Chapter One - Many Projects
A year has gone by since I last posted. In a nutshell, here's what I've been up to.
June 2017 - We attended the wedding of my middle son and his girlfriend, in Washington, D.C. This was so fun! We rented an Air B&B near Chinatown and just did everything!
August 2017 - I had several thousand dollars of tree work done on the day of the Total Eclipse of the Sun. Just in time, too, because...
September 2017 - ...after a huge Labor Day weekend with John, Ruth, Steve and Ormond all home, and my Dad's 91st birthday, we had a hurricane (Irma). John and Ruth, the last to leave, crept home up I-95 with tons and tons of cars fleeing the storm. I evacuated to Orlando again (we call it our Hurrication), this time to a Marriott near Disney Springs. Irma decided to follow and the eye wall hit the exact spot where we were hiding. The hotel didn't even lose electricity!
Also September 2017 - While I was driving to Orlando before the storm, Ormond called to say he had lost his job.
Also September 2017 - A week after the hurricane, finally got the pool back to normal. We proceeded to have a flood. It rained over 12 inches in less than a day. The entire neighborhood drained into my back yard, filling it with five inches of standing water, and my pool turned black.
October 2017 - Ormond closed up the apartment in Huntsville, put the furniture on a moving van, and moved home to Florida. We had no income at this point.
December 2017 - The washing machine decided to die. Had to wait nearly two weeks for delivery. Finally installed on the day before Christmas Eve. They forgot to remove the bolts that secure the drum so it broke the first time I tried to use it. Took another week for them to get us another one. I WAS NOT HAPPY.
January 2018 - Ormond began his new job.
February 2018 - I spent Superbowl weekend in the hospital. Turns out my stroke symptoms were due to Vitamin B12 deficiency. I'm back to receiving monthly injections. Also, I joined a knitting club, the Eau Gallie Knitters. I'm so glad I did! It's the highlight of my week. Also, John and Ruth came down for a week.
March 2018 - Ormond spent a week in Indonesia, John left for Korea. I started going to Weight Watchers (4th time).
April 2018 - My brother and sister-in-law came to town for Easter weekend.
In between there were the usual chores in assisting my parents and running the house, a few trips to Universal and Epcot, and lots and lots of knitting.
(About Huntsville, I'm glad I went last May. That was the last time I would see our apartment.)
Fast forward to today and you'll see that I spend at least a couple of hours every day (sometimes more if they'll let me get away with it!) sitting in my knitting chair (my favorite chair from Huntsville) next to my knitting lamp (which Alexa turns on for me) and my collection of needles and notions and tangled bits and bobs.
In the beginning I worked on one project at a time, but now, against my better judgement, I'm surrounded by at least two projects. Okay I just counted. There are four projects by my chair and two in my office sort of waiting.
This is an ongoing challenge since we live in a tiny cottage with one bedroom, one bathroom, and one closet (which isn't even a walk-in). The second bedroom holds two desks, two desk chairs, a sofa sleeper, three bookcases, a file cabinet and several messy stacks of junk, and this is our office. "My" bookcase is for my hobbies: sewing, crochet, knitting, and various other arts and crafts. One shelf alone holds the yarn. If I can't cram it into that one shelf I can't bring it home, and that's that.
I didn't know just how very much I'd enjoy knitting. It's such a wonderful creative outlet! Choosing a pattern and then picking out the yarn is so individual and expressive.
June 2017 - We attended the wedding of my middle son and his girlfriend, in Washington, D.C. This was so fun! We rented an Air B&B near Chinatown and just did everything!
August 2017 - I had several thousand dollars of tree work done on the day of the Total Eclipse of the Sun. Just in time, too, because...
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| Hurricane pool |
September 2017 - ...after a huge Labor Day weekend with John, Ruth, Steve and Ormond all home, and my Dad's 91st birthday, we had a hurricane (Irma). John and Ruth, the last to leave, crept home up I-95 with tons and tons of cars fleeing the storm. I evacuated to Orlando again (we call it our Hurrication), this time to a Marriott near Disney Springs. Irma decided to follow and the eye wall hit the exact spot where we were hiding. The hotel didn't even lose electricity!
