Still Exhausted

 I am so over this recovery period.  The supplies that I thought would last for 2 weeks are almost gone.  I am using my last nasal spray. I have ordered another 6 pack which will arrive on Saturday.  I have lost my appetite and finding it hard to hit 20 grams of protein per meal. Not to mention eating my vegetables.  I am also tired of being exhausted.  

To end on a positive note. I completed one charity hat which is very bright and colorful tonight.  I cast on another hat tonight too.  I am only a few rows into the brim.  I am putting the shawl aside until I feel a little better.   I need quick fun projects so hats do fit the bill.  Also the clothing bank I knit for has promised they will find a head for every hat that I knit.  Today’s hat will show up in  tomorrows blog.  You have been forewarned that it is bright and colorful.  

The 5 Minute Rule

 I strongly believe in the 5 minute rule for doing larger cleaning projects. Since my surgery last Friday and my very obviously diminished supply of spoons, I have come up with a very effective variation of the five minute rule. 

It goes as follows. If I manage to get up from my very important job of resting I try to put a few things away.  While my tea is brewing, I put things away around the kitchen.  If I need to go to the back of the house for any reason, I try to return things to the back of the house.  If there is nothing to bring forward, I stop and try to un clutter an area for a few minutes. I find it amazing how much I can get cleaned up in 5 minutes.  

As usual the recovery is taking longer than I think it should.  Although it is going according to the doctor’s recovery plan.  As you know I hate the recovery period. 5 days in 9 to go for the hard core recovery. Then I will start to increase my activity.  

I have also started a new shawl. Hopefully I will finish the entire 100 grams of wool before I complete my recovery.  I am using a Zauerball. I find the Zauerball’s very fun to knit with. My husband thinks that I should choose a brighter color for the next one. 

Recovering Again.

 Going to through the lastest round of surgery recovery. I will be out of commission for 2 weeks.  So the usual restrictions.  Lift nothing over 10 pounds.  No bending over.  So it’s knitting, spinning and reading.  Resting as much as possible.  

The Streak - Day 2

 I am currently working through a weird streak.  Yesterday as you recall, I broke our coffee maker. According to Costco that model broke a lot. We did not even have to explain. Just show the paperwork work for the refund. 

Today was quite different.  While bending down to pick out my shoes for the day a closet clothing rack fell on my head. At least the clothes were soft. But the hangers did do a little bit of scratching.  So I cleaned off a couch. Then moved all the clothes to the couch.  Then I vacuumed up the mess. Cleaned my self up. Did my hair.  Had a very quick lunch. Started a load of laundry. Added water to the pool. Then went to have back to back lab studies done.  Then went to the grocery store where my discount card failed yet again.  I have signed up for that account at least 10 times.  But it’s always someone else’s fault that their discount card does not work as promised.  I re registered the dam app.  I think if it does not work this time I will send a note to the state attorney general’s office and complain about false advertising.  

The good part is that I found time to spin and relax.  After dinner I did some knitting   

Wish me luck that tomorrow will be a better day.  

A Busy Day

 Today was a day to get things out of the house.  We started out by dropping off 2 cubic feet of socks, hats and scarfs at Flowing Wells School District for their students.  The it was off to Costco to drop of a 4 month old coffee maker that died yesterday.  That was another cubic foot out of the house.  

Now on to the good stuff. We picked up 16 duck eggs from Lee Lee’s grocery store. If you are allergic to chicken eggs I would highly recommend trying duck or quail eggs. They might just surprise you.  We did one more pick up.  I left my husband to put everything away.  While I took a nap.  

Then after lunch I went through my piles of mail and packages that had to be sent out. I will have at least another cubic foot of mail leaving the house tomorrow.  

We are reclaiming space left and right.  Then Tuesday another 2 cubic feet will leave the house unless I can manage to get more stuff done and ready to leave the house. 

All of this would not have been possible without my husband doing all the driving.  If I use myspoons wisely I can get a lot done if I ask for help and take naps. 

I also had to add an extension to my current knitting project.  I also managed to get some spinning done too. 

A Healthy Dessert

 This healthy, two ingredient dessert was a childhood favorite of mine. It is simple to make. It tastes wonderful. Yes, and kids are sure to like it.  

Peanut Butter Kisses

1 small banana cut into slices.  You may substitute any fruit you like, just cut them into bite sized pieces. 

1 skippy peanut butter squeeze tube.  Or your favorite brand of peanut butter. You can even substitute with almond butter, cashew butter, or sunflower seed butter.

1 dessert plate 

1 knife

I like to peel my Banana from the bottom, not the top stem. This makes it easier to peel. After peeling the banana. Cut the banana in slices. Arrange the banana slices on the plate. Squeeze a small dollop of peanut butter on each banana piece. Grab your fork and enjoy your dessert. 

This recipe is vegan. Can be made nut free. Is a very satisfying snack. It’s like eating candy, but healthier this serves O.N.E. adult or two children. Tell me what you think. 

This is an off-the-cuff blog tonight. So the plate is not very clean. It’s covered with peanut butter, but darn it was good. As you can see the dollops don’t have to be perfect., Yes, I do have the skills to make it very pretty. In a previous life, I taught cake decorating and was a professional cake decorator. However, I did not feel like making a pastry bag or finding a pastry tip to make them very pretty, I just wanted a quick bedtime snack. 

A Bumpy Day

 I made a very short to do list today by my spoonie standards.  I got half my list done by lunchtime.  After a small salad for lunch I thought it would be nice to close my eyes for 15 minutes.  Three hours later I woke up still feeling very tired. I made scrambled eggs for dinner  along with vegetables and honeydew melon.

I guess shopping at 2 stores and doing the driving in one morning is too much for me right now. I guess I still need help with the driving . Just when I thought I was finally getting my energy back.  My body decided it was in charge not my mind.  

In other news my dresses decided to get longer all on their own.  I see some hemming in my future.  

The Road to Recovery

 The road to recovery can be very bumpy.  This morning I was feeling very good. So I packed my car with shopping bags.  My first stop was Walmart where I picked up some Rit dye remover to try to fix one of my husband’s shirt that got some bleed over dye in the wash.  Yes, I had a fully saturated color catcher in the wash.  It is the first time in over a decade that the dye catcher did not pick up all the stray dye in the wash. 

Then it was off to Whole Foods to get some fresh fruit and goat milk yogurt. I got a treat for lunch too.  My husband graciously carried in the heavy bags and put the groceries away.   Then we had lunch.  I had planned to do paperwork and spin after lunch. Instead I spent the next 3 hours resting.  The morning activity had worn me out.  

I still do not have the stamina I had before I got sick in mid February.  Just walking around two stores and the house I managed to get 100 minutes in the Zone of moderate to vigorous exercise.  I have really got to figure out how to get back into shape so it is actually exercise instead of  just walking that causes an exercise heart rate. 

I am getting very tired of not being able to do much.  I am not a happy person right now.  My mind feels that I should be able to do more.  My body says no.  

Kitchen Confusion

 I think there is a lot of kitchen confusion in our local restaurants lately.  In the past 2 months I have had to send food back about 80% of the time.  The confusion seems to be what exactly is milk and what products contain milk.  So I thought I might try to clarify this for restaurants.  

