Happy New Years

 First off I like seeing 2021 in the rear view mirror.  Year 2 of the pandemic was not easy for me.  I am tired of the isolation.  

Next I would like to wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2022.  I pray that we can put COVID19 behind us this year.  Maybe this year we can venture out into the world. I really don’t care if I have to wear a mask.  

We had a lovely New Year’s Eve dinner of homemade soup and store bought rolls.  The company was very nice.   If you would like the soup recipe, I posted the recipe in my December 29, 2021 blog post.  

Because it rained last night we were able to dig out some roots of the cottonwood infestation in the front yard.  I even managed to get some in the trash can before the trash pick up.  The trick is following the roots.  The roots go from plant to plant.  They can be really thick roots.  I went for the smaller plants and John went for the bigger ones.  We stopped when it started raining again.  Maybe we will be able to get a couple more out tomorrow.  

I am also working on a new knitting pattern. I managed to to write and knit 14 more rows. I am also past the halfway point in the design.  Yes there is a lot of math involved.  I am not sure if I won’t do a major revision before I publish it.  I will have to see once it is blocked. I am sure you will be happy that I am doing all the math and all you will have to do is knit.  

A slow Day

I did not sleep well last night and made it through the day on caffeine.  I am hoping for rain tonight, but not the kind of storm that sends the barometric pressure all over the place.  Not much got done today.  That’s ok, there is always tomorrow.  

Thank You Brandy

 Brandy was one of our favorite aides for Eric. Yesterday she reached out and asked for a favorite family recipe.   Then John goes it’s cold now, we should have that for dinner tomorrow night.  So I got up early to head to the store as early as possible.  Yes, I wore my Kn95 mask and the store was not crowded.  So here is the minestrone soup recipe.  It’s quick and easy.  

I used to make it more with stew beef when the kids were younger   Now that I am on a very low fat diet I use skinless, boneless, chicken breast meat. I have my butcher cut it up in cubes for me about 1/2 square. Both are tasty options   

Minestrone Soup

1 4.5 quart LeCreuset soup pot 

1 package Manischewitz Minestrone Soup Mix

1.5 pounds of diced chicken breast or stew beef

1 large sweet onion diced

1 bunch of celery cleaned and sliced 

1 pound of carrots peeled and sliced 

5 cups of water

2 Tablespoons olive oil 

1/2 teaspoon of salt and white pepper 

1 pound frozen mixed vegetables 

Sauté meat, salt and pepper in the olive oil until the meat is no longer red or pink.  15 to 20 minutes stirring every few minutes.  Add the onion and continue to sauté until tender and translucent.  Add celery and carrots mix in and cook until softened about 5 minutes.  

Add 5 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Add the soup mix. Bring to a boil again.  Lower the temperature to a slow simmer and cook 45 minutes stirring often.  

About 15 minutes before the basic soup is done remove the frozen vegetables from the freezer.  Add the mixed vegetables to the soup once the 45 minute timer goes off.  Stir in well. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes more until the frozen vegetables are cooked.  You may add other vegetables too.  Just don’t over fill your pot. 

Serve with warm dinner rolls.  It is better the second night. This makes about 4 quarts of soup.  Yes you may freeze the leftover soup in individual containers and freeze.  

A Disjointed Kind of Day

 It was one of those days that I could not figure out what to do.  So I started out sorting laundry, that was a bust, not one full load to do. Then I worked on a scarf and got it through the first color change.  Then John and I did something that we would not have done in the pre COVID19 day.  We voluntarily ate lunch out side while it was in the mid 50’s.  Of course we were bundled up, but we had to take our gloves off to eat. While we were out I worked on knitting another hat. I got through the color change on the hat too.  

After lunch it was 18 rows of lace knitting.  Somehow 18 rows of lace knitting is all I can do in one sitting.  Then John raided the fridge and made a lovely dinner.  Then it was time to exercise, so I sat down at my Cubii2 and worked on another scarf.  My knitting bowl was not large enough so 1 skein of yarn kept rolling around on the floor.  It was actually great knitting while I was exercising, it made the time go so much faster. I just love multitasking. While watching television tonight, I went back to the scarf I was working on this morning.  

I just could not figure which knitting project need more knitting time    

Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain all day.  So I will try to get out early to get meat for a soup.  It should be a good day to have a pot of soup on the stove.  

More Changes for 2022

 After many discussions with my family over the past couple of years I am going to change up my knitting style.  I will no longer try to knit more than everyone else. Instead I will do charity projects while John is driving.  I usually work on hats and scarfs while watching television. That will not change.  I will still continue to teach knitting, spinning and weaving as the opportunities present themselves. I will continue to design knitting patterns as the patterns want to be written.  I will cut my knitting goal by 50% to give me time to work on projects for me.  

This is being done because I am not getting any younger.  We also want to preserve my hands and my ability to use them.  Less is going to have to be more.  I will also explore other areas of my creative self.  I will try painting and drawing.  I will do more sewing.  I will do more weaving. I will try not to be singular in my artistic pursuits.  This is also because arthritis really suck’s big time.  After decades of trying to push past the pain, I have nothing let to prove to myself.  I really hate being in pain most of the time. I am hoping that these changes will help in the long run.  

These are just some of the me projects I have lined up. 

Picture Time 100th

 This is knitting project 100 for 2021.  A charity scarf.  Taken in the back yard today.  

100

 Tonight I reached my goal of 100 hand knit or hand woven projects for 2021 with days to spare. I have not taken a picture of project 100 because it is black and white, which needs good natural light to photograph.  So here is a picture of numbers 98 a long scarf and 99 a child’s hat.  I will rotate the hat on the desktop  

Boredom can be Boring

 The storm that has been pounding the west coast made its way here overnight. There was a drop in the Barometric pressure that was large enough to give me a vice like grip headache. Think of it as migraine plus. So not much got done  

I am at the stage of the pandemic where I’m bored. This may be partly due to the the headache.  I did some knitting, paid a few bills, the usual stuff.  But I am bored.  I want new episodes of tv shows.  I want some new actors like on Ghost.  I am tired of looking at actresses who are younger than me somehow look 10 years older than me.  All the while trying to look hip and young.  Can you tell we have run out of tv show’s that were supposed to last longer than COVID19. 

Maybe a good nights sleep will help. 

98 Down 2 to Go

 I finished my 98th project of 2021 and actually thought it was project 99.  Oh well, 2 projects in 7 days easy peasy.  Much easier than getting served at lunch today.  We have a new to us outdoor patio dining. After a 20 minute wait the hostess seated us at a table outside the patio where we normally sit.  The only problem was that there was no server assigned to our table.  After 15 more minutes John got up searching for our server.  The bartender took pity on us and took our order and brought the food.  Does this happen to anyone else or do the crazies just seem to find me? 

We took a walk at Tohono Chul Park after lunch and actually found an area that we had not explored yet.  I wanted to look at the indoor exhibits but there were too many people without masks.  It’s not like we’re in the middle of a world wide pandemic with a variant that spreads faster than the measles or anything like that.  We wore our mask all the way through even though we were outdoors.  This also had the benefit of screening out the ragweed.  We could not believe the number of monarch butterflies that we saw today, just a few days before the end of the year.  The butterflies really should be down in Mexico this time of year instead of flying around Tucson.  I believe that this is all because of Global   warming. It’s the end of December and the high was 75 instead of the low 60’s.  I predict another very hot summer.  

This and that

 We were lucky enough to be the first service call of the morning.  The garage door is now fixed.  The cause was above my pay grade.  The sensors went out.  The repair man installed new sensors.  He also cleaned the tracks and greased them.  We are good to go.  

