My Personal Roller Coaster

 Today had a lot of highs and lows.  I will skip over most of the lows like not having enough energy to do stress cleaning.  I wove 20+ random ends in, on a scrappy scarf. That was a chore and a half.  It looks great.  Pictures will come later.  

The highlight of the day was a doctor telling me his services were no longer needed because I lost so much weight and am too healthy to need his services anymore.  Yeah me. 

I am lining up a few projects that will be just for me. I am going to make a few one of a kind items just for me after I finish the holiday gifts for the kids clothing bank.  I have yarns piled up around my knitting table.  

Leaving the House

 The next batch of 6 dog pillows stuffed with yarn scraps are going to the dog shelter.  The dog pillows are a great way to keep yarn scraps out of the land fill and benefit my community too.  

I got my stress cleaning out of the way early today. I have only done a couple of hours today. But it’s not even 11 a.m. yet, do the day is still early.  

Now if I could just distress and relax.

Stress Cleaning

 Today I was so stressed out that I simply ignored my to do list that I made with the 2:30 AM, during a migraine.  We spent the weekend dealing with family issues.  They have not fully resolved. Before you ask my taller half and wonderful daughter and son-in-law are doing well.  My brother and his wonderful wife invited us over for dinner, long story short.  I called my brother and asked him to join us for dinner at a restaurant. He was smoking a leg of lamb so we drove to their house.  My brother is an awesome cook.  I really have to get a smoker.  I really adore my sister-in-law. They make an awesome couple and have great kids too. They are the perfect people to hang out with when I need to recenter..

You might recall that when I hit a certain stress level the only thing that calms me down is cleaning.  I spent most of the day cleaning. I put a lot of things away.  My efforts were clearly visible.  3 bags of recycling and 2 bags of trash later, I was still stressed out, but much more calm.  So I plyed 2 skeins of art yarn.  Then I started spinning some more merino wool to do more plying.  I still have 5 skeins of Little Flower Novelty yarn in red to ply.  I am thinking that they would make a nicely woven scarf for kids.  I was too stressed to knit or weave. 

I will try to sleep tonight. Wish me luck.  If not I have more cleaning to do.  

1 inch

 I found it amazing that just trimming off 1 inch from my bangs this morning totally eliminated the getting hair in my eyes issue.  I did not trim anything else because I want my hair to grow a little longer.  

Knitting Needles

 If you use bamboo knitting needles please be aware that they will only last for about 200 knitting projects before you start to hear a cracking or wood splitting sound.  Other knitting needles tend to do this but take many years to reach this point.  Do not try to finish your project.  There is nothing worse than having a knitting needle crack mid row while knitting.  It can be a disaster and damage your yarn or an awful lot of stitches can drop.  Go to your local yarn store and get a really good pair of knitting needles.  Then transfer your knitting to the new knitting needles immediately.

Don’t worry, the soon to break knitting needles can still be used in your garden to hold seed signs or prop up a plant.  I am not sure that they can be composted because they typically have a finish of varnish.

If you like wooden knitting needles and do a lot of knitting there are plenty of work arounds for this.   You will have to pay more but the price difference is well worth it.  I would recommend a hard wood knitting needle like Brittney or Lantern Moon.  Lantern Moon uses ebony which is one of the hardest commercially used woods.  

This is my personal experience over 24 years of knitting.  All knitting needles were purchased by me.  Theses are my personal preferences and opinions.  All brands may not be available at all local yarn stores.  

A Do Over

 I have found that the yarn I recommend for My Doodling Shawl is literally just disintegrating. When I picked it up to wear last night it just started falling apart.   So I am re writing the pattern with yarn I picked up at the last Flagstaff Wool and Fiber Festival.  It is by an independent dyer and the yarn can be ordered from her website.  You may also use any yarn of the same weight.  

Details will follow, because I am literately knitting it up right now. I have also not told the dyer that I am using her yarn in the pattern  yet. I wound the yarn and started knitting it after dinner.  So give me a week or so to finish the sample and the pattern changes. 

I will leave the pattern up on Raverly and you will get an update with the new information.  

Something New

 I finally finished a stash buster project for me.  A 100% cotton blanket.  It is just big enough for my lap.  It’s finished just in time for winter.  

