It’s Official

 Well it’s official, I am going into a tired hand phase.  This means that I will be cranky for a few weeks of no knitting.  Knitting withdrawal is hard every time I have to slow down.  I will still do a very little bit of weaving, but it is no more than 30 minutes once or twice a day.  

So I will spend my time reading, cleaning and the dreaded relaxing.  I am a go go type of girl.  I am like the energizer bunny I go until I stop.  I am doing this to delay hand surgery.  This comes at a bad time too with COVID19 Delta variant rising fast.  I have started wearing my mask in stores, well I never really stopped.  

Maybe I will catch up on pattern writing.  Stranger things have happened. 

A Wonky Hand Sorta Day

 It was a weird sort of day for me.  There is a small leak in the roof above my bedroom, with the rains this left the room damp with a funky smell, so I slept on the couch last night.  I know that this has nothing to do with my couch surfing last night, but it took over an hour to get my right hand moving this morning.  I am hoping that this is just the damp weather and not more hand surgery.  My right hand spent the day being wonky.  So no knitting got done.  

I managed to warp the loom and start another scarf.  I was not happy with 2 of the yarns so they made it to the goodwill box.  Better there then me forgetting that I don’t like them and trying to use them again.  By the way that topped off box one and another box is ready to go.  I did manage to get 2 loads of laundry done.  I did a couple more stages of finishing work on the scarf I took off the loom last night.  

Making dinner was interesting tonight.  I made my version of Turkey Taco Meat.  I would strongly suggest that onions not be chopped on a wonky hand day. That onion thought it was on a slip and slide, I even managed to feed the floor some raw onion. Once the onion was in the pot I added everything else with ease.  I just squeaked by on my carbs. John found a wonderful low fat tortilla under the Kroger in house label that was very low fat and tasted great too, so I made my fat by .50 grams of fat   

I even found a great Ganga , which is Tucson speak for a great deal.  I had a handful of coupons from my last shopping trip to the pharmacy, they allow you to stack in house coupons, so I got a 16 ounce jar of Skippy peanut butter for 10 cents plus tax.  I have not done that in a while, it felt good. Yes, I know we pay a lot for our medicine, so the is my version of a mini claw back.  

Well it has been a long day and we are going to get up early to try to patch the roof.  Wish us luck. 

The Good and the Exasperating

 The good news is I finished 3 more projects so far today. This brings me to 73 out of 100 planed projects completed. If you are thinking like me then you will agree that there is no way I am going to stop at just 100 projects this year.  The only question is how many over 100 I will get finished.  

The bad news is that after so many days of rain, as of right now 4 inches in less than 2 weeks the roof is leaking yet again.  Today I even emptied a closet of fiber to check for leaks.  We found a thermal difference , but not enough to show a leak.  So now it is time to put the fiber away.  

Theo will spend so much needed fiber and relaxation time.  Below is my 73rd project of the year.  A handwoven scarf that will be someone’s holiday present.  

Final Drying

 These two scarfs got washed in very hot soapy water and roughed up today. I moved them into the house to take better pictures.  In the back you can see the really weird skein of yarn that was recently spun.  Half of the skein turned out perfect, the other half turned out highly energized.  My solution for this skein of yarn is a handwoven scarf. Highly energized yarn weirdly enough makes a wonderfully textured fabric.. You might notice that I have hangers hanging from the bottom of the skein.  I do this in hopes that the skein will balance out while drying, this time I don’t think it worked.  

Tomorrow the scarfs will get their final trims and touch up.   They will then go into the bag for the children’s clothing bank.  My handwoven scarfs are always held aside for the older kids for holiday gifts.  I know I can’t make one for everyone who needs one, but I will make as many as I can without burning myself out   

I really don’t know if I will finish the scarf that I warped last night finished tonight.  I started it out with some sock weight yarn which is very thin.  Most of my other scarfs have been woven with worsted or Aran weight yarn.  I just love taking bits and pieces of yarn to make one of a kind scarfs, that don’t look scrappy.  

70% Done

 I set a goal of finishing 100 projects by December 31, 2021.  Today I finished project number 70. Another charity Hat.  The only question now is when I will reach 100 projects, but how many over that I will complete. I am only counting knitting and weaving for this challenge.  No spinning or sewing, although I am still doing those too. You can peek at my Raverly projects page to see all the completed projects.  

