Today’s Hat

May I present hat 13 - 2020.  I am almost out of this grouping of purple yarn.  More colors to come.  Also don’t worry about the knitting needles or stitch markers, hat 14 - 2020 has been cast on and is 2 1/2 inches in.  I go to 7 inches before my decrease begins.

Day 17 of COVID19 and Counting

The dress I wore today is 2 inches longer than the last time I wore it.  I don’t think it can be classified as an Empire Waist dress anymore either, you guessed right that seam is a good 2 inches below where it needs to be. 

On the knitting front I have decided that I need simple knitting that I can do in my sleep.  I am just so stressed by the uncertainty and people not doing the right thing.  So I pulled out this basket of yarn which will be made into hats and maybe a few scarfs.  I want to finish it before the end of April, yes we will still be home for all of April too.  I will show each hat as it is finished. I really hope we will be able to go out by mid June.

I Am 3 for 3

Today was a puttering kind of day.  Over breakfast I found out I could get my favorite Trader Joe’s snack food from Amazon, at a slightly higher price. I justified it because Trader Joe’s does not deliver.

I got laundry, walking and cleaning done in dribs and drabs.  Yes, John’s polos came out wrinkled, but I did it so I can’t complain about.  I honestly can’t quite remember when the last time it happened, but I think Teri was in preschool.  Since John is working from home I am the only one who is going to see the wrinkled shirts.

My fiber crafting was quite scattered today also.  I spun 2 ounces out of 16 ounces which means that I have 4 ounces on the bobbin.  I can’t decide if I want to get a bright hot pink silk to ply it with or just ply the yarn back on itself.  Twice as much yardage or the regular 2 ply yardage.  Then it was off to the modular  baby blanket after dinner. I finished 1 square and found a mistake in another that needed to be fixed before I could continue with the blanket.  I fixed the mistake and moved on.  I am decreasing stitches on the current hat.  Since we are not eating out at all or going for car rides not a lot of hat knitting is going on.  So I worked on 3 projects and finished none some that is how I am 3 for 3 today.

Bits and pieces of COVID19

Nothing says the house needs to be reorganized more than “sheltering in place” do to the COVID19 outbreak.  But I am limiting myself in the amount of time that I am spend.  Today the hour before breakfast was spent putting our extra blankets in vacuum bags for John to put up higher in the closet after his work at home shift had ended. This gave me space for things I use all the time at a level that I could reach. Also more baskets and bags off the floor.

Another thing that I have noticed is that I am not eating enough during the day and find myself hungry at night.  I did not have this problem before because we ate most of our meals out.  Now that I am only eating when I am hungry and not planning my eating times around how crowded a restaurant will be I am just eating less.  We are also eating better sized portions and healthier food. Take to day for instance I had only had 560 calories from the time I woke up until after dinner.  This meant that I had to eat roughly 700.calories before bed.  So my bedtime snack was a toasted cheese sandwich, dried fruit and a breakfast bar.

Even worse this is the time when I would normally be shopping for smaller clothes.  Wearing the skirt at the rib cage is uncomfortable.  I am a touchy feely  person when it comes to clothes shopping, gee it must be the fiber arts in me.  I like to feel the fabric before I try on clothes. Today’s skirt was 6 inches above my waist sitting on my rib cage to keep from tripping on the skirt or having it fall as I walk. Real first world problems during a pandemic.

Well it is time to wind down for the night.

Me Over Do It

The quick answer is yes. Yes I did over do it by doing a multi day 2 person job in a few hours by myself. I am not saying that the closet does not look great. I am happy to be sending fiber to a friend. Its what happened 10 hours later that I am not happy with.

The overdoing lead to a really bad fibromyalgia flare followed by a very bad migraine. It's really not fare I really made fantastic progress. So the day was not spent making more progress but allowing my body time to heal.

It was also a bad day for knitting. I had to tink out the blanket square that I started yesterday. Then tink it out again because I screwed up the cast on. There is always tomorrow.

