Which--- ta-da! is FINISHED. A week before the wedding, Jesus, Mary & Joseph! It's huge. And I think that future brides/grooms are getting a "throw" rather than a nearly-6-foot afghan.
It's partially my fault; I started it then set it aside. I foolishly thought, around October, that I could complete THIS (February wedding) with a Christmas shawl and Kid #2's afghan. Ha.The shawl got set aside for Christmas 2020. And the Kid afghan? Well, it's at 50%.
So there's that.Anyway, since it's been forever-and-a-day, here's the 411 on that afghan (411 = information for those who may not know... used to be you could dial 411 for information and the operator would give it to you.)... The yarn is Caron Simply Soft. Colors are (from the bottom): taupe, ivory, ocean. I don't think the "taupe" is very taupe, if you ask. I think it's brown. Looks like coffee in real life. But there you go. Ocean has a tad more green in it than this picture shows. It's lovely and I'd use that color again. Ivory is ivory, and all in all, the colors work well.
The pattern is "Stepping Waves" from Bernat. And I did a WHOPPER of a boo-boo. I used their yarn calculations. By that, I mean, they said "4 balls of this, 4 balls of this and 3 balls of that." And that's what I bought.
ROOKIE MISTAKE because now I have a literal crap-load of the ocean and ivory. Maybe that's ok. I have babies to knit for and this might be an advantage. The hand of the yarn is lovely and it seems to wear ok. Maybe a baby blanket. I like super-wash wool for the hats and sweaters.
I used a size 7 (24") circular needle. Sonda, my knitting guru (RIP dear friend) always said that a 24" needle could handle just about anything larger than a hat.
I got a basket from the local craft store, used some clear wrapping paper, and bought a pew bow. I know - I should've gotten something more "bow" and less "pew" -- and I'd have paid a lot less for it, for sure! But the ivory goes with the afghan and it's my nephew, so there you go.
Other knitting includes crochet (a scarf that can go with me to appointments) and socks. I found a great hack for the sock needles. My hands have been horribly dry, and so I grabbed a "finger" from the office, and I tried that. Voila! $3.45 for a dozen of them...
You can get them in "nude" but I don't really care. I ended up pushing this one inside-out and it was even easier to knit with. I've tried the leather thimbles, tried metal ones. Ran through BOXES of bandages.
So far, this works.
The sock is Plain Vanilla, Opal as usual. Colorway is Klangwelten, color 9044, lot 1302. I want this pair done. Just to get a pair done, because I'm tired of afghan knitting. I know I need to pick Kid's afghan up again soon, but I want to work on something that's just for me. For the First Socks of 2020, I'm committed to getting these done in record time.Record time for me, that is.
The scarf is some little piffle...I got the yarn for one thing, that didn't work out and it was just sitting there. It's a Lion Brand skein where you do a one-skein scarf and it's ombre.
It's not great yarn. I'm sure I'll find a home for this scarf. But it won't be for me. Do I sound like a terrible snob?I am. BUT - in this case, I don't want another scarf. I really do have plenty of them. And I have nothing red that goes with it. Not that that ever stopped me, but I don't need another one and I'm sure someone will adore this.
Simple double crochet. Easy and I can do this till the cows come home. Which, with the size of the skein, I'll be doing. But again - no rush.
I'm tempting the Knitting Fairies, but I'm a bit ahead on the baby knitting. I have one afghan all ready to go. Just need to whack together a hat and sweater for a boy (I know it's a boy, not sure when it's coming though). Hopefully, my friend will give me a head's up when her grandson is coming.One final knitting thing... Prayer Patches. This is the bottom layer of a bag full that I'm hoping to complete. These are, quite literally, swatches. About 3-4" square, they're great stash-busters. I'm working through a bunch of hat yarn. We take them to church, they're blessed and put in a basket. If you don't want a whole prayer shawl, this fits in your purse or pocket, or heck -- use it as a luggage tie for all we care. It's just a nice thing for those of us who don't have a ton of time to knit entire prayer shawls.
Not Knitting, But a Craft...
This is a silk shawl my boss gave me for Christmas. The beauty of this is that it really IS a one-of-a-kind design. Because she made it. There's a woman locally who runs this studio where you can go paint these. Actually, one of my oldest friends did one for me, in tones of orange and cream, which is lovely. This one is more in the tones I wear.I wore it to the OTHER job and people kept asking me to pet it. The silk is really, really luscious. I need to research how to tie them better. This is kind of plain, but it still shows off the scarf.
