Knitting Needles

The thought occurred to me tonight that I have a lot and I do mean a lot of different knitting needles in different shapes and sizes. Then why is it that I never have the size I need when I want it. Which of course leads to buying more knitting needles.

Am I just like all the knitters with a lot of UFOs. I see something that I just have to make and if I have the yarn in the house it is on the needles very quickly. Not that it will necessarily get finished very quickly. Hence the plethora of UFOs.

I have started carrying a big bag with a lot of my UFOs in it to knitting with the hopes that someday they will get finished before they: A: Go out of style. B: I have forgotten or lost the pattern. C: I run out of yarn and it is no longer available so I have to tink it.  I think I need to make a giant effort this year to finish UFOs including Teri's never ending blanket, hey I have gotten a few more squares done so far this week and any progress is good progress. Right?

So join me in the month of February in finishing as many UFOs as we can. Lets try to really see how many knitting needles we all have. Then just maybe we can get some more yarn. I know the yarn diet thing right, well in my case maybe I can get all the yarn into the house if I just knit enough.

My Idea of Heaven

Today was a simply awesome day filled with knitting, spinning ( on the wheel no less ), fun,exercise, friends and food. Who could really ask for anything more.

Today started off with knitting with friends. I am almost finished with the top down shawl in Blond Chicken's (aka Tara) hand spun yarn. Every one was working on awesome project ranging from doll clothes to cowls and even some sweaters and blankets. We even managed to get a new knitter started today, Carolyn supplied the know how while Liz provided the yarn and needles. That was a great job on stash busting Liz, very creative too.

Then it was off to lunch. Which was kinda of funny most of us could not remember what we ordered and the servers did not know what some of the dishes were. Well you just had to be there to enjoy the moment.

Then it was off to home and a bit of exercise with John. Followed by my best spinning on the wheel since my hand surgery. I had my pod cranked up and was singing in the key of off while I spun. This made me extremely happy, because I had vision's of having to find a new home for the wheel and I really like her.

After I got Eric off the bus we had some time together. Eric even managed to get John to watch Barney. I spent some time working on a commission. Then it was off to Cafe Ole for Talipia taco's for dinner. You know your are eating healthy in a Mexican restaurant when the wait staff says you did a good job of picking the healthy food off the menu. By the way if you have never had grilled Talipia taco's, you must try them with out the cheese and sauce for the best taste experience ever.

Before I forget, I have finished and started another square on Teri's blanket. Well its getting late and I want to try to get to the opening at 505 Miracle Mile tomorrow to see what they have done with Tucson's newest artist venue.

A Day Off

Eric went to school today. So I got a day off. The only problem was that I was so tired I could hardly move or keep my eyes open. So I decided to put my eye drops in count to 500 and get moving. Well I don't think I made it to 500 , but I did manage to wake up before noon. I think my body plead exhaustion. Then made the nap time decision.

After a light lunch of figs and goat cheese. I poured a cup of Roobios tea and headed ot the door to the Withers Ranch. Kathy was kind enough to teach me how to use my carder. With a lot of Kathy's help we made a 1 ounce batt. I am going to miss my time with Kathy. She is such a bright and artistic woman. All I have to say is that you folks in Maryland are getting a treasure. So please learn from her and support her artistic endivers.

I still had time to run to the Pharmacy. And Trader Joes. I even had enough energy to make a red pot soup for dinner. This is the first cooked from scratch dinners since my hand surgery. The good news is that we have enough for at least another meal.

Well I think that it is time to call it a night.

Nap Time

Today was an official nap time at the house today. Eric and I got some much needed rest. I also got a surprising amount of cleaning done today. 4 bags of trash out and 1 bin of recycling went out the door. It does not seem possible to me the confirmed pack rat, but the more I throw the more I find to throw. Also it takes less time to find things and to clean.

I also found some time to work on 2 different blankets.

Well even though it's only 9:30pm. I am really tired and am calling it a night.

The Never Ending Day

Since I have be up since 6:30A.m. yesterday morning. Yes Eric is sick yet again. I will blog when I am not so gosh darn tired.

Not the Blog I Planned

I am sitting in Eric's room writing this blog post on my pod. This is not the post I had planned on for tonight. I was going to write about the birthday cake and show a picture. I can't down load pictures from the computer to my pod with any scence of ease. So as I watch the Good Night Show with Nina and Star I will write this blog post.

Today was not the most productive day in the history of mankind, but I got enough done. I seem to be less productive when I am tired and spend long hours on the phone. I can say with certainty that half the bills were paid. The ones that require hand written checks will ne done tommrow. I arranged a fiber swap and got it packaged to go to the post office. 2 more squares were finished on Teri's never ending blanket. I also worked on the dreaded end of year paperwork.

As we were getting Eric ready for bed John and I decieded that he did not look well. Eric has done a lot of startling tonight, but his stats look good. I think I will decided in about an hour on how long I will stay up with him tonight. I wonder what effect a late night will have on my earlier migraine. On the bright side if it does come back I can have more aspirin.

