WEEK 8 of YOP 11

 

Hi there and thanks for stopping by to read my blog.  Here is what I accomplished this past week.

The photo on the left shows my progress for the week.  I have completed section three of the shawl and am now on the 58 row boarder.  There are only 45 rows of the border left to do LOL.  

The photo on the right shows you a close up of the 'fluffly' yarn that is being used as the contrasting color.  It give the shawl that little oomph that makes it fun.

I case you forgot, the main color I used for the shawl is a gradient.  Take a look at the way the colors blended.

Who would have thought to go from bright orange to pink in a color scheme?  Do you notice the contrasting color is a self striping yarn.  I had no idea it was until I started doing the border.  Hopefully my daughter will love this and wear it during the cool fall and spring evenings we have here.

My goal is to complete the shawl this week and then cast on another 'long term' project.  I normally have several projects going at the same time, but lately, I have found it better if I concentrate only on one BIG one.  Of course, there are still socks on the needles but they don't count, right?  And we won't mention the cross stitch projects I have going that are languishing in my crafting basket.  Shhhhhh

Blocking this shawl will be interesting.  It is quite large and I don't think our pool table is going to be big enough to hold it.  I may need to open up the dining room table and try it on there.  Hopefully, I will not need to do it on a floor.  I have a very hard time getting up from sitting on the floor because of my RA.  (Going down is a breeze LOL)

I did manage to declutter and deep clean my kitchen this past week.  You can read about it here if you are interested.  I also ended up in the Dr's office this week.  I thought my vertigo was coming back to visit me.  The Dr is treating me for sinusitis as he thinks that is causing the issue.  I am on day 3 of the medications and feel much better already.  I have 7 more days of meds and am hoping I will be right as rain by the end of them.  The good thing is, I can drive this time.  Last time I could not turn my head at all without the world spinning.  That sensation has already left me this time so the meds are doing their job.  PTL!

Hubby is leaving tomorrow for 4 days to go and see his mom.  She was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago for an infection.  She was only in for 3 days but then had to go into isolation for 5 days when released back to her facility (covid restrictions).  She was just returned to her room on Friday and is now available for visitors.  It just amazes me how resilient this 94 year old woman is!

While hubby is gone I plan on doing some more decluttering and getting the shawl completed.  There is also going to be a bit of dog duty the end of this week.  It seems strange not to have teen duty.  Now that she can drive, I am not needed as her chauffeur anymore.

That is all for today.  If you would like to see what other fiber artist are doing check it out here.

Until Next Time.........................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!

Making Space and Deep Cleaning

 

I finally got a week off of dog/teen duty.  My thought was to make good use of this week and get some much needed deep cleaning and decluttering done.  My area to attack.......the kitchen.  Even though I have decluttered it in the past, I still seem to have way too many duplicate items in there.  Not to mention items I have not used in years.  

This box is full and not just with pans and a coffee maker.  There are quite a few knives and cooking utensils in the bottom of this.  I do believe I counted 10 knives, 3 pans, 2 coffee makers, and 15 cooking utensils.  Once I got the drawers and cabinets cleaned out, I vacuumed them to get all those nasty crumbs out of them.  The front of the drawers and cabinets were all scrubbed clean too.  I polished my glass stove top and did a 3 step cleaning, polishing and sealing process on my granite counter tops.  It took me 2 days to complete everything.  My kitchen shines!  I almost hate to cook in there LOL.

This bag is full of tea and tea paraphernalia.  My daughter loves to brew tea the old fashion way.  She will be thrilled to get all of this loose tea.  I have 2 teas I love and did not see any reason to keep tea in my house that will never be used.  That is another 10 items out of my house.  Feels good!

Oh, before you worry about us not having a coffee maker, do not fear.  Hubby decided to go with a Keurig single serve machine.  He would like to cut down on the amount of coffee he drinks each day.  I am not a coffee drinker so it did not matter to me.  I only drink coffee in the winter time and then I only drink 1 cup a few times a week.  Mostly I prefer my tea.  (All of my tea and coffee is decaffeinated because of my allergy to caffeine.)

