More Deep Cleaning

Today I did what every empty Nester should be doing. I went through a box of old paperwork and got rid of it. Don’t tell John but I plan on using the empty box for fiber stuff.  I landed up filling five bags of recycling and getting it out of the house. If you are an empty Nester, I challenge you to get rid of all your old paperwork and shred it.  After all do you really need the donation letters from when the kids were in elementary school or high school?

I really couldn’t get into knitting or spinning today. So I guess deep cleaning was progress of some sort.

Wrapped in Love

I know it was 113f outside today. I was still cold and achy.  So I wrapped myself in the Virus Shawl that was made for me by my friend Inge and took a long nap.  I felt like I was wrapped up in love.  I felt better afterwards.  

I am still not at 100%, and flare ups have a way of making me tired and achy.  So having a couple of extra naps today was great.  

The Virus Shawl pattern is available on Raverly.  

The Arthritis Won Today

Sheri 0 - Arthritis 1.  To make a long story short by the numbers.  Laundry 2 loads. Naps 2. Steps 10,000.  Nothing else got done today.  

I Am in Better Shape

Today after our morning 2 mile walk, I had a glass of water and proceeded to clean house for an hour.  I had 8,300 steps by 10:30 am.  I finished the day with 14,396 steps which is 5.58 miles and 66 active minutes.  I don’t think I could have done that in March.  

The only down side was that by using my hands for cleaning the house, I could not knit today.  I am hoping that as my hand heals this will not be the case.   

Games

I might have lost it tonight. I was playing Ever Merge on my tablet and Harry Potter Wizards Unite on my cellphone.  I managed to make progress on both games.  They work well in tandem.  

Purging my closet and more

Today the stitches came out. My mouth feels better but is still sore. The next check up is in three weeks. The doctor says that it looks like it’s healing well.

I went through the shirts in my closet today. I made a basket full of clothes that were too big mostly shirts, They will be going to Goodwill as soon as I’m finished going through everything. Some of the shirts that I thought we’re gonna be too big actually look better now than when I bought them. Although some of them are 6 to 12 inches longer than they used to be. The skirts left my closet 2 weeks ago.  

I am still taking it slow to give my hand and mouth time to heal. So I am moving at the pace of a turtle. I’m getting plenty of rest, but not so much rest as to be bored out of my mind. I started working on a new pattern in positive and Negative. I did not realize how complicated doing just squares and rectangles could be when writing a pattern. This is something I used to do I was walking around the mall and not thinking about what I was knitting.  Now that I have to think about it all I can say is wow.

Feeling Better

I am starting to feel better after my dental surgery. Almost human again.  I have worked out a new pattern conundrum.  Listening to a book and still resting.  I am doing light chores. And still working on my hand physical therapy.  I even walk about 5,000 steps today. 

My Question of the Day is?

I have a very interesting question. I’ve been walking a long time to get in better shape. When my step goal was 8000 steps a day I struggled to make the 8000 steps a day. However, when I switch my step goal to 10,000 steps today I seem to be exceeding it almost every day. I am totally confused by this. Does anybody else have the same issue?

I Am Getting Restless

I still can’t knit following surgery.  My hand was too sore to do much spinning today, or any spinning for that matter. So I did a lot of pacing around the house and racked up 5 3/4 miles which is 13,652 steps.  I have to honestly say my hand is doing a lot better. I can do more, but no knitting yet.  Hopefully soon.  

Progress

I have made progress today, even though my stitches don’t come out till Wednesday. I managed to spin a half an ounce of fiber into yarn. I spun half a rolag from Mirla Fiber Arts. I did stop before I felt pain.  You can find her fibers on Instagram. Jenny does not always have her shop open. When it is open you can get beautifully blended rolags , batts and jewelry.  

Success

I don’t know if I’m the only one losing inches during this pandemic. I finally got up the courage to order some skirts that fit. Of course they are one size smaller than I wore before. I have to admit that I ordered one to see if it fit, then I ordered a few more from the same manufacture. I really had a hard time shopping online because I really like going into the stores and trying on the clothes before I buy them. Now I won’t have to wash clothes every few days.  It feels really good to have clothes that fit. The skirts sit on my waist instead of my rib cage. The next thing to tackle is a few pairs of shoes. This is really scary.

My hand is slowly healing.As predicted I am very bored without my knitting. I can’t do much until the stitches come out. I hope I can do physical therapy at home. It just scares me to go into the unknown to have my hand worked on. 

Well it’s time to call it a night so that John and I can go on early morning work tomorrow.Success

105f Today Or Hats by the Dozen

What do I do I knit when it’s 105f out? I knit winter hats. You all know that I don’t think summer is long enough.  Pretty soon it will be in the 70’s and the cold weather gear will come out. I am with in knitting distance of 4 dozen hats knit this year.  The earliest it has ever happened.  That means I only need to knit 16 more hats to make my minimum goal of 5 dozen hats. To me that means 60 heads will be warmer this winter.  I wonder if I will make it to a bakers dozen of hats this year. In case you were wondering a bakers dozen is 13 of any baked good.  So that is 12 x 13 or 156 hats which is my all time record.
Stay safe and have some home bound summer fun.

Monday’s Rollercoaster

Today was a roller coaster with some very good highs.  Seven bags made it into the recycling bin, I am hopeful it will squish down if necessary.  One additional bag of trash made it out of the house along with a broken piece of pool equipment from the pump area into the trash.

