I Completed My Yearly Knitting Goal

 This has been a very rough year health wise for me.  There are still some days when I don’t have the energy to move let alone knit or even just listen to an audiobook book without falling asleep.  Yet today I managed to log my last 4 knitting projects for the year, charity hats 6-9 which brought me up to 24 completed projects for 2025.  Mostly charity projects.

In January this goal was a stretch for me.  I was dealing with my second bout of Pericarditis in less than a year.  I am on a new medication that seems to be helping.  However, this being said I never heal as fast as I want. The older I get, it also seems to take longer.  This go-go girl is not used to living life in the slow lane at all.  Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy to be alive and to be able to create things for kids whose families normally could not afford the prices for my work.  This beats customers who say that they can get a bespoke hat, scarf or shawl for less money than I pay for my yarn.  Then try to get the item for a loss for me. No way in he double toothpicks. From feed back I get from the Flowing Wells School District staff, all the kids and staff are very happy to get my mostly one of a kind hats and scarfs.  That makes me so happy.  That amount of happiness that I create is better than money.  

So without further ado, here are charity hats #6-9-2025.  

They Are Gone

 These 6 scarfs have left the house.  In late October they will be delivered.  These are the final pictures of them.  In the top photo all 6 are laid out side by side on a California King Bed. In the bottom photo they are rolled up, which is how I store them.  Each scarf is knit in the round with multiple strands of yarn.  All are 6 feet 2 inches long plus or minus a few inches.  No two are ever alike.  They are fun to knit. They use up a lot of odd skeins of yarn.  As a bonus for me, I know that they will keep kids warm.  

Another one bites the dust.

 I have finished my fourth hat of the year. Of course it’s another charity hat. That means that I am at 71% of my goal of 24 finish projects this year. Depending on how I feel, I might even exceed my goal this year. I must knit faster winter is coming.

Completed Projects

 These are my completed projects for the week as of yesterday.  The 4 blue skeins of yarn are going to my sister. The 2 small skeins are going into my hand spun yarn stash.  The 4 skeins of pink were responsible to compress some of the air out of the yarn to make it more suitable for weaving.  The green skein of yarn is going into a new pattern design.  The hat is part of my holiday knitting for the kids clothing bank here in Tucson that I am supporting.  That would be 6 more completed projects for the year.   

Now to pit everything away or get it ready for mailing tomorrow.  I hope to have a big stack to bring to the post office.  It’s always good when things leave the house.   

Prep Work

 Today was all about winding yarn into cakes to be used for my favorite 6 foot 2 inch scarfs for charity.  I combined colors and textures to make a 2 strand cake to be combined with a one strand single.  The resulting 3 strand yarn is just shy of bulky.  When knit in the round it provides excellent warmth for the young person who will receive it.  

Today I managed to cake enough yarn to fill a 2 gallon Ziplock bag.  I still have more yarn to wind.  I was also thinking that in order to make the knitting bags and baskets more portable, I would find a place to stack the full 2 gallon Ziplock bags. Then I would only need to carry a 1 gallon Ziplock bag with an assortment of yarn cakes to make it easier to transport.  Of course this would only work with the blue / green and  red/ purple and pink bag.  The black bag would never need this.  Yes, I do have more than one charity scarf going at a time.  Currently it is 3 different color ways of the 6 foot 2 inch scarfs, 2 other knit scarfs for warmer climates and 2 Tunisian crochet scarfs.  I also have at least 1 hat and 2 blankets in progress.  I really do finish projects, however some like long scarfs and blankets can take weeks to finish.  Sometimes I just need a quickie project to make me feel more productive.  Did a mention that I have 2 shawls in progress too?

As I tear the knitting room down, it’s looking messier than ever. I have Yarn scattered all over the place, but I am organizing it and when I’m finished, it will look wonderful. Also the bags that I like for the project have been discontinued so I have ordered at least six more so I have enough to complete the task. I initially thought it was a supply chain issue until I went to the companies website to see where I could locate some. They no longer show the bags I’m using on their website. I wish it was reflected on Google Search. Based on the search results I went to 2 different Walmarts and various other stores.  That took time and energy away from my project. I guess I will make a useful feedback comment.  

