Crafting first, than personal news

As promised I am updating my blog to reflect the past year of projects.  This is the third year we have had this group and I am proud to say I have been in it since the beginning.  I am not the best blogger in the group.  There are some that blog 2-3 times a week.  I am lucky if I blog 2-3 times a month.  But I have totally enjoyed this group.  I have made some fantastic blogging buddies.  I have learned so much from these people.  I have overcome fears of 'trying something different".  It has been a learning experience that I don't think I could have gotten from 100 lessons at my LYS.

So let's look at a couple of pictures of items that have been completed that never got posted to my blog.

First up is the baby blanket I crocheted for my boss' upcoming great grandchild.  I had not picked up a hook in a long time.  It was fun to go back to my first yarn craft that I learned.  It really didn't take too long to complete.  The putting of it together is always the hardest part but I persevered and love it.  The Grandma and Great Grandma were so happy with the finished project.  Of course there was the "how much do I owe you" question.  How can you put a price on something that could become an heirloom?  They paid for the yarn and my only request for payment was a photo of the new baby in/on the blanket to put in my photos.  

Next up is the Raglan Yoke sweater.  This is the second one that I made and I love the outcome.  The pattern calls for decreasing around the middle area to make a nice fit, but this lady (me) does not have 'middle area' that wants to be fitted.  So I skipped that part and just made it straight down.  It fits lovely and it made from a linen/cotton blend.  Perfect for the 115 degree temps here in the deserts of Arizona.

So how did I do this year?  Lets take a look at my list and see where I stand.

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

Didn't even make one item out for dolls.  Sorry Josie!

Lots of socks.  Hopefully at least 6 pairs made

Completed 4.5 pair.  Am working on the other half right now.

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

The partner got finished and have started another pair of mitts.  One is done and the partner will be done before Christmas.  (it is a gift)

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

Not even started.

2-3 sweaters for adults

Got one done and have patterns for the others.  Just not on the top of my list anymore.  The sweater weather here is very short.

1-2 sweaters for children

Made one sweater for a child.  It is too big for her but she will grow.

Complete GB afghan

Completed this about 3 hours before it was to be given for a gift.

dishcloths for gifts again this year

Got that done for Christmas and also made and gave more away during the year.

So now the hard part begins..................coming up with a list for year 4.  I always seem to have such great plans and in my mind they all work out so nicely.  In reality things don't happen that way.  One thing I did this year and absolutely loved, was doing test knits.  So plan on seeing that on my list for next year.  So that about sums up my crafting news for today.  Now onto my personal news about family and my life.

Mom is now settled in her assisted living facility.  She is doing 'ok' but still not totally accepting of the situation.  This may take some time but we are all trying to be patient with her.  She has had some health issues in the past couple of weeks and it has really zapped her strength to the point she can no long stand up much or help in transferring herself from one place to another.  We are blessed that the place she is in, is set up for all kinds of care from assisted care to total care to end of life care.  So this is where she will be until the Lord calls her home to Him.

I have made the decision to retire from working outside the home.  I have not picked a date for that as of yet.  It will either be the end of this year or the end of June next year.  It will all depend on the way taxes will hit us if I work the first half of next year.  My hubby is going to meet with a tax consultant friend this month to determine when the best time for me to leave my employment would be.  My boss knows of my decision to do this.  She was not the happiest person to hear it but totally understood my reasoning behind it.  I have determined that life is too short to sit behind a desk all day everyday.  I am still young enough that I want to enjoy life before my health issues get to the point where I no longer can.  Each year sees my arthritis getting worse and worse.  After all..................I have a lot of yarn in my stash that needs to be used up.  LOL

I have been blessed beyond measure with loving family and friends.  While we were in Las Vegas last month, the flooring in our hallway and guest bedroom was laid and furniture was placed.  How nice it wa to come home to an almost totally remodeled home.  We still have the kitchen area to do (and it is a HUGE area).  We have the tile for it but just need the time to do it.

