A Little Yarn On The Side

I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a wee bit of self-pity going on in the last couple weeks and while I have had a double-dose of kitty therapy, it's hard not to get depressed when I have set-backs with my hip/back.  This has gone on for SOOOOOOOOOOOO long and so thoroughly dominated my life that any hint that it might not be ending as quickly as I hope is hard to cope with.  When I can get out and walk (which can include moderate hills now in my 3.5 miles), it keeps me going.  But when my days shrink back to just our bedroom, it gets harder to find ways to distract myself.  I'm trying to avoid "retail therapy," but realizing I still have a few ups and downs ahead of me, I thought sometimes it might actually work.  In January I had noticed that Herrschner's had an Ornament of the Month Club , which is actually 4 ornaments in a month, and thought it would be fun to try and had planned to join it next January.  Well, next January I hope to be so flipp...

Oh my!  It's already OVER week since my last update!  Oops.  The lace and I needed some time apart, so, there is a new chemo cap!  I haven't made any caps in a while, but several have gone out to friends, so it seemed like a good project to work on while I am recovering from the I-don't-exactly-know-what-I-did set-back two weeks ago.  Nothing puts the old back issues in perspective like the thought of people dealing with cancer.  I managed to do the decreases for the crown a different way than the pattern said to do, but I sort of like the swirling effect that gave it, so we'll say it was on purpose.  And the fact that I have one more finished project before March ends doesn't hurt either........ It's been an up and down but busy week.  Tuesday night we went to the Idaho Songwriter's forum, which is a monthly get-together where people can perform songs they have written.  No less than THREE of our friends had written songs, so we we...

I'd love to be able to show you something I finished today, but at least there was crafting.  My hip/back still hurts, but I'm recovering from last week's setback pretty quickly.  I was able to walk 3 miles yesterday, and about a mile today.  I can't really sit yet, so I took the opportunity to continue cutting out the latest jacket.  This pique cotton has been in my stash for a while.  I don't have exact records of dates, but I purchased just under 6 yards of this stuff for $8.81 at some point, and made this in 2009: which is just perfect for gardening--even if I look a bit like a frog in it.  It softens up with washing, so it will make a nice casual jacket.  Not bad for about $9.  Luckily, my "helper" didn't discover my activity until everything was cut out, and I was just trying to get pieces marked.  Of course, his instinct for covering both the first pattern piece AND the instructions is as unerring as always.   I did...

Somehow, between trying to go at the therapy exercises a bit easier so I wouldn't be so sore and cleaning out old files in my "office," I managed to throw my hip out of place over the weekend, and the getting-it-back-IN part was almost worse and now all the little nerves are on edge and cruising for the next fight (I picture them as the Jets in West Side Story ), so it was a bit of a long weekend.  Everything is back in place and I've stepped up the exercises, but sitting for even a brief time is out for a while. It has given me some knitting time, and this is BY FAR the most re-knitted bit I have ever, ever done.  I think I have knit enough on this cuff to make an entire scarf.  I got the decreases wrong, got the diamonds too wide, missed bits--the only thing I didn't do was drop a stitch.  The second one had no problems, which is probably best as I have frankly run out of problems to HAVE. My original thought was to knit the sleeves THEN the fronts be...

And the back of the sweater is almost done.  Exciting, but considering that the month is 1/3 over and this is NOT 1/3 of the sweater, I may need to pick it up a bit.  The problem, of course, is monogamy.  Over the weekend there was some attempted sewing, and nothing brings the felines running like laying out a pattern.  Calisto waited patiently for her turn, but she never got her chance.  Theo is amazingly determined about these things: Part of the time was spent sorting patterns and clearing off the things that had been moved INTO the sewing room to clear out room for the desk, but I still might have gotten more than two pattern pieces cut out if it weren't for Theo.  Instead, I made a new lace Santa ornament and started a new rope bowl, because no matter how hard they try, the cats can't actually be everywhere at once--even if their fur CAN. Strangely, the biggest challenge to the March Madness Sweater is the counting of WIP rows...

*  Theo and I have been cleaning up the back room though one of us is more into supervising.  The back bedroom was where I had the movers place the boxes that weren't room specific.......and some of them are still there.  So, we're sorting out things that can be donated to charity--including two afghans I made out of Red Heart Acrylic.  Not that there's anything wrong with Red Heart, but it isn't the softest stuff and is cheap enough that these two afghans replaced two red ones I had in college that I gave away when my color choices changed.  We haven't used them in over 7 years, so it wasn't a difficult decision. *  The reason for this new found cleaning (because "it just really needs it" doesn't often work with me) is this: I have always wanted a roll top desk, but they are generally really expensive and the really fun ones aren't made for computers.  But when we moved here, I gave my desk to Andy for the office, and I haven't ...

Which theoretically means that I regain my crafting sanity on the first of April, right?  I will make a note to remember how that feels.  As a woman with over 50,000 yards of lace yarn alone, it's not a sensation I'm overly familiar with..... So, yesterday I hemmed and hawed and looked at the patterns and the yarns, and this morning went a completely different route.  This has at least been in my queue for at least a year, and is DEEP stash--another colorway of the alpaca I've hoarded stashed in so many colorways.  I bought this in 2006 to make a sweater for my husband while we were on our honeymoon, and still have 17 skeins of it left.  It doesn't take up quite as much space in the closet as the Lion Brand yarn, but it takes up a lot of mental stash.  When it came down to it, almost everything else I was looking at would require alterations of some sort, or longer needles, and after 2.5 years of a LOT of knitting, my hands get tired faster w...