The Annie Walter Plan for a Happy Quarantine - Step One

There are only a few elements.  Staying home to stay safe makes your world small, but it can be deep.  Maybe dense is a better word.

Take a long walk every single day. Spring has not been cancelled.  It is beautiful outside, with trees and flowers coming into bloom, changing every day.  Although we could certainly use some rain and there is some in the forecast, the gentle weather and blue sky has made my walking most enjoyable. 

I live in an older working class neighborhood between 2 very lovely sections of town.  I only have to walk a couple of blocks east or west to be in either a historic neighborhood or one with beautiful homes set on big well-landscaped lots.  The houses there tend to look like French chateaux, or English cottages or Southern Gothic style - with pillars of course. 

I didn't actually get this far.  I am not a total scofflaw. 

The loop that I walk - ok it's really a trapezoid - includes neighborhoods, parks, greenways, a couple of streets that used to be busy.  There are a lots of variations - Yesterday I walked up to the Grove Park Inn, now closed. I never walked there before - seemed too far.  In fact i was thinking, 'one of these days I should walk up there.'  And with that, I turned where the sign tells the cars to turn.  It was a lovely walk, a gentle up slope going, so a relaxed downhill walk home. 

I really think that my daily walk is the most important thing that I'm doing for myself.  The exercise value is significant, but just getting outside is really more important.  I don't walk a dog. I do not have earbuds connecting me to cyberspace.  I take a few pictures and post them to Instagram - mostly pretty flowers.  For the first 2 weeks the Botanical Gardens was open, but there were just too many people, so although I miss it, closing it was the right thing to do.

I'll be back, because there are other things keeping me safe and sane.   

I'm a lucky woman

As part of my sanity program, I've been taking walks every day.  I go out in the morning for about an hour.  I've figured out a couple different loops that fit the criteria:  pretty flowers, some hills, not too many people, which is why I go out in the morning.  By 3 pm, people are getting a bit stir crazy.  Since it's been warm in the afternoon already, morning is my time.  There are a few dog walkers, some solitary runners and walkers, very few others.

It is Saturday, not that it makes much difference to me, but for those working and educating at home it's a day off.  I came across 2 families.  The first was 2 parents and 2 boys in the 9-11 range, on bikes. The boys were the kind of manic that is well suited to that age group.  The other family was 2 your parents with 2 small girls - may 1 & 3.  The girls were kind of weepy - not inconsolable crying, just clearly unhappy without the emotional maturity that (hopefully) comes later.  I chatted with the mom for just a minute - confirming that her job is hard right now, but my heart went out to her and her family. 

It again gave me a feeling of gratitude.  I am healthy, happy and even in lockdown I have some control over my life. 

Since we are in fact in 'Stay home; Stay Healthy' mode, It's been a good week in the garden and the studio.  I'm enlarging one of the garden beds and setting up a worm composting bin.  I'm also starting some plants from cuttings:  buddliea and lavender.  As I as in the back of the yard getting compost, sand and other amendments, I noticed some hostas coming up.  I planted these when I first moved to this house nearly 20 years ago,  but have't paid them much attention so they've gotten over run with vines.  I cleared out a space, and sure enough there were 2 - each about a foot across.  Nice surprise.

One of the most engaging project this week was the strap for one of my ukuleles.  2 ukes + 1 strap = 1 problem.  I thought of weaving one, then I remembered that I had a couple of bands woven on backstrap looms.  I cannot recall their origin, but why not press one into service?  So totally made from materials on hand (the strap, leather, belt hardware), and my 1949 Singer Featherweight sewing machine, I now have a strap that allows me to play either uke much more easily.  More funky than elegant, but hey, it's ukulele!

I am nearly finished with the red sweater - I just need to kitchener the  armpits.  I am very pleased.  It is exactly the 'farm sweater' I intended.  I'm also about 1/2 way through my THIRD scarf on the cricket loom.  I'm not a great weaver, but it has just the right amount of creativity and mindless physicality that I need right now.  I've left it set up in the basement.  So I can just pick up where I left off.  Audio books and weaving are the bomb!

With finishing the red sweater, I'm deciding on my next project.  I could knit a few hats and maybe a pair of socks while I decide.  There are some interesting sweater patterns popping up on Ravelry of late.

As for now, it's time to see what item is next on the list.  I think the chores so far today weren't actually on the list.  How does that happen!?!

A week in: Weaving, Playing music, Cleaning house!

