A Political Post

I don’t know how so many people shop on line for clothing.  I have only shopped for clothing on line after I tried it on in the store and wanted a second one or a different color.  With my clothing growing bigger every week and COVID-19, I might not have a choice.   The thought just scares me. What if I pick the wrong size or I just don’t like the way it looks.  What then?  The thought of shopping on line is panic attack worthy.

So here is what I need everyone to do.  Get out you magic wands or lucky rocks, and pray that the scientists find a vaccine for this scourge.  We need more people like Bill and Melinda Gates to step up, because Washington has become so patrician that the public be dammed.  I find it very sad that companies have to advise people not to follow what comes out at the daily press briefings because it will kill them as it has here In Arizona.  Can someone have the courage to say we are handing this off to the CDC, NIH and have Bill Gates be the point man.  This may add some calmness to this chaotic situation. It might not get things fixed any faster but the anxiety levels would be lower. It would also eliminate the anxiety that the ignorant man is spewing just to hear himself talk and get his ratings.  

The above rant has nothing to do with a poorly written set of instructions that left me so frustrated that the words I was using would make a sailor blush.  Or that I have been so tense that my back has been in spasms for almost a week. Or that my clothing is falling down or going on a growth spurt all on its own.  You can’t tell me that you clothes never got longer between wearings.

By the way the recipe will be added tomorrow.  Life happened today.

Waiting for Ice Break

It is not quite 3 a.m.m and I am waiting for my sinuses to drain. The Palo Verde Trees are in bloom and the grass pollen is very high too.   This is all because I wanted to take a walk last night to get outside for a bit.  Really dumb, but it was so nice.

This is where Ice Break in Tucson comes in.  Ice break is when it reaches 100 degrees for the first time of the year. Legend has it this is when the ice breaks on the Rilito River.  Then sand trout fishing begins for the first time of the year in question. After 3 days of 100 degree days the pollen count drops really fast.  Then I can go out on my evening walks again without worrying about waking up at 3a.m. Sneezing with an ear ache or 2..

I did not plan far enough in advance to get some hard candy to help relieve the congestion.  I was more concerned with getting the basics at Trader Joe’s then the things I would need in April.  Well I think things finally cleared up enough to go back to sleep.

It Had to Happen

It’s been needed for over a month. The dreaded to do list. I think I need a little more structure in my life right now. A lot of structure has been missing since late November 2019.  So tonight I made my first to do list of the year.  Not long, it fits on a Post-it Note.  Don’t get me wrong an awesome amount of cleaning and organizing has been going on around here. Yet I still can not find my second 16 x US size 8 knitting needle for hats. Don’t forget about knitting too.  I have planned my stash to last a long time without yarn shopping.  How many things can I finish?

I am loosely planning dinners around a shopping wish list.  I put down what we need and wish that we get most of it.   One thing that I cannot seem to find is Excedrin Extra Strength for my arthritis.  The plant that makes it, is currently closed. You can’t get it online and they won’t add it to curbside delivery. I know kind of lame.  Because of stress some days I am taking all I am supposed to be taking instead of 2/3 of what I should take. My normal amount. This means that I am using up my precious supply faster.  Tomorrow I will try driving up to the drive through pharmacies in the area to see if I can get some.  If not I hope they restart production before I run out.  It’s the little things in life I like, like not being in pain that I love. Not to mention a good sunset.

An Important Announcement

John and I will no longer be sheltering in place. Sheltering in place is drab and dreary. It fills me with unnecessary anxiety.  It bring unnecessary tension to our lives.

We have decided to share an Artist Retreat here in the beautiful Sonoran desert. We we’ll be surrounded by beautiful cactus. There is a large lizard guarding the walkway to discourage interruptions. We will also have a wonderful view of the Santa Catalina Mountains. The residence includes a kitchen and fully stocked pantry. Room for John’s 3-D Printing with plenty of filament. Also separate area for fiber arts. As a bonus there is as much fiber as I can use. There is also a full library of fiber arts books.

I will try to get a few new patterns published.  Of course Grandmas Spinning Wheel should have the supplies.

