The second color stripe was finished tonight. The play on textures and colors are just fascinating to me. As you can see from the picture the next shuttle is loaded and ready to go. This will be one of the bigger stripes.
I am really having fun with this one. I just love how the yarn is creating optical illusions on its own. It is very visible in the green section.
This evening I finally got the loom warped for the next scarf. It’s the first time in a long time that I used a multi colored warp. I chose a medium blue and white cotton I am using hand spun yarn for most of this scarf.
The first color of light green looks really good against the darker blue.
It’s nice to be weaving again.
The floor of the knitting room is now cleared of all but one basket. The baskets all have shelve space. The one basket that does not has my Navajo spindle in it. I currently do not have any shelve space in the entire house that could possibly accommodate it. There are also No project bags on the floor. All the project bags are either empty and placed in storage, hanging on a hanger, or last but not least on a shelf.
Rumor has it that a certain robot is willing to vacuum the entire knitting room floor for me tomorrow.
Don’t get me wrong there is still work to do in the knitting room. While cleaning I opened various project bags. For each bag I went through the matrix below.
1. Keep the yarn and pattern together. Then try to find time to finish it.
2. Keep the yarn for another project. Give the pattern away.
3. Prepping the yarn for woven or knit charity scarves (non Superwash wool). Prepare the yarn for knitting charity hats ( Superwash wool or cotton). Some of my hand spun yarn is going into both sets of projects.
4. Put the yarn into the Goodwill box.
I have not gone through all my project bags yet so there is still more work to do. I have enough yarn for almost a dozen hand knit scarves prepared. Also enough for at least a dozen shades of blue and green woven scarfs. Yes while I was organizing things I put the yarn in color palettes for weaving.
Did I mention that I have a huge pile of circular knitting needles to put away too. That should take a couple of hours at a later date. Most likely when I need a certain circular knitting needle and can not find the right size.
I even found time to work on a new knitting design and a few rows of weaving. I was not cleaning all day because I am recovering from the latest sinus infection and the beginning of the….wait for it….post getting sick arthritis flare up.
TTFN. It’s time to call it a day.
I have done enough charity scarfs, both knit and woven that this huge tote bag is now empty. All the yarn has been used. It holds the equivalent of a 30 quart tub. You might recognize the tote bag as one of Eric’s. The one were we carried extra medical supplies for road trips. By the way I did find a few expired pump filters and a spare connector in the pocket. Apparently the pocket was too small to hold yarn.
This is one more small victory on my road to the great yarn destash.
It’s no surprise to anyone who knows me well is that I got really sick after Eric died. Had a lot of different surgeries and have had a very bumpy ride on the road to recovery. Because of that I have not been doing as much cooking as I would like. My kitchen and pots have become lonely.
Today I was experimenting with a sugar free, grain free zucchini breakfast bar. Both my cinnamon and baking powder were expired. I went ahead and tried my experiment anyway. Yes, it does need both cinnamon and baking powder. Those are now on my shopping list.
That is not where I was going with this blog post. I decided to look at all the spices in jars and bottles in my spice rack. Any thing from a store no longer in business is leaving. Any store that I have not shopped at for 2 years is going. Anything past its expiration date is going. So all totaled I have 49 jars and bottles leaving the kitchen this morning.
The liquids have to be emptied and the bottles rinsed out, then sorted between recycling and trash. The jars have to opened and emptied, the jars being sorted between recycling and trash. I figured it will take me an hour to do all of this. I will only add more spices as needed. Not everything will be replaced. For instance, take spices that are used for beef, since I no longer eat beef, except for the occasional bite, the spices will not be replaced. Since we are not using the barbecue anymore, those spices will not be replaced. Yes, the barbecue died while I was sick and since we don’t grill steaks anymore, it is not high on the shopping list.
My challenge to you my readers is to check your spice racks before the holidays. Check for all those expiration dates. Spices don’t last forever. Fresh spices mean a better quality product.
The bonus is that I have 1/2 of an empty shelf in the highly prized prime kitchen area open. I am sure that if will be filled up in no time.
These are all the jars and bottles leaving the house today.
About a decade ago I had decided to start an open work summer poncho. I bought the required number of Juniper Moon Farms Zooey, a linen and cotton blend yarn. I even bought a few extras just in case. I was making it a little larger than the pattern. The calculations for making it a bit bigger worked out perfectly to the point other knitters used them and their ponchos came out perfect.
