Some Knit Finishes and Valentine Inspirations

It's been so long since I posted this time!!!  I can't believe how time flies. Since I last posted, I have done many things, just not all stitchy news. I did finish and pieced together my Chunky Edge Lace scarf and decided that putting this many sections to connect in one scarf was more than I wanted to do. Although it came out lovely, soft and oh so warm and girly, it has more bling in it that I thought when putting it on and looking in the mirror.

With that being said, I still love it, enjoyed knitting it and used 3 full skeins of the colorway Constellation, Thick and Quick yarn. I gartered all the stitching except the two end pieces. Used a # 13 straight needles.

 

 

 

 

Each end piece is a full skein of yarn. I joined them all with a quilting needle and weaved in the ends. I did have to taper down to fit the other 2 sections at the end but I still love it!

We had some really COLD weather since last post too!  Colder than I have ever seen it here before. I have seen colder air in Chicago in the past but this was like brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr cold for North Georgia. Our outside cat, Louie, of whom we love dearly, has an outside "cabin" Mr. Fox made for him but it was way too cold for Louie about 4 days so he boarded in the downstairs bath. I have a cat allergy but I will say that it didn't cause me any problems this time. They say allergies change and it's been several years since I was tested so.........maybe it's gone now?/?? I hope so because Louie clings to the door all the time.

Miss Abigail snuggled away in her knitted throw and pillows as she places them as she likes it for different times of day. She is so funny and so loveable. I love her so much.

Another finish this morning, well start to finish, is this Valentine colored washcloth. I simply gartered it because of the colorway in Damask, Sugar and Cream. I love the light pink, the dark pink, red and a hint of milk chocolate this makes. I can make a few more of these for washcloths.

 

It's funny how I really didn't see the pattern it made until I posted pics. Close up I couldn't see this pattern.

 

 

 

 

We've had 2 callings of snow by the weatherman but each morning, no snow.

All in all, January is halfway over and I do look forward to Spring. Actually, the daffodils here are already sprouting from this cold mountain!

Downton Abbey this past week was really intense and I was so upset about Anna Bates. We'll have to see what next week brings. I think Mary is realizing she needs to be in the "living world" instead of the "dead one" as her grandmother described now. This should lead to a lot of good adventure in the next episodes.

On the book side, I'm reading and participating in a Bible Study on facebook called Wife After God by Jennifer Smith, The Unveiled Wife. The book on Amazon is called Wife After God as well.  This study is something I look forward to every morning after I wake and grab a cup of coffee. She posts a 2-6 minute video in the study and some study questions for pondering through the day. We are all following her devotional book which can be found on Amazon and if you are looking for a good one as a wife, you will find this one to be full of humility, strength, encouragement and just really a lot of hope. Interesting discussions have been stimulated by many wives and her husband in fact, has a facebook page Husband Revolution. I do not see him doing any studies right now but I suspect he will in the future. The couple has been married 7 years and have the cutest baby boy. The focus of their ministry is an Ephesians 5 marriage.
Topics from this include faith, fears, arrows of the enemy, Satan and how to handle them, humility, submission, love, forgiveness, and many more. It's a 30 day study but her videos are available to the public so people can catch up if interested.

Ok, so in keeping with some other January beginning-of the-year resolutions, I have been trying to follow FlyLady and other websites for cleaning and decluttering/ organization which is not one of my good traits (really). This week is the bathroom detail and yesterday I spent 5 hours....yes 5 hours in one bathroom taking............every.thing..............I mean everything out of cabinets and reorganizing all the girlie stuff, tossing out old stuff, changing out shower curtains, scrubbing the tub, and I even changed the look of the bathroom by taking off the cabinet doors and putting in some old pretty baskets I already had for organization. The open cabinet effect is so much cleaner and easier to access. I read a book from Pixel of Ink freebie off of my Kindle that fired me up to start this weekly detail cleaning. The name of it is The Busy Mom's Guide to Speed Cleaning and Organizing by BJ Knights. Of course any couple or single person could utilize the info in it. It's easy to read, about 160 pages of just really GREAT remedies for things in cleaning. There are scattered recipes for natural cleaning solutions such as baking soda, peroxide, vinegar, water and others but very simple. 

I found the book to be a great motivation.

 I don't know about you, but I add free books daily offered at Pixel of Ink if you have a Kindle, You have to grab it though then to download at zero dollars because the next day it goes back to the 6-14.99 cost. Pixel of Ink on FB like and then you can check it out each day.

I have a list of several more to get read soon. I like the option on my old Kindle for text to speech. Crossing my fingers this is the first Kindle to come out and it's still working. :)

Another New Year's resolution is to start back yoga daily. I have enjoyed it a lot and look forward to it. Just using You Tube yoga lessons for my sessions. The stretching and movements are very beneficial for the body and mind. We also do couples yoga as Mr. Fox got a men's yoga mat and stuff for Christmas. He really likes it too.

I have completed half of the last row of flowers on At Home with Jane Austen by The Sampler Girl. I am so close to finishing it, I don't know why I have not already. I think I'm dabbling with ideas in my head on how to "finish, finish" it. We will see how it strikes me with the last stitch and I hope soon so I can show you.

Here's to changing up to finish this sampler and soon I will get a progress completion pic.

Jennifer