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Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Mish Mosh my Week or So

Sharing these beautiful flowers my daughter gave me for Mother's Day a few years ago.  Why now?  Pretty sure I did way back as well, but why now?  Cause it's ugly, cold, dark, and dreary out and I wanted to see something pretty.  I may add a count down to Spring on my blog.


No, I haven't done any Christmas Decorating yet, but I did manage to change place mats, and napkins prior to Thanksgiving with a nice colorful fall look.  Even leaf glass holders that go with the leaf napkin rings.  Now...I need to dig around and see where my Christmas ones are.  I might have discarded them last year....after having the same ones and not sure they held up after being laundered......hum, not sure.


Not me, but I started 2 new apps for doing a 30 day plank challenge.  Had no clue there were so many different types of planks.  I don't find these easy to do at all!


AND these really hurt my shoulders, plus I can't get straight like this, so not going to be doing these anymore.  Made my low back hurt as well.


There's a heater inside.  2nd to last home football game for The Ohio State Buckeyes, and it was COLD.  Having the tarps up on 2 sides really helped block the wind while we tailgated.  And the game after this one rained so I didn't go.  Sat through one really bad rain a few weeks prior and just wasn't up for it again.


Thought some of my knitting and crochet friends would enjoy this.  A few on there I've never heard of...PIG...oh how I should show you pictures of that system I have, except I have up-scaled it and they're not in grocery bags, but canvass totes.  

I'm still working on Potato Chip Scarf, just haven't taken any new pictures.  It's coming along.  AND I've managed to fight the start-itis problem, but did spend lots of time today and found the next pattern I want to make....so, I predict something will get started probably before Potato Chip is finished.  Just saying.

How's your week coming along?

I'm Participating in a new to me Linky Party

Sunday, December 01, 2019

Yarn Purchases, Potato Chip Scarf and.............Dieting?

I've got a case of start-itis.  I've been fighting it for awhile. 

  •  The red and gray are very basic sock yarn but, it's Berroco's Comfort Sock and is beyond super soft.  AND these are Buckeye Colors, and each skein has 447 yards soooooo plenty to make something.  I'm sorta seeing a striped shawl, or scarf...perhaps a Diagonal scarf, or something along that line where the stripes really make the project.
  • The larger cake upper right Plymouth Yarn Hot Cakes is 404 yards of WW yarn, also kinda Buckeye Colors, which I bought before the solid sock yarn. Since this is self striping and due to being heavier weight yarn would work up quickier, perhaps this is the one that should be a diagonal scarf.  Or might this make a fun potato chip scarf?
  • Then there's the 2 yummy Queensland collection, Perth....like the fun purple and gray I'm currently using to make the potato chip scarf.  But, oh look at those yummy jewel tones
No, I'm not done with any of my current projects (2 afghans, plus the yellow shawl, and the purple potato chip scarf.
But, it is now just over 33 inches, so lots of headway since my previous picture showing you how well the 2nd lucky skein matched.


 Then there's also this Cooper Corgi YUMMY YUMMY yarn from Savannah, Georgia I bought while in Hilton Head a few weeks ago.  Two pictures so you could see the front and back of the hank to see the colors.
It's hand dyed and twisted thus the $45.00 price tag for 460 yards of 100% superwash Merino.  Softer than butter...
This is the sample of a shawl on display at the yarn shop using the above hand dyed.  I really wanted to be able to lay this sample out so it could be seen but was limited with space.  I did purchase this pattern.


We've all just eaten a bunch no doubt at Thanksgiving, so perhaps we're thinking how to drop a few pounds before Christmas and New Years.  I am not vegan or vegetarian and have NO desire to be, but this tickled my funny bone.

Do you get start-itis?  Which one would you start with?  Is there a pattern that calls out to you using above fibers?

