What happened to the month of July?!

Hey guys, I know I only have about 6 of you regularly reading here (Hi Mom!) but I have kind of vanished for the whole month of July!  OOPS!  So, July was a kerfuffle and I'm not sure if August will be much better... I have been slammed outside of crafting and I have been working on a lot of large projects.  So it was hard to even think of things to say on top of just not having time to say much...

So the first week that I missed posting...  We were working on the ceiling leak, my Darling Husband was home and we were trying to get things done around the house.  Week two my computer died...  It died and was killing me because we had some issues with MS and getting my new hard drive up and running.  These last two weeks have been spent doing things around the house, adjusting to my new schedule and trying to find 10 minutes for some time off...  All of this while fighting insomnia...

So, a little "About Carrie..." I have issues with sleeping when my schedule gets thrown around willy nilly...  For the last few months, my schedule has been some super early (for me) mornings with no naps and no set time for going to bed mixed with super late nights and sleeping overly late to "catch up".  What that ends up doing after a while is my body can't figure out when to sleep and will kind of freak out and just not let me really get sleep.  Even when I sleep during the day - so I'm not a zombie- I can only get at most 4 hours.

Most of the time when it is a freak out like this, I am pretty good to be up.  I will cook, clean, craft...  I will do most of the stuff that I would normally do in the morning.  Sadly, this last month it hasn't all been nights like that.  Many nights, I have sat on the sofa in the living room staring at the TV with no idea what I was even seeing.  I couldn't function at all.

So, needless to say, July wasn't a bust, but it was super hard for me to find time to write and keep up with doing things around the house.  Hey!  I also needed time to make things worth sharing!!!

August will be prep for being gone for a week, being gone for a week and then getting things back together again.  I am hoping that I will have time to post, but...  I will have the grand-kinder the week before and the week after our trip, so I am going to be pretty hemmed in on what I can do.  I am taking a slew of patterns with me, so I will have things to work on while flying and during down time.  DH is rolling his eyes already.

Some exciting side news.  I got my entry tickets for the SC State Fair!  I entered into just shy of 100 entries.  I have 16 projects completed and another 16 started.  This won't be a huge turn out for me, but I am excited.  A few years ago I submitted over 115 items but I was doing baking and canning that year.  I won't be doing any foods this year.

-LOL! I couldn't find a post it to cover my address and that is this post in progress on my screen-

SO ON TO THE FO AND WIP SECTION!!!!!

So, since Nilla Waffer has joined us Grandma has gotten kinda kicked out of the living room...  So I have been working at the computer in the study while they watch TV, play and demolish my whole living room.  There are pros and cons to this arrangement, but it does make working on blankets so much easier!

I have finished my blue and gray granny blanket.  I used a different join for this one.  It is a join as you go in granny shells.  I have to say that I really like the join!  I just need to block out the blanket now.  I think I am going to think of this one as my Dude's Granny Blanket.

I am sort of annoyed, I got my size wrong on this, so I actually have 11 extra squares to start my next blanket with...  Cue the massive eye roll.

I also found ANOTHER giant Rubbermaid tote of scraps in my workout room.  So, I split the tote up into colors and neutrals.  I am not quite sure how so many little and big boxes of yarn have stayed hidden for almost a year and a half...  I hope that I don't find another one someone where... 

I have taken the colors from sorting and finished a Giant Rainbow Granny Blanket.  This ended up so much larger than I meant to make it...  Oops!  It is so pretty though.  I really like how it turned out.  I am hoping that my friends Michael and Mark let me gift it to their daughter (she is one, so I will be asking for parental permission to store a 5.5 foot square blanket until she is in a twin bed at least).

I had enough of the colors left in this bin, I have already started in on a C2C version of this blanket.  I am up to the yellow now and the first side ended.  I love how this one is turning out.  With the granny, I let colors end into corners but didn't worry about the round.  This one I am keeping the color changes at the sides.  I am hoping that it doesn't mess me up with using some of the smaller balls.  I was about 8 blocks short on the first yellow ball I added in to do a second row.  Frogging almost a whole row was so sad...

I have needed some instant gratification with yarn (OBVIOUSLY!) so I have been making some of these balls.  This is such a fun pattern!  I had a bit of the spangled red left over after using it in two blankets...  So I wanted to finish it off.  I got 8 balls out of it and white from the neutrals box.  I also made the green and pink set for the grandkinder.  I gave my friend Michael a pink/red and a blue/yellow for her daughter.  I also made a set for my friend Peggy to have for her grandkinder.  So, I made 16 of them this week.  I think I might give them out as Christmas gifts this year.  Many years ago, I used to give out ornaments to our family and friends as gifts around the holidays.  These are so much fun, I think everyone's tree has room for these guys.


