5 is Not My Number Today

Five can be a strange number sometimes in my life.  Today was a perfect example.  I decided to spend about 5 minutes cleaning up the table in the knitting room.  Well I feel into the rabbit hole I call deep cleaning.  I went through every kit that I had.  I decided that I did not want to do about 20 of them so I put them in a box to go.  That lead to every shelf having a through clearing.  I went through everything.  Then I decided to go through my yarn.  Let’s just politely say that in 22 years of knitting I many have kept a few to many skeins that I acquired.  Over the years my skills have vastly improved. My projects have changed quite a bit. My taste in yarn has improved. I tried to follow a few fads like lace knitting, not enough time, but I still acquired a lot of lace yarn.  Sock knit was also a fling that did not last long.  Sock knitting was hard on my hands even before all the hand surgeries.  I stopped doing some charity knitting but failed to pass on the yarn. 

So today’s 5 minutes of cleaning turned into an almost all day cleaning spree.  I have bag's and boxes of yarn ready to get out of the house. Except that I will have to go through all ten bags to pull the sock yarn for my current favorite scarf knitting project.  That should not take long tomorrow. 

I am trying to keep only the projects and yarn that I like.  The same goes with books too. Too much of any thing is clutter.  I am going for a clutter free lifestyle. I have even found a few projects that are almost finished.  That should help even more.   

Now my other problem with 5 happened at lunch.  I ignored the 5 grams of fat rule. I had 1/2 of a piece of tempura. That was a mistake that I will not ever repeat again.  Let’s just politely say that my body had a temper tantrum.  I guess when I can taste the fat it is not under 5 grams.   

Well even though I am very hyper from a fantastic day of cleaning, I should try to get some sleep so I can have another fantastic day of cleaning tomorrow.  De stash, de stash, de stash.  

Serial Knitting

 Today I seemed to jump from one knitting project to the next.  I did a few stitches on a hat.  Had lunch then finished the hat pictured below.  I cast on and started a new hat, I did not want the knitting needles or stitche markers to be lonely.  I knit about one half inch of the brim.  Then I worked on the baby blanket for about an inch.  Then after dinner it was a new pair of gloves for my self.  Lots of frogging, I got caught up in the television series we were watching.  Not a good thing for a pattern that the rows need to be counted. Then I went to finish off my night of knitting with a charity scarf.  All totaled I worked on 5 different knitting projects and only finished one.  Lots of progress though.  

The hat pictured below is the first charity hat for 2022. It may not seem like it from the first paragraph, I am really doing less knitting so far this year. I am enjoying it more.  It is no long a job to finish 100 or more projects a year.   I have only completed 7 projects so far this year verses 14 at the same time last year.  

I know I have a lot of projects on knitting needles. Sometimes I need an easy no thinking involved knitting project.  Other times I have a gift that I am working on. Other times I need to knit while John is driving   Other times I just want to stretch my skills.  Other times I just want to finish UFO’s.   

I am thinking about selling a few kits on eBay for things that I thought that I wanted to knit but changed my mind on.  I will start going through them soon.  I am also continuing to look through knitting books to destash too. I think Destashing is how I am going to clear my backlog of projects. I will sell them as kits for about 1/2 the price  plus postage that I paid just to get them out of the house. I might also consider an Etsy store. I will keep you updated   

Setting Them Free

 I put another knitting book in the Tiny Free Library around the corner from my house. Of course I walked.  When I got home I started choosing more knitting books to put into the library one at a time as they find their new homes.  I must have about 50 percent of the knitting books published over the last 20 years.  I need to share the wealth.  Of course I will put other books in there too. 

I found the missing knitting pattern too.  It is the one for the gloves that I just made.  One half was under the couch.  The other half was behind the couch.   I wonder if it was trying to run away?   John is going to scan the pattern for me so next time I lose it, it will be in the computer.   Yeah technology.  

It was also an awful hand day.  The weather is changing.  I am also declaring this spring because I have my first sinus infection of the year and they only happen in spring. I think Tucson mainly Succeeded in skipping winter this year.  We are going to be 24 degrees colder tomorrow. Yuck.  Wish me luck for tomorrow.  

A Book Recommendation

 I got a book recommendation from a librarian on Twitter. It’s a great book that is hard to put down.  I highly recommend Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland. I am listening to it while knitting. I started it late yesterday and am 2 1/2 hours into it already. Only seven more Togo.  

By the way I am taking breaks every couple of rows when knitting and my hands are not as sore.  Just maybe my daughter was right.  Just don’t tell her please.  

I do not have a link set up for this book.  I just love it.  I borrowed the book from Pima County Library. 

Tummy Issues

 My tummy has been a little off this week. I just figured out that CVS changed one of the over the counter gummy supplements that I had been taking. Totally by accident.  They.changed the ingredients to reflect the change, but no where else was there even a mention of the reformulation of the product.  Not everyone can tolerate sugar alcohols like xylitol.  They did meet the letter of the law by changing the ingredients on the label but let the public down by not stating that there had been a reformulation. I would have read the label and choosen a different brand.

If you have been taking the CVS brand of fiber gummy’s, as far as I can tell by the label the Nature Made fiber gummy’s should be a good replacement. Please talk to your doctor before making any changes.  

So I am eating crackers at 11:30 pm to calm my tummy down.  

A Rough Week

 I will be the first to admit it’s been a rough week around here.  He numbers are going down  only had 300 and something new COVID19 cases today in Tucson.  The infection rate is down to 10.5% which is still too high. I expect the numbers to go up again, the Gem and Mineral show has been in Tucson for 2 weeks with  people from all over the world.   People  still don’t love their families enough to get the vaccine or wear a mask.  

It’s just not COVID19 that is driving me crazy.  Our HOA is letting the management company do very stupid things that can have repercussions on peoples lives and carers.  They just don’t give a dam about their neighbors.  At the very least they are very bad business practices and might just broader on criminal.  That will require a bit more research.  

The stress has gotten to my body too. I just feel less resilient.  I am feeling like I have less support too. If I hear” just let it go” one more time I think I will find a hiding place until I calm down or people are kinder and much more reasonable.  I need to be around other artist.  Other creative people.  Logic is going to be the ruin of me. I want people that understand it’s the subtle colors that bring objects to life.  I want to see new yarns. I want to go out with friends.  I want a fresh hot breakfast burrito made with beans and cheddar goat cheese with a side of fruit. I want to get out of the house and venture into a mall.  I want to be relaxed after shopping instead of exhausted.  I am tired of being life’s doormat.  

I am praying that next week will be better.  

More Deep Cleaning

 Before lunch John and I cleaned out both freezers.  We got rid of everything that had freezer burn.  Unfortunately that was a lot of stuff.  Since I changed my diet very drastically at the end of 2020 and we were stocked for a pandemic a lot of stuff got thrown out.  This is just a gentle reminder to check the bottom and backs of your freezers.  Not every two years like we did but every few months.  We now have a better feel for what we have in the house.  Every thing is more organized too. Yes, I can find things too. All deserts are in the back freezer, just in case you wanted to know.   

Other than laundry not much else got done today.  No knitting either, my hands were tired all day.