YoP Week 48

I missed posting last week because hubby and I took a little road trip to Las Vegas.  We went to visit his mom and also to enter into a bingo tournament.  (hey, we are retired ya know)  It was a grand trip and we had a great time.

I did deliver the purple baby sweater/hat set to the expectant mother.  She loved it and actually asked if I would make a pair of booties to go with it.  Seems she LOVES home made items.  So not only is she going to get booties, I am making a corner 2 corner blanket to match it too.  Seems the colors I picked out are the same as the colors they painted the babies room.  

I did do a bit of knitting while on the road.

Hubby's socks were the item I took with me to work on while traveling and also while sitting in the bingo hall for 7 hours.  This is Saucony yarn and is the first time I have worked with it. The jury is still out as to whether I like this yarn or not.  It feels scratchy to me but hubby doesn't think it feels that way at all.  Guess that is good, since they are for him.

We did not win anything at the tournament, but had such a great time, we signed up to attend another one in September.  It is so nice to be retired and able to take off when we want to.

I most of you have never been to Arizona, so I took some scenic photos on the way home.  (I drove on the up)  

That is not a man made wall.  That is what happens when you have natural water erosion and shifting of earthen plates.

Love these little clouds above the mountains.  Come June, we won't be seeing many clouds, unless it is clouds of dust called a haboob.  We will have nothing but blue skies until the end of October.

Most people don't realize, Arizona is 65% mountains.  But the large cities are all located in the desert................go figure.

No, this is not man made either.  You can find rock formations like this in several places though out our state.  I find them fascinating.

Those strange looking 'trees' are actually part of the Joshua Tree National Parkway.  Yup, that is hundreds of Joshua trees.  Do you know how hard it is to take photos when the driver is doing 75 MPH?

More Joshua Trees.

It was good to be home again and I have been busier than a bee this week.  Still doing the declutter and now getting the backyard and pool ready for swimming season.  That starts tomorrow on Memorial Day.  Can't promise the pool will be extremely warm, but can promise the chemicals will be perfect and it will be very clean too.

I am off to feed my Son's cats.......They are taking a little mini vacation to the mountains this weekend.

Until next time...........................Happy Crafting!

YoP 46

Another week, another blog post, and it is so close to the end of year 5, I can almost feel year 6 creeping into my thoughts.

I did not do a lot of knitting this week.  We are getting ready for a road trip this coming weekend and I am trying to get all the loose ends around our remodel taken care of.  It still is a work in progress, but we have been able to get to the point where we are going to paint the new wall.

I did start a pair of socks for my hubby.

I bought this yarn almost a year ago while I was in Seattle.  Are those not the strangest looking toes you have ever seen?  But, I have slid them on a foot and they actually fit perfectly.  This pair of socks will be done with the fish kiss heel.  It will be my first attempt at it and I am looking forward to trying something new.  They will be my road trip knit.  

I am still journaling daily and it really has helped me keep my to do lists together and completed.  If anyone would look at it, they would get a chuckle.  You see, I even put KNIT on my daily to do list.  If I don't make a point of listing it, I will get so involved in other activities, I won't do it.  Sounds crazy, right?  After all.......fiber running through my fingers is the next best thing next to puppies and babies.

I realized today, I had not looked at my Year 5 list since the beginning of the year.  So let us take a look and ponder upon my progress:

2015-2016 YoP list

Socks

Once again I can not tell you how many I will do.  But these are my favorite items to do during the hot summer months here in the desert.  I do know that I need to have 2 pair completed before Christmas as they are gifts.  I already have 1/2 of one pair done and have started on the other pair this week, just to get them on the needles for the road trip.

7 pair completed so far

Shawls

Diving In  (this is already cast on, also for the road trip)

Clapo-ktus

Diving in is in my UFO pile and Clapo-ktus is still in the thinking process

SWEATER

Cancun Boxy Lace Top

After I frog the sweater I started, this is what it is going to turn into.  It even asks for the fiber that I already have in my stash.  But I will be making this longer, as at my age, no one wants to see my tummy.

It has been worked on and the front panel is 7/8 done.  

Sewing items

Tea Bag Holder

Another gift for Christmas this year

Finished a few days before Christmas and it is loved and being used

Crochet

Mermaid Tail Afghan

I have had a request for at least 2 of these for Christmas.  Now that I am not on yarn restriction, I can purchase the fiber for this and get going on them.

She loves her tail, although it took her a few minutes to realize what it was.

Wood Work

Staining and decorating treasure box for Wedding in October

Done and done..................the box and the wedding.

