A New Project

 Since last week when I distributed 8 cubic feet of yarn to my friends, John did not mind me starting a new shawl instead of grabbing and finishing a UFO.  I was at three different combinations of yarn and John chose the colors he liked.  I spent the evening winding 4 new cakes of yarn. The first skein was knotty. When the forth skein when the yarn started getting wonky, I used my right knee to keep the yarn on the squirrel cage. I am going to knit my pattern Grandmas Summer Shawl, this time in a DK weight since the pattern knit up so well with a worsted weight and U.S. size 10.5 by 50 inch circular knitting needles.  I am thinking about a U.S. size 7 for the new shawl.  

I know that I said I would not start a new project until all the UFO’s were finished.  However all I have are summer weather shawls in progress.  It is now frequently getting below 70° and I need some warmer shawls that fit me. I distributed all the shawls that were too big so now I only have one winter shawl.  I will need at least 2.  Hence the new project.  

New Bibs

 I rarely make bibs anymore, even though I really love them.  Health issues have zapped my energy.  I can’t even figure out how much energy I will have from one hour to the next. Take to day for instance.  I finished sewing the last bib. Then packed the box. Folded one load of laundry and I am now exhausted.  I will mail them out tomorrow.  

Below is a picture of the bibs.  I am afraid it is not one of my best pictures.  

Low on Spoons Today

 Today started off with the beginnings of a migraine at 4 am.So I started a load of non fussy laundry.  Brewed a small pot of tea. While the tea was brewing I managed to empty most of the dishwasher.  Then the tea was ready.  With some tea and oatmeal, I was able to catch the migraine before it got too bad. The thing I have learned about migraines is they need to be stopped before the light show kicks in.  I had enough caffeine in me to allow me to sleep until 10 am after breakfast.  By the time I woke up John took care of the things I did not finish left on sticky notes. 

The rest of the day was spent doing tasks in 5 to 10 minute increments.  I am absolutely floored by the amount of cleaning that I can get done in 5 to ten minutes.  

John surprised me with lunch out and a trip to Chico’s to pick up some new tops.  Not all were on sale but the majority were.  This lead to picking out an equal number of shirts leaving the house.  I usually go by the one in, one out rule unless I quickly lose a lot of weight and inches. Then it is all the too big stuff out and get what I can to have at least 7 or 8 complete outfits.  This might take a couple of trips.  I have not had one of those since March 2024 when I got sick. So I am actually wearing out clothes.  

John and I made a fresh batch of homemade stew.  John cleaned and chopped the vegetables.  I cooked and seasoned.  The recipe for my stew is on the blog. Just look up the keywords beef and stew. Although I have made it with chicken too. Basically you can choose any meat your family likes or is within your budget. Conversely you can use all the vegetables and add beans or barley to make a vegan soup. 

Now that I have cooled down, it’s time to give sleep a try.  

Recovery Mode Again

 The beginning of the week was very busy for me. Between holiday parties and appointments. I think I overdid myself. Today my body decided it was time for recovery mode. Really my body did not give me a chance to do otherwise.  I slept in till after 8 o’clock this morning and had two naps today. I also managed to do a pressure point release and massage to get my neck feeling better. My right arm is not as sore as Tuesday.  

As I get ready for bed, I can tell you that I feel so much better than I did when I woke up. This does not mean I will have a busy day tomorrow. Even though I have a ton of year end work to do. I still have all the paperwork that was supposed to do today and a little house straightening. I also have less than 100 yards of yarn left on a new shawl that I would like to finish before the end of the year. I really want to start a new shawl after that, but I have at least three shawls that need to be finished before I can start another new shawl. I also have a very large pile of finished projects that need to be photographed and logged into my Ravelry account before the 31st.  At least I can do much of that sitting down.  

I am really getting very tired with this recovery mode, it seems like all the time.  

If I don’t write a new post before the end of 2025. I would like to wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2026.  

The Perfect Treat

 Now that the holiday season of 2025 is almost over, we are all giving a huge sigh of relief.  Now it time to take a few moments of personal time. It’s also the time to get yourself a special treat that you can use all year long.  After years of searching I have finally found my perfect slippers.  I kid you not.  Somewhere around the mid 1980’s a lot of slipper brands switched from natural fibers for slipper liners to polyester.  Since I am allergic to polyester this made decent slippers hard to find.  I was using candles for years as slippers. 

I have been wearing Haflinger clogs for quite of few years for my winter shoes.  They are nice and comfortable.  It takes at least 4 or 5 winters to wear out.  They are also stylish.  I wear the clogs with both dresses and pants.  The Haflinger Clogs are my go to travel shoes too.  This is how I found my love for the brand. 

