Tag Archives: household chores

Short Weekend

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Sunday, March 23, 2025

It’s been a weird, short weekend. I haven’t felt “right” but I’ve been fighting whatever it is and trying to get some of my projects at least farther along. Friday night I chose to have a cocktail and I slept really badly (I don’t sleep well when I drink. You’d think I’d learn that it’s just not worth it.) and I woke up on Sunday feeling very tired. Duh. Ha! Ha! Anyway, last night I slept better but am still not feeling like me. I’m hoping I will be back to normal tomorrow because I said I’d work! The pressure is on. AND it’s supposed to snow tomorrow.

This weekend I have made progress on two of my projects. One knitted and one sewed. Yes, I’ve been sewing again. I had bought fabric for a baby/crib-sized quilt for my granddaughter’s bed here at our house. A few months ago I started cutting it up and sewing it together and then put it away … this week, Wednesday, I got a bug in my bonnet and turned the sewing machine on and finished the 9 patches. Once that was done, I had to figure out how to lay them out and sew them together. I got that done this weekend and even got the border on. I didn’t buy enough fabric for the backing or the binding (yet!) but I did attempt to use up the rest of the fabric I had to make a scrappy binding. I’m not sure I did it quite right but it’s together and I think I have enough to get all the way around the quilt. I just have to find the backing and quilt it all together. (Like that’s not a near-monumental effort for me.)

I’m quite pleased with myself and I think it’ll be bright and cheerful for Sylvie’s spot in our house this summer. I have a couple of pictures to hang in her spot and I have a plan to make her a “Very Hungry Caterpillar” pillow and a knitted fairy lights heart like she has in her room at her house. I may have to buy purple fairy lights because that was her color request and since I’m trying to use up what I have, purple hasn’t yet entered the picture.

I also finished the sleeves on my Bolin cardigan. They’re big wide sleeves with a lovely cable down the side and even the ribbing is wide so the sleeves will be full. There was a new-to-me bind off to learn for the sleeves and that was fun. They’re quite attractive, actually,

Yesterday evening I started the button band which will be added up the front right, around the neck and down the left front. A lot of ribbing at 18 stitches! This is something new for me, too, the technique for knitting on the ribbing and it took me a try or two to figure out just where to pick up and knit the stitch that attaches the ribbing to the body of the sweater, but I figured it out and am working my way up to the second button hole. I’ll be picking it up again this evening.

I did finally get our guest room bed made up again. The sheets and blanket have been in the dryer for days. I love the quilt I made for that room, too. It makes me smile. When I’m back to feeling like myself, I’m going to vacuum behind all the pictures and wash the fish that lives up there and a good vacuum of the rug and a dust of the tables and it will be ready for our spring guests. I’ve added a couple of new pillows and of course, Opus the Octopus.

Opus on the rocks March 2021

Opus lives in the guest room. I may need to knit a purple one for a certain little girl. I know she’d love it. If I ever pick up my animal knitting, I have a couple of animals to knit, too. We’ll see which comes first!

I’ve not worked on my daughter’s new fingerless mitts again for a bit. I’m going to take the first one to New York when I go to babysit at the end of the month to make sure she likes the fit. And then I’ll knit the second mitt in earnest! I still have a couple (or five) WIPs that I would love to finish. One knitted heart for my bonus daughter and her husband … especially now that they’re expecting a new little one in the early fall. I need to get that done before we travel out to Denver in May.

Since I cleaned up my atelier to make space for Sylvie’s bed, I have moved my WIPs to the edge of my yarn cabinet and they’re “in my face” more this way. Think that will make me get them finished? (I’m thinking they need to go in the cabinet, honestly.)

Gone knitting.

Progress All Around

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Sunday, August 20, 2023

This morning I was thinking and I feel like I’m finally feeling more like myself. The last round of Covid that I had in April (after the round I had the week before that got me “stuck” in New York City) must have affected me more than I had thought. I thought it was a mild case but it left me with some pretty severe fatigue. It seems like that fatigue is finally lifting and I am able to DO more than I have been able to do BUT I also realize that I have limitations and I need to listen to my body and quit when I am ahead.