Are you dieting after Thanksgiving?  Let me know in your comments.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Shawls For Me and for You, Drink Up

YIPPEE!!  In my previous post I discussed the possibility of adding the orange -green yarn to this potato chips scarf, as it seemed I wasn't going to have enough yarn otherwise.  I asked for some input on whether or not the two would work together and got mixed reviews.  One of ladies I asked is a high school friend who works at my local yarn shop.  She said, "I don't think  you'll be happy with it if you do."  Love people giving you a honest answer.  I bought this yarn on the West Coast months ago and didn't have the label to give me a color number of anything to match it with.  On line searching didn't look like anyone carried this yarn, but my yarn shop had a few skeins and my friend remembered it.  Yippee, problem solved.  See where the red circle is in the picture, that's where I added the new skein........so I've made some good headway with this scarf and am really liking it.  Pleased you really can't tell.  Who knows if the dye lot was the same.  I still have some of the 1st cake so will get to the 2/3rd's point and switch back to it.  


AND, I've made really good headway with my drop stitch shawl.  In the previous post you can see I've just gotten to the 5 rows of lace in the first solid yellow section.  After that lace section I've done a section of garter stitch of solid yellow, garter stitch darker bland, garter stitch solid yellow....which is the half way point.  Beyond that I've done a garter stitch section of light blend, followed by another solid yellow garter stitch section and am now at the end of the yellow lace section.  Quite a few additional inches.  Will move back to the mix sections of light and dark blends with lace and garter stitches.  Then, I will add yellow I think to both ends to pull it all together.


When last I showed you this gray blend shawl it needed to have it's ends worked in.  Yippee........got that done, something I put off.  Here's the shawl nicely draped with a fabulous hand made shawl pin.  I'm very pleased I found that, think it really finishes it off.  This is a gift for a very good friend who likes gray and hinted at that when I made the pink and green for myself awhile back.


A close up of the pin with those gray stones......I really thought it was perfect.


This is my upper arm, 4 days after getting my Shingles shot.  It was hot to the touch for a week, but got better each day.  Muscle type soreness.  My cost after insurance was $143.00.....and I still need the 2nd go round several months down the road.  Even with all that said, it beats getting the shingles, so I do recommend you get yours if you haven't already.

LOL......spotted this recently in a little gift shop and it spoke to me.  And with that, I'm heading to the kitchen to make Manhattan's for tonight.  Hubby just called and said he's finally leaving work.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Bet You Can't Eat Just One, Potato Chip Scarf.

 Well...a bit of start-itis hit me.  I've been anxious to start working with this yarn, Queensland Collection, Perth 3.5 oz 437 yards and finally decided on this ruffle scarf.  The pattern is called Potato Chip.  I'm adding a link to a video that describes how you accomplish this using short rows.  I didn't find this video until I was at the point you see above.  In the video she goes from a small amount of stitches to a larger, the pattern I used did the opposite.

VIDEO HERE

The pattern I used though is HERE, but I am not using worsted weight yarn, and therefore I used 1.5...in that I cast on 30, and used 12-9-6 for my short row count.  Then thought it wasn't quite full enough and periodically changed to 15-11-8 and then would go back to 12-9-6.  My problem now is wondering if I'll have enough yarn as I was going to use both of this in fairly large blocks.  On my recent ladies trip to Hilton Head, my friend talked me into just using the purple.........gotta get my scale out and weigh how much I have left and decide if this is going to work.
Have done a few more rows on my mellow yellow (just decided on that name) shawl.  The drop stitches show up so much more on the solid yellow because you can see the carpet behind.



I've not signed up for the official challenge, but am using this photo to try and limber up with yoga a bit.  Still having a few issues with vertigo; but trying to work through it.

Night two of my 50th class reunion.  YES.......I am that old!  We were setting things up here before the non committee classmates showed up.  A fun, but tiring weekend.  It was just one day after that when I headed out of town for ladies week.

Was nice to get away and relax afterwards.  How's things going with you?

