My Production Line

If anyone would have told me in April 2019, that I would be sewing mass quantities of fabric face masks to protect us against a virus called COVID19, I would have asked them what Fantasy world that they were living  in. Mass quantities of sewing were for Eric’s bibs and a few bibs that I donated to charity. This was only a dozen at a time. This is what my sewing table look like today. Yes, they are sliding off the table into a laundry basket. I did chain sewing.  I ran out of pins and had to pin the second half when the first have were finished.

I did production line sewing where I could.  Tomorrow after ironing the seem flat it will be one mask at  a time.  I will see how many I can get done before I run out of ties.  The next batch of ties will be wider so that I have less cutting to do.

Busy at Home

For a couple who is staying home to avoid the COVID19 pandemic we have been extremely busy which has lead to exhaustion.  Let me explain further. I told everyone the my craft space has even turned into another dual purpose room, part pantry and part fiber room.

So Saturday we cleaned the room out. We scrubbed the walls, guess what we still were scrubbing formula off the walls.  I got down on my hands and knees to scrub the stubborn formula stains off the tiles.  Thank goodness for my bottle of Parsons.  Then we ran roomba and scuba.

Sunday we set up a 6 foot tall by 24 in wide shelving system.  Then we started to load it, don’t worry I saved the top shelf for fiber.  I might have also put a few small baskets on the bottom shelf.  I also did some deep cleaning and emptied 2 boxes.

Today we got our 5 cubic foot frostless freezer.  With not wanting to go into the stores even during the times set aside for older people, getting food has been interesting to say the least.   We make a fantasy wish list of everything we need and the stores send us what they have or have too much of.  On one order we ordered a variety of meat and they sent us the equivalent servings of ground turkey even though we did not order turkey at all.  On another order we ordered a variety of frozen vegetables, green beans, spinach and mixed vegetables. For the 2 packages of mixed vegetables we ordered we got the 1 pound bags for everything else we got huge family sized mixed vegetables.  This is one time I am glad to be older, the grocery stores here were trying to tell everybody to skip the stores for the first week of the month so the people who receive food stamps and seniors can shop. I am so glad I put my birth year on my loyalty cards.

Besides setting up the freezer we got Wednesday mornings delivery this morning and today’s delivery this afternoon. This involves unpacking everything in the garage. Wiping down the cans with alcohol and putting it on a shelf in the garage for a few days.  The meat in plastic wrap has to be sprayed down with alcohol and for it to evaporate, then it goes in the freezer.  For meat packed in paper we put it in a ziplock and then the freezer. Everything gets cleaned off. We even bought a fruit and vegetable wash.  The whole process takes at least 30 minutes if not more per order.  This leaves us both exhausted. Then there were a couple of boxes delivered too.

I have set up a quite spot with my rocking chair and knitting in the dual room and for the first time in weeks was able to relax.

It’s Official

It’s official, I will not die with the biggest quilting fiber stash.  I told John today that I would make face masks until we no longer needed them or I run out of fiber. After listening to Bill Gates speak on television tonight it might be as long as 18 months.  So much for traveling in our retirement.

Tomorrow marks the lasted change in our life’s.  The proposed craft room will be a long term temporary pantry complete with a small freezer.  I am sure we can convince the fiber to get along with the pantry supplies.

I have a big day of sewing and remodeling planned for tomorrow so it’s time to get some sleep.

Wondering

I am wondering if this is how my grandmothers and great grandmother’s felt as they were knitting socks as part of the war effort of their generations.  No, I am not knitting socks but rather sewing face masks for a local Tucson non-profit.

I am using the material that I had purchased to make quilts some day and some sheets destined for another project.  The material went through the 4 1/2 hour sanitary wash and a very hot dryer.   I will make the first one and then if all goes well I will mass produce them a dozen at a time.  If the first pattern does not work there will be others to try.

I am not sure if this will help with the current COVID-19 crisis.  I was asked and will do my part and hope it helps.  Using the old biblical adage “ If you save one man, you have saved the world”.  Now I am off to pull the dried fabric from the dryer and iron it before I cut the material.