We're looking at hosting a sort of fundraiser for this project. I think it should be easy to do; might be expensive, but that's not a big issue. If it's a fundraiser, that's the point.
TIPPI Update...
Well, good news & bad here. In November, she finished her chemo treatments. She actually retired as a TDI therapy dog, because they require vaccinations and with her recovery from Lymphoma, she's not going to be vaccinated anymore. Vaccines "excite" the lymph system, which is just what you do NOT want with a lymphoma survivor. So. TWO kinds of cancer this dog survived (Thyroid,which I found around Treatment #2 for Lymphoma, and she had surgically removed). We are - or were - still visiting.But. Today, honest to God. I thought "this is it." I thought she'd be at the Rainbow Bridge by dinnertime.
She was up most of the night "yarking" up bile periodically. Now she'd been doing this every so often, but I was told it was "doggie reflux" from the chemo & cancer. But this was different, because she also had accidents in the house, and wasn't moving. Hubby said she couldn't make it up the steps after her morning "toddle"... And she looked absolutely rotten. She was panting and snorting and breathing heavily.
At the vet's office, they took an x-ray (There went $650, but after we've spent what we spent on the chemo and thyroid surgery? We almost didn't notice it...) and said her right lung was "cloudy." Dr. Katie said it looked to her like pneumonia, given her other symptoms of the bile and the breathing. She couldn't address the weak legs, but suggested it was because of the pneumonia doing a number on her breathing in general. In good conscience, she reported also that it could be "diffused cancer" - we won't know till the radiologist renders a verdict.
Pneumonia is treatable in a 13-year-old dog. Lung cancer, not so much. I'll keep you posted. Pray, if you're inclined. Just that she catches a break and gets to live to her natural lifespan.
Speaking of Therapy Dogs...
We can't call her a "therapy dog" because she's nowhere NEAR being certified. But Raisa had her first visit last month. The folks at the university don't really care if she's TDI or not. Which is good, because she's a long way off from that!That being said, she had her first visit and she didn't do too badly. She's a lot "kissier" than Tippi, but she didn't get the idea that she'd get belly rubs. Which is also ok. She'll figure it out.
They were kind of fascinated at her. And she was a goofball.
The original schedule was Tippi the first week and Raisa the 3rd, but now with Tippi's diagnosis of pneumonia, visiting is out till she's better. Or till we have an alternative diagnosis, which will kind of tell us what we have to do.
So, what with the Democratic Primary coming up March 17th, Tippi won't be visiting anyway. I'll be Election Judging...
The Weather Outside...
WAS frightful. We had a mini-polar-vortex and then it snowed. And now it's thawing and we're set to have higher temperatures. Welcome to February. So this is me outside the church on a sub-zero day. See that cowl? That's one other reason I don't need another scarf.That's a TEN dollar cowl from Walgreen's. Seriously. And it's toasty-warm and washable. Can't beat that bargain...
And then there are the orchids. We're up to 2 cattleya and a bunch of mini-phals. One big phalenopsis, because the others died off. But the mini ones are blooming again, so maybe that's what our house does best??
Anyway, Hubby got some "real" orchid lights. They look a little weird, and I had to adjust one because it was hitting me right in the eyeballs as I was in my knitting chair.But they're automatic, which is helpful, since neither of us could ever remember to turn the light off in a timely fashion. And they're LED bulbs, which last a long time and are energy efficient.
As long as they're growing, we're both happy. We're avoiding the orchid house's big sale. We just can't! Well....we COULD...
Random Picture...
The other day I was going to the cardiologist. It's not great news, but it could be a lot worse. It appears I'm in A-fib again but for now we're just watching it. I kind of figured. But I didn't want to think about it.This and having to get a tooth replaced with an implant? I'm kinda wishing 2020 started over...
Anyway -- I was really early so I stopped off at the local greenhouse. It's a great place to sit quietly and contemplate when it's "butt-freezing cold" outside.
There are two water features and this one had koi with a turtle...I didn't catch the shot with the turtle, but these guys were pretty feisty.
It's late; I have more to tell you but I want to go to sleep. It was a long night; and I'm not sure what tonight will bring.
