A blog about my life, my fiber arts and pictures of my finished work. I will also throw in the very occasional recipe or shopping tip.
Friday, April 7, 2017
Buttons
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
An Open Letter to Realtors
So my one request to you is stop calling. The answer is NO we ARE NOT SELLING OUR HOUSE.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
High School Reunions
It seems hard to imagine that my 40th High School Reunion is right around the corner. I have been going back and forth on whether to go to it. On one hand I would be seeing people that I have not seen since graduating high school. Then there would be that room full of old people, yes I know that we are all within a couple of years chronologicaly. Some have been posting pictures of kids and grandkids and a few who started families at a younger age are posting pictures of great grandchildren. That's not me, I am not even there yet. I am in no rush. Most are still working full time, I am still in the stay at home mom mode, still driving my car pool of 1 child. What would we talk about. I am sure that it is not important to many of my fellow classmates to know the PBS, Sprout and HBO kids tv schedules. Fiber arts may bore them to death.
Then there are other considerations. I was not a popular person in high school. I was always on the outside. That much has not changed in my life. If I was Important enough in their lives they would not only contact me on a 10 year cycle. If they really wanted to contact me, I am not that hard to find.
Then there is the fact that the event is not in Tucson. That would involve either 2 days flying, car rental and a hotel room or 4 days driving and hotel rooms. Is it worth the time and money? I would rather stay at home with my guys. Go out for a quick dinner with John then spend it with a roomful of strangers.
I think I will will follow the path of a few of my classmates who had extraordinary lives after high school and skip the event. Sheri CHS Class of 1977.
Monday, April 3, 2017
Trying to Find Balance
The hard part for me in letting go of some of Eric's old favorite toys is that he has lost so much ground over the years that he can no longer make the toys "work right". "Play time" is mostly hugging his favorite stuffed animals with John and I making up stories about what the friends are doing. Or even watching Sesame Street with Elmo.
I am finding it hard to make a balance between getting the garage finished before it hits the 100's in Tucson and spending enough time resting. As much as I would like to get the whole garage cleaned by this weekend, I know that much of a push will not be good for my arthritis. My body has not yet fully recovered from the yarn reorganization when I pushed it too hard this weekend to get the next project done. I have been fighting with a body that just wants to sit and sleep today.
The funny thing about this whole cleaning process, is that when I started zenning the house after reading "Zenning Your House in 5 Minutes a Day" I had a hard time just working for 5 minutes to throw things out. Now I only stop when exhaustion hits. This varies from day to day depending on my body. For the most part I can part with stuff without anxiety. I have learned which stuff to keep and which I just don't need anymore. I also learned that it is too time consuming to have a garage sale. Goodwill is the lazy woman's garage sale with a lot less work and no clean up afterward. With the added bonus of the people that Goodwill helps.
I wish I could say that it is bedtime at 11:00 pm, but I started Eric's meds late so I still have a while to stay awake. I am sure that this will not help my arthritis flare up either.
Saturday, April 1, 2017
The Garage
Today I managed to empty and sort 3 more boxes from the garage. I ran out of steam for box number 4 filled with knitting magazines. Considering that they have been in the garage since we remodeled the bathroom I might not have a use for them. I have a lot for Goodwill that I am hoping will leave the house this week. Instead of looking at the pile going of my goodness, I am instead think of just one box at a time. My goal this weekend was 2 boxes so getting 3 boxes done is fantastic in my humble opinion.
I found a whole whole lot of sewing projects and a sweater pattern that I have been looking for. So my plan going forward, is to get a few boxes done each day in the morning at the peak of my energy level for the day. In the afternoon body permitting I will get some sewing or craft projects done. I am trying to do this without an afternoon caffeine boost so there might just be more napping than crafting in the afternoons.
My my hope is to turn Teri's old bedroom into an electric workshop for John for the holidays. Although I think I will leave building the work bench to John. I really need to save my hand time for knitting, weaving, spinning and sewing.
