Another Sunday in Summer

 Apparently it was not hot enough today for my freshly washed and thwacked yarn to dry in the garage.  At 108F or about 42C the yarn that was put out before lunch was not quite dry by bedtime. Maybe a high humidity of 18% is to blame.  It should be dry by morning.  

I almost caught up on my Tour de Fleece spin.  Instead of being 2 days behind, I am only 1/2 a day behind.  That is until tomorrow when I wake up to being 1 1/2 days behind.  Even with the e-spinner I have found that when I am having a difficult body day no matter how hard I try the yarn may just turn out a bit wonky.  Also I must remember to put the breaking cord on each time I change the bobbin.  Otherwise it really wonky things happen and it takes me a few minutes to figure it out.  With all that being said. I have had the e-spinner less than a month and overall it is going very well.   

I would love a change of scenery for some knitting.  However with the high at 109F I really don’t think outdoor knitting is really going to happen. It will be in the low 80’s at sunrise. Sighs.  So it will either be my audio book or watching the last episode of Geek Girl and finding another show to watch.  I really hope that they renew Geek Girl, it is cute and light television watching.   

TTFN

Adjusting for Extreme Heat

 Because of the extreme heat I have been staying at home with the exception of food shopping.  For some reason that I can’t fathom, my body is not tolerant of the heat this year.  Even a short trip to the mail box has me gulping down water and an urgent need to rest.  I am a summer person who up until this year loved the heat.  It made my body feel good.  This year not so much   I really hope that this is temporary.

So I have been getting to know my new e-spinner. I think I am up to some serious spinning now.  The learning curve was pretty flat.  The e-spinner is just starting to sing to me, which is always a good sign.  I thought that it would take about 2 dozen skeins of art yarn to get there.  I am totally floored that it took less than 6 skeins of yarn.  However, I did finish 6 skeins so that I would have another knitting kit.  

So tomorrow I am going to wash a bunch of newly finished skeins of art yarn.  None of the really fancy stuff.  Just the basic learning curve spinning.  It’s supposed to be 110f tomorrow, so if I get them washed early, they might be dry by bed time.  

TTFN

The Boomerang Effect

 Yesterday morning was very successful for me in getting some deep cleaning done.   Getting stuff ready to leave the house. All the while working on less is more.  Leavening the work space cleaner and more organized than I found it. I do strongly believe that in retrospect I used too many units of personal energy.  

All the work was done before breakfast.  After breakfast I took a very long nap, just because I had no energy left to move.  I spent the rest of yesterday dragging.  Not getting anything but resting done.  

Fast forward to today.  I woke up tired.  I had no energy for most of the day. My major accomplishment today was returning a mail order item that was too big.  John drove me across town while I napped.  I also completed stage 2 of the Tour de Fleece. I must say that the color way is working for my plan to keep adding 1 parcel a day until I an either halfway through the parcels or the bobbin is full.  Then start the next bobbin.  

I also started watching a light comedy on Netflix called Geek Girl.  The show is definitely binge worthy.  It is definitely chick lit so the guys might not want to watch it with you.  That is perfectly ok.  It is a very good show.  I really hope that we get another season or 6 more. 

I am enjoying the book Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson.  I am finding the characters interesting.  With just enough twist and turns to make it a page turner.  It is also a very good book to listen to while spinning yarn.  No pun intended.

As usual I paid for the fiber for the Tour de Fleece myself. All opinions are my own. There are no sponsorships for any of my recommendations .  TTFN.

The fiber from this Tour de Fleece spin is from Hilltop Cloud in Wales.  Today’s fiber is Cambrian, a mix of Welsh Mountain crossed with BFL.  It is a very nice spin.  

Twice in One Week

 I got up very early and hit the garage before it got too hot. I had a plan.  I had stuff and yarn that had to go.  So I now have 3 more empty boxes that I will give to John, so he can see what he has stored.  3 more large plastic tubs left the house filled with baskets that I no longer use, more yarn and jewelry display items that I no longer need. I also said goodbye to some more jewelry making supplies.  I am also sending my second drum carder to a new home because it is to big for any of my available space.   I will still keep the small carder that makes very small batts along with my hand carders. 

My end game goal is to have no more yarn or fiber in the garage at all.  In tandem I will be making a lot of new things for me so that I clear space in the house. I would ultimately like to not have fiber and yarn in the sewing / guest room either.  I know that will take some time.  It has taken me a couple of years to get to this point. So I really know it will take time.  

If anyone really wants to know. Today was all directed by me.  My family was not given a say so in what was leaving or done.  I did require some help from John, I am really not up to doing a lot of heavy lifting yet.  John did a very good job. He even got some baskets that were stored in the house out of my reach to go.  I personally suspect that he did not want me climbing to get things he can reach from the floor..

We also found things in the garage that could be recycled. So the recycling bin all 96 gallons is almost filled to the top. Somehow cleaning leads to more cleaning and organizing. 

We were out of the garage before 7:30A.M.. we were so hot we got some water and went straight to the shower before breakfast. The picture below shows what left the house today.  My friend and her daughter picked everything up after dinner.  The boxes were wider than my car.  The cardboard box had the carder in it.  

Filling the Car with DeStashed Yarn

 This morning I got into the garage very early, still in my pajamas to begin the last phase of my current de stash of yarn.  Included are novelty yarn, hand spun yarn and cones of yarn.  I filled 3 large plastic tote boxes to give to a friend to share with her family. Also one of the 3 tote boxes is newly emptied of yarn only to be filled up with yarn to give to my friend. I got to the garage a little after 6 am. By 7 am the garage was already in the 80’s and since it is monsoon season the humidity level is at 65% making the feel like temperature at least 5 degrees warmer.  

