Pandemic Winter Plan!

Winter 2020-2021 will be a "stay at home" winter.  Past winters were filled with regularly scheduled out-of-the-house activities - visiting my son's dogs done while everyone at work, visiting my grand daughter's daycare, trips into DC to get my daughter's dog, visit with groups of friends, shopping at 'brick and mortar stores' as needs demanded and so on and so on.  Most of that has dropped away or performed in a socially distant manner.

What is left after pandemic restrictions is grocery shopping (done quickly), pharmacy runs (drive up window) and doctor appointments done by Zoom or with excessive cautions.  Everything else, when it can be arranged, is at a distance.  The result is considerably more at home "me time."

"Me time" can default to "doing nothing time" if I am not careful.  Because I know me so well 😃, I decided to create my "stay at home" plan for Pandemic Winter 2020-2021. Beyond casual pursuits like puzzles, reading, lego kits, and the like ...  (none of which is productive but fun all the same ...), and beyond house cleaning, I identified a few projects and some other non-fun items that have been bouncing around in my brain.   I would like to stop the bouncing - and do them!   

Although this list looks suspiciously like a New Year's Resolution list - it isn't!  Resolutions are the "kiss of death" for me. If I want to fail at something, I label it a "resolution."  But I am very much a 'list person.'  If it is on a list - even if I put it off for a long time - I know it won't escape my attention forever!   To add just a little bit of pressure to this list, I have established a time frame:  December 1 to March 31.   Four months!

I can't resist lists and bullets.  Ha!  And as with all lists, my desires are probably bigger than my abilities and time, but no matter.  Here goes!!

Knitting and Crochet Projects

• Esk's blanket - started and needs finishing.  I am moving along smartly on this blanket.  It is easy knitting and great for watching TV or talking with others on Zoom.  And it helps that I like this pattern AND I am using deep deep stash of more than probably 7 or 8 years old!  Win-win!

• My scarf - started and needs finishing.  This yarn is called Sea Pearl by Briar Rose Fibers - 50% merino wool and 50% tencel - so it has a nice shine - better than the picture shows. The color is more gorgeous as well It is fingering weight.  And Briar Rose is one of those online venders that I love.  Her skeins are always a generous size. This is 800 yards.

• My sweater - need to start and finish. Oh my! The saga of this yarn!  To begin with - it was expensive and I bought a bunch from Purl SoHo about 3 or 4 years ago for another pattern.  The original pattern was all cables. I decided I didn't like the first pattern after all, and I worked my way through selecting 3 other choices which were all vetoed before casting on. I have finally (hopefully) settled on THE pattern (in the second picture.)  This yarn is Cashmere and extra fine merino wool.  The color is more like the second picture. The first picture shows a lovely color which is totally false.  But the yarn does change depending on the light.  The color is called Tidepool -  designed to remind you of water - sometimes blue, sometimes gray, sometimes greenish.  

 

• Queen's Crochet Blanket - start this winter and finish whenever ... Yep! This is the infamous 6,000+ yards of sport weight yarn I recently purchased for the Queen's crochet blanket pattern I blogged about in a previous post.  Color-way: Ruby. It is slightly compressed in this picture by the net packaging it came in, and I think I will leave it that way until I am ready to start.  It looks like less yardage than it is - so I feel a little less guilty.

• Jacket sweater for Esk - need to start and complete for winter 2021-2022. I did no kid knitting in 2020. I am still working out which pattern and yarn I will use, but "ALL will be from stash!" announced by my Better Self - you remember her from a previous post.  The "self" I almost killed when I became possessed with the Queen's Blanket. 
• Weave a shawl off the loom - started last year and here it sits taking up space - but will finish this winter. I am not really much of a loom weaver, but I totally resist giving away my Rigid Heddles - because I am totally tickled and may fall back in love with it at a later date.

• Although I have done some loom weaving, what really calls to me is Tapestry Weaving.  I have two looms for this type of weaving and the reference materials and the yarn - just never the time.  Guess this is the time!! I started a sampler on the loom below.  Need to finish that project and then dig into my new Tapestry book in the last picture.

• Don't buy anymore yarn!  (My 'better self' insisted I add this bullet!)

Condo Projects

• Install new windows - We purchased new windows in October for our condo.  Our current windows are builder grade, which translates to cheap, leaky and hard to open and close. so a necessary expense that is scheduled for this winter.
• Clean out all heat/air conditioning and dryer vents - After 18 years I doubt that this has been done.  This is scheduled for this month.  
• Putty up and patch paint holes in walls from drapes and hardware that has been removed and thrown away.  I am not a curtains person.  The drapes belonged to the previous owner.  Even though the windows look kind of bare right now, I was glad to see them gone.  Once the new windows are in - come spring we will get better window treatments.
• Clean out the pantry - and My.Dear.God - that little big to-do has been on my list for almost a year - this is part of my decluttering effort which will also continue.

Self Improvement (what kind of a list would this be without some improvements here.)

• Return to my leg exercise program, so I stop walking like my mother in her late 80s.  
• Get my step count back up to 10,000 steps a day - so my energy levels improve.  

While this list seems exhaustively long to me, I have never had so much open time on my hands as I will this winter, (thank you Covid 19, I guess) so it is hard to judge how much I can get done.  But having it all on a list - posted on my fridge - will be very helpful with keeping me focused.

 

So that is my 2020-2021 Pandemic Winter Plan! 

I feel more mentally in control having a plan for this pandemic winter. 

It makes the indoor time seem less constricting and more productive - 

almost like it is my choice as opposed to dictated by conditions!

What is your plan?

Do you even need one?

Hope we all make it out the other side of this winter ...

healthy and sane!

😀