Re-Knitting my Sweater, Other Crafting and Thanksgiving

When I tried on my partially knit sweater, it was much too big.  So it had a visit to the frog pond, and has been restarted on the proper sized needles.  It will still have plenty of room in the fit but I won't be swimming it it.  Progress is slow with the yoke finished, sleeves separated, and almost half the body knit.  I decided to leave the color band around the lower belly and hip area out.  That area of my body does not needed added accentuating.  I plan to add a row of the yoke snowflakes above the sleeve ribbing instead.

Cross stitch and spinning projects have had a little attention too, but nothing completed at this time. 

I caught the tip of my slipper on the edge of my area rug under my recliner and fell last week.  There's an abrasion (rug burn) on my big toe with lots of bruising.  If it's not healed by the end of next week, I have to go back to the podiatrist.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we will be cooking our meal and staying home.  I'm still isolating with Pat doing all the errands and shopping. 

Have a wonderful holiday and stay safe and healthy.

Project Progress and Snuggle Kitty

I've seen some progress on many of my projects.  The color work sweater is slow going and has one more color to be knit in the yoke, then it's basic sweater knitting from the top down until I get to the color band just above the bottom rib.  I will have to adjust the neckband a bit since I did it on size 4 needles instead of the called for 3s.  It looked a little high in the pictures and I hate anything too close to my throat.  I did pick up a Vivid blanket square and knit on that too.  It will eventually be finished.  

The cross stitch projects are coming along nicely with about 80% of the "Curious Cats" (cats and tea service) one done.  There's lots of backstitch left to do and a couple of small areas to fill in.  I love using my new floor stand with the "Lighthouse 3" and "Christmas Tree and Birds" ones.  It makes it much more comfortable to work on them.  There's tons left on both of them to do.

Only a little spinning has been done.  I'm just not in the mood for it at the moment.  

Still no yarn purchases have been made this year.  I was tempted to buy a couple braids of fiber, but closed the shop window and didn't do it.  I slipped up early in the Spring. I bought only did one purchase of colored fiber, and one of undyed .  I'm shopping the stash for everything.  I plan to continue doing that next year too.

My cat, Buddy, has suddenly become much more attentive, is talkative,  and wants snuggles.  I find him sleeping in my recliner most mornings.  He will come over, head butt my leg and look at me for a treat.  He's also taking them from my hand which he never did before.  He's 15 so it's probably just old age settling in.  I noticed  a couple of my other cats got mellow as they aged.

Knitting Finish and A Treat

 I finished my Fonse` Shawl  last month.  I made it in the same color and yarn as in the pattern. I decided to knit an extra repeat of Chart 2, as directed in the pattern, to increase the size a bit. Then, I cast on for my Frosted Sweater in similar colors of the pattern. It's colorwork so a bit slow going for me.  I'm enjoying the process though.  The wheels have been slumbering since Tour de France, but I need to finish a project on one of them, too.

Now for the treat:

I bought a new cross stitch floor stand in August.  It didn't hold some of my frames very well, and Pat told me to return it.  I told him I wanted a Lowry stand instead.  He was going to buy it for me until I said tipping was an issue with all floor stands and it would need a weight on the base of  it. He decided to make me a better one instead.  I love it!  It's sturdy, and holds my frames with no problem.  It works great with my wood or PCV type, including the long ones.  There's a grippy pad so the clamp does not damage my frames.  I can also use the clamp to hold my magnetic board with my knitting pattern on it if I want.  It fits well with my recliner's puffy arms.  I can adjust the height of the stand as well as the clamp arm length so my frames are in a comfortable position for stitching. I can flip it over for starting or ending threads, and it swings out of my way when I need to get in or out of my chair.    Here's some pictures he took outside after painting it. Top is the stand closed, middle is a closer look at the clamp part, and bottom is the stand extended.

I also have the two tabletop one he made me and the modified Edmunds floor stand.  (He made "arms" for that, but it gives me a backache after leaning forward when using it a while.)  I don't think I will need anymore.  :)

Tour de Fleece 2020 Finished; A Prize; Goodbye Tiger

Another year of Tour de Fleece is finished today.  I spun 1986 yards from 34 ounces.  I'm happy with that result.  I won a prize from The Corner of Knit and Tea chatter thread and am waiting for it to come in.  

In the middle of the race, we had to say goodbye to my boy kitty, Tiger.   We were spoon feeding him and using a dropper to get water into him due to his mouth infection.  He had lost so much weight and just laid in his bed most of the time. Then, he had a stroke and was blinded from it.  There was nothing we could do to save him.  