The Baskets

 

These are the 2 baskets I was talking about last night.  The one on the left is mainly filled with small samples of yarn spun on one of my herd of drop spindles.  The one one the right is filled with odds and ends of warp from years of weaving.  Between the 2 baskets I am hoping to weave a lot of one of a kind scarfs. My hope is that none will be exactly alike.  By the end of summer I hope that both these baskets will be empty.  

I originally got these baskets for knitting projects because they are so roomy.  With a whole lot of weaving and a lot of luck that will happen again. You may also notice that the basket on the left has color coordinated  bags of yarn. If I have just a little yarn left after a scarf or 2 is finished, I can just add the next color pack to my working bowl of yarn.  

Scarf number one is finished and in the to go to the clothing bank bag.  I am almost finished weaving scarf number two.  Of course I am using weaving to break up my knitting, spinning, carding and chores.  I am hopeful that this will prevent body from burning out.  

Following My Hands

 I let my hands lead the way today. When they were tired I stopped and rested them.  I did manage to finish one more hat. Hot water treat and was a new handwoven scarf. The bonus of the day was warping the loom and starting another scarf. I have a basket of yarn and a basket of warp that I want to empty by the end of August.  That is if my body agrees with my plan.  It’s been a real roller coaster.  

Off the Loom

 This is my first scarf off the loom this year.  I am hoping to make a few dozen more for the clothing bank. 

Now you need to look at the fab.  See how nice the fabric is with the variegated warp verses the plan gray warp.  I think someone should be happy with it.   Now to tie the end wash in hot water with agitation, thwack, dry and trim.  Then wrap in tissue paper and put it in a box.  Repeat until my weaving baskets are empty.  

Just Puttering Around

 Today was spent doing errands and puttering around the house.  Nothing massive got done unless you count an overflowing basket of hand spun yarn sorted into bags by color to add to the scarfs I am weaving with 1 off and partial skeins of yarn.  The ideal is to make the scarfs as color cohesive as possible and still be one of a kind works of art.  The mini hand spun skeins add a pop of color between larger skeins of yarn.  These should make nice presents for the kids   The clothing bank usually skims off my hand woven scarfs for holiday gifts. Since I know it will be the only gift some kids receive I try to make them special   

I have started a new hat today and am almost finished with the brim   

I still can’t figure out this COVID19 mask thing.  There are so many different numbers floating around and cases are up in our state.  So when out in public, I will continue to mask up even though I am fully vaccinated.  In matters of health and people being sick in public, is that if I had a nickel for every time someone got sick at home from an allergy, I would be rich.  

10 Inches

 I have noticed that whenever I warp any of my looms that I always stop at 10 inches of weaving the first day.  I also found that the British show The Great Pottery Throw Down, on HBO Max is a great show to watch while warping my loom.  So here is the beginning of my latest scarf which is going to the Flowing Wells SD Clothing Bank.  This is another of my great stash busting projects this year   I wonder how many scarfs that I can weave   

Grief and Loss

 This week is going to be hard.  It’s been a year and 1 day since we lost Eric.  Today is the one year anniversary of his funeral.  In five days it would have been his 31st birthday.  Although we tended to celebrate Eric’s birthday all month long and when ever we went somewhere special.  I am not sure how the week will go, but my goal is to try to stay in the now and not eat my way through my grief.  I also plan on a lot of walking. So far so good on the eating and walking front.  

Since stress makes my arthritis worse and I still have 6 weeks before I can try knitting again.  I know that I can spin and weave but I might not have any creative mojo this week. I just might go on a cleaning and de stashing spree.  So a few people might just get some calls to pick up some crafting supplies.  I am sure that you won’t mind. I just don’t know about you’re families will like it  

If you are so inclined to remember Eric a donation in his memory would be most appreciated.  The first that I would like to suggest is www.ML4.org as they are continuing to do research on this disease that turned my family upside down.  ML4 was Eric’s primary diagnosis. The second  is your local community food bank, like all kids with ML4 Eric loved to eat.  Eric also loved making donation runs around Thanksgiving every year.  We would fill up the van with a donation that Eric would hand off while I slipped in a check.  He was delighted when the volunteers remembered his name and that he like to hand them the food. 

