A nice pick-me-up

Just a short update today. Both kids have been sick with the stomach flu and I haven't worked much on my stitching or knitting. I received a nice pick-me-up in the mail today though, and wanted to share!

One of the yahoo groups I am in does a fun Bingo game. Whoever wins gets a nice prize from the host of the game and then in turn becomes the host for the next one. So I won the last one which had a bird theme and am now hosting a wolf/fox themed one. Anyway, I got my prize today and wanted to share pics of it. It is a nice kit from Dimensions' The Gold Collection Petites. It is called Chickadees in Spring (goes along with the bird themed Bingo I won) and was designed by Bradley Jackson. I also received a really cute card with it. Here are pics of both!  Until next time my tangled tanglers.... Happy Crafting!

 It says: You deserve a cookie.

 Inside it says: Okay, maybe two. Congrats.
Isn't that the cutest card ever?!

The kit is pretty cute too :-)

A Great Day (too bad the weather is gonna change again)

I am going to start off by telling everyone about the photo shoot! :) The photographer that wanted me to knit some props for her offered to take photos of the kids since she needed some photos to flesh out her portfolio and because I made her a couple of the baby hammocks. I think she also probably felt bad for us because she knew we couldn't afford the school pictures this year. :) She is nice like that.  Anyway today was the day we picked to shoot the pics. I think they turned out great! Here is a link to go view them on her business' facebook page: Serenity and Joey on Reta-Li Images so please feel free to go 'like' the pics and the business! I think she did an awesome job. I also think I have adorable kiddos :) Here is a pic I took of her taking a picture of Serenity:

 We had a lot of fun today. 

I haven't been doing a whole lot of knitting or cross stitching. I do have some progress pics to show of my cross stitching WIPs and a couple of pics of my newest knitting finish. I have been spending most of my time reading still. If you notice my goodreads widget on the side of my posts I have a goal of 125 books I want to read this year. I have already read over twenty so I don't think I will have a problem meeting that goal LOL. I read about a book a day when I am in the mood. I have reread some of my favorites and am reading some by an author I hadn't previously heard of. I am also listening to the audio book of Under The Dome by Stephen King. It is great! I listen to it while I knit or cross stitch and also as I lay down to go to sleep. Anyway, here are some pics for ya!

I liked how this second baby hammock turned out. It is twice as thick and soft as the first one. She liked both, so she got both. :-) I think I will make some more and see about selling them on eBay or etsy. I am not sure how much to charge for them though. I have seen them going for around 45 dollars and higher on etsy. 

I am also working on my first sweater. I started it a little over a week ago. It was a vintage kit I got really cheap on eBay. It isn't for me, as the largest size it had on the pattern was a Large and I haven't fit into one of those for about three years now (or longer) LOL. I was afraid I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish it if I tried to make it any bigger, since it was from a kit that came with the yarn. I don't even know if they make that kind of yarn anymore. Anyway, figure it will be excellent practice to get used to knitting sweaters. I eventually want to try making myself one. 

The kids are home this week from school and the weather is going to be nasty the rest of the week, so they will probably drive me insane! So if there are no more updates for awhile, you know I am in a padded room somewhere, rocking and crying for my knitting or something to read LOL. We did have a good weekend this last weekend. Took the kids to a nearby park to feed the ducks and geese on Saturday. Then we grilled out Sunday. It was fun. Monday wasn't too bad either. We got to see Bobby's brother, whom we hadn't seen for over a year. He lives in Texas and works out of the country for long periods of time, so doesn't have a chance to visit often. We only got to see him for a couple of hours, but it was a treat. He looked too thin, but he has been working long hours so I am sure that it is taking a toll on him. Serenity was especially delighted to see him. She thinks he is just the ultimate in uncles. She misses him always and asks when he will come see us again. I know she is seven now, but it is still hard for her to understand how far away he usually is and that he can't just pop over to visit like he did when he lived and worked closer.