I Hate to Disappoint People

There is some dunderhead on Raverlry that has decided to name themselves the official judge of others people’s knitting. You know the type, the dreaded Knitting Police. You all know how I feel about these self appointed idiots.   Knitting is one of my own art forms and I like to push the boundaries as much as I can.  I like each piece of my work to be different and unique.  Seriously if I wanted conformity why both knitting at all? I would save the time, space and money and just get what ever cheap crap you can get at the dollar store. The kids in Tucson deserve much better than that.

The thing about this idiot,  is that they don’t know that my hats go to a clothing bank for kids.  These kids don’t have much, so getting something that no one else in school has is pretty special. I have heard stories from people who work with these kids how much they love their hats.  Not many know that I am the Hat Lady. I will not let one very insecure person stop me. They can give me as many ugh’s as they want. That won’t stop me.  They were too much of a coward to leave their name. How childish is that?

Which brings me to another point. I was raised with these quotes among many.  “ If you do not have anything nice to say, then say nothing at all.” Another that comes to mind “Silence is golden.” With everyone around the world dealing with the pandemic of COVID19, none of us need this. I knit to relax, have fun and escape. We all need to relax and chill for a while.

This is the hat that got the ugh.  I personally like how the blue and red swirl and mix.  I hope it will be going to a future University of Arizona Wild Cat.  Have a Great Weekend everyone and remember to social distance.

That Feeling

I am having that feeling today that I am stick in school in the classroom waiting for recess.  Knowing that something bad  happened and waiting for the other proverbial shoe to drop and I will never be able to go out to recess ever again.

This is what the COVID19 virus is making me feel like today.  Each new outbreak makes the feeling worse. If the president would just keep his nose out of things and let the well trained Doctors and other specialists do their job we would be in much better shape.

G’d will really understand why you are not jamming into his places of worship.  Even G’d is smart enough not to interfere with Mother Nature.  I am hoping that in the long run this will help the environment and our grasp of what we need to do to end global warming.

I really want to go to recess again. So just do me a favor if you can. Just stay home until this is over.

My Production Line

If anyone would have told me in April 2019, that I would be sewing mass quantities of fabric face masks to protect us against a virus called COVID19, I would have asked them what Fantasy world that they were living  in. Mass quantities of sewing were for Eric’s bibs and a few bibs that I donated to charity. This was only a dozen at a time. This is what my sewing table look like today. Yes, they are sliding off the table into a laundry basket. I did chain sewing.  I ran out of pins and had to pin the second half when the first have were finished.

I did production line sewing where I could.  Tomorrow after ironing the seem flat it will be one mask at  a time.  I will see how many I can get done before I run out of ties.  The next batch of ties will be wider so that I have less cutting to do.

Busy at Home

For a couple who is staying home to avoid the COVID19 pandemic we have been extremely busy which has lead to exhaustion.  Let me explain further. I told everyone the my craft space has even turned into another dual purpose room, part pantry and part fiber room.

So Saturday we cleaned the room out. We scrubbed the walls, guess what we still were scrubbing formula off the walls.  I got down on my hands and knees to scrub the stubborn formula stains off the tiles.  Thank goodness for my bottle of Parsons.  Then we ran roomba and scuba.

Sunday we set up a 6 foot tall by 24 in wide shelving system.  Then we started to load it, don’t worry I saved the top shelf for fiber.  I might have also put a few small baskets on the bottom shelf.  I also did some deep cleaning and emptied 2 boxes.

Today we got our 5 cubic foot frostless freezer.  With not wanting to go into the stores even during the times set aside for older people, getting food has been interesting to say the least.   We make a fantasy wish list of everything we need and the stores send us what they have or have too much of.  On one order we ordered a variety of meat and they sent us the equivalent servings of ground turkey even though we did not order turkey at all.  On another order we ordered a variety of frozen vegetables, green beans, spinach and mixed vegetables. For the 2 packages of mixed vegetables we ordered we got the 1 pound bags for everything else we got huge family sized mixed vegetables.  This is one time I am glad to be older, the grocery stores here were trying to tell everybody to skip the stores for the first week of the month so the people who receive food stamps and seniors can shop. I am so glad I put my birth year on my loyalty cards.

