Took me two weeks again!

I know, this is pretty common...  The thing is, as I said with "Getting it all done", sometimes, nothing gets done.  Last week was nonstop.  Thursday and Friday were taking care of a sick husband and when Tater Tot wasn't here, I was trying to get caught up on what I have missed the last few weeks.  I really didn't have time to craft at all until Friday at the doctor's office.  I got about half and hour of knitting done on my car project.  Even this past weekend was pretty busy!

Almost everything in our house is built in and original to the house back in 1977-1979.  Lucky us, our microwave went out finally.  Look at this beauty!  It was on sale in 1979 for something like $450!  Mr. Penny found the ad for it, so I don't have it at hand to share as well.  Saturday was spent going out shopping for something that would fit into the built in area.  Guess what...  We found two. One isn't made anymore and we couldn't find it in black anywhere that delivered.  Number two was on Amazon...  Just continues to show, when it doubt Amazon will save you!

Sunday I did manage to spend some time just resting, getting caught up on personal stuff and crafting!  My chevron blanket got finished!  I used up 1.5 balls of the Red Heart Jumbo and 7 balls of the Wintuk (.5 ball went to granny blanket project basket).  This got super heavy towards the end especially since I have been working at the computer not on the sofa.

I forgot to get a final picture of it before I took it up to await its blocking.

<Man!  My blocking pile is really getting stacked up.  Harry Potter baby blanket is in that pile too!>

As I told you when I pulled the yarn for the chevron blanket.  I have an empty spot on one of my shelves!  LOOK!  LOOK!  I will pull down the bin of Sweet Rolls and then my craftroom will look 1/500 neater!  I still have so much yarn just in my "Donation" shelf!   I am starting to think that "The Great Craftdown of 2018" might become "The Great Craftdown of 2019" too!

Yes, I said "Donation" shelf.  Everything, aside from the Craftsy boxes, are yarns I have set aside/bought for prayer shawls, donation baby blankets, lapghans...  I have actually donated a few softies in the past.  This is the yarn I know is the right amount for these projects.  I have had some friends that have given me yarn for that purpose as well.

I have a book case in my workout room that has the yarn for two projects sitting on it.  I can't remember why I left them in there.  It might have been the idea I would do those projects in bed...  I don't know...  But I pulled the yarn for this shawl from there.  I used 6 balls of Lion Brand Hometown USA in Napa Valley Pinot.  The pattern is a basic triangular shawl pattern.  All four increases are done in one row and the next row is knitting across.  I normally use an M1 down the center, but this time I used a YO.  I did decide to do that after coming across Dovetail Wrap by Purl Soho.

The other yarn that is on that shelf was bought to make Tater Tot a blanket, but it has been re-purposed to another project.  I haven't started it yet, but half of it will be a bed "I am doing a facial" project and half will be done down stairs like most my other projects.  The final blanket may still go to Tater Tot since I still haven't given him his own blanket from me after 3.5 years...  His sister Cookie got hers for her first birthday.

I want to take a minute right now to share this with you guys.  So, I am a very manual person.  I write better when I put pen to paper, not just typing (yeah, sorry, that is why my blog is kinda like how I talk to a friend when I am super excited) and that has found its way into my crafting as well.  This is how I keep track of my rows.  I have tried abacus bracelets, push button row counters, old school row counters, digital row counters...  Pen and paper work best for me.  This time I changed my pen color as I changed yarn balls.  I was just curious as to what percent of the rows each ball made in this style.  I wanted to just take a second to share with you guys how I work and what my process is.

Monday I finished my garnet shawl, so I wanted to prep what to start next...  Well... This got kinda funny because I am a little snot...

I have a lot of Paton's Venus yarn.  It was discontinued and I paid about $.50 a ball through a discount site.  I wanted to make a sweater with one color I got and I got enough for a few shawls for Summer in two more.  I wanted to go ahead and make a Summer stole so I went to Ravelry to find a super basic framework pattern.  Kind of how Dovetail is a shawl that I use all the time, but never had a pattern for (well until recently).  I wanted to just find maybe a basic stitch pattern to use or maybe an interesting increase....  Well, I came across Step it Up Knit Shawl by Caron Design Team while looking.

If you look at the time on the website it says that this pattern takes "More than an Hour".  Well, duh!  But I got curious as to how much longer than an hour it would take.  I had a left over ball of Caron Cake from a stole I crocheted last year.  Why not!  So yesterday I started this shawl.  I am back to the first color of green.  So far it has been about 6 hours long...  I think Michael's needs to extend their time of project to maybe "Over an Hour" and "Over a Day".  I only have two other colors left in my cake.  I should finish this up today.  If you are looking for an interesting simple pattern, this one is great!  I love the drape of it with the Caron Cake as well!

I did go ahead and bring down my Venus yarn.  I am still not sure what kind of shape I want with it.  The yarn is so open when worked, the sweater pattern from Paton's that inspired me to buy it when I found it is just so light and I want that kind of texture but the shape is still a mystery.  It will come to me though.  I also want to say that this color is so beautiful it doesn't need a special pattern stitch.  If you guys have a suggestion, I will be casting something on tomorrow most likely!  I would love to hear what you guys think!

I am also thinking about making a Step it Up Shawl with any left overs should I have enough...  What else I am I realistically going to do with left overs of this kind of yarn.

Anywho!  For everything I lost last week, I do seem to be getting it back this week so far.  I haven't gotten behind on chores nor have I run out of time to craft.  Oh and the last two days I got some cardio in!

I hope that you guys are having a wonderful week so far!  I look forward to hearing from anyone who is following along for "The Great Craftdown of 2018"!  I am going to dive back into my Step it Up Shawl!

Take care and blessings to you all!