Unintended Cleaning

 I was so tired that all I wanted to do was take a nap.  Instead I organized my tea cups and tea.  I wonder if I could really justify a couple of me Pawley tea cup in the 30 ounce size? This is just a thought.  I gave the plants some of the expired tea. Plants that are not native to the Sonoran Desert need a boost of caffeine a couple times a year,  I am sure that there are other things that they like in the tea too.  By the way coffee works just as well if you don’t drink tea.  I was left with 2 bags of recycling, 2 bags of trash, 1 1/2 shelfs of newly freed space, no tea cups on the counter, tins for an art project and a lot of happy plants. 

On the me side I got 3,000 steps while cleaning. If I thought I was tired before I started, we’ll after I finished I was just to tired to move.  I still feel it hours later.  I hope tomorrow is a good body day, I could really use one about now.  

Decluttering

Today I filled the back of my car with the 3 newly made dog pillows and dropped the off at the Southern Arizona Humane Society.  The have new drop boxes for donations.  The were over sized dog houses.  They were very cute. My only problem with them is that they were not quite arthritis friendly.  The lids were very heavy and hard to lift.  I found this sad, because a few dollars of hardware would make the lids easier to lift.  

The next stop was Goodwill for 2 boxes and a bag.  I thanked the gentleman taking the donations and said that he was aiding in cleaning my house.  As a treat I stopped at Brugger’s bagels and got 3 Rosemary bagels for a job well done.  

My next deep cleaning task is go go through my knitting books to see which ones I will be keeping and which ones I will be listening on eBay.  I have one book currently listed and have lined up 5 more to list tomorrow.  My goal is to have my books sorted by project or craft type.  My second goal is to have all my books fit in the bookcase and not stacked around the house.  I am hoping that this is doable.  I am listening most books with a 99 cent beginning bid with the buy it now price 50% of retail at the time they were published.  I will put links on my Twitter and Facebook feeds. Some are in nice enough shape for gift giving.  I might even have some out of print books too.  Did I mention that I listed a first edition of a Noro book today.  It is only a 7 day listening so hurry over.  

Thriving Me Nuts and more.

 I just finished the next 3 dog pillows.. All I have to say is thank goodness dogs can’t see in the green range, because I had 2 pillows that were the same pattern but different colors.  No, I am not ripping out the final seam.  At least something is finely finished. I am so use to finishing multiple projects a week.  This not using my hands is driving me nuts..

I guess my sewing is done for the day.  I see lighting is the distance. Unlike my old Kenmore mechanical sewing machine which ran in any weather, my newish BERNINA does not like static discharges. It just messes with the programming. Not to mention it can fry the chip.  Newer innovations are not always better.  

Something else that is driving me nuts is the weather forecasters and the National Weather Service   They have decided that 100 degrees is a heat emergency. I live in the middle of the Sonoran Desert.  Did anyone bother telling them in school that it gets hot in the desert, it’s not unusual for the temperature to stay above 100f for weeks at a time. We usually only used to keep track of days above 110f.    I can really see setting it at 110f or 115f  or above for a heat emergency. I am the 3rd generation of my family to live in the desert. My grandparents came when swamp coolers we brand new technology.  The swamp coolers did not work during the monsoon season, which is our rainy season. For those of you who are not familiar with swamp coolers, they are also called evaporative coolers. The equivalent of blowing air over a bowl of ice cubes to cool off.  My point is that if you don’t like the heat don’t move into the desert because you like our winters.  We just don’t have enough water..

We have always known that we did not have enough water in Tucson. My dads 1st job after graduation from the University of Arizona in 1956 was with the Better Business Bureau to tell people not to move to Tucson, because there was not enough water.  Fast forward to 2021 and low and behold they were right.  We are 20 years into an Epic Draught.  One good year of rain is not going to fix this.  Growth is not always good.  

This blog post is a bit rambling and disjointed.  That is where my mind is now.  The rising COVID19 numbers across the country combined with a very low vaccination rate , means that I probably won’t see my family until spring. But to end the blog on a good note, here are the dog pillows.

Just Maybe?

 I am slowly getting back the use of my right hand.  It still gets tired very easily.  I did manage to fold one load of laundry today.  Most of the day my hand was to tired to do anything. Tomorrow before my hand gets tired, I will try to sew up 3 seems to get the dog pillows out of the house.  

I think I have a lot of small projects that can be finished with the sewing machine. This means that I just need to guide the fiber and let the machine do the work.  

I am still bored.  I need a new hobby. One that is not so hand intensive.  

Boredom Has Set In

 I have gone to the doctor about my hand.  I got 3 shots.   If my hand is not working in 2 weeks we might try something different.  Meanwhile, I am board to tears.  I can think more clearly now that the pain level is down.  

I finally figured out that I really crave sweets and coke made with sugar when the pain level is high enough. Oh, I did not go out and get a coke, the COVID19 numbers are rising in Pima County.  I also managed to keep surgery foods to a minimum too.  It was just to much work to wake up very early, find a mask, get in the car to drive to the store. When I get there are there too any cars in the lot.  What about other people wearing masks? To the massless I just want to scream that there is no ME in PUBLIC HEALTH.  It’s very exhausting, the snow birds are so judgmental.  I had one following me around the supermarket today,  I wonder if she thought that I had to many fruits and vegetables in my basket.  You know the type, dresses up to the 9’s to go to the grocery store.  Looks down on the rift raft who don’t meet their standards.  Oh well at least she did not say she was 50 something and shove her way ahead of me in line, because I was younger.  Many reasons to avoid the stores.

