2+2+2+2

 

I think I've reached the point where I might be able to sit down and knit a bit while The Mister is napping. I'm still running on empty since he is still getting up every few hours around the clock but I'm adjusting. I've put all my mindless projects in baskets and am determined to at least get 2 rows on each every day. It may not happen but just seeing them there makes me feel like I am still in the land of the living.

I've also set up some things for The Mister to do when he waddles out for his chair time. I need some new potholders. 

He's missing his paint by number projects that are down stairs so I copied a coloring book page on some watercolor paper and set him up a space on the dining room table. If I can get him to stay up longer in the daytime maybe I can get some sleep at night. 

And...if things couldn't get drearier, it's been raining cats and dogs for the past few days. The coastal flooding was supposed to bring the bay up a few blocks last night at high tide. Of course, I didn't get to see it, being stuck here. I did get to see how pretty my hostas looked with their sparkles of rain. The green has really exploded in the past few days. It's a jungle out there again.

Day Three

 

We've officially hit the Oscar the Grouch stage in The Mister's recovery. Fur has been flying between us and to top it off I had a monster migraine yesterday, my third in a week. I'm not sure why some men find it so hard to follow doctor's directions and just do what's best for them but they do. Dad was the same way. It's exhausting. This oppositional defiant routine is getting old fast but at least I am able to walk away and close his bedroom door now so I can get some precious down time for myself. Every minute counts. 

It Takes a Village

 

After a miserable night without much sleep, we spent yesterday ushering in one health care worker after another. We had a nurse in the morning checking vitals and the wound........

...and a physical therapist in the afternoon. The Mister is still walking like Bambi on ice but that's to be expected. Up and down, up and down. Every 2 hours we get up and walk, then sit in a chair, then back in bed for exercises and finally an ice pack. All day long. Over and over and over. 

All's Well That Ends Well...

 

If you've seen the movie Terms of Endearment you have to remember the scene where Shirley MacLaine goes ballistic on the nursing staff because they were late with her daughter's pain medication. That would be me yesterday in Walgreens going so ballistic on the pharmacy staff that a strange man went out to my car to check on The Mister and tell him that I was in there raising a ruckus and I'd be right out. Let me explain....

First let me say that this outpatient surgery thing is for the birds. The staff was wonderful but the whole set up is woefully lacking. I was run ragged by the end of the day and at the end of the day I had another day's worth of work ahead once we got home. After they took The Mister back I was sent to get his prescriptions with instructions not to leave until I knew they had what I needed since we don't live close to this pharmacy. I drove up the road to sit in front of the pharmacy for an hour and a half before it opened and yes, I brought knitting but I really wasn't in the mood to knit.  The pharmacy told me they had what I needed but it would be a couple of hours so I went over to a medical complex across the street to use the facilities. I sat, and sat and sat. No text that the meds were ready for pickup. In fact, the surgery place called me to come to recovery so back I went down the highway to the surgery center. I'm 6 hours in at this point and fading fast. Our adventure had started at 4 am.

I had no sooner walked into the recovery room when I got a text saying they had one of the prescriptions but not the other. The doctor said fine. Get the one and sub some baby aspirin for the blood thinner they were out of until you get the prescription back and put it in a pharmacy near us. After sitting in recovery for three hours they loaded up a very wobbly Mister into my car to go home but first we had to go back to the pharmacy to get the pain meds. When I got there......NO prescriptions were filled yet. NONE. I was livid. I had a guy in a lot of pain in his pajamas squeezed into the front seat of our car and I wanted everyone to know it. That's where the strange man came in. He said he had noticed The Mister when he came in and went out to check on him for me. Nice guy. He made my day. So....I had to wait AGAIN for the pain medication and NO they wouldn't give me the script for the blood thinner. Today I have to go down to our local CVS and explain it all to them. They are supposed to be able to call the Walgreens and get it straightened out. I hope so. It won't be pretty if I have to leave The Mister alone and drive all the way back down to the Walgreens. It won't be pretty at all. 

After all that I still had to get a very miserable Mister out of the car and up all of our steps and get him tucked into bed which is no easy task with that leg. In fact both his legs have these inflatable contraptions on them that I have to keep charged that reduce the risk of blood clots. I also had to get him up to walk every few hours, put ice on the incision every few hours and give him meds every few hours. Not to mention feed him and help him to the bathroom. In Dad's day after we got him up to his room we kissed him goodnight and went home and got some rest. Sitting and waiting is very hard work. 

