A Mixed Day

 Things got kind of strange this afternoon.  The cup that I stored my first pair of Apple Air Pods showed up this afternoon in the iRobot storage area.  There was a lot of dust in the cup and faded marks where the Air Pods were.  The Air Pods were no where to be found.  

The question remains how did the dish made its way from my knitting table in the den to the robot storage area?  A mystery still surrounds what happened to the Air Pods.  

I am starting to feel better.  I still don’t know my limits. We made a lovely soup today.  It left me tired even though John did all the chopping.  All I did was add things to the pot and stir.  Next time I will bring in a stool to do more sitting.  

I did finish one end of a pounder scarf, because I a changing colors after the next skein of blue. I am 47.5 inch done out of 74 inches. 

A Comparison of Knitting

 The only way I can tell if I am knitting a project right handed or left handed is the little stitch markers with the L or R.  So I guess it does not matter that I have 2 different knitting styles. What matters is that I can increase the amount of time that I get to knit every day.  

I know that the scarf is in garter stitch and the pounder scarf is in stockinette. However in my humble opinion the quality is the same in both scarfs.  The quality is the only thing that matters.  

The Snail Won the Race Today.

 I am not regaining energy as fast as I thought I would.  After just 1 hour sitting and knitting with friends today I was exhausted.  I spent the entire afternoon binge watching television or sleeping. I normally reserve television watching for the evening.  I am following doctor’s advice not to over tax myself. It is harder than I thought. I thought it would be really, really hard.  

My plans after knitting with friends, I would just sit at the computer to type and edit new patterns. Not to taxing, not an energy drain. I did not work on a single pattern. Oh well, there is always a few weeks from now.  

The Calm After The Storm

 Yesterday after talking to the 3rd doctor in 2 days, I finally have my head wrapped around last weekend.  Partly be cause I finally had a definite answer. Be cause of it I am less anxious and can get on with the very slow recovery process.  We are talking months not days. 

I am designing a new shawl.  I will play catch up on a lot of UFO’s, one project at a time.  I will catch up with getting patterns listed.  I do have one question for you though. If I open an Etsy store for my patterns would you use it if you currently do not use Ravelry?  

I also have another question.  Does anyone else knit both right and left handed. If so do you have a different knitting style for each hand? The knitting nerd in me is curious.  

TTFN.  It’s rest time again.  

A Slow Down

 Right now I am going through a medically mandated slow down.  I am going to rest as much as possible. I am going to be honest, this is not going to be easy for me.  However, the more I rest, hopefully it will allow my body to heal faster.  To that end I started writing a new pattern tonight. It is a light weight summer shawl.  

I have frogged it once.  Made some major changes.  Now I like it much better.  When I have a bit more energy I will work on getting other patterns out the door.  

Slowly Getting Thins Done

 Today I managed to fix a whole lot of broken jewelry. My hands are finally feeling better. I changed out earring wires to something more this century for a few pairs that I bought in the 1970’s and 80’s.  New wires just gave them a slightly more modern look.  I fixed a couple of chains, to fix a couple of necklaces.  I am even good enough now to manage the smallest jump rings.  I also unknotted 2 out of 3 chains.  Unknotting chains is a lot like untangling yarn, who would have guessed that.  

Tomorrow energy permitting I will start on a small pile of stitch markers for me.  I have some earring singles, charms and beads to turn into stitch markers.  Not that I need anymore stitch markers.  If I lose a stitch marker a day it would be at least a year before I would run out of stitch markers.  But I like to try new things and make my knitting pretty.  I think of stitch markers as jewelry for knitting.   

I managed to make 3 out of 4 post hospital doctor’s appointments / calls before breakfast.  The last call was put in after lunch.  I got very tired just sitting at the computer looking things up.  The hospital worker said I should start to have more energy by Wednesday. I also binged watched 3 hours of The Crown on Netflix while adding 2 inches to a pounder scarf.  

Below is a picture of the jewelry repairs that I made today.  

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.  

Out of Balance

 My spoons were out of balance this weekend. I spent too many spoons on Saturday with a day full of activities. I do have to say in my own defense , that I had a great day. I also was keenly aware when my spoons ran out on Saturday. I violated my one activity per day rule.  So today I paid for it.  My plan was to have a quiet cup of tea and then knit afterwards.  Instead I had my cup of tea and took a 3 hour nap.  There is a cost to everything in life. 

