Happy New Years

John and I managed to get out for a New Years Eve dinner. This is something that we have not done since the early 1980's. I was surprised that at 5:00 pm we almost did not get a table. I hope that this is a good omen for next year.  

As usual I will not be making any New Years resolutions.  I just plan on having the best year possible. I hope that everyone has the best year possible too. 

Now it is time to finish the next baby blanket.  

I Hope I Don't Get the Bug

As I write this blog, both guys have the tummy bug that is going around. Eric is making copious amounts of laundry, but is not quite on a record setting pace. To break the old record he would need to make 8 loads of laundry today, so far he has only made 6 loads of laundry. I am keeping up with folding in my own fashion, meaning I only have 2 loads to fold right now.

I have cut Eric off from TV for a few hours and making him listen to a book on tape from the Library of Congress. He has a stack built up that I would like to send back.  Right now it is Sports Illustrated Kids. While things are relativity calm I plan on getting some house cleaning done.

I think when Eric's aide gets here this afternoon I might sneak off to get some dinner so that I can say that I have gotten out of the house today. Since I am soloing for dinner I might just get something John does not like.

I have not gotten very much done on the creative side lately because I feel like I have been waiting for the other shoe to fall. I guess that this is it. So its time to get back to creating. I really need to end the year with a few finished projects. Its not like I have not been making and creating this year, I have completed around 15  to 18 dozen projects so far this year including 2 new pattern designs and 200 stitch makers for holiday gifts.  Its just sometimes I feel like I am in a rut.

Repurposing

This is what I did with a spindle that was to out of balance to spin with.  It is currently residing on my friend Lisa's tree. I turned it into a Christmas Tree Ornament. 

I thought it was just hard to spin with a Turkish spindle. No,it's only hard if the spindle is out of balance. If you are having a hard time try to get a hold of a Jenkins Turkish Spindle, they spin like a dream.   

Attack of the Pantry

After one too many cans fell on my feet, it was time to clean the pantry from top to bottom. Well I actually started in the middle which was the messiest shelf.  Did I also mention that it is the easiest shelf for me to get to? I then hopped around from spot to spot. I made an executive decision that John would be the executive cleaning the top shelf so that I do not have to go up and down the step ladder. It must be nice to be tall enough to reach the top shelf without climbing or using a grabber.

Since this was mostly a solo act today, the pantry will not be finished until tomorrow. I have about 3 square feet left to clean and John has the entire top shelf. It will be interesting to see what has landed on the top shelf. I wonder if any of it needs to find a new home?

As my reward I plan on spending tomorrow after the pantry is finished spinning, weaving and knitting. I wonder if I will need to find a hiding place to get some fun time?

Right now even though I am too tired to  move, I think that it is time to get dinner on the table. It is one of those throw everything but the kitchen sink in the red pot and hope it comes out well. Then serve it with store bought dinner rolls. Maybe even cookies for dessert if they thaw in time.

Oops

I know I have screwed up when at the end of the holidays I find gifts that I bought over the summer.  So I need to say oops.  I forgot to give them to their intended giftiee's. So now how do I explain that I have been so overwhelmed at life that I did not pay enough attention to some people.  That is a really bad thing. I still care a whole lot about about these people. So if you receive a call or package out of the blue, it's me not you.  

I am also finding time to work on some fun knitting projects for me and a fundraiser in the spring. I need to change things up a bit. I think I am a little burned out on hats. Which is odd because I only knit a little over 11 dozen hats this year. So it's time to knit up a storm.  

Frustration

Right now I'm pretty frustrated Eric has been getting sick on a very regular basis we seem to have been having about four days to recoup between the next time he gets sick. However, this week we got him back to program and then the next day he's home with a cold. I'm really tired of the moms and dads who send their kids to school or day programs knowing that their kids are sick. How do you guys feel about that?

I can't be the only mom in the world with this gripe. Is Tucson just unusual in that the parents always send their kids sick? Is this happening in your neighborhood schools and they programs too?

Part of this frustration is that I am worn down and tired. I would like to be able to get out of the house a little bit more and do things. It seems lately by the time I get Eric back on his feet I'm just too tired to go out and do the shopping I need to do or want to do. I know we're just going through a rough patch right now but I'm still tired. I am hoping things will get better and that he'll be going to his program more often. Right now I just have to cope and be cheerful about it.

I know it's not Eric's fault that he's getting sick. I blame it on the parents who send their kids sick all the time. I wish they wouldn't be so short sighted and only see how it affects them and their days. I wish they would look at the global picture and see that if they send their child sick, that they're going to get other kids sick and other people sick. It's not fair to the rest of the world if you know your kid is sick to send them to program. I guess all I'm asking for is a little common sense. That seems to be in short supply these days.

Well it is time to get back to Eric and squeeze in a few minutes for lunch I hope everybody's day is going well.

A Busy Day

Eric spent half of the night needing attention of one kind or another.  This left me very tired with a full day of chores and holiday planning.  

I finally got to the grocery store today. Between coupons and rebates I did fairly well and saved close to 50%. Then after I got most of the groceries put away, I drove down to World Cate and dropped off Eric's old wheelchair. If you happen to have a wheelchair laying around the house not being used World Care is in need of about 35 to 40 wheelchairs to for people on their wait list. 

 I finished making most of my holiday presents today. Now I just have to tie them up in pairs with ribbion from the never ending roll of ribbion that I bought in the 1990's when the kids were small.  And wrap the rest of the holiday gifts. It looks like it's going to be a very very busy week this week..

My hope is that Eric sleeps tonight.  

Finishing Things

Today was spent cleaning and finishing projects. The gifts are almost done. I finished 2 more hats for charity, I will try to get a dozen done by this weekend.  A friends  son is working at a charity collection center this weekend. This will give him something to put on the bus.  I just have to find out when, because I know where it is.  

I am hoping for a good week for Eric and getting everything done on time. I hope everyone has a great week. 

The Cleaning Moves On

Today the cleaning moved to the garage. John and I started by deciding which boxes needed to be thrown out. The recycling bin is almost full. Eric's old wheelchair will be leaving the garage to go to the loan chest for medical equipment next week. My plan is 5 minutes a day until the garage is done or it gets too warm to work in there. 

Eric is feeling much better today.  We might even be able to find a Toys for Tots drop off site tomorrow. I will also try to finish the holiday gifts and the cleaning that did not get done this week. I also need to wrap gifts this week and clean the Menorah. 

I am really hoping that Eric sleeps tonight and past 5:30am. I think it is time to call it a night. 

Very Busy

It has been very busy around here lately. Between Eric getting sick a lot and me playing catchup. I am only a little behind in the things I want to do.  I am getting all the have too's done.  I have even tried tried to talk Eric into making a little less laundry, he just laughed at me. 

Next week I hope to get all of my holiday gifts finished. I also want to finish wrapping my loom, it's currently half way done. 

 My sewing machine is also fixed, I find it very sad that the factory authorized dealer loosened 1 screw in order to try to up sale me on a more expensive machine. I will never go back there again.  Thank goodness for Kathy's on Speedway who got it fixed today.  If you are in Tucson and need your sewing machine or vacuum cleaner serviced I would recommend Kathy's. 

Well it is getting very late and I want to call it an early night. 

I am Superwoman

Eric is sick again.  I wonder if there is a coralation between my taking Thursdays off to run errands and spend time with friends knitting and spinning.  

