Another Weekend

On Friday, I came home to a great surprise.

This wonderful little zipper pouch made by Jennifer at JC Handmade.


A little while ago, I won a contest and I got this in the mail much quicker than I expected. Thanks so much, Jennifer! It's the perfect size for all the little loose stitch holders and crochet hooks that swim around in the knitting gadget bag. And the colours, inside and out, make it so cute.

The rest of the weekend was pretty good, too.

Another Jen (this one from work) and I tried a new place for haircuts Saturday morning. I like how my hair ended up, but I don't think I'll be going back to that particular hairdresser. There were several indications that things weren't going swimmingly:

1. The cut took an hour.

2. Blow drying took another half an hour.

3. I had to point out twice that my hair was (much) longer on the left than on the right.

4. She couldn't figure out how to fix the uneven problem, and had to ask another hairdresser to come over and show her how to fix it.

But all is well, and I'm happy with the end results, thanks mainly to Emergency Backup Hairdresser.

The rest of the day was spent knitting, teaching knitting, watching movies, and playing with a cute kitty.

Good weekend.

Home. Not mine.

There's something about this apartment that I just love.

This was posted in an entry on Apartment Therapy NYC the other day. This is a blog I subscribe to in Bloglines solely for the pictures. There are so many really neat things that people are doing with very small spaces.

I don't know why, but this apartment really looks like a home to me. More than any of the apartments I've lived in myself.

Maybe I should read some of the words in the blog and find a way to make my little space feel more homey.

Meanwhile

Meanwhile, originally uploaded by Vaedri1.

Lots has been happening. I have not been writing about it. Part of the reason for my absence is due to my working through an addiction to the old Nintendo games like Boulder Dash and Super Mario Bros., which have been rediscovered on nintendo8.com.

And another part of the reason has been a general lack of inspiration. Maybe the long, cold, dull, boring, bleak winter finally sucked all of the creativity and words out of me.

As you can see, there has been lots going on. I've met some brand new people in Cody and Emily. I've been to the dog park and frolicked with the beagles and collies and Jindos (oh, my). I've been down to Windsor more than once and celebrated the nearing of the end of chemo for my mum, while trying to help her get through the worst of the neupogen, and laughing with her at her wigs and challenges. I've taught someone to knit (mwa ha ha indeed) and had lots of opptunities to be silly and lazy and taken advantage of all of them.


This past weekend was abso-friggin-lutely amazingly wonderful. It was sunny and warm, and breezy and forced me out the door. I wandered Port Credit, and sat by the river and listened to Cast-On and worked on my real sock attempt, in yarn I like.



This yarn I got from Juno a while back. I'm knitting this using Wendy's toe-up sock pattern. The idea of a knitting a sock from the toe up just seems so logical and orderly that it appeals to the Scottish (cheap) engineer (methodical) in me. I can make the socks as tall as possible, without running out of yarn, and using every last inch.

I came out of the park with the toe of the sock completed, caught up on my podcasts, and the first sunburn of the season.

Winter is dead. Long live spring!

Escape from the Couch

I did it! I actually got off the couch and went to see people and knit with them - and on a school night, no less!

I made contact with someone in a Mississauga knitting group a couple of weeks ago, and found that the group meets pretty close to where I live. I planned to go that first week, and then the second week, but odd things happened in the way that they tend to do - I had to work late, and then Jodi was here visiting. For years, nothing happens on Wednesdays. Go figure.

But I finally made it out tonight, and met some very nice people, and got some knitting done, and even learned how to rip back and pick up better (and by 'better', I mean 'without losing track of all the stitches and having to restart entirely, which is my usual way'). I have to say that I'm kind of proud of myself for going and hanging out with strangers. This is not my way. But it's a good change. I hope to go back again - probably with a simpler project, so that I don't spend half the time ripping.

I have a couple of projects on the go right now - I will share one of them once I have all the elements right - light, a camera, the inclination to use both, and the second will have to be only hinted at, as the recipient occasionally (not often) visits here, and this is one I want to be a surprise. But I'm loving it, and so must find a way to share the joy.

For now, though, it's sleepy time. My one little Strongbow and the late (for me) night out have combined to cause me to drift off with my fingers on the keys.

Hello, Spring!

Keira, originally uploaded by Vaedri1.

Trombones are So Passe

Every time I use it, I have the same thoughts.

Is the paperclip dispenser not the cleverest little invention ever? You know the one I mean - little rectangular box with a circular, magnet-lined hole in the top. And you pick up the box and shake it and the paperclips, rather than flying or sliding out of that little hole, all pop helpfully around the rim, eager to be plucked and put to use.

I'm pretty easy to please some days.