There is still no knitting, spinning or weaving going on.   I have been doing puzzles of all kinds on my pad  .  Thank goodness I found jigsaw puzzles at the App Store   I have been doing a couple a day, I can’t imagine what John would think of the mess of cardboard puzzles   I have also been play card and word games. Today I even managed a little cleaning until you hand stopped working.  I am still board. I would like to be board at a coffee shop so I could at least people watch.

 

A Small Repair

 My first reusable shopping bag got a smallish fix this afternoon.  I bought this bag at my then local natural foods store and restaurant, Follow Your Heart in Canoga Park, California.  I bought it just after I moved into my first apartment.  That was so last century, before John and I were even engaged.  Follow Your Heart had the best vegetarian burgers and shakes.  Oh well the whole truth was everything was wonderful and tasty.  Milk free donuts in the 1980’s awesome.  Carob everything to my heart’s content.  I was not allowed chocolate, nitrates or nitrides back then.  I still skip the nitrates and nitrides, they cause so many migraines.  They also have a wonderful cookbook to make things at home.  

But I digress.   I got my first reusable shopping around earth day, I got my second on my next payday.  Yes, I still have both of the bags.  They are a bit faded now.  One is starting to show some age with the beginning of fabric breaking down.  I patched the bottom with a piece of curtain fabric, leftover from dog pillows.  I am not sure if I should quilt the bottom.  My main problem is I forgot how to program the memory on my sewing machine.  I guess I will find the manual to morning.  My handy work is below.  

A Busy Day

 I had a very busy day today.  I ran errands until my lesson.  I transferred my students knitting from 14 inch straight knitting needles to circular knitting needles , in the process I knit one row.  All I can say about that is ouch.  

My big failure of the day was trying to write a lace pattern with just a pencil and paper.  I tried making a chart. That was an erasers heaven.  Then I tried visualization of the pattern in my head and tried to write it out long hand better, but I could not figure out if the knit 2 stitches together should be in the middle of three stitches or right before the yarn over. The shawl is on hold until I can knit again or figure out the knit 2 together thing  

I think I will look around my yard for inspiration on a washcloth patterns.  No yarn overs to place.  I was thinking of sitting outside and playing with cactus, no not literally. Rather with graph paper and a pencil.  Maybe even a small cottonwood tree.  

I have to find away to end my boredom.

My Day in a Nutshell

 This just about sums up my day today.  Yes, they are two different shoes. Both from Finn Comfort.  Similar but different styles and different colors.  I did not realize I had mismatched shoes on until we came home from lunch. Thank goodness that the skirt grew in the closet, so my shoes and feet were covered.  Yes the shoes are very comfortable. I have several different pairs that my husband who indulges my comfortable shoe habit buys.  

No money was received from Finn Comfort Shoes or their agents for this blog post.  I just like how comfortable they are and my husband buys them for me.  I hope this covers all the bases for regulations worldwide.  

A Day Off

 Today I took most of the day off.  I also found out that my shoulder does not like to be iced.  After that mistake I immediately went to put some heat on.  The heat did the trick.  I am still trying not to use my hands much.  It is not help my hands, but my elbow is better.   

Connections

 I am beginning to think that there is a connection between our summer rains and my arthritis flare ups.   The bad ones seem to happen at the end of July or beginning of August.  I wonder if having the humidity between 46% and rain for days on end is the reason.  

Meanwhile I have not knit or spun for days.  Yes, it is quite survivable, but depressing at the same time.  My right hand has been on almost total rest for what seems like forever.  I put away my Ashford Drum Carder today.  I only have a small box that did not get carded.  My hand is slowly getting better.   I am getting ready to set up the sewing machine to do a few lap quilts.  Nothing fancy, just basic useful quilts and a few more dog pillows.  Sewing uses different hand movements than knitting or spinning.  

It has been suggested that I add another art to my line up that is not hand intensive. So i am open to suggestions.  Right off the bat I am thinking that pottery is too hand intensive.  Anything that involves extreme heat or fire my dynamic tiro would say no to.  I have gotten a punch yarn kit to try.  Someone also suggested adult coloring books, that might be worth a try.  I might even get bored enough to go through my books to see which ones to keep and which ones to sell.  

The lighting and thunder seem to be winding down so it’s time to call it a day. 

A Pattern, No Not Knitting

 I have found a pattern to my bad flare ups.  Somehow they are triggered by our summer rains aka the Monsoon.  I am not sure why.  I will look into that.  

Today was spent icing my elbow. Putting knitting things away, By the way I have more room now to put things than when I set up the new craft room / pantry.  This means that I am doing something right.  I must have used a lot of yarn and roving since the start of COVID19.  

Now that the house has cooled off, it’s time to reset the thermostat and go to sleep.  

Mandatory Down Time

 My arthritis flare up is being quite stubborn. Instead of getting better with lots of rest, the inflammation is getting worse.  So for the next few days I will slowly put everything away. I will rest more, which to me equals major boredom.  I will try to catch up on my reading. Nothing but the bare minimum will get done. I am down one hand, thankfully it is my right hand up to the elbow. I can usually get by with just my left hand.  I will also see what my doctor thinks.  

