Slow

 Slow is the rate my hand is recovering. Bored, tired and sore is how I feel..

A Good Day

 I sold one of my spinning wheels today.  I was not expecting to break even so I sold it on lower priced side. Surprisingly I had more issues with the people not interested in the wheel. Once I had it listed it sold in about 30 minutes.  I packed it tonight. Another great thing about selling a spinning wheel is that I can pack it in fiber. This means that fiber leaves the house and the person getting the wheel has fiber to start spinning right away. Aren’t spinners great people?

My hand is starting to drive me crazy. The stitches are itchy and they don’t come out until Friday afternoon.  There is still some swelling too. I will ice again before bed.  The knitting withdrawals are horrible.  The spinning helps a little, but I can’t spin for a long time.  So I am left to play video games like a teenager.  It’s almost Friday is my current mantra. 

Not Quite Ready For Dinner

 Sadly I learned tonight that my left hand is not quite ready for dinner yet.  I make a fantastic thin crust pizza with topping to rival a Chicago deep dish pie. It requires a knife and fork to eat it. I tried my best, but my left hand wasn’t quite ready for the fork yet.  Instead of my walk after dinner, I iced my hand instead.  I am hoping that this resolves fairly quickly.  Yes, to those who want to know.  Even though the stitches are not out, I have started what physical therapy I can do   No, I am not over doing my hand with the exception of dinner tonight.  I prefer my left hand for eating as I am much more messy with my right hand.

By the way spinning went well today. I took some art yarn singles off the bobbins and started another set of batts. No yarn is getting soaked and thwacked until my stitches are out and the doctor says it’s ok.   After Spin Together 2020 is over it will be weaving time.  

Spinning and More

 I spent the morning clearing off my bobbins so I could start spinning for Spin Together on Grandma’s Spinning Wheel Team.  I fell a little, oh who I am I kidding, I fell way behind because of hand surgery on Tuesday morning.  These are the skeins that I took off. I will not be able to wash them until the stitches come out and my hand heals a little more.  

After my nap I started spinning for Spin Together.  I managed to spin a few mini batts before my hand got tired.  I really like how the almost yarn looks.  I will be weaving scarfs and shawls, then post them on my Handmade by Sheri Facebook page and Instagram.  I am still in recovery mode so things are moving very slowly around here. 

It’s Pie Day

 In preparation for my next round of hand surgery I caught up on all the laundry. Then  made dinner for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night. I made a duck egg, mushroom and spinach quiche. Then I made John’s favorite chicken pot pie.  An updated version is in the previous post.  

Of course I tried to tidy the house in between everything else.  I have also determined that I am too short to get clothing out of the bottom of the washer without high heels or standing on my tippy toes.  I wonder if I am shrinking again?   

Semi Homemade Chicken Pot Pie Updated

 

An updated version of an old favorite..

This has been updated to include more chicken, the way John likes it.  Of course if you like lesss meat stay with the original published on May 9, 2011.  It was a very rare lazy day for me. I followed my bodies lead and took it very slow today.  So this is what John got for dinner tonight.

Semi Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

6 ounces pre diced onions
2 cups frozen hash brown potato cubes
2 heaping tablespoons margarine
1 box of Pillsbury ready made pie crusts - you will need both
1 pound frozen mixed vegetables
16 ounces pre cooked chicken diced
1 large deep dish pie pan
1 foil lined cookie sheet

In a large fry pan or wok melt the margarine on a medium low heat. Add the onions and saute for about 5 minutes. Lower the temperature to a lower heat and add the frozen potatoes and cook until soft. Add the chicken and the vegetables and keep on a low heat until 45 minutes before dinner. Unroll the first crust into an un greased pie pan. Pat the pie crust in place. Add all the mixture from the pan and pack it very firmly into the pie crust. dampen the edges of the pie crust and unroll the second pie crust on top. Wet the entire top of the pie crust with a small amount of water. Roll the bottom and top edges together and crimp anyway you would like. There are no bonus points for perfect thumb prints or crimps. Make 4 slits around the top of the pie crust and another vent hole in the center. Place in a cold oven and bake at 325 for 45 minutes,  a little longer if you like a darker crust.

You will notice two things about this recipe. First I did not add additional seasonings. I find that when making semi homemade items everything is usually very well seasoned to begin with. Secondly that I place the pot pie in a cold oven. I use a glass pie dish and I do not want it to crack so I put it on a cookie sheet lined with foil into a cold oven. It is better for the pie dish to heat up very slowly. When I remove the pot pie I leave it on the cookie sheet. It is very important that you do not put hot glass baking dishes on a damp or cold surface when taking it out of the oven.  So the cookie sheet is perfect in two ways. First it will catch any over flow and second just leave the pot pie on the cookie sheet until both are cool.

This serves 4 to 5 people. For a vegan pot pie just leave out the chicken.

Impromptu Improvement

 Today’s impromptu improvement is a COVID19 work at home issue.  John’s computer chair has seen better days.  The duck tape covered arm rests were becoming sticky.  So with a large fabric scrap and no pattern a solution was implemented.  

