A Day Of Thoughts

Yesterday was another lovely sunny day. The high got to 13.5C which was great. This morning it is 3C here in our neck of the woods and where the weather station is located, it is 9C. It is suppose to be sunny again with a high of 15C.

Lifestyle

I got the budget done and have a bit of thinking to do on what I can and can't do. That is okay as I knew this was coming. Once done, I swept all the upstairs floors and folded laundry. 

In the afternoon, son came over to store an item in the shed. I went outside to open the shed and started to finish up the yard. I trimmed the rose bush so it is now ready to wrap in burlap. The cat grass dish and rain gauge were put away in the shed. While having a quick look, I found a missing battery on the hedge trimmer. It has been out in the shed for a year. I brought it in and charged it. 

I practiced striding once again yesterday and it felt good to be walking properly. I did quite well balance wise on the lawn as I'm more steady on my feet. I even strode out quickly on the lawn and didn't loose my balance. I woke during the night with the hot sharp pain in my knee which made me feel sick. I started to stretch my leg and it did subside but didn't leave. This morning I did two exercises in bed; both were stretching my leg and inner groin area. I will continue doing them both a couple of times a day. And I'll keep striding in the house. 

Sewing

I sewed before and after being outside. I cut out the placemat tops, backs, and batting. I got 4 ready with enough left over to make large hot pads for the table. As I put each placemat together, I did 2 rows of cross hatching. 

This is the last one and I tacked it down close to the edge of the fabric and did 4 rows of cross hatching. I will finish up the cross hatching on this one and then tack down the other 3 before cross hatching them. I didn't realize I should tack down the fabric close to the edge until I saw what happened in a reel on Instagram. 

I normally draw lines on the fabric with a Frixon pen and iron them off. I did the first line to get started and realized the quilting bar for the Juki is fabulous. It fits tight on the machine and doesn't bounce up and down like the one for the Diamond. I zipped along with no problems. I'm excited to find an easy way to cross hatch. 

I put away a couple of items off the cutting table but it is still annoying me how messy it is. With the Christmas countdown clock ticking, I live with the mess at this time though I feel it sucking the creativity out of me. 

Knitting

I did one round of crocheting on the parasol. I had to rip it back as I did it wrong. I got it right on the second attempt. 

I am going to work on joining seamlessly in the round as I'm not happy with how it looks. I do a slip stitch from the front and when googling it, you do the slip stitch from the back of the stitch.  

I knit the last two rows on the sweater twice before I got it right. The next 2 rows will be easy as they are both knit. 

I'm sure why I'm having problems with the pattern rows. I'm persevering as I know I should be able to do it without mistakes. 

Upon reflection, I think one of the reasons I'm struggling is that designers feel they need to do intermediate designs for publishing at Pixie Faire. What is needed are some easier patterns for beginning knitters. I'm an intermediate knitter but am finding it more difficult to find easy patterns to knit when I need a brain dead project. 

Thoughts

My daily thoughts are to keep my anxiety and stress levels down. Most become items on the to-do list and a few are goals I want to accomplish.    

    Son and I were looking in the garage re: clean up. We have agreed that I need to keep it minimal for easy cleaning. It will take time but it will get done as for me, less is more. I will putter at it on my own when I can this winter and son and I will do more when he can. 

    I have to call to get the hedge trimmed this fall and I am hoping I will be able to weed it myself next spring. At that point I will have the people back to do the edging and then we will discuss what to do next; to mulch or not. I will be getting the weed company back to keep the lawns looking nice as that is a priority in my books. They looked amazing all summer between what the company and family did. This coming year, I want to help more hence why I'm doing physio.

    My thoughts on the budget went into overdrive for a while yesterday. I am learning to set limits on what I can spend in each category. Some areas I'm on target, others are over this month. I'm hoping in January I'll have most of my limits set. We have always lived within our means and I want to continue to do that. I also need to do some meal planning and getting some meals in the freezer. 

    The sewing room is frustrating me. It is a mess and it needs cleaning and organizing. I am hoping that I can get it done in a month but am willing to extend the time to 6 weeks. I will do some sewing and a lot of planning while cleaning it up. I am hoping that I can keep it cleaner as I can put it on the cleaning rotation. 

Today

My main goal today is to sweep out the garage in readiness for Halloween tomorrow. I will haul out the Halloween tubs so I can decorate tomorrow. Grandson is suppose to come and mow the lawn for the last time today. I am going to sew and knit this afternoon and evening.  

Until the next time.....................................................