Besides setting up the freezer we got Wednesday mornings delivery this morning and today’s delivery this afternoon. This involves unpacking everything in the garage. Wiping down the cans with alcohol and putting it on a shelf in the garage for a few days.  The meat in plastic wrap has to be sprayed down with alcohol and for it to evaporate, then it goes in the freezer.  For meat packed in paper we put it in a ziplock and then the freezer. Everything gets cleaned off. We even bought a fruit and vegetable wash.  The whole process takes at least 30 minutes if not more per order.  This leaves us both exhausted. Then there were a couple of boxes delivered too.

I have set up a quite spot with my rocking chair and knitting in the dual room and for the first time in weeks was able to relax.

It’s Official

It’s official, I will not die with the biggest quilting fiber stash.  I told John today that I would make face masks until we no longer needed them or I run out of fiber. After listening to Bill Gates speak on television tonight it might be as long as 18 months.  So much for traveling in our retirement.

Tomorrow marks the lasted change in our life’s.  The proposed craft room will be a long term temporary pantry complete with a small freezer.  I am sure we can convince the fiber to get along with the pantry supplies.

I have a big day of sewing and remodeling planned for tomorrow so it’s time to get some sleep.

Wondering

I am wondering if this is how my grandmothers and great grandmother’s felt as they were knitting socks as part of the war effort of their generations.  No, I am not knitting socks but rather sewing face masks for a local Tucson non-profit.

I am using the material that I had purchased to make quilts some day and some sheets destined for another project.  The material went through the 4 1/2 hour sanitary wash and a very hot dryer.   I will make the first one and then if all goes well I will mass produce them a dozen at a time.  If the first pattern does not work there will be others to try.

I am not sure if this will help with the current COVID-19 crisis.  I was asked and will do my part and hope it helps.  Using the old biblical adage “ If you save one man, you have saved the world”.  Now I am off to pull the dried fabric from the dryer and iron it before I cut the material.

Additionally these are my prototypes.  I will make one change tomorrow.  I will have a different fabric on the back.  For these I just used a sharpie pen to mark the back.

Today’s Hat

May I present hat 13 - 2020.  I am almost out of this grouping of purple yarn.  More colors to come.  Also don’t worry about the knitting needles or stitch markers, hat 14 - 2020 has been cast on and is 2 1/2 inches in.  I go to 7 inches before my decrease begins.

Day 17 of COVID19 and Counting

The dress I wore today is 2 inches longer than the last time I wore it.  I don’t think it can be classified as an Empire Waist dress anymore either, you guessed right that seam is a good 2 inches below where it needs to be. 

On the knitting front I have decided that I need simple knitting that I can do in my sleep.  I am just so stressed by the uncertainty and people not doing the right thing.  So I pulled out this basket of yarn which will be made into hats and maybe a few scarfs.  I want to finish it before the end of April, yes we will still be home for all of April too.  I will show each hat as it is finished. I really hope we will be able to go out by mid June.

I Am 3 for 3

Today was a puttering kind of day.  Over breakfast I found out I could get my favorite Trader Joe’s snack food from Amazon, at a slightly higher price. I justified it because Trader Joe’s does not deliver.

I got laundry, walking and cleaning done in dribs and drabs.  Yes, John’s polos came out wrinkled, but I did it so I can’t complain about.  I honestly can’t quite remember when the last time it happened, but I think Teri was in preschool.  Since John is working from home I am the only one who is going to see the wrinkled shirts.

My fiber crafting was quite scattered today also.  I spun 2 ounces out of 16 ounces which means that I have 4 ounces on the bobbin.  I can’t decide if I want to get a bright hot pink silk to ply it with or just ply the yarn back on itself.  Twice as much yardage or the regular 2 ply yardage.  Then it was off to the modular  baby blanket after dinner. I finished 1 square and found a mistake in another that needed to be fixed before I could continue with the blanket.  I fixed the mistake and moved on.  I am decreasing stitches on the current hat.  Since we are not eating out at all or going for car rides not a lot of hat knitting is going on.  So I worked on 3 projects and finished none some that is how I am 3 for 3 today.

