Time has gotten away from me

I am having a week that has been very, very busy.  I am not getting the time I need to get things done.  Time is not my friend this week.  Busy with work, appointments and cleaning up, well that does not leave enough time for blogging I am afraid.  I did squeeze in time for my baby blanket.  My little great nephew has been here a little while so I have to get this done as soon as possible.  Want to take a peek?

I took this picture earlier this morning, I have already put one round of green for the border.  I am finishing it off with a round of blue this evening.  This was a quick project, and so far I like the way it is turning out.

Still not in love with Berroco Weekend for this blanket, but it is a great yarn to work with, maybe it is better suited for another project.

 This has consumed my day.  No rest for the weary they say, don't they?  I had Mexican Petunias that completely took over this area.  I started with two small plants and within two years they had taken over 12 feet.  I had them taken out today and I was so happy to see this open space.  I went to Home Depot bought mulch, top soil, rocks and plants and went to work. 

I added top soil and mixed it with what was left after the plants had been taken out.  I added rocks to the border, and lots of beautiful plants.  Next came the mulch and there we have it, done!

Now of course I look at the rest of the area and see the bushes, and now I think I am not liking them.  Change one thing and the rest has to go to.  Well not today anyway, I am tired.

Someone was outside waiting for the pool to go on this morning while I was having a photo shoot with the baby blanket, not a happy face I am afraid. He was irritated with me because I had the camera out.
 

Really the look on my Max's face is pretty funny.  No smiles for Mom as long as the camera is in my hand.

Tomorrow I fly to Columbus for a short visit to move Mr. 19 year old out of his dorm and into his room for the summer.  I can not believe that his first year of college is over. He is moving into one of the swim houses for the summer, then come August he will move into another house with five of his swimming friends.  I am not looking forward to packing him up and moving him out.  We only have a day as we fly back Tuesday.  I can only imagine the state of his room, Lord give me strength.  He will be home for a week and a half before returning to train and take a class.

And I will be alone again!!!! Hooray for me.  Seems like you all enjoy your alone time just as much as me.  I loved reading all of your comments on the subject.

I just wanted to tell you that as I sat in my swing this morning working on the baby blanket, I was thinking of all of you and sending you my love.  You are all so special to me.  I know some of you are going through very difficult times, and I am sending you a prayer for whatever you think you need.  

Hope you all have a great few days.  See you when I return.

A win, Blue and Alone Time

First I have to send out a very special thanks to Dee at Tangled Up In Sticks and String.  I won her wonderful cross stitch give away.

I have never cross stitched, although I am always amazed at all of you who do.  This will give me the opportunity to try it out.  Because what I really need in life is more projects to do!  Dee made a beautiful bookmark from this book, she included all the supplies for me to make one, and this beautiful towel to cross stitch on.  If indeed I do master this, and I make something on this towel, no one is allowed to touch it, I am just saying.

 The talented Dee, made this magnet especially for me!  It even has beautiful beads on it, so lovely.  Thanks Dee for all of your generosity, and a big thanks to Dee's husband Steve, for picking my name.

This weekend I have been consumed with blue.  I have started this baby blanket for my new great nephew.  I am loving this pattern, although it seems to be taking some time.  I am joining as I go, really I can't even imagine doing it another way now that I have, well for lack of a better term, mastered it.

I took these photos in my kitchen this morning before the sun was out, so they are a bit dark.  The colors are very vivid, perfect for a baby I think.  I am making this from Berroco Weekend yarn, not the softest yarn in the world, I tested it on my cheek in the store and found it acceptable, but once I got it home, well I am not in love with it.  Hopefully it will soften up a bit with washing.

The blue Malabrigo sweater came out of the Feel Good Basket one evening.  I added about 2 inches to the sweater before I got the idea to make the baby blanket.  Now I won't take it out until the blanket is done, because this yarn is the absolute yummiest yarn in the world, and now that I am working with yarn that is a bit yuck, well I can't tempt myself.

This blue swing is a new addition to our patio.  I LOVE swings, I always have.  I have always wanted a porch swing, and only lived in one home, very briefly years ago, where I could have one.  We needed to replace some outside furniture that was literally disintegrating before our eyes.  So much for life time warranties on wicker furniture.  It only covered the frame, not the wicker or cushions.  I was so sick of washing the wicker/cushions with mildew cleaner and seeing the pieces break apart we got rid of them.  We added recycled plastic Adirondack chairs around our fireplace.  They are really heavy so they won't blow around and they are easy to clean.  This swing is made from the same material. I am in love with it and as the weather has been a bit cooler this weekend I have spent some quiet time outside swinging and crocheting.

