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.  

Finishing Work

 I don’t know about you but weaving in the ends and doing finishing work often takes a backseat to creating.  Tonight I had an ever growing pile of the evil finishing work.  I decided it was time only because I am currently creating more art the will require finishing work.  It is an evil, vicious cycle.  Create many, many things. Wait until I have a small pile and just sit down and do it.  Repeat.  

You know what comes next, don’t you. Taking pictures and posting to Ravelry. Well that will be tomorrow in better light.  In the meantime please enjoy the group photo.  Three hats for the Flowing Wells SD Clothing Bank, 2 cotton and 1 super wash wool hat made of hand spun yarn.  I hope the kids like the colors. Also 6 coasters woven from hand spun yarn. I wove 7, but one had a major problem not worth fixing so it is going to the dogs for pillow stuffing. Waste not want not.  

Then everything will go in the proper storage bags. 

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.   

The Hunt Starts

 The hunt for smaller clothing started today with p.j.’s. I really lucked out on this one. Because of the sale at Kohl’s and the only fabric that I could wear, I got 2 pairs of p.j.’s for the cost of one pair.  This is a good thing.  I just don’t know how long I will stay in this size. I also lucked out by finding Simply Vera by Vera Wang.  She knows how to design for curves. The p.j.’s are well made too.  

Next on the agenda are pants and a warm sweater. Yes, I know that I have enough yarn to knit a couple of sweaters but the chances are that after a month or 2 of knitting that they will be to big. I have done that twice before.  So I am going to get a sweater to tide me over along with a couple of pairs of pants.  Wish me luck on those.  

So instead of knitting for me I am knitting for the kids again for next winter. At knitting guild we tend to knit a year ahead.   I have 2 scarfs going for young teens that are going to be long enough to wear in different ways. I also have 2 hats going. I hat needed to be tinked out about 3 inches because I was not paying attention and lost a stitch marker. I did not notice it until I had 4 stitches on 2 double pointed knitting needles and a whole bunch on the circular knitting needles.  That is all fixed and ready to go again.  I also have the 2 weaving projects going.  

It’s going to be busy tomorrow.  Do it is time to call it a night.  

More UFO Progress

 On my poncho I made it to the next project change.  I am checking every few rows to make sure everything is even. So far so good.  

On my scarf for my knitting guild, I have 40 of the 60 inches needed to complete my scarf. Hopefully by Friday it will be ready to weave the ends in.  

I did not work on my hat or other scarf today. 

I think I will start shopping for a more comfortable chair for knitting. I slide out of the current chair which leaves my back sore   

Below is a partial picture of he poncho.  

It’s Finally Leaving

 Almost everything that I have worked on since January is leaving the house today.  The count is as follows: 50 hand knit hats, 21 hand knit scarfs, 4 hand woven scarfs.  I acquired 33 pairs of socks and 12 backpacks. I really think the volume of items Surprised John this morning. I  know that I fell short of my yearly goal of 60 hats, but I must face the fact that it was a bad hand year. The fact that my hats are knit on US size 6 & 8’s verses the scarfs which were knit on no smaller than a US size 11. By the way the larger the number the bigger the knitting needles are. This makes them easier to hold on a bad hand day too. 

I used John’s couch to lay out everything for one last picture before they left the house.  I almost covered the entire couch. Everything is now packed up to drop off at The Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank.  It makes me very happy that I can use my idle time like this.  

70% Done

 I set a goal of finishing 100 projects by December 31, 2021.  Today I finished project number 70. Another charity Hat.  The only question now is when I will reach 100 projects, but how many over that I will complete. I am only counting knitting and weaving for this challenge.  No spinning or sewing, although I am still doing those too. You can peek at my Raverly projects page to see all the completed projects.  

Winter is Coming

 After yesterday’s food debacle when the restaurant deemed that 11% fat was a low fat item, By the way my body says it’s not.  All I had the energy to do was 2 loads of hand wash and 2 washer and dryer loads.  Then it was a day of rehydration and knitting. 

 I am hoping to enough energy to spin some of my new mini batts tomorrow.  I would also like to do some more drum carding of fiber.  I also want to warp the loom and get some scarfs started.  As long as we stay home with the temperature heading upwards of 109, maybe higher. I will be staying inside. I hope I have enough energy for everything   

The hats pictured below are the 2 hats that I finished today.  Don’t worry the knitting needles are not lonely as I started another hat and a scarf   

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.  

A Sad Anniversary

 Today March 10, is the one year anniversary of the last time we ate out.  I have not been in a grocery store for a few days longer.  My much anticipated craft room has turn into storage and a quarantine area.  It is not comfortable to sit in my favorite rocker and knit. I no longer spin in there either. 

All I seem to do is figure out where to order in our supplies from. Clean house. Do laundry. Cook. Knit hats and now blankets.  Yes, I did have a yarn stash built for the proverbial pandemic. I am making small dents in it. Every 2 hats is about 2 skeins gone, I have knit 20 hats so far this year. Now blankets use a lot more yarn between 5 and 10 skeins per blanket.  I am trying to use up bits and pieces so hopefully a bit more yarn is gone.  The shawl I made used about 15 skeins. So I have used about 45 skeins so far this year. It is all going to be delivered to charity sometime this year. My goal is lots of empty boxes and bags of yarn and more boxes and bags of finished knitted items.  

