Finished items and more

 I was quiet last week and I apologize for that.  But I had a special project going and didn't have the time to stop and blog.  Today I am on the downside of the project so thought I would touch base with all of you to let you know what is happening in my crafty corner of the world

 In the above picture you can see on the left a pair of fingerless mitts.  These are going to be gifted to on of my DIL who is having a birthday this week.  She saw my mitts and told me that she thought about just taking them and seeing how long it would be before I noticed they were missing.  Then she reminded me that her birthday was coming up quickly.  So, out came the sock yarn and needles and off I went to make her the mitts and a matching hat.  I am happy to report that I was able to match the stripes on the mitts and that is no small feat sometimes.  The hat is not quite finished but am hoping it will be done by the end of the day.

Also, I bought the volume #55 of Rowan book.  There are several patterns in there that I want to make for MYSELF!  I received it yesterday from Jimmy Beans and have already picked out 4-5 projects that I want to make.  Once I am done with the hat I will be casing on one of the projects right away.

Hubby and I went to Costco last weekend and I saw this craft table.  I fell in love with it and realized that it would help with my storage issue.  I had yarn spilling out all over the place from the cubbies I have.  He was nice enough to go back and get it for me and we put it together.  It is really really big and I am very happy with it.  On the right hand side is all my sock yarn.  It may not look like much, but the shelves are so deep that I have them double stacked in there.  On the left hand side is my yarn that needs to be wound into cakes as well as all my needles and hooks.  I have asked for a swift for Valentines day and Hubby said that he will be happy to get it for me.  The table is large enough for it to sit on it.  This is the swift that I am wanting.  I have heard several people say that they love it but the trick is to put clothes pins just about where the yarn sits so it doesn't fly off while winding.  I had thought about an umbrella swift, but just didn't find one that I truly wanted in the price range I could afford.

That is about all from sunny Arizona.  Our weather here is wonderful and I feel so sorry for all the people being hit with the sub-zero temperatures right now.  I have lived in those places and it is no fun having your pipes freeze, not being able to get out of the house because of snow and ice, having to wear several layers of clothing in the house just to stay.  We may have 115 degree temps in the summer but my motto is.................you don't have to shovel sunshine.

Happy Crafting!

YoP update for the new year

I have no real excuse for not posting for the past couple of months other than I was so busy trying to finish all my Christmas knitting/crocheting that I didn't have the time to even log onto my computer or download pictures or even TAKE any pictures.

But I finished all my Christmas knitting/crocheting just in time.

The Green Bay afghan got finished at 1pm on Christmas Eve!  It was given as a gift at 4pm that same day.  Talk about a close call!  My BFF loved it has uses it all the time to keep herself warm.  She has some medical issues and she is always cold so this was a much loved and will be a much used gift.

I didn't get photos of the other gifts that got made but here is a list of them:

2 dishcloths (I had others already made so only needed 2 more to complete the season)
2 pair of socks
Peacock earrings and necklace set (I know it is not fiber related but I had to make some anyway)

That is about all I made.

Let me tell you....................I made a pair of mink socks for my mom and she is in love!  She said they are the warmest things she has ever had on her feet.  They are short socks as she likes to wear socks to bed and that is what they are for.

The other socks I made were from Panda Cotton and for my DIL.  I have made socks for everyone else in the family and she has made comment that she has never received any.  That problem is now taken care of.

The afghan was a bugger to to do.  I was not as professional on it as I should have been but it took me a loooooong time to do it and by the time I was done I was totally sick of green and gold!  It is huge too.  It fills the top of her king sized bed.

So now what do I work on?  I was working on my Radian Yoke sweater when I was notified that my fingerless mitts almost went to a new home.  Yup, my DIL saw them on my kitchen counter and decided that they would be a perfect thing for her to have.  She also reminded me that her birthday was coming up at the end of January. (I can take a hint)  So I pulled out my sock yarn and started on them.  I also realized that I would have enough yarn to make her a matching slouchy beanie.  One glove will be done by today and hopefully the other by next weekend.  The hat doesn't take but a few days so it will all be done before the 30th!