I took measurements and added a bit of wiggle room for seams.  Then elastic was pulled through, chinched and sewn.  Pulling the elastic through was the hardest part of the project. It really put my hands to the test with the upholstery fabric.  Pulling the elastic through also took the most time.  

John was surprised that I came up and implemented the solution so quickly.  Although I did not get it finished before his nap ended. He really likes the end result. Sorry the pictures are in the wrong order.  

An Empty Nest

 The best part about being an empty nester is that I can hang freshly spun yarn in the kids bathroom for as long as I want.  I get to look at the new skeins and decide what they should be. Even think about if I should stash dive for similar color ways to spin more for a bigger project. With absolutely no one saying that they need the shower, you have to move your yarn.

Ground Hog Day Perhaps

 The monotony of COVID19 has settled in.  Get up. Walk around the block.  Eat breakfast. Do chores. Knit a hat. Maybe spin some yarn. Eat lunch . Listen to a book and knit. Eat dinner. Go for a walk around the block. Also binge watching television shows, some from the last century. 3 months down about 18 months to go. Can I do this, that depends on the day. Really it does.  I am almost out of deep cleaning.  I am waiting for cooler temperatures to tackle the garage.  How is everyone one else doing?

Relaxing

 I spent the day relaxing.  I played chicken with a bobbin of yarn that I was plying and won.  I washed enough hand spun yarn for a nice woven shawl.  I spent a lot of time spinning.  I am thinking of using the lighter colors for a sweater, but do I start it now or when I reach the next size down?  I even found time to knit a little.  

Our big treat of the day was a trip to the post office to mail some letters.  When then drove around to see what was still open.  We lead such an exciting life.  

New Patterns

 I published 2 new knitting patterns this week. They are available on Raverly and LoveKnitting.com.  

The first is called Square Dance. Pictured below.  This is a scarf with 3 special yarns dyed by Lily of Merinoyvino on Etsy.  Only one skein is needed unless you want a longer scarf.  

The second is called Trisha’s Shawl. This started out as a table runner but morphed into a shawl for summer.  The yarn is called Anne and is available at Grandma’s Spinning Wheel in Tucson, Arizona. If you don’t live locally in Tucson, Vicky will ship the yarn to you.  

These are fun and easy projects that would make great holiday gifts.  

 

Worn Out DPN’s

 Well it is that time again.  I have worn out another set of U.S. size 13 (9.0mm) rosewood double pointed knitting needles.  Because I knit so many hats a year my wooden knitting needles tend to wear out fairly quickly.   I like rosewood because they last longer than the much less expensive bamboo needles.  I usually can get 50 to 60 hats out of the bamboo knitting needles.  I can usually get a 2 to 3 of years out of the rosewood knitting needles.  

By worn out I really mean that the wood is splintering.   No amount of sanding or beeswax will fix them at this point.  I really hate splinters and I don’t want the kids to get them either.  So I pulled out my spares and will throw out the much loved double pointed knitting needles.  Then I will look for a good sale to replace my spares.  

Hats and More

 I am busy knitting scrappy hats for the kids. I decided not to pull a big tub out for the small leftover bits of yarn this year.  When I reached 2 project bags full of small balls of yarn it was scrappy hat time. I am almost 3/4 way through the first bag.  I finished my 75th hat for the year tonight and have 3 more in progress on the knitting needles.

I am also on a spinning binge. I am currently using the last of my Louet Victoria bobbins. I suggested to John that he make me a few more. He gently suggested that I ply and skein up the yarn to get more bobbin space. So after I finish filling my last bobbin, I will set up my Louet Victoria for plying.  

You all know that this will lead to more weaving of shawls and scarf's. I am not sure what I will do with most of them, as I do not see any art shows or gallery showings in my future.  Oh well, it's not like we have any travel plans in the near future.  I have got to keep myself busy.  Besides shawls, hats and scarfs take up less space than fiber or yarn.

Even More Hats

 The next 15 hats are finished.  This brings me up to 70 hand knit hats for the year, of which 65 go to the kids clothing bank. This batch is all cotton. 

More Hats

 I was not on my game today. So my solution was to knit and get up and walk every few hours to walk around the house.  The end result was three new hats for my favorite charity and 10,000 steps.  So I made the best of a bad body day.  

Bingeing Again

 Well I am bingeing on hats again. It was over 107f today.  What else can I knit in the heat? I am knitting at least one hat a day. I also have 3 hats currently in progress. One in the knitting room. 2 in the den. All the hats are being knit on different sized knitting needles with different yarn weights.  Which begs the question, do I have enough 16 inch knitting needles in enough sizes? Double pointed knitting needles are not a problem, I have 2 boxes full of them.  The answer might just be no.  

The Knitting Room is Back

 The knitting room is back. I knit hat number 58 of 2020 while listening to The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason on audiobook. This is a great summer read set in Victorian England. 

