Kitesurfing

 

No, not this kitesurfing.....

...the kind that comes wrapped up in pretty paper from Miss Babs.

Every year she comes up with a MDSW colorway that represents something about Maryland and I suppose kitesurfing is a thing in Ocean City. I had to look it up since I've never heard of it or seen it here on the bay.  She also sent me a little pigtail of another yarn she carries to swatch but it's just too cute for that. 

I need to get my knitting fingers moving again. This one is going to be calling my name no matter how far away I stash it. And just think...I didn't have to risk Covid to get it. Daughter has an adult student that attended the MDSW and after two years of being careful, four days later she came down with........well, you know. 

Week Nine

 

Much to Pup's dismay she's got almost another two weeks in quarantine. I called the vet on Monday and she doesn't want to see her until the 27th which is a week after she gets her third dose on Friday. I'm hopeful we'll get a good report. I'm so tired of living in this plastic wrapped house.  

I've bought new pillows and mattress covers for when we get the okay to be normal again. I bought new sheets a while back. 

A sign that progress is being made is the sight of an empty bathtub. It's still be used to boil all our laundry in the mornings but I actually took a bath in it on Sunday night. I had only been taking showers-several a day to fight the itch. Right now I am only in need of two. One in the morning and one at night. The serious itch is a distant and terrible memory at this point. We've got some small itchies and weird little prickles but they are manageable with just some spot treatment. Taking my first bath in two months was wonderful. I didn't feel like I was sitting in mite soup at all, although I did rinse myself very well afterwards and used a big dose of Epsom salt and vinegar in the water. Baby steps I know but headed in the right direction. I really feel the worst is behind us. Finally.

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

Well look at that. I finally finished that awful lawn section. It only took me a three years but to be honest I'm surprised I got it finished this quickly. It was such a painful slog. I still have a bit of border to do at the bottom and then the sentiment at the top before I can declare a complete victory but I'm still doing a happy dance today. Whew.....

Beans on Toast

 

The most exciting thing I did yesterday was make beans on toast for dinner. That's the kind of ho hum day I had. Some days I have energy to spare after the big morning clean up and laundry marathon and some days I don't. Yesterday I didn't. I napped my way through the afternoon. I did get a lot of question on Saturday so it gives me something to post about today. 

First I was asked about the needles I am using for the advent sweaters. These were gifted to me by Ellen of The Ellen Report and I have to say I love them. I love them so much I just bought another set. I don't find the join an issue, at least not on these two pair. They are size 1.25 which is another question I got asked. That's the size I am using for the sweaters with the fingering weight Palette yarn.

I also got asked if the Audun squares are like granny squares and they are a bit. That cluster stitch that makes the flower "petals" is different-for me at least. As you can see I am a very sloppy crocheter. I really have no idea what I am doing but that never stops me from giving anything a go. It's all about the process and learning along the way for me. 

Some of said you are having trouble leaving comments. I'm having trouble leaving comments on some blogs too. The format on some blogs has changed and it's taken me a while to figure those out. I am not sure what is going on and I am sorry if there is a problem. I have looked at my settings and they haven't changed. I allow anyone to leave comments and I post them after I've read them. 

 

 And.......I am big Eurovision fan and fell in love with this year's winner which was the Ukranian band Kalush Orchestra. In case you missed it, here is the haunting video they just put out for their winning song which pays tribute to the women fighting the war.  I promise you it's not all rap. It just starts out that way. 

Slava Ukraini!

Second Sleeve Syndrome

 

I have to admit that those itty bitty sleeves for the mini Advent sweaters are a slog. They are  so fiddly. I'm going to do two at a time from now on in hopes of avoiding that SSS thing that always slows me down. That's side by side knitting, not two on one needle. I'd have to be on some serious drugs to attempt that level of fiddleyness. 

I also got one more square of Audun completed yesterday. I'm running out of what I would consider "nice" colors and am going to have to hold my nose and get a bit wild and crazy from here on out with all those cute little balls of acrylic I have. 

This one, the one that Arne and Carlos made, is actually pretty wild. I need to get over my self and think outside the crayon box. In this case I think it pays to get crazy. 

Hands Down

 

My hands are killing me. All that cleaning and hauling and wringing has done so much damage to my poor old fingers. It's been a real pain to knit again but I did get the body of Number 8 done. 