On the down sloop I started dropping stitch’s on a lace work pattern that I am working on and put it away for the day.  I have 3 hats in progress and could not seem to finish just one.  I meandered my way through the house doing a little throwing and putting things away.  Not much progress was made.

I will end on a good note of walking over 13,000 steps and over 5 miles today.  So goodnight and stay safe.

Number 50

My 50th project for 2020 was a charity hat and the 41st hat I knit this year. I have used about 75 skeins of yarn and have not made a dent in my yarn stash.  So I will keep knitting.

Knitting Scrappy Hats

I have finished six scrappy hats since May 15. It seems that the scrap yarn is multiplying. For every hat I make there just seems to be more yarn left to knit.  The yarn scraps are from other hats that didn’t require a full skein of yarn. I take all the partial skins and put them in one or two bags depending on the size of the skeins of yarn. This often leads to more than one hat being on the needles at a time. I currently have two scrappy hats in progress.

Maybe I shouldn’t of waited until the bags were overflowing before I started knitting the scrappy hats.  In the picture below you will see the two current hats in progress and the two bags of scraps. I really want to get to knitting other hats, but this will only lead to more partial skeins and more scrappy hats.  So I will trudge on and try to finish as many scrappy hats as I can.  I don’t think it will be more than a dozen more hats before the bags are empty. Then I will go back to knitting full skein hats until the bags fill up again. This seems to be my endless cycle.

This is how I am spending my COVID19 summer vacation. What interesting things are you doing?

3 for 3

Today was the third day in a row that we made charity drops.  Today we filled the back of my car to capacity with dog pillows for the animal shelter.  There were 9 in all plus a few odds and ends. Thank to new donation procedures we did not even have to get out of the car. We just popped the hatch and they took what would have been several trips for us. I did not even have to stop knitting. The result is a much cleaner craft room.  Although I still need to vacuum.

I also tried starting my day with a walk around the block, that seemed to help my mood. We also cleaned out part of the garage and put the new patio umbrella up.  All in all a good day.

Busy

Today was filled with grocery shopping, charity drop offs, knitting and celebrating.   I know a very odd combination but it worked.  I even managed to fill the back of my car with a charity donation.  Yeah for us, less stuff in the house and garage.  I need to see what other charities have curb side drop off.

In knitting, I finished one hat and started another.   Different colors though.

We also celebrated COVID19 style with curb side delivery and immediately put the food in a hot oven when we got home.

A good day was had by all.

BingingHave a great day.

I am currently binging on hats with my knitting. I started three hats and finished 2 today.  I am almost done with the next dozen hats. Only three more hats to go.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there, Have a great day.

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.  

Steps

I looked down at my steps and wondered how I got over 8,500 steps today. I goal alarm did not even go off. My day was filled with chores, knitting and taking to Teri.  A good dY all around.

Stay safe.  

The Big Reveal

As those of you that have been following my blog for a while, you know that my long term goal is to have less of me and to feel better.  I started out as a size 4X and with small changes such as giving up high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners and moving more. I have been tweaking my everything  since June 2009.  You can go back and see all the tweaks if you would like.

It has not been easy. There were set backs along the way. There is no fast fix.  I kept at it for over a decade.  Today is a really big day for me.  This is the first dress that I have worn since so last century that has not had an x before or after a number or letter.  I have finally gotten into a regular size large.   Yes this looks like an X-Large that I have been wearing for a few years. With COVID19 in all it’s, I don’t know. What I have not been able to do is celebrate properly by going out shopping.  So I headed to eBay and found a dress that I already had in my closet in a size smaller.  The only difference is the empire waist is in the right spot on the large dress and around my waist on the X-Large dress.

This is not the end of the journey. This is a milestone to be celebrated.  So celebrate with me as I show you my new to me dress.  Join me in my journey if you would like.  I have miles to walk and more inches to lose.  I would like to lose about 4 more inches around my rib cage and drop another few sizes and at least 50 more pounds. I say wish me luck, but there is no luck in longer term body reshaping, only hard work one day and one mile at a time.  

Knitting Hats by the Dozen

In order not to give everyone hat fatigue, I will only post 1 picture for every dozen hats. That means 10 more hats to knit before the next picture.  Also hats will only be knit in the den.  I have a better set up for patterns that I need to follow instructions on in the craft room. Next to my rocking chair, I have a music stand to hold my patterns.  It is wonderful.  I am wondering why this took me 20 years to figure out.

Anyway it’s late and we should all be asleep.  Stay safe.

Hats and More

Would you believe that 21 out of my 30 completed prior knitting projects this year were hats? If you know me the answer is is that all you’ve made so far? I am knitting hats like crazy and hoping that school will resume in the fall. Three of the 21 hats were gifts so that leaves so far 19 hats for the Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank.  If school does not resume it is my hope that the wonderful superintendent Dr. Baker will be able to get the hats to the kids who need them. So I keep knitting. I also started the dozen bag today. This is the bag that keeps the clutter out of the den. When I have a dozen hats they go in to this bag and into a closet until school starts in the fall.

I also took the plunge and ordered some smaller clothing on line today.  I hope that they all fit.  For those keeping track, I have lost 8 inches off my rib cage and lots of inches in other places and 50ish pounds since 2009 when I started the make Sheri healthier project.  I have also gone from a 4x, I really don’t know how I let it go so far out of wack, to ordering a size large.  I know each store, designer and chain store have their own size scales.  This is crazy, right?   Today I ordered a size small (another division of the chain this would be a large or extra large) from one store and a regular larger from another.

Today was a relatively good day. Stay safe and stay 6 feet apart. Hat 21 is sideways.