It’s Official

This afternoon I found out that Eric will be home for another week.  The site where he goes for his day program is under going major repairs to its gym. Air quality is the issue for Eric.  So Eric and I have planned some activities for next week.

So to make this happen for Eric, I will be making dog pillows, with help on the stuffing stage.  Then sewing them up.  These will go to the Humane Society.  I will also go through my knitting bags to find all the tabs I can. We are going to drop them off at the local Ronald McDonald House to help the kids. The tabs pay for the utilities here in Tucson with any leftover money going to help the families. This is Eric’s favorite charity project.

So if I am cranky next week, please forgive me. I also am apologizing in advance.  Now I am going back to knitting.

Q

Did I ever mention how much I love crocheting using a size Q hook and bulky yarn.  I was able to start a scarf at 3 pm  today and finish it around 8 pm with all the ends woven in. I still had

time to cook dinner, take a walk and clean up dinner.  It was a bright spot in an otherwise dismal day.

Eric kept me up last night so I was tired to.begin with. Then there is building construction at Eric’s day program which will muck with the air quality, so he will be home until at least Monday.  So besides a much needed nap, all I did was play pick up.  This lead to a cranky mommy day.  Yes, I know in my heart that things could be worse, but sometimes it is hard to see outside my four walls.

So this is what 56 rows of crocheting looks like when you only go through the back of the top loop.

Tuesday

Dropping off Eric.  Paying activity fees for the year. 

Getting 2 knitting projects off the knitting needles and weaving in the ends. I am to tired to take pictures or count the rows.  Cast another hat on and knit 1 3/4 inches of the band. 

A trip to Bookman’s and they took everything today. I used the credit for 2 more pairs of socks for The Flowing Wells SD Clothing Bank. 

Went to 2 different grocery stores to get shopping done. I managed to put almost 

everything away and do the rebates. 

Fixed Eric’s Wheelchair and cleaned off some of the formula that spilled on the chair.  

Was too tired to cook dinner. I don’t have to wonder much about that. 

Praying that Eric does not want a 1 am play date with me. 

Time for lights out.  

Today

laundry, 3 loads
Nap, a long one
Knitting, not as much as I wanted
Cleaning, just the right amount
Bookman’s, sadly no

24

A charity scarf for 240 rows for the 1 million row challenge on Raverly.

23

This is my first non Elmo size sweater. After helping more then 20 people finish their sweaters I have finally finished mine.  Yes, this is the sweater that I completely frogged and re knit.  It has 500 rows of knitting towards the 1 million row challenge. It also fits to a T. It is made from 100% cotton that was kettle dyed to give it a unique color.  Yes, I love it and will wear it often. No I can’t give you the pattern name because I changed the pattern as I went and did not take notes. I will not be re knitting this sweater to create a knitting pattern.  This sweater was more a work of perseverance than of joy to me.  Mist ask my friends how many times I fell asleep knitting this.

A Little Tinking

A tinking we will go
A tinking we will go
High ho the cherry’o
A tinking we will go.

Did you ever have a night where you were too tired to knit but did so anyway?  That was me tonight. I am on the second sleeve of my first sweater for me. I am diligently doing the every fifth row double decrease. When I really wasn’t. I had managed to pick up 1 stitch at the needle change for every 2 stitches I decreased. By the time I noticed it I was 15 rows into tonight’s knitting and had to tink out all of my progress.  I actually frogged it.

So I picked up all the stitches and tried to divide them equally, another fail, but not a big one.  I knit 1 round to get the stitches untwisted.  Then the next  decrease row and the next row.  I decided to stop there for the night so I would not make the same tired knitting mistake.

Maybe tomorrow night I can finish the sleeve. Then all I have left to do is the front placard and sewing on the buttons.  That might get done on my way to Stitches West on Thursday. I am leaving the guys home for the weekend.

*tinking is knitting backwards.
*frogging is when you take out the knitting needles and rip out several rows at once. The put the knitting back on the knitting needles. In this process you hop it a stitch does not run away.   Rip it, rip it.

Pattern Release Day

My new pattern 1 of 3 a Shawl Study has been released.  The pattern is available on Ravelry at the following link, 1-of-3 A Shawl Study .   The yarn is available at Blue Moon Fiber Arts .  I used Socks That Rock in the color way Delirium.  This is a one skein wonder that has replaced my favorite small shawl that I knit 20 years ago.