I was able to keep up with the 2 eyrpy loads of laundry last night. Today I managed to get 4 loads done and half are already folded and put away.  

I am getting a little tired of Eric getting sick every week after a few months when he was hardly sick at all. For a few months he made it to his program almost every day.  I felt like I was getting my life back.  After being up with Eric most of last night I took time when he was resting comfortably to do a little cleaning and organizing.  It kept me more in tune with everything and gave me something to do other than sit, knit, watch Eric and PBS kids.  

Eric is asleep now so I am going to try to get some sleep. The to do list will be long tomorrow.  

I Got the *+%#*% Cold

The cold the guys have been sharing caught up with me today. All I can say is that is a bad one.  It totally zapped me today.  Almost nothing got done.  I  hoping for a shorter course than the guys had. I would love to feel better by tomorrow. 

Since I was too tired to warp the loom, spin or follow a pattern, So I am back to knitting hats today.  For me they are quick mindless knitting.  

Bits and Pieces

We had a great Thanksgiving visit with Teri and Tej, they are both safely back at home. We are so incredibly lucky to have them in our lives. Eric is feeling better and is back at his day program after 5 days off. I am playing catch up and should have everything back to pre-holiday madness in a week or so. The laundry room was higher than knee high yesterday.

 My body hit the proverbial brick wall after going full speed ahead for more then 3 weeks running. I really hate when I get so tired that I can not move and just have to fall asleep on the spot. Thankfully John was able to pick up Eric today and make a wonderful dinner. I really need this flare up to go away so I can sleep at the normal time. I really can not say it is a positive getting the cleaning and laundry done in the middle of the night when I need to sleep.

We had a second scorpion in the house today. Thankfully it was a baby one that John scooped up with tissue and disposed of it. All without smashing it on the bedspread, saving me another load of laundry. Yeah John. I would have smashed first and scooped second. I guess it is time to get the foundation sealed and the house painted.

Things Learned

I leaned 3 new things today.
The first is that hipster restaurants are not really wheelchair friendly but they will accommodate you.
The second is that hipster restaurants are not the best places to take your adult kids for birthday celebrations.
The third thing is that Eric just loves the new Tucson Street car. Now to figure out how to get him a discount pass so we can ride more often.

Family Time

I am enjoying family time. Teri is here for Thanksgiving. I am sad that the time is flying by so fast. 

Really, Did you Mother Teach You This?

Yes, it has happened again. Someone helped themselves to 3 hand woven scarfs. Two of the scarfs I made for Teri and had hidden them in her room. No one really needs to be in there when she is not home. The other one I was deciding weather to put it in my Etsy shop or put it into the fundraiser for Eric's day program.

I personally feel that it is in very bad tasted to steal from an artist in her home or studio. Certain areas are always off limits.  If you really like something offer to buy it. I will tell you if it is for sale or not. Please also know that if I see my stolen work on the street I will let the person you gave it to know it was stolen from my studio. Also just what kind of a person gifted you stolen work. They really need to know what kind of person they hang around with.

If after reading this you feel the need to redeem yourself you may leave the scarfs in my mail box or give them to my friend Lisa. If I get them back in the original condition no questions will be asked.

Update: 11/28/2014

The scarfs have been returned. Thank you everyone.

6 Dozen

The 6 dozen plus one or 73 hats (2,969 rows) were delivered to the Flowing Wells School District today.  I also threw in 5 scarfs (928) too.  So here is what a pile of 73 hats looks like, the scarfs look even less impressive. For a total of 3,897 towards the one million row challenge on Raverly. 

Knitting Roulette

After knitting six dozen +2 hats over the last couple months I've decided it's time for a change of pace. I'll bring all the hats in Monday but before I could bring that many I will take a picture so you can see what six dozen hats looks like.

Meanwhile I've decided to play knitting the roulette I took down a box of kits that I got when I was a new knitter. I will now go through them and knit up each kit until I can complete the box. The first project I took out the box this evening is half done, the project was a little intimidating and now I can say it's pretty pretty easy. I will show you a picture of them probably in tomorrow night's blog when I'm finished with them.

In the meantime here is a picture of the first box that I'm going to be working through. As you can see some never even made it out of their mailing envelopes.

Yarn

I seriously thought that knitting 6 dozen hats would have used a lot more yarn. I guess I will have to knit more hats.  Pictures and row count to follow. 

It's Just Another Manic Monday

Wait a minute it can't be Monday. Its Wednesday. Let me backtrack a moment. Our dear sweet Eric after being back at his day program for all of one day on Tuesday after 2 weeks of being home sick, spent from 9:30 pm to until 3:30 puking his guts out and needing to be held. I managed to get all the laundry he made last night washed and in the dryer by 3:30 am and then took a short nap until 6:10 am. A good solid nights sleep by any mothers standards.

This morning Eric had decided that his room needed to be cleaned and organized before I finished Teri's room. No sibling rivalry there. So the second bookcase was emptied and polished this morning. I went through everything. The net result is that 2 bags of junk left his room for the trash and 1 bag will be going to Bookman's here in Tucson. This afternoon I spent another 2 hours organizing and putting everything away. There were an awful lot of Elmo's, some for nearly every shelve. There is only one thing left to put away and the top of the bookcase needs to be polished and dusted, I will leave that to my over 6 foot tall volunteer, not that I don't enjoy perching precariously from step stools.

Because I am sick of take out food, I made a pot of chili while I was putting together my lunch. I let it simmer all afternoon on low. I made a pan of cornbread when John called and as soon as it is done we will have dinner. Just so it does not seem that I am perfect and can do everything, I will admit that I left all the things I used today, but the cutting board in the sink for John. Afterall I just can't do it all in one day.

Well, John just got home so it is time to set the table for dinner. I hope I don't go go to sleep face first into the chili.

For those keeping track of step counts, I made it to over 10,000 steps walked 3 days in a row. Lets hear from everyone else.

The Good, the Bad and the Eyrpy

It is one of those oh bugger nights. After 2 weeks at home sick, Eric finally made it to his program today.  I got a weeks worth of errands done in a few hours running at full speed.  

I spent the late afternoon dealing with a change in suppliers for Eric. The good news is that everything is 90% done. We just need the paperwork to go through.  

Just as we were getting Eric ready for bed the eyrping started.  I am on the second load of laundry for tonight.  As soon as Eric settles in for the night I will try to get a nap in.  

To end on a positive note, I did hit 10,000+ steps 2 days in a row.  

Cleaning New Spaces

The cleaning and organizing has hit Eric's room. I am almost done organizing his first bookcase. My plan will be to finish Eric's first bookcase then go on to finish Teri's room and then go back to finish Eric's second bookcase. Yes I got distracted in the cleaning of Teri's room. It's not like I never do that, get distracted when cleaning; "Look a new thing to clean that I walk by everyday and never noticed before" Yes that is me to a T.

I also have two complete sets of bedding to wash, including the quilts. I hope we will have a couple of sunny days for the quilts to dry outside. I will leave the dusting and vacuuming to John. I will also put Eric in charge of the smiles.