I looked at my YoP list for this year and have discovered that being 'fague' is a good thing.  Lets see how I am doing.

Doll Clothes for AG doll (uses up lots of 'scrap' yarn) 

 Nope, haven't even started on this

Lots of socks.  Hopefully at least 6 pairs made 

 4 pair done and more ready to go

Fingerless Mitts for me (one is done but needs a partner)

Yup, did that and now doing another pair for DIL

Scarf for me to match the hat and mitts I am making  

This might happen before the year is up

2-3 sweaters for adults  

Trying to finish the one I have started now

1-2 sweaters for children 

Yup, finished one already

Complete GB afghan 

Done!!! 

dishcloths for gifts again this year 

Yup, finished 12 of them so far and gifted all of them.

I feel pretty good about the list this year.  Of course things always seem to get added on around Christmas time.  I have a request from my Grand Daughter to make her a pair of pink slippers with blue fluffy trim.  REALLY?  I will have to look into this but not until her mommy's mitts and hat are done.

Hope you all have had a blessed Christmas/ Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Boxing Day/Twelfth Night or what ever it is that you celebrate this time of year.

YoP with photos

Another week and I have finished another project that is to be given to a special person on 12/25/13.  I can show you what this is, because the person getting the gift does not read my blog.  WOOHOO!  How sad is that?  I mean, why doesn't she read my blog?  I read hers.

Meet unnamed sock monkey.  Not the best photo of her but I was in a hurry to get it taken and posted.  This is the first 'toy' I have ever made.  It is crocheted and I am not sure toys are my calling to make.  This was my 'present' from my DD last year for Christmas.  Each year we buy each other a 'craft' to do for the next year to be given to us at Christmas.  Two years ago I got her a counted cross stitch to do for me and guess what.......................I just got it this week.  LOL She had some major issues with coffee spilling on the cloth, miscounting the stitches, her cat running off with the floss, etc.  But I am happy that I got it.  Now I need to frame it.

Last year I got her a 'magic quilt' picture to do for me.  According to her, I will receive it this year as it was 'really easy' to do.  We will see.

I have been telling you that I have not been very successful at stash busting this year, as planned.  Well, I guess I should show you my latest acquisitions that I obtained

This is the yarn I got while in Vegas.  This is 1200 yards of a textured DK weight fiber.  It is hand dyes and I love the colors.  I really like the way the pinks go from light to dark and back again.  I have not found the 'perfect' pattern for it yet, but have narrowed it down to about 5.

Then last week I was watching Jimmy Beans Wool Watcher when this

Came up for sale.  It was 55% off what I pay locally for it.  Cascade Ultra Pima Cotton.  I have already made 2 sweaters out of this same brand and they are wonderful.  I can wear them all summer long.  Even when it is  115 outside.  I was so excited to obtain this.  I think I might have squealed as I bought all 5 skeins that they had for sale.  Yup, this is probably one of my favorite yarns to work with.  

After I finished the Monkey, I was at a loss as to what to work on next.  I did back up on the Green Bay afghan and have done several rows on that.  But  that is kind of hard to take with me on the run.  So, I went through my WIP's and decided to go ahead with my Radian Yoke Sweater that I started several months ago.  I was not sure I liked the yarn or the color that I was using at the time.  When I pulled it out of my craft closet and looked at it, I fell in love with it all over again.  So I will continue on with that.  It is now in my bag and travels everywhere with me. The afghan gets worked on when I am home for long periods of time but the sweater is my traveling project.  I know most of you think that is a strange traveling project but..................my bag I got off of Etsy is large enough to carry the in progress sweater as well my knitting tool box and 3-4 skeins of extra yarn.  Plus I have all my personal belongings in the bag too.  That thing is HUGE!

Next week will be a busy week for me and hubby.  I have returned to the gym and go three days a week after work.  Then we have a retreat next Saturday with set up for it on Friday night.  After set up on Friday night, we will prepping food for the retreat with our BFF's.  Sunday will see us going to church and then coming home for a much needed nap.  Looks like the afghan will be ignored for most of next week but the sweater will be well on it's way.

