The Gathering

 This morning I went to World Market and bought a medium sized glass jar for my stitch markers. I starting the gathering of stitch markers after I came home.  Please be aware that I do have more stitch markers hiding in various knitting bags around the house.  I have stitch markers that range from lace knitting sizes all the way up to size 35 knitting needles.  I do not have any for the size 50 knitting needles, I don’t think that they make them, since very few people knit on size 50 or larger knitting needles. At this point I would say I have well over 300 just in the jar.  

Some of the stitch markers are hand made by me, they are mostly the beaded ones and the ones with charms. Some are from events that I have gone to. Some come with yarn and fiber orders.  I do realize that I could lose a stitch marker a day for a year and still not run out of stitch markers. Please send more. Perhaps we could swap some. 

I have stitch markers from New Zeland, Australia, The United Kingdom and of course the United States.  I even have some that my husband printed on his 3D printer. 

I did make a choice to remove about a dozen stitch markers in a style that I do not like and will pass them along to other knitters.  I also found one that is in need of repair. One that is broken beyond repair that will go into the trash.  

As I consolidate my knitting and notions bags I am sure that a lot more stitch markers will make their way into my jar. I always switch out the stitch markers so that they all get used.  Here is the best picture that I could take today.  Unfortunately I have so many that they could not be photographed individually.  

Stitch Markers

 I know I have a really bad stitch marker addiction. I have stitch markers all over the house and in multiple knitting bags.  So tomorrow I will buy a small cookie jar to stash them in. I will not include the ones I make for gifts and the ones people want duplicates of some that I can not part with.  Yes, I make more stitch markers when the mood hits. 

Day 2 post surgery I was still tired and spent most of the day sleeping.  I added a little bit of cleaning while I was sitting down.  A little bit of knitting, yes I fell asleep in my chair while knitting.  I did not do any damage to the glove I was working on. I still have big rings under my eyes too.  Just think next week I get to do this all over again.  

The Downside

 There is a downside to almost everything.  Take cataract surgery for instance. We all know the upside, better vision, possibly no more glasses, the ability to read printed books easier with cheaters in some cases.  Being able to read smaller print again. The list goes on and on.  

What they don’t tell you is that what you though was light brown hair with a touch of gray is actually very gray hair with almost no brown hair left. That the walls that looked perfectly cleaned are really a few hour scrubbing job to get them to what you saw before the surgery.  Which will have to wait until I recover from surgery. Dust bunnies that were too small to see before are now very much in need a chasing. 

The downside of stress cleaning is misplacing things. Take my clips that I hold seams together with when seaming found in a hat knitting bag. The U.S. size 8 by 16 inch knitting needles that I needed to do the increase for the hat at the top of that same knitting bag actually had a hat that was 2 inches away from the crown decreases. That is just a snap shot of the things going on around me. 

The superwash wool from a major yarn manufacturer that Felted resulting in 3 relatively new gloves being given one final wash before going into dog pillows   I am in the process of knitting the replacement pairs.. I am at 1 pair complete. One pair in progress. One pair that I will stash dive to find some yarn. 

I hope you experience more of the upside of life. 

A Knitting Hack

 My next pair of Maxi Fingerless Gloves are almost finished. I am sewing the final seam. You will notice that my seam clips are missing. Yes, I reorganized everything and forgot where I put them. However these movable stitch markers placed in strategic places long the seam work just as well. I have one gloves finished and just the thumb to seam. 

I will have nice new gloves to keep my hands warm tomorrow.  Of course the leftover yarn scraps will go to fill dog pillows.  

Knitting Humor

 The second Maxi Fingerless Glove has been finished except for seaming. I have cast on the first glove of the pair. I always try to finish the second one first because it is so easy to forget to knit the second of anything. The yarn is from Merino Y Vino.  

 The yarn for the second pair arrived today so I can start the next pair very quickly. I also got yarn for a matching shawl too.  This came from Gingersnap Yarn

Knot’s Be Gone

 Well I finished my holiday weekend project today. Sometimes I can be an over achiever. So I guess I will just have to knit, spin or warp a loom this weekend. Maybe all 3.  After all I do have a new pair of gloves to make.  If I finish them I will stash dive and see if I have another skein of worsted weight yarn.  Now get off the floor and stop laughing, I might take time to find one.

I spent the evening working out the knots from the yarn throw up and it is safely in the project bag, all 3 balls of sock yarn. Did I mention that is was supposed to be a single 435 yard skein?  It did take a size 1 crochet hook at times.  Yes, I think everyone needs a size one crochet hook. 

Other than that I am getting moody about Tuesday.  

I am feeling better

 I am feeling better. I woke up at 3 am very hungry. I had 1/2 peanut butter and jelly sandwich with water. Picked up a little. I have 3 loads of laundry going while it is still a relatively cool 80f outside. 1 hand wash, 1 in the washing machine, 1 in the dryer.  Now it is time for a nap. By the way I had all my laundry out of the dryer  or hanging on the Clothesline by 1030 am. Well before it it hit a 100f and something today.  

I am also going to use a different modular shell pattern for my new shawl.  I will start the search this weekend.  I was only 6 rows in so there won’t be much to frog.  So I started a much needed new pair of Maxi Fingerless Gloves in some wonderfully squishy and colorful yarn from Merino_Y_Vino on Etsy.  The turn around time for delivery was excellent too. 

My Thursday afternoon knitting buddy and I were working on a new skill.  She wanted to learn how to use the squirrel cage to wind yarn.  All was going well,  she was enjoying herself and relaxing until we came upon a 435 yard skein of sock yarn.  

Let me preface this by saying that yarn industry standards allow up to 5 knots per skein of yarn to prevent a mess like below.  Well this Indy dyer decided not to have any knots in her yarn.  So after the first break we restrung the ball winder and started again.  All went well for a while.  Then we started to get tangles that I was able to work through.  Then we got the knots. Not just any little knots but big ones, 4 to be exact.  So I took the reminder of the yarn off the squirrel cage and started to work out the big knots.  By the time I had to drive her home we were working with 3 separate ends.  This means that there is still a missing end in this yarn throw up.  She was enjoying herself watching me tango with this mess. Before you ask they were scissor cuts, not from moths.  

Pardon my messy work station as I seem to have many projects going at once, as usual.  I am currently working actively in tandem on 1 charity hat, 2 operation gratitude scarfs located in different parts of the house, 1 shawl on my couch and 1 pair of Maxi Fingerless Gloves, 1 project on the spinning wheel, and several projects on drop spindles. I also have 2 patterns that need typing and photos.  I do have other UFO’s that are in holding patterns. Also a lot of projects to be started and finished.