Friday, February 29, 2008

to all you moms, soon to be moms, someday moms, and those who HAVE a mom

my stepmom sent this to me - it's a quick listen, nothing the kids can't hear (actually, it's nothing the kids haven't already heard a million times)

The Mom Song It's a link, click it!

Thursday, February 28, 2008

and more progress

surgery was 3 days ago - i started PT today, and can at least move my arm some, though it's still very limited.

finished the second sleeve of my cardigan - i find that i can sit quietly and knit, because i don't move my arm much... it's all in the wrists and hands.

of course, then i have to go do my exercises, which remind me that my arm is NOT all better yet!

but it will be.... and i'll have a cardigan to wear, and only 3 more clues for the mystery stole......

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Progress ...

well, i survived. surgery was yesterday morning, though it was late afternoon before they let me come home - apparently i don't so anesthesia as well as i used to.

pain pills, on the other hand, are a wonderful thing - even though i break them in half!

so today, not even 24 hours later, i managed to knit 1-1/2 rows of the second sleeve (you know you're a craftster when ....), then i got my arm out of the sling, did my passive pendulum exercises (lean on a table and swing your whole body till it gets the arm moving in circles) - and then even managed to get my arm through a sleeve so the sling is on the outside, instead of under my sweatshirt.

probably a whole lot more than any of you cared to know, sorry bout that. this is my affirmation that things WILL be ok.

to my wonderful friends who sent text messages, PMs and other assorted good wishes, i thank you all. hopefully each day will be a bit better!

Saturday, February 23, 2008

YAY!

I finished my clue 6 with time to spare... now we'll hope that I can knit again by next friday when clue 7 comes out... I'm loving the shape of this stole, see how the one side swoops out a little bit, i'm thinking center back, jut a wee bit longer than the rest. I really like this pattern!



Let's see what else I can get done and off my list before monday morning!

OH, and that's Spike, my youngest cat, checking out the goods... I think he approves.

counting down...

ok, so clue 6 came out yesterday. I'm pretty sure i'll have it done by tomorrow. maybe tonight, even. I've had such good luck keeping up in this KAL, i hate to see it all go down the tubes because of my shoulder.

nervous? who's nervous? i have a list of things i'd like to get done by tomorrow night, so i can deal with being in a sling for a while on monday and moving forward. and the BIG hope is that i can use my arm by friday, when clue 7 comes out.

Nautical Knitter, DK, (isn't that sad, i don't even know your name!) - see what you've done to me? i love this KAL, i'm loving the stole, and i do NOT want to fall behind because of arthroscopy. what's a little arthroscopy between friends, anyway?

yeah, i'm nervous. i keep telling myself, it'll be ok. let's hope i'm right.

on the other needles, i still have the carolyn sweater. at thia point, i've finished the back, the 2 fronts, and i am nearing the beginning of the raglan shaping on the first sleeve... that one, i'm not stressing over, because there's nothing to 'keep up' with. i just do it when i want to. which is most of the time i'm not working on the stole. LOL, face it, i'm hopeless addicted to knitting things.... at least they're pretty, and useful things though!

so that's it for now... 2:41 on a saturday, i have maybe 20 rows left of the clue for the stole? no idea.... but it's getting there. pictures when i get this clue done.

Monday, February 18, 2008

knitting

well, i haven't done a whole ton on the cardigan lately - between the new computer on wednesday night, setting it up, then the new computer on friday night to replace the new computer from wednesday night

and getting my car fixed, the door latch (driver side) stopped working....

i'm not having a whole lot of real good luck lately, it HAS to get better!

but I finished clue 5 of my mystery stole... it's pretty. i can't get a handle on what the final shape is yet, though I guess if i assume totally symmetrical, that might not be too far off - this is clue 5, out of 9 clues, so i'm finally past the half way mark!



now i can work on my cardigan again!

Saturday, February 16, 2008

and the computer bites the dust

yup. i got it wednesday night. i made the recovery discs on thursday. friday morning, the cd drive wouldn't work. the motor wouldn't turn off.

packed it up, took it back, they confirmed that it was, indeed, psycho.... and gave me a whole new computer.

so last night,i spend the entire evening putting the NEW new computer up and running.... this one seems to be ok. got my basic programs installed again.

bought an enclosure for the old hard drive, to try to salvage the files on there (all those patterns.... )

wrong connectors. can't hook the hard drive up to the enclosure.

so that goes back tomorrow, and we'll try one more time...
and the worst case, i lose the files. that'll teach me!

so today, i've been working on clue 5 of the secret of the stole. this is still the thinnest yarn i've worked with, though i'm getting more comfortable working with it... i'm about halfway through, would still love to get the clue done by tomorrow, so i can be done with that for the week and get back to the cardigan.

time pressure... one more week till they fix my shoulder... i don't look forward to a sling, but i sure do look forward to it not hurting all the time...

Thursday, February 14, 2008

getting back to 'normal'?

been a very strange couple of weeks. one of the things was my computer. it failed. miserably. held back to repeat booting up 101. failed again.

i'm a computer pro. do you think i backed up my stuff regularly? do you think i thought to make the flippin' recovery discs?

yeah, right.

so i have a working computer over there now (points over shoulder) - and once i get all my stuff in working order, my work laptop will get a well-deserved rest (i hate this keyboard anyway)

right now.... i'm making the recovery discs. 3 discs in all. first things first.

who said you can't teach an old broad new tricks??

of course, this means i didn't get ANY knitting done last night. my poor cardigan must be feeling neglected!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

cardigan

looks like i'll be alternating between my 2 primary projects - Secret of the Stole-II, and the carolyn cardigan.

I finished the clue for this week on the stole yesterday. Friday, i had cast on the cardigan, and tonight i finished the back. onto the front pieces now...

Saturday, February 9, 2008

strange week

wow, what a week it's been. routine testing before having my shoulder fixed, and it looked like i was really REALLY ill. thankfully, i'm not. so now, we'll get the shoulder fixed.

on the needles... i have the carolyn cardigan from knitty.com - pictures once there's something to see - still in the middle of the back, about 23 stripes into it.

clue 4 of the secret of the stole came out yesterday - and i actually managed to finish it tonight!



oh, and i'm working really really hard on not smoking - from about a pack a day (that's 20 in a pack for you non-smokers, though i was actually smoking about 15-17 per day), i'm now down to 2-3 a day. all in a week. thank the powers that be for knitting... it makes it easier to not smoke!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

what's up on the needles

ok, so it's been a really stressful week. and knitting is my therapy. each friday, i get the next clue for the SOTSii, but that's done by sunday - so what shall i work on...

so i really debated between the felted flowered bag i want to make, and this striped sweater from knitty... and i decided i need a wearable..

it'll take me a while... but that's ok - there's something really rewarding about finishing something like a sweater, and then wrapping it around you - sort of like giving yourself a hug...

this is the Carolyn cardigan from knitty.com (check the archives) - i've gotten more done tonight, i think i'm on stripe number 7 by now

Sunday, February 3, 2008

And the Secret of the Stole is Still a Secret

I've just finished clue 3 of the SOTS-II - not sure I have the answers to the clues yet, need the crossing words to see which one is the right one - but i admit to cheating a little, and googling the combination of the 3 likely words so far, to see if I can get a handle on the theme.

I can't.

Anyway, here's my progress...