Month: January 2021

The Pi shawl is progressing. Slowly. I don’t have much time left, there are only 7 weeks left before her birthday. With each increase row, the number of stitches double. Between increase rows, the number of rows doubles. So, the further I go, the behinder I get. The good news is that I can knit during meetings, and while waiting for appointments.

I knit while watching videos, and I knit just to chill out a bit. I recently watched a youtube video about a retiree who knits for 5 hours a day minimum. He gets his yarn from ripping back thrift sttore sweaters. This is cool.

That said, during the pandemic, I’m not hitting the thrift stores. However, I have found a nice resource for tools of the trade. Over the years, I’ve lost hundreds of accessories or even needles working on projects, moving, or giving things away to other knitters or hookers.

I’m currently using cheap needles and hooks from overseas purchased via a mega conglomerate online. I’ve had an account with this company for almost a decade now. Working with lighter weight needles and hooks from overseas means that I can knit or crochet much longer.

On the journaling front, I’ve been trying to keep up with it, but have been in a bit of a slump. I need to desperately get back on track. I can tell that the anger and anxiety have been increasing again.

That said, I also need to jump back in with the steps. It’s the end of January, and time to work steps one and two.

It’s going to get cold as heck again, next weekend a cold snap is settling in. I’m going to go through the clothes and sort them so I can cull things that either don’t fit or are filled with holes or are too stained to use.

I’m going to be upcycling the clothes, and several things need to be adapted yet. I’m planning on turning some pajama bottoms into skirts. I’ve also got some jean skirts on the plan.

I also have some upcycling plans for personal use. It’s an idea that I’ve been playing around with to try to save some money.

Well, I better get back to the books.

-L

Morning all, hubs is finally crawling into bed, so I can’t record. It’s just after 3 am. Sighs. My sleeping schedule has gone tail over tea kettle lately, and there isn’t much I can do to improve it. I just have to wait it out.

My fears over the Dr’s appointment were unfounded, Thank Goodness. It went well, and I’m about to grab a short snack and have another insulin shot.

That’s about it, just a short check in this morning. No knitting was accomplished, but then again no knitting was harmed in the making of this blog post.

hugs

-L

Morning, it’s a snowy morning, and cold out there. Duke is snuggled up on the bed. When I let him out, the light gleams on the snow, and it’s surreal and quite beautiful.

Sitting here, with the warmest of slippers, relaxing with a cuppa, and listening to youtube videos on the TV beside me. I can’t help it, I’m happiest with being warm and cozy in the winter.

However, I’ve been also scheming in the background. Tonight I saw an ad by chance for a movie that I watched not once, but twice on a free tryout for STARZ on Hulu. I normally don’t watch movies, but this one was close to my crusty old heart. Then I fell through the rabbit hole, and ended up watching 9-5.

As a Secretary, I sat an laughed until it woke the hubs. Whoopse. Sometimes the older movies, even one from over 40 years ago, make me laugh till my ribs hurt. Another movie cued up while I was in the bathroom, and the next thing I knew I was watching Frozen.

Talking about a good movie to watch while snuggled in with hot-coffee, warm slippers and a shawl with a shawl on the needles. It feels good.

That said, I see my Dr via teleconference today. With the car out of whack, note- I do have an appointment Thursday afternoon, I can’t feasibly get to the clinic for the blood work necessary.

I’m worried, because of the depression, and whether or not my Dr will try to ship me down the road for mental adjustment. I’m not in the mood to be filled with drugs to adjust my mood. It’s one of my greatest fears. So, I can’t sleep. It’s not going to be my first white night. Heck it’s not my first night with the lights on by far.

That said, maybe I should “let it go”. Maybe I should go build a snowman. We will see.

Hugs

-L

Morning, hope all is well with you. Am settling in with my 2nd cup of coffee for the morning, and am looking at a long day already. I was up all night with just a short cat nap around 3 am, and I’m not sure this being awake thing is all it is supposed to be.

However, it is a busy day here in Worthington for our household. It’s garbage day, which means that the purge continues. It also means that I am going to have more room to maneuver.

The ultimate goal here is to make enough room to use the wheelchair inside the house as needed. It’s also to make a seating area so that I can sit in my recliner and knit or attend meetings. The more I purge, the better I become.

I still think the kon-mari person is delusional. It’s not whether something brings joy here, it’s whether once I put something in the dumpster it stays in the dumpster. Too many times, I’ve had crap hauled back in by the hubble unit. Sighs.

I never made it to South Dakota, poor visibility, heavy winds, and heavy traffic made it so that I was parked for quite some time on interstate 90. We are going to make sure that the car is fine, and I probably will be sore for awhile yet.

I had my knitting with me though, but as rattled as I was, I screwed up the pi shawl I was working on, and ended up with a freak of science somehow. Later Saturday night, I frogged the thing, and started over. This morning, I’ve now progressed further than I had been with the mistake, and am grateful.

I’ve become addicted to those youtube videos where there is ambiance in the title. Usually there is a rainstorm in the background, or blizzard noises, a campfire, a coffee shop, or a living room with a cat on the rug for the scenery. It’s amazing how much knitting I can get done with a roaring fire even virtually.

I’ve also been working on speed knitting a bit. I downloaded a timing app for the tablet, one which is a stopwatch with lap function. When I finish a row, I hit lap and then mark the row on my chart and keep going.

How this works is say Ihave a row of 128 stitches. The first lap I clock in at 7 minutes. The 2nd, 6 minutes 30, and so on. By the 8th row or lap I was down to 4 minutes. With the PI shawl, the increases double every section you finish. I started with 8 stitches.

When I needed a break, I would massage my hands under warm water, after stopping the clock. I’d also measure my work. At some point it became a ‘self-blocking’ project when I switched to cabled needles. Now, it is all limp again, and I’m at the 256 stitches per row part.

So, we will see. The ultimate goal is to have a 6 foot diameter shawl/blankie. Not sure if I will make it, but it is fun trying.

On the recovery front, I have to get over to the other blogs I work on. I have to get some step study notes started, and a few other things ready.

Hugs,

-L

Hello all, I’m sitting in front of a relaxing fireplace and rain sounds youtube video, and taking a short break from my knitting.

I’m working on EZ’s PI shawl, which I fell in love with, and then promptly screwed up, frogged, and I’m keeping better track. Note, it takes 5 hours to re-knit something it only took 4 hours to muck up. That’s because I’m stopping to count stitches, double check my work, and invent new cuss words.

However, I’ve noticed something. My smart watch, which is supposed to keep track of the number of steps I walk also keeps track of my knitting, counting the movements I make while knitting, as active steps.

I asked a couple of folks, and they both said, that’s the watches fault, not yours. Hmm.

How do I explain this to my Dr? Who I see this week?

I’ll find out on the 28th.

Hugs,

-L