A New Routine

Well it seems that I am starting a new routine with physical therapy. It goes like this, one hour of physical therapy followed by lunch and a two hour nap. Grrr. This does not help with my to do list. It also leaves me scrambling to keep Eric entertained while I try to catch up on my chores.

Today this lead to white and beige silk drying on one end of the clothes line and ten skeins of yarn from Spinzilla drying on the other with about four feet of empty line between the yarn and silk. I want a good distance between them so the dye from the yarn won't transfer to the silk. I would have finished setting the twist on the rest of the yarn, but I ran out of daylight. Since my left hand is still wonky, they will take longer to dry because I could not squeeze enough water out of them. I am really hoping that the lower humidity of fall will help the yarn dry faster.

I would also like to thank Prayag Verma for his very thoughtful suggestion for a new application for blogspot on my iPad. My post should be more regular now.

Night Time Pain

There is nothing quite like being up in the middle of the night with arthritis pain. Then having to take care of Eric before the aspirin kicks in. Eric was half asleep and still tried to give me hugs to make my hands feel better. It almost makes up for not being able to sleep.

Spinzilla 2016

For Spinzilla 2016 I spun 1,959 yards of yarn. mostly lace weight. Lace weight what was I thinking. The picture shows it all dumped on the kitchen floor. Now I have to wash it and set the twist.

Facts

1. It takes longer than a presidential town hall to fill a four ounce bobbin with lace weight yarn..just ask me how I know.. spinning

2. It is possible to fill the recycling bin to over full 3 weeks running..deep cleaning is the answer.

3. I really hate it when my screen goes blank and I lose an entire post.  Thank you iOS 10. Apple please fix the glitch. 

4. The universe has plans for all of us, it's just not talking.  

5.  I can't fix the whole world alone, but together if we all do a bunch of small things we can make the world a better place.  

6.  Children take you on fantastic adventures. Be prepared to follow.

7. I have spun over a pound of yarn this last week. Pictures and yardage tomorrow. 

It's time to end this post.. the screen has gone blank 10 times now.. John says at least iOS 10 has a mission..new tech hates me. 

Delving Deeper - Less is Really More

Today I hit another level of deep cleaning. I started going through the note books that I started making 12 years ago as a new knitter. I tore out and saved everything the new knitter in me thought was important. Things like how to do certain stitch patterns. Patterns that I was going to knit. Patterns that other people thought that I should knit. To the very old knitting magazines that I just could not let go of. Things that were just plain neat to a brand new knitter.

Fast forward 12 years and the notebooks are a bit dusty. Some of the stitch patterns that I thought were so difficult that I knew I would need written instructions for if I was ever going to knit them. Now most of what got tossed I can do without thinking. They are also in knitting stitch dictionaries or on the web. Patterns for triangular shawls that were and still are so pretty, that do not look good on my body type, my shoulders are just too broad. Yes the boring rectangular shawls look much better on me.  To the very lacy patterns that 12 years later I can now knit, but do not fit into my knitting life style. To the hat and scarf patterns that I can knit while I am half asleep or busy talking, yes they got tossed too.

I still have piles of old knitting magazines to go through and decide which ones I want to keep. If there is an old or vintage knitting magazine you are looking for just let me know very soon. I might just have a copy.

I am keeping it very simple. I go through one notebook at a time or one pile of papers 6 to 12 inches in height. If I finish that and still have energy I go onto the next pile or notebook. Depending on the age of the notebook or pile of knitting magazines I toss between 30 to 70% of what I have. Now everything else can be condensed in an orderly fashion without having to buy or find more storage. This will be the third week in a row for an over full recycle bin too. I am going at my own pace, but I feel that some people want me to go faster and just toss without looking at everything. I am not quite able to do that yet. I know that in the end that I will have more room for fluff and yarn. That's not what my minions really want to hear, but I still have bins full of yarn and fluff in the garage that I would like to someday soon move back into the house.

So the short term plan is more tossing, gifting, knitting, weaving and spinning things in the house. The long term plan is to go through the things in the garage. So that in forty years or so whom ever is going to do the last cleaning of the house will not have to call yarn hoarder's anonymous to haul everything off to sell to other fiber people.

Resting

After I over did yesterday, I had a very bad night. So I spent the day letting my body decide what to do and it wanted lots of rest. So I seem to be back into the cycle of do everything I can one day and rest the next. I really need to find balance again.