Waiting for Supplies

 I am spending about 2 1/2 hours a day cleaning up the mess I made by wanting a second shoe rack and storage boxes.  Today I organized my shawl collection, I really think I need to knit other things. I found a place on the shelf’s for my double pointed knitting needles. Put smaller project bags in a repurposed hanging shoe bag. 

In addition to cleaning, I filled up the back of my car with snacks for Eric’s old day program and dropped them off. After lunch John and I made a Goodwill run.  The the rest of the day was spent on laundry and knitting.  

All and all a good day.  

The Dangers of Shoe Racks

 If you give a mom a shoe rack.

She will find that not all of her shoes fit.

She will want another shoe rack.

So she will have to clean her closet to make room.

She will have to find a new home for her drop spindles. 

Then rearrange another closet before she can move things.

She will find enough stuff to fill three boxes for charity.

She will make the dad drop it off that very day.

Then she will have to organize two baskets full of fiber and a three drawer basket cart full of fiber.

She will find a missing Turkish Drop Spindle.

This will lead to a bedspread needing to be washed, but that's another story.

The cart fits where it is supposed to go. Happy dance!

But wait, there is a pile of stuff that needs new homes, both in and out of the house. 

After two and a half hours mom is too tired to move.

There is still not enough room in the closet for a shoe rack.

One room is clean.

One room is a big mess in progress, watch where you step and turn on the light before you enter.

Just who's idea was it to let mom have a new shoe rack anyway?

We might as well let mom have the second shoe rack.

Let's just wait and see what leaves the house to make room for the second shoe rack. 

More on The Dangers of Shoe Racks tomorrow. 

Zenning My Closet

 Today I tackled part of my closet and put a new and bigger shoe rack in.  The sad news is all my shoes did not fit. So tomorrow I will do another round of zenning to see if I can make room for another shoe rack.  In the meantime I have filled another box for Goodwill.  

My drop spindles have found a new home along side or rather above the computer  I really think I need to order some wood conditioner for them too, some are in need of a good polishing  

I am feeling a little better each day.  I have tweaked my diet again.  I think it is working, although I should really give it a solid month to know for sure. 

Doing Better

I am finally feeling better. This is the best day I’ve had since I got food poisoning last month. I spent the morning doing errands. I picked up my remaining scarfs from the art gallery because it is closing at the end of the month.  Although it’s still scares me to leave the confines of the house I did wear mask and gloves. This afternoon I spent doing some organizing and made a lot of progress. My new rolling cart for the craft room came today and John assembled it for me. I am now ready  to work again. 

I hope to have an even better day tomorrow. I’m calling it an early night.

Feeling Yucky

I am still feeling pookey and tired, but I managed to do a little cleaning and my 10,000 steps.  

Finally

We finally got rain today. The bulk of the rain fell in about a half an hour. In that half an hour we got an inch and a half of rain and by dinner time the total was 2 inches of rain. It was a little bit too muggy to do any knitting today. So I spent the morning vacuuming up the dust bunnies and doing some deep cleaning. A lot of Zenning was started. This afternoon I worked on organizing the craft/storage room. I found some yarn that I didn’t even know I had. I also found a couple of projects that I lost. I started a new load of stuff for Goodwill too.   I am sure that I have a volunteer to drop it off for me. Tomorrow I’ll get out the big loom and start a shawl.  

Spinning Wheel Problems

I feel screwed right now.  On top of going crazy being stuck at home due to COVID19, I have managed to break both of my spinning wheels.  On the Louet Victoria I broke the footman connector, it snapped right off. It broke into pieces.  The Lendrum has footman problems, the squeak so much it’s impossible to spin with John in the room.  It squeaks at the wrong frequency for him.  Nothing to do but wait for parts.  Sigh. 

Spinning Again

I feel out of shape.  My hands and shoulders are tired after only plying one bobbin of yarn.  It’s either the months long hiatus from spinning because my hands did not work followed by a long recovery.  It also might be the Sojourns flare up cased by food poisoning last weekend. All I know is that it is going to be an interesting journey with lots of pictures.  There also might be a few redesigns of yarn on the way.  The yarn I plyed tonight was supposed to be a fractal spin, but is was so long since I spun it, I plyed it with turquoise silk in a 2 / 20 weight instead.   It came out wonderful.   

Pictures tomorrow.  

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Last night we thought it might be a good idea to skip cooking for one night and help a local Tucson restaurant.  Although the food tasted great and we only ate a small portion of the food we bought, hours later both John and I were sick.  It might take a few days to recover.  So much for doing the right thing.  Sighs.  A day of napping. 

How Much is to Much?

How much knitting is to much right now for me. Apparently 3 hours.  Don’t get me wrong my hand did fine.  It just that my last arthritis flare up left me with some sore tendons in my right shoulder.  Spinning seemed to helpful, but I can not figure out why my Lendrum DT has squeaky treadles. I am wondering if I have worn out some parts. I may just have to Google that one.  Although if you have the answer please let me know.  Otherwise, I might have to spin in another room.  

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.