After all of that, I needed an easy activity.

The baby show gift is all wrapped and card is made and ready to go this weekend.  Hopefully she will love the little sweater set I made for her.  We also got them a front/back baby carrier.  I loved mine and that was 40 plus years ago.  It sure makes going on adventures easy.  I even used mine when I was doing housework.  My youngest did not like to be put down.  It was a win win for both of us.

I am now kicking back and getting ready to work on the shawl for a while.  Enrique is curled up by my legs sound asleep.  Luna is next to me on the couch sleeping also.  It is the perfect setting for some relaxing knitting.

Before I leave, I needed to show you this:

Until next time.........................................................

WEEK 7

 

Hello and thank you for stopping by today.  I promise not to take up too much of your time today.  Knitting happened this week but with over 400 stitches on my needles, it looks like not much was accomplished.

I was really hoping to have completed the last orange section this past week.  I worked on it daily too.  But, alas, it was not to be.  I still have another 38 rows to knit before I will change to the 'beige' color for the 48 row border.  There will be a total of 552 stitches on the needles by the time I am ready to bind off.  Hopefully you will forgive me for showing only this for the next few weeks.  I really want to complete it before I start anything else.  I have no major plans this coming week, so fingers crossed, many rows will be accomplished.  The nicest thing about this shawl is how compact it is.  Even though it is 'big', it is not bulky.  It fits nicely into my medium project bag.

That is it for knitting/crocheting.

Question for you............................have you ever owned a pair of Crocs?

As you all know, I have rheumatoid arthritis.  "Arthur" is my pet name for it.  Anyway, Arthur has spent the past few years messing with my hands and feet.  Thankfully, I am still able to knit and crochet without issues even with my fingers not being 'straight'.  However, my feet have been a problem for a couple of years.  I have been able to find shoes that have wonderful memory foam insoles that have cradled my problem feet.  In one of my RA groups I belong to, someone mentioned that Crocs were the most wonderful shoes she had ever worn and they made it so she could walk without pain.  Several other people agreed with her.  

I just could not bring myself to get a pair.  They look clunky and are not in the least bit attractive.  Well, my Grand Daughter got a pair for her birthday and let me try them on.  (We have the same size feet)  On my goodness!  I could not believe I was actually walking 'normally' (not on the side of my foot) without any pain.

When I got home, I told hubby about it and he told me to get some if it would help me walk more.  I warned him they were not an attractive shoe.  His response was " who cares what they look like if they give you back more quality of life".  Gosh, he is so supportive.  So, I ordered two pair of them and they came in yesterday.  One pair will be going back as it is missing the strap off of one of the shoes (And with my feet issues I need the strap to help hold them on)  I walked around in the other pair for a couple of hours and was so happy that I had no pain and was able to move about without tiring.

No, they are not a pretty shoe.  No, they will not 'dress up' an outfit.  But they are giving me more mobility which is a huge plus for this lady.  I may have Arthur, but he doesn't have me!

Until Next Time.......................................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let the Crazies Stop!

 

This past week was so different.  I was scheduled to do dog sitting all week.  That is not so unusual.  That has been happening twice a month for a while now.  

Monday, I went over to Thor's house to enjoy his company and wait for the teen to come home from school orientation.  She drove to school for the first time and was pretty puffed about it.  School got out at noon and by 1:30 I was starting to get a big concerned as she was still not home.  She walked in the door about 1:35 and stated she got lost coming home.  Seems she was not able to turn like we normally do and got sent in the opposite direction of how we normally come home.  She had her GPS up on her phone but it kept trying to take her down freeways and she was not about to attempt that on her first day out.  I was just glad to see her bright smiling face.

Tuesday I was not needed for dog duty as there was no school that day and no swim practice.  I got to spend the day at home making decorations for the upcoming baby shower.  The teen was also not feeling well with a sore throat, fever, and headache.  Yes, her mom took her in for strep and covid testing.  Both were negative.  THANK GOODNESS!  We got a call that hubby's mom was taken to the hospital for irregular heartbeat.  Luckily, his sister is there and is able to keep us informed of what is happening.