I feel like winding more yarn now, but will call it a day instead.  

I am very hyper this week.

 I am on a roll today. I managed to finish 2 scarfs and 1 washcloth today. 5 total projects this week.  I also cast on 2 new charity scarfs and a pair of mittens for myself.  

For some unknown reason just getting rid of 60% of my yarn and fiber stash made me more excited to start knitting again.  It has also set off a reorganizing the house binge too.  John is doing the very smart thing and staying out of my way unless I ask for help.  I am excited to see where this takes me beyond sore muscles and extreme fatigue.  

My pile so far this week.  Once the pictures are taken of each individual hand knit items with the exception of the washcloth, they are going into the charity bag for the drop off before Thanksgiving.  The earrings that are in the back of the picture are my own designs.  

Still Exhausted

 I am so over this recovery period.  The supplies that I thought would last for 2 weeks are almost gone.  I am using my last nasal spray. I have ordered another 6 pack which will arrive on Saturday.  I have lost my appetite and finding it hard to hit 20 grams of protein per meal. Not to mention eating my vegetables.  I am also tired of being exhausted.  

To end on a positive note. I completed one charity hat which is very bright and colorful tonight.  I cast on another hat tonight too.  I am only a few rows into the brim.  I am putting the shawl aside until I feel a little better.   I need quick fun projects so hats do fit the bill.  Also the clothing bank I knit for has promised they will find a head for every hat that I knit.  Today’s hat will show up in  tomorrows blog.  You have been forewarned that it is bright and colorful.  

4 Hours

 Between last night, this morning and afternoon I spent 4 hours beginning to organize my knitting room.  I went through every basket, plastic box and drawer on 2 sides of the room.  The net result so far is 5, yes five kitchen size trash bags full of yarn.  These will go with a friend up to Northern Arizona when she visits her family next time.  

The knitting room is down one rolling cart which will be for sale at the next Old Pueblo Knitting Guild meeting which is themed Christmas in July.  If you are in Tucson this coming Wednesday July 17th join us at St. Phillips Church at the corner of River Road and Campbell Avenue at 9:30am.  I will also have some of my hand spun yarn packed into kits that will include the yarn, a pattern and stitch markers.  I will price the yarn at hand dyed prices, instead of hand spun prices.  Now I have to spend the weekend pricing everything. 

I have also come to the realization that I have about 20 years worth of shawls for me to knit.  While I was busy clothing the community with winter hats and scarfs, I totally forgot about my needs.  I also have a few sweaters that will be knit after I make a dent in the shawls.  I have also come up with a brilliant idea for a lot of little skeins of sock yarn.  I will set up that bag after I finish all the pricing.  

So I have been talking about what is leaving the knitting room today.  Here is a visual for you.  

A Busy Day

 Today was fantastic. We went to another venue of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.  We went down to the Kino Sports Complex on Ajo Way.  We skipped the main tent and went to wonder around the back tents.  Some of the awesome things we saw included the Australian mineral exhibit.  The stones were so colorful.  They were very different from the stones from other parts of the world.  If you ever get a chance to see stone from Australia don’t pass up the chance.  Of course I found some more charms for stitch markers.  We walked around until John thought I might be running out of spoons.  I was having so much fun, that after 3 hours of walking and looking I did not want to go home.  

In other good news I tried on my largest size blue jeans in my closet today.  Only have to lose 3 more inches on my waist until they will zip up.  This is a lot better than the last time that I tried them on.  Last time the would not go over my hips.  So I consider this major progress.   

In knitting news, I finished a charity scarf tonight. I will take pictures tomorrow.   I am almost finished with the thumb on the first glove to match new shawl. Now I just have to weave in the ends, take pictures and publish the pattern.  No problem except that I either need a model or someone to take my picture.  

