Alpha Testing

The alpha testing continues on John’s new 3D printed knitting accessory. I am really loving the new design. It is so portable.  It traveled with me to Northern California and back. I also love giving positive feedback for changes and seeing the changes made.  I also learned that .05 millimeters can make a huge difference in a 3D design.  Not so much in knitting.

The engineering design work is so different than designing with fiber.  It seems to require a lot more pre planning and tweaking than with fiber.  Don’t tell anyone that you heard it from me, but I am learning a lot about the process.  Some of this might be incorporated in my fiber design work in the near future.

Of course when the design is finished it will be sold exclusively at Grandmas Spinning Wheel here in Tucson.  I will post when that happens.  With pictures of course.

Less UFO’s

Today was spent finishing 3 small knitting projects and weaving in ,the ends.  It seemed to be a good day to tie up loose ends. I am really not sure how it became bed time. Since I have another busy day tomorrow this will be a short post.

A Great Thanksgiving Week

I had the pleasure of spending part of Thanksgiving week with my lovely daughter and her husband and his family. I had a wonderful time. Thank you Teri,Tej and family. I also got a great picture of Teri too.

Today I spent the day catching up. My to do list is not done, but there is always tomorrow.

Still Zenning

I spent almost 2 hours in heavy deep cleaning....the kind of cleaning you need to change clothes afterward. Then I moved on to zenning all kinds of projects. I dumped so many projects that the dog pillow box is full again, I just made 4 pillows 2 weeks ago. Now I just need to find homes for more dog pillows. The recycle bin is full to the top with days to go before it will be picked up..sigh, I hate not be able to get everything out, but I may run out of room soon.

I threw a party for Eric today at his day program. We went through almost an entire 1/2 sheet cake from Nadine's. Instead of gifts for the young man who has everything he needs we are asking for donations to the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona or a food bank closer to your home,in Eric's name. Just let me know if you made a donation, I don't need to know how much, so that I can let Eric know and thank you.

11,482

As of 9:00p.m. tonight I have taken 11,482 steps.  That is 4.79 miles for me.  I did not go hiking or shopping. All I was doing was trying to zen the house.  My closet looks a lot better.  I found that I had room to move 36 quarts of yarn into more accessible drawers.  Yes, I knit and wove through 36 quarts of yarn since the last reorganization of the yarn. That made over70 hats and a a little more than a dozen scarves for kids in need.

Now if I could only have the G.E. 1960’s self cleaning house of the future. I could use more yarn up faster.  Just imagine if the laundry washed, dried and folded itself. If the dishes washed themselves and magically made their way to the cabinets. Self mopping floors and self vacuuming carpets.  On second thought just give me Rosie from the Jettison’s. Then I could spend my days playing with yarn.

I just have a few more chores to do before bed so I will cut this short.

The Last One

Today was the last fundraiser that I will ever do.  I am tired of the event organizers haveing lame excuses for not promoting the event.  I am tired of putting in my time energy and money for such paultry returns for the school or nonprofit. Today’s  fundraiser closed an hour early and I only managed to make $68.00 for the middle school band. I also came home tired and sore beyond belief.

So after the holidays I will figure out what to do with everything.   This will probably end up in very unique and interesting gifts for friends and family.  

Perplexing

I finally made it out to get a couple of pairs of pants today. Did I mention that they were a smaller size too? I find women’s clothing sizes so perplexing at times. Can someone please explain to me why the same pair of pants, with the exact same waist with one in standard size and one in petite size.  Why is the petite one labeled plus size and the standard one labeled regular sized?   The only difference is the petite one rides at my waist and the regular sized one is half way up my rib cage, not to mention requires high heels at all times.

Are shorter people automatically supposed to be thinner?  When everyone knows that the taller you are the more muscle mass you have. This also means that  by virtue of being taller they burn more calories.

It’s no wonder that most women I know hate clothes shopping.  

Parenting and Other Things

Sometimes I find parenting very hard, but most of the time there is just a routine boringness to it. Also what has become common for our house would seem downright strange in 98% of all households. For instance before bed we empty Eric's suction machine, get Eric ready for bed, I can't believe that he is going to be 29 this month.  Take out the trash and recycle and put the last load of laundry in the dryer. Sometimes even run the dishwasher.

Then there are the blender events like the very occasional seizure, me I am hoping beyond hope that he is just over tired and not pre-viral. Waiting in traffic for the 30 minute mile because some silly snowbird rammed a very expensive sports car at a red light and refused to move his car out of traffic hoping someone in law enforcement would not say he was at fault for hitting the car ahead of him at a red light.

Since Eric is sleeping I think I should order the rest of his supplies and head to bed. Parenting Eric can be very tiring especially when he does not sleep through the night like most of this week.

I have personal blender moments too. I have trouble passing for my age on most days. The answer is no, people don't fake their age to get the senior discounts.  Today I almost did not get to vote because of it. I was asked several times for the information on my driver's license while the poll workers were holding it..Looking at me like I was lying...but my face looked like the picture and I answered everything twice correctly. The polling supervisor said to give me the ballot anyway. Afterward I let the Mayor's office and the Democratic party workers who were trying to keep track of any type of voter suppression know about it.

Another scarf made it off the loom and another hat was finished today.

Holiday Presents

Since all my holiday shopping is done, I am busy making hand woven scarfs for those who otherwise would not have a holiday present. I am managing to weave 3 to 4 a week. Here is part of the latest. A gray warp with purple and red weft.

This is a great stash buster, because each scarf uses at least 2 skeins of stash yarn. Especially good for using up some of the non super wash yarn. The finial processing of the scarfs involves hot soapy water and roughing the scarf up. This results to a 10 to 15% total shrinkage of the scarf so it will not felt later.