Making Progress

 Today I finished plying 3 mini skeins of hand spun yarn.  I used the drop spindle instead of the spinning wheel because it gives me a better yarn. By this I mean a more balanced twist.  It is so much easier to control the twist.  

I also made a concerted effort to catch up on my back log of making dog pillows.  I made 6 cases. I stuffed 5 and pinned them.  I left 1 by my squirrel cage for all the little bits and pieces I get when caking yarn.  I also cut the fabric for 2 more pillows.  

After all that hand work my hands were just too tired to knit tonight.  Sometimes I feel like a beginner in knitting were projects took months instead of days.  I have about 2 more ounces to knit.  I hope to be finished by Mother’s Day.  I am really ready for my hands to be better.  

Serial Knitting

 Today I seemed to jump from one knitting project to the next.  I did a few stitches on a hat.  Had lunch then finished the hat pictured below.  I cast on and started a new hat, I did not want the knitting needles or stitche markers to be lonely.  I knit about one half inch of the brim.  Then I worked on the baby blanket for about an inch.  Then after dinner it was a new pair of gloves for my self.  Lots of frogging, I got caught up in the television series we were watching.  Not a good thing for a pattern that the rows need to be counted. Then I went to finish off my night of knitting with a charity scarf.  All totaled I worked on 5 different knitting projects and only finished one.  Lots of progress though.  

The hat pictured below is the first charity hat for 2022. It may not seem like it from the first paragraph, I am really doing less knitting so far this year. I am enjoying it more.  It is no long a job to finish 100 or more projects a year.   I have only completed 7 projects so far this year verses 14 at the same time last year.  

I know I have a lot of projects on knitting needles. Sometimes I need an easy no thinking involved knitting project.  Other times I have a gift that I am working on. Other times I need to knit while John is driving   Other times I just want to stretch my skills.  Other times I just want to finish UFO’s.   

I am thinking about selling a few kits on eBay for things that I thought that I wanted to knit but changed my mind on.  I will start going through them soon.  I am also continuing to look through knitting books to destash too. I think Destashing is how I am going to clear my backlog of projects. I will sell them as kits for about 1/2 the price  plus postage that I paid just to get them out of the house. I might also consider an Etsy store. I will keep you updated   

So Much Yarn, So Little Time

 I spent most of the day knitting while trying to get my body back in sync.  I am currently working on 2 different blankets, a scarf and a hat.  I have promised myself that I will finish one blanket before I start the next blanket. No matter how good the pattern looks in my head.  

Also I think I seriously misjudged how much yarn I really needed to get me through a pandemic.  I think that is understandable because prior to COVID19, I have not been in a pandemic.  For future reference that would be enough yarn for 25 to 30  small to medium sized projects every quarter.  Also I have found out that lots of people and stores are still selling yarn.  My hands are not as young as they once were.  I am slowing down.  

Random Acts of Knitting

I have a shelf of knitting projects that I can not reach so I have not worked on any of the kits or projects.  There are over 30 project bags up there.  So randomly I will knock one down with a hanger or grabber.  The ones at the back will require a taller person so John or Teri will have to get them down for me.  They will not let me use a ladder either.

I have knocked down the first one today and will show  the final knitted object when done. At the rate I knit I am hoping to get them all done by years end.

Sorry for the bad photo, the light for the room is under the shelf.

Projects 134 to 145

The next 11 projects are 11 skeins of hand spun art yarn for my older sister. Hopefully these will leave the house tomorrow.  Unfortunately I did not count the yardage.  Each round on my Knitty noddy is 2 yards long. Since she is an engineer I think that she can handle the math.

Bits and pieces

Today was all about making a lot of progress on many different projects and completing none. With any luck Eric will sleep tonight and I will have energy tomorrow.

More Hats

I have filled a project bag the size of a large size grocery bag to the top with yarn. I have pulled out U.S. size 13 knitting needles.  I really want to see how fast that I can knit my way through this bag of yarn.  I think that I am off to a good start today with 2 hats from the large craft bag and 1 hat from the small craft bag finished today.  In the small carry along bag I am using U.S. sizes 6,7 and 8.