I have picked out the yarn for the next shawl. I just need to cake one huge skein of lace weight silk.  No it’s not going to be a lace weight silk shawl.  I will double strand she shawl with a pretty mohair yarn, I got both of the yarns at Grandmas Spinning Wheel here in Tucson.  The changes in yarn happen so fast that sometimes you might have to pick a different yarn combo than I am using.  More pictures tomorrow.  

Well it’s getting late so it’s time to call it a day.  

A Pounder ? Not Quite

 A pound does not seam to be enough for this scarf.  At 1 pound 2 ounces it is still 15 inches too short.  So the only thing to do is knit on. The maybe good news is that I have enough yarn in the basket to make at least 2 more super colorful scarfs. 

Feeling Sad

 I lost my favorite knitting accessories bag on Tuesday when it fell out of my knitting basket. My basket fell over twice and I am not sure where I lost it.  Yesterday I checked both parking lots and it was not to be found.  

The bag was from a good friend. I filled it with stitch markers, cable needles, a crochet hook, scissors and various other necessities.  Now I will have to find another bag and refill it with the same things. I think next time I will leave a business card in my accessories bag so people could return it if found.

The knitting still goes on.  Here is a picture of a project I finished yesterday. My latest one pounder scarf for the boarding school on the Navajo reservation.

A Head Start on 2024

 Since I have delivered all my charity knitting projects it seemed like a fantastic time to start work on the holiday knitting for 2024.  So I already started the big Ziplock XXL bag with a pair of socks and these 2 scarfs.  

Now it’s time to make some dog pillows.  My yarn scrap bin is overflowing.  So it is off to the sewing machine for me.  I think I will make a few extra cases this time.  

I Finished Two Projects

I fell short of my finishing my UFO goals today.  All I finished was 1 scarf and 1 hat.  I did however, tink 1 scarf and cast it on again.  I won’t put anything on someone else’s child that I would not put on my own child or wear myself. 

                    There is always tomorrow to get more done.

A Rare Double

 Today a rare double was completed.  Yes, in that I mean 2 finished yarn projects were finished within 2 hours of each other.  They are both scarfs for a children’s clothing bank.  The red one is for a younger child. The 2 tone blue one is for a high school student.  Please note, not one knit 2 together stitch was used on either scarf.  The 2 streak had to stop somewhere.   

In case you were wondering, new projects have been cast on both sets of knitting needles so that they would not get lonely.  Now I am off to knit 2 more scarfs.  

Hat Number 2

 Another hat bites the dust, and another ones done. It used up 7 partial skeins of yarn.  A very colorful stash buster project.Yes, I cast on another hat so the needles and stitch markers would not be lonely. 

Day 3

 I have been knitting for 3 days now. Not more than an hour a day.  Just what am I going to do with the other 23 hours? Just kidding, I am starting more projects around the house that have been neglected. I am using U.S. size 11 knitting needles to make it easier on my hand.  I have some fabulously soft 100% cotton yarn that I am using.  This is the start of my holiday knitting for charity this year.  Yes, I knit all year long to make sure as many kids as possible get gifts. 

As you can see I am working on a broken rib pattern.  This is one of my favorites to knit.  It takes a little counting so it is not boring.  If you would like to knit along with me, just cast on in multiples of 4 plus 1 extra stitch at the end of the row.  Then it’s knit 2 Purl 2 across the row ending with a knit 1.  Repeat this row until you have the desired length or run out of yarn if length is not that important. Cast off in the pattern for a nicer looking finished piece.  Use the knitting needle sized for your yarn. If you are a loose knitter go down one needle size. If you are a tight knitter go up one needle size.

If you knit this scarf for Operation Gratitude it should be 4 to 6 inches wide and be 48 to 50 inches long.  It should be made of nice washable yarn.  If you do use super wash wool, please label its wool content. Also include a small card say that you made this for them and appreciate their service.  You can get the mailing address off the web.  

Yes this is really 3 days of knitting for me. I am starting off really slow.  Really, really slowly. It should take about 7 to 10 days to finish.  I am using knitting as part of my physical therapy for my hand.  This scarf is going to the Flowing Wells SD Clothing Bank. 

