The Amazing Shawl

 As you know, I have been doing a huge deep cleaning all over the house.  Currently I am working on the knitting room. I also store all my shawls in there too. So today’s project is to start going through all my shawls. I am happy to report that one of my favorite traveling shawls has grown over the winter. 

When I first bought this shawl it was just big enough to go around my shoulders. Over the last several years it has grown big enough to be used as a blanket.  I am definitely keeping this shawl. I am also going to have to plan a trip somewhere so that I can use my new traveling blanket/shawl. 

By the way this makes me very happy. Now to choose where to go. 

On The Fifth Day

 Today is day 5 in a row of my massive fiber and yarn de stashing binge. Thank goodness it is the last day of going through every single fiber in the house.  Today was spinning fiber of which there is a whole lot less. Just about a closet full.  It took all morning.  I even found some yarn that needed to leave the house with the yarn mixed in with the fluff. 

I managed to fill a massive shipping bag full of roving that I will never spin because I just don’t like the colors.  I am also a better artist than a sales person.  This is why I am sending this huge bag to a person who is an artist and a great sales person.  

In going through all the fluff, I found one storage bag that was falling apart.  So the fluff got moved to other storage bags.  All the remaining fluff has been put away.  There is a lot more room in the closet including a 2 foot wide section on the top shelf.  2 containers were also freed up.  One went for yarn storage and the other went into art yarn supplies.  

I am officially too tired to move. My legs and back hurt.  My Fitbit gave me 59 minutes of in zone exercise.  So instead of mailing the fluff today, I will spend the afternoon resting.  Along with some Tunisian crochet or knitting.  I feel pretty good about all the work I have done in the past 5 days.  By the way the yarn that left the house this morning filled 1/2 of the back of a friend’s pickup truck.  Not a bad effort.  

Now is the hard part organizing my work spaces.  That is definitely for another day. 

This is a picture of the bag of fluff leaving the house.  I double bagged it, just because the bag is so thin. 

The Boomerang Effect

 Yesterday morning was very successful for me in getting some deep cleaning done.   Getting stuff ready to leave the house. All the while working on less is more.  Leavening the work space cleaner and more organized than I found it. I do strongly believe that in retrospect I used too many units of personal energy.  

All the work was done before breakfast.  After breakfast I took a very long nap, just because I had no energy left to move.  I spent the rest of yesterday dragging.  Not getting anything but resting done.  

Fast forward to today.  I woke up tired.  I had no energy for most of the day. My major accomplishment today was returning a mail order item that was too big.  John drove me across town while I napped.  I also completed stage 2 of the Tour de Fleece. I must say that the color way is working for my plan to keep adding 1 parcel a day until I an either halfway through the parcels or the bobbin is full.  Then start the next bobbin.  

I also started watching a light comedy on Netflix called Geek Girl.  The show is definitely binge worthy.  It is definitely chick lit so the guys might not want to watch it with you.  That is perfectly ok.  It is a very good show.  I really hope that we get another season or 6 more. 

I am enjoying the book Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson.  I am finding the characters interesting.  With just enough twist and turns to make it a page turner.  It is also a very good book to listen to while spinning yarn.  No pun intended.

As usual I paid for the fiber for the Tour de Fleece myself. All opinions are my own. There are no sponsorships for any of my recommendations .  TTFN.

The fiber from this Tour de Fleece spin is from Hilltop Cloud in Wales.  Today’s fiber is Cambrian, a mix of Welsh Mountain crossed with BFL.  It is a very nice spin.  

A Busy and Good Day

 Since I cannot knit, spin or weave right now I have moved into a major cleaning mode again. Today I started working on my jewelry making supplies.  Since I am no longer doing fund raising, I am no longer making earrings or bracelets those beads and supplies have to leave.  I am only about 60% finished, but I have almost filled a medium USPS medium flat rate box. To be weighed and listed on E Bay for gem show pricing.  

I am also taking the opportunity to switch out my storage space for my jewelry making supplies.  I have two new storage boxes in an effort to downsize from over a dozen containers.  I still have to go through a few more boxes.  I went through the beads first because there were just so many of them in so many boxes they were in.  I can say the beads have all been sorted.  I just have to decide how many findings to keep.  For those that do not make jewelry the findings are the pieces that keep the beads together.  

I made more progress in other areas too.  Yesterday I went through the coat closet. I just wanted to see if anything I stored in there because it was two small for me to wear at the time.  The good news is that I fit into 2/3 of them.  Only one did not survive the time in the closet. That particular year did not wear well.  Four pieces need to be hand washed, the others are now waiting their turn in the washer then the clothes line for drying.  So this round of new clothes is a continuation of shopping from my closet.  There are a few pieces that still have a few more inches to go.   I found this to be my personal happy dance time.   