And for the days when it's more of a challenge, I turn to my more interesting paperclips.

Saturday From the Couch

I've indulged in yet another lazy Saturday. I sat curled up on my little loveseat, cat rolled into a furry, snoring ball next to me, with my laptop and knitting in turn taking up the space on my lap.

I've finished all but the seaming and fastenings on a baby kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting. I have a lot of baby knitting to do this year, and it's about time to get started. Jodi is due in early September (she likes to say she will be in labour on Labour Day), Chrystal is due in June, and Cathy was supposed to be due in April.

Apparently, however, conditions were a bit cramped and the little ones decided to make a break for it before things got any tighter. Cody and Emily arrived on March 9th. The proud grandma has set up a blog to keep everyone updated on the early arrivals, and you should definitely go and check it out if you like pictures of very cute babies. Here's a taste.

The evening has been spent half-watching Titanic on TBS while I back up my cd collection. It's a trip back to the nineties for me, with cds by The B-52s, Frente, Blind Melon, and Great Big Sea. I realised the other day that it has been maybe years since I listened to any of my cds, and that's a shame. So into mp3s they all go. Then I can put away the cds, probably for good.

And yes, I'm counting this as part of spring cleaning.

Good News and Critters

This was a glorious weekend, in a way that only the first sunny, warm days of the year can be.

The weekend started out with a quick drive down to Windsor with Jen. I make the three and a half hour drive down the flat, uninteresting stretch of 400-series highways often, and it was nice to have someone in the car with me for a change.

This was our goal:

Jen came to adopt Tulsa and take her home to become part of her family.

We also took advantage of the wonderful, warm Saturday to go out and play with the critters in the barn.

While we were visiting Ken and Jodi, I got some more very good news. Jodi handed me a bag full of baby yarn. She's expecting in September. And expecting a blanket some time before that.

I like weeks this full of good news.

Breathe.

Today we got some super, terrific, fantastic, wonderful news.

Last week, Mum went for a CT scan, to check on the progress of the cancer/chemo battle. Today, she got the results.

The cancer is almost gone.

Mum will need to continue this round of chemo and stay on the neupogen shots until May or so, but things are definitely looking positive.

When my mum told me, I felt like I'd been holding my breath without knowing it since November, and was finally able to exhale and draw in fresh air again. I've been determinedly, stubbornly, maniacally positive; forcing a strength and an optimism that doesn't come naturally to me. The only time I broke down a little was the day I heard the actual numbers - the stats concerning her 'chances'. And it wasn't that the numbers were so horrific, or so discouraging. No, it's just that, even a number as hopeful as "70%" leaves an enormous, frightening hole of 30% - a 30% chance of the unthinkable. And so, after that night, it was relegated to that hole - the realm of the unthinkable, and therefore a Thing I Do Not Think About.

The "George's Father" storyline on Grey's Anatomy was a little hard to take, I must admit (darn my love for that show!). During the seemingly hours that it took me to fall asleep last night, knowing that the news would come today, I kept hearing George saying, "I don't know how to live in a world where my dad doesn't." What a horrific thought.

But all is good, and I had a day of floating on air, and dancing down the hall at work - and yes, I was caught at it and I didn't care.

My mum kicks cancer's ass. I'm taking all the happiness and bravado I can get today and holding onto it with both hands.

Preparing to Pop the Bubble

It’s easy to think that you’re the only person in the whole, wide world who feels the way you do. The only person who is often worried, often scared, often lonely. Especially when it comes to things related to socializing. No one else seems to have this fear of other people – they all just move around in the world, interacting with people and chatting and being themselves with no trouble whatsoever. They don’t struggle to know what to say when they meet new people, or stumble when they find ways to end a conversation gracefully. They can go to new places and meet strangers without a sick feeling in their insides.

But every now and then you’re reminded that you’re not the only person living in their own little, solitary bubble of comfort. Laurie's excellent entry reminded me today that it’s good - and it’s important – to venture outside the bubble occasionally. And to keep in mind that even if the worst possible thing happens, it’s still not going to be something that will crush me.

So, yeah, I’m thinking about looking for a knitting group nearby to join, and break up my solitary evenings of just me and my needles. It would also serve to help my co-workers, in that I would have someone else to talk to about knitting, and they can stop putting so much effort into the smile-and-nod response as their eyes glaze over whenever they ask me what I did last night, and the answer involves cabling, or possibly gauge.

But for tonight, I’m stepping outside my comfort zone in an entirely different way. I’m swatching for a (gulp) sweater. I know that a sweater isn’t the big, scary thing I’m making it out to be in my head, but that doesn’t stop me from putting it off and anticipating horrible disaster.

