13.5 Inches

 I have taken in a skirt I wore to my daughter’s wedding by 13.5 inches. The new elastic waist band is 13.5 inches shorter than what I took out.  I can still wear it with flats.  Let me say the altering a 100% silk skirt with a loose weave is harder than it looks.  I would like to thank Vicky at Grandmas Spinning Wheel for the suggestion of using 100% cotton thread in the sewing machine.  It worked out well.  

I do not like the special needle that I needed to use with silk.  The eye was too small for the automatic threader. I had to turn my sewing machine on its side to see the tiny eye of the needle.  This was done 4 times.  The needle did not seem to want to hold the thread in between my short areas of stitches.  

The only decision left is do I hand wash it in Soak Wash or take it to the dry cleaners?  

I will say that I really don’t feel like I have really lost that many inches or that much weight.  I am wondering if that is because my weight loss stalled when I got sick in mid February? I am getting really tired of being sore, out of breath and almost nonexistent energy.  I still am open to borrowing someone’s magic wand.  

Although I am knitting more. I am not getting as much knitting done as I thought I would.  Today’s finish project will be featured in a new knitting pattern.  This will come out as soon as I can possibly get it finished.  

TTFN

Mother’s Day and More

 I had a good Mother’s Day.  John gave 110% compared to my bodies 10%.  The day after our 40th wedding anniversary will mark the 3 month mark in dealing with my current health issues.  I am so over it.  If anyone has a magic wand that they know works and is willing to lend it to me, I would really appreciate it.  Otherwise I will be sitting around waiting for my body to get its act together.  My mind is already starting to go to the I have got to go and do things mode.

I have learned this week why a lot of anniversary jewelry is in multiples of 3.  The answer seems very simple if you give it a quick think. No, the answer is not 49.  It’s yesterday, today and tomorrow.  I just realized tonight that the piece I got for our 20th anniversary also has 3 stones.  It is a very nice sediment.  

Tomorrow’s  plans include finishing up a couple of sewing repairs. Finishing 3 dog pillows.  The folding up the sewing room for a while.  I bet once I have everything off the floor, I can convince Roomba to vacuum it a couple of times to get the light stuff off before we bring in the regular vacuum.  Between making jewelry, winding yarn and sewing the floor hangs on to a lot of lint.  Then a good dusting and vacuuming one more time.  I never know when that floor will be vacuum again so I might as well do it a couple of times.  

In knitting news I will have another pounder scarf done this week.  I think I have my birthday present picked out. I just need to talk to one more friend before I can order it.  

TTFN

Dog Pillows

 The last of the dog pillows for 2023 we’re finally finished this morning. I think that I will have time next week to drop them off at the shelter.  These are some of the nicest that I have made.  I have also changed the way I do the final seams which gives the pillows a more finished look.  

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.  

A BBD

 It was one of those epic bad body days.   Fold 2 loads of laundry and rest for 2 hours. Repeat.  

John did not want to go shopping at Tuesday Morning, but since I was too tired to drive he drove and found a new tool for the garden.  I found nothing.  

After a baked chicken lunch and shopping for coffee, ,guess what?  It was nap time again.  

I did manage to fill and sew one dog pillow.  John loaded my car for tomorrow   

I hope I got enough rest today so that I can sleep tonight.  Wish me luck.  

Dog Pillows

 I had an incredibly bad night, followed by a BBD with a pain level of crying.  I still managed to sew 2 pillows to be filled and filled 2. This leaves me with one pillow to add my yarn scraps to.  The pillows are loaded in the back of my car.  Yes this is the 3rd  charity trip in the last 7 days.  I am on a roll.  I thought I would be able to make more pillows but the green one is very large.  There is just no comparison on the sizes.  Off to the shelter they go tomorrow. 

More Changes for 2022

 After many discussions with my family over the past couple of years I am going to change up my knitting style.  I will no longer try to knit more than everyone else. Instead I will do charity projects while John is driving.  I usually work on hats and scarfs while watching television. That will not change.  I will still continue to teach knitting, spinning and weaving as the opportunities present themselves. I will continue to design knitting patterns as the patterns want to be written.  I will cut my knitting goal by 50% to give me time to work on projects for me.  

This is being done because I am not getting any younger.  We also want to preserve my hands and my ability to use them.  Less is going to have to be more.  I will also explore other areas of my creative self.  I will try painting and drawing.  I will do more sewing.  I will do more weaving. I will try not to be singular in my artistic pursuits.  This is also because arthritis really suck’s big time.  After decades of trying to push past the pain, I have nothing let to prove to myself.  I really hate being in pain most of the time. I am hoping that these changes will help in the long run.  