On the bright side, I did manage to fill 2 boxes for Goodwill today. John will drop it off when he has a chance.  

This too shall pass.  

O-Rings and Yeti Tumblers

 I have 3 Yeti 30 ounce tumblers that I rotate through, using a new one every day. I have noticed that over the years the o- rings on the lids all die with in a few days of each other.  It’s like they are talking to each other saying it’s time to annoy Sheri.  It always seems to happen during a flare up, when my hands are all but useless.  I have to ask for help to get the new one on.   I pretty sure that this is the 4th set of o-rings that this has happened to.  

John would probably say that this is just the life cycle of the o-ring. That they wear out because you use them so much.  Silicone has a limited lifespan. Since you use the same cups every day it’s bound to happen that they wear out together.

Me on the other hand is just think that the o-rings get tired of me and the constant work, so they all decided to quit together. Quitting In mass seems to be a thing these days.  

I am sure John’s logical answer is correct, but mine is more fun.  What is your take on the o-ring issue?

These are my personal Yeti cups. I bought one to try and liked it so much that I bought a second one.  The third was a gift from John and the kids. No endorsement money was accepted. We paid for every cup and replacement o-ring.  This is my personal opinion.

How Do I Know When to do Laundry?

 The biggest constant chore that I do is laundry.

 I don't like to do laundry everyday.

 Sometimes I do laundry everyday. 

When do I know that it past time to do laundry?

1. I am out of sponges. I use a fresh sponge every day. There are studies that say you need a fresh sponge everyday. The sponges build up bacteria fast. When that happens I do whites because I wash the whites in hot water. 

1a. Maybe I just need more sponges.  Just a thought. 

2. I have too many empty hangers in the closet. We hang up our empty hangers together by type, John's, mine and pant / skirt hangers. For the last 1 1/2 years this is how I know I need to do laundry. We never fill the baskets to overflowing anymore. 

3. It has been 3 weeks since I did towels. It takes 3 weeks worth of towels to fill the washer.

4. When we run out of something.

4a. Just buy more of the item we run out of  frequently. More than just a thought. 

5. Company is coming and I need to clean the 3rd bathroom for guests to use. 

5a.  Where else am I suppose to put the laundry baskets to keep them out of the way. I swear that our laundry room was just an afterthought. It is barley big enough for the newer larger washers and dryers. I can't have the dryer door and the back yard door open at the same time. 

The trouble with modern life in the first world.

The Ugly Side of Spinning

 Don’t get me wrong, I love spinning.I find spinning very tactical and relaxing.  I love that I can have yarn that no one in the world but me can have.  I generally love playing with fleeces and carding them into batts.  I did have to give up spinning from the lock for a large project.  Although I am happy to teach people how to spin from the lock.  It’s just an arthritis thing.  I try to figure out how to do things that won’t get my hands tired super fast.  I have modified how I spin too, but it works for me.  I can still spin cob web, lace, fingering, worsted and larger weight art yarns.  It’s my play time.  So this is all good. 

This is the ugly side of spinning.  A fiber producer who won’t skirt their fleeces.  To skirt a fleece you basically take out as much vegetable matter as possible.  You also take out short cuts, the oops of shearing.  You take off the ragged ends. It’s like cleaning house, you get rid of the yuck.  Below is an example of an ugly fleece. Now it should not be an ugly fleece because it’s kid mohair from the first or second shearing of the goat.  See how the fiber is all matted, twisted and knotty…

 I actually had to get my combs out to get through this mess.  I can’t tell you how much feed I had to pull out. A lot of the knots were caused by short cuts of 1/2 inch or so.  There was also more barnyard stuff like hay then most producers allow in their dyed locks.  The combs are very sharp, think of nails. They come in pairs so the fiber can be gently combed out. It actually did not look that bad in the bag, but the store owner in the metro Phoenix area did not let anyone open the bags to check the fiber out.  I now now that this is a sign to leave the store and not look back. 

From what I combed today I filled this little blue basket. Then I decided to stop for the day so that I could weave or knit tonight. 

This is after combing.  It looks pretty good. Combing did not correct all the problems.  This small basket made one batt.  

You can see how little fiber that over flowing basket had.  This was all I could make from that one basket.

The above picture shows how much was not carded into the batt do to short cuts.  

 The above picture shows how much was unusable do to short cut of fiber. That is a business card on the side so you can see how much waste there is. From a good supplier you would not even get 25% of that mess of short cuts.   

This is not to scare you off from making your own batts, but rather a lesson in buying from business people who know what they are doing. Yes, raising goats and sheep for fiber is a business.  

The first business that I would like to recommend is WithersWool. Kathy is the lovely person who taught me to spin and lead me down the fiber rabbit hole farther then knitting alone could.  Kathy raises her own flock of Merino Sheep and Angora Goats.  She is very picky about who stays and who goes.  So she has wonderful fiber. Kathy has very love art yarn , hand spun yarn, weaving, patterns, roving and locks. Kathy even makes rug yarn bumps for those who want to weave their own rugs.  