Other Items completed not originally listed

2 baby sweaters and hats

Pair of fingerless gloves

3 blouses sewn

American Flag Afghan

Not too badly done this past year....................and there are still 6 more weeks to go!  I am thinking about what to put on the list for next year.  This list was probably the best one I have done.  It did not 'put me in a corner', but allowed me freedom to work on what I wanted.  

I don't now if I will post next week, as I will be at the mercy of hotel internet.  Posting should resume in a couple of weeks though.

Until next time..................Happy Crafting!

YoP45

I missed last week.  Darn it.  I read everyone else's post, did not comment on any of them with the intention, of getting to the desk top computer to do so and then life happened.  It has been a productive two weeks and I will start off with my craft items that have been worked on and completed.

The sweater set is completed for Baby Kaidence.  I am in love with this sweet little number.

This little devil, took me forever to complete, thanks to life happenings.  But I am totally pleased with the outcome.  The ribbon and button flower was my idea.  Otherwise the hat is so plain and boring.

There will be one very warm little baby in Las Vegas this winter.  I hope mommy sends me pictures when she wears it.

After this was complete, I cast on a pair of two at a time, toe up socks and plan on doing the fish kiss heels on them.  I need to at least try it and see if it is as great as everyone claims it is.  The heel is one of the main reasons I stopped doing toe up.  I hate wrap and turns.  I knew you wanted to know that little tidbit.

So, today in America, it is Mother's Day.  I know other countries have mother's day too.  I have read about them on other people's blog.

Today, all of the family that lives here, got together and we had a picnic at my mom's assisted living facility.  It was the perfect day for it.  Partly cloudy and only in the low 70's while we were there.  We had fried chicken, homemade baked beans, cole slaw and home made oreo cheesecake.  So yummy.  My mom really enjoys it when the family is all together too.

I  did not take any pictures of the picnic.  I was just enjoying the time with the family and didn't even think of my phone laying right beside me.  

I got a beautiful planted flower from my daughter in an adorable owl planter.  I didn't take a picture of that either.  I know.......I am slacking here.  But the flower will be around for a while.  I did take a picture of the gift from my son and DIL that live in town.

It's a Glassy Baby candle.  If you have never heard of them, you really need to go and read their story here.  I love this candle holder and the color it gives off while burning.

The actual glass is a purple color but when the candle is lit, colors of blue and red come out too.

Also, this past week, my brother came into town for Mother's day.  He will be here for a week which is one of the reasons I did not post last week.  We were trying to get everything together for his visit. 

So what else is going on?  I am so glad you asked.

Hubby and I have been busy with the remodel of our home.  Two weeks ago we went shopping for new furniture to go with the style we are trying to obtain for our home.  We purchased new living room and dining room furniture and it will be delivered this Tuesday. The old furniture will be removed by a local charity on Monday.  Good thing we have patio chairs and TV tables.

This weekend, hubby and I also purchased a new used car.  It is a 2015 Prius Four Hatchback.  We love it.  We traded in our 9 year old car for this one.  It only had 9000 miles on this used car so that really sweetened the deal.

There is other stuff going on with Doctor appointments to get my blood pressure under control and finding the right medicine to do it with.  My arthritis medicines make it a challenge to find a blood pressure medicine that does not have interactions with them.  I think might have the right one after only 2 tries.  I will know more in a month when I go back for a recheck.  In the meantime, I take my own blood pressure each day.  It is so much fun to age.

Time for me to get out of here and try to sneak in a nap before dinner time.

Until next time......happy crafting.

Week 43 of Year 5 YoP

Hello all my dear blogging friends.  I hope today finds all of you happy and healthy.  It is a beautiful day here in the desert of Arizona.  Blue skies, slight breeze, birds singing their morning songs and I am ready for the day to begin. 

I was dismayed the other day when I read that blogging was becoming passe.  How can that be?  I even read this in a blog!  The blog said, twitter was taking over blogging as no on wants to 'sit and read' something that is longer than so many characters.  OH MY!  Does this mean that people are no longer reading things like books, magazines, or newspapers? I realize that all of those things can be obtained in electronic form, but........a person still needs to 'sit and read' them.

So, for those of you that still find enjoyment out of sitting and reading, let us advance into my world of blogging.

I have a lot of things to show you today.  So..................sit back, put up your feet and relax for the next 5 minutes.

As you all know, Hubby and I are doing our decluttering.  So far, we have done the laundry room and kitchen.  This week was the dining room and entry area.  That was done in about 3 minutes.  It required me cleaning the dining room table and removing a reusable grocery bag from the front entryway.  BUT.....................we went to Ikea this week and picked out two new pieces of furniture for our home.  And entertainment center for our living room and a double dresser for our bedroom that we can put our TV on as well as some much needed storage space.