Well, I think that is it on the update this week. I wish I could update a couple of times a week like I originally wanted to, but my life just isn't that exciting. :) I don't want to bore everyone after all! I hope to settle back into my stitching, as I really like seeing progress on my pieces. I am still trying to get my stash built up, so have been looking on listia and on eBay for cheap floss, yarn, patterns, and books. I joined a RAK group on Ravelry and a nice lady is sending me some things. I am eager to see what I get! I am like a kid on Christmas whenever a package comes for me in the mail. I hope that someday I will be in the position to RAK people too. I know how much it means to me to receive something off of my wish list, and I want to be able to make someone else happy in the same way. I feel selfish sometimes if I join a group like that. My kids need new summer clothes and here I am asking for crafting supplies. I know, though, that the kids will get all that they need and at least some of what they want from Bobby. He makes sure that they are well taken care of. It might not be the name brand items that a lot of the kids have, but that is fine with them. Serenity is young enough not to worry about that stuff, and Joey is old enough to understand how much stuff costs. 

I have put clothes for them on several wish lists also though, so we will see what happens with that. There is a great website called Gail's List a Wish and it is a community of mom's that help each other out with this type of stuff. Here is a link: List a wish if you are interested in joining. We received a box for winter that had clothes and other necessities in it from a nice lady on there. I haven't been able to ship clothes or anything, but have had some coupons for baby formula that I sent to someone that needed them. Also if you haven't heard of it already, there are groups called freecycle all over the country that you can join to give and receive items. If you have stuff that is still in decent shape, like clothes, furniture, appliances, then you can go list them to give to people that are in need of them. If you are looking for anything, you can post a want on there and if anyone has what you are looking for, they will let you know. I have given and received many kinds of things on there. That is where I got a lot of my yarn at first. One lady had a large tote of yarn odds and ends and gave me all of them, another lady needed some so I shared them with her and she in turn gave me some rug yarn that she would never use, along with some almost brand new jeans for Joey that didn't fit her husband. See how it works? It is great. 

OK. I will stop rambling on now! I hope to have another update soon. I will also take some pics of my progress on my sweater soon to post. Until next time my tangled bunch of tanglers..... Happy crafting!

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Check out this blog! There is a great giveaway and it is easy to enter. I subscribed to it myself, as it looks like a great blog to keep up with. Here is a link: giveaway, for the love of wool: 3 month yarn club subscription worth 100$ « lanitium ex machina

Not much going on!

Haven't been keeping up to date on my blog lately. Haven't been doing much though. I go through cycles. Sometimes I am all about knitting, sometimes cross stitching, but I have always been and will always be a reading freak! That is what I have been doing since my last blog update. Reading. I have read seven or eight books since my last update. I usually read a book a day when I am in my reading cycle. I tend to reread a series I have or find a new one when I know I am in the reading constantly for a week or two phase. This time I chose the Rachel Morgan series. It is by Kim Harrison for anyone that doesn't know. I love this series and can reread it and love it as much or more every time I do.

I have managed a little knitting even though I am mostly sitting around with my nose in a book. I tried my hand at knitting a shawl. I chose a really simple pattern and ran with it. It doesn't look like the pattern I chose, since I tend to change things as I knit stuff for fun. Here is a picture of what my family is calling my Fairy Net Shawl. It is a white cotton yarn paired with a sparkley purple, gold, and white yarn. The pictures do not do it justice. Serenity likes it so much that I think I will let her keep it.

I am also working on another baby hammock. I wanted to try it in brighter colors. I will upload a pic of it when I am finished with it. I am only doing a few rows a day, whenever I get an urge to knit.

I did start another cross stitch kit for my daily stitching. It was scheduled to be my Tuesday wip, but I haven't been working on them since last Wednesday. I haven't stitched for a week. Wow, I am being lazy LOL. Just in that reading phase of my cycle. I have a pic of my latest start and a pic of my Cat progress.

