2 Down 0 To Go

 I had my second cataract surgery earlier this week. Everything went well. I am healing well too. There are some things that I have noticed. First being that sometimes I can even read with out the readers the eye doctor recommended.  Things are definitely brighter and I can’t go outside without sunglasses. So I keep a pair in my purse and a pair by the back door.  I have also noticed that the colors are more brilliant. Today’s trip through Costco was amazing. I made John go up and down every food aisle even if we did not need anything on the aisle just to look at all the colors. The packaging was an amazing Kaleidoscope of colors. I am not sure if it was dorky or my inner artist coming out from a years long nap. 

The strangest side effect of the surgery involves the scale. As of this morning I have lost a total of 8 pounds. Strange right?  I am not craving sweets or other carbohydrates. I am not eating to keep myself awake. If I am tired I take a nap. I am actually happier than I have been in a long time. It’s almost like I got rid of the cataracts and my body is coming back into balance. I can’t wait to see where I go with this.  

I woke up from a nap and reached for my glasses and they were not there  it took me a few minutes to realize that I did not need them anymore. Well except for my readers.  I now have four pair and I know that a day will come when I can’t faint a single pair. So I have them strategically placed around the house.

I have not wanted to do any fussy knitting like hats, gloves or shawls.  Instead I am working on 2 different Operation Gratitude scarfs. One for the car because I am still not driving.  I can also knit these with my eyes closed if the sun is at a bad angle. I need to give my eyes time to heal and balance out.  The good news is that I figured out what I thought needed a small revision in a pattern and will fix it as soon as I feel like taking pictures and editing a pattern. 

It’s getting late so it’s time to call it a day.  

A Surge of Activity

 Some how getting rid of the 6 cubic feet of yarn created more open space in my knitting room.  Which has lead to me being able to think more clearly. Find the projects that were missing in clutter. Found among the now less cluttered room was a knitting pattern and yarn bought almost a decade ago. It is a modular shawl  and I am using Koigu wool. Specifically the KPPPM wool which when I purchased it sold for $14.00 a skein.  I have no idea what it costs now.  

As you can see I do have a red themed stitch marker on one end which tells me in Sheri speak that this is a working row with stitch changes.  The other end is not red, so that is a resting row.  I also put a right side marker on the right side.  I will be doing a lot of casting on for this pattern and I want the seems all on the same side.  

There is not much shape to the first shell yet.  That will come towards the end of the shell.  

Would you believe I found another shawl from that same time period. I put it away because it vexed me.  I asked for help and even offered to pay for a lesson for the help. I was told then I should know how to do something that basic.  Well I did not and it sat on the shelf for years.  Fast forward to today and I know the person did not know how to do the stitch either and was to lazy to ask for help.  I know that now as a teacher of knitting.  I wonder if this was a contributing factor of the store closing down.  Since I can only knit 2 different shawls at a time and keep the patterns straight, this is number 3 and will have to wait. So you will have to wait for pictures too.  

I will have 3 new shawls finished soon.  

The photo was deleted at the request of the pattern writer. No further photos of this project or mentions of the shawl will ever be posted again. Sheri

Setting Them Free

 I put another knitting book in the Tiny Free Library around the corner from my house. Of course I walked.  When I got home I started choosing more knitting books to put into the library one at a time as they find their new homes.  I must have about 50 percent of the knitting books published over the last 20 years.  I need to share the wealth.  Of course I will put other books in there too. 

I found the missing knitting pattern too.  It is the one for the gloves that I just made.  One half was under the couch.  The other half was behind the couch.   I wonder if it was trying to run away?   John is going to scan the pattern for me so next time I lose it, it will be in the computer.   Yeah technology.  

It was also an awful hand day.  The weather is changing.  I am also declaring this spring because I have my first sinus infection of the year and they only happen in spring. I think Tucson mainly Succeeded in skipping winter this year.  We are going to be 24 degrees colder tomorrow. Yuck.  Wish me luck for tomorrow.  

Happy New Years

 First off I like seeing 2021 in the rear view mirror.  Year 2 of the pandemic was not easy for me.  I am tired of the isolation.  

Next I would like to wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2022.  I pray that we can put COVID19 behind us this year.  Maybe this year we can venture out into the world. I really don’t care if I have to wear a mask.  

We had a lovely New Year’s Eve dinner of homemade soup and store bought rolls.  The company was very nice.   If you would like the soup recipe, I posted the recipe in my December 29, 2021 blog post.  

Because it rained last night we were able to dig out some roots of the cottonwood infestation in the front yard.  I even managed to get some in the trash can before the trash pick up.  The trick is following the roots.  The roots go from plant to plant.  They can be really thick roots.  I went for the smaller plants and John went for the bigger ones.  We stopped when it started raining again.  Maybe we will be able to get a couple more out tomorrow.  

I am also working on a new knitting pattern. I managed to to write and knit 14 more rows. I am also past the halfway point in the design.  Yes there is a lot of math involved.  I am not sure if I won’t do a major revision before I publish it.  I will have to see once it is blocked. I am sure you will be happy that I am doing all the math and all you will have to do is knit.  

The New Pattern

The new cowl pattern is almost finished. The pattern will be posted soon. I plead Teri time as my excuse.

We spent the afternoon at Savers shopping. Well really Teri shopping and me knitting, working hard on the cowl pattern. I accomplished 2 more pattern repeats and Teri found 2 pair of Jeans and a t-shirt.