Fast forward to October 2025. I left my black traveling shoes at my daughter’s house, because I was also using my red clogs as slippers.  I just told my daughter that I would pick up the shoes on my next visit. I also said that I would come up with a slipper solution.  

While I was looking for a replacement pair of black clogs I saw that they also carried slippers.  In my size too. There were just so many styles to choose from.  I picked out the navy slippers with colorful butterflies.  They are a felted pure new wool top and shoe insert.  They also have a rubber sole, so they do not slip and slide across the tile floors.  I ordered my usual size and the slippers fit perfectly, there is even room for warm socks or a foot brace.  

After a couple of weeks wearing the slippers, I ordered a pair to keep at my daughter’s house.  You can find the complete line at Halfinger. There is also a very limited selection on Amazon or a number of independent shoe stores. If you like to support local businesses in your area check out the shoe stores in your area.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own. I have paid for all of my Halfinger shoes and slippers. I have not been paid by the Halfinger company to write this blog post.  I will earn a very small commission if you click on the link on this page.  

The Yarn Left the House

 Today my friends and I gathered together to celebrate and share mostly homemade gifts.  I say mostly because most of the 8 cubic feet of yarn was not hand spun my me.  Some of it was lace weight, which my hands can no longer work with.  Other yarn the colors were not right for me anymore.  Everyone was very happy with their yarn. 

I also put together a random bag of small gifts for the staff. They are so kind to us during the year, that it only seems appropriate. 

I will say that I really did over do it in the cleaning out of the yarn room. I can say redistributing the yarn made me feel a lot lighter.  Although hit me today like a brick wall.  I could do nothing but rest for 3 hours.  I was even too tired to pick up knitting needles.  

After an early shopping trip to pick up dinner and some essentials.  I plan on resting most of the day.  

Mentors

 I love the idea of mentoring.  My dad was a very good mentor. My daughter followed in his footsteps.  Mentors must be chosen with care.  A recommendation from a trusted friend or teacher is a good place to start.  I personally don’t recommend that everyone should be a mentor or teacher.  A bad mentor can leave you cleaning up the mess that they taught you was absolutely necessary for years.  If a mentor pushes more is better in terms of supplies turn and run away as fast as you can.  Don’t get me wrong, especially in the arts you need a certain amount of resources also known as supplies. 

More is not better. Let me explain why. Do you have so many supplies that you spend more time searching for the supplies to start your project than it takes to make your artwork?  Do you find it’s faster to rebuy what you need to use rather than take the time to look for them? How many rooms are filled with supplies for the art projects? Do you have extra supplies stored in the garage or basement up to the ceiling? Do the amount of supplies you have, cause you anxiety? Do you spend too much money on your supplies?  Could you survive an epidemic or the Zombie apocalypse with no problem?  If you answered yes to one or more of these questions you picked the wrong mentor. The great part about the solution is that you don’t need a mentor to fix the problem.

All you need is a few good friends willing to help you out. Take my friend Louise for example. Louise on more occasions than I can count has willingly come to my house and filled her car up with yarn.  Her family lives in an area with no local yarn or craft stores. Over 2 hours from a Walmart. So she has brought a lot of my for no better word for it is a horde of yarn home with her. Her family is enjoying the bounty. 

I have donated to my local knitting guild. In fact I filled up the back of a Ford F150 pickup truck with yarn and still had too much. I have donated odds and ends with leftover yarn for camp projects. Had more friends pick out yarn for their next project and still had too much yarn. I have mailed yarn to random people who could not afford yarn. 

What I am politely trying to say is this will take time.  Each time you give away more of your yarn or other art stash it will hurt. You will berate yourself for spending so much money. You will berate yourself for not completing the projects you planned. You will feel like you let yourself and your family down. You will have second thoughts about giving all those supplies away. This is all perfectly normal.  You will also find more supplies that you totally forgot about. This is normal too. 

In the end after more than a few years of going through this process please know that your family will be very appreciative of your efforts. I have helped clean out enough family members homes to know that this is true.  

I brought this up because in talking with my taller half we talked about my former mentor. How it took 3 Goodwill trucks to haul away her stash of yarn. It took them months of selling random 66 gallon trash bags stuffed to the brim with yarn at $5 a bag to get rid of it all. My goal is not to be that person. To get my yarn supplies into one room   Then leave the multi purpose room to its original design. To be a sewing, jewelry making and guest room rolled into one neat and tidy space. 

