IT'S A WRAP

We made it!  Another year of projects is in the books.  What a year it was for all of us.  We will be posting our new year of goals on July 7th.  So if you are interested in joining in on the fun go HERE.  You must be a member of Ravelry, (which is free), in order to access this link.  Please come and join us.  We are not just a knitting or crocheting group.  We have cross stitchers, sewers, painters even some gardeners.  It is so much fun and getting to meet people from all over the world is probably the best part!

I have been in YOP since it's inception and love it.  The people I have 'met' and the inspiration I have gotten and the encouragement I have received is the main reason I continue with it.  No where else can you find such a lovely group of crafters.  We have all had our share of joys and sorrows.  That is life and yet we support each other through each of those times of or lives.  Thank you fellow crafters for your support over the past 8 years!

This is the week we do our wrap up of the past year (For those of us that go from July to June)  Since I managed to complete 73 projects, there is no way I can put a photo of every project completed in this post.  Well, I could, but who wants to scroll through that many photos? 

First up, my list of goals for this past year:

 YOP 8

Do not buy any more yarn.  ( there are 10 skeins of sock yarn on the way that was ordered a week ago)  I don't even want to talk about this.  Last count I had well over 21,000 miles of yarn in my stash and that is not all of it. I stopped counting after the DK, Fingering, Lace and Worsted.  Hello, my name is Marsha and I am a yarnaholic.

Finish up what is on my needles/hooks.  (2 shawls, 1 scarf, and 1 pair of socks)  Frogged the socks and one of the shawls.  Still have 1 shawl on the needles but finished the scarf.

Make a sweater for our cooler weather here. (a sweater is all we need here for winter)  OOPS, made a sweater for the summer.

Continue making shawls/lapghans for the prayer shawl ministry  Did this

Make socks  Well, yes, I did this too.  

Sew project bags  Did this with gusto

Work on other crafts (plastic canvas, egg carving, ornament kits, etc)  Failed to do any of this

Make a Christmas ornament for each of the Grands  Sure did only to find out only 1 of them puts up a tree!  Kind of broke my heart.

And other items as they strike my fancy.  Good disclaimer to add each year as I always.....................SQUIRREL!!!!

Now to let you know exactly what I did do for the past year.

21 project bags were made last year.  Most of them are out of my house and given as gifts.

 There were 7 "To the Point" shawls made and given to the Prayer Shawl ministry at church.

A total of 23 dishcloths were completed and many have been given as gifts to family and friends.  The rest are on my 'gifting' box.

I took part in the Advent Scarf KAL this year and learned how to work Japanese stitches.  It was fun but boy those stitches are intricate.

Santa Hat ornaments for the Grands.  Not sure I will be making more this year.  Maybe for the one Grand that actually puts up a tree.  Yes, I was hurt when I found out the others just put them away somewhere not to be seen.  They take quite a bit of time to do.  SMH

A basket out of some super bulky yarn.  Hard on the hands but it is in use at the receivers house!  Hooray!

Three shawls for personal use were completed.....This was my favorite one and I do wear it a lot.

Five pairs of socks are done and in our drawers.

A tissue box cover.  It was fun but I need to make a couple more.

Completed 2 Rising Tide Scarves.  They were gifts for my DD.

A produce bag.  Need several more of these.  They are so much better than the plastic ones at the store.

A tea bag holder for ME!!  About time I had one for myself, right?

Made 2 Paris themed pillows for the local Grand to go in her newly decorated room.

Last major project was this sweater.  I already want to make more of this sweater.  It is perfect for our summers here.

That is my wrap up for Year 8.  It was so much fun.  I am looking forward to Year 9 and have a list already made and ready to start on projects.  July 1st can't get here soon enough.

Until Next time.................Happy Crafting!!!!!!

PS:  I just found out, my Brother's oldest son is going to make me an Aunt again!  My Brother would have been so excited.  I know I am!!!!!!!

Midweek Musings

What a week so far.  The above graphic is a good reminder for all of us.  Sometimes, I think, we try and control others in many of these areas and we need to step back and just worry about what we CAN control.  

This week, I decided to take control of what I could control and I have been very busy.  I have downloaded ALL of my library patterns from Ravelry into a file on my computer.  My footprint in Ravelry has been pretty much deleted other than the 8 groups I belong to.  Those 8 groups discuss nothing other than knitting and crocheting.  The religious group I belonged to, on Ravelry, disbanded for fear of censorship.  How sad is that?  It was a place we prayed for others, discussed our religious beliefs, talked about our families, and found ways to use our crafting skills to make the world a better place.  (ie: prayer shawls, hats for preemies, burial gowns for stillborn babies, blankets for orphans etc.)  

