Walking More

Today I was able to walk 9,419 steps which is a bit under 4 miles for me. It is still easier to take long walks in 2 inch high heels. The bulk of the walking was done in 1, 35 minute walk this afternoon.  That covered 1.5 miles. Long gone are the days when that only took me 20 minuets  to cover the same distance. I hope that these numbers will get better.

Dismal

This week has been absolutely dismal. I can’t even estimate how far back this week has left me. I am exhausted and overwhelmed. I am ever the optimist however, so things can only get better from here. With that in mind I am turning in early and hope to get everything thing that should have been done this afternoon done in the morning.

The Boader

I am on round 3 of the broader on Teri’s blanket. The front looks so much better than the back. I still have to weave in all those ends. In other knitting news hat number 66 for the year was finished today. I am happy that I am on my way to hat 67 , which has already been cast on. 

12,751

12,751 is the current number of rows in Teri’s blanket. I will continue adding rows around the outside of the blanket until I achieve a balanced look or I run out of yarn.  As you can see by the crochet hook, the edging is being crocheted on. Then I will weave in all the ends.

Best Layed Plans

John and I had plans to get away for the weekend.  All I can say is there is a tummy bug going around Tucson now.  So we will be having a staycation at home.  So we went to the movie Crazy Rich Asians. We both loved the movie, but no one told us that we would need Kleenex.  In my humble opinion you don’t need to be rich or Asian to understand the family dynamic.  Then it was off for lunch and then home to relax.

Tomorrow we will be combining relaxation with a few chores.  Well it’s time to watch Dinosaur Train with Eric before bed while I knit for a little bit.

Last Square

I started knitting the last square of Teri’s blanket today. You know the one I started when she was a L1. You have all probably heard the story of how she picked 10 skeins of yarn and we both thought that it would be enough for a queen sized blanket.  Boy were we ever off in our calculations.   It turned out that 1 skein made 3 blocks. So I had enough yarn for 2 rows of blocks.

Then there was a frantic search for enough yarn to finish the blanket.  I think I will have enough yarn leftover to knit a sweater for me.  But I am digressing.  At Thursday’s knitting group at Grandmas Spinning Wheel we have an aggregate knowledge base approaching 200 years.  It’s a great place to discuss the merits of various finishing techniques.  So the plan is to chrochet the boarder. Yes, I will be bracing my left hand for this.  Not to weave in all the ends in one sitting.  Do the final trimming after the first wash.  Try to figure out how to fit it in my carry on luggage.

This evening I was doing the mommy multi task thing.  Finishing cleaning of the craft room.  Washing more eyrpy laundry.   Taking care of the eyrpy boy. Getting my final 5k step for the day. Giving Eric his medicine.  Plus near constant suctioning of Eric to keep the gunk out of his lungs.  Now I am just waiting for Eric to fall asleep.  I think I will leave the tv on all night so that I can sleep.

Short Thoughts

I finally got to see the movie Black Panther from the, I believe to be 1960’s comic book by the same name from Marvel Comics.  I can honestly say that with the exception of the fight scenes the movie was to good to knit through. I would like to thank all that made this great movie possible.


 Sorry Teri, I only knit half a block today.  Oh yeah and we got about a half an inch of rain today.  Not the massive storm that the weather service warned us about.  I guess living in the desert the weathermen get bored and have to do something for fun. Look at all the alerts that they got to send out.

Tradition

It would not be a holiday around here without a certain someone getting sick.  At least he has a day off tomorrow. This means that he can help supervise laundry, knitting and cleaning.  I am not quite sure when it became a family tradition, I personally think that it was so last century.

At any rate, Eric is starting a trial of formula and I will knit.  All this happens while Eric’s tummy is determining weather he will be totally sick or not.

Teri’s Blanket.  In other news, there are only 4 more squares to knit before the next measurement.  Hopefully I will be weaving in ends and adding the broader soon.

Eric’s Question

Eric rarely asks questions let alone say anything. This afternoon I am working on Teri’s Blanket. The queen size on on U.S. size 7 knitting needles. That’s 4.5 mm needles in the rest of the world. This is he blanket that I started Teri’s first year of law school. The assumption was that if I can knit a twin size blanket on U.S. sized 13 needles in a month, it should only take 2 or 3 months to knit a queen sized blanket. Not so much.

