Author: beverly

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Somebody’s Getting Married

Somebody’s getting married! Not me. I’m already married. One of my doctors. Emily takes my INR every month and her finger’s been itching for that engagement and wedding ring for a little bit now. She got it last year and the wedding is a mere 4 months away. I, in an unusal turn, have already started knitting her wedding afghan.

It’s what I do for weddings. I make the couple an afghan. And in a weird twist, I make it out of yarn I already have on hand. Now, for this one, I admit I went out and purchased three different tones of gray because Emily likes gray. But when I got them home, I pulled out some Caron Big Cake that I already have and settled down to begin the work.

I had in mind I wanted to do an afghan with squares instead of doing it all in one piece. I went online to find a pattern (not to follow cuz I write patterns but I don’t follow them atleast not stitch for stitch. I wanted to affirm the image I had in my mind. I settled on this one from Yarnspirations.

It was so pretty and just what I had in mind. I printed it out with the idea that although I knew I wasn’t going to use all the squares they had or at least not do them the way they did them, I might knit up at least one of the squares. And I did!! Not the one you see here. That’s from another book. What I ended up deciding is the knit the squares from the book and the website. I am using the yarn from that little sliver of the afghan you can see off to the right. It was a wip a bit back and it was never going to be made so the yarn is now going into this afghan.

I don’t think there’s enough of the frogged afghan to make the 20 squares needed for the new one. I have some cream yarn sitting in the stash that can help balance stuff out and brighten it up. It should be beautiful. I am enjoying working on it. I hope I am not tempting the knit goddesses by starting this so far ahead of time. They wouldn’t do anything to curse a wedding. Would they?

 

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Water Blogged

I am water blogged; I mean water logged. Let me explain. I started Intermediate Fasting for the second time. I gave it a try and decided it wouldn’t work. Then, one day it occured to me, I was doing some form of it naturally so I incorporated it back into being and I enjoy it. Not that it doesn’t present me with challenges but it seems to be effective.

I have an app (of course, there’s an app for it) and it, along with my doctor and nutritionist, talk about hydration incessantly. So, I set the app to notify me to hydrate. There I was sitting and knitting when I heard a funny sound coming from the phone. It took me a moment to realize it was the sound of water being poured into a glass. That was the notification to hydrate – every hour. I don’t jump up and drink when I hear it but if I am not in the midst of drinking something when it goes off, I dutifully  saunder and get either juice, tea or water. (The current drink is water.) I go and log it in on the app.

To give an update, here are three selfies that I took a while ago. It doesn’t show a huge loss – this isn’t a complaint. I find this entire process fascinating – but every pound lost is a golden thread to me.Sometimes the results come slowly. I am currently in a loss spiral and where as it took a month to lost the seven lbs in that photo, I am almost seven pounds down this month. Like I said, fascinating.

Back to the hydration. They say keeping hydrated is a hunger blocker and that’s no joke because I am feeling full. I was also feeling a little peckish a minute ago and the water with a single sheet of graham crackers knocked that edge off until dinner.

But what about knitting and crochet?

OK, check out the items in the shop. Continues to grow. We will get back to that in the next post. Promise.

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When Last We Spoke

When last we spoke, I had purchased some yarn from the road trip. Well, I went to the Hobby Lobby by the house just a few days ago….just to see what I could see. Also because someone online said they still had some clearance stuff including their Fireside yarn. The equivalent to Homespun. It was on sale for about $1.75. Prayer shawls, you see. I had prayer shawls in mind.

So I went. And there it was. And now almost every ball that was there is here. I couldn’t reach the last ball of the black so it couldn’t come. There was only one ball of a very pretty color but I needed three. So that stayed. Then there was a not very pretty color. That stayed. I came home with the rest. About 16 skeins. Less than $30.

Score.

But, as you can see, it’s not like I haven’t been busy. This is not all that is finished. There are two more hats. Two more washcloths. Some different kinds of scrubbies. (The inspiration for this particular Happiness Project.) There are also digital stickers. I’ve been thinking about starting the monthly sticker giveaway again. Thinking about it. When I pray about it, I might get an answer one way or the other.

When it’s laid out like this, I have a visual of how much was accomplished in such a short matter of time. Sometimes you have to step back and take a look at the whole forest and appreciate the trees as a group.

This is a pretty nice forest.

 

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I Know

I know. Really, I know. But it couldn’t be helped. We went on a road trip to Montgomery, AL to watch my nephew play baseball for the Chattanoga Lookouts.

