Bowling Blues

No, it is not a new color of thread I am offering...it is how I am feeling about my bowling lately. Since the start of this season I am sporting a 158 average. On top of that, I feel pretty darn lucky when I can get into the 160's. Why should I have the blues then? Because, I ended last season with a 175 book average. I did have a 178 game one night. It has been a few weeks ago though, so I don't remember it well.

I have decided I am going to get some coaching. I need someone to help me figure out what I cannot. Usually I am really good at self-coaching/correcting, but for the life of me I cannot do it now. I am wondering if I have lost the love of the game, or if the change in team mates (2 team mates that I have bowled with for the past 3 years could not bowl this year) or maybe just the league itself, has me not as excited about the sport.

Whatever it is, it makes me sad that I feel this way about bowling and that I can't find the spark to reignite the excitement. Maybe the coaching sessions will help...I will have to see.

Bon Jovi

I am going to the Bon Jovi/Daughtry concert tomorrow night! A couple of weeks ago a radio station was at the bowling center on league night for an hour doing a drawing for the concert. My daughter and I both entered hoping we would win. I had to twist my daughter's boyrfriend's arm to enter...

b/f: I don't like Bon Jovi. I never win anything.
me: Enter! if you win, Alyssa and I will go and you can stay home and babysit!

and my friend Michelle's arm to enter...

Michelle: I would like to enter, but I never win anything, plus, I don't want them giving my name away to everyone and have a bunch of sales calls. I just don't know...
me: Enter! You'll at least get a free pen out of it (she loves pens), and if you win, we can go and have a girls night out. It will be fine!

So they both reluctantly enter the drawing. Notice how I made sure that if either of them won, I got to go. :-D

The next day...I get a call from my daughter, about the same time I get a text from Michelle. You guessed it! Both Jerry (b/f) and Michelle won tickets! So we are all going to the concert tomorrow night! I know there were a few others who won tickets as well, so it must have been a small turnout for the radio station. These are pretty good seats, on the floor, one section back from the stage. Yay!

Now...to find something to wear...!

Spring Fever

I have a pretty bad case of it! I was going to take last week off from work, as it was Spring Break for my son, I was going to spend some time with my daughter and new grandson as well. My son ended up going to see his Uncle in Brunswick to try out the charter fishing business, to see if it is something he wants to do over the summer. I was cool with that, and since my daughter and grandson live with me, it wasn't like I never see them. I decided to save the time off for another time. Last week it was absolutely beautiful here. If you don't take into account the pine pollen that was dusting everything it was very nice.

What happened over the weekend? Well, Friday...it was beautiful, until around the time I got off work. Then severe thunderstorms hit around 9pm. Saturday was rainy, and Sunday was sunny, but very windy and not as warm as it looked. So, now I am kicking myself for not taking last week off, since the weekends don't seem to want to cooperate! I am going to ask my boss today if there is a week in the next month or so that would be more convenient for me to take off than another. (Of course in his mind, no week is convenient...but oh well.) I think I just need to get out in the yard, plant some flowers, go to the park, crochet/knit outside on my deck, and do some of the not-so-fun stuff like clean out the garage and the car, but still be outside enjoying the weather.

I have done some dyeing, and again, I thought I would be able to take advantage of nice weather to hang it outside to dry, but that wasn't meant to be. I have become completely obsessed with knitting, so haven't done any crocheting since early February. I feel guilty about that...like all my crochet hooks and thread are peeking over the top of my work basket saying "what about us?" I know they aren't, but still...

I am going to start dividing up my knitting and crocheting time a little more now that I have the hang of knitting. I was afraid to put it down for any length of time, since I was still learning, I didn't want to forget. I seem to have a short memory span until I am really comfortable with something. I have a Between Meals doily that is about 50% done that I want to finish crocheting, and a Prairie Star quiltghan that I want to give to my Grandma. She was so impressed with the one I made for my Mom, that I decided the one I was making for myself, I would finish up and give to her instead, for her birthday. Guess I better hurry, her birthday is in a couple of weeks!

I am off to find out when I can take some time off...then I am going to write a note to Mother Nature to let her know when my week off is, so she can work on nice weather for that week. Maybe if I give her plenty of warning, she will be able to accomodate me? LOL!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, or whichever holiday you celebrate this time of year. :-) I had a very mild, laid-back day, spent with my kids, and visiting with my ex-inlaws (which was enjoyable, btw), and then working on finishing off my current WIP, Enchanting, a PK doily. I am on my last round, so should finish up tonight. I am anticipating the advancing New Year, and I plan on facing it with a positive outlook. I have my first grandchild due in May, and as time goes on, I get more and more excited about this change in both my daughter's and my own life. We have a close relationship anyway, but I know when I had her, it brought me and my Mom closer, so I look forward to that for her and I, and sharing this amazing and wonderful time with her.