I want to see how many projects I can finish this summer to burn through my yarn stash.  My definition of a project is one item finished no matter what the size.  Although the larger the projects the more yarn is used.  Wish me luck in this adventure.

While John was taking his after dinner walk I spent that time Zenning the craft room. If I have the energy after dinner I think that I can make decent progress in tiny bits of time.

More Deep Cleaning

Believe it or not I spent 5 hours cleaning this morning. I have to say that this was fueled by 3 cups of tea and trying to get one last good load off to Goodwill this year. I also have to give credit to my new arthritis medicine. Not to say that I was not sore by lunch time, but I had to work very hard to get sore.

Eric's aide Nikki wanted to learn how to make my style of bed quilt for her boys, so we collaborated on a second big quilt for Eric today.  We are telling Eric that this is his holiday gift from Nikki. I must say that I am really liking the cotton batting. It is easy on my hands and sews up like a dream.

I also think that I have way too many projects in progress. Although now that I am feeling better they are getting finished at a faster pace. I also found my watch at the bottom of you guessed it a knitting bag. It is time to see if I can finish one more project tonight and give John the computer chair so he can change colors on the printer.

More Deep Cleaning

OK, so today I actually hired someone help me with the deep cleaning and organizing. At times it really helps to have another craft person to help organize a craft room instead of an engineer. While we were deep cleaning we also managed to get a few quick projects finished and out the door including a 4 foot by 3 foot dog pillow. It is bigger than Eric and very hard to finish. It took 2 of us to get the last seam sewn. I did the sewing and Amber held up the pillow. I also found 2 sets of old soft cloth diapers that needed to be surged in half so that the cleaning rags don't land back in Eric's room as face wipes.

Amber and I also divided the yarn into kits and projects in progress and just yarn. I have officially turned 1 closet into a Fibber McGee closet with fluff.  Sadly all the fluff did not fit in the closet, so I will have to look for more homes. We also separated the weaving supplies out so I know what I have to weave.

Amber and I decided that I was going to be the go to person during the Zombie Apocalypse. I will have all the fiber you could want for a price. We figured that I would have about a year's worth of knitting in my kits and at least 2 years worth of spinning. We did not even take a guess at the weaving supplies.  I also am passing on a sock pattern and using the yarn for something else. A few more balls of yarn were added to the destash bag too.

Still to go through tonight are a pile of patterns. Some from 12 years ago when I started knitting. I also found more knitting books not already on the shelf, so I think a book purge might be in order, but not today. My mind says keep cleaning, but my body says nap. So I will rest until its time to cook dinner. When John called after work, being the great husband that he is,"said that I sounded tired and is bring home dinner." 

Expect the Unexpected

I am so lucky that John is bring home dinner. I has been a whirlwind around here for the past 2 days. A lot of unexpected has popped up. Not the least of which with in moments of me walking in the door last night Eric wild eyrped all over the place. I am talking about needing to change the bed and the boy. I finally finished that laundry at 5 pm today. I hope most of his sleepy time friends are dry, I have not check the clothes line yet. They wash well in the laundry but can not be put in the dryer. I am hoping the 105 degree day in Tucson helped.

I had hoped to finishing warping the loom today, then trying to finish the last charity project rug.  I am just too tired and achy to do that by myself. I just wish that I could figure out what is causing the current streak of not feeling well days with Eric. I have so many projects lined up that I want to/ have to get done. I also have to get ready for a visit from a very special person in our lives in about a week.

There is just so much to do and every time Eric gets sick, I fall further behind. Although I did manage to sneaked out of Eric's room when he started feeling better and got some cleaning done 5 minutes at a time. I just need more than 5 minutes at a time to get the crafting projects done.

Well I have about 20 minutes to get a little more done around the house. So off I go.

Busy as a Bee

I think that I have too much on my plate right now. I feel that I am burning the candle in too many places at once.  I think that this had made it difficult for me to get a really good nights sleep.  Which in turn has made progress fall behind schedule. 