Milk is Obviously milk, cheese, butter, cream, sour cream, yogurt and anything that contain those ingredients.   Your kitchen needs to know what contains milk.  Item that can contain milk are breads, coated French fries, almost all desserts.  Here is my plug to put fresh fruit on the menu for dessert. 

Milk is not mayonnaise, yes it is white but mayonnaise it is an emulsion of eggs and oil. 

For those of us allergic to milk we get tired of sending our food back.  Various reasons that I have sent food back.  My meal was coated with cheese, this is very common. Sour cream was covering my meal.  Butter was liberally applied to a milk free bun, not my meal.  My dry potato with chives on the side was covered with cheese and sour cream. My salad was covered with cheese and or sour cream.  

Now I always say I have a milk allergy and request that milk items be left off. I even go so far as to call them out.  I have done my part. Now it is time you do yours.   I even go to restaurant websites to see what is allergy friendly.  So I know what to order.  

By making my order right the first time saves you money.  It leaves me less frustrated.  You can also turn your table faster.  This all adds to your bottom line in a very tight economy.  

Breaking Things

 I thought I was only good with breaking electronics.  Well tonight I thought I broke the pantry door.  It just stopped opening and closing for me.  So it turns out my husband who just lays hands on electronics to fix them can also troubleshoot and fix pantry doors too.  No laying of hands though.  

First I checked all the hinges and they seemed to be in place.  So I could tell the door was not falling off the hinges. That hit my limit of door fixing. I can handle hinges. This was definitely not a hinge problem. So hat in hand I went to tell my husband that I had broken the pantry door. I told him that it was not the hinges. 

So he came out and double checked the hinges and said they looked fine.  He sent me for screw drivers and he got the flashlight because something on the floor looked odd. 

It turns out that a thumb tack landed on the floor earlier today and went missing.  I can tell you exactly where that stupid little thumb tack went.  Straight to the middle of the pantry door. Just in the right place to give a solid jam.  So with the screw driver he managed to get the thumb tack out. Other than the tile getting scratched everything is working and fine. 

The husband is a keeper.  I really wanted to throw the thumb tack out.  Since the thumb tack only annoyed us. Since we did not step on it, the thumb tack went back on the cork board. 

So how was your evening?

The Stasher Hat - Part 2

 The Stasher Bag hat was finally finished this morning. Boy were there a lot of end to weave in. That is to be expected with a scrappy hat. However I got the hat finished in time to make it to my dentist appointment on time.  I was very surprised that I had no cavities, I had a lot of jaw pain earlier this year for a health issue, so I assumed that I would have a lot of cavities.  

To celebrate, I went straight to the grocery store to buy some fresh fruit, a roasted chicken and purple potatoes for dinner.  Well I did buy 2 packages of cut up watermelon, of which one did not make it to the fridge. It was a light very late lunch.  It was my treat for the day.  I was debating between a cherry turnover or watermelon. The healthy choice won out.  

This was also my most active day since the beginning of February. If I can repeat this for a couple more weeks I would be elated.  

Tour De Fleece Part 2

 My spin for the second third of the Tour de Fleece is complete.  I finished plying and skeining the last 3 skeins tonight.  The last skein is chain plyed.  I am still not very good at chain plying.  I do however feel that it is passable.  In case you are wondering the chain plyed skein is the one on the left   I used a 1 yard knitty noddy on it   

Tomorrow I start the last section of the spinning.  With the daily spins compressed. This means that I will open more than one packet a day.  

Without further ado here is the second section of spun yarn.  I am getting a little more finished yarn than I thought that I would do so a shawl might be out of the question.  Or maybe multiple shawls is the best answer.  

The Stasher Hat

 The hand knit hat below was knit entirely with scraps of yarn that I put in the Stasher bag.  I started keeping the Stasher bag in my hat knitting bag.  Before I started using the Stasher bag I just dropped the tiny scraps of yarn in the of my bag.  With the yarn in the bottom of the bag I found it hard to find the right combination of colors for a hat like this.  

With the yarn in the Stasher bag, it holds a little more than enough for a hat.  It also has the advantage over disposable bags, in that it won’t fall apart and make an unintended mess.  Once this hat is finished I will start another hat and start refilling the bags with the next batch of bits and pieces.  

I bought this Stasher Bag. I am not receiving compensation for this post   

First Day Back

 Today was my very first day back at exercise since I got sick in mid February.  I did my elliptical for 20 minutes.  I did the elliptical until I got tired.  That took all of 20 minutes.  Then I took a 2 hour nap.  It’s a start.  

Life Choices

 The thought occurred to me this morning that every single person in the Saturday spinning group had a vastly different childhood than mine. My childhood tormenter is near the end.  Which made me wonder what it must have been like if I was not waiting for my next misstep and the ensuing battle royal while growing up.  Even if I did not do a misstep and took the unwarranted blame and punishment for a siblings actions. 

Would I be more sure of myself and my choices in life? Would I have the courage to say no when I really wanted to? Would I still be so insecure about my whole life?  Would I have a stupid autoimmune disease that has been blamed on childhood trauma? 

What I do know is despite everything, I have tried to change the trajectory of my life. Sometimes with overwhelming success and other times with abject failures.  I did my best to be the complete opposite of my tormentor.  Sometimes being a little bit too ridged in hindsight.  I prayed everyday that I could get it right. Some days were better than others.  I also know that if my life had been different, I would not have a stupid scar on my left hand 63 years after a punishment.  I can’t even think about why anyone would do that to a toddler.  

I don’t know if I will ever get rid of my insecurities caused by my childhood.  Even the feeling that I will be all alone because my tormenter called me a bad person and their life and the world would be better without me. As an adult I know that this is totally out of bounds remark that I heard at least once a day.  

I hope and pray everyday that I am worthy enough to be part of my husband and children’s lives.  That my friends can accept my foibles brought about by my less than desirable childhood.  That I can make the world a better place.  That I am a much better parent and human being than my tormenter ever was.  

That the statement that childhood abuse lasts a life time is so true.  Ask me how I know? Many details have been left out to protect the guilty at the end of life.

Please make the effort to treat all children with the respect that they deserve. Please remember that “All G’d’s children are special all the time. “

My First Plying

 Ok I have the first 3 plys done for Tour de Fleece 2024.  As you can tell by the 3 skeins of yarn the first plying attempt was not as good as the second or third.  I find that’s the great thing about being an artist, everything is not set in stone except marble sculptures.  

So instead of going from the top down on a shawl with my Tour de Fleece spinning, I have a new game plan.  The first skein of yarn will go into a one of a kind scarf for a child who utilizes the Flowing Well’s School District Clothing Bank. Since the yarn is way too bumpy to knit.  The yarn will add a unique texture to the scarf.  Nothing goes to waste.  Everything in art has a purpose.  

I will continue with my Tour de Fleece spin and come up with a game plan for the rest of the yarn.  The pictures below are pre snd post washing and thwacking.  

This and That

 As I write this blog post we have had over an inch of rain since dinner time.  There were a lot of micro bursts that broke a lot of power poles.  This time we feel very lucky not to be in the red or pink zones without power.  This storm came in hard and fast  enough to trigger a weather related headache. It is supposed to rain for 2 more hours. I hope that by dawns early light the storm damage will be minimal.

I am almost done with the first  of 3 sections of my Tour de Fleece spin.  Hopefully that will be finished soon.  