More Deep Cleaning

OK, so today I actually hired someone help me with the deep cleaning and organizing. At times it really helps to have another craft person to help organize a craft room instead of an engineer. While we were deep cleaning we also managed to get a few quick projects finished and out the door including a 4 foot by 3 foot dog pillow. It is bigger than Eric and very hard to finish. It took 2 of us to get the last seam sewn. I did the sewing and Amber held up the pillow. I also found 2 sets of old soft cloth diapers that needed to be surged in half so that the cleaning rags don't land back in Eric's room as face wipes.

Amber and I also divided the yarn into kits and projects in progress and just yarn. I have officially turned 1 closet into a Fibber McGee closet with fluff.  Sadly all the fluff did not fit in the closet, so I will have to look for more homes. We also separated the weaving supplies out so I know what I have to weave.

Amber and I decided that I was going to be the go to person during the Zombie Apocalypse. I will have all the fiber you could want for a price. We figured that I would have about a year's worth of knitting in my kits and at least 2 years worth of spinning. We did not even take a guess at the weaving supplies.  I also am passing on a sock pattern and using the yarn for something else. A few more balls of yarn were added to the destash bag too.

Still to go through tonight are a pile of patterns. Some from 12 years ago when I started knitting. I also found more knitting books not already on the shelf, so I think a book purge might be in order, but not today. My mind says keep cleaning, but my body says nap. So I will rest until its time to cook dinner. When John called after work, being the great husband that he is,"said that I sounded tired and is bring home dinner." 

Dibs

Well it started again yesterday. The dibs game. I usually get my my skirts long to start with, usually about ankle length.  As I lose weight and inches they get longer.  So I have a whole process that I go through to avoid hemming the skirts.  First I hike the skirt up my waist about 1/2 of an inch. 

Next comes putting the skirt back to my natural waste line and adding 1 inch heels.  Staying with the 1 inch heels, I hike up the skirt up about 1/2 of an inch again. When that stops working I add the 2 inch heels. Then I hike up my skirt in 1/2 inch increments until I am 1/2 way up my rib cage. About that time, I am ready to buy the next size down. 

I know that at this size that I could add straps and turn the skirts into a sun dress and wear them, but I try to avoid the sun at all costs and would not wear the sundress.  So at this point I go to the 4th Avenue Street Faire and get some new tie dye skirts. Then I pass on the skirts that people called dips on.  

This is the slow road to weight loss and it goes 1/2 inch at a time.  To the next 1/2 inch down and beyond.  

More Progresss

My left hand has made a little more progress. As soon as I finish my silk shawl project on the size 13 knitting needles, I get to move down to size 11 needles.  After physical therapy today, I worked on my to do list. Only a few errands got done.  I just hate the way stores decide at the flip of a coin to change what they carry.This means that I will have to pick up some of the things tomorrow.  I seem to be moving at a snail's pace like my hand recovery.  Some days it seems like it's 1 step forward and 2 steps back.  I know my hand is a lot better, but it is not at 100% yet.

Today while shopping, I heard one of the all time stupidest sales pitches ever.  If you think some of the sales pitches you here for over the counter vitamins are bad, you will have to rethink everything.
When her supervisor told the demo person that she was not selling enough coconut oil, this is what the demo person came up with.
"Coconut oil is a cure for dementia. You can even use it on your toast. You will see results within days. "
After that is was flying of the display. So if your snow birds call or come home saying that they have found the miracle cure for dementia know that they have been scammed. I wonder who is responsible for this snake oil saleswoman and her comments?

Coconut oil is very good in cooking. Coconut adds a lot of flavor to food. I love coconut, but it is not a cure for anything but hunger or rough skin. 

Empty

Today I emptied 1 - 60 quart bin of craft supplies. No they did not get tossed, but rather relocated to a cabinet that I had used to store odds and ends.  I should have cleaned it out much sooner. I found a bunch of very old tech in there.  Not 1 but 3 old portable cassette players with headphones.  I was really good at breaking them so 2 of them were spares, that were never opened.  The iPod's were made much better and only had to be replaced when I ran out of capacity. 

So the deep cleaning and purging continues.  I seem to feel a bit lighter with each batch of things that leave the house.  

Huge Boxes

I am beginning to think that 60 to 80 quart storage boxes might not be the best for art supplies.  So I am in the process of moving my jewelry making supplies to a more usable space. I am hoping that this will help with the avoidance of duplicate purchases. Also the 2 hour set up every time I want to make something.  Wish me luck in the process.  