I am almost done with the cross stitches on the cat. Just on small area left and then it is on to the satin stitches. Isn't it so cute. It is the only indoor cat I am allowed to have. Bobby doesn't like indoor animals. The things we put up with for love. :)

I have a lot of new cross stitching and other crafty books that I have been getting off of listia and eBay. Here is a picture of some of them. I am really getting a collection going!

I think I got all of these off of listia. The complete guide to sewing book in the upper left was a gift from a lady that really wants me to be able to learn sewing and quilting. She knows I want to, but don't have anyone I know that can teach me. I had won a thinner book from her and she threw this one in for free, even though it tripled the shipping. Isn't she a sweetheart!

I made a huge meatloaf for dinner Sunday using a new recipe I ran across and we ate on it for days! It turned out really good. I took some to Mother (my grandmother that raised me) and still we had a lot left over. So I looked up recipes for leftover meatloaf and ran across a recipe using it in Shepard's Pie. Now I had tried to make a Shepard's Pie before without great success. But I thought I would try it this way. So last night I made the leftover meatloaf Shepard's Pie. It turned out better than my first attempt from last year. I thought it looked really good so I took a picture to share it :)

The problem with it was this. It tasted like what it was. Leftover meatloaf with mixed vegetables and mashed potatoes. I loved how the mashed potatoes get all crispy crusty from the baking though. I think the main issue was that the meatloaf recipe I used made a really strong flavored meatloaf, so that flavor kind of took over the flavor in the pie. I could barely taste the other ingredients. Don't get me wrong, I liked it just fine. So did the rest of the family. But I think that if I ever make another Shepard's Pie, I will just used ground beef or whatever, instead of leftover meatloaf. It is a good way to use up leftover meat though. I also saw recipes using leftover meatloaf in spaghetti sauces and in various pasta dishes. Now I know a few ways to use up leftover meatloaf once we get burned out on meatloaf sandwiches!

So that catches everyone up on my crafting and my life in general. Just haven't been doing much. Bobby's car is still broke down, so he is using mine to go to work and back, so I am stuck at home all day, every day. I spend all that time reading, instead of crafting. I am not sure why. I did get to go to the flea market in Princeton this weekend and buy some yarn that I really love. I have no idea what it is. It looks and feels a lot the Bernat boucle stuff I already had. It is a pretty blue and pink mix. I am using some of it in the baby hammock I am making. So, yep, that is it on the update. I feel kind of bad for not sticking to my stitching rotation, but it is a hobby, so I am not going to beat myself up over it. I know I will get back into it soon. I just needed to read for awhile.

Until next time, my faithful tanglers..... Happy Crafting!

Four new starts, a bad storm, and a friend's loss

Well I have survived the storm. I still don't know how much damage it inflicted in our small town, as I don't have a car available in which to drive around and gawk. My grandmother said that several houses near to me lost their roofs. I know that we were without electricity for a short while. The town about four miles from us got hit harder. School was canceled for the kiddos today. Power outages and all that debris and downed power lines were the deciding factor in that, I am sure.

Around two this morning we huddled in our little space between bedrooms which is the only place that isn't an outside wall. Still was facing some windows, but from a farther distance than anywhere else in the house. This was the first actual tornado warning that we have had while in this house I think. I know we get a lot of watches and stuff, but usually the warnings are farther away. We got some pillows and blankets and had the kids lay down on the floor and I sat by them with my laptop and a comforter trying to track the storm in between power outages. Bobby went from door to door, watching the storm's progress. It was a tense half hour or so. Then the kids went to bed and everyone but me slept peacefully the rest of the morning LOL.

