY sent a crew to do it yesterday.  Of course it was 110F that day and much hotter in my 12 inch high attic. We already notice a difference in much better circulation in the house and the inside humidity has gone down too.  Yippee for us.  Hopefully this will help with our electric bill too.


Hubby and I went to the nutritionist on Tuesday.  She is wonderful and so easy to talk too. Basically, we need to read all labels and if we can not pronounce an ingredient, back on the shelf it goes.  We are going to rice pasta, non GMO as much as possible and gluten free breads.   Nothing sugar free is allowed to be consumed, but need to watch the sugars in our foods.  Will be using coconut palm sugar for all baking and cooking as it does not spike blood sugar.  She got her insulin diabetic husband off all meds with diet alone.  So this should be pretty easy for us to get hubby's blood work back to normal.  We also have 2 supplements to take each day for inflammation and immunity building (both of which I need)  She uses an holistic approach and that really appeals to both of us.  We go back in two weeks to report on any areas we need help or see improvement in.  I am working with her right now on bread baking with gluten free flour.  99% of recipes want me to use Xantham Gum which is a GMO product and the flour she suggested is a bean flour which has some nasty taste to it.  I sent her an email asking for help and hopefully will hear back from her before end of day today.

That is all from here today.  Hubby has offered to take me to lunch, so need to go and get all prettied up for him.

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

Sayings...............

I am sure most of you had a parent that would throw sayings at you quite a bit.  My mom was famous for that.  I hear those sayings in my head in certain situations.  Sunday night and yesterday evening, I heard some of those sayings over and over.  Like:

Pride cometh before the fall

Haste makes waste

A woman's work is never done, from break of day to setting sun.

Every cloud has a silver lining

ETC...

So what brought this on?

Remember this from Sunday?

I was so proud of the fact I had gotten another square done and was on a roll.  I sent photos to my daughter and she was super excited too.  I also informed you that I needed to figure out the next 2 squares as to how to knit them so they would make a true log cabin effect. Guess what.......................

Yup, I had to frog both squares.  I pulled the pattern out and realized the pattern called for 9 colors of yarn.  We only were using 6.  Therefore, we had to arrange the pattern a bit differently than the original designer did.  It took me 4 hours to frog that yarn.  I was so sad.
But...................I am not a quitter.  There is too much money invested in this blanket to just forget about it.  I am going to start it all over and this time it will be done correctly.  This blanket needs to get done and out of my house.  It has been hanging around since 2011.  It is time to GO AWAY!  I colored in the pattern blocks that came with the pattern:

This time, I took my time and really thought about how the colors should be to make the effect we are wanting.  It came out perfect this time and I am now ready to begin the task of a redo.

Today is a bit of a slow day for me.  Hubby and I have a nutritionist appointment and after that we are free for the rest of the day.  I am going to start back on square one this afternoon while we kick back and enjoy some time together.  My other WIP's have been put on hold until I get a handle on this.  I need to slow down, read the instructions, look at my notes as to which color follows the one before.  Thank goodness it is a garter stitch and nothing fancy.  I know I complained about it being boring but maybe that is a "blessing in disguise".

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

YOP 7 WEEK 4

Happy Sunday everyone.  Another week has flown by.  I have made progress this week. Seems I had a bit more time to knit this week.  Lots of waiting rooms in my week = lots of knitting.  Let's take a look;

Finished my Darcy socks.  They have had a nice soak. been blocked and are now ready to be mailed to their owner.

Worked just a little bit on the Grainne shawl.  See the progress marker?  That's all I did this week.  I only worked on it for 1 day though and there are over 300 stitches a row.  I am ready to start another mesh section.  Should get that going this week.

I picked up the log cabin blanket and completed square #2.  It is a very easy knit, so easy it is almost boring.

I laid the 2 squares side by side and realized, the next 2 squares need to be adjusted or the middles will not line up right.  Glad I laid them out. The pattern called for 9 colors and we only chose 6.  Makes a big difference in the end when putting the squares together to get the light/dark log cabin effect.

After all that fun, I decided to go and cast on another pair of socks. That almost didn't happen though.  I have so many WIP's I kind of felt guilty thinking of adding another project to my needles.  Then I realize.......socks aren't WIP's.  They are calming, lovely, traveling, small, in your purse projects.  So let the casting on begin.  I had a hard time choosing between the Car Socks and Petty Harbour socks patterns.