I am not the best at knitting open weave knitting under the best of circumstances. Theses were not the best of times for me. Eric was in and out of the club which was code word in our house for the hospital. He was also home sick an awful lot too. This was not a sick room project like my pattern Count 1-2-3-4 was. Count 1-2-3-4 was mainly knit in Eric’s sick room, the emergency room and Eric’s hospital room. It was a simple one row pattern. This was a pattern knit over many rows with many weird repeats. I was distracted and sometimes forgot to write what row I was on. It was ripped out more times than I can remember.
Then there was a nursing student from the University of Arizona School of Nursing that was stressed out over her finial exams. Commented how pretty the yarn was. I told her where to buy it. She said it did not fit in her budget as a student. When I left my knitting at the table to hold my seat she helped herself to a couple of skeins of the yarn. She and the yarn were gone when I returned. That left me scrambling to find a couple skeins in the same dye lot and color.
I restarted it after Eric died. I ripped out the whole thing. Then started over. I lost my place yet again. Then put it into the closet. Last night I had an epiphany and decided that this needed to be a woven shawl. So today I am empty in the bag. Ripping out the shawl yet again. Finding the odd balls of linen yarn and putting it in the queue to be woven.
I have no regrets on giving up on this pattern. In fact I feel very relieved. The yarn will be put to good use. I will no longer torture myself with open weave knitting. If I don’t like how it turns out I can either gift it or sell it. I am free of the weight of trying to knit that darn poncho.
Today a rare double was completed. Yes, in that I mean 2 finished yarn projects were finished within 2 hours of each other. They are both scarfs for a children’s clothing bank. The red one is for a younger child. The 2 tone blue one is for a high school student. Please note, not one knit 2 together stitch was used on either scarf. The 2 streak had to stop somewhere.
In case you were wondering, new projects have been cast on both sets of knitting needles so that they would not get lonely. Now I am off to knit 2 more scarfs.
I recently overheard this comment by someone who should have known better. At an open house a presenter said that they were not getting the new fiber animals with the 1 to 2 micron fiber. Yes, he did say 1 to 2 micron fiber. Wait for it….because the hair was too fine and brittle.
First off to put this all in perspective the average human hair is approximately 70 microns, plus or minus 20 microns.
I have never seen wool fibers smaller than 15 to 25 microns sell in a retail store, which is considered a finer and softer wool. In fiber a micron is used to measure the diameter of wool. Lambs and kids first cuts might be finer but the trade off is a shorter staple length and a slightly harder spin. The finished yarn will not be as durable either from my personal experience. So that is why if I get any first cuts I blend it with other fibers from the same breed.
A micron is a way to measure the size of a particle. A micron is 1 - 1,000,000 of a meter or 0.001 millimeter or 1 - 25,000 of an inch, or .0003937 inch. It is also said that the human eye can see objects that are approximately 0.1 millimeters in size.
So now that you have seen all the geeky math you know why it gave me a laugh when we left the area.
If you find an error in my math, please know that I relied on a search engine for the hardcore numbers. Math is also not my forte. Although I am getting better at math with the amount of knitting that I do.
Lastly if you are a presenter please know your subject matter a lot better than this. Also feel free to use note cards for the hard to remember things.
This morning in one of those brief moments of super clarity the thought occurred to me.
Why not weave in the ends of the scarf before I took the scarf off the loom? While the scarf was still under tension.
So I gave it a try using the technique my friends grandmother taught her. You know, the one I thought of on my own. The one that goes against how they teach weaving in the ends in Tucson.
Well to make a long story short. It worked. It was easier. I am sharing pictures of both ends woven in. On my next scarf I will show off the technique. In the meantime just marvel at how clean the woven in threads look. I will trim the ends after the hot bath.
By the way I also wound the yarn on the shuttle from the inside of the skein so that the colors would look very similar to the way I spun the yarn. Otherwise you would have seen a stark green line next to the purple. I am breaking rules right and left this morning.
This morning I finally finished a new scarf for me. I bet you are all surprised. The scarf is very colorful to say the least. I designed the scarf with leftover yarn from other projects, my hand spun thread and yarn plus various samples that I have gotten over the years. I trimmed all the extra yarn after weaving in the ends and washing it. All I can say is that it is very soft and comfortable. An added bonus is that John likes it, so I will not have to find a new home for it.
On the less exciting news of the day. A wasp found its way on to the front drivers seat of my car.so I sat on it by accident Who ever thinks there will be a wasp on the drivers seat of a locked up car. Not me. To say it hurt was an understatement. John captured the wasp while I went into the house to wash it with warm soapy water. Then rinse it off and towel dry it. Next came the ice. Only then did I even google how to treat a wasp sting. The good news was that without even knowing what I was doing, I got the first steps through icing it done in the correct order. John did not find the stinger. Thank goodness I did not have an allergic reaction to it. It is still sore hours later with a small bump. Hopefully it will feel better by morning.