What to Expect

 People need a reality check when dealing with nonprofits.  Not all nonprofits are the same.  This is based solely on my years of experience and disappointment with some and gratitude for others.  

Letting a nonprofit display your artwork in their gallery is an iffy situation at best.  At worst you will never see your artwork or share of the sale price.  If you are lucky a volunteer decided they did not like you art work and picks it apart so that it cannot be made salable or usable again, but you get the pieces back in a bag.  I have had friends art work stolen.  I suspect that art work on display that is not returned or paid for is stolen and there is nothing that can be done.  Sometimes volunteers feel entitled to “free” things for the time spent volunteering. Maybe an employee needs a quick gift and your piece is just what they need, no big deal they can get the key it’s just on display and nobody will notice. My art work most likely disappeared this way.  There is the blame game and it was always someone else’s responsibility.  

You won a raffle prize but did not stay to the end to collect it.  They tell you what prizes you won on the phone and you can pick it up next week.  When you arrive they bring a hodgepodge of things leftover from various raffle baskets, but not what you won.  They explain that there was a feeding frenzy by the volunteers around the raffle table, but that they were not in charge of that area.  They try to explain that this is what you won.  Those that know me know that I don’t do big baskets of carbs.  Yes, I was told I bid on a big basket of carbs.  The volunteers feel that since you were not there and only contributed to the fundraiser that they were working, that they deserved what you won.  On this I call bull pucky.  I will make a note never to go to a fundraiser for that non profit organization again. They allowed the volunteers to screw both the donors and the patrons. I know you can’t control every aspect of the fundraiser, but really scraping together odds and ends when someone was told that they won a print and a nice ceramic bowl is really tacky.  I really wish that if that is what they let their volunteers do, don’t bother calling me to let me know.  Then there is a local charity that pushed non members to buy raffle tickets and then people were told no refunds and if you do not join our organization right now, if your name is drawn you will not get the prize.  All together now, can we say fraud. 

I do like the organizations that say thank you. You made a difference.  A simple thank you says volumes.

Just be careful with your work products.  If you spend money on raffle tickets don’t expect to get anything at all even if you were told you won.  Remember that helping the community is what you are doing, but you don’t need to repeat the same mistake.  There are plenty of good causes out there. 

I volunteer and make donations to make my community better. If you think you are entitled to more than a thank you, then maybe volunteer work is not for you. 

I Finished Two Projects

I fell short of my finishing my UFO goals today.  All I finished was 1 scarf and 1 hat.  I did however, tink 1 scarf and cast it on again.  I won’t put anything on someone else’s child that I would not put on my own child or wear myself. 

                    There is always tomorrow to get more done.

UFO Day and Wishful Thinking

 I am declaring tomorrow, Wednesday to be UFO Day.  I have at least 10 projects that need 30 minutes or less to finish up.  Six dog pillows that just need a 6 inch seam closed.  Then 4 knitting projects that are almost done.  The scarf on the loom has at least 4 hours to finish, so it may not get done.

 Of course there will be laundry too, but let’s face it the washing machine and dryer do most of that work.  Now what I need is some very cleaver engineer to make a system where I put the sorted load in one end. Out will come the clean wet clothes that need to be hung up on hangers. Then put the wet clothes on the clothes line. The rest of the clothes sent to the dryer to be hung up or folded depending upon the article of clothing.  The folded clothes will go neatly into a basket and the clothes on hangers will go directly to the clothes line to be put away later. Of course all the socks will be matching and folded too. Now how hard could that be with all those and/ or variables? Easy peasy right. We just have not asked for it yet. 

Then I can going with my last minute holiday gift projects.  

Petroleum Based Fibers

 As you are well aware of the fact that I do not use petroleum based yarns that have acrylic or polyester in them.  Today I made an exception because I had donated yarn for dog pillows.  Normally I dislike them because they bother my skin.  They are bad for the environment. They are messy when cut up. Today I will add another reason why they should be avoided.  I was cutting a lot of larger pieces made from very thick yarn, into suitable pieces to put into dog pillows.  I do believe that I have absolutely ruined a good pair of Fiskars Sewing scissors.  I will try to clean them up and sharpen them.  I sharpen them several times during the day with diminishing results. I don’t hold much hope for their recovery from the awful yarn.  

When I get larger and thicker pieces made for cheap and crappy yarn I will not waste my daily useful Hand time. I will not ruin another pair of scissors.  