Petty Harbour won.  I know the stripes don't match.  I tried to match them but.......it would have required gong down 3/4 of a skein to get the matching stripes.  They will be under pants so who is going to see them?  Hubby has already claimed them as his.  This is the first time making this pattern but will not be the last.  I am happy it does not ruin the stripes of the yarn.  It is a simple 4 row pattern and I already have it memorized.  I do like the fact it has a bit of texture and is not plain vanilla.  I am hoping to make them long enough for him to wear them in his boots.

It was a great week,even if it was busy.  Next week is pretty busy too but there is plenty of down time to knit too.  More waiting rooms.  July must be health month.

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

Midweek check in

You could say we are in the dog days of summer.  Case in point:

He has such a hard life.  LOL  Actually, this was last night.  He and his 'sister' had been to the vet for their yearly check up and vaccines, so they were very tired after that ordeal.  Not to mention, we had repair people in and out of our house all day.

First up, the TV repairman and his lovely daughter.  They replaced all the parts that were given to them and the TV is now...............................still broken.  A new TV has been shipped to us and we should have it in about 10 days.  So in the mean time:

The dead TV sits in front of our fireplace waiting for a proper burial.  And then we are watching this:

Our old 32" TV.  This is my view from where I sit in the family room.  As you can see, I need binoculars to see it LOL. 

While I was at the Vet with the puppies, the Pool guy came to install the new salt system for us.  He was still there when I came home, so had to keep the boy dog away from him.  The female dog is wonderful with everyone, the boy dog is fine as long as you face him, but turn you back and.....................................nip at the ankles happens.  Usually it is only with men though.  

We finally got our 'house' back to ourselves around 3 in the afternoon.  So, it was a pizza night.  Neither of us felt like cooking, that is for sure.

So now you know why it was such an exhausting day for my pups.

Then today happened.

I had my Dr appointment for my blood pressure meds.  I am A-OK and will just continue the way I have been.  Until I drop some of this weight, I will not be able to decrease my meds. That is on the agenda and I have been working on it.  Well, other than the pizza last night, I have been good and dropping about .5 a week at this point.  Exercise is next on the list to re-introduce to my routine.  I am sure it will happen sooner rather than later because...................

Hubby and I have a nutritionist appointment next week to get this crazy diet thing taken care of.  I am sure she is going to insist he get some form of exercise each day.  Housework twice a week is not going to cut it.

After my Dr appointment, I went to Sam's club to pick up a couple of items and while there I found a wonderful 2 in 1 tablet/laptop.  I decided I would use it so much and took it up to pay for it only to find out it is discontinued and they did not have any in stock other than about 30 miles away from me.  So, tonight I am researching 2 in 1 tablets to see what I can find out there.  I use my tablet almost all day long for all sorts of things.  (Social media, games, blogs, patterns etc)  I am wanting to get something that is a bit more user friendly especially in the pattern area.  My tablet does not allow me to make notes on patterns so that is an issue if I ever make changes and want to  make the pattern again.  I am looking at systems that use Windows 10, since that is what I am used to on my PC.  This will also help me with my tutorials for my camera.  My tablet is just too hard to see some of the finer details the tutorials show.  Fingers crossed I find just the right thing.

While at Sam's, my son called to tell us, he thinks his A/C froze up.  He is in Florida for the week and his wife was at work.  Off we went to their house to see what we could do.  It was 89F in their house.  YIKES!  We shut off the A/C, changed the filter and left.  It will need to sit for about 2 hours for it to defrost so it will work again.  My Daughter in Law, just got home, so I am hoping it will start pumping cool air out for her soon.  We have offered our home for her to sleep at tonight if she can not get it working.  The only issue is............they have 2 cats and she hates for them to be in that hot of a house.  

On the crafting front.........................I finished the sock last night.  YEA!!!!!!  I was going to start another sock right away when I realized I still have other WIP's that need my attention. I worked a bit on the Log Cabin Blanket today but..........................it is too darn hot to have that thing on my lap for more than about 5 rows of knitting.  I might pull out my Boxy Sweater and work a bit on that during the heat of the day.  Or..............I might go ahead and cast on another pair of socks. I hate not having a pair on the go.  They are so good for taking with me when I leave the house.  I will ponder it for a day or two more and then decide.