Since spinning is done for a while, I'm back to working on my Fonse` Shawl and cross stitch.  I do have a braid in progress on the wheel but, will leave it be for now.

I'm still isolating and staying home.  The heat of Summer is not my favorite time of the year anyway.  I'm enjoying the air conditioning.

Here's a picture of my pre-wash skeins.

My Tour de Fleece 2020 Plans

Today would have been the start of the Tour de France bike race if we were not in a pandemic.  It's also the start of Tour de Fleece, which runs concurrently with the bike race.  I look forward to this even every summer.  Even though the race is cancelled, the fiber event is still happening on Ravelry.

I signed up for the Corner of Knit and Tea team and will be spinning after supper tonight.  I'm hoping to spin at least a little every day of the event.  

There's 8 ounces each of Spunky Eclectic,  Loop, Frabjous Fibers, two 4 ounce bags of an alpaca blend, and 10 ounces of Corgi Hill Farm, sitting in my bin waiting to be started this year.  If I finished those, I will have my husband pick something from a bin for me. 

If you are a spinner, come join us and have fun spinning together in spirit if not in person. 

One Day and Step at a Time

It's just another day in my routine around here.  There's a bit of cleaning, cooking, exercise routine, and tending to the feline furballs.  My old Tiger had dental surgery and is recovering from the bad infection he had. He doesn't like his bowl and dish right now.  Sometimes he will eat after he gets a taste but, mostly we have to encourage him to eat by spoon feeding him most times.   There's also syringe / dropper usage for extra water.  

I'm still staying home with my husband doing the store runs.  I did ride to the vet on those visits and had an appointment with my diabetes doctor.  My supper insulin got decreased a bit because I lost some weight, my blood sugar testing numbers were lower, and my A1C test was down a whole point.  Yay!

My "Across the Pond Shawl" was finished yesterday.  It needs blocking and a picture now.  I picked up the "Fonse` Shawlette" and am doing the extra repeats as explained in the pattern to make it a bit bigger.  I have two skeins of the  purple gradient yarn and want to use as much as possible.  I'm slowly stitching on the "Curious Cats" and "Lighthouse" kits still.  Spinning wheels are empty, but ready for new projects. 

Time to make supper.  It's just a tossed salad with chicken breast left over from last night's meal.  There's some fruit for dessert later.

2020 So Far.....

My prayers and thoughts are going out to everyone in this horrible, scary time.

Since I am mostly a homebody, I've adjusted well to the stay home order.  Besides the diabetes problem, I had to isolate part of 2019 due to low blood counts and iron and am more susceptible to infections now. I'm not yet 60, but will be part of the population included in the extended stay home order when things start opening up thanks to my health issues and I am o.k. with that.  

I have only gone out twice since this all started.  The first time was the second morning at the very beginning (before the order) to go to the store for food and supplies, and once two weekends ago for a short ride. (I stayed in the car that time) It was decided that I will not do the shopping or errands since I am in the higher risk category thanks to health issues.  Pat dons his mask and heads out early one or two mornings a week for our supplies and stuff. I make a list of things/supplies I need and he gets them. He's doing a great job and taking good care of me.

So, my days are spent in the house, cooking, and doing some housework with my husband's help. There's also my back exercise routine to do every other day.  

There's been lots of crafting going on (which is normal for me).  Spinning, knitting, crochet, and cross stitch projects have all seen a bit lot love and attention.  2020 is the year of only using stashes for everything. My last yarn purchase was in November on Black Friday (Holst Garn in Denmark).  There was a braid of fiber added to the stash in February, as well as a couple of Russian cross stitch kits (ordered in December).  

I'm looking forward to the warmer weather so I can sit on the deck under the canopy and craft soon.  Maybe even get out some dyes and play a bit.  :)

2019 - A Year of Good and Bad

I am finally updating my blog after not writing anything for over a year.

2019 finished with several knitting, crochet, and spinning projects completed  and the addition of cross stitch projects toward the end of the year.  Completed knitting projects were 5 large shawls, 2 cowls, and 1 sweater.  Spinning saw 41 ounces spun.

I was going for physical therapy for my back and it helped with the pain.  Part of it was aqua therapy in a warm salt water pool and the rest on land in the gym.  I have an exercise routine and equipment so I am continuing  at home since March of this year.

February, October and November were extremely heartbreaking with the sudden passing of my cat, Tipper, in February.  He had a brain tumor.  October was the loss of my little dog, Pooh.  Then, Thanksgiving week saw the passing of my kitty, Isabella.  Both had forms of cancer.  We still have the sibling cats, but, there will be no more furry additions to our family.