I am hoping that either Amazon or Joann’s will have a sale to replace them.  I am not sure I want to put in hand time to repair them.  

Please do yourself and the environment a favor and buy yarn and fiber that will last for years. Yes, I still have a 100% cotton baby blanket that both kids used. Also blankets that are not quite as old that are still in good shape. I am sure some of you have family heirlooms that are even older.  Also no scissors were ever harmed using natural fibers.  

*The Fiskars Scissors were bought buy me so last century from a now defunct fabric store in California.  Before todays debacle, I cut heavyweight cotton fiber for the dog pillows with no problems. 

No Pictures Today

 I spent the day working on holiday gifts and finishing resting up after  the RSV vaccine.  It did take a couple of days to make a complete recovery from the side effects. 

Tomorrow will be another busy day.  There is so little time left in the year.  So much left to do. I am not sure where the year went.  

My Latest Charity Project

 This scarf is my latest charity project off my loom. It is made up entirely from my own hand spun yarn. I used bits and pieces which by themselves were much too small to make anything.  I really like how the colors blended so well.  I think it was a great stash busting project. 

This scarf is destined for the Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank.  It is my hope that the child that receives this scarf will enjoy wearing it as much as I enjoyed creating this bespoke scarf. 

The RSV Vaccine

 If you are eligible for the RSV vaccine I strongly recommend that you talk to your doctor to see if it is right for you.  I also recommend making an appointment to get the vaccine or any other vaccines you plan on getting this fall.  The pharmacies only order enough for the appointments. 

My personal recommendation is to save things like folding laundry for after the vaccine to keep your arm moving.  It really helps keep the arm from hurting.  By the way I also found that winding shuttles and weaving also help.  So it must be a great time to take up weaving, am I right?

Stay healthy and safe.  

More weaving

 The second color stripe was finished tonight.  The play on textures and colors are just fascinating to me.  As you can see from the picture the next shuttle is loaded and ready to go.  This will be one of the bigger stripes.

 I am really having fun with this one.  I just love how the yarn is creating optical illusions on its own.  It is very visible in the green section. 

The Loom is Warped

 This evening I finally got the loom warped for the next scarf.  It’s the first time in a long time that I used a multi colored warp.  I chose a medium blue and white cotton I am using hand spun yarn for most of this scarf.  

The first color of light green looks really good against the darker blue.  

It’s nice to be weaving again.  

Visible Progress

 The floor of the knitting room is now cleared of all but one basket.  The baskets all have shelve space.  The one basket that does not has my Navajo spindle in it.  I currently do not have any shelve space in the entire house that could possibly accommodate it.  There are also No project bags on the floor. All the project bags are either empty and placed in storage, hanging on a hanger, or last but not least on a shelf.  

Rumor has it that a certain robot is willing to vacuum the entire knitting room floor for me tomorrow.  

Don’t get me wrong there is still work to do in the knitting room.  While cleaning I opened various project bags.  For each bag I went through the matrix below. 

1. Keep the yarn and pattern together. Then try to find time to finish it.  

2. Keep the yarn for another project.  Give the pattern away.  

3. Prepping the yarn for woven or knit charity scarves (non Superwash wool). Prepare the yarn for knitting charity hats ( Superwash wool or cotton). Some of my hand spun yarn is going into both sets of projects. 

4. Put the yarn into the Goodwill box.  

I have not gone through all my project bags yet so there is still more work to do.  I have enough yarn for almost a dozen hand knit scarves prepared.  Also enough for at least a dozen shades of blue and green woven scarfs.  Yes while I was organizing things I put the yarn in color palettes for weaving.  

Did I mention that I have a huge pile of circular knitting needles to put away too.  That should take a couple of hours at a later date. Most likely when I need a certain circular knitting needle and can not find the right size. 

I even found time to work on a new knitting design and a few rows of weaving. I was not cleaning all day because I am recovering from the latest sinus infection and the beginning of the….wait for it….post getting sick arthritis flare up.  

TTFN. It’s time to call it a day.  

One Less Bag of Yarn

I have done enough charity scarfs, both knit and woven that this huge tote bag is now empty.  All the yarn has been used. It holds the equivalent of a 30 quart tub. You might recognize the tote bag as one of Eric’s. The one were we carried extra medical supplies for road trips. By the way I did find a few expired pump filters and a spare connector in the pocket.  Apparently the pocket was too small to hold yarn.