Just a little peak of the beads I went through today.  This is only one of the drawers that I went through today.  

Allergies Part 3

 I was not able to get the perfume residue out of 2 pairs of my sleeping gloves aka my design,  Maxi Fingerless Gloves.  Also victim to this perfume problem was my sleeping sweater.  I tried everything until it was suggested that I make new sleeping gloves. I have a pair that needs to be seamed up. I have also pulled some worsted weight yarn from Misti Cotton, a beautiful cotton and silk blend. Then a special collaboration between Lola Bean Yarn and Spin Cycle Yarn in a worsted weight wool yarn.  

I have a solution for the sweater too  I have lost enough weight and inches to pull an older but still very nice sweater from my closet. Which means that everything old is new again at some point in time.  The only thing the sweater from my closet does not have is visible mending.  Maybe a few years down the road this will happen to this sweater too..

The decision was made tonight to put the charity knitting aside until I finish the new gloves and a couple of shawls that are works in progress for me.  The shawls will come with new patterns for you.  

It has been raining here for 2 days so far.  We have gotten 1 1/2 inches at the house so far. So instead of errands I spent the time finishing up my closet.  Today I found a bunch of earrings. I sorted them out to keepers and Bookman’s trade.  Since I don’t want to overwhelm them I will take in 6 pairs at a time.  I say this because I went through 50+ years of earrings.  I bet that you are not surprised that most of the earrings that I got in Junior High and High School did not make the keep pile. In fact a lot of really retro earrings are going to be leaving the house slowly for the next couple of months.  

Allergies Part 2

 Well it turns out that I should have washed the mattress protector too.  Now it’s time to go wash my sheets again. I woke up stuffy, but not like it has been.  So if I start the wash now everything should be finished before lunch.  I am so glad that I do not have to run out to a laundromat to wash everything, well almost everything again.  I was so wrong about this.  The mattress protector took most of the day to dry   I made my bed after dinner. 

I needed some retail therapy today. It was really nice. I have been short enough for the petite sizes but have been to heavy. Well today I got into a petite size large in pants.  Even better they were on sale for 40% off. Yes they came home with me along with a new sweater at 40% off in a regular size medium. Yes, down a size there too.  I like my sweaters on the long side. Yes, I know cropped sweaters are all the rage. I personally think that is due to the rising cost of yarn.  

Before dinner I even tackled another section of my closet. The end result is that I have more going to Bookman’s and 2 boxes and 1 trash bag for Goodwill. I ran out of boxes so the trash bags will have to do.  I have a bit to sort out and then the shelves are next.  Oh, did I mention that John will make the Goodwill run this weekend for me.  I think I will try to overstuff his car again.  

Visible Progress

 The floor of the knitting room is now cleared of all but one basket.  The baskets all have shelve space.  The one basket that does not has my Navajo spindle in it.  I currently do not have any shelve space in the entire house that could possibly accommodate it.  There are also No project bags on the floor. All the project bags are either empty and placed in storage, hanging on a hanger, or last but not least on a shelf.  

Rumor has it that a certain robot is willing to vacuum the entire knitting room floor for me tomorrow.  

Don’t get me wrong there is still work to do in the knitting room.  While cleaning I opened various project bags.  For each bag I went through the matrix below. 

1. Keep the yarn and pattern together. Then try to find time to finish it.  

2. Keep the yarn for another project.  Give the pattern away.  

3. Prepping the yarn for woven or knit charity scarves (non Superwash wool). Prepare the yarn for knitting charity hats ( Superwash wool or cotton). Some of my hand spun yarn is going into both sets of projects. 

4. Put the yarn into the Goodwill box.  

I have not gone through all my project bags yet so there is still more work to do.  I have enough yarn for almost a dozen hand knit scarves prepared.  Also enough for at least a dozen shades of blue and green woven scarfs.  Yes while I was organizing things I put the yarn in color palettes for weaving.  

Did I mention that I have a huge pile of circular knitting needles to put away too.  That should take a couple of hours at a later date. Most likely when I need a certain circular knitting needle and can not find the right size. 

I even found time to work on a new knitting design and a few rows of weaving. I was not cleaning all day because I am recovering from the latest sinus infection and the beginning of the….wait for it….post getting sick arthritis flare up.  

TTFN. It’s time to call it a day.  

Saying Goodbye

 

I started this project when the kids were much younger, maybe 15 or so years ago.  As a unique one of a kind shawl for me. Made with my hand spun yarn and samples of different yarns. I made the decision a few minutes ago that this was never going to get finished. Also wouldn’t all the colorful bits of yarn make happy children’s scarves?  So the bag is going to be emptied and sorted tonight. The center piece will not be salvaged and put into a dog pillow. The bag below will be emptied and sorted tonight and a basket will come off the floor. 