This meant that I did not get my shopping at Target done. I guess it will be tomorrow. We also did not get to see the Blue Super Moon because it was raining and hailing at our house. Never trust the weather forecast. It was supposed to be clear skies tonight, however, I will take the rain any day it chooses to make an appearance.
Sometimes it is necessary to use more than one yarn butler for a project. Take the picture below. Notice how the black yarn is wound into a cake and the Anne from Circulo is wrapped in a shape as best described as coming off the commercial winder that they use. They unwind at different rates. That makes it hard to put both yarns on the same yarn butler.
My simple solution is to have two yarn butlers in use at the same time.
The colorful scarf is destined for a boarding school on the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona. It has one strand of Anne which is a fingering weight yarn. And one strand of worsted weight cotton yarn in black. They are knit together in double stranded knitting. It is being knit in the round and will be around 6 feet 2 inches long and 6 inches wide. If you look very closely you will notice that I am using 2 different colors of Anne, but from 5 feet away you will not notice.
Behind the yarn busters is my OttLite with a random assortment of stitch markers and a random pen for notes.
Now is the time to add that extra Yarn Butler to your holiday wish list. Some local yarn stores will keep a list so you get exactly what you want for the holidays.
It was a migraine type of day. So needless to say it was a green tea type of day too. To relax I decide to do some spinning. I had a 4 ounce package of red Merino and fire star which I spun on my Lendrum DT. Next I plied it with some white Merino for a Barber Pole effect on my Louet Victoria. I will skein the yarn tomorrow and then do the hot bath.
It’s time to call it an early night. So TTFN.
I walked 12,063 steps or 5.04 miles. 130 minutes was in my fat burn zone. That was on top of a very bad nights sleep last night. No caffeine was consumed today.
One Old Pueblo Knitting Guild meeting where we learned the magic loop knitting trick. I am still not a huge fan, but it works well for a lot of knitters So watch a YouTube tutorial and give it a try. Then decide for yourself
Then lunch with John.
The off to a new to me club called the Pomegranate Guild. I don’t do stitchery with floss. So I worked on a pounder charity scarf.
Then a walk around Tucson mall, because it is still to hot for me to walk outside except just after sunrise and right before sunset.
I was too tired to eat dinner so I had mixed vegetables, goat milk yogurt with raspberries and lots of water.
I am hoping for a good nights sleep.
TTFN
Today was not my best day ever. Cried while I worked my way through the upheaval. By the end of the day I had a working plan. That is all that matters.
Tomorrow will be a better day.
Just for the heck of it, I spun some linen thread. On an uninformed whim I decided to weave it into the one of a kind scarf that I am weaving for myself. It has taken over a week to weave that little portion at my current energy and Sjogren’s flare up level. What was I thinking?
Well I started weaving the linen thread before the flare up started. Also it looks very nice. It is the portion between the blue and burnt orange. Yes, the very colorful section. However, you have to look at the sock yarn that is woven in on both sides. The sock yarn looks huge by comparison. Yes the sock yarn looks really big.
Did I mention that when weaving with thread that I had to be very careful. That there were a lot of short rows too. That meant that the up and down heddle frequently changed sides and that is really fun to keep track of too.
The good news is that I can see the end of the warp. I also swear that the next scarf will be woven on a 5 dent heddle. I really need a weaving project that will not take a few months for a scarf. Did I mention that it will use up some hand spun yarn too? This scarf does not have a lot of hand spun yarn. I am really looking forward to taking this off the loom.
I used the 5 minute rule in my knitting room today. I can say that I went for an extra 10 minutes and organized my roving basket. Put a few things away too. John even opened the sticky note package for me. I even managed to get on full bag of hand spun yarn off the floor the stool cleared of everything but shawls That is another 5 minute project.
I also managed to wash and air dry my 2 pairs of sleeping mittens. John moved them to a sunny spot outside to dry faster They were dry by dinner time.
I think I need some knitting time too. I have a few patterns in progress that really need to be finished.
Tomorrow I will try to spend 5 minutes on another shelf.
Send more energy please.
Another hat bites the dust, and another ones done. It used up 7 partial skeins of yarn. A very colorful stash buster project.Yes, I cast on another hat so the needles and stitch markers would not be lonely.
I am currently working on my PHD in knitting. For those of you who are not knitters, it means projects half done. I am not going exceptionally fast. In fact it took me until the end of July to finish my first hat of the year. I know. Right. I should have been at least my 27th hat of the year.