Sunday, October 06, 2019

Lacy Yellow Shawl, A Bright Future, Get Your Amazon On!

Making headway, but slower than I would like with my yellow shawl.  I tend not to work on this at night while watching tv.  The light weight sock yarn and I do better in the light of day without distractions......thus it's taking longer.  Since it's laying on my green chair and ottoman you can see through the yellow section better than the multi-colored sections.  Think you can now better see the lacy effect better than you could before the yellow section was added.


Folks there seems to be technical trouble.  The sound isn't working now on this video.  It worked, then it didn't, then it did again, and now not.  Will leave it for now in case it works itself out.  Now some folks are hearing it and some aren't.  I hear it when I open using Explorer, but not currently with google.....yikes.  Give it a try though folks, he really is cute.




Snarky.......yes, but it made me smile, so thought I'd share.  So much going on right now, hard to keep up with all the scandals and lies.  Never in my life did I think we'd be in such a state with so many people at the top being so inappropriate.  


As a person who LOVES Amazon Prime..........I had to snatch this picture!

Friday, September 27, 2019

Shawls, and Photo Bombs

Making headway with my drop stitch shawl.  Partially cause it's bigger than it was when I last posted a picture, and partially because I found a pretty yellow for the next section that blends nicely with it.  On the left you see a section of garter, followed by drop stitch (in the darker blend), then a larger section of the lighter blend with fewer rows of garter between the lace/drop stitch.  Next section is back to the darker blend.  I'm hoping you can see the variance in the next garter stitch section which starts with dark, then light, and back to dark.  Then it's back to the lace/drop stitch area in the lighter blend, followed by another large garter only stitch area which is the reverse of the previous section and is light-dark-light. (click to enlarge picture so you help me with the sections).

I believe this puts this at a good point to enter the 3rd color, solid yellow.  Currently it measures just under 20 inches (doubling that would 40), so it needs a middle section and then repeat what's already here.  That's the current plan.  What I'm undecided about is......

  • Solid yellow mixing sections of garter and drop stitch
  • Solid yellow drop stitches with a mix of garter stitch sections in both the two multi-blends (light and dark)
Love to have some input.  This has been a piecemeal thing, in that I bought the light yellow blend, then decided I didn't have enough for a shawl...found the darker blend and liked the two together, but still wasn't sure I had enough yarn.....thus the solid yellow.


Meanwhile.......isn't this cute!  One of the ladies who donates to my charity, Bridge and Beyond sent this to me with her latest donation.  She knows how I hate  to see summer end and fall and winter come.  I personally don't like those seasons, but with regard to my charity, I worry about the homeless in those cold wet seasons.  This will serve as a nice reminder to me that spring will come again.  Currently it's on the tv stand in the living room, but I think I'll hang it on the wall here in my office where I'll see it more often.  Thank you Sandra R from Florida.  What a sweet thing to do.

And
I had laid this aside trying to decide whether or not to rip it out.  I decided not to.  As you can there's not enough left to another repeat which is 10 rows and would form one more point, so I cast off.  I've left the yarn attached as I'm debating about knitting or crocheting (probably crocheting) a bit of an edge on the side where you see the yarn down to the last point on the scalloped side???  The edge would look different, so I don't know if that's a plus or minus?  It's not an asymmetrical shape shawl...so maybe I leave that edge alone (that's the way the pattern is written).  Plus...I don't know how far my left over yarn would go.  Thoughts???  There are several bad spots due to a couple of my errors and not being able to properly fix it, plus a couple of places where the yarn was bad.  This was suppose to be a gift, but....I probably won't gift it.  Probably will keep it for myself.


Got a kick out of this meme on Facebook and thought I'd share it.


About the only thing I've seen recently that's funny when it comes to politics......things have really gotten messy.  But, this photo bomb of Bill Clinton's made me laugh.  We have to keep laughing or we'll go nuts from the shear magnitude of all of this current administrations dealings.