Additionally these are my prototypes.  I will make one change tomorrow.  I will have a different fabric on the back.  For these I just used a sharpie pen to mark the back.

Today’s Hat

May I present hat 13 - 2020.  I am almost out of this grouping of purple yarn.  More colors to come.  Also don’t worry about the knitting needles or stitch markers, hat 14 - 2020 has been cast on and is 2 1/2 inches in.  I go to 7 inches before my decrease begins.

Day 17 of COVID19 and Counting

The dress I wore today is 2 inches longer than the last time I wore it.  I don’t think it can be classified as an Empire Waist dress anymore either, you guessed right that seam is a good 2 inches below where it needs to be. 

On the knitting front I have decided that I need simple knitting that I can do in my sleep.  I am just so stressed by the uncertainty and people not doing the right thing.  So I pulled out this basket of yarn which will be made into hats and maybe a few scarfs.  I want to finish it before the end of April, yes we will still be home for all of April too.  I will show each hat as it is finished. I really hope we will be able to go out by mid June.

I Am 3 for 3

Today was a puttering kind of day.  Over breakfast I found out I could get my favorite Trader Joe’s snack food from Amazon, at a slightly higher price. I justified it because Trader Joe’s does not deliver.

I got laundry, walking and cleaning done in dribs and drabs.  Yes, John’s polos came out wrinkled, but I did it so I can’t complain about.  I honestly can’t quite remember when the last time it happened, but I think Teri was in preschool.  Since John is working from home I am the only one who is going to see the wrinkled shirts.

My fiber crafting was quite scattered today also.  I spun 2 ounces out of 16 ounces which means that I have 4 ounces on the bobbin.  I can’t decide if I want to get a bright hot pink silk to ply it with or just ply the yarn back on itself.  Twice as much yardage or the regular 2 ply yardage.  Then it was off to the modular  baby blanket after dinner. I finished 1 square and found a mistake in another that needed to be fixed before I could continue with the blanket.  I fixed the mistake and moved on.  I am decreasing stitches on the current hat.  Since we are not eating out at all or going for car rides not a lot of hat knitting is going on.  So I worked on 3 projects and finished none some that is how I am 3 for 3 today.

Bits and pieces of COVID19

Nothing says the house needs to be reorganized more than “sheltering in place” do to the COVID19 outbreak.  But I am limiting myself in the amount of time that I am spend.  Today the hour before breakfast was spent putting our extra blankets in vacuum bags for John to put up higher in the closet after his work at home shift had ended. This gave me space for things I use all the time at a level that I could reach. Also more baskets and bags off the floor.

Another thing that I have noticed is that I am not eating enough during the day and find myself hungry at night.  I did not have this problem before because we ate most of our meals out.  Now that I am only eating when I am hungry and not planning my eating times around how crowded a restaurant will be I am just eating less.  We are also eating better sized portions and healthier food. Take to day for instance I had only had 560 calories from the time I woke up until after dinner.  This meant that I had to eat roughly 700.calories before bed.  So my bedtime snack was a toasted cheese sandwich, dried fruit and a breakfast bar.

Even worse this is the time when I would normally be shopping for smaller clothes.  Wearing the skirt at the rib cage is uncomfortable.  I am a touchy feely  person when it comes to clothes shopping, gee it must be the fiber arts in me.  I like to feel the fabric before I try on clothes. Today’s skirt was 6 inches above my waist sitting on my rib cage to keep from tripping on the skirt or having it fall as I walk. Real first world problems during a pandemic.

Well it is time to wind down for the night.

Me Over Do It

The quick answer is yes. Yes I did over do it by doing a multi day 2 person job in a few hours by myself. I am not saying that the closet does not look great. I am happy to be sending fiber to a friend. Its what happened 10 hours later that I am not happy with.

The overdoing lead to a really bad fibromyalgia flare followed by a very bad migraine. It's really not fare I really made fantastic progress. So the day was not spent making more progress but allowing my body time to heal.

It was also a bad day for knitting. I had to tink out the blanket square that I started yesterday. Then tink it out again because I screwed up the cast on. There is always tomorrow.

If you talk to me in the next few days my words might be out of order, but listen to the whole sentence and play word jumble. This too shall pass.