On the other hand it is rag weed season in Tucson.  Because of the unusually high temperatures we have rag weed in December.  That’s supposed to be a late January- February thing.  Also don’t move to Arizona if you want to get rid of your allergies.  The people who moved here in the 1920’s to 1950’s to get better air quality brought all and I do mean all their pollinating plants with them.  So because of our moderate temperatures we have some form of pollen all year long.  My poor nose.  

I did get to a color change on my latest 60 inch scarf. I do have to say that by the time I am finally finished with this scarf nobody will be able to tell that I have 2 full skeins of yellow in the scarf.  The yellow which is worsted weight yarn is dominated by the sock weight yarn.  It is making some interesting color ways.  

It’s time to call it a night.   

Planning for 2022

 As 2021 comes to a close and we’re getting ready to enter the zillion th year of COVID19 and all of its variants I am beginning to wonder if it would be better for me to leave Facebook and cut down on my other social media.  Instead spend my time reading, walking outside and crafting.  After all if the science is to be believed the Spanish Influenza of 1918  took 3 years to settle down.  I know people traveled a lot less back in 1918. I hope all the traveling people are doing now does not  prolong the current pandemic. 

I have literally no place to go. No travel plans. I have lots of projects, lots of craft supplies, lots of books and  most of all lots of time.   What I don’t want is an email box that is overflowing with junk mail.  Spending time on social media  tends to add to that.  I deleted over 1000 emails today and did not make a dent.  I have to think on this.  I will keep my blog though.  

My New Golding Drop Spindle

 Today I did manage to get to 2 different grocery stores, the post office, fill up my car before and put the groceries away  before my breakfast caffeine wore off.  I garage door broke when I came home.  Last time this happened there were spider webs in the tracks. So I vacuumed the tracks to try again. Still no luck.  The service man comes on Wednesday.  

After starting the laundry I decided to close my eyes for 5 minutes, you all know where this is going. So 2 hours later I woke up freezing.  I started the tea maker. Hung up some wet laundry and put a little bit in the dryer.  Started the next loads. Had my hot tea and apple, that did the trick.  It’s weird that sometimes I don’t feel hun, but get really cold when I need to eat.  

I did a little bit of knitting. I really wanted to try out my newly refurbished Golding Drop Spindle. Tom Golding did a fantastic job at a reasonable price.  The turn around was much quicker than I thought it would be.  I just happened to have some silk on the table that I had been meaning to put away. So I started spinning the silk instead of putting it away.  The spin was awesome.  As you can see by the picture below that I was able to spin a very fine thread.  I can always spin silk finer on a drop spindle.  I think that I will spin some more to go with some sock yarn and make a shawl.  

I was too tired to list and of my spindle herd on Ravelry. 

Burned Out

 I got a little burned out knitting 3 scarfs in 3 days.   Today I started the next scarf, but stopped working on it when the morning news show ended.  Instead I did paperwork and filled recycling bags.  Tomorrow I might even just polish a few drop spindles and play with one or 2 of my new to me ones.  I will also try to lay out the spindle herd to see if a few can go.  

 Will also list a few more de stash items on Ravelry.  There might even be a few spindles.  Just a heads up.

Scarf 29 - 2021 Project number 97 - 2021 

96 Down 4 to Go

 This is project number 96 for 2021.  This scarf knit on U.S. size 17 (12 mm) knitting needles.  Using one strand of super wash wool and 1 skein of novelty yarn. It took 2 days to knit.  

Busy

 I have been busy knitting, running errands and fighting a Sjogren’s flare up.  I am really hoping that the onset of winter is the real cause of my headaches and stiffness. Who would have ever thought that winter would rear its ugly side in the middle of December?  I going to try to call it an early night.  

Projects 94 & 95

 These are both charity projects.  Project 94 is a hat.  I tried a new pattern that I saw on Instagram.  It is so cool that it is reversible.  This is meant for an older child or teenager. 

The next project is 95.  A 60 inch scarf for an older child or teenager.  It is meant to be folded in half or can go over the head and wrapped around the neck. It was knit with 2 strands of yarn on size 17 knitting needles.  

I Took the Plunge

 I added 2 magazines and 1 book to The Ravelry Book And Destash Page. . If you are not a member of Ravelry it is free and easy to join.  All my prices are the price and United States shipping in one easy price.   My books listed on EBay are not selling.  So if you have been looking for the following books or magazines act fast as I only have one copy of each.  

Jean Greenhowe’s Toy Collection. Double knitting yarn $10.00

The Complete Guide to Yarmulka Design 3rd edition $15.95

Inside Crochet Issue 107 $13.75

I take PayPal on Ravelry.  While there take a look at my patterns for sale under Sheri Karobonik Designs.  

More UFO Progress

 On my poncho I made it to the next project change.  I am checking every few rows to make sure everything is even. So far so good.  

On my scarf for my knitting guild, I have 40 of the 60 inches needed to complete my scarf. Hopefully by Friday it will be ready to weave the ends in.  

I did not work on my hat or other scarf today. 

I think I will start shopping for a more comfortable chair for knitting. I slide out of the current chair which leaves my back sore   

Below is a partial picture of he poncho.  

Feeling Stuck

 It has been a little over 2 years since we lost Eric at the same time this ugly COVID19 epidemic, then without a name began it terrible wrath.  I am starting to feel stuck.  We are mainly at home. Shopping is no longer relaxing as it once was.  Shopping is now in and out as quickly as possible and staying away from people. Avoiding crowded events.  Not even going to out door events because of the crowds.  All because we can’t see this thing that has killed millions worldwide.

I don’t understand why people will not get the vaccines.  I don’t understand why wealthy countries and multi billionaires will not show some decency and help pay for vaccines in countries that are not doing well finically. They can’t take the money with them.  What’s a few billion to help their fellow man.  It is also much better than spending the money on space toys. 

Then there is this terrible me first, the hell with everyone else attitude among the elite and power brokers.  The money is not trickling down but this terrible attitude is.  Greed is not good.  We are all in this together on this planet.  There is no where else to go if we let these power brokers ruin it. Mother Earth is crying out in pain.  The weather is worse than I have ever seen it   But the people who are supposed to be doing something about it could care less.  

When we go for a walk on a beautiful sunny day, it only makes me sadder at all that we have lost   This pandemic is as bad as any world war.  Our Doctors and Nurses are beyond exhausted  yet we still have people who refuse to take care of themselves. With the exception of a few thousand scientists there is no mass worldwide effort to end this   No fill up this card with coins to help vaccinated other children in schools through UNICEF. This includes everyone doing their part. Wearing your masks in public. Not having large gatherings. Getting vaccinated. Only we as a worldwide effort can end this.  I really need us to end this   This is not how I planned to spend my retirement years, stuck at home. Stuck in life with no direction to go to escape this pandemic. 

I am tired of being stuck   

UFO’s Progress

 Today I worked on 2 UFO’s.  One was a charity scarf for and older child. Once the scarf is 60 inches long it will be done.  That way it can be folded in half and worn in a stylish fashion. This should be done by the end of the weekend.  

The other is a poncho knit in linen with lots of lace.  I started it when Eric was in hospice.  I have learned that there are 2 things in knitting that don’t go together, lace work and hospice.  I finished the first side, it was something besides a rectangle that the pattern had called for. I had to  Tink* the first half. Today I finally found my rhythm, it only took 2 years and a quite room. I almost finished 1 pattern repeat.  A week or so of quite knitting time and it will be finished.  *Tink is knitting backwards, in other words ripping out the 1st half.

