My Learning Curve

 I needed to develope a new learning curve for knitting. I am taking a multi facetted approach. The first thing I did was figure out how I was holding my knitting needles. It turns out I was holding them too close to my body. So I am learning to hold my knitting further away from my body. This has changed a couple of things like muscle memory for one. I am now prone to make more mistakes and can not knit with my eyes closed when I am tired. 

Which brings up the second change which is a major one for me. I stop knitting when my hands or arm gets tired. This means I have less knitting time on bad body days. I used to do more knitting on bad body days to keep my mind occupied.  Now I read more or listen to books on tape. I am actually watching television during the day. This is something I reserved for sick days in the past. 

I am also doing more things with my left hand. I am teaching myself knitting with my left hand for starters. I am practicing coloring with my left hand and then onto writing which I have not done much of since 3rd grade when my teacher did not let us use our left hands at school.  

No my arm is not totally healed by these changes. My right hand is more useful. I am dropping less things. My right hand is not in as much pain. Less pain is always good in. My humble opinion.  

I know that there will be other changes along the way. I need to learn to live within the limits of my body instead of pushing my body to live beyond its limits.  I still push it a little, but not like i use to.  

A Successful Version

 My fingerless mitten version 2.0 is a complete success. I will be knitting up the 1st mitten starting tomorrow. You know I always knit the second mitten 1st. That way the second mitten always gets knit up. With any luck I should publish this pattern before the end of the month so that you can start your holiday knitting. This will make a great gift and you can get 1 1/2 pair per 100 gram ball of worsted weight yarn.  

Then I will pick another color and knit Another pair for myself. They are really comfortable and the yarn is really great. I use them for sleeping to keep my hands warm at night. And also other things. I find fingerless mittens so useful. I also don’t have to take them off to use my iPad.  

A BBD

 My body and I are not on very good terms today.  The only major accomplishment was that I got my 5,000 steps today. I am hoping for a better day tomorrow.  

My Appoitment Was A Bust

 I made an appointment at the app;low store in La Encantanda to get my battery replaced.  They were out of stock. I guess John was lucky when he got his replaced. This was not the only item that they were out of stock on this week. John went to go buy a new IPad and they were out of stock on those too. You need to preorder any iPad and some other items and then you can go in and pick them up. 

We as a world are still working through supply chain issues caused by Covid-19. Since we are still having break outs of Covid-19 variants I personally think it will be a year or 2 before we get back to some semblance of normal. In the mean time please be kind to the store personal, they are just as frustrated as you are but have to deal with it hundreds of times a weeek.  

So I am taking this time to finish up Version 2.0 of my Fingerless Mitten. Then do some spinning.  My version of lemonade.

New Glasses

 Today we braved Costco on the weekend to pickup my new pairs of glasses. A regular  every day pair and new Ray Bans. The Ray Bans are not the black aviator frames that I have been wearing since the 1970’s but a gold metallic frame. Every fewish decades a girl needs a change. We also picked up some Cheerio’s and Kleenex. 

Then lunch out at a local Tucson favorite, Beyond Bread for a half a sandwich and gazpacho soup. Then home to finish the 4th load of laundry for the day and naps.  

I actually cook dinner tonight. I made quesadillas with mushrooms and black olives and John made the mixed vegetables. It was a nice light summer dinner. It was also super easy to clean up after.

On the craft front I am teaching myself how to knit left-handed. This will give my right hand break. After the first few rows it wasn’t too bad. I guess that’s the great thing about being ambidextrous. It’s easy to switch up somethings between hands.  Although I should have not started with double stranded knitting on U.S. size 17 knitting needles.  I should have also started a new project instead of switching in the middle of a project.  I know no one will be able to tell the difference with this scarf. It also required me actually paying attention to what I was knitting. It’s always good to try new things.  

38 Years and Counting

 38 years ago John and I got married by a small lake in California complete with ducks. Our kids took us on fabulous adventures. We had lots of fun along the way.  There was some hard stuff too, but we got through it as a team.  I can still manage to surprise him too. So a very Happy Anniversary to my taller half. Yes I was wearing 2 inch heels in the picture.  