Also since we are washing our hands so often I find I must add lotion several times a day. By the way, Fitbits do not like lotion. If you accidentally get lotion on yours an alcohol wipe Followed by a few minutes on the charger will fix the problem.

Really Deep Cleaning

I spent the last hour and half going through my fiber stash.  Don’t worry it will have a new home with a fellow fiber artist. I am hoping she likes the gift.  I really hope she has room.  Now I must decide what to do with my new found space. To give you an idea of how much space that I will gain, there is a double laundry basket to the brim, 2 xxl ziplock storage bag and a twin blanket bag.  I just have to get enough boxes and large shipping bags to mail it.  

I think it is snack time now.

Life with COVID19

I don’t know about anyone else, but lately I feel like I am in an old Rod Sterling’s episode of the Twilight Zone.  With the empty streets and unseen pending disaster.  I hear the old theme song in my head.  With Mr. Sterling saying “Now we are entering a small town in the Twilight Zone.  People are panicked about an unseen danger. There is a rush on for supplies.  The shelf’s are empty.

We are now entering a suburban home with a husband and wife. They are trying to live a normal life. Trying to make sense of the world around them.   In the Twilight Zone.... more ominous music. Cut to wife taking a walk and the neighbor is explaining to his child that we now have to stay away from other people. Stay on his side of the street.   She will stay on the other.

The news of the object called COVID19  is all that is on the television. They even stopped reporting on earthquakes. So the couple escape by watching old reruns on television.  The wife is knitting for a distant event. The husband surfing the web.

Unfortunately this is not an episode of the Twilight Zone, this is Tucson Arizona in springtime of 2020.  Welcome to my life.

On the bright side, you know I have to end on the bright side of life.  Another project bag is empty.

COVID19

I have told my daughter that John and I will be staying home until I run out of yarn and fiber or there is a vaccine for COVID19.  I will have a ton of finished objects in a few months, but that’s ok.  We are just trying to come up with a daily routine.

Eating for a Crisis

I think people are buying irrationally at the grocery store.  I put in my list for Fry’s and did car pick up today. The things that I thought would be hard to get like fresh carrots and frozen vegetables were all there.  Personal care items and tums there. Missing were things like pie crusts for home made pot pie, Tide and crackers.  I hear the soda and cookie aisles are empty too.

People if you are going to be a home you need your fruits and vegetables. You need to take care of yourselves and loved ones. Remember your plate should be 50% vegetables, 25% carbs and 25% protein.  Also don’t forget your water. Tap water is fine in most areas.  Soda and juice don’t count.

Stay safe and practice social distancing.  Knit if you have time. Don’t forget to walk, even if it is in circles around the house.

I Need a Routine

Well I think we will be at home for a while. I need to start a routine.  I have a hunch that this might just take a little while to resolve it self.  I intend to call at least one person a day to check in on them.  Knitting is going well.  Reorganization is going well, tomorrow I am sending 8 pounds of roving and fluff  to a friend who needs project’s to do. Clearing clutter is going well too.

Tomorrow I will try Fry’s order in advance and call when you get to the parking lot service.  The ordering was a bear and kept changing my order and adding things that I did not want. The app needs to be more user friendly.  I hope the delivery goes better.

I have decided to use the same mindset I used when Eric used to get sick.  We will make it through. I have yarn and fluff.  We are cooking 3 meals a day at home we can do this.  Also. Have lots of plastic bags to put finished projects in.

Happy Dance Time and Local Yarn Stores

I got my stitches out today. I am very happy. Let’s see if I sleep tonight. This tension headache is not helping.  I am also on square 4 of a nine square modular blanket.  Since I can’t go out to knit tomorrow, I will work on this for my 2 to 3 hours of morning knitting before I make lunch and putter around the house for a few hours before making dinner.

While you are thinking what to do with all this time freed up by CONVID19. Please remember your local brick and mortar business. Your local yarn stores are doing all they can to stay afloat.  If you need yarn call them first. Some are open and are allowing in store sales.  Some will be shipping orders. Some will even bring your yarn order out to your cars.  If you want them around post crisis see what you can do to help them now.  This goes for other speciality shops and eateries too.