Speaking of quiet time, my husband has been gone for that past two days visiting his family in Wisconsin.  Can I tell you how blissful it has been without sounding nasty?  Forty-eight hours of  time almost to myself.  My youngest is still here, but he entertains himself with is friends, his Xbox and movies upstairs in his man cave.  I have watched baseball with no one flipping the channels, watching three or four minutes of ten different shows before switching back..  I have crocheted and swung without having to go run errands, clean up dishes and counters that have been left messy with lunch, or have someone calling me because they can not find the peanut butter that is always located in the exact same place.  My house has stayed relatively clean and organized.  And I have not been woken up 5 times a night by very loud snoring.  Yes my husband is a good man, and I would not want this to be permanent or anything, but this alone time has been a gift. Men are funny I think, they don't seem to need the same amount of alone time as women.  Is it because we women dedicate so much time to our families, our homes and work?  My husband does not understand why I want to be alone or have my own space.  I think he would like to be together 24/7. As I get older I need more and more time alone, and it seems the more I need the less I get.  My husband works from home, a lot.  So when I get home from work he is here, talking loudly on the phone, putting on ESPN while he makes his lunch, things that should not annoy me but they do.  I like quiet, and peace and so I am thankful I have had it for the last day or two.

Do you feel the same or do you think I am a bit crazy in my menopausal state?

Strange and Terrible Week

What a very strange, sad and terrible week we are having.  First the horrible bombings in Boston, The Fertilizer Plant explosion in Texas, and forgive me, our ridiculous government spatting about background checks for those who buy guns.  I try not to be overly political on this blog, even though I am overly political in life.  But to see the faces of the parents of the children who were killed in the Sandy Hook shooting, after simple backgrounds checks were denied is devastating.  So many people have been killed, hurt and maimed this week, and it still doesn't come close to how many get killed each and every week in the United States by guns. Really when does all this craziness stop?  I don't want a gun and I hope I never do, but I certainly don't think we need to protect ourselves with military style assault weapons that can shoot 30 rounds in 5 seconds. I feel ashamed of the Senator's that voted this down, how they can sleep at night is beyond my comprehension.

If you are still with me I am off my ranting now and onto other things.

As you know Stitchy McFloss is having a doily CAL and KAL.  I held strong and steady for the CAL, not joining in.  But when I saw the KAL I flew out of my chair and started rummaging through my yarn stash.  After I smacked myself upside the head in an attempt to gain some sanity, and took a couple of deep breaths, I still could not get this pattern out of my head.  The Knit Flower Doily is a real beauty.  Even though I told myself not to, I printed off the pattern and placed it next to my computer where I could see it glaring at me.  Oh course Ms. Stitch, who is a very bad influence, kept pestering me in her very sweet way, and finally I succumbed.

I made this last weekend while watching the Boston Red Sox plummet my Rays. It helped me get through those two rough games, you can stop snickering now my sister Claudia who is a huge Red Sox fan.

This pattern requires size 10 thread and size 2 double pointed needles.  I knew that was not going to happen here at my house so I looked for yarn I thought I might like to use.  I ended up with Naturally Caron Country in Renaissance Rose.

This doily took about 100 yards of yarn.  Had I known that it would take so little I would have made it with another yarn, maybe in a cream colored cotton.  The original doily is approximate 8 inches across, mine is close to 15.  I used size 8 double pointed needles. 

It was a fun experience and I am glad I joined in.  I will not be making another one anytime soon, I have way too many other projects on my mind, but I am keeping the pattern close by in case the doily bug bites me again.

 My Gardenia's have been blooming for the last two weeks, much earlier in the season than I am used to.  They usually bloom the first week in May and are here until Mother's Day.  Gracie, I believe these are your favorites, so these are for you.  They smell divine!

As the news has been so grim lately I wanted a bit of color to play with.  I made this whirly twirly ruffle crochet scarf with some Misty Alpaca Pima Cotton Silk yarn I had on hand.  I Chained 167 stitches with a size J hook, Double crocheted 3 rows and then went around the outside of the scarf placing 3 double crochet stitches in each stitch from the previous row.  On the ends I placed 5 double crochet stitches in the stitch from the previous row, to make it a bit more whirly twirly.