Also September 2017 - While I was driving to Orlando before the storm, Ormond called to say he had lost his job.
Also September 2017 - A week after the hurricane, finally got the pool back to normal. We proceeded to have a flood. It rained over 12 inches in less than a day. The entire neighborhood drained into my back yard, filling it with five inches of standing water, and my pool turned black.
October 2017 - Ormond closed up the apartment in Huntsville, put the furniture on a moving van, and moved home to Florida. We had no income at this point.
December 2017 - The washing machine decided to die. Had to wait nearly two weeks for delivery. Finally installed on the day before Christmas Eve. They forgot to remove the bolts that secure the drum so it broke the first time I tried to use it. Took another week for them to get us another one. I WAS NOT HAPPY.
January 2018 - Ormond began his new job.
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| Odin helping out around the pool |
March 2018 - Ormond spent a week in Indonesia, John left for Korea. I started going to Weight Watchers (4th time).
April 2018 - My brother and sister-in-law came to town for Easter weekend.
In between there were the usual chores in assisting my parents and running the house, a few trips to Universal and Epcot, and lots and lots of knitting.
KNITTING
Last May I went up to Huntsville for a spell, and Mark and Evelyn came down to go with us to the Rocket City Beer Festival. I had asked Evelyn to teach me to knit and she came through. We went to a yarn store for supplies (I bought ChiaoGoo size 8 circular needles and a few skeins of yarn) and then sat me down and showed me the steps. I practiced knitting every minute I could.(About Huntsville, I'm glad I went last May. That was the last time I would see our apartment.)
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| My first socks |
Fast forward to today and you'll see that I spend at least a couple of hours every day (sometimes more if they'll let me get away with it!) sitting in my knitting chair (my favorite chair from Huntsville) next to my knitting lamp (which Alexa turns on for me) and my collection of needles and notions and tangled bits and bobs.
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| Weasley Sweater |
In the beginning I worked on one project at a time, but now, against my better judgement, I'm surrounded by at least two projects. Okay I just counted. There are four projects by my chair and two in my office sort of waiting.
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| Gryffindor beret |
STASH
Most of my fellow knitters scoff at my stash. I can only say that I'm constrained by lack of space. When Ormond moved home I had to share half of all the drawers, shelves, closet space, and medicine cabinet with him and his stuff. |
| Loki being a typical cat |
This is an ongoing challenge since we live in a tiny cottage with one bedroom, one bathroom, and one closet (which isn't even a walk-in). The second bedroom holds two desks, two desk chairs, a sofa sleeper, three bookcases, a file cabinet and several messy stacks of junk, and this is our office. "My" bookcase is for my hobbies: sewing, crochet, knitting, and various other arts and crafts. One shelf alone holds the yarn. If I can't cram it into that one shelf I can't bring it home, and that's that.
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| My first lace projec |
I didn't know just how very much I'd enjoy knitting. It's such a wonderful creative outlet! Choosing a pattern and then picking out the yarn is so individual and expressive.
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| Gift from Ormond: yarn haul and ChiaoGoo interchangeable needles |
I like making useful things for myself. It gives me a feeling of accomplishment and pride, and I'm now confident enough in the quality of my work to consider knitting gifts.
CROCHET
I've crocheted all my life and still enjoy it. A recently completed project was my stash-burner granny square blanket.
Since I have one shelf for stash, I made this blanket to use up all the acrylic craft yarn that was taking up space. Sadly, it didn't use up as much as I had predicted, so I found another place to hide that stuff away.
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| Hand sewing the squares together |
♕ ♕ ♕
So there you have it. Completely up to date. Thanks for stopping by. TTFN!
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Thanks for your comment! It'll be posted as soon as I see that you're not selling something. ;)