The second business that I would like to recommend is Grandma’s Spinning Wheel. Vicky is the grandma behind Grandma’s Spinning Wheel. Vicky carries a wide range of fiber and spinning supplies. Vicky personally skirts, washes and sometimes cards each fleece that comes into her store.  Being a spinner herself she is very picky, making sure each fleece is skirted and washed properly before it is put on the sales floor.  Vicky does take special orders and can even order an Ashford Drum Carder for you.  Just for your information I use the Wild Drum Carder, which might be a special order.  Whether you order online or shop in person I’m sure you will be happy with everything that Vicky carries.

I know this is a rather long post. So I will let you go now.

I forgot to add that this is my own personal opinion. I have not been paid or given items to review.  My wonderful husband John paid for all the supplies used in this blog.  I hope that this enough for all the regulators worldwide. 

This and that.

 I caught the cold du jour, the fever, runny nose and sore throat.  The cold was gone by mid day, however my arthritis kicked in.  I slept for a lot of the day and am still tired.  My limbs did their best interpretation of 2 x 4 lumber.  My hands were to tired to knit or weave. So I will have a few more unplanned down days.  

We still do not have a roofer for the leaky roof and we are supposed to have another week of rain starting today.  The tarp is in place. The pan is strategically placed. We are hoping for the best.  The 8 inches of rain in July put us  just one notch above the worst drought conditions.  I wish there was a way to bring the excesses water from the east coast out west.  We could really use some help filling up our Reservoirs. A nice early snow pack on the Serria Neveda range would be nice too. Somewhere between 20 and 50 feet would be perfect.  Just as long as it was a slow snow melt come spring.   

Still Going Batty

 We did our usual Sunday chores today. I am also trying to add a clean a once in a blue moon items.  That way I can tackle the boring stuff a little bit at a time.  We also had a great call with the now grown up kids.  They are doing great.  

Then I went on a carding spree and made 11 mini batts this afternoon.  I am almost done with this round of carding.  I will have a lot of yarn to spin and weave.  I will also get some sewing projects done too.  

Going Batty

 This afternoon I carded over a dozen batts form bits and pieces of fiber. Some were just the leftovers from other spinning projects. Some were samples of various fibers. The only things that they will now have in common are they are one of a kind batts and once they are spun up they will be going into handwoven scarfs for the children’s clothing bank in the Flowing Wells School District here in Tucson.  

I am very thankful that Vicky from Grandma’s Spinning Wheel in Tucson was able to get me new drive bands for my Louet Victoria even though they were not in the catalog.  Vicky is simply amazing.  My Victoria is 2 years old and this will be the first drive band replacement.  Just remember when your drive band starts to get loose it’s time to replace them.  

Here is a very small sample of the mini batts. I think that this is box 2 or 3.  I used my Ashford Art Drum Carder.  Vicky carries those too and can ship to your house.   Another few days of carding and I will move on to spinning these.  The bits and pieces that are not relevant to any color way will go into a box to be carded later.  I will empty the last of 3 laundry baskets tomorrow. By the way a laundry basket can hold a lot of fiber.  This is a very small part of my deep cleaning projects. Make it useful or dump it.  

My Body Hates Me

 My body and I have not been in sync for a few days now. I really have been slowing down. I am doing a lot of reading and resting. Which is what my body wants.  My mind on the other hand wants to go and keeping things rolling at a moderate pace. I have about 3 really good hand hours a day, which is not to my liking. The pace of my crafting has slowed way down.  Also not to my liking.  Maybe it’s time to get some outside consultants to weigh in.  

Well it’s time for breakfast and to see what my body and I can negotiate today.  

The 3rd Time Was The Charm

 Let me start off by saying that I was having a very bad dyslexic day.   So starting a new pattern was not my best idea ever.  The words and numbers were jumping all around the page.   Somehow my mind translated “Size 9/5.5mm” into Size 11. Don’t ask, I would not be able to explain it.  So I started with U.S. size 11 and the knitting did not match the picture.  So I went down to U.S. size 10, but luckily I moved my pink marking tape over that one line, totally by accident.  I was able to save the second cast on and just replace the needle tips.  Luckily I was using my LYKKE interchangeable knitting needles.  

Because I was having such a hard day with numbers, I put a stitch marker after evert 10 cast on stitches until I got the right amount of stitches   I highly recommend this when adding more the 25 stitches to a project   

So now the next row is 5.   I love the pattern “Hermosa Tee” by Grace Akhrem.  The yarn I am using is Alumco in color 10 by Araucania Yarns. If your local yarn shop does not carry this yarn you can always use my favorite local yarn shop, Grandma’s Spinning Wheel. They have a new on line store too.  

My progress so far.  

P.S. I would like to make a personal recommendation to pattern designers and yarn companies with the fore knowledge that every Millimeter on the pattern page counts. By adding just two spaces you could make a pattern so much easier to read. For example instead of 9/5.5mm, try 9 / 5.5mm. You can see the correct knitting needle size right away. I know that this is a decades old industry standard most likely set up when print pages were set by typesetters.  Now that most everything is done electronically this should be very easy to accomplish.  This is my 2 cents worth on the subject.  Thank You for listening.  Have a wonderful day.  

An FYI

 Just so you can plan for it. This is my vain attempt at humor.  When a crown that is over 20 years old falls out, it will require a check for cavities and re shaping of the tooth. Lots of numbing medicine is required.  This then requires a new crown.  Then the rest of the day is spent cranky and tired.  I would recommend a nap.  Then in two weeks I get the new crown and hopefully it will fit. 