I also have to say that the photos look great  under the Ott light.  They came out nice and crisp.  Also my attempt to shrink the sweater was a total failure.  It shrank about 8 inches in length and not enough in the width.  I put it in charity.  I am done with it.  

UFO’s

 Well now that my knitting room is more put together I find myself looking for unfinished projects in bags, in the hiding place I put them. So from now until the end of the year I plan to finish as many of the projects as possible.  With the exception of charity hats which I knit when John is driving and charity scarfs that I knit when watching television, no new projects will be started.  I have started stacking the bags at the sides of the temporary work table and I don’t want to lose the table.  

This comes with a heads up. There is a good possibility of a lot of new knitting patterns that will be released next year.  I know of 2 without even looking in the bags.  

I have also figured out why some people only have on project bag for knitting   Am I headed that way? Don’t be silly, of course not. 

Wish me luck because I am so good at starting knitting projects, but so awful at finishing them. 

The Next Step

 This is my next step in my knitting room.  I now have a sturdy table and a new Ott light.  The Ott light even has 2 compartments for stitch markers, a total design for knitters.  I will be getting a different table so that I don’t have to pull the table out to get to my roll aways.  

It’s been a long time since I have had a hideaway for fiber crafts.  My spinning hideaway disappeared with   John using the front room for his 3D printing and a new neighbor putting up an 8 foot wall which destroyed my view of nature.  I can now turn on my audio book, music or have silence while working with the door closed. An added benefit is that when I am working on a project, I don’t have to put everything away before meals. 

I added the step stool as a foot rest.  It’s nice to sit in a comfy chair and put my feet up while knitting   I have a few pictures to put up too. That also takes time. 

I have a couple more upgrades planned. Everything takes time and consideration.  So I am taking baby steps in this redesign. 

 Today was a busy but fun day.  Well almost.  A house issue slowed down my start.  Then it was off to Bryn Walker for some smaller sized tops. Yes the tops that are too big are starting to go into the Goodwill pile. Then off to the post office to drop some outgoing mail in the mailbox.  Then off to Joann’s for an Ott light for my new work space.  

Then there was a very brief check in with my friends at Grandmas Spinning Wheel.  Then it was time to get my 6 month supply of soap at Tracy’s shop Artemesia,  the only winter favorite not in stock was gingerbread, but I got some pumpkin spice soap instead. If you are not in Tucson go to byartemesia.com  If you are in Tucson you can visit her shop at 6538 East Tanque Verde Road.  It’s in the same plaza as Grandma’s Spinning Wheel. After you finish shopping stop by a Tucson favorite of mine, Savaya Coffee.  They roast their own coffee and brew their tea by the cup.  It is well worth waiting for the tea to be brewed.  

Then home to do some cleaning and organizing.  I rested by starting a new charity scarf while listening to an audio book. . So my active UFO’s are 2 different charity Scarfs, a charity hat, a new pattern and too many more to list. Since I made a couple of small upgrades the knitting room is more comfortable.  

I have a busy day tomorrow. Also the cold weather of winter will arrive.  Burr.  

Masks

 Masks. What could be more controversial in this day and age. Yet it was weird at the super market today. Only about 10% of the people were wearing masks.  Half of these were store employees.  John and I decided to divide and conquer today.  John stayed in the bakery area to get his bread sliced. The only people in that area wearing masks were John and the employees.  Forget about social distancing, they were packed in like sardines. John moved over to the cheese area to get space.  

On the other hand I went to the produce and fresh fish area. Almost totally deserted.  Everyone was wearing masks and keeping good social distancing. By the time I filled the cart with fresh fish, fruits and vegetables, John was just finishing up.  We meet up at the milk section and John just wanted to leave.  His only comment was no more Sunday afternoon shopping until the stores were less crowded.  This will be about May when the Snowbirds  and college students leave town.  

My very unscientific take on this is that people who choose healthy foods tend to make better health care choices.  You also have to remember that we had 6,000 new cases of COVID19 reported yesterday with only a few ICU beds left.  There is also a new variation of COVID19 out and about.  

So my take on this is wear your masks. Choose a healthy diet.  Get your vaccines and boosters. Avoid large indoor crowds and if in Snowbird area shop really early in the morning.  

10,000 Plus

 Today was absolutely awesome.  I had my best walking day since the third quarter of 2019 when I got sick and needed major surgery.  It has taken a long time to get close to my daily step count. I need to thank my cheer team of John, my taller half and my daughter Teri.  Teri surprised us with a membership at one of my favorite garden spots in Tucson, Tohono Chul Park.  There is a lot of landscape that reminds me of Tucson in the 1960’s and even when I moved back home in the 1990’s.  I got 4,000 of my steps there today.  

In that time Fitbit even developed a new watch award for 10,000 steps.  My Sensi watch did all kinds of fancy things.  I hope that today was not a fluke and is repeatable.  I would love to be able to walk a couple miles at a time again.  I know this is a major step that took a long time to achieve.  So it is on step at a time until 2 miles in a walk. 

Another Outdoor Dining Spot

 We found another out door dining area with excellent food. It is the Tea room at Tohono Chul Park just west of Oracle, off Ina Road. Just follow the signs.   The portions are huge.  Most is locally sourced, some even grown on the ground of the park.  Don’t forget to visit the park after your meal.  

Also if you are looking for a scenic out door area for a wedding in Tucson be sure to check it out.  They have areas for small intimate gatherings to larger areas.  

My Thursday

 We had lunch at a new to us restaurant with lots of outdoor seating.  Teaspoon is in Casa Adobes Plaza. They serve breakfast, brunch and lunch.  The food was excellent, everyone loved their meals.  A definite go back in my book.  While we’re we’re in the plaza waiting for out table we went to Bryn Walker for a few smaller pieces of clothing.  The scale is not moving much but the inches are coming off. A new top and a few pairs of pants.  I am hoping it will be at least a couple of months before they start falling down.  All in a smaller size.  

I just read that the COVID19 numbers are rising post thanksgiving holidays. So I will be spending a lot of time at home. If you have not had your 1st vaccine please consider getting it, once you have COVID19, you have to wait until you recover to get your vaccines.  If you have not had your booster please get it as soon as possible.   Would like to start going to in door events.  I am so tired of staying home.  Only you can make that possible.  

My junk food plan is working.  I have not touched or eaten any of if.  I am no longer hearing but we can’t have it because of you mom.  It’s a win win.  

Lunch with a View

 We went out to lunch today. We sat on a huge black and white granite rock to eat our picnic lunch.  We were just up stream from this area. If you are ever in Tucson, pack a picnic lunch. Take the Sabino Canyon tram up to stop 8. Hike in less than 5 minutes.  You will need sturdy shoes. Find a rock to sit on.  Enjoy your lunch with wonderful views of nature at her best.  If you feel like a good hike it is about 3 miles up hill.  

This and That

 Ok, so I got a little tired of the whining that people could not have holiday foods because of me in my house. So I went to Whole Foods and got a bunch of vegan holiday treats.  I don’t plan on eating any of it.  Instead I got myself a nice piece of soft goat cheese with lavender.  It was wonderful with my big thick salt free crackers.  I paired it with a serving of dates which are a low glycemic food.  It was much more satisfying than their sweet treats.  So I won the treat wars.  

I did manage to get caught up on folding laundry if you don’t count the load that went into the dryer at bed time.  

