I'M TOO OLD FOR THIS

It's our last day with the Grand.  I have no plans for today and don't need them as she had her best friend spend the night and they entertain each other quite well.  They both have homework to do so that will be priority #1 since they go back to school tomorrow.  Hubby will help them with their Math while I sit and look cute lol.

I did make a loaf of bread last night.  The girls are looking forward to fresh homemade toast and jam this morning.  As for dinner last night........we ordered pizza.  I was exhausted.

I took the grand to the library as planned and she loved it.  Afterwards, she wanted to walk around downtown.  It is only a mile long but when you walk it all in 95 degree heat......it seems to be 5 miles.  She wanted to go into the antique shops (surprised me) and I found the perfect anniversary gift for hubby in one of them.

Wedding by Jack Black.  He was an artist out of Tucson.  Hubby and I met him and toured his studio.  We have several of his pieces.  He passed away in 2002 and all his molds were destroyed.  His daughter, Lois, has taken over his studio now.

Back to yesterdays adventures.  After walking around for about 2 hours, we went for lunch at a local bar and grill.  The child put a half pound hamburger away as well as french fries! We then stopped at McDonalds and grabbed a McFlurry for desert and she scarfed that down too.

We went to see my mom for a little while then went to check on Grands cat and fish and picked up the bff.  It was a nice break for me. I got some down time to do dishes and pick up around the house a bit.  Hubby had class last night so I truly had down time.  I even got to knit on my socks for a bit!  I also got to read everyone's blogs and made comments.  It was very pleasant.

The girls have just gotten up, so will go make their breakfast and then get cleaned up and tackle my day of laundry.  There will also be crockpot cooking so I can make taquitos tonight for the family.  I doubt the parents will have had dinner before coming home.  It's always nice to come home to a home cooked meal after eating out for 5 days.

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

READING ROOM

It is Monday morning and I am having a hard time waking up Grand Daughter.  We were up late last night but she begged me to get her up before 9 this morning.  Hopefully she will get moving soon as we have a busy day ahead of us again.

I spent some time reading last night and finally finished a book and started another.

I finished the above book.  I liked it although I was a little disappointed with part of the ending.  I am a hopeless romantic so things didn't quite work out the way I had hoped.  Oh Well...........It was still worth reading and I gave it a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I started reading this book......

I haven't gotten too far yet but already like my characters.  It seems to be an easy read and should be perfect for bed time reading.  I am trying to stay away from kindle reading at night as my sleep patterns were pretty bad from the electronic screen.  My sleep patterns have been much better since going to paper pages again.


Today the Grand and I are heading to the library.  I really love going there.  I just never think about it that much and am lazy.  I order books off the Internet but need to start seeing if they have the ones I like at the library instead.  

This afternoon, Grand and I will visit my mom and then come home and make a marvelous dinner.  I have no idea what we are making, but it will be marvelous no matter.

I still need to bake bread so will do that tonight as well.  Also will do a bit of laundry tonight, since I took the weekend off to play with the Grand.  Her parents come home tomorrow night.  I have so enjoyed the past few days with her.  The house will sure be quiet after she leaves.

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

WEEK 16

 

Happy Sunday to all of you.  It is time for another YOP update.  Now that I have finished the Log Cabin Blanket and given it to it's owner, I have had the pleasure of working on other WIP's.

I told you our prayer shawl ministry was given several items that were too small to be either shawls or lapghans.  I had sewn together several of them and made 6 lapghans. I took another one and added more yarn to it to make it a lapghan.  Now I am working on the last one.

I am going to try and make this a shawl.  The blue/yellow variegated is what was completed when I received it.  I am adding the yellow to the sides in the same pattern that is in the main body.  Of course the pattern is turned 90 degrees.  Do you guys think this will turn out OK?  I am torn still, but really did not want to turn it into another lapghan as that takes about 3 skeins of yarn and I only have 1.5 skeins to work with.

I also worked on my socks a bit.

The one on the right is supposed to be ready for the heel.  I still think it needs more length on it before I start the heel.  I like them to be at least 7 inches long on the leg and this one is just at 6 inches.  I am working on the sock on the right at the moment to catch it up to it's mate.

The other item I am working on is, The Miami Vice shawl.