As I am writing this, I have filled up bags of yarn to the tune of 6 cubic feet.  Then I found 2 more boxes that I had forgotten about to go through. Well after I finish this post, you know what I will be doing. 

All this while resisting the urge to buy more yarn.  

Finishing Unfinished Objects

 It’s been a very rough week physically for me.  Even with all that going on I managed to finish one project, a Tunisian Crochet Scarf for me.  After trying it on, I decided that it was not right for me so it will be leaving the house. I also will not be writing a pattern for it like I planned.  I will not be writing a pattern for every bespoke project.  I have also gone back to the 5 of cleaning.  The five of cleaning is always one of 2 things.  Putting 5 things away or cleaning for 5 minutes.  I know it’s a little Squirrelly in cleaning methods, but it works for me.  

Also when I finished the scarf I actually did not start another project.  My goal is to finish a few more projects before I start another project.  The exception will be charity work.  I know I have at least 6 scarfs in various stages of completion. When I get down the last short scarf or no long scarves

, you know to 6’2” scarf, I will start a new scarf.  So far so good.  It’s hard to pick up a project to finish that has repair work midway or something that I got bored with.  Perhaps the season changed and if I finish it now I can’t wear it for 6 months.  So boring.  So not me.  I have however determined that this will be the only way to avoid the clutter of a massive pile of UFO’s.  This will allegedly lead to less clutter. I will believe it when I see the results or lack of less clutter. 

I also did get some stitch markers finished.  I still have a box full to finish.  I am also working on my sewing repair pile.  I am doing the easy stuff first. This also means for right now the little loom will not be weaving new straps for a few shopping bag repairs.  This also  means that I am also working on my multi purpose room.  My multi purpose room house the guest room, the sewing room and the jewelry making room.   

All of this sounds quite exhausting.   

My Latest Sewing Project

 If you need a really good bandanna for your next sewing project or just a nice soft bandanna against your skin, I would highly recommend The Peacock Crew bandanna’s. The fabric quality is really excellent. I would even consider piecing a shirt or skirt together with these bandannas. The bandannas sew up very nicely. 

The bandannas are the perfect size to piece together a quilt. Even soft enough for a baby quilt. I just ordered a few more for another project.

                                                        . 

A New to Me Cleaner

 I found a new cleaner that I really like. It’s great for small jobs. It cleans and sanitizes. Best of all it scrubs off the grime. I needed some new cleaning wipes and this one had a couple bonuses. First, it was on sale at Safeway. Secondly it had a 50 Cent off coupon from the manufacturer. The savings for me added up to $1.50. Enough of a discount to give something to try.

So far, I have tried the Lysol dual action sanitizing wipes on a number of surfaces. The first surface I tried was the floor. There was a spill that needed to be wiped up.  The wipe not only cleaned up the floor, but left that spot on the floor cleaner then the person who comes in monthly to help us clean has gotten it. I know this means I will now have to get the steam cleaner out, to get the rest of the floor clean.  I certainly wasn’t expecting that from a hand wipe. Now I need to buy more distilled water. 

The second time I used, it was on my sink. I had noticed my sink getting a little dinger over time. With some spots, never getting quite clean. The first time I used the Lysol dual action Sanitizing wipes on the sink even the old hard spots came out without much scrubbing on my part. I find this amazing, because I didn’t have to use a lot of spoons up to clean the sink. The sink looks better than it has in a long time.  The sink came close to looking brand new again.

I would like to personally take the time to thank the chemical engineers and the product development team for coming up with such a great product. It now has a permanent place in my cleaning supplies for the house. 

As I had said before, I bought the Lysol dual action sanitizing wipes on sale at my local Safeway. I will be adding these wipes to my regular shopping list on my phone.  This is my personal experience with the product. I have not been paid for this endorsement. The opinion is my own. If you decide to click on the link in the blog, I will get credit towards payment. I would like to say also that have been writing this blog since 2009 and have not received any payment for writing the blog as of the date of this blog.

Almost Sugar Fee Apple Pie

Almost Sugar Free Apple Pie Recipe 

1 quart thinly sliced Cosmic Crisp Apples. I do not peel my apples.

1/4 cup Spelt flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 pre made pie crust. I used the Pillsbury pie crust 

Cinnamon Sugar to sprinkle on top for decoration 

Bake at 325f for 45 minutes or until golden brown 

1 Pie pan or 9 inch square cake pan

The first thing that I always do is cut the apples in half. Then I remove the seeds and stems. Slice the apples very thin. You may cut the apples in chunks if you wish. I then place the sliced apples into a quart sized bowl. When the bowl is full I know that I have enough apples for the pie filling. Add the Spelt flour and cinnamon, then fold in the flour and cinnamon. 

