cleaning and finding

 Today is the biweekly Zoom knitting get together, but before that, I decided the house needed some cleaning. So I put in the accumulated laundry and just started putting stuff away. Once most of the stuff was put away I dusted the walls (I don't wash my walls; I don't have children or anything that might leave residue - I am not a smoker - but I do dust them down periodically with one of those electrostatic cloths on a stick. I also vacuumed the floors and washed the kitchen and bathroom floors. I also put stuff away in my bedroom and sorted some of the clothes. 

After the get-together (and I am SO CLOSE to the point of starting the decreases on the corner-to-corner blanket - I am going to start decreasing shortly before I attach the second ball), I went into my "guest room" (which is also where my cross country ski simulator is) which has a spare bed where I keep my quilts. I wanted a different quilt for the bed but because I tend to just pile stuff when I'm in a hurry, so getting down to the quilts took a while. 

But I found a bunch of stuff. The biggest thing (and an interesting coincidence of the timing) was this:

That is a vintage-1971 copy of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards as published in the Federal Register when the Clean Air Act was passed. This was in my father's files after he passed, and I took it since I teach this Act in my environmental policy and law class. I had taken it home with me in 2020 when we left campus (It's kind of important to me, as it's a document my father owned) and I had lost track of it and was afraid I'd tossed it with other papers. But I'm scheduled to start covering this topic Monday, so it was providential I found it now. 

I also found my potholder loop loom. Oh, I knew I still had it, I just wasn't sure where it was. And I looked a it and thought, "it would be fun to make potholders again" (They're a satisfying project - depending on the complexity of the color pattern it takes between a half hour and forty five minutes to make one, the finished project is useful, and they make nice small gifts; I might do a bunch as Christmas present/stocking stuffer things. I might make several and pair them with a mug and some packaged tea or cocoa for the AAUW gift exchange this year). And yes, I ordered more loops because I had used up most of what I had. 

I also found some yarn I had forgotten I had, and I repackaged it so it would be easier to find again. And a couple knitting books, which I moved to the shelves in my sewing room with the others.

I also found a lot of old paperwork I could shred up and get rid of, which means that's more stuff out of that room.

And the quilt I wanted? I was able to get to it after that. I carefully ran it through the washer because it had been in there for a few years and.....there have been mice in that room when I had the mouse problem. (luckily no sign of damage to the quilts but still, the ones that are machine quilted and sturdier, I am running them through a gentle wash cycle before using them again)

this is the quilt. I have noted on the blog that I finished in in 2007, so it's sixteen years old. The pattern is called County Lines and the focus fabrics have poppies on them.

So I did a workout (and can now take tomorrow as a rest day), and made chili for dinner (it is finally coole enough out that cooking seems attractive again), and changed the sheets and took a shower.