Moving Forward

 I had the energy to do a mini cleaning spree this afternoon.  So I can say 4 storage tubs are gone. Well actually 3. One dropped and cracked and since it had no recycling number on it we threw it away.  So I guess it is actually 4. I have 2 more bags of quilting material, mostly kids fabric going to a friend who works with 3 different church quilting for charity groups.  Spinning fiber going to 2 friends.  Yarn going to a bunch of people.  Also 2 more boxes are ready to go to Goodwill.

It feels good to share. I want to get my projects down to a reasonable level. The arthritis in my hands is not getting better. So I will make the transition to work on only things that I want to do. Yes, I will still knit charity hats and scarfs because they bring me joy.  I get to create pretty things and send them into the world.  What could be more joyous than that?

I found a tub of yarn for my charity scarf project too.  Knitting will have to wait a bit longer though.  The stitches got infected.  I did go to the doctor and have to take antibiotics until the bottle is gone.  We caught it early before much harm was done.  My hand is a little more sore this afternoon.  

I am also going to de stash 2 more spindles.  These are pretty Turkish spindles in layered wood.  They are going to be looking for a new home too.  They have been lightly used. They are pretty and spin well.  They just don’t fit in to my herd anymore.  I just have to figure out where to sell them and determine the price.  

Winding Yarn – Maybe?

I have found more yarn to organize for scarves using the Stash Dive Pattern  by Summer Lee Designs. I have been stash diving for bits, pieces and odd bags of yarn. This resulted in finding a lot of yarn that I did not know I had. Most left over from past projects or projects that were scrapped. I have already kitted up 4 bags for the knitting guilds Navajo Project and 3 for Operation Gratitude.  I have one scarf for each project on the knitting needles.  

Hopefully when all is said and done I will have 1 box of worsted weight yarn and another of sock weight yarn.  That way when I need to make more kits all I have to do is pull out the yarn and choose the colors.  I found this worked with the hats so well that when the basket is empty I will make more kits.  

This brings me to the organization part.  I am caking all the yarn in hanks and hand wound balls that won’t fit on the yarn butlers.  I made lackluster progress today.  I felt a lot like Jimmy Cricket dealing with  Pinocchio. Of the six hanks wound today, 5 required me to take the partially caked yarn and wind it into a ball before making the yarn cake.  I am not sure how the hanks of yarn became tangled while still in the hank in the original wrapping.  If you know the culprit please tell them to stop, it is not necessary. This is all cotton yarn.  For those allergic to wool and man made fibers.  The picture below is for the Navajo Project at the Old Pueblo Knitting Guild, the kids like things colorful for the most part.  

Bigger is Better

 This is a scarf for next year’s Tucson Knitting Guild’s Navajo knitting project. This scarf is long enough to be versatile. I used John for a length check instead of getting a tape measurer. It is a little over 6 feet long. Double layered for warmth. And used up 1 pound 1 1/2 ounces of cotton yarn.  Yes that is 17 1/2 ounces or 496.12 gram’s of yarn. In other words a lot of skeins and partial skeins. It is very colorful too. A fantastic stash buster for me. A very warm scarf for a young teen.  

The pattern is The Stash Dive Scarf by Summer Lee Designs. I plan on making at least 6 more. I have 2 more on the knitting needles. 

Off to Find a New Home

 Everyone that reads this blog on a fairly regular basis knows that this has been far from a normal year of making for me.  It really did not hit how little was created until I did the inventory to be brought into the Flowing Wells Clothing Bank next week.  So here are the numbers as of today. This is since my last drop off so some hand knit items are being carried over from last years making.

29 Hand Knit Hats

1 Sweater

33 pairs of socks were bought on sale, because I knew my numbers would be low.  

I feel like this is not even close to enough. My body limitations were the only reason.  I am working on my body.  When I fix one thing another seems to break or become dysfunctional.  John did say it is enough. So on ward to next year.