The pattern is over here at The Secret Yarnery.  It is called Holiday Accordion Ball.  Also, while you are watching her tutorial  I would recommend going and watching her Vlog/Podcast.  Her life is super interesting and I have gone though this whole week and started working my way through her whole channel.  I joined or am waiting on acceptance in her Facebook Groups.  I am just gonzo for her channel.  It has kept me working on the C2C so far!  Check her out.  If nothing else, you can go and be super jelly over her yarnery...


So lastly, I don't think I am going to share pictures, but I have done over 15 scrapbook pages.  Too many have the grandkinder in them and I really don't want to wait for me to edit their cute faces out for posting here...  I will however share my shelf in the living room where my books are living.  I still need to title the book spines.  Right now we are just color coded.


So far in 2018 I have completed 71 groups/things.  I have spent $109 on stashables.  Most of those have been things for card making or scrapbooking.  I didn't really have much in the way of embellishments going into this, so there has been need of some things.

I am going to sign off here with a picture of Pippin.  This was taken while I was scrapping one day in the craft room.

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!

There are no dorks here!

Like I said in my last post, I am working on cleaning my craft room.  I would love to be able to really move around in there and have my desk space back!  I am almost done.  I got the desk wiped down at least now....  It is really sad, there are some basics that I really miss about having a normal room.  Don't get me wrong, I love my craft room, it is just that it is hard to work around not having vertical space to use for my storage solutions.

I have an idea of where I want to go with my space once I have worked my stash down.  I just will have to go through some growing pains until I get my stash worked that far down...  I am just glad to be able to work in there again right now!  I am taking the victory!

While I was organizing the top of my "personal use" yarn space, I found three random balls of bulky yarn.  I have no idea where the blue one came from.  The pink was actually a ball I had gotten my grandmother when she said she wanted to try and crochet again.  The purple has been hanging around for about 10 years now.  I had some turquoise that I bought at the same time but that has all been used for different projects.

Of course, I am a dork...I couldn't just have random balls hanging around... So I brought them down to the study and found patterns for them!  I am sure that is what any rational adult would do...  Right?  No, just me then...

First I found, Rainbow Twist by Thao Nguyen.  This was an interesting scarf to knit.  It went super fast, but the addition of the large scale cable was a lot of fun!  The first twist gave me fits because I was so sleepy- I was knitting to stay awake at that point Monday night- I wasn't paying attention to where my working yarn was laying.  Once I got a good night sleep though, the next two cable pattern rows were a breeze.  If you are looking for a simple gift, accessory or have a random ball of super bulk yarn...  Make this scarf!  I used Wool-Ease Thick and Quick in Blossom.

Second I found She's a Betty Bonnet by Gretchen Tracy.  Holy Mackerel!  I am in love with this pattern!  I love the texture of this pattern.  I really wish that the pictures of my hat showed off the texture or the yarn showed off the texture.  When I started, it didn't look that bad, but by the time I was decreasing the crown, I realized that the texture popped on the back but not the front.  That is okay, I will remake the hat I am sure!  This hat was knit in Premier Serenity Chunky in Stormy.  I got Nilla Wafer to stop for 5 seconds to show off the split neck detail.

I know many of you guys don't know me at all, I also haven't been blogging for years, so you would have never had a chance to learn this Carrie fact...  I adore split neck hats!  I really wish there were more designs out there for these!  The bun hats took over the last two winters, but I will be honest, the split neck is better!  You can wear a low pony tail, scarf and collar at the same time you head stays warm and dry!  There isn't bulk on this style of hat, no fixing your hair to wear this style hat and it stays put on your head!  I know, I am still a dork...  This isn't helping my bid out of dorkdom...  I have made a few over the years, but She's a Betty and Lomond Hat by Littletheorem may be my favorites!  Go get some bulky yarn and needles!  RUN!  KNIT!

So for the third yarn I went with Zombie Killer Slouch by Luciana Young.  The name was eye catching enough!  I couldn't resist this hat after that!  My biggest issue with this hat is that this style doesn't look great on me.  I think I have made one that looked okay on me...years ago...super thin yarn... extra long slouch...AKA, too much work!  This hat however was simple, fun and easy.  It was great for a lone ball and not wanting to over think while working!  This took no time to work up!  I am sure I can find it a good home!


I then took the pink left overs and made a heart applique...  I have no idea what I am going to do with that!  It will hang out until I have a use for it.  <shrug>  Who knows, I might just throw it on a blanket or hat down the road.  I don't make a whole lot of yarn embellishments normally, but I like having them to use when I want one.  It is one of those odd things, you just don't think to make them until you need them normally-well, me at least...

