Crocheting, knitting and frugality

The pain seems to be easing up a bit although the weather is staying pretty much the same.  I'm okay on just ibuprofen today.  It still hurts.  Heck, it always hurts, but it's tolerable.  I can work around the pain.  Yesterday I took my full dosage of tramadol.  I tend to hoard them against the day I don't have them anymore.

I'm making progress on the crocheted doily/altar cloth.  I couldn't make heads or tails out of the instructions so I got the magnifying glass out and scrutinized the picture.  I decided to go back to an earlier row and do the same thing I did there to close the pineapple.  It's not exactly what the picture looks like but the end result is the same so I went with it.  There was one other dicey instruction that didn't make sense so I had to work each step over and over until I figured out what they meant.  These books are so old, I have no access to any errata so if I run into something that just won't work out, I'll have to wing it.  On the plus side, this is making me push my crochet skills beyond my comfort zone so it's all coming back to me.  I used to crochet much more than I knitted because I didn't know a lot about knitting even though I had been doing it for over 20 years.  We didn't have access to the wonderful books and videos that exist today.  I learned more from Knitty Gritty than I ever did from my home ec teacher.

So I think the doily will be done by the Autumn Equinox.  Hopefully.  If I work harder at it.  I'm making progress on the argyle sweater and the Sweeping Statement poncho as well.  Minute progress at this stage, but progress nonetheless.  I am determined to spend less time online in the future though.  I have much frugality to work at and many things to get to on the craft front as well.  I may have to limit myself to weekdays on the blog though so I can play catch up on the weekends.  I'll play it by ear.

I ended up using the dryer for the light colored load in the washer.  Unfortunately they sat in the washer too long and now have an odor about them.  I know the dryer didn't dry them all so I'll hang them outside tomorrow.  We had a threat of rain yesterday that didn't come to fruition until early this morning and it was threatening rain all day.  The fresh air will take care of the odor and finish drying them.  It occurred to me this morning as I was dragging from no energy that frugality has to take place even on those days I don't feel like it.  Maybe especially on those days I don't feel like it.  At any rate, I'm trying to work through the fatigue and get it done when all I want to do is go lie down.  The feeling of accomplishment is a nice reward but it does get old living your life like you're wading through water all the time.

So I am off to bed to crochet some more and maybe do a few rows of knitting.  I also have some other projects I want to work on.  I decided against an Etsy or online store because of the problems in getting a business license (and probably a home-business license with the city) not to mention dealing with sales tax in our state and any states with reciprocal agreements.  Plus having to also do tax returns on the business as well.  I truly have never wanted my own business anyway.  I think what I'll do is just work on an inventory of things and look at getting a booth at the various craft fairs in the county or maybe a flea market.  You only need a license for those.  I'm not sure about the taxes but I can figure that out later.  A smaller circle of customers, but it's a start.

I probably won't be posting tomorrow because I need to get a lot of things done before Monday.  Tom is planning on replacing the battery and hardware tomorrow.  He's still working 6 days a week, 12+ hours a day so has to get all the house/car stuff done one day a week.

TTFN