WEEK 35

Good morning.  It is actually cold (cold for me) at our house.  The Arizona desert has finally gotten winter the past 2 weeks.  Right now it is 39 F.  Most of you will think, 'big deal".  But........it is all relative.  You see, we spend over half of our year between 95 and 115.  So to us, anything below 70 is a bit chilly and anything below 50 is COLD.  Our 'winters' only last for a couple of weeks and then we will be back the 80's in short order.  I will enjoy our winter as long as I can!

Needless to say, with the weather chilly like this, all I want to do is drink some hot tea or coffee and knit away.  I did get quite a bit of time to knit this week.  In fact, I made sure I got to knit each night while watching the Olympics.  (Curling has become a real favorite of mine now)

I made good progress on the "Midnight Sunset" shawl.

At the moment, it is 198 stitches across.  Once the pink/silver section is completed, it will be going to over 300 stitches.  That is when the rows don't get completed as fast.  But, the pattern at that point is really interesting and fun to do so I won't mind being there for a while.  

I am debating on whether to keep this shawl or to give it to the prayer shawl ministry.  It is not really in colors I would wear often.  I would hate for it to just hang around in my drawer and never receive any love.  My thought is....................give this one to charity and make another one, only do it in a solid color this time.  I would love to do this in either an oatmeal color or white.  It would be a perfect spring time wrap.

I also continued to work on the 'Car Socks' this week.

I made quite a bit of progress on these. (Can you see the progress keeper on the right sock?)  They went with me everywhere I went.  That is the joy of socks.  They fit in purses so nicely.  This is Diversity yarn in the colorway Pizzazz.  It is a non-wool yarn but wears like iron.  I made another pair out of this yarn and they are my favorites.  It is very stretchy yet holds it shape nicely AND machine washing and drying does not cause any pilling nor does it affect their wear or shape. It is not an expensive yarn either.  Jimmy Beans carries it for $8/skein which is 100 gr.  I will be able to make a nice 8 inch leg on this and still have plenty left for the foot after the Fish Lip Kiss Heel turn. 

I now have 2 sock yarns that are my favorites.  Diversity and Naked Sock.  I had another one but it has been discontinued.  Hopefully, neither of these will go away too soon.

I found another pattern for socks that is now in my library to make.  Tadpoles

I have a lovely wool that will be perfect for these.  Even though the pattern calls for sport weight yarn, it still uses the same number of stitches I use with my fingering weight.  So I will cast them on and see if they look too small.  If so, I will up my stitch count and do it again.  Of course, the wool socks will go to hubby.  He has no issue with wool.  (Lucky guy)

Today will be pretty busy for me.  My Daughter is having a "Tea Party" at her home.  I don't know how many of you have heard of "Steeped Tea".  It has lovely lines of teas and accessories.  I am looking forward to exploring some new flavors of herbal teas.   

As soon as I leave there, I head back to my side of town for a 'couples' baby shower.  My God Daughter is expecting her first baby in May.  It seems like yesterday she was having sleep overs at my house.  How those years fly by!

Menus for the next two weeks have been made.  The grocery list is completed.  Laundry is all done.  Dinner for tonight is in the crockpot.  Green Chili burritos!!!!  It is one of our all time favorites.  I don't make it too often as it makes a lot.  I figured, what we don't eat today will be for leftovers on Wednesday and then I will freeze the rest of it for later use. 

I am really trying hard to stay organized with our daily living.  My bullet journal is my best friend these days.  If I did not have my journal, there would be little scraps of paper all over with 'to do' lists on them.  LOL  

One thing that has finally been deleted from my daily 'to do' list is.......writing my mom's obituary/bio.  I had told myself I wanted that bio to be completed by the end of last week and I made it with one day to spare LOL.    I will send it to my brother for approval and once he says go for it, I will send it to the Pastor along with the Bible verses and songs she asked to be used at her memorial service.  

We have made our travel arrangements for the memorial service.  We found out AirBNB's are a much better deal than getting a hotel room somewhere.  We will be sharing with our son and his family which really cuts down on the cost.  It is cheaper than a hotel and we get an entire 3 bedroom house in the deal!  The only arrangement we have not completed yet, is the reservation for the return trip home.  Since we are only 6 hours from our son in Texas, we are going to go there or a few days before coming back home.  I have looked up places where we want to stay and am excited about what I have found.  Now I just need a date as to when we will be returning so I can book one of them.  So, when I said I wanted everything completed by the first of March, I was really serious about it.  I feel like a huge weight has been lifted now.

This is about all I can think of right now.  I need to go and shred the beef and chop the green chili up and throw it all back in the crockpot to simmer and let the flavors marinate until dinner time.

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