YOP 11 WEEK 31

 

It's Sunday morning and once again I am here to tell you about my week.  

I am still not excited about doing much knitting or crocheting.  There was a new cast on late Sunday night.  Mainly, I forced myself to cast on something.

Another pair of Rose City Roller socks.  When I started these I had intended for them to go to my hubby.  They are made from Regia yarn and are a superwash wool that is also dryable and guaranteed for 10 years!  It is not a soft wool in the ball, but as I am knitting it, it has become softer.  On Tuesday I got a message from my SIL in TX saying she loved the socks I made for her 3 years ago.  In fact, she loved them so much the heel finally wore out.

She thought about trying to darn them but I told her to forget it.  They are pretty well shot and I no longer had the yarn to match them.  So, now, the socks on my needles will be going to my SIL in TX.  Hubby was a bit disappointed yet, knows he has plenty and she only had 1 pair.  At least I know she is knit worthy and I will be making her more RCR socks in the future.

I did put another row on my Giant Granny Square blanket.  One of these days I will take another photo of it on my bed.  I think it looks so large when it is in my lap, but when it lays on the bed it is intended for................it is pretty small.

The aero garden is thriving.  Today is day 14 and I added more nutrients to the water today.  I don't need to keep track of it either.  When I got up this morning there was a red light blinking with a message to add nutrients.  This is my kind of gardening.

The top photo shows how tall the plants have gotten in 2 weeks.  The middle photo is of the two cherry tomato plants surrounding the Genovese Basil plant.  The bottom photo is the salad greens.  I see red leaf lettuce and what looks like romaine.  It will be fun to see what other types of greens are coming up out of these two pods.  I made need to move one over a space so there is plenty of room for them to spread out.  

Today will be a 'quiet' day for us.  I have been feeling a bit 'off' for the past couple of days.  (I tested negative for covid)  So, I just want to kind of sit back and enjoy watching NFL playoff games ( GO CHIEFS) and working on the socks.  My menus are already planned out for the next week and groceries have all been purchased.  

For those of you on the east coast.............I pray you have power and are warm and safe.

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

NOT QUITE A YOP

 

Actually, I was going to blog yesterday but time got away from me.  It's not like I was super busy or anything either.  All I did was one load of laundry and made a batch of flour tortillas for our dinner.  

I want to show you how well my garden is growing.

Pleased, does not even begin to describe my feelings over this garden.  On the left are the salad greens.  It is several different types of lettuce in each pod.  On the middle right is Genovese Basel and the other two plants are Cherry Tomatoes.  Each day I can see quite a bit of growth on all of them.  This is only after 10 days of setting this garden up.  

I should tell you, these gardens do not just do veggies and herbs.  You can also get flower pods if that is your jam.  I figured, if I was going to spend $$ on pods and the garden structure itself, it had better pay for itself in some respect.  Hence.........herbs and veggies.

I started something on Sunday I have not done in while.

Making RCR on my DPN's congruently.  Lately, I have been making one sock and after it was done, casting on for the mate.  This time I am going back to doing them together.  Luckily for me, the two skeins of yarn I have for these are set up so you don't have to dig around to find the correct starting point for each self striping yarn.  These will be heading to Texas when completed.  Someone there wore out the last pair they received 3 years ago.  Does my heart good to know my handknits are being worn and loved so much.

Our weather here is just wonderful.  We are in the low 40's in the early morning and getting up to the high 60's to low 70's in mid afternoon.  Perfect baking and cooking comfort food weather.  

What's happening in your neck of the woods?

Until next time.................................................

WEEK 30 OF YOP 11

 

Hey everyone.  Welcome to my blog.  I have a lot to talk about today so let's get to it.

CRAFTING

I finished my RCR socks.

They do not match 100% but then, they will be in shoes so who will notice (or care)?  These are now my favorite socks to make.  Seldom do I ever wear 'tall' socks.  It is just too warm here, even in the winter, for a normal sized sock.

My mojo is still kind of lacking.  So what should I do?

