The Forth Skein

 This afternoon I hit the magical 4th skein of yarn in the 4 color fade shawl.  I did not even notice when I went over the Russian join.  Which was very surprising to me.  We were returning from a day trip to Scottsdale. Of course John was driving, I would never knit while driving. It just feels so unsafe, like a very distracted driver. I was exhausted when it was time to add the join. I always add the Russian join a few yards before I need to.  I like the yarn to rest and settle into place. We were going down I-10 going the speed limit of 75 mph. We were on a straight stretch of freeway.  I got my tool kit out and managed to make a pretty decent join considering I was not at a table. This is definitely not a beginner move.  

Each row is now taking about 30 minutes to complete. The shawl bottom is in excess of 50 inches. The only question I have is will it be ready by Thursday for the Old Pueblo Knitting Guild Fashion Show. Now I did tell my husband that I would model it even if it was not finished. Even if I had the yarn on my spinner yarn holder, minus the bottom of the butler part of course. If you want a yarn spinner like mine, Grandma’s Spinning Wheel in Tucson  carries them. I think I will have about 2 to 3 hours to knit tomorrow, which should be another 4 to 6 rows.  I am so bad at the math figuring out how far the yarn will actually go that I will be playing yarn chicken with this shawl.  

You will notice that I keep my Lantern Moon tightening tool and dropped stitch tool in the center of my yarn spinner. This is so that they are always ready when I need them. You can also see all the colors of the fade. 

Rock On

 Several years ago my favorite purse had a run in with a black gel pen and lost. This is what the stain looked like after a full bottle of ink remover and multiple washing by hand. I even scrubbed the detergent into the spot. As you can see the stain got smaller but did not go away completely.

So I thought about it for a while.  Pins just did not seem big enough or practical for the bottom of my purse.  So I thought about making a design with buttons. Then I came across a button someone had sent me a few years back saying that I would come up with the perfect use for such an odd shaped button made of stone.  I have forgotten the name of the rock.  

The button was just the right shape to cover the remainder of the ink stain.  The light color of the stone matches the material in the main part of the purse perfectly.  

My finished repair looks good and saved my favorite purse.  I wish I would have thought of the button solution before I spent the day scrubbing the stain out. Or better yet a few years ago.  The only thing I would have done differently is to use a small embroidery hoop to hold all of the layers of material even.  That way the material would not have bunched up inside on the purse lining.  By the way I will no longer put gel pens in my purse.  

Catch me if you can..

 I did house work, laundry and paperwork. I managed to get 2 loads of laundry completed from start to finish all by myself, my taller half was at work. I actually got my heart rate up enough to get 20 minutes of exercise without leaving the house. I fell asleep after all that work. Forgetting that I had a teleconference call.  Oops. 

Then I decided instead of playing games on my tablet, I would knit and binge watch some television.  After dinner I continued to binge watch television and knit until my thumb was sore.  Then it was rubbing Tiger Balm on the thumb until it stopped hurting.  While binge watching television until bedtime.

By the way I got two days worth of knitting done on my 4 color fade shawl completed this afternoon and evening. All by skipping games on my pad.  I think now that I am doing a tiny bit better, maybe this should be my new routine. It might help with my stash reduction efforts. Of course on top of the three days that I continue my cardio rehab routine at the gym.  

Color Number 3

I started the third color in my fade shawl today.  The first and second colors had very little difference in the contrast.  Color number 3 took a big leap.  You will notice that I am putting the darker colors lower in the design. They will not show the dirt as much.  

It is taking me about a week to do each color change.  So the shawl will be ready on time.  

A very busy day

 Today was a very busy day around here.  I was not as efficient as I had hoped to be.  That being said it was a day of multiples of 4 as in 4 loads of laundry completed. 4 bags of recycling left the house. Four large piles of paper work dispatched.  Then to shake things up the 2 naps I took when I was too tired to move. Then 4 rows of knitting tonight, including going back 4 rows to pick up a dropped stitch. After the repair it was impossible to tell where I dropped the stitch.

With all that I accomplished today, I am still not done.  Hopefully I will finish the rest of today’s work tomorrow. I really want to finish the 4 color fade shawl this coming week. With the longer rows I am going through the second skein faster than the first skein.  

With tomorrow being an early and busy day, I need to get to sleep early tonight.  

