WEEK 36

 

Hey there!  I missed posting last week as I really didn't have anything new to talk about or show.  This week I am loaded for bear.  So sit back, grab your favorite beverage with a snack and enjoy.

I have finishes!  Did you notice that was a pural?  Yup.  I have 2 FO's to show.  First up..........

The Mehujaa Shawl is finally off my needles.  This is my all time favorite shawl to make and wear.  It is large enough to actually cover your back to your waist and maybe a bit lower depending on your height.  The lace back is very decorative but still offers some warmth.  The sides are stockinette stitch that keeps your arms nice and warm too.  It is big enough to actually wrap around you too.  The yarn I used for this one is discontinued.  I picked it up when my LYS was going out of business.  I have another colorway in this same yarn that will also be make into one of these shawls.  

Once that was off the needles, I felt I needed a cleansing project.  So.......................................

My forty-third To The Point shawl for our church's prayer shawl ministry.  This is made from Caron Simply Soft in the colorway Plum Perfect.  If you haven't heard, JoAnn's is going out of business.  This meant I needed to go and load up on Caron Simply soft yarn for my prayer shawls.  You will be seeing many of the above shawls over the next several months as well as some lapghans.  I cleaned out one of our JoAnn's stores of all their simply soft yarn.  I also went on line and ordered many more skeins in colorways that I knew I would be happy to use.  Believe it or not, I was almost out of worsted weight yarn for my prayer shawls!  I do believe I am set for quite a while now. LOL

After the TTP shawl was completed, I did not feel like casting on anything new.  WHAT????  Shocking!!!  So I picked up my RCR sock that has been hanging around for quite a while.

The progress keeper is where I was yesterday when I picked it up.  The yarn is On Your Toes and is a just a tish thicker than the fingering weight yarn I normally use.  but, being a bamboo/nylon blend, it will be perfect for the days I am doing my PT.  They are a bit cushy which is nice too.  I will probably just work on this for now.  I really want to get it done and move on to the second sock.

The only other thing I worked on in the past couple of weeks is my diamond art.

I am having so much fun working on this.  The squares with numbers or letters are still in need of being filled in with 'beads'.  I have been trying to complete one color at a time.  This picture has 25 different colors.  Not too bad.  AND.........since JoAnn's is going out of business, I picked up 3 more diamond art pictures to do after this is completed.    I have plenty of crafts to keep be occupied once our weather gets so hot I do not want to venture outside of my home.

Since I am working on the diamond art now, I decided to get some better tools than what is included with the kits.

Ergonomical tools.  So much easier on my hands and wrists.  

I did not stop here by last week as we had a family day to say goodbye to Samantha.  She has been living with our TX family for the past 5 years.  She even moved to Arizona with them.  We adopted her as one of our grandkids.  She decided she wanted to move back to Texas.  So we had a lovely afternoon with the family to bid her adieu.  

Our son, Jay, loves to cook for people and his food did not disappoint for the party.  (The loaf of bread is from me)  We had steaks and baked potatoes with southern green beans.  Our daughter brought home made ice cream for desert.  YUM!  Samantha is now safely in Texas, all unpacked and ready to start her best life.

Hubby had a Drs appointment a couple of weeks ago.  His blood sugars are slowly starting to creep up.  The Dr asked him to limit his carbs (breads and pastas).  We have had this scenario before............about 10 years ago.  We got his numbers down by just doing a few simple adjustments to our daily meals.  One of the things we did was make smoothies every morning for breakfast.  We started doing that again this past week.  Luckily, I had written down the ingredients we used the last time we did this and was able to assemble everything needed in just one shopping trip.  We use fruits and veggies in the smoothies.  Yes, they are combined all together.  Take a look.............

This has greens, cucumber, lemon, strawberry, mango, pineapple, ginger, beets, tumeric, almond milk, agave nectar and protein powder.  What do I taste?  The fruit!  I have also started making wheat bread instead of pure white bread.  Sourdough is back on the menu too.  I kind of fell off the wagon for a couple of months but pulled out my starter last night and gave it a good feeding and will be making a loaf today.

And that, my friends, completes my last couple of week.  I am still doing physical therapy and enjoying the strength I am getting back in my lower extremities.  Josh is still doing ok.  He goes for another MRI this week and will have the results the same day as the MRI!  Enrique continues to amaze us with how well he is doing.  I finally convinced my hubby to hire a pool service as well as a yard service.  That will take a load off of him.  He continues to dust and clean the floors of the house and I do all the countertops and appliances.  I do the laundry and we grocery shop together.  It all works out.

Here is your chuckle for the week......................

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

WEEK 34 of YOP 14

 

Hey there.  Thanks for stopping by.  I have something to show you.............

The second baby hat and sweater set is completed.  I finished it on Thursday.  There has not been any news of more babies on the horizon, so I think I am done with baby knits for a while.

