Stash Busting

Sometimes the realization hits in my stash busting journey just how many hats and scarfs for charity I will have to knit before an area becomes yarn depleted. Don't get me wrong I do love knitting and I need to knit to keep my sanity some days. If you have ever watched kids programing for 18 hours a day while taking care of a sick kid you know exactly what I mean.  But I am just 2 scarfs shy of knitting 2 trash bags full of Joann's Sensations Licorice in the past 2 months.

Today's cleaning and organizing yielded yarn for at least 24 more scarfs and some where between 50 and 70 hats. I know I will enjoy knitting each and everyone of them. I know that in this economy every one of them will find a home and be out of my house in a few months.  Then it is off to the next area, and the next. 

I am slowly knitting down my yarn and have even passed some on to new knitters. I can say that I have no more yarn in the storage room or the living room. Yes the living room does look much neater.  I have 2 areas still out of control the craft room and the area in the garage with 6 - 96 quart boxes of yarn. I hope some day to have my entire stash in my closet not overflowing the storage containers. This I hope will also include the fluff. When I stopped buying yarn I replaced it with fluff sprees. After all you get more bang for the buck by spinning then knitting it. Right?

 I know I will never be one of those people who buy one or 2 projects at a time. I know this because I have been know to knit 2 scarfs in a day and start the third. But how exactly do I determine how much yarn is the right amount for me. Don't expect an answer today but sometime in the next year or so. After all I come from a family of pack rats. How do I know this? Well there are still a few boxes, still sealed from a move in 1965 in my moms garage.

I don['t know if I will ever be as organized as John or Teri but I am really trying my best. Well It is time for more kids programming and knitting . Maybe another couple of scarfs will get finished.

Not bad for a Wednesday

After a good nights sleep and 2 day time naps I am almost recovered from Eric's weekend. Lets keep it our little secret and not tell Eric that today I caught up on laundry too. Yes Eric is still home until next Monday, but he had a better day today too.  It seems to go hand in hand when he has a good day, I have a good day. When he has a bad day my seems to go down hill fast.

 Maybe tomorrow I can con him into supervising the clean up of the craft room or catching up on filing. I would like to get the craft room useful after I had to clear craft material from the rest of the house. Then maybe I can get some carding done and catch up on some sewing repairs.

I did manage to find time to knit and spin today, but no projects got finished. The result of a lot of much needed sleeping not a lot of cleaning got done, but that should be remedied tomorrow.  Now its time to go off to dreamland.

Musings

On days like today, life is measured in baby steps. Such as I did not break anyone, nor trample their feelings even though it was so tempting. I just put on my facade smile and worked my way through the mess, one thing at a time.

With the hope of sleep tonight, tomorrow will be a better day. A chance to get things done my way and on my own terms. Best of all I can put today into the history books.

I am headed off to dreamland.

Memorial Day Weekend or Keeping Busy

I would like to start this blog by thanking all the families that have lost loved ones through the history of our country do to war. You and your families have given up so much so that we can enjoy our freedom. With out you this blog and thousands like it would not be possible.

Friday, Eric came with me to knitting and was shocked to find out more people than mommy were addicted to yarn and fiber. I think he thought that we were totally nuts. But he did seem to have a good time when people talked to him. The walk around the mall was not bad either. Then it was on to lunch with Nancy. The best part of the day as far as Eric was concerned was just being out of the house.

Saturday all hell broke loose with Eric getting sick. It was a lot of work but we managed to keep him out of the hospital on a holiday weekend. I really don't think that it would be a holiday or vacation if someone did not get sick around here. He will miss his first week of summer camp, but we have to get him well.

On the knitting front I am almost done knitting the scarfs from the trash bags full of yarn ( yes it was actually 2 kitchen trash bags) that I was given 2 months ago. Less than 5 scarfs to go, about 2 1/2 days of knitting. I think I can really say that I am tired of that shade of blue. On the bright side a lot of little and not so little people will have warm necks this coming winter.

2 skeins of yarn got spun. I find the whole process of the fluff moving through my hands very relaxing. Just throw in a little music and I can go into my own little piece of heaven on earth.  Well its getting late and Eric seems to be settling in for the night.

Eric's Vacation

Today was Eric's first day of vacation. So we went to see the movie Dark Shadows. The acting was very good. I really liked the movie. The sets were awesome. I would not reccomend this movie for younger kids though. I did managed to knit 1 1/2 scarfs during the movie, yes size 17 needles and garter stitch. I am not silly enough to try knitting a pattern in the dark during a movie.

Afterward there was the promised 2 laps around the mall that Eric managed to turn into 3 1/2 laps. He enjoyed his outing very much. My only complaint about the walk was getting stopped by 2 different people who said the "knew" Eric. Why is it that every child/young adult in a wheelchair is the same gerneric person and not the individuals I know them to be? Turns out that they had never even meet Eric before but he looked like a kid in a chair at their schools. Yes dear world there is more than 1 child/young adult in a wheelchair in this world. Sigh, I wish there were not any.

Well Eric is being fussy so I am going to take my knitting to his room until he falls asleep.

A Chapter Ends

Today was the end of Eric's long high school career. It was the very last time that I would have to clean out his cubby or pick up his meds from school. He had his very last school bus rides today too.  He will transition to  a day program when the paper work is settled. Then it will be the mommy taxi to and from his program.

I know that most change is good, but we are now traveling into the land of adulthood with the very same boy we have journey this far with. I have no idea what to expect. What I do know is that the services that were suppose to be in place 2 decades ago have changed. The system that is suppose to help us is getting harder to navigate. The services are getting scarcer as Eric gets older and we need more help. Promises made by last century's politicians do not resonate the same with today's politicians.  I know I must prevail because I am Eric's voice.

 I have yarn to knit and fluff to spin. I will be able to hold my course no matter how rocky things get. John and I will be each others rock. Well it is time to go take care of Eric.

Tuesday

A lot has happened since I last wrote on May 15th. The camera we got when Teri graduated 5th grade died. We helped the encomy in California  by buying a new one when we got in. So the pictures will be up as soon as John loads the software and John or I download the pictures.  We got to see Teri graduate law school. Needless to say we are very proud parents. We had a great weekend just hanging around with Teri.

Today was spent at Eric's graduation at high school. Then working on his paperwork for Eric's new program. When it hit 105 today, which is still very early in the season even by Tucson standards, I hit the house work. Now I do have to be honest here, I would rather hang around with Teri shopping or shooting the breeze than do house work, but it was not an option today. A whole lot of cleaning got done. I even managed a little organization too. I might be in trouble later in the week as the recycle bin is half full and it is only Tuesday.

I did find time to knit and spin so it was not a bad day overall. Eric appears to be sleeping so I think I will call it a night.