Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Autumn Bucket List

My daughter just said my Autumn Bucket List failed. She is super encouraging 😁 I prefer to see it as 'at least I got some of it done'.
My final update...

Under Family and Friends,
We didn't go very many places. I originally wanted to go for a picnic, to an Oktoberfest or chili cook-off, and to a pumpkin patch. Between the dr appointments I ended up with this Autumn and my dh getting sick, plus the fact that we are all homebodies and when it comes down to it, we'd just rather stay at home (must remember that when making future lists:), we just didn't. We did go to the homeschool hayrack ride/hotdog cook off, which was fun and we visited my parents and I got to spend some time with my friend:)
Daughter at hay rack ride event
Around the Home and Just for Me
I did buy an Autumn candle, went for many many walks and took pictures, did a little decorating, washed all the jackets and coats and cleaned out a few cabinets instead of cleaning out the closets, so not too bad:)  The 'Just for Me' items mostly got left off due to lack of funds, but that's okay, I was just hoping. :)

Crafting
Instead of making one I bought an Autumn sign for the front door, which drove my family nuts as it clanked against the door every time they opened or shut it. I could have put some felt on the back of it, but where is the fun in that??? 😏I made a couple bags, finished stitching what I wanted on Bittersweet Lane and finished the knit and crochet hats for my daughter. I still have learning to knit socks on my list. I found an on-line program that comes with the yarn and supplies as well as videos on how to knit socks that I want to buy, but I need to wait until I have the money for it, maybe for Christmas:) I also still need to block my knitting items that are waiting for me to do so.
Bittersweet Lane from Blackbird Designs
In the Kitchen
I probably had the best luck here, because, well, yum!!! I did spiced lattes, both coffee and tea, pumpkin yogurt, lip gloss and pumpkin hazelnut cheesecake (seriously, make this one!! We made it gluten free by using gf graham crackers). I also made apple cranberry muffins and canned hot pepper jelly. I ended up making a batch of Serrano pepper jelly and jalapeno pepper jelly and finding that we prefer the Serrano pepper jelly even though it takes longer to make - with the peppers being so much smaller and kind of a pain to cut up.
All-in-all I'm happy with the progress I made this Autumn and since I took some pictures of my progress, I will remember some of the things we ended up doing:) I have a list for the Christmas season just about ready to post, so come back on Thursday to see 'The 12 Projects of Christmas'!! Hopefully I'll get some of those done in the next month:)

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Yarn Along

I'm joining in on this week's Yarn Along hosted by Ginny from Small Things. For this KAL we post what knitting/crocheting projects we are working on as well as what books we are currently reading. Here is an over-view picture of what I've been up to this week...
Reading: Well, there is no book in the picture because I haven't been reading:( Hoping to get back to that real soon.

Knitting/Crocheting: But you can see that I've made up for the time not reading by playing with some yummy yarn:)
Knitted a few more rows on the Tidal Sands from Anne Hanson. I just joined in on a Ravelry KAL hosted by The Sampler Girl that is about knitting all the cowls and hats, so this project and my next project fit in perfectly...
This is a super simple slouch hat and my first hat to be knitted in the round. While the yarn isn't the softest in the world, I love how it is knitting up all striped like this and I love the blue/gray/brown colorway. This one will be for me!! Since I joined up with this KAL, umm yesterday (which doesn't officially start until Thursday), I have found a few more cowl and hat projects I want to do for myself as well. We will see just how many sets of needles I can fill up!! :)
I've been working on some crocheting as well. My daughter did like the In Bloom Beret that I made her (photo HERE), but not so much the color. She had picked out that yarn AND was told that she probably wouldn't like it once it was done, but I made it anyway. That's okay, it gave me a chance to practice this pattern and this one will be a surprise as I haven't shown her the yarn yet. This will be a Christmas gift to her.
A while back I was crocheting what was to become a bag, in this yarn, with the same pattern, but decided that it was too heavy for a bag. So I ripped it all out, bought a bunch more of the yarn and am now making it into a lap blanket for the living room. My husband has been after me to make an afghan for years now. He has fond memories of the one that his parents always had in their living room. If you even fell asleep on their couch, you'd wake up with it draped over you:) Hoping to have this done by the end of the year, but we will see!!!

I did get the first set of needles I was waiting on so I could start on my hat, I had hoped that I had what I needed to start on another hat for dd. It's a simple hat that has cat ears. She is going to love it!! But I need a size 8 needle on a 16 inch circular, and so I had to order some more needles (another hat I want to do for myself would also require needles that I don't have, so I ordered those too.) Wish we had a yarn shop close so I could shop for those things locally. Anyway, all this should keep me busy for a while:)

Off to see what others have been up too!!