Over Done

 Today I tackled some deep cleaning, tossing and redoing a bathroom to make it less cluttered.  Gone is the magazine rack that held magazines and wash cloths.  I used to go through about 50 wash clothes a week with Eric, now that I am only using them to dry my hands I don’t need that many out anymore.  All the wash cloths are either in a drawer or have been reassigned to other uses.  The counter is far nicer to look at. 

At lunch I was able to open a fresh jar of peanut butter for the first time since January. I am not sure how much of that is contributing to my current level of hand pain. 

I had so much recycling going to the bin that I asked John to carry it all out. By the way he was more than happy to help carry it out.  I wanted to do more cleaning and tossing. My body said it was nap time. My hand said “what did you do to me?” Yep, I might have been too gung-ho on the cleaning front today.  

We also went dryer shopping today.  We tried to shop local first, they said it would be about 10 months to get a gas dryer I wanted.  Then we went to a big box store and got the same dryer to be delivered this week.  Guess which store we bought from?

I also filled one box for Goodwill for good measure.  

Shopping from My Closet

 I have finally lost enough weight and inches to start shopping from my closet.  I can’t wait to see where that takes me.  What style trends can I start with clothing that I bought when my daughter graduated graduate school.  I now have more energy because of the weight loss and as a result I am doing yet another round of deep cleaning. 

Leaving this time are lace knitting patterns.  Those who know me are quite understandably happy. Quilting patterns. Also patterns for outfits that I will never make that are back in style.  Not to mention all the things that went into recycling. Did I mention that the Goodwill box is overflowing? Less is turning into more.  Less time to find things. More time to do things. More open space.    A win- win for me.  

This week I might even try my Lucet for the very first time.  A kind artist at the renaissance fair in Phoenix showed me how to do it. Now it is my turn to try it. My right hand is still wonky so wish me luck.

I got some bad food last Saturday and landed up with a mild case of food poisoning, but have finally fully recovered.  It was a rough couple of days.  We have all been there.  

TTFN

Wednesday

 While I was cleaning yesterday I found 3 years worth of so last century day planners. My feeling on the subject is that if I have not needed the information since 1993, 1994 or 1995, I really don’t need to keep it.  I also managed to empty 4 inches of shelf space.  They are now in the recycling bin.  

It is currently snowing at our house. The only place it has not melted is on the barbecue.  The only question is will there be any left by the time I wake up tomorrow morning.  All I have to say about this winter is that the weather has been very weird.  We are fluctuating between the mid 70’s to snow to lows in the teens.  

Part of the backyard covered in snow. Not enough for a snowman.  This is a big deal in Tucson.  

8 Feet

 I cleaned out 8 feet of shelf space today.  It is in the back of my car for drop off tomorrow.  John has really enjoyed this unique Valentines Day Gift. There is more work to do but the back of my car is full again with tomorrow’s charity donation.  

Hopefully my right hand will be functioning shortly.  I am getting tired of mass cleaning. I don’t know what else to do when knitting, spinning and weaving are very limited and make my hand sore.  

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.  

Less is More

 Getting rid of 2 car fulls of unwanted stuff combined with the yard sale has freed up space in the house and my head.  I now find myself wondering around the house putting things away or in the appropriate trash or recycling place.  

 Have also done some more fiber arts. Tonight I spun a little yarn, about a 1/2 ounce.  Finished project 14 for the year.  And worked on a hat.  

I am becoming a firm believer in less is more.  It’s just so hard to look at all the new spring yarn colors or look at the holiday Boxes for December and not order more yarn.  So I am in make more buy less mode.  It is so hard.  

I think I will drag the sewing machine out and bring it to the knitting room to make some dog pillows this week.  That should fill up my car one more time.  An free up more space.  

A Big De Stash of Fiber Stuff

 Since I have more yarn than I can knit or weave in my lifetime I decided to set some yarn free.  I you are in want of good yarn from a pet free, smoke free home I just might have the solution for you .  

I managed to empty two tubs that had been full of yarn. One was a huge 96 quart bin and the other was about 34 quarts.  That make two 36 quarts plus a 96 quart that makes 138 quarts of yarn plus more from other places that will be looking for new homes soon.  I will also have a few of my drop spindles that want to leave the herd. I am also de stashing cones of yarn, knitting kits, knitting needles, knitting books, and various other fiber stuff. I have also made a whole lot of grab bag’s ,which are actually kitchen trash bags filled with yarn.  That will be at a great price.   If you are in Tucson let me know if you are interested and I will send you the details.  I suggest that you bring a knitting friend or 3 and get a grab bag each. Then go look at what you got and swap if you would like.  Each bag has enough for a few sweaters or about 15 smaller projects.  