We decided that we had to hit a few of our around-the-house chores this morning before we give in and do something more fun. I’ve been thinking about cleaning some of the more disgustingly dirty screens in our bedroom windows and in the upstairs bath. I’m happy to report that the inside part of this chore is done. The outside chore will be waiting until next spring when N is (hopefully) fully healed and has his full balance back after his hip replacement surgery. It’s been four months now and he’s made (is making) lots of progress but he overdid this week and he was hurting yesterday … enough that he got his cane out again. He’s out sanding and cleaning/refinishing our teak dining set that we have moved onto the front porch. It’s a little bit big for the porch but we are finding we like using it out there and we will probably like it even more in the early fall.

I’ve been knitting and sewing this week. I’m aiming to hand-sew something every day in order to have it become a daily habit. I’m working on a “Love Note Quilt” inspired by Heidi Parkes. I have been taking her class on Creative Bug and I really like the artistic quality of her quilts. They’re in no way traditional pieced quilts but they’re each unique and I find I am liking having the creative license to stitch what I want. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to completely quit the traditional quilting yet.

I’ve stitched another needle case. I find these little projects very fulfilling and I have an idea about what I will do with the ones I make. I will continue to show you the ones I make but I’m not going to tell you my plan. Haha. (*evil grin and hand-ringing) The most recent one used this cute vintage-y cowboy fabric and I stitched it with red floss which I think looks really cute. I didn’t applique another piece on it because I really wanted to focus on the cute little cowboys.

I’m working on a stuffed toy for my granddaughter for her birthday. She’ll be one year old in just a few short months and I’d better get moving because life is bound to get busy. My daughter, her mother, loved the Very Hungry Caterpillar book and I’m knitting a caterpillar and a sweater for S. The caterpillar pattern is free on Ravelry and you get what you pay for with this pattern. It’s not very well written and I could think of several ways that I would change it if I was to knit it again. I may actually pull out the ends and Kitchener stitch the head to the body rather than finishing it as the pattern suggests. I’ll update my project page with whatever I decide.

I knitted the little shells top for my granddaughter. This was my daughter’s idea. She asked me to knit a top to go with the mermaid tail that I made for S when she was born. Her mom wants to take some photos at the beach and we can’t have a topless mermaid, now can we!? Yaya to the rescue! I hope that I made the top so it’ll fit but I’ll bring my tools to the beach in case we need to make any adjustments. Photos will be coming soon.

I have also knitted another chemo cap for a gift for a friend who just announced that she has cancer. I wish I could do more but this is what knitters do when they can’t do more. And if she doesn’t lose her hair, she can gift it to someone who will. Passing on the good will and the love and healing wishes in every stitch.

Last but not least, I’ve pulled my Favorite Pullover for Women out of time out and have started to make some real progress on the yoke. This sweater may not even fit me. The sizes were a little bit too close to zero ease for my liking but if I add a few stitches to the under arms when I cast on after the yoke, I think I can make it work. It’s a lot of work to be sure, especially if I don’t know it’s going to fit. I have a colorwork sweater that I love the fit of and I’ll be measuring this one against that one when I get the yoke complete and before I go further. The good news is that I am wrapping up another WIP (work in progress, Muffin.) This design is only found in a book called Norwegian Knitting Designs, 90 Years Later. I’m knitting it with Norwegian wool that I bought from Knitography Farm after taking several of her classes online.

chemo about all we’ve been up to on the lake. It’s been a string of several lovely late-summer days. The lake is getting quieter as the summer people head back home to get the school year started. Maine Arts Academy, on whose board I serve, welcomes teachers and staff back tomorrow and the kids come the following week. We start this year in our new building in Augusta and we are all so excited to be independent and free to have activities after school, etc. which we couldn’t do before. We are also developing some wonderful partnership with Augusta Arts and civic groups. I’m so proud of our school!

I’ve got zucchini to grate. I’m making fritters this afternoon.

Gone knitting.