Cheating

 Yes, I am going to cheat tomorrow at the knitting guild meeting. I was supposed to knit a few pairs of gloves for the Navajo Project this month.  Somewhere between 2 eye surgeries and my hands looking a little Craigy from all the stress I am cheating.  In a good way through. I will not disappointed any child.  

Tonight John and I walked over to Tuesday Morning while waiting for an outside table that never materialized, but that’s another story.  I found 2 pairs of gloves that would be great for the older kids.  They are even in the preferred yarn of polyester.  The best part is that they cost as much as I would have spent on yarn.  So even though I am really cheating by not being in hand knit gloves I will still keep 2 sets of hands warm.  

That is my story and I am sticking to it.  

15

I am purging  my house of processed foods in an effort to get healthier. For the last 2 days I have been working on this. I am trying to go back to the way my great grandparents ate. I am not sure all this processed food is having a positive effect on my health.  Although in the short term it has left my body very sore. 

If you have been following my blog for awhile you will remember that in 2009 I give up all artificial sweeteners and all diet soda.  This made a very positive change in my health.  I have my friend Kay of blessed memory for leading me to this change.  It was not easy and I had withdrawal headaches for 2 weeks  

In 2017 I gave up all sugar sweetened sodas.  That made another positive change for me. Although it did make those 48 hour work days next to impossible.  

Now I am making the next step in this slow set of  steps. I am trying to give up processed foods.  In some ways it is easy, we do not eat much fast food.  Bread, bagels and tortillas are going to be a little bit harder. Although, as I went through our 2 pantries I was really amazed at how much processed foods we have in the house.  So much so, that I am down to 1 pantry.  That one pantry even has extra space. Did I mention that this leaves more room for yarn. Maybe I can consolidate some of the yarn I have around the house to 1 or 2 rooms. It is worth a try. 

This has lead to 13 bags and 2 boxes heading to the community food drive this week.  See the picture below for the bags.  The boxes are up on a shelf.  

This and That

 I have worked on 3 of my knitting projects today. Nothing got finished.  I did however find a very delightful cast off in the Picot Edge Style.  There are countless ways to make a Picot Edge.  As usual I have found a simple but elegant edging for my new shawl. It only takes one extra length of yarn at the end. 5 lengths of yarn versus 4 lengths of yarn for a stretchy bind off. 

The next clue in my new pattern design is as follows.  

1. Knit 2 stitches on to the left hand needle. 

2. Bind off 4 stitches 

3. Slip the remaining stitch on the right hand needle back on to the left needle. 

Repeat steps 1, 2, & 3 until the bind off is complete. 

Weave in the end.  

For left handed knitters just reverse my instructions to read:

1. Knit 2 stitches on to the right hand needle.

2. Bind off 4 stitches.

3. Slip the remaining stitch on the left hand needle back to the right hand knitting needle. 

Repeat steps 1, 2, & 3 until the bind off is complete.

Weave in the ends..  

who is ready for a new knitting pattern?

Yes, I did manage a few chores. I am also wondering when the bruise from Wednesday’s surgery will go away.  It is looking nasty. Did a little more deep cleaning.  

Yarn Chicken Time

 I am at the end of a very large shawl. It did not start out that way. I started with a 3 stitch wide key. After the key was completed I increased by 6 stitches every other row. So the rows got very long very quickly.  I have been playing yarn chicken for a while, since I am just awful at the Geometry needed to calculate how much yarn I would use per 4 square inches. Then figuring out my yardage divided by the yarn used in 4 inches. Then factoring in the 6 stitch increase every other row.  Then when to stop when I hit a certain gram weight of the yarn. The designers I know that are mathematicians, engineers, physicists and science types have the easiest time with this.

Yes, I know that they have computer programs that figure all that out for you. Personally the artist in me thinks that is cheating.  It take the spontaneity and creativity out of the process of designing. So I put Yarn chicken. This is also why I give the gauge for before and after washing. I really know that is Quirky of me.