We had our retreat meeting today and one of the ladies said to me "I thought I would see you today and you would be knitting.  But I don't see any knitting with you".  At which point I opened up my 'magic bag' and pulled my sweater out of it and proceeded to knit away on it.  She laughed so hard, she almost fell off her chair.  HEY!  I got three rows done on it and there are 334 stitches per row.  That's something!

I am going to apologize now for next weekend.  I doubt I will be posting next Sunday.  I am serious about sleeping most of the day.  We have to be at the retreat center at 6:30 in the morning and we don't get home until well after 10 in the evening.  That makes a loooooong day for this old lady.  And then to be back up Sunday morning at 6:30 to make 9 o'clock church.  Yup, I will be napping a lot next Sunday.

So until the next time I post..............

Happy Crafting!

YoP

Here I am.  Back at the blogging and still dark.  But I do have news!

I finished one of the Christmas items yesterday!  I am so excited.  It turned out lovely and everyone that has seen it (other than the person that it is for) has loved it.

Tonight I have the second Christmas project that is over half done, sitting out and ready to be attacked when I get home from work/gym.  Hopefully that one will be done before the end of this week.  Then I have one more 'secret' item to complete for the 'big' day.  The last item will take a bit of time to complete but I still should be able to have it done in plenty of time before Christmas.

I am itching to start on sweaters and more socks but have promised myself that I will NOT cast on anything else until the last two projects are done and stored in a hiding place until 12/25/13.  I do have a sweater on the needles that I started a few months back and that just might be the next item I will complete.  

As for stash busting.........................................Not happening.  I purchased 5 more skeins of Cascade ultra pima this week and will turn those into a sweater for myself too.  So I have purchased over 10 skeins of yarn in the past two months.  I just hope I live long enough to use it all up.  LOL

As for news from the family front..  My mom had a stomach virus that knocked her off her feet for a couple of days, but she is much better now. 

My Daughter was laid off from her job on Friday.  She is searching for a new one that pays enough for her to meet her needs.  I am sure something will come along for her soon.  She has a very positive outlook right now so that is a big plus.  Nor to mention several leads from family and friends.  As long as she stays positive I think she will have a job in no time. 

Hubby and I are both doing well.  We had a busy week last week.  We were only home a couple nights out of the whole week.  On Friday night, we both were in bed by 9!  Had to kind of laugh because, that is the night we normally stay up until at least midnight.  It is the time where we watch all the shows we have DVR'd and I get a lot of crafting done.  Not so much this week. And the weekend was filled up too with me helping my mom on Saturday and on Sunday we taught our adult catechism class all morning.  After that it was time to eat lunch and then get some groceries.  THEN........................crafting time.

Happy Crafting!

Going Dark

I don't want any of you to think I am not aware of the fact I have not posted for two weeks.  But I am going to go dark for a little while.  All of my YoP's that are being worked on right now are Christmas gifts.Therefore, I can not post any pictures of anything I am working on at this time.  The recipients of the gifts all have access to my blog.

So for the next couple of months this blog will not be a crafting blog but a personal life blog.  I am sorry to disappoint all my lovely fellow crafters.  But that is the only way I can insure surprised people in December.  I will take pictures of my projects, once finished, and post them after Christmas.  So expect a photo filled post around the end of the year.

On to other news.  

Hubby and I went to Vegas for our 38th wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago.  We had a wonderful time.  First up on the trip was lots of car knitting.  It is a 5 hour drive and I managed to knit for most of the way there.  Once there we found the yarn shop I was told to go and visit.

SIN CITY KNITS is a lovely shop.  The folks there were most warm and welcoming.  I found a great skein of yarn and it has 1200 yards of pure fun and loveliness.  I am hoping to turn it into a sweater in the near future.  They even wound it for me and let me tell you...............that was a bear of an operation.  This yarn loves to tangle so I was there to help with the winding of the skein.  Plus, it was so BIG that the winder could not hold all of it so we had to hand wind the last 20 or so yards onto the ball by hand.  It took about 15-20 minutes to get the whole thing completed.

