Week 12

I was on vacation this week and thought I would get great things done. My primary project was to dig the ground up for our patio that I’ve been wanting to have for the last several years. The weatherman was predicting A LOT of rain this week, so I decided to put it off until after all the rain. Well, it rained all day one day, and a little rain another day, but the rest of the week, it was just cloudy. I shouldn’t listen to the weatherman. I should just do what I plan and then if it rains, it rains!

The vacation started last Sat. (We start our weeks at work on Sat.) and I’ve already written about our trip to Jeff City with the grandsons. That was soooo much fun, and I’m ready to go again, but it will have to wait for a while. The rest of the week, with the threat of rain all week, wasn’t a total loss. I got my chores done early every day, and the rest of each day I played in my yarn and crafts! Wow, I wish everyday could be that way! Maybe when I retire…..

I got the shop out back cleaned up, so I decided to go through things in my sewing room and try to re-arrange and clean out and go through UFO’s that are crammed into the small closet. I love it when I can take the time to do that. It’s fun finding things that I’d forgotten that I had! I’ve been buying a lot of yarn lately, so I went through all that also. That’s not a good thing because I get side-tracked thinking about what to make with it all, then I get to looking through magazines, and wind up starting another project! 

That’s how this baby afghan came about. It’s so pretty and I actually had all the yarn to make it without having to buy any more! I love it when that happens. I worked a good deal of the week on this. It’s crocheted, so it went really fast!

I was thinking as I was working on this that this is the first project I’ve made this year that wasn’t knit! That’s unusual for me because I’m always hopping from one kind of craft to another. In fact, with the warmer weather finally arriving, I’m getting in the mood to sew again. I love to sew in the Springtime for some reason. Maybe it reminds me of the sewing I did in school. We always did the sewing part of Home Ec. in the Springtime and I was allowed to buy pretty spring-y fabric to make myself a new dress or outfit. We didn’t have much money when I was growing up, so that was quite a treat! Ahhhh, fond memories.

But back to the sewing room….. I got side-tracked with the afghan, so I haven’t finished getting the room all back together yet. In fact, looking through the books, I came across another baby afghan made from a varigated pastel yarn that I was sure I had in the stash in the garage….. another baby afghan is in the process. After knitting on it a whole afternoon, I realized I wasn’t going to have enough of the yarn to make it like this pattern. (Oh, the pattern is so cute too! I’m going to have to buy some more varigated baby yarn when it’s on sale and make it.) I bought this off-brand yarn a LOOOOOONG time ago, so I know there’s no way I’m going to find any more like it. I’ll figure something out!
 
……BUT, back to the sewing room AGAIN…..I found soooooo many UFO’s that it depressed me a little when I thought how much time I was going to need to get them all finished. But I’m on a mission to finish, frog, or toss these UFO’s and get on with my life. I haven’t been keeping up on the 30-min.-a-day plan that I had to work on UFO’s, so I need to get back to that.

So on that note, see ya next week, and happy crafting!
 
           
     

Week 11

I’ll start with the weekend. I’m on vacation this week, so I had the weekend off. We’ve been wanting to run up to Jeff City to see daughter Cynthia and the family ever since they moved up there, but I never get the weekend off. Since they work and go to school during the week, it’s been hard to get together. Well, this weekend we finally had our chance. It’s grandson No. 4’s birthday, so we took the two grandsons that live here with us, and had a great weekend! The four oldest grandsons are all about the same age and they always have a good time when they get together. Hubby and I stayed at a motel so the boys could spend the night with their cousins. I think they stayed up till 3:00 am and then got up early after that! They wanted to get as much playtime in as they could!

Cynthia gave us a tour of the city and showed us all the important sights like where she works, where our son-in-law works, the kids’ schools, and of course the capitol. We ordered pizza and had a party that evening for the birthday boy. He got a lot of neat stuff! (Sorry, I can’t seem to get the picture of Michael and his cake.  It was really cute, but I got one of him with some of his gifts.)

We stayed the next day as late as we dared so we could get back and drop off the boys and get home before dark. We took a lot of pictures to remember the weekend. I know all the boys enjoyed it!

I didn’t get a lot of needleworking or crafting done this week. I spent most of my time this week finishing up my shop, (when I wasn’t doing chores–why is it that once you do chores, they don’t STAY done!) I finished the basketweave afghan, however.

I also managed to get a pair of socks knitted this week. (I have to have something to keep my fingers busy when I’m just sitting, otherwise, I wind up eating!) I bought this yarn to make hubby a pair of socks for Christmas. But waiting ’till the last minute didn’t work, so I had to stash the yarn till I had more time. They’re just tube socks, so they knitted up fast. He likes these kind because he doesn’t have to worry about getting the heel in the right place when he puts them on. Besides they last a lot longer because they’ll wear at different places. I made  three pair of socks like these for him out of acrylic yarn just a few years after we were married and he still has two pair that are good! That’s been a loooong time ago, folks!

I’m off the rest of this week, so hopefully I’ll get more crafting done! Until next time, keep crafting!  

Week 10

Happy Spring! It doesn’t officially start until the 21st, but the the weather has been in the 70’s here this week, so it certainly FEELS like Spring. I usually don’t mind Winter that much, but this winter has been rather brutal so I’m glad to see it over and gone!

