The Gym

 Well, my life has taken a turn in the past few weeks or months.  I went to Rhinebeck, which was honestly a huge disappointment. I came home with my budget spent, but not a lot of purchases.  I did get a few splurgy things like a beaded shawl kit and a cowl kit.  I found a Diz, but am not a fan of it so far.  I got some spinning fiber, but no clue what I'll do with it.  Everything there was super expensive and there wasn't as much yarn as I had expected for an event that size.  I'm looking forward to going to the Central NY festival in Herkimer next year instead.  

 My mom has been very sick.  She's been suffering from Heart Failure since spring of 2020, causing her to be on an iv pump of heart medicine.  She's been in & out of the Cardiac ICU and there is nothing more they can do except make her comfortable at this point. She's too sick for Hospice, which would require her to be taken off her IV meds.  That would essentially be taking her off life support, with a life expectancy of hours to a couple days.  At this point my prayer is that we have her through Christmas and New Year's.  

Instead of knitting or crocheting, I've been spending all my time journaling and going to the gym.  I have been getting up early and going to the gym at 5ish in the morning and go again in the evening with my coworker several days a week.  Ironically I'm not losing any weight with this extra exercise, but I've also gone back to drinking regular coke and hopefully I'm at least increasing my endurance & strength for skiing, which we'll start doing again next month.  Jo is really looking forward to skiing again.  I'm less enthused.  I may go and sit and knit while they ski if I don't like it the first time we go.  I took a couple lessons last year but it's like the info goes in one ear and out the other.  I'm tired of being scared and falling.  I wiped out hard one time last year and that was it for me & my season.  

Counting down to Rhinebeck!

 I’m so excited to be going to Rhinebeck for the NY Sheep & Wool Festival this weekend!  I have prepared 13 photos of patterns I want to search for yarn for.  I also want to visit the Dreaming Robots booth to see if they will have bobbins for sale for the EEW 6.1.  And roving to spin and a Diz. Maybe a blending board. We’ll see how my budget holds up. I also would like a set of short straight needles to knit scarves with.  I’m putting a lot of thought into what I want to search for. 

Time Flies!

 Well, it’s been about 3 months since I’ve updated this page.  I’ve been busy at work.  I finished the Monday sweater and a cardigan called Verbena.  I’ve been making progress on my Not-Temperature blanket although I’m a week behind on it at the moment.  I love how it’s coming out in the Tunisian Simple Stitch though.  I’ve knit a beaded drawstring bag.  And I’ve experimented with the new Red Heart all in one granny square yarn.   My next endeavor is to start granny squares for a Christmas project I have in mind.  And cast on a simple project I can carry with me in Disney World during our vacation so I can keep my hands busy while waiting for rides.  I haven’t decided between knit beanie hats or a pair of TAAT magic loop socks.  Oh, and I dyed and spun 600 grams of wool for the Spin Together event in February with my team Flannel Cakes.  That was great fun and I plan to buy myself a new EEW 6.1 e-spinner when they go on sale at the beginning of next month.  After vacation, my daughter & I will be trading rooms in our house, so I’ll be getting a much bigger crafting room to work in.  I’m super excited to be able to have room for everything and be able to clean & organize all my supplies.  I’ll be consolidating my previous craft room, the Cricut/Silhouette I have in the dining room, the sewing machines & supplies in the living room, my planner/journal supplies from my bedroom, along with my spinning supplies in the family room into one big craft room/office.  I’m going to be organized & clutter-reduced in my whole house if I can just get the craft stuff where it belongs.  Bee wants to have a smaller, cozier space that will be easier for her to take care of.  It’s a win-win.  

Ok, here’s the photo dump of recent projects…

I’m back!

​I am finally back!  I was busy working on Christmas crochet projects and didn’t want to give away the surprise on the off chance one of the recipients found my page.  I crocheted the Surprise Flower Pot Coasters from Brunaticality for 6 different people.  I crocheted granny square afghans for my parents.  I machine knit hats for 4 people on my Addi King Size.  All the gifts were well received.  

We also had COVID a week before Christmas, so I was able to knit a pair of quarantine socks with Hobbii Silly Socks yarn. 

Right now I’ve got a sweater on the needles - The Monday Sweater by PetiteKnit, which I just split for the sleeves.  

And I’m working on a Not-Temperature blanket for my crafting group’s year long MAL.  It’s done in Tunisian Crochet simple stitch with a rainbow of 6 colors of sport weight Brava yarn from Knitpicks/Wecrochet.  Pink signifies Saturday & Sunday, each of the other colors signifies a different day of the week.  It’s 416 stitches wide and I expect it to be king sized when completed at the end of 2024.