Place your pie pan on a cookie sheet lined with foil. This serves 2 purposes.  The first is to keep you cookie sheet clean. The second is to cover and leftover pie once the pie is cut. Please refrigerate any leftover pie. Place the bottom crust in the pie pan. Add the apple filling. If it seems you have too much filling just build a small mountain with the filling. Dampen the pie edge with water. Place the top crust on top. Gently roll the bottom edge over the top.  Pinch and crimp the edges together. We are not going for perfection, we are going for a good seal. Dampen the top with water and sprinkle with your cinnamon sugar. I use a glass pie dish so I bake mine at 325f for about 45 minutes. 

Please note that this pie will be on the dryer side than your typical sugar laden pie. I know the sugar creates a very sweet syrupy filling. Also remember that just 1/4 of a cup of sugar contains 4 tablespoons or 12 teaspoons of sugar which is approximately 120 extra calories. Most pies contain over 1 cup of sugar which adds 480 extra calories per cup per pie.  If you use just one cup of sugar you add 80 non nutritional calories per slice if you cut your pie into 6 slices. For those same 80 calories you can have a plate full of  vegetables or a piece of fruit. 

If you would like to lighten the carbohydrate load just skip the pie crust and bake in a well greased 9 inch square baking pan or small casserole dish. 

This will make 6 to 8 servings.  Top the pie however you like. Just remember that whipped cream, cheese or ice cream will all add extra calories.  

I forgot to take a picture of the whole pie. This is my after dinner dessert  slice which was 1/6 of the pie. 

Drip, drip goes the kitchen faucet

There are somethings that break and the day just goes on as normal.  The vacuum breaks and the floor just not get vacuumed for a week or so.  The washing machine breaks, just go to the laundromat.  The strap breaks on your purse, just swap out purses then head to Goodwill or a clearance sale to replace the purse.  No big deal.  

Then there is other stuff that just blows up the day and then some like the air conditioning unit going out in the middle of summer.  There is the driver who has decided that you should be turning right instead of going straight and  totals your car.  The refrigerator dies for no reason the day after you go shopping for the week. The water line to the house breaks. A roof that leaks.  These are the expensive ones.  We have had a few too many of those this year. 

For us this time, it is the kitchen faucet that starts leaking just out of warranty. The faucet is only 2 years old. The kind of leak where everything needs to be emptied from underneath the sink so that the area can dry out. We don’t want a mold problem.  The faucet has a structural problem that can not be fixed  

SO tomorrow we get to go pick out a new kitchen faucet.  We are definitely not buying the same brand.  I am so not excited about this. I plan to change the knitting project in my purse so that I can knit as we shop. Just a plain garter stitch pattern. 

For me that meant that I don’t get to work on my cooking experiment on a sugar free apple pie with no artificial sweeteners either.  I think I will get up early tomorrow to try to get it into the oven.  I still have the laundry sink that I can do hand washing of the dishes in. 

While I was busy writing this blogpost, my taller half was busy picking out a new faucet. Yes, he picked a different brand.  He is having it delivered.  Later in the week.  Thank goodness.  These things stress me out.  To my taller half it’s just another problem to solve.  To be fair I was thinking how to work around a kitchen with no dishwasher or sink, my solution was the laundry sink.  I still have not figured out cooking or eating out.  On the very bright side, I am prepared for stress eating.  I just filled up the refrigerator with fruit.  I can eat more fruit than sweets with a lower impact on my health.  Although, I will be getting the disposable silverware and possibly paper plates out for meals.  

I hope your day was better.  

Providence and the Recycling Fairies

 It is a special moment in this house when the divine recycling fairies and providence meet up. It has happened a couple of times in the last 24 hours here.  The first time was when I found a skein of yarn that I absolutely love on a pattern that was proving a little difficult for me.  So I tinked the shawl and put the pattern in time out. I find this a perfectly reasonable alternative to throwing away the pattern.  A few hours later I was reading about how a knitwear designer sometimes tries a pattern that she designed and used a different weight yarn to see the difference and possibly come up with a different pattern.  My aha moment sent the yarn on a collision course with my all time favorite pattern that I designed, Grandma’s Summer Shawl.  Of course a summer shawl pattern in Tucson is never ever knit with worsted weight wool yarn for very obvious reasons.  

