WEEK 50!

 

Howdy!  It is a very cloudy day here.  I keep hoping for rain to come, but so far nothing.  The official start of our monsoon season starts tomorrow.  We have been told it is going to be a Super El Niño this year.  Fingers crossed this means a lot of rain and not just a lot of Haboobs.  All I know for sure is it is already very hot here!  Only 4 more months of summer LOL.  Since I didn't want to leave the my cool house I got busy and worked on some crafty projects.

FINISHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To The Point shawl is completed.  I really liked this color of Persimmon.  Totally different from anything I have ever chosen to use before.  I am such a pink/purple person.  Branching out is good, right?

And here is a BIG Ta-Da

Notre Dame Lego is completed!  I am so glad to have completed this before the end of this YOP.  I really did not want to carry it over another year!  It took me one week to finish this.  I still have the light kit to put on it.  I am waiting on that as my fingers took a beating with this thing.  So many little pieces to snap together.  I think there are permanent little circles on my finger tips from pushing pieces together LOL.  This set was over 4300 pieces.  We are going to order a display case for it so it stays together and dust free.

Cast-ons

Last week I had ordered a short sock yarn set from Leading Men Fibers.  It arrived this week.

It is Show Stopper Intermission in the colorway No Tea No Shade and the little ball is Moonlight.  Can you see the weather station clock in the background?  It is 10:13 AM and already 106F (41C).  Told you it was hot here.  

Anyway, I digress.  This yarn is for hubby.  His 77th birthday is tomorrow (15th) so I made sure I cast on a new pair of RCR for him.

I started these on Thursday night. No, they will not be done by the 15th but at least I started them. LOL 

Thursday, our ladies that help clean our house came over.  They are big animal fans.  The more exotic the animal the better for them.  They brought their Sugar Gliders over for us to see.

This is George.  He is very friendly but not happy about being brought out during daylight hours.  He buddy, Tarzan, refused to get out of the 'hood' she is holding.  Although, when I offered him a treat he had no issue accepting that.  George was so soft and cute.  I told her she could bring them back again anytime.  They were so much fun.  Well, George was anyway.

Can you believe we only have 2 more weeks of YOP 15?  Next week will be my last 'regular' post.  Week 52 will be a round up.  I haven't heard if there will be a YOP 16, yet.  Hopefully I will know by next week.

I will leave you with this.................

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

WEEK 49

 

I am back again and have lots of things to show and talk about.  Ready?  Here we go..............

SUNDAY

Last week I said we were going to a Lego convention.  We did go as well as about 500 other people.  It was so crowded and cramped.  I lasted about an hour and was ready to get out.  There were many builds to look at and admire and the builders were there to talk to also.  The convention was held in our local convention center but they only used half of the available space.  Hopefully, next year they will open up the entire building to help keep the congestion down a bit.

This is the only photo I was able to snap without people walking in front of me.  Not to mention one of my Granddaughters is a Swifty.

We did come home with a treasure though............

This model of R2D2 is retired.  We were thrilled to find it and look forward to putting it together.

MONDAY

This was my 73rd birthday.  I did not have any plans for the day until my DIL, Stacie, asked if I would like to go and play Bingo that evening.  HECK YA!  We had such a grand time.  I didn't win, but she did and I was very happy for her.

I ordered some yarn from Leading Men Fibers.  I love their sock yarn and they are now selling the yarn in hanks for short socks!  Since hubby has a bday this month I decided to order a set to make him another pair of short socks.

I got lots of texts and calls from friends and love ones too.  It was a very nice day.

TUESDAY

Finished up another baby hat (no photo).  Otherwise, I spent the day just relaxing and enjoying time with hubby.

WEDNESDAY

Our daughter and her husband came and took us out to lunch.  We went to a new, to us, place.  It is run by Ukrainians and has been for many years

They specialize in all things Ukrainian/Polish.  We had the BEST kielbasa, sauerkraut and Perogi ever!  I brought home one of their menus (with permission) as I wanted to look up recipes for some of the items they had on the menu to see if I could make them.  We definitely will be going back there again.

They also brought over my bday gifts.

A gnome puzzle and a gnome diamond art!  I am in love.  There was also a gnome sunshade for my car but it did not fit. Seems it fits my daughter's car though.  Hmmmm. 

THURSDAY

I received the Lego order I made on my birthday!

This has been on my wish list for over a year.  It was on sale so I grabbed it.  It will be so pretty on my dining room table during Christmas. 

 This is a very tiny set but oh so cute!  I just love anything with Grogu in it.  I now have enough Lego builds to keep me busy for a while.