Last night, after the sock was completed, I decided to do something about all the patterns I have in notebooks in my craft room.  They are not small notebooks either.  AND.....they were not in any type of order, so, looking for a pattern I had printed out could take quite a bit of time.  Take a look at the new improved system:

Yup, no problem finding my patterns now.  Yes, I know the label is not straight on the left one.  The one on the right isn't perfect either.  That will be dealt with at a later time.

And take a look at this:

These are the page protectors left over after I sorted and threw out patterns that would never be used.  Now, you have a better idea of what a mess I had.  I feel so much better having it organized.

Tomorrow is Prayer Shawl Ministry day.  I will be working on my Grainne Shawl again this week.  I have not touched it for about 3 days because of the sock.  I will probably work a bit on it tonight.  It is good TV watching knitting.  Since I am in the Prayer Shawl group, I will always have a shawl or lapghan on my needles or hook from now on.

Busy day again tomorrow.  So this is what it is like to be retired.  Always busy!  

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

What a difference 24 hours makes

I was reading over my post from yesterday and realized how quickly things can change in a days time.

Yesterday I visited my friend who has the lung cancer that metastasized to her brain.  She has lost a lot of ground since I saw her last.  Conversation was a bit awkward as she could not hold a train of thought to make a complete sentence or answer any questions I asked.  I was so sad to see the decline, but was very glad to be with her for a while.  I will make it a point to get over to see her more often.  Even if all I do is sit next to her and hold her hand. I just want her to know, she is still loved by us. She loved the prayer shawl too.  

Weather news........................we got one hellacious thunderstorm last night.  We had gusty winds, lots of lightening, thunder that shook our house and then a gully washer of rain.  We got .63 of an inch of rain.  For us desert rats, that is a lot of rain to fall in 45 minutes time. Thankfully, we did not have any storm damage in our neighborhood.  There were flash floods to the north of us and it took the lives of 9 people.  So very sad. Flash floods are quite common in the desert.  Especially with the forest fires we have had.  There is nothing there to soak up the water when it rains and so it just flies down the mountains picking up all sorts of debris on the way down.  Very dangerous stuff.

Also, looks like hubby does not go back to Vegas until the middle of August.  So I have time to complete that sock, no problem.  Although, I will say, I am on the heel flap now.  The recipient has very small feet, so I am still planning on getting it done this week.  I love doing heels and this pattern still has interest on the foot part.  Therefore, I should not get bored and put it down after the heel is completed.  I also like grafting toes.  I know........I am a strange creature.  I don't know why I enjoy that part, unless it signals the end of a project.

Today, hubby set to cleaning the bathrooms and kitchen.  He is so good at this.  I do the deep cleaning of the kitchen, but he takes care of the floors for me as my RA does not like me doing a lot of mopping.  I also enjoy dusting and do that for him too.  He does all the heavy work and has for about 10 years.  Love this man.  Laundry is still my job and I do not complain about that in the least.  I never liked the way he hung or folded the clothes.  I am a creature of habit in that area.

After he was done with the cleaning, we had to re-glue our border on our steps that goes in and out of our dining room.

This is the third time we have tried to glue it down.  This time, we used Liquid Nails.  I don't know why we didn't do that the first time.  I swear by that stuff.  I have glued outdoor ceramic fireplaces together with it and it holds fantastically.  Now it just needs to dry for 24 hours and then we will take the tape off and pray it works.

Dinner is in the crockpot.  We are having chicken thighs cooked in salsa.  We will make taco salads out of them.  I love the crockpot and stopped using it for a while.  I have no idea why. It sure makes my life easier on the days I visit my mom.

We are eating low carb now because of hubby's A1C results.  We waited until we got back from Vegas to hit if full force.  It has been a challenge for him more than me.  I am taking my questions with me to my Blood Pressure appointment this week.  She is the one that told us to go on low carb/low glycemic diet.  He is allowed 250 grams of carbs/day.  It sounds like a lot but...............did you know a regular can of soda is 66 grams alone?  Fruit can use up a lot of grams too and that is what we are eating for desert now.  Everything is getting measured until we get to the point we can eyeball it.  Oh the joys of getting older!  If any of you are having to follow this for health reasons, leave me any helpful hints you have.  I need all the help I can get.

That about sums up my day today.  Need to get dinner on the table, so I can continue knitting on the sock.  Hoping to get the heel completed tonight.  That just leaves the foot and toe and I am done.  Will keep you updated.

