A little hectic here lately

Things have been busy here, but it's all been good stuff. I took a break from gloves (mid pair, like I always seem to do) and made a wash cloth. Hmmm....let me start from the beginning.
We got new room mates....no....before that...


We got a new cat. Morgan came into our lives a month ago and has settled right in. He's big, real big, and bushy and black and is very regal until someone rustles his food bag. Then he becomes a spaz. 
Then we had room mates move in. Zasha and Siobhan moved in after they decided to try this area out for jobs. They are long time friends of ours and it's been very pleasant having them here. They put up with our eccentricities very nicely! 


I'm still working out on the treadmill every day and have been at it for two months now. I even decided I needed to treat myself for my hard work and picked up Sims 3. So when I'm not knitting, exercising, or trying to keep up with my housework, I'm populating Sim worlds.


As far as my fibro goes, the exercise helps me keep my pain levels in check, but I did get a little absent minded this last week and missed a doctor appointment. I have my painful moments, don't get me wrong, but I seem to get through them with a lot less stress now.  


This week John (that's my son for all of you who don't know me) is coming for a visit and will be staying for a month. That means lots of Dungeons & Dragons! I already have a Gnome character all made up for our game. Speaking of Gnomes. These are some glasses Chelle bought me a while back. 

I'm somewhat fond of Gnome stuff.


The washcloth that I was speaking of a few paragraphs ago is for my new room mate, Siobhan. We all made a trek to Hobby Lobby the other day and purchased yarn. I got two skeins of "I Love This Yarn" cotton yarn for wash cloths and two skeins of  "I love This Yarn" acrylic yarn for children's gloves.


Here is the finished wash cloth. It's made with size 9 regular needles and is a simple seed stitch with a garter stitch border. Nothing fancy, but it's extremely soft. Washcloths are also a great project when you need something simple that you can knit while you meditate.  One of the nicest cotton yarns I've found that is so inexpensive.

I have some more that is in a tan with orange and brown speckles. I plan to make another cloth for Chelle.


That's about all I have for now. Have a nice Leap year!

Yet another pair of fingerless gloves

You would think I would figure out that taking pictures at night isn't such a good idea. They all turn out looking like the same colored yarn for each one. These gloves are actually dark green with a white accent.

I decided to do this pair with partial fingers instead of making them into mitts. It takes a little more work, but they seem to sell better. I usually opt for the mitts so I don't have to do battle with holes between the fingers. However, I appear to be doing better in that regard. This time I don't see any gaps, and I used worsted weight yarn. If I can continue with that I will be really pleased. I know I can revise the gauge and make them with sock yarn, but they take longer and are more expensive to make. Not a good option for things I sell. I made this one, now I need to make its mate and then put them on Etsy to sell. 

I started doing chair yoga today for my fibro. I managed to make it through an entire month on the treadmill and now I'm ready to add a little more. I figure the yoga will help with flexibility and I plan to do it every other day and change it out with some weight training on the other days. I'll see if that will give me the strength and flexibility that this darned illness takes away. I am determined to fight my way back to the best health I can manage. I went from being in a wheelchair all the time to walking twice a day for 20 minutes at a time. My goal is to get to a point where my energy and strength are good enough to make it possible to start working again. I know I can do it, I just have to be smart about it and work towards it in babysteps. 

Now I just need to get my sleep problems ironed out so that doesn't drain my energy so much. 

Yay!! New projects!

I can safely say that I have been one busy knitter! Before I post pictures, though, I would like to discuss the following nifty things. First, I have been reading! LOL I read two books in particular that deal with issues about my fibromyalgia. I keep reading about stress relief being a huge part of controlling pain and have been delving into the idea of knitting being used for meditation. A good book I found on the subject is "Mindful Knitting" by Tara Jon Manning. Another great read that I found has more to do with keeping a positive attitude while dealing with adversity and that is "Get Off Your 'But', How to End Self-Sabotage and Stand Up for Yourself" by Sean Stephenson. 


My other piece of news is that I finally took the step towards advocacy and wrote letters to my State Senators in behalf of the National Fibromyagia & Chronic Pain Association. It was to get them to go to a meeting that discusses the need for the Senate to take some action towards making life more livable for people with chronic pain issues. I've been wanting to get more active for fibromyalgia causes. 


Now...about knitting.LOL I got my Etsy shop back up and going and put a few things up for sale. Here are some of the things I've been working on:

 

These are some gloves I made and put on Etsy. I used Wool-ease yarn that I had in my stash. 

 

This is a dog sweater I finished quite a while ago and finally got around to putting the button on it. I also have it up for sale. 2bits hates me. She hid for hours after I forced her to model.

 

Some child sized gloves that I made. I started these before Christmas and got sidetracked with making gifts so they didn't get finished till February. I have them up for sale on Etsy right now also.

Finally, these are what I'm working on right now. I'm going to make this pair of gloves with partial fingers. I'll try and get a picture of them up after I'm finished.