And...today would have been my mom's 87th birthday. I think. Don't quote me on that I've lost track of the years and am too tired to go look it up. She went through this surgery thing with my dad so many times I've lost count. I don't know how she did it. 

Wednesday WIPs: When Knitting Attacks

 

I was up until 2 in the morning fixing a major boo boo on both sleeves of Advent Sweater #20 the other night. I had both of them finished and was just about to join them to the body when I realized my edges were too tight and they both had major pucker issues on each edge. I have a trick that I use to get around the corner with colorwork but in my hubris I had abandoned it and just knit on completely oblivious to the unfolding drama. 

I should have known better because in 2012 I tried to make a pair of Vinterblomster mittens. They were a disaster. I had big ridges on each edge where the floats were too tight as well as ridges at every pink stripe. It is very hard to control the tension on vertical stripes. After several attempts I frogged that mitten and surrendered to the realization that I didn't have what it takes.

Ten years later I had completely missed the fact that this plaid pattern also has-vertical stripes. And it gets worse. After staying up all night I flipped one over to take a photo the next morning to write this post and noticed..........THREE stripes where there should have been two. Argh....tink, tink, tink. #20 is kicking my butt. 

And.......today is The Mister's big day. We have to be at the surgery center at 6:15 am (!). Never under estimate my power to blog but I may have to disappear for a while if things get too intense here.

See you on the other side. 

Tiny Needle Tuesday: Oh, Gee...

 

See that little G in the newly finished right hand corner? It took me three tries to get it in the right place. How hard could that be you might ask but apparently it was harder than I thought. It kept creeping too close to the newly stitched flower over and over. Stuff like that keeps you humble. 

So does stitching baskets of apples. I was not pleased at all with the results at first but it's growing on me. 

I had better luck with the big cow.....

....and the big flower. I've got sheep to stitch next. Pink sheep. That sounds like fun. 

And......have you ever played mind games with a project? I keep telling myself I want this. I go to order it at 123 Stitch. Decide I don't want it. Then convince myself to go back to order it only to find out that it is sold out. Every time. I've been doing this over and over for months now. It makes no sense but then neither does stitching all these things just to put them in a drawer. I think this might just be a new definition of insanity. 

Making Time

 

All things considered, I somehow managed to get quite a bit of stitching done this weekend. I got the lattice on another Dear Jane and am almost finished putting together block C 13. One more hexie also got added to the table runner pile.

What's been filling up most of my time is cleaning and organizing my house since I am going to have a deluge of strangers tromping through it sometime this week. My house. You know, the one with the loom and three spinning wheels in the living room. Every nook and cranny is filled with my crafting folly. I feel like I am going to be judged rather harshly by the visiting medical folks. I hope they have a sense of humor. In spite of it all I've drug out yet another project. I don't have a quilt to piece at the moment so hopefully when things quiet down I can at least get it cut out. 

I am also back to work on this guy. I was halfway through machine quilting the fall batik when I put it aside for one reason or another most likely having something to do with Christmas but it's back in production now. Maybe I'll have it done by next fall. Maybe not. 

The Difference a Day Makes

 

I got several questions yesterday about the state of the beach here on the Chesapeake Bay. On Friday the warm weather brought out a crowd but yesterday it was only a few folks who could brave the cooler temps, wind and rough water. They were calling for thunderstorms.

Some of you were surprised that you could swim in the bay. You can but you have to pay dearly for it if you are not a town resident. It's free now for everybody until Memorial Day. 

When beach season is here and the place is open and manned they use this board to tell you what's going on with the water. They tell you about the jellyfish and the types of bacteria that has been found in the water so you can decide if you want to take the risk. The warmer the water, the higher the risk. The water temperature yesterday was 59 degrees and the water is still quite clear. It won't stay that way.

The Welcome Center has nice bathrooms and showers. They used to have a fancy doggy fountain on the pier but when dog flu became a thing they took it away. 

They still put out Milk Bones every day. There is one particular Golden Retriever that barks in rhythm as he walks along the whole length of the boardwalk until he gets to the window for his bone. It's very funny.

It's a very small town but there is a lot to do and plenty of good places to eat. We even have a fancy cheese shop and a beer garden. If you like shabby old beach towns this place is for you.

And......Betsy, you can drag your trailer down my driveway anytime but wouldn't you rather rent this house? It's right on the beach. That top level is one giant master bedroom with doors that open to that huge deck with a bay view to die for. It even has an elevator. It's pretty busy during wedding season but most of the year it stands empty. I've been tempted to break the bank and rent it for myself. It's only $845 a night. 