COVID19

Life is kind of surreal right now. With the COVID19 virus rampaging literally around the world. Events being cancelled on it seems a daily basis. Earlier this week I had my in box flooded by all kinds of business telling me how they were going to keep things cleaner.  When in reality they should have been doing this basic level of cleaning all along.  But keeping things clean cost money,  that Wall Street Analysts don’t think is necessary, it hurts the bottom line.  What ever happened to cleanliness is next to Godliness?

The news has been filled with warnings to stay home when you are sick.  As if this was some kind of new and brilliant idea.  Really, I have been doing this for decades.  Also on how to call your doctors office if you think you have this new virus.  Not just rush out to the nearest urgent care or emergency room to get more people sick.   This is a totally new virus, literally no one in the whole world has ever had this.  Like every other virus some people will get mild cases and unfortunately some will not survive. I really don’t think that summer will slow it down.  Stay home and read a book or two.

Now I am getting emails telling me about stores closing for a week or two or four.   Some employees will get paid other people will not.  If you are NOT sick or in a high risk group consider volunteering at places like the Food Banks or Meals on Wheels.  See if your community has a fund to help gig workers pay their bills, if they don’t work, they don’t get paid.  This virus is going to cause a lot of hurt. The bill that was passed in Congress won’t help much, it has more wholes than a large Swiss Cheese Wheel.

I also had to order some of my groceries online. I will have to wait for the next store shipment to arrive as a friend has said that the shelf’s are empty.  I will be doing a lot of cooking at home.  We will have to wait for things to settle down before we dine out again.  Can we collectively say we are going to do meal planning?

In the meantime as long as we are home for a few weeks, we will see if we can knock some long term projects off the to do list. I will continue to knit and deep clean. I will continue walking every day, several times a day.  My daily goal is 8,200 steps as of today.

I have several  requests from everyone, please be kind to each other. Wash your hands an awful lot. Be good to yourself as this too shall pass.

Happy Pi Day

In honor of Pi Day is served chicken pot pie for dinner. I might have gotten burned out on hats. In other news I started working on another UFO project. I have 4 Modular Baby Blankets in various stages. When I finish those I should have 2 more empty project bags. The pattern is available on Raverly and Iloveknitting.com. I would love to see your finished blankets.

Stash Busting Part 2

Another day another project completed. Today at lunch I started hat 11 - 2020 and finished it before bedtime. As long as I am home and curtailing my outside activities, to be read both The Tucson Festival of Books and the 4th Avenue Street fair have been cancelled do to concerns about the current pandemic.

I figure this is a really good time to knit, sew, weave and spin.  I know I will not completely empty my backlog of projects. I hope to make a sizable dent.  I also know that for somethings they will land in xxl storage bags for a few months until they are delivered. That’s ok, because they will be ready to leave the house.

It’s time to call it a night so I can be productive tomorrow.

Stash Busting

My goal this year is stash busting. Today was an exceptional day. I got two stash busting projects finished. So here are the details. Hat number 10 - 2020 was finished first. Followed by another shawl using leftover yarn from The NH Shawl pattern. I had 1 1/2 skeins leftover, so I made a 1 of 3 A Shawl Study using Neve yarn by Juniper Moon Farms.  On the shawl you might wonder why I pictured the shawl with a tiny bit of leftover yarn. This means that I won the yarn chicken game tonight and did not have to tink* out a whole row and re knit it as my cast off row.

This means that my 18th and 19th projects for the year are finished.  Since this is the 11th week of the year I might just make my goal of 100 finished projects this year.  This works out to almost 2 projects a week.

*tink is knitting spelled backwards.  To un knit a row of knitting.

A Day Off

I took a day off today.  I slept until noon.  Took a leisurely walk around my neighborhood. Then spent the rest of the day relaxing.  I should really do this more often.  

Food

I have developed a love hate relationship with my food since last Thursday. I really hurts to eat even something as soft as grilled salmon. Yet I can’t get a balanced diet eating only soft food.  I find myself staying up way to late so I can take aspirin right before bed so I can get 4 or 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Have I mentioned that I am the most impatient person when it comes to pain. So forgive me while am am grumpy.