Easy peasy and a fun project to play with.  This scarf took 200 yards of yarn.  So I am now up to 17 completed projects for the year with a total of 6,820 yards of yarn used so far. 

How is your week going?

Silence

My Heart goes out out all those involved in Boston and all over the country and world, that have been affected by this tragedy.  So today I am going to be silent in respect for those who have lost loved ones and for those who have been injured  Silent on blogs and trying to pray for those who need it.  So senseless, I just can't begin to comprehend.  I'll visit you all tomorrow.

Orchids and Rosa's number 2

Yesterday my husband and I went to an orchid farm fairly close by.  It was fascinating to hear about how they grow, which ones need sun and which ones need more darkness.  The orchid was a gift for someone he works with.  I wish my photography skills were better, I should have taken my really good camera. 

 The owners had several different greenhouses filled with plants.

Some hanging and some in pots.  Some flowers bloom twice a year and some only once.

These gorgeous orchids had a very large flower and hung in the air from what looked like nothing, no pot or soil, just roots sticking out every which way.

The lighting was strange in the greenhouses so picture taking was not ideal, but you get an idea of how beautiful they are.

  
Mr. Peacock also lives on the premisses.  He had just put down his beautiful finery before I could get my camera out.  He doesn't like his picture taken apparently, because as soon as I got my camera out he turned around and walked away.

 Rosa's Sleeveless Cardi number 2 is complete.  Before you all go crazy on my knitting speed this is a very easy, and very fast knit.  Once you are past the sleeves you just keep knitting, and knitting, and knitting.  Caroline was thrilled to see the outside today, it is overcast and dreary out, so there was not going to be a photo shoot inside the house.

This is a bit wider and longer than my first one, I added about 34 stitches to the neckline and about 45 rows to the body of the sweater.  I also went up to a size 10 needle.  The pattern calls for bulky yarn and a size 11 needle neither of which I used. It think this will be worn more for cooler weather over a long sleeved shirt.

This was made with Noro Silk Garden yarn.  My love/hate affair with Noro continues.  I think with this expensive of yarn I should not have random joins in the middle of a skein, and should I really be picking out plant matter from the yarn as I knit?  I vow not to buy Noro again, ever, and then the color combinations lure me back, time and time again.  Before this purchase I haven't bought any Noro in a long time so at least I am trying to stick to my guns on this one.

Finished project 15, with a total of 6,520 yards used so far this year.  

I read the best book a few weeks ago, The Last Summer by Judith Kinghorn.  If you like history and Downton Abbey you will love it.  I was riveted and seriously could not put it down.

If you like reading don't forget to pop by and catch up reading Legends of Aeternus 
by my favorite 16 year old author.  I promise you will be impressed by this lovely young woman's writing skills.  She is the daughter of one of my favorite bloggers, Mrs D Crochets, etc.

Shari at Kashmere Kisses is having a great give away.  Shari has a lovely, beautiful and peaceful blog and she makes incredible things, you will be amazed.  But be sure not to put your name in the drawing because I want the bunny she made and is giving away, and the less people who enter the better my chances are.

And my very dear, dear friend Sitichy McFloss is having a doily CAL and a KAL.  You can join in at her blog.  I am trying to hold steady and not succumb but I am weakening, I can tell you after seeing the KAL pattern, I am weakening.

What have you been up to this weekend?  

Rosa's Sleeveless Cardi

Usually when I am cruising Pinterest I happily pin away, but sometimes something really strikes my fancy and I delve a bit deeper.  I  go to the blog site or Ravelry and look at the pattern.  If I am still really interested I then print it off and it stays in a little pile of papers next to my computer.  I eventually shift through these patterns and I place them in my knitting group, my crochet group or they remain in the pile waiting for me to decide what to do with them.  This is exactly what happened to this pattern, Rosa's Sleeveless Cardi.  You can find it on Ravelry or on Emma Fassio Knitting. 

It can be found under her Free Patterns setting.  I kept looking at it and looking at it, and I knew I had to make it.

This yarn is Knit One Crochet Too, Ty Dy.  I used almost the entire two skeins I bought just for this sweater.  Lovely yarn to work with and fun colors, much brighter than I am used to.

I think Caroline the dress form is quite enjoying her modeling sessions.  She isn't all that happy with the poor lighting in the craft space, but I tell her that poor lighting often softens our features, and makes us look younger, she likes that.

