Home!

Ahhhhhh......it feels good to be home again.  We arrived home around noon on Tuesday.  Even though I enjoyed our time away, it is always nice to return home.  Our dogs really missed us and I missed my own bed!

Las Vegas is a fun place to go.  The only part I do not like is the constant noise that goes on there.  The only place we got quiet was in our room or our car!  While it is fun to watch your slot machine make noise and have lights flashing when you win, it can get to be a bit too much after a few days.

There has been absolutely no knitting done since Friday.  I am having some serious issues with my right hand at the moment.  I am pretty sure it is carpal tunnel.  I am going to call a few Doctors today to see if I can get in anywhere soon.  UGH!  I do not need this right now.  Don't need this at all, really.  Fingers crossed I can see someone before I leave next week again.   I really miss being able to just pick up my needles or hook and play with yarn.

There are many errands I need to run today. First off will be returning some library books for the Grand Daughter right after my nail appointment. Our fridge is pretty bare, so groceries are also on the list.  Menus need to be planned for the next week as well as my daily laundry and cleaning routines.  I am hoping to get a bit of pool time in.  This past weekend played havoc with my waistline. (Not that I had much of one but it was starting to come back)

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

YOP WEEK 6

 

Greetings from Las Vegas, Nevada.  Here I sit in my hotel room passing the time waiting for noon to roll around so I can go and join the BINGO tournament.  

I am happy to announce the completion of my first YOP  8 item.  This is one of those "and other things that strike my fancy" list items.

TA DA!!!!!

My produce bag.  I am tired of all the plastic bags I accumulate each week from all the fruits and veggies we buy.  This puppy holds quite a bit and weights less than an ounce.

There are 7 good sized peaches in the bag.  I need to make several more.  The fact they can be washed and used over and over is a big plus.  Saving the planet one step at a time.The pattern can be found here.  It is crocheted and takes very little time to make.  There is a knitted version too that I tried and failed miserably at.

In other knitting news:

The Forest Path shawl has grown a wee bit.  I brought it with me but have yet to pick up any knitting since I left home.

Then the socks:

They were just to the end of the white last week.  They have been receiving the most love this past week.

I did not take another photo of Rising Tide.  I did work on it and completed another round on it but until it is completed, it really doesn't look that much different.

That is all for this day.  Tomorrow hubby and I are taking his mom out for a day trip to her house to see how the remodel is going.  Then we will take her to lunch and any shopping she wants to do.  We leave for home on Tuesday.  It is a short trip this time.

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

All My Bags are Packed......................

We are all packed, other than the toiletries we need for tomorrow morning.  Even our ice chest is filled and ready to go.  Gotta love our RTIC cooler.  Keeps the ice for up to 5 days!

We actually were all done by around noon today so it has been a nice lazy afternoon.  I managed to sneak in a little nap as we as get in an hour of pool time. The pool time was not my best idea though.  I feel a little sunburn creeping up on my shoulders.  But the water felt great and I had not been in it for over a week.  OK, so it was 109 when I went out there and the UV index was 11.  It still felt wonderful to be in the water.  The gentle breeze when I got out gave me that chilly feeling too.  Perfect!

I decided to take 2 knitting projects with me.  My vanilla socks and the Forest Path prayer shawl.  That should give me just enough variety to keep me happy.  Since they are 'packed' and ready to go, I have been working on the Rising Tide scarf this evening.  I might be able to get another pattern row done before bedtime!  I am nearing the end of the skein of yarn.  This might be my last row.  If not, the next one will be.  WOOHOO!  Then I will  give both scarves an nice little soak and block them.  I sure hope the soak softens them up.  This yarn is super scratchy!  

Once we get home, I will have 8 days to get ready for my next trip.  The next one will be to Texas to see my Grands there as well as their parents.  Looking forward to that trip as it is normally a very laid back time.  We do what we want when we feel like it.  We do have a pontoon party planned for one weekend.  It should be a lot of fun and sun.  I will be taking sunscreen for that day.  We will be out for 8 hours and I doubt there will be much shade to sneak under.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate for us.  Texas is unpredictable but they seem to be in a dry spell right now.  

OK, that is all for tonight.  Time to go back to working on the scarf and watching the Diamondback playing the San Francisco Giants.  We are ahead right now.

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

Another Post

It has been a great day.  I went to the prayer shawl group this morning and we laughed so much.  What a great time we had today.  I even managed to get another pattern round done on my Forest Path shawl.  

After the group meeting, I headed off to the bank.  Oh my goodness..................the road was narrowed down from 3 lanes to 1 lane and it was lunch time.  Traffic was backed up over a mile.  Good thing I was not on a time table.  Took an alternate route home from the bank and then had a nice lunch with hubby.  He had cleaned while I was at Prayer Shawl.  How nice to come home to a clean house.

Once lunch was over, I started laundry so I could get some more of that completed.  Tomorrow I will do the last load and be all done before we leave. I love having a totally cleaned house and empty laundry basket to come home to.

Our local Italian restaurant had a buy 1 get 1 free special tonight.  Well, why would I want to cook when that is available?  It was not WW friendly at all.  Yet, with all the running around I have done in the past week, I am not too concerned.  

During dinner, our phones went off with a weather warning of a dust storm moving in.  I know I have said it before but.......................I love our monsoons.  The dust storm did not disappoint either.

