Off Kilter and Needing Re-Alignment--Attempt 29

LOL!  I might just scream if I don't laugh...  So I have tried to write the saga of the last three weeks over and over again during the last three weeks.  I have deleted, re-written and deleted more times than I can count.  I have sat here wondering if I can even write more than a sentence without being interrupted...  Just for the record, just writing this far, I have had to stop about 6 times already.

Since it has been so long since I posted last and recapping almost 3 weeks would take us next to forever...  Let's go quickly though life to get to crafts! 

The leak

I finally had some time off without Tater Tot and Nilla Waffer.  The first day of that week, my kitchen ceiling sprung a leak.  Three weeks later, I am still dealing with it, as I am trying to work on this post, my repair man for the hole is here patching the hole (he will be back tomorrow to smooth it and get it ready for painting).  So, my "Week Off" was spent having plumbers and insurance people in and out of the house. 

The hole

While dealing with the leak on my "Week Off" my mother in law needed some help with her car and shopping, so while my husband was helping her, I had to run support going back and forth across town.  I had to leave my plumber here on his own (he is a family friend) to do the repair work while I picked Cotton Top up from playing musical cars with my mother in law. 

We have also have had an engagement of some sort ever week.  My calendar for July and August are both booked or limit availability.  I am going to have to sit down and try to get some time off to do some house work at some point.  It is kind of hard to do things when half your downstairs is sideways with the leak stuff...

I have also had some issues with insomnia.  I was watching Nilla Waffer and Tater Tot on Monday and Thursday but that was becoming way more complicated than it needed to be.  Thursday just wasn't a good day at all for me-Thursday nights are when most of my church ministry activities fall.  The split in the schedule was messing up my sleep schedule.  After week one I had one night of insomnia, week two was 3 nights.  Now we have the days smooshed together and my sleep has more or less gone back to normal.

So, with all of that...  Crafting has been at a minimum to be honest...  Because no matter what I go to start, I have to stop ever 15 minutes...  It has been exhausting!

But, progress has been made on The Great Craftdown of 2018.  Just not nearly as much as one would hope for 3 weeks worth of not posting....

I have no idea what order these went in, but I am going to start with 12 cards got made to more or less finish out the Backyard Picnic collection from Michael's.  I have a lot of washi and die cuts left, but those are neutral stylewise, so they will get used in other places.  I did make three shaker cards this time.  I wish the pictures really showed those off.  They are much prettier in person.  They look so simple and basic in the pictures.

I also realized a few weeks back that I really don't have a lot of "Thank You" cards.  I really need to get more of those made so I can send those out quickly vs having to make one as I go.  I might come back with the washi and die-cuts and make a few more like the butterfly card.

I am kind of sad to be done working with this collection because it was fun but I am ready for something different.  The style was very similar across this collection, but it didn't feel like all of the images went together easily.  The washi was a dream to work with though.  I set up some scrapbook pages using just the washi tapes.  I can't wait to get some pictures of those and eventually work them into layouts on their own. 

As part of the craft room cleaning, I found a few leftover balls of Sheepish from other projects.  A single ball of purple here, a ball of variegated there...  I decided to pull one out to make these hats.  I will be adding a purple rib band to the smaller one.  I wanted to check the fit on Nilla Wafer's head before I finish it off though.  It should fit her head size though.  The pattern I used is Unforgettable Hat by Elizabeth Pardue.  It was very easy to follow and simple to make.  I have used this pattern before.  I love the ribbing on it.  The yarn is Bernat Sheep(ish) in Punkish. 

I really wish they hadn't discontinued this yarn.  I love it!  This yarn is like working with a roving style yarn that doesn't shed or get in your nose like natural wool like this does, there is no short staple fiber in the yarn.  It give you a beautiful drape and soft fabric as well.  I wish that someone would come back with a similar acrylic yarn.  It won't be the same without Vickie Howell's color choices, but it could still be nice to work with.

As I was cleaning my craft room, I decided that since there were holes starting to form on my main yarn wall, I should break down the boxes from Craftsy.  I got these as projects to work on after the move, but for the last year, they have sat there mostly packed up still.  My craftroom still feels half packed because I keep finding new boxes of things that should have gone in there or been unpacked into the room as a whole.

I really enjoy making shawls, so while I couldn't sleep over the last three weeks, I crochet this shawl from the kits.  I had three balls of Lion Brand Heartland in Denali for it.  The pattern is Wrapped in Warmth by Kathy Lashley.  You can't get the kit anymore, but the pattern is available directly from the designer and the yarn is readily available at big box stores and online.  The pattern is super simple, but I really like working on things that give my brain a break but are still beautiful.

The only other things I have been working on are my scrap projects.  I did find more gray yarn, so I have been working on the granny square blanket in blue and gray.  I have 7 blocks left to go (I actually finished 4 already but I don't have pictures yet) before I do the final boarders and sewing.  I have decided to make it 5x6.  The block are around a foot square.  I did want something slightly larger for this project.  I thought that a real lapghan would be too small and make it look like a mess of mismatched blocks.  The more blocks you add though, the more intentional it ends up looking to me.