I still had some scraps of all three left over.  Guess who has two thumbs and started another scrapghan!?  Yep, this time a C2C blanket.  It will take me years to finish this blanket!  I haven't worked that much with bulky yarns for the last year or two or 5...  But, I have no random bits going back into the craftroom! I actually pulled 4 random bits balls and added them to this blanket!

One of the things I have been working on is using my scraps as I go.  I know you have seen my hexies and the gray/blue blocks, but it has gone deeper than that.  The Dr. Who Scarf was mostly made from the Harry Potter scraps.  A lot of the donation hats from Lent were made with scraps that were going to just clutter up or were already cluttering up my craft space.  It is perfectly good yarn that I love to work with, but because it isn't a whole ball, I don't think to go and work with it!  Until I have my yarn stash more under control, I won't see these balls in my room.  So, I am trying to work through them now while I see them!

I had this post mostly ready to go up Friday, but I couldn't find time to finish...  In my pictures of my mostly sorted craftroom, you will notice a blue bin on the top of the big yarn wall.  The one on the left hand side...  Yeah, so I didn't go through it while cleaning.  I thought it just had my leftover cakes from a crocheted cocoon sweater, some old straight knitting needles, bits and bobs that were yarn related but not sorted...  NAH!  I found a whole group of Vanna's Choice (stray balls are in the blue bin on the right) including GRAY, 1.5 balls of GRAY!  I was over the moon!  I can go back to my 12 inch granny square blanket!

I also found 2 more balls of Bernat Softee Chunky (vintage) that will become a crochet cable "book bag", another ancient WIP- lace fingerless gloves and some bits that have homes!  So even as I am posting this post, my craftroom is already changing for the cleaner!

I have some plans for the extra large One Pound skeins, so as those get used, I will pull another extra large bin in and sort my large group things into that on top and use my cubbies for smaller quantities and some of my paper supplies that need help in staying organized (boxes only go so far...).

On to paper crafting.  I had to move my paper crafting back upstairs (that is what is on my desk under the window) because Nilla Wafer is older and wants to play with Grandma's stuff A LOT more!  Tater Tot likes to watch, Nilla Wafer wants to take supplies and do her own thing...  So, not a lot got done aside from moving things up to my craftroom.

I did get my second page mostly done for my first scrapbook ever...  I am having a problem making the second page's pictures pop and lift off the page more.  I wish the picture did them more justice, but I haven't stuck them down yet.  I have embellishments planned, but I need to get the pictures fixed.  I am in search through my stash of a navy blue floral...  That should get finished tonight though.  Then onto scrapping our morning at the Jean-Talon Market.  I already have produce papers pulled for those!

Last week was super productive and some how I did manage to actually make things to show you!  This week is packed full already.  I don't know how much time I will end up having, but I am excited to see!

Take care you guys!

PHEW!

So, for the last week, I have spent every free moment trying to get my craftroom cleaned.  It has been destroyed over the last few months of not working in there.  Tater Tot has been here 4-5 days a week and I can't just leave him downstairs on his own, so I have been working down stairs.  For the Summer Tater Tot and his big sister, Nilla Wafer, will only be here two days a week.  This will buy me the ability to work upstairs again, but I still won't get too much done during the week with paper. 

I won't take pictures until I am ready to move my stuff back up from the card project.  Just know that there are a lot of pictures of my craft room coming later this month.  It doesn't look that different, but it is at least CLEAN.  Guys, let's be real, there has been so much on the floor it had been months since I could vacuum in there.  I am also trying to get the desk cleared enough to sew on the near side desk.  Pray for me please!

I am not sure what I showed you in my last update of "The Great Craftdown of 2018", but I have started a new Summer shawl in Paton's Venus.  I can't wait to start wearing this shawl to cover my shoulders at mass!  It has some AMAZING drape!  I am not really using a pattern for this, it is a basic bias knit pattern.  I am a little over half way done at this point. 

I am very broad (yes, fat as well) so I am enjoying the fact that this might actually work as a full on wrap for me!  I am easily excited...I know!  I know I will need it about 5.5 feet if not a bit bigger.  For me with pashminas/stoles, the larger the better.  I really like to be able to throw the end over my shoulder and keep it out of my way.

I did finish my Caron Cake "over an hour" shawl/scarf.  I might come back to this pattern with leftover Venus.  I think the step pattern would be very pretty and effective with the drape of the Venus!  Curzon decided that he needed to be a part of this moment.  I really like the pattern especially for a one skein pattern.  My leftover ball was smaller than a bouncy ball.  I just kept  going until I was out of yarn.

