Knitting, Reading, Yard Work and More

 

Current Project, a triangle shawl.  Love the colors.  I bought the variegated several years ago on girls trip with my daughter.  It's Knit Wit Yarn, wonderful feel.  They had a National Park Series, Grande Portage Natl. Memorial.  Didn't think I had enough yardage so this past month when she, hubby and I were spending a week in Park City, I visited the yarn shop there and found the yummy blue and green to blend with it.  After starting with the variegated, I stripped it with the blue every two rows to get the shaded effect, then did the solid blue, then stripping again to fade out of the blue, variegated next, stripped with the green to fade in.  Hope using all 3 skeins will give me a nice size shawl for the upcoming fall and winter.

A beautiful baby blanket my Darling Daughter knitted.  It's being block here after it got a soak bath.  Click to enlarge to see the cool texture.  I've always loved blue and green together.

The beginnings of the curly lilies.  Love how this look ruffly.  Such a vibrant color.  

Book #1 of a 3 book Series.  Yes I'm on a Elin Hilderbrand kick of late.

Book #2

Book #3.  Family life gone amuck!  Follow the money....fowl play, double life, mystery family, mystery....who's going to jail?  LOVED the series.  Add this to your fun summer to read list.

And because one can't really ignore real life, please please add this book to your list, SOON!  Jonathan Karl has known trump longer than any White House correspondent.  Didn't most of us think after Jan 6th, we had gotten rid of this man, or maybe it was just wishful thinking and hoping and praying.  

At some point I'll go and add up my steps/miles; as it's been awhile since I've documented and reported on it.  Sadly I've had too many interruptions in my exercise program.  The Dental Surgery really did a number on me.  I am back to walking, doing yard work, and mowing; but haven't restarted other exercises.  Why is it so hard to restart once you break the habit?

We're approaching The 4th of July.  If you're traveling to celebrate with friends and family, please be safe.  

Sherbet Blanket, Outlander, Exercise Oh My

 

Making headway with the Sherbet blanket.  The middle section is just about an inch short of what I want.  I want the blanket to be in 3 parts.  The first section is all the colors, the middle the bright pink, and then repeat the colored section for the third section.  Didn't work on it while in England for 2 wks, which I've been blogging about on my travel blog.  But did take it on our road trip to Williamsburg, which I'll blog about when I've finished the England tour blogging.

The entire series (9 books), of The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon is 413 hours in audio books.  Whew!  But, is soooooooooo worth it.  Sadly this picture is not in order.  Not sure why, maybe a color thing.  Yes I've watched some of tv series, but not the last 2 seasons and decided I wanted to read the books.  The narration is so well done, I think you would miss something if you read them vs listened to them.  Here's the proper order.

1. Outlander                         33 hours
2. Dragon Fly in Amber              39 hours
3. Voyager                           43 hours
4. Drums of Autumn                 45 hours
5. The Fiery Cross                    56 hours
6. A Breath of Snow and Ashes     57 hours
7. An Echo in the Bone               46 hours
8. Written in My Own Blood          45 hours
9. Go Tell the Bees I'm Gone        49 hours

Davina Porter is the lady that narrates all 9 books.  She is English, her father was a real Londoner= Cockney, her mother was born in St. Andrews Scotland, and she married Glasgow born Scot.  So lots of diversity in language/accents.  She truly does a wonderful job!!  I highly recommend all 9 books with her reading them.

All I can record for the month of August is steps/miles walking which would include mowing the yard.  I was in England for 2 wks and got a good number of steps while on tour.  My highest day was 20,473 steps (9miles) in the month which was mid month, while in England.  Additionally I had 2 days with 17K in steps (7 miles), again while touring England.  So, I'm happy with the steps/miles  The month total is 126.58 miles (306,953 steps) which is more than the July total of 102.54 miles.  Elbow is better, but still not 100% so have not tried to do planks.  I have started doing some yard work with the fall clean up of flower beds.  I am not however using the spudbar which caused the injury.  I am able to dig up lilies with a shovel because they  don't have hard roots in order to thin things out in the flower beds.

Let's Start at the Very Beginning, A Very Good Place to Start.....

 

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...are you singing with me?  Bet you are, lol.  This is the beginning of a baby blanket for our newest family member, my great-great niece, Leia.  It reminds me sherbert with the light and dark pinks, and mint green.  I hope this won't take too long to knit; but it's 165 stitches for one row, so it's not going to be a quick project.

A fascinating true story about Cornelia Fort, Nancy Love, and Jacqueline Cochran among the 1,100 women who became pilots, who ferried bombers, who trined the men who had far less hours flying to serve their country.  Another situation where the women didn't receive the respect and honor they deserved until after the fact.  Highly recommend this book.

