Free Day

This is my last 'free day' of this week.  We have scheduled things happening from now until next week Monday.  See?  Being retired does not mean you have more free time.  It means you get re-tired daily.  (see what I did there?)

This is the day I have chosen to go to Bed Bath and Beyond to purchase a (hopefully) wonderful frying pan.  I have the Copper Chef pans at the moment.  Everyone of the frying pans is horrible.  I love the sauce pans and stock pots and the little 8" frying pan.  But the 10 and 12 inch fryers have never been nonstick since the day I bought them!  So frustrating to spend  half an hour every time I use them to scrub a pan (with a nonabrasive scrub pad) that is supposed to be able to be cleaned out with a paper towel.  So today, I will go and purchase a 'good' pan, be it nonstick or ceramic.  But something I can cook in that releases the food......ALL of the food!

The only reason today is frying pan day is.........hubby wants pancakes for dinner tonight.  I made pancakes in my copper chef over a month ago and was so angry by the time I completed all the batter.  Even last night, I was reheating my carnita meat and it stuck like crazy to the pan.  I do not use spray cooking stuff on my pans as that ruins the finish of them.  I may use a 1/2 teaspoon of avocado oil at times so things will brown up but that is it.  I also, hand wash all my cookware.  I am so done with this mess!  ARGGGGG!!!!  

Phew.....I feel better now.

My knitting as been monogamous this week.  I want to complete the "Summer Flies" shawl soon.  My fingers are crossed I can have it off the needles before the weekend.  We have a retreat at Church this weekend and this would be great to wear around my neck and shoulders when I get a little chill.  I am on section 7 of the "My Version of Summer Flies" pattern.  This makes the shawl a bit wider and longer than the original pattern.  It has been an ejoyable knit and I would love to make another in worsted weight next time.  That should make the shawl just about the right size to wear as an actual shawl.

I am off to go frying pan shopping.  My life is so exciting, isn't it?

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

WEEK 35

I never thought my YOP update header would be of a snowman in February.  But with the crazy weather we have had this week.............there was over 40" of snow 200 miles north of us.  Our mountains to the east of us are covered with the white stuff.  That is not normal.  The snow level dropped to 1500 feet this week.  That is super low here.  Scottsdale got snow and that is only a few miles from where we live!  Yes, I have lived here long enough to have seen snow in our neighborhood.  NEVER in February though.

This is what I see as I am heading east on the roads here.  Isn't that just gorgeous?  It will all be gone by the end of the week.  Well, that area will.  Our ski resort said they will have ski season through spring break next month!  WOOHOO!  I think our drought is starting to wane.  We received over 2" of rain in 24 hours.  Everything was all nice and clean after that.

So now that you have all that info, let's talk crafting news.

I have FO's to show.

The socks are done.  Love this yarn so much.  WEBS is closing it out so I purchased 10 more skeins of different colors.  Hubby also loves the feel of this fiber so he picked out a couple of colors too.  These are my happy socks.  The colors make me smile.

A tissue box cover.  I found Lion's Brand Mandala in DK weight and thought I would give this pattern a try.  It is crocheted and worked up fairly quickly.  I had seen these on another blog and really liked it.  She used scraps of different colors and they were spectacular.  The next ones I make will be done that way.  This one is a bit boring for my taste.

Since it is the last Sunday of the month, it is dishcloth time.

Six more cloths were made this month.  As you can see, I am using up all my bits and pieces of cotton yarn to make these.  I do have plenty of whole skeins of cotton but did not want to let these pieces go to waste.  Next month I will be using "real" skeins for them.

That is all for the FO's.  I am still working on my Summer Flies shawl.

I so wish photos would do this yarn justice.  It has a metallic thread running all the way through it.  Last week I had just finished the first round of lace butterflies which was section 2.  I am on the 5th section of the pattern now.  I hope this thing is going to grow quickly.  As of right now, it would fit an American Girl doll!  I am a bit larger than that!  There are only 3 more sections to do before it is completed.  There may be some added rows if it looks like it is going to be skimpy.

