Happy 2023

 I would like to start out by saying that I have not bought any new crafting supplies this year.  Today would have been a perfect day for on line shopping. I was having  a bad body day because of my stupid flare up.  I am not the biggest fan of arthritis.  I usually shop to make myself feel better.  No shopping was done. 

Instead I napped. Did two 20 minute cleaning sessions. I also found the time to work on three different projects. I did not complete anything. If I have the energy tomorrow, I will warp a loom for a scarf so that I don’t have to figure out where to store the yarn, this might involve more than 1 scarf.  I always have bags of hand made items for children that leave the house every so often.  I just love the Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank. They find homes for everything that I make. 

Use more stuff up is going to be my motto for the year.  Also as I complete more projects, if I am not in love with the project bag it will be filled with yarn and given to other knitters at our monthly Old Pueblo Knitting Guild meetings.  If you live or visit Southern Arizona, this would be a great reason to join.  

No More Knitting…..

 This is my last post about knitting for 2022.  I will not complete anymore projects this year. I have completed 82 out of 50 planned projects. These projects were all completed in the last week of December 2022. 

I plan on completing 50 projects for 2023.

I would like to wish everyone a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2023.

More Zenning

 If it is all possible, I am doing more Zenning around the house. It’s a good way to end the year. I figured that the first day back from vacation was the best day to start.  At breakfast I made my to do list, which was not comprehensive.  I started with the den fireplace and removed all my spinning and weaving projects and supplies. Everything has a new home.  Even the skein of yarn that went to the Goodwill box  

This lead to needing more shelf space in the knitting room. So I went on a Sugar and Cream hunt. I almost filled a 32 quart box. I decided not to finish the 2 blankets in the bag so they went into dog pillow stuffing.   They were not even a complete block of a 9 block pattern.  Sometimes to move forward I need to let go of things that are not in the least bit useful.  I have learned that it is not necessary to keep or complete every project, or reuse the yarn.  I even put the knitting needles and accessories in their proper homes. 

I came up with an absolutely brilliant idea for a color combination for my next pounder scarf.  So I went on a hunt for black worsted weight yarn. The black combined with a very bright and bold variegated yarn will make a nice one of a kind scarf.  I will be winding additional skeins of black worsted weight yarn tomorrow. The scarfs after that will either be black and white or a scrappy scarf of many colors. I have the first 2 1/2 rows knit and I am in love with the combination of yarns.  I also finished one hat and another pounder scarf tonight. I call them pounders because each weighs in at at least 17 ounces. They are also 6 feet long, which is good for a cold climate.  Pictures are going to happen tomorrow. 

The most interesting part of the day was watching John.  When I finished cleaning up the fire place, he had to do more dusting and tie up the cables to make things look even better. He then went on to his own cleaning agenda.  I can’t wait to see where this leads us.  

Well my typing hand is getting really cranky so I will call an end to this post.

Done with Coasters for 2022

 I wove the last coaster for the year.  So after dinner I cleaned off my work table.  Packaged all the random yarn into bags by color. Then reorganized the weaving cart.  I have 1 3/4 trays filled with bags of yarn.  One loom and all the smaller weaving tools on 1/4 of the second tray. The top tray had the larger small loom and the warp.  I was told if I put everything thing away in an organized fashion, I would be more productive in the long run   

You might remember that before I started this small weaving binge for the mudd rugs aka coasters I had all 3 trays overflowing with small skeins of hand spun yarn.  This is a good thing.  Coasters are leaving the house as gifts. Well almost all of the coasters.  I did fall in love with 2 that I will be keeping.  

I also tinked a summer top that I had started.  With the rate I was knitting compared to how fast the inches and weight are leaving.  It would have been too large to wear before I even finished the back.  So after tinking the sweater, I cleaned out the bag.  I replaced the yarn with a skein of yarn to make a shawl.  I choose a pattern that will look good no mater how much weight I lose.  Even losing a few more sizes it will still look good.  

So this is how I left my small weaving cart. The small carrier bag is for yarn scraps that will go into future dog pillows.  No I have not organized the entire room yet.  I project at a time.  

Every Yarn Knows What It Wants

 Every once in a while we all acquire yarn for our stash.  Some one has an idea for the yarn, but me the designer in me  just did not see it.  So it just sat there waiting in a basket.  I tried knitting, weaving and crochet.  I just could not make the yarn sing.  

Then came the long scarf’s for a Knitting Guild project.  A scarf knit on the round with 2 strands of yarn, 1 sock weight and 1 of worsted weight.  The yarn is finally singing.  Combined with yellow, red and a dark purple cotton.  I am on the fourth stripe.  The scarf is just flowing off the knitting needles.  It is so bright and colorful.  I am hopeful a teenager will like it.  Nine inches down only 65 inches to go.  

Getting Dressed

 Today I channeled my inner teenage girl. I picked a few things I had not worn in a while. The end result was 2 more outfits going to Goodwill. The we’re both too big.  One pair of pants going back into the closet.  Me going back into the closet to find an outfit to wear.  This was the aftermath. A small pile for Goodwill and hanger’s thrown everywhere.  Today it was the 4th try that was the charm.  

Hopefully I have most of the clothing that is too large out of the closet and into the Goodwill boxes.  Yes, there are 3 full boxes at this point. 

My Hero

 I have been doing a wonderful job of shrinking out of clothing or to get a laugh line in this house the clothing has been growing in the closet. Dillard’s did not have much of a selection locally. I have also filled 3 boxes with clothing that have grown larger in the closet.  Yes, clothing can really grow bigger over a weeks time. I really need to make a trip to Goodwill. 

So today my hero drove me 2 hours to the Scottsdale Bryn Walker store. To buy local even if it was 2 hours away.   There was a huge selection of clothing to try on.  I came home with 2 bags of new outfits for the next few months.  I tried on clothes for over an hour.  Talk about your patient husband.  Towards the end when I got to tired to move he encouraged me to try on just a few more because after all it was a 2 hour drive each way. 

Most importantly was that I had lost enough weight to get into a few styles that were previously too small for me.  Kiko the store clerk was able to put a few combinations together that I did not even think about.  I have a few outfits for those really cold days. I got some Tucson dressy clothing too. We tend to be more casual even when we get dressed up.  

We went and got a quick lunch. For most of lunch we had a private patio.  I am not sure why more people were not eating outside with all the numbers going up. John’s corn beef sandwich was good. The meat was lean and tasty.  My salad was a 3 out of 10. To rate higher a salad must taste good without any salad dressing. I do not like diving into a salad that is swimming in dressing, only to drain salad dressing off my salads to eat them.  Also a random question.  How do you get an avocado to go limp? I do give them credit for not burning the peach iced tea though.  

On the way home traffic slowed for a medical emergency on the side of the freeway.  So it added about 15 minutes to our ride home. After hanging up the clothes we got today I took a nap until dinner time. 

Another takeaway from today is that I don’t know which is harder on my body during a flare up:

1.    Doing 45 minutes of physical therapy. 

                            or

2.     Trying on clothes for an hour or so. 

I am sore and tired after both.