Since I completed this, I pulled out my shawl I have been working on since forever.

Remember this?  I was only able to get 3 rows on it.  It is so big and with the 'furry' type yarn, I really try not to make mistakes where I need to tink back.  I did need to do that once this time.  This yarn sticks to itself because of its halo, making it a challenge to tink back.  

The only other thing I did craft wise was work a bit on my diamond art.  I can only work on it for about an hour at a time.  It is a bit hard on the eyes.  Yet, I am loving it.  Stacie finished hers and brought it over to our family gathering to show it off.  Darn, I did not think to get a photo of it.  

That covers my crafting.  In real life news.................

Hubby's sister came to town this week so we had a family gathering at our home yesterday.  I set up a taco bar and everyone pitched in something to add to it.  We had such a great time.  It was really great to catch up with everyone.  Here is a little photo of the group.

The only one missing is Josie.  She is working the Renaissance Festival so could not be with us.  Hubby's sister is the one on the left front.  She lives in Colorado so was enjoying our warm weather.

Enrique gave me a bit of a scare this week.  I was getting ready to go to bed, Friday night, so went to get him and when I touched the side of his face, he cried out and snapped at me.  He has NEVER snapped at me (hubby, yes but not me)  We went to the vet the next morning.  I was worried his cancer was worse but it turns out it is just an abscessed gum.  He is on antibiotics for the next 10 day.  The vet checked him out really well and said she could not feel anymore growth in his cancer and he was very stable for now.  Phew!  He seems better this morning too.  He is acting more like himself and eating with gusto. 

 This was him last night after everyone had left.  He was so tired.   Our daughter had brought her little dog (Enrique's girlfriend) with them so he was busy following her around for the day. Yes, he is sound asleep in that photo. 

That, my friends is all for today.  Let me leave you with this piece of advice.

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

WEEK 33

 Another week gone.  Can you believe February is already over half gone?  Dang, that was quick.

I do not have anything new to show you this week.  The baby sweater is still on the needles.  I am almost ready to bind off the main part and then start in on the sleeves.  My knitting came to a halt 3 days ago when I had a major flare up in my right wrist.  Not sure when I will be holding needles again.  *sad face*

Baby #1 was born on the 11th so that sweater and hat will be going into the mail tomorrow.  Hopefully she will get some use out of it.  I made a 3-9 month size but her birth weight was 11.7!  That is one big little girl!  She is already almost the size of a 3 month old.

Luckily, baby #2 isn't due until June so I have time for the wrist to calm down and finish the sweater for her.

It has made me a little nuts not being able to pick up my yarn crafts.  Lucky for me, I was introduced to a new craft last night that only requires one hand.  Diamond painting!  We had a girls night at Stacie's house (daughter in law).  There were 5 of us there and we had a blast.  We diamond painted for almost 8 hours and never got tired.  We decided to stop when we no longer could see the symbols on the canvas.  There might have been a little wine involved in that issue too.  LOL  I have my canvas and supplies home and will work on that until I am able to knit or crochet again. *sigh*

In other news, I am still attending PT twice a week.  That is where the wrist got 'injured' causing the flare.  How long I will continue with PT is anyone's guess.  There is a new gym that opened up about 1/4 mile from my house.  My thought is, once PT is over, I will join the gym to continue on my strengthening journey.  

Hubby and I spent most of our time this week over at Josh's house.  They were having their pool drained, cleaned and refilled.  Josh is still working so he really couldn't be outside the whole time with the 'pool dude' so hubby took that job.  I had the job of keeping their dog, Thor, out of everyone's way. I will say, their pool looks really nice now.  Hubby and I are scheduled for our pool draining next month and then our pool will be awesome too.  This needs to be done every 3-5 years because of our extremely hard water.

That is all for this week.  I do have a little chuckle for y'all.

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

 

WEEK 32

 

Hello again!  I hope your week went smoothly.  Mine was rather pleasant and productive.  Here is a recap of my week.

Sunday (after blogging) - I had mentioned, last week, I was going to wash all my sheets.  Well, I did.  Folding the fitted sheet is my least favorite part of sheet wash day.  I also did 2 other loads of laundry as well as making a loaf of bread (via the bread machine) and making potato salad from my mom's recipe.  It was so yummy and brought back such sweet memories.  

I was going to cast on the next Simnia cardigan but changed my mind and decided to cast on the Quick and Easy Baby Hat.  Even though this says quick and easy, it was not this time.  First off, I tried to do it magic loop and for some reason, I was getting serious ladders on it.  So, I ripped it out and went in search of double points.  All I had were bamboo DPNs in the size I needed.  Not a fan of the bamboo needles and I seem to have a plethora of them!  I went ahead and cast on the hat.