I spent the spare time I had yesterday entering my doily books in Ravely, and queueing up projects. It ended up being a whole lot more than I thought, but I have some projects set up, with no particular timeline set when to get them done. They are mostly PK doilies with a few Mary Werst designs mixed in. I don't know if anyone else who has used patterns these two ladies have designed will agree with me or not, but any other designs look almost...too easy, if that makes sense? I love the intricacy and beauty they both capture. Anyway, I have about 80+ designs queued up, and that doesn't count any other creations I embark upon. I have to partially credit Lori ("The Shrone" on the 'Ville, and a link for her website Home Burrough: Residence of the Unknowabale Shrone) for inspiring me to have a goal, and something to work towards. I decided that instead of going through books and finding the next doily to inspire me, I would alphabetize them, and progress that way. I will add to the list, more than likely, as I find other challenging patterns that intrigue me as time goes on.

I have also started learning to knit. I bought a kit last year, same time as I bought a learn to crochet kit, but decided to wait to learn to knit. Not so sure how it will go. I have decided to learn how to knit right-handed (I am left-handed), simply because from what I have gleaned from reading various forums on Ravelry, it seems that it is not the same as crocheting left-handed. I don't have a problem crocheting or reading patterns left-handed and it never occured to me that patterns can be right- or left-hand oriented in crochet. But it seems that is not true in knitting. Maybe it would be better if I didn't know any better in knitting either? Too late now...ahhhh the joys of the internet. Anyway, I have decided to learn to knit right-handed to avoid any problems. If I find it too frustrating, I may wait. No need to frustrate myself when I so love my crochet right now. I find myself jealous of those that can do both, but if it is not a stress-buster, rather a stress-creater, then it can wait.

Happy New Year everyone! Thanks to everyone who has visited my blog this past year, and has provided kind words for my rambling thoghts and completed projects. I look forward to seeing your new creations in the new year, and wish you many happy hours of hooking!

Weekly update

It finally got cold here over the weekend here in Georgia. We went from having a week mostly in the 70's to the 30-40's. I still won't complain, even though I don't like the cold. Who knows...by next week we might be back up in the warmer temps...that's just how it goes here.

I worked my last weekend of birthday parties. I have handed it off to another lady so I can spend time with my son on the weekend. I am relieved, yet sad, as it was a program I helped create and has done well. I could have still helped out booking parties, but after working with the new lady, I decided it would be best if I stepped out completely. I just think there would be too much head-butting going on. I am going to do some marketing for the bowling center still though, but I can do that from home, and still have time to spend with my son. It will be nice to have my weekends back after working there for a little over 3 years (ie. more time to work on my crochet...dyeing threads...learning to knit!).

As for my Christmas list...it was a bust. It's gift card city for everyone but Mom. The unfinished (ahem...unstarted...)projects will have to be allocated to birthdays. My brother and his family live in Colorado, so since they can have snow anywhere from September through ohhhhhh...May (*evi laugh*)...I can send them scarves/hats/mittens after Christmas, and they will still get use out of them. I STILL have to put up my tree. I just haven't had time to get all the stuff done that I wanted, and now I have reached the panic point. Of course, I have to keep up with what everyone else is doing, so I am sure that the time I spend surfing around looking at everyone else's goodies could be better spent...naaaaaaaa! Who am I kidding! LOL

December?

We are having unseasonably warm weather here in Georgia! It is supposed to get up to 75 today...which would beat a record set back in 1973 (I think that is the year they said). My company had our Christmas party on Saturday night, and we were all standing out on the deck because it was so pleasant. It's amazing. This is one of the reasons I looooooove the South! I grew up in Colorado, and I DO NOT miss the snow or the cold at all. I get just enough cold and winter weather here in Georgia to remind me how nice it is, and how nice it is when it is gone. LOL!

I have not been getting anything done as far as crocheting goes. I have been busy at both jobs and working weekends. By the time I get home during the week, usually around 9p.m., I am just beat. Same for the weekend...doing childrens birthday parties wears you out. Not so much the kids, but the parents! Of course, everyone is stressed, getting ready for the holidays, so some of the party moms are not so...shall we say...pleasant. Any other time of the year is just fine, but come December, whew! Being a Mom myself though, I do understand, and I try to get them to relax and have a good time and let us take care of things for the couple of hours they are there. Usually by the time they leave, they are smiling, and in a much better mood than when they got there. Usually. :-)

I have Christmas projects to finish, I have dyed thread waiting to be wound, I still have to put up my Christmas decorations...I have definately over-extended myself timewise this year. Still, when I do find the time to sit and relax, once that crochet hook gets in my hand I feel so much better. It's just not getting in my hand often enough! My crochet time vs. my other time ratio is waaaaaaaaaaay off.