I got overheated last Wednesday morning and my body just ground to a halt.  So most of the week has be spent resting.  I use to find the summer heat energizing because I hurt less.  Somehow this summer even dashing between the store and my car is very draining.  I just can’t figure it out yet.  I hope it is only temporary. Only time will tell.  

Testing My Limits

 As a spinner, I always like to test my limits on how full I can fill a bobbin or drop spindle.  My new Hansen mini pro e-spinner is no exception.  While plying my first bobbin of Tour de Fleece 2024 I got to within 1/8 of an inch of the flyer.  I was plying a worsted weight yarn.  I had o problem at all getting the bobbin filled with my first 7 stages plus a coordinating color.  I am spinning up the rest of the coordinating color to use as a break between the stages for knitting my new shawl.

I am still experimenting on where I want the bobbins that I am plying to be. I think I have ruled out having the bobbins adjacent To the e- Spinner, it is just too awkward to pull the yarn out smoothly from the bobbins. Right now I am experimenting with having the bobbins on a step stool which is about 12 inches off the floor. This seems to be working because I am not using my spinning chair. I am using a regular office chair. This seems to be a good distance and an easier plying experience. I also think the yarn looks better. I will have a better idea after washing the yarn to set the twist. 

I am projecting that I will not finish all the stages on time.  This is my current priority spin so I can get the shawl knit up.  I am not sure if I will use an existing pattern or design a new one.  It all depends on the yarn and what it wants to be.  

Books and More Books

 I have turned into a book dragon.  Collecting books faster than I have been reading them.  It may have been pointed out that the books exceed my current shelf space.  So there is only one solution that I am on board with. I will take 30 minutes a day to read the books until the piles are depleted.  I know that this will take longer than the other suggestions that I have received and rejected.  

As I finish the books, I will give you the title and author with a thumbs up or down.  Then if they are not autographed copies which I intend to keep, I have developed a plan of action.  

1. Try Bookman’s first. This is because I can take the exchange credit and trade for new socks for a local children’s clothing bank  that I like to support, this is a win-win for me.

2. One of the tiny free libraries around Tucson.  If by chance I finish a book while traveling, I will try to find a tiny library to leave it at or a coffee shop with a bookshelf.  

If you have any other ideas please let me know in the comment section.  

Things That Make Me Grumpy

 There are some things that make me super grumpy.  Take my ResMed CPAP machine.  Apparently they either have a manufacturing issue or a redesign boo-boo.  Either way I just installed power supply box number 3 for the year 2024.  Please understand that I am a fiber artist not an engineer.  I am not an expert. This is not my field of study, expertise or work area.  However this is July 19th and that means a power supply is lasting a little over 2 months each. I personally think that they should last much longer. Maybe even a year or 2.

I would like to point out that this is not a way to build customer satisfaction.  It is also bad for the environment.  E waste is hard to dispose of properly, many people do not have the knowledge or resources to dispose of e waste, so most land up in landfills.  It is definitely not the way to increase your bottom line. ResMed you have to do better. 

Another thing that makes me really grumpy is when a super big corporation buys a health food store then a few years down the line a new CEO takes over.  The new CEO decides that there are too many items that the store carries.  He looks at his labor cost and eliminates a very large portion of the healthy and vegan food, only to replace it with junk foods.  Yes, the “food” you replace the healthy food with is junk food. The employees are instructed to send the customers to the frozen food section for the items that we used to get made in house. The things do not taste as good.  Also cutting back the number of dairy free alternatives that taste good and not like cardboard is a mistake. I personally don’t consider soda to be a healthy choice.  Yes, Amazon and Whole Foods this is you. 

You have also turned a good portion of the front end into an Amazon return hub.  Eliminating indoor seating in the middle of the desert. You have cut off the restaurant hours to 2 days a week, instead of 7.  You have also cut the quality of the prepared food to go. Yes, people have noticed.  I am now buying my fruit at different grocery stores.  Safeway has a nice selection of cut up fruit at a better price.  Sprouts has a better selection of fresh fruit at a lower cost too. Trader Joe’s has a limited but good selection of fresh fruits and vegetables at a lower price.  

The specialty sector of the food industry requires knowledge of the food industry is a very hard market to do well in. It requires someone with a food industry background and experience. The food sector typically has a lower profit margin. That is usually made up with volume. Maybe it’s time to hire someone with experience in the field to run Whole Foods  

The last thing that is making me grumpy right now is my body and its inability to handle the heat. I was in a warm room for 3 hours on Wednesday morning.  It is Saturday morning and I am still dealing with the aftermath.  My spoons are low. I am aching almost every where.  I want my 30 something body back.  

This blog post was written over 2 days.  

TTFN

Spinning in the Dark

 Last night we had a rather wicked monsoon storm.  Over 32,000 homes and businesses in Tucson lost power.  A special thank you needs to go out to all he crews and staff of Tucson Electric Power Company who cut their weekend short to work through the night to get the power restored to the greater Pima County area.  There were still pockets of power outages this morning.  However the vast majority of businesses and homes had their power restored.  

Now it’s the turn of the cable companies, phone companies and data processors to fix their end of their share of the damage so businesses can run smoothly again.  I know that this will involve replacing some electronic equipment and rebooting other equipment.  This always takes longer.  

What we were doing during all of this.  We were out to dinner when the storm hit.  I just watched the very heavy rains while eating dinner.  It was not until we got closer to home that we saw and had to drive around tree branches that had snapped off of the trees. When we got to the house we realized we had lost power when we couldn’t open the garage door.  

John got all the flashlights ready.  He even had one that was powered off a drill battery.  It was too dark to knit because all of my projects are currently using dark yarn.  So I took my flashlight and grabbed a bowl of spinning.  We moved to the back yard to cool off.  The backyard was cooler than the house. I managed to spin almost 3 rolags in the dark.  I was using one of my Golding drop spindles.  I would highly recommend this spindle for spinning in the dark. The grove can be felt by finger tip. It’s very well balanced. The hook is very easily managed in the dark. Below is a picture of last nights spinning.  For a very low light spin, I am happy with the results.

4 Hours

 Between last night, this morning and afternoon I spent 4 hours beginning to organize my knitting room.  I went through every basket, plastic box and drawer on 2 sides of the room.  The net result so far is 5, yes five kitchen size trash bags full of yarn.  These will go with a friend up to Northern Arizona when she visits her family next time.  

The knitting room is down one rolling cart which will be for sale at the next Old Pueblo Knitting Guild meeting which is themed Christmas in July.  If you are in Tucson this coming Wednesday July 17th join us at St. Phillips Church at the corner of River Road and Campbell Avenue at 9:30am.  I will also have some of my hand spun yarn packed into kits that will include the yarn, a pattern and stitch markers.  I will price the yarn at hand dyed prices, instead of hand spun prices.  Now I have to spend the weekend pricing everything. 

I have also come to the realization that I have about 20 years worth of shawls for me to knit.  While I was busy clothing the community with winter hats and scarfs, I totally forgot about my needs.  I also have a few sweaters that will be knit after I make a dent in the shawls.  I have also come up with a brilliant idea for a lot of little skeins of sock yarn.  I will set up that bag after I finish all the pricing.  

So I have been talking about what is leaving the knitting room today.  Here is a visual for you.  

