Can I Have Too Many Readers?

 Ok, I have to admit it. Since my cataract surgery I have turned into one of those people who have “readers” all over the house.  Readers are just portable magnifying glasses. I leave a pair on the kitchen table, in my knitting room, by where I knit at night, on my nightstand, and a pair in my purse. This is just so I don’t have to carry one pair everywhere.  

Am I wrong in thinking that I might also need to leave a pair by the computer too. Also, just maybe a spare pair in case I lose or misplaced a pair.  

The same goes with sunglasses too.  One pair in my purse. One pair by the back door for errands around the outside of the house.  I am not sure if I don’t need a spare just in case.  

I also started the knitting room reorganization today.  I had no problem filling the newly open space. I also moved on big basket to a new home.  Just a few more things to move before John comes in for the heavy lifting  

I am really close to finishing 3 more knitting  projects. I have figured out the pattern revision, now just new pictures and a bit of typing.  The sample for my next shawl just needs the ends woven in and the pattern typed.  I still need the daily nap so things are going a bit on the slow side.  Everything will get done in its own time.  

TTFN

By the way I have bought all the Foster Grant readers on my own.  His is my own personal opinion..I am not being paid for this blog post.  

Good News

 The good news is that if I put the back seats down in my car I can get 17 bags and 2 boxes of donations in the back of my car. Yes we did have just a little bit of room to spare.  Yes, we did overwhelm the drop off site. If we would have used the boxes that they were hoping to be filled we would have filled them up and then some. Since our donation was nicely bagged and boxed we just put it on the side of the donation boxes.  I am sure as the holidays get closer more people will donate too. 

You also know what this means, don’t you? Of course you do. With all that empty space we will be doing a knitting room redesign this weekend. I will get all the light lifting done first and then bring John in for the heavy lifting and rolling. 

Also today at knitting guild they did not care that the gloves were store bought, but I did trigger a lecture for the whole group. No a bad one. Just a don’t feel guilty if your are sick or can’t do the monthly challenge, it’s a suggestion not mandatory. Good to know. 

TTFN

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.