Missing

 So far today I have lost one pair of reading glasses and one Dyson fan remote control.  I think I will call it a day before I lose anything else.  

A Roller Coaster of a Day

 Life seems to be about taking 2 steps forward and 4 steps backward today.  The hand strengthening exercises, well, I wasn’t quite ready for those. So here we are are at almost the beginning again.  I am back to just mild stretching exercises once a day. 

So for now it will be just spinning and weaving.  At least with weaving, I am using up yarn faster than I am spinning it.  I have 2 scarfs completed ready for pictures.  The scarf that I started in January will have to wait a bit longer for those final rows.  Sighs! 

Since I could not sleep this morning, I spent 3 hours cleaning house before breakfast.  The results are 1 bag of trash and 2 bags of recycling out. Two loads of laundry completed. Five dog pillows finished and ready for delivery this weekend.  With lots of stuff going to their proper places.  Also 1 mile walked.  Did I mention that I also managed to fill one box for Goodwill too?

Making Progress

 Today I finished plying 3 mini skeins of hand spun yarn.  I used the drop spindle instead of the spinning wheel because it gives me a better yarn. By this I mean a more balanced twist.  It is so much easier to control the twist.  

I also made a concerted effort to catch up on my back log of making dog pillows.  I made 6 cases. I stuffed 5 and pinned them.  I left 1 by my squirrel cage for all the little bits and pieces I get when caking yarn.  I also cut the fabric for 2 more pillows.  

After all that hand work my hands were just too tired to knit tonight.  Sometimes I feel like a beginner in knitting were projects took months instead of days.  I have about 2 more ounces to knit.  I hope to be finished by Mother’s Day.  I am really ready for my hands to be better.  

Quiff

 Quiff is a real word.  Good for Scrabble or W.E.LD.E.R..  if you don’t believe me just look it up.  

Over Done

 Today I tackled some deep cleaning, tossing and redoing a bathroom to make it less cluttered.  Gone is the magazine rack that held magazines and wash cloths.  I used to go through about 50 wash clothes a week with Eric, now that I am only using them to dry my hands I don’t need that many out anymore.  All the wash cloths are either in a drawer or have been reassigned to other uses.  The counter is far nicer to look at. 

At lunch I was able to open a fresh jar of peanut butter for the first time since January. I am not sure how much of that is contributing to my current level of hand pain. 

I had so much recycling going to the bin that I asked John to carry it all out. By the way he was more than happy to help carry it out.  I wanted to do more cleaning and tossing. My body said it was nap time. My hand said “what did you do to me?” Yep, I might have been too gung-ho on the cleaning front today.  

We also went dryer shopping today.  We tried to shop local first, they said it would be about 10 months to get a gas dryer I wanted.  Then we went to a big box store and got the same dryer to be delivered this week.  Guess which store we bought from?

I also filled one box for Goodwill for good measure.  

Another One Bites The Dust

 No it is not a fiber project that has been finished. It is however just as important to me.  The dryer has died after about 15 years of service.  This is to read no laundry until the replacement arrives. Thank goodness I was mostly caught up.  However the sheets will have to be rewashed as they pick up the odor from the dryer.  Something has just decided to burn out.  As per Consumer Reports it is not a great investment to repair something that old.  So we will be trying to find one that fits in our limited space that is white.  Easy peasy right. Not so much. The Gold Star appliances tend to be larger for some reason.  The newer houses  are designed for larger washers and dryers.  Sadly the houses built so last century are not.  So wish us luck.  

A Little Bit Of Loom Time

 Since knitting is still very tiring for my right hand. Not to mention that it is hard to knit more than a few rows a day. Also I should not be spinning tons of new yarn just to sit in bags on my shelves.  I decided to try a bit of weaving.  

Why weaving you might ask. Well for one thing I use 2.5 times more yarn in a weaving project than a similar knitting or crochet project.  That is a very good thing right now, since the new winter shawl that I started in January still has one skein more of yarn to go before it is finished.  Another reason is that it is now April 10th and I have not completed one project this year.  Yes, you have read that right, nada, not one completed project has been completed for 2023.  Yes, I am giving my hand time to heal after multiple  surgeries in January and February on my right hand.  Yes, I am making very slow progress. Also the older I get the longer it takes to heal.  

Well the news isn’t all that bad. Since I have brought the looms, yes plural looms out last week, I have almost completed one scarf.  It took 2 1/2 skeins of yarn.  I took it off the smaller loom last night.  I gave it its hot water bath this morning.  With the temperatures in Tucson in the low 90’s it should be dry by sometime tomorrow. Then I can do the finishing touches on it. 

On the larger loom I have a cotton open weave shawl going in a variegated yarn.  This is my first attempt at open weaving.  The first few inches look fantastic.  I can’t wait to see what design the yarn will make.  A 2nd scarf was started on the smaller loom tonight. I am using up a bunch of bulky yarn on a 5 dent heddle. In English that translates to 5 warp threads per inch.  Where the shawl is a much denser 12 warp threads per inch. A huge difference in the time it takes to warp the loom., not to mention the time it takes to weave each piece. It took 4 hours to warp the shawl and less than 30 minutes for the scarf.  

So without further ado here is an almost side by side of both looms.   With a picture of the open weaving too.  The bottom of the open weave will be straighter once it is taken off the loom