I could only work with those tiny needles for a few minutes at a time so I drug out my Audun squares and hooked a couple in between knitting sessions. It took me a while to catch on to this again. I ripped out more than I got finished.

The best part of doing any of this is listening to my audiobooks again. I managed to pile up 5 credits I needed to use so I bought a bunch of cozy mysteries to get me through the summer. I made good use of one of them yesterday when I came down with a nasty migraine. My eyes were out of commission but my ears were working perfectly. 

Hexie Fever

 

Before all the stuff hit the fan around here I was making hexie flowers for the border of my paper pieced table runner. I had just bought this new polyester thread and I have to say now that I've had a chance to use it, it makes a world of difference.

All those tiny whip stitches practically disappear. It's certainly a game changer. 

It almost makes me want to pick up Dear Jane again. I loved working on it but I hated how my stitches looked. After things get back to normal around here I just may give it another try with the new thread. I know I'll never finish the whole thing but it would be nice to make something out of it. 

 

Number 8

 

I finally got around to putting a few rows on my Lofoten socks.

I also started Advent sweater Number 8 but for the first time I strayed from the suggested Arne and Carlos colorway. 

Their Number 8 is Christmas green and red and I just wasn't feeling it in May. I changed out the green for maroon and the red for a light green. I can always swap out this holiday colorway later when I'm in a more holly jolly mood. 

Week Eight

 

Two months. Two whole months of living in this topsy turvy world. At least coming after Covid I was already quite used to the isolation and the work of disinfecting everything in sight. Pup's over all this. I am too. The Mister and I have been at each other's throats lately. We're tired. Our old bodies are worn out. Our emotions are wrung dry. It's been an adventure, that's for sure. Is the end in sight? Dunno. We're still itchy and rashy but it can take four weeks after the last mite has bit the dust before all that goes away so who knows? We just have to wait and see. Wait and see......I hate the sound of that. 

I did sit down and stitch that last gosling yesterday. It was the first project I've touched since all this started. 

And....I finished mini Advent sweater Number Seven. All I had left to do was the turtleneck. It was fiddly sewing in all those ends and I confess it did me in patience wise. I should have stuck with those socks that I spent all day the day before looking for. 

TNT:The Itch to Stitch

 

I had to urge to work on this again yesterday but it didn't happen. 

When I went into the sewing room to dig it out I got sidetracked. Not by the mess of all my bagged up stuff but by.....

...these. I could find one sock in progress but it seems I had bagged up the other sock somewhere else-in a whole other room. It took so much time to finally locate the second sock that I gave up. At least the urge is back if not the execution. 

The reason for all this renewed interest is that I managed to get one of these. It's Miss Babs MDSW 2022 colorway which was Kitesurfing. She had posted that she has some left over from the weekend and was putting them in her online shop so I bought a skein in her sock weight. I usually stand in line about 45 minutes at the festival to get some every year and as annoying as that sounds-it's actually really fun. 

Monday, Monday

I took a small break from battling the mites yesterday and made myself a brunch for Mother's Day. The Mister and I are not usually breakfast people but I've had a yen for waffles. 

Pup was very confused. She's not used to us sitting down in the morning with food involved. We are letting her out of her enclosure for a bit everyday after we've scrubbed the floors. Except for that spot on her nose she's looking pretty mite free. I wish we were. 

The rest of the day was the same old, same old. Pots and pots of hot water for laundry. We do twelve loads a day believe it or not. I had to peel The Mister off the ceiling when we got the electric bill this month. It was over $300. Yikes. 

 

 

Happy Mother's Day!

Here's wishing everyone a wonderful day! 

 

Happy Sheep Day!

 

No. I'm not there again this year but I can dream. 

I'm still too itchy to deal with the likes of stuff like this but I'll make it up to myself when I'm feeling better by having an online spending spree. I could use some new fiber to spin when I'm in the mood to do so again. 

Looking back at old blog posts I see that the last two years I was there I complained a lot about this. It's been raining non stop for two days so I bet the field is a mess again this year which is too bad.....

...because the best part is taking a break from spending and knitting or spinning on the hill with all the other fiber folks next to your glorious haul. Maybe next year will be MY year weather wise AND health wise. Could I be so lucky? Only 365 days to go...........

Week Seven

I have to say the itch has been almost bearable this week. I hate to say it because I've said it before only to have it return. Itch or not, I still look like Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Mites leave track marks all over you that look like long scars. If and when I ever get out of here I'll have to cover up for a while. It's too bad we are heading into summer. I could use a few more months of cold weather and layers of clothing. 

