It is a snowy and cold day. Glad I don't have anywhere I need to be today. I can stay inside, snuggle with Ducky, read, crochet, maybe even have a nap. I even went to the library last night to gets more books. 

With the football games both college and pro, that means lots of crochet time. Although I have to watch how much time since my hand gets crampy at times. When I did my monthly massage this week I had her work on my shoulder, arm and hand. They all felt much better after she was done.  

One of the more recent creations was made with Red Heart yarn, color is White Speckle. I have been starting to keep track of where yarn is made. Growing up Red Heart was one of the main brands and probably the best "average" yarn. Now I find this brand to have yarn that is thicker, coarser and stiff. All of the yarn from Red Heart has been made in India. Other brands that I have checked have been made in Turkey. 

Now I did a special project for a friend. She has arthritis and her fingers from her hands go off at an angle instead of straight. Gloves don't work because of the angle of her fingers off of her hands and commercial mittens weren't working either. I had seen things for hand warmers so decided to make some for her. Made them long enough that they totally cover her hands and sent yarn along if she wants to stitch the ends shut. Yes, the thumb sticks out, but you can bring your thumb in if you want. Here is the pattern. 

She called me on Thursday afternoon, so I know she finally got them. Post Office sent them on the grand tour to get to the final destination. So I can post about them.  

 

We have had some nice days with much warmer than average. Lots of sun too. That is changing today with much colder temperatures.  

Trivia was an adventure this week. We get there, get settled, ordered our beverages and hadn't decided on what food to order. Trivia actually started and three questions in, the fire alarm goes off. We had to evacuate the business. No super rush as we had time to get our stuff and get our coats on. I wanted to get out quickly as I was parked in the business parking lot and was afraid I would get trapped in the lot. 

I counted three fire engines and two ambulances and I made a second loop to check all the equipment out. Some people who had been inside were hanging around, maybe hoping they could get back in. I came home to watch the football game since no more trivia. 

I also know the fire department will do a thorough job checking things out and that takes time. I know from personal experience when I had a smoke detector go off. They were here for 30-45 minutes, I am sure it was more than an hour at the restaurant. The restaurant posted about 2 hours later that the issue was because of a minor issue with the HVAC and they would be closed for the rest of the day. They would reopen the next day. 

Now the fun thing of this is that the restaurant is located in a building that served the village as a fire station for many years. Originally it served as a fire station, village hall and the library too! It was sold to the private business about 10 years ago for a conversion into the restaurant which opened in late 2019.   

The Reflecting Pool Marko Zorn is a DC homicide detective with tastes of the finer life. Sometime taking on private jobs to help pay for his high end tastes. Then there is the regular job, finding the who and why a Secret Service agent was killed. 

Superbloom is a look at how new communication technologies, which are designed to connect us, are in fact tearing us apart. Interesting book. 

Accidentally on Purpose is a memoir of Kristen Kish the current host of Top Chef. A trained chef and also a winner of Top Chef back in 2013. Book outlines her life from being an adoptee raised in Michigan, culinary school and her growth as a chef. 

The Amalfi Curse - Haven is set to lead a dive off the Italian coast near Positano. Possibly finding gems her father couldn't get to on an earlier dive due to health issues. As she is set to begin her dives strange happenings begin to occur and she must figure out the history and past of the sea witches. I liked her previous books better but still a good story. 

 Happy Reading.

It might be after Christmas but that doesn't mean the tree gets put away quickly. I like having the bright colors in my living room. It will be doing back into storage soon in the dungeon as Ducky likes to call it.  

Yes, I kinda like to get the storage space mostly empty. Then go nuts buying yarn. I found this chart somewhere as to how much yarn to buy.  

 Happy Weekend. 

First post of the year and I have already read two books this year and started the third. I also added two items to the spreadsheet I keep for the list of books that I have read. First column is the approximate time frame the book takes place, second is the location. I saw items that had reading challenges, one for reading books of certain time frame, another for locations. Sounded like something interesting, so adding it to see where I go this coming year. 

Weather has decided to warm up again, snow is melting, not that we had much snow on the ground anyway. It will soon be back to just the snow in the piles where the plows put it. 

Still have my fiber optic trees out and lit up, just a little extra brightness inside the house for a few more days. Do want to get them tucked away before my cleaning people show up next Monday. Still have the outside lights on as well. They are just multi-colored lights and again, something bright. 

Ducky photo bombing the book picture. He is doing OK for being 17.5 years old. He had a few days last week where he wasn't eating much but now seems to be eating his usual amount. Some days I worry about him and know that we are closer to the day when I will need to say goodbye to him. Just hope it isn't too soon.  

Gingerbread Danger - it's Christmas time in Ohio Amish Country. Bailey is working her candy making miracles for the Candy Land themed pageant. She didn't want an over sized game piece on her roof and asked an employee Zeph to get it down with help. Only Zeph falls, or was he pushed. Speaking of pushing, Bailey's parents are in town and her mom is pushing a wedding planner at her. 

Scandalous Women - mid 1960s, Nancy moves to New York City to get a job in publishing. Given more clerical work but she is assigned to help out when author Jacqueline Susann takes a shine to her while her new book, Valley of the Dolls, is being edited. As Nancy's career progresses she also works with author Jackie Collins. Over time with her experiences with women authors, Nancy sets up her own publishing house. 

A Messy Murder is an installment of the Decluttering Mysteries. Ellen is asked to help downsize the house of a well know journalist. She starts her job the day after the 80th birthday party of the man. When she gets to the study she finds a dead body. Looks like suicide but some think its murder. 

The Grim Reader time for the first book festival in Dharma and Brooklyn's mother, Becky, is the chair of the committee. A few problems arise at the last minute, the festival money being gone, someone trying to run Becky down, and a couple of murders. Never a dull moment. 

If just the first letter of my name, either first or last, the total isn't anywhere close to my typical amount. Now if I add up all the letters in my first name I get to 126 (five letters), middle name 211 (eight letters) and last name 135 (four letters). If I average those I come out to 157, which is a pretty decent total for me for a year. 

Happy Reading.  

Happy New Year!

I haven't been into my local Michael's since they opened their "Knit & Sew Shop". So I don't know if they have expanded, I should wander in and see how things look now. 

Left hand shelves is yarn that I have already made one blanket already this season, or have a duplicate on the right side. Some of the left hand side yarn is also for hats. I sometimes pass my excess yarn to a friend who knits scarves for the needy, or it goes to her church group who makes prayer shawls. The brown cakes on the second shelf on the left might end up with her. I already did a blanket and had way more yarn than I needed. 

Right side is the to be worked on and there are 13 different colors there. So if I get all of these done, what has been done and the one in progress, that would make 27 blankets for the season. Wow.   

Then there is the leftovers, the odds and ends that remain after I finish a blanket. This is what I make my hats with in the summer. I didn't go through these but it seems like I have more than I usually do. Maybe some of this will get passed along too. 

 

Happy Weekend.