This and That

My day started off very slowly, if it went any slower I would have had to crawl back into bed. There was a great upside of running so late today thought. I got to talk to Teri. She was driving in San Fransisco when her GPS died. So she called me in Tucson for directions. With the help of Google Maps we managed to get her directions to where she was going. Thank you so much to the great people at Google Maps. I hope she was able to find a place to charge her GPS for the way home.

I managed to get to knitting very late but I still got to do some catching up with everyone. I guess I did not say much about my hand to anyone before the surgery and everyone assumed incorrectly that Eric was sick. They were surprised when I told them that I had hand surgery. They were also surprised that I was knitting again.

My hand is recovering slower than I like. I am just impatient in that way. It still gets painful when I knit for more than a few rows. This will make tomorrow all the more interesting. I have a birthday cake to make for a party that we are going to. I think with help baking the cake and making the icing will be fairly easy. What I am worried about is the decorating part. I usually do it left handed. I know I can manage a decent frosting job with my right hand. But I don't have the very fine motor skills necessary in my right hand to an adequate job of controlling the pastry bag.

My plan of action will be to take some pain reliever about an hour before I start the decorating and not do any knitting or spinning until after the cake is decorated. I think this will be very hard for me.  The cake is for a man so I don't have to worry about doing any lace or lattice work on the cake which should make it easier. I am planning to do a reverse C shell boarder to hide any boo-boos. Other than Happy Birthday I don't have a plan for the cake design yet. I am making peanut butter frosting and I am not quite sure what color it will come out, so I am playing it by ear. I will take a picture of it when I am done.

Well I think it is time to call it a night.

A New to Me Finish

Today was a very good day. It got off to a very slow start, but got better as the day went on. I managed to do more knitting and spinning than yesterday, yes I stopped when it hurt. I had a nice 2 mile walk after lunch today. I did also manage to get some cleaning and filing done. Now to straighten out the file before I hand it over. That I will start on tomorrow.

At Guild I learned a new edging called the Latvian Braid. Please forgive me if you know about it, but it was so easy and fun that I just had to share it with you.

Latvian Braid

1. Round 1:     *K1 with color A, K 1 with color C repeat from*
2. Round 2:     Round 2: *P1 with color A, P1 with color C, Always bringing the new yarn over the one just used; repeat from*
3. Round 3:     *P1 with color A, P1 with color C, always bringing the new yarn under the one just used; repeat from*
4. Bind off with a regular knitting bind off.

From what I can tell this would make an excellent finishing for a pair of slippers, bottom of a sweater, or any place a decorative stitch would be nice.

Now I need to go off and ponder the bigger question of the day. I have a birthday cake to make for Saturday and I need to figure out who will be my extra set of hands for baking it and making the frosting. Also if I do not knit or spin will I be able to use my left hand to do the decorating of the cake? I also have to remember to go buy the cake board and box.

As you can see my life has no possibility of getting boring anytime in the near future

Hump Day

By default today became my day off. My body just needed a day of rest. This is the real first day off since my hand surgery. I know I should have rested before but there was just so much to do. I got a little knitting and spinning done, but not anything on my list.

 My hand is feeling better, so I tried to make dinner tonight. Who knew I could screw up fish sticks. I ate the mangled ones. I think I will wait a few more days until I try all but the most basic of culinary skills. Such as buying everything pre-cooked and letting John put it together.

With any luck by the time I finish this post Eric will be asleep.

Rainy Day's and Mondays Make Me Happy

The stitches came out today but I still have a bit of recovery time left. I think it will be a while before I can knit and spin to my hearts content. I think I might take out the weaving to vent some of my creative energy. In the mean time I will knit and spin until my hand gets tired. Speaking of knitting, I have lost one of my size 11 wooden Peace knitting needles with the cute lady bugs painted on one end. If you find it please let me know. An  appropriate treat will be given to the finder and returner of the needle.

Now that I am knitting again, albeit slowly. I have 2 commissions that I am working on. The first is a gray scarf in the Uncle Harry pattern in grey. I have a half a skein left on this one. The other is a custom made hat. The customer choose some of my hand spun yarn and gave me a picture of what she wants the hat to look like. The brim is almost done on that one.

I like to make the in person delivery's in very busy places like Starbucks. Today while I was sitting there trying to read my summer 2011 edition of Spin Off, while waiting for the person to show up, I had at least 5 people come and join me at the table and another stop by to tell me how much he liked my knitting. I felt like my knitting was an opener that allowed people to feel comfortable.

The shawl I was piecing together for someone in Tucson was delivered today. I must of done a pretty good job on it. Even though she knit the panels, she could not find the seam lines. This made me very happy By the way after 1 1/2 hours I am only 4 paragraphs into the article.

Well it is time to consider sleep and I hope that Eric is on the same wave length that I am on this one.