Tomorrow must be a better day.  

Just Another Summer Day At Home.

 My hand is a little better, but still wonky. I did manage to knit a little on U.S. size 11 knitting needles.  There is a scarf that I am knitting out of hand spun for a holiday present.  The rest of the day was taken up by chores, napping, carding batts, finishing a book and starting another book. We did get to talk to our darling daughter and she and her husband are doing well. Work is keeping them busy. 

It was a record breaking month for the monsoon rains in Tucson for July.  At least it has not rained for a few days.  The roof seems to be drying out a little.  John is busy interviewing roofers.  

The COVID19 rate is up in the county.  So for the most part even though I am vaccinated I will wear a mask in public.  Because the virus is more active in the afternoon, I need to finish my errands by noon.   I think I am going back to parking lot pick up for most groceries.  I am trying to make the best of things and may finish deep cleaning the house.  I moved another tub of yarn off the stacks in the garage and onto the shelf’s.  Progress by inches.  

2 Out Of 3

 2 out of 3 fingers on my right hand are doing much better.  They are almost usable for knitting again.  I was able to go through some of my fiber stash and do a bit of stash busting.  I have a full laundry basket to go.   I managed to card 3 mohair batts.  I also reorganized part of my fiber stash closet.  It no longer resembles Fibber McGee and Molly’s closet. Nothing will fall down when the doors are opened.  I can even do some easy kitchen stuff.  Just don’t ask me to chop an onion  or do dishes by hand yet.

What I had a hard time with was drying my hair. Halfway through I needed to use both hands to hold the dryer wand, the kind with the hair brush built in.  My hair survived.  With the laundry sorting the wet clothes was easy as was doing the hand wash.  What I found hard was putting the wet clothes on hangers.  

I still did a lot of resting today.  This flare up has been less than lady like.  This morning it was 10 minutes of work and 30 minutes of rest.  By this afternoon it was an hour of work followed by a 2 hour nap and I am still exhausted.  I think the stress from the roof leaks, yes that’s multiple leaks and the dampness of the Monsoon was just too much stress on my body.  

I am not ready for knitting yet, however; if my hand feels better tomorrow I might try some weaving or plying some yarn.  I have a box of mini skeins and 4 bobbins that need to be emptied and plyed. The picture below is the latest update to the fiber closet.  I know it will still look very messy to most, but some of you will notice a huge change.  There are only 2 bags of fiber left on the top shelf.  

Doing Better

 My hands are doing better today. I am doing my hand exercises 3 times a day instead of once a day, that is helping.  I am starting off with the small stuff like laundry, which is going well.  Then putting things away. Just maybe a little bit of weaving or carding.  I will post again tonight.  

It’s Official

 Well it’s official, I am going into a tired hand phase.  This means that I will be cranky for a few weeks of no knitting.  Knitting withdrawal is hard every time I have to slow down.  I will still do a very little bit of weaving, but it is no more than 30 minutes once or twice a day.  

So I will spend my time reading, cleaning and the dreaded relaxing.  I am a go go type of girl.  I am like the energizer bunny I go until I stop.  I am doing this to delay hand surgery.  This comes at a bad time too with COVID19 Delta variant rising fast.  I have started wearing my mask in stores, well I never really stopped.  

Maybe I will catch up on pattern writing.  Stranger things have happened. 

A Wonky Hand Sorta Day

 It was a weird sort of day for me.  There is a small leak in the roof above my bedroom, with the rains this left the room damp with a funky smell, so I slept on the couch last night.  I know that this has nothing to do with my couch surfing last night, but it took over an hour to get my right hand moving this morning.  I am hoping that this is just the damp weather and not more hand surgery.  My right hand spent the day being wonky.  So no knitting got done.  

I managed to warp the loom and start another scarf.  I was not happy with 2 of the yarns so they made it to the goodwill box.  Better there then me forgetting that I don’t like them and trying to use them again.  By the way that topped off box one and another box is ready to go.  I did manage to get 2 loads of laundry done.  I did a couple more stages of finishing work on the scarf I took off the loom last night.  

Making dinner was interesting tonight.  I made my version of Turkey Taco Meat.  I would strongly suggest that onions not be chopped on a wonky hand day. That onion thought it was on a slip and slide, I even managed to feed the floor some raw onion. Once the onion was in the pot I added everything else with ease.  I just squeaked by on my carbs. John found a wonderful low fat tortilla under the Kroger in house label that was very low fat and tasted great too, so I made my fat by .50 grams of fat   

I even found a great Ganga , which is Tucson speak for a great deal.  I had a handful of coupons from my last shopping trip to the pharmacy, they allow you to stack in house coupons, so I got a 16 ounce jar of Skippy peanut butter for 10 cents plus tax.  I have not done that in a while, it felt good. Yes, I know we pay a lot for our medicine, so the is my version of a mini claw back.  

Well it has been a long day and we are going to get up early to try to patch the roof.  Wish us luck. 

Leaking Roof

 I might have over done my cleaning spree yesterday. I had a sore back most of the day. So not much got done.  With rest I was feeling better after dinner.  The rain also stopped long enough for John to check the roof. He found 1 leak and not the other. The leak he found was right where I thought it was. Now the question is when can we get a roofer out.  