More

Yesterday I started the next round of really deep cleaning.  I bought storage containers which turned out to be the wrong size for what I needed.  So they were returned today.  I bought a better solution today.  I started filling it with jewelry supplies and even with de stashing some things already, I appear to have  a space shortage.  My only current solution is to destash more and make a bunch of jewelry for the November Taglit fundraiser.  

So far today I have recovered half a shelf and a magazine rack.  I filled a bag so full of recycling that John will have to move it to the recycle bin for me.  I have also emptied out another magazine rack and taken that to the recycle bin already. 

 I wish I was not so tired from that really stupid cold that I got last week.  My mind is quite willing. My body is very tired.  I would throw some caffeine in, if I did not already know that is the wrong solution for me now.  So a quick nap before I go to pick Eric up is in order..

Better

Eric and I are feeling better, we are over the cold. My physical therapist is very happy with the progress that my hand is making. I on the other hand want a totally functional hand by now. On most days I can knit for about an hour. I even managed to fold a set of Eric's sheets without any pain. Although I am going to hold off folding Eric's jumbo loads of laundry for now.

While driving Eric home from his day program, yes he did go. We were almost sideswiped by a red truck. Yes, I was driving my van that does resemble a big white brick.  It also has the aerodynamics of a brick too, not that that has anything to do with the incident today. The driver was too busy talking on the phone, while weaving in and out of traffic. I would like to point out that in the 3 miles that he was weaving in and out of traffic, he only moved up 1 car space. In my very humble opinion it was not worth the risk he was taking with everyone else's life and livelihood for a stupid phone call.

I learned to drive in the mid 70's and nobody spoke on the phone while driving. If we needed to make an urgent call, we pulled off the road and found a pay phone. Now, I am not saying that we need to go back to pay phones. After all I like my games and apps like Metropia to get me around traffic jams. I just want people to pull into a parking lot, make their call and go on their way. Right now Metropia is only available in Austin, Texas and Tucson, Arizona. Hopefully your city will be added soon so you can enjoy the app as much as I do.

Tomorrow I will tackle the house. So it is time to call it a night.

A Rough Week

Eric was sick all last week. He even shared the cold and aftermath with me. Poor John has been trying to keep up with 2 very cranky people. Even with the larger washer, Eric has managed to make 2 pretty full loads of laundry a day. Thank goodness for Eric's aides, they have been doing all the folding. I don't know if my hand is up to that much work yet.

I am really hoping that Eric will be back at program sometime this week. When he is at home sick this much, my world feels a lot smaller. I swear that my world can not get that much smaller or I might just fade into oblivion.

My left hand is a little better. I have been able to use it between 30 minutes and 2 hours on most days. I can say for certain that the arthritis flare up post cold is not helping the recovery process in the least. At least 2 out of the 3 fingers are almost, well at least 50% healed. The ring finger is another story. I am really working to get my left hand fully functional again. It will make my life so much easier and neater. I would really like to know, say before a meal, if my hand will work all the way through the meal.

I am hoping that Eric is not real clingy today. Yes I just noticed that it is 12:40 and it is time for a nap before I start my day with Eric in a few hours. By the way, it is getting easier to type too. Not a lot of mistakes. I can even reach for some of the keys.

My goal for the coming week is to have a better week and get a lot of crafting and cleaning done.

When Sharing Is Not Good

Eric has shared his cold. It's not my favorite thing to be sick. At least I have been able to do limited knitting and crochet projects. I am on a cup cozy binge right now. I have 7 finished with 4 waiting to be seamed. I have also sketched two other versions of cup cozies too. I plan on making 24 of each design by the  November 10 fundraiser.

I have also started to piece together the shabby chic quilt. Hopefully it will be finished soon so that I can make a few more sewing projects. They have the added bonus of not hurting my hands and being faster to make.

The more I use my hand the better it seems to be within limits. My ring finger is still not up to par, but I am working on that every day. I have not tried to fold laundry yet, but hanging up wet clothes for the clothes line is getting better. Each day is a little better.

The Right Project

This one color way of yarn has been the bane of my knitting for 12 years. It was one of the yarns in a kit I bought. I never finished he project, but used the pattern with other yarns.  Fellow knitters seemed to give it away in spades.  No matter what pattern I used, I was not happy with the results.