I have got to keep my eye on the calendar as I am running out of days. Cleaning is not the only thing. I am only 4 hats away from 6 dozen hand knit hats in a few months. Yes this time I will take pictures of the whole lot, but basically it is 3 grocery bags with 2 dozen hats per bag. I will also give a total row count for the 1 million row challenge on Ravelry. I hope to add about 2 thousand rows to my count.

Eric is feeling better and I am hoping to have him out of the house in a day or two. Exhaustion has just caught up with me. I don't know if I will just step up my cleaning or go out for a cuppa tea and some knitting. Then get back to work. Stay tuned for further updates.

An Uninvited Guest

An unwelcome guest stop by to visit Eric this week. Considering that he has had 2 different colds in a 2 week time span we were not at all surprised when a secondary infection popped up at the house. Eric is on his second day of medicine for the secondary. We have been working hard to clear his lungs out. I have been doing percussion until my hands feel like cement. This does not bode well with getting a lot of knitting or spinning done. I am lucky to finish one hat in a day. I am back to wearing fingerless mittens to keep my hands warm at night, it helps alleviate some of the stiffness and pain.  With any luck we will be through with this by the time Teri comes for her visit.

My cleaning has come to what I call fine tuning. For the most part this involves areas of less then one square foot. Shelves are emptied and re stacked. Papers gone through. You would be surprised at the amount of unnecessary paper that is leaving  the house. If I keep going like this it will be hard to believe that an artist lives in this house. The picture below is really my craft room and it is hard to believe that it is even neater than in this picture.

I will keep adding items to my etsy shop as time permits and hope that some of the items actually find new and loving homes. Things will get pretty eclectic for a while.

Well the guys are asleep so it is time to either start cleaning or wind down and get some sleep.

Ups and Downs

There are 2 different colds going around Eric's day program. He has gotten the second one so he is home again for a least part of the week this week. This has left me a bit on the tired side. What a week for equipment failure. If I am grumpy and complain that my hands are sore it is because I am doing some manual percussion. This to shall pass with the arrival of the replacement later in the week.

I am also beginning to think that the klutz gene gets more active when I am tired. All I am going to say on the subject is that I swear that the fireplace had it in for me today and jumped out to attack me and won. The shirt I was wearing will be remade into a rag rug. I think I have enough rags to make a few of them now.

I was also gifted with some eyelash yarn today. I will take 1 strand of eyelash yarn and one of wool or cotton to make some cute kids scarfs. These go fast because I cast on 13 stitches on US sized 17 needles and knit until I am nearly out of yarn then bind off. About 90 minutes per scarf if Eric is not being too demanding. I will add a few pictures later. These will be going to the Flowing Wells School District too.

Well it is time to get ready for dinner. So enjoy your families this week.

Almost Done

You have been hearing about the craft room clean up for months now. Except for about 2 square feet on the book shelves, the room is finally almost done. So you can now see a picture.  Sorry it was probably the wrong time of the day to take the picture. The main question to ask at this point in time is weather I can keep it this neat after Thanksgiving.

Overdone

I can honestly say that I might have overdone it by more than a little. My goal today was to wash 3 loads of laundry, take all of Teri's Charity boxes to Goodwill, make dinner and, and, and, I think I might have recycled the rest of the list when I got too tired.

About 2/3 of what Teri had for Goodwill filled up the center of the van. So I dropped that off and debated weather I should finish the job today. I was sore and tired but not ready for lunch, so I thought what the heck and finished tallying and loading Teri's stuff into the car. Then there was still room in the car so I decided to gather our stuff for Goodwill. I managed to fill the van yet again. The guy at Goodwill did not believe that I had managed to fill up the center of the van twice in a few hours. I can honestly say that I got a lot of stuff out of the house that will not come back again.

This left me a little to tired to move let alone cook lunch for myself. So instead of going for my 1st idea, which was a couple of donuts and a cup of tea, I went home. The pomegranate looked and tasted great, but it was still not enough for lunch so I added a couple of Justin's dark chocolate peanut butter cups to top things off. The peanut butter had the protein and who can say no to dark chocolate.

I found a little time to get some holiday shopping done before it was time to pick up Eric. Eric had a great time at his day program today. I am so happy that he is well enough to go to program. I even managed to get a little more cleaning done before it was time to make dinner. I wonder if I am going to be fired for not spraying the casserole dish with Pam? Well it is time to fold the last of the laundry and hopefully knit a few more hats after dinner.

Help Needed

With the next phase of deep cleaning, I am going to need every ones help. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I am constantly creating new things. I have been hiding all the finished work in bags. In closets and drawers all over the house. Well John found just some of them. He was not to happy with all my "clutter". After a very gentle conversation it was decided that I need to fill up my Etsy shop with everything.

I will be putting as many finished objects a day in my shop as possible. I will have hand spun yarn. Hand sewn project bags and bibs, both regular and special needs. A lot of hand knit items not suitable for donation to charity. Some hand woven scarfs, my newest obsession. So if you can visit my shop and share my shop with your friends maybe we can have this next phase of cleaning done by the end of the month.

I will also have a de-stash section with yarn that I was in love with and now that I know a lot more about knitting can't really see myself using. I just love lace knitting, but with my current lifestyle I can not see myself knitting lace. So that is some of the first yarn to go. There will be other yarns and things as the month progresses.

What you will get are some very nice presents and useful everyday objects. Did I mention that the holidays are just around the corner. You can shop in your P.J.'s and have everything dropped off at your door.  What I will get is a very happy husband and a lot of closet space back..hum more closet space to store things...well maybe not so much.

So here is where the sale will be, https://www.etsy.com/shop/skaro964 . Please feel free to pass this on to everyone.

Next Up Sit-ups

I have been working on getting back into shape. For me it has been a very slow process.  It goes in a cycle something like this. I get into an exercise routine with walking and deep cleaning the house. Deep cleaning is basically tearing everything down and deciding what to keep and toss. It involves a lot of physically moving things. Usually one armful at a time. Then finding a home for everything. A lot of bending and twisting, which my body does not always love.

The next step in the cycle is Eric getting sick. If we are very lucky it is a very short cold. This still takes a toll on my body because of the long hours and stress. This is followed by a flare up for me. The sicker Eric gets the longer the flare up lasts.

This sometimes leaves me 2 steps backward. Unable to do the 8 to 10 thousands steps a day plus as many stairs as I can find, that I usually strive for. Sometimes it is back to square one struggling to get 3 to 4 thousand steps a day. Followed by the struggle to get back to my previous fitness level.

About 6 months ago I started adding push-ups to my routine. At first I started doing them against the wall. Then I gradually worked up the the high bathroom counter and this week I graduated to the lower bathroom counter, albeit with 2/3 less push-ups because of the lower height. The lower height equals more work.

Tonight I decided to go for broke. I have not done sit-ups at all for years. Tonight I managed to do 30. I don't know how long that I will be able to keep this up, because Eric does have a very bad cold right now. The hours have been long. I am still holding out hope that I can at least do a few sit-ups tomorrow.

For me exercise is not an all or nothing thing. It is to be done in harmony with my body and life at the moment. So some days I do a lot and other days not so much. I am on the very slow road to getting back in shape. Maybe someday I will pose in my skirt that was much too tight then and now will not even come close to fitting now.