Make some dishcloths and scrubbies.  I had never made any scrubbies before.  This was kind of fun for me and they go super quick.

No real pattern was used for these.  My friend in Las Vegas had a couple that her sister had made for her.  She loves them so I thought, why not?  I got the basic 'recipe' from the sister and ran with it.  They only take about an hour to make.  

I am in love with Hobby Lobby's sugarwheel  cotton for dishcloths.  It stays soft, wash after wash, and there is not a lot of shrinkage when dried.  The color changes are also very subtle as you can see from the above photo.  Each skein makes at least 5 cloths and possibly more depending on the pattern and size needle you use.  I always use a US size 8 (5mm) for my cloths. 

My thought was if I managed to finish some quick projects I would possibly want to cast on something new.  So far, that feeling has not hit me.  

I did add a couple of rows to the giant granny square blanket.  Doesn't look much different so no need for a new photo.

TREASURES

Since I was lacking in mojo I decided it might do me some good to do a little retail therapy.

I am quite lucky to have a Hobby Lobby close to my home.  I picked up 6 skeins of Cozy Toes for some more RCR socks.  The pink is for me and the other two are for hubby.  Since I was out of sugarwheel cotton, I picked up a couple of skeins of that and then two skeins of the scrub-ology 2.0 yarn for the scrubbies.  (yarn was on sale for 30% off) The idea was if I bought new sock yarn, I would want to cast on right away.  Not so much.  But I am sure it will hit me someday soon.

GARDENING

Last week I said I was going to start my Aero Garden.  Well, I did just that.  Here is how it is going after just 7 days.

Above are my salad greens.  They popped up after 2 days.  It will be a little bit longer before I can harvest them for a salad.  I just get so excited each morning to see how much they grow.

The two pods on the outside are the cherry tomato plants and the one in the middle is basil.  These took a bit longer to show up but seem to be growing at a faster rate now that they have popped up.  This is the easiest 'garden' I have ever taken care of.  I feed it nutrients once ever 2 weeks and add water ever 3-4 days.  The light for it is on an automatic timer according to what you have growing in it.  There is a digital display on the front to tell you how many days since you planted and when you need to add water and nutrients.  Takes all the guess work out of it.  My kind of gardening.

RECOMMENDATIONS

My sister in law contacted me yesterday about a product she discovered and is in love with.  She is NOT a knitter (although she can knit) but knows how time consuming making items can be.  I made her a pair of wool socks a year ago.  She felt so bad because they had pilled horribly and was blaming herself for it.  I tried to tell her that socks pill as do most knitted items after quite a bit of wear.  But, she found an item that removed all of the pills without harming the fabric of the socks.

Hello "The Steamery Sockholm"!  She saw this demonstrated on YouTube and figured she would order it and give it a try.

Look at those socks!  They look just like the day I mailed them to her.  She did want you to know this is not a cheap item to order but well worth it if you have sweaters, socks, hats, scarves, etc that are pilling.  She got it off Amazon (where else).  Thanks Susan for the good info.

READING

I have been reading the Hannah Swenson Murder Mysteries by Joanne Fluke.  There are 28 books in this series and I am on book #19.  These are perfect mysteries to read even at bedtime.  I get them through my Overdrive app and send them to my kindle app to read there.  They are free through the Overdrive app which makes it very nice.

I am also reading this:

I have always wanted to read the entire Bible but do not find myself disciplined enough to do it on my own.  This has me reading, each day, part of the Old Testament and part of the New Testament.  It also gives a reflection at the end of each days reading to help with understanding and applying it to your daily life. 

Then I have another book I am reading and loving it.

 This was recommended by one of my fellow YOP bloggers, Sam.  She said it was a good guide as well as quite humorous.  She was 100% right.  I used to clean houses for a living. This book has some cleaning tips I wish I had known about when I had my business.   Not to mention, she has a fantastic sense of humor.

