WEEK 13 OF YOP 12

 

Here I am once again, ready to regale you with wonderous tales of my past week of craftiness and life.

There are no FO's this week.  I mainly worked on the RCR socks for hubby.

The heels are done and now it is just knitting the foot.  Perfect mindless knitting.

I did cast on a new project last night.

Another 'To The Point' shawl for our prayer shawl ministry at church.  

My thoughts had been to cast on Ranunculus this past week.  I did swatch.............many times.  Never did I make gauge.  I tried 4 different needle sizes and nothing worked.  So, I am sitting back and trying to decide how I want to proceed.  I know which needle size made the fabric I loved so will need to adjust as to what pattern size I will make to account for the gauge difference.  That means I need to do math.  Actually, it means I need to do Algebra which was my worst subject in school.  This may delay the casting on of the sweater for a bit.  Or, I may just cast on willy nilly and hope for the best.  Depends on how adventurous I become.

This week I got the clues to make the nose and arms for the gnome.  The nose got made and frogged.  Then I made it again and frogged it again.  It was made the third time and I am still staring at it not liking how it looks.  I may decide to go and buy a small pom pom to attach for the nose.  Somehow, what I knit just does not make me happy.  Or, I may try and crochet a nose for him.  I have not decided if my gnome will have arms or not.  I have mixed feelings about it.  Some of the people in the group have opted not to do the arms.  Yet the ones who have done them are so cute and have posed them to make them adorable.  Hopefully, I will have the gnome completed by next weekend and will post a photo on here.

There were treasures in the mail this week!  I love getting treasures.

Knit Picks had a sale on their Brava yarn.  I couldn't resist.  These are the colors I choose and got three skeins of each color.  All of this will go into my shawls for the ministry at church.  The colors are all so bright and cheery.  Just what people need who are going through a health crisis's.

I finally bit the bullet and purchases the US size 1 (2.25mm) signature needles.  I normally use a US size 1.5 (2.5mm) for socks yet have been wanting to give the next size down a shot.  Some of my fingering yarn seems to be a little bit thicker than others so using a smaller needle will hopefully help keep the sock the size hubby and I like best.

Thursday, hubby took off for California to attend a Catholic conference.  After I dropped him off at the airport, I met up with my BFF for a lovely brunch.  Afterwards, I headed to our outlet mall to do a bit of looking around.  I found exactly what I was looking for.

A Vera Bradley bag big enough to hold my everyday items as well as knitting/crocheting projects.  It is not HUGE but just the right size for me to carry daily.  And the pockets it has *swoon*  There are 6 interior pockets and one exterior pocket.  It is light as a feather when empty and washable if it gets dirty.  The best part.....being from the outlet it was 80% off of the ' normal' price in retail stores.  Yes, it is a discontinued pattern, which makes it even more special for me.  Not everyone will have this one!

One last little update for y'all.

Some of you have asked me to keep you updated on the Thanksgiving Cactus I am 'hopefully' bringing back to life for my BFF.  The top photo was when I brought it home.  The bottom one is from this morning.  It is starting to respond.  I have not watered it since I got it.  The soil was saturated and I was quite afraid of root rot.  Yes, there is still brown dead parts in it.  Those will be trimmed out this week and then hopefully it will look even better by next weekend.  It will get a bit of water this week also. I am quite happy with it's progress.

That covers my week.  How did yours go?

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

WEEK 12 OF YOP YEAR 12

 Wow!  This week went by so fast.  Let's take look at how my week went.

Monday- This is my normal errand running day.  I made it to 2 grocery stores to get items that were on sale (chicken).  Then there is the vacuum sealing of the meat for freezing.  I stopped off at my BFF's house to measure a patch she needed sewn onto her work jacket and pick up a plant she wants me to revive.

Her's is the one in the middle.  She had hung this outside when it was well over 100F.  Not to mention the soil was soaking wet.  I am letting it adjust to being at my house for a week and then I will start cutting out the dead parts and seeing if it needs to be repotted to save it.  I stuck it between my two Thanksgiving Cactus in hopes it would 'get a hint' as to what it is supposed to look like LOL.

Tuesday - Hubby and I have been invited to several 'estate planning' seminars since retirement.  We finally decided to attend one that was at our local Mom & Pop Italian restaurant.  We got a free meal (Yummy) and actually learned some things about benefits for seniors we did not know.  This is also the day I sewed on the patch to my BFF's work jacket.

