YOP Week #33

This has been a really good week for me.  I feel like I have made progress in many different areas of my life.  Some of which have been my YOP projects!  Remember last week I said I was "going back in time" to YOP 2012-2013 and there was the crocheted rug that I hadn't finished?  Well, I dug around and found it and started back on it and now I realize why I stopped.  It is way too painful for my hands.  It will also be too slippery on my floors so I frogged it, rewound the yarn and will use the yarn for another project.  As for the Seeing Stars blanket; I ordered the yarn from Knit Picks and Deramores and lo and behold the Knit Picks yarn arrived yesterday! This is Brava Worsted acrylic and very soft!  I can't start until the Deramore's Stylecraft Special Worsted arrives as the colors in the first block are contained in that order.  It's Join As You Go I'm pretty sure so I'll need to go over the instructions and get all my colors laid out.

    I have some "finishes" this week.........I finished the crocheted hearts for my Valentine tree although it could use more those will come next year.........

I finished the Feather and Fan dishcloth and I'm pretty sure I have the pattern down pat now...but I did forget to put the 3 knit rows on the end to complete the border!  Duh! 

The charity knitting is coming along very well!  I'm on the thumb gusset of the 2nd mitten.....I think this will be the year of the mitten! 

  I went to Walmart this week and replaced my reading glasses so I could do my cross stitch and I worked on Stars and Stripes Saturday.................1 more row of red and add the white to the blue section and it will be a done deal!

While I was at Walmart I also "enhanced my stash"...............

and started a crocheted scarf with this yarn that I purchased at the same time.............

We'll see how it goes.....there are dc4tog and dc7tog instructions which require paying a lot of attention!  No t.v. watching with this one!  I like the fabric it is creating but not sure I am picking up the right stitches.  You only really know when you get to the end of the row.  It is a super bulky too which I have never worked with before.

I have been watching A Wooden Nest podcast on You Tube with Lindsay Jewel and I love her! She knits and crochets and botanically dyes yarn.  So, of course, I went down that rabbit hole!  I've been researching botanical dyeing of yarn (and fabric) using natural materials.  I will be ordering some undyed yarn to try it.  She has come up with some beautiful yarns.
In other areas that I have made progress: I have been walking every day and now I am not huffing and puffing when I go up the hills!  I have also been preparing healthy foods except for Valentine's Day or any holiday where I get to do and eat whatever.  Last night I fixed  "overnight oats" and topped them with blueberries and banana this morning.  Easy, healthy and quick!  Just Google "overnight oats" and there are all kinds of recipes out there. I used almond milk and chia seeds in mine.  The "cleaning extravaganza" is going well.  So far, my bathroom, my closet, and my bedroom are done.  This coming week will be the hallway.  I am reading Marley and Me, a very good book! I'm also reading an antique book called Jerry Todd and the Up-the-Ladder Club written in 1937.  It's a middle school book probably but actually, it is well written and interesting.  I got both these books at a library sale.  Plus, I am reading Blue Zone Kitchens which is about the 5 zones in the world where people live the longest.  They have attributed it to their diet.  I will be cooking some recipes from Sardinia this week.  
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Here are your "tidbits" which are really things I have come across that I find interesting or inspirational or just plain funny!

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Happy Trails!!!