With any luck I will sleep and have a better day tomorrow. I have the yarn for the next scarf picked out. I need to do the finishing work on the scarf that came off the loom tonight.  

The Good and the Exasperating

 The good news is I finished 3 more projects so far today. This brings me to 73 out of 100 planed projects completed. If you are thinking like me then you will agree that there is no way I am going to stop at just 100 projects this year.  The only question is how many over 100 I will get finished.  

The bad news is that after so many days of rain, as of right now 4 inches in less than 2 weeks the roof is leaking yet again.  Today I even emptied a closet of fiber to check for leaks.  We found a thermal difference , but not enough to show a leak.  So now it is time to put the fiber away.  

Theo will spend so much needed fiber and relaxation time.  Below is my 73rd project of the year.  A handwoven scarf that will be someone’s holiday present.  

A Rainstorm

 I know it rained a lot last night, we got 1 1/2 inches at out house.  This brought our season total at out house to 3 inches of rain.  I know it is monsoon season here in the desert southwest, but I have a hard time calling it a monsoon rain.  From my earliest memories as a kid the rains would come in the afternoon, drop a lot of water and would be finished by dinner time.  It left the evening a little cooler.  Lately the summer rains come at all hours of the day or night. That might be because the National Weather Service decided in all its wisdom the the monsoon season had to have a beginning/ ending calendar day that was the same each year   When Mother Nature was in charge we would look at the dew point level. It took 3 days of the dew point above 50% which meant it was time for summer rains. Easy peasy. 

Last nights storm hit right at bedtime for us. The thunder and lightning were loud and shook the house.  The wind was blowing the rain every which way.  The rain was loud and plentiful.  The storm did not calm down until the wee hours of the morning.  So we got very little sleep. And of course the roof decided to leak and drip water into the bathtub   The roofer has been called  

So today was a tired hand and body day for me.  No much got done. I am hoping for sleep tonight.  

Goodbye Mr.Adams

 Today we said goodbye to a dear friends husband. Albert Adams was an incredible man. He served our country for 25 years in the United States Army. He was always helping everyone in his neighborhood rom dog walking to household repairs.  He was in better shape than I am in , always walking around his neighborhood talking to everyone   

When ever he stopped by our knitting group he left everyone smiling. My friend Inge as so lucky to have such a great husband.  Al cared about his wonderful family with 2 kids, grandchildren and a great grandchild.  In his last request of us he asked us all to plant a tree in his memory.  I think this is a wonderful way to repair the world for our children.  If you would like to plant a tree or two in his memory and would like me to pass on a message to Inge where in the world that the trees are planted just drop me a note and I will pass on the information.  Every area of the world has a different need on where the trees need to be planted so take you pick. 

Al you may be gone but you will never be forgotten.  

Final Drying

 These two scarfs got washed in very hot soapy water and roughed up today. I moved them into the house to take better pictures.  In the back you can see the really weird skein of yarn that was recently spun.  Half of the skein turned out perfect, the other half turned out highly energized.  My solution for this skein of yarn is a handwoven scarf. Highly energized yarn weirdly enough makes a wonderfully textured fabric.. You might notice that I have hangers hanging from the bottom of the skein.  I do this in hopes that the skein will balance out while drying, this time I don’t think it worked.  

Tomorrow the scarfs will get their final trims and touch up.   They will then go into the bag for the children’s clothing bank.  My handwoven scarfs are always held aside for the older kids for holiday gifts.  I know I can’t make one for everyone who needs one, but I will make as many as I can without burning myself out   

I really don’t know if I will finish the scarf that I warped last night finished tonight.  I started it out with some sock weight yarn which is very thin.  Most of my other scarfs have been woven with worsted or Aran weight yarn.  I just love taking bits and pieces of yarn to make one of a kind scarfs, that don’t look scrappy.  

More Organized

 The 3 boxes that I washed yesterday were put to good use today.  The boxes held just shy of 4 roving braids. The area used to be crammed to the bottom of the closet shelf and I was not always sure when I opened the closet door if everything would fall down.  As you can see the bottom of the closet shelf is not even visible.  I will count that as a win.  As I get more projects done I will be able to tackle more of the closet, 1/4 down 3/4 to go.  Just taking baby steps with my 5 minute Zenning style. I give myself 5 minutes, then choose to stop or work more.  I find myself working more now than when I started 5 minute Zenning.    I will be passing the vinyl bags to a friend of mine who doesn’t have to worry about things falling down, she has lots of space.  

As you can see the boxes look a lot neater with the added bonus of holding more.  I thought it would take me a couple of hours to do. I was done in 45 minutes. So after I see if I can order food to cook for dinner or will have to run out, I will just have to find something else to deep clean or craft.  

Another Way to Measure My Stash

 Another way my family measures my destash challenge is to count the empty storage tubs.  Between using stash inside the house and doing a whole lot of knitting, spinning and carding of batts I managed to empty these 3 boxes so far this month. I emptied 2 more boxes in June so I have 5 less boxes in the garage. They will be put to use in my Fibber McGee fiber stash closet.  In order to reuse them in the house I washed them inside and out.  The insides were really clean, but the outsides were dirty, with the one being in the garage the longest being a little muddy. They are now drying in Eric’s old shower, which was a great place to wash them too  

Starting many projects at a time and finishing one at a time, will mostly empty all the boxes outside.  The boxes inside will be pared down in time too. I can not see my self as a finish one project buy yarn for the next kind of knitter. So there will always be stash yarn in the house, just not a store full  

My mantra through this whole process has been “The one with the smallest stash wins in the end.” Plus it makes they family happier. 