So with vintage worsted weight yarn from My 8 Kids Farm and U.S. size 10.5 ChiaoGoo Twist with the SWIV360 cables knitting needles the adventure began.  I am so happy with the results so far that I might just find a current worsted weight yarn I like and tweak the pattern for a winter shoulder covering.  Tell me what you think of it. 

The second moment of Devine recycling came this morning.  A couple of months ago, another family member was doing some deep cleaning.  This gray box found its way into my knitting room. It has been taking up floor space ever since. I thought it was my taller half’s, but he said it was not his.  So I opened the box and found that our darling daughter had left it behind in 2008 when she left for grad school.  This very obviously was a little past the 10 year mark when anything left at home was up for grabs.  

I did fail to mention that at the time I was working on a huge paper and book pile and needed some place to put all the patterns. So I cleaned out the box and turned it around because darling daughter’s college course work needed different labels than the patterns.  I felt like I broke my brain by going through the 15 inch pile in about a hour.  I also filled another recycling bag to take out.  I can now see more table.  

I do love how the recycling fairies live by the model reduced, reuse and recycle. I an so glad that they came and helped find such grand solutions.  I am hoping to have the knitting / spinning room fully functional by the end of the year.  I would not mind additional visits from the recycling fairies.  

Cart Before and After

 Today I tackled my rolling cart.  It took about two hours.  Really, there was that much clutter making it unusable.  Don’t worry, I am not stopping at the cart, there is more organizing to do.  I have commissioned 3D printed signs for the yarn shelf’s, to design as he sees fit. My sticky notes just seem to fall off. Apparently sticky notes don’t like the orange oil that I use occasionally on the wood. I trust his judgement on this.  

Now back to the rolling cart.  The before picture.  The cart was not very useful this way. 

The after picture.  As you can see, the rolling cart is much more like I intended for it to look.  Almost all of my yarn bowls fit in one spot. I have found a pile of sticky notes, so I can cross that off my shopping list   I am still not sure if I will move the cones of warp and replace them with my stitch marker collections. I have a larger jar for knitting markers and a smaller jar for crochet markers.  That of course would be on the second shelf. The glass jars would be less likely for fall and break. 

Organization by Project Type

 Today I had the brilliant idea to organize my projects by type.  I have used sticky notes to mark which shelf the projects go to.  Shawls, I have more than one shelf that is full of never started shawls.  Surprisingly only one shelf for clothes like knitted tops.  Way too many advent kits to fit on one shelf, maybe I should divide them up by yarn weight and knit a couple of crayon sweaters. I like the advent kits because they are fun and full of surprises.  Only one shelf of specialty yarns, mohair and silk type yarn.  I really don’t think I will have enough shelf space left for hats, cowls and gloves.  I might just have to pair down those shawl shelves again.  

Did I mention I am also pairing down those yarns and kits that I don’t love anymore.  I have something special planned for those skeins and kits.  It’s a secret, so please don’t ask. 

I started after dinner only planing to do 2 shelves tonight.  Well oops, my bad.  I have only four shelves to finish. I actually have a few extra empty project bags too. For round one.  Round two will take me along the road of do I really want to complete this project.   I worked all the way up to bed time. Then it took me 2 hours to unwind.  

So it’s time to say good night.  

Unintended Cleaning

 I had a remote doctor’s appointment today.  The actual appointment takes about 5 minutes.  The doctor office requires that I call in 30 minutes early.  After my 30 minute wait, I self report my required data.  Tan it’s back to hold for at least 10 to 15 minutes.  Then it’s less than 5 minutes with the offices N.P.  For this they get to bill the insurance company for a 45 minute office visit, because they can prove that I was on line for 45 minutes.  

So the fidgety person I am started cleaning and organizing my knitting room.  I usually take my call in there for privacy.  Also I have a sweet set up for my phone on a stand with a power source, so I can charge my phone.  The stand is also good for hands free calls. 

I filled up one recycling bag and took it out.  Put away 2 bags of yarn.  Found all kinds of samples of yarn, which I am dividing between sock yarn and everything else.  I do know that have more bags of sample yarn in the room.  I just have to find it.  I am in the process of winding every mini skein up.  I have more sock yarn than anything else.  I even took my squirrel cage to the kitchen table so that I could watch the television and wind yarn at the same time. I am thinking tube socks for the sock yarn, only because I hate making heels and scarfs for the rest of the yarn.  Everything will be very colorful.   I might , what a I saying , I will need help in making socks for my favorite charity project. If you would like to make a pair or two let me know.  The sock yarn is in the blue wash tub. There will be a lot of ends to weave in    If you don’t like weaving in the ends , I can do that.  All the other yarn is in the brown bowl.