These are just some of the me projects I have lined up. 

Just Maybe?

 I am slowly getting back the use of my right hand.  It still gets tired very easily.  I did manage to fold one load of laundry today.  Most of the day my hand was to tired to do anything. Tomorrow before my hand gets tired, I will try to sew up 3 seems to get the dog pillows out of the house.  

I think I have a lot of small projects that can be finished with the sewing machine. This means that I just need to guide the fiber and let the machine do the work.  

I am still bored.  I need a new hobby. One that is not so hand intensive.  

A Small Repair

 My first reusable shopping bag got a smallish fix this afternoon.  I bought this bag at my then local natural foods store and restaurant, Follow Your Heart in Canoga Park, California.  I bought it just after I moved into my first apartment.  That was so last century, before John and I were even engaged.  Follow Your Heart had the best vegetarian burgers and shakes.  Oh well the whole truth was everything was wonderful and tasty.  Milk free donuts in the 1980’s awesome.  Carob everything to my heart’s content.  I was not allowed chocolate, nitrates or nitrides back then.  I still skip the nitrates and nitrides, they cause so many migraines.  They also have a wonderful cookbook to make things at home.  

But I digress.   I got my first reusable shopping around earth day, I got my second on my next payday.  Yes, I still have both of the bags.  They are a bit faded now.  One is starting to show some age with the beginning of fabric breaking down.  I patched the bottom with a piece of curtain fabric, leftover from dog pillows.  I am not sure if I should quilt the bottom.  My main problem is I forgot how to program the memory on my sewing machine.  I guess I will find the manual to morning.  My handy work is below.  

Connections

 I am beginning to think that there is a connection between our summer rains and my arthritis flare ups.   The bad ones seem to happen at the end of July or beginning of August.  I wonder if having the humidity between 46% and rain for days on end is the reason.  

Meanwhile I have not knit or spun for days.  Yes, it is quite survivable, but depressing at the same time.  My right hand has been on almost total rest for what seems like forever.  I put away my Ashford Drum Carder today.  I only have a small box that did not get carded.  My hand is slowly getting better.   I am getting ready to set up the sewing machine to do a few lap quilts.  Nothing fancy, just basic useful quilts and a few more dog pillows.  Sewing uses different hand movements than knitting or spinning.  

It has been suggested that I add another art to my line up that is not hand intensive. So i am open to suggestions.  Right off the bat I am thinking that pottery is too hand intensive.  Anything that involves extreme heat or fire my dynamic tiro would say no to.  I have gotten a punch yarn kit to try.  Someone also suggested adult coloring books, that might be worth a try.  I might even get bored enough to go through my books to see which ones to keep and which ones to sell.  

The lighting and thunder seem to be winding down so it’s time to call it a day. 

Finished Stuff

 This week’s finished projects. 3 dog pillows for the shelter.  1 hat for the kids. 1 blanket headed to the V.A. When I have a box full.  Pictures are here.  the car is loaded for Monday’s delivery of the pillows.  

Ahead of Schedule

 I decided in the beginning of January that 100 knitting projects was a reasonable amount of knitting for 2021.  About one project for every 3 or 4 days. I am trying not to over use my hands.  At the same time I am trying to finish my UFO’s and do a major stash down.  At the same time making sure I have at least 5 dozen hats for the Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank.  I have a lot of knitting wishes for the year. 

To that end I choose a basket with three partially finished blankets this week.  I finished the fourth missing square for the first blanket tonight. I will sew together the blanket tomorrow.  Then add the edging by picking out the 3 main colors and adding a Crocheted boarder. Then it will be washed, bagged and labeled.  I have started a box for a local nursing home for the blankets and shawls.  

Tonight I pick up the second blanket from the basket. I decided not to make a whole bunch of squares, but instead make 3 strips. I am doing this because the three blocks that are finished are different sizes.  So as long as the strips are the same length, I should be golden.  This means less sewing too. That is the problem with having a blanket project made by so many different people.  The thing is that even though five other people worked on the  two blankets I an knitting the majority of the squares.  Note to self never ever do this again.  

I will also go stash diving tomorrow to find stash yarn that will go with the second blanket.  I am really hoping that I will not have to buy yarn to finish the second blanket.  I do have a lot of cotton yarn in my stash. Wish me luck. I am hoping to find dark blue and purple.  A turquoise blue, and medium blue and purple.  I already have the white, I just pulled a cone out.  

Well it’s time to call it a night.  

Impromptu Improvement

 Today’s impromptu improvement is a COVID19 work at home issue.  John’s computer chair has seen better days.  The duck tape covered arm rests were becoming sticky.  So with a large fabric scrap and no pattern a solution was implemented.  

