Bored, Nothiing to Do

I honestly can not say what I did for all those years before I leaned to knit, spin yarn and weave. My hand is still  too sore to knit. Spinning takes no more than 30 minutes a day. Is it any wonder that I have had tension headaches since Eric got sick. To make matters worse they start any time after 3:30 am. I think that I am in a whiny phase.

An important note to myself is not to schedule and hand surgery 8 weeks before a holiday. Why? You may ask. Have you ever noticed that Eric gets sick around every holiday. The question is how do we break this habit of his and when can I start knitting again?

On the Eric front, he is doing a little better. His eyes are not glassy with fever any more and he is getting more responsive. Don't tell Eric, but he is also making a lot less laundry. I did not have to wash any of his laundry today. Just don't go and tell him. However, the post viral asthma has kicked in. Life with Eric is never boring.

Gone Buggy

We welcomed an unwelcome visitor at the house last night. Even with Eric getting the flu shot, he got the flu. He is miserable. We are wearing procedure masks when we are around Eric. We are washing our hands after each contact with Eric in hopes that we do not get the flu. To the point that the skin around the scar tissue on my right hand is sore. This evening I started using lotion after each hand washing to keep my skin from drying out too much. Yes, I am washing my hands that much.

This is not surprising to anyone who knows Eric, but he is making more laundry than usual. So we are going to the phase of “Laundry is like fine wine. No laundry shall be folded before it’s time.” As long as the laundry gets washed is all that matters now.

So as not to spread this yucky flu bug and the fact that my hand is not up to par yet, John and I are working in tandem to get Eric back on his feet. I am cancelling every outside activity on my schedule until Monday. This may be a little over kill, but we do not like to share some things. Also at the moment Eric is a 2 person job.

This week will be a real challenge for me as I am not up to knitting yet.
Spinning for any length of time is still iffy. I might get some weaving done if only to test a new design from John’s new 3-D printer. John is trying to come up with a modern twist on the rigid heddle for my loom to make it easier to warp. If all that fails I will put ruts in the tile by walking around the house to relieve stress. Wish us all luck.

Inches

As long as I do nothing but  rest, hand exercises and rub lotion into the scar tissue my hand feels better. It's when I try to do stuff that I regret my actions. So it is still one day at a time. It is also a long way off until mid March when things are suppose to be healed.

Today was my first mostly pain free day since the hand surgery. So I got caught up on shopping. My day went like this. Eat a meal. Go on one shopping trip. Put everything away. Then take a nap. Repeat after lunch. I think we are now stocked up on everything but tissues. It's the only thing I forgot to buy.

No knitting, weaving, sewing or spinning were done today. Your fiber animals are safe for one more day.

I Am Bored

This has been a bumpy road to recovery after this round of hand surgery. The less I do the better my hand feels. So there was a lack of spinning and knitting today which lead to extreme boredom. I am not the person who is happy doing nothing.

A Crazy Lady

It is the beginning of February, you would think that I could leave something like a drop spindle in my car. Not today, it was in the mid 70's so the closed car would be in the mid 90's, much to hot to leave my spinning equipment in the car. Wood tends to warp in the heat, and it does not take much heat to wreck a spindle or a spinning wheel.

So when I went into the stores to do my errands my drop spindle bag went with me. I always tell someone on staff what the bag is full of and offer it up for inspection if they want. At Target I ran into a fellow spinner who like my roving. At the office supply store the cashier thought I was a little on the harmless crazy side to care so much about a "silly" piece of wood.

In other news the band aide's came off my hand today. My right hand is still stiff and swollen. I am trying to move my hand a little more each day. I also think it is time to start rubbing lotion into the scars and break up any scar tissue that is forming. This is a months long endeavor as I recall.

As my hand is healing I am getting a little more energy. So hopefully I can get the things done that I put on hold before the hand surgery. I think I will start with the dinning room table. Then move to the kitchen counter.

A Wild Night

Eric got the wild eyrps tonight. That resulted in 3 loads of laundry tonight. The last load is in the dryer as we speak. I was too tired for all the excitment of the night.

Today I finished spinning and plying yesterdays yarn. I also skeined up some already finished alpaca. I also started a new color called tree. I will show you that tomorrow.

In the mean time I hope hat Eric has a quiet night.

Knitting Withdrawal

The stitches are out as of yesterday. I slept last night until freshing time, when I woke up John to change Eric. No freshing duty until the wounds heal. Knitting is a no go until mid March. So spinning it is.

Today I started a spinning some merino blended with silk on one of my Forrester drop spindles. The color ranged from dark green to yellow. It spun like a dream. The color looks awesome. I will finsh spinning it and ply it tomorrow. Then it will sit in the fiber sink until my hand heals enough to finish processing the yarn.

