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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!