EEEEK!!!!

So there is officially less than a month left until Christmas. Take off time for shipping any gifts that need to be shipped...and there is only 3 weeks left!

I had last week off from work. I got snowflakes done. That's it. Snowflakes. Now granted, those are on my list of gifts, but that only covers my co-workers for the Christmas party on Dec. 8th. I thought I would have all sorts of time to crochet last week. But no. I ended up having to work a half-day on Monday, because my boss "forgot" I was going to be off, and needed me to schedule appointments for him for this week for our next big project. So I did that. Then I took my car in for repairs that were needed due to a traffic altercation my daughter was in (ggrrrrr...she is ok...but I didn't need this right now...guess that is why they are called accidents and not on-purposes). By the time I got done with all of that...it was 5:00 and I had to go work at my second job. I didn't take time off from that, it's part-time, a couple of hours here and there, how bad could it be? So...I was home at 9:00. One day of vacation chalked up. Tuesday wasn't much better. Wednesday was spent cleaning the house getting ready for any guests that decided to come to dinner. Thursday was cooking and eating and cleaning up again and football. Lots of foottball. I hate football. What happened to Sunday being football day? Now it is on every freakin' night of the week it seems. But I digress...Friday was running around doing errands, battling shopping crowds, etc. You get the idea. A week off just isn't enough time. My To-Do list...hardly a thing got done on it...and I'm not talking my crochet list, just my general list.

On a brighter note, I no longer have more people in ahead of me than I do behind me in line on the Ravelry wait list:
You are #56419 on the list.
3713 people are ahead of you in line.
5748 people are behind you in line.
84% of the list has been invited so far
I am hoping I get the invite when I am off for the Christmas break so I have time to get acquainted with the site. I'm excited to see what it's all about.

I sold my most recent batch of threads on eBay. Still not what I was hoping for, so next batch is at "Buy it Now" pricing. I had some new bidders though, so I am generating some interest, and the feedback I have received so far has been good, with requests to keep dyeing. I have a batch soaking now, so might be able to dye it tonight if I get home at a decent time. Hoping to have about 4 of each colorway to put up, so about 40 balls. Not bad, if I can get it done! I might miss bowling tomorrow just to get it done.

Busy Weekend

I had a very productive 4-day weekend. I dyed my thread, I finished Mom's present, I learned more about blogging, worked on Ebay descriptions for my new listings I hope to put up in the next couple of days, I spent time with my kids, I made home cooked meals...I am beat, but in a good way!

I didn't get my house cleaned. Not expecting anyone, so not gonna worry too much about that. If I should have any drop-in visitors (not likely), they are just gonna have to overlook the dust. They came to see me, not my housekeeping abilities...right?

So now I have a week of work to "look forward to", then a week off. I'm loving it! I'm already starting my mental list of things I want to do during my week off. Need to transfer it to paper soon or I am going to forget stuff, or put it on here, since I seem to be hanging out on Blogger so much lately.

PAY IT FORWARD

I participated in the PAY IT FORWARD on Crafty Christina's Blog.

The way it works: I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog for this post. You don't have to be a regular commenter or even a blogger member, as long as you can get me your address by e-mail.

I don't know what you will be getting yet, LOL, but as the rules state, you will receive it within 365 days. Most likely it will be sooner than that...like after the Christmas rush.

The only thing you have to do in return is PAY IT FORWARD by making the same promise on your blog/site. Come on and join. This will be fun if you love getting nice things in the mail.

smartsmiley.com

No work?

I have today and tomorrow off from my "real" job. At first, I was thinking

...oooOOO(Lots of time to crochet!) <====sad attempt at thought bubble

but now it has turned into

...oooOOO(after I clean out my car, get my emissions and the tags for my car, go to the store, clean the kitchen up a bit so I can do some dyeing, swift some thread, I can crochet!)

Not nearly as exciting. All those things you think you will do on days off that are leisurely somehow get trumped by necessary things that need to be done so you can enjoy the fun things. Vicious cycle.

