Sad Face

  This is not my going to replace my Sunday update but I just had to get this off my chest.

I am wearing a very sad face.  I was so excited with the progress I was making on the green reversible scarf.  I had it almost to the half way point.  I was admiring my work and then.......I saw it.  I looked twice.  I tried turning it around to make sure it was really there.  I pulled on it........I squinted hoping it was my contacts needing being replaced.  I held it up and shook it.  Nope.....nothing helped.  It seems that when I took the stitches off the cable needle I took them off the wrong end of the cable needle!  What the heck?  Am I an amateur knitter.  (well actually I am)

OK, so I think............well it's not really that noticeable.  No one will know but me............unless the wearer puts the scarf on with that side showing.  UGH!!!!  I don't want anyone to think I don't know how to do a cable!  How embarrassing when they would ask the wearer where she got and and she would say my name! 

I thought about it for 2 days and continued to knit on it.  (like that would make the mistake go away)  Finally, last night I decided that I could not live with that glaring BOO-BOO so I frogged it.  Thirty rows were frogged out before I went to bed so I could sleep.  I also put 3 rows back in just to make sure I didn't do it again in the same spot.  (like it might be a cursed row or something)

So hopefully by my update on Sunday I will be back to my half way point.  We will see.

Happy Crafting!

Week in process

Ok, this will be a long post since it is full of pictures.  But I need for you to see exactly what it is I will be working on for the next year.

Here is the scarf that I am currently working on.  It is made out of Caron Simply Soft yarn and the pattern is called Reversible Scarf (published by Caron!).  I found the free pattern at Hobby Lobby but when I started to make it I found out the flyer was printed wrong.  Lucky for me I found the correctly printed pattern on Ravelry.  This needs to be 72" long and right now is only 24 inches.  Scarves do seem to take a long time to do.  This is my first cable pattern in many years and I am really enjoying it.

This is a picture of a finished Spiderman Blanket.  This one is going to my Grandson in Texas.  This will cover a single bed nicely.  My friend, Bev, made one and hers is much smaller but she is a VERY tight crocheter where I find crochet very relaxing so mine is much looser.  This was a free pattern off the web.  It is made with Red Heart yarn.  It seemed so scratchy until I wash it and then it is nice and soft.

This pattern is called Hey Teach and I got if off of Ravelry.  This is the back of the cardigan and I really love the pattern.  I am doing it in Caron Simply Soft and really had to watch my gauge as this yarn has a tendency to knit up a bit bigger than the cotton that was called for.

Please stop laughing................but these are my socks in progress.  I barely had the toes started when I got the wild idea that I needed to do a couple of blankets for grand children so they go put on hold.  I have not decided on a pattern for them yet but I am sure by the time I have the toes finished I will come up with something.  They are made with Bernat sock yarn.

This is the shawl I am making out of the Alpaca/Silk yarn.  And I use the word yarn loosely here.  It is very fine but listed as a worsted weight because of the furryness of it.  The pattern is Eva's Shawl and I have made several of these.  They are gorgeous and hang so nicely when finished.  This is the first time I have worked with Alpaca and really like the feel of it but it is REALLY warm to work with.

My homespun shawl titled Arrow Lake.  I got the pattern from Lion's Brand website.  It looks easy but you really have to keep track of your rows or you will be frogging a lot.

Here is the Cancer Survivor Ribbon Shawl.  It was published by a church group and it has two different ways to make the pattern.  One of them is just the ribbons all the way across and the other one has small crosses in it too.  It is a fast crochet because of the fillet and really is not too hot to work on year round.  I made one in pink for my fellow employee's mother who survived breast cancer.  This is done in Caron Simply Soft because most cancer patients can not handle anything that would have the least amount of wool in it.

This is La La's shawl.  It was a knit-a-long on Ravelry last year.  Needless to say I never finished it.  I am doing it in Dark Horse yarn.  It is super soft and really a nice pattern.  But once again you really need to keep track of what row you are on.  I have frogged this more times than I would like to admit.  I think I need to put this on longer circulars as it is really starting to bunch up badly.