 I Know this is a raglan type sweater and I just went all nuts about raglan's not looking good on me, well sleeveless raglans are okay because they let my broad shoulders breath a bit.

 The only problem with this pattern is that it is written for a more bulky yarn, and I believe a much shorter person.  I added 40 stitches to the cast on edge which is the neck, and added 6 rows to the strap/sleeves to get what I assume is the right width.  I added 50 rows to the body of the sweater before I started the little yarn overs that create the sides.  I then promptly ran out of yarn  so I wasn't able to complete all of those detailed rows. 

 I am assuming if it fits Caroline then it will fit me, as long as it doesn't have to fit her waist or hips I am in luck.  I can see wearing this with a white tank top and white shorts this summer.   The very blurry flower above is exactly what was left of my yarn, not much I'd say.  Right after I took this flower photo a big blur flew by my window onto my front lawn.

 Look at this gorgeous hawk.  I happened to have my camera in hand, which was very lucky because Mr. or Mrs Hawk was only visiting for a second or two.

I have started Rosa's Sleeveless Cardi number two with some Noro Silk Garden.  I have had to add oodles of stitches to this one too, we will see how it turns out.  So this is completed project number 14 for me for 2013.  I used 392 yards of yarn which brings me to a total of 6,086 yards used so far this year.  I love keeping track of all this with no goal in mind, just for fun.  

What about the blue sweater you ask?  Well one of my Medical Foster Care Mother's has a Feel Good Chair at her house.  Instead of putting her little people in time out she has them sit in the feel good chair until they feel better, or she does.  So the blue Malabrigio sweater is now in the new Feel Good Basket until it feels like it wants to cooperate.

I hope you are having a great week.

This and That on a Sunday

Today is a beautiful day here in Florida.  The sun is peeking out from big white fluffy clouds.  The temperature is hovering around 80 degrees and the humidity is low.  Perfect for an art show I think.

I went to visit the Tarpon Springs Art show in historic Tarpon Springs right on the bayou.  It is a gorgeous area with historic, beautiful homes.  The art show is located in the park that curves around the bayou.  Sometimes there are manatees swimming right here, not today I think they are out in cooler water.  I bought a crochet beaded bracelet that is so beautiful.  The creator is from Colorado, I am thinking it might be a fun project to try and figure out.  No pictures of it yet, I'll post one soon.

 I am having a crazy, frustrating,and emotionally hormonal week.  I have said before my hormones are all out of whack and this week has been a doozy.  I am on this patch now that is literally making me insane, exhausted and extremely edgy.  And if you know me I am already wound up pretty tight so I don't need something to make me tighter.  So just when I was feeling a bit out of control I received a package in the mail.  This beautiful pot holder, Cath Kidson purse and lovely note is from Pammy Sue, all for sending her a couple of patterns in the mail.  Pammy Sue I love this surprise, is there anything else you need?

Do you remember when I won this lovely give away from Sue at Mr. Micawber's Recipe for Happiness?  Sue is the amazing designer of this unbelievably gorgeous cowl.  Not only was her design accepted in Interweave Crochet but it made the front cover!  I won a signed copy of the magazine and.......yummy chocolate yarn, and a lovely bracelet made from the same pattern as the cowl.

So Sue is not only witty, articulate and creates lots of amazing crochet projects which she features on her blog.  She is also my hero right now.  She is riding in a big bike event in Colorado to raise money for MS.  If you have ever had a family member or friend with MS, you will understand how important it is to raise money for more research.  It is a truly debilitating disease, so please pop on by Sue's blog and give her lots of encouragement if you can and you can also donate on the link on her blog.

On another note my friend Jeanmarie at Mrs D Crochet, Etc 
has quite an amazing daughter.  Her lovely 16 year old daughter has written a book and is letting all of us who want to join in read along.  Let me just say this again, she is 16 and worked on this book for 2 years.  Not only can she write but she also illustrates the book.  I hope you will all like to follow along with me as I read this amazing book.  You can find Lenend's of Aeternus right here.  Hurry up and get caught up on the story, you will soon be biting your nails just like I am and anticipating each and every new post.  I feel we have a budding mega-selling author right here being born right before our eyes. 

There has been knitting, more on this another time.  Hope you are enjoying your Sunday.

Can a sweater knit itself?