Pre Holiday Cleaning

Today was spent cleaning house, in particular the craft room. It is very slow going. I am looking at everything I touch. I am also only processing one thing at a time. So I pick something up and then it lands where it is going to be stored, recycled or trashed. Then I go on to the next item. It might be very slow going, but most things won't have to be touched again, unless of course it is knitting, weaving or spinning. I am also cleaning from the back of the room to the front. Somehow this is a very effective method of cleaning for me. I think that I will leave the vacuuming, dusting and bed making to John.

I tried to take a knitting break this afternoon in Eric's room, but he sent me back to clean. His logic is that Teri will not come home until the house is very clean. Eric really wants to see Teri so he is being single minded in this. Either that or he is finally sick of me being around checking on him all the time while he was home sick.

Well it looks like it is time to go put dinner on. So have a great week everyone.

A Little Too Much Stress

It has been a rather stressful week around here with family issues and Eric being sick. There has not been enough time to sleep, nor enough caffeine consumed to balance life out. The stress level was high enough to get to my tummy, not fun at all. I will have to add that the arthritis flare up was not the least bit helpful either.

I dealt with the stress by doing some more cleaning. Cleaning was even done in the middle of the night when I could not sleep. The craft room is 1/3 of the way done. Maybe I can have it finished by the end of the week. Lisa was a big help by taking some craft supplies for her projects. My older sister is going to finish some needlepoint for me. Some projects were deconstructed and recycled into different projects. Some were thrown out for good in the recycle bin. Some of Eric's aides graciously took my excess of college ruled paper, 6 reams left the house.

I also came to the conclusion that at this stage of my life, I just don't have the patients for lace knitting. So I listed almost a dozen skeins of lace weight yarn on my Ravelry destash page. No reasonable offer will be refused. For those of you not on Ravelry here are the pictures, make you offers.  Most are very soft and squishy. The sock yarn will come with the pattern designed by me for the yarn. More yarn might be listed later.

I think it is time to get back to cleaning. Have a great weekend.

Day 8

My hands are doing better. I have limited use of my hands. I can do most of my household chores that do not require hand strength. That gives me a lot of time to get rid of small stuff. I have made great progress in the craft room. I can knit a few rows before my hands get tired so I am not pushing it.

I have been doing a lot of weaving on the rigid heddle loom. I am also doing a lot of experimenting. Today I discovered that if a yarn is to springy it does not make a good warp. Yes I will finish the scarf, but use some of the yarn in the scarf. I also discovered that if I am using a lot of different weight yarns in different colors I need more shuttles. I am also glad that I have a comb as the heddle does not do well on curves. So here is a picture in progress. Sorry for the sideways picture.

Day 4

Eric had a very bad night last night followed by a change in the barometric pressure.  That was a very bad combo for my head.  It tends to make a very long day when aspirin and caffeine are required at 5:00 am. 

I still can not knit or spin.  But my hands are doing better.  I managed to get the loom warped today  I can weave without any pain. Buttons are still a challenge which made doing laundry interesting.

I also managed some light cleaning without my hand braces.  I managed to go 3 hours without the hand braces today.  So I hope that this is a good sign.  

It's going to be a very busy weekend so it is time to call it a night. 

Day 3

My hands are feeling better, but I still can not do a whole lot with them. I find it really  hard to watch TV at night and not having my hands in constant motion. I am hoping every day that I will be able to knit and spin soon. Although I think I will be able to use the loom first. It is much easier on the hands.

Day 2

Today is day 2 of no knitting and both hands in splints. This is the result of the flare up.  The positive of this is that my hands are doing better. I can actually feel them tonight. I also got caught up on errands. Cleaned and organized 2 shelves of the computer desk, which resulted in a full basket of recycling. Organized some Old Pueblo Knitting Guild paperwork. I also walked over 10,000 steps today. This does not mean that I am not yearning to get my hands back on the knitting needles, but I know that I have to wait until my hands feel better. This is the really hard part. I like instant gratification.

Tomorrow the 10 bags of yarn and knitting needles that were donated to the Guild will leave the house. Hopefully not much will come back. Afterwards I also get to teach someone how to use a drop spindle over at Grandma's Spinning Wheel on Tanque Verde. I am so excited.

It is time to call it a night. I have another busy day tomorrow.

A Good Day

Today was a better day.  I have almost finished another scarf on the loom.   A little cleaning got done and Eric is feeling better.  I think I will give knitting a break for a couple of days.  So I guess I will tag hats tomorrow.  

The Blender

Today was one of those completely awful days, by 6:08am my day had already hit the blender.  Eric's morning aide was a no show,  luckily John did not have to work today. Between the 2 of us we managed to get Eric out the door at a reasonable time.

On the way to program the tire pressure light went on on the van's dashboard. So as I was getting Eric out of the van I checked the tires. Thank goodness none were flat, they just looked a little low. Eric was also very disappointed that his one on one advocate was out sick today. So as soon as I found out who had Eric, I gave my usual how he slept and what was needed for today.

Then it was off to get gas for the van at Quick Stop, I got a quart size cup of unsweetened iced tea because I thought that seemed like a good plan at the time. Then it was off to Jack Furrier's Tires to get the tires checked out. Thank goodness I brought my knitting, I got 4 inches knit on a hat, while I was waiting and also borrowed a plug to charge my phone which was almost out of battery.  The good news is that there was nothing majorly wrong with the tires. They were just 4 pounds of pressure low. So I would like everyone who is reading this blog post to get their tire pressure checked out this week as the weather changes. Thanks in advance.

Since I was so close to Trader Joe's, I picked up some things for dinner. I put the groceries away. Then I finished my 2 loads of laundry for the day, I really had more but decided to go on strike. I thought the same with house work too.

I also have to start looking into a lift system to get Eric in and out of bed. Right now we are grandfathered in with the agency, but I don't know how long that will last. Eric is quite a few pounds more than the 50 pounds or so that is now acceptable for lifts. So I am going to look into something called helping hands.

After leftovers for lunch, I decided it was time to do a little weaving to zen out. That did not last long. I got a call that Eric had thrown up at program. So I stopped weaving. Asked John for a mommy time out, by this time I really needed one, he just laughed. So I went to pick up my sick boy. Yes he will be home tomorrow too.

I went to Target to get a few things that we needed, I used my paper coupons but forgot to use the cartwheel app at the register, I lost about $1.00 in savings. Oh well there is always next time.

While dinner was cooking I went back to weaving. I had to refill my shuttle, so I did not get the scarf done today. I am hoping that the tension headache that turned into a migraine goes away soon, I know its going to be a long day tomorrow with Eric home, but it will be a better day.

Tucson Meet Yourself

I went to Tucson Meet Yourself today with the guys. I had a good time. I am not sure that I like prickly pear salad though.  I think I will try to take Teri next time, she is much more fun at these events.  

Aside from that I got another hat finished and another hat started. I also managed to get 6 more hats tagged. 

Article 9

Dear Article 9,

We need to get something straight here. I am sure that you are a wonderful law with many good features.  This being said you have gone too far into my families laundry.  I am sure that your intent is for my sons aides not to do the family laundry.  I can really understand this.  

However when aide after aide comes into to my home after completing your required training and tells me it is against the law or somehow illegal for me to wash laundry for the whole family together, something is drastically wrong.