The dimensions of this haboob (technical name for dust storm) was 40,000 feet high and over 50 miles wide.  That is a biggie!  As I am sitting here typing this, I can hear thunder happening.  I pray there will be a nice rain to wash off the dust that is covering everything. While waiting to find out, I have a little boy dog buried under my arm too.  He is not a fan of storms.

The big baby.

That's it for today.  I will tell you, I completed something today.  I will post about it on Sunday.  Stayed tuned!

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

MIDWEEK MUSINGS

Hello everyone.  It is just past dinner and I am sitting back enjoying some down time before I start doing some laundry.  We had some lovely brats for dinner and I had some wonderful watermelon on the side.  Instead of a bun for my brat, I used 

I really am trying to be a good weight watcher's person.  It isn't always easy.  Especially last night.................We went here:

Our favorite Pizza place.  It is called Organ Stop Pizza and they have this huge Wurlizer organ and it is played throughout the evening.  It is so much fun and we all sing along with the songs.  Lots of show tunes, Disney tunes, Patriotic songs etc.  So......I did have pizza and beer.  It was worth it because we were celebrating this:

She turned 13!!!!!  Actually today is her birthday.  What a difference 7 years makes in looks.

I need to show you my dinner from Monday night.

I found these 'baby' heads of romaine lettuce at Costco.  They are perfect to use instead of tortillas.  I made pork al pastor.  It was so yummy.  Super easy too since our meat cutter has it all marinated and cubed up in the meat case.  

I did accomplish something the past few days.

I finished this 500 piece puzzle in 3 days.  WOOHOO!  Sorry for the glare but I was in a hurry to get the photo taken and get the puzzle off the dining room table.  I won't start another one until I get done with my traveling this month.

I have been working on my socks and scarf the most this week.  Tomorrow is Prayer Shawl day so will work on that in the morning.  We are leaving Saturday morning so will have a few hours of traveling knitting time.  That is if I don't decide to do the driving.  Am I the only one that plans what projects to take on a trip BEFORE they plan out their clothes?

Hubby had his first of three tests done today.  The report from this one was good.  Hopefully the next 2 will be just as encouraging.  Thank you for all the prayers and good thoughts.

Time to watch a movie and do some knitting while the laundry is going.

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

YOP WEEK 5 UPDATE

Happy day to all of you.  I pray you all are well and safe.  Between the wet weather in the east, tornadoes in the Midwest, wild fires in the west, and hot and dry in England and Canada, it makes this blogger happy to see her other blogging buddies posting.  That way I know you are all safe!  

This is week 5 and I have one finished object.  I wonder if I am spread too thin?  Although, I did have my grand daughter and her bff this past week for 3 days.  Keeping them entertained can be a challenge.  We saw movies, went to the library again, and one day we played card and board games for 5 hours.  That does cut into the crafting time.  Each night we cooked dinner for them and for my DIL and by the time they left, it was almost 8pm and I was dog tired by then.  

I did make progress on my WIP's though.

First up..............................Rising Tide.

I decided to take a photo showing you the difference 1 pattern row makes.  The bottom has one more 'row' than the top.  I really do love this pattern and would love to make it again but this time with a yarn I can work with for longer than an hour max.  I think it would make a gorgeous shawl.  I need to find a sock yarn with a looooooong striping pattern.  If you have an suggestions for a non wool self striping sock yarn that fits the bill, let me know. 

Speaking of sock yarn:

I did not loose my sock mojo.  It was the yarn with that pattern that was frustrating me.  This is my Diversity sock yarn.  My all time favorite self striping.  It has a slight shine to it and it feels wonderful going through my fingers.  Even with careful measuring of the color changing of the yarn, I am off by 40 stitches as to where the color changes on each sock.  It will not be noticeable as I go along, but it kind of frustrated me a little.  Not enough for me to throw in the towel of these though.

As for the socks that are in time out.......................I have remembered a pattern that will be perfect for them and will frog them and start on that pattern soon so as not to 'forget' it again.

I started on a double ended crochet shawl last week.  I hated it.  The pattern was too opened for my liking and it was to be a mans' shawl.  I ripped it out and waited patiently until my smaller double ended crochet hooks  arrived.  Then I got different colored yarn and started again.

This is a bit tighter crochet.  I went from and "N" hook down to a "K" and used more of an Aran weight yarn.  Now I am happy with it.

My Forest Path shawl is coming along slowly.

I really need to remember to mark the pattern as to where I left off.  I ended up frogging 5 rows because of not doing that this week.  It is a nice knit to do in front of the TV.  It is done using the Portuguese method as there is quite a bit of purling in it.  What a nice break for my hands.  Someday, I will figure out how to do Portuguese in the round so I can do socks that way.  I am not experienced enough yet for that.  I probably need to take a class on it since I am self taught.

As for the finished object:

The puzzle is completed.  That was the photo of the last piece waiting to be put in.  I had quite a bit of help from my DIL when she came for dinner this week.  There has not been another one set up yet.  Maybe this week or next.

That is all on the crafting front.  This coming week is busy.  We have our local Grand Daughter's 13th birthday, hubby has the 1st of 3 tests from his second specialists, he sees his original specialist, we leave on Saturday to visit his mom for a few days.  My socks will be getting a lot of love over the next 10 days.  They are so nice and portable.  Plus, they are a plain vanilla sock so no need for a pattern to carry with me.

We finally got some much needed rain last night.  Hubby and I were awakened around 3:30 by the thunder that actually shook our house.  It lasted for about 30 minutes and I had 2 very scared dogs buried under my legs for the rest of the night.  I love thunderstorms!

I am off to do some grocery shopping.  

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