My Creative Energy is Back

 I am starting to feel better after my bout with food poisoning.  I have got my creative energy back. Now I just need my body to catch up with my creativity.  I am on day two of winding yarn for various projects.  I also managed to find room in some bins for yarn.  That might have something to do with pulling out yarn for projects from the bins.

I have also found that if I sit to the left side of my espinner it has some definite advantages.  The first being no sun in my eyes during afternoon spinning sessions.  The second being that I get a smoother thinner yarn. I can also see the yarn at a better angle. Did I mention that is also easier to spin that way?  If it is written in stone that you must sit facing the orifice of the spinning wheel or espinner, I have just broken that silly stone.  However if you must really have it written in stone the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show is going on until February 14th. 

Spinning.

 I think that I have finally gotten rid of the sinus infection that lasted over a year and caused so much grief in our lives.  It feels wonderful not to be in pain all the time.  I am slowly getting my energy back.

  Today I worked on a spinning project for me.  It will be a shawl. I think I finally got the knack of plying on my e-spinner. I just thought what do I do on my wheels.  It worked.  The 3 skeins on top are from today.  The red is the next spin.  Each bag is its own spin.  I only open one bag at a time.  I am plying it with a llama and silk blend yarn.  This is truly going to be a bespoke project.  

Big Steps

 With Christmas in July coming to the Old Pueblo Knitting Guild on July 19th at 9:30 am,  I have been spinning up a storm and deciding which of my current hand spun yarns are going to leave the nest.  With my hand issues still not going away. Add to that my limited time to use my hands daily some big decisions had to be made. I only kept what is currently talking to me.  To that end, I now have over 1 cubic feet of hand spun yarn tagged and ready for the 19th.  I still have a bit more to tag tomorrow.  

When that is done I will come up with a few more simple things that I hope my friends will love.  I also have a bunch of dog pillows to make.  Then those will leave the house too.  I think I might be able to fill my car with dog pillows once I am done.  

I am really hoping we don’t have another summer like 1994 with over 100 days over 100f. On the other hand being just a couple of years older the heat seems to be effecting me a bit more.  I am less heat tolerant.  I am trying hard not to mope and being more proactive on getting things done.  

One last thing.  This is the first batch of Tour De Fleece 2023 newly minted or should I say hand spun yarn.  I had fun spinning it.  

Knitting Magazines

 I wish that I had discovered sooner in my knitting career that I don’t like to knit fussy knitting projects.  I am almost at the end of going through 8 feet of knitting magazines. I am honestly keeping less than half.  I am afraid that I many have more than one copy of some magazines, because friends gave them to me saying that I would look cute in a certain creation.  With the very odd hours and long days spent taking care of my wonderful children, husband, elderly family members, volunteering in the community and running a house I did not have the leftover brain power for anything fancy.  Sleeping was a luxury back then.  

Now that I have the time.  My hands are tired and wonky.  I don’t knit socks anymore.  I really don’t use small knitting needles much anymore except to get knots out of yarn.  I am also changing sizes so often that once I finish one part of a big project it will be to big for me.  I have a couple of sweaters on the back burner when my body gets to the size it wants to be.  

So for now it is shawls for me in smaller sizes. Spinning yarn on drop spindles.  Scarfs and hats for charity projects for kids once I can manage smaller knitting needles.  We find out about the next hand surgery this week.  Then it is physical therapy at home and gradually starting knitting again with lots of breaks.  

By the way, if you are looking for an older knitting, crochet or spinning magazine just ask. I might have it.  They are going for 50% off the list price except for the ones that sold for less than $5.00 from so last century which go for the original sale price. Yes I even have some of those.

Surprisingly, once the space is cleared and a bit of reorganization later the space is filled.  Things are looking neater every day.  

Life Happens

 Well this week has been interesting to say the least. Friday I dropped my favorite tea cup when my silly arthritic hands lost my grip on the cup. Apparently it dropped at the perfect angle to fracture into many pieces. The fantastic news is that is was empty at the time.  I will also never have to wash it again. The question remaining, is will I be able to “Keep Calm and Carry Yarn”? The cup has permanently retired from carrying tea. I think it will be hard for me to stop carrying yarn.

Speaking of tea, yes I was speaking about tea. I have discovered that at my current age I will no longer be able to drink caffeinated iced tea with dinner. It called for Tums tonight. Maybe I should just carry some herbal tea with me and ask for hot water and a cup. Otherwise it will be iced water with lemon. 

I also figured out while I was having trouble with my spinning wheels. The very good news is that is was not me. It was a positioning problem. With my Cubii2, I needed a 2 inch cushion on my spinning chair to be in the best position. The only problem is that my spinning chair is the perfect height to spin with , without the cushion.  Yes, that’s why they call it a spinning chair. So today I removed the cushion. I filled 1 bobbin with merino wool. I then plyed that bobbin with raw silk for a beautiful skein of yarn. 

This is my first skein of yarn for Spin Together 2022. Since I used a commercial raw silk yarn for the plying I could only count the 366 yards of the merino.  You will notice that it is a thick and thin art yarn. I have 2 more bobbins to ply that won’t count for Spin Together 2022. The yarn will be a Shawl with the pattern  Count 1,2,3,4. Yes it is one of my designs. You can get the pattern from Raverly, LoveCrafts.com or your local yarn store. Have a good rest of the weekend. 

110 Degrees Today

 Today it reached 110f at our house with 1% humidity.  It was way to hot to knit on the front porch or knit outside for that matter.  So instead I went to day 2 of the multi purpose room.  I am getting rid of stuff right and left.  I did not realize that I had 3 similar boxes for hand sewing, 1 for quilting, 1 for stuffed toys and one for repairs.  That was too organized for my own good.  I suspect the hand quilting box was started in 1985.  The stuffed animal box around the time Teri was little and 1983 for the repair box, because it was a prize for something.  

Well needless to say I am going through everything.  This all started because some of my 20+ year old plastic boxes began to break.  I thought that they were good for at least my life time because plastic takes 1,000 years to break down. So I am reorganizing everything.  Some going to Goodwill, a lot to trash and recycling and some to Bookman’s.  With what’s left behind being set up to be useful for me.  I did also find a lot of 12 inch rulers, at least a dozen, I am not sure what’s up with that.  Although I believe a crafter can not have too many rulers.  I will show pictures when I am done.  

I also plyed 2 skeins of super wash wool for summer hat knitting.  . I am trying to keep busy and get organized.  Wish me luck. 

Something Diffrent

This week when Eric got sick, I tried something different. I tried it without as much caffeine as normal. This was something I have never ever tried before. I'm not sure if it worked or not. Today I landed up taking a couple of naps instead of grabbing a couple of sodas or highly caffeinated tea. I guess that this was better for my body but, the house did not get as clean as I had wanted. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

I did the very basics of housework. Then spent some time relaxing by weaving part of a scarf, spinning some new yarn, and working on a new baby blanket. I am much more relaxed but much more tired.

It will take a few more days for me to figure out if this experiment really worked or not. Yes, Eric is feeling better and with any luck he will be out the door Monday morning to his program. I am looking forward to a real day off.