I am feeling a lot stressed out by the newest variant of COVID19, Omnisomething.  Right now I feel as if it is never going to end snd I will be spending my retirement years at home.  No traveling. No knitting or spinning with friends.  Just the next 20 years stuck at home.  I am sure I can not convince the anti vax morons just to get their dammed shots.  I think getting the vaccines and protecting yourself, families  and community is a very intelligent thing to do.  I just can’t fix stupid so I am stuck at home. 

Happy Holidays

 A good day was had by all. I enjoyed some nice girl talk and knitting outside this afternoon.   

A Redesign?

 A friend gave me a possible solution for the too big tank top that is not a tank top.  I will have to get my quilting safety pins out tomorrow.  

A Tank Top? Well Maybe?

 This is the result of dropping a few sizes between the start and finish of a knitting project and a poorly sized pattern.  I only lost 4 inches around my rib cage.  If you use the right computer program or use the right charts in a design books the calculations will be done for you.  No need to randomly do it by hand anymore. It is a simple pattern by Bernat called the Garter Stitch Tank Top.  Even if I had not lost 2 sizes the finished object ie the tank top would still not look like a tank top. Please note in the picture that I am wearing a real tank top under the sweater. You might notice a slight difference.  After trying it on, the picture is below you can see that it does not resemble a tank top, but rather a sweater with capped sleeves.  

After I finished the knitting the pattern and tried it on today I realized that the pattern was photoshopped.  Plus it was tucked back around the waist to make it fit the very slender model.  Now I have no problem with slender models.  After all knitters come in all shapes and sizes.  What I do have a problem with is deception in pictures representing the finished hand made item.  When I think of a tank top, capped sleeves are not what I have in mind.  When it is a simple pattern without shaping, I don’t expect the picture to show shaping in the waist.  When I spend as money on yarn to knit 1 tank top as I do to buy 4 or 5 from tank tops from Chico’s or J.Jill, I expect the finished top to fit the description.  When I spent hours knitting a tank top I expect it to look like a tank top.  

My recommendations would include the narrowing of the shoulder as the sizes get larger.  Being a larger size does not mean that we are built like professional football players like linebackers.  Never ever photoshop a pattern picture to alter the finished look of knit wear.  I have no problem with photoshopping  it the background or lighting.  Show the finished knit wear in all sizes.  For goodness sake eliminate the many colors in the pattern instructions, it does not work well for low vision or older eyes.  Also speaking of low vision or older eyes nothing below a 14 pica please.  We don’t want to waste money on photocopy blow ups or pull out a magnifying glass just to read the pattern. 

Please note my picture was photoshopped to trim out some of the background. The picture of the sweater was not retouched.  

If any of this is not clear to the people at Bernat Yarns, please email me and we can talk about this at length.  Thanks for listening. 

Extra Feet

 We have a couple of pair of extra feet for the week.  We will be relaxing and having fun family time.   Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Trying to get in sync

 I have spent a lot of time since my last post not being in total agreement with my body.  Unfortunately my body won, so I rested Whether I liked it or not. Except for an afternoon nap I think I’m back on track. But then again naps are kind of my thing. 

I did finish my 25th scarf and 89th project of 2021.  Maybe I should try to finish all my UFO’s by the end of the year.  We all know the odds are stacked against me because I love starting new projects.  My knitting needles hate being empty, they get cold. Well wish me luck.  

I Plan…

 Okay my body and I are at odds.  I spent a lot of time sleeping.  I did fold yesterday’s laundry and clean out a Fibber Maggie and Molly worthy cabinet that has been on my list for while.  I was to tired to knit tonight so I binged on jigsaw puzzles on my iPad.  I finished 5 tonight, some were partially done.  

What Happens When The Fall Cores Are Done

 We are almost done with our fall cleaning spree.  We only have a few things to do.  This will give me time to finish up the bits and pieces of projects that are almost finished.  A few rows here. Weaving in the ends.  A Kitchener finish for a scarf.  Fixing my stitch markers.  Maybe even spinning and weaving.  I want to see empty project bags.  

The Goal is Insight

 The end is in sight. I have gotten to the minutia of the cleaning spree most of the check list is gone.  Right now the devil is in the details.  My body has decided that I have over done it and I am taking involuntary afternoon naps.  I hope to finish tomorrow morning. If I get up early I will start with the fridge and laundry.  I have decided to take a few days off doing laundry.  I guarantee that it will wait for me.  

Well I think it’s time to call it a day.  

Over Achieving

 I know that I have been over doing it when I reach my weekly exercise goal by Tuesday by 3:30 pm.  My goal is 30 minutes of exercise a day over 7 days.  That is quite reasonable. 155 minutes in 2 1/2 days not so much. I did 95 of those minutes today, so far. I still have 2 rooms to put back together.  No wonder I am exhausted.  Off to mop another floor.  Ok, I gave up and left the steam mopping to John. I think I will rest for a bit and then put things back together again.  I am glad that all of my fiber storage drawers are on wheels.  Rolling, rolling, keep those drawers rolling.  

After a brief rest I put 2 rooms back together.  We only need to add a table and chair to make a temporary office space.  The space will have the pantry so course that means it has its own MK Snack area, minus the drinks.  I landed  up with a total of 138 minutes of cleaning time, for the day. Ok, it’s 2 hours and 18 minutes.  Is it any wonder that I was too tired to do much knitting tonight?  

I have also crossed out a few of tomorrow’s chores, because being the over achiever that I am today the work is done.  I really think it would be wonderful if my body let me sleep tonight.  Wish me luck. 

Busy.

 It’s been busy and I am exhausted.   Night all.  

It’s Finely Finished

 This is what craft room number one aka the guest room looks like when all the crafts are finely put away. The room is dusted and vacuumed.  John did the dusting and vacuuming.  This is usually the only time you can see all the carpet   

On the left side of the room is the Murphy Bed.  It folds down to a queen size bed.  A nice cozy spot to hang out in.  

Almost Done

 The sewing tables have been folded up.  The sewing machine put away.  I am leaving John in charge of vacuuming and dusting.  I just have to find a home for some blankets.  They are washed and bagged. They are too small for the V.A. , Project Linus does not take cotton blankets.  So I will call a friend tomorrow.  

I just need to wrap a few things , put some baskets away, fold up one table, sweep and mop the floor’s, clean the bathrooms along with my usual chores and we will be ready for company.  I am exhausted just thinking about it.  

The best part of this companies coming is that I tossed a lot of things rather than just put them in boxes and baskets for later.  I hope that this puts me ahead of the curve.  

A Busy Day

 Sometimes the perils in pattern writing is the the letters and numbers dance around the page like a Conga line dances through a room.  My current pattern fits this to an exact T as in T Square.  Today I tried to figure out if I hit that magic sweet spot of pattern section repeats.  I simply could not figure it out.  So I will keep knitting and working the pattern out row by row. I just have to have things add up to my magic number and maintain the angles, it’s really not that hard until I can no longer walk, talk and knit at the same time. This sitting down to write  patterns down is sometimes very hard work.

If I take this pattern row by row it is a very delightful knit.  Just enough change from row to row to keep the pattern interesting.  My student whom I am writing it for, loves the pattern so far. She is on section 2 around row 8.  She likes the fact that after so few rows knit and purled stitches a pattern is visible.   That makes me so happy.  I am only 2 full sections ahead of her so I have to find more time to finish this.  

In other news the bathroom is now painted.  I just have to pull the tape off the grab bar.  Give it a few days to dry. This is where a second shower is very helpful. Then put everything back where it belongs.  Also just a few projects to go before craft room 1 is ready to become the guest room.  My new storage containers for craft room 2 are somewhere in Phoenix. Hopefully they will arrive tomorrow, they were supposed to be here today, alas this is the season of shipping hiccups. 