But, again – what’s the worst that could happen? (Unjinx! Unjinx!)

Yarn Garden

I knit another hat - in a beige/white cotton twist yarn. It is a plain, rolled brim hat. I tried to put in a couple of cables to give it some texture, but they just didn't take. The yarn is kind of splitty, and it kind of acts like it doesn't like itself, in that it pulls and gaps at the K2togs at the brim. I would show you the hat, but it exceeds the boredom limits of even this blog. I hate this hat. But it's one that mum requested. So I decided to try to make some hat accessories.

These little flowers are addictive. And cute.

They're also a great way to use up little leftover bits of yarn.

I started with the patterns on the Head Huggers page, but changed them up a bit, in that they suggested cutting the yarn after each petal. Instead, I just cast on using the same strand, eliminating the need to weave in about 12 ends. This also means I can start and finish a flower in about 10 minutes. So fun. And gratifying to see my little knitted garden grow so quickly.

And now, I have to get back to my dinner. I somehow managed to choose the most complicated recipe on Allrecipes.com in my quest to find an 'easy, lots of leftovers' casserole.

Inspiration

It's funny how you come across a new knitting project.

I was taking a look at my stats, and taking particular interest in the key words that have lead people to this little blog. I found one very interesting search (and I mean "interesting" in a way different than the really wacky search terms are "interesting").

Someone got here by searching for "knitting a picc line cover".

What?

I did the search myself, and found this free pattern at KnitPicks.

When my mum was in the hospital, just before her diagnosis, she had a PICC line put into her arm. It'll stay there until she's finished with chemo, and it's kind of a pain in the ass. It's in her upper arm, and can't get wet, meaning no showers for eight months. And it's ugly. The nurses wrap it well every week after the ports are cleaned, and then cover it with a little mesh tube, kind of like the ones they use for wine bottles at the liquor store - and also ugly. A knitted cover is therefore a great idea. I cast on, and after some trial and error with different yarns - this one's too stretchy, this one's too scratchy, this one's juuust right - I finally got a nice fit, in a lovely, soft merino.

And it was fast. So I cast on a few more, and threw in some cables. I love cables, now that I don't have to fiddle with the teeny, little cable needle. So, so many thanks to Wendy and her tutorial on cabling without a cable needle.

I got three covers out of one ball of Zara fine merino. I'm planning to do up a bunch more and send them with mum to the cancer centre, since a lot of people were asking her about it during her last visit.

Learning About Beauty

On Monday, I went with my mother to a Look Good, Feel Better session at the Windsor Cancer Centre. This is a program sponsored by mainly cosmetic companies. They host sessions for cancer patients to learn about make-up and how to care for their skin. They also talk about wigs and other head coverings, like scarves, hats, and turbans.

It was an interesting afternoon. I sat behind my mum while she played with a box full of goodies from MAC, Estee Lauder, Clinque, and ... Bonnie Bell.

I got a few tips on make up application, and a chance to see, once again, how strong my mother is. My mother had her head shaved two weeks ago. I don't think I've ever been so proud of anyone as I was of my mum when she walked into the room, sat down, and took off her hat. She said her head was hot. She said that she got the courage to do it because a 'young girl' had already taken off her scarf. (The 'young girl' turned out to be just about exactly my age, as she and her sister had gone to high school with me.)

They were the only two comfortable enough (or brave enough) to go bareheaded.

My mum was glad to get some yummy new make-up, and some better ways to use scarves and hats. I was glad to get all the stuff my mum didn't want. And everyone liked my mum's hat and asked where she got it. She proudly told everyone, "My daughter knits my hats for me".

Visiting also gave me the chance to deliver a few more hats. I've been busy with the circulars.

I like this one best, I think.

This blue and black one was started (and about a quarter of it done) while I sat at the side of the 401, waiting to report as a witness of a three car accident near Woodstock.

That's my mum. :)

Happy Paczki Day!

I celebrated Fat Tuesday by eating the first paczki I've had since I moved away from Windsor.

However, with everything that's been going on lately, my parents forgot to order ahead (you MUST order ahead in Windsor) and so couldn't get the really good ones from the specialty Polish bakery. These were still decent, but kind of stale. Overall, not really worth the indulgence.

Wishing you a fatty, deep-fried, fruit-filled Tuesday!

I think I feel ill.

Babies Are Fun to Shop For

Okay, lots has been happening - nothing in the way of news, but more like the little bits that fill up the end of the newscast. Fluff. All the good (and not so good) stuff that fills in your life between Events.

I've been down to Windsor twice in the past week, and I'm just getting kind of worn out. I've also been knitting like a mad person, trying to finish gifts and get hats done. And I did get it all done, despite broken cables and yarn shortages.