Lets get something straight, 3 people live under my roof. I do the laundry for all 3 people who live under my roof. I do not feel that you have the right to tell me how to do laundry for my family in my home. I already do an average of 25 loads of laundry a week, if I were required to do my husbands and my laundry completely separately  from our sons laundry, that would up my workload up by 3 to 4 extra loads of laundry per week.  Since we are fast approaching an epic 1,000 year drought event; and you do not pay my water or electric bills. Let alone for my time or washing supplies. I respectfully request that you stay out of my laundry room.

I am sure that the government has more important things to worry about than my laundry.

Sincerly,

One Tired Mom

New Patterns

I have finally figured out the new system on Ravelry. They have changed it since the last time I posted new patterns. So today I posted 2 patterns that were designed for the Old Pueblo Knitting Guild June Luncheon. The patterns were each exclusive to a different Local Yarn Store in Tucson. The top pattern is Grandma's Summer Shawl and the bottom one is called Morning Glory. My Good friend Lisa is the model. Both patterns are suitable for beginning knitters as well as more advanced knitters.

If you are a local Yarn Shop, I have also enabled a discount for you. This will allow you to download only the patterns as needed with out tying up capital.  If you would like to use my patterns as teaching tools or to teach a class in shawls please contact me and we can make arrangements.

So if you are on Ravelry you can look the patterns up by the pattern name or by my name. If you are not on Ravelry just use this link. Sheri's Pattern Shop .

So I wish you happy knitting and would like to remind you that the holidays are around the corner. It is possible to knit one or both patterns before the holidays.

A Late Night and More Hats

Eric was up until the wee hours this morning. Do naps were had by all. I also managed to wrap the loon and then weave about an inch on the new scarf. I can now wrap the loom in about the same time it takes Eric to do his breathing treatments.

Three more hats got finished today. I also cast on 2 more hats.  I really have to start tagging them. I have 2 tall piles of hats that need labeling. 

Ambivalent

I have been ambivalent about a lot of things lately. I'm not quite sure where it's coming from. I just have to keep chugging along so I get out of this funk in the mean time I'll keep knitting, organizing and deep cleaning. 

I think I will warp the loom tomorrow for a scarf. It's time to play with some yarn.  I'll probably pull another skein of hand spun,  because the hand spun yarn makes really really cool scarves. Did I mention how quickly they handwoven scarf goes compared to a hand knitted scarf.

I have made a dent in the yarn that I pulled out at the beginning of September for the charity hats. I think in another dozen or two hats  or maybe three dozen hats I'll have all that yarn used up. Then it will be time to pick out some more yarn for more hats. The hats are coming out very cute. I hope the kids like them.

I think it's time to go put Eric to bed for the night. And then listen to a little bit of the story that  I'm currently listening to and wind down for the night. I hope everybody has a great weekend.

Bingeing

Hand knit hats are a lot like M & M's to me.  I just finished another hat tonight. That makes about 3 dozen hats in a month. Don't worry I also cast on another hat so the knitting needles won't get lonely.  At least I have a home for them. 

I also finished spinning 2 skeins of yarn. I then started spinning another batch of roving. I guess this weekend I will get the yarn washed along with a hand woven scarf. Pictures after they are washed.  

Playing Catch Up

I am doing a very poor job of playing catch up.  I only got 2 loads of laundry done today. I have not finished a hat, the hat I started tonight is only 1/2 way done. I did not get to the grocery store either. Maybe with more rest tomorrow will be better.

I did manage to drive to Saddlebrook to pick up a donation for the Old Pueblo Knitting Guild. I think I will have lots of happy knitters at the next meeting. I am almost through sorting the 10 garbage bag donation. I see, lots of hats,mittens, scarf's and sweaters in this donation. By the way if you would like to come to the next Guild meeting it is on October 16, 2014. At 9:30 am at Saint Phillips Church Murphy Hall. This is at the corner of River Road and Campbell Avenue in Tucson.

It's time to update my phone then call it a day.

I Am Back Home

I left for California on Tuesday to take care of Teri for a few days.  She is doing much better now.  So I am back home in Tucson tonight. 

I my down time I went on a hat knitting binge. I have not counted the rows yet. Here are the 13 hats that I knit, a full bakers dozen. 

Through the Blender

Today was just one of those days. It started off in Tucson with an aide new to mornings. Way too many phone calls before breakfast. With a lot more after breakfast. 

Packing for an unplanned trip. Yes the yarn was packed before the clothes. Doing a car swap so Eric could get home from his day program.  

Followed by a very long drive in which a Boader Patrol Agent asked how my day was going.  I told him it was in the blender, but every thing was going to be OK. He must have thought that was a very odd answer. 

I also managed to visit a CVS Pharmacy in 2 diffrent states today. I am now at Teri's house for a few days of urgently needed mommy TLC for Teri. 

The Craft Room

Today I tackled the craft room.  I did a lot of throwing and managed to fill 1/3 of the recycle barrel. The bright side of this is that I will never have touch those things again.  Then I went through half of the craft bags and managed to empty 4 bags and 2 baskets.  

I also made the hard choice to to deconstruct several projects that were going no where.  I think I have a few more to deconstruct tommrow too. 

The top of the craft cabinet was emptied, dusted and reorganized. I know later in the week I will also have to tackle the drawers too. 

Then I finished 1 doll blanket. Followed by reorganizing the yarn into new project baskets,  mostly for hats. 

My only problem seems to be it is 9:30 at night and all I want to do is keep cleaning.  I guess it would not be that bad to stay up and clean because tommrow is Johns day with Eric. 

1 Hat a Day

I seem to be in the mode of knitting 1 hat a day. Here are the hats from the last 6 days. Yes, I cast another hat on tonight too. You do not have to worry though, they all are spoken for. 

The Short List

Eric is back on formula. 

The house is clean.

The laundry is caught up on. 

1 Hat got knit today. 

I am tired. 

Good night. 

Caffeine.

Eric was sick again last night.  The eyrping went on in to the wee hours of the morning.  I have been trying to not to drink caffeine after 11 pm when I am up at night with Eric. This has left me tired at night and the next day.  I am beginning to rethink this idea.  

Yes I spent last night and today cleaning, taking care of Eric and doing laundry.  A random factoid. Did you know that you can use a Swifter Duster to dust mop a very small room with out the need to run and get the broom.  Yes, I did this in the guest bathroom off the laundry room. 

I really don't see a problem with caffeine after 11 pm. Take tonight for instance.  The post viral asthma has kicked in. So if I have to stay up late, there is no question about it, I will be having at least 1 serving of caffeine.  I am just exhausted.  

I am hoping that Eric will fall asleep soon. 

Busy as a Bee

I have been trying to get as many knitting projects done as possible. In the past 2 days I have finished 2 baby blankets, 2 hats and 1 kerchief.  The blankets are leaving the house tommrow.  The hats will go in about a month when I have about 60 done. Some friends want to see what a pile of 60 hats looks like. 

I also spent a lot of time cleaning and organizing.  That included a number of knitting bags. The craft room and the living room.  

Eric has caught the current crud that is going around, so the days have drifted off into the early mornings.  I am hoping the sore throat will be gone in a day or two.  Mean while I have moved a basket of knitting into his room. I choose ponchos, because they go fast  do not require a pattern for me any more. They will also keep children in northern Arizona warm this winter.  I am hoping  to get 4 finished before October.  

It looks like Eric is finally drifting off. So it is time to call it the end of a very long day. 