Monday - Pt again for Josh and myself.  I worked with a new therapist this time and she was really good and very informative.  Once PT was over, I dropped Josh off and got our water jugs (for our water cooler) filled.  The laundry I did yesterday finally got folded and put away today.  

Tuesday - Hubby taught a class in the morning while I did a few little household chores.  Ya know, like empty the dishwasher.  We had a lunch date with two of my cousins.  We ate at Famous Dave's BBQ.  Hubby and I never go there unless it is with a group.  The food is so good.  Hubby and I both ordered enough so we would have leftovers for dinner.  After we got back, Tiffany and Jay and a one of their friends came over for a bit.  Seems, the poncho I made Tiffany looked like it was coming apart on the neck and a button had popped off.  After looking it over, I saw it was the woven in ends that were popping out and one of the stitches attaching the neck to the body was looser than those around it.  When she had first called, I had visions of the whole neck unraveling.  What a relief!  It is all repaired and ready for her to pick back up.

Wednesday - Another lovely day of Physical Therapy.  I was back to my original therapist today.  Josh did not make it all the way through with his therapy.  He was not feeling his best so he sat and waited for me to finish.  Our daughter, Jenn, came by and took Hubby and myself to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  It was nice to get to spend some time with her.  But the best part of the day was....................................

I finished the baby hat!  And, yes, I immediately cast on the Simnia baby cardigan.

Thursday - I actually had a fairly quiet day.  Menus for the coming week were made as well a grocery list of needed items for the coming week.  Then I gathered my air fryers and scrubbed them up.  I used to hate cleaning them, but with the Dawn Power Wash, they clean up pretty easily.  Hubby and I had Adoration this evening and I took my RCR sock to work on it during that hour.

WOOHOO!  Another 7 rows added.  At this rate, I should have one sock done by Easter LOL!  Actually, once, the baby stuff is done, this and my other WIP will be my main focus.....I hope.

Friday - grocery shopping day!  I only had about 4 items on my list but by the time we checked out I had a cart full.  This was the best deal of the day..............

Hubby and I are not vegetarians by any means!  These steaks are normally $14.99/lb but were on sale for $5.97/lb.  One steak will feed the both of us quite nicely.  I froze one of them and the other is marinating in my fridge for tomorrow nights dinner.  I try and limit our red meat consumption to once a week.  Neither of us have cholesterol problems and we don't want them either.  I also try to do one meatless meal a week.  Variety is the name of the game in my house.

Before we hit the grocery store, hubby and I visited my LYS. (local yarn store)  Those bamboo needles were not doing me any favors.  I completed my DPN selection!  I went with the Chiagoo stainless steel needles.

I normally use Signature Needles.  Both circular and DPN.  But they decided to close their business last year.  And me, not being smart enough to look and see what was missing from my stock, missed out on getting the needles I was lacking when they discounted them.  Hopefully, I will enjoy the Chiagoo needles. I was good at the LYS.  The needles were the only thing I purchased.  I didn't even look at yarn!  Hubby was quite impressed.

Saturday - Woke up super early (5:30) to go and pick up the food for our food bank.  It was a sad amount this week.  Only 2 little bags of carrots and a few things from the deli.  Each week we have been getting less and less from the store we go to.  Yet, the need is getting greater and greater for the food bank.  

There was a marathon being run in our town this day so getting to and from the store was a challenge since we live smack dab in the middle of the marathon route.  Luckily, it was over by the time we left to go to Mass in the afternoon.

I did do another load of laundry and made another loaf of bread today too.  The little baby sweater saw lots of love also.  Maybe not the kind most people imagine.  I had worked 9 rows of the skirt of the sweater when I noticed one of the bobbles had dropped.  That is a five stitch bobble that dropped all the way to the beginning of the skirt!  No way could I pick that up and weave it all the way up 8 more rows.  So, I got to frog and re-knit those 9 rows. 

As of this morning (Sunday), that is where I left off on the sweater.

I plan on working on this most of the day.  Not sure if I will finish it or not, but I will do my best.  

Today - It is Superbowl Sunday here in the US.  We choose not to do a gathering today for the game.  Each of our son's has a team in the Superbowl and they are not the same team. LOL  So, hubby and I decided it might be best if we all stayed at our respective homes to watch the game.  I am sure there will be a lot of texts flying back and forth though.  

We decided to make life very easy on us today too.  I will be smoking up some wings and chicken thighs.  Hubby has pizza on order from our local family owned Italian restaurant.  That should keep up fed and happy for the day.  This will give me plenty of time to knit and finish up laundry.  I might even sneak in some reading time too.

Speaking of reading.............I started the Carly Moore mystery series a few weeks ago.  The author is Denise Grover Swank.  It is very good!  I have made it through book 4 and just started book 5.  I was able to get them for free through my Libby App.  The last two in the series will need to be purchased through kindle.  Such a good mystery series.  