70% Done

 I set a goal of finishing 100 projects by December 31, 2021.  Today I finished project number 70. Another charity Hat.  The only question now is when I will reach 100 projects, but how many over that I will complete. I am only counting knitting and weaving for this challenge.  No spinning or sewing, although I am still doing those too. You can peek at my Raverly projects page to see all the completed projects.  

The Baskets

 

These are the 2 baskets I was talking about last night.  The one on the left is mainly filled with small samples of yarn spun on one of my herd of drop spindles.  The one one the right is filled with odds and ends of warp from years of weaving.  Between the 2 baskets I am hoping to weave a lot of one of a kind scarfs. My hope is that none will be exactly alike.  By the end of summer I hope that both these baskets will be empty.  

I originally got these baskets for knitting projects because they are so roomy.  With a whole lot of weaving and a lot of luck that will happen again. You may also notice that the basket on the left has color coordinated  bags of yarn. If I have just a little yarn left after a scarf or 2 is finished, I can just add the next color pack to my working bowl of yarn.  

Scarf number one is finished and in the to go to the clothing bank bag.  I am almost finished weaving scarf number two.  Of course I am using weaving to break up my knitting, spinning, carding and chores.  I am hopeful that this will prevent body from burning out.  

Following My Hands

 I let my hands lead the way today. When they were tired I stopped and rested them.  I did manage to finish one more hat. Hot water treat and was a new handwoven scarf. The bonus of the day was warping the loom and starting another scarf. I have a basket of yarn and a basket of warp that I want to empty by the end of August.  That is if my body agrees with my plan.  It’s been a real roller coaster.  

Off the Loom

 This is my first scarf off the loom this year.  I am hoping to make a few dozen more for the clothing bank. 

Now you need to look at the fab.  See how nice the fabric is with the variegated warp verses the plan gray warp.  I think someone should be happy with it.   Now to tie the end wash in hot water with agitation, thwack, dry and trim.  Then wrap in tissue paper and put it in a box.  Repeat until my weaving baskets are empty.  

Arthritis Pain

 Some nights no matter how much I want to sleep, sleep does not come. Every toss and turn just brings a little more pain. I try to distract my brain with music or sleeping with the lights on.  Sometimes all that brings relief is more aspirin.  So I am hoping it will kick in soon as I have a busy day tomorrow.  

So I will just try to relax while I wait for the asp to kick in.  I will probably fall asleep on the couch, which is not goood for me but I will take sleep wherever I can find it at this point.  Wish me luck.  

Just Puttering Around

 Today was spent doing errands and puttering around the house.  Nothing massive got done unless you count an overflowing basket of hand spun yarn sorted into bags by color to add to the scarfs I am weaving with 1 off and partial skeins of yarn.  The ideal is to make the scarfs as color cohesive as possible and still be one of a kind works of art.  The mini hand spun skeins add a pop of color between larger skeins of yarn.  These should make nice presents for the kids   The clothing bank usually skims off my hand woven scarfs for holiday gifts. Since I know it will be the only gift some kids receive I try to make them special   

I have started a new hat today and am almost finished with the brim   

I still can’t figure out this COVID19 mask thing.  There are so many different numbers floating around and cases are up in our state.  So when out in public, I will continue to mask up even though I am fully vaccinated.  In matters of health and people being sick in public, is that if I had a nickel for every time someone got sick at home from an allergy, I would be rich.  

10 Inches

 I have noticed that whenever I warp any of my looms that I always stop at 10 inches of weaving the first day.  I also found that the British show The Great Pottery Throw Down, on HBO Max is a great show to watch while warping my loom.  So here is the beginning of my latest scarf which is going to the Flowing Wells SD Clothing Bank.  This is another of my great stash busting projects this year   I wonder how many scarfs that I can weave   

Winter is Coming

 After yesterday’s food debacle when the restaurant deemed that 11% fat was a low fat item, By the way my body says it’s not.  All I had the energy to do was 2 loads of hand wash and 2 washer and dryer loads.  Then it was a day of rehydration and knitting. 

 I am hoping to enough energy to spin some of my new mini batts tomorrow.  I would also like to do some more drum carding of fiber.  I also want to warp the loom and get some scarfs started.  As long as we stay home with the temperature heading upwards of 109, maybe higher. I will be staying inside. I hope I have enough energy for everything   

The hats pictured below are the 2 hats that I finished today.  Don’t worry the knitting needles are not lonely as I started another hat and a scarf   

Hyper Drive Knitting

 I have moved into my hyper drive knitting for the summer.  I am knitting with 2 strands of worsted weight cotton held together.  I use US size 13 knitting needles, so these go super fast.   I can finish between 1 and 3 hats a day.  These usually go to the younger children.  I hope by the time I finish this spree I will have one more empty storage box.   This one is 48 quarts and almost empty.   I do get a little crazy with the colors, the kids like bright and colorful hats. 