I had another small victory this morning  I landed up with an extra empty tote box. I set it to the side for later use.  The boxes in the garage are no longer in piles taller than me.  This takes a burden off me too wondering how I am going to use up all this yarn. It also gives access to fiber artists who have to normally drive miles and hours to get a very limited selection of yarn. This is a lovely win for everyone involved. 

I am normally a summer person who loves the hot weather.  However since I got sick earlier this year I have seemed to lost my tolerance for the heat.  I am hoping that it is just the medicine that I am currently taking.  I am doing my best to stay hydrated.  I am already at the 30 ounce of water mark for the day.  This is normal for summertime in the desert southwest. I don’t do sports drinks, but just plain water. For a treat I will add some fresh squeezed lemon juice.  I digressed a bit here.  

John loaded my car for me this morning.  As you can see from the pictures below my little pyramid of boxes did not all fit into the back of my car. I had to cover the back seat with a towel for the 3 rd box. I did say that they were the large tote boxes. They hold a whole lot of yarn. 

My plan to the rest of the day is to rest. Organize the house a bit.  Maybe do a load of laundry  or 2. Then do some knitting and spinning. 

As the days get shorter, I hope everyone is finishing up their holiday knitting projects. Also be sure to make something for yourself too. 

TTFN.  If you are not sure what TTFN means I would suggest a light summer time read of Winnie The Pooh. There is a 4 book series that were published between 1924 and 1928. They now come in a complete box set too. This would also be a good summer break from activities and just read with your children. 

The Next Round of De Stash

 The next round of fiber de stashing has started.  In just two 15 minute sessions I filled 2 kitchen trash bags 1/2 full.  One bag is filled with commercially made yarn. The other bag has smaller skeins on my hand spun yarn.  They will be filled up shortly.  Especially since every where I turn, I seem to be finding more yarn stashed away in the odd corner or nook.

This has come about because I can spin yarn faster than I can knit or weave it into finished objects. I am also slowing down due to my on going health issues.  I also don’t want to be one of those fiber artists who leave a house literally full of yarn and crafting supplies.  

In this way I can control where the yarn and fiber go.  I also want to make sure that a huge bonfire is not set off with my entire stash of yarn once I am gone.  The more yarn I get rid of the lighter I feel.  I know this does not make sense to many people.  Rehousing yarn that I will not be using takes the burden of having to plan projects for the Yarn I don’t want to use. It also makes many people very happy to receive boxes or bags full of free and new to them yarn. Also not using my limited knitting time on Yarn, I don’t want to use anymore. I have been knitting for slightly over 25 years now.  There is only 2 yarns that I still love that I have used since the beginning.  They are Sugar-n-cream and Bernat 100% cotton Crafters yarn.  

I don’t knit or spin with a lot of novelty yarns anymore.  I just don’t find them very interesting or versatile enough for my current needs.  I am more into the texture and tactical feel of the yarn.  How well it drapes. Ease of knitting with the yarn also matters more to me now.  Can I help save a heritage breed of sheep?

So bit by bit I am finding new homes for my de stashed yarn.  I am also making up kits with some of my hand spun yarn to sell at the Christmas in July Event at our next Old pueblo knitting guild meeting on July 17, 2024 at St. Phillips in the Hills Church at 4440 N Campbell Avenue, in the Murphy Hall. We start at 9:30 am promptly.  Besides having Christmas in July we will be having a knit in so you can bring any project you need help with.  You can even just sit and knit with new knitting friends. Please feel free to join us.  The first meeting is free to try out.  

The picture below is before I found 3 more tubs of yarn and more than several bags of hand spun yarn hiding in the knitting room.  The room you are looking at is the sewing / guest room.  

Just Bragging

 This is a well deserved win for me and my family.  I have been doing the dreaded challenge of finding a new swim suit without any polyester in it.  As a woman I have always found swimsuit shopping very hard.  There are a lot of body image issues involved.  As a child Twiggy was the body ideal.  Even as a child that body ideal was impossible for me to achieve.  Not even Twiggy can safely achieve that image. 

Body image had nothing to do with what my bone structure. I happen to have a larger bone structure. It had everything to do with a families relationship with food. Growing up mine had a lot of starch with moderate amounts of meat and even fewer vegetables and mostly canned fruit and vegetables because it was cheaper.  Mostly classified as a poor Eastern European poor families diet in the 1960’s. An immigrants diet.  

Not to mention that my mom constantly reminded me how fat I was no matter how boney I was.  That nobody liked fat girls.  So a perfect recipe for disaster in my own body image necessary to be comfortable in wearing a swimsuit. 

To my complete surprise today, I found a swimsuit 2 sizes smaller than my last 2 swimsuit purchases. I was totally blown away by the fact.  After going to 2 different stores.  Then trying to find the swimsuits.  I was blown away that they had moved the swimsuits to the clearance section even before summer solstice.  This required 2 walks around the women’s department.  Trying on the swimsuits.  Finally finding one that fit.  I was too tired to even do the happy dance.  I was disappointed that there was not a bench to sit on while waiting to check out.  

I came home and slept solidly for 2 hours.  Waking up too late to make our planned dinner.  We landed up eating scrambled eggs and mixed vegetables with fresh fruit for dessert.  

TTFN