Real Life - Strange Times

 Sometimes real life is so strange. That life sounds like a fiction novel. Today I was at Costco going to pick up my new glasses, by the way they fit and look fantastic but that’s not the point. While I was waiting, some lady claiming to meet me said that she had decided not to pick up her glasses today and take me off the list. I can tell you with certainty, that I am the only person with my name in the entire country. 

While I was waiting, I was knitting a scarf, so I didn’t mind the wait because I was doing something productive.  When I noticed the people who came in after I did were starting to get helped, that’s when I went to make the inquiry of why I wasn’t called.  They then told me about the lady. The staff apologized. about the mix-up and pulled out my glasses. They only needed one adjustment, so that wasn’t too bad. Then I went on with my shopping and errands.

This started me thinking. How can somebody I didn’t even recognize hate me so much? To actually do this? What makes people feel so entitled? That they feel that they are entitled to muck up somebody’s day or try to muck up somebody’s day. Now she really didn’t muck up my day that much, but I wonder about her soul. How it feels to go through life with a soul so badly broken that it makes them feel better to try to hurt somebody or try to ruin their day. I don’t know who this lady is. I don’t care who this lady is. However, I do ask that you pray for her soul because she is so broken and miserable.

Another question that I ask myself, is how did she even know about me. Since Eric died and Covid-19 happened, for the most part, I am a homebody. I’m not one of those people that are constantly driving around town, going from one event to another. I don’t go to many social outings. I have a very small group of friends, and none of them would do this to me. All I can come up with is that some people are very strange. I guess this goes along with we’re living in strange times.  Also it is so odd that I could not possibly come up with the idea of doing this to someone else.

A Win Win

 First of all I finished 1 of the 6 scarves that I put in yesterday’s blog post. That leaves only 5 scarves left to finish. I also won at yarn chicken. The yarn is Threads by Megan Nicole. I used a single Tunisian Simple Stitch.  

UFO Scarves

 Honestly in less than 5 minutes of looking, I found 6 unfinished scarf projects.  4 are knitting with varying stitches and knitting needle sizes. 2 are Tunisian crochet. Almost all in the den hidden in various knitting bags.  One was hidden by the main computer.  I would look for more but my knitting bag is full.  

To get a sense of achievement, I will start with what I call the low-hanging fruit.  This means the scarf that is closest to being done. The scarf with the least amount of yarn left in the yarn cake to knit or crochet. I want to get through this bag before I am tempted to start another scarf.  

For those of you that have been reading my blog for a while know that this task is next to impossible for me.  I will give it a try anyway.  I want to be one of those artists who goes from start to finish on a project without adding 3 to 5 more projects to complete.  In order to make it happen, I will need to complete as many UFO’s as possible.  I also have hats, shawls and spinning projects to complete.  

What prompted this Fantasy journey, is that I saw this amazing cabinet for Yarn, But I will have to finish like 100 maybe 150 projects before I don’t have yarn to much yarn to overwhelm the new cabinet. After 27 years of knitting, and more years that I can count sewing, I think this is almost an impossible task. I am willing to try it anyway. That way I could get both a sewing machine and my spinning and my weaving all in one room if I just go through enough yarn.

Wish me luck as I start by finishing as many UFO’s as possible. By the way the bag is available from Brooklyn Haberdashery, I will include a link below. Brooklyn Haberdashery carries a lot of  my current obsession with Shsaiko needle work with very fast shipping   The link will be at the bottom of my blog. 

My usual disclaimer. I bought everything mentioned in my blog today. The recommendations are my own. I am not receiving any compensation for mentioning various products. 

Have a wonderful day or night depending on where in the world you are.  TTFN

Random Thoughts

The Blue Tsunami—awesome. Way to go, America.

I have now lost 18 inches around my ribcage since my daughter got married. Needless to say, I am no longer a size 4X. Only four more inches to go, and my ribcage size will be the same size it was when we got married. I am not holding my breath on this one. I am going one day at a time on this one.

Since I seem to be gaining muscle mass and not losing any weight. I don’t know if the scale is the right thing to use to determine my correct size. I don’t know how body mass index compensates for extra muscle mass. I think it would be more appropriate just to be happy wearing smaller clothes. Now, how am I gonna explain this to the doctors?

During our recent rains in Tucson, we got 3 inches of rain at the house. We haven’t seen that in years. Now, if we could just dry out a bit across the state before the next rains come.

I know I’ve said this before, but I am truly concentrating on finishing WIPs. Tonight I picked up a shawl that takes 15 minutes per row to knit. I am now through 3/5 of the yarn. My next row will be a color change. I have also added two scarves that need to be finished that I found in miscellaneous project bags. So I work on those in the car and while we are at restaurants. The scarves are both one-of-a-kind wonders.

