The end of one...

 It turned out to be a hell of a year. Still, as I write this there are places in the world and our own country that is still or back in lockdown. This virus has changed the world literally. It has been a difficult year all around.  And soon it will be a new year which soon we can get back to normal or the new norm.

For me, I did have to come up with some kind of income. Ed had taken a new job which turned out to be filled with empty promises. Throughout the year that has changed. I have started Doordashing, which has given us the ability to stay afloat and get a little ahead.

What does that mean for this past year. This is why I didn't get much done. I am hopefully that the new year will bring in new ideas and even some things for sale. I was able to put some money aside to get some new supplies for some new ideas that I would like to try. Only time will tell how much I can get done.

\With that I will say good by to this year and see you all next year.

Socks

It has been quite a while that I have posted a project. Back when COVID 19 all started a friend had posted on a Facebook group an online craft site that does online classes. For a couple of weeks, they offered all there classes for free to watch. I was hooked and even subscribed, which let me continue to watch classes after the free trial.

I believe it was the middle of May when they announced that uncertainty they had to shut down. Not giving any real reason, nor did they need to. You could still purchase classes up until the last day of May. I got three that I wanted. I really wanted more, I just didn't have the money to get them all.

July first they gave us an update for how everything was to be handled. They purchased classes are forever. They needed to figure out how that was going to work. It turns out that the Crafty's platform, Which was managed or the parent company of Blueprint has been sold to TN Marketing. Which means they are not going away after all. Which is good, I am totally addicted to it and learning a lot.

With that very long introduction that I felt you needed for you to fully understand the rest of the post. One of the classes I took was about magic loop. Which are a lot of fun and I also knew you can make to things at once using the magic loop. Hence the next class I took was socks.

The classes on socks were just a basic class. I felt with the knowledge I had learned from the magic loop class I could make two of them at once. Which is what I did and I think for a pair of socks (in which I have not knitted socks in 15v years. An then it was only one pair.) Came out very well.

The yarn is a synthetic that was given to me by a friend. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. I decided to use it for this project, it's a worsted weight. Which made the socks go pretty quickly. I did have to get myself a new set of cable needles. Actually, no I didn't, I wasn't aware that interchangeable needles were also interchangeable between brands as well. All I really needed was a longer cable. I really don't mind treating myself.

The original set I picked up was from Hobby Lobby and they are plastic. They work very well. I just didn't like the feel of them. The new ones I got are from Knit Picks and are wood. The only problem is they don't make sock needles for cables. Which means I have to look for sock cable needles. The ones that I have found are a bit prices, I may have to wait for a little on them.

I did pick up a lighter weight yarn that I am going to make myself a pair of socks with. I'm not using sock needles for obvious reasons. The smallest I can use is a size 4. They will be a slightly thicker sock then fingering weight. I think they will work out fine. Once I have them started I will post about them. I will see you all then.

Happy New Year!

It is finally a new year, a wonderful time to start things anew. I myself don't do the resolution. I never keep them. It always seems that something is always interfering with me keeping them. Instead, I set goals and try to work on them.

I have started to lose weight that is a continuous action, I would like to manage my time a little better as well. I want to figure out a schedule and stick to it. There are small things as well. we shall see how it goes.

For everyone, may your new year be wonderfully blessed with many new and exciting experiences. Happy New Year!

An end...

We are yet at the end of another year. For me this year didn't work out as I had planned. But then again, no year really works out that way. The gardens did not do well at all at the house or the farm. They just, well I really don't know. All I can do is try again and see what works.

Something new that has been started is a new eating plan. The food is Asain, primarily which means we head into Philadelphia to do our shopping. The Italian Market and Chinatown allow us to do our shopping at a much better price than here at home. Plus we have the adventure of being out in the city.

Also for this Christmas, we have received Fitbits to help keep us on track. Due to timing when we went into New York for our Christmas trip the tree was not yet lit. So we decided to go in Yesterday to see the tree and we headed down to Chinatown and did our shopping there.

When we got all done and home we checked to see how much we walked. Realizing when we head into the city, walking 10 miles is not unheard of for us. It actually turns out that I walked 14 miles and Ed walked 15 miles. The only thing we can think of is he takes an extra step to keep up with me. A very interesting unexpected experiment.

This year, as every year has it's challenges, not as many as there could be. Enough that it is time to start a new. A blessing of letting go and saying goodbye to all that you need no more. An may I see you in a new light in the New Year.

It has been a couple of years but I finally got to go back to the PA Farm Show. As part of my normal routine I of course went on sheep to shawl day. This year there was a lot of blue for one reason or another. I actually didn't stay for the awards ceremony. I wasn't staying for the auction so I decided to head out before the big crowds left.

Besides the wonderful shawls they changed some things around on me. They added a calfing arena and moved the bunnies in with the fowl. They didn't have the duckling slid this year. The goats and sheep came in late and they redid the goat barn.

They also changed the main hall around a bit. They added some new areas that at one time were part of a large area or just didn't exist. I never new that there was a cheese guild in PA. Some of the buy local was in several places. In same areas it worked out really well. The rest was just a bit confusing for us, just because it became new.

We did get to see the horses get hooked up to wagon. Something I have never seen before and very impressive, plus a lot of work. The goats and sheep seemed to like the attention as well. All in all it was a really fun time with new experiences.

Happy New Year!!! I have noticed that I have been complaining about how the previous year had more problems then I anticipated. An I do try for that to not happen. So perhaps I need to try harder. There are always extenuating circumstances that are beyond our control. But perhaps we can do things to minimize them.

I actually do have several things that I would like to do. Plus I have things I started that I would like to finish as well. I do have the goal or have always had the goal to be more organized. Have a schedule to work by. In the past that just didn't seem possible. I think more so I just didn't give it a chance.

So this year let us try to make our lives more fulfilling. Let try to make our lives a better place to live. Let's make our live have more meaning. Let us live instead of just be. I think those are admirable things to do. An if you are already doing it good for you, keep it up. But if not let's make this the best year ever.

Well we are at another New Years Eve. This has been a very strange and at point, difficult year. I had lost my computer in the spring. Which meant I was limited with hat I could do. Blogging was one of those things I wasn't able to do.

The gardens didn't work out as well as I would have liked. But in my defense we had a very wet year. And as I am typing it is still raining. So somethings took off like crazy and the rest just rotted in the ground.

I also had family issues to tend to. That in itself was a very stressful situation. It did get resolved, not in a positive way, unfortunately. But resolved non the less. An that we take one day at a time as we do with everything else.

So here is too a New Year of endless possibilities. See you in the New.