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

YOP 7 WEEK 3

Good day to all of you readers.  It is so nice to be back home and able to update my blog on my PC instead of my tablet.  I use my tablet 98% of the time, so I do love it.  But when it comes to working with photos and layouts, I prefer my PC.

I was not able to post any photos last week as the lighting in my hotel room was the absolute worse ever.  Even putting on makeup was a challenge for me.  I was afraid I was going to look like a clown as it was super dim.  The clown look did not happen, as I stood next to the window and applied said makeup.  It was just not possible to do photos there.

So without further ado........................here are some photos taken this morning, of my progress.

First up is my sock.  This is To Darcy With Love by Knitterarium.  This is the second sock (again).  It now matches the sizing of the first sock.  Who knew there would be such a difference in tension going from magic loop to DPN!  I am now knitting this on a US 2. The first sock was on a US 1 using the magic loop method.

I do love the look of cables in this sock.  It is a joy to do and I need to get back to it.  I did not work on it for a week but now need to get back to it and finish it up so I can get it to it's owner.  This pattern is so easy to memorize.  It has a very nice rhythm to it too.  I find patterns with rhythm are the ones that draw me in and make me very happy when knitting or crocheting.  That might be why I am not very good at free form crochet.

I have been working diligently on my shawl

The progress keeper does not indicate anything.  I am using it to keep track of right and wrong sides of this.  This pattern is Grainne, again by Knitterarium.  Yes, I also see I am working mostly with one designer.  I do have other designers I will be using this year.  These just happen to be from the same one at this time.  Plus, I really love her patterns.  They are so well written and if you have any questions, she is super great about answering them.  

A bit of a close up of the upper portion of the shawl.  I was going to do the entire shawl in the variegated but..................the ladies at the Prayer Shawl ministry convinced me to add blocks of solid color to break it up a bit.  They even donated the solid color yarn for me to use.  What a great bunch of ladies they are.

The solid color is a teensy bit heavier than the variegated so it does not lay quite as nicely.  I do like it though.  It adds a bit more interest.  Since this is going to be given as a prayer shawl, I am not putting beads on the lacy parts.  The shawls need to be washable and dryable for prayer shawls.

If you are new to the group, you may not know that the patterns I am using right now are from a fellow member of our YOP group.  Ruth, from Knitterarium also blogs in My Spare Moments.  Look her up.

As for life in general..................phew...............what a week.  Our salt system on our pool has gone caphlewy!  We have a new one being installed this coming Tuesday.  In the mean time, we are having to add chlorine to the pool and this does not make me a happy camper. It is so harsh on the skin and clothing.  So, I have not gone in the pool and won't until the new salt system is installed.

Our main TV is on the fritz too.  It flashes on and off continually and reminds me of the 70's when strobe lights were a big thing in the clubs.  That is being repaired on Tuesday also.  I am so glad we bought the TV at Costco a year ago.  That gave us an automatic 2 year warranty and we also bought an additional 2 years to go with it.  If the repair does not work, than we will receive a new TV.  Love warranties.  We normally do not buy additional warranties, but this was an expensive TV and new to the market, so we did it just  for an"in case".  Glad we did now.

Tuesday is also the day I get to take my dogs to the vet for their yearly check up.  It is a bit late this year since we were out of town for their normal check up dates.  We also have a charity coming to pick up items that day.  I have pots and pans to give to them as well as some other small household items.  

I have 2 Dr appointments this week as well.  I am so lucky.  LOL  One is for my blood pressure medication and the other is for my Arthritis medication.  I do like both of the Dr's so it really is not any issue for me to go to them.  Neither appointment lasts more than about 10 minutes.  So, not a big chunk of time out of my day.  I take my knitting with me when I go as the waiting room time is longer than the appointment time.

Today, I am going to visit my friend who has cancer.  She seems to be going downhill a bit faster than we expected.  I have not been to see her in over a month and feel horrible about that.  I have called and talked to her or her husband several times though.  I have a prayer shawl to take to her too.  One of the ladies from the prayer shawl group happened to have one at her house, so I picked it up last night and will give it to her today.  

The rest of today will be spent working on the Darcy sock to see how much I can get done in the next 4 days.  Hubby is heading back to Vegas to take care of some family business.  He will be staying with the recipient of the socks.  If I am lucky, I will be able to complete it before he leaves.  So, housework needs to be put on hold, laundry needs to pile up, meal cooking will be quick and easy..........................the sock needs to get completed!