20,21 and 22

The next 3 projects are dog pillows.  No fiber goes to waste.  The stuffing is made from yarn scraps, fiber leftovers from the carder, left over fabric scraps from sewing, UFO’s that are not worthy of finishing or tinking and mixed with Polly fill to even things out. Nothing goes to waste. I use material from my material stash and material that can be gotten for a good price on the clearance table. They are give to dogs without charge.  This is a great recycling project.

Not a Terrific Day

It was one of those days where my body, hands included could not keep up with my mind.  I had my list my body had it’s list. We know who won. Well there is always tomorrow. At least the barometric pressure has stabilized. Here is to a good nights sleep and a better day tomorrow.

New Designs

As I was looking at my mini shawl number two today I noticed that there were major differences between shawl 1 and 2.  I find it simply amazing what the addition of a stitch or two can make in the overall design. So instead of 1 mini shawl patterns there will be 3.  Since my arthritis got the better of me today, I will get the first one published tomorrow. Number 2 should follow shortly as I have knit 48 grams of a 100 gram ball of yarn.

Time to call it a night so I will be productive tomorrow.

Eric is Sick

When Eric gets sick he usually does 2 things. First he makes a not literal ton of laundry. Second he shares his cold.  Well he managed to fill the washing machine to the top 3 times in 12 hours with dirty laundry And had dirty laundry to spare. John called it an apocalypse of laundry.

He did manage to share the cold with me too. Since John was home I tried to sleep today since I was up with a Eric last night. The good news is I am already in an arthritis flare up so the cold is almost gone. The bad news is it will add about 6 weeks to the current flare up from Eric’s last cold. Let’s hope that John does not get it.  

This picture does not include the weekly load of bath towels that got washed before the start of everything going into the Blender. Also over 90% of this is Eric’s laundry.  Our young man certainly knows how to make laundry.

Life Does Not Always Bring Joy. Get Over It

The next round of Zenning has begun.  Those around me want me to move faster like the latest television guru. Wildly throwing thing away without thought.  I however will continue to move at my own speed deciding what goes or stays and when.  I am tired of the mindlessly chants if it does not bring you joy it must go.  I think this chant is very pathetic and irritating.  It is worse than the “build the wall” chant of the racist.

Things like laundry don’t bring me joy, but it must be done on an almost daily basis.  I don’t mind the car rides with Eric, but the traffic drives me nuts, but  the almost daily commute must be done. I hate the noise of the percussion machine, but it must be done twice daily. I hate People who don’t pay attention to the road when they are on their cell phone, this does not bring me joy. Yet, I fear that they are here to stay.  The list goes on. All life is not meant to bring joy.  Some days you just have to slog through it.

I think it’s time for this cranky and over tired mom to call it a night.

The Good, The Bad and The Dog Pillow

I am sure that most of you know that I have to re knit 2 patterns for lack of  copious notes.  So today I tried to start the rewrite with what I thought was a beautiful and expensive skein of merino,silk and nylon with a lovely color way and very long repeats for the pattern.  Well 20 yards in I was already at the 2nd manufacturing tie and I could see the third. By industry standards they are only allowed 3 tie offs per skein. It did not bode well.   If you know me well my motto is “Life is to short to knit with bad yarn or spin with bad roving.”  I pulled the project off the needles and removed the stitch marker. So into the dog pillow box it went. An hour of design time wasted.

I went stash diving and found a Crazy Zauberball from Schoppel Woole made in Germany. I have never had a problem with their wool or cotton yarn. It has a nice long color way. I started it after dinner and have the first 2 to 3 inches knit, so I did not lose to much ground.  Since it is a 2 line pattern with very little explanation I. Ishtar be able to type up this pattern and wait for the new sample to be finished for the pictures.

I also got another 72 rows done on the blanket and am ready to cast on the next square tomorrow.  It is going much faster this time because I have the first sample to work off.  By the way the 2 blankets will look totally different because with modular knitting I really have fun with color.

With any luck Eric will be back a program tomorrow.  It has been a long weekend with him sick.  This tired mom is going to bed.

Scattered Knitting

I think that John has it right. I am a very scattered knitter. How did he come to this conclusion you might ask.  Well it occurred tonight during Super Bowl 53.  I was working on the remake of a pattern do to a lack of copious notes, see yesterday’s blog post.  I got up to get my last Yarn Butler not in use, I have 3 for the record.  They are now all in use.  Plus I have various baskets and bags most filled with multiple UFO’s.  I also have knitting projects in more than 1 room of the house.