Last weekend, I came down for Cathy's baby shower. When Cathy first announced she was pregnant, I was ready. I had had an inkling of a baby-premonition, and had recently finished a Baby Love blanket. It was waiting patiently, carefully folded in my gift drawer. I do love this pattern.

Then she found out it was going to be twins. One a boy, and the second unknown (at the time). I wanted to try out a different pattern, not only for variety, but also because I don't really like absolute matching of belongings between twins. They will be unique individuals and I wanted them to have unique gifts.

So I cast on Fibercrack, from JenLa, in a basic, blue and white dishcloth cotton (Bernat handicrafter). I wanted something beautiful, but also considerate of the tendency of babies to throw up a lot.

This was another fun pattern, and I was surprised at how similar it was to Mum's old Baby Love pattern, but came out looking so different.

(I was trying here to say something about the similarity between the patterns using a lot of the same steps and techniques, yet coming out so different, and the twins having the same basic genetic material and yet will end up being two different people, while still being a lot like one another, and could not make it sound profound or poetic in any way. Moving on.)

The shower itself was fun, with people I haven't seen in a long time, fun food, fun games (like REAL fun games, not baby shower "fun" games) and a lot of gabbing. By the time the invitations were sent out, Cathy had a 'best guess' on the sex of the second twin, so the party was all pink and blue. The best of both worlds. We - all the "aunts" - can buy BOTH the frilly dresses and the cute little corduroy overalls.

Here are a few pictures from the shower, and there are lots more in the Flickr set.

The cutest little cupcakes. So... much... cuteness...

Two of the books I picked up for the kids - these are definite must haves.

More later - tired.

Bien Sur

La pamplemousse est sur la table.

... Later ...

Um.

It's been pointed out to me that ce n'est pas une pamplemousse - c'est un ananas. Apparently, what little grasp I had of the French language upon graduation from high school has worn off. Oddly enough, though, I often buy grapefruit flavoured pop, and I know very well what it says on the other side of the can. I'm going to call it a brain fart and move on.

Anyway, for years, I've had this phrase running through my head, popping up anytime I see the word 'pamplemousse' or a pineapple (which is stupid). It occurred to me recently that I have no idea where this came from. It's been in my mind for so long, I thought it was 'a saying', or a phrase learned in French class many years ago.

I finally looked it up when I had on my desk (not) a pamplemousse. It turns out that it's a line from the play "Seven Stories" by Morris Panych . This was a play that our high school put on in grade 11 or 12. I was helping with the lighting, and so I heard the line repeated many, many times.

It's funny how things can stick in your brain for so long that it's just part of your thought processes.

Another One Bites the Dust

I snapped another Denise cable today. This is not fun.

This time I was at work, sitting at the lunch table, chatting. I was moving the stitches along the cable to knit the next stretch of the row, and describing to my friend Winston the difference between knitting and purling, when I heard the snap and froze in place. And continued to be frozen in place, just looking at the dozens of homeless little stitches in my lap, just waiting to unravel. Then I practiced my damage control and problem solving in-a-crisis skills.

I had no spare needles with me, there were too many stitches to pick up and hold with the little needle tip alone, and the blunt, broken end of the cable itself wouldn't fit through all the stitches without pulling them apart. Winston hovered near my elbow, tempted to start pestering me by pouring salad dressing down my neck or poking me with a fork while I couldn't move a muscle, but restraining himself in respect of the crisis at hand. He suggested sticking coffee stir sticks together. Um. No.

I remembered part of my Christmas gift to Jennifer - a little sewing kit. Jen is on vacation this week (in a place that is not -20 so we hate her for now), but I know where she keeps it in her desk drawer. I sent Winston running into Jen's lab in a hunt for the kit. First, he came back with a pencil tray full of paper clips. Not terribly helpful. The second time around, though, he successfully located the kit. I had him thread a needle, and ran a line of black thread through my renegade stitches. I tied the thread into a loop, and breathed for the first time in about 15 minutes.

Edge-of-your-seat stuff, here.

Guess I'm emailing Denise needles again. They're going to think I'm using the cables to strangle people, or knitting with barbed wire or something.

Tagged

I've been tagged! Chelle has invited me to share six weird things about me. Some would say choosing just six will be the challenge, but they would be mean-spirited, now wouldn't they?

Okay, here goes:

1. My heritage is entirely Scottish. Both of my parents are from Scotland (Mum from Glasgow, Dad from Edinburgh). I even spent several months living in Glasgow a few years ago. Despite all this, I cannot speak in a Scottish accent to save my life. I think this may be put down to plain old stubborness. Because until I started kindergarten, I had a Scottish accent.