Beach Blanket Bingo

 

The Mister and I were very surprised yesterday to see the beach looking like it was the middle of the summer. It was quite the festive atmosphere. They were predicting 80's again and I guess everyone wanted to take advantage of it. 

Right across the street they are building our new library. They put the roof on the other day. It was quite something to see that big crane in action.

Down at the other end of town the crabbers are starting to return. Crab season started on the first of the month but it's been pretty slow going. We hardly see any boats out on the water. They have some tough regulations again this year due to a continuing decrease in the crab population. All the same, what The Mister is looking forward to after his surgery is to sit down to a dozen or so. That's all he's been talking about.

Friday Fluff: Let's Make a Deal

 

When The Mister asked me if I would help him move all the wood from around the house that we didn't burn this winter the other day I said fine.....IF he would help ME do something for a change. 

It was a cool, breezy day that was perfect for getting some wool combed and carded so I handed him some gloves and the carders and showed him what to do. I thought working together we could get the rest of that bin of California Red finished.

Dad used to love to help me tease out the wool before I put it through the carder and it's nice to have company as it's a slow tedious job that goes much faster if two people are doing it. 

He did a good job but I could tell his interest was waning so we made only one little batt before I gave up. 

I squished it in the top of the bin with all of its woolly siblings and even though it doesn't look like much I suppose it was the effort that counted. 

Honestly, I got tired of hearing him complain about how much waste there is when you card fleece. You always end up with more in the waste bucket than you do in the carder. It's just how it is unless you want wonky, lumpy yarn which I don't. I had to keep reminding him that the sheep are growing fleece all around the world at this very moment and will continue to do so. There will always be more than enough to go around.

Counting Down

 

This time next week we should have all this hip replacement drama behind us. Right now we are still going down the list trying to get everything we need done according to the paperwork we were sent on what to expect during recovery. We've been rearranging The Mister's room to make it more accessible and while we were at it we replaced the old closet doors with new ones. 

You would think that would have been an easy job but it wasn't. We didn't even get it finished. It's going to take a lot of ripping out of the wood trim and we didn't have the time or the energy for that. 

What we ended up doing was just hanging them from the top. We'll get the bottom attachments figured out later. We also had to get The Mister a chair for his room. One with sturdy arms that he can use to transfer himself. You'd think we'd have one around here somewhere but we didn't. We decided to get a couple of patio chairs with firm cushions. We can use them on my new screened in porch when we get that built....lol. 

Since you've got to keep your leg at just the right angle we had to buy him a new mattress so he could sit on his bed. That's it sitting up against the wall having it's 78 hour fluffing up session beside the bed. That's his new bed wedge next to it. 

Then there are these. A walker and a toilet seat that keeps that leg at the right angle while you do your business. After everything we went through with Dad's disaster of a double hip replacement these items in particular have given me a good case of PTSD. 

I had to get him a long shoe horn and a sock thingy. I also had to order something called a "leg lifter" yesterday. That was a new one for me who thought they knew everything hip replacement. 

Then there are the extra large pajamas, boxers and slip on shoes that he's going to need for afterwards. The more we do to get ready, the crazier it seems that just three hours after surgery I'm going to be bringing him back home. And I'm not the only one starting to freak out. The Mister has been doing his own freaking out which is only freaking me out even more.  

Wednesday WIPs

 

My days seem to fly by with little time for picking up the needles but row by row things seem to be making progress. I wish this sock and that hat would be in the rear view mirror. I'm really starting to think that Musselburgh is just messing with me. I knit, knit, knit and it doesn't get bigger. 

Hooray for big yarn. Riddari is showing some progress. I'm at the place where I have to decide how long I want it to be. 

Ditto for Bon Amie. It's time to start thinking about sleeve steeks and I'm not in the mood for thinking right now. It'll keep.

I'm tempted to leave Chestnut be until fall. I might as well do all the operating on Bon Amie first in case it all goes wrong. I'm using an old Arne and Carlos tutorial for dealing with the sleeves and neckline and am a bit nervous about it. 

Advent Mini #10 is getting its sleeves worked on. It's nice to have a project that has all the bugs worked out. All I have to do is knit. No thinking involved. 

And.....finally. This gray blob is a newish stealth project that I've been working on the most in the past few weeks. I'm not going to talk more about it until I see if it works out. It's a new pattern and a new yarn and we all know how that can go. It's either a recipe for disaster or a surprising success. We'll just have to wait and see.