So, now as I get ready to participate in Year of Projects Year #9, my heart is heavy with the way things stand on my once favorite web site.  We are not allowed to show support of any kind to the present day POTUS, yet there are patterns on their site using the foulest of language aimed at the POTUS.  What kind of double standard is that?  How about leaving politics of ANY kind for any country off of there all together.  What would happen if the same language was used and aimed at the opposing candidate for POTUS?  Or what if it was aimed at a certain race or religion?  I am sorry.  This angers me quite a bit.  This pattern has been flagged numerous times stating it is offensive and should not be allowed on their site.  Not only does it aim at the POTUS, it has a chart so you can change the wording to aim it at Brexit and the VPOTUS.  

If there has been people taunting and demeaning others for their liberal or conservative views, then ban those people from the site.  But to make it sound like all conservative persons are horrible people makes me super sad.  That is like saying all people of a certain religion or race are horrible people.  We are all individuals!  None of us are 100% perfect.  There has only been one perfect person recorded in history and until someone else walks on water, get over yourself!

YOP WEEK 52

Hello everyone.  I hope your day is wonderful.  We have plenty of sunshine here and the temps are just barely over 100.  So, it is very pleasant outside and a perfect day to sit in the shade and enjoy a little crafting time.  Even better if you are able to dip your feet into a pool.

This is the last week I will be posting items I am working on. Happily, I have some FO's to show.

Those pesky socks are completed!  They have already been worn by hubby and he really likes them.  Now he is looking for more of these to be in his sock drawer.  I informed him, his sock drawer needed to be culled out.  If he wants handmade socks then the store bought need to find a new home!

Once the socks were done I needed a palette cleanser.

I whipped out three dishcloths.  These is all the dishcloths I made this month too.  What a wonderful little break from knitting that takes concentration.

I finally got around to blocking my Summer Flies shawl.

It has been waiting to be blocked since March!  (PSST, I have a scarf that has been waiting since January)  The blocking really makes the knit open up and it becomes very airy and lovely.  Do you think I should block that scarf this week?  That actually would make a nice and neat ending to YOP 8.  Hmmmmmm......it might happen.

That concludes my crafting week.  Next week will be my wrap up of what was accomplished over the last 52 weeks.  That post is always fun for me to do.  My favorite post though, is the first one of each year.  That clean slate and dreams of accomplishing every item proposed is a thrill to me.  Until the new year starts I am just working on a WIP I have had in my stash for a while.  Nothing new is being started until the new year begins for me on July 7th.  Are you interesting in joining us?  You can find the info HERE.

In other news:

This past week I was blessed with picking up our local Grand from her summer school each day.  It was so nice to spend some one on one time with her again.  It is so hard to do that now that she is in HIGH SCHOOL!!!!  We did a small after school activity each day to make it double special for both of us.

Last night we went to Ho'ike to watch out daughter perform in her first hula.  She was in three numbers and did quite well.  What a great evening!  It was extremely entertaining.  There was also some wonderful food served.  It was quite a drive for us to attend but well worth the 45 mile trip!

Today, we are kicking back and enjoying some down time.  We will be having dinner with some friends tonight.  Next week is jammed packed with appointments and errands.  If you think being retired frees up your time, you are wrong!  It just means you are doing all those things you put off while working away from home.

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

YOP WEEK 51 OUT OF 53

It is Father's Day here in the US.  This is the day I celebrate the wonderful father my husband has been to our children, grand children, god children, nieces and nephews.  His love of children is amazing.  I have been blessed to have this man by my side for 40 plus years.

I know.....this is supposed to be a crafting update.  I am getting to that.  Sheesh......patience readers.  LOL

First up this week...................a finish!

 Spotting Clouds is completed!  This is a horrible photo of it.  It was late at night when I completed it and I couldn't wait to take a photo of it.  I wore it today to Church.

Much better photo of the colors.  Do you now how hard it is to take your own picture with a selfie stick?   Anyway......This shows the colors much better and I really like it.  It is so comfy to wear.  It has quite a bit of positive ease to it too.  I will be making more of this pattern and already have it on my Year 9 list and have the yarn picked out for it.  Next time I will use fingering weight yarn as this sweater in DK is VERY heavy.  It isn't hot, just heavy.  I do need to wear a tank under it because of the wide neckline and the open fabric on the top of the sweater and a few other places.

The only other project going on is those lovely socks that take forever to finish.

There are still several inches to go before I can do the toe and get these off the needles.  Since I concentrated on the sweater last week, these, once again, took a back seat.  The past 3 nights, these have been my only project.  I want them done before this YOP is over.

Have any of you gotten your wrap up post thought out?  We only have one more week of an update and then the following week will be the wrap up.  I learned last year to keep a journal of all my knitting and crocheting projects.  What I failed to journal was my sewing projects.  Something for me to fix for next year.  Speaking of next year's YOP, my list has been worked on quite a bit this past week.  There has been an accounting of stash yarn.  Patterns have been perused and project bags are being filled.  Yup, I am super excited for the coming year.