After the yarn shop, we took hubby's mom out and about.  We went grocery shopping, gambling, out for meals, gambling, more shopping, visiting Hubby's dad's grave site, gambling, church, gambling...............well you get the picture.  The drive back was equalling productive for my knitting.

While there we also spent a day with some dear friends and had a most enjoyable time talking, watching football (American style), eating and crafting.  We see them a couple times a year and they are one of the best hosts ever.

Back home and getting back to normal.  It was a bit hectic the first few days back home.  

Our washing machine decided to break just before we left.  The last spin cycle stopped working.  So, hubby and I were standing out in the backyard at 10pm hand wringing out clothes so we could dry them for our trip.  Managed to get the washer fixed the day after we came back.  Then we had to get our swimming pool light repaired and that happened yesterday.  Last night as I sat down to start knitting, my daylight lamp bulb decided that it was done!  There is not a lot of light in our family room and all the items I am working on are of dark colored yarn.  So hubby is on a mission today to get another daylight bulb ordered.  This one only lasted about a year and they are suppose to last for YEARS.  My first bulb lasted at least 6-7 years.  So I was a bit upset that this one died.  Lucky for me we have another daylamp in that room so the switch was on last night, getting it moved to my crafting area.  It is not the same as MY lamp, so the bulbs are not interchangeable.  DRAT!  Plus the extra lamp does not have the craft tray on it that I use to store all my supplies in.  But it will do until the new bulb comes in.

Today is Halloween and we will be heading to my son's house to have a little family get together and watch our youngest grand daughter go through the neighborhood collecting her trick or treat sweets.

So that about sums up the last couple of weeks from sunny Arizona.

Happy Crafting!

Happy Post

I have no clue what week of YoP this is but that is ok.  I don't think many of us are really sure.  But if you know then please leave me a comment so I can get up to date.

I did manage to complete the birthday socks.

They are very soft and I think the recipient will be pleased with them.  Her birthday is tomorrow so they were done in plenty of time.  She loves color so these will be perfect for her.

I started on the mink socks.  It was hard to get a decent gauge though.  They have no stretch to the yarn but once knit they stretch a LOT!  I am on my third needle size and think I have found one I like now.  Doing toe up this time since I only have one skein (50 gr) of this yarn and that way I don't have to worry about running out before I am finished.  These are going to be short bed socks so I am not doing a long leg on them.  They are soft and squishy.  Even more so once knitted than just in the skein.

I told you last week that I had more yarn to show you that enhanced my stash.  Here we have 7 wonderful skeins of Wendy's Happy.  They no longer sell it here in the US so I was quite pleased when I found a company that had some still in stock.  I bought all but 2 skeins of their stock.  This makes some of the softest non-wool socks that I have knitted in years.  Once I finish the mink socks, happy is going to go on my needles.  I figure I will do a couple of more pairs of socks for Christmas gifts this year.  These will make someone smile.  I plan on using some of it for myself though.  I already have made myself one pair out of this yarn and LOVE them.  My mom has the other pair that I have made from it.  She also loves them.

The weather has finally cooled off here, so the Green Bay afghan will be coming out of hiding pretty soon so I can get that completed for Christmas too.  Since it is crocheted, it goes pretty quickly.  In fact, I might just pull it out today, since we are watching Football (American football) and that should inspire me.

We had a nice surprise this week.

Our son, who is in the Navy, came by for a one day visit.  (that's my mom with him)  And he brought an even bigger surprise

Our next to oldest Grand Son.  We had not seen him in over a year.  He has grown into a wonderful young man.  And...........................he gives wonderful hugs too.  That is our youngest grand daughter next to them.  She is a photo hog.  LOL

We got the whole family together for dinner that night.  And for some reason this is the only picture I have of it.  But there are several more people at my house.  Trust me, there was not a seat left to sit on.  It was wonderful to have them here and to see the surprise on everyone's face when they came in to find the Grand Son here.  They knew Navy Boy was coming but not the other.  Our home was filled with Love and Laughter for several hours that evening.  It made my heart sing.

