First Sample Is Finished.

 I made the first of two sample washcloths for a class I am teaching next week.  I like to start with smaller projects for a first pass on a new skill. I like to keep the supplies as inexpensive as possible.  This should come in under $15.00 for 2 different washcloths.  This will be 1 skein of yarn and 2 different crochet hooks  

As a teacher I really hate to see students spend almost $150 USD for a beginner project that they might not like.  So if they don’t like Tunisian Crochet not a lot of money is down the drain. If they like it they have 2 new washcloths to use themselves or give as gifts. If they don’t like it they have 2 different washcloths to show for their efforts. If after making the 2 washcloths they still want to make the expensive shawl we can move forward with the project.  

The next washcloth will be in the same stitch that they want to use for the 3 skein designer shawl pattern.  That I will do tomorrow. In the meantime this is the basic Tunisian Crochet stitch in washcloth form.  I do believe that the picture is sideways.  Do turn you mobile Device 1/4 turn and it will be right side up.

A Joyus Day

 Today started out on very bad footing. My neck and right shoulder hurt to the point I had to turn my body to look right. I was out of precooked home made oatmeal and did not have the time to make any before I had to leave. 

At lunchtime things began to slowly change for the better. I was just wishful thinking when at my favorite bread spot in town Beyond Bread, I asked if my favorite sandwich the Avi’s Avo could be made without bread or mayonnaise.  They said yes.. they really said yes and asked if I would like Romain lettuce instead of the bread. Of course I said yes. They brought out an overflowing bowl of lettuce, cucumbers, Sprouts, and turkey with two small cups of guacamole on the side. It was absolutely amazing paired with gazpacho soup and I was in heaven. Thank you Beyond Bread.

The day got even better my day got even better when I was working with my knitting student. The first thing we did was casting off a table runner That she had been working on for about a year. All it took on my part was showing her how to cast off just two stitches and she cast off the rest. The smile on her face for the accomplishment was just so wonderful. It just filled my heart with joy.

We then had to tackle the fringe on the table runner. First we pick the length the easy part. We use the short side of a CD case because it was the perfect length. First she learned how to cut the fringe. That was another easy part. Then we worked on putting the fringe in. That took a little more work, however she got the hang of it and got almost 10 inches of fringe done today. She had never picked up a crochet hook in her life. She learned how to put the crochet hook in the right stitches. How to do a quarter turn and pull the yarn through. And then how to tighten the fringe.  She was so excited and happy it was just absolutely amazing.

John managed to quickly get the spasm out of my neck and shoulder and now at bedtime even though I don’t have full range yet, I don’t hurt. I am hoping that a good nights sleep will take care of the rest. Having my neck and right shoulder hurt threw my whole body out of alignment. 

I did not get any spinning done today. I did manage to get 3 loads of laundry done with 2 being put away. So it turned into a good and joyous day. 

Pretty Good

 Today was pretty good.  I spent some time working on the new pattern.  Finished one scarf, pictures to come later.  Fix someone’s blanket and taught the difference between leading and lagging legs. If you are a knitter and don’t know what this is we need to talk.  

Came home and made dinner.  Turkey burgers, yummy.  My hands were too tired to do much knitting tonight, but there is always tomorrow.  

So I will call it a day. 

A Little of This and A Little of That

Today I was all over the place in terms of getting things done.  This morning before lunch I wove about 25 inches more on the scarf I started a few day ago.  I did 4 very small loads of laundry, John and I don’t make much.  I think Eric’s washing machine is missing him.  Yes, we bought it, but Eric claimed it as his own.

Then it was off to knitting.  To help my student start her next block.  A nice lady with questions on a hat.  She did come to the right person. I also got to show a knit front, knit back, knit front in the same stitch for a bobble ( kfbf ). It’s not a stitch that I like but can demonstrate it as necessary.  I am also working on the pattern for 4 of 3 a shawl study.

John took me out for dinner and then we came home. I spent 20 minutes in Eric’s room and filled a bag for Bookman’s and another for Goodwill.  After all that I was to tired to knit or weave tonight.  Well it is almost tomorrow so it’s time to say goodnight.

Crazy Busy

I have been crazy busy for the last few days. I had a full day on Thursday. With an appointment to start the day. Followed by rushing to arrive on time to teach a drop spindle class, the student set the time and did not show. To top that off I dropped my coriander drop spindle from too high and the wrong angle, needless to say it is now in 3 pieces. John will try to fix it for me, we just have to find out what adhesive to use. Wish us luck on that one. 

When I got home I went to say hi to Eric and his teeth were chattering and he had that look about him. I was praying that he was not overly tired or getting sick. Shortly after we finished dinner the wild eyrping started. I was a long night. I only stopped doing laundry when I ran out of baskets for the clean clothes. Somewhere around the house I know that I will find those baskets. I finished 4 more loads of laundry today. Just don't tell Eric that I am almost caught up. 

Eric woke up smiling so we started him on Peidlyte and he is now back on formula. Now instead of sleeping he wants to play. I decided to tink a project that I was 25% done with, but not happy with. I was a little too tired to knit today, although I did have big plans to work on a blanket and a sweater. I had also wanted to warp a loom, I was also too tired for that. So now that Eric is quiet, I will head to bed. 