A week of distance socializing.  I like that term a little better than social distancing.

Today was a grey and a little chilly, but I still took my walk.  Fewer people today, probably because it was not the drop dead gorgeous weather that we've been experiencing.  It was...seasonal.  I had to wear a sweater in March.  Still lovely though - birds, flowers, nature waking up.

The seeds I planted 10 days ago are sprouting - lettuce, kale, chard. I have finished the 'fine tuning' of the mulching project, so the remainder of the dump truck load of chips can just go to a big pile in the back of the yard.  My goal is an hour a day, but I might be to finish up in a session or two, if the rain holds off.  Yesterday's treat:  I discovered a single trillum in the southwestern corner, while I was trimming back some overgrown vines.  

Actual Fiber Content:  On Thursday I warped my rigid heddle loom - a 15" Cricket  - and wove a lovely scarf over the next few days.  I enjoyed the process and I think I like the product as well. It's in shades of autumn - brown and orange.  I think I'll put it on Ravelry.  We need more weaving projects.

I continue to play music, though not every day.  Yesterday I played and sang a number of songs, mostly on ukulele, a few on the banjo-uke, only one on guitar.  I only stopped playing to listen to a friend's online concert on Facebook live.  

Tonight's dinner - Homemade pizza  - the dough is finishing its second proof, in the cast iron skillet.  It is so good!  The biggest problem that I have face so far with this recipe: not eating the whole pizza in one sitting. It's all in keeping in solidarity with Italy!

On the Covid19 front, I learned today that an ECD friend in Florida is in the hospital, but is getting better.  My heart goes out to him, his partner and the rest of his family.  He spends a lit of time with his grandson.  A little cutie to be sure!

Wait, more fiber content!  For the last month or so, I've been knitting what I call, the farm sweater.  It's a dark red, recycled yarn, rather rustic in nature.  I am knitting a very simple yoke pullover to be an everyday, throw-on-over-everything, very warm sweater.  I have a navy blue Woolrich sweater that I bought more that 20 years ago that has suited me well.  I took the measurements, and started knitting.  Of course, I have to knit it twice.  The first draft was WAY TOO BIG!  Minor adjustments to the sleeves, but I needed to start the body over. I should get to the first decrease this evening.  Since I never wore the first sweater I knit with this yarn, I was due for recycling.

What I've been watching:  Self-Made, a Netflix mini-series starring Octavia Spencer about  Madame C.J. Walker, the African American hair care entrepreneur.  Binged the whole series the day it was released!  Hey, I was knitting!  and hunkered down.

Is it Time?

Time to restart the blog?

Trillium at the UNC-A Botanical Gardens

As I was taking a long walk this morning, I thought about, well, a lot things:  COVID19, community, gratefulness, spring and plenty more.  I wondered if it was time to do some journaling.  and since this blog still exists, why not here!  Kind of old school.  If anyone but me reads this, OK.  But it's really for me.

In Western North Carolina, we are a week into this time of social distancing. A week ago today, I was working at the yarn shop, Friends & Fiberworks.  I was concerned, but not very paranoid, just regular paranoid.  But within a day or so, the first diagnosed case was identified, a visitor from another state.  My first thought, did she shop for yarn?  Was she one of the really lovely people who I helped pick out perfect yarn for her project?  Probably not, but still...

So we are hunkered down.  I am an extrovert with a high energy level who lives alone.  I have a wide circle of friends, who enjoy many of the things that I like to do.  Dance, play music, practice yoga, do fibery things.  Community things.  But I also like to do solitary things -knit, read, work in my garden, cook.  My favorite thing to do at the gym (other than yoga classes) is to read or watch cooking videos on the treadmill.

How do I stay happy?  Stay busy.  Stay active.  Stay productive.

I make lists.  I cross stuff off.  It makes me happy.  See above.

So here's the plan:  Everyday...
Take a walk - Get those 10,000 steps.  Today it was the Greenway to the botanical Garden, Greenway to Murdock St, Hillside to home. 7,500 steps.
Work in the garden.
Fix and eat good food.
Knit, spin, weave, dye.
Play music - stretch!  Play and sing new songs.  Learn a few by heart.

So my plan is to log my activities - positive and negatives.  Keep track of my self!

