Travel Nightmares

 On a recent trip to visit our daughter not only did we get some fantastic family time. I also got to experience some travel nightmares.  

My first nightmare involved checking my bag into the airport check in in Tucson going to San Francisco International Airport. Then discovering the next morning that 25% of my lingerie was missing.  I usually pack each outfit down to the lingerie in one separate bundle.  This means whom ever decided to take the lingerie had to go through my suitcase and unwrap the bundle to get to the lingerie.  They even walked off with a brand new pair of compression socks which are quite expensive for the one made without polyester.  I mean who deliberately takes used lingerie from someone else’s suitcase.  I am pretty sure it has no resale value.  

A few days later after lunch in an upscale area of Silicon Valley my wallet was taken from my purse while we were walking around. This involved unzipping my purse and grabbing my wallet. Just maybe it might be time to put DPN’s back into my purse as a deterrent.  Yes, I will have to go back to Grandmas Spinning Wheel in Tucson to buy a new wallet.  This one event generated a lot of work that is not finished.  All the credit cards have been cancelled. We still need to file multiple police reports.  Put a fraud alert on my credit report. We are hoping beyond hope that they just took the money and threw away the rest of the wallet. 

Getting through the airport was a nightmare.  I kept repeating “ What part of my entire wallet was stolen don’t you understand?” After an hour of waiting, giving permission for TSA to go through all my emails, including a full pages of emails having to deal with a lost drivers license and credit cards. Filling out an on line form. Paying $45.00 for the privilege of having my wallet stolen. We were finally allowed to go into the terminal. I need a cuppa of Chai, they had the good recipe from India not the American junk.  That brought some calm to me that I had not had since my wallet was stolen.  

Well it’s time to call it. I have tons of paperwork to do tomorrow.  

My Friends Are Really Great

 I have a really great group of friends.  Some I have been friends with since my kids were in elementary school.  Some have recently joined our group.  But the thing is that they all get me.  I am so blessed to have such a great group of friends.  

One of my newer friends gave me this knitting bag this week.  I really think that this will be my new go to knitting bag.  The bag is called “Sheep” and was designed by Emma Ball.  If you like Emma’s work please follow this link,.  Emma Ball and other artists have some great artwork on all kinds of medium.  I really like the selection of animal greeting cards.  Below is a picture of the knitting bag that I received.  This is so me.  

Busier Than a Bee

 I anticipate a very busy week ahead.  I have already canceled one dinner with friends so that I can have some breathing room.  

Just how many naps will this week take.  It’s hard to tell right now.  

On the weather front, over a 24 hour period we actually got 1 inch of rain. The storm acted like a winter storm    We have not had that much rain in 24 hours for years. The cactus just loved all that water. Can this be a sign that our 30 year drought is on the way out? I can only hope for the 1000 year drought to be over. 

 Arizona is running very low on water and people keep moving here.  They also want to keep building water intensive farming and business. Just say no to Alfalfa that goes to the Middle East, where the government says there says that there is not enough water to grow it in country.  This does not make any sense to me. Why come to a drought plagued region to grow your alfalfa? 

Much Easier Typing

 Part of getting any new electronic devices is the organization process.  I just spent one hour organizing my apps into the proper categories.  I still have a couple more hours to go.  Too bad that they can’t be transferred into the same boxes. 

By the way my husband was able to get me this year’s iPad for less than the cost to replace the old battery.  Because I tend to keep all my electronics with the exception of my watch in public use military grade protective unit’s, we did pretty good on the trade in.  The Apple salesman  could not believe that my old iPad looked as good as the new one on the outside.  No chips, dents or scratches that are common on most trade ins. The best part is that the Apple Store took the old unit in trade so we did not have to deal with the e- waste. Yes, I have already misplaced my pencil as it is not in the case.  My best bet would be for the pencil to be in the bag it came home in. 

Don’t Believe Everything You Read

 To file under don’t believe everything you read.  

I am sitting on the couch with an ice pack on my shoulder. Then rotate the ice pack to my neck which apparently got messed up too. I will sleep here when the ice pack comes off. As the new sheets are currently in the washing machine, with over an hour left on the washing cycle. 

Tonight is not the best night for sleeping. first my beds  fitted sheet tore. Then I wrenched my sore shoulder and neck trying to free my big toe from the hole in the fitted sheet. I am quite sure that I made the whole much larger.  