(I just remembered - I do tend to have a bit of an accent when I am very tired or drunk. I also use bigger words when I am tired or drunk. No idea why. My inner drunk is a Scot?)

2. When eating french fries from a fast food place, I hold a little packet of ketchup and carefully apply to each fry as I pick it up. I didn't even know I was doing this until it was pointed out to me. They taste better that way.

3. I am allergic to cantaloupe. It makes my mouth all itchy and my tongue feel thick. Why must every fruit salad contain cantaloupe? Or, if it doesn't have cantaloupe, then it has blueberries, which are also vile. (Is that weird?)

4. I have trouble remembering my birthday. Way back when I was little, we had a neighbour whose birthday was the day before mine, and I got them confused and now I always have to stop and think about it before I can answer.

5. When I was two years old or so, I had tonsillitis so severe that I stopped breathing for over two minutes. I'm better now.

6. I sleep with six pillows. Two of them go on my head and face. Again, didn't realise this was something I did until someone came in to my room to wake me up a few years ago and asked why I had a pillow over my head. At that point, though, I was only using three pillows. Things are much better now.

(One body pillow at the head of the bed, two normal pillows on top of that (I sleep with my head between them), one throw pillow to hold onto, one throw pillow on my head, covering my ear, and one throw pillow slightly to one side of the one on my head, blocking out any stray light)

I think those things are all weird enough to count.

I'm just going to tag anyone who feels like taking a moment to count the ways they're a little off.

Recovering from Yarn Fumes

This was a very, very good weekend. And perhaps best of all, it was preceeded by a couple of weeks of lovely anticipation.

Charlotte was coming to town for a conference, and had a free weekend following up. So we planned to meet up for a little yarn crawling and revelry in geekery. And things pretty much went exactly as planned.

I picked Charlotte up Saturday afternoon, and we headed to St. Lawrence market for lunch (savoury crepes and potato ... things. They were good. That's all I need to know) and the fixings for dinner in the form of fresh, handmade pasta and sauce, shrimp, and eggplant. Then it was time for the yarn crawl.

The first stop was The Naked Sheep in The Beach, which was a shop I hadn't visited before. It's a very nice shop, and I picked up some new bamboo needles to replace some long, ungainly plastic needles that have been driving me up the wall. This was also the place we saw the first Clapotis of the day - aside from the one I was wearing, of course. I warned Charlotte (a crocheter) that we would be seeing several of these as we wandered the yarn stores of Toronto. I should have kept track, but I do know it was at least three.


Next up was, of course, Lettuce Knit. It was here where the true enabling kicked in, as Charlotte found a great book of crochet patterns for babies, and we got some help picking out some Baby Ull in a warm, kind of milk-chocolate brown. I had to join in the illicit spending and picked up some of the Manos del Uruguay that I fell in love with during the knitting of the Kitty 62 hat for Rachel.

I also picked up a book that I am sure will very, very quickly become a favourite and a staple. I kind of feel like my bookshelf is honoured to have it join its ranks.

We ended our mini-yarn-crawl at The Knit Cafe, enjoying the chance to play with our new toys and relax with some delicious treats.

And we ended our day with some very geeky television watching, wherein I doomed Charlotte by getting her hooked on Firefly, which was very mean and I feel kind of bad about.

This morning, we had breakfast at Cora's (mmm, cheesy omelettes, awesome coffee, and crepes full of raspberry and cream) before I dropped Char off at the bus station for the long ride back to North Bay.

The whole visit was full of catching up (some much overdue catching up included) and lots of singleton bonding that is usually lacking when we meet up, as we're generally with a group of very married-with-children friends in Windsor. As much as I love my many couple-friends and their families, it's really nice to get a chance to connect with someone who is really in more of the same kind of place in life as I am. We haven't quite taken the fast train to bitter town, but we do both appreciate the chance to be with people who don't have to check with their 'better half' before planning a weekend away, or going out for an evening.

And as great as married life might be, single life can be pretty good, too. Especially when you include geekery and yarn.

Some Updates

So I emailed Denise Needles on Sunday afternoon, before the knitting had even cooled. I explained that I'd bought the set just under a year ago and had been completely happy up until the unfortunate demise of my little needle tip.

Monday afternoon, I received a response, including an apology for a not-unheard-of, but not common manufacturing defect, and a promise to send a replacement. Thank goodness - that's my hat cable! Maybe it expired from overwork.

I spoke to my mum tonight. She's still keeping her spirits up, but some things are getting harder to take.

She's lost enough hair now that she doesn't leave the house without a hat. And the hair that's left is basically dead, meaning that no amount of styling products can make it do anything she wants it to do.