It was the same time Hobby Lobby was having their clearance sale and if you know the stores in Chicago, you know the clearance wasn’t going to last long. I was all content to pass it by until we arrived at our hotel in Madison, TN. There was a Hobby Lobby right down the street from the hotel. Still I resisted. I didn’t need yarn – OK. I had just purchased stuff from HB and didn’t need to go back.

So, we drove on to Montgomery (after a stop in Birmingham to pick up my brother and nephew.) And there, right across the street from our hotel in Plattville, AL. Hobby Lobby. I swear, I wasn’t going to go but as it happened, I needed black yarn for one of the projects I brought with me and they were having their regular 30% off sale. So, over I went.

And there was a bunch of cotton on sale. And I am doing a bunch of stuff with cotton. I got the black yarn, some cotton yarn and some other stuff. My haul was less than $50.

But there was a slight emptiness. I left the hand dyed yarn behind. It’s a three weight and I don’t usually deal in that. But there a hat I want to make – for the longest time – that looks good in sock yarn or three weight. It’s this classic right here. You know the hat.

We were set to leave Tuesday morning and Mr. Honey wanted to leave before check out time at 11:00. The store opened at 9 and I was gonna take some luggage down to the car while he was still sleeping and take that 3 minute ride. But he got up and I confessed what I wanted to do and he was good with it. We packed up got in the car and he drove me over.

I found the green on sale – which is great. I need it to go with the pink for the stocking cap I want to make. Found the hand dyed, which I knew I wasn’t going to buy a lot of. I can get two beanies out of each skein. So seven skeins was enough. The haul was less than the first one. All told, I spent maybe $70. Not bad.

But yes, I know. Ton o’yarn. But I know what I want to use it for. The furry yarn for cuffs on hats and gloves. The beanies from the hand dyed and the anti-pill. Wash cloths from the cotton. See? There’s a plan. Trust me.

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A New Kind of Fun

I am about to have a new kind of fun. This arrived in the mail.  Not everything in the box arrived in the box. Some of the yarn I threw in there so everything I needed was in the same box. But the sparkly nylon all arrived in the box. 

It’s Herrschners Suds and Scrub yarn. I got it because a friend said she was down to her last nylon scrubby and wanted to know if I made them. Well, I knew I could make them even if I hadn’t up to then. So, being me, I bought 20 balls of the stuff.

I made four different kinds of scrubbies: a towel made of cotton, a scrubby made with cotton and the nylon, a super scrubby made from Yarn Bee Scrubology (more on that later) and the scrubby made from the Suds and Scrub. That’s the one she used and the one she liked and the one she was telling folks they should get because it’s so good. She has built up an expectation for the product better than if I paid for her to do it. This is straight out of Marketing the Jesus Way. (More on that later, too.) 

The funny thing is, I haven’t tried these for myself. I have dirty dishes and I have a piece of nylon that’s done more of its share of work. I don’t know why I just don’t take what I whipped up and place them on the sink and use them. There would be no more thorough person than Mr. Honey. That could be the problem. 

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The Button Legacy

This is the Button Legacy. A local artist passed and her sister held a three weekend craft estate sale. Crafting material filled the basement. I saw these buttons on the Facebook page and knew I had to have them (including the basket.) I also knew she was a knitter. There was a ton of yarn and I managed to leave all of it there. There were some circular needles but I was fascinated with the wood needles.

But those buttons. It was the buttons that touched me. I love buttons. At another estate sale years ago, I purchased a huge box of buttons. I have used some but I have about 95% of them left and there are hundreds. There’s a fair amount in this basket as well. These buttons are more artistic than the others. I’ve already used one. I recently purchased some Wool Ease and this is one of few times I’ve used yarn as soon as it arrives in the house without needing it for an order. 

The button legacy will have chunky hats and scarves and this is a simple ribbed brim beanie. I really enjoyed it. It was quick and the tweedy look of the yarn is classic, modern and works well. Almost any of the buttons would have worked. There were lighter browns and oranges. I mean, just look in the basket. I’m looking forward to making more hats and the cowls and scarves that will have Parv’s buttons on them. I look forward to using the big needles she has. They are handmade birch needles. The smallest may be a size 9. 

The hat will go in the shop. Which is semi opened. It has a couple of items in it and this will be added to the list along with a few other hats I did for orders, discovered I really liked and want to add them. This is a blessing that is coming together right before my eyes and I am grateful for the part this beloved artisan has played in it.

 

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Works In Progress

I have a few works in progress. Here are all my project bags. Yep. I’ve got something going in each of these. This is what it’s like in design mode. I start a set of projects – there’s also a digital project that resides on the iPad – and when the amount of WIPs get overwhelming, I pick the first one and start on it in earnest.
So what project is earnestly being worked?