Wednesday I was back on dog duty.  The teen came home at the appointed time and said she felt much better and wanted to go to trivia with us that evening.  She got all her homework completed and we went to trivia.  Halfway through trivia she started to feel very yucky.  I offered to take her home but she refused.  Good thing too.  We won first place thanks to her help.

Thursday I was ready to go dog sitting when I was informed the teen was not going to school but staying home to rest and get better.  No problem.  I always have things I can do around my house.  I managed to get a haircut, do a little window shopping and grocery shopping too.  About 1, I got a call from the teen's dad asking me to go and do a wellness check as no one could get ahold of her.  I was three blocks from her house when she texts me to tell me she just woke up!  Talk about heart stopping moments.  I called her just so I could hear her voice and she sounded sooooo much better than the day before.  I think her body just needed time to rejuvenate itself.  Heard from hubby's mom's doctor and sounds like she will be going back to her skilled nursing home soon.  She had a really bad UTI and is on antibiotics for it.  UTI's in the elderly is not something to mess around with.  Just glad she is on the road to recovery.

Today (Friday), I am back on dog duty.  The teen is back at school.  I have already made the house ready for hubby to vacuum and mop.  Fingers crossed I will get one load of laundry done before I leave.  Otherwise, I will be doing 4 loads again tomorrow.  I have my knitting bagged up and ready to travel with me.  My lunch is packed and ready to go too.  Sounds like we will be going to the airport to pick up our son tonight too.  

I pray, next week will be a bit quieter and more 'normal'.  I would like to finish up the knitting project I have going and start another one that needs to be completed before winter hits in December.  Not sure it will make that deadline, but a girl can dream.

Until next time.................................................................

WEEK 6

 

Hey there!  Thanks for stopping by today.  I won't keep you long.  I have things to do today but wanted to drop into my blog and show you what I did this past week.

CRAFTING

The buttons got sewn on the baby set and it is now ready to be gifted to the expected parents.

Did you know putting a white sweater on a white table is not the best idea for a photo shoot?  LOL

The only other item I worked on this week was:

"Dying in the Light" shawl.  The progress keeper is where I was last week.  The bottom strip of light yarn is from the same skein as the top strip.  I knew it was a gradient as is the orange skein but did not realize how drastic a change it had.  I like it!  The orange is getting lighter and by the end of the shawl it will be a pinkish color.  This is going a bit slower now as I have close to 400 stitches per row.  By the time it is finished there will be 550 stitches.  This is the perfect knit to pick up and set down.  I have stitch markers every 50 stitches to help me keep track of my count which also helps me keep track of where I am in the pattern.

That is all for the crafting.

There are no treasure from this past week.  I had planned on going to a yarn shop, that is in the middle of Phoenix, but just could not muster up the energy to go out in this heat.  

LIFE

I have dog/teen duty this coming week again.  Probably more dog than teen though.  The teen now has her license so she is able to take herself to and from school and to and from swim and to and from anywhere else she needs to go.  I will just go and sit with the dog for a few hours each day to make sure he doesn't get too lonely and decide to eat something that doesn't belong to him.

So that is all for today.  Hubby and I are heading over to our BFFs house.  Hubby is going to help the MR with some yard work and I am going to help the MRS get prepared for the baby shower she is having in a couple of weeks.  I think I got the best part of this deal.

Until Next Time....................................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW!

 

It is time to brag for a moment.  This happened on Sunday.

Sweet 16 for Josie.  It was fun being with her and some of her friends for the day.

But today............................She passed her drivers test.  She is officially a licensed driver.  So proud of her.  She is the first one in her group of friends to get her license and yet she is the youngest one among them.  She is pretty proud and so is this Mimi!

Until next time........................................................

WEEK 5 UPDATE

 

Yup, it is that time again to come here and tell you all about the week I just had.  Just so you know, it was a very good week.  So, let's get started.

CRAFTING

I have a finish.

Wee Sherlock sweater and Little Boy Blue hat are completed.  The buttons will be sewn on today.  If you can't tell, we now know the baby is going to be a girl.  We are all very excited too.  I like the sweater pattern as it can be for either boy or girl.  The hat, I modified to have the same cable on it as is on the sweater.  The pom pom is also an added feature.  So, basically, all I use the hat pattern for is for stitch count and decreases on the top LOL.