Fifty Fifty

My days have progressed form being totally out of it to being out of it only fifty percent of the time. I can’t wait for the stitches to come out next week. Although I think I can get use to having soup for my main meals very easily.  I guess I am like my dad in that way. Give me a good hearty soup and a slice of bread and margarine and I am golden.  Throw in a piece of fruit for dessert.

I am taking advantage of when I am feeling good to get house work done. Then I go and take a two or three hour nap.  I am trying very hard not to over do things, but I have a very bad track record.  I am trying to get to bed early tonight.  So I will cut this short.

Feeling Better

I am feeling better tonight. I did not sleep well last night,but got caught up on sleep today.  I am hoping for a higher energy day tomorrow.

On the knitting front I finished the brim on hat number 10 and accomplished the increase row plus 1/2 of an inch.  I am getting better at the Russian join in knitting. It is now to the point that I can not see it once the join is knitted in.

It time to turn the music on and go to sleep.

Would I Do That?

I might have over done it a little bit yesterday.  I know, really me ever over do anything.  My body disagreed with me. So I spent a good part of last night in pain and today resting. Only getting 50% of my to do list done. Hopefully with a good nights sleep tomorrow will be better.

Recovery Mode

I was super into my recovery mode today. I slept most of the day and was exhausted the rest of the day. I only have 10 more days before the stitches come out.

 My major accomplishment was finishing hat number 9 and starting hat number 10 of 2020.  I seem to knit hats by rote when I am tired. I like to add lots of color to make hats cheerier too.  It is also my 17th project for 2020. My goal s 100 finished projects.

Dental Work Today

I am down for the count this weekend. I had dental work that went well today.  However, I am sore and cranky.  I am also on a soft diet until the stitches come out.  I am hoping to feel well enough tomorrow to get a loaf  or 2 of challah from Beyond Bread tomorrow.

I have to rest for the next few days, so no housework or bending over.  I am all ready bored. And it’s only been 5 hours.

Right now I am too out of it to do anything with fiber.  This does not sound like me at all.  So it’s either TV or books on tape.  Remember, “This to shall pass.”  

Three Port Keys Opened Today

Ok, my title of this blog does not make much sense to those who don’t play Harry Potter Wizards Unite by Niantic. She who will not be named got me hooked on the game with the very basic information. None of my local friends play, so that left a lot for me to figure out. I had a lot of fun along the way.  I must say that I really like the game.  I even played at home when I was sick by finding lost items.  Although I have to leave the house to find green houses, inns and fortresses.

You have to walk between 2 km and 10 km per port key.  I was almost finished with the 1st port key last night and walked 5 km to get the next 2.  There is a daily bonus for walking .25 km. So if you want to have fun while walking, please join me in playing this delightful game.  For those of you who are curious, I am on level 21.

A big thank you goes out to the programmers, lawyers, W.B. Games, and of course J.K. Rowling’s for making this possible.

Contest Winner

The contest winner is Faith K.  Not only did John draw Faith’s name but he added more yarn to the box, he also found a bigger box so I could send Faith more yarn.  He also said to send more stitch markers in a nice bag. Plus there is a pattern of Faiths choice from my Raverly Store. So I will email Faith to get the shipping information.

Don’t worry everyone else can use the discount code Take20BlogContest for a 20% discount on any one pattern in my Raverly Shop Sheri Karobonik Designs. This discount will run from Tuesday March 3, 2020 to March 16, 2020.  Limit one code per Raverly account.

Thank you for your support.

Faiths Prize

Hopeful

I am hopeful that I have beat this cold.  I have my fingers crossed that the fever has finally broken.

I spent another day sleeping and not doing much. I managed to finish 2 UFO’s, this means that  hats 6 and 7 for the year are finished and hat number 8 was cast on.  If I am feeling better tomorrow I will cast on some fingerless mittens for me.  I was also able to consolidate  yarn from 2 project bags devoted to hats into 1 project bag.  Small step progress.