We did manage to go out to lunch and thank goodness I took my knitting with me.  We ordered as soon as the waitress came to offer us water and then waited an hour for lunch to arrive.  This is not unusual for this restaurant chain, it has been going on for years.  

It was then off to a local art collectives show.  It is being to seem redundant with the same people and identical work shown 3 times a year. Don’t get me wrong, there was some really nice art work there. However they seem to lack the ability to attract new members and expand the breath of their shows.  With a town like Tucson that takes real work to do. We seem to get a fresh crop of retirees each and every year. There must be an artist or 2 in each crop.  

We even managed to get to dinner early enough to miss the yearly crowd from the gem and mineral show in town for the next 3 weeks. We planned our dinner to start before the shows ended for the day.  

All in all we had a great weekend.  

*Spoons are units of energy. I have only so many spoons a day to use. If I use less that ok. If I use more it can wreck havoc with me for the next day or 2.  

Spoons

 Today’s blog is brought to you by spoons.  Spoons are what I never seem to have enough of.  Spoons are units of energy.  

As I am getting older my body is changing. This includes my feet.  I have changed shoe sizes. So I have found a brand of shoes that fit perfectly right now.  I can wear them all day.  So after buying 2 new pairs of shoes, I knew it was time to clean out my closet of the shoes and high heels which I can no longer wear.  I filled 4 boxes with shoes that no longer fit and are still in great shape.  So I think I moved ahead of the clutter curb.  I have also run out of big boxes.  John will take the boxes to Goodwill tomorrow.  I will see what else I can add tomorrow.  

This evening I also started putting my earrings away.  I plan on taking the earrings that are too uncomfortable to wear and the singles to make more stitch markers.  Not that I need any more stitch markers. I just thought it would be fun to do. That they would be more useful as stitch markers than collecting dust.  

Now I am too tired to do anything.  

Not to change the subject, but I am going to change the subject.  Have you ever noticed that the last 6 inches of a 6 foot long scarf seems to take forever.  Maybe I will finally finish it this weekend.  Which me luck.  

What is leaving forever, tomorrow.  Four boxes lined up to go   

Volvo the next chapter

 John got on the phone yesterday with the dealership.  So long story short we arrived at the dealership at 7:30 am.  It’s very early, am I right?  They did a computer duomp and found an incident in the log but couldn’t find the actual problem.  

So they did a software update and my 4 year service on my car that has less than 11,000 miles on it.  They said that would fix the problem.  John talked to the service manager and found out when the technicians were available.  So the game plan is for me to drive straight to the dealership if the break issue pops up again.  Since it seems to be an intermittent problem I am betting on John being right that it is either a sensor issue or a broken wire.  Only time will tell.  

I have found out that 59 degrees is too cold on a low spoons day to eat outside.  I finished my chicken before my body said no more food for you. 

I drove the car home after lunch.  I spent the rest of the day solving craft supply issues and knitting.  Of course I did cook a new favorite dinner. A mixed vegetable and duck egg omelette.  Of course I managed to mess up the flip and feed the stove top some of our dinner.  

The Logbook - A Work in Progress

 The unfinished projects are much worse than I first thought.  Without going into my unfinished project baskets, yes there are 2. I found 18 projects that need to be completed.  This list so far has taken less than 15 minutes to complete. I did complete number 6, but I still have to write the pattern from Sheri shorthand to a readable pattern by everyone.  Since it has yet to be published, I can’t show the picture yet.  

I will however show you my first 2 pages of my log book which is far from complete.  I also did put the location if it is not in the knitting room.  My goal tomorrow is to try to add the items from the baskets.  Wish me luck. 

I Feel Really Silly

 Today I pick up a knitting project that I have not worked on in 2 weeks. What did I find inside? My “lost” notions bag.  Which leads me to my nearly unattainable goal of having less works in progress, currently standing with least 12 in progress projects. No wonder I miss place things like a notion bag. 

My goal for 2024 is to have less knitting projects going at the same time.  To try to finish smaller projects within the week that they were started.  I will exempt weaving, and spinning projects, because by definition they do take longer.  Wish me luck.  

I will also try to get new knitting patterns out faster.  Meaning from concept to finish pattern in a more reasonable and realistic time frame.  