That is all for today's crafting.  This past week, I did purchase a Cricut Maker.  There has been some playing with it and I am loving what it does.  Card making will be taken to a whole new lever as well as some sewing and decorating ideas I have.

Yesterday, our daughter and son in law took us to the local Italian Festival.  My hubby is 1/2 Italian so we thought it would be fun to go and have a look.  WOW!!!!!!  So many people crammed into a 2 block area.  We made it for about 2.5 hours and then left to go and have a nice quiet Italian dinner at our favorite family owned Italian restaurant.  It was a perfect end to the day.  

The rest of today will be spent lounging around.  I have cooked so much food this week, we are just doing leftovers tonight for dinner.  

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

UPDATE FOR WEEK 34

 

Greetings all you faithful readers.  It is still dark outside here.  That is the perfect time to do an update, right?  So let's get to it.

There was a finish this week!  WOOHOO!

Another "To the Point" shawl for the prayer shawl ministry.  This was a VERY difficult one for me to work on.  I am not a lover of the color green.  Seldom will you find me wearing anything with green in it.  Even though everyone says I look splendid in green, it is not hanging around in my closet or anywhere in my home.  That being said, I know there are people out there that LOVE green and why should I not make something they will love.  There is a small amount of green left in my stash which will be made into more shawls.  It was given to me (thank you Linda) so I will not let it go to waste.   The best thing about this yarn......it is super soft and snuggly.  Of course it is an acrylic, but I am not a yarn snob.  If it feels nice, I will use it!

There is another half finish.

The "Car Socks".  I could not get a splendid photo this morning with it being dark outside.  Trust me when I tell you the toe is purple and hot pink!  

OK, this is a better shot.  Thank goodness for photo editing on my computer!  Anyway, I still have 52 foot rows to do and then 20 toe rows to do to finish sock #2.  My goal is to have it completed by next Sunday's update.  I have been asked what yarn I am using.....This is Diversity by Plymouth Yarn in the colorway Fruity.  A joy to work with, no wool, machine wash and dry and wears like iron!

The other finished item this week is...................the Moogly "Simple Home Basket" made for my DIL's bday.

It is about 11" in diameter and 9" deep.  She loves it!

There will not be another one made anytime soon.  This was so hard on my hands!

There was a new project cast on this past week.

"Summer Flies" shawl.  It has been in my library for ages as has this yarn.  The yarn is Blue Heron Rayon Metallic.  Yes, I know, there is green in this.  But there is also purple and lots of sparkles, so it makes it ok to have.  There is a different ending to this shawl than is printed on the original pattern.  It is called "My Version of Summer Flies".  I am going to be using that ending as I like the looks of it much better than the original one.  

That sums up my crafting week.  There were more dishcloths made but will post those photos at the end of the month.  What are you working on craft wise?

Tomorrow is a holiday here in the US.  Presidents Day, complete with parades and closing of all government offices.  I don't know how many parades will take place, seeing as the weather around the US is pretty crazy right now.  Lots of snow, rain, wind and just plain cold all over this year.  There was even snow in Hawaii last week!  We have been having rain on and off for the past few weeks.  Our temperatures have been about 15 degrees below our normal.  My heater is still running and normally by the middle of February I have my windows opened during the day for the lovely fresh air.  Not this year!

Not much else going on here.  We have a memorial to go to this afternoon for a friend of ours who passed away last month.  Seems like the dark colors in my closet are getting a lot of use lately.  Hopefully, this will be the last one for a while.

OH!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew there was something else I wanted to know.  In my midweek post (Don't think many of you follow except on Sundays) I asked if any of you have a die cutting machine like a Cricut or Silhouette.  If so, which one, how often do you use it, what do you mostly use it for, would you recommend the one you have or a different model?  

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

PS:  To see what others are doing in YOP, check out this link!

  

Happy Fri-Yay

Hello my dear readers.  Are you happy it is Friday?  It is amazing, even though I have been retired for over 2 years, I still love when Friday comes around.  Probably because I do not do many 'chores' on the weekend.  I really try to do most household things during the week so we can be free to spend time with our working friends and family.

