Finished Projects...

In case you have a few hours, I've made a list of all (or mostly all) of my finished projects on another page.  To the right, you will see "Where in the World", and under it "Finished".  Click on that and you can see a photo and date for each of my completed projects.  I count 268 finished projects in Ravelry.

What about sleep?

My sleep habits are prompting me to write and maybe I'll even get some new ideas from my readers.

Not sleeping so well, lately, over the past few years... maybe that doesn't count as "lately", so I say that because every night is an experience.
Mattresses:  I got a new mattress.  I purchased a pillowtop, cushy, sink-into-it mattress, which I used for years.  Then I wondered if it was TOO soft, or making me too hot. So I went back to a previous mattress that was plain, firmer, and flippable.  Many years go by, tossing and turning every few hours, and I recently bought a new mattress...top seems foamy and soft, but after a month or two, it's firm. And I toss and turn every few hours.
Other: Not everything is the mattress' fault... Temperature of the room, noise from the open window, white noise from an air purifier, or humidifier... I've been trying every combination. 
But maybe I'm on to something!  I've been using a humidifier for about a month, due to chest congestion (which is thankfully WAY better now).  In the middle of the night, I wondered if the humidifier is waking me...it gurgles intermittently as air bubbles rise to the top of the tank.  I turned it off and woke up 4 hours later to my set alarm!  Four hours is a nice long time to "not check the clock".  So, maybe it will work even better tonight.  (I'll humidify before bedtime...)
Then there's time zone travel.  UGH!!  I travel between 8 hour time zones several times a year. And how does that work?  Exactly like my usual toss and turn every few hours pattern.  But this time, I'm trying to coax myself somewhere between, like pretending I'm 4 or 5 hours from my next time zone.  The jury is out, but I've been taking melatonin before my new bedtime, which is 8 pm.  If I can wake at 4 am, I'm halfway there.  Will it be good enough?
Tonight will be my last chance to sleep from 8pm to 4 pm, then the next night will be a short one...I will be rudely shown the door a little after midnight and invited to shop in Iceland for a few hours...
The answers are yet to come.
By the way, most sleep aids make me sleep soundly for an hour or two and then I wake with the jitters.  Not good.

Weaving towels

Towel A and Towel B

Definitions:  warp=the long threads that are vertical on the loom;  weft=horizontal threads inserted by the shuttle.

Weaving with a table top loom is a joy for me.  The repetition is longer than knitting... Knitting is stitch, stitch, stitch, or some variation of that, while weaving is (1) select the shed (opening between warp threads), (2) insert shuttle and "shuttle" it through to the other side, (3) grab the edge to make it even, (4) arrange trailing thread (weft) in a nice arc, (5) close up the weft thread with the beater, and (6) admire....repeat.
This warp was put on the loom last June!  As you can see by the crazy pattern, it wasn't simple.  The edges are twill, and the middle is called Cottonwood Leaf. 
I wove the above towels, and needed a gift so I cut them off and retied. (That didn't go as easily as I had hoped...so, weaver beware!)  Towel A is hemmed and Towel B has fringe.  I like fringe...takes a little more time to sew the edge to lock in the weft.

Runner

So far, this runner is (only) the third piece on the warp.  It's a discovery that by zigzagging the twill (on the edges), another pleasing design appears in the middle.  You may notice there's a learning curve that I eventually mastered called "write it down, stupid".  This will definitely be a "handmade heirloom".  (Hmmm.  Heirloom.)  As I leave weaving for awhile, this runner is at the halfway point.

Towel A

Fighting boredom?  Sometimes, admiring the pattern you are creating isn't enough to entertain me for hours, but I've discovered time flies when I listen to podcasts at the same time.  AND there are SO MANY to choose from!  Radiolab, TED radio hour, and Wait, wait, don't tell me are some of my favorites.  Or you can choose knitting podcasts, of course...Good listening, everyone!