Year of Projects 2021-2022 Roundup!

So this once-a-year round-up post has been a favorite post of mine for the last 6 years, but I'm realizing that several of my regular visitors at this point might be unaware that for the past seven years I've participated in a blogging community called Year of Projects (aka YOP).  This is a group of knitters and crocheters and weavers and various other fiber crafters who come together from around the world on a site called Ravelry and encourage each other through our blogs as we pursue our common (and some uncommon) handcrafts.

By this point I think I've slid almost completely off the radar of the group in terms of my actual participation, but my handcrafts of choice do still remain crochet, knitting, and cross stitching/embroidery - even though I haven't been very active at any of those things for many months now.  

In looking back at my record of what I've actually completed over the last 12 months, I see I have very little to show, but wanting to complete my 7th YOP year, I've rounded up pictures of what I have done.  

I started the YOP year with a bang by finishing probably my all-time favorite project:

Mr. Fox was kind of hard to let go, but it was made as a gift so as soon as I finished him (and took some pictures), I packed him up and mailed him off to his new owner.

One of the other projects I had begun a year or so earlier was to work at completing as many as I can (or want to) of the small doilies in the book, 99 Little Doilies.

I managed to add six more to my small collection of little doilies:

And before I was done crocheting with thread and tiny hook, I finished three medium sized doilies:

When I show doilies I've made I am often asked how I use them.  I don't use them all at once, but I often tuck one into a little vignette on a table top, or place one or two together at a jaunty angle under a collection of pictures in frames, or peeking out  at an angle under a potted plant.  Hubs then comes along and "straightens them out" and much to my dismay I find them later no longer looking "artsy", or like something fun and surprising.   I've often thought some day I may put a several together and create something unique, but by the time I have enough to do that, the idea will probably be so ordinary I'll not want to do it anymore.  That tends to be how I roll.

And finally, this spring I pushed myself to finish an afghan I had begun for my youngest son - I believe in 2020:

And that's it!  Even though it wasn't a prolific year of crafting, it's still fun to pull together this post and see what I managed to finish - all in one place.    

While I think I've figured out a way to possibly get back to cross stitching to some degree, I'm planning on stepping back from the YOP group at least for the upcoming 12 months.  It seems an obvious decision since I don't envision having anything regular to show for who knows how long.  That said, I will continue to enjoy watching what my favorite YOPers are up to, and plan to continue visiting your blogs.

Anyway...  I wanted to kind of explain this post to some of my newer visitors - since it isn't like anything that's shown up here for much of the last 12 months.  

And this post wraps up my 7th Year of Projects year, and that alone feels like something of an accomplishment.  I just can't believe that many years have flown by so quickly.  But ain't that always the way it goes. 

It's been a fun 7 years!

Ripple blanket finished and pan seared salmon...

I was successful at finishing the blanket I was crocheting for youngest son, and it has been handed over.  

What a relief it is to have that done.  I have a report that he is enjoying it, and loves that I made it extra long.  I forgot to measure its final length, but I know it was over 72 inches at one point.  Maybe its finished size is closer to 80 inches.  It's also a tad wider than normal.  My guys like big blankets.