I still feel very useless. As if life said I am making you redundant.  The sense of isolation is getting worse. Even when fully vaccinated I fear we will still be quiet limited in what we can really do. This is not how I planned to spend my retirement. I have not felt this alone and isolated since Eric died.  

So I try to get dressed nicely every day. Although this to is getting harder since I have dropped about 3 dress sizes this year. I am really tired of wearing shifts and skirts that have ties so I can take them in without sewing. My Goodwill box is getting fuller again. I am also slowing down in the speed at which I get things done.  Chores seem to be done in spurts.  

To plan John’s special dinner tonight, it involved shopping at 3 different stores and planning out delivery times. I also had to pray that between the 3 stores I could get everything I needed.  2 stores were out of bananas and tomatoes. I play grocery roulette every week.  Some weeks I am lucky, some weeks not so much. 

I guess this is a very long winded way of saying that I am tired and stressed out by COVID19.  I am tired of seeing people acting dumb.  I need to be around more creative people. I need to chat with friends.  

I know a lot of this sounds positive, but I don’t feel positive about it.  I am not really doing anything worth while. I really need my old life back.  

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.  

Toggling Knitting Projects.

 Right now I am toggling between three knitting projects. I have 2 in the den. I am knitting squares for a blanket and am knitting hats for the kids.  Hats are for when I don’t need to pay attention to what I am knitting.  The squares are a little more precise so they are worked on at other times.  I am still working on the long scarf when I am on zoom.  

For those keeping count I am on hat 18 for the year or 1.5 dozen hats.  

I see more knitting in the next few weeks while my foot heals.  My feet don’t like cold weather so the tendons are inflamed.  So that does limit my walking time.  I am doing the right exercises for my foot. I have been here before.   

Keeping Busy, Well Sort Of

 Today I did some deep cleaning. I managed to fill two trash bags. The sad part of today’s deep clean is that it hardly made a dent. I also spent time unpacking deliveries and putting things away. Then only when I was tired did I get to the first thing on my to do list. Reorganizing my dresser.  I used up my morning knitting time and the took a long nap after lunch. 

I am still at the get tired fast stage of recovery.  I wish it would just resolve it self and I can have a full active day again. I am really bad at living life in the slow lane. I am even worse dealing with pain  yes I am back on the Tylenol.  I just have to remember that it is one step at a time. 

After dinner I did manage to get some knitting done. I finished charity hat number 5, then started charity hat number 6 for 2021. This leaves me at 5% of my knitting goal for this year completed.  I wonder if I will be able to exceed my knitting and weaving goal again this year.

Below is hat number 5. I am sure that someone will love wearing it. 

 

Even More Hats

 The next 15 hats are finished.  This brings me up to 70 hand knit hats for the year, of which 65 go to the kids clothing bank. This batch is all cotton. 

More Hats

 I was not on my game today. So my solution was to knit and get up and walk every few hours to walk around the house.  The end result was three new hats for my favorite charity and 10,000 steps.  So I made the best of a bad body day.  

Bingeing Again

 Well I am bingeing on hats again. It was over 107f today.  What else can I knit in the heat? I am knitting at least one hat a day. I also have 3 hats currently in progress. One in the knitting room. 2 in the den. All the hats are being knit on different sized knitting needles with different yarn weights.  Which begs the question, do I have enough 16 inch knitting needles in enough sizes? Double pointed knitting needles are not a problem, I have 2 boxes full of them.  The answer might just be no.  

105f Today Or Hats by the Dozen

What do I do I knit when it’s 105f out? I knit winter hats. You all know that I don’t think summer is long enough.  Pretty soon it will be in the 70’s and the cold weather gear will come out. I am with in knitting distance of 4 dozen hats knit this year.  The earliest it has ever happened.  That means I only need to knit 16 more hats to make my minimum goal of 5 dozen hats. To me that means 60 heads will be warmer this winter.  I wonder if I will make it to a bakers dozen of hats this year. In case you were wondering a bakers dozen is 13 of any baked good.  So that is 12 x 13 or 156 hats which is my all time record.
Stay safe and have some home bound summer fun.

Happy Pi Day

In honor of Pi Day is served chicken pot pie for dinner. I might have gotten burned out on hats. In other news I started working on another UFO project. I have 4 Modular Baby Blankets in various stages. When I finish those I should have 2 more empty project bags. The pattern is available on Raverly and Iloveknitting.com. I would love to see your finished blankets.

Recovery Mode

I was super into my recovery mode today. I slept most of the day and was exhausted the rest of the day. I only have 10 more days before the stitches come out.

 My major accomplishment was finishing hat number 9 and starting hat number 10 of 2020.  I seem to knit hats by rote when I am tired. I like to add lots of color to make hats cheerier too.  It is also my 17th project for 2020. My goal s 100 finished projects.

Eleven

The 11th project of the year was completed tonight. It is also 5th hat of the year. It is also Rich’s birthday present.  He picked the color and style so I can show you.

Let’s see how many I can finish next week.  I have a lot of UFO’s and small projects.