The Downside

This is the downside of finishing so many UFO's.  I have to file all the circulars.  The 7 vases in my closet are full of my single point needles. 

Can You do too Much Cleaning?

I am at the point of spring cleaning of throwing up my hands and running straight to my spinning wheel. This does not mean that I will stop, it just means that we are almost finished. Or so I think so. With each round of deep cleaning a little more leaves the house. I take time to reorganize things like my fiber stash. I can say that I am making progress there. I no longer have it scattered around the house hiding. It is now in one of 3 places being spun, in a box in the garage and in Teri's closet. Teri's closet has less fiber than last November when we had to stuff things in. I now have about 2 inches of clearance at the top of the clothing rack. No more has been added to the garage and I have space under my desk for my feet.

I am also down on works in works in progress in knitting. I am down to about 8 UFO's from way to many to count. Some are even new projects since the last count. I am enjoying working on things for me. The yarn stash is not down as much as the fiber, because of all the spinning. Less fluff more yarn, who would have thunk.

I have gotten the first box of things for Goodwill boxed and John will drop it off tomorrow. I am hoping to be done with spring cleaning tomorrow. Then maybe I won't dream I am cleaning the house at night.  The worst nightmare ever.

Well dinner is ready so it is time to go. Please enjoy your families.

Catching Up

Spring cleaning is well under way. There might be hope that the house will be ready for Passover.  It is nice sharing the work with John. We work well together.  I also took time to organized fluff. Instead of being scattered around the house it is all in Teri's closet or the garage. My stash is getting realitivty smaller. At least it is not growing.  

I also got caught up on some sleep. Which helps with the arthritis pain.  Last night it got so bad that I got up to clean house on the theory that moving would help loosen things up.  After an hour it was aspirin time.  So I took a 3 hour nap today which helped a lot.  

I also figured out why 2 rows of the shawl is enough for one night. At 398 stitches per row will do that.  It was also easier to work the lace pattern tonight with a stitch marker every 14 stitches.  So as it stands now 4 rows of lace are done and only 16 more rows of lace to go.  I should have it done in a week or so.  Then I will block it.

Tomorrow I conquer the craft room.  Teri's never ending blanket will go on the table that has the beads on it. I will also need to find a pattern for my next sewing project.  So the sewing table will need to be done too. 

I have a busy day tomorrow so I am calling it a night. 

2:30 A.M. Really!!!!!!

Eric was up until 2:30 am this morning. As a result he stayed home today. The combination of things really put a crimp in my day. I only got through a third of my to do list today.  I knew I was to tired to drive today and John was gracious enough to do my post office run.  It was one of those rare days that I was even to tired to do any laundry, which just means I have more to do tomorrow.  

On the bright side today I successfully got through the first of 10 repeats on the lace pattern.  I am so glad that I put the life line in.   Without the life line. I would have been in trouble.  It took me 2 hours to knit 2 rows of the lace pattern. I know it's not much, but here is a picture of the 1st repeat of lace. I know it does not look like lace yet. 

Moving Forward

I think I have fianally gotten out of my rut. It only took core spinning 3 skeins of yarn this afternoon.  The good news is that I have finished using all that yucky roving. The last skein is soaking right now. With the hummidity in the teens even with the core they should be dry sometime tomorrow. The bad news is that I can feel my finger joints throbbing.  

I think that the rest of the week will be more productive. I also have figured out where I can send some roving to, to do some stash busting.  I know someone who is doing some felting and this would be perfect for her. 

I also got the last bit of sewing done. Tomorrow the sewing machine will go in for service. Since it is mid March, I hope it will only take a week because most snowbirds are gone.  

It is time to get things ready for tomorrow. 

It's Only Tuesday

I know that I should not take it personally, but we lost 2 aides for Eric this week. This leaves me feeling what did I do wrong? How can I make the work environment better? Why over the last 20 years have all the aides I have recruited for Eric gone on to other consumers with in months or days of hire? You would think that after a month or 2 or longer of recruiting someone to take care of Eric they would not jump ship so fast. This has left me a little bummed out. Oh well off to recruit more people. UCP of Southern Arizona is always looking for good people. Here is a link to their employment page.

I spent the rest of the day going from one crisis to another. With the exception of the aides, I can go to bed knowing that I have cleaned up all the messes of the day.  I also got a few more projects done and out of the craft room. I think I will cut this blog short tonight as the house is turning off all the lights and 6 am does come awfully early when I stay up this late.

I know that tomorrow will be a better day.

A Slow Day

After yesterday's busy day I needed a rest day. So except for 1 load of laundry and grocery shopping not a thing got done.  

That is what I want the world to see, but you know me to well not to ask about my to do list too. Yes I got everything on my to do list done too. So I guess I have a slightly different version of a slow day. 

One last thing. I have a poll that I would like you to weigh in on. I got a batch of roving for spinning that is so bad that I can not spin it into singles.  It is over dyed and felted in some areas.  I have been using it to practice core spinning. The yarn is coming out so course that all it is good for is weaving.  I was hopeing to core spin the last 3 rovings. John, Teri, Eric and my mom think it should go into dog pillows. Not to waste my time on the yucky stuff. Can I get some spinners to weigh in on this.  I have never had roving this bad before and feel guilty about not spinning it.  I hate to waste the money. 

I look forward to your opinions on this. 

Tucson Festival of Books

I left the guys at home and went to the Tucson Festival of Books.  It was a very nice day with lots of walking and a bag full of freebies. Apples seemed to be the giveaway of the day and I enjoyed 2 while I was walking around.  