These past two weeks hubby and I have been doing a deep cleaning of the house.  After it took everything I had to clean out my mother's apartment, we decided to take it upon ourselves to start on our own home.  Just to give you an idea of what it is like...................yesterday we did 3/4 of the kitchen and got 15 storage boxes of 'stuff' out of there.  It is amazing how much junk you accumulated over 25 years of living in the same place.  I am hoping to finish the kitchen today.  That will leave only one area of the house to be done and that is our 'back room'.  It has been a catch all for many years and I am not looking forward to diving in there.  But dive in we must.  Once this is done, we have made a pledge that we will not purchase anything that will not be used at least once a week.

That is about all for now.  I appreciate all the comments I get and look forward to the next week when I put up my list for year 4 of YoP

Happy Crafting!

Stay Tuned

Please don't give up on me and my blog.  I have not forgotten it at all.  I love my blog and the fact it lets me vent and talk about my life, feelings, crafting and anything else I want to put here. No one can tell me what I can and can not write about.

So here is the deal.

This weekend, I will doing an entire blog post about.................Crafting and things happening in my life over the past month.  There will be pictures also.  (I dusted off the camera, put in new batteries and have already started the photo ops)

I will also be posting my Year of Projects list from year 3 (2013-2014) marking off what I have completed during that time.  There will be a NEW Year of Projects list for year 4 (2014-2015) that I am still mulling over in my mind.  But I will have it cemented down by this weekend and will post it here.  I think, each year I am smarter in the list I make and yet................I still fall waaaaaaay short of my goals that I set for myself.  One of these years I will get it right.  But the true joy of the YoP is this...................meeting other bloggers/knitters/crocheters from all over the world that help to inspire and boost you up.  I have met some of the most amazingly talented people over the past three years.  Their crafting skills leave me speechless.  I always thought I was pretty advanced in my skills but........................I have never designed anything or looked at something and just 'made' it without a pattern.

The people I have 'met' come from all walks of life, all economic brackets, married, single, dog owners, cat owners, large families, tiny families, retired, working full time, stay at home moms (that is a 100% full time job), etc.  So you get the idea.  

As for the people that read my blog.....................I am sure I have no clue who most of them are, since they don't leave comments.  But the ones that do........................What a wonderful group they are.

Yup, I love my blog and my YoP group. 

Stay tuned for a new blog post this weekend.  And until then...................................................

Happy Crafting!

YoP kind of

It has been a crazy, whirlwind, twist your bloomers in a knot kind of month of May.  I am so glad June has arrived and hopefully some semblance of normal will be coming back into my life.  Where do I begin........Lets start with my crafting.

I have been working solely on the baby afghan.  I have all the little flowers done and now am adding the outside of them.  I read the instructions as to how they are all attached and have decided I am not going to follow that (mainly because after 40 years of crocheting, it makes no sense to me).  So I am going to just make all the squares and do my own thing to put them together.  

I have not worked on anything else craft wise, which kind of makes me sad.  I usually switch off projects but with the upcoming birth of this child, I decided that this is the time I will be true to one project only.  I will have lots of time this week to do that too.................road trip coming up which I will talk about in the next few paragraphs.

I got Mom all settled in her assisted living place.  It has taken her a bit of an adjustment but seems that she is slowly getting used to the way things are going to be from now on.

My brother came down the week of the 19th and we got her apartment cleaned out (that is another looooong story) and managed to have a sale on the 24th.  We did very well at the sale and what was left over went to GoodWill for donations.  For having done all of that I seem to have an awful lot of boxes at my house that came from her house.  I realize that I have all of her finance information and that takes two boxes alone.  Then I have all of her winter clothes in my extra closets and all the family pictures that were on her wall.  That is one whole box in of itself.  She had over 20 pictures of family on the wall of her bedroom.  After doing all of that for the past 3 weeks, I have decided that it is time to start going through my own home and weeding out all the 'stuff' that we have not used in years and getting it out of there.  I don't want my kids to hate me.  LOL

This weekend, we managed to get our hallway and extra bedroom painted.  That had been on the 'to do' list for about 3 years.  We finally just said 'let's do it' and we had lots of help with it too.  This week will be another upheaval to our 'normal'.  I have a conference for work in Las Vegas and need to head up there on Wednesday and won't be back until Sunday.  I have heard rumors that there will be flooring party at my house while I am gone.  How exciting is that?  If that happens, our house will be 90% completed with the interior remodel.  We will still have our kitchen to decide as to what to do with and also our bedroom to paint and put in new carpeting. (that is the only room that will have carpet when we are done)

