WEEK 44 OF YEAR 11

 

How I wish I could come up with a clever opening line.  You know, the kind that when you start a book it grabs you from the very beginning and you can not wait to turn to the next page and continue on with the story.  But, I seem to lack in clever and catchy opening lines.  Therefore, I will just continue on with my normal YOP update along with photos from this past week.

KNITTING

The Mehujaa shawl consumed all my time and talent this past week.  I finally bound off on Thursday evening.  Once it was off the needles, I discovered I had dropped a stitch on each side of the stockinette!  I quickly did a double knit fix on the inside and am praying that will hold it.  If not, I will make a design decision of adding a cute button to the outside of the shawl to hold the stitch in place.  Anyway.................Here it is blocking.

Excuse the toys in the background.  This is being blocked on the bed in the room Josie has used since she was an infant.  Anyway........The yarn is Scheepjes Whirl in the colorway Night Time Bubbles.  It is knit on size US 4 (3.5 mm) needles.  I started it on April 1 and bound off on April 28.  This is the second time I have made this shawl and I am already wanting to make it again.  It is the perfect size for warmth or you can bunch it up and wear it around your neck.  The pattern actually calls for the Scheepjes Whirl and uses almost the entire skein of 1094 yards. The cost of the yarn is under $30 so it is very reasonable.  The best part for me is it is 60% cotton and 40% acrylic.  Perfect for the desert climate I live in.  I would like to do one in all white or cream colored next.  This is the shawl I grab when heading out to the movies, church, a restaurant, the casino, etc.  

Once the shawl was done, I was putting away the supplies I used and discovered a UFO that really needed to be worked on.  Vixynn!  It is the sweater I made to wear when we went to my Mother in Laws celebration of life.  It was too big and the empire waist hit me almost at my waist.  I had ripped it back to the empire waist and was working on it when I got distracted by the shawl.  (Imagine that!)  I picked it back up on Friday and here is where I am at now.

The little saint marker is where I started on Friday.  I have a looooong ways to go before this will be completed.  So, now I have a decision to make................again.  Today is May 1 and I really wanted to do Stitch Maynia this year.  Ya know, where I work on my cross stitch projects for the entire month.  However, there is going to be a week in this month we will be traveling.  I am not thinking cross stitch makes too great of a road project.  But, this sweater is the perfect project for TV, road trips, dog sitting etc.  It is just knitting round and round and round until I get to the bottom.  Then it will have the same design as the empire waist does.  So, after all that, I have decided my sweater really needs my love more than my cross stitch does.  In all actuality, I could still consider this stitch maynia.  After all............I am still doing stitches............lots of stitches! LOL

TREASURES

The past couple of weeks, I have gotten a few items that have thrilled me.  First up:

I got a new Portuguese knitting pin from WittyStyle on Etsy.  It is magnetic, of course, as I do not like holes in my clothing.  This one is quite different from my others as the hook for the yarn is stationary and faces forward.  I love it!  The fact it has a vintage look makes it even better.

Next up are these:

Annie's Attic cozy mystery series.  These are the first 4 books in the series.  I got hooked on the cozy mysteries a while back thanks to Sam of Self Sufficient Sam fame.  She introduced me to Joanna Fluke and from there it was a downward spiral into the land of cozy mysteries.  Most of the time I get them from my Overdrive app.  Alas, these are not available that way so, I bit the bullet and bought them from Thriftbooks.  I really like these as they talk about crochet, cross stitch and knitting in them.

GARDENING  

The next item I bought over a week ago but keep forgetting to tell you about it.

It is my new hydroponic garden.  This time I bought a Diivoo brand garden.  It is quite a bit larger than my Aero-Garden and quite a bit less expensive.  It is also wifi controlled through my phone.  This one does not come with ready made seed pods.  You purchase regular seeds and then plant them in the pod sponges it comes with.  This time I have jalapenos, rosemary, cilantro and cherry tomatoes.  The tomatoes are some I had left from the aero-garden order.  As you can see, I have not filled every growing spot.  If I did, the plants would be way too crowded.  This way, I will be able to harvest easier too.

As for my original Aero-Garden:

It is still growing basil and cherry tomatoes.  Once the tomatoes finish producing, I will use this garden for lettuce.  We so enjoyed the lettuce we got from it and really hate spending $4 for the same thing at the grocery.

And yes:

The tomatoes are still producing.  There are 3 or 4 bunches like this spread throughout the two plants.  There are quite a few blossoms also.  Looks like this will continue for a while yet.

That is all for this week.  Tonight, our entire local family is heading to Seton Catholic Preparatory school to see Josie's performance in "Little Women".  She is playing Aunt March.  After the show, we will all go to a local restaurant and celebrate closing night with our 'star'.  Tomorrow the house painters will be here bright and early to power wash the house and prep it for painting on Tuesday.  The excitement never ends, huh!

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