YOP WEEK 5 UPDATE

Happy day to all of you.  I pray you all are well and safe.  Between the wet weather in the east, tornadoes in the Midwest, wild fires in the west, and hot and dry in England and Canada, it makes this blogger happy to see her other blogging buddies posting.  That way I know you are all safe!  

This is week 5 and I have one finished object.  I wonder if I am spread too thin?  Although, I did have my grand daughter and her bff this past week for 3 days.  Keeping them entertained can be a challenge.  We saw movies, went to the library again, and one day we played card and board games for 5 hours.  That does cut into the crafting time.  Each night we cooked dinner for them and for my DIL and by the time they left, it was almost 8pm and I was dog tired by then.  

I did make progress on my WIP's though.

First up..............................Rising Tide.

I decided to take a photo showing you the difference 1 pattern row makes.  The bottom has one more 'row' than the top.  I really do love this pattern and would love to make it again but this time with a yarn I can work with for longer than an hour max.  I think it would make a gorgeous shawl.  I need to find a sock yarn with a looooooong striping pattern.  If you have an suggestions for a non wool self striping sock yarn that fits the bill, let me know. 

Speaking of sock yarn:

I did not loose my sock mojo.  It was the yarn with that pattern that was frustrating me.  This is my Diversity sock yarn.  My all time favorite self striping.  It has a slight shine to it and it feels wonderful going through my fingers.  Even with careful measuring of the color changing of the yarn, I am off by 40 stitches as to where the color changes on each sock.  It will not be noticeable as I go along, but it kind of frustrated me a little.  Not enough for me to throw in the towel of these though.

As for the socks that are in time out.......................I have remembered a pattern that will be perfect for them and will frog them and start on that pattern soon so as not to 'forget' it again.

I started on a double ended crochet shawl last week.  I hated it.  The pattern was too opened for my liking and it was to be a mans' shawl.  I ripped it out and waited patiently until my smaller double ended crochet hooks  arrived.  Then I got different colored yarn and started again.

This is a bit tighter crochet.  I went from and "N" hook down to a "K" and used more of an Aran weight yarn.  Now I am happy with it.

My Forest Path shawl is coming along slowly.

I really need to remember to mark the pattern as to where I left off.  I ended up frogging 5 rows because of not doing that this week.  It is a nice knit to do in front of the TV.  It is done using the Portuguese method as there is quite a bit of purling in it.  What a nice break for my hands.  Someday, I will figure out how to do Portuguese in the round so I can do socks that way.  I am not experienced enough yet for that.  I probably need to take a class on it since I am self taught.

As for the finished object:

The puzzle is completed.  That was the photo of the last piece waiting to be put in.  I had quite a bit of help from my DIL when she came for dinner this week.  There has not been another one set up yet.  Maybe this week or next.

That is all on the crafting front.  This coming week is busy.  We have our local Grand Daughter's 13th birthday, hubby has the 1st of 3 tests from his second specialists, he sees his original specialist, we leave on Saturday to visit his mom for a few days.  My socks will be getting a lot of love over the next 10 days.  They are so nice and portable.  Plus, they are a plain vanilla sock so no need for a pattern to carry with me.

We finally got some much needed rain last night.  Hubby and I were awakened around 3:30 by the thunder that actually shook our house.  It lasted for about 30 minutes and I had 2 very scared dogs buried under my legs for the rest of the night.  I love thunderstorms!

I am off to do some grocery shopping.  

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

YOP Week 4

 

Another Sunday and time for my Year of Projects Post (YOP).  We are 4 weeks into year 8 and I am still plugging away on my original projects.  I did add a new project to my WIP's this week.

This is my Crochet on the Double shawl I am making.  I had done this YEARS ago and loved the fact it is a reversible fabric when done.  The ladies in my prayer shawl group got me to pick it up again.  It is quite enjoyable.  I really like being able to switch from knit to crochet during the week.  I went through my pattern books and found my crochet on the double books and was so thrilled I had not gotten rid of them.  This does take a bit more time to do than normal crochet.  Each row is a 2 step process.  It is similar to Tunisian crochet.  The hook I am using is around the size of an "N" hook and I feel it is way too large for my worsted weight yarn.  I used to have a "J" hook but seems that went away when I culled out my hooks and needles a while back.  They also call this Cro-Knit.  I am doing the shell stitch in it.  My goal this week is to find a smaller double ended crochet hook for the next shawl or lapghan.  This hook will be fine with bulky yarn.

As for my other projects:

The socks are the same size now.  I worked on these the most this week.  I wanted to get them caught up.  I am not in love with them and I do not know why.  They may be put into time out.  I am thinking of starting another pair and see if I am just not into sock knitting right now or it is the yarn that is bothering me.  I normally love socks but these are not speaking to me at all right now.