It is a lovely pattern and I have enjoyed working it.  I am going to have to really steam block this as  when it it not laying on something that holds it, it springs up into a small little shawl.  I do realize that, once it is washed and dried by it's new owner, it will scrunch back up again, but at least it will look nice when it is given to them.

This has been and will be a busy week for me.  We picked up our grand daughter on Friday and will have her until Tuesday evening.  I have made sure we have a special day planned each day for her.  Friday, we went to see my mom and then took my daughter and her hubby out for their birthday dinners.  (YUMMY Italian food)

Yesterday was doggie spa day.  We took them to get their nails trimmed, then they went to the vet to have their anal glands drained ( I know, TMI) and then we brought them home and gave them a bath.  After all that, I ran over to the local Great Clips and got my hair trimmed up.  By that time it was lunch time and then we got showered and cleaned up and went to Mass.  After church, we went out to eat with our BFF's and then came home and settled in for the night.

Today, I am taking her to a movie and then to the Mall.  It is football Sunday, and Pop Pop will be glued to the TV this afternoon, so we have plenty of time to go and play.  One of the things she wants to do is, get a make over at Macy's so she has an idea of different way to wear makeup.  Yes, she is only 12, but she is very good about wearing makeup so you hardly know she has anything on.  If this is the only thing we have to fight during the next 8 years, then I will be happy.  That and her wanting to do fun things with her hair.............we all decided we can deal with this.  There are so many kids her age already into drugs and alcohol.................make up and hair is the least of our worries.

Tomorrow, we are set to go to the library and get her a library card and let her look around to see what she would like to get to read.  She is an avid reader and I am so proud of that fact.  In the afternoon, we are going to go to visit my mom again and that will complete that day.

Tuesday.....................she gets to complete her homework and we will be cleaning out her closet and her drawers here.  She has grown so much, nothing I have here fits her anymore. At the age of 12, she is already 5 feet tall.  Five more inches and she will be looking me in the eye.  I don't think I am prepared for this.

This was this morning:

My dogs follow her around everywhere................just in case she would want to drop some food or give them a treat or stop to give out a few belly rubs.  

That is all for today.  I might even get a loaf of bread made later today.  I am out and have been for 3 days!

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

WEEK 15.5 YOP UPDATE

Howdy, everyone.  I know I am a little late to this weeks party.  I was trying so hard to complete an item.  It is completed and now I feel like I truly have a blog worthy update.

TA DA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Log Cabin Blanket is completed.  This pattern was written by an instructor at our LYS.  She originally made it with pastel colors and used many more colors than I did.  It also was only about 3 feet square.

DD and I decided to use worsted weight yarn (I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby).  We also decided to only use 6 colors total. I still did as many rounds as she did because the black was used every round when she used other colors in place of the black.

That is a 1 foot ruler sitting in the middle of the blanket.  This one came out to be 4 feet square.  I started the entire blanket over on July 25th and finished it last night (October 10th). I don't think 6 weeks is too bad to make a blanket in.  Will I make another one?  NOPE!  Although, I did learn 3 new techniques.

I learned the Russian grafting using live stitches.  That is how the squares were joined together.  It was kind of fun but it took me over 4 hours to join them all together.  It was very easy to miss a stitch so had to really watch what I was doing.

The second technique I learned was the 3 stitch i-cord edging.  What a marvelous edging.  It is so stretchy and looks very nice.  I think it would make a wonderful edging for a shawl that was done bottom up.  

The last thing I learned was the knitted cast on.  Ok, so I have been knitting now for about 12 years and this is the first time I had been asked to do this.  HELLO!!!!!!  Another fantastically stretchy stitch.  How nice would that be for a top down sock.  Using that cast on would make sure that the top of the sock was never too tight to get over your heel and yet would still make it hug your leg once on.

This will be given to DD this weekend for her birthday.  She has seen it while it was being put together.  Her hubby was with her when she saw it.  He was a bit concerned about all the ends hanging out.  LOL  She informed him that it was not completed yet and those ends would be a thing of the past when it was given to them.  Smart daughter!

