A Little Yarn On The Side

I am a slow, slow learner with the back thing, but even I have realized that I probably can't seven days of a sewing vacation in a row.  Channeling common sense I don't normally possess in these matters, I'm also thinking that walking in the pool 2 days this week was a stretch for me, so walking in the pool today might fall into the "too much" category, so I'm going to walk over to the gym, lift weights (lots of reps, lowest weight) and walk back.  That will be about 3 miles, so a decent walk but not as hard as walking in the pool.  After that, we'll see.  We have a birthday party to attend tonight, so I won't do any gardening today as I haven't found "moderation" in gardening yet, so I'm not sure what else I'll be doing today.  Maybe working in the greenhouse.  I might be able to finish cutting out the new pajamas, as that falls in the "relatively safe activity" category, and would prepare me for a second sewing day tom...

So, last night going to bed at 5:00 won out because I was really tired, but this morning I was up bright and early and by 9:00 AM, Andy's pajama top was finished!  I'd almost forgotten what a finished object looked like, hadn't you? Then I moved on to cutting out the problematic pajama bottoms, and after being really careful to cut them out right side up and to get the pieces correct, I sewed them together wrong.  I don't know why, exactly, but I somehow just assumed that if I cut the music print pieces out with the pattern right-side up, they would end up on alternating legs. Why I assumed this is anyone's guess, but that wasn't the high point.  After ripping out both seams, I got the music prints put together correctly, but put the black ones together on the wrong side, ending up with two of the same legs.  So, after making a HUGE chalk "x" on the right sides of the black, I finally got them put together correctly, and they are now awai...

Both sets of taxes are finished and mailed! I walked a full hour in the pool today AND lifted weights. Our big solid wood front door has been oiled. The front of the lawn has been given weed & feed AND iron. And it's now 5:00 pm.  I'll admit, I'm equally torn between "start sewing NOW" and "go straight to bed." 

Yesterday I went to the gym and lifted weights (lowest weights, long reps) and walked in the pool for 40 minutes.  I'd have liked to do an hour, but my muscles were done.  I'll go back tomorrow for another 40 minutes, and then build my way back up.  Then I came home and worked on our taxes--getting as far as I could without the instructions which I managed to misplace. This morning I'm off to get new instructions, get groceries, and finish our Federal taxes.  I'll tackle state tomorrow, then I don't have anything that has to be done, so I am hoping to take a few days to sew as much as I can.  Because of the sitting problem, I can't just sew the entire day, but I could do it in little bits.  I'm hoping to finish Andy's pajamas and maybe the green jacket, which has been started but has a long way to go.  Maybe I could even make a pair of pajamas for me since I've already washed the fabric.  Just those 3 projects would use up over 13 yards of f...

In different circumstances, I might be upset that I ended the first quarter of the year with only 3 yards of fabric used and 19 projects finished.  However, how I really ended the first quarter was with a fever and the stomach flu, so being a bit behind was not the biggest problem.  I wasn't feeling really better until Friday, and still wouldn't be up for Mexican food or tuna fish just yet, but I'm definitely better.  Yesterday I even started sewing Andy's Valentine pajamas, and discovered that a mannequin of even the wrong sex makes pinning facings like this almost easy.  Luckily Andy is a very secure man and won't be troubled that I'm using a female dummy for his clothing.  And he's not likely to complain about finally getting his gift almost two months late and when it's almost warm enough to not need flannel pajamas. There is always next year..... I also made some lace ornaments yesterday.  The French horn is part of the ornament set I...

As I've been sick the last few days, I'm doing a recap of April Fool's Posts from past years: http://yarnontheside.blogspot.com/search/label/April%20Fool%27s%20Day

I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a wee bit of self-pity going on in the last couple weeks and while I have had a double-dose of kitty therapy, it's hard not to get depressed when I have set-backs with my hip/back.  This has gone on for SOOOOOOOOOOOO long and so thoroughly dominated my life that any hint that it might not be ending as quickly as I hope is hard to cope with.  When I can get out and walk (which can include moderate hills now in my 3.5 miles), it keeps me going.  But when my days shrink back to just our bedroom, it gets harder to find ways to distract myself.  I'm trying to avoid "retail therapy," but realizing I still have a few ups and downs ahead of me, I thought sometimes it might actually work.  In January I had noticed that Herrschner's had an Ornament of the Month Club , which is actually 4 ornaments in a month, and thought it would be fun to try and had planned to join it next January.  Well, next January I hope to be so flipp...