WEEK 39

 

Hello and welcome.  It has been a very trying and busy week so let's get right to the fun stuff.

Not a lot of knitting was done as my right wrist is still in flare mode.  Here is what I did manage to work on.

Only a few rows on the socks got completed.  I did try them on and they were a little on the loose side so I decreased each sock by 8 stitches.  With less stitches that means they should knit a bit faster, right?

I did cast on another preemie baby hat for my niece's NICU.  It got the most attention.  I need another half inch and then start the decreasing.  Hopefully I can get it done this week if my wrist will cooperate.

Since my wrist was malfunctioning, I decided to work on some diamond art.

This was an impulse purchase last week and I did finish it in 2 days.  It is meant to be hung and I have all the supplies to hang it with.  Trying to find a spot where the beading will shine the best is going to be the challenge.  I will figure it out eventually.

Hubby and I decided it would be fun to work with Legos again.  He bought a large item for us to work on together and it came with a bonus kit.  Since it has been well over 40 years since I have really worked with Legos, I decided to try my hand at the bonus kit to see if I remembered how the instructions worked and if I had the dexterity to accomplish it.

The answer is yes and yes.  This only took a couple of hours to accomplish and I did enjoy doing it.  I am ready to move on to a bigger project now.

Spring has sprung here.  We had a week of VERY warm (90's) temps.  Our newly landscaped front yard is loving it.  I will take some photos to show next week.  I was a bit busy this past week to do it.  The next paragraph will explain that.

As I said in my opening statement, this was a trying week.  Josh ended up being admitted to the hospital last Sunday, with extremely painful headache.  They could not get it under control with his medicines he had at home.  The hospital kept trying to send him home after they relieved the headache with morphine.  Stacie told them he could not return home until he had pain relief with meds that would be sent home with him.  After 2 days, they did an MRI and found out he was retaining cerebral spinal fluid and it was causing great pressure which in turn was causing the extreme pain in his head.   The Drs are going to be placing a shunt in his head to drain the fluid.  Unfortunately, they could not get him into surgery for another week.  Therefore, they had to figure out what combination of drugs would work at home to keep him pain free.  Everything finally got worked out by Friday morning and he got to come home.  Since getting home, he has shown signs of degradation.  Walking is becoming an issue for him and he is now using a walker.  His balance is way off and his short term memory is shot.  His wife, Stacie, is now working from home so she can care for him and the family is stepping up to help out as much as needed.  Watching my first born going downhill is gut wrenching.  It breaks my momma's heart.  We are hoping after the shunt is placed, some things will improve.  We do know it will stop the horrible headaches.  The Oncologist said it will not help with the memory issues though.  As for the other issues............those only started after he got home so she does not know he is having them, yet. 

Today, I am catching up on our laundry,  Dinner is in the crockpot. I will head over to Josh's a little later to spend time with him and Stacie.  (She gets quite lonely since he is sleeping most of the time)  But.................I do have a chuckle for you this week.

 

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

WEEK 38

 

Another week gone for 2025.  I hope yours was a happy and productive week.  Here is a look at what my week looked like.

There were 2 finished items this past week.  First up is the baby hat.

It is such a quick knit.  I made the preemie size.  There will be another one of these cast on as soon as I finish my blog today.

I also finished up the lapghan for the prayer shawl ministry at our church.

This was made from the leftovers of my daughter's turtle blanket.  I still have enough leftovers to do another lapghan of some sort.  Not sure I will do another ripple.  Although, this is a pretty mindless crochet pattern.  But, while I decide what to do with the rest of those leftovers, I will be starting another To The Point Shawl this week.

My RCR socks are progressing.

Heels are done and the long slow process of the foot is underway.  I am still trying to do at least 5 rows each day on each sock.  These will need to be tried on soon.  Since they are made with cotton yarn, I do not think they are going to be a snug fit once put on.  Therefore, I may need to decrease a few stitches to give the snug fit I like.  Stay tuned!

That is all for yarn crafting this week.  I have been working on diamond art this week too.  My original piece is now halfway completed.  I started another one this week and it is halfway done too.  Variety is the name of the game for me.

Nothing much else of interest this week.  Physical Therapy is still ongoing.  I have a feeling I am just about done there.  I will be re-evaluated the end of this month.  If I do get discharged, I have purchased several items so I can continue with all the exercises at home.  I do not want to loose the muscles I have gained!