Thank You

 I  want to send a really Big Thank You to the Google Docs Team.  I have been using it for a few day and I never had to go to my personal technology support team.  This is pretty good for an artist.  I am typing up a new knitting pattern. Things went much more smoothly than on the other word processing app that I had been using since the kids were in elementary school and we still had dial up on A.O.L.   Yeah, that long ago.  I still have to get help with that one sometimes. 

I really like the light / dark contrast. It was very easy to see. Now I have to admit that I did the engineering thing and jumped in without reading the directions. I was able to find most everything I needed with just a little looking around. I will look around to see if I can adjust the pica on the finished pattern. I write patterns for knitters with learning disabilities and things like post stroke. A larger font size is mandatory especially for my older eyes. 

I have not gotten use to making edits with my pen straight on to my iPad Air yet. So I printed out the pattern and got my blue pen ready.  I made the edit’s on paper and then went back to the pattern to make the corrections. You do have to understand that it is easier to hold a pen, knitting and writing then holding knitting and typing.  In my humble opinion that is not bad for someone who learned to type on an Underwood typewriter built in the 1940,s. 

Thank you again for a job well done. 

Exploding Pillows and Other Fun Stuff

 It was time to wash couch pillows today. The only hitch was that after a decade the liner of one pillow exploded in the washing machine. Yes, it was a tall persons job to clean up. Unless I am in at least 2 inch heals or standing on a step stool,I can not reach the bottom on the washer. These new high capacity washing machines are not made for short people. So tomorrow I get to go to Joann’s, I will be fully masked.  I will be getting a new pillow liner. Maybe even some leather to fix my swift.  

Aside from that it was grocery shopping day.  At least the people who were not wearing masks did not snicker today.  I also got a nap this afternoon. I was so tired that I did not move the entire time I was asleep. I woke up in the same exact position I fell asleep in.  

The numbers for today.   

The 4th day of 2022 over 100f in Tucson.. it’s going to be a long hot summer.

The 20th day in a row that I walked 5,000 steps or more  I am beginning to feel better on most days   

Fingerless Gloves V 1.0

 Version 1.0 of my fingerless gloves has failed. I now know why designers tend to go very short on the fingers  it takes a lot of shaping to make it fit right.  The good news is I know how to do that. The good news is that the pattern until the thumb is a perfect fit. 

So now I am in the process of typing up the pattern and will make the changes to the pattern as I go.  My daughter suggested the Google writing application.  I am somewhat nervous about trying new things. That being said we raised a very smart daughter and she is generally right about stuff like this because she uses it more. She and her dad are new technology all the way. Where as fiber arts by it’s very nature seems to be old technology even if I use a 3D printed drop spindle.  By the way there are still a few of John’s drop spindle designs at Grandmas Spinning Wheel here in Tucson is you want to get one. They are the only place that they are sold.  They can also be special ordered in a color to match your Knitty Noddy. 

Sorry I squirrel on you. I have found away to knit with my right arm pretty straight so I will start the redesign tomorrow.  Below is the failed glove. See if you can find the design errors. I know of at least 6. Can you find more?

Chores

 I had a rare quiet day at home.  So before breakfast I ran the foot and calf massager.  Then over breakfast I made my to do list in hopes that the Tylenol would kick in so I could try and finish my list.  I worked on it till exhaustion caught up with me. I then crashed and took a nap. I don’t care what anyone says, adults need naps.  I got a few more things done after my nap. When John got home I took another break and watched one of my shows.  

I did not make 10,000 steps today but will settle for 6,000. 

10,000

Today is the 1st day since I got sick in November that I walked over 10,000 steps.  I also picked out and ordered 2 pairs of new glasses. Seriously it took less than an hour to choose both pair.  Got my 4th COVID19 booster. Was not tired most of the day.  Walked up hill without having to stop to catch my breath. 

What more could I want except being able to knit again.  