Tour de Fleece Spinning

 The picture of the bobbins tell the next chapter in my spinning journey.  I have gotten much more comfortable with my new Hansen mini pro e-spinner.  I still occasionally turn the speed dial to off when changing to the next bobbin. Then wondering why it won’t start. I am getting much better at remembering to put the break back on after changing the bobbins.  I have found that with my arthritis using pearl cotton as the leader is much easier to see and for my hands to get the fiber settled into than sewing thread.  I might be sacrificing a few inches of yarn, but that’s OK with me. 

In the past 2 weeks, I have upped my spinning skills with the e-spinner.  The bobbin in the front left is the first bag of pencil roving for my older sister.  This bobbin is just shy of 8 ounces.  So the bobbins hold a lot of fiber.  There is one more bag of that color to be spun on a second bobbin.  I will ply them onto a third bobbin until full and then refill the bobbin until I run out of yarn. 

 The bobbin in the front right is the second third ( stages 8 to 14),of the Tour de Fleece spin from Hilltop Cloud in Mallwyd, Wales. Katie is a fabulous curator and dyer of fiber.  It is also faster to get something from Wales than from some parts of the United States. The bobbin in back is the first third of the spin of Tour de Fleece.  Stages 1 to 7. Today I received the extra fiber I ordered from the first day of the spin for the purpose of plying with stages 1 to 7.  I will show that off when I am finished plying it.  Yes, I must spin it first and fast, as I am running out of bobbins. 

For all those who are curious about my other spinning wheels, I still have not gotten the clearance from the doctor to start using them again.  I am hopeful that it will be soon; however, I am prepared to pivot if necessary. So change might be necessary. I really did not think that would happen at all. I have bought and tried 2 e-spinners that did not work well with me.  This time I tried before I bought it. E-spinners are like drop spindles and spinning wheels. There are many different types and there is a right one for each person.  You just might have to try a few to get the right fit.  

It was a wonderful way to spend part of the day. Even though it was cooler with a high of only 107 Fahrenheit or 41.66 Celsius.  Verses yesterday’s 112 Fahrenheit or 44.44 degrees Celsius. This is summer in Tucson.  Although as the population grows, I think Tucson is turning into a heat island with too many paved surfaces and buildings. With not enough desert landscape. The nights are not cooling down much either and I worry about our cactus. That is my personal opinion and as of yet has not been back up by the science people. 

Still Working on My Summer Shawl

 I have got to love my long time knitting friends. When I complained today that my current shawl project was taking much too long to finish.  I am on the third section of four sections. Today they gently pointed out that if I am using lace weight yarn with U.S. size 4 or 2.5mm knitting needles it is going to take forever.  Below is my current progress on the shawl.  The pattern is 2 of 3 A Shawl Study, one of my knitting patterns, using 2 skeins of  Zooey by Juniper Moon Farm.  I divided each skein in approximately half.  It is a cotton / linen blend.  The yardage is approximately 568 yards for both skeins together. 

You might notice that I did not use the yarn called for in the pattern.  I always like encourage people to use what ever yarn they like. All you have to do is use the knitting needles that the yarn calls for.  Then follow the pattern. The size of the finished project and the gauge will not match the pattern, but that’s ok it’s your creation. 

The pattern 2 of 3 A Shawl Study by Sheri Karobonik Designs is available on Ravelry.com, Love Knitting.com or your local yarn store.  If you buy my pattern, I will get a share of the purchase price.  

I Need A Do Over on Monday

 My body was not particularly useful today.  I started off the day by dropping and spilling half a bottle of Excedrin.  The bottle just slipped out of my hands.  All I was left with was the cap in my hand and a huge mess on the floor. First I tried the Dyson stick vacuum. That only broke up the pills and sent the debris flying all over the place. So, I do not recommend the stick vacuum for spilled pills.  Then I got the big vacuum out.  I used the hand held wand which did a pretty good job.  John was very kind and reassembled the larger vacuum for me. We followed up with the robotic vacuum to get the broken bits that flew across 2 rooms.  I really don’t recommend dropping a bottle of aspirin on the floor first thing in the morning.  It just gives off bad vibes for hours.  Not to mention that it delayed my breakfast.

Next I went to package yarn for the Christmas in July event at you guessed it, the July Old Pueblo Knitting Guild meeting.  My electronic scale needed to be changed. It took me 30 minutes to find the charging parts.  The converter was in the silverware drawer with the soup spoons.  The charging cord was in the towel drawer near the bottom of the drawer.  I could have sworn that I stored all 3 items together to make things easier to find.  So the scale is now charged and waiting for me to find some time.  This I really can’t blame on my body.  

I tried to nap but could not get comfortable in the cooler rooms of the house.  It was 112F today in Tucson.  Which brings up the question of why my sinuses have not cleared up for summer. Usually 3 days of 100+ degree weather is enough to give me a few months of relief.  I am still waiting for that to happen.  

I did start my older sister’s spinning project.  The first package of pencil roving is almost finished.  I will spin the second package and ply them together.  Then I will go on to the next thing in the basket.  We sometimes trade off different craft projects.  

TTFN

Another Sunday in Summer

 Apparently it was not hot enough today for my freshly washed and thwacked yarn to dry in the garage.  At 108F or about 42C the yarn that was put out before lunch was not quite dry by bedtime. Maybe a high humidity of 18% is to blame.  It should be dry by morning.  

I almost caught up on my Tour de Fleece spin.  Instead of being 2 days behind, I am only 1/2 a day behind.  That is until tomorrow when I wake up to being 1 1/2 days behind.  Even with the e-spinner I have found that when I am having a difficult body day no matter how hard I try the yarn may just turn out a bit wonky.  Also I must remember to put the breaking cord on each time I change the bobbin.  Otherwise it really wonky things happen and it takes me a few minutes to figure it out.  With all that being said. I have had the e-spinner less than a month and overall it is going very well.   

I would love a change of scenery for some knitting.  However with the high at 109F I really don’t think outdoor knitting is really going to happen. It will be in the low 80’s at sunrise. Sighs.  So it will either be my audio book or watching the last episode of Geek Girl and finding another show to watch.  I really hope that they renew Geek Girl, it is cute and light television watching.   

TTFN

Adjusting for Extreme Heat

 Because of the extreme heat I have been staying at home with the exception of food shopping.  For some reason that I can’t fathom, my body is not tolerant of the heat this year.  Even a short trip to the mail box has me gulping down water and an urgent need to rest.  I am a summer person who up until this year loved the heat.  It made my body feel good.  This year not so much   I really hope that this is temporary.

So I have been getting to know my new e-spinner. I think I am up to some serious spinning now.  The learning curve was pretty flat.  The e-spinner is just starting to sing to me, which is always a good sign.  I thought that it would take about 2 dozen skeins of art yarn to get there.  I am totally floored that it took less than 6 skeins of yarn.  However, I did finish 6 skeins so that I would have another knitting kit.  

So tomorrow I am going to wash a bunch of newly finished skeins of art yarn.  None of the really fancy stuff.  Just the basic learning curve spinning.  It’s supposed to be 110f tomorrow, so if I get them washed early, they might be dry by bed time.  

TTFN

The Boomerang Effect

 Yesterday morning was very successful for me in getting some deep cleaning done.   Getting stuff ready to leave the house. All the while working on less is more.  Leavening the work space cleaner and more organized than I found it. I do strongly believe that in retrospect I used too many units of personal energy.  