Those in Peril is a novel with lots of twists and turns about billionaire Hazel Bannock and Major Hector Cross.  The author, Wilbur Smith describes the book as a tale of sex, violence, and other things through in.......like Somali Pirates.  A very different sort of book for me; but one you keep reading/listening to........because you must know what happens next.

Three Sisters by Heather Morris is considered to be book 3 (#1 The Tattooist of Auschwitz, #2 Cilka's Journey), but I believe it can easily be read/listened to as a stand alone book.  Three Slovakian sisters survived the horrors of the death camps.  As the Allies were moving in, The Nazies forced Men, Women, and Children on the Death March; but the sisters escaped and their story of surivival is riveting.

I've added my stats to the tab across the top of my blog.  June was a so-so month.  I traveled one week,  and bascially maintained.

Planks down to 12 from 13 the previous month (Full arm planks)

Side Planks   up to 4 from 2 the previous month

Walks    9 (forgot to record May), miles slightly down from 104.

94 to 102.54

High Steps  down from 4 to 2 from the previous month

Mowing, the same 5 x

**I did not manage to do any Silver Sneakers Classes in June

HELP NEEDED:

I have Windows 11 on my laptop, I have Samsung Android Cell, and an ipad.  Recently I got a notice on my computer indicating I could use something called Phone Link to link my phone and my computer.  Pictures, texts etc would appear in both places.  Typically I use my phone to take pictures, then transfer the pictures I want to my computer for use on my blogs and or just photo's I want to keep.  Once I do this I generally delete the photo on my phone so I don't have lots of things on my phone taking up space/storage.  Has anyone used this app to have everything automatically on your phone and your computer?  If so, do you like it?  I can see it would save time; but ...........what I've not been able to find out is, if I delete a picture I no longer need or want on my phone does it automatically delete it from my computer?  Thanks for any info any of you may have on this.

Knitting, Eating, Reading Continue

 

Blue Ripple, I think is what I'll call this afghan.  I've made good progress since the last picture.  The variegated blue yarn section is a large section, as I have a lot of that yarn...though I don't like working with it, as it's course and hard on the hands.  I hope it softens up when laundered.  The section after the variegated is navy blue, which has not yet been used.  I started with the variegated, then used light blue, then a medium blue, and then the large variegated section, followed by the navy.  Then I think probably back to the variegated...we'll see how the amounts of the yarn work out.

We had another dinner party for 6.  We had pesto butschetta topped with diced tomatoes to go with our cocktails, broccoli, and heirloom potatoes seasoned with garlic and olive oil.

And Chicken Marsala.  

Cocktails were Classic Manhattans.

The Book of Lost Names.........Nominated as Best Historical Fiction in 2020.  I LOVED this book.  Nazi's tried hard to destroy many cultures, art, books, and libraries.  They really wanted nothing none German to survive World War II.  A  secret code, and the hard work of forgers giving people new identies as they escaped The Nazi's makes for book hard to put down.

While we all know about Helen Keller's blindness, and how she overcame the difficulties, I did not know how many other things she excelled in.  This autobiography was quite an eye opener for me.

tuesdays with Morrie, is at times uplifting and at times hard to read/listen to.  This memoir written by Mitch Albom deals with life and death and unusual friendship between Mitch and his Sociology Professor.  It also shows how impactful teaching can be.  Highly recommend this book.

Exercise will be down this month, as I had a nasty gastrointestinal bug for too many days, and we had more rain and more wind thus far this month.  We'll just have to see how the month's stats shake out.  Thank you all for your encouragement, it's always appreciated.  I really wanted this month to be gang busters, but it will not be.

Oh My September Was a Bust

 

Well, I had hoped to be done with this scarf by now, but other things got in the way.  I have however made lots of headway.  You can see I have very little yarn left, so it will be done when the yarn runs out.  It's currently 47 inches long.  A bit shorter than I like for scarves, so I will have to see how long it ends up, and it may yet be joined to form a circle and be an infinity type scarf.  I really like the blend of colors with the greens and browns.

Decided I needed a change from all the WWII books I've read/listened to of late.  I really enjoyed this book, despite how sad Frank McCourt's childhood was.  I highly recommend the audio of this book, as the author himself reads it and that adds so much to the story in my opinion.

I enjoyed the first book so much I followed up with Frank McCourt's 2nd book and again enjoyed it.  His character is addicting, I think...perhpas not if you're his wife though.

