Unknown Territory

 I got a big box in the mail the other day from the Yarn Barn of Kansas.

 My new warping board was inside.

 I also ordered another boat shuttle and a few more bobbins.

 I optimistically ordered this table runner kit. It was the word beginning that sold me on it.

Beginning or not, I think I am in over my head. What on earth is this? Oh well,...I've got time to figure it out because I still have those three pillow covers to make for my Craftsy class-when I can see again. Sigh....

The Beginning of the End

Lillehammer has a sleeve! No, I'm still not seeing well enough to knit but I just remembered I finished this on Saturday so-voila, I have a knitting post!

 This represents lots of late night knitting. In spite of all the recent eye strain trying to get this finished, the doc assured me that I didn't do anything to cause my eye troubles. It just happens.

I had hoped I could use the first ill fated sleeve but alas, it is not to be. I tried to get the stitch count to match, I even frogged a good bit but I had to give up and cast on another. I have to say that my increases (the sleeve at the top of the photo) were much better looking than the pattern's charted decreases-not that it matters anymore.

Now my biggest worry is that the sleeves are going to be way too long-not to mention that the body is still way too snug.

 Instead of changing the sweater, I just need to find a real skinny person with long arms to give it to.

The Eyes Have It 2

My crazy eye story has only gotten weirder but before I explain,  first let me thank everyone for all the nice comments yesterday. They were much appreciated.

And so it goes...
When I left the ER on Monday, I had a hard time believing that all that eye craziness was from a strand of fiber but I wanted to believe it because it was an easy fix. While the fiber was causing some irritation and needed to be addressed, I knew there was going to be more to this story when I woke up seeing even worse than I did the night before. I had The Mister drive me over to Daddio's fabulous eye doctor and after an exam, I was sent to the hospital to have emergency surgery (!) for a detached retina. The lovely lady surgeon wanted to do some testing on her own first and discovered-bless her heart-that the retina was not actually detaching but had a crater that only appeared to be a detachment. She decided to try a laser intervention first to see if her theory was correct and to my immense relief, it worked. I not only had a crater but a blister of some sort that was causing all those floating octopus and lighting flashes. I can't see worth beans at the moment from the procedure but they assure me it will all clear up within a few days. Sadly my hallucinogenic visions are probably something I will have to learn to live with and monitor closely in case a detachment actually occurs-which unfortunately is now more likely. The actual medical definition of all this fun is bullous retinoschisis.

Oh well, life goes on. There are certainly worse things to worry about. Read my original ER instructions if you want a good laugh. It makes me feel sorta dirty. Bad, bad fiber. Ewwww............

The Eyes Have It

This is a pretty poor selfie if I may say so myself but I am trying to prove a point here. All those yellow streaks on my eyelids and cheek are not a fashion statement.

It seems I landed myself in the emergency room yesterday. I was visiting with Daddio, bringing him a Memorial Day dinner when I started feeling very odd. My left eye became cloudy and I started seeing flashes of light. I felt like someone was holding their hand over that side of my face. It was eerie and it scared the beejeezus out of me because I thought I was having a stroke.  Dummy that I am, I jumped in the car and drove all the way home, alerted The Mister and only then called Urgent Care. They said to head over to the hospital, so I did. The nicest and most patient physician's assistant on the planet brought in a giant eye contraption and took a good look at the black octopus with lightening rods that seemed to have taken up residence in my eye. I was terrified. I really need my eyes, you know. Finally he asked me " do you have anything to do with fiber? It seems you have a long strand of something all twisted around your pupil and trapped up under your eyelid." I thought The Mister was going to fall off the chair. It seems I had an eye full of old fuzz that had embedded itself but good and was doing all kinds of ugly on all the important parts I need to see with. Even worse, no amount of washing by the PA could get it out. He had to numb my eye and do some pulling and poking. Not fun. At all.

I was sent home with a bag of meds and instructions to see a real eye doctor if it doesn't improve in a week. I am still seeing a milder version of the octopus and lightening rods but at least I know it is not something serious-just stupid. I guess I will be wearing safety goggles when I play with my woolly stuff from now on.
Oh yeah, the young (and good looking) PA confessed to being a crocheter. He has been working on a blanket for his daughter since she was born-three years ago. I was in no position to be doing any talking while he had his fingers in my eye but I would have gladly offered up the information that I am working on a sweater that I started-four years ago.
Needless to say, The Mister is going to be laughing about this for a long while. Don't anyone dare ask him how he spent his Memorial Day.

Let the Summer Begin!