I have very little hand time each day which is divided into household tasks and my PHD’s. That is further divided into knitting, crocheting a blanket for me, weaving, spinning, sewing and any other projects. It also includes my energy level for the day., which is nonexistent on some days. So it is slow going. I also have a lot of PHD’s in the house.
So without further ado, here is my first PHD of the year. A hat, the same one as in the 1st paragraph. In cotton for an older kid.
Today my plan was to go to the grocery store and then come home to weave and spin. What actually happened was I started to put a few things away. Go through some paperwork. Do a recall for my air fryer. Before I knew it time had flown by and it was 4:30 pm. I am not quite sure how it happened. I was in a cleaning zone.
Then all of a sudden I was tired and took a nap before dinner. John graciously assembled dinner. After dinner I did manage to go through a few color changes on the scarf. It is definitely going to be a one of a kind scarf. I would be hard pressed to find the yarn to assemble another scarf just like this one. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. It will definitely go with everything I own.
This is a small portion of a scarf that I am weaving with bits and pieces of leftover lace weight yarn. I could not part with the yarn without using it. I am using a 10 dent heddle. That’s 10 threads per inch. If it was wider than 6 inches it would make a great fabric for a top. So far I have done a good job of transitioning the little balls of yarn. In the picture below there are 3 yarn transitions. .
It has been so hot in Tucson that even my newest Yeti cups are being challenged by the summer heat. I find that instead of adding ice once or twice a day, I always have to add ice to the tumbler after a trip outside plus a couple more times. I can’t imagine how much ice I would go through without my Yeti 30 ounce Tumblers. Also since I am drinking to keep up with the heat my tumbler is being filled more often. I even take it to the bedroom at night so I don’t have to go as far to get water. That’s not all that the heat is effecting. My Fitbit watch bands need to be washed more frequently too. Even the trees look hot and tired. The little over an inch of rain was just not enough for them. We have a new batch of younger lizards using our front porch as a cooling station, which is fine because in return they eat plenty of bugs. They are even paving the roads at night because it’s too hot to pave during the day.
I did venture out to go to spinning today at Grandmas Spinning Wheel and had a great time. I took a drop spindle because I did not feel like carrying my Louet Victoria out in the heat. I left early when my hands got tired. I know that they were tired because I dropped my drop spindle 3 times in 5 minutes. That’s when I know it’s time to stop. I can home and took an unintended nap.
It need not be said because it is happening so frequently lately, laundry was done by 9 am. I gave my appliances the afternoon off.
TTFN
I am finding that the longer the summer temperatures stay in the really do you really want to go outside zone I am doing things differently. Like laundry. Tonight before bed I set up the first load of the day for tomorrow. If I get up for any reason after 3am, I will start the load and put it in the dryer 1st thing when I wake up. That way there is a possibility of getting a second load of laundry done. Towels and sheets can’t be done on the same day either. They both take too long to dry. I do this to do my part in keeping the stress off the power grid. No laundry after 100F. Which is hitting really early this year.
I will do a couple of laps around Target before I start my shopping to gentry to get enough steps for the day in. Same with the craft store. I am starting to get bored, but it is too hot to go out to eat even with misters.
I am playing too many games on my iPad and not doing enough knitting, spinning or weaving. I am doing more 5 minute Zenning periods during the day. I am enjoying watching the smaller lizards use our front porch as a cool down zone. The benefit of this is that they eat the smaller bugs. They have even gotten all the little spiders and egg pods around the front door. To read as one less chore for us. Also one fast food meal for the baby lizards.
Yes, it was another hot day in the Old Pueblo. The monsoons are late. The over night temperatures are not falling much below 90 degrees F. Which means I have to start the laundry earlier to have the washer and dryer off before it hits 100. Today I finished the laundry before 8:00 am and it was already in the high 90’s F.
So this afternoon was spent listening to a book and knitting. My hand is still very crunchy, but I have more use of it. I worked on 2 different knitting projects and 2 different spinning projects today. Nothing got finished.
Tomorrow it will be more of the same. Stay cool and hydrated.
It was a busy day on the fiber front. This morning I washed and thwacked one skein of yarn by 7 am. The sad thing about this is it was so hot that the water was drying up as I went to hang the yarn. I then plyed a second skein and put it in its hot wash. Since it was even warmer when this one came out of its hot bath the water dried up even faster. Yet the full skeins of yarn are still damp in the garage this evening.