A busy day.

 Today was a short attention span day.  I was doing chores by 5 minute or less increments with the exception of Sprouts and Bookman’s.  I got enough trade credit for another pair of socks for my charity project. The only chore that I really did not enjoy was finding a poisonous spider in the bathroom. You know the kind that from a distance looks like a ladybug that I would let outdoors. However on closer inspection it had a red bulging back. I did not even scream, just said oh dam and got a piece of toilet. It was nasty to kill but even worse to clean up.  I do admit that tomorrow I will have to get the cleaning supplies out to finish the clean up. 

I have made it through the first color change in my 4 color fade shawl.  I had just changed out the cord to a longer one on my interchangeable knitting needles from the 30 inch to the 37 inch and added the tip. The knitting needle tip just kept spinning in place. So my decision tomorrow will be do I use the 50 inch cord which I will be there soon or start piecing  and smaller cords together? I will sleep on that one. I have let the maker know, I will see what happens.  I am hoping for a replacement.  

Almost Time…

 It’s almost time for the color change on my 4 color fade shawl. There’s more slightly darker pink and less very light pink in skein number 2.  Since the shawl has 6 increases every other row the next section will not have as many rows as color number 1.  

It is also almost time to add an extension onto the ChaiGoo’s. I will only add a 16 inch extension since I don’t want the knitting needles to get too unwieldy.  Of course if the shawl needs another extension, I will switch to one long cord by knitting the shawl onto the longer cord.  

Below is a picture of my work in progress on my very over crowded couch. Which By the way has a number of other work in progress projects.  

The New Year

 Welcome to my 2026 year of the continuing decluttering efforts.  I have started going through my old knitting magazines.  Still seeing if I want to make the projects contained in the magazines.  One sweater that I dearly loved only comes in one size. For a 34 inch bust line.  Could I adjust the pattern to fit me, yes. Will I take the time and effort? Absolutely not.  I figured it would take me about a month to make a workable pattern to fit the not size extra small size me. By the time I had finished doing the math and making sure my numbers matched the yarn, I would be so over it with nothing to show.  So it is leaving the house.  

Other magazines had stitch tutorials that were very helpful to a new knitter in her 40’s. Now not so much so they are leaving for a new knitter to find.  

Projects that I absolutely had to make. If I do not love them they are going too.  The aspirational lace patterns, I know me as a knitter much better now. Can anyone truly see me knitting an Orenburg lace shawl.  If you said yes, first let me stop laughing so hard I just fell on the floor.  Yes, technically I have the ability to knit Orenburg lace. Do I want to follow a tedious pattern to complete a very fragile shawl? Absolutely not.  

Now it’s time for everyone to join me in clearing out those old aspirational projects in magazines and books. Pass them on to new knitters, put them in the free Little Libraries around town.  Just be kind and only put in one or two at a time. Let’s finish January with a cleaning spree so we can spend the rest of the year knitting, crocheting, spinning and weaving or whatever craft you are currently delving into at the moment.  

Getting my Sumo Citrus Home

 There is something to be said about old fashioned keys made of metal that fit perfectly into a lock. First and foremost is that they never run out of energy leaving one’s self stranded for want of power.  That little battery that runs out of energy at the wrong moment. Take today for instance.  I had just finished grocery shopping and had a fresh supply of Sumo Citrus which are in season and they are a must eat one or two a day. The season is short January through April. Along with some grapes and oatmeal. Thank goodness that nothing was perishable. The bad news is the car did not recognize my car key. So was it the car key battery that my husband just replaced a few months ago or was it the car battery that still has 2 more years under warranty?

If I would have had an old fashioned metal key, I would not be stuck in the Sprouts Market parking lot.  Yes, keyless ignitions are all well and fine, however I just don’t see the need for them. Especially at this moment.  

I called my husband and he was sure it was the keyless fob.  So I walked down the hill to the Brake Max Oro Valley on Oracle just south of Sprouts Market.  It took about 5 minutes and there was no charge. The Service Technician just said have a nice day.  

The walk up the hill was taken very slowly and I was out of breath by the time I got back to my car.  The car started and I let my husband know that I was on the way home.  I put almost everything away.  I made a small plate for lunch of a Sumo and grapes to eat while I wrote this post.  