Spinning Post Hand Surgery

Ok, so sometimes I am a little slow to figure things out. Take spinning after hand surgery. I went straight for the soft and very fluffy alpaca. This was a big mistake in so many ways. I struggled with it all week, all I can say is the post surgery alpaca looks a lot different from the pre-surgery spinning of the same fiber. I really felt the need to spin so I pick up a different spindle with a Phat sample of merino on it. I could not believe the difference. It was so much easier to spin and ply. So my recommendation on spinning post hand surgery is to go to something like merino. Also expect to look a lot like new spinning.

I am on the second skein of my first post surgery scarf and that is going slow too. I am into the second week and only a little past the half way mark. I feel like a new and very slow knitter. For the first time on a long time I have to think about what my hands are doing. I have had to start following the needles visually too. I guess I have lost some muscle memory or at the very least my hand is moving differently.

Tomorrow I get the stitches out. I think to celebrate I will make some kind of homemade dinner. Well it is now 10 and I have a busy day planed for tomorrow so it's time to say good night.

Saturday

Well it was a second almost all nighter with Eric last night. A good indication that I needed a nap was that I fell asleep while getting my hair cut, yes I trust Mary Lou that much. Let me know if you need her number.  So after a quick trip to the framers market, which did provide the laugh line for the day. "I did not think that milk was dairy." By the baker of all people. I could have not made that one up if I tried. Followed by a quick lunch.

It was nap time. I did manage a nap that was a little less than 2 hours but more than I slept last night. Did I mention that Eric shared his tummy bug. Well this blog is so dis jointed that I think I should call it a night.

Planning, Why Bother?

We are now into our usual pattern. I get an incredible amount of work done, let's use Wednesday for example. I got all the bills paid, caught up on some errands and even found time for myself(this should read was so tired that I could not move). Eric had a nurse visit and his numbers could not have been better.

Now we fast forward to Thursday morning. I had an early morning appointment I could be on time to if the bus was on time. By 6:00am Eric's fever was just shy of 100. I was scrambling for extra help for the day. Emailing the usual list and dealing with the post migraine headache. I was actually thankful that I could skip the morning appointment and will have to reschedule it. Eric's fever broke by early evening. So silly me was planning on going to hang out with friends. Eric seemed to settle in very easy this evening. Then the eyrping started. Did I mention I successfully kept my stitches dry. Yeah me!

I am now 5 loads of laundry behind. Eric is on pedilyte. I am blogging on my pod. By the way one of the new engines on Thomas the tank has glasses now, that was just a random thought. To my friends hang in there, I hope to resurface soon.

More Progress

Each day my hand is feeling better, although there is still a bruise covering almost the whole back of my hand. I still can not do much. I can't get my hand wet yet so no cooking, cleaning or general housework. I have been able to sort through a lot of paperwork and even though its only Tuesday I have made some large deposits to the recycling bin. I wonder if I can fill it up again this week.

I did manage to get to class today for the first time this year. The stars must have been aligned. I even shopped for dinner. Just in case you were wondering a loaf of bread, corned beef, potato salad and coleslaw. Remember I still can not cook so John made the sandwiches. We are in kiss mode right now.

I have started knitting again and have managed to knit about 5 inches in length on a 6 inch wide scarf. I stop when my hand gets tired usually after a row or two.

I have started walking again and today I doubled what I did yesterday. Don't get to excited though it still is not much but it is a start. Well it is time to say good night because I am really tired.

Join Team Sjogren's

Did you make a New Year's resolution to become more physically fit, be more supportive of your family, or to make a difference? Well you can meet all of your goals for the New Year by joining Team Sjögren's is a marathon training program designed to help you prepare to walk or run in a marathon, (26.2 miles) or half-marathon (13.1 miles). While in the program you are provided with support and training mechanisms all while helping to raise awareness and crucial funds towards research into a cure for Sjögren's. This year, we will be returning to Nashville to participate in the Country Music Marathon & 1/2 Martahon on April 28th, 2012. Reasons why people join Team Sjögren's: TO RUN IN HONOR OF SJÖGREN'S PATIENTS OR THEMSELVES TO RAISE AWARENESS FOR SJÖGREN'S TO HAVE THE CHANCE TO SHARE YOUR STORY TO GET PHYSICALLY FIT & LOSE WEIGHT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO MEET YOUR GOALS FOR THE NEW YEAR Just imagine how it will feel to cross that finish line knowing that you helped raise awareness and funds for Sjögren's research . For more information on Team Sjögren's and this amazing experience, contact Cynthia Williamson at 800-475-6473 ext 205 or cwilliamson@sjogrens.org We Run in Honor of the 4 Million Americans with Sjögren's... We Are Team Sjögren's!!!

Please help me and other people with Sjogrens. You can make a diffrence.

A Breif Update

We have been busy enjoying family time. We still have Teri for a few more days, yeah happy dance. Eric starts back to school tomorrow. We will see if the doctor can fix my thumb on Thursday. This not knitting thing is driving me nuts. I did not realize how much I depend on my yarn to keep my life in balance. Spinning is going very slow too, I can do it a maximum of 30 minutes a day before the thumb acts up.  John will go back to work on Monday. Well I have a busy day planed for tomorrow. Please enjoy your families.