Since I am doing a picot edge on the shawl, I want to make sure that I have enough yarn to complete the edging. If I have a little extra I’m fine with that. I mean the rows are so long and the shawl is deep enough that a row or two wouldn’t matter. It’s better than ripping out a few. On this shawl it’s a demon. I already ripped out 20 rows mid shawl to fix a mistake. 

I want to make sure that I have enough yarn to complete the edging. If I have a little extra I’m fine with that. I mean the rows are so long and the shawl is deep enough that a row or two wouldn’t matter.

So tomorrow I pull out the stitch Bible and find my edging pattern and finish the shawl. By the way here is how much yarn I have left. 

2 Down 0 To Go

 I had my second cataract surgery earlier this week. Everything went well. I am healing well too. There are some things that I have noticed. First being that sometimes I can even read with out the readers the eye doctor recommended.  Things are definitely brighter and I can’t go outside without sunglasses. So I keep a pair in my purse and a pair by the back door.  I have also noticed that the colors are more brilliant. Today’s trip through Costco was amazing. I made John go up and down every food aisle even if we did not need anything on the aisle just to look at all the colors. The packaging was an amazing Kaleidoscope of colors. I am not sure if it was dorky or my inner artist coming out from a years long nap. 

The strangest side effect of the surgery involves the scale. As of this morning I have lost a total of 8 pounds. Strange right?  I am not craving sweets or other carbohydrates. I am not eating to keep myself awake. If I am tired I take a nap. I am actually happier than I have been in a long time. It’s almost like I got rid of the cataracts and my body is coming back into balance. I can’t wait to see where I go with this.  

I woke up from a nap and reached for my glasses and they were not there  it took me a few minutes to realize that I did not need them anymore. Well except for my readers.  I now have four pair and I know that a day will come when I can’t faint a single pair. So I have them strategically placed around the house.

I have not wanted to do any fussy knitting like hats, gloves or shawls.  Instead I am working on 2 different Operation Gratitude scarfs. One for the car because I am still not driving.  I can also knit these with my eyes closed if the sun is at a bad angle. I need to give my eyes time to heal and balance out.  The good news is that I figured out what I thought needed a small revision in a pattern and will fix it as soon as I feel like taking pictures and editing a pattern. 

It’s getting late so it’s time to call it a day.  

Oops

 My day did not go as planned. When I went to seam the new gloves, I was missing 1/4 of a glove. So back to the knitting room I went. First things first, I had to find a second pair of US size 6 wooden knitting needles. Thankfully I have at least 2 pairs in each size. I think that everyone should have at least 2 pairs in each size. Your local yarn shop can help you with that. You don’t have to buy them all at once. Save up your coupon money so it does not have to come out of the household budget. I am also grateful that the second pair were not on a project. 

Forty five minutes later it was really finished. So while dinner was cooking I wove in the ends and clipped them together for seaming. I was too tired after dinner to do any sewing. So I choose to relax and watch another the Moon is going to crash into the earth movie. Of course the astronauts saved the earth at the very last minute.  They always do.  

So below is a picture of my oops.  

Getting Ready

 While I have been busy recovering from my first cataract surgery, I can say I think it is going well. My distance vision in my right eye has ne going back to my 30’s.  I have an up coming check up to see if my right eye is healed enough to do my left eye.  Wish me luck.  

Meanwhile I have been doing a lot of napping.  I gave up stress eating.  I gave up eating when I am tired and have opted to take naps instead after all I am retired.  I have been doing some knitting, I have only finished 2 small projects this week.  I have gloves to seam, I have a shawl, 2 scarfs, and a third pair of gloves to finish.  I am also throwing in random acts of cleaning, not too much though because I am still supposed to be resting. They Obviously did not write those instructions with me in mind.  

Sorry for any misspellings, I am doing this with out glasses because my eyes are tired.  So I guess it’s good night.