Arizona has started their monsoon season.  We are under dust storm warnings nearly every evening now.  Some parts of the city got rain last night.............not where I live but my neighbor 4 miles south of me did.  This is probably my favorite time of year.  I know the dust storms and the wicked thunderstorms can cause much damage, but I still love to watch them roll in and out.  It is a visual experience that not many get to see.  Here is a photo of what they look like rolling in.

Anyway.............I am waiting for the storms to hit my neighborhood.  Before they do, I am trying to learn how to take better photos with my camera.  I have downloaded lots of tutorials specific to my camera and need to be able to sit with camera in hand and watch them. But...........I have a sock to finish first.

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

Home

Hubby and I got home Tuesday afternoon.  How nice to be home with our crazy dogs and sleep in our bed.  The 5 hour drive kind of wears us out so we pretty much, just unpacked and kicked back for the rest of the day.

Wednesday I went to see my mom and hubby ran errands for us.  I even cooked dinner that night.  Had a lovely meal of pork chops, spaghetti squash and roasted asparagus.  It was nice to be eating real food again.  I also made out menus for the next week. 

I finally finished reading "Undercover Amish".  It was pretty good until the last chapter and the epilogue.   Having been married to a peace officer for the past 42 years.......that was totally unrealistic.  The whole book, actually, was unrealistic, but the ending was totally off the charts.  

I have started reading "The Tour" by Jean Grainge.  It's supposed to be humorous. Fingers crossed.......I could use a few laughs right now.  Updates will be coming as the reading ensues. 

Today I skipped the Prayer Shawl group and did grocery shopping.  I ended up going to 3 stores just to get the 10 needed items.  Now I need to clean all the fruits and veggies so they are ready for consumption and cooking.  But first, I decided to do laundry.  All the laundry was done before we left on Friday.  So explain to me how I managed to have 6 loads of laundry waiting for me this morning. There are only 2 people living here!  Sheesh.......this is crazy.

Tomorrow we are going to get this thing we call a house, cleaned.  There are lots of doggy fur balls rolling around.  This always happens when I bathe them.  (They got bathes 10 days ago)  plus, we had some windy days while we were gone so there is a fine layer of dust everywhere.

I am hoping to pick up my knitting tonight as it was dormant all day yesterday.  I have been working almost 100% on the shawl.  It was a great car project.  I hesitate working on the socks in the car unless they are plain vanilla socks.  Too easy to drop a DPN beside the seat. That would be hellish to get out too.  Circulars are my friend when riding in the car.

I hear my laundry calling.  Until next time. .......happy crafting! 

YOP 7 WEEK 2

Hello everyone.

I am writing this from my hotel room in fabulous Las Vegas.  We are here celebrating our friend's birthday.  We also are visiting family that lives here too.

As for crafting..........I have cast on the Mr Darcy sock again and so far so good.  I am also working on Grainne shawl.  I don't have photos of them yet.  The lighting in our hotel room is horrible. Will post photos either later this week or next weeks YOP.

Time to go and catch up with the crew here.  Until next time. ......happy crafting!

Mid-Week

I wish I knew how to make banners, like the ones I use for my weekly updates.  I would make some just for my 'life' updates.  I think I will put that on my bucket list. LOL

Anyway...........It is the day after the 4th of July.  We had our son and his wife over for swimming and a BBQ.  It was an enjoyable time.  They even taught us how to play Pai Gow. Now I am all ready to try it out in Vegas this weekend.  It seems like a fun game.  I just hope I can remember all the tips they gave us when I start playing.

Yesterday morning, I worked on my Dive In Shawl.  Here is what it looks like now:

Yup.............another frogged project.  I was super unhappy with the way the edges were looking and knew it was not going to be big enough for a prayer shawl.  I will use it with other yarn for a shawl or just make socks out of it.  The yarn will get used!

This is Luna and my daughter in law, Stacie. (Her eyes are not like that, really LOL)  Luna was not happy with the noise that was gong on outside and just wanted to be held for comfort.

Fireworks, are not my dogs' friend.  They are rescue dogs and had been on the street for a while.  From what I was told when we adopted them, they both were very skittish and needed a calm environment to live in.  I don't know about our place being calm but it is normally not too loud around us.

This is Enrique and my son, Joshua.  Enrique is totally terrified of loud noises even from the TV.  He will hide as much as he can next to a human.  Yup, my 9 and 11 pound attack dogs.