We are also looking at redoing the kitchen. Just the wood choices are enough to drive me crazy.  At one place alder wood is the lowest cost wood and at another it is the highest priced wood.  Most offer fiber board cabinets with wood exteriors. Some offer solid wood cabinets and doors.  The pricing makes no sense to me.  At least I have the oven and dishwasher picked out. Picking out wood is like picking a new fridge, there were less choices 21 years ago when I picked out the last fridge.  

Well I will try to sleep tonight.  

Changing Things Back

I am not sure that making a list with all the projects that I need to get done was the right thing for me to do.  It seemed to put everything at a standstill. So I think that I will just go back to putting them in a bigger project bag. Then just grabbing a project to finish and the go on to the next project.  

Now to get back to some knitting.  

Organizing Creativity

This year since I have so many projects that I would like to do and need to do I have decided that it's time to start a list. I started the list 10 minutes ago and I had already up to 19 projects. Most of those project are in progress. I am hoping that this will save me time in the long run. This way I can look at what is on my list and what is practical to do at that particular moment.

I know that this will take the spontaneous out of the planning process. The more I learn about fiber art the more I want to do. I still have the same amount of time to work and create, I just have so many more things that I want to do.  I'm hoping that crafting can be like house work, that things go faster with a check list. By faster I mean more efficiently.I still get pleasure out of the work that I am doing. I still find it quite relaxing and that's the most important thing for me right now. Only time will tell if this theory is right.

Another thing I have started doing this week, is when I drop Eric off at his day program I spend a little time at the gym on the recumbent bike. This gives me time to read the paper on my iPad and get some exercise in at the same time. I am hoping that by exercising an extra 30 minutes three or four times a week it will help me feel better in the long run. I had a fantastic day today with over 6 miles walked in over 14,000 steps taken. I still need to get in better shape because I am exhausted.  I think I'm going to call it an early night.

The Key to 2015

The key to a successful year in 2015 is not to buy more storage boxes, but to finish more projects.  

My first question is what is a reasonable amount of projects per week to finish? Earrings and stitch markers go very fast at 10 to 15 per day. While a baby blanket might take me 2 to 3 weeks.   A dozen hats can be made in a week.  A hand woven scarf can take a few day to a week or so depending on the width of the wrap and the yarn on the  of the weft.  Sock yarn goes slower than bulky hand spun.  

Maybe not to disappoint myself with a poor performance review I should just make a projects finished counter and see where I am in December.  There is not going to be an empty container count because they will be reporpused. 

So I guess it is time to go back to work on the first baby blanket of the year.   

I Step Back

I landed up having to rewash all of the white roving. I did not get enough lanlion off the fiber.  It looks much better now.  The wool will spend tomorrow drying.  Then I will go to the next fleece on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.  Hopefully that will be the last fleece that I find in the storage room.  

Next on the line up are a few dog pillows for my spinning groups dogs. There are a few new puppy's.  I also want to start my next design this week.  There is just so much to do. I will get more accomplished if Eric does a good job of sleeping. 

It's Only Tuesday

I know that I should not take it personally, but we lost 2 aides for Eric this week. This leaves me feeling what did I do wrong? How can I make the work environment better? Why over the last 20 years have all the aides I have recruited for Eric gone on to other consumers with in months or days of hire? You would think that after a month or 2 or longer of recruiting someone to take care of Eric they would not jump ship so fast. This has left me a little bummed out. Oh well off to recruit more people. UCP of Southern Arizona is always looking for good people. Here is a link to their employment page.

I spent the rest of the day going from one crisis to another. With the exception of the aides, I can go to bed knowing that I have cleaned up all the messes of the day.  I also got a few more projects done and out of the craft room. I think I will cut this blog short tonight as the house is turning off all the lights and 6 am does come awfully early when I stay up this late.

I know that tomorrow will be a better day.