All the work was done before breakfast.  After breakfast I took a very long nap, just because I had no energy left to move.  I spent the rest of yesterday dragging.  Not getting anything but resting done.  

Fast forward to today.  I woke up tired.  I had no energy for most of the day. My major accomplishment today was returning a mail order item that was too big.  John drove me across town while I napped.  I also completed stage 2 of the Tour de Fleece. I must say that the color way is working for my plan to keep adding 1 parcel a day until I an either halfway through the parcels or the bobbin is full.  Then start the next bobbin.  

I also started watching a light comedy on Netflix called Geek Girl.  The show is definitely binge worthy.  It is definitely chick lit so the guys might not want to watch it with you.  That is perfectly ok.  It is a very good show.  I really hope that we get another season or 6 more. 

I am enjoying the book Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson.  I am finding the characters interesting.  With just enough twist and turns to make it a page turner.  It is also a very good book to listen to while spinning yarn.  No pun intended.

As usual I paid for the fiber for the Tour de Fleece myself. All opinions are my own. There are no sponsorships for any of my recommendations .  TTFN.

The fiber from this Tour de Fleece spin is from Hilltop Cloud in Wales.  Today’s fiber is Cambrian, a mix of Welsh Mountain crossed with BFL.  It is a very nice spin.  

Twice in One Week

 I got up very early and hit the garage before it got too hot. I had a plan.  I had stuff and yarn that had to go.  So I now have 3 more empty boxes that I will give to John, so he can see what he has stored.  3 more large plastic tubs left the house filled with baskets that I no longer use, more yarn and jewelry display items that I no longer need. I also said goodbye to some more jewelry making supplies.  I am also sending my second drum carder to a new home because it is to big for any of my available space.   I will still keep the small carder that makes very small batts along with my hand carders. 

My end game goal is to have no more yarn or fiber in the garage at all.  In tandem I will be making a lot of new things for me so that I clear space in the house. I would ultimately like to not have fiber and yarn in the sewing / guest room either.  I know that will take some time.  It has taken me a couple of years to get to this point. So I really know it will take time.  

If anyone really wants to know. Today was all directed by me.  My family was not given a say so in what was leaving or done.  I did require some help from John, I am really not up to doing a lot of heavy lifting yet.  John did a very good job. He even got some baskets that were stored in the house out of my reach to go.  I personally suspect that he did not want me climbing to get things he can reach from the floor..

We also found things in the garage that could be recycled. So the recycling bin all 96 gallons is almost filled to the top. Somehow cleaning leads to more cleaning and organizing. 

We were out of the garage before 7:30A.M.. we were so hot we got some water and went straight to the shower before breakfast. The picture below shows what left the house today.  My friend and her daughter picked everything up after dinner.  The boxes were wider than my car.  The cardboard box had the carder in it.  

Filling the Car with DeStashed Yarn

 This morning I got into the garage very early, still in my pajamas to begin the last phase of my current de stash of yarn.  Included are novelty yarn, hand spun yarn and cones of yarn.  I filled 3 large plastic tote boxes to give to a friend to share with her family. Also one of the 3 tote boxes is newly emptied of yarn only to be filled up with yarn to give to my friend. I got to the garage a little after 6 am. By 7 am the garage was already in the 80’s and since it is monsoon season the humidity level is at 65% making the feel like temperature at least 5 degrees warmer.  

I had another small victory this morning  I landed up with an extra empty tote box. I set it to the side for later use.  The boxes in the garage are no longer in piles taller than me.  This takes a burden off me too wondering how I am going to use up all this yarn. It also gives access to fiber artists who have to normally drive miles and hours to get a very limited selection of yarn. This is a lovely win for everyone involved. 

I am normally a summer person who loves the hot weather.  However since I got sick earlier this year I have seemed to lost my tolerance for the heat.  I am hoping that it is just the medicine that I am currently taking.  I am doing my best to stay hydrated.  I am already at the 30 ounce of water mark for the day.  This is normal for summertime in the desert southwest. I don’t do sports drinks, but just plain water. For a treat I will add some fresh squeezed lemon juice.  I digressed a bit here.  

John loaded my car for me this morning.  As you can see from the pictures below my little pyramid of boxes did not all fit into the back of my car. I had to cover the back seat with a towel for the 3 rd box. I did say that they were the large tote boxes. They hold a whole lot of yarn. 

My plan to the rest of the day is to rest. Organize the house a bit.  Maybe do a load of laundry  or 2. Then do some knitting and spinning. 

As the days get shorter, I hope everyone is finishing up their holiday knitting projects. Also be sure to make something for yourself too. 

TTFN.  If you are not sure what TTFN means I would suggest a light summer time read of Winnie The Pooh. There is a 4 book series that were published between 1924 and 1928. They now come in a complete box set too. This would also be a good summer break from activities and just read with your children. 

The Next Round of De Stash

 The next round of fiber de stashing has started.  In just two 15 minute sessions I filled 2 kitchen trash bags 1/2 full.  One bag is filled with commercially made yarn. The other bag has smaller skeins on my hand spun yarn.  They will be filled up shortly.  Especially since every where I turn, I seem to be finding more yarn stashed away in the odd corner or nook.

This has come about because I can spin yarn faster than I can knit or weave it into finished objects. I am also slowing down due to my on going health issues.  I also don’t want to be one of those fiber artists who leave a house literally full of yarn and crafting supplies.  

In this way I can control where the yarn and fiber go.  I also want to make sure that a huge bonfire is not set off with my entire stash of yarn once I am gone.  The more yarn I get rid of the lighter I feel.  I know this does not make sense to many people.  Rehousing yarn that I will not be using takes the burden of having to plan projects for the Yarn I don’t want to use. It also makes many people very happy to receive boxes or bags full of free and new to them yarn. Also not using my limited knitting time on Yarn, I don’t want to use anymore. I have been knitting for slightly over 25 years now.  There is only 2 yarns that I still love that I have used since the beginning.  They are Sugar-n-cream and Bernat 100% cotton Crafters yarn.  

I don’t knit or spin with a lot of novelty yarns anymore.  I just don’t find them very interesting or versatile enough for my current needs.  I am more into the texture and tactical feel of the yarn.  How well it drapes. Ease of knitting with the yarn also matters more to me now.  Can I help save a heritage breed of sheep?

So bit by bit I am finding new homes for my de stashed yarn.  I am also making up kits with some of my hand spun yarn to sell at the Christmas in July Event at our next Old pueblo knitting guild meeting on July 17, 2024 at St. Phillips in the Hills Church at 4440 N Campbell Avenue, in the Murphy Hall. We start at 9:30 am promptly.  Besides having Christmas in July we will be having a knit in so you can bring any project you need help with.  You can even just sit and knit with new knitting friends. Please feel free to join us.  The first meeting is free to try out.  

The picture below is before I found 3 more tubs of yarn and more than several bags of hand spun yarn hiding in the knitting room.  The room you are looking at is the sewing / guest room.  

Just Bragging

 This is a well deserved win for me and my family.  I have been doing the dreaded challenge of finding a new swim suit without any polyester in it.  As a woman I have always found swimsuit shopping very hard.  There are a lot of body image issues involved.  As a child Twiggy was the body ideal.  Even as a child that body ideal was impossible for me to achieve.  Not even Twiggy can safely achieve that image. 