I find it hard not to start a new project on a whim.  Maybe starting a notebook to keep track of things might not be a bad idea.  Finish multiple projects before I start a new project. It would help me keep track of things.  This is another baby step on the way to being more organized and productive.  Wish me luck.  

Below is the project bag that was hiding my notions bag   

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.

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. 

My Personal Roller Coaster

 Today had a lot of highs and lows.  I will skip over most of the lows like not having enough energy to do stress cleaning.  I wove 20+ random ends in, on a scrappy scarf. That was a chore and a half.  It looks great.  Pictures will come later.  

The highlight of the day was a doctor telling me his services were no longer needed because I lost so much weight and am too healthy to need his services anymore.  Yeah me. 

I am lining up a few projects that will be just for me. I am going to make a few one of a kind items just for me after I finish the holiday gifts for the kids clothing bank.  I have yarns piled up around my knitting table.  

The Poncho That Was Not Meant To Be

 About a decade ago I had decided to start an open work summer poncho.  I bought the required number of Juniper Moon Farms Zooey, a linen and cotton blend yarn.  I even bought a few extras just in case.  I was making it a little larger than the pattern. The calculations for making it a bit bigger worked out perfectly to the point other knitters used them and their ponchos came out perfect.  

I am not the best at knitting open weave knitting under the best of circumstances.  Theses were not the best of times for me.  Eric was in and out of the club which was code word in our house for the hospital.  He was also home sick an awful lot too.  This was not a sick room project like my pattern Count 1-2-3-4 was.  Count 1-2-3-4 was mainly knit in Eric’s sick room, the emergency room and Eric’s hospital room.  It was a simple one row pattern.  This was a pattern knit over many rows with many weird repeats. I was distracted and sometimes forgot to write what row I was on.  It was ripped out more times than I can remember.  

Then there was a nursing student from the University of Arizona School of Nursing that was stressed out over her finial exams.  Commented how pretty the yarn was.  I told her where to buy it. She said it did not fit in her budget as a student. When I left my knitting at the table to hold my seat she helped herself to a couple of skeins of the yarn.  She and the yarn were gone when I returned. That left me scrambling to find a couple skeins in the same dye lot and color.  

I restarted it after Eric died. I ripped out the whole thing.  Then started over. I lost my place yet again.  Then put it into the closet.   Last night I had an epiphany and decided that this needed to be a woven shawl. So today I am empty in the bag. Ripping out the shawl yet again.  Finding the odd balls of linen yarn and putting it in the queue to be woven.  

I have no regrets on giving up on this pattern.  In fact I feel very relieved. The yarn will be put to good use.  I will no longer torture myself with open weave knitting.  If I don’t like how it turns out I can either gift it or sell it.  I am free of the weight of trying to knit that darn poncho.  

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.  

From My Work Table

 Sometimes it is necessary to use more than one yarn butler for a project.  Take the picture below. Notice how the black yarn is wound into a cake and the Anne from Circulo is wrapped in a shape as best described as coming off the commercial winder that they use.  They unwind at different rates. That makes it hard to put both yarns on the same yarn butler.  

My simple solution is to have two yarn butlers in use at the same time.  

The colorful scarf is destined for a boarding school on the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona.  It has one strand of Anne which is a fingering weight yarn. And one strand of worsted weight cotton yarn in black. They are knit together in double stranded knitting.  It is being knit in the round and will be around 6 feet 2 inches long and 6 inches wide.  If you look very closely you will notice that I am using 2 different colors of Anne, but from 5 feet away you will not notice.  

Behind the yarn busters is my OttLite with a random assortment of stitch markers and a random pen for notes.  

Now is the time to add that extra Yarn Butler to your holiday wish list. Some local yarn stores will keep a list so you get exactly what you want for the holidays. 

Working on my PHD

 I am currently working on my PHD in knitting. For those of you who are not knitters, it means projects half done.  I am not going exceptionally fast.  In fact it took me until the end of July to finish my first hat of the year.  I know. Right. I should have been at least my 27th hat of the year.  

I have very little hand time each day which is divided into household tasks and my PHD’s.  That is further divided into knitting, crocheting a blanket for me, weaving, spinning, sewing and any other projects.  It also includes my energy level for the day., which is nonexistent on some days.  So it is slow going.   I also have a lot of PHD’s in the house. 

So without further ado, here is my first PHD of the year.  A hat, the same one as in the 1st paragraph. In cotton for an older kid.