Happy 2019

I would like to wish everyone a happy new year. May your year be happy, healthy and prosperous.

As many of you know I personally gave up New Years resolutions years ago. This year I am making an exception. This year my goal is to stash bust all craft projects in he house, including jewelry, yarn, roving and fabric projects in other words knit, spin, weave, sew, and play with beads. My goal is to finish as many projects as possible. A project will be considered completed when finished, ripped out to repurpose ,thrown into a dog pillow, passed on to some else. Basically just getting it done no mater how. I promise to post as many pictures as possible so you can join me on the journey.

This is the last project I finished in 2018. Row count will be added later.

I Ran Out

I ran out of tissue paper tonight.  I never run out of tissue paper. I always have 2 or 3 extra packages hidden around the house.   Except for tonight.  I really needed it.  No time to run out and get more. Sigh.  So if you find your items wrapped in parchment paper I have no excuse.  I think it is a sad commentary on my life that I have more parchment paper than tissue paper.  I was once told parchment paper was a good thing to warp my looms with, not so much.

Although I should be able to restock at a good price.  It will probably be red, green and white until after Easter, when the pastels will be available.  

Just an interesting side note. Scotch Tape does not stick to parchment paper.

Easy Tri Tip Roast

Teri has requested that I share my tri-tip roast recipe.  It is a very easy 5 ingredient recipe. It takes less than 5 minutes to put together and only 35 minutes to cook.

1 Tri-tip Roast
Salt and pepper
1 sweet onion sliced thin
1/2 c water
Cooking Spray

Pre heat the oven to 425f

Use cooking spray to spray the bottom and sides of your. Le Creuset roasting pan. Place roast in the bottom of the pan. Salt and pepper lightly.  Cover with the sliced onions.  Pour the water on the side of the roast being careful not to wash the salt and pepper off the top of the meat.   Cover and bake for 35 minutes.

Remove from oven and wrap in heavy duty foil for 15 minutes to the the roast finish cooking and rest. Slice and serve.

Add vegetables and a starch for a complete meal.

Down Again

Teri and I did a quick dash to J.Jill today. Our mission was to try to find smaller sized pants. The pants I bought a month ago are now too big.  We were very successful. 3 new pairs of pants were acquired.  I know that I am down at lest 5 pairs of pants, but this just means that I will do my laundry a little more often.  This is not a challenge to Eric to make more laundry.

I find it amazing that when I woke up this morning, I was feeling very fat and frustrated. Then less than 12 hours later I am buying smaller sized pants.  Deep down I know that I will never have a model sized body. I would love my goal to be that.  On a more realistic level my ultimate goal is a healthier me.

Lastly, I would like to,wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday.  .

Mindfulness

I am sitting here wishing that people would be more mindful. On a personal note it would result in less laundry and sticky floors for me to clean up after. I really hate to clean up medicine spills, that would not happen if people would just pay attention.

Outside my house I bet that there would be a lot less accidents and just maybe we would all pay less in car insurance.  If people would be more mindful maybe they might just pick up after themselves.  One can only hope.

Have a very mindful and happy day.

A Rough Start and A Smooth Finish

After a rocky start I managed to get all my errands done.  I also got a home cooked dinner on the table too, albeit leftovers.

Eric is happy with his new jeans. I can’t believe this is the first time since he was in size 5 slims that I bought a regular size 18 for him. He is over the moon that I bought him 5 new pairs of jeans. Truth be told, we just could not do the top button of the size 18 slims up. The 2 extra inches in the waistline should help.

I am still working on the first hand knit project for me the year.  I was hoping it would be done by now. I hope to wear it Wednesday. Wish me luck.

I am calling it a night a little after 10pm. Yes I took something for the arthritis pain with dinner tonight so I am really hoping to sleep until 6am. Night all.

Pain

When am I ever going to learn that I can not sleep when the Arthritis pain is beyond being boxed up? Other than not sleeping it was a very good Sunday.

