Finding Balance

 Today I think I found balance between cleaning, organizing, shopping and resting   Yes, today did include a 2 1/2 hour nap.  Trips to 3 different stores and I got everything I needed for the up coming task’s for the rest of the week. 

I finished my first Tunisian Crocheted Scarf.  I did not use a pattern for the scarf.  I just did 15 stitches across and the basic Tunisian stitch for the entire scarf. I found a bright cheerful verigated yellow and orange color way to offset the dark brown for the edges. It is the perfect size for a younger child. It was too late to take a picture tonight. So you can see it tomorrow. Yes I had one skein of the yarn left and I started a second scarf tonight. I am teaching some friends next week and we will start with a washcloth.  

Now that I have recovered from the latest surgery and the multiple year sinus infection I seem to have a lot more energy.  I also have the need to create.  I am finishing projects as fast as I can.  I am also into organizing things beyond Recognition.  I even have a Dedicated drawer for small spinning items, crochet, and Tunisian crochet hooks, and Miscellaneous knitting items.  Maybe when I’m done I will take a few pictures. Although that is not guaranteed.

Now that my scarf yarn drawer is almost empty, I will have John pull down a box so I can add more yarn for charity projects.  I like to just pull out a dozen or so projects at a time from my stash.  I will also be knitting about 4 pairs of mittens for me.  I lost most of my mittens to the overwhelming scent of the hand lotion fiasco last winter.  The scent of the lotion would  not wash out of the yarn.  I even tried Dawn which I use on raw fleece. After 3 unsuccessful tries, I just threw them out.  

TTFN. My aspirational list for tomorrow as long..

Allergies Part 3

 I was not able to get the perfume residue out of 2 pairs of my sleeping gloves aka my design,  Maxi Fingerless Gloves.  Also victim to this perfume problem was my sleeping sweater.  I tried everything until it was suggested that I make new sleeping gloves. I have a pair that needs to be seamed up. I have also pulled some worsted weight yarn from Misti Cotton, a beautiful cotton and silk blend. Then a special collaboration between Lola Bean Yarn and Spin Cycle Yarn in a worsted weight wool yarn.  

I have a solution for the sweater too  I have lost enough weight and inches to pull an older but still very nice sweater from my closet. Which means that everything old is new again at some point in time.  The only thing the sweater from my closet does not have is visible mending.  Maybe a few years down the road this will happen to this sweater too..

The decision was made tonight to put the charity knitting aside until I finish the new gloves and a couple of shawls that are works in progress for me.  The shawls will come with new patterns for you.  

It has been raining here for 2 days so far.  We have gotten 1 1/2 inches at the house so far. So instead of errands I spent the time finishing up my closet.  Today I found a bunch of earrings. I sorted them out to keepers and Bookman’s trade.  Since I don’t want to overwhelm them I will take in 6 pairs at a time.  I say this because I went through 50+ years of earrings.  I bet that you are not surprised that most of the earrings that I got in Junior High and High School did not make the keep pile. In fact a lot of really retro earrings are going to be leaving the house slowly for the next couple of months.  

Winding Yarn – Maybe?

I have found more yarn to organize for scarves using the Stash Dive Pattern  by Summer Lee Designs. I have been stash diving for bits, pieces and odd bags of yarn. This resulted in finding a lot of yarn that I did not know I had. Most left over from past projects or projects that were scrapped. I have already kitted up 4 bags for the knitting guilds Navajo Project and 3 for Operation Gratitude.  I have one scarf for each project on the knitting needles.  

Hopefully when all is said and done I will have 1 box of worsted weight yarn and another of sock weight yarn.  That way when I need to make more kits all I have to do is pull out the yarn and choose the colors.  I found this worked with the hats so well that when the basket is empty I will make more kits.  