If you talk to me in the next few days my words might be out of order, but listen to the whole sentence and play word jumble. This too shall pass.

Also since we are washing our hands so often I find I must add lotion several times a day. By the way, Fitbits do not like lotion. If you accidentally get lotion on yours an alcohol wipe Followed by a few minutes on the charger will fix the problem.

Really Deep Cleaning

I spent the last hour and half going through my fiber stash.  Don’t worry it will have a new home with a fellow fiber artist. I am hoping she likes the gift.  I really hope she has room.  Now I must decide what to do with my new found space. To give you an idea of how much space that I will gain, there is a double laundry basket to the brim, 2 xxl ziplock storage bag and a twin blanket bag.  I just have to get enough boxes and large shipping bags to mail it.  

I think it is snack time now.

Life with COVID19

I don’t know about anyone else, but lately I feel like I am in an old Rod Sterling’s episode of the Twilight Zone.  With the empty streets and unseen pending disaster.  I hear the old theme song in my head.  With Mr. Sterling saying “Now we are entering a small town in the Twilight Zone.  People are panicked about an unseen danger. There is a rush on for supplies.  The shelf’s are empty.

We are now entering a suburban home with a husband and wife. They are trying to live a normal life. Trying to make sense of the world around them.   In the Twilight Zone.... more ominous music. Cut to wife taking a walk and the neighbor is explaining to his child that we now have to stay away from other people. Stay on his side of the street.   She will stay on the other.

The news of the object called COVID19  is all that is on the television. They even stopped reporting on earthquakes. So the couple escape by watching old reruns on television.  The wife is knitting for a distant event. The husband surfing the web.

Unfortunately this is not an episode of the Twilight Zone, this is Tucson Arizona in springtime of 2020.  Welcome to my life.

On the bright side, you know I have to end on the bright side of life.  Another project bag is empty.

COVID19

I have told my daughter that John and I will be staying home until I run out of yarn and fiber or there is a vaccine for COVID19.  I will have a ton of finished objects in a few months, but that’s ok.  We are just trying to come up with a daily routine.

Eating for a Crisis

I think people are buying irrationally at the grocery store.  I put in my list for Fry’s and did car pick up today. The things that I thought would be hard to get like fresh carrots and frozen vegetables were all there.  Personal care items and tums there. Missing were things like pie crusts for home made pot pie, Tide and crackers.  I hear the soda and cookie aisles are empty too.

People if you are going to be a home you need your fruits and vegetables. You need to take care of yourselves and loved ones. Remember your plate should be 50% vegetables, 25% carbs and 25% protein.  Also don’t forget your water. Tap water is fine in most areas.  Soda and juice don’t count.

Stay safe and practice social distancing.  Knit if you have time. Don’t forget to walk, even if it is in circles around the house.

I Need a Routine

Well I think we will be at home for a while. I need to start a routine.  I have a hunch that this might just take a little while to resolve it self.  I intend to call at least one person a day to check in on them.  Knitting is going well.  Reorganization is going well, tomorrow I am sending 8 pounds of roving and fluff  to a friend who needs project’s to do. Clearing clutter is going well too.

Tomorrow I will try Fry’s order in advance and call when you get to the parking lot service.  The ordering was a bear and kept changing my order and adding things that I did not want. The app needs to be more user friendly.  I hope the delivery goes better.

I have decided to use the same mindset I used when Eric used to get sick.  We will make it through. I have yarn and fluff.  We are cooking 3 meals a day at home we can do this.  Also. Have lots of plastic bags to put finished projects in.

Happy Dance Time and Local Yarn Stores

I got my stitches out today. I am very happy. Let’s see if I sleep tonight. This tension headache is not helping.  I am also on square 4 of a nine square modular blanket.  Since I can’t go out to knit tomorrow, I will work on this for my 2 to 3 hours of morning knitting before I make lunch and putter around the house for a few hours before making dinner.

