Happy 4th of July

Be safe and have a great day! 

I'm Baaaaaack

This is probably going to be one of a few posts to blog about my trip/vacation. It all began the day after the kids got out of school (May 22nd). We drove (honest, we're not nuts - there were tons of others on the road too) to CA and got there on May 26th. My Mom's surgery was scheduled for May 28th. So, not a lot of time to rest or gather myself before that.  I'm not a hospital person AT ALL so it's always a nerve wracking experience for me. You put my Mom or a loved one in the mix and I'm a basketcase!

They had said the surgery would be an easy one, (but about six hours). So, we dropped her off at 9:30 am and didn't get to see her until 11 pm when they FINALLY got her into a room. That was one very long and scary day. I was so anxious I don't think my xanax did a thing. A lot of waiting time in the evening was them trying to wake her up from the anesthesia, someone REALLY overdid it this surgery for sure. She was loopy for days afterwards!

The reason for the surgery: My Mom's cancer had returned on the right side of her neck (merkell cell) so they had to remove the node they saw on the PET scan. While doing the surgery they checked out the left side because there was a spot there they had questioned. I'm still stunned that this round just seems to involve the surgery so far. No radiation at all because they want the area to stay pliable and flexible, radiation makes it tough and fibrous.  With Merkell Cell there's no blood test to show it's back, they have to physically examine my Mom every few months to look and feel for anything unusual.  She's still healing so we don't know if they'll recommend chemo down the road again.

This one was tougher for her, she was in a lot more pain, and with her other pain issues (fibro, arthritis, sciatic) she was in a bad way for quite a bit afterwards and is STILL healing of course. Day by day things are getting a bit better though.  I want to thank all my RL friends and my special online friends for all your prayers for my Mom. She's very grateful as well.  I wish I had gotten to have more fun with her this visit, she loves having our "Girls Only"days where we go shopping and out to eat, but this trip that didn't happen unfortunately. But we got to see her, and give her lots of love, so that was worth the drive there and home.

I love this pic of her and my girls. She was so happy to see her Granddaughters and was so surprised to see how big they were this trip. They love their Grandma to pieces too. ♥

More in the coming up days......

Spinning Love

NOW I GET IT.
My first attempt on some llama stuff my friend gave me to practice on:

Not much there but I'm still very proud of it! It's funny how much I screwed up but I'm still having a blast! I couldn't get my tension quite right the whole time, I over-twisted TONS, and I could hear Helen telling me to feed my yarn to the wheel because I tend to forget. But every now and then: -*~Magic Happened~*-.  Things just "flowed" for a few seconds here and there and I was in total love.  My end result is not nearly as neat and pretty as my friend Helen's, and I had to keep reminding myself that what she spun first for me with this stuff looked JUST FINE and it wasn't the WHEEL'S FAULT but rather my own shortcomings.

See:

Looks like I have a whole other animal here! I don't know if this is normal for many new spinners but from the DVD I got from Interweave Knits, she said it's not unusual for spinners to have bits and pieces they've had to remove all around their feet, so I didn't feel quite as bad once this pile built up. (I'm still learning pre-drafting too.)

This is the wheel my wonderful friend Helen let me borrow for the summer. It's a discontinued Ashford but she said it's similar to a Kiwi. It's got a harder treadle than the Ashford Traditional she let me borrow the last time, and it feels sluggish compared to the jet-speed of her Joy. But I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to even TRY it I'm over the moon! 

I'm thinking a "double treadle" is the way I'm going to go though. I just hope I can finally test one out one day to really determine that. My right leg is my "bad" leg, so balancing it out would be better for me in the long run (as well as starting and stopping the wheel). As it is, I only spend less than 10 minutes at a time on this one before I get tired. 

I have some pink merino waiting in the wings....that should be interesting!  

More Finished Knits

There's nothing like "marathon knitting" to get your wrist nice and sore, but for some crazy reason

when I got the flyer about "Teacher Appreciation Week" at my daughter's school last week I thought "Hey! I loved this pattern, I'll make her some of those mitts!" ---- In less than a week. 

I'm amazed at how fast a knitter I pretend I am.  I actually DID get them done by Friday (I totally lost Thursday as a knitting day due to a new medication knocking me out all day) but they still had to be washed and blocked before I could send them in to her.  So today was the day and my daughter said she really loved them! Score!

Pattern: Glacial Gauntlets of the Wolf
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill SuperSock in Cherry Colorway
Red size 6 beads from a craft store - used size 11 crochet hook to apply them.
Mods: Again, only put beads on the top of the hand and omitted them from the top of the thumb.
Added about 10 more rows to the top for extended length on the hand/fingers.

I'm tempted to keep every pair I make of these, I must make my own soon.

I also forgot I had finished up these:

Just some basic plain stockinette socks for my Mom. When the yarn is this colorful I feel basic st st  really showcases the yarn better. That's my own "I'm getting old and too opinionated" point of view. (I have to try to get a better picture before I take them to her. It's hard to get all the pretty colors in this to come out on my camera.)

Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll in the "Make Believe" Colorway
64 st cast on
Size 1 needle (ML)
They came out a tad small, but my Mom's foot is only a women's size 5 so they'll fit her better than my
6 1/2 foot!

Last but not least:

The "Took Forever to Knit- Knitting Meeting Scarf".  Because when I'm at my meetings I blab so much I like something simple to work on.  K3P3 helps, but I STILL made a couple of boo-boos!

Yarn: Blue Heron Bulky Rayon Chenille in the Berry colorway
Size 6 needle
K3p3 cast on 27 (I think).
After washing and drying, this yarn is SCRUMPTIOUS and of course THIS IS MY COLOR!
And now, it's all ready for NEXT winter. Happy Happy.