I’m Impatient Right Now

I am having a hard time with not knitting and sleeping. I can’t wait for the stitches to come out Wednesday. I want full use of both hands. I have so much that I want to do.

Post Surgery Progress

This is my frist real knitting project that has been started after my right hand surgery on Tuesday. I have 2 new outfits that require skinny scarf’s. The first one is 15.5 yards of hand spun wool.

The pattern is simple. Cast on 5 stitches on US size 17 knitting needles. Knit every row until I have just enough yarn for the cast off. The yarn is just shy of worsted weight.

Color

The funny thing about the color in clothing is there either seems to be not enough or too much for most people. Take this morning for instance. In the supermarket parking lot there was a woman who commented that my clothes were a bit on the colorful side, in the not very nice way. Let's face it, my tie dye skirts are comfortable and maybe just a bit on the colorful side. This morning was not going very well. I needed something cheery to wear. I had run out of the right size bandages to cover my stitches. So that is how I landed up in the supermarket parking lot at 9 a.m. to begin with. So I really did not see the irony in her statement until later in the day.

When I found the time to get to a get sale and bought 2 monochromatic outfits, one in gray and one in black. My thought was they were a bit on the drab side, but I could weave some new scarfs to go with the outfits. Maybe even knit a shrug or two. Which made me think of the lady in the parking lot and what she was wearing. It was 50 degrees in the sun if we were lucky and she was wearing shorts that matched her skin tone and a shirt that matched her hair, a totally washed out look in my humble opinion. The shorts in 50 degree weather said snowbird all the way. It was then I realized how outrages I must have seemed to her.

All I have to say on the subject is that the color in my wardrobe is here to stay. As the song goes “there are so many colors in the rainbow...” and I will wear every one. Maybe at the same time.

When I told John the story, he just smiled.

A Long and Hilly Day

Today started out at 5 am with Eric wanting attention, T.V. and to have the covers put back on. Then I put last night's wash in the dryer and started the laundry for the day. I think it was about 5 loads, but don't quote me on that.

Eric supervised and napped while I worked on his new bibs. I only got 4 finished today. I have 6 more bibs to make. If you would like to make some of the bibs I make for Eric you can find the pattern here. Please remember that this pattern is for personal use. You may not use this pattern to sell these bibs. With that said, if you are in love with the pattern and want to make some to donate to a local special needs program or school please feel free to make as many as you like. Just send or post a picture or two before you send them off.

There was also a final goodbye to my friend Faye today. We need more people like Faye in this world. Faye was always kind and generous in spirit. A wonderful student who also brought a great question  or thought to the Torah Study group. Always had a kind word to say. Was always a lady in the classiest sense of the word.  I wish that everyone could have known Faye. She will always have a place in my heart.

Some Assembly Require

Today I started working on a birthday present that required some assembly. OK, I have to knit the entire project. I have cast it on and knit 1 inch of the pattern. The pattern is called Andean by Mary Gavan. The yarn is Mojave hand dyed by Mary Gavin. You can find Mary’s work here www.marygavanyarns.com

Monochromatic

I have decided that I do not like knitting momnchromatic hats. The serries of red hats that I am currently knitting for a local charity are driving me nuts. The first 8 went well enough, but at hat number 9. Well that is a diffrent story. I think that I will stop at hat number 12 and go back to colorful hats. I will also work on some other knitting, spinning and weaving. May even something for me.

More Deep Cleaning

Today I spent the day deep cleaning again. Eric's closet made the to do list today and all the clothes that were too small we added to the Goodwill pile. Books and magazines also made it to the top of the to do list. I filled up the center of the van again. Most was only one layer, but there were some areas where it was 2 layers deep. John was kind enough to make a trip to Goodwill for me. I am needless to say exhausted. I really don't recommend this type of cleaning with a headache though, it will not make it any better.

The next thing on my agenda will be finding uses for all the regained space. This should be the easy part.

Failed

Clothes shopping was a failure yesterday. If the top fit, it was see through. If the tops was not right and the fit or look was awkward it was not see through. Come on clothing manufactures most women I know hate see through clothes. If we wanted that much transparency in our wardrobes we would walk around in a bikini year round. Get it right.

Cleaning

Teri and I finished organizing the fiber by breed. Teri found out that there are a lot of different breeds of sheep. I think everyone learned more about sheep and breeds at dinner than they wanted to.  The fiber is now neatly stored. The only mistake that I made was not labeling the big bags. Oh, well that can happen at a later date. We also went on a deep cleaning spree. The end of the hallway is knee deep in charity for Goodwill. I think it will take me a couple of hours to make a list of everything. I think we are going to try to fill the van.

We also found time to go see the new Star Wars Movie, The Last Jedi.  No spoilers here, just go see it on the big screen. 