Fast forward 12 years and a new skill, Tunisian Crochet. At last a way to make to make this yarn look really, really good. Below is a cup cozy.  So after 12 years I can absolutely say it was not the yarn, it was the project and technique. So I might just have to see how much of this yarn I have and what to make with it.

A New Design

Tonight I designed my first piece of Tunasian Chrochet. It has 12 rows including the cast on and cast off. It can be used, to use up partial skeins of yarn. It is a very simple but sturdy cup cozy. The best part is that it can be made in only a few hours.  Let me know if you want me to write up the pattern for your holiday crafting or if you want to order some in a certain color.  I will have some at the November 11, Taglit fundraiser. The color is actually lavender but my lighting is bad tonight. 

Quilt Layout

I have gotten to the quilt lay out stage of the Taglit Memory Quilt. This is being made from 4 Taglit sweatshirts.  This will be the  center piece of the Annual Taglit Fundraiser on November 11, 2016. I will have the measurements after I finish the sewing.  This will be my first Shabby Chic Quilt. I will get together with my team to figure out the pricing.  

True or False

Mothers just look forward to middle of the night breathing treatments.

Mothers just love doing load upon load of laundry..

Mothers like to sleep at night.

Mothers like play time too.  

Mothers like to play in the middle of the night. 

Mothers just love getting up to put the covers back on the cold child who just kicked them off. 

Most days Mothers would not trade in their jobs for any other.  

Car pooling is always fun. 

I am writing this while I wait to give Eric his next round of breathing treatments. 

Mothers need more hugs.  

Mothers can do more than one thing at a time.  

We love saying "just breath"

Is the stuffed Elmo qualified to fill in for mothers every once in a while?

I do not write the best blog posts at 1 am.  

I am ready to party. 

Games are always fun at medicine time. 

We would like our kids to levitate into the right spot with out lifting them. 

Is it really 1:20 am. 

Take the quiz and send me your answers.  May a good nights sleep be in your future. 

Clothes Issues

My clothes have decided that it is time for them to grow again.  My skirts now require high heels or I trip on them. The pants that I just found a few months ago, the ones that fit perfect are now riding around my rib cage.  My question is why the scale is not moving.  Don't get me wrong, I will take the smaller sizes, but I just hate shopping for clothes lately.  I also really want to see the scale move down.  

I seem to lose inches in cycles. Just 4 years ago on this very day, I was doing my second closet clean out.  This has been a long slow journey about 5 years in the making.  I have been going down just 1 size a year.   I stopped counting the inches a few years ago. I found that inches can go up and down in a matter of days. So I am going for the long term out come. 

So my slow diet secrets are very simple and easy to follow.  I have elimated all high fructose corn syrup and similar things like agave syrup. I have also eliminated all  aspertame and all artificial sweeteners.  This year I started working on my regular soda consumption and have cut back by over 80%.  I still have the very occasional soda, but not several a day. I also try to move more.  I also seem to have more stamina.  Although, I can say with out any doubt that I still can not keep up with my 30 year old self.  Just ask John or Lisa how cranky I get after being up all night with Eric. No I don't think I can  go 3 days without sleep any more.  

A Slow Recovery and More

My left hand and I are barely on speaking terms. I am doing my physical therapy as prescribed. Progress is much to slow for me. My hand just seems a lot stiffer than I every remember it being.  It seems that no matter what I want to work on in, 30 minutes my hand is done, with a recovery time of about 2 hours.  Even when I am on a roll.  This means that is going to take forever and a day to finish anything I want to create. It is taking about a week to finish a scarf on U.S. size 17 knitting needles.

Right now I am in the middle of deconstruction 4 sweat shirts that will be paired with denim squares and turned into blankets. Yes I will have a number of upcycled things. If I have any left over denim, I will use some flannel to make a few more blankets. The big question seems to be to add binding for a more city look or skip the binding for a more country, shabby chic look. Any thoughts on this? The other odds and ends will be turned into various things for my November 11, 2016 Taglit fund raiser at the Tucson JCC. Since I can not knit as much as I have in the past, there will be a whole lot of things that I have not made before. So come do some holiday shopping and help Eric and his friends have fun. As usual 100% of the sale price will go to Eric's day program.

Now if Eric will just go to sleep before the day starts in a few hours things will be a lot better later today. It is a little after midnight as I write this.