Tomorrow I am hoping that DD and I can go to a craft fair for a little while and see all the creativeness of others. I enjoy that so much. It's always nice to see what others enjoy doing and the ingenuity some have. I have to refrain from thinking "I can do that!" because my list of crocheting is long enough that I shouldn't (yes, I said shouldn't) add to it with other stuff.

I won't be working on my lunch afghan, obvioulsy, since I am not at work. And my list of things to do on my weekend off is growing so much that I'm not sure 4 days is enough time to do everything on my list. I do have to work at some point at my second job for a couple hours each day, but I have let whoever is listening know that I will NOT be there Saturday or Sunday. After this weekend, I have a week of work, then I have the WHOLE week of Thanksgiving off! Yippeeeee!!! I was going to bring lunch afghan home with me during this week to work on, but if I do that, then the list of gifts I need to work on won't get done, so it will have to stay at work that week too.

But I know, know matter how long my list of things to do gets, I always manage to get crocheting in.

Yikes!

I have been a little slow with my crocheting lately. Now, suddenly it is September and Christmas is just around the corner! I still have gifts from LAST YEAR I haven't completed. I had all these grand ideas of giving crocheted gifts this year, and now I am worried I won't get them done! I need to make a list of everything I need to get done, and get working on them. Now that it is cooling off, I can work with yarn again. Although, I still have plenty of snowflakes, doilies, bookmarks, etc. to make for gifts too. Where did the year go!?!

Finished!

I finished Svenheld...finally! I really need to block it to get the full effect I'm thinking. It is not one that I feel I can just press and its ready. Still need to weave in the loose ends too. Will post photos when it is blocked!

I did another small doily. Love those...they go so fast.

Started another for a friend in Florida. 'Hazelnut' I think from Coffee n' Cream. It was supposed to be the first one in the book, but for some reason I started on this one instead, and did not feel like going back to start over, so it is what it is. Seems to be going pretty fast.

I bought some more thread to dye, but have to get it into hanks. I bought a yarn ball winder to wind it up when I am through. It should be here some time this week.

Oh yeah...I STILL need to finish my Sons Christmas present from last year. I just can't bring myself to work with a heavy afghan/yarn when it is pushing 100 degrees outside. That, and have I mentioned...it is mostly single crochet (*yawn*) with a row here and there of hdc/dc/tc. Still. I started this as my first project when I started crocheting again, and have started and finished several projects since then. He is giving me a hard time about it now. As he should.

I finally got it!

After trying and frogging and trying again (x 10), I finally figured out the twists on my most current doily project. I had actually given up and decided I was just not going to do them, and the doily could just survive without them in there.

Then, on one last attempt, I finally figured it out...I was going under 2 loops instead of the back looop only. It didn't say this specifically in the instructions however. I was just going by what I knew about crocheting, and since it didn't say it specifically I did what I knew. On a last ditch effort to try to get it, I tried just the back loop...and Eureka!!! Something so simple. I think I have a pretty good handle on crocheting, and this was frustrating me that I couldn't get it. Anyway...I didn't fancy going back and ripping out 5 rounds of work, so I decided I could live with ripping out two rounds, and would attach my spirals separately. It seems to have worked out.

Picture quality isn't the best, but phone cameras aren't the best for quality.

I didn't get much done over the weekend. I ended up working on Sunday, which I normally have off. I started a new PK oval doily in wood rose (I think) thread. I still haven't frogged the other one I was working on, I am still trying to decide. I think the colors are just too wild to do as a doily.

I noticed this morning that Sara has new colors ready to sell. Trying to avoid that temptation. Cuz really, it's not like I need it, I just want it. I am going to try to do better with controlling my addiction. Not sure how long that will last. The colors are so pretty.

I hope to have some time over the long weekend to crochet and chill. Hoping to get outside and do some yardwork too. We shall see.

My Mom got her doily and loved it! She called me last night to tell me how pretty it was and she couldn't believe how "crafty" I had become. I love crocheting doilies because they look a lot more intricate than they really are, and there is quick turnaround time on them. She couldn't believe that I had done one in between my Grandmas and hers.

The one I am working on now, I realized has a mistake on the previous round. I am going to have to go back tonight and frog it back to that point and fix it. I found the mistake Sunday night, and decided I would wait until I was less tired to re-examine it. Maybe my eyes were just playing tricks on me. I was too tired last night to look at it, but I don't have to work my second job tonight, so should have time to work on it.

Hobby Lobby has DMC crochet thread on sale this week. Sara is about due for another round of hand-dyed thread. I really need to try to avoid temptation and not buy more thread. It's an addiction, I have plenty, but is there such a thing as too much? But its on sale! But I don't have that color combo! But...but...but...