I also came up with an innovative way to put my shoes away. I slip on one pair and walk to my closet   Take the shoes off and put them away. I repeated this process until all my shoes were put away while bring laundry from the clothes line to the closet’s. I got 2 chores done at once and added steps to boot.

I am hoping despite be sore all over, all day that I will sleep tonight.  Wish me luck.  

A Dumb Mistake

 Here I sit at 2 a.m. waiting for the aspirin to kick in.  All because I. choose not to wear my tendon isolation band while knitting last night. As you know I have chronic tendonitis do to arthritis.  It just seems to jump all around my body. Currently I have knitting elbow also know as tennis elbow.  Since I do not play tennis anymore, I call it knitting elbow. 

My arm was feeling good all day. So I thought that I was lucky That it went away very quickly.  Yeah, I am not that lucky. So here I sit at 2 a.m.  waiting for the aspirin to kick in.  I am wide awake.Pain  has away of doing that to me. So I might just do some chores while I wait. Since I did not get many things done yesterday.  I was having a bad body day except for my elbow. Then again I can feel the aspirin starting to kick in, so I just might be lucky enough to go back to sleep.  So maybe I will just get a jump on the day and start a load of.  By the way, I am so predictable that the prediction  program on my blog had picked out I was going to start a load of laundry before I even had it typed in.  A very good algorithm, way to go programmers.  

To Clean or Not to Clean is a Silly Question

 Will the deep cleaning ever stop?  That is a question that I have been asking myself a lot lately. It seems the more I organize and the more I get rid of the more there is to organize and get rid of. It seems like when I get one layer removed another layer pops up.

I was very clever in my organizing today. I managed to combine 2 boxes of quilting supplies into one box. That gave me a free box to bring sewing supplies to the garage.  I also combined all my fabric into one box that already had a space in the house.  That leaves the odds and ends to land in the right shoe box storage containers.  Then I can find a place for them. I also started a new box for Goodwill.  No new boxes were needed today which is a very good thing. Less boxes equals less stuff. Which equals more organization. Which equals more progress. Which equals more time to make and creat more donations and new patterns.     

For the other room, I have ordered 2 storage chests with 3 huge drawers each.  That will give me room for my spinning supplies and other loose fiber related items.  One is almost a direct transfer, the other will hold additional items.  I hope by Friday I can have both rooms finished.  

I am 1/3  of the way Into  a new scarf and have already used 6 skeins of yarn.  I must admit that 2 of those skeins were started tonight  so I still have at least 6 skeins more to finish this scarf. Hopefully it will be finished soon   

Then maybe I can take an online course Saturday and play with some beads after I put other rooms in order.  

Number 86

 This is my 86th completed project for this year. I really like the colors. The pattern is They Stash Dive Scarf by Summer Lee Designs.   This scarf is over 5 feet long. It’s meant ti be folded in half which makes it great for my knitting guild project. It’s going to northern Arizona where it gets really cold.  This also brings up the question: can I finish 13 more projects by December 31st?   This year I might not make my goal of 100 completed knitting and weaving projects in 2021. 

Wish List vs To Do List

 I really don’t know why I am still using a to do list. Lately I am half way through and have no more energy to finish my list.  It seems lately that it is wishful thinking that I can get everything done in a timely manner.  I think it is more appropriate to call it my wishful thinking list of things that need to be done.  I know some things need to be done in a timely fashion and other things not so much.  

I know that I am supposed to give it a month or so for my latest life style changes to kick in.  Let’s face it, the last change was 3 days ago snd I should in my humble opinion be up to full speed and then some.  My family would say give it time.  I am just to impatient.  

So I am wondering if I should return to setting priorities and ranking items.  I will have to think about that.   In the meantime I think that I will call it a day.  

A Perfect Solution

 When a bad body day collides with a highly emotional day there is only one thing to do.  Spin art yarn.  Why art yarn? Art yarn does not have any parameters. If the yarn is not perfectly balanced who cares.  The idea is to have fun.  I make bumps. I spin thick and thin. I spun for 2 hours.  Yes my new medicine is helping.  I make my art yarn batts from bits and pieces.  I play with color.  I never know how it will turn out once it is plyed and washed.  Hopefully it will go with some other art yarn to make a fabulous new shawl for me in a smaller size.  I thought that my shawls would still fit after losing a lot of sizes, not so much. So I need new shawls.   

I also figured out why my Lendrum Spinning Wheel was acting up, it literally had a screw lose.  So rather than  get my tool kit for my spinning wheels, I borrowed a pliers and flat head screw driver from John.  It took more time to locate the tools than to fix the issue.   I guess this means that every so often I should check all the screws out.  

I then changed spinning wheels to my Louet Victoria. After cleaning and oiling the flyer I was ready to spin the core for plying the art yarn just because I can get about 10 ounces on the bigger bobbin.  Once the white is spun, I will ply all the art yarn that I spun today.  From right to left. Pale pink, purple, red and a green yellow blend.  

Pretty Good

 Today was pretty good.  I spent some time working on the new pattern.  Finished one scarf, pictures to come later.  Fix someone’s blanket and taught the difference between leading and lagging legs. If you are a knitter and don’t know what this is we need to talk.  

Came home and made dinner.  Turkey burgers, yummy.  My hands were too tired to do much knitting tonight, but there is always tomorrow.  

So I will call it a day. 

A lousy day

 Not my best day. I let the stress get to me. Although I did manage to reorganize part of craft rooms 1 & 2.  Tomorrow will be better.  

A Low Energy Day

 Today I had more plans than energy.  So after an early morning run to get groceries, putting together dinner and putting the rest of the food away it was nap time.  I was really to tired to even eat lunch before my nap.  So the rest of the day I did small chores in little sprints.

On the good news side, I finished the first 3 sections of my new pattern.  Now that I don’t have to do the math for every row, it should go much faster.  Yes it’s one of those geometric patterns that I like to walk, talk and knit at the same time it’s easier that way.  

Halloween Recap

 We had a good Halloween day.  We did just in time decorating.  The Halloween decorations were out for less than 12 hours before they were put away for next year.  We only had 3 bags of candy leftover, so John agreed to take them to work to leave by the coffee pot.  I also found out that kids don’t like marshmallows for Halloween candy treats.  They still loved the pencils, pens, animal erasers, bubbles and assorted Halloween toys.  We had about 40 kids this year. 

I have enough pens, pencils and assorted Halloween toys for next year.  All I need to do is buy more candy.  Hopefully next year we will be back to normal for Halloween.  I really like handing out the candy and treats.  I have had enough of this no contact Halloween stuff.  This was my Halloween set up for tonight.  I kept putting out more candy and bags.  

More Cleaning and Organizing- It Never Ends

 I was in the mood to clean today. So I am filling up a few trash and recycling bags.  I also included 2 loads of hand wash and 3 machine loads of laundry. I am still not 100% so I took breaks for knitting.  I also found my box of stitch markers to repair, so that will be added to my to do list.  I also put a few things away, but more is leaving than staying.  

Since we are not on a busy street I made 50 Halloween gift bags and have the candy ready to put out.  We are doing a no contact trick or treat again this year.  John will decorate in the morning.  I have decided that John will bring all the left over candy to work with him to leave by the coffee pot.  I just have not told him yet.  I am sure it won’t be a problem.  

A Rest Day?