I try to keep a spare set of sheets for an emergency. Tonight’s incident qualified for that occasion. So I got the complete set of sheets out. As I was unpacking the sheets, I noticed for the first time in my entire life that the complete set of sheets lacked a pillow case. 

So I checked the package and sure enough, the package was supposed to include a pillow case. No worries, I have extra pillows cases. My current solution will be to change the sheets and leave the pillow case on my pillow. I have extra pillow cases because they don’t wear out as fast as the sheets.  So I will wash extra pillow cases this weekend. 

I am not sure how the Brand Moss & Willow forgot to add a pillow case to the set  of sheets.  My set came without the pillow case. So if they don’t intend to enclose a pillow case in the set, they should not have said that the set was only a top and bottom sheet   Not a complete set. 

My rant is now over and it is time to take the ice pack off my shoulder. Then place it on my neck. 

An Update

It turns out that to get the battery replaced in my current  iPad will be approximately $800. With no guarantees on how long the new battery would last. So my husband did some research and using my current iPad as a trade-in, we can get a brand new iPad for about $60 more. The new iPad would come with a warranty. So we have to find time to go to the Apple Store together and buy a new iPad for replacement. 

With this option, at least Apple has to deal with the recycling of the E waste. I also find it very disheartening that Apple would not encourage replacement of the battery.But instead urge people to get a new iPad when the old iPad was still in perfect condition with the new exception of the battery. This is not environmentally, friendly in my humble opinion. This reek’s of profits over the environment.

So today, I will be spending the day transcribing patterns onto paper and then sometime next few weeks if I have time putting them in making the changes and putting the new patterns up.

My iPad battery is dying.

 Sorry for the lack of posts lately. My iPad battery is just about dead.  I can watch the battery life go down as I type.  I dislike being chained to a tethered cord, butter know as a charging cable.  

I find it difficult to do a blog post on my iPhone.  The keyboard is just to small.  I can hunt and peck with my pointer finger with very few errors.  This:however; is quite slow.  I am not able to type with 2 hands as 1 hand is holding the phone.

We will see what the genus bar can do for my iPad.  I know that the battery is harder to replace on an iPad. Wish me luck in getting the lower price option of a new battery instead of a complete replacement. 

Finishing some projects

 I am currently plying four different spinning projects by drop spindle. I will then work to finish three drop spindle projects and one project on the spinning wheel. One of the projects will need to be carded again because the fiber has matted over the last decade. 

On the knitting front, I have 3 projects to complete for a charity event which is coming up soon.  Then it will be a return to my current projects.  

I need to frog one shawl. Once the shawl is frogged I will use Tunisian Crochet to complete the shawl. I have noticed that I tend to bury my mistakes.  Mistakes are just bigger UFO’s. Then come back to them when I have developed the skills to complete the project in a much better manner. * Note to self use a bigger Tunisian Crochet Hook. 

In between all of the above, I desperately need to warp the loom to start the dozen or so projects that I have already lined up in kits.  Hopefully they will be done by the holidays.

I already have the design on the knitting room remodel in my head. Now to get that on paper. That step is necessary in order to hire a contractor.  

Did I mention all the new knitting patterns that I need to type up and photograph? I wonder if AI is up to cloning me yet or at least help fix what is broken down in my body yet?.  No, forget about that, they can’t even keep the AI models in training in their own sandboxes. Let alone have a working model of the 1960’s G.E.’s Home of the Future yet. 

Well it must be time to call it a night because I am rambling on and on.  TTFN. 

My Favorite Season

 Summer is my absolute favorite time of the year.   My body used to love the heat.  Notice that I said used to.  Now in the season when it is gloriously hot I have to stay inside when the temperature tops 100f.  Gone are my favorite times to go out shopping when it was over 105f because all the stores, especially the grocery stores were empty.  My body no longer likes the heat because it malfunctioned. 

I used to go outside just to have the summer heat warm my body.  Muscle aches and pain just seemed to melt away.  I tried that today for a walk to the mail box, but after a minute or 2 it was time to go back inside so my body did not throw a temper tantrum.  

The summer used to do awesome things for my hands.  Now after an hour or 2 of very slow knitting, my hands are just tired and stiff.  

It seems because of the high temperatures until Monday night, I will be home all weekend.  I might try an early run to the post office next week.  

So I guess it’s time to design my new knitting room layout.  I pretty much have a plan in my head.  Now I just have to put it on paper.  

