Progress?

Today was better.
Arthritis- 1
Sheri - 1
So I will call it a tie.
I am on the last broader round of a baby shower gift 6 months over do.  I dis not sleep most of the day. I am still exhausted though I even managed to put a few things away and drop the crochet hook under the couch twice. Progress in a wired Sheri way.

Today’s Score

Today’s score was dismal.

Arthritis- 1
Sheri- 0
Steps 4578 out or 8100.

I rested most of today. I am hoping for a better day tomorrow.

By the Numbers

Today by the numbers goes like this:

I went to Bookman’s Mid town and Bookman’s East side.2
The number of socks my store credit bought. 12
Hand knit hat finished.  1.
Pillows given to Ivan.  I not sure weather he liked the Elmo or truck pillow better.  I know that they will be loved.  2.

The Bookman’s stops were for my on going Zenning. I guess I will need to figure out what to zen next.  Maybe a couple of extra dressers that are no longer needed. Then more books. Maybe even tackling organizing my fiber books or my closet.  I am sure all that can result in more trips to Bookman’s.

In the meantime I have:
3 hats to knit. 2 to find and correct errors these will go to Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank and 1 for a friend.
1 blanket to knit and add a crochet border.
Some animals to sew.
3 purses to finish.
1 random animal to finish.
Can I get this all done before the end of January? I hope so.

Yeah for Zenning

More stuff gone. Today I filled the entire back of my car with socks, hats, books and bibs for a charity run. Then when John came home we filled it again for a Bookman’s run tomorrow. Yeah for Zenning. Less stuff. Did I mention that I also filled and entire box for Bookman’s today while I was putting other things away?

More Socks

Yes, I am still zenning the house.  This is yesterday’s sock haul from Bookman’s NW. Five pairs of socks for the Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank. I am really grateful that I can turn my house decluttering into something very useful. I really like the Yoda socks.

Remembering Eric

Sometimes I think I have everything under control with losing Eric.  Then I will do something really stupid like opening up some mail before bed.  See an unexpected donation made in Eric’s name. I really do appreciate people remembering Eric. Making the world a better place because of Eric. That is totally awesome.  Then the waterworks just start.  Then I think about his smiles and hugs.  Then I feel I was so lucky to be his mom, to be apart of his life and world. More tears.  I think I better stop now before I flood Tucson with my tears.

Fantastic

I had a fantastic Zenning day. I went to Bookman’s Mid Town and Bookman’s East today. With today’s trading and some credit when they were out of socks it was just fantastic. I have traded for 17. Ore pairs of socks for the Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank.  This is a total win for me and the clothing bank.  I have a lot less clutter to worry about putting away or dusting. For the clothing bank it is a very small boost in their supply of socks.  

So a very big thank you to Bookman’s Mid Town And Bookman’s East.

Too Much Tension

It has been a very busy tension filled week. Weeks like this are not kind  to my arthritis.  I find the more tension the worse the arthritis flare up is.  It has really been too much tension for me. We got a lot done which really helps. This being said, I am on day 2 of an awful tension headache. So my game plan for the rest of the day is chores, knitting and working on a new design.

I really want to see how many projects I can get finished today.  Wish me luck.

Exhausted

Tonight I am exhausted. Partly because of an arthritis flare up. Partly because John and I were very busy today with friends and chores.  Even though I was exhausted I managed to get my steps, drink my water and eat right.

I hope you all have a wonderful and productive weekend.

Knitting Books

I have got to really organize my knitting books by subject matter. I spent one and a half hours looking for Domino Knitting by  Vivian Hoxbro, for a class I am teaching tomorrow. I decided to take one more quick look before bed and found the book in the sock knitting section of my library.

This means that I really need help to sorta d organize my books.  I would trade this for duplicate books or hand spun yarn. I think I am down to about 10 feet of shelf space for knitting books.  I am not the best at organizing despite my best intentions.

On the bright side while I was looking for Domino Knitting,I managed to fill two bags with recycling. These things will never have to be dealt with again.  I also manage to get over 9,000 steps today. Then just like that it is almost 11:00 p.m.  so good night.

A New Pattern in Progress

My head is reeling. I have just spent 3 hours translating my knitting notes into a new pattern to be released later this week. Can anyone explain to me why it is so much easier to design and knit the prototype then it is to "just" type up my notes into a usable pattern. If you think the pictures are set in the pattern well all I can do is laugh and say how funny you are. That will take me another few hours. Then a few more to add it to Raverly.

