Sock Knitting Continues

 Sock Knitting Continues

This pattern comes from one of my favorite knitting websites https://verypink.com/

I love turning the heel and watching the sock come together.

This is my favorite cuff down sock pattern and continues to be my go to pattern.

I love using double pointed needles.

This sock pattern comes together so quickly, probably the reason I love making this particular sock pattern.

💖💖💖

It's one of those patterns that you work up and before you know it you have a beautiful pair of socks!

More Crochet - Pretty Pink Balloon Animal

 More Crochet

Pretty Pink Balloon Animal

With the winter storm predicted ... and didn't arrive, I spent my weekend crocheting the new pattern I had purchased the week prior.

I purchased the pattern on Etsy from @KnotMonster

The pattern is well written and was fun to crochet.

I won't lie ... it took me over an hour to figure out how to twist it into the actual balloon animal. HAHAHA!!!!

In the end if finally figured it out and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Puzzling

 Puzzling

Puzzling ... twofold

Last night I finished the puzzle I have been working on forever. Besides the activity of puzzling, it is also puzzling to me that there are now all of these content creators who are hardcore puzzlers popping up on my social media. These amazing puzzlers are putting together 9000 piece puzzles ... with ease! It has taken me MONTHS to finish this 500 piece puzzle! MONTHS!

And ... who knew there were so many items one can purchase to make puzzling easier, there are tables, sorting trays, and large binders with clear sleeves to house your completed puzzles intact! You no longer just need an open table top to put a puzzle together. I confess, I have purchased the puzzle board with sorting trays that rotates 360 degrees for putting my puzzles together, and I have no regrets.

There is also a technique using painters tape to permanently keeping and store your completed puzzles. I won't be doing that but should you want to ... you certainly can.

Then ... who knew there were so many puzzle producing companies? Certainly not me. I am absolutely looking forward to picking out my next puzzle project.  

Finally Finished

 Finally Finished

Yes, I have finally finished knitting "THE" sweater ... but I lost at yarn chicken and had to reach out to my daughter for possible yarn to finish the final sleeve cuff.

Fortunately she had a yarn that worked.

Yarn chicken FAIL!

Even with the yarn chicken fail, here she is ... in all of her glory ... finally finished and wearable.

Only a small, not very noticeable yarn difference in the final cuff.

I'm proud of myself for learning how to knit a sweater.

Now, I am not only a sock knitter, I'm a sweater knitter, too! 

Appalachian Basket Weaving - God's Eye

  Appalachian Basket Weaving

God's Eye - Red/White Basket

My daughter and I took an Appalachian Basket Weaving class at the Knoxville Crafts and Art Center. We had a blast! Basket weaving is an amazing craft. I really enjoyed the class and learning how to make a basket.

My Girl 💖

TO DO LIST - PART THREE

 TO DO LIST

PART THREE

Reclaiming my outdoor living space ✔

TO DO LIST - PART TWO

 TO DO LIST

PART TWO

Cleaning, treating, and staining the neglected deck.

Getting ready to stain my newly cleaned and treated deck. My outdoor living space has been unlivable for more than a few years now. We all know that I'm an indoor girly but that is no excuse to let things go as I have. 

This year I have begun the process of reclaiming my outdoor spaces.

I chose Behr waterproof deck stain in Slate

Clean, treat, and stain deck ✔

TO DO LIST - PART ONE

 TO DO LIST

PART ONE

Spring and Summer 2025 has turned into the season of completing chores and checking them off of my To Do List ... regardless of the fact that it is HOT OUT THERE!

😎😎😎

Lots of yard work on my To Do List and some of these items have been on this list for years, I'm ashamed to say. In years past I had gotten very comfortable with the lawn service I hired doing the bare minimum. This year I am reclaiming the reins and doing my own yard work again.

My daughter spent an entire day helping me remove the moss growing on my deck and scrubbing it down and treating it with a mildew control scrub.

Earlier in the season I emptied and moved my raised bed garden. The plan is to plant pest repelling plants in order to make sitting on the deck a pleasant experience. 

When washing and prepping the furniture for painting I began to realize just how much metal lawn furniture I own.

I am fortunate to have a bit of sturdy metal lawn furniture. I have 4 smaller chairs and 3 side tables that fit nicely around the firepit I was gifted when I first moved into my house years ago. I purchased the deck furniture - table and 4 chairs on Facebook Marketplace in January of 2018 when I was living in an apartment, for $150.

Once cleaned and dried the painting began ...

I took 2 days to get all of the furniture painted and 2 days for the paint to dry and cure completely. I'm so happy with the results.

Lawn furniture cleaned and painted ✔

 

Front Flower Bed - Mulch and BLING

Front Flower Bed

Mulch and BLING

Thanks to a friend for hooking me up with an app to calculate how much mulch I would need ...

I was off to my local Home Depot to get the required 16 bags of mulch required for the task.

**This post is not an advertisement or a sponsored post**

8:00 a.m. and already hotter than blue blazes!

But I was able to get the mulch spread in no time.

I went with black mulch ... who knew mulch came in so many colors?

I am very happy with the results. Hopefully my hosta plants and hydrangeas will continue to thrive.

A very sweet friend gifted me the cutest solar lite watering can BLING for my front flower bed.

I can now say ... after 3 years ... my front flower bed is now complete.

I love it!!!

Yard Man Extraordinaire

 Yard Man Extraordinaire

Yesterday was a wonderful day for a great many reasons but one of those reasons was all of the extraordinary work my youngest son did for me in my yard.

Not only has it been wonderful being with and getting to spend time with my son who drove in from afar to be with me for Mother's Day, he brought his nifty tool bag and know how with him. He worked so hard yesterday and knocked out so many of the yard projects on my ever growing list of yard projects.

I have been trying to get my front flower bed planted for over three years. This flower bed is hard as concrete clay soil. Impossible to dig through with a shovel.

A rented garden tiller from Home Depot proved extremely helpful in preparing the soil for planting.

Endless Summer Hydrangeas

From the beginning I wanted to plant hydrangeas but then thought I should plant mountain laurel or azaleas on the advise of others.

At the end of the day, I'm thrilled that I got the hydrangeas that I really really really wanted.  

The hostia plants from my aunt's yard in Ohio were replanted for better spacing.

My son's nifty bag of tools

I didn't get a before picture ... but you couldn't see my shed for the over growth of saplings and underbrush.

A dead tree from my neighbor's yard fell into my yard months ago. Thinking ... incorrectly ... that my neighbor would take care of the issue, the dead tree laid in my yard for months. My son was able to get the tree cut up and moved to the curb to be picked up by the city.

My son planted the hydrangeas, hung the hose minder, detangled and connected the hose. I am amazed with all of the work he was able to complete in one day.

I'm so blessed and happy with all of his hard work.

What a gift.