Reading and Stuff

OK, it's not Wednesday.  I just thought I would shake things up a bit and post today.  I have a few moment while waiting on laundry to finish and wanted to drop in and show you what is happening here in my little world.

Sunday afternoon we were blessed with a special visit.

This is our God Daughter and her 5 week old baby.  It is hard for me to  wrap my head around the fact our baby girl has a baby boy now!  He is so sweet and love the smell of babies.  Of course I got to hold and love on him.

I even got to feed him.  Man, can that kid burp!  It is always so refreshing to have a baby around even if it is only for an hour or so.

Sunday was also one of our Grands 18th birthday.  Time is passing too quickly!  We got to talk to him for a little while and sounded like he was having a great day.  Sure do miss that kid.

After the baby and mommy left I decided to do something I have not done in 6 months.

I started a puzzle.  As of this morning, this is the progress I have made.  I kept 3 puzzles from my mom's stash.  This is one I so wanted to do with her but she was so afraid of it because it has a ton of people on the bottom of it.  The challenge has been good for me the past couple of days.  It brings back some wonderful memories of mom and I working on puzzles together her last 3 years of life.

I have also been doing a lot of reading.  Right now I am on book #14 of a series by this author.

They are all murder mysteries.  None of them are gruesome and this is my bedtime book.  I have really enjoyed the books and need to thank my daughter for recommending them.  They all have knitting patterns and recipes in them too.  The plots all revolve around a LYS in Colorado.  

I am also reading this:

I have had it on my wish list for some time.   I am really enjoying it.  It is an easy book to pick up and lay down without feeling like you HAVE to read to the end of a chapter.  This was recommended by a blogging buddy.  Thanks Sam for that!

After I finish that book, I have another one waiting in the wings.

Oh how I loved this lady.  I spent my high school career thinking I wanted to be like her.  I took 4 years of drama and music hoping I would be discovered.  HA!  I discovered I was much better working in the medical field than on stage.  

I also have another book series to read after I complete the Maggie Sefton books.  Discussion of those books will happen after I start reading them.  Fingers crossed they will keep my attention.

Tomorrow, Grand and I are going to the library again.  Her book she requested has been put on hold for her.  I also want to look to see if they have any books by author Louise Penny.  She was recommended by another blogging buddy.  

Tomorrow also sees hubby heading to Nevada again for 3 days.  There is going to be a home inspection for his mom's house to see what needs to be done to make it a safe environment for her to live in.  We really don't think she should go home but she is very insistent on doing it.  She will need 24 hour care and there are family dynamics in play too.  But, she is an adult capable of making her own decisions.  

Friday our local Grand has her summer camp performance.  She has been in Drama Summer camp for 2 weeks!  I can not believe they memorized several songs along with choreography to go with them.  She has had a blast during the camp and has made some new friends too.

Just to let you know....................I am dumping my 9 inch circular needles for good!  My Arthritis in my hands and especially in my thumb and fingers is made much worse using them.  I will stick to my DPN's or magic loop from now on.  The 9" needles dd not make thing go any faster and in fact, I feel they slowed me down quite a bit.

The dryer is buzzing so need to go and get those clothes folded and put away.

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

WEEK 52 & ROUNDUP

We made it.  Year 7 has come to an end.  I feel accomplished in the fact I managed to post an update each week.  That is a first for me.  Now that I have a little laptop/tablet computer, I no longer have to wait for my main PC to become available to do an update.  Yippee!

I did start a couple of new projects this week and did not complete anything.

I started another Rising Tide scarf.  It is to be a gift for some lucky lady this Christmas.  I timed it this week.  It takes me over 2.5 hours to do a completed pattern row.  I do enjoy it though.  

I also started another To The Point shawl.  It is the perfect TV crochet project.  This will go to the prayer shawl group at church.  

Yesterday I FINALLY got the 2 trash bags of yarn, 4 shawls and all my Kollage square needles donated to the prayer shawl group.  I still use square needles but am now using Knitters Pride Nova Cubics Platina.  I do not have to worry about going up or down a needles size with these.  They gauge the same as my 'round' needles do.  The squares really do help my hand pain and fatigue too.

Since it is the end of Year 7, it is time to look back on what was accomplished.  Here is a list of what I did these past 52 weeks.