Bits and pieces of COVID19

Nothing says the house needs to be reorganized more than “sheltering in place” do to the COVID19 outbreak.  But I am limiting myself in the amount of time that I am spend.  Today the hour before breakfast was spent putting our extra blankets in vacuum bags for John to put up higher in the closet after his work at home shift had ended. This gave me space for things I use all the time at a level that I could reach. Also more baskets and bags off the floor.

Another thing that I have noticed is that I am not eating enough during the day and find myself hungry at night.  I did not have this problem before because we ate most of our meals out.  Now that I am only eating when I am hungry and not planning my eating times around how crowded a restaurant will be I am just eating less.  We are also eating better sized portions and healthier food. Take to day for instance I had only had 560 calories from the time I woke up until after dinner.  This meant that I had to eat roughly 700.calories before bed.  So my bedtime snack was a toasted cheese sandwich, dried fruit and a breakfast bar.

Even worse this is the time when I would normally be shopping for smaller clothes.  Wearing the skirt at the rib cage is uncomfortable.  I am a touchy feely  person when it comes to clothes shopping, gee it must be the fiber arts in me.  I like to feel the fabric before I try on clothes. Today’s skirt was 6 inches above my waist sitting on my rib cage to keep from tripping on the skirt or having it fall as I walk. Real first world problems during a pandemic.

Well it is time to wind down for the night.

Me Over Do It

The quick answer is yes. Yes I did over do it by doing a multi day 2 person job in a few hours by myself. I am not saying that the closet does not look great. I am happy to be sending fiber to a friend. Its what happened 10 hours later that I am not happy with.

The overdoing lead to a really bad fibromyalgia flare followed by a very bad migraine. It's really not fare I really made fantastic progress. So the day was not spent making more progress but allowing my body time to heal.

It was also a bad day for knitting. I had to tink out the blanket square that I started yesterday. Then tink it out again because I screwed up the cast on. There is always tomorrow.

If you talk to me in the next few days my words might be out of order, but listen to the whole sentence and play word jumble. This too shall pass.

Also since we are washing our hands so often I find I must add lotion several times a day. By the way, Fitbits do not like lotion. If you accidentally get lotion on yours an alcohol wipe Followed by a few minutes on the charger will fix the problem.

Really Deep Cleaning

I spent the last hour and half going through my fiber stash.  Don’t worry it will have a new home with a fellow fiber artist. I am hoping she likes the gift.  I really hope she has room.  Now I must decide what to do with my new found space. To give you an idea of how much space that I will gain, there is a double laundry basket to the brim, 2 xxl ziplock storage bag and a twin blanket bag.  I just have to get enough boxes and large shipping bags to mail it.  

I think it is snack time now.

Life with COVID19

I don’t know about anyone else, but lately I feel like I am in an old Rod Sterling’s episode of the Twilight Zone.  With the empty streets and unseen pending disaster.  I hear the old theme song in my head.  With Mr. Sterling saying “Now we are entering a small town in the Twilight Zone.  People are panicked about an unseen danger. There is a rush on for supplies.  The shelf’s are empty.

We are now entering a suburban home with a husband and wife. They are trying to live a normal life. Trying to make sense of the world around them.   In the Twilight Zone.... more ominous music. Cut to wife taking a walk and the neighbor is explaining to his child that we now have to stay away from other people. Stay on his side of the street.   She will stay on the other.

The news of the object called COVID19  is all that is on the television. They even stopped reporting on earthquakes. So the couple escape by watching old reruns on television.  The wife is knitting for a distant event. The husband surfing the web.

Unfortunately this is not an episode of the Twilight Zone, this is Tucson Arizona in springtime of 2020.  Welcome to my life.

On the bright side, you know I have to end on the bright side of life.  Another project bag is empty.

COVID19

I have told my daughter that John and I will be staying home until I run out of yarn and fiber or there is a vaccine for COVID19.  I will have a ton of finished objects in a few months, but that’s ok.  We are just trying to come up with a daily routine.

Eating for a Crisis

I think people are buying irrationally at the grocery store.  I put in my list for Fry’s and did car pick up today. The things that I thought would be hard to get like fresh carrots and frozen vegetables were all there.  Personal care items and tums there. Missing were things like pie crusts for home made pot pie, Tide and crackers.  I hear the soda and cookie aisles are empty too.

