Hats

In June I knit 17 hats for charity.

In The Blender

Eric had a rough night last night and I don't even remember what time that I got him settled down for the night.  All I know is that 6 am came much too quickly. Eric's bad night lasted for most of the day. So,Eric skipped his day program and helped me sort the double pointed knitting needles by size. I now can say that I know where most of my double pointed knitting needles are. I think that I can lose quite a few before I have to run out and buy replacements. Of course there is still the odd one floating around the house and a set with each hat knitting bag. I keep one bag for knitting animal fiber hats and one bag for plant based fiber hats. The are no bags for petroleum based fiber hats, as I feel that no one should be forced to wear clothing made from a non-renewable resource.

I think that I will be putting all my knitting accessories in one spot too. I have not decided what I will put all the accessories in yet. That and single pointed straight knitting needles will be done on Friday. I find it kinda of odd that after over 30 years of marriage that I am finally starting to understand my engineer's mind for organization and that sometimes less is more.

I usually do not run the washer and dryer after 100f, but I got a late start at  laundry today. Even though I was finished with the laundry by 10:30 am it was over 100f already. It did feel on the cooler side today at lunch time it felt a bit chilly at 105f with a light breeze after last weeks 115f and 116f days.

I also found time to start knitting a new wool hat tonight and am halfway through with it. I think that is is time to go do some reading.

Circular Knitting Needles

Today I started organizing my knitting needles starting with the circular needles. I had the knitting needles in 3 different areas. Hopefully having them in one spot will make things easier to find the right knitting needle when I need one for a project. They are also off my closet floor. The needles, are sorted from U.S. size 0 to size 50. They are also in a container that will not allow them to fall on the floor.  I really like the idea of my knitting needles not falling on the floor. Of course this does not include the knitting needles on projects. I must have a lot of projects on sizes, 6, 7, 8 and 11's.  Tomorrow I will work on the double point needles. I will save the straight knitting needles for Friday. As you can tell my deep cleaning has slowed down quite a bit, but I am down to the knitty gritty of the job so things are going much slower pace. 

I also managed to finish knitting 2 hats and casting another cotton hat on. I like to keep a cotton hat for knitting on the go and a wool hat to knit at home. I still need to cast on a wool hat. At a year post hand surgery I am still limited by my hands in how long I can knit each day, but at least I can knit again. 

107f

I have lost count of the days it has been over 105f in a row so far this summer. Yet I know that winter is coming and the knitting of children's hats and scarfs is on going, besides they don't sit in my lap as I knit.

I am really enjoying having a huge washing machine. I can wash most of Eric's clothes every other night as it has been too hot to run the machine during the day.

Still Hot at 116f

We are deep into a summer weather advisory here in Tucson, this just means that it will be over 110f. It also usually means that afternoon flights will be canceled in Phoenix and Tucson. I personally love this summer weather, but Eric on the other hand can not handle the heat. So he is going to program in the morning when it is still relatively cool like the 93f  drive time temperature today. By lunchtime when I pick him up it was 109f, a very warm temperature for Eric. When we got home we sat under the ceiling fan until I was cold.

As with yesterday I spent my time preparing fiber and knitting while we watched PBS kids all afternoon. As of now it is back down to 109f at dinner time. It is trying really hard to rain but I don't think we have enough humidity yet. A best we might get some lighting and thunder. By bedtime it will be cool enough to run the washer and dryer.

On a different note, this issue always seems to be coming around and just will not go away. I know that there are a whole lot of groups that like hand knit items to give away for their charity projects. They want a certain yarn or pattern used.  I think that this is a kind and wonderful jester. However, and this is a big however, I knit what I want in the fibers that I want. The Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank gets the bulk of my knitting, John and I are fine with this. I take care of children in my own community. Their students like my very colorful hats and scarfs, made with cotton, wool, nylon and alpaca.  I know that people that live in the snow belt will not agree that around 70f is cold enough to warrant giving the children winter clothing. Did I mention that it was 116f today? I do think that a 46 degree drop in temperature is enough to warrant the use of winter clothing. So as John put it so nicely at dinner tonight, "Knit what you want to knit, unless it is a paying job. Then they can have what they pay for," So before you badger me to knit for your group, please remember that I already have a group that I knit for.

What To Do When It's 115f Outside

Hats are my favorite thing to knit in summer. They are small . They don't sit on my lap. They are like M&M's, I just can't knit one. My goal was to knit a hat a day for the whole summer. Right now I am only knitting 5 hats per week. A little short of my goal. You do know that winter is coming and I won't look so silly then.

