WEEK 25 OF YOP 12

 

Happy 4th week of Advent!  It has been super busy, for us, this past week.  Let's get started on what went on.

I got very little knitting done this past week.  But what knitting did get done was focused on the Azel.

The arrow shows where I was last Sunday.  This does knit up fast, thanks to the bulky chunky yarn and size US 13 needles.  Unfortunately, I can only do about 4 rows before I need to rest my hands.  I have another 10 inches before I start the neck shaping.  Hopefully this coming week will be a bit calmer and I can actually put some time into it.

So, let's take a look at what happened this week to keep me from knitting.

Last Sunday - I got a call, shortly after I published my blog, to grab our wet vac and get over to the new house as my son broke a pipe!  I dropped the wet vac off and came back home.  No need for me to add more to their confusion.  Then, around noon they called again and asked if we could come over and help unpack the kitchen.  Our son has a second job he was leaving to do and he wanted us to help his wife so she would not hurt herself since she just had shoulder repair surgery and has a bad back from her US Navy career.  We helped her until about 8 pm and then went home to collapse.  Good news is...........we got the kitchen totally unpacked and 90% put away!

Monday - After lunch, we headed back over to help with the unpacking of the new house.  We got served a lovely dinner for all our help too.  When we left the house was 85% completely unpacked and put away.  Most of what was left was decorations that needed to be hung on the walls.

Tuesday - Our doorbell rang at 7:20 am!  It was the gentlemen to take apart our pool table and move it over to the new house.  They were very efficient and had everything out the door in about 45 minutes.  We had not used the pool table in years and the TX family are huge pool players and were thrilled to have it.  I had my RA Dr tele-med appointment today too.  She is changing my meds, as the ones I am taking are no longer keeping my RA from progressing.  I will be taking an injectable as soon as it is approved my insurance and can be shipped to me.  She has been trying to get me to do this for several years but, being the stubborn person I am, I kept telling her NO!  Well, it is time to do something before I can no longer walk or care for myself.  This is also the day hubby and I made our tamales for the season.

We made over 6 dozen green chili corn and 1.5 dozen sweet tamales.  It took us about 4.5 hours total.  Although 1.5 hours of that was cooking time.  They are so yummy!  It had been 3 years since we had done this.  Next year we are going to cut that amount in half.  Our family all wants some of them but I am being a good mom and gifting them the recipe and they can make their own!  LOL

Wednesday - Had to get blood work done for my new meds.  Then I made two batches of fudge to be gifted.  There was a lovely lunch date with one of my dear friends.  The lunch was sorely needed so we both could just sit and relax and let the world go on around us for a while.

Thursday - Hubby finished cleaning the house and I did laundry.  I also finished up making the fudge today.

It has been taste tested and pronounces yummy!  I made 4 pans like the one above.  Three are for gifting and the one above is for us to enjoy.

Friday - Hubby and I went grocery shopping to make sure we did not need to go again until after the new year.  We may need to go for fresh produce but that would be it.  The stores are crazy right now and the less we need to add to the mess the better.  I also finished up making the Rolo Preztel treats.  These are so easy to make but the most time consuming.  Unwrapping the little Rolo candies is tedious work.  Especially when you unwrap over 500 of them.

Most people put pecans on the top but since these are for gifting and most of my family do not like nuts, I used Reeses pieces.

Saturday - I finished up my candy making!  Today I made Scotch Treats.  It is combination of peanut butter and butterscotch chips mixed with Rice Krispies.  So yummy!

I made 4 of these pans and once again, 3 of them will be for gifting.  You see, we do ' white elephant' gift exchange each year for Christmas.  Our gifts are to be 'nice' gifts and not gag gifts.  They are also to be no more than $25.  So this year, I purchased some lovely Lock n Lock containers and will fill them with home made goodies long with the recipe for each goodie.  Hubby and I have 3 containers each to gift this year.  I will let you know how well it went over next week.  Also, on this day we went to the new house and played pool (so much more fun when it is not at your own home), ate pizza and had a great time with the family.  It was so nice to see both of our sons together having some laughs and good times.  The daughter in laws get along so well too.  My heart is full!

Today hubby and I will be making our annual Chex Mix party mix.  It is the last of my Christmas goodies to be made.  We were chuckling as normally this is the first thing I make each year.  Those tamales threw the whole schedule off!  We will also be getting our Christmas cards addressed and ready to mail out tomorrow.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh!

I will not post next Sunday as we will be spending time with family celebrating the birth of Jesus!  I will, however, have a special post with a BIG surprise on Monday or Tuesday.  So stay tuned.

Until Next Time..............................Happy Crafting and Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!

WEEK 24 OF YOP 12

 

Hey, thanks for stopping by.  My needles have been busy this week.

I finished the baby sweater and hat and it has been given to the church for my 'angel'.

These are the buttons I chose.  Thanks to everyone that voted on which buttons to use.  I laughed as no one chose these.  I almost went with the ones Maureen choose but they were just a bit too busy and these had the same colors in them.

Here is the hat.

And photos of the outfit together.  Please excuse the lighting.  It was a dreary rainy day when the photos were taken so no natural light available.