I was good and did not buy books. Some looked really good but I have a back log to get through first. I also saw some Native American weaving and figured out how I could I could speed up my weaving.  It was just one of those aha moments. 

As I write this, I am sitting outside Old Main where my dad took classes when he was a student at the UofA. They are in the middle of restoring the building so when they are done it will look a lot like it did when dad was here. 

Well I still have to walk over to the Tyndel garage where the car is parked.  I better get moving before I don't want to move. I still have more laundry waiting for me at home. 

A Great Day

Last night was pretty wonderful, everyone including Eric slept. Which left me with the energy to pick up around the house. I unpacked some of Eric's supplies And made the pile of supplies smaller. The main thing though was finding a place for everything. Every item no matter how small found a home or an exit strategy. 

Eric also went back on formula today. He is doing well enough to be back at his full night time rate tonight. 

I even got 15 more rows of the shawl knit tonight.  This was made possible by the short rows I am doing. Each row is 2 stitches shorter than the last row for another 23 rows.  Then there will be a pattern change. 

Well it is time to write up my to do list for tomorrow.  So have a great day. 

Life as Usual

I came home exhausted from the fundraiser on Wednesday totally exhausted.  John made dinner and I went to bed early. That is when Eric decided that he was not feeling well and kept John up until midnight.

I slept until 4ish in the morning when it was my turn with Eric.  He was sick all day Thursday and today. Including being up all night.  John and I took turns with him so that we could do things. 

I am exhausted, more tired than Wednesday night if that is possible. Please join me in the hope that Eric will sleep tonight.  

The First Change

Today I finished a 3 day sewing marathon that resulted in 35 bibs for the Taglit fundraiser at the Tucson JCC on Wednesday. We will be there from 8 am to 4 pm. The car wash will finish up at 1 pm. 

So this picture below is the 1st change made possible by clearing the clutter of someone Else's dream for me. That space use to hold the terry cloth towels and wash cloths necessary to make 35 bibs. I have to be honest the first 5 were fun to do. I still enjoyed the sewing yesterday, but my hands were absolutely useless for knitting last night. Today I wanted to avoid the project at all costs but forced my self to finish the remaining 15 bibs. I could not knit tonight either. The bottom picture is of 30 of the 35 bibs. I can say with out a doubt that this is not the business I want to be in. Even using production line techniques I maxed out at 15 bibs a day. I could not see myself sewing bibs day in and day out. 

I will continue to make all of Eric's bibs but I usually only have to do a dozen every year or so. Not such a bad task. I can get it done before I am tired of them.

So I was finally able to un-box the carding board I am going to make rolagaes on. I still have space left over. I got the carding board from Sheep Banks.  You can find her on Facebook.  

Well it is time to call it a day. 

Another Big Change

Today I spent the day making bibs. Most were baby or toddler size.  I have started clearing out others peoples dreams of what I should be doing with my life. Even others peoples dreams of the next big money maker. If it really was a big money maker why were they not doing it for themselves? Why did I need to do it? I will be finishing half done projects and clearing them out of the house. I will try to spend 1 day a week doing this.  In this new phase of my life I will only take on  new projects that I want to do. I want to spend time exploring my creative side. I can not accomplish this by doing unpaid work that other people think I should be doing. I will pick my own charity projects.

The upside of all of this is that I will have more space for the things I want. By sewing the bibs today I have cleared 1/2 of a shelf in the craft room.  Less is really more.  I will also have a lot of different things that can be used by the Taglit Day Program for fund raising at the Tucson JCC to benefit Eric and his friends.

So to sum up this change a succinctly as I can here goes. If your name is not Teri, John, Eric, Lisa or Matthew. If you are not the Taglit Day Program at the Tucson JCC. If you are not a charity near and dear to my heart. The answer to most unpaid inquires will be no. I will not buy the supplies. I will not drop everything to get your project done and fall behind on things that really need to get done. After so many decades on this earth I will not be every one's go to  person who always says yes.




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Spinning Again

I finally made it back to my spinning wheel today. I took John's suggestion and used the Luate  wheel because it had the peddle on the right side. I am giving my left foot time to heal.  I will take a picture and add it to the post tomorrow.  

I Survived Tuesday.

Not the most terrific day on record, but we did make it through it.  High lights and low lights in no particular order include getting into a dress that has not fit since Teri was at the U of A. I am losing inches like crazy, but the scale refuses to budge. 

I have tendinitis again in my heel. Just so much fun.  The doctor said it could take up to a year to heal.  She also gave me Excersizes to do. I guess I won't start marathon training any time soon.  So I guess I will work on next weeks fundraiser. 

Someone decided to throw a whole lot of soda on the car while I was shopping. The van landed up with a car wash. After the car wash I saw where they also keyed the car. Really was either thing necessary? I rarely say things like this, but I think that they need a little karma in their lives.  

John made us a lovely dinner of waffles and oranges. He really knows how to take the sting out of a bad day.  

Well I think it is time to call it a night.  And below I included a picture of me in the dress. 

Busy, busy, busy

Today was filled with laundry, 4 loads all of it Eric's. Grocery shopping, yes I managed to fill the cart and save $75.00 with coupons. Now if I could get deals like that on fruits and vegetables.  Yes fully half the cart was filled with fruits and vegetables. A little cleaning and some knitting also got done. 

Mondays to do list is longer, if you can imagian that.  I have 1 meeting, working on 1 fundraiser, making a red pot for dinner with my sous chief busy for the day. That means that I will do all the choping of vegetables myself, finish today's laundry. Do some sewing for a fundraiser. Last but not least more cleaning.  Wish me luck and don't get between me and my caffeine. 

Have a busy and productive week everyone.