Project 149

Hat number 56 of 2019.  I almost feel like I am slacking. Some days it is too hectic to get anything done this year.

Projects 147 and 148

Two more charity hats.  I now have 55 hats finished for the year and the next 3 are on the knitting needles.  I just might make 60 hats this year.

6 Inches

I managed to find time to weave 6 more inches tonight on the very special one of a kind shawl for my sister in law.  Here is a small peak.  I know the lighting is not very good at night.  Once the shawl is off the loom and the finishing work is done, it will not be so see through.

146

The next hat.  Hat number 53 of the year.

Projects 134 to 145

The next 11 projects are 11 skeins of hand spun art yarn for my older sister. Hopefully these will leave the house tomorrow.  Unfortunately I did not count the yardage.  Each round on my Knitty noddy is 2 yards long. Since she is an engineer I think that she can handle the math.

Projects 129 to 133

5 hats.  3 for a demo and 2 for charity.

Another Busy Day

It was a busy day around here. I walked almost 9,000 steps without leaving the house.  I finished weaving a scarf tonight,I had just enough yarn to finish it. I wound lots of yarn for plying and still have a pile to go.  I did not manage to even come close to finishing my to do list, but there is always tomorrow.

Eric had a good day and managed to con us in to staying up late.

The picture below is what yarn looks like when the yarn goblins invade.

You. Can’t Have It All

It was another lazy summer day here in the Old Pueblo. I slept in late.  Did a few loads of laundry and other chores. I did not have the energy to do all the knitting, weaving or spinning that I wanted too, but the house looks cleaner.

The Next Challenge

My next Spinning and knitting challenge is to take these 2 tubs of lace and fingering weight yarns and reaping them to make a worsted weight yarn for charity hat and scarf knitting, and scarf weaving. There was a phase in my knitting where I actually thought I could find the perfect time to knit lace work.  After adding bits of lace to some projects I found that lace knitting was not fun and not for me.   To compound the problem well meaning friends gave me a lot of wool to knit with.  I just don’t knit with those weights of yarn.  

So the first part of the challenge will be to sort the yarn between super wash and non super wash wool.  The super wash wool will be plyed to make charity hats and scarfs.  The non super wash will be plyed to make woven scarfs.  The reason for this is that when a scarf is woven and washed there is a certain amount of shrinkage that goes along with the finishing process.  So I don’t have to worry that it will shrink. The shrinkage would be a major problem with hand knit hats and scarfs.  

The first photo is how the yarn will look like after it is replyed the second picture is the first stage of the challenge. Once this is finished I will move to odd balls of dk weight yarns. If you are a spinner and want to learn how to do this and just happen to live or visit the Tucson area just call Grandmas Spinning Wheel to schedule a class. I can schedule a class with anywhere from 1 to 5 students.  If your spinning group or guild would like to learn just contact me.   It is a great stash buster.  I even make art yarns with plying.

Bits and Pieces

I came up short on steps by 2020 steps. I think I will let it go today. My nap was more important than walking.

I started my sister-in-laws shawl. I finished the warping and got the first 5 inches woven.  The picture is earlier in the weave before the color change.  I am using the 24”wide loom which is harder to weave on than the 15 inch wide loom.

My Favorite Hat of the Day

This is my favorite hat that I finished today.  I hope it is well loved.

Small Steps

I make some progress today. I finished 2 bibs and 1 hat for charity today.  I am still tired and frazzled.  Eric is done with the current round of extra medicine so I get to sleep tonight with out setting an alarm to wake up and give the every 6 hours dose. Since Eric is asleep I am turning in too.  

Getting Back InSync

I have been a little out of sync this past month.  I am trying very hard to adjust to my new normal. I am trying very hard to play catch up.  I have managed to finish knitting  a hat and scarf in the past 2 days. I am knitting up a new sample for a pattern and editing it as I go along.  Hopefully it will be camera ready soon.

Tomorrow I hope to tackle a pile of sewing projects.  I figure the more I get done the closer I will be to getting back in sync. Also the more charity work will be leaving the house next month. . Wish me luck in this endeavor.

A Rest Day

i took a much needed rest day and kept the chores light.  I even found some mindless knitting to do.

Weaving and more

I have decided that I like highly engerized hand spun singles for weaving scarfs. It makes a nice light scarf with a lot of body.  After I am done spinning up a custom spinning order of art yarn, the rest of my Tour de Fleece 2019 will be some highly engerized yarn.