While you are thinking what to do with all this time freed up by CONVID19. Please remember your local brick and mortar business. Your local yarn stores are doing all they can to stay afloat.  If you need yarn call them first. Some are open and are allowing in store sales.  Some will be shipping orders. Some will even bring your yarn order out to your cars.  If you want them around post crisis see what you can do to help them now.  This goes for other speciality shops and eateries too.

COVID19

Life is kind of surreal right now. With the COVID19 virus rampaging literally around the world. Events being cancelled on it seems a daily basis. Earlier this week I had my in box flooded by all kinds of business telling me how they were going to keep things cleaner.  When in reality they should have been doing this basic level of cleaning all along.  But keeping things clean cost money,  that Wall Street Analysts don’t think is necessary, it hurts the bottom line.  What ever happened to cleanliness is next to Godliness?

The news has been filled with warnings to stay home when you are sick.  As if this was some kind of new and brilliant idea.  Really, I have been doing this for decades.  Also on how to call your doctors office if you think you have this new virus.  Not just rush out to the nearest urgent care or emergency room to get more people sick.   This is a totally new virus, literally no one in the whole world has ever had this.  Like every other virus some people will get mild cases and unfortunately some will not survive. I really don’t think that summer will slow it down.  Stay home and read a book or two.

Now I am getting emails telling me about stores closing for a week or two or four.   Some employees will get paid other people will not.  If you are NOT sick or in a high risk group consider volunteering at places like the Food Banks or Meals on Wheels.  See if your community has a fund to help gig workers pay their bills, if they don’t work, they don’t get paid.  This virus is going to cause a lot of hurt. The bill that was passed in Congress won’t help much, it has more wholes than a large Swiss Cheese Wheel.

I also had to order some of my groceries online. I will have to wait for the next store shipment to arrive as a friend has said that the shelf’s are empty.  I will be doing a lot of cooking at home.  We will have to wait for things to settle down before we dine out again.  Can we collectively say we are going to do meal planning?

In the meantime as long as we are home for a few weeks, we will see if we can knock some long term projects off the to do list. I will continue to knit and deep clean. I will continue walking every day, several times a day.  My daily goal is 8,200 steps as of today.

I have several  requests from everyone, please be kind to each other. Wash your hands an awful lot. Be good to yourself as this too shall pass.

Happy Pi Day

In honor of Pi Day is served chicken pot pie for dinner. I might have gotten burned out on hats. In other news I started working on another UFO project. I have 4 Modular Baby Blankets in various stages. When I finish those I should have 2 more empty project bags. The pattern is available on Raverly and Iloveknitting.com. I would love to see your finished blankets.

Stash Busting Part 2

Another day another project completed. Today at lunch I started hat 11 - 2020 and finished it before bedtime. As long as I am home and curtailing my outside activities, to be read both The Tucson Festival of Books and the 4th Avenue Street fair have been cancelled do to concerns about the current pandemic.

I figure this is a really good time to knit, sew, weave and spin.  I know I will not completely empty my backlog of projects. I hope to make a sizable dent.  I also know that for somethings they will land in xxl storage bags for a few months until they are delivered. That’s ok, because they will be ready to leave the house.

It’s time to call it a night so I can be productive tomorrow.

Stash Busting

My goal this year is stash busting. Today was an exceptional day. I got two stash busting projects finished. So here are the details. Hat number 10 - 2020 was finished first. Followed by another shawl using leftover yarn from The NH Shawl pattern. I had 1 1/2 skeins leftover, so I made a 1 of 3 A Shawl Study using Neve yarn by Juniper Moon Farms.  On the shawl you might wonder why I pictured the shawl with a tiny bit of leftover yarn. This means that I won the yarn chicken game tonight and did not have to tink* out a whole row and re knit it as my cast off row.

This means that my 18th and 19th projects for the year are finished.  Since this is the 11th week of the year I might just make my goal of 100 finished projects this year.  This works out to almost 2 projects a week.

*tink is knitting spelled backwards.  To un knit a row of knitting.