I am really enjoying my time with Teri and everything but laundry is going by the way side.

I got to go now. So enjoy your families and have a great and productive new year.

A Breif Catch Up

I did not think that John paid much attention to my knitting or yarn in general, but I was wrong. Over the weekend when I started winding some yarn for hats his comment was that he hoped that the yarn was for charity hats and not for my Art Fire Studio. Yes the next batch will be charity hats. I still have a lot of hats in my studio.

I also found 4 sets of knitting needles on Friday as I was digging out a knitting bag for a new knitter. I wonder how many sets of knitting needles I would have if I had finished all my work in progress projects. When I went into the tub to pull out the empty bag I also pulled out 4 projects that were still on the needles that I had not worked on since before the remodel. Everything was gathered and put in 96 quart containers to get them out of the way and out of the construction dust.

I have also started writing out the baby blanket with mixed blocks that is knit in one piece. This also includes the boarder being knit as you go so the little ones can't rip apart the squares. The pattern will be in my studio after I finish writing it up.  The blanket has been spoken for already but the pattern should be here soon. So you have something to look forward to.

Well I have to get back to my to do list. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

A Pretty Typical Day

Well after being up with Eric half the night I still managed to have a productive day. Of course nothing but laundry happened till after a nap. It is so wonderful that Eric naps during the day when he is up for half the night. I even got the first load in the dryer before 7 am, and no you can not ask when that load of laundry was started.

After starting and frogging my first pair of fingerless gloves, I found another pattern on Raverly and am halfway through the first glove. Being me I changed the pattern to make it a little fancier.

On a whim I tried the new Mega Shower Foamer Scrubbing Bubbles on Eric's bathroom floor. I have to say that I was impressed, it took off deep down dirt in the grout that a professional cleaner said was never going to come out. He said that we would have to paint the grout with acrylic paint to make the grout look better. I sprayed it on and let it sit for a few minutes and rinsed the dirt down the drain. I only did a small sample area in the middle of the floor, I know you are suppose to do it in a corner to try things out, but I am still foggy brained tired. It worked so well I had to do a larger area so it would not look weird and ran out of steam before I finished the floor. I tried to take a picture but it does not show the dramatic difference it made. I will have to added it to my shopping list and finish the floor. Why do I get these wonderful ideas when I am so tired? I would like to thank the wonderful chemists that made such a great product, S.C. Johnson & Sons should really give them a raise.

I also won a prize package from Nature Valley last week and tried the Granola Nut Clusters in roasted Cashew today, they tasted like a nut bar that I frequently bought in the 70's. It had a very good tasted and texture and the nostalgia value is wonderful. Good job General Mills.

Even though Eric was up half the night and I am beginning to wear down I still have to get the prizes packaged so that they can be mailed, plus I set a goal of a clean counter and table, things seem to pile up so quickly even with a recycle basket and a shredder right by where I open the mail.

Full disclosure statement. I used a manufactures coupon to buy the Scrubbing Bubbles Mega Shower Foamer. The Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters came in a prize package that I won through a contest. I have not received any money in exchange for my views in this blog. All views in this blog are my own.

Have a wonderful night and enjoy your families.

The Friday Pattern -Wash Cloths and Beyond

This was the most wanted pattern by new knitters on Friday.

The pattern is for a wash cloth for new knitters this is a perfect pattern to leap off from. Use the needle size recommended by your yarn of choice. I like Lilly "Sugar and Cream" or Lion Brand cotton for dish cloths, but feel free to use any cotton you like.

Cast on 2

Row 1 knit one (K1), yarn over (YO), knit one (k1)

Row 2 knit one (K1), yarn over (YO), knit (K) till the end of the row.

Repeat row 2 till your wash cloth measures 10 inches up the diagonal side.

Row 3 knit 1 (k1), knit 2 together (k2tog), knit (K) till the end of the row.

When you have 2 stitches left on the needle bind off (BO).

Weave in the ends.


The abbreviations in the brackets are like the ones you would see in a typical knitting pattern. The pattern would look like this in in a typical book.

CO2

Row 1 K1, yo, K1

Row 2 K1, yo, K till the end of the row

Repeat row 2 till the diagonal measure is 10"

Row 3 K1, k2tog, k till the end of the row.

repeat row 3 till you have 2 stitches left on the needle.

BO and weave in ends

The thing I like about this basic pattern is that it can be grown into different projects by just adding a little more knitting. I like to use cable needles when knitting blankets, the weight is distributed more evenly and does not get as heavy as if knit on straight needles.

For a preemie blanket knit till the diagonal is 20-26 inches long. I would use a soft washable yarn with NO metal threads in it. The nurses in the NICU's generally do not like wool because it tends to felt when washed and is not quite suitable for their smaller charges.

For a full term baby blanket knit till the diagonal is 36". Use any yarn you like. If it is meant to be a show only blanket the yarn does not matter, if however, you want a usable blanket make sure that the yarn is machine wash and dry able.

To make different size blankets make 9 (3 blocks by 3 blocks)to 30 (5 blocks across by 6 blocks long) wash cloth size squares and sew them together. This is a good way to use left over yarn. Once the squares are sewn together a a small crochet trim to bring the project together.

If you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment with your e-mail and I will answer to the best of my ability. Have fun knitting and see where the yarn will take you.

Have a wonderful day.