I think it might be time to finish all my UFO’s in progress before I start any new projects.  Then sell off some of my soon to be extra bags and baskets. I need to learn to focus.  Being focused, squirrel, is not one of my fortes.  The exception to this would be hats and scarves  for the clothing bank, that is my take along project and a device I use in restaurants not to eat chips or bread before a meal.  It’s just a way to keep my Carib count down.

Wish me luck.  Since this is a short month my goal is to get 3 patterns written and posted to Raverly. Then finish my sweater.  Hopefully there will not be to many squirrels this month.

*Squirrels is a term use to say a distraction in a somewhat funny way.
*UFO is short for unfinished projects or objects.

A Lack of Notes

I am having to re knit a blanket do to a server lack of copious note taking on my part.  The only two blessings that I can think of is that most sections are repeated 4 times, and I only have to write it once and say please repeat this section 3 more times.  The other is that I have a blanket to knit as a present so I will use the duplicate as the gift. If I hustle I can get this done fairly soon as there is no design work left.

To answer the question everyone has been asking, yes there will be a knit along.  I just have to make the arrangements.

18 and 19

The next 2 hats are finished.  They have been placed in the bag going to the Flowing Wells SD Clothing Bank when it is full.  This also added 136 rows towards the 1 million row challenge on Raverly.  I know I probably won’t make it to a million knitting and Crochet rows, but I can have fun trying.

I spent most of the day sleeping. I caught the bug du jour. I would just like to remind everyone to try to stay home when you are sick.  It is just better for everyone.  I put off my errands to stay home and not spread the cold.

I now have 2 bags of books for Bookman’s and will spend the trade credit on socks for the clothing bank too.   It’s a win win for everyone. I have less stuff.  Bookman’s has more stuff to sell and I am supporting a local Tucson business.  Some kids who need socks will get them.  Plus nothing goes to the landfill.  What could be better than that?

T

Zenning

Nothing but Zenning got done today.  All my knitting books fit on the allotted shelf space.  Now I just have to sort them by knitting,spinning ,weaving,crochet and quilting. I found another foot of knitting books that are ready to go to Bookman’s.  If they take most them I should be able to trade them for socks for my pet charity project.  They liked the last dozen pairs that I brought in.  Who knew that you could trade knitting booksthat are no longer needed for socks and make it a win for everyone. I also went through the rest of my Molly magazines. I decided that I did not need most of them.  So I will be sharing them.  I also managed to get my to read books all lined up.  No wonder I was too tired and too sore to knit today.

Yucky Flare Up

Nothing but 5 loads of laundry and 2 hours of deep cleaning got done today.  I have almost another foot of knitting books for Bookman’s and a pile of craft magazines for my knitting friends.  My hands were to sore and tired to knit.  I did spend a lot of time napping. This flare up has knocked me out.  Maybe tomorrow will be better.

16 and 17

I finished washing my new hand spun yarns. Both were a bit of a challenge and I am glad that I spun them.  The blue yarn is a chain ply. The pastel is the boucle.  The boucle was the harder of the two yarns to spin. So I can say projects 16 and 17 are done for the year.

14 and 15

Projects 14 and 15 have been completed.  They have also left the house to head to there new home. I have more that are almost done. But I also started 2 new projects today, yes I know I have a lot of UFO’s and need to spend at least an hour a day finishing them.  Maybe I should just set office hours to knit and get projects done.  I wonder if Eric would corporate?  The only way to solve this problem is to knit and spin more. 

Middle of the Night Mom Duty.

Imagine be lulled to sleep after a very long day by the music of The Canadian Tenors.  Then imagine be rudely awakened by the sounds of a young man having trouble breathing.  Once the meter hit 92% I personally did not care how low it wanted to go, it was time for a breathing treatment.  I risk injury to myself when his oxygen level is so low.   He fights the treatment in shear panic.  Then it’s time to do a bit of knitting while I am waiting to give round two.  I got a good 3 inches knit, yes I am using bulky yarn and U.S. size 17 knitting needles.  Some child is going to enjoy this alpaca/ nylon blend scarf.

Then it is time for round 2. It is not a very good sign that he is just as combative.  But at least his oxygen level is up.  He did manage to tweak my left wrist on the second round. So what’s a mom to do?  Go to the kitchen and grab a soup spoon and the jar of Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter and dig in. A little late night snack and some unwind time.  With any luck Eric will be breathing well and fast asleep by the time I finish my peanut butter. Just maybe I will be ready to sleep again.  Although I am not counting on it.  There is too much noise coming from Eric’s bedroom. A second spoonful of peanut butter and I will head back.