How is your weather?  I hope you are all staying warm and as dry as possible.  We got rain all day yesterday and should be getting more on Monday.  This last storm played heck with my RA!  I was down for 2 days because of the barometer going nuts.  Today, I finally feel like myself again and am moving much better.  So, I am going to celebrate by having pizza and a beer for dinner tonight!  Yay me!

I cooked for Valentine's Day, even though I was not feeling up to being on my feet for any length of time.  There were pork chops smothered in cream of mushroom soup and also air fried garlic Parmesan asparagus.  So very yummy.  Hubby was very please too.  Do you cook something special for Valentine's Day or do you go out to eat?

This morning I finally was able to get out of bed early enough to go and have a fasting blood draw done.  This was supposed to have happened 2 weeks ago but, with traveling and then feeling like crap............well, it is now done.  Do you put off medical things just 'because"?

For the rest of the day, I am going to crochet on the prayer shawl I started last week.  There is also 1 sock left to complete, so that will get a bit of love too.  I started another shawl for ME, but have not worked on it since last Sunday.  Once the second sock is completed, I will pick it up again and give it a lot of love.  What are you working on?

Now, I do have a serious question.  Do any of your have a die cut machine?  Like a Cricut or Silhouette or Brother?  If so, what do you do with it.  Do you use it often?  I received an Cricut Mini several years ago for a gift.  I finally hooked it up last year only to find out it is no longer supported on the internet.  It has very limited capabilities.  I was hoping to make greeting cards with it but making cut outs to paste onto card stock.  Researching all the different die cut  machines is quite time consuming and who better to ask, then my crafting friends.

Looking at my calendar, I see we have a 3 day weekend here in the US.  It also looks like there is something going on everyday next week.  Fingers crossed my RA stays in control for the next 7 days.  There is too much going on to be laid up again for 2 days.  Do you keep track of your schedule using a calendar, bullet journal or electronic device?  I use all three.  That way I never miss an appointment...........well hardly ever.

OK, I am off to do some other computer stuff.  I am actually on the main PC today.  Hubby was away from it and I just plopped down and took it over. LOL  I normally use my laptop to write my blog.

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

JUST BECAUSE

Yup, I am posting today because I can.  There have not been too many non-YOP posts lately.  Not that I don't think of doing them.  The day just seems to slip away after I finish dinner and before I know it, bedtime is upon us.  Not today.  I have been awake since 3 this morning.  My feet finally hit the ground around 5.  My daily chores are just about completed.  I am waiting on my bedding to finish washing and drying so I can make our bed.  Then my day of 'work' will be completed and I can move onto my crafting or reading.  Which ever speaks to me.  There also might be a nap involved in today.  This is what happens when we get up way too early.

HEEHEE......hubby doesn't know I snapped that photo of him and Enrique snoozing after a very early morning.  He turns on sports and then promptly falls asleep LOL.  This was a morning he got up at 3 or 4.  For some reason, the older we get the more often we wake up at horrible times of the morning.

Tonight we are having tacos for dinner.  You have heard of taco Tuesday, yes?  It is a pretty common thing here in the southwest.  We try and have some sort of Mexican food every Tuesday to honor the saying.  I have already prepped the garnishings for the tacos so all that needs to be done is cook the meat and fry up the corn tortillas.  This is hubby's favorite meal.  He will be making salsa for the tacos, later on today.  He makes the BEST salsa.  It could take the varnish off wood!  We love it hot!  Our Daughter calls it 'weapon grade' salsa.

On another topic.............do any of you have cup holders in your furniture?  I have them on the piece of furniture I sit on.  Do you know what they are really for?

Yarn holders!  That is some of my cotton yarn I am working with today to make dishcloths.  They are the dribs and drabs left over from earlier made cloths.  I love mixing and matching them together to get interesting cloths.  No need to throw the leftovers away.  If they don't look nice enough to give as a gift, I will use them.  You can never have too many dishcloths.

Time to go and make the bed.