And, yes I moved right onto his 3rd book.  I'm happy to report that after such a sad and brutal childhood, a less than desireable marriage, that if you google you will find he had a successful and happy 2nd marriage to Ellen, the one responsible for his writing his memoirs.  And if you google you'll be able to see a good number of photo's of his life.

Geesh, no real exercise to note for the month of September.  As you may have noted from my previous post, I got Covid.  Still not feeling 100%, but am negative now on testing.  Was in France and spent isolation in the hotel room.  Real bummer, we never got to go on our tour.  Between being sick, isolating, and lots of flights there and back...only exercise I've done is a little bit of walking which is where this Halloween yard decoration comes from.  I did mow a few times, and got some steps from that.  But, all in all...September was a real Bust. 83.6 miles for the month, down from 90.15 in August.

I blogged about France, The Tour That Wasn't Here.  

Or at least the wee bit we got to see before Covid enterted.

Knitting A Baby Blanket and Scarf, World War II Audio Books, and Horses!

 

The Blue corner to corner baby blanket is growing.  The white section is now done, and blended into light blue which has blended into the darker blue currently.  It now measurers 30 inches a side and 48 inches in diameter while on the needles (that often changes a bit), and has 154 stitches on the needle.  We're not yet at the decreasing point...not sure how large I want to make it...it's an eyeball thing for me.  Most people that make baby blankets go for about 30-36 inches.  Mine are always larger, more a crib size or afghan size vs "baby size".  Only time will tell.  I'm happy to see the shading changes.

The Buckeye Scarf (bottom in the picture), has been waiting in the wings for a while.  I started it just around Thanksgiving, then put it aside when I was started working on The Blanket of Many Colors.  Decided it was time to bring it out again, and I like to have projects to switch back and forth between.  As I mentioned above size to me is an eyeball thing.  This Buckeye Scarf will be a gift for a friend who's an avid Buckeye Fan.  I knew it wasn't currently large enough but wanted to compare to a scarf I made myself awhile back with the same pattern.  I like these asymmetrical scarves.  More fun to make than a regular scarf; and perhaps a bit dressier when worn.  The wing measurement is currently 37 inches (the previous one I made is 56 inches), it's 8 inches at it's widest part, while the completed one measures 10 inches.  The width of The Buckeye Scarf will probably be a bit wider on completion, as the yarn is a bit heavier.

Still in WWII mode....this book, "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand is hard to put down.  The book was a best seller and has in fact been turned into a movie, though I've not seen the movie.  This is a true story of Louis Zamperini, his participation in The Berlin Olympics, joining The ARmy Air Force and being a downed pilot.  The courage, hope, and endurance of men against severe conditions and horrible brutality is a testament to the human soul.  I highly recommend this book.

 One of many scenes I've enjoyed these past couple of months as I walk and or ride my bike.  The loop is just over 3 miles through beautiful Sea Pines Plantation in Hilton Head.  Hubby and I have really enjoyed our time away from The Ohio Winter.  I've not made a counting yet for my planks, bike rides, walks, or yoga for the current month of February to compare to January, but my gut feeling is it's less.  We've had some super windy days with cool temps which have lessen my exercising.  I need to pick up the pace with just a week left here before heading back to cold Ohio.

 

Blanket of Many Colors, WWII, Spies, Gnomes

 

Making good headway with the blanket of many colors.  In the previous post, I only had 1 square done in the 3rd row, and now all 4 squares are completed and joined to form the gray diamond block, plus 3 squares of rose colored diamond above it.  Plan to wait until I finish all 3 diamonds on this 3rd row before joining; as I might rearrange again.  Originally had the gray block on the bottom right, but after the rose diamond there will be a purple diamond and thought perhaps it was better to have the gray between the rose and the purple; but will decide once they are complete and I can play a bit with them.  That's both the fun and the challenge of not planning out the color arrangement before starting on the project....but, that's not my style.  I'm more of a seat of pants let's see how it flows persons, lol.

Another good WWII read for you all.  And who doesn't like Ken Follett?  While this is not exactly a true story, it is based on lots of real facts of the time and the events.  Reading some of the reviews it seems most people couldn't  put the book down.  Some watched the movie and then read the book, but most read the book first which is recommended....even by some reviewers who saw the movie first.  Do add this to your list.  The spy the object of the most desperate manhunt in history it says.

Continuing ta walk, or bike ride and working on planks most days.  Plan to make a file/tab here to note monthly totals with the hope that recording it will aid me in trying to do more.  This was taken awhile ago on a walk through my neighborhood.  Isn't the little Gnome village cute!  In addition am trying to add in some yoga a few days a week; but have really gone downhill with that.  Am so much more stiff than I was when I was doing it regularly.  Hard trying to get back into it, but trying.