I am still reading Amish Undercover and am still enjoying it.  It is the perfect before bed read.  

Today is laundry day.....................I am half way done.  Since we need to pack tomorrow, I really need to get it all done and put away today yet so we can lay out our clothes for our trip.  

I also got my nails done today.  When I got to the salon, I was informed my lady never starts until 11:30 and yet I had a 9am appointment.  The co-owner of the shop said he would do my nails for me.  WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!  He was fantastic.  I made my next appointment with him too.  He paid so much more attention to detail and making sure my nails were shaped perfectly.  I am normally not a vain person, but when I pay for a service, I really love it when I feel I got the best service around.  That is how I felt when I left there.

Hubby and I are waiting on the A/C guy to get here to fix the area our thermostat is at. When they put the new one on, they did not anchor it to the wall and it is now kind of just hanging there.  We paid too much for a half done job.  I will continue to call them each time I find something that is not done to my liking.  Hopefully they don't have caller ID.  LOL  The tech is also going to do a load study to see if we need another air return put in.  All this was supposed to have been done in March.  This will be the 3rd time we have made a call to have something taken care of.  I will say, they do schedule your service that day or the next. No complaints on that end and...................they really are nice people.

Sounds like my laundry is done.  Until next time..........................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR YOP 8

Last week was Auld Lang Syne.  It only follows that this week should be a Happy New Year. This is my favorite time of the crafting year.  Our new list (resolutions) is made and posted and we are off to make good on that list.  Some of us do fantastic and others falter or get side tracked but, there is never a failure!

This is my eighth year to participate in this group.  There are so many people that I have 'met'. from all over the world, and have learned so much about different cultures and customs.  It has made me a better crafter and even more than that.........a more consistent blogger.

If you are a crafter of any kind, and would love to get to know other crafters........Please feel free to join us at any time.  It is so much fun and the people in this group are lovely.  They will become like family after just a little while and pretty soon you will be talking about your 'friend' from (Insert country or state) to all your 'real life' friends.  Here is the website to go to join us.  If you are not a member of Ravelry, here is the website for you to go and join up.  It is free and has so much to offer to any crafter.

OK, lets see what I have chosen this year to put on my list for this year

YOP 2017 - 2018

This year ALL of my WIP's will be completed!  This is a priority this year.  Here they are:

WIP'S

Dive in Shawl...........................Started 7/6/15

Boxy Sweater...........................Started 11/17/15

My Crochet Doll........................Started 7-1-16

Eva Shawl in Alpaca.................Started 7-10-11

Log Cabin Blanket.....................Started 7-17-11

New Items To Work On

Socks............I have over 100 skeins of sock yarn and 98% of it is variegated.  It needs to be                       used up!

Shawls..........I am in a prayer shawl ministry at church, so will have 1 shawl going at all                               times.  This also will help use up some of my stash yarns that are over flowing                       in all weights.

Test Knits......Will do just a couple as time allows this year.  As long as I have the yarn to go                       along with the test knit I will consider it.  

STASH:

My husband told a friend that I had enough yarn to open a small shop.  I though he was being funny until..........I went into my craft room and realized he was right.  I have well over 500 skeins of yarn that I own.  This year, there will be no purchasing of yarn other than to complete the WIP's I have going on.  There are 2 WIP's that I know will require additional yarn. (Log Cabin Blanket and My Crochet Doll)

NEW HELPING GOAL

I love to bullet journal.  This year I have made a bullet journal to help me stay on track with my projects.  I plan on using it for every fiber craft I do.  Here is a little look at how I have it set up:

I found the journal at Staples for $5 in the clearance aisle.  Yes, I am cheap LOL.

No, I do not have the best handwriting, but I can read it and that is what counts.

This is self explanatory.

The Hook/Needle idea came to me as I was picking up one of my WIP's that did not have the hook attached to it and now I need to figure out what size I was using 6 years ago!  Plus, if I make the same pattern twice, I will know if I changed the needle/hook size from what is listed on the pattern.

The only thing I did not put in here is a column for FROG!  I have frogged 5 items in the past 2 weeks.  I figured, if I ended up frogging it, I would just write that next to the name of the project or put a line through the projects name.

So these are my Year 8 goals.  I am excited for this year.  I will finally be able to get those WIP's out of my project bags and to their owners.  There is only one item on that list that is for me (Boxy Sweater).  The others are all gifts.  

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