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

WEEK 33 UPDATE

Howdy one and all.  Another week has gone by.  Knitting and crocheting have been happening at Casa de Noce.  Hubby has made sure I have had plenty of time to craft this week to help ease my emotions.  It has helped so much.  Even though I am still sad with the passing of my brother, I can now talk about him without bursting into tears each time.  

Want to see what I have done this week?  Of course you do or you wouldn't be here.

The socks!  Oh how I love working with self striping yarn.  Also, I love the Fish Kiss Lips heel.  You can see where I was last Tuesday when I posted my update.  I have managed to work quite a bit on these lovelies the past 4 days.  As you can see, orange was the next new color to appear on the socks.  There is still one more new color to appear.  Fingers crossed it will show up before the end of the sock.  Since I wear sandals year round, I am not worried about the last color being hidden by shoes.  Any guesses as to the last color?

There is another project trying to be completed quickly.  It is the Simple Home Basket by Moogly.  So far I have completed the lining of the basket.

The outer part of the basket is over half done.

I have 8 more rows to do on the outer part and then edging and attaching them to each other.  This is a gift for my Daughter in Law.  Her birthday was over a week ago but, with all the traveling going on, I was gone on her bday.  I hope she likes the basket.  I think it will serve her well as she also is a crafter and this could hold so many things for her while working on her projects.  The only issue I have with this project is the yarn it uses.

It is a SUPER bulky chenille.  So it does not have any give to it and it is very hard on my hands.  I knew it would be difficult when I decided to do it so have just been taking breaks every hour to rest my hands.  I am hoping to complete it today and get it to her ASAP.

I have been perusing shawl patterns today.  There is a very expensive skein of yarn, in my stash, I do not know what to do with.  I decided to turn it into a shawl and even found a shawl I love!  When looking at the projects done with the pattern, I discovered someone that used that same yarn to make said shawl.  I am so excited!  Finally I will get that yarn used and it will be something I will wear too.  Stay tuned for the update on that.

I started another shawl for the prayer shawl ministry.  There are no photos as I like to wait until it is completed to show it.  I will say this..........it is not in a color I am fond of.  It is in two different shades of green.  I have never been a huge green fan but know there are many out there that love the color.  So, why should I not make something that others will love?  It is another To the Point shawl.  (of course)  It should be completed by the end of the week, so there will be photos next week of it.

As far as normal daily life.............we have been keeping ourselves occupied.  We sat down this week and planned what we are going to do next to the house.  Hubby has agreed to work on the declutter with me and we are going to try and get all decluttering done in the next few weeks.  We are mainly concerned with our 'backroom' that we enclosed a couple of years ago.  It is where we kind of just 'throw' stuff we have no where else to put it.  It is also where all our tools are since we no longer can keep them in our shed.  (The shed has been broken into several times so it is basically used for Christmas storage now)  Once all the decluttering is complete, we will hire our handyman friend to come and get the flooring laid in there as well as in our 2 bathrooms.  That will pretty much take care of all the remodel of the house.  It all just takes time, elbow grease and $$$.  The time and elbow grease we have at the ready...............the $$$ takes a bit of time to build up LOL.  Tomorrow we start, per the hubby.  

For the rest of today I am going to work on the basket and hope to complete it.  I am also waiting to hear from my daughter in law to tell me to come over.  She is going to shave my undercut for me as it is kind of hard for me to do the back myself.  In turn, I will shave hers too.  It is so nice to have someone to do it without having to spend the $$$ to go to the salon for a 5 minute touch up.  The only reason I go to the salon now is to have to 'outside' of my hair trimmed up as it grows out more and more. 

This is pretty much what my hair is like now and I will probably not let it get much longer than this.  Super easy to take care of too.

Tonight, there will be a fun dinner of hot wings and sweet potato fries.  All done in my air fryer!  Gotta love Pinterest............I get so many recipes from there for the air fryer.  Not to mention ideas for home decor, yarn crafts, baking etc.  It is a dangerous place and a great time sucker too.  LOL  

Hubby is away this morning teaching RCIA at church so I am going to take this quiet time to work on the basket while watching a chic flic on Hallmark.  They have all their Valentine day movies going on now.  

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