 Since I over did things yesterday, I tried to take it easy and have a slow day.  I almost seceded. Unless I am sleeping my inclination is to keep moving and going.  To that end I used a bag of poly fill in the craft room as a desk. I then proceeded to empty and throw away or recycle most thing. I did find a pair of circular knitting needles that I did not realize that I had lost. Filled up the to be shredded basket that I just emptied on Wednesday. 

I did a little knitting on 2 different projects. One were finished.  We also tried not to watch every show that dropped today.  We did save a few for tomorrow. Well it’s getting late and I am going to call it a day.   

It’s Finally Leaving

 Almost everything that I have worked on since January is leaving the house today.  The count is as follows: 50 hand knit hats, 21 hand knit scarfs, 4 hand woven scarfs.  I acquired 33 pairs of socks and 12 backpacks. I really think the volume of items Surprised John this morning. I  know that I fell short of my yearly goal of 60 hats, but I must face the fact that it was a bad hand year. The fact that my hats are knit on US size 6 & 8’s verses the scarfs which were knit on no smaller than a US size 11. By the way the larger the number the bigger the knitting needles are. This makes them easier to hold on a bad hand day too. 

I used John’s couch to lay out everything for one last picture before they left the house.  I almost covered the entire couch. Everything is now packed up to drop off at The Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank.  It makes me very happy that I can use my idle time like this.  

Four Hours

 Right now I have about 4 good hours to get things done before i am too exhausted to work.  I just have to decide Whether it’s errands or cleaning.  Life can be so simple.  

Saturday

 I have had my most productive day in a while.  I even started 2 loads of laundry and put things away during the 8 minutes that my breakfast was cooking.  Not one spot got cleaned, instead a whole lot of things got got trashed or moved to where they were supposed to be.  

I was going to take a walk when I got frustrated by my new design.  I am not sure how, but it is easier to walk, talk and knit this pattern than it is sitting down at a table with pen snd paper, writing the pattern as I go.  There was just one little glitch.  There was a coyote wandering around.  I make it a point not to venture far when wild animals are roaming the streets.  So I did the sensible thing and watered the new cactus we planted last weekend.  

When I came back inside, I was a little more relaxed.  I figured out it was not the written pattern that was the problem rather I did not count right when casting on yesterday. So I tinked it. Cast on again and everything is ok.  

I picked up some wonderful salmon for dinner. It came out perfect.  Nice and buttery.  No, I did not use butter when I baked the salmon.  I use the juice of one lemon, salt, white pepper and dill.  I let it marinate a few hours. Add a bit of water before cooking.  Bake at 350f for about 35 minutes.  I buy enough to cook once and eat for 2 nights.  

Charity knitting happened after dinner.  The scarf that I am working on will take at least 7 skeins of yarn.  It is called the Stash Dive Scarf by Summer Lee Designs.and is available on Raverly.  This is number 4 with this pattern.  

I Srarted A New Pattern

 I am finally feeling better. For real.  Sadly no tea seems to be working.   I have started a new table runner pattern at the request of my student. It would have been so much easier just to walk around the house knitting this pattern.  However, since it is for a student I have to do all the math, gauge swatches, and write every line of the pattern as I knit this pattern.  To me geometrical patterns can be done mindlessly.  Once I start writing things down, I am amazed at how seamlessly  my mind seems to knit them.  

I Over Estimated My Energy

 I managed to get to the grocery store today. I was amazed at all the Snowbirds who were not wearing masks. Most of these people looked really old. I know some people think I am very old, but I could have been their kid.  Some were even frail. Yes, I wore my KN95 Mask from inside the car to when I got back inside the car. 

One other thing I noticed was how many people were treating the store staff as personal assistants. Not many thank you's or have a fantastic days. This is just so wrong these people work hard and don't need to be trampled on. A few kind words to everyone who helps you goes a long way. 

I found fresh tomatillo's so I got every thing I needed for fresh tomatillo soup, The recipe will follow tomorrow. Shopping and making the soup wore me out. Yes, I did over do it.  I spent 4 hours on the couch not moving. Just waiting for the pain in my shoulders to go away. Next time I will wait until I have help with all the prep work before I start the soup.  

Well my typing is becoming very dyslexic so it must be time to call it a night. Just let me know if I need to make corrections. 

Getting More Done

 I woke up at 5 am with a headache, since it was too early for breakfast I tried the caffeinated tea route. While I was waiting for the caffeine to do it’s job I woven in the remaining ends and did the last seam of the scarf.  Since the scarf seemed dusty, I washed all 3 in that series by had.  I did the right thing the wash water and first rinse were muddy looking.  By the 3rd rinse I put them out side to dry.  

By the time John woke up my headache was gone and we had breakfast together.  We did a few chores and worked in plenty of rest time.  John installed a new toilet seat to replace the broken one.  I got 4 loads of laundry done.  This included folding the sheets and putting them away.  I have to admit that around 2 pm.  I was too tired to move, so I binge watched some Downton Abbey.  

John brought in dinner and I cleaned up.  Then we relaxed until bedtime.  Yes, I am feeling better than yesterday, but not 100%.  I guess I am looking fo baby steps on this one.  

Starting to Feel Better

 I am just starting to feel better.  I found getting things done 30 minutes at a time helped a lot. 2 plants got new pots and John planted a cactus out front for me.  My new sheets got washed replacing a set that I wore out.  I also started but did not finish a new organizing project, I have finally found a place to put all the masks and stuff. I think COVID19 will be here for a while. 

 I did start a new scarf today, so far I am liking that it is a stash buster.  I am 20 inches in and have almost used up 1 skein of sock yarn.  Yes, at one time I thought I would be knitting a lot of my own socks, not so much.  So I am always happy to find a pattern that uses sock yarn up.  I have also used up 1 1/4 skeins of worsted weight cotton yarn.  The cotton yarn is good for 17 inches between color changes so I think 5 skeins should just about finish the scarf. After I finish the skein of sock yarn I will start on partial skeins to change things up.  I will have to finish weaving in the ends of the scarf I finished yesterday so I can drop it off for a friend to take to guild for me.  

Day 3

 I spent most of the day feeling awful.  This however is no excuse not to get things done.  So when I had energy I managed to do a little picking up around the house. 3 loads of laundry,  put away most of today’s deliveries. I almost finished a never ending scarf, it is just over 5 feet long, good for the northern Arizona winter.  I have enough yarn for 2 more, but they will be delivered next fall.  After dinner I started feeling better.  John brought in Japanese food for dinner. I had my favorite cold tofu for dinner.  

I will have to see how tomorrow goes. I am planning another light scheduled.  

Day 2

 I am having another off day.  I think I will lay low for a few days.  

An Off Day

 Today was an off day for my body.  So all I accomplished was shopping for dinner, very early with an N95K mask, 3 loads of laundry, listing a few knitting/ Crocheting books on eBay, working on the endless scarf and I Cubii2 workout.  I spent most of the day resting.  

Since it was a bad body day I skipped cleaning the guest room and any unnecessary work. 

Really Deep Cleaning is Tiring

Today I had a system for cleaning up craft room 1 aka the guest room.  I started out with one bag for trash.. one bag for recycling..lastly one box for charity.   I spent 1 1/2 hours going through everything that I swore I would never touch again. I had everything in boxes to be ignored forever, I don’t think my family agreed with my plan of moving the boxes out of the way with out going through them. So I meticulously went through everything bit by bit.  I threw out projects that were never ever going to be repaired.  I put beads in their places.  I cleaned off resting places for things that I had just not put away.  I put all my broken stitch markers in a box to be repaired.  I stacked boxes for future delivery.  I worked until I was too tired to move.  Most importantly I managed to empty one box. That box will help organize my knitting projects stacked on shelves, so they don’t fall as often   I have one more box that I hope to finish tomorrow. At least with that part. The whole process should take about a week to finish. I might even try to get a bit of sewing done before I need to set up the guest room.