I made:

13 dishcloths

1 log cabin blanket

22 sweater ornaments

11 shawls

3 market bags

4 pair of socks

1 rising tide scarf

I also frogged 5 projects.

And here is what I had projected to do in Year 7.

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...............FROGGED

Boxy Sweater...........................Started 11/17/15...........1/2 DONE

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

Eva Shawl in Alpaca.................Started 7-10-11............DIDN'T TOUCH

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

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! GAVE AWAY ABOUT HALF OF IT TO THE SHAWL MINISTRY.....BOUGHT A FEW MORE THOUGH.

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.  YUP

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.  TEST KNIT ONE TIME THIS YEAR

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)  i TRULY DID USE QUITE A BIT OF MY STASH WORSTED WEIGHT FOR SHAWLS THIS YEAR.  

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.  LOVED USING THIS..........IT REALLY HELPED ME KEEP ON TRACK AND CAME IN QUITE HANDY WHEN DOING THIS POST.

I am still trying to figure out Year 8's projected items.  It is so hard to pin point when my eye sees so many lovely things and I want to do them all.

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

Roller Coaster

I just spent 30 minutes writing a blog post.  After I completed it, I re-read it and deleted the whole thing.  It was depressing.  VERY Depressing.  So let me just do a little bullet post for you.

1.  Hubby is going to be going to a GI specialist in 2 weeks because of his report we got 

      Monday.

2.  Our PA , Nutritionist and Cardiologist have been cut from our clinics staff (downsizing)

3.  I miss my mom horribly.

4.  Spent some lovely time with the Grand at the library.

5.  Got my nails done and felt slightly pampered afterward.

6.  I have been stress eating and it shows.

7.  My blood pressure is slightly higher than normal.

8.  My house smells wonderful with my bread baking.

9.  I am blessed beyond measure with good friends and family.

10. My pool is calling my name for some water aerobics.

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

WEEK 51 UPDATE

It is the next to last week of this year's YOP.  I have not even begun to think about next years ideas yet.  I am sure there will be a light bulb go off soon enough to inspire me for year 8.  The most amazing thing this year is, I have posted every week!  That has never happened for me before.

I do have a finish this week.

Rising Tide scarf is completed.  It still needs a nice soak and a bit of blocking to open it up a bit more.  I only used one skein of yarn instead of the intended two skeins.  I see no reason for a 9" wide scarf.  This is perfect at about 4" and daughter agreed with me.  She has asked me to make another scarf with the second skein and she will give it as a gift this Christmas.  Since she bought the yarn, I have no problem being her laborer.  Keeps me busy.

Remember these?

They became these:

Which in turn has started to be these:

I have discovered I knit much looser on the 9" circulars so went down from a 1.5 to a US 1.  I am going to just go with a plain vanilla sock this time.  This is just to find out how much I like using these needles.  Now that the scarf is completed, I will be focusing on these until something else jumps up and begs to be knit.

That is all for crafting.  Here is a little look into my personal life.

When I had both Grand Daughters, they decided to make a lovely meat and cheese lunch for us one day.

After they were done they got a case of the giggles when they realized it looked like Mickey Mouse.  Love those girly giggles.

I have no idea why my dog does this.  He squeezes in beside me and then sticks his nose in between the cushions of the loveseat.  It looks so uncomfortable.

This happened yesterday:

Yup, that is rain.  We have not had any moisture for 3 months!  It was needed as we are still in drought conditions.  It rained off and on from late Friday night until late afternoon Saturday.  It really cooled off our temps too.  We went from 109 to 89 in 24 hours!  What a blessed relief.  We will be back to 109 by the end of the week though.

The past few days I have been visiting with these two lovelies.

The big guy is Magnum and the little guy is Bentley.  They are my BFF's dogs.  They headed to the mountains for her birthday weekend and asked me to feed the dogs and love on them.  They are love buttons and I enjoy spending a couple hours each day with them.

We had our Grand Daughter spend the night last night.  She and I worked on her Father's Day DIY project and watched Divergent last night.  It was pretty nice to spend that quality time with her.

Tomorrow hubby and I have an appointment with his Dr to go over some test results he had done last week.  I am a bit nervous as the Dr has already told me she thinks there may be some issues and we may be going to specialists soon.  Please say a prayer for us.  We would appreciate it greatly.