I'm working on another hat.

Mum's also had to go on a second round of the neupogen shots, to encourage her body to make more white blood cells. And, while the chemo treatments hadn't been too hard on her, these shots are a different story. They're making her feel sick again, and very tired. But she also gets bored pretty easily, so we'd have to strap her to the couch to keep her there for any length of time. We're considering it.

She's scheduled to have a CT scan at the end of February, that will show whether the chemo is winning.

Until then, I'll be over here, not thinking about it.

And knitting.

Curse this superhuman strength!

I just BROKE one of my Denise cables. I was sitting on the couch, knitting away on a baby blanket - a fairly tame, if involving project, when the black end piece on the cable in my right hand snapped in two, leaving my knitting to fall into my lap like so much cotton spaghetti.

By some divine miracle (thanks, God!) my kit was near at hand, and I was able to reach over and grab another point and cable out of the case and rescue the blanket with hopefully no damage done.

But my Denise set! Woe is me! I've loved this set, and I feel like I've been betrayed by a friend. I'm going to contact the company - I've heard from several people that they're very good about customer service. I just never thought I'd need to test it out.

Happy (cold, very cold) Rabbie Burns' Day

Happy Rabbie Burns' day! While my blood is saturated with Scottish-ness, I have to admit that I've never really done anything particular on this day before.

We celebrated at work with, rather than the traditional haggis (which most people really weren't into) Scottish meat pies, chips, and mushy peas.

And to finish things off, Jen brought a very yummy trifle.

Today was also the coldest day we've had this winter in Toronto. I celebrated this early, by finishing a hat for my friend Rachel.

I love this hat, and this yarn. I may have to do something similar for myself. What a concept - knitting a hat for me... Anyway, this hat was knit in Manos del Uruguay, using the Official Kitty62 Hat pattern. Lots of fun to knit up. And there was just about exactly enough yarn.

Tonight I've started knitting for an impending baby - one of a set. Twins are great - twice as many babies to knit for! Baby number one will be getting a Baby Love blanket like the one I knit for Darren and Angie's little girl. Baby number two will be getting a blanket knit using the Fibercrack pattern from JenLa.

I feel like I'm knitting an anti-hat - starting on dpn's and working my way up to the circulars.

I like it.

Running in Circles

I made a couple more hats while in Windsor, out of fun fur and acrylic yarns that my mum picked out. She was feeling in need of some colour, and chose bright, multicoloured yarns that I never would have picked out for her, and there's lots of it left. I have many more hats to come.

On Sunday, I just couldn't face another circle, another hat. I picked out a fun little novelty yarn called Pooch, in browns and blues, and cast on. Then ripped out when the little built-in bobbles caused confusion when I tried to do some drop stitches. Then cast on again. Then ripped out again when I noticed a dropped stitch several rows back, caught in the tangle of bumps and strands. And ripped back again. I finally stuck with straight garter stitch, ten stitches across, and knit until it was done, which was by the end of the evening.

I do like how it turned out - just a cute, silly little scarf. But even though I'd finally gotten a change, a break from the round knitting, I was feeling a different kind of craving - a craving for luxury, for a chance to have something other than squeaky, lumpy, furry acrylics and novelties.

Ah, just the thing.

This yarn is so lovely and soft, I don't even mind that I'm back to knitting in circles.

Much.

Another Three Days, Another Hat

I am challenged with the knitting of the chemo caps for my mum. She has an unusually small head, which is a fact that I never thought would cause me frustration. But the time has come. Her head is apparently so small that she also frustrated the woman at the wig centre, who had only one wig that would even fit her.

I've been trying to experiment with making the hats I'm knitting smaller than my head, but not too small. And I'm not so good at this. If my mother were a little closer than four hours away, I could use some trial and error and lots of ripping to get things just right. But, well, she's in Windsor and I'm in Port Credit and there's a lot of 401 between there and here.

So, for this latest hat, I tried to not only make the hat smaller, but also to make it adjustable in size a bit. I gave it a roll brim so that the height can be adjusted. And, in what I must admit turned out to be stupid luck, I added a row of simple lacy holes (yo, k2tog) just above the brim, to break up the straight knitting and give some character. Once I'd gotten a few rows past this section, it occurred to me that those holes could easily be threaded with something decorative. And this lead to this:



I did two strings of knotting with the same yarn used to knit the hat (pull the yarn through its own slip knot over and over), twisted them together, and threaded through the holes.

I really like the way it turned out. And the string makes it very easy to adjust the fit of the hat around the head.