I should also try to finish plying a drop spindle project.  Do you know how incredibly fast yarn drys in this heat after it has been treated to a hot bath.  

It will also be a good time to try to fill the recycling bin.  So I can have a clear table to repair John’s quilt before winter.  You just know winter is coming.  Maybe we will be treated to some sweater weather.  

If you are anywhere in the world that you are having extremely hot weather please remember to drink more water than you are used to drinking.  No polyester clothing.  Wear cotton or linen and try to keep the sun off your skin.  Wear sunscreen if you don’t already wear it year round.  Blue jeans with a long sleeve t-shirt is the perfect choice for hot and sunny days.  

Just remember when we are in the slogs of winter you will want summer back.  

A Big Change to My Knitting Room

 I am cleaning out my knitting room yet again.  I made a serendipity stop to an estate sale. At the estate sale, I found a beautiful dresser that looks like a cabinet. This will be replacing all the plastic storage in my knitting room. So I’m getting the room ready for the delivery by moving everything out of the way. To give them room to put the new cabinet in.

The old storage containers are all plastic. I will put that picture on top. The new storage container is solid wood. I got a fantastic price of $100 plus a $50 delivery fee. I don’t think I could get anything new or similar in size even in particleboard for the same price. This should bring down the clutter quite a lot because I think it has more storage than my current system. It even has shelf space so I can take baskets off the floor. Isn’t that wonderful?

My old storage containers. They are getting to the point of needing to be replaced. It would cost more than the $100 plus delivery fee to replace them every 4 or 5 years. I am really hoping that the new system pictured below will be a one and done. More money for yarn perhaps. Maybe not, if my family has a vote. After all it is made with solid wood. 

I am hoping that the new system pictured below will be a one and done. After all the cabinet is made of solid wood, not sure what kind though. Even better than that, I am giving the cabinet a new home and life.  This time my serendipity paid off big time. Estate sales can be wonderful if you know what you are looking for. I am also thinking this might have been a custom piece because the cabinet matches the wood floors and matching desk in the home I found it in. 

I found the piece in an estate sale run by Take Heart, Store, Estates & Auctions.  They are located at 463 N. Haskell Avenue, Wilcox, AZ 85643. Their email address is takeheartedtates@gmail.com where they post information about current estate sales and auctions.  Mary is a very nice person to work with.  

Addendum: Fo to a miss Communication the item was sold this morning. So I guess I’m not getting to rearrange my knitting room today. But at least I know what I want and can continue the search.  

It’s Getting to Be a Habit

 This seems like a very good trend to me.  I have finally finished another project.  Gee, didn’t I mention that yesterday too?   My first completed project of Tour de Fleece this year. Well this was a spinning project.  I spun 8 ounces of 75% BFL and 25% silk dyed by Twisty Desert Dames and sold exclusively at Grandmas Spinning Wheel in Tucson Arizona.  This was plyed with ITO 100% silk in the color Persimmon.  I used one  464 yard cone for the largest skein. I had varying amounts of the ITO silk on other cones and managed to empty 3 more cones.  This is why the 4 skeins are 4 different sizes.  The raw silk also adds a unique texture to the finished yarn that I would not have been able to create with silk or cotton thread.  This is why bespoke yarn is so expensive   

I was originally thinking of knitting fingerless gloves with this yarn.  However, now that the yarn has been hot soaked to set the ply and dried, the yarn is just screaming make me into a shawl.  This is my most expensive spinning project in a very long time, with the cost of supplies coming in at about $100.  So unless someone is willing to fork over $500 for the 4 skeins. I plan to make a bespoke shawl with the yarn.  If you want less expensive yarn, I would suggest going to Grandmas Spinning Wheel in Tucson Arizona or any other Local Yarn store.  

Now for a picture of the yarn.  

Getting a Head Start on Christmas projects for 2027

 I am getting a head start for next’s year’s Old Pueblo Knitting Guild Navajo scarf project.  The team already has enough scarfs for this year’s delivery. So, since the scarf is too warm for my local project, it will be put away for next year’s event. I am very happy that another project is completed.  

Very Great Full to My Friends

 Thursday at the Tucson Old Pueblo Knitting Guild my fellow knitting guild members donated five larger carrier bags and three grocery bags full of socks, and hand knit hats. All the items are going to my favorite School District Clothing Bank next week.  