I can't believe I'm toying with the idea of starting another blanket project.  I have so many to choose from in my pattern files.   Or maybe I should do something small.  Something that will provide a quick finish.  That would be super satisfying after not crocheting for so long.

~~~~~

Some might remember I was making it a goal of mine to get salmon cooking down to something approximating perfection.   Well, tonight was my second (or was it third?) chance, and while I probably cooked it a little too long still, I have discovered a way of cooking it that makes me very happy.

Pan searing.   And I used a newly acquired cast iron skillet. Hey!  That's a new thing!  Shoot.  Why didn't I take a picture of the salmon in the pan?!?   

Anyway...  the Pan Seared Salmon recipe is really this simple:

Allow filets to warm to room temperature (for more even cooking).  Generously salt and pepper salmon filets.  Don't be ridiculous, but don't be afraid of the salt.  And use fresh ground pepper if you can.

Heat olive or avocado oil in pan over med-high heat.  When hot, add salmon filets skin side down.  Cook for about 3-4 minutes on one side.  ETA:  I've recently read to let the salmon cook until the sides are looking cooked and the top beginning to look less translucent.   This should make the filets about 90% cooked.  Then flip the fish and cook and turn off the heat.  Let the residual heat from the burner and hot pan finish cooking the salmon.  This may take another 3 minutes.  Squeeze the salmon filets and if they flake a bit, it done.  This makes a nice crispy crust - even if it's not obvious in the picture below.  Squeeze some lemon fresh lemon juice on top and serve with favorite sides.  The lemon juice is not a suggestion.  It's a must, in my opinion.

I made sauteed shredded brussels sprouts again, and asparagus.   If I could just get confident about not cooking salmon a minute or two too long, I think it might just be perfect - and I'd be really happy to serve this to company.  ETA:  I've recently learned that cooking salmon to medium rare is okay, and this will keep it from getting too dry.  

I'm getting there...

So...  my new things:  

I'm learning to cook with a cast iron skillet.  Getting comfortable with things like not washing it after every cooking.  I've had to scrub it a couple of times when I let something burn in it, but otherwise, I just scrap out any food, and wipe it down with a paper towel and once the oils have had some time to soak in, store 'till next time.

The grass is turning green, and lots of things are starting to grow outside.  Hopefully, soon it will be pretty enough to take some pictures.  Quite a few new to me plants I'll be able to count as new things I think.  

On that note, I'm hoping we didn't ruin an asparagus crop by cutting down the ferns in late fall, and not mulching it over the winter.  I keep checking and haven't seen any new growth yet.  We had a very mild winter (not much sustained bitter cold as I recall), so I'm hanging onto hope that we'll be seeing spears popping through the ground soon. I just have no idea when that's supposed to happen in central Indiana.  I just checked a last-frost date calculator, and I see our last frost date this year is estimated to be April 18th.    Hmmm...  that's my birthday.  The emergence of asparagus would make a nice birthday surprise!

That's all for now.  Later, Gators! 

10 new things in 2022

Welcome, September...

'Twas a busy week last, but I got in some crocheting and even finished a few projects.   

I made two more little doilies from the book 99 Little Doilies.  First up is Doily #56:

I'm calling this "Garden Web"

It measures 5 1/2 inches across

And immediately following that was Doily #81 - which measures in at a whopping 4 inches across (at its widest):

Thanks to suggestions below, I'm naming this one Pretty Little Bird House

Marsha asked me once how many doilies from the book I've finished, and today I counted 14 different patterns I've crocheted.   I don't intend anymore to complete all the doilies in the book (necessarily), but it will be fun to make the ones that appeal to me  - and there are plenty that do.

After I finished the little doilies, I decided to make a pattern I had printed out some time ago.  It's called Dawn Glow:

While Dawn Glow isn't as tiny as #81, it only measures 8 inches across.  It will be a pretty little doily to create a vignette with some ceramic bunnies and maybe a little plant next Easter time.

The pattern was a little unconventional (from what I'm used to). I'm used to symbols which tell me where to repeat the pattern (kind of like music notation, but different), where this designer just trusts a person to know where the repeats begin and end.  That said, many people who made it found the pattern easy, so there is that.  Fortunately, it's not a complicated doily and I was able to ad lib when I hit a snag.  I made notes in case I wanted to do it again, but honestly...  I'm not even sure my notes are correct.  

And then the last round was pretty much a total departure from the pattern, but except for a missing picot or two, it works.  I think this doily probably took me at least an hour more than it needed to with the different times I got stuck or decided to rework something.

It sounds like I wouldn't recommend the pattern. If you like making doilies, do give it a try. No one else complained in their project notes, so it really may just be me.

And that is all I've got for a Year of Projects post today.   The weather has turned glorious here in central Indiana.  After some rainy days (finally), the humidity is getting knocked down and the nights ahead look comfortable for sleeping with the window open.  Mmmm...  my kind of weather.   And our grass is green again!  It's amazing how quickly a yard can go from crunchy yellow to luscious green after a couple of good soaks.  

That said, my heart goes out to those still suffering the aftereffects of Hurricane Ida - from the gulf coast to the eastern coast.  What a shock and devastation that storm was for so many.  

And I know many are still praying for the safe return of  Americans and allies still in Afghanistan.  The stories that are making their way out are heartbreaking.

On that note, though, I was excited to learn that several thousand Afghan refugees are being temporarily housed at a National Guard base just a few miles south of my little town.  They are being quarantined for two weeks, and then will be allowed to leave for more permanent housing.  I know many (maybe most) will leave the area, but regardless of where they end up, it makes me happy to know (and hope) that Indiana is one of the soft  places they've landed on their journey to making a new home here in the U.S.

And that is truly all I have for today.

I hope you have a good week!

Doilies and dishcloths...

It seems, at the moment, I can only manage a Year of Projects update every other week.  This past week I finally finished my Autumn Splendor doily:

Nothing much to say, really.  Except that I kind of want to make another one, in a different color.  Why?  Just because.

I'll wait a couple of days to see if the feeling passes.  

~~~~~

I snapped the picture below back in May and I thought I might finish up a bunch of knitted cloths by the end of the month:

 

Nearly 4 monhts later, I did finally manage to use up most of the yarn above.  These dish/wash cloths will go into my stash for some yet to be determined destination:

It seems a bit frivolous to be posting about such mundane things as doilies and dishcloths this weekend.  

