When I said I was retiring, I didn't mean I was retiring from blogging but apparently....
Life suddenly got busy and the I'll do it tomorrow's started flying past and suddenly, here I am, over a month later. Oops. I'm only working two days a week now so hopefully I'll have time to blog on a more regular basis. Or, if I'm being honest, hopefully I'll have the motivation to blog more frequently. My retirement plans include spending much more time on my Etsy shop and doing in-person markets in the fall. Those plans should help the motivation.
Anyway...
What have I been up to over the last month?
A close friend of ours passed away in late April and he was involved in the DAV (Disabled American Veterans.) I got a little emotional at his memorial and told his commander I would knit and donate 75 hats by mid November to be given to the disabled vets for Christmas. Like I said, I got a little emotional. Have you ever been to a military funeral? I think I'm still dehydrated from all the tears.
Anyway.... I've since bought myself a Sentro knitting machine which is helping tremendously with the hat situation. Fifteen down, sixty more to go.
Oh, and while I've been cranking out hats, I'm also trying to get the shop restocked and items made in preparation for the fall market season. Oh, and let's not forget the personal projects. The Insanity blanket is growing but at a much slower pace now. Currently, I have knit 102 blocks. Only 184 more to go.
I'm also crocheting a Frozen blanket for Hayden. I think I've previously mentioned how obsessed she is with Frozen. The blanket is just a giant granny square, well, granny rectangle, knit with Ice Cream Big Scoop yarn from Lion Brand. I chose this yarn simply because it was blue & white, has 1117 yards per skein, and it was relatively inexpensive.
And yes, it was the yarn that broke my No Yarn Purchases For A Year streak. I didn't make it a year, but I did make it to seven months and a few days without buying yarn. Oh well, the purchase was for a good cause. I only wish that was the only yarn I'd purchased. Once that streak was broken, I went a little crazy. It didn't help that Hobby Lobby was in the middle of one of their yarn sales at the time. But hey, I do need yarn for those 75 DAV hats so...
Let's see, what else have I been working on?
I pulled the Christmas sock out of the UFO pile and knit on it a little bit. I just can't get excited about these socks for some reason. Although... I'll admit, every December I kick myself for not having finished them.
Speaking of socks, I've beaded eleven pairs since my last blog post. They are a popular item in my shop and it's hard to maintain the current inventory while creating new color choices. Well, of course it wouldn't be so difficult if it wasn't for all the other knitting projects, but you know what I mean.
Oooh! And see that basket in the above photo? I absolutely LOVE my Bolga basket. I'd ordered it from Amazon and wondered why in the world I was spending my hard earned money on it but I am SO glad I did. I absolutely love it! I'm actually thinking of buying another.
I started another Musselburgh hat. I'm not focusing on it much right now. It's the 'I'm knitting outside, I've already made the day's quota of beaded socks and it's too hot to work on the Frozen blanket' project. In other words, it doesn't see much action. The yarn is Maditosh Hand Dyed in Sycamore. It's been in my stash for ages. Sarah had chosen it for a scarf years ago but the color was Awful with her skin tone. And yes, that's a capital A for awful. For someone who can wear yellow, it will be a beautiful hat. It's just not for Sarah.
I've also been knitting pumpkins and chickens for the shop/fall markets but I don't have any photos. Have you seen the Emotional Support Chickens? They are adorable! I'm not following that pattern, but it's where I got the idea and I still think my chickens are cute.
Sadly, my hydrangea is already close to death. Apparently when Google tells you hydrangeas like daily watering, they mean it. Oops. I'm trying to be better. But hey! Most of my tomato plants have tomatoes and some are even turing red! Oh, and my pepper plants are getting teeny tiny peppers and the other 1,000 plants I bought are still alive.
It's official! We are now the most redneck household in the county. My husband bought this old, abandoned and broken down race truck and plans to fix it up and sell it. He's buddies with the guy he got it from so he knows it's history. My daughter tells me that under all the dirt, the flag paint job is actually very pretty and has a metalic shimmer. Not sure if that helps or hurts the redneck factor but hey... My husband bought a broken down race truck. I have nothing to feel guilty about over spending a fortune on yarn and plants that will probably not survive the summer.
Oh, and speaking of spending a fortune, we Finally closed on the house. What a friggin process that was! It took a full year from application to closing. Good grief! But the brick pile is officially ours now. You'll probably be hearing me moan about all the things that go wrong with a 100+ year old house while celebrating the little improvements we plan to make.
And, no photos but, Hayden has graduated from Headstart and has qualified for some kind of advanced preschool for next school year. I honestly don't know much about it but I'm very proud of her.
On another note about Hayden, she's officially over pretending to knit. She wants to learn to actually knit (or crochet) so if anyone has suggestions for a no patience having grandma who doesn't like to teach that needs to teach a four year old how to knit, please send those suggestions my way. I'm hoping there's a magical Youtube video out there that she can watch over and over while I sit nearby in case she needs hands on assistance. Got any suggestions???
Well, I think that's about it so, until next time,
Happy knitting!