And I think it looks cute. I hope Mum likes this one. I may even do the same kind of thing for myself, later. I will not, however, be using this yarn - though soft, it persisted in tangling and sticking to itself, in some kind of bizarre and frustrating self-felting fit.

Jen was kind enough to model the hat for me, saving me from an arm's length self-portrait or another dangerous cat modelling session.

Tomorrow I'm headed down to Windsor for the weekend. Better load enough podcasts onto the mp3 player to keep me awake on the 401.

I, Jerk

I feel like I got a taste of how to be a jerk today.

I had all my (11) items on the table at the grocery store when I realised that I was at the 1-8 cash. I walked out to my car, only to find that I had parked in a pregnant lady/new mother parking space. I was tempted to waddle carefully across the ice with a couple of loaves of bread stuffed under my coat.

I finished the fuzzy acrylic hat tonight, and have started on a hat with a cable pattern that looks like it will be nice and warm. I did something a little different with the fuzzy hat, that I'll take a picture of tomorrow, when I'm not quite so comfortable here on my couch.

In the meantime, I suggest you go have a little fun with a simple and surprisingly addictive little game called Line Rider.

Fuzzy Hats

Winter has finally hit Toronto, and it's almost a relief. Ice rain? Well, at least it's cold out, I guess.

I am celebrating the arrival of the cold and wind and snow by knitting a hat. I am also celebrating getting home from work, taking a lunch break, and watching the traffic report in the morning by knitting a hat. I'm planning to head down to Windsor to visit my family this weekend, and I'd like to give my mum as many hats as I can have ready by then.

Progress, however, is slow ever since I started with a thin, fuzzy acrylic. First, I tried to do a little butterfly-type stitch to make it a bit more interesting. But I was nearing the end of the hat when I realised that

1 - the number of cast on stitches was too high, meaning the hat would be too big. And,

2 - I was screwing up the butterfly stitch, increasing by about 7 stitches every few rounds, making the hat mushroom-like and even bigger.

So, it's been painstakingly frogged and all the little fuzzy mind-melded bits pulled apart and the one big ball is now about five smaller, broken-ended balls. Thankfully, the end is near again.

Coming up, I've got some nice, chunky, solid yarn on big needles. For my sanity.

In chemo-news, it turns out that my mum's body is short on white blood cells, so she's started a series of self-administered injections of neupogen. Hopefully, this will increase the number of white blood cells her body is making, and she can continue with the chemo. Unfortunately, the injections come with their own set of side effects, including bone pain.

Cancer sucks.

Back to knitting.

My Life in Pictures

It's become something of a tradition. Every year, I create a slideshow using my favourite pictures from the whole year, January to December.

Here's the offering from 2006. Happy Belated New Year!

Chemo Visit

While I was visiting my parents for Christmas, I had the opportunity to go with my mum to a chemo appointment. I was glad to have the chance to do this with her for several reasons. First, just to know that I can be a support for her right now, even if it’s just being the person to drive her to the cancer centre and fetch her coffee and push her wheelchair. And second, out of sheer curiosity – I had no idea what was involved with a session of chemo.

Sonya, a family friend who also recently underwent cancer treatment, came with us, to show me where to go and park, and for the company. After dropping Mum off in her chair and returning from the distant parking lot via the free shuttle, we discovered that we were going to be there a lot longer than we had originally planned for. Because of the two holidays, there were a lot more people than usual waiting for their appointments. We learned that we would also have to wait until several blood tests had been completed and analysed; these are normally done the day before, but, again – that was Boxing Day.

The cancer centre wasn't the serious, somewhat depressing place I half-expected it to be. It was full of light, despite the gloominess of the day. In fact, after some wandering around the hospital after being gently kicked out of the treatment room, I came to the conclusion that the cancer centre is the most light-filled area of the whole place. The people were not despondent and hopeless - rather, they were strong and friendly, and open to share with each other their challenges, symptoms, and triumphs. And there were knitters who politely admired my blanket and shared stories of their own projects.

After a couple of hours of waiting (approximately six inches of baby blanket) we were lead into a large room lined with armchairs, similar to a blood donation clinic. Mum took a seat in one of the chairs, and, after checking temperature and blood pressure, and reviewing symptoms and progress, the nurse hooked up a saline drip to her PICC line. Over the next two and a half hours, Mum received four drugs: a combination of simple injections and IV bags.

Once all of the syringes and bags had been emptied into Mum, we were finished for the day.

Overall, I was impressed by the cancer centre. Downstairs from the waiting and treatment areas, there is a high-ceiled, open space furnished with couches and bookshelves full of books that can be checked out by patients. While waiting, I read a book about cancer and humour. There is also a small store stocked with wigs, hats and turbans, all available for purchase, or, for someone who can't afford to pay, just to be taken and used.