I will miss his smile this week and his delight in having the birthday guy sing happy birthday. Eric might be gone physically, but he is not forgotten. I love him to the moon and back. 

Yarn Away

 Today was a relatively good day.  I was feeling good after the aspirin and nap.  I was preparing to yarn bomb a friend.  I started out with a mid sized carrier bag and filled it. Then went and got another And filled it too. So I grabbed a paper grocery bag and filled it too. By then I was half way finished and had 2 empty storage tub’s.  So I dumped the three bags in and continue my yarn de stashing .  By the time I was through I was sure my friend would be mad for giving her so much yarn at once. I had filled a 60 quart tub full of knitting and weaving yarn. Much to my surprise she and her niece were very happy. When they picked it up I wished them a very happy knitting and weaving time.  John is also very happy too.

With the progression of the arthritis in my hands and all the hand surgeries my burn through rate of yarn is way down. Long gone are the days that I could knit through 45 quarts of yarn in a month. Let alone 13 ponchos in a month.  With that in mind I am starting to curate my fiber stash and make sure I really want and love the yarn.  To day was a first cut. I still have 6 more weeks of no knitting.  I am pretty sure it will not be a hat a day speed when I restart my knitting. So to that end I will be working on gasp, some projects for me. I have some sweaters, shawls, tops, and socks in line.  I am not sure how much more weight I will lose, but since it has been a steady 10 pounds a year I think I will be able to wear the clothing for a while or at least be able to take it in,  

This will be a huge change from the last 20 years of knitting where 95% or more in any given year was for charity.  I will still do charity knitting and weaving, but it will not be my main focus for a while. This has been a year of many changes and my life has been turned upside down and inside out all at the same time. In a couple of days it will have been a whole year since we lost Eric. I feel blessed that we had him for so many years. It does not seem possible that a year has passed. The world is a little less gentle since he left.  Then just as we were feeling almost normal COVID19 hit.  That turned our world upside down again.  I am not sure what life has in store for me, but a little guilt free me time is in order even if we are stuck at home for the foreseeable future.  

Oops

 Oops I did it again.  The election drove me crazy. So I cleaned beyond what my body could handle.  I also started, wove and finished 4 scarfs in 4 days.  Not to mention the regular house hold chores. So I am beyond exhausted.  I have spent the day resting and sleeping.   With just a little bit of cooking thrown in.  Yesterday I got my sourdough bread starter.  So today I have my sourdough starter going.   Sourdough pizza crust and sourdough pancake sponge started.  I will also try my hand at low sugar sweet rolls using the pizza crust recipe tomorrow.  

The big news though is that we got a nice winter storm and got 1/4 inch of slow rain.  There was almost no run off so I hope the plants are happy.  

Green bowl sourdough pancakes, clear glass bowl sourdough starter, front bowl pizza crust.  

This and That

 Did you ever have one of those days when your busy all day long and at the end of the day feeling like nothing got done.  I felt that way today, but I finished weaving a scarf. Organized the craft room and found I needed 2 less jumbo tote bags to store yarn in.  I guess I did use more yarn than I thought, but with over 100 completed projects this year, I should not be surprised.  The down side to organizing the craft room is I have all these knitting projects that I wanted to knit but must wait until January.  The down side of a better functioning hand is letting it heal after surgery  

Also on the list was washing and twacking yarn. The to wash basket is almost empty.  I spent about an hour detangling a skein of yarn. By the way I found the skein while cleaning the craft room.  I tinked a knitting project and decided the yarn would be a better warp.  I put away knitting needles. I still have not found the missing spindle.  Maybe the next round of cleaning. So for the next dozen or so scarf’s there will be very colorful warp.   Below is the scarf that I did the finishing work on today.  It is already in the bag to leave the house.  

Finding Calm

 I have finally found some calm in my life. This current political cycle has been brutal and combined with COVID19, it has been too much for me. Since I can’t knit until next year I have started weaving again . So far I have finished one scarf . Have one scarf drying and  awaiting finishing work and one scarf on the loom.  Once I fill up the bag that I started, I will drop them off at the Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank.  I am sure that they can find homes for every scarf I weave.  

