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.
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.
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.
There are a lot of great things about living inTucson besides the nice spring and summer weather. One of them is Bookman’s. Bookman’s is an old favorite. It was the place to exchange things like books, music and a whole assortment of fun things. It was fully linked to the sustainability issue long before it became an issue. It was a place I took the kids to exchange their books for new to them books. If they got an album that they did not like they could exchange it for something else. I even pick up the odd arts and crafts supplies.
For the last several years I have been using Bookman’s as a part of my house decluttering efforts. I bring Bookman’s things like books, old jewelry, and other things. In return I take store credit. I pick up the occasional book, but mainly I get cool socks for the children’s clothing bank that I knit for. The picture below is from the store credit I got from today’s trade.
I occasionally get supplies for stitch markers and earrings. Sometimes jewelry findings. Yesterday I got 5 charms to make one of a kind stitch markers for myself. I pretty sure these won’t be at Joann’s or Michael’s anytime soon. I have even been know to buy some earrings.
Now it’s time to go do some knitting.
This morning I went to World Market and bought a medium sized glass jar for my stitch markers. I starting the gathering of stitch markers after I came home. Please be aware that I do have more stitch markers hiding in various knitting bags around the house. I have stitch markers that range from lace knitting sizes all the way up to size 35 knitting needles. I do not have any for the size 50 knitting needles, I don’t think that they make them, since very few people knit on size 50 or larger knitting needles. At this point I would say I have well over 300 just in the jar.
Some of the stitch markers are hand made by me, they are mostly the beaded ones and the ones with charms. Some are from events that I have gone to. Some come with yarn and fiber orders. I do realize that I could lose a stitch marker a day for a year and still not run out of stitch markers. Please send more. Perhaps we could swap some.
I have stitch markers from New Zeland, Australia, The United Kingdom and of course the United States. I even have some that my husband printed on his 3D printer.
I did make a choice to remove about a dozen stitch markers in a style that I do not like and will pass them along to other knitters. I also found one that is in need of repair. One that is broken beyond repair that will go into the trash.
As I consolidate my knitting and notions bags I am sure that a lot more stitch markers will make their way into my jar. I always switch out the stitch markers so that they all get used. Here is the best picture that I could take today. Unfortunately I have so many that they could not be photographed individually.
I know I have a really bad stitch marker addiction. I have stitch markers all over the house and in multiple knitting bags. So tomorrow I will buy a small cookie jar to stash them in. I will not include the ones I make for gifts and the ones people want duplicates of some that I can not part with. Yes, I make more stitch markers when the mood hits.
Day 2 post surgery I was still tired and spent most of the day sleeping. I added a little bit of cleaning while I was sitting down. A little bit of knitting, yes I fell asleep in my chair while knitting. I did not do any damage to the glove I was working on. I still have big rings under my eyes too. Just think next week I get to do this all over again.
There is a downside to finishing a lot of UFO’s very quickly.
The first problem is just how many knitting needles do I really have? Yes I need all of them. I know I have several in every size. There are times when they are all in use in one size an I contemplated getting another pair. Yes, the beginning of the UFO problem.
The second problem is knitting bags. When I am finally finish a project, I then have an empty bag that either needs a new project or a new home. The last 5 out of 6, went to new homes. Bag six had yarn sneak into it saying knit me. Sometimes yarn is worse than chocolate when it speaks to me.
The third problem is knitting accessories. Take the Fisherman’s Wife’s scarf that I finished earlier in the week. I freed up some cable needles, scissors and stitch markers. Yes, I know I have some others in the house, but they are all in project bags of UFO’s. So now I need a system to keep track of them and other accessories so that I don’t go buy what I already have. The craft store holders just don’t cut it. Maybe a sportsman’s box or a small toolbox would work.
The fourth of my problems, but not the least of my problems is stitch markers. Yes, I do know that are classified as accessories, but are they really accessories? In my humble opinion definitely not. They are stitch markers. They are knitting jewelry. An art form of their very own. I must have enough to lose a stitch marker a day and still have too many at the end of the year. I even give stitch markers away randomly and to large groups of friends. This is what my stitch marker cups look like when I finish too many projects at once. I normally like to keep about 20 out at a time rotating them every so often. This is how it looked today when I finished knitting a new pattern. This is at least the second project this week. It’s time to thin them out yet again. Perhaps start some new UFO’s. It’s just a random thought
I divided my time today between making more stitch markers and knitting Operation Gratitude scarfs. I won’t sho the stitch markers, they are all red. I have been working on this scarf for a few months at my slower speed. I do have 2 more scarfs for Operation Gratitude in different parts of the house.
This afternoon I was bored and decided I needed some play time. So I got out a drawer of beads. Pick out a few strands of beads, then got out my box of findings. Findings are the bits and pieces that are needed to make jewelry and more importantly stitch markers. Today I made 2 strands of glass mushrooms and 1 strand of ladybugs into stitch markers. I also took a few miscellaneous beads , then made a few more stitch markers. I have a few more strands pulled for tomorrow too. The stitch markers on the left are the ones that just happened to wonder off to my knitting room. I finally made the hand carved bear bead into a stitch marker, it has been in my box for years. The rest I will bring to knitting guild with me.
For those that don’t know me well, I have an obsession with stitch markers for my knitting. I have them in almost all shapes and sizes up until a U.S. size 19 knitting needle. The do break sometimes. Which means I will put them aside to fix next week. Well not quite next week from the pile of stitch marker repairs I did today. I found 1 pretty white flower pot and 1 box of stitch markers that needed repair.
This is the pile of repair work that I started with. After a few hours of diligent work, I landed up with the next pile of repaired stitch markers. If you really want to know, I did not do a very through search for them. So there might be more hidden in the house. I just about filled up my smallest yarn bowl. Below is a picture of the newly repaired stitch markers. You can tell from the natural light how much time has passed. Yes, there are Dr. Who themed stitch markers too.
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