At the same time I was washing the last 3 skeins of yarn from Spin Together 2021. Once they are mostly dry and can be moved into the house for the final drying, I will take a picture of all the skeins.  Some colors did change drastically, others were about the same.  Then I will play with the order of colors to make my next shawl.  I might even spin a few more skeins to get the colors just right.

I even had time to add 6 inches to the never ending scarf..

 

24 Quarts

 I usually count my yarn and batts by the quart or gallon.  I know most people count by skeins,  ounces of roving or yards. So for last week’s spinning for Spin Together 2021 I emptied 2 , 12 quart sweater boxes of hand carded batts.  Since I spun 12 skeins of yarn that works out to an average of 6 skeins per box.  Of course as you have seen from the pictures, the skeins were spun with 1, 2 or 3 batts.  That’s the great thing about art batts, no 2 are alike.  Some can be singles while with others just more go together.  

Don’t worry about the empty boxes.  They will be filled up again by tomorrow night.  I am in the process of cleaning craft room number 1.  My crafts are currently divided between 2 rooms.  I have it on the best Authority that craft room number 1 aka the guest room might just have some guests.  So I do need to finish my top to bottom cleaning of the room.  I got off to a great start today.   Just so we are clear craft room number 2 is shared with our pantry.  At least I have all the snacks when I am working in craft room 2.  

I also learned today that my body no longer likes kale.  So my go to vegetables are carrots, celery, salads, squash, sweet potatoes, daikon radish, soy beans, Lima beans, lentils, Garbanzo beans, beans in general,   radishes, yams, corn, peas and seaweed.  Yes I now count seaweed as a vegetable. It goes great on tofu.  

Below are my empty storage boxes.  I was going to stack them the other way but the kept on sliding. 

How is this Sunday Night?

 I woke up feeling great.  

Which lead to a lot of chores getting done. 

Which lead to over 10,000 steps. 

Which lead to a total fat burn workout on my Cubii2.  That was 30 minutes.

Which lead to 2 out of 5 knitting work in progress projects getting finished tonight.  

All in all a good day.  

Now for another goodnights sleep.

Which will lead to another almost pain free busy day tomorrow.  

Spin Together 2021 Day 6

 At the end of day 6 of Spin Together 2021 I have spun 12 skeins of mostly art yarn for a total of 2,184 contest yards or 1.24090909 miles.   Not a bad week of spinning.  I did not over do. I included plenty of rest time.  The first picture is of the last 5 skeins.  They are smaller because they were spun with one art batt each.   

The next picture is of all 12 skeins together.  It seems hard to imagine that it is 1.24 miles of yarn or 2,184 yards all spun since last Saturday beginning at noon.  If I have the energy I might and that is a very big if,I might spin another skein or 2 of yarn.  The picture below is all the skeins together.  

The Last of Day 5

 These are the last 2 skeins of day 5 of Spin Together 2021. With a total contest yardage of 480 yards.  I like the colors of Bees the best.   Bees is the yellow green and light blue color way.  This. brings my contest totals up to 1,578 yards.  Since a mile is 1,760 yards I just might have a chance at spinning a mile of yarn this week.  No wonder my calf muscles are protesting.  

Sorry for the second post you know is coming tonight.  

Spin Together Day 5

 As you can tell from the picture below I spent the afternoon spinning mini batts. I managed to spin 5 mini batts today. With the 3 batts from yesterday that is 8 spun in 2 days, waiting to be plyed.  These are 4 ounce bobbins and I managed to get 6 ounces on the front left bobbin. I will try to get them all plyed and skeined after dinner.  Usually plying goes fast for me.   I would have spun more but ran out of bobbins for my woolly winder.  

This is the only plyed yarn that got skeined tonight. I am calling it shades of blue. This is a keeper for a me project.  It has a nice even balance and the coloring is fantastic.  Under traditional counting it has 182 yards. With the Spin Together 2021 rules it has 546 yards.   Which will bring me to over 1000 contest yards.  My biggest bobbins that I plyed tonight did not get skeined because it bed time, and there is always  tomorrow morning.  I also have to spin another bobbin of white plying yarn. I still have 2 bobbins that need to be plyed. I thought 6 ounces of white was going to be enough, I was wrong.  So I will fill another bobbin tomorrow.  Then ply the rest before I spin more batts.  

Spin Together Day 4

 You might have read or seen pictures of all the mini art batts that I made a few months ago in a bid to get my fiber stash under control.  Well I do have my first empty box that I am filling up with hand spun yarn.  I have 4 skeins of yarn in the box I emptied.  As per Spin Together rules I have 552 yards.  Each time the fiber goes through the spinning wheel orifice it counts, so  if I spin 2 singles and ply them together I multiply the total yards times three. To get my actual yardage simply divide the above number by 3.   

I also have 1 skein waiting to be plyed and am currently spinning one of the larger batts. I did not get much spinning done today.  I usually slack off after an eye doctor appointment.  Somehow getting my eyes dilated just discombobulates me so I always sleep afterwards.  I can knit while I am asleep, but I have not been able to learn to spin while sleeping.  I am really hoping to have a second box of batts emptied by noon on Saturday when the contest ends.  Wish me luck.  As you all know it depends solely on how my hands are doing in any point of time.   

All the art batts are going into hand woven scarfs.  The mohair with the exception of the pink skein will go into a shawl for me.  I really did not consider that losing the weight, inches and sizes would mean that I would need new shawls in smaller sizes.  I just assumed that they would fit me better. Some fo,

but most are looking a bit awkward.  That will be for after the contest.  

Day 3 Spin Together 2021

 I have other skeins in progress.  This is my first completed skein of art yarn.  35 yards multipled by 3 give me 105 yards for the contest.  Tomorrow will be better.  I had a very bad body day today.  

Day 2 Spin Together 2021

 As you can tell from the picture below I am super into Spin Together 2021.  On the right side is my Louet Victoria I am currently spinning a white single to ply with my art yarn.  I will also doing my plying on this wheel. I have never noticed before that undyed arm is smoother and easier on the hands than dyed yarn to spin. It must be something in the dyes that effects the fiber and how it feels.  Now I now why so many spinners spin the raw fiber and dye it later.  

In the middle is my Cubii2  so that I remember to get my exercise in.   On the left is my LendrumDT for do my first spins.   I might even do some art yarn singles on it.  On the fireplace are my 2 baskets of warp and weft for weaving.  Since all my Spin Together 2021 yarn will be for charity work I had better get my loom running too   

I currently have 4 bobbins that need to be plyed.  I have also found that 1 1/2 hours seems to be my maximum amount of time that I can sit and spin without hurting. So I am sad to say that I won’t be adding much yardage to my team’s total.  

It’s time to get some rest so that I can try to have a productive day tomorrow.  

Spin Together and more.

 My body and I are not, not on speaking terms, more like a major disagreement today. Since it is fall I did not think it was weird to put a shawl on my shoulders and cover myself with a blanket after dinner.  Being all nice and warm really helped with the aches and pains.  

My first day of Spin Together was pretty good. I filled 4 bobbins.   Now I just have to spin some white ti ply with the art yarn.  The are going to be small skeins of yarn.  I am starting with all those bits and pieces of fiber that I made into mini batts.  The yarn will go into hand woven scarfs and maybe a shawl or two.  

It has been a busy day so I am officially calling it over.  

A pretty good day.

