Pre Holiday Cleaning

Today was spent cleaning house, in particular the craft room. It is very slow going. I am looking at everything I touch. I am also only processing one thing at a time. So I pick something up and then it lands where it is going to be stored, recycled or trashed. Then I go on to the next item. It might be very slow going, but most things won't have to be touched again, unless of course it is knitting, weaving or spinning. I am also cleaning from the back of the room to the front. Somehow this is a very effective method of cleaning for me. I think that I will leave the vacuuming, dusting and bed making to John.

I tried to take a knitting break this afternoon in Eric's room, but he sent me back to clean. His logic is that Teri will not come home until the house is very clean. Eric really wants to see Teri so he is being single minded in this. Either that or he is finally sick of me being around checking on him all the time while he was home sick.

Well it looks like it is time to go put dinner on. So have a great week everyone.

A Little Too Much Stress

It has been a rather stressful week around here with family issues and Eric being sick. There has not been enough time to sleep, nor enough caffeine consumed to balance life out. The stress level was high enough to get to my tummy, not fun at all. I will have to add that the arthritis flare up was not the least bit helpful either.

I dealt with the stress by doing some more cleaning. Cleaning was even done in the middle of the night when I could not sleep. The craft room is 1/3 of the way done. Maybe I can have it finished by the end of the week. Lisa was a big help by taking some craft supplies for her projects. My older sister is going to finish some needlepoint for me. Some projects were deconstructed and recycled into different projects. Some were thrown out for good in the recycle bin. Some of Eric's aides graciously took my excess of college ruled paper, 6 reams left the house.

I also came to the conclusion that at this stage of my life, I just don't have the patients for lace knitting. So I listed almost a dozen skeins of lace weight yarn on my Ravelry destash page. No reasonable offer will be refused. For those of you not on Ravelry here are the pictures, make you offers.  Most are very soft and squishy. The sock yarn will come with the pattern designed by me for the yarn. More yarn might be listed later.

I think it is time to get back to cleaning. Have a great weekend.

Day 8

My hands are doing better. I have limited use of my hands. I can do most of my household chores that do not require hand strength. That gives me a lot of time to get rid of small stuff. I have made great progress in the craft room. I can knit a few rows before my hands get tired so I am not pushing it.

I have been doing a lot of weaving on the rigid heddle loom. I am also doing a lot of experimenting. Today I discovered that if a yarn is to springy it does not make a good warp. Yes I will finish the scarf, but use some of the yarn in the scarf. I also discovered that if I am using a lot of different weight yarns in different colors I need more shuttles. I am also glad that I have a comb as the heddle does not do well on curves. So here is a picture in progress. Sorry for the sideways picture.

Day 4

Eric had a very bad night last night followed by a change in the barometric pressure.  That was a very bad combo for my head.  It tends to make a very long day when aspirin and caffeine are required at 5:00 am. 

I still can not knit or spin.  But my hands are doing better.  I managed to get the loom warped today  I can weave without any pain. Buttons are still a challenge which made doing laundry interesting.

I also managed some light cleaning without my hand braces.  I managed to go 3 hours without the hand braces today.  So I hope that this is a good sign.  

It's going to be a very busy weekend so it is time to call it a night. 

Day 3

My hands are feeling better, but I still can not do a whole lot with them. I find it really  hard to watch TV at night and not having my hands in constant motion. I am hoping every day that I will be able to knit and spin soon. Although I think I will be able to use the loom first. It is much easier on the hands.

Day 2

Today is day 2 of no knitting and both hands in splints. This is the result of the flare up.  The positive of this is that my hands are doing better. I can actually feel them tonight. I also got caught up on errands. Cleaned and organized 2 shelves of the computer desk, which resulted in a full basket of recycling. Organized some Old Pueblo Knitting Guild paperwork. I also walked over 10,000 steps today. This does not mean that I am not yearning to get my hands back on the knitting needles, but I know that I have to wait until my hands feel better. This is the really hard part. I like instant gratification.

Tomorrow the 10 bags of yarn and knitting needles that were donated to the Guild will leave the house. Hopefully not much will come back. Afterwards I also get to teach someone how to use a drop spindle over at Grandma's Spinning Wheel on Tanque Verde. I am so excited.

It is time to call it a night. I have another busy day tomorrow.

A Good Day

Today was a better day.  I have almost finished another scarf on the loom.   A little cleaning got done and Eric is feeling better.  I think I will give knitting a break for a couple of days.  So I guess I will tag hats tomorrow.