My First Spin

Today I did my first spin post hand surgery. I will generously call it an art yarn. This is a blend of wool, silk, add ins and buffalo. This is also a thick and thin yarn. I  think this will remain a single ply. I think it will be most suitable for weaving.  It might be a few months before my spinning will get beyond the art yarn stage.   So it is now time to start stash diving to find the arty type of fluff.  

Not a UFO Anymore

It took a long time to finish the 75 rows of this cowl that I knit for my self.  I finished knitting it while Teri was in law school.  I just finished sewing on 3 buttons today.  Yes, sewing on buttons is not a fun activity for me. The most important thing though, is that I have one less UFO* in the house.

*UFO stands for unfinished object.  

Some Progress

This is my first finished knitting project since my hand surgery.  It took 2 weeks. I feel like a beginning knitter. 150 rows on size 19 knitting needles. This will go to the Flowing Wells Clothing Bank. 

The next scarf I will see if my hand is ready for size 17 knitting needle.  The knitting needles are all the U.S. sizes.  

Why Mom's Run Away from Home.

I really think prestigious online  news outlets like The Onion, have really missed the mark on this one.  The real reason that we are seeing an increase of all mommies running away from home.  

First and foremost are the long work hours. After working most of the day and then staying up most of the night we really want some time off. Trying to stay awake the next day to take care of and entertain a sick or cranky child is no piece of cake. Speaking of cake, I will take some vegan or parve cup cakes.  I really think that the cats have made decisive strides here. By finding a warm, quite and out of the way place to curl up and sleep. A nice sunny and quite place sounds good right now. Do you think anyone  will find me curled up behind the couch?

Which brings up the issue of pay. Have you ever tried to buy a new dress with sticky, peanut butter and jelly hugs. Our kids really have to come up with a more universally accepted payroll system.  We want wardrobes comparable to what other women in the work place get to wear on a daily basis. Have you ever noticed that really tired mommies wear pj's well after noon? Now if we can make rules about little sticky hands not being allowed to muck up the new wardrobe. 

This also brings up all the activities that the kids just have to do.  I am not feeling really positive about 7 year olds padding their college applications by making us drive them from one activity to the next.  Do they think we are also chauffeurs? Take soccer for instance.  The sport has become so popular that practices are ending after my bed time.  Can't I just give you a ball to kick around the back yard?  After all just how many of you will actually break even on this sport by getting actual money for college?  You can't expect to make me sit with some of those parents that yell at everyone.  Who knows,  they might think that they are the Knitting Police too.  And the music lesson.  Instead of practicing in the house take your practice outside and let the entire neighborhood enjoy the strides that you are making, so that they can see their tax dollars at work. 

Yes, I know that I am using a lot of run on sentences. For the Spelling and Grammer Police out there you are grounded until further notice.  xoxo Your Mommie on the run.  

Healing

I find it amazing that something as simple as putting away groceries is enough to send shooting pain through my hand.  So a portion of today's shopping is still sitting on the kitchen table waiting to be put away. Tomorrow will be soon enough. 

I am also really grateful for being ambidextrous especially at meal times. I normally eat and do a lot of things with my left hand.  When the pain gets to bad I just change hands to my right hand.  I just have to keep a mindful eye on my left hand and give it the time it needs to heal.  I am having trouble with this because I really hate going in slow speed.  I just need to find more patience right now.  

When Yarn is Knotty

Today I decided to finish winding yarn to set up kits for weaving.  This is what I have to wind on the first skein after 90 minutes.  So I put it aside and started winding a second skein. Yes, there were also to many knots to use the ball winder. Forty five minutes into that skein I am finally out of the knots. I am hoping it gets better from here. 

Tonight I will tag hats so I can get 3 bags of hats to the Flowing Wells Clothing bank next week.  Hopefully I can soon start knitting hats again. I am still working on getting my hand working at optimal effency or at least not hurt so much when I use it.  

The Snail is Winning

My hand has good days and bad days. Sometimes like tonight, it just wants to stop working in the middle of a task, like making dinner. I have to say that John had perfect timing tonight. He drove up just as my hand gave out when I was 3/4 of the way through cutting up the chicken. He not only finished cutting up the chicken and getting it in the oven, but did the whole preparation on the green beans too. Then cleaned up after dinner.

I am still a bit frustrated at the rate I can work on projects too. Take the Tunisian scarf that I have been working on for one and a half weeks, really a week and a half and I am still not done. I also have one scarf on US size 19 knitting needles, that is going even slower, I am lucky to get between 50 and 100 individual stitches done about every third day. This translates into no more then 10 rows every few days. I am really glad that I have no commissions right now or I would be up the creek without a paddle. My plan for tomorrow is to finish packing projects to get them ready to go and then try the sewing machine, I may have more luck there.