This brings me to the organization part.  I am caking all the yarn in hanks and hand wound balls that won’t fit on the yarn butlers.  I made lackluster progress today.  I felt a lot like Jimmy Cricket dealing with  Pinocchio. Of the six hanks wound today, 5 required me to take the partially caked yarn and wind it into a ball before making the yarn cake.  I am not sure how the hanks of yarn became tangled while still in the hank in the original wrapping.  If you know the culprit please tell them to stop, it is not necessary. This is all cotton yarn.  For those allergic to wool and man made fibers.  The picture below is for the Navajo Project at the Old Pueblo Knitting Guild, the kids like things colorful for the most part.  

Repurposing Yarn

 Today after physical therapy for my knee, I went to my project bags. I found yarn for 2 projects that had been shelved for various reasons. They are now going into a gift that is being crocheted because let’s face it sometimes crocheting is just faster than knitting with lace weight yarn. It was also my second fiber craft after sewing.  I figure that if I stop after one project I should be ok. I am already on the first color change, second skein of yarn and am in the middle of the 12th row.  I can’t show you a picture yet, because it is a gift. 

I am sure that my family approves of my stash diving for a new project.  I hope to use at least 6 skeins up in this project. There were about 15 in the bag.  The remaining yarn will be used for cotton scarfs. Yes, I currently have 2 of those going along with 2 hats. Go me. Use more yarn. Stash dive.

I also went shopping yesterday and found 3 pairs of pants in a smaller size. Hopefully they will remain a good size for a couple of months.  

The Pattern from Hell

 I started knitting a baby blanket for someone I know.  No, it’s not a family member.  I am using a kit that included the yarn to make a baby blanket and the pattern. The pattern sold well a few years back but I never did see any of the finished blankets.  Now I know why.  I also now know why so many people gave me their new kits   

First off the finished baby blanket size is 27 by 40 inches.  That is much to small for a baby blanket.  It’s more like the size of a shawl.  Second each stripe is supposed to be 10 inches wide and there are 4 of them.  I might not be the best a math, but by the patterns calculation the blanket would be 40 by 40 inches.   A nice size baby blanket.  For 40 grams of yarn I got 2.5 inches, so for a 100 gram ball that would give me 6.25 inches not 10 inches as stated by the pattern, 3.75 inches too short. Assuming it really was 100 grams when I started. By industry standards they are allowed + or - 5% for each skein of yarn for weight and yardage. 

Since that was only the beginning of the problems with this pattern.  I would have to rewrite the whole thing to send to the company for an errata.  One or two things ok, but the whole dammed pattern no way. So I came up with a work around.  

So I went stash diving to see if I had yarn that matched. Even if it was not the same dye lot I could make it work.  That’s for a lesson or another log post.  I had no luck there.  So I went to start looking at kits that were waiting to be knit.  I found the same kit in the same color.  In the very first basket.  Yeah, there are 5 baskets of kits waiting to be knit.  I  found it in the first basket. I now have a very workable solution.  I will have another pattern to write up shortly.  I usually don’t like writing and knitting 2 patterns at a time , but I will use separate notebooks and different yarn bowls, yarn weights and colors.  So that should help.  

Wish me luck.  

Blankets and More

 I have 6 more blankets to knit unless I have too much yarn left over and then it will be anyone guess.  I basically have 2 large tote bags full of yarn for blankets with 4 partially completed blankets inside. Plus 2 more that I had inherited, one with no additional yarn and 1 with about half the yarn I need to finish it up. I am of course stash diving. 

I really want to buy more yarn. I just can’t until I have completed a whole lot of projects.  So every project finished and every skein of yarn used up, I am closer to being able to go out and buy new yarn.  

As for the craft room that was turned into a storage room, John think he can rearrange the room so I don’t have to look at all the storage stuff. This happened after he heard me dragging my rocking chair to another room.  The chair is just to big and bulky for me to lift.  

I also started listening to a new book today. Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance. I have finished 9% of the book and I don’t want to put it down.  Mr.Vance is an excellent story teller.  I can’t wait to listen to more as I knit tomorrow.  

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.