Empty Project Bags

Instead of finding places to stash UFO's it is time to get some projects finished. Today I managed to empty 2 project bags, 1 large one and 1 small one. I finished 2 blankets that are already spoken for and 1 kerchief.  It is now time to clean out the big bag and reload it with projects. 

I know that this is not exactly stash busting, but when most of the projects are done it will be time to start more. After all I will have lots of empty bags and knitting needles. 

Eric is having a bit of a rough night so it is time to turn my attention to him.  Have a great day.  

95 Year Rain

Today we had the proverbial 100 year rain here in Tucson. It is my humble opioion a 95 year rain since we just broke the record of 1919.  We got 2.75 inches here at the house.  I am hoping that this might put a little dent in our long term drought.  

I am finishing the scarf on the loom with green and red stripes. I am making progress on the baby blanket too.  I have also taken the blanket off the circular needles and am now back to straight needles.  

I also hit the 10,000 step mark for the first time since I hurt my foot.  So hopefully I can hit that mark at least once a week for a while. Then build up to more days. 

Tomorrow is going to be super busy so I think I will call it a night. 

Conundrums

I will be starting a new picture feed about the conundrums in my life. Check it out on my Instagram, Twitter or Facebook feeds. Then you can add your feed back as to what you would do. Enjoy the journey with me. 

Saturday.

The day started out really well today. By 10:30 am I had the second load of laundry started. I had started organizing my gift and carrier bags   I then went on to organize the gift wrap, it is all in the warping paper box.  I then condensed 5 boxes and large bags into 3/4 of 1 box.  I also found a lot of things that I did not relize that I had.  I even found a cassette gift box from so last century. It found its way into the recycling bin, along with a lot of other unneeded stuff. 

Then the curds that are going around hit. I spent most of the rest of the day in bed.  Later in the evening I had enough energy to get some knitting done.  

I am hoping that Eric has not gotten the curds too.  He has spent the night coughing up a storm. 

Even though I spent most of the day resting, I think I will call it an early night.  

And So it Goes

Last night Eric had a rough night. I guess he had the beginning of the cold that he now has. In retrospect I am so happy that I picked up a pre-cooked fresh chicken for dinner this morning because the smell was wonderful. So the main course for dinner is cooked for the next 3 nights. I am also glad that I got an almost 3 hour nap to make up for the sleep that I lost last night. It might be a long night tonight. I hear that this is a bad one.

Now that he is a the back of the house for the night I will get a cake for tomorrow in the oven and then continue to clean. I am not sure if it will be plain or decorated yet. It all depends on how the night goes. Progress is being made. Sadly all it takes for the house to get messy is Eric getting sick, followed by a flare up for me. So essentially I am trying not to get behind.  I am hoping for some knitting time tonight. Wait revise that last statement. I wonder if I will get close to finishing the blanket tonight.

It is time to turn off PBS kids and get back to work.

Getting My Grove Back

I am getting into the grove of John flunking retirement. As per John he did not flunk retirement, he just picked up another hobby which is called work for 2 days a week. The first 3 months or so I felt like I did when he first retired, a little out of sorts and my rhythm was gone. I am starting to get my rhythm back.

I spent the day at the computer and got 50% of what has piled up cleared away. Tomorrow I think I will try to get a head start on taxes. Yes, it is already September and I want to hand my portion off as soon as possible. Try to finish a baby blanket for a baby shower in a few weeks. There is nothing like just in time knitting. I think I will use some of the quite time for some more deep cleaning and organizing which I just can't get done with the guys home.

Once things are more settled, I am hoping to work on my fiber art projects and knitting for a few hours a day. I also want to add walking and maybe some yoga back into the mix. Well Eric is done with his percussion, so I can turn off Sesame Street and serve dinner.

The Hat Lady

Today it was in the mid 90's when I went to the Flowing Well School District office. I was really hoping that they would take the 11 scarves and 63 hats that almost filled an XXL Ziplock Bag. John really wanted them out of the house. 

I was greeted by it's the hat lady. They were more than happy to take everything that I brought, even though it was still hot outside.   Even better they said that the kids loved the hats. 

Yes, you know me well. The next batch of hats and scarves are already in the works. I cast on 2 more hats today. I also finished the 1st hat of the next batch. I am also past the halfway point in the next baby blanket. 

So I think I really came to the right decision yesterday. I am back to creating and making.  The invisible pressure is off. 

Letting Go

Some dreams are hard to let go of. Take my Etsy shop for example. I am just not selling anything. It is way more money out then money in. So I have spent the last month or so deciding weather I should continue it or not. Then G'd puts someone in the right place at the right time.

I was standing in line outside the opening of the new Whole Foods Market on Oracle this morning. I was knitting as usual. I was working on a wool hat. Then the unexpected happened. A woman behind me asked why I was knitting a wool hat in the middle of the summer heat. I told her that this was a charity hat for local kids in need. Now this is where the conversation gets even stranger. She said that she had just retired from the Flowing Wells School District where I had donated bags full of hats and scarfs last winter. "Last year some one donated a whole lot of hats just like the one I was knitting. All homemade. The kids just loved them. Sometimes even wearing them in the classroom to show that they had a new hat."

She then asked where these hats were going? I told here that I just drop them off at the superintendent's office of the Flowing Wells School district and then they take care of the rest. That brought a smile to her face. In that moment my mind was finally made up. Everything that I have earmarked for sale that does not involve silk or other fussy yarn will go to the kids.

This does not mean that I won't take on commissions. It just means that I will put more energy into designing patterns, charity knitting, weaving and other fiber arts. I will not be knitting in hopes that I can sell something. I know a few of you who are very close to me will say thank goodness and at last.

It also means that more knitting will leave the house. I know someone that will be very happy with this decision. It also means that I won't get depressed over my lack of sales, or waste hours of thinking how I can fix this.  Now it is time to spring sloppy joe's on John.

Scorpions and more

Today was just one of those odd days all around. Eric picked up the tummy bug going around. So it was a long night. Thank goodness I had caught up on laundry yesterday, so that I only had 2 loads to do last night. So I was very tired going into the the day. As I was gathering all the stuff and medicine to hook Eric up to his pedilyte this morning, I ran into a scorpion. I was not moving very fast, but it was moving slower than I was.  I was able to walk to the kitchen and get a long handled fry pan. This is my favorite tool for killing scorpions. By the time I got back it had not moved much.  This one was a tough one though, it took 3 smacks to kill it. After it was disposed of, I went back to getting Eric his medicine and pedilyte. Eric's aide was so happy that he did not have to go after the scorpion he even cleaned the bottom of the fry pan for me.

After I had slowly given Eric his medicine, I took advantage of having an aide in the house for Eric and took a nap. The rest of the day was spent knitting and sitting with Eric. I think the most odd part of the knitting today is that the hat I started last night is now 2/3 done, is exactly where I picked up the one I was working on and finished yesterday. So I essentially got 1 hat for charity finished today. I also stumbled upon a bag set up for hat knitting that had gone missing in the UFO pile. I figure I have 5 to 6 hats worth of wool before I need to restock the bag.

 Eric is now feeling better and is handling pedilyte well. He is not back on formula so he will be home again tomorrow. Maybe I can get another hat  or 2 finished tomorrow.