Now, on to more personal news...................................My son, in the military, has returned home.  His shoulder was injured while in training and after receiving an MRI, it has been found to have 2 tears in muscles and ligaments which disqualified him from being sent overseas.  Thank you all for your prayers for him.....please continue to keep all the military in your thoughts and prayers.  

Yesterday was my hubby's 70th birthday.  I totally surprised him this year.  I am taking him to Spain and Italy in October for a pilgrimage.  It is something he has wanted to do for years.  I decided we should go before our age and health might prevent us from enjoying it.  We have 3 other places on our bucket list to go to and I told him we need to do one each year.  He agreed!  So the other places are, Montreal, Ireland and the Holy Land.  If health allows, I might add New Zealand and Hawaii to the list too.  Now, we just need to hit the lottery LOL!

That about sums up my news this week.

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

UPDATE WEEK 50.....NOW 3 TO GO!

Howdy everyone.  Welcome to my weekly update on my craft projects.  There are no finishes this week, I am sorry to say.  Hopefully I will get the two projects, I am working on, completed by the end of this Year of Projects.  Here is the progress I did make this week.

A little bit got done on the socks.  That foot always takes the longest no matter the length of the leg and cuff.  But, it is mindless knitting and good for TV watching.

Ahhhhh, the sweater is coming along nicely.  I am almost done with the second skein of the dark green.  The weight of this sweater is quite substantial since it is knit in 100% cotton.  Yet, I do not think it will be too warm to wear this summer.  I will need to wear a camisole under it since it has quite an open weave to it.  I will be on the lookout for a moisture wicking cami.  Hmmmmm, wonder if UnderArmour makes one.  

Then this happened this week.

Yup, a puzzle got started and completed.  I haven't done one in quite a while and really enjoyed this.

There has been some stash enhancement also.

Another skein of Scheepjes Whirl.  This is a colorway I have been wanting for quite a while.  It was back ordered since last year.  When WEBS had their anniversary sale last month, I saw it was back in stock so I grabbed a skein.  This will be a shawl for me again.

I bought a different sock yarn too.

Say hello to CoBaSi.  It is a cotton, bamboo, silk blend with elastic nylon in it too.  It is supposed to be a cool and comfy non wool sock yarn.  I noticed the cushiony feel of it as soon as I grabbed it.  I am looking forward to making some socks with this.

That sums up my crafting week.  I will be busy today getting things in order for hubby to head out tomorrow for Las Vegas.  He has a BIG meeting with healthcare officials in regards to his mom going home from her skilled care nursing unit.  We do not think it is the best for her physically yet, we can not keep her against her will.  She wants nothing more than to go home and live the rest of her days there.  She just turned 92! She has been totally miserable for the past year even though she has been receiving excellent care where she is.  It was the toughest decision my husband and his siblings have made.  Hopefully she will be happy once she is home.

My son in the military has left his home and is in training for his deployment.  Thank you for all your continued prayers for him and all the men and women in the armed forces.

Also, a big thank you to all of you who played my Q&A blog post this week.  What a fun way to get to know each other better.  If you would like to join in on it, you can find the post here.

My YOP 9 list is almost completed.  How much fun it is to find new projects to complete.  I have been perusing my collection of patterns and have discovered several that really excited me.  I even have the yarn available for all the ones I want to make!  

Bread making has happened this week.  I am still trying to find the perfect recipe for our liking.  There are two more I want to try to see which one we like the best.  Then I will tweak it so I can incorporate spelt flour and milled flax seed into it to give it a bit more healthy vibe than just white bread.  It has been quite a bit of fun for me.

BTW........I think summer has arrived in Arizona.  We will be reaching 105F today.  (40,5C)  Looks like it is time for me to get back into my water aerobics!  That is my favorite form exercise during these hot months.  

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

Q&A

Good morning everyone.  And I do mean morning.  My eyes popped open at 2:30 this morning and have refused to close again.  So, I decided to do a little blogging to see if it would help clear my brain so I could catch a few more Zzzzz's before actually starting my day.

Let's do a little Q&A today.  Having never done one on my blog before, it sounded like fun at 4AM.

1.  Do/Did you talk to your animals? 

2.  Do you talk to yourself?

3.  Do you answer yourself?  (If #2 is a yes)

4.  What part of the day is your most productive?

5.  Do you ever have insomnia?  If so, what do you do when it hits?

6.  What is your favorite kitchen appliance?

7.  What is your favorite meal to cook?

8.   Do you like to try new recipes or stick to tried and true ones?

9.  Are you afraid of any bugs?

10. How many years have you been friends with you longest friendship?

My answers are in the comment section.  Have fun.