I usually use some cone yarn with the scraps of yarn from these hats going into regular hats for older kids. By the way, this is the 37th hat of the year.  I also have a full tub of 4 to 6 ounce skeins that I will use to add variety of these hats. 

Would You Believe?

 Would you believe that carding batts is this weeks strategy for cutting down my fiber stash. If it is not ready to spin it is harder to use up. Today I spent enough time to card a dozen batts using bits and pieces of fiber to make many one of a kind batts. I also did two bundles with 3 batts each that can be spun together for more yardage.  I have a feeling that I will be changing up my Louet Victoria to accommodate the smaller bobbins for the one of a kind batts. These batts will be spun up and used in scarfs for the clothing bank.  My carder needed a short break so I took a picture of some of the action.  

This is a batt of mohair.  The mohair might not go into the scarfs.  
 

Two Visitors

 Yesterday we had our first in the house visitors since last year.  My older sister and brother-in-law came by for a visit.  We had a nice chat, a couple of meals out. We also did a lot of knitting, the girls only.  The guys just talked.  All in all it was a very good visit. 

My Drum Carder

 I had to clean my Ashford Drum Carder after dinner.  I usually use a needle nose pliers, however tonight we used some of John’s 3D printer tools. I must say that they worked very good. So next time you need to clean your carder find someone with a 3D printers tools.  They made the job faster.  It is so much nicer using a clean drum carder.  

The End of an Era

 I have just finished emptying the plastic box I used to carry all my supplies for craft sales.  I will no longer be spending months of my time crafting for a solo charity fundraiser or taking part in fund raisers for charity. This is not to say that I am giving up all my charity work, just the shows. The shows take up 100’s of hours of preparation and a few hundred dollars or more in supplies, all to spend a whole day selling the items to make somewhere between a few dollars  to a few thousand for the charity. If asked and I have the time I might make a few items.  All the charity work was supposed to lead to a part time crafting career, but I found people only bought from me at charity events and would even call me to see if I would be willing to sell a high ticket item after the event was over and give all the money to charity.  They would even ask when my next show would be so they could get what they needed.  When I offered to sell it to them they would always say that they would wait for the charity event. This diminishes my work as an artist, to tell me that my work is only good enough for charity events and not to buy at other times.   

So I will be doing art for me. Doing what I love. I do have a very wonderful children’s clothing bank that takes what ever I make and finds a new home for my creations. This gives me greater joy than charity sales events.  I am making 1 child at a time happy and warmer.  

I will still teach knitting, spinning and weaving, because this also brings me joy. I will still be designing new patterns, as I like sharing.   I like to see people learn new things. Again this will be on a limited basis.  

The past 32 years has been hard on my body and soul.  I still have some issues that I am working through. I am tired. I have more issues with my body as I get older that need to be taken care of, I am moving slower than I was 3 decades ago and I don’t like that.  So this is the beginning of the me era until my family needs me.  

Ta Dah

 Charity blanket number 6 of the year.  

And the bowl of ends.  

Now off to do more knitting, spinning, weaving, sewing and deep cleaning.  

Done

 The never ending blanket was finished tonight, although I promised a picture it was too late and dark. I did spend 2 full hours weaving in the ends. I filled my tiny scrap fiber bowl up. I will take pictures tomorrow.  After washing I might be able to skip blocking because it looks good and all the edges are straight. 

I found the the blocks for the next blanket are so hap hazard that I will instead use one block for the beginning square of several different blankets. This is the “1” blanket someone left in my knitting basket at guild.  By the way this is a big no no.    I am using very small knitting needles for the next batch a US size 4 or 5. Much to small for a solid blanket. If you are a newer knitter please don’t consider any blanket with knitting needles smaller than an 8.  The yarn is so thin that I am using weaving warp yarn for the next series of blankets.  Thank goodness the squares are cotton.  

It’s time to call it a night.  

The Last Row

 I am finally on the last row of the never ending blanket.  The edging is 3 rows of Crocheted through the back loop.  After that I have a Googleplex of ends to weave in.   After washing and blocking it will go to a charity project.  Here is a small section of the blanket. 

110 Degrees Today

 Today it reached 110f at our house with 1% humidity.  It was way to hot to knit on the front porch or knit outside for that matter.  So instead I went to day 2 of the multi purpose room.  I am getting rid of stuff right and left.  I did not realize that I had 3 similar boxes for hand sewing, 1 for quilting, 1 for stuffed toys and one for repairs.  That was too organized for my own good.  I suspect the hand quilting box was started in 1985.  The stuffed animal box around the time Teri was little and 1983 for the repair box, because it was a prize for something.  

Well needless to say I am going through everything.  This all started because some of my 20+ year old plastic boxes began to break.  I thought that they were good for at least my life time because plastic takes 1,000 years to break down. So I am reorganizing everything.  Some going to Goodwill, a lot to trash and recycling and some to Bookman’s.  With what’s left behind being set up to be useful for me.  I did also find a lot of 12 inch rulers, at least a dozen, I am not sure what’s up with that.  Although I believe a crafter can not have too many rulers.  I will show pictures when I am done.  

I also plyed 2 skeins of super wash wool for summer hat knitting.  . I am trying to keep busy and get organized.  Wish me luck.