Today, I will do the grocery shopping for the week.  Hubby is teaching a class at the church (via zoom) so I want to be out of the house so it will be quiet for him.  There will be tortilla making this afternoon also.  We have decided it is better for us to have the homemade tortillas than a loaf of bread that goes bad after a few days.  In doing so, I am noticing my clothes are fitting a bit looser too!  (who knew eating less bread would help me loose weight!)  Last week I made tortillas with a mixture of rye and white flour.  The week before it was wheat and white.  This time I am going to try white and pumpernickel flour.  The rye, wheat and pumpernickel give the tortillas such a good flavor.  Hubby even made a PP&J sandwich with a tortilla yesterday.   Plus, I never have to throw any away like I was doing with my bread.  WIN-WIN!

If you made it this far, you deserve a gold star.  You can tell we have gotten back into our normal routine.  This means I will probably start posting mid-week again so my Sunday updates are not so lengthy.  In order to follow me, go to bloglovin.com and sign up to follow my blog.  I really dislike the fact blogger took off the email notifications for followers of our blogs.  I tried to go into my WordPress blog this week and figure it out but it was just so dang complicated for my old brain.  I need someone to sit down with me and show me how to use it.  Then I would be happy to switch platforms.  Until then..............Blogger is going to be it. 

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

YOP 11 & TRAVELS

Has it really only been a week since I last posted?  It seems much longer but it is nice to be back here with all of you.  Let's get started as I have quite a bit to talk about today.

CRAFTING

I have only worked on one project this past week.

The RCR socks went to Las Vegas and back.  When I left I had just started the cuff.  I am now 1/4th of the way into the foot.  This and the Giant Granny Square Blanket are the only two fiber related items I have right now.  I have not cast on anything else and really do not even have the desire too.  My mojo is waning.  I force myself to pick up the sock each day and work on it.  Hopefully this dry spell will depart as quickly as it came.

TRAVELS

As most of you know, last week, we went to Las Vegas to bury my Mother in Law who died in November.  It turned out to be such a great week for us.  First off, the funeral Mass was beautiful.  We were very impressed since all the arrangements with the church had been done 100% via phone.  Everything was exactly as we had wish and even better than we expected.

This is the way they had my MIL placed for the service.  It was so beautiful.  They even had their Christmas still up so it was even more special.  The choir they had singing sent chills down my spine.  The soloist who sang Ave Maria did not leave a dry eye in the church.  Absolutely wonderful.

After the Mass we went back the MIL's house for a reception.  There I got to meet one of hubby's cousins for the first time.  After 46 years of marriage, there are still family members I have not met!  It was also the first time in over 30 years, these guys had been together:

There is one 'child' missing as he was not feeling well and could not make it.  The stories that were told and the laughter that ensued were balm for us all.  Yet, it did kind of wear us all out by the end of the day.  

I will say, our friends who hosted 9 of us for 4 days were the most gracious people on this earth.  There was a meeting of the group staying there, before we left.  In the meeting we made a menu and shopping list of what would be needed while there.  It was also decided the hosts would not be allowed to cook any meals for us.  We tried our best not to inconvenience them in any way.  But putting 9 extra people in your home.....well, they are just the best people ever.

While we were there we played games, had hot tub sessions, told stories, sat outside to enjoy sunshine and even had an evening with this:

A free standing wood burning fireplace/stove.  It was fabulous to watch and heated up the house perfectly.

Now that we are home we have been playing catch up on laundry, grocery shopping and dog cuddling.  The dogs will tell you we left them alone without food and water for months.  LIARS.  Our daughter stayed with them and they got special food the whole time we were gone.

Today I am going to set up my Aero Garden hubby purchased for me a month ago.

I wanted to wait until I knew there would not be any more traveling for a while as it does need a bit of care.  I will be planting cherry tomatoes and butter lettuce in it.  Hopefully it will produce enough for us to make yummy salads.  Cherry tomatoes and butter lettuce have gotten ridiculously expensive here.  Cherry tomatoes are the only ones my tummy allows me to eat too.

So, that catches you up on my life.  I hope you are all doing well and surviving this ugly cold snap if you are living anywhere from the Midwest to east coast of the US.