Here is part of the yarn for the scarf and mittens I need to do to go with the hat that has already been made and given to the owner.  It is Impeccable from Lions Brand.  It's a  very nice acrylic that works up wonderfully.

And here is the yarn for the Log Cabin lapghan.  It is "I love this yarn" from Hobby Lobby.  A great yarn that is really reasonably priced. 

Here is a photo of all my sock yarn and also the yarn I have picked out for the other prayer shawls.  I have to admit that this is only a fraction of the yarn I use to have.  I cleaned out all my yarn about 5 months ago and took 9 kitchen trash bags of yarn to a local church for them to make prayer shawls out of.  But I knew I would never in my lifetime be able to use all of that yarn and these ladies are so wonderful and supply shawls to our Cancer ministry at our parish.

Now one thing you all might have noticed is that I rarely use anything other than acrylic type yarn.  Well, I am allergic to wool as are many members of my family.  I do have some sock yarn with wool in it that I use for my mom.  I also did a lovely hat, scarf and mittens in some Lorna Laces DK weight yarn and it was wonderful.  But that went to Wisconsin.  You don't have much of a call for woolen items in the desert of Arizona.  I know lots of people here that do use it but it seems like a bit of over kill to me. 

Anyway, this is how it looks now.  Hopefully the scarf will be much longer by Sunday of next week.  I will keep you all informed.

Happy Crafting!

Surprise!

 Well, looky, looky.  I am back before tomorrow.  You see, I organized my craft room a couple of weeks ago and everything is in it's place and easy to access.  So I was able to make my list of projects quickly and easily.  So here is my list:

1.  Scarf, Hat and Possible Mittens set (in process) (does this count as 3 projects?)
2.  Spiderman Blanket
3.  Cardigan (in process)
4.  Socks (in process)
5.  Alpaca/Silk Prayer Shawl (in process)
6.  Homespun Prayer Shawl (in process)
7.  Cancer Ribbon Prayer Shawl (in process)
8.  La La's Prayer Shawl (in process)
9.  Scarf and Mittens (to go with a hat that is done)
10  Log Cabin Lapghan

And if for some strange reason I still have days left before the end of the year I have enough sock yarn for 36 pairs of socks plus enough other yarn for 5 shawls.  The only yarn I am missing for my projects list is for the spiderman blanket.  But I am making that as a favor for my friend and she is going to buy the yarn for it. (yea)

Do I expect to get all of this done?  Who knows?  But I do have a time table on some of these items and here it is.

Number 1 has to be done by the middle of November.  It is a birthday present.

Numbers 2 and 9 need to be done by Christmas for gifts

Numbers 5, 6 & 8 will not be worked on until summer ends (around middle of October here) and before the heat starts again (around the first of April)

Numbers 4, 7, 3 & 10 can be worked on any time as they are not intended for gifts and in fact #4 and #3 are for me!

This will clear up all but 2 works in progress for me.  I think this will be a great thing.  And since I have to report each Sunday, I know I will be more diligent on working on my yarn crafts more often and on the computer less.

With that said, I think I will go and work on my project now for about an hour and then get ready to go to Mass.

I will check in tomorrow as expected and I might even have a picture of some of the projects I am working on for you to see!

Happy Crafting.

Year of Projects

I have a new "gadget" on the right side of my blog.  It is from Ravelry.  I have joined their "year of projects" blog along.  We are suppose to list all the projects we want to complete in a year and post about them each Sunday to update how they are coming along.

I got started on this 2 days ago so I am behind already by 14 days.  But that is ok, because I already had a project started (actually I have several projects started) and I am making my list now as to what I want to complete in the next year.

Hopefully by tomorrow I will have the list completed and I will start each Sunday posting pictures and updates as to how I am doing on my "list" of projects.