I have a birthday yesterday and it was a great day for me.  Went to Mass in the morning, got to present the last session to our adult religious education class, had a nice relaxing lunch with my hubby, went to see my mom for alittle while, went shopping for some pants to take on my trip (casinos are very cold all year round), had a wonderful dinner out with my hubby at the Outback, spoke to numerous family members throughout the day and ended my evening by talking for over an hour with my Texas family.  I am truly too blessed to be stressed.

This morning was another one of those days when you realize that you are not in control.  I got ready for work and was actually on time for what I needed to do.  Got to my car and went to start it and NOTHING!  Hubby was on the other side of town with his car at the shop so he was of no use to me.  I quickly called my son (who has Mondays off) and he came over and jumped the car for me.  Went to Auto Zone for a new battery and found out they were only accepting cash that day so had to drive to a different Auto Zone to get the new battery.  That got completed in record time and I was only 45 minutes late to the office!  Had this happened on any other day of the week, I would have been done for.  Like I said...............I'm too blessed to be stressed.

That is all for now

Happy crafting!

Yarn is a great stress relief!

Maybe I should have said YoP 3 update..............but it seems my blogging lately has been so much more complex than just about my YoP.

I don 't seem to have much time to blog these days, but hopefully that will change by the end of the month.  I really do enjoy blogging with all my family, friends and yarny blogging friends.  So let me tell you about my past couple of weeks.

The Radian Yoke sweater is D.O.N.E.  I have even worn it a a couple of times and I do L.O.V.E. it.  I don't know if I would make another one.  That is the second one I have made and the 11.5 inches of stockinette is brutal.  Even doing it while watching TV, it is not very enjoyable.

I pulled out the knitted log cabin squares I have been working off and on (mostly off) for the past 2 years.  I am almost done with square #2.  I don't know why I keep putting this up.  The colors are bright and joyful (even the black makes me happy) and it is pure garter stitch so a true no brainer.  The only thing I have to do is count rows and that is why I have about 6 row counters laying around the house.  I am seeing real progress on square #2 and am hoping.................
..........................................WHOO!!!!!!!!!!!  I just got a text from my boss asking if I know how to crochet!  I didn't think she cared about my hobbies.  I am so excited, I can not wait to let her know that not only do I crochet, but I am fast at it too!.............................oops.......................boss wants to know if I would crochet her great grand baby a crib blanket.  Well, of course I will!  I tell her if they will buy the yarn I will make it.  I ask if they have a pattern.  Then I find out..................
..............................they have no idea what quantities of yarn is meant for a blanket and yes they kind of have a pattern.  So I tell her to bring it in on Monday and I will look at it and give her what she needs to purchase...................................Ok folks........................I am so glad my boss and I have a relationship outside of work.  Because if you could have seen my face this morning when she brought in the 'pattern'.  Here is how it went.

Me:   Morning boss...........how was your weekend:
Boss:  pretty good and yours
Me: busy but good.  Did you bring in the pattern so I can let you know what I will need.
Boss:  Oh, ya.....................here it is
Me  (mouth is dropping to the ground as she hands me a diaper stacker)  Um, what is this?
Boss:  That is the colors and patterns they are using for the nursery.
Me:  Ok, but does she have a crochet pattern for the crib.
Boss: Nope, thought you would be able to come up with something if I showed you this
Me:  Give me a few minutes and let me see what I can come up with. (I walk away telling myself to never ever answer another text that asks about my fiber skill)

I actually did come up with a pattern and she and the new grandma love it.  Take a look at it here.

Guess I will be heading to Hobby Lobby soon to pick up the yarn that is needed for it and get busy on it.  The baby is due in August so I do have a little bit of time to get it done.  

This week my mom gets discharged from rehab (yea), but has to go to an assisted living facility (boo).  She is no longer to care for herself on her own.  She has gotten so weak and is just not getting any better.