I am still tired from yesterday, I think I need more than 2 hours of sleep to have a jammed packed day.  After all I can honestly say that I am not 30 anymore and have to make adjustments to my life. Whom ever said that you need less sleep as you get older was wrong.  With that in mind I am calling it an early night.

Super Powers

We all have super powers. Each and everyone of us.  We all don’t have x-ray vision like Superman.  Can I give a collective thank goodness for that. Stopping a speeding train or lifting up a bus, who really needs that? What most people don’t realize is it’s the small things in life that make us superheroes.  Giving a friend a hug when they need it is an awesome superpower. Opening a door for someone pushing a stroller or for someone in a wheelchair, again an awesome superpower. Wishing someone a good day is an awesome superpower.

Today my awesome superpower was repairing Eric’s Wheelchair.  Some how the crossbar had come loose.  So before I ran off to Ace Hardware I did a bit of trouble shooting at home.  It turned out that a screw had come loose and only needed to be tightened.  This involved turning the chair on its side. Pushing the lower half of the chair up to meet the connection while lining up the screw. I took the Allen wrench otherwise known as the Hex Key to tighten down the screw.  Yes, it is as hard as It sounds. As long as the chair was on its side I took off the rear wheels, cleaned and oiled the axles.  I then sent the chair off to be cleaned.

So my superpower today is Wheelchair repairs.  It took me all of 15 minutes and Nick 20 minutes to clean the chair. I would like our health insurance company to know that we saved them an awful lot of money today.  I did not even charge for a home based Wheelchair repair service.

So I would like to know what your superpower is.

Stress Management

If you read my blog on a regular basis you might have noticed that I am doing a lot of cleaning and Zenning lately.  My inner circle knows what all the stress is about.  For right now that is what I am comfortable with.  I am stressed to the point that my creativity has dried up, so new patterns will be on hold for a while. I still need to keep busy.

So I have been turning the house upside down. Digging into the back of closets. Trying to be realistic with my cleaning.  I am never going to get back into my pre kids clothing, so to Goodwill the clothing went.  The Tupperware that was being stored in the garage went to a friends daughter. I have been dropping of delivery’s to Goodwill at least once a week.  If a magazine is a few weeks old it will go to Eric’s day program for the young adults.  Today’s results are 3 empty boxes of paper that at one point I had no time to look through.  I filled the recycling bin to the top this week.

I have also been doing a lot of walking.  My daily goal is 8,080 steps a day.  Most days I leave that number in the dust.  It seems to be helpful.  The only hiccup has been my Knitter’s elbow.  Right now it is one week without knitting, my elbow is better but not good enough to start knitting again.
I hope that it is better soon as I have a hard time finding  the right time to warp the loom.

More Deep Cleaning

I got my Zenning done before breakfast. I now have another rag tag group of bags to go to Goodwill. Teri and I will never be able to fit into them again.  Teri, because she has almost 6 inches on me. Me because I will never be my high school size ever again.  The 1970 and 80’s are long gone. If by chance I do get back to that size they are not classics that stand up to the test of time. Although I am sure some  rebellious teenager will buy them just to drive their parents crazy.

The best part of this is that I have freed up enough hangers so I will not have to ask the sales clerks for hangers for quite a while. I wonder if I will be able to part with more before my next Goodwill run?

Weaving

I have started a new weaving project on my small loom.  This is so I have a portable project to take with me.   I am letting my elbow rest so that my knitting elbow will heal faster. I am using left over Anne yarn from a yet to be published pattern for the warp.  I am using a single spun during last years Tour de Fleece for the weft.  Even though the weft is lace weight yarn I do believe that this will weave up fast.

Since it will be over 105f all weekend we will be keeping Eric home.  He gets to supervise all my projects this weekend. This weekend I will have John cut some warping sticks down to size for my larger loom and warp the shawl for my sister in law.  It will be a purple shawl with as many purples as I can add.  The bonus to the higher temperatures is that everything will dry fast.  

Here is the start of the scarf.

Extreme Zenning

For the last two days I have been in the extreme zenning mode. Yesterday it was a closet. I have filled three bags of clothes that will be going to Goodwill. There is actually room in my closet now, not much but a little more. Unless I find the time to ride about 100 miles a week on my now nonexistent bike.  Swim laps for 90 minutes a day, six days a week and rock climbing a few days a week these cloths will never ever fit again. I am sure that some very skinny person will love these retro clothes.  As mom to Eric that level of fitness is never going to happen.  I am lucky on most days to walk 8,000 to 10,000 steps, just a small fraction of the steps my younger self took. As a grownup, I do not have as much time as my teenage self to get all that movement in every day.  