It was hard to see them leave on Friday morning but they needed to get home to the family.  We will see them again next month.  We are heading to their house for Thanksgiving this year.

I think that is all the news from Sunny Arizona.

Happy Crafting!

I love YARN!

I have so much to tell you about.  It has been a great two weeks and there are reasons I didn't post last week.

Hubby and I went to San Diego last weekend (well we went on Thursday the 26th of September) and came home on the 29th.  We went for a Catholic Conference and the conference was awesome.  But on the day we got in we did our sight seeing and had an absolute blast.

First up...........................A little visit to a yarn shop.

This place was amazing.  They were in the middle of their yarn crawl when we got there so the place was busy but the staff was so nice and helpful.  The owner was the one that helped me out.  I had found them on the internet and had a list of yarns that they carried that my LYS didn't. So I was well prepared when I went in.

I talked to the owner, Jane, and she looked at my list of yarns and unfortunately didn't have any of them in stock that were non-wool.  (darn allergies)  But after explaining the reason for the non-wool requests, she was most helpful in finding fiber that suited my needs.

First up.............................................................

This luscious LARGE skein of rayon/metallic fiber from Blue Heron.  The colorway is called Cactus.  It is 550 yards of pure wonder and beauty.  I am hoping to be able to make a mesh top out of it for ME.  I have been looking at patterns and I may have under estimated the amount of yarn I will need to make one.  I really don't want to buy another skein, as it is quite expensive so I may have to settle for something a little less 'large'.  Maybe a tank or something.  I am still looking though and refuse to even wind it until I find the perfect pattern to go with the fiber.  It is a worsted weight and really is soft and squishy.

Then she showed me this...............................................

It is a cotton acrylic blend and so soft I can hardly stand it.  I have enough here to make a sweater for me or anyone else I decide to make one for.

After we left the yarn shop, we went to a lovely little Mexican restaurant across the street from the yarn shop.  The ladies in there recommended it and it was wonderful food.

Next stop.....................................................................

This mission......................sorry about the picture but I have spent the past 30 minutes trying to get it upright.  Any who.....................this was a really neat place too.  It is the first mission in San Diego area.  They were doing excavation on the sight and we got to see some really interesting stuff.

Friday morning we had a few hours before the conference started so we decided to do a bit more sight seeing.  We went to this.............................................

USS Midway.  The last diesel aircraft carrier to be used.  Of course, it is no longer in use.  It was a great way to spend a couple of hours.  But in that time we didn't even cover 1/2 of the ship!  But it was well worth the time spent.  Gave me a new outlook as to how our military (navy/marines) live while out to sea.

This is the view from our hotel room's balcony.  It was so pretty and peaceful.  The weather was perfect the whole time we were there.  Loved the area and would go back again.  Still lots of things I would like to see there.

 See this skein of yarn?  This is very special yarn.  It is 100% mink!  It is a fingering weight yarn.  Guess what is it going to become........................yup, socks.  It is so soft.  I can hardly wait to start working with it.  I guess they harvest minks the same way they do sheep.  Poor little minks....................I have a visual  going on of naked little minks trying to keep warm.  LOL

Love the maker of this yarn...................................Mimi........................that's what my grand kids call me.  

But right now, I am being monogamous again, in my knitting.  I have a birthday that is coming up on the 14th of this month.  So I am busy at work getting her project finished before that day.  After I am done with that, I will be working on Christmas gifts for the next 2.5 months.  But I am still working with my YoP list and things are still being taken off of it as I continue with my crafting.

We have another trip coming up in a couple of weeks.  I have already scoped out a yarn store there too.  My goal is to buy at least one skein of yarn from each place we visit from now on.  Then I will make something for ME out of that yarn to remember my trip by.  Then we have one more trip in November to make and the yarn shop I want to go to there is a bit of a drive away, but I am sure I can convince SOMEONE to take me there.  We will see.

I have more yarn that came in the mail this week, but will save that for my next post.  Don't want to bore all of you too much with my stash.  (Hmmmmm, I was planning on decreasing that stash this year..............hasn't really happened yet)

That's it for this week........................back to my knitting.

Happy Crafting!