Tradition

It would not be a holiday around here without a certain someone getting sick.  At least he has a day off tomorrow. This means that he can help supervise laundry, knitting and cleaning.  I am not quite sure when it became a family tradition, I personally think that it was so last century.

At any rate, Eric is starting a trial of formula and I will knit.  All this happens while Eric’s tummy is determining weather he will be totally sick or not.

Teri’s Blanket.  In other news, there are only 4 more squares to knit before the next measurement.  Hopefully I will be weaving in ends and adding the broader soon.

Eric’s Question

Eric rarely asks questions let alone say anything. This afternoon I am working on Teri’s Blanket. The queen size on on U.S. size 7 knitting needles. That’s 4.5 mm needles in the rest of the world. This is he blanket that I started Teri’s first year of law school. The assumption was that if I can knit a twin size blanket on U.S. sized 13 needles in a month, it should only take 2 or 3 months to knit a queen sized blanket. Not so much.

This lead to Eric’s question..”Why isn’t it done?” He spoke so clearly that John heard him across the room. Along with that he gave me the I am disappointed with you face. You let my sister down. Being a less seasoned knitter 10 years ago I over estimated my abilities and how boredom could set in on such a large project. So it will sit on the kitchen table becoming my soul knitting project at home. Until it is done. Did you notice all the ends that need to be woven in too?

Unintended Cleaning

I was already to go and finish cleaning the craft room today.  I got a little sidetracked and organized my fiber stash instead. At least I can see the difference.

Well there is always tomorrow to clean the craft room.

The Whole Warp

This afternoon I spent a few hours getting my charity warp organized. This involved going into a very hot garage and sorting through bins of yarn. I do not recommend doing this when it is over 100f degrees outside. Then winding the hanks into cakes. The skeins ranged in yardage from 50 to 260 yards per skein. I got through 80% of the winding before: 1. My arm got tired. 2. It was time for dinner and we needed a the table.

You might ask how I acquired so much warp yarn. There are various answers to this question. The answers are as varied as the colors and brands themselves. They include: 1. Someone got the yarn while traveling and it is not cost effective to return the left over skeins. 2. The yarn shop no longer carries this brand and it can not be returned. This should read they started the project a long time ago. 3. I know you do a lot of work with scrap yarn so I thought you could use it up for me. 4. If I get this yarn out of my stash, I can buy more yarn. I personally like this one. 5. Make something for the kids for me. 6. From a Knitter’s or weavers estate. The saddest one of all is number 6. My Local Yarn Shop closed, so this could not be returned. Please support your lys so this does not happen*. These of course are not all of the reasons but are the main ones.

I figure if I weave 2 to 3 scarfs a week and acquire no more warp this should take about a year to use up. Not to mention all of he non superwash Wool that will be use in the process.

* Almost 50% of Local Yarn Shops have closed in the past decade. Please support your local yarn shops.

Stash Busting

I have 14 hats and 4 scarfs ready to go to the Clothing Bank, but with temperatures in the 100’s this week there is still time to knit and weave more things.  To that extent I have cast on another hat. I have picked the yarn out for the next hand knit scarf and will finish weaving another scarf tonight. If I have time I might even get the warping started for the next handwoven scarf done tonight.

It’s time to go play with fiber.

5 Day and Counting

My ankle has recovered enough to start walking again.  If I can maintain my 8,000 steps per day for 25 more days I will increase my step count goal by a slight increase in steps.  I have even starting walking around my neighborhood. This means that I can walk up and down small hills. It is still easier to walk down hill than up hill. I have also found that it is easier to warp the small loom too. I will try warping the larger loom later this weekend.

Eric was up to his old tricks today. He faked sick at his program.  When he found out that daddy was going to pick him up he instantly got better.  His aide tonight and I figured out his con job.  In some ways I am very happy that he got his point across.  That he was bored and wanted to go home  In some ways I had thought we had left this bad behavior behind us.  Some days I just want to throw up my hands and say enough of this Eric and hide out in my local yarn shop.

Moving Down

Today I got into a pair of blue jeans that have not fit for a long time.  That made my day.  Then to out do myself I made my step goal for the 3rd day in a row. So all in all it was a good day.