After so much de stashing it was time to kick back and knit.  I spent some time on the baby blanket and some time on a scarf.  Now it’s time to call it a night.  

I will be setting the date soon.  

Almost Done

 The sewing tables have been folded up.  The sewing machine put away.  I am leaving John in charge of vacuuming and dusting.  I just have to find a home for some blankets.  They are washed and bagged. They are too small for the V.A. , Project Linus does not take cotton blankets.  So I will call a friend tomorrow.  

I just need to wrap a few things , put some baskets away, fold up one table, sweep and mop the floor’s, clean the bathrooms along with my usual chores and we will be ready for company.  I am exhausted just thinking about it.  

The best part of this companies coming is that I tossed a lot of things rather than just put them in boxes and baskets for later.  I hope that this puts me ahead of the curve.  

To Clean or Not to Clean is a Silly Question

 Will the deep cleaning ever stop?  That is a question that I have been asking myself a lot lately. It seems the more I organize and the more I get rid of the more there is to organize and get rid of. It seems like when I get one layer removed another layer pops up.

I was very clever in my organizing today. I managed to combine 2 boxes of quilting supplies into one box. That gave me a free box to bring sewing supplies to the garage.  I also combined all my fabric into one box that already had a space in the house.  That leaves the odds and ends to land in the right shoe box storage containers.  Then I can find a place for them. I also started a new box for Goodwill.  No new boxes were needed today which is a very good thing. Less boxes equals less stuff. Which equals more organization. Which equals more progress. Which equals more time to make and creat more donations and new patterns.     

For the other room, I have ordered 2 storage chests with 3 huge drawers each.  That will give me room for my spinning supplies and other loose fiber related items.  One is almost a direct transfer, the other will hold additional items.  I hope by Friday I can have both rooms finished.  

I am 1/3  of the way Into  a new scarf and have already used 6 skeins of yarn.  I must admit that 2 of those skeins were started tonight  so I still have at least 6 skeins more to finish this scarf. Hopefully it will be finished soon   

Then maybe I can take an online course Saturday and play with some beads after I put other rooms in order.  

A Rest Day?

 Since I over did things yesterday, I tried to take it easy and have a slow day.  I almost seceded. Unless I am sleeping my inclination is to keep moving and going.  To that end I used a bag of poly fill in the craft room as a desk. I then proceeded to empty and throw away or recycle most thing. I did find a pair of circular knitting needles that I did not realize that I had lost. Filled up the to be shredded basket that I just emptied on Wednesday. 

I did a little knitting on 2 different projects. One were finished.  We also tried not to watch every show that dropped today.  We did save a few for tomorrow. Well it’s getting late and I am going to call it a day.   

Really Deep Cleaning is Tiring

Today I had a system for cleaning up craft room 1 aka the guest room.  I started out with one bag for trash.. one bag for recycling..lastly one box for charity.   I spent 1 1/2 hours going through everything that I swore I would never touch again. I had everything in boxes to be ignored forever, I don’t think my family agreed with my plan of moving the boxes out of the way with out going through them. So I meticulously went through everything bit by bit.  I threw out projects that were never ever going to be repaired.  I put beads in their places.  I cleaned off resting places for things that I had just not put away.  I put all my broken stitch markers in a box to be repaired.  I stacked boxes for future delivery.  I worked until I was too tired to move.  Most importantly I managed to empty one box. That box will help organize my knitting projects stacked on shelves, so they don’t fall as often   I have one more box that I hope to finish tomorrow. At least with that part. The whole process should take about a week to finish. I might even try to get a bit of sewing done before I need to set up the guest room.

At the same time I was washing the last 3 skeins of yarn from Spin Together 2021. Once they are mostly dry and can be moved into the house for the final drying, I will take a picture of all the skeins.  Some colors did change drastically, others were about the same.  Then I will play with the order of colors to make my next shawl.  I might even spin a few more skeins to get the colors just right.

I even had time to add 6 inches to the never ending scarf..

 

Unintended Cleaning

 I was so tired that all I wanted to do was take a nap.  Instead I organized my tea cups and tea.  I wonder if I could really justify a couple of me Pawley tea cup in the 30 ounce size? This is just a thought.  I gave the plants some of the expired tea. Plants that are not native to the Sonoran Desert need a boost of caffeine a couple times a year,  I am sure that there are other things that they like in the tea too.  By the way coffee works just as well if you don’t drink tea.  I was left with 2 bags of recycling, 2 bags of trash, 1 1/2 shelfs of newly freed space, no tea cups on the counter, tins for an art project and a lot of happy plants. 

On the me side I got 3,000 steps while cleaning. If I thought I was tired before I started, we’ll after I finished I was just to tired to move.  I still feel it hours later.  I hope tomorrow is a good body day, I could really use one about now.