My hand really hates it when Eric is sick. The longer hours seem to make my hand stiffer and more sore.  Talk about 50 steps back in a single day. What I find really odd though is that the more I use my hand the more stiff and sore that it becomes. What about the old adage use it or lose it? Does this lose meaning with hand surgery? I know it has only been a few weeks, but last time I had hand surgery, I did not need physical therapy and I was knitting the same night. Yes, I know I sound like an impatient 10 year old right now.

I know it is late, but as soon as I can put Eric's swim stuff into the dryer and hand his swim suit I will call it a day.

More Hand Stuff

Ok, I know that in some things that I am the most impatient person in the world. I could give any 10 year old kid a run for their money. Take my hand for instance. The stitches have completely healed and my hand should be 100% in my humble opinion. I am so wrong about this. Everything below the surface takes longer to heal than the stitches. So these are my new temporary rules to live by.

1. No folding laundry, seriously my hand throbbed for 8 hours after folding one load. The therapist took that off my plate for now.

2. If it hurts stop, do not continue. Whatever it is.

3. No putting my hand in odd positions to accomplish anything.

4. Do my therapy 3 times a day.  I now have 3 exercises, one involves knitting           needles....Really....

5. Reintroduce my hands to textures, it's part of the healing processes. Sounds           odd to me, but I will try it.

6. Take things slowly, things should get better in time. This is the hard one for          me.

7. Make time for rest breaks, although it is just my left hand that has to heal.             Apparently the whole body goes through the healing transition. I really don't         get this concept. But I will do my best to follow the rules.

So it is time to rest before Eric gets home.

Happy

Eric's day program finally had enough staff so that he could go to program today.  I skipped my to do list and took a nap.  July left me exhausted between the guys getting sick, surgery and Eric home for 3 weeks, all I can really say is that I could not keep up.  I fell behind and will take some time to play catch up on everything from paperwork, chores and sleep. 

Eric had a great time with his friends today.  So all is well.  I even get to start therapy on my hand this week. I think that I will call it a night.  

Fun

Today John was gracious enough to take care of Eric while I took 2 classes. The first was Tunisian  crochet which I can do almost all right handed. It is very fun to do. I think it is geared towards someone with a large yarn stash like mine. The second was triangular weaving, a bit more challenging for me. My hand gave up 3 rows before the end of the piece and the instructor had to finish my piece for me so that some one else could use the loom. I think I like the ridge heddle loom and the coaster loom better for me. It is time to give my hand a rest. Besides that my one fingered typing is just awful, just ask my spell check. 

A First Post Surgery

Today I knit for the first time post surgery.  I wanted to finish the scarf but stopped before my hand got tired. Yes,I am using size 19 knitting needles. That's the smallest knitting needle that I can hold. This will be a charity scarf. 

More Progress

This afternoon I finished 1 more coaster and started another coaster. I was able to spin about a half of an ounce of wool tonight. I am really happy with that progress.  So tomorrow I plan on plying a little bit of yarn to get a 2 ply yarn. I am very happy with my slow progress.  

Eric had a bit of a tough start to the night. I just have to wait until the washer is done before I can go to bed. I have a full load for the dryer. 

The Search is On

I am not always as organized as I would like to be. Sometimes that leads to cleaning sprees like today. I misplaced my copy of Mollie Makes Magazine Issue 58, 2015. So I started out looking in the most obvious places. No luck. Then I went through all my knitting bags that I could find. No luck there either. Then it was off to the craft room. I tore everything apart. As I was putting things back I did some organizing and tossing. I also decided that it was not worth repairing some items so they got tossed too. 

The end result is that I still can not find my copy of Mollie Makes. There is less clutter in the house. My crafts are more organized. I put some of my yarn into the Old Pueblo Knitters yarn stash. Which means more things out of the house. The recycle bin is over halfway filled, I also filled one bag for the trash bin. I found some weaving warp in the wrong place. So the warp yarn went with the other warp yarn and more yarn was put into the drawer and out of bags. I also found the Valentine gifts that I got for the kids while Teri was still in college. I hid the gifts so well it took me a long time to find them. Ooops! I did not even remember that I misplaced them. Luckily it was not chocolate. 