I'll be heading off to CA to see family soon so I won't be blogging as much until I get back. I'll still
be checking my google reader to keep up with you gals' blogs so Happy Knitting and have a great start to the summer!!

Happy Mothers Day!

Wishing everyone a peaceful, happy day today. Hope it's filled with sunshine and lots of love. 

I plan to get some much needed rest because life has been quite hectic lately, and frankly, I'm having a tough time keeping pace with it. I did get spoiled with a great dinner at Olive Garden on Friday evening and trips to a couple of craft stores but I'm trying to be good so I can eventually get the spinning wheel of my dreams one day (if I ever figure out which one it is!).  Flowers, cards, and chocolate were my gifts today. My family knows how to make me happy (as long as my little one doesn't eat all my chocolate before me!) 

I can't be with my Mom today as she lives far away, but I'll be there soon to give her lots of love and presents in person! She's going to be going through treatments soon for a recurrent cancer, so I'm just glad I'm still blessed to have her in my life and that she's strong in her faith and courage. 

One day at a time. 

Happy WOW! (Whiskers On Wednesday!)

Today I received this wonderful package from fellow WOW'er Terrie (StarSpry).

I asked to participate in her "Pay It Forward" post on her blog awhile back and she surprised me today with so many goodies! I just love EVERYTHING, from the gorgeous MMMMMalabrigo mitts that she knit for me (omgosh! LOVE the color! Is that Ravelry Red??), the cute "ball of yarn" pin, pretty stitch markers, awesome accessories bag with a tag that says "I LOVE CATS" and the cute kitty paw sticky notes! I love the sheep confetti in my card too! My Auntie does that all the time, we always know to be very careful when we open her cards! It made me laugh because these are so adorable!

Now it's my turn to share some fun!
Here's the rules I copied from Terri's blog:

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

If you leave a comment, please make sure I can contact you to send you your gift!

This is such a fun thing to participate in. It's so nice to send a smile to someone, I can't wait to pass it on! Terri sure made my day, I had a really tough night (no sleep/lots of pain) and was a major "Mrs. Grouch" but this chased away my gray clouds in no time flat. You have wonderful timing Terrie! ;O) Thank U so Much!!! 


Now for the WOW Kitteh pic:

Sophie KNOWS she's "pretty in pink". meeeeow. 

Still Kicking

"Life" has just gotten in the way of blogging lately. I guess we all know how that is!
We've been busy doing a lot of spring cleaning, gardening, spring shopping (these kids grow SO FAST!) and I've been doing a lot of reading. It's funny, but when I'm reading a lot it's because my "knitting mojo" took a vacation on me. For a bit there I start to feel real panic because of all the yarn in the closet and my fingers don't want to grab any needles! It's a tad bit scary, but eventually it comes back around and I'm able to make things work again. Slowly but surely.

A few of my latest projects done randomly in the past few months. (Notice how small I've kept things?)

Pattern: Glacial Gauntlets Of The Wolf
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Solis colorway
Size 1 needles
Teal beads - Size 6 - from AC Moore
Beads put on with crochet hook but you can pre-string as well.
Mods: 5 extra rows on thumb. Around 15 extra for hand length. Beads only on top side and omitted from top of thumb.

These are for my Mom. She loves this color and honestly, I keep putting them on and I'm thinking of making myself a pair too. They feel so good! My only quip: If I do make them again I'll change the thumb, it feels too low even with the extra rows added.

Honestly, this was a tough project for me, I wasn't in the mood to knit at all but some friends were doing a KAL, and I have tons of beads, so I just decided to quit being such a fuddy-duddy and join for once. Starting anything is hard when you don't feel like it but I'm so glad I can still knit! Whew.
Next:

Pattern: Cupcake Pincusion
Crocheted for my friend Marie's Granddaughter. She's learning how to sew so I sent her some pins to decorate the top for herself. She's had some serious medical problems so we just wanted to send her something to take her mind off of things for a bit. She's a very brave little girl. I believe she's doing better now, slowly but surely so that's a good thing.
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft
Size E hook

Pattern: Chevron Eyeshade
Yarn: Cascade Fixation
Needle: Size 3
This is for my Mom as well. Just a fun little item for Mother's Day to add to her goodie-bag. Really, when your knitting mojo is gone, these small things are a godsend. This does flip up when it's on, but one gal on Ravelry just turns it the other way (purl side up) and it stays on fine.

Last but not least:

Pattern: Broadripple
Yarn: Cascade Fixation
Size 2 ML
Mods: Only do pattern on leg portion, I like the foot part plain.
Everything was totally cool with these until:

I have no idea how this happened. It wasn't KITTY KAT related at all, I'm sure of that - and it looks like a "cut" rather than a dropped stitch. I don't remember them getting caught when I zipped them in a small mesh bag to wash, but I suppose that could've caused it. Anyway, they've been "sort of" darned by me and luckily with this yarn you can't really see how bad my sewing skills are. Mom will still wear them, she loves how this yarn feels. Total bummer but they survived. If I had more yarn I would've just re-knit them.

BTW, they took for-ev-er to finish.

I am pretty jazzed lately about my newest learning experience:

My friend Helen is going to attempt to teach me how to spin. God Bless her, she has a lot of patience with me and she needs it. I ask her a million questions in about five seconds.  She let me take her Ashford home to practice treadleing.

Sasha says "HEY! Where's the Kitty?" because she smells Mac I'm sure. (Helen's Kitty).  If I could, I'd steal Mac, he's a big ham and so sweet! I have to get a picture of his pretty green eyes one day. So, I'm off to practice treadleing. (Is that a word??)

Happy Spring, Happy Knitting, and Happy Whiskers on Wednesday!