And now for a little R&R

The Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival (SAFF) 2015 was great.  I was again tied to the Workshop building.  But the classes went off without more hitches that I could handle, so I remain Unflappable Annie.  In a year with LOTS of changes, there were a few bumps in the road.  So we learn and do a very few things differently next year.  Here is a shot of the Friends & Fiberworks booth.  My gradient yarns are to the left of the Uber-Blanket. Thanks Lucky Fibers!     So it's now just a few days after SAFF, and as I wind down, I'm happy to chill, tie up loose ends and get ready for the next big thing. 

Hopefully it will be a small thing, but I'm going in for foot surgery soon.  I have a condition called Morton's Neuroma (http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/mortons-neuroma-topic-overview) always annoying, often painful, and it just won't fix itself.  So now I'm going to get it fixed.  It's an un-busy time at the day job, and again, post-SAFF, so the time is right to put my post-surgical foot up   I will be the model patient.  OK, I'll try to be the model patient.

My LYS fiber customers are well-stocked, my Etsy shop is shut down(except for the digital patterns) and my desk at work is getting cleaner.  My desk at home...well, we won't talk about that.

A very nice man will be taking care of me as I knit, watch movies, knit, read, knit, pet the cats, knit...you get the picture.  I'll be knitting felt hats for one of my shops, socks for holiday giving, a sweater for me, dishcloths because the drawer is looking skimpy and ALMOST anything that the very nice man wants.  No sweater though...do not tempt fate.  Beware the curse!

Might as well face it...

Might as well face it. I’m addicted to socks.

Knitting socks that is.  I've been a sock knitter nearly since I started knitting in the late nineties.

I started with fat socks as many people do.  For beginning knitters, the size one needles just seem impossible.  So I began with a few pair of worsted weight socks - - warm and cozy in hiking boots.  Then I realized that they didn’t wear very well (particularly in merino).  But it’s okay… I learned the structure of sock.  The heel flap, turning the heel, the gusset, grafting the toe.

But in the last few years, my sock knitting has come along way.  Now even a slightly bigger sock yarn seems awfully large.  I just finished knitting a pair with Paton’s Kroy on what seems like HUGE 3’s for the leg; 2’s for the foot. I’m currently teaching a sock class, to bring other knitters into the fold.

So a little finished object parade, for your consideration…

 Vanilla lattes in Knit Picks Felici

Eirene - Paired cables in Knit Picks Bare sportweight.

 A slow slog of Circle Socks.

 

No pictures for the next few.  Seems if I wait to take pics, I'll never post this. 

3 X 1 ribs in Paton’s Kroy, with both legs knitted at a conference, where I did not see any other knitters.  Very strange.  This was a social studies conference.  At library conferences, there are LOTS of knitters.

There are under construction, with the pause button hit in various places for teaching purposes...

‘Blackberry waffles’ in  Lang Jawoll in a very dark purple colorway that has forced me to knit them under the full spectrum light.

Big fat socks in an unlabeled sock yarn from the FFW sale room.  Kind of a ‘denim blue fake fair isle' pattern.  Maybe Fortissima Colori Mexiko 6 ply.  Maybe.

Happily I have found the Ravelry group, 12 Socks, in which other sock-addicted knitters show  off their work, with monthly challenges.  I won a prize for the February challenge - -more sock yarn!

Socks 2015.1 Log Cabin Latte

Last evening I grafted the toes on my first completed pair of socks for 2015.  I used this pattern:  Vanilla Latte.  My first time with the pattern, I liked it.  The sock was a bit big, but that's okay as they are intended for the Strategic Gift Reserve.  Even though my feet are a generous 8.5, some of my sisters (the main sock recipients) have feet that are even more generous, as are their spirits. 

The yarn is Knit Pick's Felici in 'Rustic Cabin.' I am glad they brought that yarn back, and I particularly like the colorway.  As I found the link, I see that it has 'disappeared' again.  I guess I'm not the only one who likes it.  Glad I bought more that one colorway.

I have 2 other socks in the pipeline.  One is a cable sock made in a sport weight yarn that I purchased in error.  Turns out I really like both the yarn and the pattern.  Add the fact that sport weight socks knit up a bit faster, even on a size 3, and I had a hard time putting them down last evening. I'm already planning a variation for the next pair.

Upcoming events (for which I need to hustle):  Friends & Fiberworks annual Winter Retreat.  I'll be staffing the store and teaching a dye class.  Shortly after that the gang will head to the Statesville (NC) Quilt Show where my dyed fiber will be in the FFW booth.  Guess I'll be dyeing quilt show fiber in class.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.