The saddest news I have heard in a long time was given to me around lunch today about one Bobby's friends. This man has been so excited over the last nine months or so, because his wife was expecting a baby. I am not naming any names, as I don't know if anyone knows them and it just seems rude to be blogging about it. But it is such sad news and I have been almost crying off and on all day even though I don't actually know this couple. Anyway, he went out of state this morning on a job. His wife whose due date was sometime in March, was driving to work this morning when she was involved in an accident and had to be life flighted to the hospital. I was so sad to hear that. Then Bobby texts me to let me know that the baby didn't make it and that it wasn't looking good his friend's wife either. How sad is that. Why is life so very unfair? And for this poor man to get this news while he is out of state and have to hurry all the way back here not knowing what is happening and not being able to be there at her side.
I am getting all teary eyed again. I cannot imagine what he is going through. Bobby is depressed from the unfairness and cruelty of life and I am too. How can someone survive not only losing a baby days away from it's due date (which to me somehow seems even worse than having a miscarriage early on or something) but to maybe lose his wife as well. I don't even want to try to imagine how devastating that is.

Well, I need to stop dwelling on it. It seems so petty somehow to update my progress on my projects, but  I am going to do so. I have stuck to my schedule of starting one each day of the week and then I plan on working on them on the days I started them on every week until they are done. Here are pictures of my starts.

This is my Thursday start called Welcome Friends:

Here is my Friday start called Cow Whimsy:

Here is my Saturday start called Kittens with Ornaments:

Here is my Sunday start called Pooh and Friends Balloon Ride:

I like this one best so far. It is a larger one, but the small amount I did takes up more space than the larger amounts of stitches I have done on my Paula Vaughan over the past few weeks. I love 14 count Aida LOL.

Here is my Monday start. It is called Hang Your Heart:

I tend to want to keep working on something until it is done, whether or not I am enjoying it. I was stressed while stitching today and wasn't enjoying it, so I forced myself to put it away for now. Why do some of these kits come with the blunt needles and some come with the sharp needles, yet they are the same material? I placed that needle into my skin several times today, trying to stitch while thinking of the storm last night and the poor lady and her baby, and while trying to pay attention to Serenity and her reading to me and trying to get my son to get along with her. I finally gave up and have been knitting while mindlessly watching day time TV.

Well, there is my update. Hope I didn't bum too many people out.

Until next time, my tangled tanglers.... happy crafting!

Long overdue update!

It has been way too long since I updated my blog. I was going to update a couple times a week, but the last couple of weeks I haven't taken the time to. Here is what I have been up to recently.

I haven't been working on my cross stitch project. Every time I think about it, I get a headache. I don't know what the reluctance is, but I figure that since it is a hobby, then I should be able to take my time and just work on it when I please. I did start a cute little stamped cross stitch project last night. I thought maybe a quick project would get me back into the stitching mood. It will be a really quick project. It is so cute! It is a Stitchables kit called Calico Cat (#7503) dated 1984.  I always thought I hated stamped cross stitch, but I guess it all depends on the size and the subject. It came with the printed muslin fabric,  4" hoop/frame and all that. I get to learn a new stitch too, as it calls for some satin stitch, which I have never done. Here is a pic:

I have been knitting almost every day, as usual. I am working on a frilly scarf from a free pattern I found online. A lady in the knitting group that meets locally once a week gave me some really nice yarn. It is Mini Mochi, which I never thought I would get to work with. It is a bit out of my price range. She didn't have the info on it, but it looks like it might be their Purple Dawn colorway (is that the correct term?). She gave me two skeins of it, as for some reason she just didn't like working with it. I love it. It might be an odd choice for the scarf to some, but it told me that it wanted to be used for that pattern LOL. It is going to take all of one skein and part of the second to make the scarf and I am considering just using all of it and hoping it doesn't make the scarf look weird by adding a few rows.  Here is a pic of it on the needles, but it is hard to picture what it is going to look like off the needles.

