A Wirlwind of a Week.

It has been a long time since I have written a blog. First off I have been very busy getting caught up around here. Some real progress was made. Projects were actually getting finished in the craft room. You know the kind, with just a few minutes of work and then the project is done. I cleared a bunch of them.

Saturday I got to go see the Pinatas that I had been working on get smashed. It left me with some design changes to mull over for next year. The first will be to add more layers of paper ma'che and maybe even a few pieces of well placed duct tape. The second would be to come up with a different hanging mechanism. Something a little more sturdy. I want to make it a little harder to get to the goodies inside. Eric had a good time at the party, but it left him a little tired.

Sunday was an all around rest day around the house. Everyone took a 3 hour afternoon nap. That did not stop Eric from having a bad night. The wild eyrping started at around 3:30 am Monday morning. By 5;30 am I had hoisted the virtual white flag of surrender. Eric did manage to give me a 20 hour work day. We also discovered how to ramp down a little bit on eyrpy laundry. When Eric was getting ready to eyrp we just powered up his suction machine and got it very close to his mouth. Then when it started, we just suctioned all the eyrp we could. I think it may have been easier on Eric too, as he did not have to work as hard to get everything out.

As bad as the eyrping was the dry heaves were much harder on him. He did not want me to leave his room. Mommy just had to be there for him. So what else was there to do but knit. That lasted a good 12 hours. He is still feeling miserable today, but not as bad as yesterday. Yes, he had to be close by today. Eric was also a little miffed at me for not making him all better. I am hoping to get him back on formula sometime Wednesday. John was so wonderful through this all, he even manage to get me 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep this morning.

As strange as it may seem, during all of this I got my knitting and design mojo back. I am in the middle of one design. I am making the middle size as a sample, this is just by a random act of casting on.  I think I might ask the test knitters to knit up the small and large sized ones. So if you have a pair of US sized 13 knitting needles and a very full scrap basket of odd sized balls of yarn let me know. I also sketched out the next pattern idea in the middle of my hair cut today. I think I should add a small sketch book to my already over heavy purse.

We are hoping for a very good night where everyone gets to sleep. Wish us luck.

A Very Good Day

I started back with a to do list. It really made a difference in getting most everything done.  I really like the new app I am using called Any.DO.  I can type in or use the voice recognition.  I really need more practice with voice recognition, it is a new element is my gadget world. It is a very easy app for non-geek.  I think they had the quirkiness of the artist and the busyness of a mom in mind while they were designing this app. I really like how it reminds me the night before to think about starting my to do list. It also moves unfinished items to the next day without prompting.  I have not had anything this easy to use since the Palm-M500 to do list. I would like to say to the programmers, a job well done.

I would also like to say thank to the wonderful Customer Service Team at I-Robot. Less than 24 hours after the pump died in my Scooba a replacement is being sent out.  Since it was a long way out of warranty their solution was more than generous.  I am always in awe of the wonderful team at I-Robot from the designers, engineers, and customer support.  

As you can tell even with a dental appointment, I had a fantastic day.  I even got a little bit of Yoga in which helped my hip. 

Up and Down

Yesterday it was the shredder that got fussy.  Today it is the Scooba,  John thinks it is the water pump.   It looks like the part can be replace.  

I have not measured, but I think I am over 25% done with the poncho. Eric is not impressed.  I do like the 2 stranded knitting with 1 light and dark together. It is making an interesting fabric. Just to let you know, I am pulling the yarn out of the basket randomly. It is also all scrap yarn. So no pattern will follow.  Just use the Lion Brand pattern from a few days ago. 

I can't believe that both John and Lynn, a local yarn shop owner think I have more yarn at home than she has in her shop. That I should think about renting out her shop when she retires to destash.  That just won't work at all it would give me an excuse to buy more yarn.  What were they thinking. 

Mondays This and That

I seem to be having a hard time getting back in to the grove this year. I have to admit that after the cold from he-double toothpicks that Eric and I share at the end of last year, I was expecting a flare up. I just did not expect it to hit my hip. This has left me very out of sync and very cranky for the last few days. I still can not bend down to pick things off the floor. It has interrupted my sleep and everything else. Don't get me wrong it is getting a lot better, but it is a lot worse than having my hands flare up.

The new knitting project of a scrappy poncho is going well. The link to the basic pattern is in yesterdays blog.  In the last 2 evenings I have knit 11 inches. Since the poncho is 15 inches wide, I am almost a quarter of the way through it. I am double stranding the yarn using 1 strand of light yarn and 1 strand of dark yarn. I am really liking the way the color is flowing. When 1 skein of dark yarn is gone, I am just picking a random skein of dark yarn to go on. I am doing the same with the light yarn. Did I mention that I am going through yarn at a good pace. So far 1 full skein of black and at least 6 partial skeins of light and dark yarn. I really like this, it gives an interesting colorway. Pictures will follow when it is done, unless you want to see the work in progress, just let me know. It will also be nice and warm. I think the lucky child who gets this will like that it is so colorful.

I also went to my first over 50 fair today. The vendors were limited to assisted living, health care, insurance, wills and trusts, hearing aids, large button telephones. The bling was mostly pens. I don't think I like their version of what over 50 is. I saw none of the things that I thought should be there such as leading an active life style, travel, community involvement, or classes to learn new things. I was even told that I am the right age for senior living communities, yeah right. So I am going to ignore their version of life over 50 and go down my own path. I will only go back to one of these fairs if I need more pens.

I need to try to get some sleep now, but I am finding it hard after a long nap after lunch. Maybe a snack will help. Have a good night and enjoy your families.

10 Dozen

After knitting more than 10 dozen hats without a break for any other knitting project, I seemed to loose my knitting mojo. I guess to much of anything, even knitting hats for kids in need can be too much. So I am changing my game plans just a little. The yarn I had reserved for hats will now go into poncho's for kids. I will of course finish the hat currently on the needles.

If you would like to make a few ponchos with me,I will be using this Lion Brand Yarn Pattern , the 

Downtown Tot Poncho pattern which is free. The yarn listed is discontinued, but you can use any yarn you would like. I am going to be using various wool yarns combined to be the right wraps per inch for US size 13 knitting needles. If you are going to be knitting this for charity I would leave off the fringe, because most charities will just cut it off for "safety reasons".

We have had a quiet weekend playing catch up.

The Pinita's Have Left the House

I spent most of the week working to get the Pinatas for Mr. Matthew's birthday ready to be decorated.  So everything got pushed to the way side while they were finished. Lisa and Matthew picked them up today. I can't wait to see how Lisa decorates them.

It is now time to clean up after the pinata  mess and go back to other crafty endeavors. I have hats and scarfs to knit, yarn to spin and a few sewing projects. Not to mention weaving and designing a few new earrings. So now it is time to get back to my regular schedule.

10,000

Today was the first day since I had the cold from he double toothpicks that I made my goal of 10,000 steps. Yes I managed to walk 5 miles today.  It did leave me tired, but it is a good tired. 

I also found time to do some training with  with Eric at his day program. Which meant that I got down on the floor to do some physical therapy training. I also answered all question about Eric.  

Followed by  a shopping trip to finding all the supplies I needed to make the pinita's. It only took 3 stores. The funny thing is I found none of the supplies at the craft store. Go figure.  I even made it to the grocery store today.  

My craft project for today was to start a multi day paper mâché project.  I am making 2 piñata's for a birthday party. One is going to be a fancy and the other will be on the plain side.  Here is the picture of the fancy one in progress. This is after the first layer of paper mâché. 

Needless to say this has left me too tire to knit or spin tonight.