Body image had nothing to do with what my bone structure. I happen to have a larger bone structure. It had everything to do with a families relationship with food. Growing up mine had a lot of starch with moderate amounts of meat and even fewer vegetables and mostly canned fruit and vegetables because it was cheaper.  Mostly classified as a poor Eastern European poor families diet in the 1960’s. An immigrants diet.  

Not to mention that my mom constantly reminded me how fat I was no matter how boney I was.  That nobody liked fat girls.  So a perfect recipe for disaster in my own body image necessary to be comfortable in wearing a swimsuit. 

To my complete surprise today, I found a swimsuit 2 sizes smaller than my last 2 swimsuit purchases. I was totally blown away by the fact.  After going to 2 different stores.  Then trying to find the swimsuits.  I was blown away that they had moved the swimsuits to the clearance section even before summer solstice.  This required 2 walks around the women’s department.  Trying on the swimsuits.  Finally finding one that fit.  I was too tired to even do the happy dance.  I was disappointed that there was not a bench to sit on while waiting to check out.  

I came home and slept solidly for 2 hours.  Waking up too late to make our planned dinner.  We landed up eating scrambled eggs and mixed vegetables with fresh fruit for dessert.  

TTFN

3 Days in a Row

 I have not been doing much cooking since mid February when I got sick.  Tonight I hope marks a turn for the better.  Tonight was the third night in a row that I cooked dinner for us.  I know that they have not been first class dinners gourmet meals that take more than 30 minutes to cook. I feel that I have to start with cooking smaller meals. I am still  not eating much. So here is the weekly menu so far.  

Wednesday was an egg salad made with hard boiled duck eggs, white pepper, mayonnaise and celery.  Served over salad. With fresh fruit for dessert. 

Thursday was tuna salad made with white pepper, mayonnaise and celery.  John had his on bread. I had mine on iceberg lettuce.  Served with fresh avocado and vegetables.  With fruit for dessert.  

Tonight I went all out.  Garbanzo bean pasta with turkey meatballs and a sauce made with 1/2 a jar of Yo Mama’s Basil sauce, 2  four ounce cans of mushrooms and one 6 ounce can of sliced olives.  Served with mixed vegetables and fresh fruit for dessert.

As I said nothing fancy, but it was either homemade or semi homemade.  John did have to wake me up from my second nap of the day so that I could cook dinner tonight.

You might have noticed that I specifically called out for white pepper to be used.  White pepper is easier on the body.  It does not cause the tummy upset or reflux that black pepper causes.   It is also somehow easier to swallow.  I have been using it for years and grind it fresh each and every time I use it.  I get my white pepper corns at Penzey’s Spices.  I usually go to the store to get my spices, but have bought them online too at www.penzeys.com.  They also have all kinds of recipes on their website.  

*** Penzey’s Spices did not pay for being listed here.  If you check out my spice rack about 1/2 my spices are from Penzey’s Spices.  This is a brand that I personally love and use all the time.  I purchased all my own spices.  Also I purchased my Yo Mama’s Basil sauce this morning, we also paid for that.  It is my favorite brand of pasta sauce.  

Plying Yarn

 I took my Hansen mini e-spinner pro on another test drive today.  I set things up to ply yarn.  It took me a few minutes to change the direction of the spin to clockwise.  There were a few bumps that were soon fixed.  The e-spinner is very intuitive.  I finished a skein and 1/2 of art yarn plying.  The only other way that I have gotten my plying so consistent is with a Golding or Forrester drop spindles.  I have not managed that level of consistency with either of my spinning wheels.  

I find it very interesting that I can achieve great results in plying with very old school spinning equipment and very new school equipment.  Just not on the middle ground of equipment.  I will have to ruminate on this for a few days to try to figure this out.  If you have any ideas or opinions, I would be very interested in hearing from you.  

My only regret with my Hansen mini Pro e-spinner is that I did not order 5 bobbins, I only ordered 3 purple ones to match the wood.  I am sure that this is easily fixed when I have time.  

I do need the input from my younger readers.  Today while shopping at Sephora.  I was checking out and the sales person who I did not know called me mom instead of ma’am.  Is that a new thing among younger people to call older women mom or was she just not sure of the etiquette of the situation.  I was really taken a back by this.  Then probably spent too much time overthinking it. If this is a corporate thing, just stop, it’s rude and some people who are older have never had kids so they don’t want to be called mom. Please feel free to weigh in on this.  

TTFN

A First

 This is my first full bobbin for my Hansen mini E-spinner Pro.  It is a combination of Dorset Horn and Charollaise wool.  I started with the 4 ounces of the  Charollaise Wool and had enough room to add 4 ounces of the Dorset Horn Wool. Since this is going to be art yarn, I saw no problem with using 2 different breeds of sheep on the same bobbin. If you are a breed specific yarn spinner this is the point that you slowly walk away and do your own thing.  I am just tasting new to me fibers on my e-spinner. 

Tomorrow I will ply it with nylon novelty yarn.  Finish processing the wool.  Then weave it into scarfs.  They should make lovely holiday gifts.  

We tried a restaurant that we had not gone to in 6 years.  First off they did not have half of what I ordered.  Second, they asked John what I was going to have instead of what I had ordered, because of course they were out of it too. Really asking a man what his wife wants to eat. This is so 1950’s.  So my dinner consisted of 2 dinner salads, charred chicken and vegetables.  I really want to know how in world do you char carrots and leave a badly chard carrot to serve. If this is a new style of cuisine, I strongly object.  What did that carrot ever do to anyone. They also skipped the edamame that I ordered too.  I nibbled on some of John’s extra veggies too. Did I mention that the air conditioner was limping along too.  It went well with the food.  I think I will give it another 6 years before we go back. I will skip the name of the restaurant to protect the hard working wait staff.  

Where did Monday Go?

 Although I am feeling much better. My energy level leaves much to be desired.  After sleeping in and then taking a solo trip to Target for a few things,  it still required a nap after lunch.  I am snailing  my way back to health.  Maybe more like the inch worm  moving very slowly to get to where it is going.  I might now be able to move faster than a snail.

On the spinning front I should be able to get about 8 ounces of spun roving on the bobbin.  That will give me about 2 skeins of art yarn.  The art yarn will then be used to make holiday presents for the kids who use the clothing bank I support. Mostly handwoven scarfs because they go so fast, especially with bulky yarn. Don’t worry I have plenty of roving and novelty yarn to use up.   

TTFN

My Hansen mini Pro e-Spinner

 I am practicing with my new Hansen mini pro e- spinner.  I am slowly getting the hang of it.  I am using up white fiber that I have wanted to taste or for the non spinner to try.  I am practicing a little more each day with an hours limit so I don’t tire my hands out. This is so that I save some hand time for knitting later.

The spinning is getting a little better each time I sit and spin. I should be up to 15 Micron Merino wool by late this year or early next year.  As with anyone I teach, I  am starting out with a higher micron count for easy of learning.  The higher the micron count the less slippery the roving or fiber will be. As with all things spinning if you spin left handed like me you just do the opposite of what the directions in the book say.  Just for your information the left handed spinner draws the roving out with their right hand and use the left hand for control. 

I have finally found the right e-Spinner for me   My advice is to try a lot of different e-spinners before you buy. When you find the right one it will click just like your spinning wheels or drop spindles.  

