110 Degrees Today

 Today it reached 110f at our house with 1% humidity.  It was way to hot to knit on the front porch or knit outside for that matter.  So instead I went to day 2 of the multi purpose room.  I am getting rid of stuff right and left.  I did not realize that I had 3 similar boxes for hand sewing, 1 for quilting, 1 for stuffed toys and one for repairs.  That was too organized for my own good.  I suspect the hand quilting box was started in 1985.  The stuffed animal box around the time Teri was little and 1983 for the repair box, because it was a prize for something.  

Well needless to say I am going through everything.  This all started because some of my 20+ year old plastic boxes began to break.  I thought that they were good for at least my life time because plastic takes 1,000 years to break down. So I am reorganizing everything.  Some going to Goodwill, a lot to trash and recycling and some to Bookman’s.  With what’s left behind being set up to be useful for me.  I did also find a lot of 12 inch rulers, at least a dozen, I am not sure what’s up with that.  Although I believe a crafter can not have too many rulers.  I will show pictures when I am done.  

I also plyed 2 skeins of super wash wool for summer hat knitting.  . I am trying to keep busy and get organized.  Wish me luck. 

Plans

My plans for Tuesday are already in the blender. I will be at home with Eric all day. Although the fever has broken from the cold, his asthma has kicked in with vengeance. So while Eric is busy watching PBS kids, I will get the serger out and make some more cleaning rags out of old cloth diapers. The cloth diapers last for about 2 years of Eric use and then become rags that last forever. I serge the old diapers in half so that they don't land up back in Eric's room.  Oh, and I love how the cloth diaper maker has raised the price about 5% in the last 2 years, but it is now a 5 pack instead of a 6 pack. So the price increase is actually much more. Can we say inflation?

While cleaning the craft room today, I finally added the charms to Teri's charm bracelet. So  instead of spending 20 minutes trying to figure out where to put the charm bracelet I spent 10 minutes getting the actual work done. Now the next time she comes for a visit she can take it home. I also have filled another box with craft supplies for Eric's day program, although I don't know when he will be well enough to go back. I am down to the dibs and drabs of the zenning and must resist the urge to stuff everything in a closet for later. Maybe I can fill another bag to go.

The sweater is coming along quite nicely. I am almost finished with the first skein of yarn and I am 34 rows into the pattern. The pattern called for 24 inch circular knitting needles. At row 18 I changed to 36 inch circular knitting needles. Tonight at row 30 I changed to 60 inch circular knitting needles. I wonder who goofed up on this one? In about 10 rows, I will take the sleeves and put them on stitch holders. Then finish the body and go back to do the sleeves. I am thinking at this point that it will take about a month to finish. I am also thinking that I might just have enough yarn to make it a long sleeve sweater. I bought enough yarn to make this sweater 2 sizes larger. This is my first me sized sweater. The 2 sweaters that I made for Elmo went much faster.

Deep Cleaning

My deep cleaning by the numbers today:

1 car load to taken Goodwill, thanks to John.

2 boxes ready to be re-homed tommrow. 1 box is full of art supplies. 1 box is full of carrier and gift bags and cfl light bulbs.

3 trips to the recycle bin. My recycle bin is now half full and it will not be collected until next Monday.

Countless projects were put together to be finished soon. I need to finish the deep cleaning of the craft room and its closet. I did manage to get about 3 cubic feet of closet back.

I also managed to get 2 loads of laundry finished. I also found time for a long nap.

The Garage

Today I managed to empty and sort 3 more boxes from the garage. I ran out of steam for box number 4 filled with knitting magazines. Considering that they have been in the garage since we remodeled the bathroom I might not have a use for them. I have a lot for Goodwill that I am hoping will leave the house this week. Instead of looking at the pile going of my goodness, I am instead think of just one box at a time. My goal this weekend was 2 boxes so getting 3 boxes done is fantastic in my humble opinion.

I found a whole whole lot of sewing projects and a sweater pattern that I have been looking for. So my plan going forward, is to get a few boxes done each day in the morning at the peak of my energy level for the day. In the afternoon body permitting I will get some sewing or craft projects done. I am trying to do this without an afternoon caffeine boost so there might just be more napping than crafting in the afternoons.

My my hope is to turn Teri's old bedroom into an electric workshop for John for the holidays. Although I think I will leave building the work bench to John. I really need to save my hand time for knitting, weaving, spinning and sewing.

Empty

Today I emptied 1 - 60 quart bin of craft supplies. No they did not get tossed, but rather relocated to a cabinet that I had used to store odds and ends.  I should have cleaned it out much sooner. I found a bunch of very old tech in there.  Not 1 but 3 old portable cassette players with headphones.  I was really good at breaking them so 2 of them were spares, that were never opened.  The iPod's were made much better and only had to be replaced when I ran out of capacity. 

So the deep cleaning and purging continues.  I seem to feel a bit lighter with each batch of things that leave the house.