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.