Yes, I have a little chuckle for you for this week.  If you have ever had a dog, I am sure you can relate.

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

WEEK 31

 

Hello my friends and welcome back.  Happy February!  We ended last month with my DIL, Stacie's, bday and started this month with my son, Josh's, bday!  So, celebrating over the past 3 days has been fun but, I am about celebrated out.  We have one more 'celebration' this coming week, when we get together with 3 of my cousins for a lunch date.  After that, life should return to normal which, I am looking forward to. 

I continue with Physical Therapy twice a week for the rest of this month.  After that, they will evaluate me to see where I am at and if I need more therapy or not.  I told them, if I can get up off the floor without help, than I will be happy.  So, that is their goal for me.

In knitting/crocheting news..............It was a grand week for finishes!

The Simnia Cardigan is 100% completed as is the Quick and Easy Baby Hat to go with it.

Excitement ran through me when I discovered I had buttons in my button jar to go with this little ensemble!  In fact, I have enough of these buttons to go on the next set which will be started today.  The above set will be sent to Seattle for my Nephew's first baby.  I do believe she is due this month.  The next set will stay here in town but, the baby is not due until June.  I just want to get the second set done so I can move on to my languishing WIP's that are sitting next to me in their project bags.

Granddaughter, Josie, is working the Renaissance Festival, which is in our area for the next 8 weeks.  She is required to wear 'period clothing' while working there.  She has had so much fun putting together outfits (garb is what she calls it) for each weekend she works.  The only thing she lacked was some type of outerwear.  So.............of course she immediately thinks of Mimi. (that's me)  I was lucky to have enough worsted weight yarn in my stash to be able to make her a half granny square shawl.

This is such a quick crochet project.  Only took 3 days to complete.  She was thrilled and said there were a lot of other shawls just like this one out at the festival.  This almost depleted the last of my full skeins of worsted weight yarn!  The stash is getting smaller and smaller.  YEA!

Josie and one of her friends came over on Friday and made Snickerdoodle cookies, for her to take to her coworkers at the festival.  She had never made cookies from scratch before and loved the process.  I sent my Kitchen Aid mixer home with her and she whipped up 3 more batches of cookies to take also.  She was amazed at how easy using a 'big' mixer made the process.  Now she is interested in learning how to make more items from scratch!  Maybe there is hope for that generation!

Normally on Sundays, Hubby and I just sit back and relax.  Not today though.  I have so much laundry to do.  I have been putting off washing our bedding for several weeks now.  But since I am down to my last set of sheets, I think it is time to do that.  (I hate folding sheets!) There is also other laundry needing to be done.  There is a loaf of bread and some potato salad needing to be made for our dinner tonight too.  So, if you need me, I will be in either the kitchen or the laundry room.

There were several funnies I found this week.  This was one of my favorites.

Hey, I have been known to sing along with the music but have not danced...................yet.

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

WEEK 30

 

We are finally in the throws of winter here in the desert.  We have needed to cover our plants a few times to prevent frostbite from getting them.  They are newly planted and just babies so protection is needed for their first year.  

With the weather being 'cold' it has inspired me to knit a bit more.  I finished the first baby sweater.

I still need to get buttons for it and weave in the ends.  Otherwise, the knitting part is complete and I am so happy with it.  I will be starting the hat to go with it today.  

I did not work on any other items this week.  

Nothing special going on in my daily life.  I did get to decrease my PT from 3x a week to 2x a week.  Not sure how much longer I will be there.  I do enjoy the challenges they throw at me.  Some of my muscles have been awakened from their deep sleep.  I can tell a difference, in my daily life, that I am getting stronger.  

Here is your chuckle for the week.

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

WEEK 29 - THE WEEK THAT WASN'T

 

Thanks for stopping by.  Unfortunately, there is nothing really to report or show for the past week.  Hubby and I were given a gift from his brother..............the Norovirus.  So, I spent Monday through Wednesday in either the bed or the bathroom.  (Is that TMI?)  I finally ventured into the familyroom on Thursday and even went for a car ride to pick up my new glasses.  On Friday I got caught up on all the laundry and took several naps.  Saturday I finally started to feel human again and even went to church.  Today, I am going to find my kitchen.  With both of us under the weather, things just kind of got a lick and a promise in there.  Scrubbing all surfaces and sinks sounds like a plan.

I did get a fabulous report from my cardiologist on Monday morning. (before the virus hit)  My heart is normal and healthy!  She just asked me to loose 10 pounds in 6 months.  Heck, I did that in 5 days thanks to that nasty virus!  Bananas and toast were my best friends!

Here was what I saw for 3 days.

My ever faithful companion, Enrique stayed by my side the whole time.  Well, other than to eat and go outside for potty breaks.  What a comfort he was too.

I did not loose my sense of humor either.  So here is a chuckle for you this week.

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