I am still tired from walking up the hill so I think it’s time to turn some music on and take a nap.  

Shopping

 I took part in stress shopping tonight. No yarn was bought.  I have not done that in a long time.   Enough said.  Sweet dreams everyone.  

Row 10 Completed

 After taking the basic Tunisian Basic Crochet class at Birdhouse Yarns  with Lori of Aklori Designs a couple of weeks back, I decided that tonight was the night that I would try out my new skills.  I have been practicing some of the stitches on a scarf.  I do admit it was not smooth sailing. I took out rows 9&10 one time each.  I am working on the Tunisian Quick Crescent Shawl.   As I get ready to call it a night I am very happy with my progress.  

I am hopeful that progress will continue to happen. My wish is for a slightly faster pace with the caveat that I am fast enough to make positive progress and slow enough not to have to rip out entire rows.  

The First Project Finished in 2026

 My first knitting project for 2026 was finished last night.  Amy first charity project is a scarf. For one of my favorite kids charity projects.  The Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank. This is a scarf for a teenager. It is 100% cotton knit in a broken rib pattern. 

Now how many more UFO’s can I finish this month? I have about 19 to go. 

Walking Away

 Sometimes I just have to know when to walk away from a project for the night.  I dropped a stitch on my fade shawl tonight and it took off running.  I know we have all been there.  I personally find when I drop a stitch close to bed time it’s best to try to fix it right the first time.  If I can’t fix it right the first time, I wait until the next day to fix it.  Preferably at a table.  I find that if I continue to try to fix it, I tend to make more of a mess of things.  

I am using the pattern Grandma’s Summer Shawl on my Ravelry pattern. I am using a fade set from Lanier Aimee yarn out of Paris France. I purchased this yarn sometime ago and I find it a delightful knit. You can find la Bien Aimee yarn at the link.  Right now they are having a sale and the prices look decent.  If you are in the United States they are currently using UPS for shipping and UPS will collect the tariffs. I really do wish they were using Federal Express for shipping because they have the tariff thing down pretty good. Fortunately, for my husband, all the 4 color fade set in the colors that I like are sold out. 

More things are leaving the house

Today’s to-do list was simple enough. First get my doctors and hospital to send paperwork to another provider. That seems like a simple enough task. It took me over 30 minutes to figure out how to do it because it was deeply hidden in the application. Then I had to email them with a complete list of what I needed and where it needed to be sent. I thought it was all done so I thought I’d do a bonus chore of going through books and deciding on which ones I didn’t want to keep. My goal was five books.

At book number three out of the five I get an email back saying that I needed to fill out another form. They sent a PDF so I couldn’t fill it out online. So that was printed out, fill it out and then I had to take a picture of it. Then in the reply email, I added the picture as an attachment and send it back. Back to picking out more books to leave The house. 

The first bag I picked was a bag that would hold the five books. I got that bag filled very quickly. Then I got another larger bag and added more books. By dinner time I had 15 books that were ready to go to Bookmans. After dinner and TV time I decided to try to get pick out five more books to make it an even 20. I figured even with a basket 20 was all the books I could carry in without tiring myself out. 

In the 20 books, there were books that I picked up because everybody said you had to read it. After the books have been on the shelf for more than eight years, it was time for them to go. I obviously wasn’t interested in the have to read book from eight years ago. I also took out books of things that I would no longer knit and other crafts. 

After all was said and done, I forgot to do my 46 minutes of exercise. I guess it was a squirrel kind of a day. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be more organized. I don’t think I should get that optimistic this late at night.

So I am still counting this day as a win because I finished 2 out of 3 things on my task list.  With a bonus of 20 out of a goal of 5 books leaving the house. 

Some Time at my Hansen Mini E-spinner Pro

 Now that my knitting room is becoming more useful and organized I found it was time to finally finish some lingering projects. Please note that I did not say fully finished. I spun up the second roving of a 2 roving set, it is now resting for a few days before plying.  