I finally figured out a glitch in a new pattern design. It has taken months. I did have an epiphany last night. So this afternoon I cast on and it’s exactly like I want it. Now just to do the math so I can finish writing the pattern and knitting the sample. This made me very happy. Yes I am currently working on 3 new pattern designs at the moment. I think the heat has gotten to me. All I really want to do is go to a coffee shop and have a cuppa tea and knit like in pre COVID19 times. Now it’s outdoor dining for me, so it’s kinda not an option, because it’s too hot to sit outside even with misters. So I go from room to room to work on different projects. That’s just like going to a coffee shop, right?
With the exception of 1 skein of yarn drying in the garage, I have all the yarn priced for the knitting guilds Christmas in July event. I even priced it at a 30% discount in hopes that it does not come back home with me. I am also debating whether to make more stitch markers or move back to dog pillows, then on to a new blanket for my daughter. Then I did get the parts to fix my small ridged heddle, so there are scarfs to weave also.
I did say it was a fiber filled day.
TTFN
Dispute my body and I not getting along today, I did manage to get out of the house early. We headed to Costco to pick new glasses and get the lenses replaced in my sun glasses. My new indoor glasses happened to be the first pair I picked out. For the first time in I can’t remember when, I did not need to get high index lens. This is all due to the cataract surgery. They should be here in about 2 weeks. As usual we bought more than was on our list of nuts and new glasses. It was not all me getting extras this time.
After dinner I was finally ready to spin, so I plyed 1 skein of yarn out of the 2 that needed to be plyed. The skein will hit the hot water as soon as I wake up tomorrow. Then thwacking and off to a hot garage to dry. The only question remains, will the thwacking water evaporate before I finish hanging up the yarn. I will ply the other skein tomorrow. Then decide on my next spin.
Did I mention that they extended the heat emergency until Monday? So there is not much to do except cleaning, spinning, knitting, weaving and deep cleaning.
Today was spent doing the usual Sunday morning chores. I did manage to get the bed stripped and into the washer for the second week in a row. This is one step forward in my Hand recovery.
I spent a few hours making one of a kind stitch markers for crocheting and keep track of the front side of knitting projects. I had a great time playing with my beads. I also went through my bead crafting drawers and am going to destash some findings that I no longer need, because I am no longer doing fund raisers for Eric’s day program. I use to make between 50 and 100 pairs a year to raise money. That was followed by lunch and a very long nap. I find that by either using my hand or going to physical therapy both do require naps afterwards.
Tomorrow I plan on making more stitch markers. Of course a nap will follow.
Today I am working in the sewing room. Doing minor repairs. Making some stitch markers and stitch stoppers. Maybe even sewing on a button or 2. Maybe even a dog pillow or 2. The end result is going to be less projects piled up waiting for me.
The first completed repair jobs were 2 shopping bags that had holes that needed patching. The largest one with the turquoise bottom, got the small green patch today. You many have noticed that I tend to overlap the patches. I think that gives the bags more strength and less places to have break through holes. I have had this shopping bag since before we were married so last century. The one with the dark blue patch is newer. I find the newer bags need more repair work than the older ones. Just goes to show they don’t make things like they used to. Now they are heading to the laundry before they go back into rotation. I wash my bags with regularity and they seem to last longer. I also put my groceries in these bags so I want them clean.
Now back to the sewing room to see what I can finish today.
It was a 6 jigsaw puzzle day. I had physical therapy for my right hand today. After a few errands and lunch it was nap time. Afterwords I could not hold a knitting needle or do any spinning. So I listened to a book and did jigsaw puzzle after jigsaw puzzle this afternoon.
It was also pretty hot outside today with another day of 110f temperatures. This being Tucson it is not unusual for this time of year before our summer rains. No matter what they say on the national news broadcasts. I really hope we get some rain in the next week or 2. Otherwise it will be a very long hot summer. Also for those of you not use to this kind of heat if it is going to be above 90f you want to start your walk or hike very early and plan to be OFF the trail by no later than 10 a.m. Then go hydrate. If you feel thirsty you are already low on water. No matter what ads you see or read, water is the best summer drink around.
I will see where my hand is tomorrow. Maybe after my early morning errands I will actually be able to spin a bit or do some sewing. Maybe it will cool off tonight a little, it’s still 92f at 11 p.m.
TTFN
I was busy today. I finished 2 more dog pillows before breakfast. Went to lunch and knit with a friend. Truth be told we brought our lunch back to the house, it was even too hot for a patio with misters. Worked on a new pattern and got past the half way point and color change. Did some random cleaning. Grocery shopping. All this dispute my body and a heat wave. Tucson peaked out at 110f today.
I ran out of energy for spinning and tagging yarn. I am now going to call it an early night.