I don’t know why I am going through another dyslexic stage, but reading books with only one eye gets tiresome. My eyes just aren’t working together right now. I just need to finish this book to find out how it ends. One hour of reading requires a two-hour nap to get my head back in focus. Dyslexia really sucks. Maybe I should just turn the book upside down and read backwards.

I need to find a couple of new exercises to work on building muscle mass in my arms, especially my upper arms. And working on my core strength and building more muscle in my tummy to get that flatter. Any suggestions would be helpful; otherwise, I’ll surf the net and look for some decent exercises.

As with random thoughts, I am also doing random cleaning. Not a whole room gets done at a time, but things are getting thrown away, put away and put in bags for charity. This means that I am running back and forth across the house getting more steps.

I think it’s time to call it quits. TTFN 

Reality is Not What I Expected

 Reality versus life can sometimes be very disappointing. I really thought when the stitches came out things would return to normal very quickly.  I had 2 really good days where I did a lot of errands and had lots of activities.  That part was really very wonderful. Day 3 of the stitches coming out and my body crashed.  Apparently partying for 2 days after the stitches came out and totally ignoring the 4-month healing process was not my best decision. I am paying for it with sheer bone-tiring exhaustion. 

I am also having trouble with the fill in part of a hedgehog pillow.  I think I will Google hand stitched hedgehogs and see if I can find a design that I like.  If not I will head to The West at the corner of River Road and Craycroft and pay for a lesson or 2. I feel so over my head on this one.  Once the hedgehog is finished the flowers will be very easy.  

Oh and on the very good side, we got slightly over 2 1/2 inches of rain in the last series of rain storms. Some of our Arizona neighbors did not fare as well. Even with as much rain as Arizona has received in the last 3 weeks, we’re are still in the middle of a 30 plus year drought.. We are hoping that the Colorado mountains get a very good snowpack this winter season.  

They are Out

 The stitches came out today. I feel so much better now that I don’t have a mouth of stitches. I still have 13 weeks of recovery left.  You know the routine, swish with warm salt water twice a day.  No eating anything hard on the right side of my mouth. The right side only gets soft food.  The best news is that the 3 weeks of the mash diet ( think baby food) is over.  

I did not lose as much weight as I had hoped for.  I did however lose more inches.  Some smaller clothes have been ordered.  I have noticed that since the Covid days certain clothing items are not longer in physical stores, they must be ordered online. So that means that every 2 inches lost around my waist or rib cage means a new serge of ordering clothes.  This will definitely keep the delivery services busy.. 

I have also noticed that the more inches I lose, the more my  muscle mass seems to to increase.  I can no longer pinch an inch anywhere on my legs, my arms are coming close. The rest of me is a work in progress.  

Well it was a very busy and long day.  TTFN

The Trouble With Deep Cleaning

 I was cleaning the sewing room today, yes, I said the sewing room. What did I find that is not related to sewing? Well, the simple answer is nine different spinning projects. Some have hours to go before they’re done. Some have weeks to go before they’re done. What they all have in common was they were hiding in the sewing room 

Now that I know that I have nine projects that I didn’t know about or forgot about. I actually think I forgot about the projects because they got moved in some other cleaning spree. I was aware of four Spinning projects that I haven’t completed. That leaves me with 13 unfinished spinning projects. So I am going to bag them all up. Then put them all together Eight projects in one basket. With the last project, I will have to finish making some more roll lags and I will put it in its separate package because I think I have about 2 pounds left of fiber to spin. For that basket, I found a couple extra drop spindles that I will add because it speeds up the process by allowing me to spin a bunch of spindles, then ply them, then spin a bunch more.

My husband suggested I make a list and put them in a book and check them off as I go, and put all my unfinished projects in the book. The only problem with that suggestion is I have misplaced the book that I keep my unfinished project list in. Probably in another cleaning spree. So the conundrum is, do I spend time looking for the old book to keep everything in one place, or do I Start a new book. and say “say la vie“ to finding the old book? I think for the moment I will go with the most efficient way by starting a new book, and if I find the old book, I’ll put them in the old book, or maybe not. I haven’t decided yet.

Okay, in looking for my old unfinished project log, I managed to find another bag of spinning that will take at least a month to complete. So I officially give up, and I’m starting a new log. I will start with these 14 unfinished projects. and then I will go list all my other projects so I can start knocking them off my list. My guess is the completed project log will work for two weeks to a month. I’m hoping I’m wrong this time.

My immediate goal will be to log them. Bag them. Then put them in the appropriate basket. The picture below is what I found in my sewing room today.