We went to the cardiologist a couple of weeks ago and discussed the valve replacement.  The surgery in itself is not an issue for her.  The BIG problem will be the rehab.  She is so weak and is having such a hard time breathing that rehab could very well be the end of her.  So she opted not to have the surgery.  This means that she will continue to decline each day, week, month etc.  She is very accepting of this and is actually looking forward to getting into her new digs.  

Our friends and family helped us move out some furniture to her new place this weekend.  I have been going through her apartment one room at a time trying to week things out to give to family or sell at an estate sale the end of the month.  I have to have the apartment cleaned out by June 1.  Luckily, my brother is coming on the 19th and will be here for a week and that is all we are going to do while he is here.  I am hoping to have it ready for a sale on Memorial Day weekend.  So far I have 1/2 of one room done.  Not a very good start for 3 days work, but has the most stuff stored in it other than the kitchen.  Wish me luck

Otherwise, I have been good and am so thankful that I had a Sister In Law that introduced me to crochet 40 years ago.  Without my fiber therapy, I am sure I would have hurt someone by now.  Yes, Yarn is a GREAT stress reliever.

Happy Crafting! 

YoP update

Nothing fancy this week with my update.  Nothing fancy at all with my life at the moment.

I did work on a Christmas gift the past couple of weeks and I am happy to say, I have one fingerless glove done and only one more to do by 12/25/14.  Then the entire set (hat, scarf and gloves) will be ready for giving.

I was working on a second sock when I decided that I really didn't feel like knitting another sock right now.  So I picked up my radian yoke sweater and went to work on it.  I am happy to say.....(drum roll please) all that is left on it is one...count them....once sleeve.  And it is a short sleeved sweater!  WOOHOO!!!!!  I should be finished with it by weeks end if things all go as planned (which we know they never do)

I think I will start on another top for myself for this summer as soon as Radian Yoke is complete.  I am dying to get my hands on my blue heron rayon metallic fiber.  I have a pattern picked out for it and will need to make a few adjustments but that is the fun of knitting.

Other things that I am working on? NOTHING!  I have plenty of WIP's but none of them interest me at the moment.  If I would finish all my WIP's I know I would be a much happier person....but it is so much more fun to START new projects all the time. 

As for my personal life...................meh!

Mom is still in rehab.  She had a bit of a setback.  They had to tap her left lung again and got 1.5 liters of fluid out of it! (50 ounces for us yanks)  No wonder she couldn't breath or eat or sleep or...........well, she was just plain miserable.

We go to her cardiologists this Friday and will find out if he wants to do a valve replacement on her or not.  That is the only thing that will take care of all these issues she is having with her heart and lungs.  It is her mitral valve that is leaking.  I am not concerned about her having surgery.  I am a bit concerned with the rehab that follows it though.  It is one of the things we will discuss with her heart Doc.

Something needs to happen though.  I am taking care of all of her bills and keeping tabs on her apartment while she is in rehab.  Thankfully, my hubby is a wonderful man and understands how hard this is on me to be up at 5 in the morning, be to work by 8, go and visit mom after work and then try to be home by 7 so I can have dinner with hubby.  That doesn't leave much time for crafting, shopping, cleaning, laundry, petting my puppies or socializing.  I will say that hubby does most of the shopping, cleaning and laundry so that relieves a lot of stress off of me.  (It's a good thing to have a retired husband)  But still...........I am wearing out.  I can tell it by the way my arthritis is acting up more than usual, I am wanting to go to bed by 9, I don't feel like going out with our friends, I don't even want to talk on the phone or use our computer.  It is so not like me at all.  My weekends are completely packed with errands I need to run for mom to get the things that she needs to make her comfortable.  It just all seems to add up quickly.  And this has been going on since St Patrick's day.  WOW! 

Otherwise life at our Casa has been good.  We made it through Easter and had a wonderful time with family and friends.  (see, I did get to socialize one day)

This weekend sees our youngest Grandchild receiving her First Communion and Confirmation.  She is so excited!  She has all the attire she needs for the occasion and she can hardly wait to wear it.  The most exciting part is.............she is wearing her mom's wedding veil for the occasion as well as the pearl necklace her mom wore on her wedding day too.  Hopefully we will get some excellent photos so I can post them on here.