After that ensemble was completed, I was able to pick up some neglected WIP's and work on them when I was not making yummy stuff for Christmas.

RCR socks went with me to Adoration.  I only got to work on them for about half an hour.  But hey, it was 4 rows more than they have seen in over a month.

My DIL's Azel is my main focus now.

You know I love you when I agree to make something for you in BLACK!  This is going to be really big, per her request.  I just finished doing the part with all the button holes.  Now it is endless knitting until I get to the neck's edge and then down the other side.  It is bulky chunky yarn and I can only work with it for small segments of time before my hands and shoulders complain.  When I watch TV in the evenings is when I normally grab this and work on it.  My goal is to get it done before summer hits LOL.

My house is finally decorated for Christmas.  I have started my candy making and am hoping to finish that up this week as well as the Chex Mix party mix.  Hubby and I also have all the makings for green chili corn tamales as well as sweet tamales.  Those should be completed this week too.  Come back next week to see if we met our goal.

Today I was going to really concentrate on baking but.......................yes there is always a but.  The newly arrived TX family's belongings are being delivered today.  I was asked to help them unpack and get the house set up.  Especially the kitchen.  That pretty much took care of me doing tons of baking today.  That's okay..............I am retired and there are still many days before Christmas.

How is your week going?

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

WEEK 23 OF YOP 12

 

Running a bit late today.  I will talk about the reason later in this post.  Right now let's take a look at what has been happening with my yarn and needles.

The Wee Sherlock sweater is completed and the ends have been woven in.  I need some help, though.

Which buttons would you use on this.  The heart buttons are placed to show where the buttons will be sewn.  I like the hearts but they are a little hard to get through the button holes not to mention the yarn has a peach undertone and not 'pink'.  The buttons next to the hearts are kind of busy but have so many colors in them as do the ones next to the sleeve.  The ones on the sleeve are one short for all the holes but I could mix them with the ones next to the sleeve.  HELP!  What do you think?

Once the sweater got completed I cast on for the hat.

Here is where I was this morning.  Since then I have unraveled it and cast on using a cable cast on and the needle size it called for as well as the next size down.  I am still on the garter edging.  I am debating on whether to do the cable accent or just sew a button on the garter edging for accent.  This outfit needs to be completed this week and turned into our church so they can get it to the 'angel'.

That is all for crafting this week.  I have not discussed my Hydroponic garden in a while.  I am down to only one at the moment.  It is growing cherry tomatoes.  I harvested the ripe ones today.

Hubby ate them with his dinner tonight.

This week has been crazy.  We have been preparing for the rest of the family from Texas to arrive.  

Monday - Smoked a turkey for hubby and I.  It was my first time to do this by myself.  It turned out yummy.  I also pulled the tree ornaments out of the storage shed.  Moved the tree to where I wanted it this year too.

Tuesday - Had a meeting with our Estate Planner to go over our updated trust.  Hubby decided to come down with a nasty cold.  (Covid test was negative)  

Wednesday - Finally got the tree decorated!  Nothing else has been decorated yet.  Too busy trying to find cold medicine for hubby.  There has been quite a run on the stuff we like to use.  Guess everyone is stocking up because of the 'tridemic' the news media keeps warning us about.

Thursday - Got around to doing laundry....finally!  Also spent most of the day running errands while hubby stayed home and away from the public.  

Friday - Took our son to work so he did not have to leave his car at the airport while he went to TX to help drive the family out here.  I got to see a gorgeous sunrise as he leaves for work at 6am and the sun comes up around 7am.  I did a grocery store run to help stock a few things up in the 'new house' kitchen.  This way they do not need to run to a grocery store the minute they get in.  We also did a final clean on the house and hung up a banner welcoming them to their new home.

Saturday - Bread making day!   I no longer make a loaf of bread.  I am now making buns and this way we do not have the waste we were having with the loaf.  While I was letting the bread rise things got interesting.  My DIL from TX called and gave me a list of items they would need when they arrived here.  It was all items for the 3 guinea pigs LOL.  By the time I got all the supplies and bread completed it was early evening.  We followed their driving progress and decided to stay up until we knew they were safely at their home.  They arrived around 1:30am!  One of their cars broke down about 150 miles into their trip.  They ended up renting a trailer to tow the car the rest of the trip.  This really slowed them down.

Today - Hubs and I got to bed about 2 this morning but still woke up around 7.  He is feeling much better.  HOORAY!  It rained all day yesterday and some this morning.  Not a good time to try and pull boxes out of the shed for the rest of our Christmas decorating.  So, we just took it kind of slow today.  Our daughter and her husband dropped by and brought a lovely tray of homemade goodies.  The Tx son and wife dropped by to get some tools and chat a bit.

It is now about 8pm and time for me to get back to working on the baby hat.  Next week I hope for a more normal week.  I do have an appt on Tues, Wed, and Thur.  But they are all short appointments so should not effect our routine too much.  I am hoping to get the rest of the decorations up this week as well as get the Christmas baking going.

If this seems a bit choppy, it is.  My mind is whirling with all the things that have happened in the past 7 days not to mention what still needs to be done in the next 7 days.  Gotta love this time of year LOL.

I hope you all are healthy and staying warm.

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