Here is your chuckle for the week..................Enrique liked it.

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

WEEK 37 PHOTO HEAVY!

 

Hey guys!  I have lots of things to share with you today.  Photos were even taken during the week to document this weeks happenings.  Let's start with what is happening in my crafting life.

I finished the RCR (rose city roller) sock I have been working on forever!

I tried this on and do not like it.  It is just not comfortable.  Now, I need to decide whether to go ahead and make the second one and give it away or unravel this one and repurpose the yarn for something else.  

Once that was off my needles, I immediately started a new project.

A ripple Lapghan for our prayer shawl ministry.  These are all the leftovers from the turtle blanket I made for my daughter.  I am about halfway completed with it.  The prayer shawl ministry asked for the lap throws to be no bigger than 36" X 48" for mailing purposes.  This is a joy to do.  Ripple blankets have always been one of my favorite patterns to do.  This is the project I pick up when I know I am going to be stationary for any length of time.  (TV movie)

But wait....................there's more!!!!!!!  I am normally a monogamous knitter/crocheter.  Not today!  I really felt like I wanted options and since I have so much yarn now..............

On the left are a pair of RCR socks.  I am doing them concurrently so I do not have second sock syndrome.  The yarn for those is Cascade Cotton Sox yarn.  The more I work with it the softer it seems to be getting.  On the right is a quick and easy baby hat.  It is being done in a preemie size.  The yarn for that is Sweet Baby Delight from Hobby Lobby.  I am trying to do at least 5 rows a day on the socks and hat. 

That sums up what I do when I have time on my hands. We had some fun this past week.  We got rain this past week.  In 48 hours we got 1.25" of rain.  That is a lot of rain for us here in the desert.  I love a good gray rainy day.  They are few and far between here.  The gray day inspired me to play with my sourdough.

One of the most perfect loaves I have ever made.  Must have been due to the lovely humidity we had that day.

We also got to spend time with our oldest Granddaughter this last week.  She lives in Seattle so we seldom have a chance to get together in person.  On Friday, we spent the entire day with her.  We picked her up for lunch and went to a little diner in downtown Phoenix.  After that we headed to the Heard Museum.  Hubby and I have been wanting to go there for many years.  I am so glad we went.  Even after spending 2 hours there we had not seen more than half of the museum.  What an interesting place to go.  It is mostly about the indigenous people of the Americas. There are many artifacts (baskets, jewelry, clothing etc) from many different tribes from all over the Americas.  The one fact that stuck with me is.........there are 365 plants in our state that can be used for food.  Unfortunately, this is the only place I did not get a photo.

One we left the museum, we decided to go and take in an aquarium.  We got there 5 minutes after they closed the entrance.  So disappointed.  But, the aquarium is in a mall, so, off we went to visit hubby's favorite store.

Hubby and our granddaughter, Brittani, at the Lego store!  We had so much fun looking at all the different kits they had there.  As we walked around the mall we found a fantastic Lego display.

Over 45,000 pieces of Legos were used to make this display!  The detail was awesome. By this time we were hungry and thirsty.

We stopped in at the Rainforest Cafe.  It was nice to sit and relax for a little while.  And that ended our day on Friday.  Saturday we met up again with our granddaughter as well as other members of the family and went to a spring training baseball game.

It was a gorgeous day at the baseball field.  We have quite a few baseball teams in our state for spring training.  This game was between the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres.  Unfortunately the Mariners lost the game.  We left around the 7th inning as this ball park is about 50 miles from our home and traffic is not my friend.  It was so nice to be sitting outside for several hours and enjoying the company of family we don't get to see often.

Quick update on everyone.  Jaxon is doing great.  She has a job at a skilled nursing home as a receptionist and will be looking to get her CNA license and then on to her RN.  Enrique continues to defy all odds.  He is still eating well and just as active as a 14 year old dog normally is.  Josh is showing signs of digression.  He is needing a bit more help each day.  His memory is getting worse and he is having other symptoms related to his brain cancer.  His MRI, from last week, showed the radiation necrosis is growing.  Not a good thing.  We live one day at a time now.  The rest of the family is doing well.  

Here is your chuckle for the week..........................................

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

WEEK 36

 

Hey there!  I missed posting last week as I really didn't have anything new to talk about or show.  This week I am loaded for bear.  So sit back, grab your favorite beverage with a snack and enjoy.

