Moving Forward

 I had the energy to do a mini cleaning spree this afternoon.  So I can say 4 storage tubs are gone. Well actually 3. One dropped and cracked and since it had no recycling number on it we threw it away.  So I guess it is actually 4. I have 2 more bags of quilting material, mostly kids fabric going to a friend who works with 3 different church quilting for charity groups.  Spinning fiber going to 2 friends.  Yarn going to a bunch of people.  Also 2 more boxes are ready to go to Goodwill.

It feels good to share. I want to get my projects down to a reasonable level. The arthritis in my hands is not getting better. So I will make the transition to work on only things that I want to do. Yes, I will still knit charity hats and scarfs because they bring me joy.  I get to create pretty things and send them into the world.  What could be more joyous than that?

I found a tub of yarn for my charity scarf project too.  Knitting will have to wait a bit longer though.  The stitches got infected.  I did go to the doctor and have to take antibiotics until the bottle is gone.  We caught it early before much harm was done.  My hand is a little more sore this afternoon.  

I am also going to de stash 2 more spindles.  These are pretty Turkish spindles in layered wood.  They are going to be looking for a new home too.  They have been lightly used. They are pretty and spin well.  They just don’t fit in to my herd anymore.  I just have to figure out where to sell them and determine the price.  

Life in Left

 I still have stitches in my right hand, in a very awkward place.  So if I forget and use my right hand I have quite the opposite of instant gratification.  Things like opening doors are really designed for right handed use. Things like brushing my teeth, I find that I tend to miss different spots unless I am very careful.  

Since I use both hands interchangeably this is usually not a problem.  I do notice that I am breaking more fingernails than usual on my left hand.  I still can’t try knitting until the stitches are out.  That is until round two this time.  So spinning it is for now.  

It is not a good thing that I have a small 3D printed Turkish spindle in a “me time” bag hanging from my purse.  I have one project on my knitting room table.  I have a full basket of half done projects for television watching time.  I think I am just as bad with spindles as I am with knitting needles. This means too many projects going on at once. I have managed to complete 3 spindles up until the point of needing to ply them. This is a plus.  I also have one less spinning basket. I put yarn for a knit along that starts this Saturday, what was I thinking? I will try to use my very limited daily spinning time to get as many done as possible. This means that more spindles will be leaving the herd soon.  I will not be able to ply, wash or thwack them until the stitches come out.  

*TTFN.  

Spinning Again

 I think the hand surgery went well on Friday. The compression bandage came off today.  I also started spinning old school today because I cannot knit until the stitches come out.  I will just keep filling spindles until the stitches come out.  I cannot ply or do much housework yet, but I can play and read.  

I have set up a basket to hold all the filled spindles until I can ply.  

Just Spinning

 Today was definitely a spinning day for me.  By the numbers. One bobbin skeined, washed and thwacked.   One very heavy bottom whorl spindles project was finished. I could not spin more than 6 inches before it stopped spinning or the weight was too much for the yarn.  I need to research this type of spindle more.  By the way the yarn was skeined, washed and thwacked.  One skein of cashmere was plyed, skeined, washed and thwacked.  

This evening I went on a spinning basket hunt.  I found 5.  Yes 5 spinning baskets.  One small basket was left with a project and multiple spindles. The other four baskets were brought to the den to empty and sort out.  I landed up with 2 empty baskets.  Then I went on a hunt for sampler roving and batts. I found 4 bags which were all put into a bigger empty basket.  My plan for this fiber is to pull out different colors that will go together and make one of a kind skeins of yarn.  My first one is yellow, pink and green. I should be amazing.  The fiber that is not spin able will go to do pillows.  Life is to short to spin crappy fiber.  I also landed up with 4 more empty bags.  

I also did more spinning to night. I have just a little more fiber to add to this before I ply it, skein it, wash it and thwack it   

The empty project bags better be careful or I might just fill them up with yarn and send them to new homes.  I am not kidding about this.  

The picture below is the heaviest of my drop spindles. I mentioned it in the first paragraph.  If you know anything about the maker or spinning on a spindle like this let me know.  

My New Hooks from Boye

 Last year I bought a set of crochet hooks for people with arthritis from Grandma’s Spinning Wheel in Tucson.  They are made by Boye.  I do love how my hands don’t hurt afterwards. They take a very light touch. Not even a full grip. Since we got back from vacation I have put 3 1/2 rounds on a granny square blanket for me in cotton.  I will post a picture of my stash dive blanket when it is finished.

My on comment goes directly to the people at Boye.  It is really nice the you color Coordinated the color of the handle and the paint color. My only concern with this, is that they are very hard to read. I am now going to have to go through them with a sharpie to write the numbers and hook sizes in black ink for an easier read.  Otherwise you did a fantastic job on them. Also a nice case to store them in would be a nice extra. Thank you for thinking about people with arthritis.  

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.