If you are a knitter/crocheter, hop on over to ravelry.com and take a look around.  (that is if you aren't already there)  It is a marvelous place for learning, getting patterns, joining groups that have the same interests as you and just a fun place to be.  I can be on there for hours at a time if I am not careful.  But if I do that, then my projects list will never get completed.

So off I go into my craftroom and look at the yarn I have and what projects I have started and make my list of exactly what I want to get done by June 30, 2012.

Happy Crafting

I promised

I have been promising pictures for some time now.  Today is the day.  So let the show begin.

How proud Josie, Daddy and Mommy look here.  She was just awarded with Student of the month.

There was the annual Mother's Day Tea at the place where my mom lives.  It was really lovely and enjoyed by all of us ladies.

Remember these lovely cactus just outside our eastern wall?  Well they are lovely to look at and the birds love to build nests in them.  Then the birds love to hang out there and hang their bottoms over our side of the fence and drop nasties there.  Our fear has been if there is a really strong wind we would have one of them come crashing into our pool.  We already had one fall but luckily it landed in the street, but it cost us a small fortune to have it removed.  So........

This gentleman was in the area

And gladly removed both of the Saguaros for us.  We did wait until all the baby birds had hatched and flown away before we did this though.

Kindergarten graduation came so quickly.  This is Josie with her two teachers.  She loved both of them so much and learned more than I could even imagine she would

On Mother's Day she lost her first tooth.  She was so thrilled.  So told everyone that she was like her cousin Ruby now.

This is the prayer shawl I knitted for my best friend's birthday.  She is so special to me that I wanted to do something truly different for her that was from my heart.

We are not in need of shawls right now when the evening temps are still in the 90's but there will come a time when it will cool off and she will be glad she has this to cuddle with.

I am now working on my God Daughters scarf and hat that is due by November.  I did finish up my Grandson's spiderman blanket and just got another request for one today.  I will do that next one once the the temperatures go below 90 degrees.  Otherwise I will be a little pool of water on the sofa.  Those things are HOT!

So there you have it.  I post with pictures.

Happy crafting.

Well!!!!

This morning I decided to check my email before I left for the office an I found a comment on there for my blog.  It said "another post!!!!".  Do you think that is a hint?

Actually I was planning on doing an update this weekend anyway since I have pictures to put on here of the prayer shawl I completed for my BFF's birthday.  I also have pictures to put on here of my Grand Daughters in her dance costume.  (Her recital was last Saturday)

So I really don't have much to talk about this time.  I am just happy to have the prayer shawl done and given to it's new owner.  I am still working on the second spiderman blanket.  I started on a reversible cable scarf for my God Daughter's birthday (in November) and of course I still have my sweater to work on and a pair of socks that are barely started.

I just can not bear to work on the spiderman blanket most days.  That thing is HOT!!!!  I will have to work on it on the weekends when the electricity is cheaper and I can turn my A/C down to about 72!  (It is 110+ right now outside)  I only have 10 more rows to go on it so hopefully I will have it done in the next 2 weekends.

Next week everyone starts leaving town.  Everyone but me.  Hubby is going to Vegas for about a week, BFF is going to Vegas for a few days and will bring hubby home, Son and family are going to Seattle for about a week and will come back childless.  So I will be doing some airport runs over the next few days.  But while everyone is gone I will have lots of time to do MY thing. (crafting YEA!)

Not much else really is going on.

Happy Crafting! 

What happened?

I signed into my blog to day and went to see where my counter was out to see if I had had any more readers since the last time I checked in and POOF!  The counter was MIA.  Seems that the counter all of us bloggers had in the past decided they wanted us to pay for it.

I have a new counter but it started at a really strange number and no where near where I was before.  Double Drat!  I have no idea how to recreate it either.  So this is one of those times I tell my kids about.............................just accept it and move on.

(sigh) Ok, I put on my big girl panties and am moving on now. (small tear rolling down cheek)

Have a great crafty day