I also made up my own pattern for a baby long tailed pixie or elf pom pom hat. I didn't have a pattern for one so I looked at some pictures of other similar hats and went from there. It didn't turn out perfect of course, but I think that I learned a bit from the experiment. It is too small, so my daughter is getting it for her baby doll.  Here is a picture of it on her baby doll :

I wasn't sure if I wanted one pompom or two LOL

I am going to make a few more small cross stitch kit starts and am going to work on one every day. At least that is the plan. I have a calendar for just my projects now and every day of the week I will work on a specific WIP. For example (since I cannot explain things to my satisfaction the first time LOL) since I started my CAT stamped kit on Wednesday, then I will work on it again next Wednesday. I really want to work on it today, but have decided that this is the way I am going to do it, unless I decide to do it differently! I never actually know what I am going to do until I do it. So it will be a surprise for us all! Here is the pic of the ones I want to do:

There are a few of the little kits my kids gave me for Christmas. Aren't they sweet! I love how most of them have frames. There is the Imagine that by Designs for the Needle. It is # 6105 You Grow from the year 1989. Then next to it in the pic is Whimsical Christmas with a couple of cute kitties playing with ornaments. Looks like it is made by a company called what's new inc. I don't see a year, but most of my kits are from the eighties. Let's see... under the kitties is a kit from the New Berlin Co. It is Welcome Friends by Lois Winston. It comes with the frame and lace and all that. The date on this one is 1987. Under that one is another one by the New Berlin Co. It is called Hang Your Heart. Came with the frame and lace and all the doodads. It is dated 1986. to the left of it is the Wire Whimsy called Cow Whimsy by Karen Avery. This one is slightly less vintage as it is dated 1994. What makes a kit vintage anyway? That is how we got so many for me, they were all marked vintage and were going really really really cheap on listia and eBay. Anyway, the last one is called Pooh and Friends Balloon Ride. It says adapted by Symbol of Excellence A Leisure Arts Company. So I am assuming it was sold through Leisure Arts originally. This is one of the larger kits I have. It has a finished size of 11 3/8" by 5 3/4: or a frame size of 13 3/8" by 7 3/4" OK enough with the boring (for some) stuff!

Oh, I just remembered that I never shared my Crowned Glory KAL finish. Yep I finished it! I was so proud of myself. Now I just need to learn to block stuff. No plans to do so at this moment though. Here is a pic of the finished scarf:

Not much else going on in my crafty world. Now on to my life. I did get some nice things for Valentine's Day. I thought he would forget, but he drug his sick butt out of bed on that Monday and went to work, mostly so he would be near a Walmart. He went after work and bought me some real flowers (first time ever from him), some truffles in a beautiful box, some macadamia nut turtles, a wonderfully soft and fluffy heart patterned throw with a heart shaped pillow, and a really sweet card. Some of you might think this sounds more like gifts for a teenager than a grown woman, but he knows how much I love this stuff. I didn't get stuff like this when I was a teenager so it kind of makes up for that LOL. Anyway, I felt bad because all I got for him was the FM transmitter for his birthday and a Valentine's Day/Birthday card from me and a card from the kids. He absolutely loves the transmitter though. I hated that he spent so much on me and all I could afford was this little twelve dollar gift, but he says that since he is the one that works and has an income it makes sense that he  spends more on me. Besides that, the only thing he really wanted was that transmitter. It works so much better than he thought it would and he talked about it for days. You might think he was doing that to make me feel better, but he doesn't ever say things just to make a person feel better. I wish he would sometimes!

Kids are doing good, both in school and in their health. I am the lucky one that has been sick for a month! Couldn't afford school pictures this year so am currently trying to win a contest on facebook to win them a free picture package. If anyone wants to help they can go to http://www.facebook.com/ReTaLiImages and 'like' the page and then go into the CONTEST Photos album and 'like' either my son Joey's picture or my daughter Serenity's picture. Voting is open until February 26th. Thank you in advance to anyone that votes!

I think that is all for the update for now. I will be finishing the scarf soon I hope as well as starting another cross stitch project, so I will try to update again soon. Until then, my crafty crafting friends....

Happy Crafting!