I also have another frogged item.

The Summer Lacey Stole got pulled apart.  I picked it up to work on this week and decided to measure it.  Once I did that, I realized this would only be about 40" long when I ran out of yarn.  Not going to work so well.  But never fear.  I did find another pattern to make with the yarns in this.

Say hello to Dying in the Light.  This is a pattern I test knit several years ago.  The person who designed it is no long designing and all of her patterns have been removed from Ravelry.  This is such a relaxing knit.  It is all in garter with German short rows used to add in the contrasting yarn and there are some eyelet rows thrown in to add texture.  

TREASURES

I just happened to be by a Hobby Lobby the other day.  It is not the one I normally go to.  In fact, it is twice the size of the one close to my house.  Of course this meant I needed to go in and check it out to see what this one had that mine did not.  WHOA!  It was AWESOME!

First treasure was a pom pom maker.  I love pom poms but have never mastered the skill of making them 'by hand'.  This came in quite handy for the baby hat pom pom.

Next..................................

Two mini cross stitch kits.  The Christmas Nativity scene will be for our house.  The camper will be sent to my niece.  Her family is very much into traveling and have a very strong faith too.  I wanted to start on the Christmas one but when I pulled out the instructions I almost went blind.  Never have I seen a chart so small I could not figure out what the symbols were.  We are going to enlarge it on our printer so I don't go blind doing it, plus, I have a cross stitch magnifying glass I wear around my neck that will be put to use.

And lastly.....................................

The silicone gingerbread men forms are for my homemade 'frosty paws' for my dogs.  I figured if we eat animal crackers, they could eat gingermen.  The plaque behind it was also a find at HL.  I fell in love with it the moment I saw it.  I was so brave as it did not have a price on it and so I did not know if it was included in any of the sale items for the week.  SURPRISE!  It was part of the 66% off items.  In fact, everything I purchased was at least 50% off.  Correction, the cross stitch kits were not on sale but I love them anyways.

MY JOB THIS PAST WEEK

Yup, I had a job this past week.  My son was out of town for business and his wife works full time in a Dr office.  That means I had teen and dog duty.  The teen had a swim camp this week to prepare her for her school's swim team that starts in 2 weeks.  I had the privilege of taking her to and from the camp each day.  While she was at camp, I had 2 hours to kill which is how I found that HUGE Hobby Lobby store.

After camp was over we would go to her house for lunch and some girl time.  This also meant we got to hang out with Thor, the dog.

I wanted Josie to be involved in the baby set I made so I gave her the task of making the pom pom for the hat.  She was quite thankful I had purchased the pom pom makers.

After enjoying each other's company for several hours, I then took her to her play rehearsal and then I headed home.  Her mom got the joy of picking her up after rehearsal and then they had the evening together.  

I was super privileged when she asked me if I would paint her nails for her.  How could I refuse.  It was so fun.  

Can you tell who Thor loves best?  Before I leave this section I need to tell you something.  Today is a very special day.  August 1, 2021 is the day Josie turns 16!!!!!!!!!!!!  Can you believe it?  She was 4 years old when I started blogging in YOP.  

This was Josie when I started this YOP journey.  Quite a difference, right?  She is quite excited to be 16.  She has scheduled her driving test for this week Wednesday.  Hopefully she will pass it the first time.  I will let you know.

PARTING SHOTS

This coming week I have the joy of being home all week.  Hubby has been busy decluttering our backroom.  We have a handyman coming in next month to do some finishing work on that room so we need it ready for him to work on it.

I will be working on other areas of the house and removing more 'stuff' from our home.  My decluttering has taken a back seat lately.  Time to get back to it.

We had roof damage from a couple of huge wind storms.  That was over 2 weeks ago.  We finally got the repair done this week.  We had to have 8 shingles replaces.  

I will leave you with one of my favorite photos I took this week.

Sir Thorbert of Gilbert says "whatcha doin'?"

Until Next Time..............................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!