Now that I am talking about plying, I have a shawl that I started over 2 years ago.  The yarn is a combination of 2 lace weight yarns, with the first being 100% wool.  The second is a combination of 50% mohair and 50% silk, it has that yummy feel. This will leave me with a finished yarn of 50% wool and 25% each of mohair and silk.  I found that trying to knit with 2 lace weight yarns held together was very difficult for me.  I had lots of dropped stitches where I would not catch both strands with my knitting needles.  It was not the look that I was going for.  So my solution was to ply the yarns together as if they were single strands. I decided to use my Hansen e-spinner for this task. I have a lot more control over the twist. I have 2 bobbins filled and 3 1/4 bobbins to go.  After that I will give them a hot water bath to set the twist.  Only then will I resume knitting the shawl.  Currently on the e-spinner is the beginning of bobbin number 3.  I am not quite sure if it will still be a lace weight after plying and the hot water bath. Sometimes yarn blooms in quirky ways after the hot water bath. 

A Refresher Course

 Every once in a while, I find it educational to have a refresher course. Today I took a refresher course for me, which was a first level class in Tunisian crochet by Lori from Aklori Designs at Bird House Yarns in Tucson, Arizona. Within the first 30 minutes I found out why my Tunisian crochet never looked like the pattern pictures.  I learned that you only do the chain one stitch at the beginning of the return row pass. Not on both ends as I have been taught. Now my rippling on the right side is gone.  I learned a few new to me stitches too.  Now I am ready to tackle the shawl.  It seems less scary now. Also I will rip out a work in progress and start it correctly.  Knowing all the stitches makes it seem less intimidating. I would like to mention that Lori’s books are available at Bird House Yarns, and yes they will mail copies out.

I am also trying to start a new habit. They say it takes 30 days to start a habit. John moved my Cubii to a more accessible location under my sewing table in the sewing room. I started with 40 minutes with 3 additional minutes for warm up and cool down.  That is the same amount of time I am spending on the equipment at cardiac rehabilitation.  If they increase my time before I finish, I will up my time at home to.  I would also like to say I am not up to walking up hill yet, so walking in around the block in my neighborhood is not an option yet. It is either the mall or the Cubii for now. Today I managed to close 2 out of 3 rings.  I missed on my stand to walk goal because of my nap after breakfast and class today.  I got 10 out of 12 for the stand and walk.  

Car Maintenance

 Well it was time to bring my 5 year old car in for service today.  It had a whopping 17,000 miles on it. It was still under warranty so the charges were not bad.  Everything on the list was green.  It might even be a few years more before I need new breaks.  At this point I would just like to say I would like to say that I drive less than the little old lady from Pasadena, hands down.  With just an average of 3,400 miles a year or 284 miles a month or 9.3 miles a day, this car should last me well into retirement. My biggest expense was 3 new windshield wipers, 2 In the front and one in the rear. The computer updates were covered under the warranty. 

The only thing that left me perplexed was the complete car wash that came with the yearly maintenance.  They washed 3/4 of the cars outside. They completely ignored the back panel, including the back windshield. I was under the impression that the back of the car was still part of the car. They did wash the interior windows also. But did not vacuum the car. So is this the post Covid version of a complete car wash? I usually just do the quick exterior car wash which just happens to lean the back of the car too. I only vacuum only when necessary.  John does the interior windows only when needed, because I am too short and not agile enough to reach the front windshield.  The doors and back windows are easy enough, but they never get dirty.  Perhaps because the seats are rarely used. 

Then it was on to paperwork. About a third of the work got finished.  There is always tomorrow to finish up.  After all nap time is more important than paperwork right now. 

When it rains in Tucson

 Time was not on my side today.  I blame a very rare rainy day in Tucson.  I can’t make up the things stupid drivers did in the rain.  

As I was leaving for class today there was a driver trying to make a 3 point turn by trying to drive up a stone embankment. Thankfully his guardian angel was with him because he did not flip his car as I was expecting. If the driver had just gone 50 feet further, he could have made an easy turn at an intersection. Although he did scratch up his paint. In less than a quarter mile the next driver did not stop at the stop sign and just made a left hand turn with traffic coming from both directions.  It was the street right next to the middle school during morning drop off.  All I can say is the angel’s were busy this morning.  Not to be out done a semi was making an U-turn on an 2 lane road , blocking traffic oil both directions. After that I just tried to keep as much distance between me and every car on the road.  I even left on the automated wiper system on my car so I had one less thing to worry about.  