I started a new crochet project too.  Everything I have in my WIP pile is such a long term item.  It makes me a little frustrated to take so long on projects.  So, I started a something easy and quick..........

Yup.......another To The Point Shawl.  Our prayer shawl ministry is begging for shawls and lapghans.  Since I have so much Caron Simply Soft yarn, I decided to get back to making the shawls for them.  It is such a relaxing project and one I can do at home or on the go.

FRIDAY

Picked up my grocery order and got our water cooler bottles filled. Once groceries were put away and lunch had been eaten I decided to tackle the Notre Dame Lego build that has been languishing for quite a while.  We started it in June of last year.  I built part of it and then hubby took over but ran into issues on bag 24.  He could not figure out what he did wrong.  I asked him if he minded if I took over and tried to finish it.  He was more than happy to let me have at it.  Well, I knew, the build was not stable and had not been stable since I had worked on it.  So, in my desire to make the thing 100% better I did this.............

Yup, took it back to the flat part.  I was able to flip it over and reinforce the base of this the way it was supposed to be when I first started on it.  Then I began to put it back together again.

See those Ziplock bags in the background?  I took this thing apart page by page of the book and put the pieces in the bags according to the instruction book.

I am on bag 8 at the present time.  I found several mistakes I made in my part of the original build and am so much happier with how sturdy this feels this time.  To say I am loving the rebuilding of this would be an understatement.  My goal is to complete it before the end of this YOP.  I am not sure that will happen but it is a goal I made.

SATURDAY

A very quite day here.  We went to Mass and then came home and I made Taco Salad for dinner.  We watched the hockey game (Stanley cup finals) and I worked on the shawl.

TODAY

I got up early today and got a load of laundry done.  Hubby and I plan on having a quiet day.  I will work on my shawl and Notre Dame.  Hubby will watch golf and probably find a movie for us to watch later on.

I hope y'all are doing well and enjoying some summertime weather.  We are back up into the 100'sF and will be there for the next 5 months.  It is not my favorite season but just part of choosing to live in the desert.

Here is a chuckle and truth for the week...............

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

WEEK 48....4 weeks to go!

 

Good Golly....only 4 weeks left in YOP 15 for those of us who do July - June.  Time to think about what I want to accomplish in YOP 16.  Hmmmmmm....

I have finishes for this week.

Hubby's replacement sock was completed by Wednesday.  He basically has a brand new pair of socks since I had to do the other replacement a couple of weeks ago.  

I wanted a quick knit to kind of cleanse the palette, so I made NICU baby hats.

These are so quick and easy to do.  I need to get a few more done and then get them off to my niece who works in a NICU in Las Vegas.

I only did one row on the Lego blanket this week.  So nothing really to show y'all there.

And, that is all I did craft wise.

Hubby is finally getting better.  He was able to go to Mass yesterday.  It was his first day out of the house in 10 days. Thankfully, I did not catch whatever it was he had.

I did not get to any major decluttering.  I did get all my winter linens washed up and put away.  That was a big chore.  I also transplanted some Christmas Cactus cuttings into little pots.  There was a lot of reading done this week too.  When Hubby was 'resting' my books became my friends.  

Today, we are going to a Lego Convention.  We are looking forward to seeing what they are like.  Maybe it will inspire me to get back to working on Notre Dame and finish it up.

Tomorrow is the celebration of my 73rd trip around the sun!  I have zero plans for the day and will just let the day do what it wants.

Here is a little humor for your week.....................

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

WEEK 47

 

Memorial Day weekend in the US.  Time to pause and give thanks for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.  For those still serving we pray for them to remain safe and for those who have served we thank them also.

Let me tell you about my week.

Monday:  I got a call about 9AM asking if I was available to take my DIL, Tiffany, to the Emergency Department.  Not how I planned on spending my day.  We have a stand alone ED in town and so I took her there for treatment for her migraine.  I was all prepared to sit there for a few hours.  I was so smart and took a book to read.  WRONG!  Once in the room, they turn off all the lights and it is pitch black. Since I have never had a migraine I had no clue that lights were a big trigger.  We were in and out in about 2.5 hours.  Much better than going to a hospital's ED.  Hubby and I also had our A/C get it's bi-annual inspection to keep it in tip top shape.  I was able to get the laundry completed too.  I got my Mother's Day gift today.

My new Mini Trinity bag from Twice Sheared Sheep.  It is perfect to carry a sock or baby hat project in.  LOVE IT!