In the picture below I have about 5 ounces of spun fiber on the bobbin have you noticed that my bobbin matches my e-spinner?  Once it is filled, I will ply this with novelty yarn and turn it into holiday present for kids by weaving one of a kind scarfs.  I really do hope that the kids will like them.  

****Please note that this e-spinner is a birthday present from my husband. The comments and opinions are my own. I am not being paid or compensated to write this blog post by the Hansen Company or any other company. ****

Setting Things Up

 Today I opened my birthday present. I know it was early. But I am having a hard time coping with my current health issues.  So we opened my present after dinner.  It is a Hansen mini e spinner pro.  I started putting it together and immediately ran into the left handed verses right handed spinning issues.  I have sent in my question and as soon as I have an answer I can start spinning.  

Now off to knit.  

Family Time

 We had a lovely visit with our daughter last weekend.  I still do not feel up to traveling.  We had planned to travel to visit her and celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary. Then do a little more exploring before heading back home.   

She took morning walks with John. Followed by awesome breakfast conversation.  We did a lot of taking.  Just having the alone time with her was awesome. As usual we were very bad with pictures so none will be posted. 

She did a deep dive into my jewelry making supplies while I napped.  She created a beautiful one of a kind necklace.  I sent her home with both glass beads and pearls. I can’t wait to see what she creates.  The only lesson that she really needed was how to handle the jump rings.  What to me years to perfect took her less than 10 minutes.  She is just so talented and awesome.  

We really appreciated that she took time out of her very busy life to spend time with us.  

40 Years

 What does forty years of marriage feel like?  Well I can tell you that it went by in a blink of the eye.  There are ups and downs. Things don’t always turn out as planned, but somehow we got through it.  There are dreams that had to be put on hold and then tossed aside as no longer realistic.  There were new dreams to be made that tried to fill the void that the old dreams left.  Don’t get me wrong they were good.  However nothing replaces the dreams of youth when everything was possible.  I have a few regrets but many, many more joys in life.  

Would I do it all over again? Yes, with one caveat.  Only with this man at my side. We did not always agree with the mind of an artist versus the mind of science and logic.  Although deep down our core values were the same.  

We were over joyed to have 2 beautiful and thoughtful children.  They are as different as night and day. They loved us and most importantly each other.  They learned to work together as only siblings can.  They did, in my opinion, grow up much too fast. In their opinion not fast enough. They were strong and confident enough to follow their own dreams and path in life.  I am so glad that they allowed us to be part of that life. It is a great privilege to be able to call them our children. They both took us on great adventures.  I think the adventures that they took us on were some of the best adventures in our lives.  

Life as newlyweds was awesome.  Then on to children. Then balancing our core family 4 was very time consuming.  Each child with their own diverse needs.  That was a very hectic period in our lives.  Then caring for some of our elders which made life even more hectic.  It literally took me years to dig myself out of that overwhelmed time of life.  

Now as we contemplate the next forty years together we still have plans and places to go.  Try to keep up with us if you can.  We do know that the best of life is yet to come.  

Good Times

 We have had a special visitor for a few day.  I am trying not to over do it, but of course I am failing miserably.  We are having a great time.  I am sure we will pack as much fun as we can into this time. 

In other news. My feet have made it down to a medium width.  No wonder I was sliding out of some old favorite shoes.  I found a pair I was looking for in an independent shoe store in Massachusetts.  They are a discontinued shoe from the manufacturer. So I was very lucky to get a pair in the color and size I wanted.

I am revisiting my Handspun Sherbet Shawl pattern and knitting it in a lace weight yarn. On US 4 knitting needles.  Yes, I am actually enjoying knitting with this yarn from Queensland.  I am actually very mindful when knitting with this yarn. I picked up the yarn on LYS day at Grandmas Spinning Wheel here in Tucson.  I will release a sister pattern when I am done.  I am so far behind in getting new patterns out of the house.  

Please remember that Monday is a solemn Day for many people in the military and Gold Star families.  This is a day to remember the sacrifices of many good men and women so that we may enjoy our freedom.  Please be extra kind this weekend.  

13.5 Inches

 I have taken in a skirt I wore to my daughter’s wedding by 13.5 inches. The new elastic waist band is 13.5 inches shorter than what I took out.  I can still wear it with flats.  Let me say the altering a 100% silk skirt with a loose weave is harder than it looks.  I would like to thank Vicky at Grandmas Spinning Wheel for the suggestion of using 100% cotton thread in the sewing machine.  It worked out well.  

I do not like the special needle that I needed to use with silk.  The eye was too small for the automatic threader. I had to turn my sewing machine on its side to see the tiny eye of the needle.  This was done 4 times.  The needle did not seem to want to hold the thread in between my short areas of stitches.  

The only decision left is do I hand wash it in Soak Wash or take it to the dry cleaners?  

I will say that I really don’t feel like I have really lost that many inches or that much weight.  I am wondering if that is because my weight loss stalled when I got sick in mid February? I am getting really tired of being sore, out of breath and almost nonexistent energy.  I still am open to borrowing someone’s magic wand.  

Although I am knitting more. I am not getting as much knitting done as I thought I would.  Today’s finish project will be featured in a new knitting pattern.  This will come out as soon as I can possibly get it finished.  

TTFN

Mother’s Day and More

 I had a good Mother’s Day.  John gave 110% compared to my bodies 10%.  The day after our 40th wedding anniversary will mark the 3 month mark in dealing with my current health issues.  I am so over it.  If anyone has a magic wand that they know works and is willing to lend it to me, I would really appreciate it.  Otherwise I will be sitting around waiting for my body to get its act together.  My mind is already starting to go to the I have got to go and do things mode.

I have learned this week why a lot of anniversary jewelry is in multiples of 3.  The answer seems very simple if you give it a quick think. No, the answer is not 49.  It’s yesterday, today and tomorrow.  I just realized tonight that the piece I got for our 20th anniversary also has 3 stones.  It is a very nice sediment.  

Tomorrow’s  plans include finishing up a couple of sewing repairs. Finishing 3 dog pillows.  The folding up the sewing room for a while.  I bet once I have everything off the floor, I can convince Roomba to vacuum it a couple of times to get the light stuff off before we bring in the regular vacuum.  Between making jewelry, winding yarn and sewing the floor hangs on to a lot of lint.  Then a good dusting and vacuuming one more time.  I never know when that floor will be vacuum again so I might as well do it a couple of times.  

In knitting news I will have another pounder scarf done this week.  I think I have my birthday present picked out. I just need to talk to one more friend before I can order it.  

TTFN

After 49 Months

 I know that I don’t do a lot of driving around town.  I do have definite proof now. This was my odometer reading as I was leaving home today.  Yes, the light was red and I was stopped when I took this picture.  I finally hit 12,001 miles after having my car for 4 years and 1 month.  I was being to wonder if this day would ever happen. Considering that this is the average 1 year mileage milestone for a car in the United States is 12,000 miles, just wow. 

Now the real question we are all asking at this point is….Does the legendary driver…you know her by her moniker….The Little Old Lady from Pasadena drive more or less than I do?   

In other news I have picked out a new e-spinner today.  It spins as well as any drop spindle that I have.  I can compare it to a Forrester, Golding or Bosworth.  I did not think that was possible. Now I just have to pick out the wood and accessories for it. Since it has scotch tension I will have to see if John will be able to print me more bobbins or order more with the wheel.   Think that after chores tomorrow we will discuss wood choices. I initially thought that having very hard wood would protect it in falls. Not so much.  Apparently the dynamics of hard wood, it would cause it to split. Where’s a softer wood would just dent a little. John thinks the best choice is not to be klutzy around the e-spinner. I will show pictures once it arrives.  I will think about a battery for travel too. 