This is one more small victory on my road to the great yarn destash. 

Cleaning Out The Spice Rack

 It’s no surprise to anyone who knows me well is that I got really sick after Eric died.  Had a lot of different surgeries and have had a very bumpy ride on the road to recovery.  Because of that I have not been doing as much cooking as I would like.  My kitchen and pots have become lonely. 

Today I was experimenting with a sugar free, grain free zucchini breakfast bar.  Both my cinnamon and baking powder were expired.  I went ahead and tried my experiment anyway. Yes, it does need both cinnamon and baking powder.  Those are now on my shopping list. 

That is not where I was going with this blog post.  I decided to look at all the spices in jars and bottles in my spice rack.  Any thing from a store no longer in business is leaving.  Any store that I have not shopped at for 2 years is going. Anything past its expiration date is going.  So all totaled I have 49 jars and bottles leaving the kitchen this morning.  

The liquids have to be emptied and the bottles rinsed out, then sorted between recycling and trash.  The jars have to opened and emptied, the jars being sorted between recycling and trash.  I figured it will take me an hour to do all of this. I will only add more spices as needed.  Not everything will be replaced. For instance, take spices that are used for beef, since I no longer eat beef, except for the occasional bite, the spices will not be replaced. Since we are not using the barbecue anymore, those spices will not be replaced. Yes, the barbecue died while I was sick and since we don’t grill steaks anymore, it is not high on the shopping list. 

My challenge to you my readers is to check your spice racks before the holidays. Check for all those expiration dates. Spices don’t last forever.  Fresh spices mean a better quality product. 

The bonus is that I have 1/2 of an empty shelf in the highly prized prime kitchen area open.  I am sure that if will be filled up in no time.  

These are all the jars and bottles leaving the house today.  

The Poncho That Was Not Meant To Be

 About a decade ago I had decided to start an open work summer poncho.  I bought the required number of Juniper Moon Farms Zooey, a linen and cotton blend yarn.  I even bought a few extras just in case.  I was making it a little larger than the pattern. The calculations for making it a bit bigger worked out perfectly to the point other knitters used them and their ponchos came out perfect.  

I am not the best at knitting open weave knitting under the best of circumstances.  Theses were not the best of times for me.  Eric was in and out of the club which was code word in our house for the hospital.  He was also home sick an awful lot too.  This was not a sick room project like my pattern Count 1-2-3-4 was.  Count 1-2-3-4 was mainly knit in Eric’s sick room, the emergency room and Eric’s hospital room.  It was a simple one row pattern.  This was a pattern knit over many rows with many weird repeats. I was distracted and sometimes forgot to write what row I was on.  It was ripped out more times than I can remember.  

Then there was a nursing student from the University of Arizona School of Nursing that was stressed out over her finial exams.  Commented how pretty the yarn was.  I told her where to buy it. She said it did not fit in her budget as a student. When I left my knitting at the table to hold my seat she helped herself to a couple of skeins of the yarn.  She and the yarn were gone when I returned. That left me scrambling to find a couple skeins in the same dye lot and color.  

I restarted it after Eric died. I ripped out the whole thing.  Then started over. I lost my place yet again.  Then put it into the closet.   Last night I had an epiphany and decided that this needed to be a woven shawl. So today I am empty in the bag. Ripping out the shawl yet again.  Finding the odd balls of linen yarn and putting it in the queue to be woven.  

I have no regrets on giving up on this pattern.  In fact I feel very relieved. The yarn will be put to good use.  I will no longer torture myself with open weave knitting.  If I don’t like how it turns out I can either gift it or sell it.  I am free of the weight of trying to knit that darn poncho.  

A Rare Double

 Today a rare double was completed.  Yes, in that I mean 2 finished yarn projects were finished within 2 hours of each other.  They are both scarfs for a children’s clothing bank.  The red one is for a younger child. The 2 tone blue one is for a high school student.  Please note, not one knit 2 together stitch was used on either scarf.  The 2 streak had to stop somewhere.   

In case you were wondering, new projects have been cast on both sets of knitting needles so that they would not get lonely.  Now I am off to knit 2 more scarfs.