Nutmegger Stitcher's Works: Granny Square and Give-Away

Just a reminder for you. There is still time to enter her give-away. Click the following link and go post a comment on her blog to enter! Nutmegger Stitcher's Works: Granny Square and Give-Away

Valentine's Day, Bobby's 25th birthday, not much going on really

There isn't a whole lot to report on this update. Bobby is sick just in time for his birthday tomorrow. Yep his birthday is Valentine's Day if I had forgotten to mention that before. He is going to be 25 this year. I told him he is getting old and I may have to trade him in for a newer model! Of course, if I went for anyone younger than him, I would have to start trolling my son's high school. Ewww. Anyway, all joking aside, I hope he feels better tomorrow. He is going to go ahead and work, even though he only made it out of bed once today. I am keeping him medicated for his headache and sore throat. I woke him up long enough to eat something and take something for his headache and then he was back asleep. It made for a lonely yet peaceful Sunday. Both kids were gone and he was in bed all day, so I just sat in the living room without even the TV on and worked on my cross stitch. Didn't get a whole lot done on it for the amount of time I put in, but that is ok. I was going to work on it some more tonight, but ended up with a big knot in the floss and decided that my eyes were too tired to mess with it. Here is a pic of my progress so far:

So far I am not thrilled with the half stitches it calls for. It says in the directions for this chart that I am to do all full stitches and quarter stitches with two strands of floss and to do all other stitches with one. I took that to mean that the half stitches were done with one strand, but it just doesn't look right to me. I am going to go ahead with the one strand for now, because I don't want to run out of floss. But I might go back and go over it again with another strand later if I still think it looks like it isn't right.

I haven't done any knitting this weekend. Weird, huh? Usually I knit a little every day, but I took yesterday and most of today off. I spent yesterday with Bobby for the most part. We dropped Joey off at his grandparents to see his dad and his half sister Hailey and went to Wal Mart to get Bobby's birthday present he wanted. We stopped at McDonald's for Serenity to use her gift card on a happy meal and then went to KFC for us to eat. Then we dropped her off at the bowling alley in Oakland for a birthday party. Then we were alone for the rest of the night, as both kids spent the night elsewhere. Of course for most of the night Bobby was working on the house. He is setting it up so that the lights go on and off automatically as we go in and out of rooms. We have a remote control for all the lights and appliances also. It is kinda nifty, now that I am getting used to it. It was also a lot cheaper than I would have thought it would be. So while he did that, I got most of my floss for my HAED wound onto bobbins. I have 38 of the 89 colors so far. I am spending a lot of time searching ebay and listia for floss for it. I have plenty of time to get all the floss since I want to get quite a bit more of my current cross stitch project done before I start it.

So that is about it on this update. I don't have any plans for Valentine's Day. I cooked a nice roast and vegetables tonight in the crock pot, so I won't have to cook tomorrow,except for the birthday brownies. I might put those off if Bobby isn't feeling better tomorrow after work. No point in making him his favorite dessert for his birthday if he isn't going to feel like eating it. I wonder if he got me a card or anything. You never know with him. Some years I get cards and gifts for what seems like every holiday, and then some years I don't even get a birthday card LOL. It all depends on if he remembers to get to the store. His intentions are usually good. He intends to go buy me a card or gift, he just tends to forget until the day of whatever occasion it is and then he feels like a jerk because he didn't have anything for me. He is a sweetheart, really. You just have to dig deep to find the sweetness sometimes HAHAHA.

I hope all of you crafty tanglers out there have a great Valentine's Day, whether you are single, in a relationship, or whatever the case may be. Until next time... Happy Crafting!

Big needles, soft yarn, and a quick project

I haven't updated for a few days, so here goes.