Monday, November 21, 2016

FNSI - A Bit Late

I joined in on Friday night, for the Friday Night Sew In, hosted by Wendy over at Sugarlane Designs. Our internet out here in the country is iffy at best, and I haven't been able to get on to blog about my progress this weekend, but it looks like it's working now!! Thank goodness we can get mobile coverage out here so I can still get on the internet on my phone:)

Last month I finished a bag I had been working on for over a year and this month I decided that I wanted to work on a couple smaller project bags for my knitting/crocheting projects. I started off with some fabric and got it all cut up, I even coffee dyed some of the fabric to match better...
I wanted some grey and white fabric as a liner for the red bird fabric, so I 'HAD' to go into town to pick some up!! :) I got the exterior pieces sewn together that will make up a couple zipper pouch bags, but that's as far as I got with those.
I still had the panel that I messed up on with the last bag I had made, so I cut it in half, loosely following directions from two different bags and made a small drawstring bag out of it...
I even crocheted some DMC thread to match the green for the drawstring. The bag is pretty small, but already has a knitted hat project I'm working on in it and I think it'll work well for other small projects like socks - when I finally learn to knit them!! :)

That was about all the sewing I could take for one day, so I called it an evening. Hope to get the other two bags done for next month's FNSI!! :)

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Yarn Along - with a FINISH!!

Not just a 'I got all the knitting done' finish, but a 'I actually wove in all the ends and sewed up all the seams' FINISH!!! Wow, that really feels good:)
It's time for another Yarn Along post (after a couple weeks of laying low), hosted by Ginny from Small Things. For this KAL we post what knitting/crochet projects we are working on as well as what books we are currently reading. 

So here it is for this week...
Reading: I finally finished 'Friday Night Knitting Club' from Kate Jacobs (book 1 in this series) and have just started on 'Knit Two'. These have been such sweet light-hearted stories that I am enjoying very much.

Yarn: I finished crocheting 'In Bloom Beret' by Britney Waterhouse for my daughter. I haven't had her try it on yet, so I haven't tied it off and woven in the ends, but I hope to get that done today and maybe another picture with her wearing it.


Knitting: I FINISHED  Patsy's Bonnet!! Super happy with this project, mostly because I learned something new (using dpns AND making icord, which was easy and fun!!) and my daughter loves it!! She even had one of her friends ask if I could make her one:)
Knitting: Next project in line is one for me!! This is Tidal Sands by Anne Hanson. I'm making the medium size, though I must have originally planned on making the largest size as I bought enough yarn for that. I think though, that the medium is what I really want. This yarn is SOOO soft too. A lot of times I use cheaper acrylic or acrylic blend yarn, some of which are rather nice to work with. Even so, it's a treat to use a nicer yarn every now and then.

I have lots and lots of yummy yarn plans for the holiday season!! I can't wait to start casting on ALL the things!! ~Waiting on needles to arrive in the mail or I would have already cast on!!~

Monday, November 14, 2016

An Over-Due Update

It's been quite a couple of weeks here!! A few weeks ago my hubby started not feeling well, he was in pain actually and it turns out that he has shingles. Now this man of mine deals with pain quite a bit better than me (by this I mean I don't deal with it well at all and he chooses not to get numbed when getting a filling at the dentist), but he says this is the worst pain he's ever been in. It's been 3 weeks now and the sores are all gone, but the pain hasn't left at all. He's not one for going to the Dr or taking meds (he still won't take the pain pills, but he is taking Tylenol fairly regularly and that is really saying something for him), but he is suggesting that EVERYONE get the shingles booster!!  :)

Then last week I went in to have my right thyroid removed. This is after the Dr noticing swelling, having an ultrasound done and discovering a cyst, and having a biopsy done and the results being inconclusive. None of these things are out of the ordinary and it very rarely turns out to be cancer. However, with losing dh's dad last spring to cancer, we wanted to be absolutely sure that this wasn't (also my dr said these type of cysts usually continue to grow, and while not a problem right now, would probably need to be removed in the future). The surgery went really well and the results came back that it was not cancer:) After a few days of dh holding down the fort I was feeling well enough to start back in on running our daughter around to her various activities once again.

After these past few weeks dd and I decided that we really needed a 'home day' and so today we skipped out on her homeschool co-op class, slept in a bit and are just puttering around the house. It feels so nice to do so!!

During this time the weather has finally changed over and it feels like Autumn!! It took a while this year, and I have to say that I was enjoying the warm weather for as long as it would last, but it is nice that the trees have now changed over and everything is getting the cozy feeling that I love about Autumn. I even got a few pictures taken of the changing season...
At the park 

My daughter's church one Sunday morning

While babysitting the kittens (to keep them out of the way of a tractor)
I've also been able to spend some time on my stitching...
'She Feeds Them Well' by The Scarlett House is really coming along and I'm optimistic that I'll be able to finish this for my mother-in-law for Christmas (hopefully not delusional-y optimistic!! :).

Bittersweet Lane by Blackbird Designs - I'm getting to the point of needing to decide how far I'm going to go on this one. I know I want the house and the pumpkin, but I'm unsure how much, if any of the boarder I want. I don't think I want the planter on the roof either. Will need to be making these decisions soon:)

I've been knitting/crocheting a bit too and will have an update on that for Wednesday. Until then, I hope you all have a very pleasant week!!