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.