Squares and Diamonds, Blanket of Many Colors, WWII, Blogging Etiquette

 LOTS of headway made on The blanket of many colors since the last picture/post.  The individual squares have been completed from the 3 that were partial done in the last photo, and two rows of squares/diamonds have been joined, and 2 rows have been joined together.  Next up, played with color a bit more and have planned the next row of 3 diamonds which is 12 squares.  Once the diamonds are joined with the color of the diamond, the group of 4 squares is joined using dark gray to create a bit of a window pane effect.

No additional picture of the Blue Baby Blanket, as I've not worked anymore on it.  Next time should have an update.

Another good WWII book to recommend to you all.  War, Italy, Christian vs Jewish.  The layers of war, occupation, and resistance....and yes LOVE.  Our Darkest Night, by Jennifer Robson needs to be on your to do list.  I'm continuing to prefer audio books from the library using the Libby app.  It's easy, free, and keeps my hands free to do other things.  When indoors I knit and or do household chores; when outside, I listen while I walk.  

Exercising is continuing pretty well.  

From Jan 3 todate, have planked 8 days of 18 (through yesterday since today is not complete), have done a bike ride 4 days of 11 (didn't have a bike for 7 days), Have gone for a walk 8 days of 18, and have taken 179,997 steps in those 18 days for an average of 9,999 steps per day according to Fitbit.  The above map shows bike and walking paths/trails available to me currently.

Seven Rules of Proper Blogging Etiquette

• Always, always, always link back. Often bloggers will use photos from other blogs or sites. ...
• Only use ONE photo. ...
• Comment back. ...
• Don't copy. ...
• Cite your inspiration. ...
• Don't accuse someone else of copying you unless you are 100% sure they did. ...
• Be nice.

Been a long time since I've read about the above, or written about it.  Was thinking this am about the number of bloggers I visit, read, and comment on vs those that read, and comment in return.  That's what caused me to google blogging etiquette.  In all the years I've blogged, I've never heard anyone mention only one photo..........what's with that?  Beyond that, the list is as I remember it. I do wonder why people don't comment back, or worse yet those that comment with something that has nothing to do with the blog post...so you know they didn't read it at all.  Bloggers come and go, and I'm constantly updating my blog list.  Often I add new folks, but sometimes there's a need to delete someone because they're no longer active, never return a comment, or have stopped blogging.  So, over the next few days, I'll be reviewing and doing that to make my list more current.

Knitting Corner to Corner, Planks Work the Core, and We Must Be Brave

 

Digging through my stash for yarn suitable to make a baby blanket I came across this blue mix, JoAnn Sensations which is a mix of acrylic, polyester, and nylon.  Currently there are 71 stitches on the needles.  The pattern is the always popular Grandma's Favorite corner to corner.  Increases happen at the beginning of each row until you get the width you want, and then you start decreasing at the beginning of each row.  It looks pretty much like solid blue so far, but as you can see from the large ball, it is a blend of shades of blue and white.  I've only just started this and no doubt it will take a time to complete; but I only just found out a baby would be in need.  It currently measures 20 x 8 inches.

Am continue to work on the blanket of many colors.  I now have 4 full squares complete and the colors chosen for the next 2 squares.  I've made a few changes in colors from the previous post/pictures.  Am currently trying to determine if I want to stitch them together or crochet them together...or perhaps knitting them together.  I am leaning towards stitching them together, which is not what I typically do with squares/pieces, but these squares have a bit of an edge since they are made corner to corner, vs knitting back and forth straight rows.

No, this is not me, but this is the style of plank I've been doing.  I have done a variety of routines, altering time and repeats; but ....then I completed fell off the wagon.  A few days ago I restarted doing 40 second planks with 4 repeats and 12 seconds of rest in between.  My question is, are you ahead to do fewer repeats but longer planks or the reverse?  I've read articles supporting both methods.  I will not be doing these daily, you do need to rest.  I've done 2 days in a row with a day of rest thus far.

I recently enjoyed this audio book, "We Must Be Brave", by Frances Liardet.  When bombs fell on Southhampton, England people crowded onto buses and left the city.  Pamela, a little girl asleep on the bus wakes and wonders how she got where she is, and what became of her mother.  This Novel is entertaining, and very emotional.  And while it's not a "true" story, events like this did indeed happen during the difficult war years for many families.

