Too Much Too Soon

One week after my surgery, I was determined to get on with life as usual. After dragging all my equipment outside, I discovered I did not have the range of motion to comfortably tackle combing wool.



I also found that the latest washing had very dry, dirty tips.
It wasn't my best day.

In Stitches

I could shock you with a peek at my belly, but the really interesting stitches are here on my striped socks. On the left is a sock I wore to the hospital, the one with the "bad" jogs. On the right is the sock I was working on in the hospital using Meg Swansen's jog avoiding technique of knitting into the stitch below of the first stitch of the color changing round. It's not perfect either, but it is an improvement over the "slip the first stitch" technique I had been using.

The Slow Road to Recovery

On the 4th day of my recovery, I was able to focus my eyes enough to pick up the needles for some simple stockinette on my Classic Lines Cardigan. Anesthesia is nasty stuff. You wake up in the recovery room, but your brain doesn't really start to function like itself for several days after. I suppose it's a blessing because there is nothing good to remember about those first few days out of surgery, but it's eerie to have only vague memories of entire days at a time.

Un Cadeau Surprise

I had a big surprise in the mail on Saturday. A Ravelry friend sent me another one of her amazing knitting bags made of vintage materials. This is a sock bag and it could not have arrived at a better time. In my convalescence, two family members have asked for gift socks. Nothing makes a knitter happier than knitting with a purpose and nothing makes me happier than having a great bag to keep it in!
Mille fois merci Pinney, c'est très gentil!

Ouch!

For weeks I had promised myself I would wear my newly finished Crazy Zauberball Socks to the hospital. It was the one and only thing I was looking forward too. I admit it, I am a GIANT ninny, a total scaredy cat. I had been dreading this day for so long it was like a long nightmare in painful slow motion.



After being filled with anti-anxiety drugs, I was able to calm down enough to turn the heel on yet another Zauberball sock. I have enough left to hopefully get another pair out of the ball. Soon after The Mister took this photo, I was wheeled into a freezing cold torture chamber and everything went black. The nasty old gallbladder was hopefully dumped into the garbage.
After that, I was in a state of drug induced amnesia for 3 days. Apparently I did a lot of things and said a lot of things that I don't remember but none of it had to do with knitting.

Round and Round

Here is the lace project and all the stitch markers I was complaining about yesterday. It should be smooth sailing because this is the fifth time I have made this cowl so I pretty much have the pattern memorized. If you are not a lace knitter and this gives you goose bumps, I assure you this is a VERY EASY lace pattern. You can memorize it AND read the stitch pattern as you go so you can watch TV or take it out in public without worrying about ruining it. Most lace does NOT fall into this category but the Flared Lace Smoke Ring does. It is so much easier and faster than it looks which means it makes an impressive gift. I have gifted this one many times. Now this one is for ME-and the best part? That is MY very own spindle spun Cormo.

A Stitch (Marker) in Time

I have always hated the idea of dangly things hanging from my projects but lately I have found myself, on more than one occasion, overlooking an important marker. Then I have to tink back to make corrections after already loosing a great deal of time to head scratching while wondering what I had done wrong. Usually what I have done wrong is miss the row changes in circular lace patterns.




When you are working on a project that has tons of markers you need some that are unique so they make you stop and think. I have some cute ones that came in the Phat Fiber sample boxes I won last summer but I also have a basket of beading materials that need something to do. Now I just need to find the needle nose pliers and I'm in business.