And this, children, is why we *never* assume we’re able to be careful enough with scissors to cut open a box full of yarn.
Month: March 2020
Quarantine diary – Saturday edition,
Bartered some of my precious stock of toilet paper for 5 pounds of rice yesterday.
This morning I am going to organize the kitchen cabinets and plan meals for the next two weeks. My employer was making noises Friday that they anticipate a shelter in place order for Indiana sooner rather than later.
Schools are now closed until Star Wars Day. Elearning will only be Tuesday- Thursday so I need to design a schedule for the children on Monday and Friday. My plan is to involve them in the process.
But for now, my coffee is consumed, and my kitchen cabinets are calling my name.
Day whatever it is,
Mike’s plant is shutting down for two weeks as of Monday. He doesn’t seem to have realized yet that means he’s been promoted to head teacher.
I bought a cross stitch kit.
And what a week it’s been. My 19 year old moved back in with us, the little two have been on spring break and are turning feral, and the husband and I are still going to work every day so we’re probably going to end up sick sooner rather than later.
My plans to start a podcast have been sidetracked by my inability to banish my family, so we’ll see if I can find an alternative. There have been rumors of a desk being set up in the garage.
I need to get a schedule established for the girls, because next week they are supposed to start elearning. So far I’ve got a giant list of websites and videos for various subjects, and I’m working on a daily chore list. (They’re going to be thrilled.)
Dear diary,
Still going to the office every day.
I’ve reached a state of fatalism where I accept that we’re going to catch it, it’s just a matter of when. Max, Mike, and I all three are leaving the house every day for work. Mike works in a factory of 200+ people. Max works in a warehouse. I work in an office but our field employees work all over the state and have to come back to the shop for supplies. It’s coming. All I can do is try to prepare as much as possible.
Day I don’t know, they’ve all run together,
Mike and I are still going to work every day. Precautions are being made by our employers but it’s only a matter of time. The children are on spring break this week and are becoming more feral than normal. They’ve been in pajamas for days.
I am very lucky to have Alex here to watch the girls, and I know this. I’m very lucky to still have a job and still be getting paid. But I confess I’m so envious of people who are home right now. My job could absolutely be done from home but the bosses have indicated that they will not close unless the state mandates it. So I keep dragging myself to work.
… also known as “trying not to panic” mode. Today’s plans include reorganizing cabinets to give my dyeing equipment a home, working some more on the shop backend (I have forgotten most of my hard- earned webmaster skills) and possibly a complete reorganization of my entire crafting supplies. One must prepare when one has crafty children who will now be out of school for at least three weeks. They can’t spend all day watching minecraft walkthroughs on YouTube, after all.
Finally got to break out the dyes today to experiment with the different bases.
Observation 1: I need smaller spoons for the powder
Observation 2: I have forgotten a lot about dyeing technique
Observation 3: No matter what time of day I choose to dye, at least two people in my house will decide they need to have food right that second and get completely in my way.
(Note to self: before large dyeing sessions, put a pile of snacks on the dining room table to avoid people underfoot)
I ordered some yarn samples from a couple of wholesalers in an attempt to decide which base(s) I want to carry. For some reason known only to the internet gods, Paypal replaced my current address on one of those orders with that of the house we moved out of last September. Mind you, I deleted that address from Paypal’s website the week we moved.
And then, just to make it even funnier, the post office failed to forward the package to me, and instead went ahead and delivered it to the old house.
But! Proof that the entire world isn’t awful after all, the current tenant tracked me down on the book of faces and left the package with the neighbor (who is a friend of ours) and I was finally able to bask in the glory that is delicious, soft, squishy merino.
I’m pretty sure Lily would have actually rolled in it if I let her. She’s already insisting that the sparkle base is hers once it’s dyed. She’s accumulating quite a stash for someone who can’t knit yet.
It’s hard to know what to write – it’s been 11 years since I closed down Andeylayne Yarns. In that time I’ve gotten divorced, remarried, had two more kids, had the big two graduate high school, one kid moved out, moved five (!) times, bought a house, changed day jobs, and got older. (But probably not wiser.)
Some things have stayed the same, though – I still love to knit, I still love to read, and I still like coffee more than I like most people. And I’ve missed dyeing yarn, and now that the little two are finally older I’m ready to get back to it. Right now I’m in the middle of researching yarn bases, planning advertising, trying to relearn website administration, calculating shipping, plotting podcast topics, and posting instagram sneak peaks.