When my hands got tired, I organized my warp  bowl. I have a lot of odds and ends so I will be making some very colorful scarfs. I also filled up my weaving basket with more yarn.  I don’t know if this will make a dent in my stash the 102 knitting and weaving projects I have completed so far this year lead me to believe that I might make a dent by the end of 2021. Just don’t hold me to that. I don’t feel that 102 projects made much of a dent so far in 2020. I want to see more empty bins and everything in less space. 

Getting Crafty

 Despite a very bad body day I did manage to almost get caught up on folding laundry. Honestly I can not figure out how 2 people make so much laundry. We make almost half of the laundry that Eric made. I then spent some time weaving while giving a knitting lesson. The lesson was over face time not ideal in my humble opinion. By the way the Childs sized scarf is ready to hit the hot water.  I did not spin today, maybe tomorrow. 

Not Recommended

 Tonight I tripped on one of my spinning wheels and banged up my left hand.  I hit the woolly winder pretty hard. I was just trying to get a few shuttle’s for the loom.  I have them tucked in a back corner. I am doing a random pattern scarf to empty the shuttle’s. This will go to the kids clothing bank when finished. A few hours later except for the small bruise my hand looks and feels fine.  

I will check out the spinning wheel tomorrow.  

A Slow Day

 Slow best describes my day. I did manage to get most everything done. The hardest part was locating flu shots. Normally this is not a problem, but 2020 has made flu shots scarce.  So call before you go.  I had to make a lot of calls and wait on hold at least 5 minutes per call.  So go get your flu shot sooner than later.  

I did have one big surprise today. I had ordered a kit to make kitchen towels for Teri on the loom.  I opened the kit today and to my surprise half of the yarn was wool. John’s only comment was who would design a kitchen towel using wool? The water would not absorb. So I went stash diving in hopes of finding enough yarn with cotton and or linen content.  I really hope that Teri likes the colors.  Lesson learned is just go pick the fiber myself, the heck with kits unless they come from Mary Gavin.  

Hats and More

 I am busy knitting scrappy hats for the kids. I decided not to pull a big tub out for the small leftover bits of yarn this year.  When I reached 2 project bags full of small balls of yarn it was scrappy hat time. I am almost 3/4 way through the first bag.  I finished my 75th hat for the year tonight and have 3 more in progress on the knitting needles.

I am also on a spinning binge. I am currently using the last of my Louet Victoria bobbins. I suggested to John that he make me a few more. He gently suggested that I ply and skein up the yarn to get more bobbin space. So after I finish filling my last bobbin, I will set up my Louet Victoria for plying.  

You all know that this will lead to more weaving of shawls and scarf's. I am not sure what I will do with most of them, as I do not see any art shows or gallery showings in my future.  Oh well, it's not like we have any travel plans in the near future.  I have got to keep myself busy.  Besides shawls, hats and scarfs take up less space than fiber or yarn.

Moving Forward

After resolving some issues in my mind last night. I was able to move forward today.  I made some crafting decisions like if I make rag rugs in the future, I will just order the supplies needed.  The reasoning behind this is takes an awful lot of work to turn old t-shirts into useable weaving fiber.  People love the idea of a recycled rag rug, but the don’t want to spend more than $20 or so one one.  Because I was using some recycled material they think that they should be able to pay less, but the warp alone usually runs about $20.  If I am going to work at a loss it has to be better than decorating someone else’s house cheaply.  So the t-shirts were torn up for dog pillows.   

I did manage to sew 2 face masks and start 3 dog pillows. I think I can get a few masks sew every day too.   I should be able to get at least 6 or 8 dog pillows done with this batch.  Yes, I called the Humane Society and they would love more of my pillows.  I don’t even have to go inside to drop them off.  I have also gathered enough yarn to make 2 cotton scrappy hats for the clothing bank.  The next hat has a rolled brim. 

I also think that it is time to create a spreadsheet for grocery shopping and what we have in the house.  I think the Excel Spread Sheet should work.  Well another busy day tomorrow.  Stay safe.