A Day Off

I took a day off today.  I slept until noon.  Took a leisurely walk around my neighborhood. Then spent the rest of the day relaxing.  I should really do this more often.  

Food

I have developed a love hate relationship with my food since last Thursday. I really hurts to eat even something as soft as grilled salmon. Yet I can’t get a balanced diet eating only soft food.  I find myself staying up way to late so I can take aspirin right before bed so I can get 4 or 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Have I mentioned that I am the most impatient person when it comes to pain. So forgive me while am am grumpy.

Fifty Fifty

My days have progressed form being totally out of it to being out of it only fifty percent of the time. I can’t wait for the stitches to come out next week. Although I think I can get use to having soup for my main meals very easily.  I guess I am like my dad in that way. Give me a good hearty soup and a slice of bread and margarine and I am golden.  Throw in a piece of fruit for dessert.

I am taking advantage of when I am feeling good to get house work done. Then I go and take a two or three hour nap.  I am trying very hard not to over do things, but I have a very bad track record.  I am trying to get to bed early tonight.  So I will cut this short.

Feeling Better

I am feeling better tonight. I did not sleep well last night,but got caught up on sleep today.  I am hoping for a higher energy day tomorrow.

On the knitting front I finished the brim on hat number 10 and accomplished the increase row plus 1/2 of an inch.  I am getting better at the Russian join in knitting. It is now to the point that I can not see it once the join is knitted in.

It time to turn the music on and go to sleep.

Would I Do That?

I might have over done it a little bit yesterday.  I know, really me ever over do anything.  My body disagreed with me. So I spent a good part of last night in pain and today resting. Only getting 50% of my to do list done. Hopefully with a good nights sleep tomorrow will be better.

Recovery Mode

I was super into my recovery mode today. I slept most of the day and was exhausted the rest of the day. I only have 10 more days before the stitches come out.

 My major accomplishment was finishing hat number 9 and starting hat number 10 of 2020.  I seem to knit hats by rote when I am tired. I like to add lots of color to make hats cheerier too.  It is also my 17th project for 2020. My goal s 100 finished projects.

Dental Work Today

I am down for the count this weekend. I had dental work that went well today.  However, I am sore and cranky.  I am also on a soft diet until the stitches come out.  I am hoping to feel well enough tomorrow to get a loaf  or 2 of challah from Beyond Bread tomorrow.

I have to rest for the next few days, so no housework or bending over.  I am all ready bored. And it’s only been 5 hours.

Right now I am too out of it to do anything with fiber.  This does not sound like me at all.  So it’s either TV or books on tape.  Remember, “This to shall pass.”  

Three Port Keys Opened Today

Ok, my title of this blog does not make much sense to those who don’t play Harry Potter Wizards Unite by Niantic. She who will not be named got me hooked on the game with the very basic information. None of my local friends play, so that left a lot for me to figure out. I had a lot of fun along the way.  I must say that I really like the game.  I even played at home when I was sick by finding lost items.  Although I have to leave the house to find green houses, inns and fortresses.

You have to walk between 2 km and 10 km per port key.  I was almost finished with the 1st port key last night and walked 5 km to get the next 2.  There is a daily bonus for walking .25 km. So if you want to have fun while walking, please join me in playing this delightful game.  For those of you who are curious, I am on level 21.

A big thank you goes out to the programmers, lawyers, W.B. Games, and of course J.K. Rowling’s for making this possible.

Contest Winner

The contest winner is Faith K.  Not only did John draw Faith’s name but he added more yarn to the box, he also found a bigger box so I could send Faith more yarn.  He also said to send more stitch markers in a nice bag. Plus there is a pattern of Faiths choice from my Raverly Store. So I will email Faith to get the shipping information.

Don’t worry everyone else can use the discount code Take20BlogContest for a 20% discount on any one pattern in my Raverly Shop Sheri Karobonik Designs. This discount will run from Tuesday March 3, 2020 to March 16, 2020.  Limit one code per Raverly account.

Thank you for your support.

Faiths Prize