Hello and happy Monday. Things have been quiet over here, and cold. The weather has gone from 7 degrees F in the mornings to around 32 degrees. I guess that is an improvement. I have been staying in as much as possible except when I have to go out for work. I have had a lot of things going on lately that I have absolutely no control over, and that has left me a bit out of sorts and not wanting to communicate much. Thus the very long lags in my blog posting and blog reading. I imagine things will move on as they always do in their own good time.
I have finished some knitting projects. I finally finished the socks I was working on. But not before I had to unravel almost the entire second sock and start over I don’t know what happened but it was just “off”.
I finished the scarf I was working on and another I had started a while back.
I love these colors and didn’t realize they are very similar. The one on the bottom is a much chunkier yarn.
I started a slouchy hat. I am knitting this on size 2.5 needles and I am constantly dropping stitches. The yarn is silky and fine but I am loving it. If I could just get it finished.
I have to show you this backpack my nephew and his wife gave me for Christmas. I am carrying all of my knitting and crochet projects in it. Well most of them anyway.
Isn’t it pretty? My family and friends know if they give me anything with a cat on it I will love it.
My husband gave me this cat cross stitch for Christmas. I can’t wait to start it. It looks just like my Sadie.
In the last week or so the lake at our house has frozen completely over. It doesn’t happen a lot. The picture below I took yesterday. There has been some thawing you can see in places. But a lot of it is still frozen and even some snow still hanging around.
I listened to the best audio book. Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. It is a mystery for sure and you just can’t help falling in love with Vera. I think I want to be her when I grow up.
So other than a lot of knitting, and staying in and trying to stay warm, not a lot going on over here.
The new year hit us with some cold weather. I am talking frigid, freezing cold temps. But come on it is January here and that is to be expected. I think it is refreshing. Ask me about this in the middle of February and I will probably be singing a different story.
I didn’t make it to midnight on New Year’s Eve. I fell asleep around 10:00 PM and woke up just a little after the new year arrived. I have to say I am ready for a new year. I don’t really do resolutions but I usually pick a word for the year. I am still thinking on that one. To be honest with you I usually forget about the word halfway through the year.
It is a cozy Sunday around here. Did you notice my coffee mug. My niece gave this to me for Christmas. I opened it and said “wow that cat looks just like Gus”. It was Gus!!! and all my other kitties. She had the mug made with pictures of all five of my kitties. I love it!!!! My family really knows how to make me happy when they buy me kitty gifts. I have to show you all of the kitty gifts I received but I will do that in a separate post. We finally got all of the Christmas decorations down and stored away. I have had the best day just knitting and drinking coffee.
I am knitting a sock for my nephew’s girlfriend. I had hoped to get them finished before Christmas but it didn’t happen. I just finished the first sock and have started the second one. The second of a pair of socks is never fun, but you have to keep going. I am also working on a scarf. Just a simple, all knit stitches, scarf. I can’t remember where I got the yarn but it is just wonderful. It pulls perfectly and is just a joy to knit. I am taking my time with it because I hate to finish it.
One sock down and one to go.
I can’t wait to wear this scarf it feels so cozy.
I worked most of the week. My sister and I had mammograms yesterday in Knoxville. We have also decided to start the process of genetic testing. We started the testing for that yesterday as well. We have so much cancer in our family. Five of my six siblings have had some form of cancer. Two sisters had breast cancer. I am a fanatic about having my scans and tests, but we are curious about all of the cancers we may be predisposed to. It is something that we need to know not only for us but for nieces, nephews and grandchildren in our family. We started the process yesterday but it will take several weeks to get results. It’s scary. I was against this for several years for many reasons. But more about that later.
While we were at the hospital I went to the Oncology floor, where they do chemo, and donated my hats I had knitted and crocheted. They had a pretty good stash but with the cold weather coming I am hoping someone can use them.
These are the hats I took with me to donate.
We had planned some shopping afterwards but the appointment lasted a little longer than we had planned. And it was sooooooo cold!!! We went and had a nice lunch and made a couple of stops and came back home. I had a grocery pick up so I did that and came back to the house to snuggle in for the weekend.
I have been listening to an audio book. The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout. I have loved all of her other books. This one is not one of my favorites but it is still pretty good. I like to listen while I am knitting and then when I am driving. I am also reading Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand. I waited for both of these books for several weeks. I got them through the Libby App. I am about halfway through both of them. I need to finish because I know there will be another long wait if I don’t.
We have a short trip to Nashville this week for a four month check up for hubs. That is if the weather cooperates. We will have to see.
I hope you have a wonderful week and stay warm if you are in this neck of the woods, or other cold places.
I leave you with a picture of sweet Kitty Kitty enjoying the bit of sunshine we had yesterday. Yes she may be a little annoyed with me for bothering her nap.
Hello and happy Thursday. How has your week been so far?
I am backing up to last week. I did get the three extra days off last week. On Wednesday I took my sister to Knoxville to UT hospital to have a procedure done. We arrived early and got out before lunch so that all worked out great.
I will have to say, for most of my time off, I have been a knitting fiend. Well let me add crocheting to that as well. I worked on my nephew’s afghan, a pair of socks and another cap. I also googled how to make a daisy granny square and did a few of those. So as usual I was all over the page. I did spend one day cleaning my house and then another day cleaning my mother in laws house. This house now belongs to us so we are responsible for it. It needs some improvements so we will be working on it as we have the time.
Look at all of this. The yellow is the cap I am working on. The red and gray is the sock and you can see the trial granny square I did.
This is the daisy granny square. This was my first one. I have some different colors. I plan to make several and use them for a pillow. I used these colors just to experiment.
This little bag I use to put small knitting or crochet projects. I used it this time for the cap I am knitting. These are actually make-up bags but they fit so well into my purse and I can take my knitting anywhere. People are always curious when they see you knitting or crocheting and want to know what you are making. I am always happy to share and even teach them a stitch or two if they are game.
I finished an entire sock on Sunday. I started the second one, which is never as much fun, and I will wait until I have completed the pair to show you.
We haven’t done a lot of Christmas decorating around here. We actually ordered a new Christmas tree and it should be here tomorrow. We did put life sized Santa at his post in the upstairs window. Kitty Kitty loves him and she loves to stand beside him. Crazy kitty.
Outside view of Santa in the window. I love coming down our driveway and seeing him in the window.
On Monday I left work early and took my car to Knoxville back to the dealership to have that dark window tint removed. If you missed an earlier blog post where I bought a new car, the story is I didn’t realize how dark the tint on the windows actually was until I drove it at night. It took about three hours to remove the tint and they gave me a tiny loaner car to use. I did a little shopping to kill the time. I was so glad to be able to see through the windows. The tint on my new car was just too dark for me. It made me very nervous driving in our rural area at night.
This loaner car seemed very small to me luckily I only had it for a few hours.
Tuesday night at dusk we looked out the window and couldn’t believe this beautiful purple hue. The clouds cast a purple reflection onto the water. I have never seen the lake this color. It had been cloudy all day and at dusk just a tiny bit of light was trying to shine through. It was just beautiful.
I hope your week is going well and you are gearing up for a great weekend. I am off to work on some knitting. I don’t know what is wrong with me I just feel the need to knit or crochet. I better take advantage and get some projects finished before Christmas.
Southern Patches 