The Zenning continued today with old paper work that no longer needs to occupy space in my closet. Eight bags of shredded papers from the 2010’s  made their way into the recycling bin.  I managed to fill it up half way.  We have a 90 gallon bin.  I need to save the rest of the bin for every day recycling. As a bonus I found enough none expired coupons for a free case of diapers.  This has inspired John to find more old papers for me to shred.  

Even though I took most of the day off from knitting to let my knitting elbow rest, the rest of the world knows this as tennis elbow. Let it be known that I no longer play tennis so , therefore I can not possibly have tennis elbow.  I have decided that I must start finishing projects other than hats, which seem to fly of my knitting needles. I am really great at starting projects. Not so much with finishing.   Speaking of knitting needles, I might give some more away to a young mother who home schools her kids and teaches knitting to the next generation.  More space. I need more empty space in my closet. 

Well it is getting late and I need to try to rest, ahem I mean sleep.  

Projects 129 to 134

This weeks projects include 6 hats for the Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank. Two are super wash wool and four are a soft cotton.

Knitting

I had a day of knitting. Two hats were finished and  considerable  Progress was made on two more. Pictures to follow when I have better lighting. It’s a little dark for using natural light.

I did a lot of walking to reduce my stress and ended the day with 14,896 steps which is about 4.68 miles. Noe to call it a day.

Me Time

I am not quite sure why but lately me time involves a 2 to 3 hour nap.  Which in turn messes up my plans for the day.  Although I have to admit that I feel a whole lot better after the nap.  I still did manage to get to 2 grocery stores and get most of the house restocked.  I even managed to find a turkey breast to cook for dinner.  The leftovers will be tomorrow nights dinner.  A turkey salad with pecans, celery and cherries served over a nice salad.

I did not manage to catch up on the laundry. My prediction for this weekend will be knee high.

I even managed to finish knitting a hat and cast on the next.  For the bonus points I emptied a knitting bag.  Tinked two half finished wash cloths. I do not need any more wash cloths, I have a few dozen in a storage tub if anyone needs some.  The yarn went into the hat bag. The extra knitting bag now very empty went into my closet.  The knitting needles will be put away tomorrow.

John and I started binge watching Highlander tonight.  We got through season 1 episodes 1 & 2.  So far it is fabulous.  I am wondering if some of the actors were also in The Game Of Thrones?   The  scenery is wonderful too.  I like all the costumes.

Eric spent most of his day sleeping.  That about sums up today with the exception of steps. I got over 12,000 today.  I am trying to  exercise away the stress.

Family Time

We had a great weekend with Simiglen of Instagram fame and his family.   Yes, my younger brother is great barbecue chef.  If enough people ask him, I bet we could get his secrets for a perfect steak and fresh grilled salmon.  By the way he is just as good with grilling vegetables.

I was able to give his kids new water bottles to help their quest for a better future for our planet. I was a little disappointed that we were not able to find Tucson sweat shirts, just because we have summer temperatures in the 100’s  does not mean that visitors don’t want to bring home a sweat shirt.  Oh well, I will just have to look for them and mail them.

Eric did enjoy the company but did a lot of sleeping.

Projects 121 to 128

The next seven projects include 5 hats and 2 scarfs.  I hat snuck out of the house without a picture being taken.  I bet you did not know that hats could be camera shy.  These remaining hats and scarfs are headed to The Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank.

Find My IPhone

I lost my iPhone earlier this evening.  I used the iOS app Find my iPhone.  It found the section of the house down to a few feet, that is really fantastic. The app find my iPhone has one major flaw as far as I am concerned, it will not tell me if my iPhone is under a pile of yarn.  Really, I know that there are a lot of great software engineers out there.  Can’t one of you write a program that will find an iPhone under yarn or in the case of younger parents in the kids toys.  I am sure that they all know people who lose their phones in purses or briefcases too.

As you can tell it has been another long day at Casa Karobonik.  I am hoping that the leg/foot massager will work a miracle tonight.  I also pray that we have no headache inducing pressure changes tonight. I also pray that Eric has a peaceful and restful night. This is not happening so far. Here I sit in Eric’s room waiting to give the second half of The Tylenol.  Send Justin’s cashew and peanut butter cups in dark chocolate please.

Now to get in some knitting while I wait.

Crazy Busy

It has been crazy busy around here lately. Today was the first day in almost a week that I could knit. I have been spending my knitting down time plying very thin yarn into a heavyweight yarn to knit with. I tend to get a lot of bits and pieces of lace and sock weight yarn that I am given for hats. I generally prefer to knit charity hats on larger sized knitting needles.  So I ply the yarn on bad hand days. 