Life

It has been a bit on the busy side here. I also have a post elbow flare up. So I am trying to keep up. I might just hit brake even this week instead of being 3 steps behind. With record breaking heat expected here this week I will get my chores done early and knit the rest of the day.

Knitting Needles

After changing out the knitting needles for the fourth time today, I got some smooth and quick knitting on a project that has been driving me nuts for months. I landed up using a retro pair of mismatched needles from the 1960's that were passed down to me. I thought that I would never use such ugly aluminum knitting needles, but they did the trick.

I also have to find some fine sandpaper to repair one pair of needles that were ruined by using them to knit silk with. I have learned not to knit silk on wooden knitting needles. I guess the right needles for each yarn is very important.

Need Sleep

Eric had a bad night last night and I did not get much sleep last night. Then Eric thew an hour and a half hissy fit because I would not take him to his day program today, which was closed for the holiday. I really need to sleep tonight, so I am praying that Eric sleeps tonight. Good night all.

A Slow Day

The house painting was finished today. I also finished knitting 2 hats. I am not sure why i am so tired.

Putting the Pad Down

Today I did not feel like cold leftovers. Still not up to going out though. So I decided to put my pad down and see how many UFO's that I could finish. It started off well until I found some very pretty yarn that was saying you must drop everything and play with me. So I now have one more UFO. I will see what I can finish tonight.

I also went on a drop spindle hunt tonight. I have decided to thin the herd. So I will be spinning on almost all of my drop spindles in the next week or so to see which are staying and which are leaving. Just so you know in advance none of the Forresters, Bosworths or Goldings will be leaving the herd. I have to draw the line somewhere. After that is finished i will start on the knitting needles.

Round 2

My elbow did not finish healing after the first round of medicine. So tonight I started the next 10 day course of medicine. This means that i will not have earth shattering strength for the next 10 days. This is to read that I will be mostly resting on the couch or napping. The side effects of the medicine have already kicked in.

Since Eric has no program for most of the next 10 days I think what we are going to be hanging around the house. Maybe Eric will be supervising naps.

Mostly Sleeping

I am still on the antibotic for the infection. My elbow looks better, although I am sleeping a lot. Not a lot is getting done around here but sleeping. We have delay our Mothers Day for 1 week. This gives us the advantage of me feeling better and the University of Arizona graduation hoopla will be done.

Have a grat week everyone.

Feeling Yucky

Things have slowed down here. I landed up getting sick. The doctor got me in earlier today and I am finished with day one of the meds. Only 9 days to go. I hope that I don't get hopelessly behind, as I was really starting to catch up.

May the 4th Be With You

As I write this post the ultimate sci-fi fan day is about to come to an end. I am still up with the end of a migraine and waiting for Eric's numbers to stabilize. Crashing at night seems to be the new norm around here.

We are also celebrating Ice Break Day here in Tucson. It is the 1st 100 degree day of the year and the ice has finally broken on the Rillito River. It is time to get that fishing gear out. It is time to going fishing for the legendary Sand Trout that inhabit the mostly bone dry river bed of the Rillito River. Although I have to say this is a strange beginning to summer as it is expected to snow at the higher elevations here at the beginning of next week. They are also still skiing at the Flagstaff Snow bowl. Global warming sure makes the weather really weird.

I will post a spinning wheel for sale this weekend. Look for it on FaceBook and possibly Ravelry. Other goodies might be listed also. 

Music and More

Eric wanted more music in his room. So I spent 35 minutes today cleaning up Eric's dresser and chasing down electrical cords. I landed up with an extra power cord and a charger for a phone brand that we don't even own. I don't even know who left it here.  The remote control needs a new battery, but John will take care of that tomorrow. Eric spent the rest of the day listening to music, with the base to high. I guess he does not like most of whats on TV this season. 

I also found another box of crafts that had been in the garage. In it I found my favorite knitting bag, 2 unfinished knitting projects with no patterns. I think that I can finish without the pattern, the other one not so much, it might just be tinking* time. I also found more fabric to make Eric some more blankets, not that he needs anymore blankets at the moment.  One bag full of yarn, I took what I wanted and will bring the rest to knitting next week. 

I have also decided that I have too many big project bags. So I sorted through a pile of them. It looks like after the first cut 20% of the will leave the house on Friday. I also have too many yarn storage bags and a few of those will leave the house tomorrow. The deep cleaning is still on going, but at a better pace for my body. 

*Tinking  is Knitting spelled in a somewhat backward state. 