Friday, March 31, 2017
A Ganga*
I might have to start tagging and bagging my charity hats and scarfs because the pile is getting a bit unsteady. So look for the million row challenge row counter to jump in the near future.
I also plan on sending John on a Goodwill run sometime this weekend. De cluttering has hit the garage. With any luck I should have inside the house and garage done by December even with the hiccups life has been throwing us this year.
*A Ganga is Tucson speak for a fantastic deal
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
A Replacement
Monday, March 27, 2017
A Contest
What are some of the bad labeling offenses that you have seen? There will be a prize of my choice for the funniest one or two. Please feel free to comment.
Saturday, March 25, 2017
A Slow Saturday
The reorganization of the yarn last weekend has has a positive effect. I have found a lot of UFO's that are now back in progress. Some of the projects are so old that I no longer have the outfit that I was making the hand knit item for. For these I will finish them and put them in the box to be sold for the Taglit fundraiser later this year.
I also finished 2 more hand knit hats today and cast on 2 more hats. One hat is in cotton and the other is wool. Below is a picture of the pile of hats, 19 hats and still standing. The hemming of the 5 skirts also got started today. No deep cleaning was done, I took a nap instead.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
My Spinning Chair
Sunday, March 19, 2017
It's Done
The big yarn sort was finished this afternoon. 100 gallons of yarn has left the house. No, I did not count the skeins of yarn leaving. I need you to use your imagination to think how many skins of yarn that is. Everything has been rearranged by weight. Some empty project bags will also be leaving tomorrow. The project shelf space is full of things that I will knit. My closet has a lot more space so I am very pleased with the results.
My next project is to knit up a pattern that a friend has had to tink several times now. I started the pattern tonight and am keeping copious notes as I go. I am pretty sure that there is a problem with the pattern and will make corrections to give to my friend and the pattern designer.
After that I might do a small project or 2 before I tackle the next big deep cleaning project. I might even try to come up with a better system for my circular knitting needles. Any suggestions for circular knitting needle storage would be welcome.
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Progress, Maybe?
I am hoping that it is a sign of progress that the items in the picture are no longer going to be needed for yarn storage. The cracked plastic items will be recycled tomorrow. I will offer the good roll away bin to one of Eric's aides, it is not a good container for yarn, if I can not see the yarn in the drawers with out opening them. I will also give some of the excess bags to the advocates in Eric's day program. I am sure that they will come in handy. I also filled another 13 gallon bag of yarn for Amber, it is leaving tomorrow.
I still ill have a few things to put away, but I am waiting for the glue to dry on 2 containers before I make my finial storage choices. I expect to be done by tomorrow night so that I can move on to my next project, which is hemming 5 skirts. The more inches I lose the longer the skirts have gotten.
John also got into the spirit of the de cluttering of the garage today by helping me get to the final yarn boxes. He also found a lot of boxes to cut down for recycling. Who knows by the end of the summer I might even have the garage finished. I am not as hopeful for the spare room, it I will give it a shot.
Friday, March 17, 2017
More Gone
I sent a 13 gallon bag of yarn home with a friend this afternoon. I also found a sweater that I want to knit that has been missing for a while. I am now a few sizes smaller than when I bought the kit, so it will be a little less knitting to do. A win win afternoon for both of us. So that I can do more de stashing today, John is bring home dinner. A win win for me. Deep cleaning has some great rewards.
I am also revising my storage system so that all the yarn and fiber will be in clear containers from now on. The better to see what I have. I am not quite ready to set up the inventory system that John has suggested. Maybe when I have the hard part done, if I am very, very brave I will let John set it up. Does anyone know of a good inventory control program?
Yarn Destash
Yesterday was my first day of yarn destash 2017. This is from the first round. This was mainly yarn that was given to me. By friends and a few miss buys. Yarn that I wanted to try, but was not talking to me telling me what it wanted to be. I have learned that if I don't have an idea in mind for the yarn not to buy it. This will be delivered to a new home today.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
A New Rhythm
Monday, March 13, 2017
Crazy Busy
Tonight is the first night in almost 2 weeks that I have not fallen asleep on the couch before it was time to put Eric to bed. I have been busy with spring cleaning. All but on room is clean. Each time I think there is nothing left to clean, I just find more to do. More to recycle or donate to charity, or more to trash, there must be an end in sight, I just can't see it yet.