I have also been Zenning more and Teri helped for a few hours last weekend. Sadly the space she made is almost filled. It has been a long day. So night all. 

More Spring Cleaning

I spent the day spring cleaning with an emphasis on going through everything and getting rid of what I don’t need.  This included going through the fridge and freezer and having one of Eric’s aides taking home all the high carbohydrate foods that would get me in trouble.

The craft room is now clean , dusted and vacuumed. Although at times like this I am jealous of the author Stephen King, because he has a dedicated work space and can close the door when company comes over.

I found something interesting about my new Fitbit Inspire HR model.   When I am cleaning and madly dashing around the house it thinks that I am running.  I did not know that I walked that fast.  It also did something totally unexpected.  It buzzed me and told me to take a rest. I took this to mean that my Fitbit wanted me to knit.  Why it just did not say it’s time to knit, oh well.  I also found that the larger band fit my wrist better.  I do have to admit that about 10,000 of the 12,000 steps taken today were with out leaving the house.  I did manage to get out for a walk around the block after dinner.

It’s time to call it a night.

119 and 120

I have spun 1 skein of mohair and silk yarn and knit the 30th hat of the year.

Projects 109 to 118

The next nine projects include 6 charity hats and 3 skeins of yarn that I am keeping.

Busier Than Usual

I spent my day recovering from a whirlwind day yesterday. I had one meeting all about Eric, which left me exhausted.  Eric’s aide had an early appointment so he had to leave early.  I missed seeing my Friday friends.

So today was spent spring cleaning. Guess what I found out today? John loves getting rind of bags of junk and will even carry it to the recycle bin.  John also volunteered to drive to Goodwill when I fill up my boxes. I also managed a 2 1/2 hour nap. Did some spot decluttering in Eric’s room. I just have 3 major areas to finish tomorrow.  As long as I sleep tonight that should be possible.

I also finished a visit from my older sister today.  Maybe a little less very rich food will help me feel better. Some how with my family it’s always over sized meals and not enough walking.

At this point it’s hard to call it an early night.  But if Eric let’s me I get to sleep in tomorrow.

The End of May 2019

My day started off at full speed ahead this morning. I had 2 loads of laundry finished before breakfast.  I had all the laundry for the day done by 10am.  Some how Eric hijacked my day. All forward progress came to an immediate halt.

I felt with my frustration by going to the grocery store and wondering the aisles looking for low carb treats. vegan doughnuts came to mind but at 65 carbs per doughnut it was a no go. I don’t even want to think about how many carbs a scone has, but I am guessing more than a doughnut. My treat landed up being a couple of pieces of fresh fruit and a hot lunch that I did not have to cook.

My timing was so bad I missed an opportunity to get out of the house to knit.  I did manage to get dinner with my sister tonight. We knit after dinner.

I did manage to get a little more cleaning done before Eric decided that the afternoon was all about him.  I am a bit tired and way behind, but there is always tomorrow.

Spring Cleaning

Now that everyone is feeling better and 2 rooms of carpets are clean, spring cleaning shall go forward in earnest tomorrow. My goal is to have the craft room finished by Saturday afternoon.  I will also be  decluttering counters and polishing cabinets. The floor boards are also over due for polishing.  My expectation is that I want to be finished by Wednesday.  I, of course will leave the windows to John.  Wish me luck.

Eric is back on formula tonight.  So this makes me very happy. I have a busy day tomorrow so it’s time to call it a night.

Exhaustion

Exhaustion has set in. Eric is almost over P, but to do that we have a medicine that is given every 6 hours. That with extra suctioning and laundry on top of being sick and getting over a very bad cold.  Yes, the one that gave Eric P.  Today I slept through knitting with friends. I layed down for 20 minutes and woke up 2 1/2/hours later.

To unwind tonight,I spent 2 hours spinning. I finished a small bobbin for teaching plying. Then there was a 4 ounce blend of silk and mohair, it is in the sink ready to be washed. I also got the second plying spin on some lace weight yarn that I was given to make hats with.  In my very humble opinion it turned out gorgeous. If I can leave Eric’s room tonight, I will take a picture. See below., the lace weight was first Z plyed and finished off with an S ply.  Next it will get a hot bath to set the twist.

Now I am just waiting for Eric to settle in for the night. I have already filled the suction machine a 1/3 of the way up.  John emptied it before he went to sleep.  At this rate it will need to be emptied soon. Also the later I stay up, I get hungry.