And......do yourself a favor and DON'T Google that the rash looks like. I just did and I'm sorry. As bad as I look, I am NOWHERE as bad as what I just saw. 
 

May!

Hopefully this will be the month of our liberation. 21 days and counting until the critters develop complete mite killing abilities. The Mister and I are still fighting the itch but grateful for how quickly time seems to pass even when you are not having fun.
 

New Stuff

 

I may not be doing much these days other than cleaning and healing but I have been buying stuff. I got an international delivery yesterday. From the UK. When I ordered this birth sampler on Etsy for the Grand that's due in September I didn't realize I was ordering from across the pond. I should have. This ABC sampler is full of clues and I just didn't notice. 

I also ordered this cowboy themed material for a baby quilt for the little guy. Of course I'm not working on any of this new baby stuff until I am mite free. Better to be safe and late with the gifts than sorry. I wouldn't wish this misery on anyone-except maybe Putin. 

I have no desire to knit or even touch anything woolly but I couldn't resist this new colorway from MadTosh. It's Gigi Loves Orange. I follow Gigi on Instagram. She is a knitter who is all about orange. I painted my bedroom orange when I was a teen and I never heard the end of it from Daddio who had to paint over it when I moved out. There is nothing shy about orange.

Out Again!

 

If you look way down the boardwalk you can see The Mister and Pup. They got far ahead of me yesterday when I stopped to look at my phone to get a photo. Pup was cruising along at warp speed. She was so happy to get out again. It was cold yesterday and very windy so we figured we could cover up all our ugly bits with some warm clothes and have the place to ourselves. We did.

Week Six

 

Pup's been recovering very well this week. I am encouraged. She doesn't need the cone or the pajamas to keep her from chewing her legs off anymore. Her poor ears are healing nicely too. She can even hold them up again when she's trying to be a good girl in order to get her reward for putting up with her treatments and isolation. That's a McDonald's chicken nugget-her favorite thing in the whole world. I keep them in the freezer and take one out when I need it. All the critters got their second dose so we are hoping for even more rapid improvement in the weeks ahead. I just wish Pup would start growing hair on her bald spots. If she doesn't she's going to be one weird looking dog. 

The Mister and I are starting to show some improvement also. Mange mites can explore you but they can't colonize humans like they did poor Pup so if we can catch any new spots early on we've learned we can avoid a whole lot of damage. The Mister is doing pretty well with his sulfur remedies. I can't use them because of the stinky fumes but I have discovered that Dawn and sea salt scrubs work just as well when followed by a splash of vinegar and tea tree oil tonic and a thick covering of calamine lotion. The point is to make yourself an inhospitable host. We are still scrubbing and boiling everything in the house all day and will probably have to continue for at least 2 months after we declare a victory of sorts. We've settled into quite a weird routine but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. 

Out!

 

It's been five weeks since we've been out for a walk with our mangy mutt but yesterday was so nice that we took the chance of going to the marina down the street for a stroll in the sunshine where no one could see us in all our scabbed up glory. We had all our PPE at the ready for handling Pup and jumped in the shower when we got back. Now we'll let the car sit for a few days to de-mite itself and then maybe we can try it again. It felt good to get out. Weird but good. 

Planned Obsolescence

Look at that. Just look at it. That's a chip in my new $$$ quartz counter top in the area around the sink. I had an absolute breakdown about it yesterday and cried all day. I have no idea how I did it but there it is. Nothing and I mean nothing about this new kitchen is working for me. When I say I hate it, I really, really mean it. 

I spend all day walking on eggshells in it. I've got mats, glass counter protectors and then I still put down a dishcloth under everything. I've been so careful and still........a chip. All these new fangled building materials are terrible. The glass stove top and sink scratch if you just look at them. The floor is a streaky mess even if you mop it all day long. Don't even get me started on the appliances that never worked. I can't even use the dishwasher now because of the recall and we can't even get through to them to set up a repair date. It's insanity. I hate cooking anymore. All I can think of is that they don't want this stuff to last so we have to keep replacing it over and over. The old kitchen that The Mister and I installed 30 years ago looked better when we ripped it out than the new stuff looks right now. It might have been out of date but it was much more usable than this fancy modern junk-and I mean junk. Expensive junk.