Tuesday:  We got new tires on our car.  It was not something we had planned on.  I had taken the car to the dealership last week for it's check-up and was informed my tires were down to 1/32" and were a danger to drive on.  They gave me a price to get new tires and I about fainted.  I came home and hubby did some research and found them for $1000 cheaper.  Yes!  there are 3 zeros on that number.  When we took the car to the tire dealership they said I still had 4/32" of tread left.  Hmmmm........kind of made me realize I was handed a bill of goods from the dealership.  But we got the new tires anyway as we would have needed them before the lease is up next year.  Since the tire shop is in the same parking lot as our local bar and grill, we had lunch there while waiting for the car to be done.  Win - Win!

Wednesday:  I had a tele-health appointment with my rheumatologist.  She was very happy with the progress I had made with OT.  No need to go back but just continue the exercises at home to maintain the progress.  Hubby came to me, later in the day, and showed me that he had gone through another heel of a sock.  I started the replacement immediately,

Where I am as of Sunday morning

No, you are not confused.  I had just finished the 'replacement' sock last week for this pair of socks.  Well, the 'old' sock must have felt bad that it was not as bright and pretty and blew out it's heel.  Now when hubby blows out a heel, he does it so well I can not even begin to try and just repair it.  So glad I usually have extra yarn of all his socks.

Thursday:  A very nice and quiet day.  Hubby decided to catch a virus and was feeling pretty puny.  So we just sat and just watched TV for most of the day and I worked on my crafting projects.  I made menus for the coming week and got my grocery pick up list completed too.

Friday:  Hubby is really sick!  No fever but horrible coughing and his nose won't stop running.  I picked up the groceries and got our water jugs filled.  Again, we took it easy so he could get as much rest as he could to try and recover.  It gave me time to work on my crocheting and knitting again too.

Saturday:  Hubby is still under the weather.  I took the time to clean up the kitchen and get things ready for next weeks meals.  I am so bad at getting things cleaned and cut as soon as I get them home from the store.  I had strawberries, watermelon, and green onions to clean and cut.  Once they are done, I love being able to just reach in the fridge and grab.  I will say, I am impressed with the person who picked out my strawberries and watermelon this time.  They are perfect and so yummy!  Much better than when I do it myself.  In the late afternoon, I went to Mass for Pentecost.  It marks the end of our Easter season.

Today:  Hubby seems to be a bit better.  He is still congested but not near as bad.  I do not plan on anything major today.  I am going to cook some pork chops later along with some sweet potatoes and then pecan pie for desert.   I plan on working on the Lego blanket again as well as the RCR and the Lap throw.  I already showed where I am with the RCR.  Here is what I accomplished with the other two.

 Not a huge amount of progress, but still progress.

Finished a color change and started another.  This blanket is going to be quite large!

I was able to lay it over both hubby and myself.  It is almost 6 ft wide and already over 3 ft long.  Very toasty when laying on my lap.  Thank goodness I have a little fan next to where I sit so I don't melt.

That is about all for this week.  I will leave you with a bit of humor.

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

WEEK 46

 

Hello again.  It has been a busy week for me, so let's get to it,

KNITTING

The socks are completed!

I was going to take a photo of the two of them but, could not find them.  Asked hubby where they were and he took off his shoes and there was this one.  He had already worn the brown striped ones and they were in the laundry.  Guess he loves his RCR socks.  Two less WIPs hanging around.

I wanted to work on something other than the lap throw and Lego blanket so I did a little casting on...............

Some little preemie hats for the NICU.  I found the yarn for these while doing the decluttering of my craft room.  These are such a quick knit.  Only takes a day or two to make them.

The lap throw and Lego blanket did not see any love this past week.  This coming week looks like a good time to work on them again.  Well, unless the baby hats take over again.

DECLUTTERING

I stayed in the craft room for a couple of days and then headed into our dreaded 'back room'.

Another trip to Goodwill was made on Friday and also the local senior center.  The senior center got the puzzles I showed last week (15 of them) and Goodwill got the rest of the 'stuff'.  There were brand new outdoor games that went including; bocci ball, lawn darts and inflatable corn hole.  I am loving getting things out of the house.  There is so much more that needs to go.  All in good time.

READING

I finished the second book in the DIY mystery series.  I went to go borrow #3 but it is not available yet.  I put a hold on it.  It should be available in a couple of weeks.  In the meantime, I still have my paperback to keep me company.

FUN STUFF

On Mother's Day, our daughter came over for breakfast.  When she left I went into my craftroom to do a bit of decluttering.  When I sat down to rearrange my desk area I found a tiny flamingo sitting on the desk.  As I looked around, I saw more flamingoes sitting around in various spots.  As I walked around the house, I discovered my sweet daughter had put flamingoes all over our house.

