It's been a long week..............

My youngest son was in the hospital all week.  I won't go into the details as that is his business but he is seriously ill and although released yesterday he has to go back to the U of I for more tests.  There are several things wrong but we are praying and being supportive of him as a family and right now that is all we can do.  But with all the phone calls back and forth between all of us it was truly an

exhausting week.  Especially being so far away from each other.   I think today was the first day I really felt like I could take a full breath and last night I fell into bed at 8:00 p.m. so tired I went right to sleep.  Emotions are much more tiring than physical labor in my book!  I woke up "bright eyed and bushy tailed" this morning at 2:00 a.m. and have been going ever since and the fact that he is out of the hospital for now made me feel much better.  I even made peanut butter cookies today!

 I'll be back tomorrow with my YOP post and hopefully to catch up with everyone.
 Betsy, I received the yarn and so sorry you're allergic to it!  It is such a great quality and you are a sweetheart for thinking of me.  It really lifted my spirits to see it was from you! Would you be allergic to it on your feet?  If not, I would be more than happy to make the socks for you.  It wouldn't be a problem, really!  I love making socks....I'm just S L O W !  LOL! 
 I hope you are all doing well and if any of you feel like saying a little prayer for my son, Jim, I would really appreciate it!
Speaking of praying........... I was looking for some things for my son that he could access from his tablet while he was in the hospital and I ran across Daily Hope, which is a podcast by Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church out in California.....I told my son about it but I have also been listening to it every day and it is excellent and very uplifting and interesting.  He is a wonderful speaker. I also found The New Living Translation Bible online for free here
along with many other Bible versions.  I really like the NLT because it reads like a "good book".....get it?.....Bible.....good book.....okay, you can tell I'm much more chipper today!
Happy Trails!

YOP Week #31

 

S P O I L E R   A L E R T  for my daughter Amy!!!!!  Do not go any further!!!!

 This was not a good week here on the homestead handwork-wise..............nothing was working out.......remember my Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Leuder?   I did the entire heel but it was inside out and yes, I noticed it but by then I knew I couldn't undo it but I thought I could live with it.....but in the end I couldn't and so I frogged the entire sock.....I don't know how to 'go back' that far and to be honest.....I was so disappointed in myself and my knitting skills after 'lo these many years' that I frogged the whole thing.  I could not understand as everyone and their brother has made these socks and loved them and not had any problems......so it is obviously MOI!  But 'the powers that be' were nice enough to think  "if she's going to mess up this much in life then we had better give her an extra dose of stubborness"...........and they did and so, I will cast on again....it just may not be today! LOL! I also definitely won't be entered into the Inside #23 Harry Potter KAL for January......but truth be told I probably wouldn't have made the deadline anyway as I had another whole sock to do.....woe is me!

 So, I picked up the Peace Cowl and couldn't remember where I was and ended up frogging it too! LOL! I think I just had too many things on the needles.  I really want to do some finishing up before any more new castons and I have some great ones coming up but I do not feel comfortable with having so many WIP's (works in progress).  Plus,  it is demotivating as I seem to get nowhere with that many projects.  So, I'm good with that and I learned something about myself...who knew at my age?

 "So,  what then?" you ask.  Pull out something that is close to being done and work on it as monogamously as possible..............my Cherry Heart socks.............remember these?  I was doing them concurrently too so both heels were done and I was on the foot of both of them.  I finished the one sock and plan to finish the second one today or at least by next Sunday.  These do not qualify for Yarngasm's Box of Socks 2017 because they were started in 2016 but that's okay as the object is for me to have lots of socks and I plan to.......... come 'hell or high water'! LOL!  I have had no problem with her pattern other than she refers back and then repeats and there's a pattern in the sock which is fine with me but this was supposed to be a 'first sock tutorial' and if I found it a bit confusing with all the referrals I can't imagine what a beginner would think.  But it is a great pattern and I will be making these again for sure!  There's no Kitchener stitch at the toe either and no gaps by the heel or gusset....woo hoo!  Obviously. she wrote a very good detailed pattern!

 Above then is the "me" project..............below is the "gift" project....yes, back to giraffe legs.......

 and this, my dears, is the new crochet project..............the basket for my daughter...remember I made one for her but could not find matching fabric with the Frieda Kahlo to line it with so, I decided to keep that one for me and make another one for her but this time I ordered the fabric first and then matched the yarns to the fabric! Brilliant I say, brilliant!  Here are the yarns............

 and here is the fabric..................her birthday is in July so if I play my cards right I should be able to accomplish this........

 When I went to Wally World the other day they had little lobster clasps like I originally was looking for...........I'll be making a few progress keepers this afternoon.............

 This week I got hooked on HueLoco's podcast and tutorials..........who I heard about from watching Joanna on the Stitching the High Notes podcast.....I printed off her project bag tutorial and hope to make one some for myself!  I can't wait!  I can't afford those project bags that are on Etsy not that they're not worth it.....most are gorgeous but I can sew my own and save the money for yarn! LOL! 

 She also has 3 different tutorials for dyeing yarn which I am very much wanting to do........she makes it sound so much easier than my Craftsy class!  I think I'll try her tutorials and she was a teacher so she is very good at explaining!  Be sure and check out her video podcasts and her tutorials if you are interested.....they are all FREE and who doesn't love that? 

That about wraps it up for this week....I hope you have had better luck with your projects than I had with mine but the Cherry Heart socks are really giving me my confidence back and I am thoroughly enjoying knitting them.
 Oh, BTW, I have a TIP for you all.  Remember when Miss Peeps chewed on my brand spanking new Karbonz circular needles awhile back?  The Cherry Heart socks were on them and they snagged the yarn and I had to really work on getting the yarn over several spots where she had chewed on the cable.....well..............after I finished the sock I thought I would try and see if I could, in some way, repair the cable.  I took a black emery cloth to the cable and "lo and behold" they are working again!  They're not perfect and you can still see where she chewed but I do not have to work to get them over those spots......it's pretty smooth and more like indentations now!  I was thrilled because I thought I would have to order new ones but now they are definitely usable again!
Happy Trails!