Thankful

The Good New: My mom is awake, sipping liquids and has walked to the hallway. Twice.

The Bad New: My Mom's surgery was much more complicated than originally planned and she's going to be in the H for longer. Instead of being out of the woods, we've only walked deeper into it. I am terrified waiting for all the test results. I am an impatient city girl who works on deadline all the time and wants everything NOW. All I've been doing is sleeping when she sleeps, helping however I can and knitting. That takes my mind off of the cliff of fear for awhile.

Can a sock be your best friend? The answer is yes when your head is spinning round and round anyway and that's just what you're doing on the needle.

Incredible matching brain wave activity...

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Thank you all for your emails, comments, prayers and positive thoughts. It means so much to me!

You are wonderful...

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Let me introduce my constant companion...

Mr. Jack Quard

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Monday Morning Mirth

el bebÈ de un mono femenino loco ...

When I am not the oldest Junior Nurse at Mercy Hospital, I am the Den Mother for this puppy. Everyone knows her as BooBoo, but she's Also Known As Zipcode...

This is one of those swear word substitutions that in my family means: Zipcode=GoofBall=EvilLittleRatFinkGremlin...

She digs. She will not come when called. She teases with her toys. She races around like a maniac. She is INSANE.

My mother insisted that I let the pup sleep on my bed so she won't be lonely. How could I say no? So, in the middle of the night, I wake up because this 7lb. critter is standing on my chest, staring me down. I am in a weird Stephen King movie - El Bebe Cujito...

If my life weren't surreal enough, I'm taking care of a dog who hops like a rabbit. Backwards. Who leaps through the air like a missile to head butt me when I'm not looking.

Since I'm spinning out of control, I'm teaching her to spin while she stands on her back legs like a prancing pony.

This is Fred, BooBoo's brother and my sister Catherine's puppy. He is coming here for Easter dinner with the family. I've been told when they're together, it's more fun than even Nascar Racing...

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My mom had her IVs removed and is now walking to the bathroom with a cane. We watched "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" last night on video and knitted together. She got through a few rows!

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Spring has Sprung!

Oh that sock yarn is so tiny, I had to revert to Aran Weight yarn for a change! It's also good for all the tiny hand muscles to keep several projects of different gauges going. AT THE SAME TIME.

That's right.

So I'm 3/4 of the way through the back of this simple but fabulous shawl-collared wrap cardigan from last year's Rowan Summer Tweed Book. It is shown with a rawhide tie but I am going to put one chic button at the waist level.

I thought I'd get the whole back done today, but I lost my car keys for over an hour. Although I've been driving Mom's car, there was a bunch of stuff I brought up here for when she gets home that I needed to unload from my car - like a TV with a built-in VCR so she can watch movies while she's bed bound.

I found the keys in an obscure pocket of one of my bags that was under the dining room table. I have no idea when I put them there.

Recommendation: don't drive while you're crying. Because then you will almost hit the fattest racoon you've ever seen and the way he hops across the road will start you laughing like a maniac...

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Still no word on the test results. For some *unknown reason* (ie. my mental state), everyone who visits irritates me. Especially the woman who told me right in front of my Mother, "Don't worry, when her hair falls out from the chemo, it will grow in nicer than now."

I don't want to make nice!

So I go watch bad television and knit in a room down the hall. Sometimes, I run interference, but my Mom seems to enjoy the company, so if she's up to it, I make myself scarce and take a break.

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Woo Hoo! You Could Knock me Over with a Feather...

A happy day indeed, my Mom is at home now!
That's right. She was discharged yesterday afternoon and my sister came up and we all got her settled in. I'll be here for another two weeks to hold down the fort.

We got the very good news that her surgery is a success. She has Stage 1 Ovarian Cancer. Her Doctor and the test results inform us that everything has been contained and removed.

Although we're not quite out of the woods since there will be follow up procedures and maybe some other kind of treatment, the happiness this news brings me and my family just puts me on my knees.

A million thanks to you all for your prayers and well wishes! :)

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AND on a knitting level, I finished my first small gauge sock using this pattern.

Ususally I am unable to knit anything for Mom because she is always too warm when she wears a sweater. But Hallelujah! She loves this sock and wants me to make her a pair out of a Denim Colored Jacquard or self-patterning yarn that's similar. Any ideas?

Ah, the game is afoot...

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Rockin' Sockin' Cabin Fever

Obviously I'm on a roll so why stop now! I knew when I started knitting socks, I was going to be hooked :)

If your mind is a muscle, mine is sprained...

Kind of like that day after the day you go to the gym and wake up feeling things where you've never felt them before. I've stretched whole parts of my brain that have never been used!

The Sock Knitting Process is perfect for that - just go round and round and keep moving those brain waves but not really rippling the pond...

I love mixed metaphors - especially now that that's all that might be up there. Stunned.

This sock is made from some yarn I bought at the TKGA convention that was in Chicago last summer. From the DZinedÆ website: "All DZinedÆ yarns are custom spun in the U.S. at Ohio Valley Natural Fibers to the exacting specifications of DZinedÆ owner, Debi Daniels, who has been a handknitter, spinner and handweaver for over 30 years."

AND, may I add, a wonderful artist with the way she handpaints the yarns. This sock is in shades of yellow, light Shrek green, orange, olive and soft bark. It is Wool/Hemp/Mohair sport weight yarn (43% wool, 43% hemp and 14% mohair).

These socks are made using two #4 needles on 56 stitches with a ribbed cuff that goes down to the toe on the top of the sock. I've decided to rib most of it because the hemp is not very elastic. I've also started to use the Dutch Heel method of making the heel flap.

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AND Here at Petticoat Junction, mom and I are just laying around. I cook a little - baked chicken and vegtables yesterday. Then we nap a little. Then maybe we watch a video or read.

AND KNIT! I taught Mom the Two-Circular method yesterday. She is making a Cabin Fever *Take It From the Top* pullover for her pastor and it was getting too heavy to hold. So now she's moving right along with the circs!

Cabin Fever

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More Sock Madness

Once upon a wrist warmer, I acquired some *sock type* yarns. This yarn is from Dale and is called Sisik - mostly wool, with a little mohair, acrylic, and rayon. It is so soft and has a beautiful finish, with little flecks of color here and there

I had enough for wrist warmers and went back and got another ball so I could make socks. I made one and part of the other one and then came up north. These socks are made using two #4 needles on 48 stitches from this pattern. The only change is that I 2x2 ribbed down to the beginning of the heel flap.

In one day, a week ago this Thursday, I knit almost a whole sock while in the waiting room while my mother was having surgery (3.5hrs) and then afterwards, while she was waking up.

They will forever be my Lucky Socks...

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Report from Petticoat Junction: Today the stitches go away! While Mom is at the doctor, I'm going grocery shoppin at the SuperMyers up in Cadillac. We don't have Mega Stores like this or Walmart in the city limits of Chicago. (No Parking!!!)

So I am like some of the cute Russian Immigrants I see in my neighborhood Jewel store grocery shopping. They just wander round and round going OOOH aaahhhh - we've never seen 100 different types of cereal!

But here, you can buy Underwear an aisle over from my Fruit! Get some prescriptions filled while you try on Bathing Suits! Find some neat clogs over across from the meat department. Maybe buy some tires and bananas...

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