I went shopping for supplies yesterday for a baby hammock my neighbor wanted me to knit for her to use as a photo prop. She bought the pattern and sent it to me, so I knew what I needed for it, which was everything.
I needed size 35 needles and a couple of skeins of yarn. I looked Joann's up to see if they carried that size of needle and they did, but I didn't call and ask the store in Evansville if they actually had it. So when I got there, of course they didn't have that size. I was trying to avoid going to Micheal's because I have realized that they are actually more expensive usually. Anyway, I made a side trip to Big Lots and got some awesome skeins of colorful yarn for a dollar a skein. YAY! I love it when they have a new selection of yarn. I then went to Dollar Tree but they were out of all their yarn. I did pick up some treats for the kiddos for Valentine's Day. Then I headed out searching for a little yarn/needlecraft store that I knew was located in Evansville, but couldn't remember where it was. Didn't find it and was running short on time by then, so I headed over to Micheal's. Ran into my neighbor there and she gave me some money for the supplies I was getting. YAY. I saw they were having a clearance sale on their needles and stocked up on some DPNs since I only had one size and I want to start learning to make socks. Luckily the size 35 needles I needed were there and also on clearance. Double YAY! I also grabbed some more Aida 18ct cloth for some Teresa Wentzler charts I had won off of listia. If you haven't heard of her, then you should definitely look her up. She has some lovely designs! Also Micheal's had some of their yarn on sale and I grabbed a skein of some pretty Country Loom yarn made by Loops and Threads in the color called warm cream. It's so soft. I would have bought more, but I was on a very limited budget. My grandmother had loaned me twenty dollars and I had a little bit of money from where I had gotten some child support :) I couldn't spend it all on me! I still have to buy Bobby his birthday present this weekend. He just wants a FM transmitter thingie so he can play his mp3 player through his car stereo. He has the old school kind of radio with no aux jack or cd player. It has a tape deck I think, but I don't even know if it works. Anyway, back to the update!

So I got home and quickly knitted up the baby hammock. I was surprised at how quickly it knitted up. Those huge needles really get the job done! Here is a picture of it. Please ignore me and my mess in the picture :)

I am going to knit up a couple more in lighter colors I think. The one in the picture is actually prettier in person. My phone doesn't take the best pics. It has several colors of brown in it. I used Lion Brand's Homespun in Barley and Bernat's Soft Boucle (how do you get the little accent mark above a letter on here?) in Misty Shades.  It turned out really soft and fluffy. I changed the pattern a little bit to make the ties longer and to make the hammock itself a couple of rows longer. It just seemed really short. it could be because I knit too tight usually and it throws the gauge off. I dunno.

I have been working on my Crowned Glory scarf a little here and there. I am just about done with it. I am not sure what I am going to do with it once it is complete. I don't wear scarves and it isn't really my style anyway. But it was a really good learning experience and I am glad I joined the KAL. Here is a pic of it as it is at this moment.

I haven't been working on my cross stitch project at all in the last few days. I need to take this weekend to catch up on my place mat KAL and to make some progress on my cross stitch.

I got a RAK package a few days ago. I was so surprised! I got a really nice cross stitch hard back book and some material from a lady in one of my yahoo groups. If you read this blog Emily, thanks again. I love the book and the material was not as damaged as I thought it was. Most of the black from the burn or whatever it  was washed out and only a small section is damaged. For you that don't know what RAK is, it means Random Act of Kindness. I didn't know what it meant until recently either. She looked at a wish list I had and sent me something that she though I would like. For Free! Out of the kindness of her heart. Isn't that awesome. It was so nice getting a gift in the mail like that. Someday I hope to be in the position to be able to do the same for others.

Well, I think that is about it for this update. I haven't been doing a whole lot this week. I watched a couple of movies and read a couple of books. I spend a lot of time on ebay and listia trying to find cheap or free floss for my HAED I am trying to kit up. I found some really cheap AIDA on ebay and some anchor floss that I will use to kit up another chart I have. I hope to do some major progress on my cross stitch project this weekend and complete this scarf. I hope to have some good pics to share with you all Sunday night on my next update. Until then my tangled tanglers.... Happy Crafting!

All the bad things turned to good

So I will start off with my good news and then move on to my progress on my projects.

First off, Bobby bought me a new washing machine Friday and had ordered a heating element that was to be delivered on Saturday. He managed to get his car running in time for me to have my car to take my daughter to the doctor Friday also. He will still need to have it looked at, but for now it is running.

My new washer makes me so happy. No more filling a washing machine by hand. No more fiddling with the knob to make it run through a cycle. No more belts squealing. Just a good washer that runs great and has a three year warranty on it. YAY Bobby.