Busy

Today I felt like I did when the kids were little.  I had 2 doctors appointment’s, did 2 errands and was so tired that I skipped the last 2 errands of the day.  I was too tired to cook dinner, so John took us out to Cafe Ole for their wonderful Chicken and rice soup with a salad.  

After dinner we took a walk to LeeLee’s and found some duck eggs. The perfect end to a busy day.  

Flagstaff Wool and Fiber Festival

 I packed up the last bag of hand spun yarn, even some of my art yarn today. It is heading to the Flagstaff Wool and Fiber Festival, which is the first weekend in June. Merino y Vino will have it in her booth. This is a rare opportunity to get some of my hand spun yarn. Most are one of a kind. Combined with Merino y Vino’s yarn you can knit, spin, crochet or weave a one of a kind creation.  

There are going to be a lot of classes and demonstrations.  A lot of local crafts people and fiber artist. For more information go to the website for Flagstaff Wool and Fiber Festival.  This will have something for everyone. 

Of course if you can’t wait Merino y Vino has a shop on Etsy where you can find her small batch dyed yarn. She can work with you on special orders and customize yarn. Merino y Vino is the dyer of my Square Dance scarf pattern on Raverly. If there are no kits in the shop she can make one for you in the color of your choice, please allow extra time for dyeing the special order yarn. 

Thank you for supporting local hand made items. 

Mothers Day

 I had an early Mother’s Day.  It was nice sharing brunch with the adult kids over face time.  Happy Mother’s Day to all he mothers out there.  I had a great day. 

In Shipping News

 Package B that was supposed to arrive on Monday arrived tonight. Package A that was supposed to be delivered today will arrive tomorrow.  So my Mothers Day present from John will arrive on time.  

In other news my body and I are not on speaking terms today.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  

We Are Super Busy

If you recall I had a problem with a ChaioGoo knitting needle.  My local yarn store owner let me know that  ChaioGoo guarantees their product. All you need to do is bring it in to where you bought it and they will replace it. On a very busy local yarn shop day Vicky exchange the needle for me. This is the first time that that has ever happened with a knitting needle in 22 years of knitting. I do tend to wear out knitting needles with high usage. I was very surprised and grateful. A special thank you goes out to Vicky of Grandma’s Spinning Wheel here in Tucson.  

This week we decided to clean out under each sink in the house. 5 cabinets in all. So Tuesday I emptied all of them into laundry baskets.  2 baskets for the kitchen and one for each of the other cabinets.  I think this should be done more often than I currently do it.  I found empty containers, half filled bottles and boxes, and more than a few cleaning rags. This afternoon we put everything back. John volunteered to do the kitchen,By the way he is great at organizing things.  We each did 2 cabinets.  That leaves the 5th cabinet.  While emptying the cabinet out I discovered that the towels felt crunchy, like they were put away wet.  Not in this house.  Then the towels started sticking to the wood. Not a good sign. Then I got to the bottom of the cabinet and they were hard to pull out. Underneath all the towels was discolored wood.  Apparently the sink had been leaking and we did not notice because of the almost 2 foot layer of towels.  Being one to divide up chores I took washing the 3 loads of towels with bleach and hot water. Then I got to fold them. I know that I could probably pin point the leak and try to fix it myself, but not this week. So John it going to tackle the leak and clean off the wood. Then I can put everything back together. 

As of Monday afternoon I am on a temporary knitting hiatus again. My right elbow is giving me trouble. Next week will involve a test to see where we go from here.  Because of all the cleaning of the past 2 days I have not gone through knitting withdrawal yet. I have been too busy.  I did however ask John if he was really sure if he wanted me to passenger without my knitting.  He was very brave to let me in the car without my knitting.  

I am trying coloring in a coloring book to keep me distracted when I want to knit.  I am doing really well with my left hand.  I am staying in the lines.  Playing with colors. Dropping a few colored pencils under the couch.  I will pick them up when I have dropped a few more so I have plenty of colors to play with.  I am going for abstract in the picture I an currently working on.  

Well it has been a long week and it’s only Wednesday. So I am calling it an early night.