Mum's doing okay in her treatment so far, but she is experiencing some negative side effects. She has pain in her fingertips and has lost most of her hair now. She was informed yesterday that her body isn't making enough red blood cells. If she wants to continue the chemo, she needs to start giving herself daily injections.

But through everything, Mum is keeping positive and strong. A positive to losing your hair? No shaving your legs for weeks! And it's funny to hear her talk about food - you don't often hear someone say, "Oh, I really think I should have more butter on this - for my health, you know." Today she had a small triumph in the gaining of two pounds - her first weight gain since everything started months ago.

On the knitting side of things, two of the hats I knit were too big - my mum apparently has a freakishly small head. The fuzzy, brown chenille hat fits alright once the brim is turned up, and the blue hat fits okay, but the white, lace-edged hat is far too big. I've asked Mum to give any hats that she won't use to the cancer centre hat shop, so none will be wasted.

I'm glad I could go once, to see and meet the people who are helping my mum to get better.

New Toys

Oh, man, I'm stupid sometimes. For the past few weeks, I was occasionally checking StatCounter, and was a little disappointed that it appeared no one had visited my blog since October or so. And was also confused, because I know that that's not true. It finally dawned on me that when I made the switch over to Google's Blogger Beta, I did not put the code back in for the tracking magic doohickey.

D'oh.

Anyway, things are getting back in line, and life is returning to normal - kind of. Well, except for work, where we are undergoing renovations, so there are days full of packing things into boxes, unpacking boxes, moving furniture, inhaling paint fumes, digging to find the coffee, and yelling into the phone over drills and hammers. It's lovely. But at least now my office is a nice blue colour, rather than an old, tired, pasty pink colour.

Things at home are going okay - I finally took down my few, meager Christmas decorations yesterday. It's much easier to put them away when you don't put much up. I think I was a couple of days too late to avoid the bad luck of leaving them up after the twelfth night. Oh, well - I'm sure I'll spill the salt and trip over a black cat soon, and then I'll probably just step in front of a bus and be done with it.

Believe it or not, I really did have some interesting things I wanted to talk about - primarily, my trip to the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre with my mum over the holidays. And I will talk about them, but right now I just want to peel the contacts off my eyeballs, put on my warm, comfy jammies, and then maybe play with my terribly exciting and wonderful new toys!

I picked these up at Lettuce Knit on Saturday. I wasn't home early enough to play with them that night, but Sunday afternoon found me looking for any unwound skeins and making these neat, little cakes that stack so beautifully.

It turned out that I only had three small skeins to wind, so I ended up unwinding balls I'd done by hand, just to play with the gadgets some more. I love the way the swift causes its own little breeze, when it's spinning so fast the yarn is just a blur of colour.

I need to buy more yarn, just to wind it, I think. This - THIS is how baby stashes grow out of control!

Christmas Recap

It was a good Christmas. A busy Christmas, but a good Christmas. This was maybe my first one where I had to be a grown-up, rather than just sitting back and letting my parents do their thing.

Christmas dinner turned out just fine, despite my worries. The real surprise was the complete role-reversal of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. It was my brother and I who waited patiently for our parents to go to bed and fall asleep so that we could set up their gifts. We got them a PVR (personal video recorder) that works like a DVR, but does oh-so-much more, including internet access and video archiving, all through the TV, using a remote. While I'd chipped in for the cost of the materials, it was my brother, Scott, who spent weeks putting everything together and making it all work, which turned out to be very, very challenging. And then when it came time to hook everything up to the big TV in the living room, of course, things did not go smoothly, and we were up until 2 am. I was pretty much there just for the moral support - though, I don't know how effective my "support" was, as I kept asking every five minutes if I could just go to bed already.

In the morning, my parents (who no longer sleep late) were up by 6:30, and had woken me up by 7 with their morning routine. I, of course, then proceeded to wake up Scott. Fair is fair.

As it does every year, the gifts were more than any of us should have spent, but all were so appreciated that no one regrets the cost in money and time. I finally gave my mum her Clapotis, and dad his log cabin blanket. The Clapotis is in mercerized cotton, and the blanket is in plain-Jane acrylics, all the better for washing.

I got some kitchen appliances from Santa - I always seem to get small appliances. I think Santa thinks I have a big kitchen. But now I get to replace my crusty, ten year old toaster oven (love the toaster oven), which is only a good thing. My brother got me a very cool printer, that even prints onto CDs and DVDs. In return, my brother got a whole lot of kitchen stuff for his (as yet theoretical) new apartment.

Other stuff happened during my break, but I kind of feel like I'm still recovering - more stories to come.