Klutz Gene

I am still waiting for the scientist to find the klutz gene and find a cure. Otherwise I will have to find a way to be less klutzy. Yes I did fall today and I am OK. Just a little sore. I don’t bounce like I use to.

Zenning and More

I am currently zenning my craft room / guest room for company later this month. I am tired of moving things from room to room when company comes and then moving the same things back. So I have gone to Costco twice for storage boxes. It is my hope that once all the extra fiber and fabric is in one place I will be more productive. Just think I can add about a month more creative time to my year.

I am also gathering knitting things that I don't need anymore and hope to sell them to other knitting guild members. My idea is to recoup some space and money. Wish me luck. They will be priced to sell.

Speaking of being productive, I managed to drop off 6 hand knit hats, 12 hand woven scarves, 1 hand knit scarf and other new clothing items to the Flowing Wells Clothing Bank. My part of today's delivery is pictured below. My friend Rita also knit 14 hats for the kids.

Sad

My first ever spinning wheel broke this morning while spinning. See the parts on the right. I hope that John can fix it. If not, i can’t even think about spinning art yarn without my Louet S15.

Alpha Testing

The alpha testing continues on John’s new 3D printed knitting accessory. I am really loving the new design. It is so portable.  It traveled with me to Northern California and back. I also love giving positive feedback for changes and seeing the changes made.  I also learned that .05 millimeters can make a huge difference in a 3D design.  Not so much in knitting.

The engineering design work is so different than designing with fiber.  It seems to require a lot more pre planning and tweaking than with fiber.  Don’t tell anyone that you heard it from me, but I am learning a lot about the process.  Some of this might be incorporated in my fiber design work in the near future.

Of course when the design is finished it will be sold exclusively at Grandmas Spinning Wheel here in Tucson.  I will post when that happens.  With pictures of course.

Less UFO’s

Today was spent finishing 3 small knitting projects and weaving in ,the ends.  It seemed to be a good day to tie up loose ends. I am really not sure how it became bed time. Since I have another busy day tomorrow this will be a short post.

A Great Thanksgiving Week

I had the pleasure of spending part of Thanksgiving week with my lovely daughter and her husband and his family. I had a wonderful time. Thank you Teri,Tej and family. I also got a great picture of Teri too.

Today I spent the day catching up. My to do list is not done, but there is always tomorrow.

Still Zenning

I spent almost 2 hours in heavy deep cleaning....the kind of cleaning you need to change clothes afterward. Then I moved on to zenning all kinds of projects. I dumped so many projects that the dog pillow box is full again, I just made 4 pillows 2 weeks ago. Now I just need to find homes for more dog pillows. The recycle bin is full to the top with days to go before it will be picked up..sigh, I hate not be able to get everything out, but I may run out of room soon.

I threw a party for Eric today at his day program. We went through almost an entire 1/2 sheet cake from Nadine's. Instead of gifts for the young man who has everything he needs we are asking for donations to the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona or a food bank closer to your home,in Eric's name. Just let me know if you made a donation, I don't need to know how much, so that I can let Eric know and thank you.

11,482

As of 9:00p.m. tonight I have taken 11,482 steps.  That is 4.79 miles for me.  I did not go hiking or shopping. All I was doing was trying to zen the house.  My closet looks a lot better.  I found that I had room to move 36 quarts of yarn into more accessible drawers.  Yes, I knit and wove through 36 quarts of yarn since the last reorganization of the yarn. That made over70 hats and a a little more than a dozen scarves for kids in need.

Now if I could only have the G.E. 1960’s self cleaning house of the future. I could use more yarn up faster.  Just imagine if the laundry washed, dried and folded itself. If the dishes washed themselves and magically made their way to the cabinets. Self mopping floors and self vacuuming carpets.  On second thought just give me Rosie from the Jettison’s. Then I could spend my days playing with yarn.

I just have a few more chores to do before bed so I will cut this short.

The Last One

Today was the last fundraiser that I will ever do.  I am tired of the event organizers haveing lame excuses for not promoting the event.  I am tired of putting in my time energy and money for such paultry returns for the school or nonprofit. Today’s  fundraiser closed an hour early and I only managed to make $68.00 for the middle school band. I also came home tired and sore beyond belief.

So after the holidays I will figure out what to do with everything.   This will probably end up in very unique and interesting gifts for friends and family.  

Perplexing

I finally made it out to get a couple of pairs of pants today. Did I mention that they were a smaller size too? I find women’s clothing sizes so perplexing at times. Can someone please explain to me why the same pair of pants, with the exact same waist with one in standard size and one in petite size.  Why is the petite one labeled plus size and the standard one labeled regular sized?   The only difference is the petite one rides at my waist and the regular sized one is half way up my rib cage, not to mention requires high heels at all times.

Are shorter people automatically supposed to be thinner?  When everyone knows that the taller you are the more muscle mass you have. This also means that  by virtue of being taller they burn more calories.

It’s no wonder that most women I know hate clothes shopping.  

Parenting and Other Things

Sometimes I find parenting very hard, but most of the time there is just a routine boringness to it. Also what has become common for our house would seem downright strange in 98% of all households. For instance before bed we empty Eric's suction machine, get Eric ready for bed, I can't believe that he is going to be 29 this month.  Take out the trash and recycle and put the last load of laundry in the dryer. Sometimes even run the dishwasher.

Then there are the blender events like the very occasional seizure, me I am hoping beyond hope that he is just over tired and not pre-viral. Waiting in traffic for the 30 minute mile because some silly snowbird rammed a very expensive sports car at a red light and refused to move his car out of traffic hoping someone in law enforcement would not say he was at fault for hitting the car ahead of him at a red light.

Since Eric is sleeping I think I should order the rest of his supplies and head to bed. Parenting Eric can be very tiring especially when he does not sleep through the night like most of this week.

I have personal blender moments too. I have trouble passing for my age on most days. The answer is no, people don't fake their age to get the senior discounts.  Today I almost did not get to vote because of it. I was asked several times for the information on my driver's license while the poll workers were holding it..Looking at me like I was lying...but my face looked like the picture and I answered everything twice correctly. The polling supervisor said to give me the ballot anyway. Afterward I let the Mayor's office and the Democratic party workers who were trying to keep track of any type of voter suppression know about it.

Another scarf made it off the loom and another hat was finished today.

Holiday Presents

Since all my holiday shopping is done, I am busy making hand woven scarfs for those who otherwise would not have a holiday present. I am managing to weave 3 to 4 a week. Here is part of the latest. A gray warp with purple and red weft.

This is a great stash buster, because each scarf uses at least 2 skeins of stash yarn. Especially good for using up some of the non super wash yarn. The finial processing of the scarfs involves hot soapy water and roughing the scarf up. This results to a 10 to 15% total shrinkage of the scarf so it will not felt later.

My Fall Obsession

Pomegranates are in season. Nothing beats a freshly cracked open pomegranate for a snack. I got these large ones at Costco today. Thanks to my friend Shanna I can now open and empty one this size in about 10 minutes. Now to finish my snack so I can weave a little on my freshly warped loom.  before bed time.

Feeling Sad

After the events of this weekend I am feeling really sad. I know that as a country we can do better than this.  Unless you are of Native American ancestry or part of the First People of Canada ancestry you have no right to complain that some one is an immigrant or that their parents immigrated to this country legally or illegally. You must learn your history or be prepared to repeat it.

We are a country of laws that include the right to worship in the manner of of our parents and grandparents.  It is beyond obscene that someone should be murdered as they pray.  It seems to be happening to much in to many churches, synagogues and mosques across this land.

At this point in time I will kindly ask that if you do not love this country that so many have given the ultimate sacrifice, so that we may enjoy the freedom to worship, meet, shop, and live where we choose. By all means please leave this country.  To quote an often used phrase of the 1960’s “America love it or leave it. “ my friends and family wish to live in peace and welcome anyone who shares our values.  Peace and prosperity are wonderful things.

Errands

After a very frustrating morning dealing with the company that was supposed to get parts to repair Eric’s bath chair, I gave up and ordered a new one through Amazon.  I can’t believe that this branch of Corman Inc told me that they were not sure how to go about getting competitive bids from different sources. Uh, you had FOUR whole months to figure this out.  The real kicker here is that all the Leckey bath chairs and parts come from one company and they have distributors in different countries that use the same price sheet. By the way if you do need a bath chair or a bath chair with a trolley I would personally recommend using Leckey. The first one Eric had lasted about a decade.  I am sure we could have just replaced the cover and been fine, but it was easier to order the whole chair.

I finally had some time to catch up on errands today. Between using coupons and rebates I managed to save well over $100.00. This does not even include the Ganga price on John’s cereal even without using a coupon.  It was a just restock the shelves shopping therapy after dealing with the durable medical equipment company. Triscuts, Chex, goat cheese and John’s popsicle were the highlight of the trip.

I tried a new method for washing wool that one of my students recently recommended.  It was so easy and worked so well that I will do a photo tutorial on it.

Wow Just Wow

I was never fond of this Lion Brand Wool Ombré, it never knit up as well as I liked. I decided to try weaving it into a scarf. All I can say is wow. I think this is just meant for weaving scarfs. It’s just perfect. Not muddy like in hand knit hats and scarfs. Just clear, clean and crisp. Well you know where the rest of this ombré yarn in my stash is going.

More Zenning

today I recycled four years worth of old Arthritis Today Magazines.  It is much easier to google what I want then trying to remember which year and issue the information I need is in.  This cleared off eight inches of bookcase space.  All totaled eight bags of recycling, eight inches of magazines and one bag of trash left the house today.

After being up most of the night with Eric and a broken kangaroo Joey pump, I had no energy for anything but getting Eric's pump replaced after the cleaning spree.  On the other hand Eric was feeling better and wanted some quality mommy time.  So needless to say I am really exhausted at this point in time.  I hope that everyone sleeps tonight.

This out of sync post is why I should not blog when exhausted.

Impressive

Eric made an impressive 5 loads of laundry today. There was one swimming day load, two eyrpy loads and two regular loads. This of course does not include the laundry from other family members or all the fiber stuff that needs to be washed.  So the weekend forecast is laundry as far as the eye can see. I would like to thank the good folks at Proctor and Gamble for making the Tide laundry detergents that work so well on what ever Eric throws my way.

If I have time I will warp the loom and weave a scarf and repeat.  As long as I am home, I might as well use up as much of my yarn stash as possible.  I wonder how many projects I can finish this weekend? I will let everyone know later.  I will also do some knitting.

Well it’s nap time.

Finally Finished

Teri’s Blanket is finally finished. It was started as her dad drove her to grad school in the fall of 2009. It was supposed to be finished by December of 2009. Oops fast forward until today. It is finally finished. The only thing that I would have changed would be to use larger knitting needles. U.S. size 7 knitting needles were a bit small for a queen size blanket. The bowl is all the ends that I cut off tonight.

I also knit 12,755 rows so the row counter for the million row challenge on Raverly took a big jump tonight.

Knitting Math

If a project is 15 squares wide and 17 squares long with 5 rounds of boarders, with 2 or more ends to weave in per block. There are also 12 ends to weave in on the boarder.  How many ends are there to weave in?

My current answer has to be 1 million.

If you come up with a different answer let me know. I have been weaving in ends for about 2 weeks now. I have spent over 10 hours this week alone weaving in ends. I see no end in sight. 

My deadline is Thanksgiving. I am sorry the Thanksgiving holiday may have to be delayed.

New Design Posted Today.

Check out my new pattern on Ravelry and Love Knitting.  Its called Felted Hot Pad. It’s a very practical home accessory for the kitchen. It is a fast and easy gift to make. Did I mention that is uses U.S. size 17 knitting needles, that is 12 mm to the rest of the world.  I designed it when I was very tired after Eric was sick again this week.  It is a beginner knitting pattern.  A more experienced knitter could possibly knit 2 in one day.  If you have not done so check out my other patterns. All patterns will be listed under Sheri Karobonik Designs.

The Hot Pad on the left is after felting.

How to Spend a Day Off

Today I took a day off and spent it weaving in the ends of Teri’s blanket. I think that I am halfway through weaving in the ends.  Tomorrow I will put the back side up and figure out how to fold the blanket to get the most productive use of my time.

A Rough Week or 2

I feel that I have lost the battle with my body.  Eric has been sick twice in the past 2 weeks.  There have been too many long days and nights that I would have handled with ease a few decades ago.  I am really trying to take care of myself.  I have been tempted to get some soda, but instead on the long nights I try to have a very small snack every few hours. This seems to be working.

This does not mean that my body does not ache all over.  I can tell you with precise detail which are my weakest tendons and joints. I am still trying to keep up my various therapy for the joints.  This just leaves me exhausted.

I am almost finished with a new knitting pattern. The pattern is written and the sample is knit but not yet felted. I have knit it 6 times to make sure it is correct technically.  I was just too tired to finish up the felting and taking the pictures.  This is a beginning pattern and will make a great holiday gift. I will let you know when it is released and where to get it.

Shh Don’t Tell Eric

It is more rare than a blue moon. I can’t even remember the last time that it happened. The odds are very much against this ever happening in any given year. What is this you are wondering. I will tell you only if you promise not to tell Eric. You must really promise and pinkie swear that you will not tell him.

OK, now that we have gotten that out of the way. I will tell you. It is a completely empty laundry room. Not one piece of dirty laundry in any basket. The picture below is the current state of my laundry room. I am not sure that this is cause for a world wide celebration, but around here that makes me very happy. I would also like to add thank goodness that the laundry line is in the garage or my freshly washed load of dress clothes would be soaking wet. It started raining not more than an hour after I hung all the dress clothes to dry.

Now I am off to sit with Eric to watch children’s programs and weave in more ends on Teri’s blanket. 

Victoria S95

I finally got box two today.   It has the backpack bag for the wheel and the art flyer.

Eric is feeling better but is still not sleeping through the night.  I am getting very tired.  For dinner tonight I wanted to skip dinner and just sleep.   And life goes on.  

My Victoria S95

My Victoria S95 got its first spin tonight. I had enough parts to make it work, but as of this writing I am still missing box 2 out of 3 boxes. I figured that after a 4 month wait that I might get all the pieces of the wheel together. However the Louet N.A. Dealership is not know for their promptness or customer service. It is a good thing for them that Louet in Holland makes one of the best wheels in the world. I do have an S15, which was discontinued a long time ago but is still a dream to work with even though I am it’s third owner. It was my first spinning wheel.

But, I digressed. The Victoria S95 is a dream to spin on. It is small enough to take anywhere to spin with. It is so quite that John did not hear me spinning less than 6 feet away. There was almost no learning curve with this wheel, 10 minutes tops. There was a very smooth peddling and spinning motion. The picture below is my first hours spinning. The only thing left yo figure out is the color that I am going to use to moderate the colors in the roving for plying. I will have to check my stash for solids other than white.

Not related to Spinning, Eric is feeling better.  One more day home than he is good to go back to program on Thursday.  I plan on catching up on sleep tonight.  I am also on the last round of the broader on Teri’s Blanket. Then I will have to weave in all the ends.  

Life in the Blender Again

I am sitting with Eric while we do a trial run on pedilyte.  The kangaroo Joey is set to 5 ml per hour. For those you who do not live in the ml universe, that is 1 teaspoon per hour.  Yes, Eric is sick again. I swear that if I had a nickel for every time some said that their kids had allergies and Eric got sick, I could make a hefty donation to fight hunger here in Tucson.  With any luck I might just make it to bed by midnight.  I also feel that it falls on deaf ears when I ask people to stay home when they or their kids are sick.

In other news, Teri’s Blanket is on the last round of the boarder. Then I get to weave in two ends per block.  Then I will wash it.  I don’t think that I will block it since it is 100% organic cotton.  The final picture and row count should be some time this week.  It will have over 12,000 rows for the one million row challenge on Ravelry.