I have not started cleaning out the old entertainment center from the living room yet.  That will commence on Monday as that also the week for decluttering the living room anyway.  But I did clean out the entertainment thingy that we have been using for our TV in the bedroom and I found treasures!

A journal.................this was given to me a few Christmas' ago and I must have been in a hurry to stash is somewhere.

It has never even had one entry put into it.  I am so excited about this.  I have been looking into doing a life planner but just didn't think I had the discipline to do that weekly.  This is perfect for me.  I love to journal and if I decide I want to get more detailed, I can do that right here in these lovely pages.  I love the fact it is spiral bound and lays flat.

Another Christmas gift was found.  This time it was for my hubby from a dear friend.  This one was a bit sad to find.  The friend passed away just about a year ago.  We had been friends for over 30 years.  This was the last ornament we received from him.  It was several years ago, as we kind of lost touch.  Hubby had all of the Star Wars Hallmark ornaments up until this point.  We gave them all to our son who is a HUGE SW fan.  This one, too will go to him.

Hubby is also a large Star Trek fan.  This was also a gift from our dear friend the same year as the ornament.  Hubby says he remembers Sunday nights in college, the TV in the common area of his dorm, would have the channel tuned to Star Trek.  It was the only time everyone agreed on the same show.

This is the best treasure I found!!!!  My Debbie Macomber Blossom Street Books!  I use to have all of them, but somewhere along the line, I have loaned out the first 3 and never got them back.  So off to Amazon I go and ordered all of the ones I do not have.  I was going to get them all in electronic form, but since there are knitting patterns in them, I wanted to be able to have it in paper.  I am not a fan of knitting pattern on electronic form.  I have a few that way, but still prefer paper.  (Old school works best for some of us moldy oldies)

This is my little boy dog, Enrique.  I was busy in my craft room and he came in to take a little rest and keep me company.  Yes, those are my blocking boards he is laying on.  This is the reason I keep blankets on top of them.  I really don't want dog hair on my fine knits.

Hubby was sweet and got my carpet roses planted for me.  I don't think my dogs will bother these jewels.  There are some might nasty thorns on them.  These should eventually take over the entire garden area.  You know, the 6 foot by 3 foot area.  They are in full bloom and have tons more of blossoms on them.  I am hoping they will continue to bloom for several months yet.

BUT WAIT............................This is suppose to be my day to blog about my crafting.  OK, OK...............I do have a little bit of knitting news.

Wee Sherlock Jacket is coming along........slowly.  I have been so busy with my other things in life, I have really not had a lot of knitting time this week.  I did manage to complete the body since last week and got part of one sleeve done.  I have found a hat pattern to tell me how many stitches to cast on for a baby 3-6 months of age.  So I was not totally idle, just not as far along as I wanted to be.  Hopefully, by next weekend, the jacket will be finished and the hat will be started.  My calendar this week, is pretty full already, but hopefully I can pay attention to this little gem in the evenings without much interruption.

Until next time...........................Happy Crafting!

Friday Goodness

I am still plugging along on Wee Sherlock Jacket.  I am on the first sleeve.  While I am doing it magic loop,  it is still slow going because it is boring.  I am half way thru the first sleeve though.  Which means, I have done 20 rows and have 20 more to go.  A pattern for a hat was found, sort of.  It gives me how many to cast on and how long to make it.  I will put my own design to it so it somewhat matches the jacket.

The past few days I have been battling, what I thought was allergies.  Nope, it's a head cold. It is 95 degrees out and I catch a bloomin cold.  So very uncool.  But when you have an autoimmune disease, such as RA, getting sick is par for the course.  I really shouldn't complain.   This is my first illness in over a year.  I managed to escape the flu everyone around me got (no, I can not take the flu shot because of meds I take).  

As for our declutter challenge. .........this is dining room and entry way week.  That took 5 minutes lol.  We will be mixing up some of the rooms this next week.   We have an entertainment center and a double dresser being delivered next Friday.  We Need to clean out the old stuff so we can clutter the new stuff lol. We had seen the entertainment center 6 months ago and decided to think about it.  We don't like to make quick decisions.  The dresser was a spur of the moment idea.  I will take before and after photos so you can see the difference.

I'm out if here.  I have a long to do list today, starting with an appointment to get my blood pressure checked.

Leftycrafter

Weirdness

I have been working on baby Kaidence's sweater for almost a week now.  The style of the sweater is adorable and I really like the cables.  It has been way too long since I have done cables. Love doing them and love the look they give to the sweater.