Intervention

My family is trying a Lola of Lion Brand Yarn intervention of my fiber stash. So I am going through every bag of fluff to see what I really don’t want to spin. Basicly it amounts to anything with bamboo blended in and some of the fiber that I bought as a novice that I don’t want to spin any more.

So I am taking the time to organize it by fiber. I have more alpaca fiber than I thought I had. I also have a bunch of small amounts of diffrent breeds of sheep to see how they spin. I found some unprocessed fiber that I thought that I would have time to wash and prepare. Now I think that I will send it off to a fiber mill that will do a small batch. The short fibers went into the dog pillow box, I have no time to mess with short fibers.

Some was bought when I thought that I. Ould help pay for Teri’s grad school. I needed to spend a lot more time at art and fiber shows than I had being a full time care giver for Eric. I will still spin it up and see if my Local Yarn Shop will take it on consignment. If not, I expext to give hand spun yarn to friends who knit and chrochet for future gift.

So all in all I rally don’t think I have a fiber problem. Rather, I have a distrubition problem.

Family Time

The whole family is under one roof. I am having a great time. I may be to busy to post for a week or so. So please take the time to enjoy your families too.

Shawl's

I seem to make fewer shawls for myself than some of my friends. I was thinking about this today as I reorganized my shawls and scarfs. I have the first shawl I knit for myself about 17 years ago, I still use it a lot. I bought some high quality mohair yarn from Kathy Withers of Withers Wool she also has an etsy shop at this link . Kathy used to be local and I loved going to her farm when it was in Tucson. I was like a candy store for me. Kathy has moved to the east coast and still offers classes.

All my shawls seem to be made from high quality yarn straight from the farm or my local yarn shop. There seems to be a direct correlation of the quality of yarn with how long the hand knit or hand woven item lasts. So even though it is more expensive it is worth spending the extra money for high quality yarn. After all how often can you say my hand knit item is 17 years old when you use cheep, low quality yarn?

So if you are planning to make something for yourself or a family member Please remember to buy your yarn directly from the farm or you local yarn store. They have a vested interest in the outcome of your project. These are also small businesses that deserve your business.

*These are my own opinions and I have not received any compensation from anyone or any business.

More Deep Cleaning

Believe it or not I spent 5 hours cleaning this morning. I have to say that this was fueled by 3 cups of tea and trying to get one last good load off to Goodwill this year. I also have to give credit to my new arthritis medicine. Not to say that I was not sore by lunch time, but I had to work very hard to get sore.

Eric's aide Nikki wanted to learn how to make my style of bed quilt for her boys, so we collaborated on a second big quilt for Eric today.  We are telling Eric that this is his holiday gift from Nikki. I must say that I am really liking the cotton batting. It is easy on my hands and sews up like a dream.

I also think that I have way too many projects in progress. Although now that I am feeling better they are getting finished at a faster pace. I also found my watch at the bottom of you guessed it a knitting bag. It is time to see if I can finish one more project tonight and give John the computer chair so he can change colors on the printer.

Triple Chocolate Haystacks

I had enough energy to make my triple chocolate haystacks for tomorrow's party. The chocolate mixture came out very smooth. John was nice enough to clean up the double boiler. I was surprised that John knew what a hot water bath was. It must be because he likes to watch Chef  Gordon Ramsay on the Food Network. I also made fresh bread for dinner.

Now if we could just get Eric to sleep through the night.

Blankets and Watches

It is no secret that the kids are getting blankets this year. So Eric’s twin size quilt is almost done. Teri’ queen size blanket is hand knit on U.S. size seven knitting needles in a modular pattern. I have about 2 1/2 rows of modular knitting plus the I-cord boarder. I am really stumped on what to make Tej. I am also wondering since Teri’s blanket is so big if they could share the blanket. So many things to think about while I am waiting for Eric to fall asleep.

I am sad that my new watch died after less than a week. I have to return it and pick out another watch. I would not have to do this if my 10 year old watch did not sprout legs and walk away. So much bother.

Early December

Eric is just getting over the cold that he has had since last Thursday. John and I are very tired and trying to get too many things done at once. Can someone invent a 48 hour day for me please?

Holiday presents are going slower than I would like. I wanted to be done with a few more than none by this point. It did not help that my body needed rest today. Hopefully I will make progress tomorrow.

Deep cleaning has kicked up to high gear again. It's not like I have the time, but with itemized deductions disappearing next year it has to be done by December 31st. We filled the recycle bin to the point that it needed to be stuffed down yesterday. So that is some slow progress.  All the quilting batts have left the house and freed up some much needed room. Fifty percent of that is filled already. I also need to clean up a desk to turn it into an electronic work station for John. You did not think that I was going to play with the electronics did you? The electronic equipment has started to arrive. So I guess that I am way behind on that too.. I wonder how many drawers will need to be emptied?

Well tomorrow is almost here so it is time to call it a day.