When I started designing patterns nobody said anything about knowing graphic design. Even that your notes should be very copious, even if it does not get put into the pattern. Given all this I still enjoy the process of design. I hope you enjoy my patterns.

I thank Gd for Microsoft word. I can't imagine doing this on an Underwood or even a Selectric typewriter. So a very well earned Thank You to the software engineers at Microsoft.

Now to go figure out how not to lose my pictures in the computer or dinner. Whichever comes first.

Bye Bye

I am saying bye bye to more inches.  In the last 18 months I have lost 4 inches off my rib cage.  I know I am losing inches in other places too, I am just not measuring them.  You can tell by how often I need to buy smaller clothing. The most frustrating part for me is that the scale refuses to budge. I am building more muscle mass.  Muscle also weighs more than fat, but is much more compact.  This means that my exercise plan of house cleaning is working well.

Tomorrow is another busy day so I am calling it an early night.

A Hard Day

It’s been almost two months since we lost Eric. I needed to do Eric paperwork which in it self is not hard, but the emotions will over take me in a snap. I got through about half of what I needed to do.  Then it was time to find smiling pictures of Eric to remember the happier times. Eric had a smile that just lit up the whole room.

After that I went on a small cleaning spree.  I managed to get a lot in the recycling can. I also did 2 loads of laundry.  There seems to be a lot less laundry now. The loads are also smaller.

Before I knew it time had flown. It was time to reheat some stew for dinner. After dinner it was. I needed to figure out how I managed to get 6 eye lashes stuck in one eye. I still don’t know how I did it.  The skin around the eye is still a little tender.  My advice is not to get 6 eyelashes in your eye at one time.

It’s getting late so it’s time to call it a day.

Leaping Lizards

Have you heard the news? I am now showing my hand woven scarfs at the Leaping Lizards Gallery here in Tucson, Arizona. I am just one of many artists in all different mediums.  I would like to extend my personal invitation to you to visit the gallery located at:

Leaping Lizards Gallery
6530 East Tanque Verde Road
Tucson AZ 85715
520-722-1266

Located in the LaPlaza Shoppes

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Living Near a Fiber Artist

Sometimes I wonder what our neighbors that of me.  Living next door to a fiber artist must be weird at times.  What got me thinking about this is that I have woven 3 scarfs since the beginning of the year.  After I am finished weaving them, I soak them in a hot bath of *Soak Wash* and very hot tap water and rough them up a bit to help set the weave.  After the water cools I rinse the scarf out of the excess dye.  Then it is time for thwacking. To do this I take the soaking wet scarf to the back yard and swing it as hard as I can on to the patio table for a few minutes.  Then it goes into the garage to dry on the line.  The same thing happens to freshly hand spun yarn too.

At other times I have freshly washed fiber drying in the sun. Perhaps blocking mats laying outside when I have to block something. Sometimes it’s a freshly wash quilt hanging on the fence.  On a nice day I might take my spinning wheel out side to spin.  If a fleece has a lot of vegetable matter I might take the carder to the driveway or front porch to card so I don’t have to sweep and vacuum a mess in the house.  I might even sit outside and knit.

I have friends who hang freshly dyed yarn outside to dry.  Even decorate fences with fiber art.  I have friends who dye yarn in their back yards too. I also will dye yarn in the back yard at times.  When I waited for Eric’s bus I used to stand outside and knit scarfs.

Does this make me weird? Does it mean that I just know how to have a lot of fun? That I don’t know when to stop having fun?

* I have been using Soak Wash for a long time.  If your local yarn or lingerie shop does not carry Soak Wash you can get it directly from Soak Wash , Raverly or Amazon. The makers of Soak Wash did not pay for this endorsement. I have not received anything for the mention in the blog.  It is just my favorite wool and lingerie wash.  I always have at least a couple of spare bottles in the laundry room so that I don’t run out.  I also recommend it to wash all of my by hand created fine washables.

A Sneak Peak

Tonight I am giving you a sneak peak of part of the third scarf I am weaving this year. Yes I know it is only January 6th.   My creativity is running on high octane.  I am just trying to keep up. This section is woven with a 3 ply yarn. 1 ply merino and 2 plies of crochet thread. Just look at the lovely pattern it creates.  This scarf was started this afternoon.

New Years Resolutions

Every time I go buy smaller size clothing people are always asking for my “miracle diet tips” everyone wants a fast easy way to lose weight and inches. I would like to say that I am not perfect. I have awful seasonal cravings. I don’t always make my step goal. I also know I just need to brush off the crumbs and resume my healthier lifestyle. It’s not about diets, it’s all about life style changes. I have been working on this gradually since June 2009.  It’s not fast in any way. There are blog post about this too.