Recovery Might Be Possible

 I felt better today than since the middle of February when this whole thing started. I still kept things easy and took a nap.  I am going to bed early too. 

I Over Did It Today

 Today, after a very slow start to my day, I  cleaned out half my closet.  I managed to fill a large box for Goodwill that John will have to take in.  I then hung up the new shirts.  Then proceeded to go through the other half of the closet rack.  I pulled out clothes that I will never wear again and added them to the Goodwill box to make it even heavier.  Pulled some clothing out that I think will now fit. Then sorted the clothes into light and dark wash.  Then I did one,  just one load of laundry by myself.  It is now drying in the garage.

Apparently some of my clothes thought it would be a fun idea to get longer with out telling me   So one of my favorite skirts witless have to have the waist sewn down to make it shorter. Because of the design it, can’t be hemmed.  I did a brief search and could not find it in a petite size  they only come with a 36 inch long skirt which is now too long. Sighs.

Apparently my body thought that I did too much work today and let me know in no uncertain terms that this will not be tolerated right now. So after some rest I made a very light supper of scrambled eggs and mixed vegetables, with fruit for dessert.  

After dinner we watched some television.  I spent most of the night perfecting my left handed knitting skills.  I have to say that I am getting faster and my stitches more even.  I am working on a pounder scarf while we watch television.  I currently have 3 pounder scarfs in progress.  One for television, one for knitting with friends and one by the computer.  Not to be remiss, I also have 3 shawls in progress, one hat and 3 scarfs. I should really work on finishing some of the projects so I can start casting on more projects.  I can’t manage to do one project from start to finish right now. I am just a bit scattered and out of focus.  

TTFN, I am calling it an early night. 

The Last Resort

 Today a decision was made out of necessity.  If you have been reading my blog for any length of time you know that I am not a fan of fast fashion.  I was born into a generation of children who learned to take shoes to the shoe maker until they could no longer be repaired.  Clothing was handed down between siblings.  Sometimes even friends and neighbors.  Buttons were routinely mismatched if like me you were at the end of the hand me down chain.  Holes patched if needed.  However clothing was made to last like my Kitchen Aide K5A which I bought in 1978 from Fedco. I spent a whole paycheck on the mixer.  It is still working and on my kitchen counter.  The store I bought it from is long gone.  They no longer offer parts to repair it.  To get a comparable mixer I will have to go to the top of the line with a larger bowl.  The first washing machine we bought lasted 25 years, you are lucky to get 5 years now.  

I am digressing. All but 4 of my summer T-shirts were bought before COVID19.  They are beginning to show their age.  Most I no longer wear, but keep for emergencies.  I have tried all my usual clothing stores and there were no T-shirts to be found.  So we went to a store that is in my humble opinion the essential fast fashion store.  They did have a lot of 100% cotton T-shirts.  I started looking and got a few to try on.  Most fit and looked ok. The difference between fast fashion and mid range fashion is the fit.  John went through the piles of shirts and even picked some that I had purposely left behind.  Some looked really good.  He does have a better eye for what looks good on me even when I don’t.  I even did the unthinkable for be, I bought shirts with patterns instead of just solids.  With solid shirts , I can rotate them through many different seasons. With patterns there is a tendency to go out of fashion. I also shopped in the regular sized clothing section.  Not a single plus size T-shirt in the mix. Yes, I am bragging, but I worked very hard to get here.  

After a quick stop for lunch I promptly fell asleep for over 3 times the amount of time we spent shopping. That would be about 3 hours of sleep. So tomorrow I will pull out all the old shirts and decide which pile they will go to rags or Goodwill.  Then I will carefully go through today’s purchase and decide if there are any that I really don’t need or want. Hang up the keepers and bag the returns.  

Right now clothes shopping is very stressful on my body. This compromise worked out well even if the shirts don’t make it past summer.  It is taking a long time to heal from the March 1 weekend.  I am inching along in my healing.  

TTFN

It’s Nice to Have Friends

 A friend of mine who just happens to own my favorite soap shop in Tucson, gave me this beautiful saguaro cactus soap for my newly remodeled bathroom.  It looks wonderful in the handmade soap dish that I bought there a while ago.  

This is not a paid advertisement.  This is a personal request that you just might consider supporting a small business owned by a woman.  I have been buying my soap at Tracy’s shop for years. Did I mention that Tracy makes the soap herself? In my humble opinion, supporting small businesses in the community has a positive effect on the entire community.  

Tracy does put together awesome gift baskets and bags.  With Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and graduations coming up this would be your chance to get a great gift and help support the local Tucson economy.  

Artemesia is located at 6538 East Tanque Road, Tucson Arizona, across the street from Trail Dust Town. In the same plaza as my favorite Local Yarn Shop, Grandmas Spinning Wheel, which is also a woman owned shop. 

If you can not make it to the store in person you may use the website Artemesia There is a large selection of soaps, bath salts, lotions and scrubs for both men and women.  If you have dry skin most soaps have moisturizers in them.  

Which Way to Knit

 I went to my knitting group today. I have to admit that the last half hour of knitting, I was getting very tired. I had been working on a right handed knitting project, when for no apparent reason I started knitting left handed. Then back to right handed. Then left.  Then right. Then left. Then something did not look right or was that left.  

I was knitting on 16 inch circular needles with double stranded yarn.  So I tinked a few stitches and thought I had corrected the problem. This happened 4 more times. Then I decided to tink back until everything looked right no matter how many rows had to go.  It turns out that it was exactly 3 rows.  

For those of you that do not knit, tinking which is knit spelled backwards with an “ing” for grammar.  It is not a very difficult task. However when you add one or more extra yarns it becomes a mini nightmare.  I had 180 stitches of nightmare.  

How am I going to solve this problem you might ask.  It is very simple. I have made markers to remind me whether a project is right handed or left-handed.  So I am going around the house to all my works in progress and mark them all. This way I will always stop at no more of one row of tinking. At the very worst I will have to stop assembling dog pillows to make more of these markers.  

Also I think I should stop knitting when I get tired. Just sit back and enjoy the talk.  No tinking involved.  

I would also love to hear how other people have solved this problem.  

Then it might just be nap time.  

Getting More Organized

 The best thing that I have found about getting more organized is that it has been taking me less time to find things.  Right now I am knitting a 2 of 3 Shawl Study.  I remembered that I had an extra 1/2 skein of the gray linen yarn that I can add to the shawl to make it a double. It took less than 5 minutes to find the rest of the ball of yarn and make sure it was the right yarn.  It was. Fantastic   

Following in that direction I sent off a 15 pound box yarn to another knitter.  I know the yarn is going to a good home and will be used and appreciated.  It is the equivalent of sending off a whole tub of yarn.  If you are a knitter with stash beyond your lifetime it is time to occasionally find another knitter who would appreciate the yarn.  I am sure that your spouse, children would love it leaving the house. The other knitter will really like some yarn that would have not been possible any other way.  Also don’t accept payment for it. Just have the other knitter pay it forward by donating a finished scarf or 2 to the charity or their choice.  

TTFN