With Christmas in July coming to the Old Pueblo Knitting Guild on July 19th at 9:30 am, I have been spinning up a storm and deciding which of my current hand spun yarns are going to leave the nest. With my hand issues still not going away. Add to that my limited time to use my hands daily some big decisions had to be made. I only kept what is currently talking to me. To that end, I now have over 1 cubic feet of hand spun yarn tagged and ready for the 19th. I still have a bit more to tag tomorrow.
When that is done I will come up with a few more simple things that I hope my friends will love. I also have a bunch of dog pillows to make. Then those will leave the house too. I think I might be able to fill my car with dog pillows once I am done.
I am really hoping we don’t have another summer like 1994 with over 100 days over 100f. On the other hand being just a couple of years older the heat seems to be effecting me a bit more. I am less heat tolerant. I am trying hard not to mope and being more proactive on getting things done.
One last thing. This is the first batch of Tour De Fleece 2023 newly minted or should I say hand spun yarn. I had fun spinning it.
I have released My Doodle Shawl knitting pattern today. I also have a version with a lighter weight yarn in progress. The numbers are totally different. I am knitting as fast as my body will allow me. My Doodle is currently on Ravelry or your local yarn store. Here is the link to My Doodling Shawl . Since the yarn I used has been discontinued by Cascade Yarns I would personally recommend going to your local yarn shop or Indy dyer to get 5 skeins of Aran weight yarn in your color choice. If you are giving this as a gift, yes it would make a fantastic gift make sure you use a washable yarn. If you don’t have them already you will also need a U.S. size 11x 60 inches or an 8mm x 150 circular knitting needle.
This is a beginner level pattern perfect for watching television for the more experienced knitters out there. Please post pictures when you’re finished. Also let us know which yarn you chose, and who the Yarn maker was.
It has been too hot to take out door pictures here in Tucson.
My biggest accomplishment today was dropping off 11.9 pounds of soda tabs to the Tucson Ronald McDonald House. They took up most of the back of my car. They will go to pay the utilities and the leftover money will help the families. I do this to remember both my dad and Eric. I know that their memories will always be a blessing.
Please feel free to drop off your tabs at your local Ronald McDonald House in memory of a loved one so that they may be remembered with fondness..
We took a small break from the everyday of life. I took a spinning class on the Navajo Spindle and wandered around the Flagstaff Wool and fiber festival. We then went to Page to explore. If you have not gone it has some must sees. More later. Also a bit of shopping in Phoenix at my favorite store.
I came back with a cold because a twenty something turned around and sneezed in my face. Yes we were outside with no masks on. However there is no way to avoid the fall out when someone is just that rude. Please remember for the health and safety of your community to sneeze into your arm, elbow, tissue or shirt or if you have a really good friend the back of their shirt will work too.
In this case offering to wash said shirt is just a very humble suggestion. It is never ok to sneeze into someone’s face.
We have already unpacked and the laundry is sorted. The beds changed. Laundry will start tomorrow. I will be going in the speed of snail for a few days. I can already feel the achy feeling.
TTFN
After almost 24 years of knitting I have finally figured out that “Sheri you should know” is knitting speak for a yarn shop owner (By the way those shops are no longer in business.) saying I don’t know what to do. I have no idea how to knit the stuff that I am selling you. If I make you feel stupid you will just go away…so will my local yarn store with time.
Well the pattern Anne Shoulder Scarf came up on my UFO rotation. I started it when the kids were in elementary and middle school. Yeah, as I said it’s been a while. So it was best to start it over from the beginning. So this morning I have frogged it, which is knit speak for ripping it out. Cast on again. Gone to youTube to look up how to do the stitches that I still did not know how to do. So far this morning I have learned 3 new knitting stitches. Yeah me. I am also 6 rows into the knitting of the pattern “Anne” as designed and knit by Chris Carroll. I am using Schaefer yarn call Anne. A really nice Superwash Merino, Mohair and Nylon yarn in a variegated pink, yellow and orange color way
Did you notice that after 6 months post surgery I can knit again. Yeah hands.
Well it is time to get my day going so I can find more time to knit. Have a fantastic day.
I am still dealing with a stupid sinus infection. I am almost done with the 2nd round of antibiotics. Not much else is happening here.
Well everything is off both looms right now. I was a bit to tired to take 30 minutes to warp the smaller loom for a scarf. There is always tomorrow for that. I say this because I have a bad sinus infection and don’t have much energy for anything.
I finally finished tying the ends of my open weave summer shawl. As predicted by John, the colors did not look right on me. The yarn pooling though not done on purpose was spot on. The width and length were perfect. It’s just that the color did not look good on me. I also have 3 full cakes of the yarn left over. I really hate bringing back unused yarn to exchange, but they are the same color and dye lot. I guess that I can always use the yarn for warp for scarfs. Also since this shawl is going in my give to people I like gift box there will be no pictures until gifted.