I haven't given anyone an update on my bias baby blanket (AKA the travel project) in a long while.  I told you guys that it takes me forever on those projects.  I only work on them when I am in car or waiting in an office or something.  Just as a reminder, this is being worked with a Lion Brand One Pound in Pastel Green.  I am just glad to be working through some of those larger balls from the top of the cubes.  Those are all over the place.  I swear they are multiplying in my craftroom.  Every so often I walk in and find an new ball has shown up...

It is about 1.5 feet up the side now.  I am going to take it to between 35 and 40 inches before I start working my way back down.  So I have a VERY long way to go before I can even get excited about finishing this blanket.

Oh guys!  So I haven't really mentioned it here as of yet, but I have been playing around with the idea of scrapbooking.  I have enough paper to be getting on with!  Let's be real!  I am taking the plunge.  I am going to try both pocket journaling and old school 12x12 scrapbooking.  I want to do pocket journaling for my craft things and standard fancy pants scrapbooking for our "real life".

I am starting the fancy pants journaling with our trip to Montreal a few years ago.  Page one is actually done.  Page two is giving me fits.  I want it to be a two page layout called "Saturday in the Park".  The second picture is just where I was playing with things on the page...  That isn't anywhere near done at this point nothing is stuck down.  I really like where I have the coordinating washi tape, but I can't seem to figure out the mats or the arrangement... 

I spent a sick day last week chopping some card down for pocket cards.  I don't have any pictures, but I got some 3x4s and 4x6s cut up and ready for journaling my crafts tangibly and keeping pattern notes as I go.  It will be different than my blog and have more personal information about the year of crafting.  I am pretty excited.  It will help me to use more and more of my supplies!

I hope that you guys had a great weekend!  I look forward to getting back with you guys at the end of the week hopefully.


PS: Sorry for the scattered nature of this post.  Tater Tot and Nilla Wafer are here today and I have had to stop every 15 seconds because they are talking to me non stop...  For a frame of reference, I have been watching the same 15 minute video for the last hour...  Yep...  Kinder in the house!

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!

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!

As promised-- What else have I been working on?

So, as I promised, I am back with the rest of what I have been working on!  This will be a very short compared to my previous post.  My pictures are pretty bad because I have had some issues with remembering to get some light in my pictures...  Yeah, I never said I took good pictures...  I never said I was good a remembering to at least take pictures before dusk...

Okay, not to hit you super hard with Halloween again, but...  I took my scraps from making my journal and cut them into card tops for A2 cards.  I will use these to build my Halloween cards either this year or next.  I also wanted to make a little container to hold them.  I made one of these for some Christmas card tops and really like having them all cute and decorated. 

 OOOH!  I need to show you guys my sad attempts at being organized one day with my card parts!

I got the tutorial from MayMay again...  I know surprise!  I warned you guys the first post this year...  My paper crafting is her fault!  The video tutorial is A2 Card Holder Magazine Style over on the Youtubes.  She walks you through very easily and listening to her commentary on who, what, when, where and how is just GREAT!

Once I got my temp table cleared from the album, I decided to work on some cards.  These are from the Spring releases from Michaels.  I got everything at 68% off or more.  This is all from the Backyard Picnic I believe.  I also have some journal cards from Hobby Lobby that I threw in.  I have had those forever in my stash and they are another clearance item I WAY over bought.

I do have another 16 cards planned but I haven't had time to finish them.  I have a lot of mats to cut out.  I really like the honey bee card, I think that is my favorite so far!

On to the fiber crafts! 

It finally happened you guys!  My Dr Who scarf is finally done!  Forgive my horrid late night selfie, but...  I was so super exited!  I will take some better pictures with the scarf actually on people.  I am only 5'5, so this scarf is HUGE on me!  The finished scarf is around 10 1/2 feet long, but as the pattern stated, it is very stretchy.  It will be about 12 feet long in no time!


















I started working on my scraps from the scarf and made this super cute little hat!  The pattern is Textured Turban by Janaya Chouinard.  I love the way it turned out.  I still might come back with a little button in the flower.



And that is where my projects are this week!

I did want to share where I am on the year for spending.  Remember, this doesn't include things needed because I run out mid project, staples like adhesives/thread/snaps or any product that isn't a stash item.

Year to date total spent is 45.25

Not too bad for what I am getting done and I have been walking away from a lot of sales and deals!

I hope you guys like my posts.  I know I haven't been perfect at getting things up once a week, but I am trying to post more regularly and hoping by the end of the year, I can get at least 2 a week.

Let me know if you want to see anything in particular!

Love and blessings to you all!