Another Big Change

Today I spent the day making bibs. Most were baby or toddler size.  I have started clearing out others peoples dreams of what I should be doing with my life. Even others peoples dreams of the next big money maker. If it really was a big money maker why were they not doing it for themselves? Why did I need to do it? I will be finishing half done projects and clearing them out of the house. I will try to spend 1 day a week doing this.  In this new phase of my life I will only take on  new projects that I want to do. I want to spend time exploring my creative side. I can not accomplish this by doing unpaid work that other people think I should be doing. I will pick my own charity projects.

The upside of all of this is that I will have more space for the things I want. By sewing the bibs today I have cleared 1/2 of a shelf in the craft room.  Less is really more.  I will also have a lot of different things that can be used by the Taglit Day Program for fund raising at the Tucson JCC to benefit Eric and his friends.

So to sum up this change a succinctly as I can here goes. If your name is not Teri, John, Eric, Lisa or Matthew. If you are not the Taglit Day Program at the Tucson JCC. If you are not a charity near and dear to my heart. The answer to most unpaid inquires will be no. I will not buy the supplies. I will not drop everything to get your project done and fall behind on things that really need to get done. After so many decades on this earth I will not be every one's go to  person who always says yes.




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This Weeks Word is Busy

It has been a very busy week around here.  There was a lot of cleaning in the craft room. About a dozen projects got tinked to remake into other things, most were my failures that I just put aside. Out of the "ashes" will come a lot of new energy and a slew of premie blankets.  I am also 1/3 of the way through a poncho. I finished 4 very small projects on Friday. Tomorrow I hope to take some photos of my finished work, then add to my one million rows challenge counter.  

I have also found a younger artist to take some of the items that I have no more use for and am hoping to see some great art from this young woman. This in it self is very freeing to me. It also keeps things out of the landfill.  I also don't feel as if I am throwing things with perfectly good uses away.  I also gave a full carrier bag of yarn to 2 knitters that I know.  This all came from going through each bag of yarn in the craft room. 

I was sick earlier in the week. I am feeling better now.  I think I caught the ear infection before I needed antibiotics.  I was also up with Eric most of last night.  He has caught an awful cold.  I spent a lot of time suctioning him along with just the usual mommy cuddles.  We are all hoping for a quite night tonight.  

I was also very effecent last night.  I had all 4 loads of laundry finished by 7 am his morning.  It seems that Eric is asleep so I will call it a night. V 

Bone Tired

I now know what bone tired actually feels like. After a busy week of cleaning and a full day of play yesterday I was very tired today. I had decided to attack the last bastion of clutter in the house any way. The craft room. My plan was to work for 10 minutes and quit for the day. 2 hours later I called it quits.

This was after I filled 2 1/2 boxes of tabs for the Ronald McDonald House Charity project that Eric is working on. They will be delivered in October and I felt that they did not have to hang out in the craft room when there were shelf's free in the garage. I also pulled out 2 blanket designs that were going no where very slowly. So John and I tinked them. Both bags of yarn will be used for preemie blankets for a local hospital. I have the 1st preemie blanket that I started today about 25% finished. They do go really fast. Every bag and box is being gone through. Projects that I want to finish will go into 1 pile. Finishing work will go into another pile. I will also continue to tink projects that I really don't went to knit any more. I will also fill a bag with yarn, patterns and books that I don't want anymore and share it with my fellow knitters. I think a month of at least 10 minutes a day should get this done by the end of September.

This brings me back to what bone tired feels like. After lunch I went to sit with Eric and do a little knitting. Very gradually my legs just started to hurt, which gradually built up to the bones in my lower legs hurting. I told Eric that mommy was to tired to sit and watch T.V. with him and went to lay down. I think I would have slept until morning if I had not been called to help in the house. 3 hours of sleep seemed to make my legs feel a lot better.

Then what am I doing up after 10pm, when my body is so tired. Well even though I did 5 loads of laundry this morning and being caught up on laundry. We had a formula spill tonight. Which means that Eric's bed needed to be changed for the 2nd time tonight. So I have 2 more loads to at least start before bed time. I am sure you are not aware that formula smells really rank if left to sit over night on the sheets. Plus it is also harder to get out and stains. Once the second load is in the machine I can call it a night. The second load is now in the washer so it is time to call it a night.