This lead to Eric’s question..”Why isn’t it done?” He spoke so clearly that John heard him across the room. Along with that he gave me the I am disappointed with you face. You let my sister down. Being a less seasoned knitter 10 years ago I over estimated my abilities and how boredom could set in on such a large project. So it will sit on the kitchen table becoming my soul knitting project at home. Until it is done. Did you notice all the ends that need to be woven in too?

Unintended Cleaning

I was already to go and finish cleaning the craft room today.  I got a little sidetracked and organized my fiber stash instead. At least I can see the difference.

Well there is always tomorrow to clean the craft room.

The Whole Warp

This afternoon I spent a few hours getting my charity warp organized. This involved going into a very hot garage and sorting through bins of yarn. I do not recommend doing this when it is over 100f degrees outside. Then winding the hanks into cakes. The skeins ranged in yardage from 50 to 260 yards per skein. I got through 80% of the winding before: 1. My arm got tired. 2. It was time for dinner and we needed a the table.

You might ask how I acquired so much warp yarn. There are various answers to this question. The answers are as varied as the colors and brands themselves. They include: 1. Someone got the yarn while traveling and it is not cost effective to return the left over skeins. 2. The yarn shop no longer carries this brand and it can not be returned. This should read they started the project a long time ago. 3. I know you do a lot of work with scrap yarn so I thought you could use it up for me. 4. If I get this yarn out of my stash, I can buy more yarn. I personally like this one. 5. Make something for the kids for me. 6. From a Knitter’s or weavers estate. The saddest one of all is number 6. My Local Yarn Shop closed, so this could not be returned. Please support your lys so this does not happen*. These of course are not all of the reasons but are the main ones.

I figure if I weave 2 to 3 scarfs a week and acquire no more warp this should take about a year to use up. Not to mention all of he non superwash Wool that will be use in the process.

* Almost 50% of Local Yarn Shops have closed in the past decade. Please support your local yarn shops.

Stash Busting

I have 14 hats and 4 scarfs ready to go to the Clothing Bank, but with temperatures in the 100’s this week there is still time to knit and weave more things.  To that extent I have cast on another hat. I have picked the yarn out for the next hand knit scarf and will finish weaving another scarf tonight. If I have time I might even get the warping started for the next handwoven scarf done tonight.

It’s time to go play with fiber.

5 Day and Counting

My ankle has recovered enough to start walking again.  If I can maintain my 8,000 steps per day for 25 more days I will increase my step count goal by a slight increase in steps.  I have even starting walking around my neighborhood. This means that I can walk up and down small hills. It is still easier to walk down hill than up hill. I have also found that it is easier to warp the small loom too. I will try warping the larger loom later this weekend.

Eric was up to his old tricks today. He faked sick at his program.  When he found out that daddy was going to pick him up he instantly got better.  His aide tonight and I figured out his con job.  In some ways I am very happy that he got his point across.  That he was bored and wanted to go home  In some ways I had thought we had left this bad behavior behind us.  Some days I just want to throw up my hands and say enough of this Eric and hide out in my local yarn shop.

Moving Down

Today I got into a pair of blue jeans that have not fit for a long time.  That made my day.  Then to out do myself I made my step goal for the 3rd day in a row. So all in all it was a good day.

Whiney Mommy

Now I don’t want to be a whiney mommy, but staying up most of the night without my full sugar, full caffeine drink is hard. No, I am not backing down on the commitment I made to myself on June 6th to  cut back on all sodas and 80% of my sugar intake.  It’s just the first time Eric has had a really bad night since then. For that I am truly grateful. To answer the most obvious question, yes I did have 2 full cups of tea this morning. That just does not equal 12 ounces off caffeine and sugar.

Just because I am tired does not mean that I am going to stop organizing and trying to complete the Zenning project that I started yesterday.  Yesterday I took all my weaving yarn and separated the warping and weft yarns to make it faster to start new projects.

Yes I am going to whine.  Whine. Whine. Whine. Now off I go to clean for a while. Maybe not as long as planed, but I had really planned a movie day, so what does it matter.