That is all for this week's update.  Time to put on my thinking cap and ponder next years list/ideas.

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

All Things

The hardest part of writing my blog is coming up with a title.  Anyone else have this issue?  I always can find things to write about but never know how to title the 'story'.

The past three days have been busy in a good way.  I have gotten quite a bit done around the house.  I had really let things slide while  our TX Grand was here.  I wanted to make her time here special and memorable.  So the cobwebs were left alone, the dust bunnies multiplied and dog hair was stuck to everything.  But, we had a great time and made great memories.

Sunday, I was so spent after only getting, barely 4 hours of sleep.  I did do a bit of fiber work.  I picked up the socks and decided to work on them since it was mindless knitting.  Here is how they looked after that attention.

Yup, frogged both socks.  I was not happy with myself for trying to combine 2 patterns.  It was not working for me.  The real kicker was, I knit looser in 9" circulars then DPN's.  I started over again.  This time I am doing a plain vanilla sock on size US 1's n the 9" circulars.

It sure does make a difference going down from a 1.5 to a 1.  The ribbing alone took an extra 3 rows to make my inch!  I do believe the sock will fit better this time though.  It was quite large on the 1.5's.  I am going to let the pattern in the yarn speak for itself this time too.

Monday, I had the local Grand for a few hours.  We did a bit of Amazon shopping and also reading.  It was pretty much a chill day for us.  Hubby and I had cleaned the house in the morning so the afternoon was nice for us.

in the past 3 days I cooked up a bunch of bacon, cleaned out a freezer, polished up an ice chest, wound some yarn, did some knitting, cleaned a pantry and then headed outside to enjoy this.

My backyard oasis.  I did some laps, water aerobics and relaxed all in an hours time span.  I won't stay out more than that because of the UV index here.  It is at an 11 (the highest it can go) and since my Dad died from Melanoma, I really am cautious about my sun exposure.  See that doggy in the picture?  That is my old lady, Luna.  (Short for lunatic.....we didn't name her)  She turned 12 this year and is perking along just fine.  She and her brother got a bath yesterday by me.  They smell so nice now!

Today, I am making lots of phone calls for medical stuff.  I still am catching up on laundry and a few household chores.  My bullet journal keeps me on track.  If I didn't have it, my life would be quite chaotic.

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

WEEK 50

Hello everyone.  Welcome to my weekly crafting update.  It is week 50 and with only 2 more weeks to go on this Year Of Projects..............I decided to take a look at my list I made the beginning of this years challenge.

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 FROGGED

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

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

Eva Shawl in Alpaca.................Started 7-10-11 OOPS.....HAVEN'T TOUCHED

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

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!  WORKING ON IT

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.  HAS REALLY THINNED OUT MY WORSTED WEIGHT STASH!

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.  ONLY DID 1 THIS YEAR.  

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)  THERE MAY HAVE BEEN A LITTLE BIT OF STASH ENHANCEMENT BUT..........I DONATED 2 13 GALLON BAGS OF YARN TO THE PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY. I AM BELOW 500 SKEINS NOW.

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.  WHAT A BIG HELP THE JOURNAL HAS BEEN!

So........I have done pretty much what I set out to do.  I will do a total recap of projects on week 52.  This give me time to hopefully finish up at least one more item.

The only thing I worked on this week was the Rising Tide scarf.

This is laid flat.  See how it looks like it ripples?  That is how the pattern works up.  I wish we had chosen a longer color changing yarn. 

This is why.  The opposite ends of the scarf are totally different colors.  Daughter loves it though and that is all that matters.

That is it on crating today.  I have been awake since 3:30 this morning.   There was a VERY early airport run today.

Sweet Cheeks had a 6AM flight home today.  She was so tired.  We had been at a house warming party last night and didn't get to bed until after 11.  She will sleep on the plane for sure.

I have one more photo of my Grand Daughters for you

I did manage to do both of their hair dos and also makeup for the wedding we attended.

It will be very quiet at our house with the girls gone.  We will have the one on the right for a few days this week while her dad is out of town and her mom is at work.  That is fine with me.  There is a pool for us to have fun in and we can go to the library again and again and again.  

If you have some great recommendations on books, let me know.  I have plenty of books but the Grand is always looking for good books.  She prefers fantasy so let me know.  Right now she is reading "Divergent".

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