The Forest Path shawl is getting plenty of love on Thursdays at the prayer shawl group.  It grows quite rapidly because of the size 11 needles.  This is done with Caron Simply soft and is so snuggly.  The yarn was gifted to me and I am so happy to be able to make something to gift back.

Rising Tide is slow but sure.  I am on another row since last time.  There are 16 stitches between each marker and those 16 stitches get worked back and forth 7 times.  That means I am working 112 stitches in each little area and there are 18 areas.  Do the math and you will understand why this does not grow any faster.  Not to mention it is on a US size 3 needle and I am working with 100% wool.  My poor hands do get a bit itchy and spotty after about an hour of work.  Darn allergies.

As for other news.................Hubby went in Monday for his procedure.  He did not need it!  He had been misdiagnosed by the ultrasound Doctor!  I had been in such a dither for 2 weeks.  Needless to say, I was relieved and angry at the same time.  The original diagnosis he was given was quite serious and usually means there is a serious disease associated with it which leads to death.  Come to find out, it is not serious but we do need to see another specialist this week to get some answers as to why he has a problem and how to handle it.  Praise the Lord.  

As for me.........................I might as well let the cat out of the bag.  I have rejoined Weight Watchers.  I joined a month ago and am happy to report I am doing well with it and have been able to drop off some very unwanted weight already.  I have a long ways to go but am feeling so much better already.  I am doing it online only this time.  I did not enjoy the meetings the last time and I also did not like anyone else weighing me and knowing whether or not I had made progress for the week.  I am too private a person for that.  The only other person that knows I am doing this is my hubby.  I have not told any other family members or friends.  Like I said, I am a private person when it comes to very personal things.  Plus, I don't need others to watch me every time I put something in my mouth and wonder if I was supposed to be eating it.  Nope, been there and done that before.  But since I doubt I will be dining with any of you, my blog readers, I wanted to put it out there.  I know there are other bloggers I read, who also are doing WW.  Knitting is not an aerobic activity!  LOL  So the pool has been my friend for the past month.  I do water aerobics and swim some laps and do isometrics in it too.  Once the weather cools off (about October) my dogs and I will be walking the neighborhood again.

Thanks for dropping by today.

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

YOP Week 3 update

Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to come and visit me.

This week was so much fun.  We had our first monsoon storms on Monday and Tuesday.  Much needed rain came and washed away a lot of dirt from our streets and sidewalks.  I did get some knitting done but nothing was finished.  My right hand is getting pins and needles in it when I knit so that has slowed me down a bit.  I know it is related to carpal tunnel and my RA, but I will not let it stop me from knitting.

Here is what I did this week.

I got past the cuff and am now on the leg.  This got the least amount of attention this week.  The tiny needles are the hardest on me.  They are a US size 1 and I normally use a 1.5.  This yarn is thicker so needed to go down in size to accommodate for the fit.

Next up is the Rising Tide scarf.

This is knit on US size 3 needles.  Not as bad as the ones but it took me all week to do one row.

On Thursday, I finally got back to the Prayer Shawl Ministry group.  I had been away since my mom had died.  This week I decided it was not doing anyone any good for me to be hiding away at my house.  I needed to be with these lovely women that care about everyone.  I worked on the Forrest Path Shawl.

It got the most love this week.  It is worked on US size 11 needles so I am able to work longer on it.  I am ready to add another green stripe on it.

I also am working on a puzzle each day.  I am trying to limit myself to 1 hour/day on it.  Otherwise, nothing else would get done.

I do bits and pieces by color and eventually it all comes together.

If you follow my blog regularly, you will recall we had a little visitor at our home on Monday.  We tried to get him outside but he ran away from us.  Last night he came out again.

Our little gecko friend.  He was very lethargic and hubby was able to pick him up with a newspaper and get him outside.  He was very dehydrated as you can tell from the photo on Monday.

See how much plumper he is in the bottom photo.  We still had standing water on our porch, so he was able to get water right away.  Then, I am sure there are plenty of bugs for him to eat in our flower bushes.

Tomorrow, hubby goes in for a diagnostic procedure to find out what is going on with him.  He has all the Doctors baffled.  Every test they have done on him so far has come out 100% normal!  Praying that tomorrow we will have answers and it will be something manageable with the proper treatment.................or it is nothing at all.  The stress has been hard the last 3 weeks.  We are ready for answers.

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

MONSOON 2018

Each year I post about our monsoons we have in the Arizona Deserts.  Today was the start for us.  We started out with a nasty dust storm:

This doesn't look too bad.  Notice the palm tree.  Those fronds normally stand straight up and fan out.  As the dust was blowing, the rains decided to join in the fun.

Notice how far the palm tree is bent now.  I continued to rain pretty hard for about an hour.

You can not tell here but our street it flooded.  It only took 15 minutes for that to happen.  Our ground is not used to any large amounts of rain and it floods quickly.