I am really tired so it’s TTFN.
A decision has been made to use all the yarn in the Bye-Bye project bag for one of a kind scarfs for a local children’s clothing bank. Each one will be different. I have 2 completed. I have one that I am doing the finishing work on. I have also picked out the next warp color for scarf number 4.
Below is a look at the yarn I will be using. You might see a pile of odds and ends, but I see an endless cacophony of scarves. As it is still easier to weave and spin rather than knit, I suspect that I will have a whole bunch of scarfs done by the holidays. I wonder if I will be able to fill the Bye-Bye project bag with hand woven scarfs. It is a very good goal in my humble opinion.
I was given quite a few cones of very fine cotton yarn for weaving cloth. Since I don’t anticipate getting a multi heddle loom any time soon. I decided to try an experiment with the yarn for my warp threads. Instead of threading every other slot on the heddle I put a double thread through the slots and holes. It does take longer to thread. However once the threads are all through, I just roll everything on to the back roll. Then tie everything down and start weaving
The first scarf I tried this with was on a 5 dent heddle. I wove this with a combination of hand spun yarn and yarn that had a hand spun look. That was taken off the loom tonight and still needs finishing work. Tonight’s warp is on a 10 dent heddle that will be woven with sock yarn recovered from last night’s Bye Bye project. I think I will have enough sock yarn to weave at least 3 scarves.
At this point if you are a weaver and are offended by this, sorry not sorry. If I were not meant to experiment like this, the cones of yarn would not have been donated to a Knitting Guild. Also you might just like the way the weave turns out. It is not textbook weaving, but it does create a nice scarf with a pretty texture. So give it a try before you start making the comments that I am doing it wrong. Just weaving outside the box.
Nothing in my book says life is unfair more than having to donate a white shirt to charity because I shrunk out of it. Those that know me well, know that I have a very bad habit of staining white shirts beyond use. It just seems so wrong.
My reading glasses were found neatly tucked in bed under the covers last night. I must have been in a hurry while making my bed up yesterday morning. The remote control for the fan was found underneath what was a very big pile of paperwork. I think I need to be more mindful about things.
In much better news, I have lost another 2 inches around my rib cage. I predict smaller summer dresses in my future. Unfortunately I might have to drive a bit to find some new summer dresses. Tucson Mall had nothing that I liked. It is nice to be able to be picky about things like new outfits, instead of just buying what fits.
So far today I have lost one pair of reading glasses and one Dyson fan remote control. I think I will call it a day before I lose anything else.
Life seems to be about taking 2 steps forward and 4 steps backward today. The hand strengthening exercises, well, I wasn’t quite ready for those. So here we are are at almost the beginning again. I am back to just mild stretching exercises once a day.
So for now it will be just spinning and weaving. At least with weaving, I am using up yarn faster than I am spinning it. I have 2 scarfs completed ready for pictures. The scarf that I started in January will have to wait a bit longer for those final rows. Sighs!
Since I could not sleep this morning, I spent 3 hours cleaning house before breakfast. The results are 1 bag of trash and 2 bags of recycling out. Two loads of laundry completed. Five dog pillows finished and ready for delivery this weekend. With lots of stuff going to their proper places. Also 1 mile walked. Did I mention that I also managed to fill one box for Goodwill too?
Today I finished plying 3 mini skeins of hand spun yarn. I used the drop spindle instead of the spinning wheel because it gives me a better yarn. By this I mean a more balanced twist. It is so much easier to control the twist.
I also made a concerted effort to catch up on my back log of making dog pillows. I made 6 cases. I stuffed 5 and pinned them. I left 1 by my squirrel cage for all the little bits and pieces I get when caking yarn. I also cut the fabric for 2 more pillows.
After all that hand work my hands were just too tired to knit tonight. Sometimes I feel like a beginner in knitting were projects took months instead of days. I have about 2 more ounces to knit. I hope to be finished by Mother’s Day. I am really ready for my hands to be better.
Quiff is a real word. Good for Scrabble or W.E.LD.E.R.. if you don’t believe me just look it up.
Today I tackled some deep cleaning, tossing and redoing a bathroom to make it less cluttered. Gone is the magazine rack that held magazines and wash cloths. I used to go through about 50 wash clothes a week with Eric, now that I am only using them to dry my hands I don’t need that many out anymore. All the wash cloths are either in a drawer or have been reassigned to other uses. The counter is far nicer to look at.