After finding several of them, I called her to find out how many were deposited.  She said there were 22 out of 100 here.  So far, we have found 21.  That one lone flamingo is making me a bit crazy.  She promises she only put them in the family room, computer room, guest bathroom and craftroom.  She does not remember putting any in the kitchen but could not swear to that!  I am just thankful she did not put the entire 100 around.

Speaking of fowl.........................

We had a couple of visitors in our pool on Thursday.  We had heard of others finding ducks swimming in their pools but this was our first encounter.  We walked outside and neither of them were bothered with us being there.  Unfortunately, their droppings really mess with the chemicals in the pool.  Their droppings also carry some nasty stuff that can make us humans very ill.  The male left in the late afternoon and hubby went outside and nicely asked the female to go and join him.  We are lucky we do not have any foliage in our backyard or they might have nested and once that happens you are not allowed to move them until the ducklings are able to leave with the 'parents'.

I completed my OT this week.  They remeasured my range of motion and strength from when I started and I had improved more than was expected.  I have a Dr appointment this Thursday and will see if she wants me to continue OT or just continue exercises at home.

And, to make sure you leave with a smile on your face......................

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

WEEK 45

 

Happy Mother's Day to my US moms.   I have a lot to show and tell so let's get started.

Knitting

The needles have been smoking this week with activity.

It is amazing how fast a sock can be done when putting10 rows a day on it.  This one will be done this week for sure.

This one will also be completed this week.  It makes me happy to see two unknown WIPs to be getting accomplished.  I have checked my other 'bins' and did not find any other surprise items languishing in any of them.

The lap throw is finally using the last skein of yarn.

I was amazed at how many rows were knitted with that small amount of speckled yarn I had left last week.  There is a hope this will be done before the end of summer.  I really want to get back to crocheting prayer shawls and not knitting lap throws.

Crochet

The Lego blanket has progressed a bit

I have reached row 120 out of 228 (not to mention the edging).  Now that I have discovered how to crochet without a lot of pain I foresee getting this blanket done before 2027!  

Decluttering

I went back into my craftroom this week to see what else I could pull out of there.

I have removed 17 puzzles I will never do and still have 17 left to work on.  My cleaning girls love puzzles so I am letting them have first pick before the rest of them go to charity.  I am hoping the local senior center will want them.

These 4 crochet books have been with me for years.  I did make several of the snowflake ornaments but no longer work with thread.  The snowflake book has traveled to Indiana to it's new home.  The others are being donated.

These two books were given to me over 30 years ago from my friends grandmother.  They were printed around the1960's.  They have now gone to their new home in Indiana also. I am so glad someone still works with thread and makes gorgeous doilies.

Today, my Cricut is leaving my house also.  It is going home with my Daughter.  She has wanted one for sometime but finances have prevented her from getting one.  I have only used mine about a dozen times and really no longer have an interest in making things with it.

While going through my yarn bins I came across several mini-mini skeins of yarn.  They are 10 grams each and after much thought I have decided to try and make striped socks from them.

Here is the groupings I have decided to try them in.  As soon as hubby's socks are done, I will be casting these on.

Books

Right now I am reading two books at the same time.  One is on my Kindle and is my bedtime reading.  The other goes with me throughout the house to read when I have a few minutes of down time.  Luckily, they are so different I have no issue keeping track of the story lines in each one.

On the Kindle is "Spooked and Spackled".  It is #2 in a series of DIY mysteries.  The 'real' book is "Sworn to Silence" and is a bit grittier than I am used to but still a good read. 

Life

Yesterday, Hubby, Daughter and  I went to the Gray Matters Foundation Raffle.  

The last photo we were told to stick our tongue out to cancer.  Didn't want you to think we are always this rude in photos.  

Our daughter made this basket to go into the raffle.  The paper on the front tells Josh's story and it made all of us tear up reading it.  She is already 'plotting' a basket for next year.

It is Mother's day here in the US.  Our son had us over for a lovely steak dinner on Thursday and gave me a single yellow rose.  Our daughter came over this morning and brought breakfast burritos for us.  She made a cute floral arrangement for me.  It never needs water and will never die!

My flowers.  I know, the yellow rose is hard to see.

Now you can see the yellow rose.  This is my comfort zone in the house.  My book, projects, computer are all  within arms reach.  It is where I plan on spending most of my Mother's Day.

That pretty much covers my week.  I am still in OT and it is working quite well.  YAY!  This coming week is my last 2 sessions until I have a follow up with my Dr.

I will leave you with my weekly chuckle.

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