People if you are going to be a home you need your fruits and vegetables. You need to take care of yourselves and loved ones. Remember your plate should be 50% vegetables, 25% carbs and 25% protein.  Also don’t forget your water. Tap water is fine in most areas.  Soda and juice don’t count.

Stay safe and practice social distancing.  Knit if you have time. Don’t forget to walk, even if it is in circles around the house.

I Need a Routine

Well I think we will be at home for a while. I need to start a routine.  I have a hunch that this might just take a little while to resolve it self.  I intend to call at least one person a day to check in on them.  Knitting is going well.  Reorganization is going well, tomorrow I am sending 8 pounds of roving and fluff  to a friend who needs project’s to do. Clearing clutter is going well too.

Tomorrow I will try Fry’s order in advance and call when you get to the parking lot service.  The ordering was a bear and kept changing my order and adding things that I did not want. The app needs to be more user friendly.  I hope the delivery goes better.

I have decided to use the same mindset I used when Eric used to get sick.  We will make it through. I have yarn and fluff.  We are cooking 3 meals a day at home we can do this.  Also. Have lots of plastic bags to put finished projects in.

Happy Dance Time and Local Yarn Stores

I got my stitches out today. I am very happy. Let’s see if I sleep tonight. This tension headache is not helping.  I am also on square 4 of a nine square modular blanket.  Since I can’t go out to knit tomorrow, I will work on this for my 2 to 3 hours of morning knitting before I make lunch and putter around the house for a few hours before making dinner.

While you are thinking what to do with all this time freed up by CONVID19. Please remember your local brick and mortar business. Your local yarn stores are doing all they can to stay afloat.  If you need yarn call them first. Some are open and are allowing in store sales.  Some will be shipping orders. Some will even bring your yarn order out to your cars.  If you want them around post crisis see what you can do to help them now.  This goes for other speciality shops and eateries too.

COVID19

Life is kind of surreal right now. With the COVID19 virus rampaging literally around the world. Events being cancelled on it seems a daily basis. Earlier this week I had my in box flooded by all kinds of business telling me how they were going to keep things cleaner.  When in reality they should have been doing this basic level of cleaning all along.  But keeping things clean cost money,  that Wall Street Analysts don’t think is necessary, it hurts the bottom line.  What ever happened to cleanliness is next to Godliness?

The news has been filled with warnings to stay home when you are sick.  As if this was some kind of new and brilliant idea.  Really, I have been doing this for decades.  Also on how to call your doctors office if you think you have this new virus.  Not just rush out to the nearest urgent care or emergency room to get more people sick.   This is a totally new virus, literally no one in the whole world has ever had this.  Like every other virus some people will get mild cases and unfortunately some will not survive. I really don’t think that summer will slow it down.  Stay home and read a book or two.

Now I am getting emails telling me about stores closing for a week or two or four.   Some employees will get paid other people will not.  If you are NOT sick or in a high risk group consider volunteering at places like the Food Banks or Meals on Wheels.  See if your community has a fund to help gig workers pay their bills, if they don’t work, they don’t get paid.  This virus is going to cause a lot of hurt. The bill that was passed in Congress won’t help much, it has more wholes than a large Swiss Cheese Wheel.

I also had to order some of my groceries online. I will have to wait for the next store shipment to arrive as a friend has said that the shelf’s are empty.  I will be doing a lot of cooking at home.  We will have to wait for things to settle down before we dine out again.  Can we collectively say we are going to do meal planning?

In the meantime as long as we are home for a few weeks, we will see if we can knock some long term projects off the to do list. I will continue to knit and deep clean. I will continue walking every day, several times a day.  My daily goal is 8,200 steps as of today.

I have several  requests from everyone, please be kind to each other. Wash your hands an awful lot. Be good to yourself as this too shall pass.

Happy Pi Day

In honor of Pi Day is served chicken pot pie for dinner. I might have gotten burned out on hats. In other news I started working on another UFO project. I have 4 Modular Baby Blankets in various stages. When I finish those I should have 2 more empty project bags. The pattern is available on Raverly and Iloveknitting.com. I would love to see your finished blankets.