Eric has settled into going to his program 2 1/2 days a week. Just enough time for Eric to connect with his friends and not enough time to get over tired. For me this is just enough time for a few quick errands or part of a day of cleaning and napping. Eric is just not as springy as he use to be. Recovery time is taking longer.
We we also had a surprise visit from Teri and Tej last weekend. I know that the five of us had a great time. Although I wish we lived closer to them, it is just not possible at this time. I am so lucky to have such a great family.
Monday, March 6, 2017
A Night Out
After breakfast that included more tea and aspirin it was time to finish our annual spring cleaning. I was hoping that by keeping myself busy that the headache would just go away. We managed to get the house finished before the headache went away, but the house is clean.
After a nap, I realized that this was not just an average garden variety headache, but a full blown migraine. So I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around in sunglasses doing more cleaning. Thank goodness the headache started to go away before John and I had a very rare date night.
We had dinner at a supposedly great Tucson dining spot near the venue. I won't embarrass them by naming them. To sum up the dining experience, the tea was burnt. They ran out of crackers for one dish and used stale bread instead, stale bread and crackers are the same right? The waitress did not have much knowledge of the menu and if you had an allergy to something, they left it off your plate and did not substitute anything for it, but still charged full price. With the exception of dessert which had a metallic flavor the food that we did have was pretty good. I did have some Excedrin with dinner to try to get rid of the rest of the headache.
The best part of the date was the show we went to. John managed to get tickets to the sold out Bill Maher Show in Tucson. The show was great and very relevant. I don't think that I have laughed that much in years. I have been a fan of Bill Maher for years, but this was the first live show that I have gone to. I can say without a doubt that it was well worth the price of the tickets. I would like to thank Mr. Maher for taking time out of his busy schedule to come to Tucson. Your show was wonderful.
Now I just need to figure out how to manage some sleep.The caffeine in the Excedrin has not worn off yet.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Hopefully Optimistic
I used my time off to knit 1 row of lace. I now have just 1 more lace pattern row and 2 purl rows before the last 3 rows of garter stitch. It should be done in time for the Old Pueblo Knitters Fashion show next month. If you are in Tucson and want to come just follow this link, Old Pueblo Knitters. Even if you don't knit it is fun seeing all the hand knit creations. Then I will work on an art piece for a local knitting competition.
Now its is time to get some sewing done.
Friday, February 24, 2017
A Lucky Break
This week while doing laundry, I accidentally put one of my favorite shirts in the dryer that was suppose to be line dried. You have guessed by now that it shrunk a bit. This is one of those rare moments when it was a very good thing. I bought this shirt last time I went down a size and it was getting to the point of needing to leave my closet. It was getting to be a bit to big. The good news is that it shrunk to exactly my current size, so this means that I can wear it a bit longer. I am not sure that I will try this little "accident" on any other shirt at the moment though.
While Eric is resting this afternoon I think that I will put a little more time into house work. I have already finished the laundry for the day and put 2 bags of recycling to the big bin. Then it will be time to knit and weave. I need the loom for another project that has a deadline and the shawl has a looming deadline also.
Eric is feeling a little better each day. Have a great weekend everyone.
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Everything
John had Eric today.
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Trying to Keep Up
I think that I might be wearing ruts in the tile. I am keeping up with my walking at least 11,000 steps a day this week. Today will top 13,000 or just over 5 miles, and the farthest I got from the house was the mail box. The walking keeps me from craving junk food.
Eric's recovery is going slower than we would like, but he is still making progress. I am starting to get into a rhythm with Eric at home. I still did not finish my to do list today, but I got more finished.
Today I started playing around with a quiche recipe made with duck eggs and goat cheese. When I get the recipe perfect, I will post it on the blog. All I can say now is that the taste was perfect, but the texture needs a little work.
I am going to see if I have any energy to knit now.