This and That

 I have been on a finishing spree today.  I finished 2 more projects today. One hat and 1 scarf. Of course I cast on another scarf because I don’t want my knitting needles to get lonely. That leaves me a total of 6 more projects to photograph.  Also I  have been pulling out Unfinished Projects.  Finishing them to add to the pile.

I also took the time to take not one but two naps today.  With the family stress going on I am finding it hard to sleep through the night. When I am both tired and stressed it is a really bad thing for my body.  Hopefully we can get this family stuff done by the end of the year so we can start with a clean slate for 2024. In my humble opinion that would be perfectly delightful.  

Most of the time I can keep a running to do list in my head. Lately I have found it necessary to  write a hard copy of my daily to do lists. This gives me the satisfaction of actually crossing things off the list rather than just deleting them from my phone.  It will also pair down some of my extensive pile of scratch pads.  Scratch pads seem to multiply like bunnies around here. 

Yesterday I also started filling a box for Goodwill with the clothes that keep getting bigger in the closet. The good news is that I only needed to add a few pairs of pants to my wardrobe. We picked the pants up yesterday.  

I will hopefully get some sleep tonight and have a busy day tomorrow.  Wish me luck. 

UFO’s

 Well now that my knitting room is more put together I find myself looking for unfinished projects in bags, in the hiding place I put them. So from now until the end of the year I plan to finish as many of the projects as possible.  With the exception of charity hats which I knit when John is driving and charity scarfs that I knit when watching television, no new projects will be started.  I have started stacking the bags at the sides of the temporary work table and I don’t want to lose the table.  

This comes with a heads up. There is a good possibility of a lot of new knitting patterns that will be released next year.  I know of 2 without even looking in the bags.  

I have also figured out why some people only have on project bag for knitting   Am I headed that way? Don’t be silly, of course not. 

Wish me luck because I am so good at starting knitting projects, but so awful at finishing them. 

Surprise!!!!

Today Eric has me up at 5:30am. What else was there to do but clean the craft room. So I finished winding so yarn and the went on to try to organize some craft bags. I put all the weaving projects together in on bag. Then it was time to organize the UFO’s of knitting projects. I found a lot of lace and sock weight yarn projects which were put in to a project bag together. I also found 2 more hats in progress, in separate knitting bags, which explains the shortage of 16 inch circular knitting needles earlier this year. The yarn has the equivalent of at least 5 more hats. So instead of sixty hats it looks like it’s going to be more like seventy hats or 6 dozen hats with the yarn currently in my hat knitting bags.

I really think that I need to trim that down to just one bag with hat knitting supplies instead of 3. In some cases I think 1 is better than 3. So the Zenning of the craft room continues.

A Crazy Lady

It is the beginning of February, you would think that I could leave something like a drop spindle in my car. Not today, it was in the mid 70's so the closed car would be in the mid 90's, much to hot to leave my spinning equipment in the car. Wood tends to warp in the heat, and it does not take much heat to wreck a spindle or a spinning wheel.

So when I went into the stores to do my errands my drop spindle bag went with me. I always tell someone on staff what the bag is full of and offer it up for inspection if they want. At Target I ran into a fellow spinner who like my roving. At the office supply store the cashier thought I was a little on the harmless crazy side to care so much about a "silly" piece of wood.

In other news the band aide's came off my hand today. My right hand is still stiff and swollen. I am trying to move my hand a little more each day. I also think it is time to start rubbing lotion into the scars and break up any scar tissue that is forming. This is a months long endeavor as I recall.

As my hand is healing I am getting a little more energy. So hopefully I can get the things done that I put on hold before the hand surgery. I think I will start with the dinning room table. Then move to the kitchen counter.

Zenning Again

This week with the encouragement of my friend Vicky, I am taking zenning to a whole new level. I have started going through my craft bags looking for unfinished objects. Henceforth to be called UFO's. So far I have emptied one bag completely. Finished three scarfs. Did I mention create more small balls of yarn for hats? Found a lot of knitting needles. In my defense in the past when I had too many empty knitting needles I just cast on a few more projects. Stash them away in a craft bag until I was bored and needed a new challenge. This is why I have so many bags filled with UFO's.

I am going to try to eliminate the extra craft bags.  There are no guarantees here though. I have so many beautiful project bags. I now have a lifetime supply of large tote bags and project bags. Some I will pass on to new knitters that I teach. Some will be used for shopping, although since the zenning project began a few years ago, I am less likely just to go shopping if I am bored. I am more aware of what I bring into the house. I just don't buy more stuff. The exception here seems to be yarn, roving and tissue paper. After all I have spinning wheels, looms and knitting needles to keep busy, not to mention my idle hands.

Eric is having less bad nights since we discover that his vitamin D was contaminated. Last night was an exception. I was up with him until 4 am. Got a little sleep when he settled in. We both took naps this morning. I am still at the point where my energy reserves are completely gone. So I need to slow down a bit until they are back. A perfect time to sit and knit.

Now what to make for dinner.

Slow Progress

This weekend while putting up the Halloween decorations we decided to clean out the Halloween storage box. Some was trashed, but the best part was that some was passed on to someone else. I got very creative. I made a FREE sign and taped it to the box. Then I left it by the mail box. When we got back from dinner all of it was gone. Somewhere our unwanted decorations will be decorating someone else's house. How cool is that?

I am also cleaning out my closet very slowly. I put a bag by the closet and every time I go to pick out my days outfit, if I find something that I do want or need I just put it in the bag. This weeks total is 10 empty hangers. It's a slow start, it it is a manageable pace for me. And then it will go on to charity for its next life.

I have also also decided not to try create anything else for the November 10th fundraiser at the Tucson JCC. I will just be finishing what has already been started. I will suggest getting there early for the best selection. Now it's time to finish the next project.