I know that I will find the copy of the magazine when I have given up looking for it. Just like the Valentine gifts. In the meantime I will keep looking, organizing, cleaning and tossing. Also I am not sure why the majority of the post is not like the first line. Sorry. 

A Bump in the Road

Today started out well. I got a lot done. This built my confidence in my hand. That disappeared when I was almost finished making the corn bread for dinner. I had to get John to help me get the batter into the pan. Then get the pan in and out of the oven.  

I was going to warp the loom after dinner but decided that it was better to let my hand rest. Boredom is the worst part of recovery.  I am just so use to knitting after dinner.  I can only play so many games.  Well tomorrow is another day.  

Slow Going

I was hoping that my hand would be fully functional by now. Not quite. If I over use it, I take backward steps. So I am slowing things down and not rushing things.  I am still at baby steps. 

Baby Steps

I am making very slow but steady progress with my hand post surgery.  Tonight at dinner I managed to use a fork in my left hand for the first time since surgery. It was so nice not to have to worry about the food going every which way. I also used less napkins too. My hand was sore for a couple of hours, but no pain no gain.  

Eric also let me bring weaving into his room this afternoon. I made it 3/4 of the way through a mud rug before my hand needed a rest.  The mud rugs seem to serve two purposes right now.  The first is that it is keeping my hands and mind occupied. The second, that it is using up some hand spun yarn that is not soft enough to go next to the skin, but that I do not have enough to weave a full sized rug or a full set of placemats with. This is a very portable weaving project.  Did I mention that I also get to show off one off my cool handmade baskets too. I did not weave the basket, but it was made by another artist. 

I know that I should be sleeping now, but I woke up at 2:30 am with the headache from he double toothpicks.  As I am writing this I am waiting for the aspirin to kick.  I am also enjoying the rain and lighting show.  We are approaching the 3/4 of an inch mark since the rain started around dinner time last night.  

The Bumpy Road

This has not been the month that summer dreams blossom around here. The road to recovery has been very slow. My hand is still not healed enough for therapy to start. It seems to me that I just finished therapy for the car accident in December a few weeks ago, and here it is the end of July and I am waiting to begin again. Patients is not my virtue this month, I want my hand to be all better and to start knitting and spinning again. I find that I can do about 30 minutes of weaving a day. Hardly enough time to get my 35 grams of fiber per day. Heck, I would even settle for being able to fold laundry again.

Between Eric being sick and staffing shortages at Eric's day program, Eric has been home all but a few days this month. He will also be home the rest of this week and into next week. If you know anyone who would like to work with Eric and his friends please give them the information in this link. Taglit Day Program, Eric and his friends like to have a good time as they explore the world around them. I am also not sure who has the most fun, the staff or the young adults. You would also be doing this mom a great favor.

Well tomorrow is going to be a very long day. I need to unwind before bedtime.

Breaking the Rules

Today I tried a different way to finish warping my loom.  I have always struggled to get the warp tight and even. I have been taught to warp from the outside to the middle and keep adjusting the warp.  It is very hard on the hands.  So I tried wrapping from the center out. It was easier on my hands. I also did not have to do one adjustment to the warp. I am also getting a better weave. I think it will be a good way to continue to break the rules.  

No More Stitches

The good news is that the stitches came out today. The so-so news is that my hand needs more healing time.  The not so good news is that my hand needs therapy to get my hand in better shape. Knitting and spinning are still on hold until my hand feels better.  Although I can do as much weaving as I want.  John and Eric are happy with the weaving because I will use yarn faster.

So my plan is to take the small loom when I go hang out with friends and use the new bigger loom at home. I don't want to put extra strain on my hands right now. I am a little sad because this is my peak hat knitting time for the Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank and I can not knit the hats I so love to knit for the kids. If you knit or crochet I ask that you consider making 1 or 2 hats for the kids.. They need sizes from preschool through high school. A lot of the kids come from very low income homes.  You can drop the hats off or mail them to the Superintendent of the school district at the main office.  Other new clothing items and school supplies will also be accepted. 

My Wall

Today I hit my wall.  There is not a break in sight until August 5th.  Eric is home the rest of the week. I am hoping that with the stitches coming out tomorrow that things might ease up a bit.  I am not sure how long it will take for my left hand to be the new best it can be.  To cope I did a lot of weaving and 1 handed cleaning, I am not sure why this helps but it does. I will make it through this 5 minutes at a time.  

