In The Blender

Eric had a rough night last night and I don't even remember what time that I got him settled down for the night.  All I know is that 6 am came much too quickly. Eric's bad night lasted for most of the day. So,Eric skipped his day program and helped me sort the double pointed knitting needles by size. I now can say that I know where most of my double pointed knitting needles are. I think that I can lose quite a few before I have to run out and buy replacements. Of course there is still the odd one floating around the house and a set with each hat knitting bag. I keep one bag for knitting animal fiber hats and one bag for plant based fiber hats. The are no bags for petroleum based fiber hats, as I feel that no one should be forced to wear clothing made from a non-renewable resource.

I think that I will be putting all my knitting accessories in one spot too. I have not decided what I will put all the accessories in yet. That and single pointed straight knitting needles will be done on Friday. I find it kinda of odd that after over 30 years of marriage that I am finally starting to understand my engineer's mind for organization and that sometimes less is more.

I usually do not run the washer and dryer after 100f, but I got a late start at  laundry today. Even though I was finished with the laundry by 10:30 am it was over 100f already. It did feel on the cooler side today at lunch time it felt a bit chilly at 105f with a light breeze after last weeks 115f and 116f days.

I also found time to start knitting a new wool hat tonight and am halfway through with it. I think that is is time to go do some reading.

Circular Knitting Needles

Today I started organizing my knitting needles starting with the circular needles. I had the knitting needles in 3 different areas. Hopefully having them in one spot will make things easier to find the right knitting needle when I need one for a project. They are also off my closet floor. The needles, are sorted from U.S. size 0 to size 50. They are also in a container that will not allow them to fall on the floor.  I really like the idea of my knitting needles not falling on the floor. Of course this does not include the knitting needles on projects. I must have a lot of projects on sizes, 6, 7, 8 and 11's.  Tomorrow I will work on the double point needles. I will save the straight knitting needles for Friday. As you can tell my deep cleaning has slowed down quite a bit, but I am down to the knitty gritty of the job so things are going much slower pace. 

I also managed to finish knitting 2 hats and casting another cotton hat on. I like to keep a cotton hat for knitting on the go and a wool hat to knit at home. I still need to cast on a wool hat. At a year post hand surgery I am still limited by my hands in how long I can knit each day, but at least I can knit again. 

107f

I have lost count of the days it has been over 105f in a row so far this summer. Yet I know that winter is coming and the knitting of children's hats and scarfs is on going, besides they don't sit in my lap as I knit.

I am really enjoying having a huge washing machine. I can wash most of Eric's clothes every other night as it has been too hot to run the machine during the day.

Still Hot at 116f

We are deep into a summer weather advisory here in Tucson, this just means that it will be over 110f. It also usually means that afternoon flights will be canceled in Phoenix and Tucson. I personally love this summer weather, but Eric on the other hand can not handle the heat. So he is going to program in the morning when it is still relatively cool like the 93f  drive time temperature today. By lunchtime when I pick him up it was 109f, a very warm temperature for Eric. When we got home we sat under the ceiling fan until I was cold.

As with yesterday I spent my time preparing fiber and knitting while we watched PBS kids all afternoon. As of now it is back down to 109f at dinner time. It is trying really hard to rain but I don't think we have enough humidity yet. A best we might get some lighting and thunder. By bedtime it will be cool enough to run the washer and dryer.

On a different note, this issue always seems to be coming around and just will not go away. I know that there are a whole lot of groups that like hand knit items to give away for their charity projects. They want a certain yarn or pattern used.  I think that this is a kind and wonderful jester. However, and this is a big however, I knit what I want in the fibers that I want. The Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank gets the bulk of my knitting, John and I are fine with this. I take care of children in my own community. Their students like my very colorful hats and scarfs, made with cotton, wool, nylon and alpaca.  I know that people that live in the snow belt will not agree that around 70f is cold enough to warrant giving the children winter clothing. Did I mention that it was 116f today? I do think that a 46 degree drop in temperature is enough to warrant the use of winter clothing. So as John put it so nicely at dinner tonight, "Knit what you want to knit, unless it is a paying job. Then they can have what they pay for," So before you badger me to knit for your group, please remember that I already have a group that I knit for.

What To Do When It's 115f Outside

Hats are my favorite thing to knit in summer. They are small . They don't sit on my lap. They are like M&M's, I just can't knit one. My goal was to knit a hat a day for the whole summer. Right now I am only knitting 5 hats per week. A little short of my goal. You do know that winter is coming and I won't look so silly then.

Life

It has been a bit on the busy side here. I also have a post elbow flare up. So I am trying to keep up. I might just hit brake even this week instead of being 3 steps behind. With record breaking heat expected here this week I will get my chores done early and knit the rest of the day.

Knitting Needles

After changing out the knitting needles for the fourth time today, I got some smooth and quick knitting on a project that has been driving me nuts for months. I landed up using a retro pair of mismatched needles from the 1960's that were passed down to me. I thought that I would never use such ugly aluminum knitting needles, but they did the trick.

I also have to find some fine sandpaper to repair one pair of needles that were ruined by using them to knit silk with. I have learned not to knit silk on wooden knitting needles. I guess the right needles for each yarn is very important.