Like most of us, I suppose, it seems my mind is continually on the chaos and heartache of people desperately wanting and trying to escape from Afghanistan, and now on our own country's southern shores today Hurricane Ida is threatening people's businesses, homes and, no doubt, lives.  

All the while COVID continues to wreak havoc - in our small town we've heard that our local hospital is routing sick people to towns over an hour away, because there are either not enough beds or workers to manage the influx of patients.  Several friends of ours have gotten terribly ill this time around.  The COVID Delta variant seems to be lurking around every corner - more so than ever before.  

And we mustn't forget that the people of Haiti are dealing with the after effects of an earthquake two weekends ago - followed by tropical storm, Grace.  Seems like a ridiculous name for a storm, if you ask me.  But it prompts me to pray that grace abounds for survivors there who are trying to recover.  

If there is some other massive tragedy I'm not remembering at the moment, feel free to include it with a comment, if you like.  I'm praying for all in harms way.  It seems the very least I can do.  

I'm sorry if this is all too heavy for what is normally a lighthearted post.  Heavy is what my heart is feeling right now, but at the same time, I wanted to connect with blogging friends.

I hope you have a good and safe week ahead. 

More thread crochet...

Still making doilies...

This week, I finished two more small ones from the book, 99 Little Doilies:

# 85 - the second time I've made this doily.  

It's another accidental duplicate. I really don't understand how this happens since I'm trying to keep a careful record.  Not careful enough, evidently.

#84 

Okay, maybe this is what happened... Maybe I meant to make #84 when I accidently pulled the pattern out for #85.  And I was too far in once I noticed my mistake.  Yeah...  I think that's the story.

And now I'm making a larger doily.  I've made this before as a gift (twice, I'm thinking).   It's close to finished, but not quite.  Hopefully, by next week, I'll be posting a picture of this wrinkly thing transformed by its final rounds and a good blocking:

This pattern is called Summer Splendor - only mine is going to be Autumn Splendor.  I'm loving this autumny color called Ginger.

In fact, I pulled out some more autumn-colored crochet threads this week as I straightened up my craft room, so watch this space for (hopefully) more thread-crochet projects!

Little doilies happening here...

The weeks right now are kind of blurring together.  Looking at houses for sale online, visiting some open houses (of houses for sale) and having a realtor here to do a market analysis... my mind has definitely been in the clouds of house hunting. 

The market is insane at the moment.  Houses sell fast - within days and sometimes hours of being put on the market.  Occasionally a house will show up on Realtor.com and within minutes "pending" is posted on the listing.  Other houses linger for a day or two.

Fortunately, we're in a good spot.  We don't have to move, but mentally we're getting ourselves ready for it - and our house too. 

At the moment, I'm finding crafting to be kind of like busy work and I tend to avoid it, but somehow this past week crochet thread made its way into my fingers and I started crocheting more doilies from the book 99 Little Doilies by Patricia Kristoffersen.

First was Doily #9 that I learned is called Vanity Fair elsewhere:

Mine measures 6 1/4 inches - a tad smaller than the original

And then I crocheted Doily #10:

 

This little fella measures only 3 3/4 inches across.

At this point, I started to make an official note that I've completed this doily and I found out I had made it before.  In the same color, no less!

sigh...

To get over it, I decided to throw myself into yet another little doily, and that's when I produced the illustrious #83:

This sweet thing is 4 inches across!

I'm running out of clever names, 'cuz for some reason

 Petticoat Junction came to mind on this one.

And that's all I've got for this YOP post.  

If you're interested in my decluttering journey, check in later in the week.  I'm continuing to make progress toward getting rid of 1,000 things.  Honestly, I think I'll be getting rid of lots more than that, but 1,000 things has a nice ring to it, don't you think?   

A foxy fella...

Some of you may remember a few weeks ago when I was working on this little guy.  Well, I finally finished him, and this week he'll be going off to his new home.   He's going into a package as part of a baby gift.  

But first I required a photo shoot of Mr. Fox.

He was pretty patient at first, as I suggested various poses.  

But those long gangly legs were hard to stand on,  

so I suggested he sit a bit.

Sure...  go ahead and put your feet up, Mr. Fox.

And try out another spot on the deck if you like.

What do you mean, you need a nap?!?

No, he's not in trouble.  

Mr. Fox just wanted to show you his foxy tail.

And just like that - the photo shoot is done!

Adios, Mr. Fox.

I'm going to be kind of sad to see this funny little character go.

Unfortunately, the pattern I used appears to be no longer available.

This pattern appears to make a similar foxy fella, though I cannot vouch for it.