Making Progress

 Today I finished plying 3 mini skeins of hand spun yarn.  I used the drop spindle instead of the spinning wheel because it gives me a better yarn. By this I mean a more balanced twist.  It is so much easier to control the twist.  

I also made a concerted effort to catch up on my back log of making dog pillows.  I made 6 cases. I stuffed 5 and pinned them.  I left 1 by my squirrel cage for all the little bits and pieces I get when caking yarn.  I also cut the fabric for 2 more pillows.  

After all that hand work my hands were just too tired to knit tonight.  Sometimes I feel like a beginner in knitting were projects took months instead of days.  I have about 2 more ounces to knit.  I hope to be finished by Mother’s Day.  I am really ready for my hands to be better.  

Quiff

 Quiff is a real word.  Good for Scrabble or W.E.LD.E.R..  if you don’t believe me just look it up.  

Over Done

 Today I tackled some deep cleaning, tossing and redoing a bathroom to make it less cluttered.  Gone is the magazine rack that held magazines and wash cloths.  I used to go through about 50 wash clothes a week with Eric, now that I am only using them to dry my hands I don’t need that many out anymore.  All the wash cloths are either in a drawer or have been reassigned to other uses.  The counter is far nicer to look at. 

At lunch I was able to open a fresh jar of peanut butter for the first time since January. I am not sure how much of that is contributing to my current level of hand pain. 

I had so much recycling going to the bin that I asked John to carry it all out. By the way he was more than happy to help carry it out.  I wanted to do more cleaning and tossing. My body said it was nap time. My hand said “what did you do to me?” Yep, I might have been too gung-ho on the cleaning front today.  

We also went dryer shopping today.  We tried to shop local first, they said it would be about 10 months to get a gas dryer I wanted.  Then we went to a big box store and got the same dryer to be delivered this week.  Guess which store we bought from?

I also filled one box for Goodwill for good measure.  

Another One Bites The Dust

 No it is not a fiber project that has been finished. It is however just as important to me.  The dryer has died after about 15 years of service.  This is to read no laundry until the replacement arrives. Thank goodness I was mostly caught up.  However the sheets will have to be rewashed as they pick up the odor from the dryer.  Something has just decided to burn out.  As per Consumer Reports it is not a great investment to repair something that old.  So we will be trying to find one that fits in our limited space that is white.  Easy peasy right. Not so much. The Gold Star appliances tend to be larger for some reason.  The newer houses  are designed for larger washers and dryers.  Sadly the houses built so last century are not.  So wish us luck.  

A Little Bit Of Loom Time

 Since knitting is still very tiring for my right hand. Not to mention that it is hard to knit more than a few rows a day. Also I should not be spinning tons of new yarn just to sit in bags on my shelves.  I decided to try a bit of weaving.  

Why weaving you might ask. Well for one thing I use 2.5 times more yarn in a weaving project than a similar knitting or crochet project.  That is a very good thing right now, since the new winter shawl that I started in January still has one skein more of yarn to go before it is finished.  Another reason is that it is now April 10th and I have not completed one project this year.  Yes, you have read that right, nada, not one completed project has been completed for 2023.  Yes, I am giving my hand time to heal after multiple  surgeries in January and February on my right hand.  Yes, I am making very slow progress. Also the older I get the longer it takes to heal.  

Well the news isn’t all that bad. Since I have brought the looms, yes plural looms out last week, I have almost completed one scarf.  It took 2 1/2 skeins of yarn.  I took it off the smaller loom last night.  I gave it its hot water bath this morning.  With the temperatures in Tucson in the low 90’s it should be dry by sometime tomorrow. Then I can do the finishing touches on it. 

On the larger loom I have a cotton open weave shawl going in a variegated yarn.  This is my first attempt at open weaving.  The first few inches look fantastic.  I can’t wait to see what design the yarn will make.  A 2nd scarf was started on the smaller loom tonight. I am using up a bunch of bulky yarn on a 5 dent heddle. In English that translates to 5 warp threads per inch.  Where the shawl is a much denser 12 warp threads per inch. A huge difference in the time it takes to warp the loom., not to mention the time it takes to weave each piece. It took 4 hours to warp the shawl and less than 30 minutes for the scarf.  

So without further ado here is an almost side by side of both looms.   With a picture of the open weaving too.  The bottom of the open weave will be straighter once it is taken off the loom   

Bye Bye

 We got this ceiling fan shortly after we moved into our house.  We have been able to to find parts to fix it for over 2 decades. Now we are having trouble finding a new light kit, which are no longer manufactured. So we sadly have decided to replace the fan because the lights don’t work properly anymore.  

I even tried threatening it with replacing it. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. It’s like hitting the old style cathode ray tube TVs.  Sometimes hitting them in the right spot would make it work just a little longer until dad could come home and pull out the burnt out tube, then go to the store and buy a new one to plug in.  Then the television would work until the next tube burnt out.  We could always get new tubes.  This time it did not and no parts available.  So tomorrow after lunch we will have the fan and lighting unit replaced.  I really hate designed obsolescence.  It is a tremendous waste of resources. Not to mention more things landing up in the landfill.  

Warped

 Today I managed to warp both my looms.  The small one was easy after I dumped the first batch of warp that literally started disintegrating as I was trying to warp the loom.  The second try was much better.  I will finish the warping process tomorrow, by winding the yarn on to the rear beam.  Then threading the heddle.  Then tying the yarn in place.  Then weaving to finish a charity scarf.

The second loom was took 2 hours to partially warp.  I will probably finish that on Friday.  It took a whole cake off of Whoopee by Circulo Yarns to warp a shawl for me. That is 578 yard or 528 meters.    I was able to get 3 more cakes in my desired color at Grandmas Spinning Wheel.  The loom did not want to be warped and needed John’s attention a little over 1/2 way through the process.  The Shawl will be about 23 inches wide so I will need an extra set of hands to wind the yarn up on the rear beam.  

My small loom.   

Almost all of my larger loom.  You can see the difference between the 2 looms and why I will need help with the larger loom.  

In other news my eyes are doing great.  No issues following last year’s surgery.  

Side by Side

 John always comes up with elegant solutions.  Take this week for instance.  I was feeling really for no other term really super fat.  John’s solution was to pull a picture from just before I started my lifestyle changes from 2021 in Sabino Canyon. 

Then he took a picture while we were at saguaro national park east today for a comparison. Which he showed me at lunch.  It really lifted my mood.  I can really see the changes in my face.  

While I still have some more weight to lose, even I can see the progress of side by side pictures.  By the way the outfit in the top picture was sent to Goodwill months ago.  This current shirt is 2 sizes smaller.  Notice that I have rolled up the sleeves 3 inches because the shirt is starting to get too big.  The pants were bought on a trip with my eldest just after she finished grad school.  Over a decade ago.  Giving a shout out to shopping my closet. 

So I will continue on my less of me is more of me journey with renewed focus.