Right now it is time to try for more sleep.

hat 7

Hat 6

Still Sick

I am still battling the head cold when the  arthritis decided to make things interesting by flaring up late last night.  So I walked 3/4’s of a mile while waiting for the aspirin to kick in.  In between naps today I cleaned out most of the pantry and dumped the expired food. I did not do much cooking in Eric’s last months.  It seems that food expiration dates are getting shorter. Either that or we did way too much take out during that time frame.

I spent a lot of the day napping and did not make my step goal again. Sigh. I did more sleeping than knitting too.  I hope I sleep well tonight and feel better tomorrow.

Home Sick

I have a head cold. So I spent the day sleeping,doing laundry and knitting in no particular order. I missed my step goal by 1,500 steps.  That ok.  There is always tomorrow.

My First Random Project

This is my first random project.  The pattern Preposterous by Natalie Selles, which is available on Raverly.  The yarn is a special club edition of MCS Sock called “For the last time Charlie Brown, will you please water “that poor tree”” from Indigodragonfly in Canada.. since this kit is from 2011,  I have a hunch that the yarn is no longer available.  I do love the yarn from Indigodragonfly, it is wonderful.  So do check out Kim’s lovely yarns. Kim’s clubs are awesome too. The Indigodragonfly shop.

Random Acts of Knitting

I have a shelf of knitting projects that I can not reach so I have not worked on any of the kits or projects.  There are over 30 project bags up there.  So randomly I will knock one down with a hanger or grabber.  The ones at the back will require a taller person so John or Teri will have to get them down for me.  They will not let me use a ladder either.

I have knocked down the first one today and will show  the final knitted object when done. At the rate I knit I am hoping to get them all done by years end.

Sorry for the bad photo, the light for the room is under the shelf.

Eleven

The 11th project of the year was completed tonight. It is also 5th hat of the year. It is also Rich’s birthday present.  He picked the color and style so I can show you.

Let’s see how many I can finish next week.  I have a lot of UFO’s and small projects.

Progress

Today I worked on getting caught up on paper work. This included cleaning out my coupon file, I had coupons that expired in 2018, oops! I got most of my steps putting things away and throwing things out.  I did make my goal of 8,100 plus a few extra.

Our friend Rich knows he is getting this for his birthday, even though it is a little late. So Rich here is the progress on your hat.  I am on the first stripe.  I am half way through the first stripe.  Yes, I did make the brim 4 inches deep.

Thursday

Despite my bad body day, I had a great day of knitting.

Pattern Release Day

Today I finished typing and setting the pictures in my new pattern called The N.H.Shawl.  I think the name is quite clever and honest. The N.H.Shawl is short for the numb hands shawl. Usually in the United States when the initials N.H. Are used it stands for New Hampshire or a designer who hales from New Hampshire.

I am surprised that it got past the editors.   I got a yellow warning flag saying  it might be a sales link which is not allowed.  I guess the second paragraph of my pattern description was clear enough.  The pattern is now listed on www.Ravelry.com and www.LoveCrafts.com.  If you do nott have accounts at either your local yarn store should be able to purchase a copy and get a commission on the sale.

Arthritis Pain

I am not the biggest fan of my body right now. I might have over done a little today. But I ask you is that any reason for my body not letting me sleep. I just took more Excedrin and am debating between heat or cold. Cold might be fast to get.  I just want to sleep. May even new ribs.

Monday

Not much is getting done., this flare up is still hitting me hard.  Today not much got done.  I have been exhausted all day.

My New Math

Today’s math looks like this.

Snap + Crackle + Pop + Exhaustion = Arthritis Flare Up = My Saturday

Don’t you just love new math?

To answer your question, I did spen time resting and detangling my yarn barf from early this week.  By the way it is now 4 of 3 a Shawl Study.  I am on a roll.

Project Bags

It is my very humble opinion that project bags need to be washed when the start to look dirty. If you are anything like me, you put your project of the day, notes snacks and a whole lot of other stuff.  When I finish a big project I usually empty the bag. Hat bags are emptied when I switch from cotton to wool or wool to cotton. If it looks dirty, I empty out the bag and wash it.