I am not trying to complete the last prayer shawl/lapghan I was given from the prayer shawl ministry.  It has to be made bigger as a 22"X 36" piece of crocheting was too small for a lapghan or a shawl.  I have about 6 more rows to do on it and it will be completed.  That will happen yet today.  I will return it on Thursday to the group and then I will be done with the remaking process and go back to the shawls I have on my needles.  I have 2 going at the same time.  OOPS.  LOL  I didn't mean to cast on the second one, but it was so pretty, I just had to try it.

There are still WIP's in my craft closet that will be getting some love and attention now.  Please say a prayer that we get a COLD winter this year.  I have an alpaca shawl I have had on the hook for several years but am unable to work on it unless it is really cold outside.  That shawl is super hot when laying on my lap.  If it is cold outside, I will take it out there and work on it and hopefully get it done...............finally.

I have so much more to tell you about what has been going on around here but, I will save that for another post this week.  CRAZY LIFE!

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

Just because I can

Good Thursday to all of you.  It is a great day and the dark cloud that was hanging over my head for a couple of days has disappeared.  Nothing but sunshine following me around right now.  

Last time I wrote, I was getting ready to go and pick up Grand Daughter from school.  Actually I was going to pick her up after her volleyball game...............which I got to watch.  It was a good game even though they lost both games.  After the game I noticed she had something in her hand that made me so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The missing flute has been found.  It was in her Spanish classroom.  Don't ask...................Seems Spanish is 2 periods after band and she just kind of forgot to pick up the case when she left that class.  One of her 5th grade friends over heard GD talking about loosing her flute and mentioned she had seen a flute case in the Spanish classroom.  This is one of the joys of going to a small school where everyone knows everyone. Her parents were extremely happy also.

Wednesday, I got the privilege to pick up GD from school again and this time we got to go to her house where she did homework and I worked on my Petty Harbour socks.  It was a nice quiet evening.  She is so fun to be with and cracks me up with some of the things she says.  She also showed me some of the songs and choreography from the musical she is in at school.  They are performing "Seussical".  It looks so cute.  Of course we will go to it.

Last night I worked on the prayer shawl again while watching my Diamondbacks win their way into the play offs!  They have a 5 game series with the Dodgers starting on Friday.  Fingers crossed for this.  The Dodgers are pretty good this year and our pitching crew is not looking good right now.  I am going to make sure all my Dback shirts are clean and I will be cheering them on from my living room with my team shirts on!

This morning was Prayer Shawl Ministry.  Once again, we had a great time there.  The ladies are so great to be with.  There is always a mixture of laughter and tears each week.  But it is still wonderful to be with ladies that love to craft as much as I do.  I turned in the lapghans I had sewn together.  I still have one more to continue working on to make it larger. I picked up another skein of yarn from our yarn closet and will try and get it completed by next week.  It felt good to get all those other lapghans out of the house.  They sure did take up a large amount of space.  There were actually 7 of them.

Hubby is picking up lunch for us today.  After we eat I am heading over to Macy's to get my Mom's cosmetics she needs as well as some of for me.  It is bonus time at the Clinique counter.  Neither of us wear much make up, but I do like 2 of their items and she likes one of their lotions.  It will keep us both set until spring when they have their next bonus time. 

Tonight, we have adoration at our cancer shrine/prayer chapel.  I will work on the prayer shawl while there.  It is an hour of nice quite time and I can usually get quite a bit done while praying at the same time.

That is all for today.  

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

Can I start over?

I would really like a do over for this week.  Yup, I know it is only Tuesday, but I am so done with everything already.  I call MULLIGAN!

Sunday started out OK.  I got my blog posted in record time.  I also taught a class at Church Sunday morning and it went very well...............although it did go into overtime with all the questions and discussion we had going.  When I got home, I started making a grocery list and trying to plan menus for the week.  It did not get completed as some family came over to go swimming.  That didn't last long as the pool water temp is 72 and that is VERY chilly for us desert rats to swim in.  The family stayed for a little while.  After they left, we realized we had not had lunch.  So I rushed off to the grocery store to pick up some supplies and pick up some food for lunch/dinner.  We kind of snacked our way through the evening on cheese, sausage and hummus.  Reading other blogs was on that list too and I did manage to do that.