As you can see, my dogs do not suffer from insomnia. LOL

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

PHEW!

Boy, am I glad the weekend is finished.  Seemed like all hubby and I did was cook and clean up for two days.  Don't get me wrong.  I love having my family around and I very much like feeding them.  

On Saturday, hubby smoked up some pork chops and I made a garden salad.  For desert we had Cherry Cheesecake Gallette (also cooked on the grill!) with ice cream.  It was such a good meal.  Everyone was full by the time it was over.  I still have half of the desert left which we will eat tonight.

Sunday hubby smoked/cooked baby back ribs and I made a gluten free pasta salad to go with it.  My daughter brought over spinach dip and veggies also.  We had apples with strudel topping (Made in the air fryer) and ice cream.  So yummy!  Once again we were all stuffed by the time it was all over.

There are enough left overs for tonight so we will relax a bit and just eat those up.  Cooking will resume tomorrow LOL.

I was at my son's house at 7 this morning.  He is getting a new A/C unit installed and wanted me there while he took Josie to her first day of high school summer school.  (she was a little nervous)  This afternoon, my BFF comes home from their mini vacation and I will pick them up at the airport.  Hubby is working on cleaning the front half of the house today.  We had little tuffs of dog hair floating around on the floor.  That is usually a sign of needing to be vacuumed and mopped.

I am going to attack my craft room today.  Things have just been thrown in there over the past few months.  Actually, I look forward to getting in there and working on it.  There is some mending to be done which is also on the list of to do's for today.  Of course this means less knitting/crocheting time for me.  That is OK as I need that room back in order before we start our next Year Of Projects.  Otherwise, I will not be able to get my projects bagged and ready to go.

What are you up to today and this week?

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

YOP WEEK 49 with 3 Left

Oh My!  Only 3 weeks left in my year 8 YOP.  That means I only have 2 more weeks of updates and then a summary of what has happened in the past 52 weeks.  How exciting.  Today, I started making a list for YOP 9, as to what I would like to complete or attempt to complete.  

Let me take a moment to show you what I managed to accomplish this week.  Remember, I did not do any crafting from last week Saturday until Thursday this past week

I did manage to get some rows added to my Spotting Clouds tops.  See the little pink marker?  That is were I was before I took off for Texas.  This project did not accompany me on my trip. It was bit too bulky.  I just completed the first skein of the dark green and have one more skein of it and then back to the sage green.  I tried it on and it fits perfectly so far.  So happy about that.  Not sure if I will add anything to the sleeves.   When I tried it on, the sleeves were not all that short.  I may leave them as they are.

Last week I told you how horrible the toe up socks were.  I decided to cast on cuff down Rose City Roller socks just before we flew out to visit our son.

 I was able to get a good measurement of how long to knit before I made the FLK heel.  Since there is no heel flap the FLK heel starts the heel cup immediately.  This means you need to knit a bit more of the leg before starting the heel.  Since I had completed the toe up sock, I was able to measure how long to make the ankle before the heel.  At least that was a positive from an ugly situation.

Done through the heel.  A much better yarn than the one that is taking space up in my trash can.  Hubby is excited about trying them out.  If they make him happy, there will be more on next years list.

Those are the only two project I have going at this time.  I do have a couple other photos to show you.

Let me introduce you to our great grandson Liam Wolf Storm.

He is a non-stop bundle of energy.  We were so blessed to be able to see him for the first time when we went to visit our Texas family.  He is just over a year old and looks just like his daddy.  

His grandpa (our son) loves playing with him.

 They were playing "Turn me upside down".  When our son stopped the game, Liam got quite upset and started crying.  This is the son that is being deployed today!  This mama is having a bit of a hard time with the deployment.   I do not want him to head across the pond.  Actually, he is going across, many ponds!  

Yesterday was the 37th anniversary of my 29th birthday.  (I'm 66 if you have a problem with math)  Hubby and I went to Mass and then my local son and his family came over for smoked pork chops, salad, and Cherry Gallete.  So yummy!  Today, my daughter and her hubby are coming over for BBQ ribs, pasta salad and baked apples.  My weekend is filled with love.  What more could I ask for?  I am so blessed!

I have a question for all of you.  Do you have a tattoo?  I have one.  It is in honor of my mom who passed 12/26/17.  I am designing another one in honor of my brother who passed just a few months ago (1/31/19).  I will probably do another one for my dad who died when I was 22.  I am the last one in my immediately family.  WOW!  That sounds so lonely.  Good thing I have lots of cousins!  (23 living cousins.)  There is even one Uncle still living who will be 102 this August!  Yup, longevity is in my genes.

Enough!  Time to move along.

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