I have almost 10 inches knitted on the left panel for the Hex Coat. I love the Renolds Lite-Lopi yarn. It's Dark Gray.
I've learned how to do the Noregian Purl and it allows me to knit this up a little faster than I've done in the past. Here's a close up on the seed/moss stitch.
Here's a close up of the indentations where the Hex's will go. They're a little smaller than I had envisioned, but that's fine.
Well, I must admit that I enjoyed participating in Secret Pal 8. It was my first SP swap and it was fun. I would keep up with my pal's blog and try to think of things she would enjoy receiving. Then I'd receive something, too!
Here's what was in the final package my SP sent me:
Bath flakes, bath fizzies (for M), some Cascade elastic cotton yarn for socks, a nifty crossword puzzle to identify who my SP is, and a neat little card with a poncho pattern.
M immediately insisted that she was dirty and needed a bath. The yellow ducky is no more. M proudly announced that her bath water turned yellow - she thought that was cool.
I think my SP is Ceallach. If so, thank you so much for a great SP experience. I'm looking forward to getting to know you through your blog. Purple is my favorite color - how did you know?
To my SP recipient: If you've figured out that I'm your spoiler, please know that you will be receiving a package some time next week. This past few weeks have been crazy - I haven't forgotten about you - truly.
Yay! J is back home! No super nasty bacterial strain (but it was nasty enough). One toe nail short, two nights in the hospital, and a new pair of flip flops later, J is one happy camper just to be HOME! First thing he did was to take a shower - first one in three days.
I'm really glad he's home. It's so nice to have him back.
Well, J is still in the hospital today. The lab results have not come back, so the doctors don't know if he has the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (or MRSA) type of bacterial infection. That's the same type of infection that that woman who died from a pedicure got - thus, the reason why the doctors are being cautious.
Poor J, though. He has not access to the Internet and I know that's really hard on him.
We're doing okay holding down the home front. Today is M's first day back to school and she's incredibly happy to be going back. She wanted us to do our normal school day routine in the same order as we did before. She wouldn't brush her hair before she had her breakfast because, "Momma, we brush our hair AFTER breakfast, silly."
I asked if she wanted me to bring her into school or to drop her off at the curb. She wanted to be dropped off at the curb. She really, really likes her school routine. Miss M (her teacher) mentioned that M may be put up into the Primary class (which is essentially Montessori Kindergarten) since M has been reading. We'll see. I really don't want to push her, but she is SO ready for Primary work.
Last night was Stitch n Bitch night and I was very fortunate that one of my neighbors was gracious enough to watch M. She loves going over there. I didn't stay long as I had to get little girls into bed for school the next day. I showed off my finished yarn bag. I initially started to crochet it for my SP8, but then fell in love with the idea of having my own. I'll still send it to my SP with some yarn I got for my reveal package. I'm also going to send her the Flying Spaghetti Monster with some instructions on how to make it.
Here's the finished yarn bag. I love the yarn - it's really coppery and gold-ish.
I'm definitely going to crochet one for me next.
While at SnB, I had started my knitting guild homework for a child's fair-isle hat using some of my stash cotton. I guess I'm stressing a bit with J being in the hospital. He's always around the house and I miss him terribly. I had a heck of a time sleeping last night so I finished the silly hat.
I'm also using the cable needles MY SP sent me. Here's a cotton dishrag that I'm knitting. My more experienced SnB knitting friends told me that I was crazy for doing cables with cotton. I wanted to try cabling and I haven't figured out what I'm going to knit with the great super wash wool I got from my SP yet.
Well, J has been a bit of a butt all last week. He was sick with allergies and I generally try to avoid him when he gets sick - and that's really what he wants - to be left alone.
Yesterday I had had enough and told him that I was going to call and make an appointment for him with our doctor. He refused to go, so I didn't make the appointment.
Scan to later in the day . . .
He started to have some trouble walking and mentioned that his in-grown toe nail was starting to hurt. Okay. Another thing for me to avoid, I think.
We went to the parents orientation last night, so he had to walk on his feet. We came home and he took his shoes off. His left big toe had started to swell. So we elevated it, I gave him some Tylenol PM and a baggie of ice to try to get the swelling down.
He went to bed and was really, really uncomfortable. He got up and went into the living room so he wouldn't bother me. About 4 am he came in and asked when the doctor's office was going to be open. I told him around 8 am, but it may be longer as I didn't know when there would be an open appointment for us to go. J limped back to the living room.
Well, it was 4 am and I didn't want to get up, but my big clue that he was really not feeling good was that he WANTED to go to the doctor's office. J does NOT like to go to the doctors and will avoid it at all costs.
I went into the living room and turned on the light to look at the toe. It actually was twice the size I saw from last night - and let me tell you, it was BIG last night. This time, however, the toe had turned all sorts of different colors - yellow, purple, blue. It was really, really colorful and looked incredibly painful.