I really hope that I don’t finish my scarf tonight.  Wish me luck. I really want to sleep.

Unintended Consequence

There were unintended consequences for staying up until 3:15 am with Eric this morning.  I just realized that the pjs I had bought in November were now so big that they were falling down.  This lead to a trip to get new pjs in you guessed it, one size smaller.  January is not the ideal time to shop for pjs since the holiday stock is almost gone and the spring items were not ordered until after year end inventory was done.  Also the valentines stock has not arrived yet.

I did manage to stay up until the Super Blood Moon Lunar eclipse hit its full peak.  Eric is still not running at his 100% yet, but I am so tired that I am going to bed. I am leaving Elmo in charge.

Time to Laugh

Today I gave myself a very short chore list. My plans included typing up not one but 2 new patterns. This involved finishing the second one, which is on the verge last round right now. Going to the computer and typing them. Taking some pictures.  Seeing if a friend had time to read through the second pattern.  I also wanted to start a baby blanket, there must be something in the water, I have 2 to make so far this year.

What actually happened was that I got half way through my chores.   Then the sounds did not sound right at the other end of the house. I got there just before Eric created 3 more loads of laundry. So the rest of the day was spent dashing to the washing machine to put a finished load in the dryer and start the next load. The last load of the day hit the dryer at 11:45pm.  Did I mention how grateful I am to have a washer and dryer at home?

Because I was popping up and down no knitting was done until after 5:00pm, when I just had a little time while training a new aide. She was great. She was quick and smart.  I only had to show her things once. To bad she was just a fill in. She would be perfect for our Sunday night opening.

I was so tired that John made the sandwiches for dinner.  Thank you John. Right now I am waiting to see if Eric is going to go to sleep before the sun rises later this morning.  Wish me good luck on that one.

Night Terrors and More

I just spent one and a half hours with Eric and a night terror.  I am not sure what it was about or what triggered it.  But he is finally falling asleep.  Now for me to unwind and go back to sleep.

There are just a few comments from my day in no particular order.  

If your child’s school or day program say keep them home when they are sick, this does not mean send your kid with a box of tissues to hold onto and use throughout the day.  Sick is sick.  School or day program is not home.

If you are driving on a public through fair I expect you to keep your eyes on the road, not below the dash board looking for things in the consul such as your French fries.  If you can’t drive and eat, either drive or eat not both.

Silk is not an elastic fiber. Silk will not make your surri alpaca stretch or become stretchy.  Silk is a fiber that drapes well.

Just because you are old does not give you the right to walk in front of a whole line at the check out counter like to five people already in line don’t exist.  You might have been raised to think that the color of your skin or religion make you better than the rest of us. That is so last century and it was not true even then.

These opinions are my own.   Night night see you in the morning light.

Monday and Keep Repeating Monday

If it is Monday it must be eyrpy Eric night.  He was dry when his aide left..I double checked.  He was soaked at 9:15.  The the wild eyrpy began. 

If he is quite for a solid hour I get to go to sleep.  

I wonder if this has something to do with me catching up on sleep today.? I got a solid 5 hour nap. 

Well it’s time to knit and maybe finish the main part of the blanket so that I can crochet  the boarder tomorrow and the finish the next blanket. 

3 UFO’s From 2016

This month I will try to finish 3 modular baby blankets that were started in the spring of 2016. This should be an easy endeavor because I only have to count every other row. I also love modular knitting.  I will add a crochet edging. I will also be writing up the pattern as most of my notes are ready to be typed.

As I finish  projects they will go into a box for gifts.  Right now there seems to be something in the water at Eric’s day program.  I think I will need a few baby blankets in the next year.  

I also managed to go through my knitting books today. I filled another bag for Bookman’s. So far I have cleared 12 inches of shelf space. I still have several shelves and a foot high pile of book covering a dresser.  I am still following the book Zenning in 5 minuets a day. I am trying to curate my knitting books to keep the ones most relevant to me, instead of getting every book as they come out.  The exception will be books authored  by friends.  Less is more.  

11, 12, 13

My next 3 projects finished today. A red hat for Eric, a blue green hat and scarf for The Flowing Wells SD Clothing Bank. For a total of 288 rows towards the 1 million row challenge on Raverly. More projects were also started.

Project numbers 3 through 10

These 8 skeins of yarn are finally finished. The 2 very colorful skeins will be woven in to charity scarfs for a double bonus on projects. The other 6 yarns are samples from the class that I am co-teaching at Grandmas Spinning Wheel here in Tucson. The class is following the book,  52 Yarns to Spin  Before You Cast Off. We meet the last Saturday of the month at 1pm if you are in town and wish to join us. Call Grandmas Spinning Wheel for space availability.

Just Tuesday

I am trying to finish my PHD in knitting and spinning  this week.  I have 2 hats and a scarf  with in rows of being finished. I have 6 skins of yarn that should be dry by tomorrow. With any luck at all and a sincere hope that Eric will be well enough to go to program tomorrow, I might be able to officially knock of 9 more projects.

My clothes shopping trip was a mixed bag.  On the bright side I got a lot of walking done.  I meet my step count for the day. On the getting what I went shopping for, well let’s say it was just sad.  There were a few shakes my head moments too.  There is a “new” “all cotton “ line by a leading clothing manufacturer that is 85% Polyester and only 15% Cotton. How is that legal? Any false advertising there perhaps? How is this supposed to be the “All Cotton ” line? There were less sizes and less selection in all the stores.  Macy’s has a new Department that looks like it is right out of Tuesday Morning. Stores that I went to the mall for were no longer there.  I thought that it was supposed to be easier to find clothing with the weight and inches I am losing.

The sad part of the whole thing is not even the on line stores had what I needed.  Shopping for clothing is no longer fun.  It has become very frustrating.  Are we going back to bespoke clothing? If so get your patterns and sewing machines ready.

Well Eric is finally asleep so it is my turn.

In the Blender Yet Again

I know things are crazy around here when my to do list takes a backseat to life. John has the crud Du jour.  So I did my best to keep the guys apart, we will know if I was successful later this week.  So I tried to get an early start on chores.  I managed to get 3 loads of laundry done, there would have been more done but I ran out of clothes line space.  I managed to get 3 more skeins of hand spun yarn washed, but due to the damp cold weather ( 1 inch of rain last night) it is taking forever to dry. The dishwasher was run and, emptied and refilled.

Then it was time to fix the vacuum cleaner. For those of you with 3D printers, may I suggest using the shop vacuum to clean up around your printers.  The regular household upright vacuum was not designed to vacuum up filament. Just ask me how I know.  It jams up the beater bar.  It’s a 30 minute very messy job to do.  Did I mention how messy it is?

I also did not need my lunch to explode in the microwave oven.  Who knew that stuffed cabbage was messier than pinto beans,when heated up in the microwave.  It will get cleaned tomorrow, because I did not feel like standing on the step stool to wash it out.

Then under no good deed goes unpunished. I used rumba to vacuum the kitchen floor before I went to Scooba it.  While roomba did a great job and did not knock over my knitting baskets, loom and spinning wheel used as a road block.  Scooba on the other hand died after 10 minutes and would not go any further.  So I mopped the floor using the diluted cleaning solution from Scooba.  20 minutes later the mopping was done and so was I.  By the way I put Scooba in a timeout until we get a new battery.  This upset Eric to no end.

This is why I still have 7 items on my to do list with more to be added tomorrow.  I am exhausted.  Yes, Eric did get enough mommy time today too. I only had the energy to knit 7 rows on Eric’s next hat.  That is 784 stitches. The mittens have not been started.

If someone could lend me their magic wand for tomorrow that would be wonderful.

Playing Catch Up

Eric and I are now over the tummy bug that is going around. So today was a catch up day.  I have finished the 1st stripe on Eric’s new hat. Yes this is hat 3 for Eric for the year. The first one was too short so we are giving it to a friend of Eric’s. The mittens will be started once hat number 3 is finished. 5 skins of yarn were washed in a hot water bath and thwacked. I just checked on them and they are still wet.  Cold damp weather is not ideal for drying yarn.

Some of the baskets in the laundry room are still knee high and with tomorrow being Sunday there will be sheets and towels to add to the laundry room.  I did manage to get 2 loads done today.  Picking up is still a work in progress, but I am sure everything will wait until tomorrow.

Tomorrow, tomorrow is only 40 minutes away.

Project Number 2

Another hat for Eric. With 84 rows towards the 1 million row challenge on Ravelry. Hopefully this on will cover his ears. Tomorrow morning I will start the matching mittens.  Do to Eric’s hand  Contractures I will wing a custom pair in the same yarn. 

My First Project of 2019

Eric’s new hat for 67 rows. Now I need to knit a backup hat. Off to find more yarn.