Staying Home and Social Distancing - What I'm Doing

With the coronavirus crisis, we're staying home like everyone else, except for periodic foraging trips to the grocery.  I cook - a LOT.  I clean.  I actually bleach my kitchen counters and sink, something I never did before.  I'm taking a short-term online American history course from Hillsdale College.  I'm trying to learn Tai Chi on YouTube.  I make to-do lists and try to check things off.  I scroll through FaceBook.  I'm working on painting watercolors.  I'm knitting hats for the 2021 NBA All-Stars volunteers.  I'm crocheting chemo caps.  Not all at once, of course!

We're also watching a LOT of television.  Thank heaven for cable TV while we're staying home.  Turner Classic Movies and MeTV really get a workout!

There are daily visits from the likes of Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Joan Blondell, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, Clara Bow, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Ruby Keeler, and a zillion others.  I especially like the movies on Silent Sundays - I"m glad we can DVR those - they start at midnight!  Not that I wouldn't stay up all night to watch them, but...!  Not a good idea, when I'm doing home health care right now, and medicines need to be doled out at specific times.

There's a boatload of MeTV to watch, too - Leave It to Beaver, The Flintstones (!), Green Acres, Hogan's Heroes, The Andy Griffith Show.  And we've officially turned into Old People - after dinner, we watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!

Oh my.  We're turning into our parents.  I guess someone has to.

On top of all this, because of CDC recommendations, I've started making face masks for us.  I cut up material yesterday, and today I started assembly.  There's a nice pile to work on, as you can see.

So, plenty to DO.  I had long lists of things I wanted to do after retiring, but now my lists are somewhat different.  

But...

IT'S ONLY TEMPORARY.

Nothing But Knit - A Yarny Rant About Rants

When Super Bowl XLVI came to Indianapolis in 2012, volunteers wore scarves made by area knitters, including one made by me.  They had specific guidelines, like type of yarn, size, dimensions, and color (blue and white - Colts colors).  Other than that, you could make whatever pattern you wanted, so no two were exactly alike.  They originally asked for 8,000 scarves, but 13,000 were made.  After knitters turned in their scarves, other volunteers sewed an official Super Bowl patch on each "Super Scarf."  It was a fun way to show some good ol' Hoosier Hospitality and welcome people to the city.

Well, here we go again!

My hats, so far!

The NBA announced that Indianapolis will host the 2021 All-Star Game, and asked for volunteers to make 5,000 navy blue and gold (Pacers colors) knitted hats for the volunteers, hospitality employees, players, coaches, and NBA representatives.  The news spread through the Indianapolis area knitting community.  We were excited to get started!

However, naysayers and killjoys abound, judging by MOST of the comments I read following the announcement of the initiative.  I was shocked!  Omitting commenters' names to protect the grouchy, here is a sampling of the negativity expressed:

"Pretty sure coaches, players and league representatives can afford their own hat. Why not give the hats to local schools for kiddos that need them?"

"These multi-million dollar events, for teams whose owners and a lot of the players are millionaires and billionaires, in arenas and stadiums that are almost all paid for by tax money, are asking people to DONATE knit hats (scarves for the super bowl) for swag bags for these same millionaire players, and volunteers, staff, etc. To get the 'community involved.'  SERIOUSLY!??!"

"As much money as you have, as much money that pours into your pockets from these events because this ain't no charity game -- it's a for-profit thing -- you can't afford to give your volunteers 'swag bags' to thank them without asking for freebies from secretary people? Isn't that what your corporations are for? After all, they can still probably write it off their taxes."

"You want to involve the community? Increase your donations to schools, food pantries, women's shelters. Give more to your community instead of asking them to give more to you. (And yes, I know that the per-person time and materials cost for those scarves and hats aren't huge, but it's the principle of the thing. Greedy bastards found another way to get something free while making it look like they're doing YOU a favor by letting you 'help.' And I'm just going to ignore the whole idea that they have volunteers working these games for now. But, really? Damn.)"

Yes, SERIOUSLY.  Yes, REALLY.  Some of us DO want to make hats and donate our time and materials.  Get over yourselves.  If you don't want to contribute, DON'T.  And don't judge those of us who do.  We do it because we want to.  We're proud of our community.  One commenter claimed the time and money spent would be better going to a "real charity."  Well, hospitality shown to strangers is also charity.

I've made three hats, and I'm making more.  Full speed ahead!  Damn the torpedoes! 

As of today, the official count is 856 hats turned in.

For those who DON'T want to participate, guess what - NOBODY is going to twist your arm and FORCE you to make a hat.  And guess what else?  Your opinion?  NOBODY CARES. 

UFO Sighting! (In My House)

I rearranged my craft closet a couple of months ago, and during the excavation activities, I uncovered evidence of several UFOs.

That closet is sort of my own personal Area 51.  Nothing to do with extraterrestrials, however; the UFOs are UnFinished Objects.

I found a pair of socks I'd mysteriously abandoned, some crochet projects (including a large lace bedspread), and assorted counted cross stitch items.  All begun, none finished.

I have a problem with enthusiastically starting a project, then jumping to another before the first one is done.  Thus, all these half-finished THINGS languishing in the craft closet.

So one of my goals for the new year is to find ALL the UFOs in the house and work on them, one at a time (here's the key!) until each one is DONE.

There are some rules:

1.  Work on only ONE project at a time.

2.  Don't start on another UFO until the current one is completed.

3.  Don't start any NEW projects until all the UFOs are done.

4.  Don't buy any more crafty materials/kits/equipment until all the UFOs are done.

I did finish the socks this past weekend.  I discovered that I had stopped because I'd dropped some stitches (the knitter's nightmare!) and didn't have the patience at the time to fix them.

So, one down, and an unknown number to go!