So with this disclaimer:  I am not a medical professional. This is what works for me. Always talk to your doctor or other medical professional before making major lifestyle changes.

For me it’s about getting the bad for me stuff out of my life. These include high fructose corn syrup, artificial sugars, 80% of the regular sugars. White potatoes and white rice. I have also eliminated most soda, I had 1 bottle of soda since June 2018.  I had a really sudden and bad migraine and needed to drive across town in a few hours. I am not perfect by any means.  Perfection in lifestyle is an ugly facade.  It’s also about drinking more water or unsweetened teas.

Next it’s about moving your body.  You don’t need to buy an expensive gym membership, unless of course you want to. I got a pedometer and did a two week base line, of 2,500 steps a day. Yes, really. Once that was established I would increase my step goal by no more than 10% when I felt I could handle more exercise. My current goal is 8,080 steps a day.  You can find me walking in circles or figure 8’s around the house if the weather is not ideal or I am having a bad body day.  I also started deep cleaning the house. Small things like emptying the linen closet, deciding what to keep and what to get rid of.  Fold all the keepers and putting them back. Drawer by drawer. Closet by closet.  Until there was less.  I recommend Zenning in 5 minutes a Day.  Then start doing things like sweeping the floors on a regular basis.  Take over the vacuuming.  Do 30 minutes of housework a day.  It might sound really silly, but there is a method to my madness. The more you move and do things the more muscles you will build.  The more muscles you build the more calories your body uses, the more lean mass you build the more inches you will lose.  For more details on this ask your doctor.

Since June 2018 I have been trying to follow the low glycemic diet with 45 grams of carbs for breakfast, lunch and dinner. With snacks only if I am hungry. Again check with your doctor about this. I buy whole grain bread, fresh fruit and vegetables. I try to eat lean meat and eat fish several times a week.

So this is my invitation for you to join me on the slow trip to a thinner you.  The ultimate goal is better health no matter what size you end up at the end of your journey.

A Busy Day

Today was a very busy day.  We went car shopping. We are at the just looking stage. We need a car that will fit a tall and short person plus a spinning wheel in the back without laying it on its side. Also it would be nice if Teri and Tej could fit in the back seat when they came in for a visit. It’s not that big of an ask. We went to 3 different showrooms and just sat in the cars.

Out of the 3 we visited today, we eliminated one brand because they did not offer power seats in any of the models we were looking at. We were told that power seats were a luxury item. In 2020 really? They obviously don’t have arthritis.

 I was really annoyed with one salesman at the beginning because he was so snobby. Did we really belong in that showroom.  I really don’t see the need to dress up on a Saturday to go car shopping. Besides who dresses up to go car shopping anyway? A very rookie mistake by the salesman as far as I am concerned.  The sad part was that they had a nice car with features that we liked.

The other car that we liked had almost everything we wanted and the salesman was great. The car hunting adventures will continue. We still have at least 3 more brands to look at before we start the test drives.

 I also finished weaving the scarf that was on the loom and took it off.  I re warped the loom and started the next scarf and wove 29 inches of it tonight. So tomorrow morning I will tie up the ends of the red scarf , then soak it in hot water and thwack it. Finish weaving the blue and gray scarf and start the last scarf.  I have some really good news about my scarfs for later in the week. Stay tuned.

Hat 1-2020

Another day another hat. This is the first hat of 2020. It is 100% cotton and is already in the bag for my favorite clothing bank.  Yes, the next hat has been started.  I really like how it turned out.

The First

This is the beginning of the 1st hand woven scarf of 2020. I warped it tonight and wove 19 inches. A linen warp and a silk and wool weft.

It’s the Last Hat

This is the last hat that I knit in 2019. It was hat number 80.  I hope you did not think that this was my last hat ever. I have many more hats to knit. There is never a shortage of cold heads in Tucson that need hats.  

Happy 2020

This is the first morning of 2020.  This year I will put a few goals in writing.  They are in no particular order.

1. Teri would like me to read 100 books this year.  A more realistic goal is 12.  So I will strive to read 12 books and any extra books read is a bonus for Teri and Bookman’s.

2.  I will try to finish 100 craft projects this year.  With a minimum of 5 dozen hats, to be knit over the summer.

3. I will try to publish 4 patterns this year. I hope that this is not too ambitious for me.

4. I will try to enjoy my retirement and get out more.

I could add more, but this is all that I am willing to commit to this year. I have not set goals since so last century. This list is doable if nothing major happens this year.