I Really Said This

This morning I can't believe I used the line, "but my daughter is a lawyer" when someone got a little too "I am feeling sorry for you because your son is in an adult day program. I am very lucky that Eric is in an adult day program. There is a nationwide shortage of adult day program slots across the country.  I am very lucky that my local JCC cared enough about our family to create an adult day care program that Eric can go to and hang out with his friends.

Now I want everyone to know that I Love my children equally and am very blessed to have both of them in my life. They have each taken me down a different path in life. They have both taught me about life in their own way. I am very grateful that they let me come along for the ride.

It has not always been an easy path. I feel that at times I was not the best at my job of mom. I might not have given it my all to both Teri and Eric all the time. We manage to muddle through it somehow. We are a close tight family so I know that I did somethings right.

So I would like to say, Thank You to Teri and Eric for giving me a chance to be your mom. I would also like to say Thank You, to John for joining me in this adventure.

It Fell

Last night as I was putting a hat on the pile of hats and scarfs it fell over. Luckily for me it leaned against the wall. So how many hats, scarfs and cowls did it take to tip over? Here are the numbers: 29 hats, 4 scarfs and 1 cowl.

I will let you know how many rows are going to added for the 1 million row challenge on Raverly when I count them up.

Parenting

Parenting and in particular the parenting of special needs children and adults is the parent's job. In speaking to more than a number of parents on the subject more often then not I hear them complain about the lack of long term commitment from teachers, medical professionals and aides. This just rubs me the wrong way. Don't get me wrong sometimes there are just so many new people in Eric's life that I think my job should be called Training Specialist and not Mom.

I think that it is fantastic that ordinary people take time out of their lives to learn about and help our children. We have a lot of aides who need the volunteer credit, even if it is a paying job with a non-profit to get into medical or nursing school. I really love these people, they learn quickly are usually great at the task at hand and then move on when it is time for medical school. If we get these people from a year or 2, I am extremely happy. The things that they learn while caring for Eric can then be transferred to other families and enhance their carers. But they are not his parents and are not meant to be in his life forever.

Then there are the heroic Special Needs Teachers that not only have to learn a whole lot of things about their students medical and emotional needs even before the education process can even start. Also, every year there seems to be more paperwork required for each student, think of the 504 Plans, Individual Education Plans, paperwork to prove that grant money is being spent within the terms of the grant. Accident reports if a child stumbles and the corrective action that will be taken in the future so the child learning to walk will not stumble again. Did I mention parents with unrealistic goals for their children. From the start of teaching special education to leaving the field average is 10 years. No they will not be there forever. Neither will the teachers of your healthy children.

As for the wonderful people who staff our Adult Day Care Programs, please be very nice to these people. The pay is lower than I would like to see it. The hours are long. Our young adults are sometimes very difficult to work with. If you have a chance schedule a day to shadow your adult child and see how the staff works with them. I am always very happy to see these caring people go back to school to further their carers wherever it takes them. They are not meant to be in our adult children's lives forever.

Ending on a note that no one wants to think about is what happens if you as the parent gets hurt or you can't do your job as a parent? Do you have a backup plan in place? Does your support coordinator have this in writing. If you have guardianship for your adult child, the courts must approve the plan. Talk to your lawyer about this. Your relatives might not be up to the task. Planning is a must.

Just remember that nothing is forever.

Tilting

The pile of hats and scarfs is now 2 feet tall and starting to tilt. It's almost time to tag and bag them.

More Changes

More deep cleaning in the garage and Teri's old room. More of my the past left the house too. The bicycle that I bought when I was 13 made its way to Goodwill today along with a few other things. All my fiber is off the floor in Teri's old room. I am closer to getting a workbench into the room. The garage looks a whole lot better.

I have also moved some summer shirts that were too small last summer into my daily shirt rotation. My diet is simple, elimated all artificial sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup. My excersice plan is just as simple. I do more cleaning house,including deep cleaning and more walking. Just keep moving. This works for me,but please check with your personal physician before starting any diet or excersice routine.

Little Things

Today was a day of getting a lot of small things done. Days like this are necessary for the overall project, but are not as satisfying as getting lots accomplished. I think slower days are sometimes good for my body too.

3+3

Three boxes plus a pair of roller skates left for Goodwill today. Thee bags of recycling let the house too. Eric and I spent most of the day recouping from yesterday.

I have also come to the conclusion that engineers and artists look at mass in different ways. This is especially true when it come to de-cluttering and reorganization of the household.