At lunch I was able to open a fresh jar of peanut butter for the first time since January. I am not sure how much of that is contributing to my current level of hand pain.
I had so much recycling going to the bin that I asked John to carry it all out. By the way he was more than happy to help carry it out. I wanted to do more cleaning and tossing. My body said it was nap time. My hand said “what did you do to me?” Yep, I might have been too gung-ho on the cleaning front today.
We also went dryer shopping today. We tried to shop local first, they said it would be about 10 months to get a gas dryer I wanted. Then we went to a big box store and got the same dryer to be delivered this week. Guess which store we bought from?
I also filled one box for Goodwill for good measure.
No it is not a fiber project that has been finished. It is however just as important to me. The dryer has died after about 15 years of service. This is to read no laundry until the replacement arrives. Thank goodness I was mostly caught up. However the sheets will have to be rewashed as they pick up the odor from the dryer. Something has just decided to burn out. As per Consumer Reports it is not a great investment to repair something that old. So we will be trying to find one that fits in our limited space that is white. Easy peasy right. Not so much. The Gold Star appliances tend to be larger for some reason. The newer houses are designed for larger washers and dryers. Sadly the houses built so last century are not. So wish us luck.
Since knitting is still very tiring for my right hand. Not to mention that it is hard to knit more than a few rows a day. Also I should not be spinning tons of new yarn just to sit in bags on my shelves. I decided to try a bit of weaving.
Why weaving you might ask. Well for one thing I use 2.5 times more yarn in a weaving project than a similar knitting or crochet project. That is a very good thing right now, since the new winter shawl that I started in January still has one skein more of yarn to go before it is finished. Another reason is that it is now April 10th and I have not completed one project this year. Yes, you have read that right, nada, not one completed project has been completed for 2023. Yes, I am giving my hand time to heal after multiple surgeries in January and February on my right hand. Yes, I am making very slow progress. Also the older I get the longer it takes to heal.
Well the news isn’t all that bad. Since I have brought the looms, yes plural looms out last week, I have almost completed one scarf. It took 2 1/2 skeins of yarn. I took it off the smaller loom last night. I gave it its hot water bath this morning. With the temperatures in Tucson in the low 90’s it should be dry by sometime tomorrow. Then I can do the finishing touches on it.
On the larger loom I have a cotton open weave shawl going in a variegated yarn. This is my first attempt at open weaving. The first few inches look fantastic. I can’t wait to see what design the yarn will make. A 2nd scarf was started on the smaller loom tonight. I am using up a bunch of bulky yarn on a 5 dent heddle. In English that translates to 5 warp threads per inch. Where the shawl is a much denser 12 warp threads per inch. A huge difference in the time it takes to warp the loom., not to mention the time it takes to weave each piece. It took 4 hours to warp the shawl and less than 30 minutes for the scarf.
So without further ado here is an almost side by side of both looms. With a picture of the open weaving too. The bottom of the open weave will be straighter once it is taken off the loom
We got this ceiling fan shortly after we moved into our house. We have been able to to find parts to fix it for over 2 decades. Now we are having trouble finding a new light kit, which are no longer manufactured. So we sadly have decided to replace the fan because the lights don’t work properly anymore.
I even tried threatening it with replacing it. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. It’s like hitting the old style cathode ray tube TVs. Sometimes hitting them in the right spot would make it work just a little longer until dad could come home and pull out the burnt out tube, then go to the store and buy a new one to plug in. Then the television would work until the next tube burnt out. We could always get new tubes. This time it did not and no parts available. So tomorrow after lunch we will have the fan and lighting unit replaced. I really hate designed obsolescence. It is a tremendous waste of resources. Not to mention more things landing up in the landfill.
Today I managed to warp both my looms. The small one was easy after I dumped the first batch of warp that literally started disintegrating as I was trying to warp the loom. The second try was much better. I will finish the warping process tomorrow, by winding the yarn on to the rear beam. Then threading the heddle. Then tying the yarn in place. Then weaving to finish a charity scarf.
The second loom was took 2 hours to partially warp. I will probably finish that on Friday. It took a whole cake off of Whoopee by Circulo Yarns to warp a shawl for me. That is 578 yard or 528 meters. I was able to get 3 more cakes in my desired color at Grandmas Spinning Wheel. The loom did not want to be warped and needed John’s attention a little over 1/2 way through the process. The Shawl will be about 23 inches wide so I will need an extra set of hands to wind the yarn up on the rear beam.
Almost all of my larger loom. You can see the difference between the 2 looms and why I will need help with the larger loom.
In other news my eyes are doing great. No issues following last year’s surgery.