 I did get a lot of things done today.  I managed to get 1/2 my to do list completed and a few extras too.   I have a busy day planned for tomorrow so I am hoping for a good night’s sleep.  

My Local Yarn Shop

 I woke up feeling fantastic today.  I had a good day and taught 1 knitting class.  I got help from Michael in fixing my Lendrum Spinning Wheel, the squeaky footman are gone.  If you are in Tucson or just passing through Michael at Grandma’s Spinning Wheel can help you with most of your spinning wheel problems.   Also for those of you who plan to do the Steven West Make along shawl, Sandy the fantastic in house dyer at Grandmas Spinning Wheel has dyed up several different colors that have been put together in sets for your convince.  If you would like to choose your own colors that is an option too.  This is something that needs to be done as soon as possible because Sandy is dying the yarn to order.  

If you are in Tucson the group will meet in Friday’s at the shop.  If you are in an area without a Local Yarn Shop you can still get together with friends for this make along.  You can also order your yarn from Grandma’s Spinning Wheel for your project.  

Just to let you know, Grandma’s Spinning Wheel has a large selection of yarns, fibers, weaving supplies and notions for all. Just use the link for you shopping convince.  

Happy Fiber crafting to all.  

Feeling Better

 As I have for the past 2 days I ate breakfast and went back to sleep.  The difference was that today I actually felt better when I got up from my nap.  I did 1 load of hand wash, 1 load through the washing machine and folded one load.  All that took 2 session with an hour rest in between.  I tried really hard not to over do it and get everything done.  The maybe good news is that my to do list is still long.  

I finished the hat I started at the doctors office on Monday morning.  I am calling the hat Boredom , because the doctor was running late, did not have all the right equipment ( next time I am bringing my own blood pressure machine just in case they only have a very small cuff and not for anyone larger than a petite person) I was supposed to see the doctor but got they PA instead.  They were very slow and disorganized.  So I started messing around with the hat I was making.  John thinks it looks like an ice cream cone.  Let me know  if you want me to write the pattern up.  

As you can tell besides binge watching Downton Abbey, I also got some knitting done.  I almond finished another scarf and cast on another hat because I did not want to let the stitch markers get lonely.  

I Hate Colds

 I woke up early with my first cold of the season.  So after 2  24 ounces tumblers of ice water, 1/2 mug of ice tea and oatmeal I went back to bed and slept almost to noon.  John made me chicken soup with a pumpkin bagel for lunch.  Then it was couch potato time.  

Another mug and a half of ice tea was consumed while binge watching Downton Abbey.  A little knitting was accomplished.  As of this evening no projects have been completed.   No spinning or Cubii2 we’re done either.  I figure exercise is not good when I am sick   

My plans for this week are to lay low.  Only if I feel better will things get done.  My to do list from today will wait.  Of course things will get added.  

Getting Things Done

 I am starting to get back into sync. I spun again tonight. More plying. I will have plenty of yarn for hand woven scarfs.  I did some knitting while waiting at my doctors appointment today.  They were so slow that I finished the brim and started the pattern.  I am almost halfway done with the first repeat.  

I am finding that as long as I write a to do list, I get things done.  So tomorrow it is to do list ho.  

A Relaxing Day

 I spent my day knitting, spinning and relaxing.  I worked on a hat , but did not finish it. I did however find my missing scissors, I managed to put 2 pair in the same bag.   I also added a couple of rows to a scarf, but fit not finish it.  I have to admit that I have been binge watching Downton Abbey.  I find it hard to knit.  I just love all the clothing and the attention to the little details. This includes the food too.   So I watch not to miss anything. 

This evening I finished spinning some purple roving and the immediately plyed it with some multi colored purple variegated yarn.  I ran out of purple at about 8 ounces on the bobbin.  So I have just a little left to ply with something else or ply it on to it self.  I am trying to empty all my bobbins before Saturday’s start of Spin Together.  I have a 1 1/4 pounds of fiber to start things off.  After that I will stash dive.  I still have to replace the footman connectors on my LundrumDT spinning wheel, it’s a two person job.   

I have noticed that if I use my Cubii2 everyday it is much easier to spin for longer periods of time.  Which means I need to start warping the loom more to use up all the yarn I am spinning.  

A Good Day.

 I actually had a good day with a few whole hours totally pain free.  I hope I get more of that time in the coming weeks.  

This to Shall Pass

 Just another very early morning, waiting for the aspirin to kick in for the flare up that refuses to leave.  I am resting, eating right getting Exercise and getting plenty of sleep, just not straight through the night.  I honestly feel like I am in high school again with the pain jumping Wiley Nelly through my body.  

Tonight it’s just that low level of pain that refuses to let me get comfortable.  My hands are too tired and sore to knit.  I can’t concentrate enough to read. So here I sit and wait.  Other people my age don’t seem to have as much pain or have various parts of their bodies stop working for no apparent reason.  It is my honest wish that the doctors and scientist come up with multiple cures soon.  

I really wish that COVID19 was long over so I could go and get a massage.  That usually helped in the past.. The thought of going in an enclosed room with poor ventilation just does not sound good right now.  Yes, I am fully vaccinated, but I am going with the science on this one.   I think I need to chant that this too shall pass throughout the day to convince my body to feel better.  

My Car

 My car did something amazing today.  This is the first day that I have driven my car in the rain. Yes, I know that I have had the car for about 18 months, but there is this thing called COVID19 that has kept me home an awful lot.  

Now back to my car. As I left the house it started to rain. Me being in a funk for most of the time I have owned the car, I have not read the owner’s manual.  The 1st car that I have not read it from cover to cover. So as I was trying to remember what the salesman said about the wipers and how to turn them on, they just started up on their own.  They stopped too.  Then started again,. Kept up with the rain by going faster and stopped again.  I thought that this was so cool.  I could keep my eyes on the road.  

Tucson drivers freak out in rain. They forget how to drive and that they must slow down.  I am not talking about the usual snowbird stuff like stopping dead in the middle of the road in the right or center lane blinking for a left turn expecting everyone to stop for them.  When it would be safer to move over to the left lane and make a u turn further down the road.  Then making a right turn on the right street.  Tucson drivers just don’t get much rain to practice with.  

I really want to thank the Volvo engineers ho came up with this idea and then implemented it.  It really is a very cool feature.   Thank you.  

Keeping Things Mixed Up

 My body is definitely giving me a run for my money.  My ankle is feeling better, but I am going to give it a few more days to heal before I stress it.  My hands seem ok today.  My one major glitch is that I am moving as if I was made of 2 by 4’s.  

So I got caught up on paperwork. That resulted in 3 full bags going into the recycling bin.  That is always a plus.  Then it was off to play pick up and put away while John was walking for exercise.  We both got about the same amount of steps; however, I got a lot of things put away.  

One thing I did notice today is that when I finished my chores today the results of today’s work is at the top of tomorrow’s to do list.  Oh well, it’s time to rest up for tomorrow.  

Bumps in the Road.

 I feel like my body is back in high school with constant sprains and rotating tendonitis.  I really wish I could figure out my own body.  I am not sure how, but I sprained my ankle.  I tried to exercise tonight using my Cubii2.  I lasted less then a minute going very slow. Walking is painful.   I know I will be making a call tomorrow.  

Spin Together 2021 is coming up in a few weeks. I honestly don’t know if I will be able to use either of my spinning wheels.  I have been debating an e spinning wheel for ages,.   I tried the eew mini spinning wheel, I was not impressed.  I am leaning towards the Hanson e spinner.  If I don’t get the e spinner, I will go old school with drop spindles. I might just have a few laying around.