My First Hand Knit Sweater

This is my very first hand knit sweater that was knit on Wednesday. One of Eric's Elmo's is wearing it. I would like everyone to know it only took me 10 years to get one made. If you need a sweater for a beanie size friend I think I can now handle that with some ease.  Thursday  I also completed a second sweater for one of Eric's friends.  I think that I am on a roll here. 

I have got to go now. I hear the laundry calling my name. Hopefully I can get more than 10 loads of laundry and cleaning done this weekend. I need to get my 35 grams of fiber today.

Life is Stranger than Fiction

Some things that I have taken for granted with Eric might not be things that should have been taken for granted. Take to day for instance. I was picking Eric up after his day program. Yes, I know that this happens quite a lot, if we are lucky 5 days in any given week. Well today went way out of the normal pick up for us.

As I was putting Eric's bag and my purse in the car a driver from a transport company walked straight over from his transport van to my car to take Eric from me. The conversation went something like this:

Driver - I am here to take Eric home.
Me - This is my son Eric, he is going home with me. At this point I grab a hold of Eric's chair. Then get between Eric and the transport driver.
Driver - I am here to pick up Eric. He is going with me.
Me - This is my son he is going home with me.
Driver - This is the Eric I am suppose to take home. I have it on my call sheet. This is his chair.
Me - This is my sons chair you must mean the other Eric. Go into the building and get him.
Driver - No, I am taking this Eric home.
Me - The other Eric's chair is blue. This chair is clearly green and my son is going with me.

This conversation went on like this for a few more minutes.

After jotting down my licence plate number he finally goes into to the building and emerges with the Eric he was suppose to be driving.

Well I have to say that this is the first time in his life that someone has tried to walk off with Eric on purpose. In the past when Eric was self propelled and he wheeled off someone would always return him. Now that he is not self propelled most people would not walk away with 100 pounds of chair and 95 pounds of boy on purpose.

The lesson learned today was: Never say never and don't be afraid to call 911 no matter how odd the call is going to sound.

If It's Lost

If things are lost where do we look? For socks it has to be the washer or dryer. I never look behind the baskets or under beds. There fore I keep a basket of random odd socks that I match up every so often.   For coupons it has to be somewhere on the table. 

But for everything else it it has to be my purse which rivals Hermoney Grangers bag of necessity.  Or worse yet one of my  knitting bags.  Take today for instance I found a lost discount card that I lost in mid June, while on vacation. Everything gets tossed into the one I am carrying at the time. I wonder if I should just go to my knitting bags first if I loose something?

Procrastination

In some respects I am a lot like my dad. I get things done promptly no matter how long it takes.  I started this on a drop spindle the day it came in the door, over 2 years ago.  Tonight I finished plying it. This is a wonderful silk and merino blend dyed by Cloudlover.  I see something for me in its future. 

The Bug Hit

I should be more precise. The cleaning bug hit. Since Eric started the day and spent most of the day sleeping, I had plenty of time. I even shared some of the work. John and I work great in tandem. I stripped the bed and put out clean sheets for later, he made the bed. I started emptying the dishwasher and he finished  unloading and reloaded it. I tried to clean John style where I worked on one area at a time. Those areas look great. I still have a way to go. For a job well started John even brought in a salad for dinner.

After I got tired of cleaning I found some time for spinning some new yarn and working on the next baby blanket. I think its time to go do some more knitting. I am almost ready to start the second skein on a 2 skein blanket.

Something Diffrent

This week when Eric got sick, I tried something different. I tried it without as much caffeine as normal. This was something I have never ever tried before. I'm not sure if it worked or not. Today I landed up taking a couple of naps instead of grabbing a couple of sodas or highly caffeinated tea. I guess that this was better for my body but, the house did not get as clean as I had wanted. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

I did the very basics of housework. Then spent some time relaxing by weaving part of a scarf, spinning some new yarn, and working on a new baby blanket. I am much more relaxed but much more tired.

It will take a few more days for me to figure out if this experiment really worked or not. Yes, Eric is feeling better and with any luck he will be out the door Monday morning to his program. I am looking forward to a real day off.

Busy

Last week Eric had a 5 day vacation from his day program. All he wanted to do was rest in bed and watch tv. My plans included going to a movie and a haircut for Eric. Guess who won? Did you really need to think about that?

So I spent my days spinning, weaving and knitting. I think I should have spent a little more time cleaning.  Well there is always what is left from this week to clean. 

This week I also started the initial shopping for a kitchen re-do. There are so many decision to be made.  I think the hardest part will be is finding a glass top cooking surface that is compatable with my LeCresut cast iron cookware.  Other than that I seem to be drawn to the less expensive appliances.  

It seems my eyrpy boy has settled down for the night. So I think it is time to call it a day. 

Not as Planned

Today did not go as planned.  Eric has a 5 day vacation from his program.  I wanted to go to the mall and take a walk and do a bit of shopping.  Instead we stayed home.  We watched PBS kids most of the day.  

So I caught up on washing the rest of the yarn from the Tour de Fleece. I caught on laundry the started washing a fleece. This was the dirtiest fleece that I have ever washed. It is still washing now. 

I fixed the the error made in assembling the loom, warped it and started weaving. I have found out that I can not use a 20" shuttle when weaving in Eric's room.  There is just not enough room. Almost 3" are already woven.  

I think my foot was not quite up to as much double treadle spinning as I did last week.  My foot is a little unhappy.  So I will give the Ashford a break for a little longer.  

Baby Blanket

RI finished this baby blanket today.  All 378 rows of it.  I thought it would take a week, but it took a little over 2 weeks. 

The back story on the blanket is that I was suppose to teach the mom to be how to knit so that she could knit a blanket for her baby.  We had a hard time finding a good time.  In my humble opinion we ran out of time. So I went into my stash to pick out some yarn.  I thought it would only take me a week. The most important thing is that it is finished before the baby decided to come.  So here is the blanket. 

Tune Up

The Ashford Travler needed a tune up. It was squeaky and sounded like it was going over railroad tracks. So one by one I tightened up all the loose screws. I oiled all the areas I could think of.  I got all but a few rattles are gone. I think I might get John to trouble shoot the last squeaks. 

I am almost finished with the baby blanket and I should be able to give it to her Monday.  Actually Eric wants to give this present.  

I took a map instead of warping the loom, so I guess that will get done tomorrow. 

Progress

I have hit a new stage in my zenning. Instead of finding more bags or boxes to get things put away. This week I started condensing things. Getting rid of extra bags and boxes.  I have 2 less bags of projects that need to be started. I am down 1 box on weaving supplies. All my circular needles that are not in current projects are now put away.  I have also filled the recycle barrel for the 3 rd week in a row.  

I also had a lot of help from John in setting up my new loom. He did a great job. Although I did not have time to warp the loom.  Maybe tommrow. 

The up side of all of this is that I have more time to knit, spin and now weave. Who would of thought that this would have happened.  The answer is John ,Teri and Lisa. 

Fiber Friday and More

I am almost at the halfway point in the baby blanket I started last Friday.  In spinning I almost finished a single that I am going to try to Navajo ply tommrow.  The picture is below.  

I got to see Eric at his talent show.  He did a great job playing the bells. They were very clever and put them on his afo's so when he got excited the bells went crazy. 

I am exhausted and am hoping for a good nights sleep tonight.  

Monsoon Friendly Roving.