Sometimes a sweater emerges from your needles with its own intentions.  A few weeks back when arranging my new craft space I was looking at  the best of knitscene, a book I have had for a while.  I saw this beautiful top down raglan sweater and thought I might give it a go.  It is the Equinox Raglan by Debbie O'Neill.  The funny thing is I do not look good in raglan sweaters, my shoulders are much too broad.  The neck to this sweater is very wide, I also do not look good in that style because once again my shoulders are much to broad.

This yarn jumped into my basket while I was making a quick trip to the yarn store.  I went for some roving for needle felting, not yarn.  But what was I supposed to do when the correct amount of yarn found its way into my basket.  I love gray, but you see this isn't really the gray for me.  This gray has undertones of beige in it, the gray that looks better on me has blue undertones.  

 I grabbed my needles and cast on.  I never checked the gauge, really what was I thinking?  I just cast on and got moving.  I knit and knit, I altered here and there, but I wasn't altering for my shape.  This sweater had different intentions.  I made it longer than the pattern, but not long enough for me.  I am 5' 10" tall, I have a long trunk and long legs, this would have had to be a couple inches longer for me.  I kept knitting away, stitch after stitch, row after row. 

This pattern was easy to understand and was a good knit for watching TV.  Do you watch The Voice?  I am addicted.  I love the bantering between the judges much more than I like the talent on the show. After hearing everyone's story I want every single contestant to be picked.

After I got done with the sweater I tried it on, of course it didn't fit.  I looked ridiculous.  It is not my size, style, shape, or color.  I had to laugh because it wasn't for me, and I knew that all along. 

  

I knew when I didn't check the gauge, I knew when I picked almost the right color for me, but not quite.  I knew when I realized in some weird universe that it was a raglan not a cardigan, sadly that took me a while to figure out.  I knew when I was knitting the 3/4 inch sleeves, another no no for my body type.  I knew all along but you see it just had to be knit.  So I sent the sweater on its way to the rightful owner this week.  I think she really likes it and it fits her like a glove.  Now if I could just get my blue Malabrigo sweater to start behaving.

This is finished project number 13 for me in 2013.  Along with this sweater, the scarves, the crochet flower wreath and Easter eggs I am now up to a whopping 5,694 yards of yarn used to crochet or knit this year. How are your projects coming along?

A Twirly Scarf

There has been some fun playing with yarn here this past Easter weekend.  I made a twirly scarf.  Actually it is the Arugula Scarf by Jennifer Dickerson of Fiber Flux fame.  She has lovely crochet patterns and they are all free.  Please stop by and give her a shout, you will be happy you did.

I took this photo outside where it was apparently very, very sunny.  Even in the strange lighting you can really see the colors of the yarn, actually much better than you can see them on Caroline the dress form.  It looks like a beautiful cabbage when it is all rolled up.

 I had all this Noro Cash Island from a Christmas exchange with my knitting group a few years back.  I wanted to use it all so in typical Meredith style I did not follow the directions completely.  I added a few double crochet rows to the pattern.  Not a great idea if you ask me, it made the scarf less, ruffly and twirly.

Still it is a fun scarf and I am going to gift it back to the person who donated it to the Christmas festivities.  She no longer knits so I am going to surprise her with her own yarn.

Since I had lots of yarn left I decided to make another scarf.  This Noro yarn is not my favorite and the colors are very deep and dark.  It still made a great little scarf.  This one had one less row than the pattern because I ran out of yarn, hmmm...follow the directions Meredith and you would have had two scarves of the exact same proportions.  Lesson learned, I think.

You all know me by now, I tend to do things my own way even if it isn't the right way.  Stubborn that is what I am, plain and simply stubborn. 

Now this sweater to be, is causing me some concern.  I am using Malabrigo Rio and I love it which is the only reason this yarn has not been thrown in the trash.  I attempted to make a sweater from this yarn three times having to rip it out each time.  It was knit sideways and I swear I just wasn't getting the right gauge.  I got to under the first armpit every time and then had to frog it.  I decided to find another pattern, which I did, and then got myself all turned around again.  Two inches past the ribbing were knit while watching the Jayhawks lose their game, the next two while Ohio State lost their game this past weekend during March Madness.  Maybe the sweater just had bad mojo going from all those loses.  I have ripped it back again and hopefully am on the right track this time.  Thank goodness I love the feel of this yarn, because really I am on my fifth attempt at knitting with it, that might be a record for me.

What are you working on these days?