Author Archives: Patti_is_knittinginflashes

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About Patti_is_knittinginflashes

Living and crafting between the hot flashes

Paper towel hack

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Disposable paper products can be a great thing or just another way to separate us from our hard-earned money. I’m not a greenie by any stretch of the imagination but I’ve cut down on buying/using some paper products: paper napkins, paper plates, tissues, paper bags. Paper products I can’t give up are: paper towels and toilet paper.

Terrycloth hand towels are the norm for us, however, I like to wipe up greasy, oily spills and other grossness with something I can throw away.

This started years ago when paper towel companies came up with the “select-a-size” gimmick. I ignored it. Then I bought some and lo and behold, I loved having that choice of a half-sheet, whole sheet or even one-and-a half sheets and beyond.

I waste less when I can pick a smaller towel for a smaller clean-up.

The last time paper towels were on sale, I bought one (or two) packages. I thought they were the select-a-size but when I was putting them away, I realized they were the whole sheet towels.

Enter the hack: I cut a roll of towels in half with a saw so I have half-sheet paper towels. I wanted easy access to both sizes of towels so I had to come up with a way to adjust my towel holder.

This is the super-duper strong magnetic paper towel holder I have (more colors available) that lives on the side of my refrigerator. It comes in two pieces so I can expand it with a longer core to fit both rolls. I used a tube from an aluminum foil roll that was smaller than the paper towel core, making vertical cuts at the bottom so it would fit snuggly over the end.

I put one roll over the new core,

the half roll,

then the top of the holder keeps everything in place.

I have two pieces of cardboard between both rolls so they can move independently but haven’t perfected that yet as they both turn when getting a towel.

So that’s my life hack.

Patti

four things | four

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I started the “four things” posts after reading several on other blogs. They usually include the same categories each week but I’m not.

Some of the categories I might share could be:

  • what I’m reading
  • what I’m watching
  • what I’m loving
  • what I’m working on
  • what I’m listening to
  • what I’m eating
  • what I’m drinking

We had an ice storm in the middle of last week. Fortunately we didn’t get the predicted 1/2 inch of ice. The morning was a bit slippery but we didn’t have to go anywhere. By early afternoon ice chunks were dropping off the trees so quickly that it looking like large hail coming down.

what I’m reading

Our Book Club is reading The Things We Do for Love by Kristin Hannah. I’m about 3/4ths of the way through and it’s an okay book. I figured out most of the storyline by the third chapter. I’m hoping for a twist. Our next meeting is February 17.

what I’m drinking

We toasted a special event in January with a bottle of bubbly.

what I’m listening to

Mr. Aitch and I are going to Frostburg State University for the Jazz Fest Guest Artist Concert: U.S. Air Force Airmen of Note later today.

Edit: The Jazz Fest has been canceled do to inclement weather. ☹️

what I’m loving

We saw some friends of our over Christmas. Last summer they traveled through Eastern Europe and gifted us (me) some chocolates from the Czech Republic. Mr. Aitch isn’t the chocolate fanatic that I am and I’ve already enjoyed the dark chocolate with orange bar.

Enjoy your weekend.

My Trailblazer socks

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I joined my first KAL last month with a free sock pattern, Trailblazer Socks, from Winwick Mum. It looks like a cable running off-center down the front and back of the leg but it doesn’t require a cable needle or holding stitches in front or behind.

The secret is a new-to-me stitch called the Right Lift Increase or the Left Lift Increase along with ssk or k2tog. She has a great tutorial if you need a refresher. It’s relatively self-explanatory but sometimes a picture IS worth a thousand words especially to a visual learner.

I am farther along than these pictures show from the weekend. In fact at this time I’m just a few rows from the toe on the first sock.

The dark yarn makes the cable a little hard to see but I still like the texture it provides.

Speaking of the yarn, this Regia 4-ply is a workhorse of a yarn. I’ve used it before and the yarn doesn’t pill or get holes in it, at least I haven’t had those experiences yet. I plan to knit the toes in one of my hand-dyed yarns leftover from a sock from couple of years ago.

The KAL has ended but as there was no official deadline, I’m going to keep on knitting.

  1. Have you ever joined a KAL, MKAL*, CAL* or MCAL*?
  2. Did you finish the item?
  3. Did you like the finished item?
  4. Would you do it again?

My answers:

  1. This is my first.
  2. Not yet but I will.
  3. So far so good.
  4. Yes, if I like the end product. I don’t think I would do a mystery KAL just because I like to know what I’m investing my time and yarn into.

On to knitting…

Patti nona

four things | three

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what I’m reading

One of the libraries I belong to offers access to Hoopla, an online resource for ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, music, and videos (TV and movies). I try to keep my book buying down so when I find something I might like, I check it out on Hoopla.

I found one that I loved: Norah Gaughan’s Twisted Stitch Sourcebook. Mr. Aitch surprised me with the book for Christmas.

I’m so enamored with it and all the different stitches that I might see a newly designed sock in my future.

what I’m learning

A new word for my vocabulary is: voluntold (vŏl′ən-tōld) forcefully volunteered; ordered to do something. One of the teens at church was voluntold to be the lector for the service. I read online that this word has been around for several years but this was the first I’d heard about it.

what I’m loving

This luxurious lotion bar for my very dry skin.

The light scent of mint, lemon balm, and lavender also has a hint of honey from the beeswax. The sunflower oil and Shea butter make it a little sticky but glides across the skin like, well, butter. No more dry, flaky skin on my arms and legs.

My BFF’s daughter’s family has a farm in Pennsylvania where they raise bees, sheep (for meat, not wool), pick-your-own blueberries, chickens/eggs, flowers, and a pumpkin patch. Her sons also show sheep, dairy beef, pigs, and goats.

Katie makes salves, lotion bars, sprays, and candles as well as wool dryer balls with most of the ingredients sourced from her farm. The only things she not from her farm are the Shea butter, sunflower oil, and green tea. She has a list of the different scents and products here and here.

You can find more about her farm on her FaceBook page here.

what I’m working on

We had some pretty gusty winds starting Monday evening through Wednesday. One of our big oak trees in the side yard lost a huge limb.

The view from inside the kitchen
The limb stretches from the base of the trunk to the
lower right-hand corner.

I was sitting at the kitchen table facing the window and watched it snap and fall to the ground. Some small broken branch pieces and twigs hit the window. Fortunately nothing was damaged other than the tree.

I’m helping Mr. Aitch with the cleanup.

Patti