The title of todays blog is the real reason I  am writing today.  The pattern calls for the sweatwr to be knit for 7 inches below the arm pit.  That would make the sweater nearly 12 inches long.  Mind you, this is for a 3-6 month baby.  It just so happens I have a baby doll that is the size of a 3 month baby ( on average).  If made per instructions, it would come below the babies knees.   Needless to say, I will be making this sweater length much shorter.  Probably 5" will be perfect, especially when tryi g to buckle a car seat around it.

That being said, this sweater will be done before the weekend now.  Hopefully, I can also get a good start, if not complete, a hat to go with it.  I will have to "design" it, as there is no matching hat pattern attached to sweater pattern.  This shouldbe interesting.  I am a very visual person, designing is not my forte at all.

So on that note.......off to try and finish this sweater. ........

Leftycrafter

YoP 42

Only 10 weeks left in our year 5 YOP.  I have learned quite a bit and pushed myself to learn things I had been putting off for years.  It has been so wonderful again.

This past week I  finished the Babbity sweater and hat.

Isn't it adorable?  I am sure Olivia Adeline will love it too.  Her mommy was so thrilled.  She showed to everyone.  The mommy works where my mother is living.  She just couldn't believe anyone would do something like that for her.  She is a wonderful caregiver and we will truly miss her when she goes on maternity leave.

Since Olivia is due in June.........I was looking for rose buttons.  Most of the ones I found that looked like a rose where shank buttons.  I am not fond of those for babies.  They have to hurt a bit when buckled into a car seat.  So these are what I ended up with.

Flowers but not roses.  Oh well, I don't think Olivia will notice.

That baby combo was so fun, I started another one right away.  This one is for my niece who is due in August.  She is having a girl also.  This baby will be named Kaidence.  I am loving all these cool names. This sweater is Wee Sherlock Jacket.  I will make a hat to go with it too.

I thought this one would go quicker since it is made with worsted weight. Seems to be taking longer because of the cables and increasing continually.  I am enjoying it though. I do like the yarn I am using on this.

It has been in my stash for a couple of years.  I bought enough to make myself a sweater and have yet to get to that.  I normally would not make a sweater this dark for a baby, but I am planning on some stunning buttons to brighten up the entire piece.

I have not done cables in quite a while and love how they add so much to a pattern.  They really aren't hard to do, just a bit time consuming.  Well worth the effort though.  I am hoping to have this done in the next week or two.  We are going to Nevada again the end of May and I want to have this ready to give to the expectant mom and dad when we go.

We are still working on our 13 week declutter plan.  This week we decluttered the kitchen and all our pantries.  We have 3 of them and they are all cleaned out.  It is so self gratifying to actually throw or donate items and the house already feels lighter to me.  We have 8 33 gallon bags full of items for charity.  The charity is coming by tomorrow to pick them up.  All that after just 2 rooms.  Kind of scary isn't it?

This past week must have been my medical week.  Ended up in urgent care last weekend with a weird rash.  Went to a dermatologist on Monday to find out it is Discoid Eczema.  Really?  I have never had any issues with my skin before.  Wednesday I had a routine dental appointment and that afternoon I went to my primary care Dr as the urgent care said my blood pressure was pretty high.  Seems I am borderline hypertensive at this point.  So back to the gym I go to do lots of treadmill and some weight training.  Counting calories is back on the plate too.  I have been advised to loose weight and increase my activity or I will be going on medicine soon.  UGH!  Old age is not for sissies LOL.  

I assume, this means knitting is not a cardiovascular sport?  Come on.....haven't they ever seen us knitters when we make a mistake 7 rows back and have to rip it out to fix it?  There is quite a bit of movement that goes into that.  First, you throw the project across the room, then you have to go and pick it up, then the ripping begins, then you have to wind all the loose yarn back around your ball.  Yup, lots of movement if you ask me.

(sigh)  Alright, I will be good and follow doctor's orders.  One thing I have started doing and it is helping so much............I got the Nutribullet and make myself a smoothie each morning with fruit, greens, proteins and greek yogurt.  It is so yummy and keeps me very full until lunch time.  I have already noticed a difference in my clothes since I have started.  No, I have not weighed myself.  Scales are not the best determinator of getting into shape.  My son in Texas is a personal trainer.  He said, when he starts working with his clients, especially females, he tells  them not to step on a scale for 4 weeks.  I can understand why. So I am not stepping on the scale and have not been on the scale for 2 weeks as it is.  When I went to the Doctor on Wednesday, I had already lost almost 10 pounds in 2 weeks. I must be doing something right, huh.

Ok, I need to get back to my chores for the day.  I have a very long to do list and blogging is not getting it done.  I will probably write more this week but for sure, next weekend.

Happy Crafting

PS:  do any of you use bloglovin' to keep track of you blogs you love to read?  I have used it for about 5 years now and love that I can follow so many of my fellow crafters.