I have finishes!  Did you notice that was a pural?  Yup.  I have 2 FO's to show.  First up..........

The Mehujaa Shawl is finally off my needles.  This is my all time favorite shawl to make and wear.  It is large enough to actually cover your back to your waist and maybe a bit lower depending on your height.  The lace back is very decorative but still offers some warmth.  The sides are stockinette stitch that keeps your arms nice and warm too.  It is big enough to actually wrap around you too.  The yarn I used for this one is discontinued.  I picked it up when my LYS was going out of business.  I have another colorway in this same yarn that will also be make into one of these shawls.  

Once that was off the needles, I felt I needed a cleansing project.  So.......................................

My forty-third To The Point shawl for our church's prayer shawl ministry.  This is made from Caron Simply Soft in the colorway Plum Perfect.  If you haven't heard, JoAnn's is going out of business.  This meant I needed to go and load up on Caron Simply soft yarn for my prayer shawls.  You will be seeing many of the above shawls over the next several months as well as some lapghans.  I cleaned out one of our JoAnn's stores of all their simply soft yarn.  I also went on line and ordered many more skeins in colorways that I knew I would be happy to use.  Believe it or not, I was almost out of worsted weight yarn for my prayer shawls!  I do believe I am set for quite a while now. LOL

After the TTP shawl was completed, I did not feel like casting on anything new.  WHAT????  Shocking!!!  So I picked up my RCR sock that has been hanging around for quite a while.

The progress keeper is where I was yesterday when I picked it up.  The yarn is On Your Toes and is a just a tish thicker than the fingering weight yarn I normally use.  but, being a bamboo/nylon blend, it will be perfect for the days I am doing my PT.  They are a bit cushy which is nice too.  I will probably just work on this for now.  I really want to get it done and move on to the second sock.

The only other thing I worked on in the past couple of weeks is my diamond art.

I am having so much fun working on this.  The squares with numbers or letters are still in need of being filled in with 'beads'.  I have been trying to complete one color at a time.  This picture has 25 different colors.  Not too bad.  AND.........since JoAnn's is going out of business, I picked up 3 more diamond art pictures to do after this is completed.    I have plenty of crafts to keep be occupied once our weather gets so hot I do not want to venture outside of my home.

Since I am working on the diamond art now, I decided to get some better tools than what is included with the kits.

Ergonomical tools.  So much easier on my hands and wrists.  

I did not stop here by last week as we had a family day to say goodbye to Samantha.  She has been living with our TX family for the past 5 years.  She even moved to Arizona with them.  We adopted her as one of our grandkids.  She decided she wanted to move back to Texas.  So we had a lovely afternoon with the family to bid her adieu.  

Our son, Jay, loves to cook for people and his food did not disappoint for the party.  (The loaf of bread is from me)  We had steaks and baked potatoes with southern green beans.  Our daughter brought home made ice cream for desert.  YUM!  Samantha is now safely in Texas, all unpacked and ready to start her best life.

Hubby had a Drs appointment a couple of weeks ago.  His blood sugars are slowly starting to creep up.  The Dr asked him to limit his carbs (breads and pastas).  We have had this scenario before............about 10 years ago.  We got his numbers down by just doing a few simple adjustments to our daily meals.  One of the things we did was make smoothies every morning for breakfast.  We started doing that again this past week.  Luckily, I had written down the ingredients we used the last time we did this and was able to assemble everything needed in just one shopping trip.  We use fruits and veggies in the smoothies.  Yes, they are combined all together.  Take a look.............

This has greens, cucumber, lemon, strawberry, mango, pineapple, ginger, beets, tumeric, almond milk, agave nectar and protein powder.  What do I taste?  The fruit!  I have also started making wheat bread instead of pure white bread.  Sourdough is back on the menu too.  I kind of fell off the wagon for a couple of months but pulled out my starter last night and gave it a good feeding and will be making a loaf today.

And that, my friends, completes my last couple of week.  I am still doing physical therapy and enjoying the strength I am getting back in my lower extremities.  Josh is still doing ok.  He goes for another MRI this week and will have the results the same day as the MRI!  Enrique continues to amaze us with how well he is doing.  I finally convinced my hubby to hire a pool service as well as a yard service.  That will take a load off of him.  He continues to dust and clean the floors of the house and I do all the countertops and appliances.  I do the laundry and we grocery shop together.  It all works out.

Here is your chuckle for the week......................

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