By the way the same should go for grocery bags too.  My rule of thumb there is if meat or raw fruits and vegetables  are put in the shopping bags it goes in the wash as soon as I get home.  I tend to like bags that go into the dryer too.  Your grocery clerks will like you for doing this too.  Did you know that your bags will last longer if you keep them clean? They will have less germs too.

At least several times a month grocery clerks ask me where I got the shopping bag if they don’t recognize the print.

Most of the time I have to say that I got it so last century when my daughter was a toddler or for a few in the early 1980’s.

The next question is why are they so clean? Don’t you use them?

My answer is that I use them a lot. I just wash them when they have, meat vegetables or look dirty.

So keep America clean. Wash your project and  grocery bags when they look dirty.  Make everyone happy.

New Designs and a Contest

The best thing I love about designing new patterns is that I can change the flow of the pattern at the drop of a hat.  Well today the hat dropped on the new NH Shawl. I was knitting and did not like my ending. So today at lunch I looked through my design bibles. I found an ending that I like but wanted it less over the top.  So I am modifying a ruffled edging.  Hey, just because it’s in a stitch bible does not mean I have to use it as written. It is called pattern design for a reason. I should have it done by tomorrow and then  start writing the pattern.

Now to the fun part of the new pattern. My second pattern of this year. Will I be able to get it self published by the end of the month, remember it’s a short month.  It does not matter if you are right or wrong. Just send in your guess of yes or no with contest written in the subject line to skaro964@gmail.com.  The winner will get an assortment of my choosing of my hand spun yarn and some stitch markers plus a copy of my new pattern. I will put all of the names in a bowl and John will pick the winner. By the way John does not know that he volunteered for this job.

Just to let you know that this contest is open to everybody, but those outside of the United States will be asked to share the cost of postage if they win. This will be the difference of the the U.S. postage and the international rate.  This contest is not sponsored or endorsed by blogger.com. I am solely responsible for the prizes.

A Rest Day

Today I woke up feeling yucky. So I made it a rest day.  John joined me in the rest day. We binge watched TV watching The Good Fight. This lasted until the  CBS all access app crashed. I spent the day binging on yarn. I am on the last section of my new pattern.  The reveal will be later this week.

Well I am exhausted and going to call it a very early night.

A Hard Day

Today was a hard day. It was not hard because I vacuumed half of the house in a round about fashion. Not because I did my chores in 10 minute spurts every hour. It was hard because I was running out of things I can only get at Fry’s supermarket. I had a very hard time walking through the front door.

I have not been to Fry’s since a few days before Eric died. We just don’t seem to go through things as fast anymore. Some things we no longer use at all. Things like Tide, a small bottle lasted a week and a large bottle maybe two and a half weeks at best. I opened a large bottle of Tide in the last week of December and it still has detergent in it. Plus we have at least 2 spare bottles.

It was hard because I had to walk by the Huggies Wipes to get to the toilet paper, paper towels and trash bags. By the way we are using less of these things too. To get my over the counter stuff, I had to walk by the Mucinex  liquid , Liquid Tylenol, Head and Shoulders shampoo , and other things Eric used on a regular basis. My hand wanted to automatically put these things in my cart. I had been buying them for so many years.  I had to stop myself.  Eric does not need these anymore. Not very surprising was that my bill at check out was about 50% less.

I will not change markets because I like my Fry’s.  It is just down the street.  I know it is one of the smaller ones in town, which means a little less selection.  I think it is worth it not to drive 20 or 30 minutes to go shopping.  I like the nice family atmosphere too. The employees are great.  So maybe next time will not be as hard. I will wait and see.

Leave it at Home

I usually love meeting up with friends to knit.  Today was not one of those days. Little miss I am not happy with my life choices was in over drive today. When I left the house it was 28 degrees below my minimum temperature requirement of 70 degrees f.  So I wore my wool coat, the one I got when Teri was a toddler, so last century.  Well yes I did buy and expensive coat but amortized over the years the current cost per year to wear my nice coat so far is $6.66 not bad for a nice wool coat. Then again the devil is in the details.  Next was my sweater, a fancy one if I have to admit it.  Bought when the kids were in elementary school and on sale. Amortized over the years works out to $4.75 a year of wear at this point. My point to her was that I buy nice things that last, I also take care of them, they might cost more at the beginning,  it the cost per years of wear. Brings the price way down.  It went this way for yarn and other things in my life. Let’s get one thing straight right here and now. Life to to short to knit with crappy yarn.