The heating element came on Saturday morning, even though the weather everywhere was bad and it took the most circuitous route ever planned by Fedex. It came here to Indiana from Ohio through Kentucky and Tennessee. How out of the way do they have to go? Anyway, now my dryer is running and drying even better than before. YAY again for Bobby.

My daughter is fine. She has quite a cough and is taking an antibiotic, but will be able to go back to school tomorrow. Of course, now my son is sick with a high temp and won't get to go to school tomorrow. He will stay in his room and take a fever reducer here and there and mostly sleep or read. Unlike his sister that insisted on staying glued to my hip from Tuesday morning until today LOL. I love them, but after a while I need some Me time. I am glad she is feeling better and was worried when it seemed like it was getting worse Friday night. Now it is just the cough and no fever with her, and a cough and a 103 fever for my son. YAY colds! Of course I am still sick and both ears are still all wonky to where I can hardly hear, but I am starting to feel better too. Here is a pic of Serenity taking her temp for the hundreth time to make sure she was fever free and had to go to school tomorrow LOL.

So almost everything I was upset about in whiny post is all taken care of now. Still probably won't get a honeymoon at all, but that is ok. I can wait on that until whenever it is in the cards. I did manage to not only get my food stamps back, but they actually increased a whole 19 dollars a month. That means I am now feeding my family of four on 40 dollars a week. Nineteen dollars doesn't sound like much to some, I am sure, but for us it is another six days or more of meat. Depending on the sales. I use around one pound of meat a day for dinner for us. That is usually it, unless I am cooking something that will last more than one day, like a large meatloaf or pot of chili. Cereal usually for breakfast and maybe a peanut butter or bologna sandwich for lunch. When bills aren't as high or something, we tend to take the kids out once a week for Subway or Taco Bell or something like that. It might not sound like much to some, but we enjoy it.

Now on to my projects. I finished my fishie washcloth. The pattern ended up being called Betsy Bass by the designer, although we thing it looks more like an Angie the Angelfish or something. Here is a pick of the washcloth. I haven't woven in the ends yet, but other than that it is finished!

I worked on my cross stitch for a little bit on Saturday and a little while on Sunday. Messed up a few spots, but I don't know if they are that noticeable. I left some of the stitches as they were, as I had not noticed them for quite a while and didn't want to have to do the whole section over. I had missed a row and ended up with a couple of white stitches where ecru was supposed to be. I haven't been using my magnifying glass, as I am getting used to all the tinieness of the linen, but occasionally I need it to see where I have messed up or something. I guess maybe that is why I messed up in the first place. I think the minor mistake isn't going to mess up anything all in all. I just worked around the couple of stitches and got back on track. Here is a pic of the progress since my last post:

I guess I stitch different than almost all the people that I have had the chance to look at their WIPs. They all have complete parts of their pattern done at a time. Looks like they work from left to right or top to bottom, completing all the different colors the pattern calls for in the area they are working on. I, though, work with a color until either I am done with that color for a good ways along the pattern, or I run out of floss on my needle. Then I pick another color that is close to where I left off, or get another strand of the color I was using. If that makes sense to anyone. I don't know if there is a 'right' way to do these, but I just goes with what feels easiest. That could be why I mess up, not the whole not using the magnifying glass!

Bobby didn't see a whole lot of difference at first, until I pointed it out. I told him that I had almost doubled what I had Friday and started showing him and he was like OK I see it now. I am not sure if he did see it, or just wanted me to shut up. Whatever! Serenity oohs and aaahhhs enough to keep me happy!

I didn't work on anything else over the weekend, so now I am back to playing catch up on my place mat KAL. I only have two days to catch up on, so that won't be too hard. Then there is the other scarf KAL I haven't started yet and the one I haven't worked on. I am going to work on all of that tonight. At least until the Benadryl knocks me out!

So until my next update, my faithful tangelers..... Happy Crafting!