I apologize for the lack of pictures again.  It seems that the only time I have to update my blog, is during my lunch break at the office.  Soon..........I promise I will post photos soon.

Happy Crafting!

Hanging in there

I am hanging in there............mostly.

Mom is still in rehab getting stronger so she can get home.  She still has a bit of problem with her breathing now and then, but we thing it is mostly anxiety as her lungs are clear, blood pressure is normal, and heart rate is in normal limits.  I know she just wants to go home and not having her day scheduled the way she does at home causes her a bit of angst.

Still don't know for sure when she will be released from rehab.  She has been there 2 weeks now.  PT/OT had wanted to keep her another 2 weeks, but I think her Dr is going to release her before then, as long as they can get her breathing calmed down and her blood work 100% correct.

As for the crafting end of my life.  I put the sweater away again.  It is too heavy to cart around with me all the time.  I took the second sock with me to work on.  The small needles started hurting my hands so had to put that up for a few whiles.  I pulled out DD Christmas present and started working on that again.  I had completed the hat the first of the year.  I completed the scarf this week and started on the fingerless mitts a couple of days ago.  The best part of this gift is..........She gave me all the patterns for what she wanted and I trashed all of them and got my own patterns for the items.  I think she will be very pleased with them.  I did ask permission first before I did that and she said it was fine with her.

I found a lovely pattern to use my lace weight yarn with.  Stole My Heart is going to be a lovely gift for my mom.  She loves shawls/stoles.  She does not like cold air blowing down her neck and arms.  Living in Arizona, there is cold air blowing from the ceilings all the time.  I have to finish DD's gift before I start on Mom's.  So I am hurrying up to do that now.  

I think I need to revisit my YoP list soon and see where I am at with it.  I have a feeling I veered off again this year.................but what I have done, I have totally enjoyed doing.

That is all for this week.

Happy Crafting!

PS:  Pictures will be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks.

Still here, still crafting, kind of

I know it has been over a month since I last posted.  I would apologize, but I am not going to.  Per my High School English teacher "never start off a letter (blog) with an apology.  I will, however tell you what has been happening in my life.

I have been knitting.  I have completed one sock and the second one has 3 rows of ribbing on it.  I have stopped working on the sock right now in favor of my Radian Yoke sweater that I started last year.  I am determined to finish it so I have a new sweater to wear this spring/summer.  I have also managed to get all my hanks of yarn wound into cakes (thank you babe, for the swift).  That is all my crafting I have been doing though.

Life got in the way.

The first of March, I ended up taking my mom to the ER with breathing issues.  She thought she had pneumonia.  Nope................Atrial Fibrillation.  She was in there for 4 days and got sent home.  They could not get her heart into normal rhythm even with shocking her.  Found out, she has been like this since 2008!

The week after she got home, hubby, myself and our 2 friends headed to Las Vegas for a little R&R.  It was fun AND we managed to come home with some $$ this time.

The day we were driving back from our R&R, my mom went back to the ER.  Extreme shortness of breath and lots of edema on the legs.  (thank you son, daughter and daughter in law for the care you gave her while I was gone)  Congestive Heart Failure!!!!!  St Patrick's day was spent in the ER and then onto a room to see what they could do to get her back on her feet.

All sorts of tests were done on her and the thing that helped her the most was the drainage of her pleural effusion.  They got 2 liters of fluid off her lungs.  (it came to 48 ounces total).  She is breathing better now and feels so much better.  She is not in Rehab to get her strength back so she can return to her independent living apartment.

This has been a wild and crazy road for all of us.  So far, this month, she has been at home for a total of 7 days.  She should be returning home in the next 7-14 days.  Lets hope, this is the end of it.  I don't think she could tolerate another set back at this point.  I was totally convinced that we were going to loose her last weekend.  I think she felt the same way.

So now you know why I have not been blogging and the knitting has not been worked as much as usual.  My evenings are spent at the hospital/rehab center and once I get home I eat and go to bed.

Hopefully I can post a picture of my finished sock soon and I am just about done with the body of the sweater, so there would be another photo op.

Happy Crafting!