As I have been thinking about finishing up this project, I have been trying to work out seaming, boarders, layouts...I think I am going to block this as a blanket not as squares.  With the granny pattern, I feel like there is more wiggle room with the blocking.  It won't be flat until I block it, but I think it will be easier to smooth as a blanket vs as squares.  I am alternating gray final round with blue.  I am going to boarder the blocks with a dark charcoal Caron One Pound I have.  I will do a final boarder around the blanket with the Caron and then I will pick a blue to do the final round with.  All of it will stay in the granny square pattern established in the blocks.  It is a more masculine afghan; keeping it simple I think is also best since it is a donation blanket.


I also got some more hexies done.  I can feel the pull of getting these done.  I am so close...  I just need more scrap yarn!  I think I am at 330 total, I could be wrong.  I just need 70 more hexies!  Since I have been working on the shawl and squares, I think I have a bit more more to work with, but I really need more small balls of scrap to finish this blanket off!  I can't believe it has taken me over a year to get this close! 


I have considered this one's finishing as well.  I am going to block the hexies, whip stitch them together in off set rows and not add a boarder.

I uncovered a box of scraps in my workout room.  I didn't find many small scraps that would work for the hexies, but I do think I could do a rainbow blanket with what is in there.  I am thinking about doing granny squares in a rainbow radiating out.  Maybe for next year...  I don't know...If you are reading this, what do you think?  There is everything but blue in that box, but I have some balls of blue still hanging around.

That wraps up what I have been doing...  Like I said, for 3 weeks worth, it was kind of sad!  It has been hard to get things done with all of the interruptions...  Ah well...  On to next week's adventure!

What happened to my leftover yarn?

I know that many of you who stop by are also knitters or crocheters.  I know that many of you also have a horde of half balls languishing in your stashes.  Have any of you ever looked at what colors you have sitting in there?  I have taken a good look into mine this last week.  Where did all my gray yarn go?  I see a lot of black which I don't destash or use up because it is great for; a band on a hat, face on softies or just to round something.  I see a few little balls of colors that are darker than I prefer.  There are very few whites as it isn't my preferred neutral.   What I can't seem to find is gray yarn though!  I use a lot of gray!  I should have tons of scrap balls!

No, you might not understand this...  I use A LOT of gray yarn!  I use it in hats, scarves, sweaters, ponchos, softies, blankets....  Seriously!  I use so much gray it didn't surprise me that I only had two the over-sized skeins in my stash.  Somehow though, I had very little left in my leftovers bin.  My leftovers have some how gotten used up too!  I am so confused!  Maybe I just didn't have that many because I come back to it so quickly.  Maybe I still have a box of scrap I haven't found.  I don't know, the world may never know...

I didn't go looking for no reason.  While I was working on my Lenten hats for donation, I started making some granny squares from my blue and gray scraps.  After the finishing of the Dr Who scarf, I thought I would come back and just work mindlessly for a little while.  I have now used up 100% of my gray scrap yarn.  No, my blocks are on hold right now because I have no gray sitting in my stash or in the donations my Prayer Shawl Ministry has gotten of the years.  This granny blanket will be donated so I didn't have a problem pulling from the group stash either for this.  Nada.  Nothing.  Nix.

I did get a lot of blocks done.  The final size blocked these will be 12x12.  I think total I will need 20-24.  I have 3 smaller balls of blue sitting around waiting for their date to show up.  BTW, as a total side note, those three balls of blue appear to be all of my blue scrap.  I was very surprised by my shortage of blue too!

Now, I didn't decided to jump in on a gray project because I couldn't possibly do something the predictable.  I started a wide chevron blanket with some old Caron Wintuk (Dk Colonial Blue) and Red Heart Super Saver Jumbo in white.  I did grab the stitch pattern from the Red Heart site, it is called Chic Chevron Throw.  I liked the curve to the ripple and the length between zigs and zags.  This is another donation project.  I have a whole section of my personal stash in the craft room that I have set aside for donation projects.  The Wintuk has been hanging out in there for about 3 years now.  I already did a blanket out of it once.  So, this should bring up the end to that set of yarn. 

Right now I almost sort of kind of have a hole in that cube set from pulling the Wintuk out.  I have things that I will go into it next time I am cleaning up.  There are balls of yarn stacked up all over the place in there still.  This is why I haven't bothered taking a picture of my craft room to "show progress".  There isn't any visual progress because I keep moving things more into the open as space clears up.



Finally, I got some more card tops done this week.  These go with the set from last week.  I still have plenty of card stock waiting for another set.  I think this time I will start by making "embellishment clusters" and then building cards around those.  That should in theory help me to use more of what I have.  I also have some scraps that I want to cut down and keep for bases like I did with my strip scraps from Easter. 

My small makeshift craft table is very small (not that I have a lot of table space in my craft room) so I can't spread out as much as usual.  I haven't been finishing the embellishments as I go like I normally would.  I will come back and do more on all of the cards once I am done with them.  That way I can clear everything back upstairs and just work with gems, enamel dots, bows and pearls.

It doesn't seem like too much got done, but I also have been fighting indoor pollen (yes, I keep opening my windows to air out out house) and allergies non-stop for the last week.  I am just glad that I am getting a blog post up.

If you guys have any ideas of things for me to make with my stash or want to share what you guys are working on right now; I would love to hear from you.  Feel free to comment down below.  I still have many, many, many months left in the Great Craftdown of 2018!

Love and blessings to you all!