Monday morning came too quickly for me.  I did get a load of laundry done as well as baked a loaf of bread and cleaned out the refrigerator.  The log cabin blanket still has me a bit puzzled.  I can see the advantages of both way but...............I am leaning towards this:

It is the original way daughter and I had it planned to be.  I like the way the light in the center pops out.

I think I may have made several people uncomfortable with this photo:

When I said it was going to be bordered in black, I think many of you thought it would be a border to match the other parts of the square.  Nope................it is just an i-cord that is worked around the edges.  So it is very small.  Does that make any difference to any of you?

The strange thing is...................the 2 men I asked, both liked the bottom photo.  All the woman liked the top photo.  What does that say?  Hmmmmmmmmm

I did go to visit my mom Monday afternoon.  I had to completely rearrange her closet so everything could fit into it.  All of her supplies need to be stored in there and there just wasn't enough room.  I ended up taking home some of the supplies and will take them back to her as she needs them.  I was almost totally worn out after cleaning that out.  Then I get a message from my AZ son letting me know our grand daughter has lost her flute.  

Yup, the flute we bought for her 2 years ago.  I was so unhappy about that.  She has no idea where she had it last.  Her dad is pretty sure it was left at school and she is supposed to be looking in her classrooms to see if she left it there.  Lucky for us, it is a small private school.  If she does not find it by Thursday, her parents will be going to buy her a new one.  This is not sitting well with them.  That had me totally bummed.

On the way home from my mom's, I called Zaycon to find out about our meat order that got delayed until this coming Saturday.  Found out for some reason, I was listed as unsubscribed and had not gotten any texts or emails from them about a change of time and place!  I was furious by this time.  It takes quite a bit to make me angry, but this put me over the edge for the rest of the night.  So what do I do when I am that upset?  I work with fiber.

Our prayer shawl ministry had received some items that were too small for a shawl or a lapghan.  I took several of them home with me to see what could be done with them.  I now have 5 lovely lapghans that I made by sewing two of the small items together.  The last thing I am working on is adding more rows to another small item to make it long enough to be a lapghan.  It did not look good with any of the other smaller items, so it will be just increased in size.  Lucky for me, I recognized the pattern that was used and will be able to continue the pattern while working on it.  I felt a bit better but with all that was going on in Las Vegas, I just could not quite shake all of the uglies out of my mind. (We have quite a few relatives and friends in Vegas that LOVE country music.  They are all OK, but it still hits too close to home)

I woke up today and found I was still in a very foul mood.  I HATE feeling like that!  I was asked to take my son to the airport this morning and actually, that outing made me cool off quite a bit.  By the time I got home, hubby was cleaning the house so I was able to make some much needed phone calls.

I contacted my church to set up a pastoral appointment, then I called the people that deliver all the supplies to my mom and put a hold on that until further notice, and finally I called Kitchen Aid about an attachment for my mixer that doesn't work for anything.

My pastoral appointment is not until next week, the supplier for my mom was super nice, and the Kitchen Aid folks are sending a new and improved attachment for my mixer!  OK, so my mood is getting better.

While hubby is cleaning the house, I decide that is the perfect time for me to get on the computer to find photos to make a story board for our prayer shawl ministry.  I found everything I wanted and got them all saved in a folder.  When I went to print them.................disaster.  My pictures were coming out YELLOW!  I had to clean the print heads 3 times to get the ink to work properly.  Then I ran into the issue of trying to get the photos the proper size for the story board.  By the time I was done, I had spent over 1.5 hours printing out 8 photos!  My mood just took another nose dive into the dirt!

I have to show you this one photo though:

Isn't that just the perfect thing for a religious story board about knitting and crocheting?  Mood improving again!

OK, I am done complaining.  I have to pick up the grand daughter from school this week as her dad is off on a business trip until Friday.  

Please say a prayer that she finds that flute!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Week 14 update and Poll

Good day to all of you.  This post will be kind of short.  My daughter and I need your input on the log cabin blanket.

I ave laid it out two different ways.  We can not decide which one we like the best.  My daughter as asked that my "knitting bloggers" vote on it and then surprise her with the finished product.

Here you go:

PHOTO 1

PHOTO 2

They will be bordered in black.

Please leave you vote in the comments.

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