It is sewn on through the white border.  I used to sew police patches on uniforms for the department my husband worked for.  It has been years (40) since I have done it.  Lucky for me, it is like riding a bike......You never forget.  Oh, and the 'Fear Free' is for a class my BFF took for her job at the veterinarian's office.

Wednesday - I finally got around to doing some laundry.  This is the day I also baked up some cranberry orange mini bites to have as little sweet snacks.  It was a box mix and the expiration date was nearing.  It was fun to make.  I used my new mini bite bunny pan.

I also used my mini bite bundt pan.  So much fun.

All the little cakes came out as a perfect 2 bite treat.

I finished the body of my gnome today and got it stuffed and waiting for the next clue to come out.  It is a very fun knit but a bit fiddly at times.

Thursday - Barely managed to get a load of laundry done before Josie's dad contacted me to ask me to take him to her swim meet.  Seems Josie and Mom had both of the cars and he was a bit stranded.  Luckily it was a nice day and below 100F!  I stayed for the whole swim meet and totally enjoyed watching all the kids.  Being the lazy person I am, I stopped on the way home to pick up dinner for hubby and myself.  (Our 'room mate' son was still in Colorado)  This is also the day I wound up some Diversity Sock yarn and started making hubby another pair of RCR socks.

This is how far I have gotten on them.  Since the gnome is not taking that much time to work on, I needed another project to keep my hands busy.  This yarn has been in my stash for years.  When I was informed Diversity Yarn was being discontinued, I bought 'stock' in it.  I love the fact you can machine wash and dry it and it does not loose it's memory.  It wears like iron and is so soft on the body too.  The only other non-wool sock yarn that comes close to it is Hobby Lobby's Cozy Toes.

Friday - Hubby and I decided to take it easy for the day.  I did go and pick up our traveling son from the airport shortly after lunch and got to hear all about his week long trip to Colorado.  I finally found a sweater pattern for me.  There will be some design adjustments made to it so it will 'fit' my body better.  Hopefully, the adjustments I made in my head will work in real time.

I have been eyeing this pattern for some time now.  My thought is to make the yoke semi-fitted and then switch to a larger needle and increase the stitches to accommodate my lower body.  (I am kind of pear/round shaped)  I am not going to make it cropped either.  The yarn I am using is Knit Picks Comfy Cotton Color Mist.  It is a light worsted.  Swatching is going to be a must this time.  

Saturday - I took care of all my indoor plants.  Made sure they were all watered and trimmed up those who needed it.  Worked with my hydroponic gardens.  I have dill, mint, thyme, basil, cherry tomatoes and lettuce all growing like crazy.  I am harvesting lettuce daily at the moment.  The tomatoes all have flowers set on them so they should be producing in the next few weeks.  The herbs are getting a little rangy so I do need to do a bit of harvesting on them this coming week.  I will dry them and use them in my cooking.  This is also the day we went to Mass.  Afterwards, we cooked up some chicken and asparagus for a nice relaxing dinner.

That brings us to today!  NFL Football is back so I am sure the guys will be glued to the TV for the day.  This will give me time to do some baking of goodies for the week.  I should be able to do some swatches too.

How was your week?  I will leave you with a photo from last night as we were watching TV.

My precious bookends.  Luna and Enrique need to be near us at all times.  (That's my blue shirt on the right)

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

PS:  Is anyone in the US going to watch the Queen's Funeral?  It starts at 2:30AM here!  I am thinking of recording it.  

WEEK 11 OF YOP 12

 

Hello again.  Thank you for dropping by today.  There has been some hot and heavy knitting going on this week. 

I have an FO!

My 'Shine Like Summer' colorway RCR socks are completed.  They were even worn last night to a family get together.  These socks seemed to fly through being knitting.  I think it was the color of them.  They made me happy the whole time I was working on them.  Big plus, there is enough leftover yarn to make a pair for my daughter too.  She will love them!

Not sure what I will be casting on next.  I am leaning towards doing a sweater for myself.  I have more cotton blended yarn waiting to be knit up.  The issue is the pattern.  I know what I want the sweater to look like, but have not found a pattern to make it happen.  And NO!  There is no way I am going to try and design my own.  Heck, I am lucky to be able to follow directions on patterns.

As you know, I am taking part in the MGKAL (mystery gnome knit along)  The second clue came out on Friday.  Today will be my day to cast on for it.  This week we do the body and stuffing of the little creature.  Since no one has said they are participating in this KAL, I am going to show you the hat I have completed.

