Housewife, 54

Even though it has been a very mild winter for Northern Illinois, it is still with us.  Today it started to snow again, BIG, JUICY flakes that looked like manna falling from heaven.  We had about an inch of snow on the ground in just a half-hour, but it then slowed down and we haven't gotten much more.  We are supposed to get 6-8" overnight, but I hope they have over estimated - again. This is the view out my back door this afternoon.  You CAN see the big snowflakes! An update on my projects:  I have finally finished that second sock from Christmas. They are delivered to DS and I hope he likes them.  I had to take a break from sock knitting.  My hands and my attention were just wearing out!  I also needed to get a prayer shawl made for a good friend that is going through Cancer. Now I am going to finish a sweater that I started last winter! I got the budget made out and the family bookkeeping is going well - or at least as much as I can d...

Good Grief!  Where does the time go? Well, looking at my last post, I have an idea that I have been knitting to the exclusion of almost everything else!  I did get two of those pairs of socks done in time for Christmas, but the third pair was only one-half done by Christmas day, with the second sock just started.  I gave them to him anyway, and am still working on it now.  Give me another week or so and I should have it finished.  Then I am taking a BREAK from socks and finishing up some other projects this winter.  I'll start on socks again in the spring when I don't want a heavy project to drag around. This fall has not been the kind to curl up with a cosy pile of knitting in your lap.  It has been unseasonably warm all though New Year's.  We may have had  a couple of days where the overnight temperatures got down into the 20's, but most of the past 2 months have had daytime highs in the upper 30's or 40's and overnight has been in the ...

I have always loved 'useful' crafts.  Now, I understand that the term 'useful' has different meanings for different people.  For me, it means something that I can use on a daily or weekly basis.  Cooking is certainly a craft, but more often thought of as an art or science.  I think it is all three.  Sewing is a craft, but if you have little or no money to buy nice clothes that fit properly, it becomes a daily necessity ;-)   I learned to sew at a very young age, and as a child, most of my clothes were made by my mom or myself.  I also learned other useful crafts as a child: embroidery, macrame (which for me definitely falls into the not-so-useful category, as well as latch-hooking rugs) some crochet and knitting, and tatting.  But other than sewing, all of these other craft skills were at a very basic level. While I was an avid seamstress, I did not have any interest in quilting for a long time.  I blame this on my mom.... she was not a qu...

And yes, I mean real headaches.  The weather is the culprit - HOT, STEAMY and unrelenting.  Here in the Chicago area we have had temperatures and humidity levels in the 90s for what seems like weeks!  It is too hot outside to do anything.... I don't want to work in the garden, walk the dogs, or even sit out in the shade and read.  Any time you step out the door, it feels like you have walked INto a sauna and your body begins to sweat buckets.  Disgusting.  And I believe that going in and out of air-conditioning is what is aggravating my headaches.  That and thunderstorms that crop up almost every evening.  In the past 10 days we have had over 8" of rain.... and that just means more humidity and sweating and dripping..... SO, to keep myself semi-occupied I have been doing indoor things like reading and knitting.  In the wintertime I read and knit, but the 'flavor" of my books and the texture of my knitting is different to match the season. ...