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

YOP 11 WEEK 28

 

I will keep this short this week.  Hubby and I are getting ready to pack the car for our trip to Las Vegas to finally bury his mom. (She passed away 2 month ago)  I still have a 16 yr old Granddaughter to wake up and shove into our car too.  Her parents left yesterday so they could have a day of R&R before la Familia descends on the area (about 26 of us) as well as close friends.

I do have a kind of finish this week.  There is also a cast on this past week.

The Rose City Roller sock #1 is finally completed and I immediately cast on sock #2.  This is the only thing being worked on, other than the Giant Granny Square blanket.  The sock is going with me on the trip.  Not so much the blanket LOL.

Although, the blanket did receive some love this week.  Keeps me warm during these cold winter days.

Not much else this week.  We took Christmas down and put it away.  We started working on our backroom remodel again and have been informed our bathroom cabinets/vanities should be arriving the end of this month.  (They were ordered the end of September!)

Once this trip is over, we are hoping to get back into some sort of a normal routine.  We have not had that since before Thanksgiving.  I look forward to it too.

I promised to keep this short so I will sign off now.

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

NOT EXACTLY A YOP

 

How are things going for you so far this year?  I know it is only day 6 but still.....things do happen quickly these days.  Hubby and I are doing well.  We are trying to get everything done before we leave in a few days.

Christmas has been taken down and put away.  I already miss the comfort I get from all the glowing lights and candles.  I did leave the fairy lights up on our mantle and shelves.  I just love the ambience they give off in the evenings.

I also left one other item out from our Christmas décor

The Nordic Gnome my daughter made for me this year.  Isn't he just adorable?  He is made from socks!

He isn't very big either.  Just a little over 6 inches tall.  He makes me smile and therefore I left him out to keep me cheerful.

It has been quite chilly here the past couple of weeks.  That means I have been able to work on this:

The Giant Granny Square blanket.  It keeps me nice and warm in the evenings while watching TV with the Hubby.  My goal is to put 2 rows on it each day.  As it gets bigger I may need to adjust that thinking.  As I work on this I realize I am actually busting through my stash of DK yarn.  This may actually manage to use up all of my DK and that makes me so happy.  Then I will start making them with all my worsted weight leftovers that are not big enough to do much else with.  Those, I will make into lapghans for the prayer shawl ministry.  The stash needs to get down to a manageable size.  

It is lunch time here and I promised to make bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers for us today.  Tonight we are having leftover Barbacoa Pork made into burritos.  I love going through my freezer and finding already cooked items that I have vacuum sealed and saved for later.  Plus, it saves time for me while trying to get items together for this very important trip.

Hopefully, I will be able to do a real YOP on Sunday before we leave.  If not..................

Have a good week and keep the faith!

Week 27

 Happy New Year, everyone.  Today's post will be one of the shortest I have ever done.

Ta-Da!

Vixynn is completed and all ends are woven in too.  It is just a smidge bigger (wider) than I wanted but I have a feeling that will work out after I wash it.  I will stick it in the dryer for a little bit and that should shrink it up just a tish to where I want it.  I made this almost fingertip long as I wear leggings most of the time.

That is it for crafting this week.  I have not cast anything else on yet.  Not sure I want to start another sweater just yet or work on my WIP's I have laying around.  I am leaning towards the WIP's.

Hubby and I have been prepping for a small gathering we are having today.  He is smoking a turkey and I have been busy making snacks.  At the most there will be 8 people here and they are all part of our bubble.  We do this every year but because of the virus, we are short about 6 people.

We leave next Sunday for Las Vegas to finally have my MIL's funeral and burial.  Once we get back, we do not have any more travel plans until this coming September.  I am ready to stay home and work on the house and finish getting the painting and other remodeling completed.

If you would like to follow my blog other than on YOP day, you can do this on bloglovin.com.  Blogspot removed the option of having an email sent each time a new post was added.  Not sure why, but they did this over 6 months ago.  

If you would be interested in seeing what others have accomplished this week checkout this link......Ravelry:A Year Of Projects.

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