I took measurements and added a bit of wiggle room for seams.  Then elastic was pulled through, chinched and sewn.  Pulling the elastic through was the hardest part of the project. It really put my hands to the test with the upholstery fabric.  Pulling the elastic through also took the most time.  

John was surprised that I came up and implemented the solution so quickly.  Although I did not get it finished before his nap ended. He really likes the end result. Sorry the pictures are in the wrong order.  

Moving Forward

After resolving some issues in my mind last night. I was able to move forward today.  I made some crafting decisions like if I make rag rugs in the future, I will just order the supplies needed.  The reasoning behind this is takes an awful lot of work to turn old t-shirts into useable weaving fiber.  People love the idea of a recycled rag rug, but the don’t want to spend more than $20 or so one one.  Because I was using some recycled material they think that they should be able to pay less, but the warp alone usually runs about $20.  If I am going to work at a loss it has to be better than decorating someone else’s house cheaply.  So the t-shirts were torn up for dog pillows.   

I did manage to sew 2 face masks and start 3 dog pillows. I think I can get a few masks sew every day too.   I should be able to get at least 6 or 8 dog pillows done with this batch.  Yes, I called the Humane Society and they would love more of my pillows.  I don’t even have to go inside to drop them off.  I have also gathered enough yarn to make 2 cotton scrappy hats for the clothing bank.  The next hat has a rolled brim. 

I also think that it is time to create a spreadsheet for grocery shopping and what we have in the house.  I think the Excel Spread Sheet should work.  Well another busy day tomorrow.  Stay safe.  

My Production Line

If anyone would have told me in April 2019, that I would be sewing mass quantities of fabric face masks to protect us against a virus called COVID19, I would have asked them what Fantasy world that they were living  in. Mass quantities of sewing were for Eric’s bibs and a few bibs that I donated to charity. This was only a dozen at a time. This is what my sewing table look like today. Yes, they are sliding off the table into a laundry basket. I did chain sewing.  I ran out of pins and had to pin the second half when the first have were finished.

I did production line sewing where I could.  Tomorrow after ironing the seem flat it will be one mask at  a time.  I will see how many I can get done before I run out of ties.  The next batch of ties will be wider so that I have less cutting to do.

Stash Busting Part 2

Another day another project completed. Today at lunch I started hat 11 - 2020 and finished it before bedtime. As long as I am home and curtailing my outside activities, to be read both The Tucson Festival of Books and the 4th Avenue Street fair have been cancelled do to concerns about the current pandemic.

I figure this is a really good time to knit, sew, weave and spin.  I know I will not completely empty my backlog of projects. I hope to make a sizable dent.  I also know that for somethings they will land in xxl storage bags for a few months until they are delivered. That’s ok, because they will be ready to leave the house.

It’s time to call it a night so I can be productive tomorrow.

Busy is the Word

We have been very busy around here. I have been so tired that I have not had the energy to post much before bed. A lot has been happening and here are a few things of note.

Eric brought in 40 more pounds of soda tabs to the Tucson Ronald McDonald House bringing his life time total (the past 10 years) to 150 pounds. He only has to collect 639 more pounds to make 1,000,000 tabs collected to make it on to the wall of fame.

I have been busy spinning and knitting. a few new patterns are in the pipeline. I have taken the zenning of the house to a whole new level that I thought was not possible for me. I have almost finished filling a giant bag of charity knitting and sewing with some socks added for good measure. It also takes the temptation of using the Bookman's credit for more clutter.

John is graciously bringing loads to Bookman's and Goodwill for me.

I have also been replacing batteries on smoke detectors and remote controls, funny how the work better when the batteries are not dead. . My clothes also seem to have gotten bigger over the summer. So I will have to add shopping to my list.

I am off to do more chores.

Projects 166 to 175

I made it to the 175th project of the year.  This batch includes 2 bibs not for Eric and 8 hats for kids in Tucson.  

Small Steps

I make some progress today. I finished 2 bibs and 1 hat for charity today.  I am still tired and frazzled.  Eric is done with the current round of extra medicine so I get to sleep tonight with out setting an alarm to wake up and give the every 6 hours dose. Since Eric is asleep I am turning in too.  

Failed Parenting

Eric has not slept for the last 2 nights. In my extreme tiredness I decided that Eric would not get his afternoon television time. So instead he came in the sewing room with me. I am in the middle of making a dozen new bibs so we can retire the worn looking ones.  

It did not occur to me until his afternoon aide came that it looked to her like he was getting a special treat.  Extra time with me and brand new bibs to boot. This is an epic parenting failure.

In my defense I did try to nap today, but every time I fell asleep the door bell rang.