 This is a very random post. Since becoming a grandmother, I have become a terrible blogger in that I would rather be playing with the new baby than taking photos of family events. We had our Memorial Day cookout on Saturday and it all began with a lovely hour drive over the bridge to Virginia to spend some time with the new Grandbaby. I finished up the first Lillehammer sleeve on the way. I am starting to believe that this four year project may actually have an end in sight. Now that is something to celebrate.

Daughter in Law and #1 Son always do amazing things with food when the family shows up. These bacon wrapped mushrooms disappeared mighty fast.

 Of course there was corn. There has to be corn.

 Mmmm..shrimp and pineapple kebobs.

 Daughter contributed the soon to be grilled squash.

 We spent a good part of the afternoon watching new Grandbaby nap on an app on his mother's phone. What will they think of next?

 When he woke up we couldn't get enough of him. At 5 months he has become quite a little character.

Last but not least, Son in Law reminded us of why we were here in the first place. After two tours of Iraq, his idea and our idea of what the holiday stands for are two different things. Let's hope that new Grandbaby never has to find out Memorial Day is not just a day for celebrating the start of summer fun.

Family Fiber Fun Day

Since Daddio has not been able to see well enough to be able to do any paper piecing since his eye surgeries, I have put him to work preparing fiber for carding. He loves to crank the drum carder for me so I brought him and still recuperating Sister over for an afternoon of lunch and fiber mischief.

Sister was in charge of adding sparkle.

With the three of us working together, we cranked out four pretty little batts in no time at all.

 When we were done, we took some leftover fiber and some nylon netting and tried our hand at some artistic felting on the glass table top. I had seen someone do this at this year's MDSW and then Zenitude posted her amazing creations last week so I just had to give it a tentative go.

Hmmm....we made something unusual to say the least.

 It stuck together but was not nearly felted enough.

The next day I gave it another go.

Hmmm....interesting. I was aiming for something that could be cut up and used to make flowers for knitted hats but maybe this should just be stuck in a frame. Or not.

Shaelyn: The Blessed End

The drama associated with this project is finally over. Behind this door, Shaelyn is being blocked within an inch of her life.

It is wonderful to finally have a designated blocking area that is cat proof. I used to have to do this on the dining room table and then carefully transfer it to a safer spot at night.

 I am very happy with the way she turned out. All the color issues worked out beautifully and were worth the extra effort.

Those last two rows of over-dyed blue look like they belong there. Thank goodness.

Final Verdict: This was an easy-peasy pattern, perfect for beginning lace knitters. For a full sized shawl, it was actually a very quick knit and would have been done weeks ago if I had only put on my thinking cap and thought about things like yardage and stitch counts before I got started.

Planting Day

The Mister was nice enough to gift me a bag of his leftover top soil for my flowers.

The only problem is that I have no place to put any this year. The hostas went crazy and took over every bit of available space. That makes me sad because this walkway was glorious last year.

I filled a few pots for the small front step.

They look rather pitiful.

I hope Daughter has room for the extras.

Shaelyn: The Final Chapter

 I am finally on the last pattern repeat of this never-ending disaster of a project.

Other than the fact that I had forgotten to change the k2togs to p2togs in the last lace repeat for the border, I thought things were going well until I looked in the bag and noticed-I HAD ALMOST NO YARN LEFT.

Triangular shawls take a huge amount of yarn to complete at the end and I hadn't been paying attention. What I did have was a ball of leftover green from the top and.....

...some dye. But what color should I put over the green to get the color I needed?

The bottom stripe of blue was a really a mixture of red, gray and navy so I made half the leftover yarn gun metal and half plain navy. One is too dark and the other is too blue but I am totally over this project. I've got only two stinking rows and a bind off left so I am just going to use what I have and call it a day.

A Pile of FOs

 I have spent a crazy amount of time in doctor's waiting rooms lately and I have a lot of finished objects to show for it.

The first things done were the Owlie Mitts  in Wandering Cat Yarns Swamp Thing colorway. Aren't they cute? Very Duck Dynasty. I confess I have not seen the show but you can't help but get caught up in all the hype. Those dudes are everywhere.

 The second thing off the needles were the thrummed mitts from Zenitude.

These were crazy fun to make. In case you want to know what is so special about these mittens take a look at the inside. They are so soft and warm it is like putting your hand in a cloud.

Last but not least, I finished these Nice Ribbed Socks by Glenna C. The yarn is by Abstract Fiber.
You'll notice that Shaelyn is not in this pile. She is having yet another crisis that I will tell you all about later. Jeesh.