Then it came down to how to pay for things. Here I was even called un-America.  This is going just a bit to far.  Every family handles their finances to the best of their ability. Every family is different. Every family would like a redo at some time in their lives. A blog is no place to go into this.  Suffice to say my knowledge of our country and financial well-being has been one of saving for what you need.  Not living beyond your means.  The changes came about in the 1960’s with the advent of readily available credit.  The banks learned that they could create a new revenue stream by giving people more credit then they could handle and charging high interest rates and late fees.

Then came  The Lifestyle’s of the rich and famous in I believe was the 1970’s showing what more money could buy, whether it was trips, bespoke clothing or accessories. Designers are very smart people. They created mass produced lines with a lot less detail than their bespoke lines, but enough to get the customers flocking in to buy the goods.  Travel also became cheaper and faster.  Work ethics were also changing.  Gone was the 6 day, 80 hour work week of past generations. Most jobs even introduced paid vacations.

This is were the country started changing.  Some people planned and saved. Thought it was still a good idea to live under their means.  Other people went headlong into the credit card debit way of life.  Let’s fast track forward to this century.  The people who were frugal are for the most part doing OK.  The people whom opted for the credit card to the max way of life are nearing or at retirement age. They have started wondering if they are going to be able to get out of debt before they retire.  They have visions of county run, rat invested living conditions.  They are scared and need to lash out.  I understand all of this, however I am not in the mood to be on the receiving end of someone else’s bad choices.  It’s time to pay those credit cards off no matter what you age is and save for big purchases.  You probably won’t be able to buy a car or house without a loan, but the more you put down on the big ticket items the less interest you will pay and have more money for the things you want.

Now want and needs is an entirely different conversation.  Not for now but later.

Weird Weather

I get I live in the Sonoran Desert. We are use to extreme weather, but not all in one day.  This morning was in the mid 70’s so I choose a short sleeve shirt to wear. A few hours later it had cooled to 71 degrees so we went for our walk.  By the time we got back from a walk around the block it was 67 degrees.  Even in winter the temperature peaks about 3 pm.  By dinner time it was in the 40’s.  So I wore my fur line house slippers out to dinner.  It is supposed to get down to 25 degrees tonight.  A fifty degree drop is a bit much even for me.

We my new pattern the NH Shawl is getting big enough to warm my lap. So it is time to knit.

New Patterns

I have started a new shawl pattern that is going to be called the NH Shawl. I am almost a third of the way through the design.  I also have a pattern that needs a little bit more data and typo corrections and it should e out the door this week.

Check back for further information.

Progress?

Today was better.
Arthritis- 1
Sheri - 1
So I will call it a tie.
I am on the last broader round of a baby shower gift 6 months over do.  I dis not sleep most of the day. I am still exhausted though I even managed to put a few things away and drop the crochet hook under the couch twice. Progress in a wired Sheri way.

Today’s Score

Today’s score was dismal.

Arthritis- 1
Sheri- 0
Steps 4578 out or 8100.

I rested most of today. I am hoping for a better day tomorrow.

By the Numbers

Today by the numbers goes like this:

I went to Bookman’s Mid town and Bookman’s East side.2
The number of socks my store credit bought. 12
Hand knit hat finished.  1.
Pillows given to Ivan.  I not sure weather he liked the Elmo or truck pillow better.  I know that they will be loved.  2.

The Bookman’s stops were for my on going Zenning. I guess I will need to figure out what to zen next.  Maybe a couple of extra dressers that are no longer needed. Then more books. Maybe even tackling organizing my fiber books or my closet.  I am sure all that can result in more trips to Bookman’s.

In the meantime I have:
3 hats to knit. 2 to find and correct errors these will go to Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank and 1 for a friend.
1 blanket to knit and add a crochet border.
Some animals to sew.
3 purses to finish.
1 random animal to finish.
Can I get this all done before the end of January? I hope so.