Busy, Busy, Busy

Yes it has been very busy around here since my last post 4 days ago. I have gotten to watch Eric and his friends go bowling. That was such a treat. There were cheers even if only 1 or 2 pins were knocked down. Everyone had such a good time.

Eric was sick Friday, so he had 4 days off from his program. On Monday I took Eric to Build a Bear Workshop so that Champagne Bear could get some more "honey". He had lost so much weight his pants were falling down. I would like to say that the staff at the Tucson Mall Build a Bear Workshop were very gracious and told Eric exactly what they were doing for his bear. He was all smiles and they did not charge us for the "honey". I tried to get Eric to pick a shirt out for Champagne, but he did not want the U of A shirt, he wanted the Santa Clara Law School shirt, which if they make it at all is not available in Tucson. We then walked around the mall for a few hours. Eric was suppose to let me stop and have lunch, but he wanted to walk more. I got over 10,000 steps ton Monday.

I have been passing on a lot of knitting skills to other knitters. Amber learned how to purl, cast off and follow a pattern on Sunday. It is very hard to believe that she has only been knitting for a few weeks with how even her stitches are. Tuesday I got to teach the stretchy bind off to a member of the Tuesday morning group.

I got a few errands done before I had to pick up Eric. I did not realize how tired he was when we stopped at a new store for a few minutes. Eric threw up on the floor, I hope they let us back. It turns out that Eric did not have enough rest time out of his chair at program, only 30 minutes. We are going to work on that. Eric threw a lot more, even in the shower, which is a very easy clean up. He settled down by 11:30 but was up at 4 am this morning. I borrowed Teri's bed for a nap so that I did not wake up John, I hope she does not mind. Eric will be home tomorrow too. I can not get him to the hydration level that I need to before I restart the formula. His tummy still hurts and he is tired of throwing up.

On the bright side, I got 3 mini washcloths knit and finished another hat. I did not quite knit all the yarn in the house like I told John that I would do today, but I did make progress. Now off to set some hand spun yarn before dinner, John is bringing it home.

The Day Flew By

It was a very busy day. I taught a class in weaving and beading to a group of campers. I only have 4 left to finish weaving before Friday so that they can go home with the campers. Not bad for 2 - 2 hour classes with 12 campers. Lesson learned here is to use bulky weight yarn, not worsted weight. All the campers who used only bulky weight yarn finished. The ones I need to finish are all worsted weight yarns.

I went to my first yarn tasting at Grandma's Spinning Wheel tonight and had a great time. I am creating a one of a kind piece with all the samples. I will show it to you when I am finish. I also won a door prize, which was a skein of yarn with shawlette written all over it.

It is time to call it an early night. I am so tired all the words seem to be getting jumbled.

Busy but Good

I had a busy day today that included teaching my 1 st weaving class to special needs high school students.  I would like to say that they did a great too.  Some responded to explaining that every stitch was either up or down and the next row was just the opposite.  A few got into a one two rhythm. Where the high stitch is always number one and goes down.  The low stitch is always number 2 and always  gets priced up.  I also descovered that thicked chunky yarn is the best for those hands.  They will Finish them next week. 

I also attempted to find cranberry sauce with no HFCs in the middle of July. No luck there, but I did manage to find frozen cranberry's in the freezer section and made my own.  I was so tired that I forgot to reduce the homemade simple syrup before I added the cranberries so we landed up with cranberry jam.  It still tasted good. 

To end the blog I will post today's spinning.  The roving is from cloud lover fiber. 

 

A Little Too Busy

I know it has been awhile since my last blog post. We have been very busy since then. The antibiotic that Eric is taking for his LRI gave him a thrush infection. The good news is that I now know what to look for and we got him on an anti fungal before we landed up at the hospital. Score one for me.  I have had a lot of long nights in the past week so I am very glad that everyone slept through the night.

While I have been sitting with Eric, I have been getting a lot of knitting done. With the exception of the finishing work I have gotten 3 projects finished in 3 days. I have my knitting mojo back which has come at a perfect time. There is another fundraiser for Eric's Taglit Program coming up. I am using this as an opportunity to use up a lot of cotton, rayon and sock yarn from the what was I thinking drawers. If I can keep up this pace I will be able to reorganize my primary stash and possibly bring one box of yarn out of the garage in the coming week.

It has been firmed up that I will be teaching 2 classes at Eric's summer program. One will be a weaving class. This means that all my little scraps of yarn will go towards that project. The other is making a beaded bracelet. I think I will be working with the younger group of high school students.

I have also decided that it is time for a new lounge chair by the pool. The one we bought in 1995 is getting too hard to sleep on. We have only had it for 18 years and I was not ready to part with it. So we will keep that one and buy 1 new one for the purpose of napping. It's time to start looking for the sales. I was so close to buying one at the end of last summer but held off, darn I really missed that call.

Eric's aide is almost done, so it is time to end this blog and get back to work. Have a great day everyone.