Teri Got a Book Published

The first thing that I would like to say in this blog tonight, is that if you don't want to read about a very proud mom bragging about her child come back tomorrow.

Now that that is out of the way, let me get on with being a proud mom. This is Teri's first published book. Teri and her former boss Art Neill have finally had their book published. Don't Panic; A Legal Guide (in plain English) for Small Business and Creative Professionals. You can get it in paperback and on Kindle. A link is on the side of the blog post. I am not awake enough to embed the link in the text. It is written for creative types like me. Because I could not say it better, I am using Amazon's description of the book.

"Don’t Panic! will prepare you for potential legal issues you'll encounter as a creator or entrepreneur. Whether you are a small start-up, a musician, an author, or publisher, this handy, how-to manual will be a useful resource. The book covers a range of legal situations that may arise, from the inception of your business, or the creation of your work, to that dreaded moment (that hopefully doesn’t happen) you get a nasty lawyer letter for the first time. While this book is not a substitute for legal advice, it can serve as a valuable guide to preventing and resolving legal issues. The book is organized to help you quickly jump to specific information that will help you through that stage of your work. There are short, straight to the point summaries throughout called “The Bottom Line” providing the essentials you need to know. You’ll learn how to form your business, protect your intellectual property, understand E&O insurance, and avoid problems when launching an App or internet-based service. Often, you can take a few simple steps upfront that will protect your business or creative works, and ultimately save time and money down the road."
It would also make a great gift for the artist or new business owner in your life.

I do apologize for my readers outside of the United States. Teri and Art are licensed to practice law in California; therefore all of the information in this book is based on the laws of the United States and California. There should be similar resources in your own country.

Helping Hands

Teri has been my helping hands since Tuesday. Today Teri headed home. I will miss her very much. The big bandage is gone, but my fingers are still a little bit swollen. Every day is a little bit better.  

Hitting the Brakes

I need to slow down. I am trying to go too fast back to normal post surgery. It's just that I feel better and want to do more than my hand is ready for. I tried to use a knife to cut my dinner tonight, that was a complete disaster. so I did not do any weaving tonight. Just rest time.

Recovering

The big bandage came off my hand today.  The big bandaide went on. Since the stitches go across the palm of my hand, I have decided to hold off on knitting until the stitches come out.  I decided against spinning until I get the feel of my hand post surgery, it feels a little different. Maybe it is the functionality that I lost and have regain. So I unfolded the loom an spent some time weaving. I really like the calmness that fiber puts in my life. The rythem is soothing, there is nothing like it. 

Picture credit goes to Teri Karobonik

Tour de Fleece

Tour de Fleece is a no go again today. The picture was taken by Matthew, he is just practicing. 

Recovery Day 2

Today Teri and I did some deep cleaning. Teri did all the heavy lifting, so we have one clean closet. Maybe a few more closets will be done before Teri leaves. As a reward I took Teri out for a pedicure.   I have been busy icing my hand and keeping it elevated.  I still feel very tired and out of it.  I am hoping as my hand heals I will get more energy back. 

I am taking an injury day for today's Tour de Fleece. I am not sure if I can manage to keep my hand down for more than a few minutes at a time.  I am also not sure if my hand is up to weaving or knitting yet.  So I am taking things one day at a time.  

Part One

Today was part 1 of fixing my hands. I got the 3 fingers on my left hand done today. It is my go to hand for everything.  So I feel a bit lost with not being able to use it for 8 days. It was not like the 2012 surgery where I could use my hand right away. So I think I will take a little me time and let things heal. Tonight all you can see are the bandages and puffy fingers. 

By the way Eric made it to his day program today. Every one was happy to see him. 

A Big Day

Tomorrow is a big day for me.  I am having surgery to resolve the 3 trigger fingers on my left hand. I would like to thank my team of John, Teri and Lisa for stepping up to help with everything Eric. They will also be filling in for me and helping for a few days while my hand starts to heal. 

I don't  know if I will be able to knit yet, because I have 2 trigger fingers on the right hand that need a resolution too.  After the stitches are out on my left hand we can then schedule my right hand.  Until then I will be busy spinning and weaving.  The weaving of course will use my hand spun yarn. 

Still Busy

Eric is feeling better and John is still fighting a bug. I spent the day cleaning and decluttering until exhaustion hit. Then it was nap time for me. I did not get all I wanted to do done, but 4 hours of cleaning and organizing did me in. A good nap followed. It is now time to call it a day.