Knitting, Reading and Decorating

 

Plymouth Encore, 200 yard skeins WW yarn.  Washable 75% Acrylic and 25% Wool.  This is my go to WW yarn.  LOVE the colors.  28 skeins here. 5,600 yards of yummy.  These colors were calling out to me, even though I have an afghan in the works that's close to being done.......AND a 2nd WIP, The Buckeye scarf (scroll back one post).  Have made progress with the scarf, it's bigger than it was in the  previous post; but I haven't taken another photo.  Maybe next time.  AND...do swing back to see what I'm doing with this 5,600 yards....or at least the first project using some of this.

The first book in 3 book series by Ken Follett.  If you like anything about history, the coming of age; you MUST read and or listen to this series.  I really enjoy listening to books and get them free from the library and use the Libby App.  The app is easy to search, to borrow, or be put on a waiting list.  Book 1, follows the lives of families in Germany, England, Russia, and a small Welsh coal mining town.  I highly recommend this book and the entire series.

Book 2 in the series, follows the lives of families in England, The United States of American, Russia and Germany.  And how what happened in their lives was dictated by events in and around World War II

Book 3, the final book of the series involves the same families (the 3rd generation) and the same countries: England, The United States of America, Russia and Germany during the cold war and lots of historical events including The Cuban Missile Crisis, The British Invasion, The Kennedy Administration, Watergate, and The Civil Rights Movement.  If you're my age, you lived through this period.  If you read or listen to these books, let me know your thoughts.

Decorating has begun at my house.  How about yours?  Do you decorate the same each year?  Do you buy a real tree or have an artificial tree at your house?

Hope everyone is getting their Boosters and getting the young ones vaccinated.  As the numbers of cases, and hospitalizations has risen in many states.  Sadly, my state is one of those.  And just a few days ago, the states first cases of Omicron have appeared here.  Oh how I wish I could wave a magic wand and get rid of this virus in all of our lives.

Knitting, Crocheting, and Listening to Audio Books, During Covid

 

This is the book I'm currently listening to.  I'm really enjoying it.  History hasn't taught us much about how many women made important and long lasting changes to our country.  Some of the women discussed in this book I know of, but even those I've heard of I learned new things about them.  This book seems particularly important to read or listen to right now, given the state of things in the country.  With the push of the far right and trying to remove safe guards and progress women have made.  Please put this on your list to purchase or check out of your local library.

When you read do you stick with a subject, or author or do you read randomly?  I've never been a big reader; but am loving audio books.  I find them enjoyable because you can do multiple things at one time.  I got into audible books first to have something to listen to when I take my daily walks.  Was getting great step counts and listening a lot........then came the winter......argh.  Not a fan of winter.  I do sometimes force myself to outside if there's not snow or ice on the ground for fear of falling.  I use the library app Libby.  Originally I used Over Drive but found Libby is more user friendly, so switched.

So I listened to, as you can see, a bunch of political stuff.  Given all that we've been through these past 4 years it seemed wise to read/listen to get more of the nuts of bolts of all that went on.  WOW!  Not sure though I would say President Obama's first book, Dreams of my Father is a political book.  It's was very much about his life, from childhood on.  I found it fascinating how he lived in different worlds.

The Room Where it Happened got a bit long in the tooth.  I listen to about half, then switched to another book and then came back to it.  I don't agree with  Bolton on much of anything, but it points to how truly dysfunctional trump was/is.  And how much all those around him thought so.  Puzzling why so many tried to defend him.

I do tend to stick with a topic for awhile in my reading/listening.  These are I think important to help us understand better what our Black American Citizens deal with, both in the present and in the past.  I mentioned above how I like listening as I can do multiple things at one time.  In addition to listening while I walk, I listen while I knit, while I do things around the house and often while I'm doing dinner prep in the kitchen.

These 3 books about Scientology are a real eye opener.  It is such a horrible cult it's frightening because it has such a huge membership.  The original founder, L. Ron Hubbard was a huge huge narcissist and reading about him reminded me so much of trump.  It's disappointing to me how this huge wealthy business gets treated like a church in terms of taxes.

Again focusing on a subject/topic.  I found these books by the same author riveting.

Since I often was listening and knitting or crocheting, these are 2 afghans I worked on.

These bright colored strips were donated to my charity, Bridge and Beyond and I crocheted borders for each strip, and then crocheted them together.

And this brown knitted afghan has been in the works for a long time but, listening and knitting I've been able to make good headway.  I'm also working on a purple scarf, but haven't taken a picture of it yet.  Need to do that.

I'm happy and excited to report hubby and I got our first Covid Inoculation and are scheduled for our 2nd.  I hope you all are staying safe from Covid and getting your vaccinations.

It's been ages and ages since I've blogged on a regular basis, and I've really missed it and visiting and reading and commenting on each of your blogs.  So, I'm recharging now and plan to get back to it.  Please let me know how you all are doing.