I’ve been a little restless this week and I think it’s because I’m wanting some changes. I’ve been wanting to get some home improvements done the last several years, but we always put off calling anyone for estimates until I’m out of the mood. This year I said, “Ok, this is the year!” But I still haven’t called anyone and I’m getting a little depressed. So I figured if maybe I start doing some spring cleaning and going through things that that might satisfy this urge I have. I decided to start with my shop. I did a lot of painting before Christmas making gifts so it’s almost a disaster out there! I’ve worked several days and have it looking pretty good now. I’m a pack-rat and I save everything that I think will be good to paint on. My shop is bulging at the seams but I haven’t been able to toss too much. I think I’m a hopeless case! (Well, you never know just when you’ll need that jar, or that can, or that piece of wood, or that………you get my drift!)

I found some dolls and books for crocheting and knitting their clothes that I even forgot that I had. I think I bought them back when we lived in the first place we lived in K. C. That’s a long time ago for anyone who doesn’t know when that was. I’m still interested in making some of them even though I don’t have any granddaughters. (Because I think that’s why I bought them back then thinking that out of three kids of my own, surely one of them would give us a granddaughter. Nope, got all grandsons–six of them! But that’s ok, cause I love little boys!)

I got the UFO baby afghan done. I didn’t work on it everyday, but some of the days I worked on it longer than the 30 min. I was supposed to. It turned out really pretty. I still haven’t sewed the baby block afghan together. (Oh no, is it turning into a UFO?!?)

I’ve also done away with a couple more UFO’s. I just frogged them and will use the yarn to make something else. It was a couple of purses that I thought I would make to add to the website which is no more. I made three of them and the one I didn’t frog with be my next 30-min.-a-day project to finish. I’m only finishing this one because I already have the handles for it and I think I might use it myself.

I’m still knitting on my sweater, but I didn’t do that much on it this week. I’ve been so tired after working in the shop all day that I didn’t even feel like knitting. (Man, that’s tired for me!)

Clotilde is having a great sale on their books, so I bought a bunch of them and got them in the mail this week. Another thing I’ve been wanting to do for the last several years is to get into patchwork and quilting. (Have I mentioned this before?) Anyway, I got some great books on patchwork projects and quilting! I’ve already got some projects picked out to do if I can just get this butt in gear!

That’s all for this week, I guess. Keep those needles clicking until next time!

Week 9

I’ve been doing chores all morning while Hubby worked on the computer. He’s resting now, and I’ve done about as much work around here that I’m going to do today. At least I got things caught up from the weekend. I’m off today, so I can play the rest of the day after I get this done!

It’s beautiful today! It’s 69 degrees and the sun is shining so bright! Man, it feels like Spring! I’m sure everybody was needing a day like this–I know I was. I’m so sick of cold weather and winter! This kind of day makes me want to start Spring cleaning and working outside. In fact I bought some bulbs the other day and I can’t wait until the ground is warm enough to plant them. They’re Gladiolus which, I was told by my mother, was my Dad’s favorite flower. He died when I was only three, so I never knew him. She never re-married either so I grew up without a dad. I don’t think it hurt us (my brother, sister and me) much because we all turned out pretty good. My mother was a strong woman and took care of us through thick and thin. She loved us very much and we knew that. She lived to be 88 years old. I miss her.

But on to more cheerful things. I’ve been knitting like crazy this week and I finished knitting the block baby afghan! It’s off the needles anyway, but I still need to block it and sew it together.

 Also, I’ve been knitting on a new afghan that I just HAD to start, you know. I’m using some of the new yarn that I got at Hobby Lobby for 99 cents. It’s called Icelandic Jewels by Yarn Bee. I got the pattern in a Gooseberry Patch booklet called Quick and Easy Knitting. It’s a Leisure Arts publication. The pattern is a basketweave stitch using knit and purl stitches. This is a bulky yarn and I’m using size 15 needles, so you can see why I’ve already used three skeins and am almost half done with it.

My UFO’s have really been getting me down lately. (Maybe it’s just the weather–well, maybe a little, but I think it’s the UFO’s.) I read on someone’s blog (or somewhere out there in cyberspace) about a tip that a lady has been using to get caught up on her UFO’s. She said that a friend of hers suggested that she spend only 30 minutes a week to work on one of her UFO’s until it is done. Then go to the next one etc. and in no time at all she will be caught up. She said that she’s been doing that and she’s really surprised how it’s working. Well I thought, first of all she must not have as many as I do, because if I worked just 30 min. a week on mine, it would take the rest of my lifetime to MAYBE get caught up. Secondly, I thought, gee, that’s so crazy it just might work! I’ll revise the idea a little and try 30 min. A DAY.

So I dragged out the closest project within my reach, which happened to be another baby afghan, and worked on it for 30 min. So far, so good. We’ll see how long this lasts! (Oh my, does that sound a little defeatist?) I’ve made a couple of these in the past and given them away as gifts. They’re really pretty and simple. I started this two summers ago because Cynthia and I still had our website and we were planning on adding a Baby’s Boutique.  Therefore we were working on baby items to build up an inventory. When that fizzled out, I put this afghan on the back burner.

I’ve worked on my sweater this week also, and I have the front about half-way done. I can only work on it during the day with the natural sunlight, because it’s such a dark color and my eyes just aren’t as good as they used to be. Anyway, I’m not in a panic to get it done like I used to be. It will not become one of my UFO’s, though. Anyway, I hope not!