It was a very quick knit.  The main thing was making sure I counted rows and stitches.  We have two more weeks of clues.  I will not show any more of this little thing until it is completed and put together.

So, that is the fiber related news for this week.  There were treasured delivered to my house this week.

I want to thank Karen from Pumpkin Sunrise blog, for letting me know the new Hobonichi Techno Weeks planners were available for order.  I love this planner and have used it for the past year.  I ordered my 2023 planner and a couple of accessories.  These planners sell out within days of being offered.  When I went in to order mine, over half of the planners were already sold out.

This year, I decided to go with a plain planner.  I liked the white with the linen stripe on it.  It will be easy to see.  Have no fear, I do have a plastic cover for it so it will stay white all year long.  I also got a page marker as well as a three pack of little notebooks.  The notebooks have 'graph' like grids on the pages which will be nice so my writing does not go off on a slant.  I am now all set for the new year.  

This coming week, it will be quiet around our house.  Our son took off for a work trip in Colorado today.  He will be gone until Friday.  We have gotten use to him being around.  The dogs even love having him here since he pays a lot of attention to them.  

Football begins today.  That is US football (NFL).  My hubby and sons are all huge fans of the game.  I don't mind it but it is not something I 'have' to watch.  Hence, I have recorded several Hallmark movies and this will be the season I will be watching them in another room.  Those movies also make for great knitting/crocheting time.

That sums up my week.  How was yours?

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

9-11-2001

WE WILL NEVER FORGET!!!!!!

WEEK 10 OF YOP 12

 Another week has passed by.  Did you accomplish everything you hoped for?  Maybe even more?  Me? Feeling pretty good about my past week.

There are no FO's this week.  There is progress on the RCR socks.

The heels are completed and I am now on the never ending foot.  The color being used gives me joy.  So bright and cheerful.  You will never see me wearing yellow because it makes me look quite ill.  Yet, I figured on my feet, no one will notice and the color makes me happy.  I am hoping to have enough leftover from these skeins to make a pair for my daughter too.  She LOVES yellow.

I started my mystery gnome knit a long on Friday.  There will not be photos of it for a while.  I do not want to spoil it if there is anyone else reading this that is also participating.  The interesting part of this KAL is, it is more like a choose your own adventure.  The clues are given for the different 'body' part with options of different textures/colors/sizes to use on that part.  Makes it quite fun.

I received treasures this week too.

This is my journal for next year.  I use more than one journal each year.  WHAT???  I have a journal for my craft projects (that has several years in it), a journal for my daily tasks that also contains my 'want to read' list, a journal for books read (also holds several years) and a journal for my daily thoughts and feelings.  The above journal is for my daily thoughts and feelings.  My daughter bought one like this for me last year and I have loved it.  It has a magnetic closure on the side so 'things' do not drop out.  The brand is 'Flame Tree Note Book'.  I found this one on Amazon.  In fact, I bought 2 of them and gave one to my daughter.  She is a HUGE lover of books and this cover screams her name.

Then I received a gift from my daughter.

Oh my goodness!  Is this not the cutest mug you have ever seen?  My daughter painted it at our local pottery shop.  I am so in love with it.  The mug is super heavy and really big!  Since I don't drink much more than water all summer and hot tea in the winter, I decided to put it to good use.  I put my yarn in it.  It is perfect for holding 50gr of sock yarn.  That way, I can look at it all the time.

I think I will name him Gnorman.  He makes me smile.

I told you about getting a new mailbox last week.  Well, our son installed it for us.

It is so much bigger than our last one.  I bet our USPS delivery person is happy to have one that closes properly and also isn't being held together with duct tape.  We need to paint the pole it is on as the weather over the past 30 years has made the pole sad looking.  That will be a project for later this year after it cools off.  (We are still hitting 100+ daily)

Most of the week was normal day to day activities of retired people.  We spiced it up a bit by going to a Trivia night at a local sports bar.  We came in third place.  Friday I got to take my cousin to the hospital for a procedure at 4 in the morning.  Then I got to pick him up about one in the afternoon and stayed with him until his friend could come and stay the night with him.  He had to be monitored for 24 hours.  Do you know it is still very dark at 4 in the morning?  Husband and our 2 sons went to a fantasy football party last night and had a great time. I stayed home and watched Hallmark Movies and Mysteries.  Did you know my TV receives programs other than sports?  Amazing!

That takes care of the past week.  All I am wishing for is cooler days.  I realize it will be another month before we get any real change in our daytime highs.  But a girl can always hope, right?

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