Today I had great success with an alpaca silk roving. I started this roving a few months ago and it was almost impossible to spin.  The fiber flew every which way. I spent most of the time fighting with the fiber. I even tried using a blend of oil and water to try to tame it. That just made the roving feel yucky. 

Fast forward to monsoon season 2014. With the humidity around 40% instead of the usual 5 to 10%, the roving spun like a dream.  So my conclusion is some fiber just spins better in higher humidity. So this is my Tour de Fleece spin of the day. 

You Don't Look Old Enough

I was offered a senior discount for the first time today. Then the cashier said I did not look old enough to get the discount, so I had to pull out my id to get the 20% discount. I felt like I was 30 all over again trying to prove that I was over 21 and entitled to buy a glass of wine.

Age is a funny thing. It not only takes genetics, but a whole host of factors such as how much time did you spend in the sun before 20. How many sun burns did you get? Did you wear sun screen or baby oil while you were out in the sun? Did you wear wide brimmed hats or did you insist on the perfect hair all the time? Do you use moisturizer and sun screen daily on your face and hands even in the winter? Did you try to eat healthy or eat nothing but junk food? What type of life style did/do you lead?

I can say that I have been wearing wide brimmed hats for a long time. I have been using a moisturizer with sun screen since my early 20's. But is that really it. I can remember at 16 when I took my brother and his friend to Magic Mountain for the day. I had to pull out my drivers license to prove that I was 16 and old enough to supervise the 2 boys. The cashier still charged me the 12 and under rate because she said I did not look 16 and was sure that the license was a fake, but she still let us in with me as the supervising adult.  The heck with what the drivers license said.

On the other hand I know people who can pass for 5 or more years older than they are and no one gives that a second thought. Some are taller and some are shorter, so it can't all be the height thing. All I know is that it starts to happen at about 6 months of age. So if you look younger than your age have that id ready and get those senior discounts.

Day 3 of Tour de Fleece

I did not spend the day spinning so I do not have any finished skeins.  So here are pictures of the work in progress.  

Tour de Fleece Day 2

2 skeins spun today. The top skein is from Cloudlover.com.  The bottom skein is from Into The Whirled .com.  Both wee fun to spin.  Yes I got all 5 loads of laundry done too. 

Tour de Fleece 2014

Day 1.  The second picture is a single ply mohair in red and blue.  The first one is a Cloudlover super wash BFL in Neptune's Wrath.  

S to Z or Z to S

In spinning there are 2 ways to spin and ply the yarn.  I was taught S to Z and find it very easy.  I decided to try Z to S. After spinning and plying 5 skeins, just about a pound of roving, of Z to S, I think I will go back to S to Z.  I just find it easier to spin. My hands and fingers just want to work that way.  My yarn is just a little smoother. So here are the pictures as they were washing.  

 

Progress

I started the first of 2 baby blankets this morning.  As of right now I am 25% done with the first blanket.  Eric was a big help. He held on to the yarn while I was knitting.  Here is my progress so far.

I also managed to spin a little and get the laundry finished today. Eric is feeling better, but still not 100%. 

Laundry Overload

I know I have hit laundry overload when I start dreaming about laundry. Last night I hit overload. I was up with the eyrpy boy until 3:30 a.m.. I was trying to keep up with the eyrpy laundry, but I had to finish the laundry I put in the washer and dryer before bed. The dryer was my sore spot last night, it took forever in my very humble and tired opinion to dry anything.

Well I finally got to get a nap around 3:30 a.m. I dreamt that I was pulling an old fashion 2 wheel shopping cart, the kind women of my grandmothers generation used to use when they went shopping and had to walk or take the bus home with their groceries. The cart was pretty empty when I started out. As the dream progressed it kept getting fuller and fuller. The more I walked the fuller it got.  I could not find any place to wash the pile of laundry no matter how much it grew and was stuffed down in the basket.

When I woke up at 5:30 a.m. I went right back to doing laundry. With great hope on my part, I have what I think is the last load of laundry for the day in the dryer as I write this. Wish me luck. Eric is still a little eyrpy.  Now of course this does not include the yarn that I am plying right now on the spinning wheel.

Hand Tired

I had a pretty busy day today.  Overall it was pretty good, but tiring. By 5:30 pm my hands were to tired to move.  So the knitting and spinning I wanted to get done are still UFO's.  Also this is a very short blog so my hands can rest.  

I Step Back

I landed up having to rewash all of the white roving. I did not get enough lanlion off the fiber.  It looks much better now.  The wool will spend tomorrow drying.  Then I will go to the next fleece on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.  Hopefully that will be the last fleece that I find in the storage room.  

Next on the line up are a few dog pillows for my spinning groups dogs. There are a few new puppy's.  I also want to start my next design this week.  There is just so much to do. I will get more accomplished if Eric does a good job of sleeping. 

Play Time

Eric was home sick today. Since he spent much of he day sleeping I took the time to play. I managed to wash about 2 pounds of wool and 9 ounces of alpaca.  I found time to spin and knit 2 hats with a total of 63 rows toward the 1 million row challenge. When John got home I even managed a 3 hour nap.  Also on the plus side Eric is feeling better. 

A Busy Sunday

I managed to get all 5 loads of laundry done today despite my very late start. I did not get the first load in until 7:30 a.m. which is quite late for summer.  I usually stop the washing machine when it hits 100 out side and then wait until it cools down to 100 again. if I am very lucky I can keep things running until 11:00 a.m. or so and then restart everything back up after dinner. This is what I mean by giving the appliances the afternoon off.

The great part about living in Tucson in the summer is that the grocery stores tend to be pretty empty when it is over 100. So today I went in the middle of the day. I got everything I needed without getting bumped by a bunch of carts. This was a good thing today. My Safeway has gone through another upgrade. I am not sure if this is do to the merger with Albertson's or that a brand new Whole Foods will open up across the street in a few months. This meant that I had to go up and down all the aisles. Everything was in a new place, this makes it hard to do a quick trip in and out.  I noticed that quite a few things were gone and a lot of upgraded stuff was brought in. They have also added a lot of "organics" gluten free and "health food" along with bins full for all kinds of things including teas, pasta, grains and specialty items.

I managed to do a bunch of odds and ends but no big projects got finished. Yesterday I tried to cut back on caffeine and today I got the headache in return. I guess I will try that at a later date. I am waiting for Eric to settle down for the night, but it might be a while.

Morning Glory

The second pattern that was released on Thursday is called Morning Glory. John came up with the name. This shawl and pattern can be found at Kiwi Knitting Company here in Tucson. By a remarkable coincidence You can get this pattern and yarn exclusively at Kiwi Knitting Company here in Tucson. You will find the yarn in the sock section of the store along with the shawl. Stop buy to get the pattern and yarn. Join the group at the knitting table and start your project.

The Kiwi Knitting Company
2540 E. 6th Street
Tucson AZ
(520) 881-1319

On line the The Kiwi Knitting Company can be found here.  The normal store hours are Monday through Saturday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.  If Tucson is part of your summer travels please keep in mind that The Kiwi Knitting Company will be closed from June 30th to July 11, 2014.

The pattern is a beginning one skein wonder. The yarn is Regina Fluormania Color by Schachenmayr. Perfect for the slight chill in the air on summer evenings, with a very nice drape.  It is done in garter stitch. The only skills needed to knit this shawl are the ability to do yarn overs, and knit2together.