See the white foam?  That is the water creeping up our driveway.  These storms will happen sporadically from now until the middle of September.  Our temperatures dropped from 102 to 72 in less than 30 minutes.  NIICE!

This is my favorite weather.  I know it can be destructive but it is a nice change from blue skies all the time.  Our BFF's BBQ got blown out of their backyard kitchen.  That is some strong winds!  There are hundreds of people without electricity.  We flickered a few times but are still on.

We also have a little house guest somewhere.

I looks huge in the photo but it is only about 4-6 inches with the tail.  This is a gecko.  Quite common here.  They do not care about people, they eat bugs.  We tried to get it out of the door, but it scurried off.  I don't want the dogs to find it and kill it.  They are good to have around.

I was busy this morning.

This is the yarn I received this last week.  It is the Diversity yarn for socks.  I got half of it caked up and pattern matched.  While I was doing that, I had a little company.

 I have blankets on top of my blocking mats.  He loves to lay on them and I do not love the dog hair he leaves behind.  Hence the blankets.  

TTYL

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

WEEK 2 UPDATE

I know I am late to the party today.  I have been away from home all day.  Hubby and I were invited to a baseball game that started at 1.  We left our house at 11 so we could take mass transit to downtown Phoenix.  The game went into extra innings.  We finally left at the 14th inning and the game ended in the 16th inning.  We got home at 6:30 and this is the first chance I have had to grab a computer and start my post.

I promised I would show off my first FO for this year 8.

Another "To the Point" shawl is in the books.  It will be going to the prayer shawl ministry at church.  A notice was sent out that men's shawls and lapghans are needed right now.  Not being one to ignore a need I started another shawl.

This is Forest Path from the Prayer Shawl Companion book.  It's done on US size 11 needles.  It goes pretty quickly.  I will doing stripes on this.  Using up some of my stash for this one.  WOOHOO!

I also started my second sock.

No, the first sock is not done but I like to do them consecutively.  I am done with 9 inch circulars.  They are just too hard on my hands and I keep dropping stitches and it is a royal pain (literally) to use them.  

I also put on another pattern row on the Rising Tide scarf #2.

I love watching the colors run on this yarn.

Those are the only items I worked on this week.  I try and give love to each project daily.  Hopefully that will keep me from getting bored with any one project.

That is it for this week.

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

SHHHHHHHHH

It is very quiet at my house right now.  Hubby had to go to the church for a meeting with one of the staff.  The dogs are sound asleep and the garbage collection has already passed by our street.  All I hear is the hum of the computer.  

The past couple of days have been nice albeit a bit busy.  I have been doing quite a bit of knitting/crocheting along with reading and journaling.  Hubby had his specialist appointment yesterday and is going to be scheduled for a minor procedure to find out what is going on with him.  All his Drs are baffled because he shows no signs or symptoms of anything.  His blood work is wonderful and he has had this physical sign for over a year and no one was concerned back when I pointed it out to them in a hospital setting.  Go figure.  Keep the prayers coming please.

I did complete the puzzle I started a couple of weeks ago.  It actually was finished last week and I have another one already set up and am working on it.  The one I am working on now is a bit more complicated.  It is 1000 pieces and they are TINY!

Everyday I try and work on each project I have going.  It is so funny to look at my 'to do' list in my journal and each day there is listed, scarf, sock, shawl, puzzle, sweater.  I have finished one project and started another and will update that on Sunday's YOP.

Reading at bedtime is my favorite way to fall asleep.  I quite reading on my Kindle at night, as the light seemed to interfere with my REM sleep.  Now I read a REAL book each night.  Last night I finished:

It was really a nice book for bedtime.  It gave me a break from my Maggie Sefton books that I have been reading.  That series will be picked back up tonight.  I only have 1.5 books left in that series to read and then I have another 3 book series to read.  I like series books.  I fall in love with the characters and they seem to come alive as I get deeper into each book.  Kind of like watching a soap opera LOL.

Have any of you been experiencing some of the wonderful summer fruit this year?  We have been having scrumptious watermelon, cantaloupe, red cherries, yellow mangoes, strawberries, nectarines and peaches.  The nectarines and peaches need to ripen a bit once I get them home but they are so yummy.  I noticed blueberries are on sale this week, so will be going to get some of those too.  Blueberries are so yummy in salads as are strawberries and mangoes!  The fruit keeps me away from eating junk sweets.  

Our weather is really heating up this week.  They are predicting 115 by Thursday!  Hopefully, our monsoons will come to us pretty soon so we can get some much needed rain.  We have been in drought conditions for almost 21 years now.  Many of our fireworks for the 4th have been cancelled due to the dry conditions and our high risk of fires.  Even many of our camping areas in the mountains have been closed do to fire risk.  

Time for me to go and do a bit of my 'to do' list.  I am thinking pool time may come early today.  It is already almost 100 and only 9:30 in the morning.

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