Two panels of the Boho Petal Afghan are complete. I thought there might be four panels but I think five is more likely. I also thought this might be ready in about 10 days but I’m not sure about that, either. This will be going into the shop on Go Imagine as ready to ship. I don’t think it will go onto the Etsy site.

 

What else is in the bags? There’s a two toned stocking cap, a lite cotton scarf, another BoHo piece; this one a prayer shawl, a triangle shaped scarf and maybe something else I can’t remember at the moment. Most of the yarn came straight outta the stash which explains the boho themed items. That means as I pull yarns out of the bins and into the WIP bags, more yarn can go into the bins. This is why the range free yarn looks a little less wild. Not quite domesticated but that’s fine.

In face, the domesticated yarn doesn’t mind in the least. They are behind the doors in the privacy of their sanctuary and are happy to let the free range yarn do all the work.

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Just a Little Change

Just a little change. OK, so not the best picture. I’m not used to taking selfies and I don’t know that I want to get good at it. But here they are. The photo on the left was taken Sept 2021 and the one on the right Feb 2022. Probably about a 40lb difference. I don’t know. 

I know there are people who write about their weight loss and they have a lot to say. Probably I do, too. But not just yet. I’m at a weird place. I’ve lost a lot but at the moment I am at a stall. With a stall, it can go up and down and generally mess with your head if you’re the head messing type. I’m not quite but there’s something going on up there. I’m perfectly willing to believe that my mood and the yo-yo for the past week is due to taking Provera. I have read it can have an effect on weight and hungar and mood. Also because I have significantly less weight than when I started it, the dosage could have more of an effect on me before. We will see shortly because I have two more days on this course and then the levelling should begin. The next update may tell us something.

Back in the knitting world,  I take better photos of  yarn than I do of myself. This is Paintbox yarn and I guess I bought it two years ago. It seems longer. I know I got it when we were at the house and the picture is taken on the back porch. But it seems longer. This beautiful yarn is somewhere in new place. I just don’t know where.

I ran across the photo and wondered where it is. I am fairly certain it is not with the domestic yarn behind the closet doors. My guess it’s with the free range bunch in one of the gray bins. Not gonna look, though. I’m just curious. Though, now that I think on it. There is a project it would be great for.

Gonna have to give this some thought.

 

 

 

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Knit Storm

It’s the beginning of a knit storm here in Knitsville. I am in design mode. I just have to finish the neck on the poncho – which I have done and undone three times but I think I’ve figured out where I’m going with it – and then I will be order free. Since Robin’s doesn’t have to be shipped and she’s headed for Hawaii, I can start on the design trail. 

I am getting items ready for my GoImagine store. I’ve set the launch date as August 1 and I don’t have anything ready to go but you can see I have things started. Something is bound to be finished before August 1. I hope.

We have two hats and one prayer shawl on these needles. There are a couple of other things that didn’t make it in the pic. There is a pile of yarn in front of the yarn closet. It won’t make it in the closet because there’s no room but it may be organized as we move the sofa out of my studio and into the living room. I Maxine I will be getting some clear containers to put them all in and having stacks of yarn around me. My recliner is coming in the studio. So that will kick up the comfort level a notch.

I have a system in mind. We’ll see if I can put it in action. This is a store building from the ground up and everything else starts with it. Let’s see if something good comes out of the storm.

 

 

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I Need A Hobby

I need a hobby. I mean, for some folks knitting is a hobby but not for me. So, I am thinking I need something to do with my spare time. I do have spare time worked into my schedule. I have some free hours and that’s usually spent playing June’s Journey on my iPad. I’m thinking that’s good for some of the time but there should be something for other times.

Reading. I used to love to read. That’s something that can come back and I’ve chosen what it is I want to read. A long time back, I purchased a lifetime subscription to Simplify Magazine. I haven’t looked at it for a minute and I recently logged in to start back. I also purchased a digital pack of Radiant Magazine – a digital magazine written with Nigerian women in mind. 

In this renaissance of my life, I want to take care of myself in all areas. The physical is coming along and I want the spiritual and mental to come right along with it. I am going to need all that in order to make the physical work. There is a great big mental ‘game’ that comes with the procedure. For the team that supervises my care, there is not enough of it. The psych eval was realtively easy and it doesn’t really prepare you for the mind explosion that happens.

What is helpful for me is a great support system. I am willing to do the work. The trick will be to sustain it. I have to begin making self care a part of the every day. I have showering as part of my schedule and for those times, it’s more than just running under water; it’s a time for taking time to make all of me better.

That also makes for better knitting. It makes everything better. Looking forward to enjoying this hobby.