If you would like to join a great group of people check out our website at Tucson Old Pueblo Knitting Guild. If you would like to join us our members knit, crochet, do machine knitting and weaving, any fiber artist are welcome.  

Lost, Found and Spinning

Today was a very mixed day.  I had a very slow start, I meant to get to the grocery store before lunch. That did not happen. 

Before I went grocery shopping, I had to find a couple lost things. Of course, one of those were my earbuds that are always getting lost. Luckily, I have a tracker on my phone to help find my earbuds. Although it did get complicated because it showed the location as the couch. So I looked under the couch and did not find them. I looked behind the couch and did not find them. I looked in the cupholders and the storage container. I removed all my blankets and shawls from the couch. They were still missing, but I was close. So then I started looking through knitting bags, of course my earbuds were hiding in a knitting bag. Where else would they be playing hide and seek from?

Then it was off to find the microwave popcorn maker. I looked in all the usual storage spaces, not once but twice. I looked possible storage places. Then, as a last ditch effort I thought why not look where the pots and pans are  stored . Of course it was hiding behind a pile of pots. 

Then it was off to the grocery store to get everything. Between coupons and gift cards I saved over $70 today. I’m really happy with that. I had thought that after I had gone grocery shopping, I would spend some time spinning, boy was I wrong. It was nap time. I was too tired to do anything.

We had a simple dinner at home. Then it was time for spinning. Well, actually plying the yarn I finished spinning yesterday. I must be really out of shape, because after plying one skein of yarn I was exhausted and needed a rest.  I guess I will have to build up to plying more than one skein of yarn on the drop spindle at a time. It was a lot more work than I remembered.maybe I will try to get Peyton a couple of times a day to get the project finished sooner.

After that, I watched some television and worked on a simple Tunisian crochet scarf.  I am on the last skein. 

TTFN. It has been a very long day and tomorrow is over packed.  

Tour de Fleece 2026

 On this the second day of the Tour de Fleece, I would like to say that I am doing it a little different this year. As I have been doing since January, I am trying to finish my UFOs, that includes hands-spun yarn. I have a lot of projects that did not get finished when I got sick two years ago. So those are first on the agenda for this year‘s tour. Since I’m not going for any prizes except for maybe a cleaner knitting  and spinning room I’m totally fine with this. 

I cleared the yarn off of 12 spindles today. There were 11 from a 3.9 ounce braid from www.edgewoodgardenstudio.com in the color Dusty Plain 1 in Stricken Lonk Wool which I had never spun before this. If you have never spun with Stricken Lonk wool I would highly recommend it. This wool is amazing, I used very tiny light weight spindles weighing in at about 18 grams all the way up to 1.5 ounces and got the same fine spin with all of them. 

On the Hansen electric wheel I have a braid that I am currently plying. The skein was bought at Grandmas Spinning Wheel her in Tucson. The braid is an in house dyed line by Cassie and Jessica. The braid is a merino and silk blend that I am plying with ITO raw silk. The yarn feels amazing. I am hoping that I have enough to knit a pair of fingerless mittens for myself. 

When I get caught up, I will bring out two batts with wool I have never worked with before. It’s a European wool that is raised on a small farm, locally processed near the farm.  The business the process this wool has been in business with the same family since 1800s. And then I bought the batts from a  company that specializes in small batch fibers from Europe.  

I am going to mainly concentrate on my drop spindles, Turkish Spindles and see if I can do a little bit of supported spinning.  My personal feeling on the subject is that I can spin on a Navajo spindle, supported spindles are very similar.  Although in the future I would like to trade my big company Navajo type spindle for a Dine made spindle.  I understand the balance is much better. The craftsmanship is usually better too. 

Below is a picture of my 11 spindles of Stricken Lonk Wool.  You can see what I mean by the different size spindles.  

Updated with the picture of the spindles loaded with Stricken Loch yarn   

Fun Things May Be Coming

 I have been playing with a new to me yarn called Coastal Cotton Ocean Mist by the Queensland Collection.  The yarn is 100% Cotton, the label says it is Pure Soft Cotton.  I must wholeheartedly agree with that statement.  By the way it is carried by both of Tucson’s Local Yarn Shops, Birdhouse Yarns and Grandma’s Spinning Wheel.

I chose this yarn because I am currently knitting items for a higher end charity event.  I wanted my yarn to reflect this. So far with the first skein I have made one 8” x 8” washcloth.  I have enough yarn to make a second washcloth which I started tonight.  If I have enough to make 3 washcloths I will add an addendum to the bottom of this post. 

I am really rocking geometric shapes in the patterns that I am designing. The yarn seems to be holding up well to this fun style of knitting.  I am also pleased with the yarn definition as I’m changing between knitting and pearling. I am also not using a pattern or sketches of any kind. I am just going with the flow. 

For full disclosure. I purchased all the yarn for the charity auction work, replacing yarn in current patterns and for the new patterns in the works. I purchased half the yarn from each of my locally owned yarn shops. If this yarn is not available locally to you both shops will take phone orders and mail out the yarn and anything else that they carry.

Knitting Accessories

 It has been determined that my husband’s car has a preference to what knitting accessories it likes to eat. It’s number one choice is the expensive Chibi darning needles. Once one falls I will never get it back.  I have tried flashlights and magnets to no avail. 

The car however, does not like stitch markers which is a huge surprise to me because I loose so many. The car practically spits them back at me. My guess is the car just does not know what to do with stitch markers.  

Does your car have a preference to what knitting accessories it likes to eat?  I am just curious. 

No Yarn Chicken for Me

 Tonight I decided that there was not enough remaining cashmere on the skein to knit 2 rows.  Since I don’t like frogging Cashmere I decided to change the yarn at the end of the row. I thought it would give the shawl, a more elegant look.

So it was time to change to the second color, which is 222 g of  hand spun yarn.  The yarn was a spinning challenge to try to make a color way that looked like a Monet‘s paintings. I think I came pretty close. Also the bonus is that one of the shades of the hand spun yarn Has the same red color as a cashmere yarn. 

Since the shawl is going to a charity auction. I will not be taking pictures of it because it is something called a blind auction. I will pack it up in a box with a note inside that they can read after they have won the auction. I like the idea of bidding on a mystery box.  I will be making several boxes for this charity event. Almost all will include something hand knit. 

So I will include a picture Of the Yarn I decided not to play chicken with. I will also say if you ever have a chance to knit with high-quality cashmere yarn go for it. Even if it’s not the whole project, it’s a once in a lifetime experience.

I Need More Spoons

 I am sad that my body will not keep up with what my mind wants to do.  I am really getting tired, no pun intended, of not having the spoons to knit my new knitting project after dinner. 

Even more that I am in the mood to clean and declutter but if I do it standing and walk around the house, it’s 20 minutes max before I need a 2 hour nap.  If I am lucky enough to be able to do the project sitting down, I can go for hours.  I just can’t figure out why there is such a difference.  

I have also decided to get a wooden coat stand with shelves for my knitting and spinning baskets.  That will free up more shelf space for yarn and kits.  It will also leave the floor empty so John can run his robot in the room occasionally.  

Well it’s time to call it a day.  

The Next Batch

 The next batch of yarn to leave the house is all Sugar and Crème yarn that I used for fundraising efforts for Eric’s day program.  I got the yarn whenever it was on sale at least 50% off the regular retail price. I did this because I used to give the day program 100% of the sale price.  So stocking up on yarn at really low prices made sense. After Eric died we as a family decided that it was time for the parents of current participates to take over the fundraising efforts.  It was also time for me to explore the next chapter in my life. 

The yarn is going to a Tucson knitting group who make hand knit and crocheted washcloths and other items to sell to raise funds for The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona is a cause that our family has supported since so last century.  So I feel very good about where all the Sugar and Crème yarn is going. A little over 100 quarts of yarn. My ultimate goal is to get my yarn stash into counting it by skeins instead of quarts and gallons.  Wish me luck on that one. 

I am also going to put a Google link at the bottom of this post if you would like to help out The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.  Of course at this time of country wide need because of  the current climate in Washington D.C. all our food banks across the country need help. So I am asking all of my readers to be a blessing in their areas to support your fellow community members. Whether it is your local food bank, Meals on Wheels, religious organizations that house and feed people, helping out with school supplies and clothing, everything helps. 

As a bonus for the group members I am also going through my knitting and crochet magazines to give them all the ones that I no longer want.  

I never knew that getting rid of extra yarn and the things like books that I have already read would make me physically feel a lot lighter.  Not to mention give me more space.  I might be nearing the end of this deep cleaning cycle but rest assured there will be more on the way.