Monday, July 26, 2021

A Wonky Hand Sorta Day

 It was a weird sort of day for me.  There is a small leak in the roof above my bedroom, with the rains this left the room damp with a funky smell, so I slept on the couch last night.  I know that this has nothing to do with my couch surfing last night, but it took over an hour to get my right hand moving this morning.  I am hoping that this is just the damp weather and not more hand surgery.  My right hand spent the day being wonky.  So no knitting got done.  

I managed to warp the loom and start another scarf.  I was not happy with 2 of the yarns so they made it to the goodwill box.  Better there then me forgetting that I don’t like them and trying to use them again.  By the way that topped off box one and another box is ready to go.  I did manage to get 2 loads of laundry done.  I did a couple more stages of finishing work on the scarf I took off the loom last night.  

Making dinner was interesting tonight.  I made my version of Turkey Taco Meat.  I would strongly suggest that onions not be chopped on a wonky hand day. That onion thought it was on a slip and slide, I even managed to feed the floor some raw onion. Once the onion was in the pot I added everything else with ease.  I just squeaked by on my carbs. John found a wonderful low fat tortilla under the Kroger in house label that was very low fat and tasted great too, so I made my fat by .50 grams of fat   

I even found a great Ganga , which is Tucson speak for a great deal.  I had a handful of coupons from my last shopping trip to the pharmacy, they allow you to stack in house coupons, so I got a 16 ounce jar of Skippy peanut butter for 10 cents plus tax.  I have not done that in a while, it felt good. Yes, I know we pay a lot for our medicine, so the is my version of a mini claw back.  

Well it has been a long day and we are going to get up early to try to patch the roof.  Wish us luck. 

Sunday, July 25, 2021

Leaking Roof

 I might have over done my cleaning spree yesterday. I had a sore back most of the day. So not much got done.  With rest I was feeling better after dinner.  The rain also stopped long enough for John to check the roof. He found 1 leak and not the other. The leak he found was right where I thought it was. Now the question is when can we get a roofer out.  

With any luck I will sleep and have a better day tomorrow. I have the yarn for the next scarf picked out. I need to do the finishing work on the scarf that came off the loom tonight.  

Saturday, July 24, 2021

The Good and the Exasperating

 The good news is I finished 3 more projects so far today. This brings me to 73 out of 100 planed projects completed. If you are thinking like me then you will agree that there is no way I am going to stop at just 100 projects this year.  The only question is how many over 100 I will get finished.  

The bad news is that after so many days of rain, as of right now 4 inches in less than 2 weeks the roof is leaking yet again.  Today I even emptied a closet of fiber to check for leaks.  We found a thermal difference , but not enough to show a leak.  So now it is time to put the fiber away.  

Theo will spend so much needed fiber and relaxation time.  Below is my 73rd project of the year.  A handwoven scarf that will be someone’s holiday present.  


Friday, July 23, 2021

A Rainstorm

 I know it rained a lot last night, we got 1 1/2 inches at out house.  This brought our season total at out house to 3 inches of rain.  I know it is monsoon season here in the desert southwest, but I have a hard time calling it a monsoon rain.  From my earliest memories as a kid the rains would come in the afternoon, drop a lot of water and would be finished by dinner time.  It left the evening a little cooler.  Lately the summer rains come at all hours of the day or night. That might be because the National Weather Service decided in all its wisdom the the monsoon season had to have a beginning/ ending calendar day that was the same each year   When Mother Nature was in charge we would look at the dew point level. It took 3 days of the dew point above 50% which meant it was time for summer rains. Easy peasy. 

Last nights storm hit right at bedtime for us. The thunder and lightning were loud and shook the house.  The wind was blowing the rain every which way.  The rain was loud and plentiful.  The storm did not calm down until the wee hours of the morning.  So we got very little sleep. And of course the roof decided to leak and drip water into the bathtub   The roofer has been called  

So today was a tired hand and body day for me.  No much got done. I am hoping for sleep tonight.  

Thursday, July 22, 2021

Goodbye Mr.Adams

 Today we said goodbye to a dear friends husband. Albert Adams was an incredible man. He served our country for 25 years in the United States Army. He was always helping everyone in his neighborhood rom dog walking to household repairs.  He was in better shape than I am in , always walking around his neighborhood talking to everyone   

When ever he stopped by our knitting group he left everyone smiling. My friend Inge as so lucky to have such a great husband.  Al cared about his wonderful family with 2 kids, grandchildren and a great grandchild.  In his last request of us he asked us all to plant a tree in his memory.  I think this is a wonderful way to repair the world for our children.  If you would like to plant a tree or two in his memory and would like me to pass on a message to Inge where in the world that the trees are planted just drop me a note and I will pass on the information.  Every area of the world has a different need on where the trees need to be planted so take you pick. 

Al you may be gone but you will never be forgotten.  

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Final Drying

 These two scarfs got washed in very hot soapy water and roughed up today. I moved them into the house to take better pictures.  In the back you can see the really weird skein of yarn that was recently spun.  Half of the skein turned out perfect, the other half turned out highly energized.  My solution for this skein of yarn is a handwoven scarf. Highly energized yarn weirdly enough makes a wonderfully textured fabric.. You might notice that I have hangers hanging from the bottom of the skein.  I do this in hopes that the skein will balance out while drying, this time I don’t think it worked.  

Tomorrow the scarfs will get their final trims and touch up.   They will then go into the bag for the children’s clothing bank.  My handwoven scarfs are always held aside for the older kids for holiday gifts.  I know I can’t make one for everyone who needs one, but I will make as many as I can without burning myself out   

I really don’t know if I will finish the scarf that I warped last night finished tonight.  I started it out with some sock weight yarn which is very thin.  Most of my other scarfs have been woven with worsted or Aran weight yarn.  I just love taking bits and pieces of yarn to make one of a kind scarfs, that don’t look scrappy.  


Tuesday, July 20, 2021

More Organized

 The 3 boxes that I washed yesterday were put to good use today.  The boxes held just shy of 4 roving braids. The area used to be crammed to the bottom of the closet shelf and I was not always sure when I opened the closet door if everything would fall down.  As you can see the bottom of the closet shelf is not even visible.  I will count that as a win.  As I get more projects done I will be able to tackle more of the closet, 1/4 down 3/4 to go.  Just taking baby steps with my 5 minute Zenning style. I give myself 5 minutes, then choose to stop or work more.  I find myself working more now than when I started 5 minute Zenning.    I will be passing the vinyl bags to a friend of mine who doesn’t have to worry about things falling down, she has lots of space.  

As you can see the boxes look a lot neater with the added bonus of holding more.  I thought it would take me a couple of hours to do. I was done in 45 minutes. So after I see if I can order food to cook for dinner or will have to run out, I will just have to find something else to deep clean or craft.