Then as we were starting to put dinner together the power went out. Again, not unusual for Tucson. Thank goodness we did not get far in the meal preparations. We did not was to open the refrigerator because we did not know how long the power would be out. By the way we were the very last block to get power back in an amazing 1 1/2 hours.  This was incredibly fast.  

So we went through the pantry in semi darkness. Picking out things that did not need anything from the fridge.  Our first course was a salad of canned green beans and olives, surprisingly, it was very good. The next course was peanut butter, we had to open a fresh jar. We had a choice of bananas or crackers to spread the peanut butter on. We skipped dessert because all the fruit except the bananas were in the fridge. Luckily, I had filled my cup with ice and water before the power went out, and John had a bottle of water from our reserves.

I even spent some time knitting in the dark. I only dropped one stitch in seven rows. Not too bad I hope tomorrow is better..

4 Cubic Feet

On Sunday I reclaimed 4 cubic feet of space in my knitting room.  That was enough space to place 4 large yarn baskets and fill in the remaining space with smaller project bags.  To get to that place I went through a few boxes of very old paperwork. Even a box filled with old paperwork from Eric.I filled the paper shredder once and sent one full bag to recycling. Other things were condensed and organized.  I even found one box of missing jewelry put away for safe keeping when we did a remodeling project years ago.  Yes, I  found the charm bracelet my dad started for me in the 1960’s when he brought me charms from business trips.  

John also relocated my small elliptical machine to a place I could use it more.  It also has a Convenient plug for charging nearby. So I guess I’ll have to my exercise game a little bit. That space also gave me room to organize some smaller boxes. So the room is getting very usable.

The very bad Picture is from the space I reclaimed on the shelves. There is just not enough light in that corner of the room. Although there are less baskets on the floor now. Almost enough to let the robotic vacuum in. 

Knowing My Limitations

 I think I have finally figured out how much time I can currently knit in a single day.  The answer is 2 hours.  At knit group today I spent 2 hours doing a left handed charity scarf in the round.  My reasoning was if I knit for a couple of hours left handed I could then spend a couple of hours right handed knitting tonight. My hypothesis was absolutely 100% wrong.  

Apparently it does not matter if I knit right or left handed, I have a finite number of hours to knit in a single day without destroying my hands.

No, I did not think about drop spinning or Tunisian Crochet either.  Even though they use different muscles groups, in different configurations for my hands. I was not willing to give up the possibility of no fiber arts for a week or more. Also I have not warped a loom in months.  I am not sure that I have the spoons to do a direct warp right now.  I would love someone to do the walking back and forth.  Anyone who has been around me during enforced no knitting or spinning time can tell you that I am not fit to be around. I am just that cranky and more.  

Just as a footnote, I am now much faster knitting left handed then when I taught myself 18 months ago.  Almost as fast as right handed knitting.  

Happy 2026

As we enter the new year there are things we have to remember. The year 2025 was not a normal year for the country. There are very for lack of better words broken, cruel and greedy politicians in our nation’s capital. They spew hate like they did not learn the rules of society in kindergarten.  They lack the mindset of “ if you help and raise a person up you make a better world “. They lack the ability to understand that if you treat the planet with contempt we all will experience the consequences of climate change.  

Now on to what we can and must do to help each other.  First let’s start with the things that don’t cost a penny but can make an impact in people’s lives. Smile at each other. Say hello to people. Complement someone even if you do not know them, such as they look nice today. Open doors for people. Thank people for opening doors for you and wish them a good day. Be extremely nice to the helpers in our community like food service workers, store cashiers, please don’t yell at them if you are having a bad day.  If you are on line and you like an artist work but you can’t afford it, share their work with your friends and followers. If money is tight and you have a favorite small business just say you like their store and give the address and what you like about the store.  

If you are a creator make a few things that can be used by others in your community.  I personally make scarfs and hats to give to a children’s clothing bank. See if your place of worship has community outreach programs. Save your spare change in a jar, when it is full give it to a charity that benefits people in your community like the food bank, after school programs, programs benefiting veterans, the homeless, sick children.  Volunteer your time.  The list is endless.  

We don’t need Washington, to make our community and country a better place.  

We don’t have the ability to fix the entire world alone. We do however have the ability to fix one thing at a time. Please try to be the change that heals our community and make it better with on act of kindness at a time. 

May everyone have a healthy, happy and prosperous new year.