I told J that we weren't going to wait for morning. I had visions on him not being able to get up and stumble to the car, so we went to the emergency room.
Once we got there, the ER doc immediately said that he was going to be admitted and that he had a bacterial infection that has spread to J's blood stream.
WOW!
Turns out, J didn't have an in-grown toe nail. His toe cuticle had become infected which in turn traveled up into the blood stream. What really has the doctors concerned is the speed of the infection. It traveled FAST. He's going to get a podiatrist consult to make sure the other toes don't do this, either. We're also waiting to find out what type of bacterial infection it is - it could be one that is very tough to get rid of. If not, then it's just a simple course of antibiotic pills and he can go home tomorrow.
M got a little teary this morning after the doctor said we could go home. Last time someone she loved was in the hospital was Grandma. She was a little scared about her Dad being in the hospital. J picked up on why and was able to get her calmed down. She still worries about her dad, but we visited him today at the hospital and he's remarkably much more comfortable than when we initially left him at the ER.
that Blue's favorite number is 100 - just like M's favorite number?
Yes, I'm babysitting my kid with the television for a few days because she's home. No summer school, no swim school, no school period. School starts next Wednesday and it can't come any sooner.
M loves watching television and I feel somewhat guilty for using it to babysit her - but I can't get anything done if she's under foot upstairs in my office. We usually have her hopping from event to event, so this down time is just fine - or so I'm telling myself.
I'm fairly happy with what she's watching. Noggin has no commercials and neither does PBS. Occasionally we'll watch something on Nickelodeon or Disney and she'll ask for everything that's being advertised. The quality of children's programming has improved so much since I was a kid.
M came up to my office yesterday and was very proud.
"Mama, I tied my own shoes!"
I think it's time to teach her how to tie shoes. . . after I get these knots out.
I came across a tutorial that shows you how to make your own clothing labels. Here's a photo of my attempt.
Sorry it's so blurry. It says "Snakes on a Sweater for Carter - 100% Cotton - Machine Wash & Dry"
Things I learned:
I finished the Snake Charmer from Knitty. I like it. Here's a photo from the front.
A close up on a snake
From the back.
My local knitting guild just had a class on how to pick up stitches in curved areas (i.e., the neck area). I'm pretty happy with the results and glad I went - the information was very timely. The only thing is, I ended up picking up more stitches than what was called for in the pattern. So I ended up making the hood much bigger than I anticipated. But it still works!
I knitted this with four balls of 2 oz SnC in the Summer Breeze colorway using the 3-6 month size in the pattern. It was worsted weight yarn, which I think is heavier than what was called for in the pattern, but who cares. It worked.
The pattern called for 6 snakes. I just liked the three since the yarn color is so busy.
Isn't it cute?
Remember summer reading programs from your local library? My mom is an avid reader and we'd go to the library at least once a week. Her best advice to me is to NEVER tick off the librarian as she/he has the power to make your life miserable.
Since M is doing some rudimentary reading, we decided to enroll her in our library's program. We belong to two library's because our local one is a bit limited. M read 15 books this summer and got to pick prizes from both libraries. At one of the libraries, she picked an inflatable ball after she finished reading her first five books. She picked a little blue rubber ballerina doll (who she has now named Pretty Sparkle) when she reached 10 books. We sort of blackmailed her into reading the next five books in that we said she could get a friend for her ballerina.
Here are her dolls: Princess (orange) and Pretty Sparkle (blue).
She loves to pose them and pretend they dance.
August Dishcloth KAL is done and it's a lighthouse. I picked a good color to knit it in.
I actually figured it out by day four and found the original free pattern on-line and finished it up early. I like the Dishcloth KAL because I can get one done in between projects. It takes me about 30 minutes to do the 10 rows - which is a great lunchtime break.
I've also just cast on to knit up the Knitty Snake Charmer cardigan. It's for a long time family friend of my husband's. They just had child #2. I'm going to make it with the hood in a size 3 - 6 months. The idea being they'd use it when it gets cooler. They live in way south Texas, so it never really gets too cold.
It's so nice to have a kiddo - really, it is. She gets such simple joy from life.
I made her a scrubby from some cotton yarn I have in my stash. She was so happy to get it. The other morning when I gave it to her, she got it, said, "You are SO nice, Momma" and proceeded to jump on my bed while saying "scrubby!" every time she bounced.
Here's a photo of the little rug rat with her prized scrubby.
Gotta love the grin!
I was reading another blog and they mentioned that if I read the questions to consider myself tagged.
What was the scariest thing (or one of them if you’ve had many adventures) you ever experienced?
Almost falling off of a very steep cliff. I'm still very glad the cable "fence" held because I know I'd be a goner right now.
Do you plan to retire where you are right now or move somewhere else?
Since we lived in our previous house for 13 years and have been here for only two, the plan is to get this place paid off and live in it until we can't get up and down the steps anymore.
Three little gifts you’re always glad to get:
