By the Numbers

Today by the numbers goes like this:

I went to Bookman’s Mid town and Bookman’s East side.2
The number of socks my store credit bought. 12
Hand knit hat finished.  1.
Pillows given to Ivan.  I not sure weather he liked the Elmo or truck pillow better.  I know that they will be loved.  2.

The Bookman’s stops were for my on going Zenning. I guess I will need to figure out what to zen next.  Maybe a couple of extra dressers that are no longer needed. Then more books. Maybe even tackling organizing my fiber books or my closet.  I am sure all that can result in more trips to Bookman’s.

In the meantime I have:
3 hats to knit. 2 to find and correct errors these will go to Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank and 1 for a friend.
1 blanket to knit and add a crochet border.
Some animals to sew.
3 purses to finish.
1 random animal to finish.
Can I get this all done before the end of January? I hope so.

Being Productive

I seem to be in a finishing mood today. I started out the day by crocheting the edging on 2 wash cloths. They were going to be for a fundraiser that fell through. Once the fund raiser fell though I put them on the back burner. So they are now done so I need to figure out what I will do with them.  Any thoughts besides keeping them?

Because the next batch of hats is going to stay local, I gathered up some bits and pieces of cotton yarn and started another batch of 30 hats. I will also make some wool hats too. I think the pattern is so simple it is a little additive. One hat got completed from start to finish and the next hat is 2 inches in.

I did have John put one box of yarn into the garage. I hope to get enough knitting done to bring it in sometime around January. This requires that I actually do some knitting for myself and get caught up on pretty things that I want to wear.

I was on the tired side today so not much housework got done. I see the next big push out of the craft room is going to be pillows. I will make both positioning pillows for Eric's bed, his day program and some dog pillows. This should take out about 1/3 of the clutter.

Well it does seem to be about time to call it a day so please take the time to enjoy your families.

In Catch-up Mode

Everyone is on the mend. Eric and I got a full night’s sleep. Eric is at about 65%, we are hoping one more lay low day and out the door on Monday to his program. So needless to say a whole lot of work got done around the house today, including laundry, shopping, cleaning. Little things like emptying the dishwasher and filling the recycling bin also got done. These are the things I tend to ignore when Eric is sick.

 It looks like I will need to spin the 5th skein of yarn for Teri's shawl. Some how when the rows hit in the 350+ stitches per row the skeins just do not go as far. Since I will be spinning the last of my black alpaca, the shawl might be a little smaller than expected. I am at row 120 and hope to get to the 140 to 150 range so it will be a nice big and cozy shawl for Teri. So on tomorrows list of things to do is to card and spin the last skein. Clean and polish the spinning wheel. Do a through vacuum around the wheel, black alpaca just does not blend well with crème carpet.

 I also plan on trying to re-thread the serger. I made a mistake in thread 3 or 4 and it is just not hooking right. Then it will be off to alter 2 sweat shirts for Eric. The serger will then be put away and the sewing machine will come out to finish the sweat shirts and make a few more pillows for Eric's bed. I will of course hold them until Valentine’s Day so please do not let him in on my little secret.

 
Well I have about 15 minutes of cleaning left to do tonight and I hope to get another full night of sleep under my belt.

Pictures



Camp Pillows

Eric's Quilt

Joe's pillows

Early spinning

Here are a few pictures of some recent work of mine.  The top 13 pillows were made yesterday and are going to camp today. The next 2 pillows were also made yesterday and are for Joe's dogs. They are stuffed with poly fill, yarn, spinning and sewing scraps. In case you don't know Joe is one of Eric's aides. And the next picture is of Eric's new quilt. Its hard to tell from the picture but there are 2 different quilting styles on the quilt. The first is the "correct way" in which I hurt my finger and the other half was my way which went so much smoother. As you can tell my sewing machine and I are on speaking terms again. The last picture is of some of my treadling practice on the spinning wheel. Before you get to excited I was practicing treadling and was using a bobbin.

I do apologize for the placement of the pictures I will really get better some day.